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May 2019 Newsletter

Two custom colour ways in silk

I do believe Spring is here to stay. In honour of her return and because we’ve had so many requests for this colourway… we’ve done another small run Playing with Pastels and Cheryl, our wonderful hand dyer, has created a very small run of West Coast Wonder inspired by the water that surrounds and nourishes us.

New 16/2 Linen from Venne

Last month I dropped in on René and Mischa van der Venne in the Netherlands and spent a wonderful couple of days hanging out with two marvellous people AND exploring a warehouse of organic yarn. We are committed to expanding our line of organic yarn. This month we have added 16/2 GOTS certified organic linen in 21 colours. GOTS stands for the Global Organic Textile Standard. The aim of the standard is to define world-wide recognized requirements that ensure organic status of textiles, from harvesting of the raw materials, through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing up to labelling in order to provide a credible assurance to the end consumer.

The process of making our sample cards

Why do we charge $5 for our sample cards? We thought we’d better explain why and the reasoning behind it. All sample yarn is cut by hand. All the sample cards are punched by hand. The length of the yarn is such that you can compare, side-by-side, any thread with any other thread. We don’t use sticky tape to adhere our yarn to the sample card – tape stiffens and becomes brittle over time – we thread the yarn into the sample card. Two Salt Spring gals are responsible for constructing our sample cards; let’s here it for Christine and Susan! 🙂

The JST Helpline is dead, long live the JST Knowledge Base!

If you’ve not used the JST Helpline before, it’s a compendium of as much knowledge about weaving as we could squeeze onto the interwebs. But it hasn’t been used as often as we thought it could be. So we’ve relaunched/revamped the JST Helpline. It is now called – cue drumroll – the JST Knowledge Base.

We want to make it the first place to go when weavers encounter a problem. Having a problem with your Jane loom? Check the Jane loom section of the JST Knowledge Base. Maybe you’re asking yourself can I wind two threads at a time? Or perhaps you’ve pondered the question, how do I tie-up a sinking shed loom? 

Or try searching the knowledge base. You should see suggestions appear and become refined as you type.

If you find the article useful, give it a thumbs up. If you felt like the article didn’t hit the spot, click thumbs down. Either way, leave some feedback and we’ll be able to refine the article for other weavers.

Linen spring cleaning

Spring is a great time to have a linen sale. The following are all 10% off, whilst stocks last…

16/2 Wet Spun Line – Bleached
16/2 Wet Spun Line – Natural
30/3 Wet Spun Line – Natural
33/3 Wet Spun Line – Bleached
40/2 Wet Spun Line – Bleached

And, we have some large cones of 5/2 warp twist cotton that need to find a new home. These are 10% off too 🙂 There is a lot of yardage on these puppies, it is a fabulous yarn but unfortunately we have to buy it on these huge cones and that seems to put weavers off… so if you’re interested in any type of production work that requires a lovely natural cotton at 2100 yds. per lb… this yarn is for you.

Warp Faced Weaving is up next on the Online Guild

You don’t want to miss the next episode which airs May 23rd. Warp Faced Kits are available on our website!

How heavy is cone?

It depends.

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February 2019 Newsletter

Alpaca Lace, Tweed and Prime Alpaca. 25% off sale

Our beautiful Alpaca yarns have been lonely for too long so I have decided to let them go at great savings. All remaining stock will be discounted until these beautiful skeins and cones have found a new home. Now’s the time to add some to your stash.

100% Super-fine Alpaca made in Peru. 1330 yds/lb. Available in 1/2 lb skeins – 664 yds/skein. We carry this yarn in two styles, Prime and Tweed. All colours are naturally occurring. It truly is a heavenly fibre. In plain weave the prime Alpaca weaves up beautifully at 10 epi and the Tweed is fabulous at 8 epi. Both variations full beautifully.
Lace weight Baby Alpaca. This yarn is spun from the finest quality of alpaca fibre. It knits or weaves to a luxurious, supersoft hand. It is beautiful as a weft on a silk warp. After you finish your project all it needs is a gentle wash in warm water, a rinse and hang to dry. Finish off with a nice steam press.

880 yds/100g cone.

