Before you could make a trip to your local department store and pick up a $5 throw rug for your entry, the bathroom or the kitchen, it was up to people to make their own.  It was a common skill most women and some men learned before they married, said Heartland Farm’s Sister Jane Belanger, O.P.  She helped students attending Fiber Space 2014 workshops on weaving recapture those skills.
“There is a satisfaction in using a skill or craft that enables you to have and to use something you’ve made yourself,” she said.  “You can’t buy that sense of satisfaction.”
For the past three years, Heartland Farm has offered instruction in three key skills:  spinning, weaving, and needle arts that include knitting and crochet.
Belanger became interested in fiber through her work with the farm’s alpacas, gentle animals raised for their fiber.  First, she learned to card and spin the fiber as it was harvested each year.
About four years ago, she discovered an old loom stored in loft of the barn.  The large student model loom sat under a tarp, dusty and a bit rusted.  She retrieved it, cleaned it and began learning how to work it.  
“I’m a pretty good teacher because I know just about anything you can do wrong, and I’ve done it recently,” she said.  “I can lead people through each step.”

Lofty discovery
After a visitor from Colorado saw a photo of Belanger and the loom in The Great Bend Tribune years ago, she offered to give the farm a loom she had in storage which she no longer needed.  It turned out to be the same brand and type.  
“That’s not an unusual outcome for a loom,” Belanger said.  Looms are an investment, with even good quality used equipment costing in the hundreds of dollars, and top-of-the line floor looms reaching into the thousands.  “Usually, the owner dies or grows too old to use it.  They’re valuable, but they are intricate and complicated.”
Table runners, place mats, coasters, and rugs are some of the items Belanger has taught herself to make, using smaller amounts of yarn than she would use if she were to knit or crochet them.
This year, one student, Lenora Graves, brought a table-top loom for students to experiment with, which is perfect for many smaller items.  
While some of the participants were content to observe, two attended both workshops, and returned to work on their pieces in between.  Having space to keep floor-looms available helped.  They had the time they needed to reach completion by the end of Fiber Space II.  

Weavers of different wefts
All but one of the Fiber Space attendees this year were beginners.  They brought positive energy, despite their furrowed brows and deep concentration learning the process, Belanger said.
One weaver wished to refresh her skills after a 40-year hiatus.  Now retired, she simply needed a refresher to get started once more.  She brought along a few pieces she’d made in the past to share.
Another wished to recapture distant memories of the church ladies of her youth.  She remembered the loom at the church, and how the ladies would let her as a child help with some of the more simple tasks.  Now, she would walk away with a deeper knowledge of the craft and the skills to carry them out at home.  
Some artists love the mathematical part of weaving.  Before starting, all the details need to be worked out so the desired pattern is achieved.   Belanger recalls one student at the workshop was interested in how the loom was set up, and intrigues by how the piece came together.  At first convinced she lacked the skill to be able to enjoy fiber arts, she picked it up and found it enjoyable.    
Others love the creative side of weaving, and enjoy experimenting with filler, and find the endless variations exciting.  One student who travelled to the workshop is a new alpaca farmer, and was looking for ideas for putting her first crop of fiber to good use after shearing.  
And some of the participants who arrived were drawn to more than one of the fiber arts.  Most attendees are involved in other crafts and had cross-over skills, Belanger said.  They were spinners, and wanted to learn to knit, spinners who wanted to learn to use their yarn to weave.  
Lenora Graves, Wichita, came to observe. She has been a volunteer at Heartland Farm for five years.
“It gives me a chance to get away from my work,” she said.  Graves works at a busy insurance office.  “It feeds my soul to be out there.”
She helps when it’s time to sheer the alpacas, which happens twice a year.  She’s been involved with all other aspects of the fiber too, including carding, spinning and knitting.  But weaving is new to her.  
“It’s complex with the machine, so it is nice they have a place with a loom set up,” she said.  She doesn’t have space to devote to one herself.  
Over the course of the two weekends,  friendships were made as memories were shared, weaving together new connections into the tapestry of their lives.  

Practical pieces
When Belanger lived in Minnesota, simple two-harness looms were common in many homes.  
“They were rug looms, about the size of a four poster bed,” she said.  Norwegian loom makers would come through and offer to make looms which were used to make rugs and things for daily use out of whatever they had on hand, mostly old clothes.  “It was a skill that was commonly used.”  
There is an appeal shared by her students for this sort of practicality, she said.  There is a desire to make the things you need, as plain or as fancy as desired.  
Fiber Space is an annual event that Heartland Farm offers in January and February, the low-month for doing work outside, Belanger said.   Accommodations are available for those who travel.  Information about his and other workshops offered throughout the year can be found on the website, http://www.heartlandfarm-ks.org/.