Hey all,
I need some help here. Thursday my father was having open heart surgery in a hospital in Jackson, TN (he's doing great now). While he was in surgery my family and I waited in the ICU waiting room. While waiting, my wife and I noticed an elder lady working on something that involved a board that was fitted with cotter pins and she was wrapping yarn on the cotter pins. My wife and I walked over and asked her what she was doing. She said that she called it weaving, but said that her husband told her that back many many years ago the elderly people called it "looping."
The board was made by her husband using a 1" X 4" plank that was cut about 16" long. He cut an opening in the center of the board that was 3/4" wide and was about 12" long. On one side of the opening he had inserted 23 - 1/8" cotter pins with the curved or looped ends standing up and at equal intervals. On the other side of the opening he had inserted 22 cotter pins in the same manner, but they were at intervals that were staggered to the intervals of the cotter pins on the opposing side. This created the "top" of the board or loom.
Begining at one end, the lady would take the yarn and loop it around the first cotter pin, go to the opposing side and loop the yarn around that cotter pin. It was done in a figure 8 movement. When she would get to the end, she would take the handle of a crochet needle and press her work to the bottom of the work she had just completed. Then, she would start all over again.
I have a mental picture of how she would then procede, but I dont' posess the verbal skills to describe it to you. But, as she worked, the finished work was passed down and through the 3/4" opening in the center of the board. She said that she used the board to make scarfs or neck wraps. The finished work had very loose stitching and sort of a ribbed appearance to it. It was very pretty and got my wife and I interested in learning more about it.
The lady's husband was going to draw a diagram for me so that I could make one of the boards/looms, but things did not work out for us to see each other again. I have kind of an idea of how to do it, but would feel a lot more comfortable making one if I had something more than my faulty memory to go by!!
Does any of this ring a bell with any of you?? Might you have the slightest idea what I am talking about?????? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me what the "official" name is for it and how I would go about learning more about it. I've done a google for looping, but came up with nothing that had anything to do with crafts. The only other place that I thought I might have a chance learning more was on a crafts message board. Hence, I am here trying to pick your brains!!!
Thank you in advance for any help you might be able to offer.
