Ask any serious knitter, and they will ALL agree…fiber arts can be a slippery slop into crafting ADHA. Knitting leads to spinning leads to dyeing leads to felting leads to weaving. It seems that there is always a new and more interesting technique just around the corner. And because the fiber art community is such a tight knit group online, it is easy to get caught up in the frenzy of wanting to try them all!! Heck, just this blog makes me a serious enabler.
This week in the Fiber Arts Collective, Helen mentioned her struggle to resist picking up weaving(I guilty of trying to enable her with my seductive art weaving videos). And I too, spent months anguishing over dropping a couple of Benjamins on a new loom for a craft I was not sure I would love. I also spent an entire weekend researching alternatives to a rigid heddle loom. And there are quite a few out there. So today I give you a few links to get your DIY on instead of buying a bunch of new equipment.
A really cool DIY alternative to drum carding.
Tons of link to all kinds of looms for getting you weaving on:
A frame loom.
Cool ideas for making a cardboard loom
Instructions for a spinning wheel
You can spend a week looking through all the fiber equipment DIYs on Pinterest. And yes as far as getting started carding/spinning/weaving this will save you in equipment that you might not end up using long term. But just know, I have yet to have a DIY solution work smoother and more efficiently than getting real equipment. So try the DIY and if you are feeling the love, then start saving up, and combing for used equipment like here and here. Or just buy the equipment new. Fiber art equipment, when kept in good working condition, does not depreciate. Seriously, most used equipment is not that much cheaper than new. Unless of course you find someone who has no clue what to charge for what they found in their attic. That alone is worth keeping an eye on craigslist. It is how I got my $50 4-harness vintage table loom. If you decide to resell, you will get your money back, and even in some cases be able to charge a hair more than what you paid for it.
Do you have a method you have been dying to try, but have held back because of the equipment cost? Leave me a comment below. And if you like this article, please share this on social media.
Sign Up for the UrbanGypZ Fiber Arts Collective
Fiber artist Stacey Budge-Kamison AKA UrbanGypZ lives and works in Cary NC. She can also be found knitting in public, hammering out her latest e-course at local cafés and spinning yarns in her booth at her favorite arts festivals. A designer at heart, Stacey has decided that her mission is to help fellow knitters, crocheters, weavers and felters embrace their own style and creativity by exploring fiber art as it is a part of their everyday life and helping them embrace the title of artist no matter where they are in their journey. 
The DIY hackle is AWESOME! A friend of mine’s husband made one for her and one for me! I haven’t used it a whole lot, but it’s very sturdy and did a nice job of blending.