Fig. 6. A simple design in running stitch
If you will examine different kinds of materials before they are cut, you will note that the threads run in two directions. The threads running lengthwise must be the stronger, as they have more strain on them. They are called the warp. The warp is set up first before the weaving begins. The threads running crosswise are called the woof. It is the weaker thread and forms the edge or selvage.
If you will take a card three inches square and prick a line of dots half an inch from the top and bottom edges and prick a line a quarter of an inch apart you will have a little loom. The dots must be directly under each other. A piece of coloured worsted and a large-eyed crewel needle No. 2 will be required. Make a knot at the end of your thread and start from the upper right hand hole on the wrong side. Bring your thread up through the hole and down through the lower right-hand dot. The needle must now come up through the next hole at the bottom and the thread be again stretched across the card.
When every hole has been filled and you have several rows of straight lines, fasten off the worsted in the back. Another shade of wool should be selected so that you can distinguish the warp from the woof. The thread you are now going to use is the woof; commence at the top and go straight across to the left line, up over and down under each thread and so on till the row is completed. In weaving the next row, pick up the threads of the warp that you went over last time. Alternate rows agree ([Figure 7]). When finished, the little piece can be used as a doll's mat.
To darn your stockings is almost as simple a matter as this weaving. Instead, however, of starting the thread of the warp on an even line, as on the card, start some higher than the others. The reason for this is that an even line will be apt to make an uncomfortable seam in your stocking. The woof threads are always connected to the stocking. A darning ball should be used under the hole. In darning cashmere or woollen stockings it is best to allow the warp to be very slack as wool shrinks considerably in washing. Wool should be used for darning woollen stockings.
Fig. 7. Weaving with worsted