During our elementary school years, my two sisters and I spent a couple of weeks during every summer break at a craft camp held in our school. There we braided gimp lanyards, made hot pads from mosaic tiles, and wove potholders out of cotton loops on potholder looms. The three of us spent hours huddling over the big bin of cotton loops planning our creations, and were particularly proud when we figured out how to weave plaids and checks._
Those potholders were my first foray into weaving, and I now know they also introduced me to fabric design and color-and-weave theory. I don’t have any of those potholders today but I wish I did and frankly, I sometimes wish I had one of those looms. Even after such a long time, I still remember how to weave with them and that fun loop-over-loop edge stitch we used when we took the potholders off the loom. Much has changed since those days, including the resources for designing your potholders. There are books on the subject and even design software.
If you, or a young one, happens to have a potholder loom and some loops lying around, consider checking out Harrisville Designs' fun—and completely free—Potholder Pattern Wizard. It works similarly to other weaving software: you input warp and weft colors and a drawdown is produced; the main difference being that there’s no tie-up or treadling to enter.
Example of the Potholder Pattern Wizard from Harrisville Designs.
You can design your own weaving patterns or choose from a number of pre-programmed color-and-weave patterns including houndstooth, stripes, and log cabin, which is simply called "weave in this program. You can swap the warp and weft colors with the click of a button and then save the patterns for later. Don’t have a potholder loom? Don't worry! These plain-weave patterns can also be translated to work on a rigid-heddle or even a floor loom. Just be aware, it’s very addicting!
Happy Weaving! —Susan