More Bouclé Blankies

Do you remember those gorgeous blankies from last newsletter? Well I just couldn’t stop working on them. The first lot were soft and subtle in their colour ways and you know me… I love hot and humid, LOL. So here you go… two limited edition colour ways: Salt Spring Berries and Carmanah Caress.

Coming up next on the Online Guild


Get set to learn about Cramming and Denting in the next episode airing February 7th. It is the perfect technique to follow on the heals of Denting which we did in January.

Latest Blog

I have had a few requests to write a bit about the weavers of India and those beautiful fabrics you seeing hanging in the studio during the videos. I will add a new post to these threads every month and you’ll see just why I’m always talking about these artisans. They are so inspiring.

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November 2018 Newsletter

Take this opportunity to stock up on all your favourite yarns. This weekend only, all yarns 10% off.

Stocking stuffers

The festive season is just around the corner… if you’re looking for some great stocking stuffers for the weavers in your life we’ve put together a list of some of our favourite products.

Blog

We’ve started a blog last month, here’s the two articles you may have missed this month:

Design for Weavers: Fibonacci & Division of Space
Weaving Architecture: Step 1 of the Design Process

If you want to subscribe to the blog, you can do it here: https://jst.link/blog-signup

Online Guild update

Just wanted to let you know that we’ll be releasing our wee promotional video on December 6 about what’s coming your way in 2019. Pushing the boundaries of plain weave is the workshop we’ll be featuring. If you’ve been wondering about denting, cramming & denting, log cabin, warp-faced, weft-faced, double-weave, collapsed weave and supplementary warps then you won’t want to miss next year. Sign up before December 7 and you’ll get it at the current price of C$75 / year.

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June 2018 Newsletter

Limited number of Louet Ericas on sale

Suitcase packed? Check. Dog’s in the cattery? Check. Mail’s on hold? Check. Floor loom packed into the station wagon? No?! You’re going on vacation without a loom and you call yourself a weaver?

Maybe you’ve overlooked the Louet Erica, the mightiest little table loom that fits right in your luggage? This ain’t no beginner’s loom and there has never been a better time to buy a Louet Erica 30 (2 shaft) or a Louet Erica 50 (4 shaft) as we have a very limited number in stock and on sale.

Pocket looms

Can’t tempt you with a Louet Erica loom? Why not try something from our small loom range? From the Schacht Zoom Loom through the Purl & Loop Stash Blaster down to the Purl & Loop Wee Weaver – you don’t need to pick up that iPad.

Pucker up scarves!

Looking for a summer project to complete in time for fall? Look no further than these pucker up scarves. They’re a great introduction to simple collapse weave. Each kit provides enough silk and merino to create two stunning scarves with finished dimensions of 12″ x 75″ plus fringe. All you need is a simple 4-shaft loom, a 10 dent reed and a weaving width of 18″.

Available in these colourways: MochachinoAutumn EquinoxSalish SeaUnder the Sea and Ha Cha Cha.

3-2-1-blast off!!!

Yeah, you could buy Organic 3/2 Cotton in 3 1/2 pound cones, but why risk putting your back out? Organic 3/2 Cotton in 1 lb cones are now available instead.

Exclusive, very limited edition silk colours

We’ve been experimenting with lovely gradient pastel colourways.

There’s only a handful of sets available, therefore stocks are limited.

The world’s bestest yarn!

Last time we asked, “Which is your favourite yarn to weave with?” Whilst cotton is the undoubted winner of the popular vote, a significant number of respondents believe that pigeonholes really aren’t their thing:

Cotton – 33.0%
You can’t pigeonhole me Stafford! – 21.4%
Wool – 16.7%
Cottolin – 8.5%
Silk – 8.2%
Mercerized cotton – 4.7%
Linen – 4.5%
Alpaca – 1.6%
Mohair – 0.6%
Synthetics – 0.5%
Cashmere – 0.3%

The JST Helpline

Have you ever struggled to remove a warp from your loom to use later? Of course you have, you’re only human right? Right!? Well we’ve decided to highlight an underused part of the JST website, the JST Helpline and we’re starting with the article Removing a warp from your loom to use later, which sounds like it might be right up your street.

