Box Weaving

How to weave on an ordinary box

You may use any sturdy cardboard box.  Examples are Detergent soap box, Cat litter box, food box.

I personally prefer the cat litter box, it is twice as tall as the detergent box.  Any box that is sturdy enough to stand up under the use while you weave your Carry Bag or Purse on it.  The bag comes off of the box when you have completed your weaving project.   

You may use yarn that is either of wool that will shrink/felt or any type of yarn that you choose.

The needle to weave with can be plastic or metal.  It needs to be a yarn type of needle.  They are blunt on the end and have a large eye for the yarn to pass through.  I like the ones that are slightly bent on the sewing blunt end.  They can be ordered on line from yarn companies, two in a package for just a few dollars.  You can also find Plastic yarn needles that are used to sew sweaters that one has knitted together at novelty shops that sell yarn or Material stores. 

Your weaving can be done with any yarn that you choose.  The Warp thread (the yarn that you wrap around the box to weave onto) needs to be a sturdy type of yarn.  You could even use good quality Kite string for the warp lines if you are not going to felt your project.  Fine, strong wool yarn is better for the warp lines if you plan on Felting it.  The Weave yarn can be anything that you choose, it can also be thicker yarn than the Warp.

Start by cutting 1/4 inch apart by 1/4 deep cuts all around the top of your box structure, after you have cut off the top of the box.  

Start your Warp threads on the narrow ends of the box.  Anchor one end of your warp yarn and go down the side, across the bottom and up the other side of the box.  Wrap the Warp yarn around a cut out and come back down the side you just came up on.  Again across the bottom and up the other side.  Again - wrap the warp yarn around a cut section and back down the side, across the bottom and up the other side.  Keep wrapping your warp yarn like this until you have filled all the cut sections of the ends of your box.  If you did not make the same amount of cuts on each end of the box then cheat a little and make sure there are the same amount of warp strings on each end, by placing a warp yarn in one of the same cuts as another warp string.  It is important to have the end cuts be the same amount. 

That is true of your sides of your box, make sure that you have the same amount of cuts on each side of the box. Once the ends are all warped, continue on with your warp yarn and come around to the side of the box and down the side, as you go under the bottom of the box, you then need to weave your side warp yarn under and over the warp strings that are already there.  Weave in and out and come up the opposite back side of the box, just like your ends, wrap your warp yarn around a tab cut and back down to the bottom of the box, under, weave in and out and back up the front side.  Continue the front and back warp until the box is covered with the warp threads. Once your box is warped, you are ready to start with your weaving yarn.

The weaving yarn starts at the bottom edge of the outside of the box, (front back or ends does not matter) about two inches up from the bottom of the box.  Weave in and out - around the warp strings, going around the box in a clock wise direction.  To start your new thread any time, start by going counter clockwise in and out for about 4 or 5 warp strings, turn the yarn around and come back, clockwise and keep weaving in and out around the box until you are about to run out of yarn. Each turn around the box as you weave, the row below what you are now weaving, should be just the opposite of what you are weaving on this row.  Example: warp string one weave yarn under, warp string two over, warp string three under, warp string 4 over.  When you come around the box for the next row - Warp string one Weave yarn will be over, warp string two yarn will be under, etc.  The rows of weaving alternate in and out over each other.  That is what locks them together.  Just like you did in the beginning - turn the last bit of yarn back and weave a few lines in and out, back counter clockwise onto your weaving.  Leave the raw end sticking out about one inch, you will cut that off much later.   Weave about 5 or 6 rows of yarn, do not worry about squishing those rows of woven yarn down real tight just yet.  They need to be woven fairly close, but you will use your fingernails or a fork to really pack them down tight after every 6 rows or so.  By packing the weave rows tight, I mean that you pack the woven rows so tight down onto the previous rows, that you cannot see your warp strings any longer.  In the beginning you are weaving upside down.  You start your box weaving two inches up from the bottom edge and weave around and around, down towards the bottom edge.  Once you have that woven and packed tight, you will then come down over the bottom and weave the bottom of the box. Weaving in and out between the rows of Warp thread that is in place.  Pack as many woven threads as you can in between each warp thread, usually about 5 rows. Once the side bottom edge and the bottom the box is woven, you will start again on the sides and weave up to the top of the box.  NOTE: When weaving my bottom, I like to come across the bottom and anchor that bottom yarn by coming up the sides a few stitches, then back down and across the bottom again.  I feel that it makes a more sound woven bottom, the edges seem to hold together better, especially when felting my bag after weaving.  You do not have to do that, your choice, try one that way and another not and see which way you like it best.

What to do when you make a mistake.  No biggie, go back and undo it to the mistake area and weave again.  My Grandma always said, it it is worth doing, it is worth doing well.  I rip out a LOT.  I like to take pride in my end project.  BUT, if I cannot find my error - then when you notice that your weave row is just like the weave row below it - weave over two strands of warp, to change back to the correct over and under, which needs to be opposite the row below it, otherwise it will fall apart later and of look really ugly in that spot.  Sometimes I get befuddled when I am changing from an old end yarn to start a new one.  The woven project is rather forgiving, you might know that there are boo boos in there, but no one else will see them, especially if you are going to felt the end product.  Changing yarns after ending one and starting another can be a challenge sometimes.  Be sure to wrap your starting yarn around the last stitch of the ending yarn or you will get a hole between the two areas of end and start.

