Weaving Without a Loom

One-Needle or Peyote (Even Row) Weaving

One-needle weaving, which you will also see called Peyote weaving, is incredibly easy.  You put 12 beads on a thread, add a 13th bead and take your needle back through bead 11.  Put on a bead and go back through bead 9 and then another and bead 7.  You see the pattern.  After you reach bead 1, put a bead on the thread and go back up through bead 2.  Fill in the gaps and when you get to bead 12, start all over again.  As I said, easy.  To finish off the piece, weave back and forth through one row for three beads, knot at a connecting thread, go back through three more, knot again, back through three more, pull taut and cut.

Two-Needle (Odd Row) Weaving

Two-needle weaving is a bit more difficult and somewhat confusing, as you can see in the picture on the right.  You start with two beads on a thread with a needle on each end, the left needle being 1 and the right, 2.  Slide a bead down both needles, followed by two beads, one on each needle, followed by one bead, followed by two beads and you end the row with two beads.  Then you take needle 1 and go down the last bead in needle 2's row.  Add a bead, which fills the gap, and go to the next bead, and so on to the end of the row.  Turn around and, adding beads of course, go back up with needle 1.  Then do the same thing with needle 2 that you did with needle 1.  To finish a piece, follow the one-needle method as indicated above.

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