Weaving With a Sheep

by Kate Tarinelli

Did you know that in the Alps, the return of sheep is considered a great holiday for people from mountain villages? I didn’t either! Not until I read about it in Bajo’s Weaving with a Sheep Weaving Set. This simple, but cute toy had me occupied while I had some downtime working at The Ditty Bag. From someone who had never touched any sort of weaving craft, I found this new experience to be both challenging and rewarding.

In the set, you’ll find a wooden sheep, two bundles of white and black wool, a shuttle (a tool that carries wool, thread, or yarn neatly while weaving), an elastic band, and a directions packet. If you’re like me, you’ll know to skip the instructions and just get right into the weaving (spoiler alert, this backfired). By looking at the pictures in the packet, I got the gist of how to use the shuttle. Soon after I got started, I realized I had threaded my yarn wrong, so there were two rows being added at a time, one on the top and one on the bottom, so I had to restart (karma for not reading the instructions!)

Another hiccup was running out of yarn on the shuttle and having to go back and carefully pull out more from the yarn cake, as shown in the second photo on the right. When I got towards the top rows, I ditched the shuttle and just used a pen to weave the yarn through the band since the shuttle wouldn’t fit anymore. And viola! My first weaving attempt was a success.

For my second weave, I decided to make my sheep sport a half-and-half look, as I wanted to try my hand at the second weaving style. So for the other side, I used the black yarn and cut out three 4-inch strips for each “fluff” as depicted. Strangely enough, this was actually easier compared to the first basic weave.

For this one, it required me to weave three rows normally, then thread the cut yarn strips around two bands and tighten them together, making the fluffy look. The hardest part was getting to the end where the elastic bands are hard to pull up to fit the cut yarn through. This one might have been easier, but it was definitely more time-consuming than the first.

This set was a great introduction to the world of weaving. Not only did I try something new, but it was also relaxing, and I learned a new skill. Taking small steps, it’s now possible for me to make a simple scarf or hat, with each clothing item or project challenging the last. Weaving might seem like just a hobby, but in a world full of plastic and fast fashion it can quickly become a valuable skill. Globally, an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste goes to the landfill each year.

Help support my work at the Ditty Bag by becoming a paid subscriber today!