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April 2018 Newsletter

The Great Arbitrary Cottolin & Organic Cotton Sale

In the interests of transparency, I’ll outline what’s about to happen here: I’m going to create what is known in marketing as a “sense of urgency” or “sense of scarcity”, here goes…

We are having a 15% sale on all cottolin and 8/2 organic cotton that’s wound on old-style cones. That’s right, 15% off the full price! But remember stocks are limited! Once those old-style cones have gone there will be no more old-style cone cottolin or old-style cone 8/2 organic cotton. You can identify the old-style cones by referring to the graphic above, which was created at great expense by one of the largest marketing agencies this side of The Rockies.

These are the cottolin colours that are available for a strictly limited time on old-style cones:

Stone Grey Merlot Pale Peach Golden Brown Burnt Orange Orange Golden Yellow Deep Yellow Butter Very Lt. Yellow Brass Light Green Primavera Shamrock Forest Green Mint Aqua Light Blue Neptune Blue Pond Steel Blue Kobalt Deep Blue Dark Purple Dark Violet Easter Purple Light Pink Bright Pink Cassiss Deep Plum Mauve Red Light Stone Grey Black

and these are the 8/2 organic cotton colours that are available on old-style cones:

Lime Maroon Green Turquoise Light Lilac Magenta Opal Pistachio Sky Blue Anemoon Burgundy Gift Green Purple Very Light Yellow Fern Green Peacock Brick Red Light Blue Iris Steel Blue Black Brown Baby Pink Orange Kelly Green Red Sandy Brown Irish Cream

Of course, all cottolin colours and all 8/2 organic cotton colours will continue to be available on new-style reels at the normal price but that won’t win any points in Marketing 101.

On a more serious note this is your opportunity to try out organic cotton. You won’t believe how soft it is! Most of the world’s cotton is grown in the world’s poorest countries where farmers work unprotected with nasty herbicides and pesticides that not only endanger the workers but pollute their drinking water and pollute the planet.

If we all tried to make just one project a year in organic cotton or use it as our weft yarn it would make a difference. Come on kids… here’s a good opportunity to give it a try 🙂

Survey results

Last time our survey asked, “What do you like to weave?” Some pointed out that it was far too simplistic a question and that it didn’t take into account how multi-faceted weaving can be, to which I can only say, “I’m sworry”.

The results are as follows:

Scarves – 36.6%
Tea towels – 26.2%
Blankets – 9.8%
I can’t decide – 9.3%
Garment fabric – 7.7%
Rugs – 4.7%
Placemats – 3.3%
Lingerie – 2.4%

Putting on my statistical analysis hat I can say authoritatively that weaving rugs is almost twice as popular as weaving lingerie. Knowing this information will definitely help shape the future direction of Jane Stafford Textiles.

Online Guild update

Season 2 Episode 5 – More on Fibonacci is now available to Online Guild members.

I’m super-excited that this is the first episode with closed captions, hopefully this will be beneficial for the hard of hearing, non-native English speakers and those who struggle with my broad Thunder Bay drawl. Please let me know in the episode comments whether you find this helpful.

Erica 50 in stock

After much anticipation, the Erica 50 table loom is now in stock. This thing is so stylish that you could stick a hat on it and call it George Clooney.

More survey time

I don’t know about you but that last survey really did rock my world, so here’s another mini-survey:

What do you want to learn about?

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March 2018 Newsletter

The Great Canadian Euroflax Sale of 2018

Our hearts are broken here at JST because 14/2 Euroflax will no longer be stocked by Louet. Boo Louet!
We’re going to turn that frown upside down and find a new linen supplier but in order to buy a whole new line we need to sell the old line. So there’s a 20% discount on all 14/2 Euroflax until it’s gone.

Attention all you knitters out there: don’t worry, Louet will still carry the 4-ply but we won’t. Yay Louet!

Survey results

We know you’ve been waiting with baited breath, unable to sleep for nights on end, well tonight you can get a sound night’s sleep because the results of the mini-survey are here. Thank you to everyone who participated, or even thought of participating. Sweet dreams.

