When I was in high school my art teacher had a large machine in her classroom. I asked her what it was and she told me it was a loom for weaving. I told her I wanted to learn. Unfortunately she told me it was too difficult to teach in her classroom. I went home and asked my dad if we could build a loom. We made a simple loom that I used to try to weave on. After high school I bought my first loom and took a few classes and I was hooked!

When I was in my first apartment I went to a friend’s grandparents home to help clean up a barn. One of the closets was filled with unprocessed fleece. I took it home, rented a spinning wheel and started carding it on my front steps. A group of older women were watching me from their daily get-together on their picnic table. They all started helping me as most knew how to spin. It was a wonderful time, hearing their stories, and this furthered my interest in fiber art.

Tracy Weisberg