I have a crafting friend who taught me to twine a bag! I’m borrowing her wood frame, made by her husband, and using jute twine and her hand spun wool. Below is the picture of the progress I made on our crafting morning.

The warp is attached with larks head knots to a circle of jute at the top of the frame. Two longer strands are then twined around two hanging threads at a time, with one twist between each pair of warp threads. I love the open ended warp technique; it is so much easier to twine than on a loom where both ends of the warp are fixed in place. I also love twining, but to this point have only made cordage. This is the next step in my twining journey.

Twining is found historically around the world, and this type of twining with the open ended warp was used by Native Americans.

My friend also has a great book called “Twined Bags: A Historic finger weaving craft of the Native Americans” available from Livingston Press, written and signed by Monica Newman Moore. It is a very comprehensive book with instructions on the basic twining as well as tips on patterns.

What a wonderful rabbit hole!