The Other Side of the Spanish Classroom: Weaving with straws

When I went to Peru a few years ago, I went as part of a volunteer group to promote awareness about the weaving culture. My volunteer group consisted of 15 undergraduate students and 1 professor. While we all spoke Spanish in the group, only our professor had any previous knowledge about weaving. We worked with the Cusco Center of Textiles and met a lot of incredible people. I had such an amazing time learning how to weave and communicating and connecting with my weaving mentor. We learned all about the weaving process; from shearing the animals to washing the wool (this process sent me to the emergency eye doctor after some detergent scratched my cornea - I had to wear an eye patch for 3 days!). We also learned how to dye the wool using natural products like leaves, berries, and sticks. Finally, we learned how to spin the wool to make it nice and fine for weaving. Then came actually learning how to weave, which was very difficult, but a lot of fun. In the end, my peers and I made bracelets, belts, hats, and purses. We felt very accomplished. I can't imagine that being my lifestyle though and spending every day of my life weaving to survive. The weavers were very proud of their work and you could see it in their lit-up eyes as they spoke about it. My peers and I were very impressed with their creations of ponchos, blankets, place mats, and table-runners, just to name a few.

I've been trying to figure out a way to share this experience with my classes. There wasn't room in the curriculum this year to add in a full unit and I wasn't sure what I'd even do. So, instead I just shared this experience with my Spanish crafts after-school club. I showed them my weavings and balls of yarn and then we did our own weaving project that I found in a Spanish crafts book. The weaving project went... okay. I didn't test it out ahead of time (fatal mistake, I should have known better - my mom would be disappointed especially since I helped her test out so many experiments and activities ahead of time for her class) so I was trying to figure it out as we went along. That meant that I didn't have the answers for my students so they became frustrated which made me more frustrated which was just a vicious circle. After thinking about it more last night and this morning, I have come up with ways to improve this project for next time. It still needs improvement because this new process isn't perfect either. However, every day is a learning experience, right? Here's the process, with updated directions.

Materials: Yarn, ruler (or measuring tape), straws, scissors

Step 1: Cut 2 equal strings about 30 inches each. (2 for a bracelet, 4 for a belt)

Step 2: Cut 1/2 inch off the top of each straw and feed one string through each tiny piece of straw.

Step 3: Thread both parts of the string through the long part of the straw. LOOSELY knot the ends of the string together. (You will be untying this later.)

Step 4: Start weaving! Grab the end of the skein of yarn and tie a know around the bottom of one of the straws. Wrap the yarn around one straw, then drop it through the middle, then wrap around the other straw. Go back and forth, making sure everything stays tight together. When you fill up the straws, gently push the woven part off the bottom of the straw and continue weaving.

Step 5: When your project looks long enough, cut the yarn from the skein and carefully knot the yarn to the straw. Then, cut the little pieces of straw off the yarn. Next, slowly slide the straws out from the yarn.