If you feel very adventuresome, you can weave a design into your work on the sides, or a name.  You would weave the design area prior to weaving the sides of your project.  Fill in the weave on the sides all around your art work.  Remember to bring your side weave yarn one stitch over the edge of your art work area, to anchor the Art area and the woven area together.  I would not start a yarn near the Art area, start it on the back of your project maybe. You would then turn around at the side of your Art work area and weave back the other way,  clockwise and around to the front Art area, anchor a stitch in the art and back Counter clockwise around to the front Art area again.  I have never done an Art area, so am winging it here.  I would probably not start my Art area color yarn on the outside edge of the Art either.  I would start my Art yarn in the middle of it, just to make sure it is packed good and tight, prior to cutting off the end or beginning yarn threads.

When you finally get to the top of your weaving project - pull it off of the box, weave in and out of the loops that are at the top of your project that could not be woven as the warp threads are just too tight up at the top of the box, weaving as tight as you can in those top end loops to fill them in.  You are then done except for some handles if you wish.  When I am felting my projects, I weave the handles down into the woven bag prior to taking it off of the box.  I like to use I Chord for my handles.  The instruction for I Chord are elsewhere in our  instructions pages.  When I come up with poor quality yarn, I use it up in a woven project.

FELTING PROCESS INSTRUCTIONS: The yarn that will shrink/felt, can be washed in your hot water setting  in your washing machine (top load type) and felted.  Any Felting process needs both types of washing soap, Detergent and Pure Soap.  If you have difficulty finding Pure Soap, try a water softener company, they carry it.  The markets no longer carry White King soap, nor Ivory soap flakes.  What they carry says baby soft quality soap, but when you read the ingredients, it is still Detergent.  You need one of each type of soap.  The water needs to be the hottest setting that you have on your washer.  Do not ever allow the washer to empty out the hot water and start filling with cold water, that is too much of a shock for your felted objects.  It is important to stay near the washer, stop it after the first round of washing and check your felting article.  If it needs more time, then do a half time wash and check again.  Checking every five minutes is good on the second wash cycle.  Do not spin out your water and object, wring it out by hand.  I am fairly aggressive with my wringing out of the water and soap.  It will rarely if ever need to felt/wash three times.  Wring it out hard by hand and fill with wadded up plastic grocery bags, leave to air dry for several days.  It is best to place the handle on the bag prior to felting, but it can be added later as well.  Test your yarn to see if it will really felt.  Knit or weave on a small piece of cardboard a small project and run it though your washer, possibly even without the two soaps.  Felting projects must be done in a washer that has other clothes (preferred are blue jeans) in with them, to bump up against.  That is a must to get your object to felt.  To save your plumbing and washer pump, place the felting object(s) in a pillow case and sew or pin shut.  A handy hint about wool, Romney sheep wool does not want to felt.  My black and brown sheep were half Romney and it was 5 rounds in the washer to even get the objects to start felting.  Some stayed limp forever.  Not all wool will felt.  Wool yarn that says pre-shrunk, or has been pre-treated, will of course not felt or shrink.  That is what you are doing is shrinking your wool article.  The wool as it shrinks becomes solid, it naturally clings onto each thread.  Wool hair unlike other animal hairs, has natural barbs on each strand.  Alpaca and probably LLama will felt, but does not support itself, it falls all fuzzy and flat.  A bowl with knitted sides on it, becomes a fuzzy pizza pan.  If you intend to Felt your woven project use only wool yarn.

How will you know when your felted object is done?  Wring it out and if it will support itself, it is done.  If you over felt - it will be so hard that you cannot shape it the way that you want it to be.  Letting cold water hit it, also causes over felting, not a good idea.  You can rinse the soap out of it in warm water if you wish, I do not.  Any of these items can be washed in baby heat warm (tepid) water with soap for cleaning, then re-shape and air dry again.  Do NOT dry it in a dryer.  

Large objects like Bowls, Baskets, Carry bags, Woven projects, need to be stuffed with plastic grocery bags, wadded up.  Stuff as many as you can get into it, packing them in really tight.  That helps to shape your object and keeps it in shape while it is drying.  After a few days you can remove the bags and let it continue to air dry.

Large Kitty litter Box end and needle	Box side with loose ends showing, the white spots are silk not warp showing.
Box bottom, partially woven	This box will not be felted, the wool yarn has silk and camel tags in it.

This box example is done with wool that will not felt.  The white spots are silk.  I used hand spun white yarn for the Warp.  I discovered later when weaving a bowl of this very yarn that it would not felt.  So no big deal, it will just be a woven bag project.  I like to use the tall, large Kitty litter box, it makes a good size, carry bag.  The Detergent boxes are much shorter.  It takes me a couple of months to finish one of these, as I have other projects I am doing at the same time.  A child could do this type of project, after the parent did the cutting of the edges of the box and got it started in the Warp.

If you choose to use hand spun yarn that is of good felting quality, it could be dyed with food coloring or Kool Aid.  Kids could have real fun with this project and Mom or Grandma could have a nice gift.  You can weave on any good solid piece of cardboard as your base.  A small piece of narrow cardboard could be a base for a bookmark that is Woven and felted.  Always make a small swatch of your yarn to toss into the washer and see if it will felt.  I would not even worry about the proper chemical of the soaps.  A small scrap of woven or knitted yarn, will probably felt. 

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