Jack loom – 36%
Counter Marche loom – 24%
Counter balance loom – 14%
Table loom – 7%
Dobby loom – 6%
Sinking Shed Jack loom – 6%
Rigid Heddle loom – 4%
Other loom – 3%

PS I checked, the numbers do add up to 100%!

Online Guild update

I went bonkers with the episodes this month: Episode 3 and Episode 4 are now available. Over four hours of great instructional video delivery by yours truly.
And Ginette has been busy and produced a indices for the first four episodes of this season:

Season 2 Index Lessons 1-4
Season 2 list of pdfs and lessons

More survey time

I don’t know about you but that last survey really did float my boat, so here’s another mini-survey.

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February 2018 Newsletter

The Great Canadian Silk Sale of 2018

We’re having a sale on all natural silky things (not unnatural silly things). That means our 20/2 Bombyx Spun Silk, 30/2 Bombyx Spun Silk, 20/2 Tussar Spun Silk and Tussar Tweed are on sale… ten percent off, those savings add up when you’re buying silk. Sale lasts until March 2, 2018 PST 11:59 PM.

Note that this doesn’t include our range of dyed silks.

Fibres West

We’re off to Fibres West 2018 which will be on Friday and Saturday, March 23 and 24, 2018 on the Cloverdale Exhibition Park Grounds, in the Agriplex building, Surrey, BC, Canada.

This show definitely won’t be baaaaaaaahd.*

* I am in no way responsible for the very low hilarity level of this pun.

Online Guild update

The first two episodes of Season 2 are up and it is so exciting to see what weavers have been weaving. You can check things out on Ravelry and on the JST Online Guild Forum.

Just a reminder that Season 2 is all about Colour and Design, which is our most sought after workshop and thanks to this wonderful thing I like to call, “the internet”, it will never go away… you can start it whenever you want and move at your own pace.

Kits for the first three samples are now available on the JST website.

Louet floor loom prices

Thanks to the miracle of competitive pricing I can now offer you great prices on all Louet floor looms. Hurray for market forces!

And rather shamelessly I’m copying an idea from the lovely Joan Sheridan and including a one year membership for the Online Guild with every floor loom purchase. Already a member of the Online Guild? Then you could gift your membership to your BFF (Best Friend Forever).

Introductions are in order

I just thought you’d like to know who’s answering the phone at JST now. Chances are you’ll hear the dulcet tones of Elizabeth – a weaver’s daughter who was utilised as child labour to produce warps – or Alastair – if there are computer problems, blame him! Or Grant, who is my own personal handyman. Or Joan, basket weaver extraordinaire. Or “Person Saturday”, Klare. Or even Jane, who does a bit of weaving now and then. Charlotte has now left to go back to school, or rather trades college – cheerio and good luck Charlotte, but remember you can’t escape the JST gravitational force field for too long.

Survey time

I’m currently planning for future episodes of the Online Guild and I would love to know which type of loom you use most, so I’m running a mini-survey.

Click here to go to the mini-survey.

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November 2017 Newsletter

It’s Blankie Season… YAY!

At this time of year we always love to encourage blankie weaving… we need to stay warm up in these parts!

To this end we’ve done two things.

1) We’ve produced a free leaflet to download: Quick yarn requirements for Shetland, Mohair and Alpaca

2) We are giving a 10% discount on our favourite blankie yarns:

This sale lasts until November 18, my milestone birthday when I’ll be 40… again!

Don’t forget to review Episode 9: Making a Mohair Blankie….. Yes! of the Online Guild which was all about making blankets with brushed mohair.

 

Clockwise from top: 1) Shetland warp, brushed mohair weft, twill, 2) Shetland warp, Shetland weft, plain weave, 3) Mohair warp, mohair weft, plain weave, 4) Shetland warp, Shetland weft, twill, 5) Shetland warp, natural alpaca weft, twill.

Are you Confused about what the Online Guild is?

I have had a few calls lately from weavers interested in the Online Guild who weren’t quite sure what it’s all about.

The Online Guild is a series of one to two hour lessons released every five weeks. This is the first year we have done this and it has been hugely successful providing support for new weavers and weavers who have been at it for decades. There is a theme to each episode and each episode has been broken down into mini videos and indexed. You can watch them over and over…. play, stop, rewind, repeat… they never ever go away.

