What Shall I Make With My Weaving Sticks?

I feel like I've been at play over the last couple weeks. First my mom was visiting which I took as permission to goof off from my normal routine. Then I went to the Renaissance Fest and came home with toys and a head full of ideas. Now I'm just having some fun experimenting with new tools.

While I was visiting the Crofters at the festival, one of the ladies demonstrated a set of weaving sticks. I guess I've seen weaving sticks before and kind of dismissed them. In my head I was thinking that they seemed kind of simple and maybe even a little boring. The truth is, they are fairly straight forward, but now that I think about it, that can be a very nice break from more complicated projects. After spending a couple hours on a frustrating pattern, it might be nice to sit outside and just wrap yarn back and forth and enjoy the day. Yes, the more I think about it, the better it sounds.

The other argument is that there are no simple tools, only simple minds. perhaps I just wasn't allowing my mind to explore the possibilities. So, what shall I make with my weaving sticks? Well, I have an idea. Like most of my big ideas, I'm not really sure how it will all work out, but here it is.

I have about 9' of warp on my sticks. To make this warp I measured out 6 strings of yarn, each 18' long. I threaded each piece through a stick and then folded them in half tying a little knot at the end. It like threading a really big sewing needle. Now each stick carries 9' of yarn doubled. Nine feet of yarn hanging from the end of each needle is a lot and could easily get tangled, so I finger chained the ends together to make them more manageable.

Now, back to my idea. I'm going to choose five colors (I haven't picked them yet) and weave them onto my sticks in this order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2 When my weaving is done, I'll be attaching the ends so it will go back to 1. Next I had to decide how long each band of color would be so I have picked three prime numbers in order: 7, 11 and 13 which I'll represent in inches and repeat in order three times.

After I'm done weaving, I plan to felt my long strip and then, as it dries, mold it into an interesting shape. I may need to tack it in place here and there, but I mostly just want to create an interesting three dimensional figure. If all goes well, this sculpture will become wall art in my studio. I'm not sure how long this will take me, but I'll come back with updates on my progress. You know, you just can't have too many ongoing projects! :D