Wednesday 11 April 2018

Nepali Weaving



Hello! How are you this morning? I'm currently sat with a fresh mug of coffee with Harvey keeping my left leg warm. Apparently he doesn't care about my right leg. He says he can only do so much and I should be grateful for his presence. I think someone needs some cat coffee this morning...

Anyway, I've popped by this morning to chat about weaving in Nepal. It was purely by chance that I met a fellow weaver and it was halfway up a small mountain. My friends and I had the weekend free and decided to climb Sarangkot which is a nearby mountain to Pokhara, the city we stayed in. Most tourists hike up the day before and then get up to watch the sunrise at the top. Which is exactly what we did. The hike was a bit difficult mainly due to the heat of the day and the steep ascent up to the top. But with regular stops and sooo much water we made it! The views were stunning.


As was the sunrise despite the haze.


The shops opened soon after sunrise and on the way down from the viewing platform we had a browse through a few of them. One of the shops had a large loom to one side with a half finished piece of work on it.



Of course my curiosity was piqued! The woman running the shop clearly noted my interest and sat down to weave.





The loom has two shafts which you can see in the video. She used her fingers and the thread to move the warp to create the pattern. I can't figure out if she uses a clasped weft in-between the colours?

Below are two samples of a finished shawl. The main fiber in the shop was yak and it is incredibly soft. I bought two shawls to bring home with me:



One for me and one for Mum. I wore mine on the flights home and it kept me very warm!



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