I chose the guild model because when you are a member of a guild you have access to a library. If you pay your yearly dues you get to borrow from the guild library. That is how our guild works. The videos are the library and as long as you are a member you get to watch them 24/7, 365 days of the year.

Your membership starts from the day you sign up. If you sign up today you get access to every single video in the library plus you get every video we release for the next 12 months. That means you can do some serious binge watching 🙂

The programme for 2018 is Colour and Design. Colour and Design has long been my most popular workshop resulting in hundreds of students on wait-lists. I have decided to tape the entire workshop and offer it in episodes which will allow you to weave along through the months and experience everything you would if you were actually in my studio. We will offer the kits to support the samples or you can delve into your own stash as you wish. I can guarantee that you will be liberated around making decisions in regards to colour choices and design choices through these episodes.

This past year we have woven each one of the seven samples on 27 yard warps creating a amazing library of visual ideas which will be shared throughout the season. Each episode will be one sample. The first two episodes will be laying out the process. My ideas just don’t float out of my head… I have a process that brings all my designs to life and I am so happy to be able to share it all with you. No holding back 🙂

We have years of episodes in the works so the online guild will be the place I can deposit all my knowledge for weavers anywhere in the world. My staff call it “Jane’s Brain Dump”. Too funny!

I am trying to keep the cost of this similar to what you would pay for guild dues, $75.00 for the entire year. This means it is accessible to everyone and I am accessible to everyone. We also provide a forum where all members can post questions and create a dialogue within a like minded community, all walking down the same road to become strong, independent, happy weavers.

I hope this little babble has cleared up any confusion you may have had about we are doing around here. Come join us today and Happy Weaving,
Jane

Join The Online Guild

The next Online Guild episode

Release date is November 16, we’ll be tackling wet finishing. In a washing machine, by hand in the sink, I collapse fabrics, we go over fringe twisting and, believe it or not, ironing! That’s a good way to finish up the year… with finishing.

Introducing the new Erica table loom by Louet

Named after the great weaving teacher Erica de Ruiter, a specialist in three shaft weaving, the Louet Erica 30 Table loom is small and very portable. For over 40 years Erica has done research on weaving with three shafts: twill, huck, M’s and O’s, honeycomb, thick and thin, padded weave, Krokbragd, supplementary warps, block weaves, color-and-weave, and much more.

The Louet Erica loom is an attractive alternative to a rigid heddle loom: it is easier to operate, the warp tension is more even, it has a large shed of 4.5 cm (1 ¾”) and you have flexibility in the number of threads per cm. The option to expand it to 3 or 4 shafts will make it an even more interesting alternative.

The loom is made of unlacquered beech and laminated birch. It comes complete with built-in raddle, stainless steel reed (10 dent), 200 Texsolv heddles (150 mm) and lease and tie-up sticks. The folded size is 55 x 48 x 16 cm (22” x 19 1/8” x 6 3/8”) and it weighs 3.5 kg (7¾ lb).

At this point the Erica loom is available with in a 30 cm (11.75″) weaving width. In early 2018 a 50 cm (19.5″) weaving width version will be available, along with a floor stand, accessory package (unfinished warping posts, 2 flat shuttles, and a threading hook) and bag.

Our first shipment will be leaving Holland in mid-November, arriving in north America early December, just in time for Christmas (fingers crossed!).

Pre-order the Louet Erica 30 Table loom

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July 2017 Newsletter


Louet loom sale ends July 31st

Our Louet loom sale ends July 31st 2017. All our Louet looms (but not Louet accessories) have a 5% discount. Treat yourself to a Louet Jane Loom, or really push the boat out and grab yourself your dream loom. You really can’t go wrong with a Louet Spring Loom.

Due to high demand, delivery may be anywhere between mid-September through November, depending upon when you place your order. Please remember these looms are crafted by hand in The Netherlands.

Let me at the Louet looms!

New brushed mohair colours

New brushed mohair colours have arrived!

Get cracking now on these new autumnal flavours in preparation for the fall: Brown, Butterscotch, Light brown and Mink.

Or why not unleash your inner demon with the fiery Diablo?

I really can’t decide – show me them all!

JST Online Guild – Episode 7 – All About Yarn

We’re bringing forward the next release of the Online Guild to Aug 1st.

This episode is about yarn construction, the count system, cotton, linen, silk and wool.

To celebrate this episode we’re offering 10% off all our yarns to members of our Online Guild for the entire month of August 2017. Make sure to be logged in before you get to the checkout to see the 10% discount.

Please note that the August 2017 yarn sale is only for Online Guild members. You must be logged into the Online Guild to see the discount.

The story so far…

Here’s the episodes that we’ve released so far:

  • Episode 1: The importance of making a good warp – on a warping board, on a table top warping mill, on a big floor model, tying the cross, counting your ends and keeping track, chaining
  • Episode 2: Warping a loom back to front – placement of the raddle, spreading your warp, beaming it, threading it, sleying it, and tying it on
  • Episode 3: Proper posture at the loom – winding a good bobbin, shuttle handling, throw beat change beater back, mending a broken warp thread, selvedges, hemstitching, a brand spanking new weaver
  • Episode 4: It’s time we had a little chat about Sett – wrapping a ruler for PW, wrapping a ruler for twill, introduction to master sett chart with samples, we now have a canvas
  • Episode 5: Project Planning 101….putting it all together – on your canvas, how long, how wide, how much, what do all those numbers mean, Sheesh!
  • Episode 6: Division of Space – Fibonacci the man of my dreams, broad strokes and the big picture, fine tuning the details

Join now to get all the episodes that we’ve released so far, plus a further 10 episodes throughout your year’s subscription, and 10% discount on all our yarn during August 2017.

As a taster, here’s a sample from Episode 7 Our Hand Dyed Silks with Cheryl, our intrepid hand dyer.

Replenished 8/2 cotton range

Our 8/2 cotton range has been replenished. It’s not quite at full complement yet and a further delivery is expected in the third week of August. The long delays have been caused by our supplier falling victim to a dead dying device – how’s that for alliteration?

If you happen to be on Salt Spring Island, do drop in to see us. We’ve got lots of new Maiwa clothes just in. We’re open Mon-Sat 10-4 throughout the summer.

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June 2017 Newsletter

Louet Sale until July 31st

Until July 31st 2017 all our Louet looms (but not the Louet accessories) have a 5% discount. So if you were splashing out on a Louet Megado Floor Loom, you’d save almost $1,000… and yet still incur the wrath of your bank manager.

Due to high demand, delivery may be anywhere between mid-August through November, depending upon when you place your order.

Take me to those Louet looms

Dr Beckmann’s Color & Dirt Collectors

We have finally received our large consignment of Dr Beckmann’s Color & Dirt Collectors.

We’ve done some sampling and you can see the “before” and “after” pictures below; they speak for themselves.

Even after washing and pressing these things will get dye run out.

I want those Color & Dirt Collectors!

ANWG is just around the corner

We’ll have a big booth at this year’s Association of Northwest Weavers’ Guilds (ANWG).

If you want to pre-order and collect at ANWG, order on the website as normal but at the checkout make sure to click on the checkbox next to “Ship to a different address” and enter our address (142 Richard Flack Rd, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 1N4, Canada). Don’t forget to add in the “Order notes” that you want to collect at ANWG, otherwise your order items will be sitting forlornly in our office.

Call me a stick in the mud but I won’t be entering this year’s ANWG Shuttle race.

New products

Two new products we’re very excited about are the Thread Count Magnifier and the Traditional Heavy Duty Scissors. The Thread Count Magnifier fits into your pocket and unfolds to allow close examination of your weave. The Traditional Heavy Duty Scissors are reassuringly heavy, giving precise control over your cuts.

Website progressive search

We’ve added progressive search to our website to help you find the product you want quickly. Start typing in the search box and progressive search will show all products that match your typing.

Kits by weaving level

We’ve started to classify our kits by the level we think they’re appropriate for:

Beginner weaving level kits
Advanced beginner weaving level kits
Intermediate weaving level kits

Please let us know if you found them too hard or too easy for your level.