Homespun Christmas

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LEETONIA - Handweaver Monica Hoperich compared her early days on the loom to learning a new language, but after 21 years, she's become quite fluent when talking about warp, weft and weaving.

"Every year I try to do something different," the Leetonia resident said about her creations.

Hoperich hosts one of the stops on the Homespun Christmas tour which meanders through the Leetonia area, highlighting crafters and their homemade specialties as an alternative for the after Thanksgiving shopper.

"The more harnesses you have, the more intricate designs you can do," she explained.

The harness holds the parallel warp threads in place. The weft, also known as the filling, is woven through the warp. As defined in Wikipedia, the shuttle carries the weft thread through the shed, which is the space created when the warp threads are moved up and down via the harness.

In other words, warp plus weft equals woven cloth. When it comes to material, Hoperich can use wool, cotton or even old jeans to make rugs, table runners, placemats, purses or coasters. She sometimes returns home to find a bag of jeans on her porch from people who know she weaves.

About 50 pair of blue jeans can be turned into three big rugs, each measuring about 34 inchs by 58 inches. She said blue jean rugs are the hardest to make because the fabric is stiff and harder to cut into strips, all part of the prep work which usually takes a lot longer than the actual weaving.

"The weaving, that's the fun part," she said.

Hoperich's passion for the lost art began when her youngest son, Ben, was just a baby. Her great aunt on her dad's side of the family had a loom and nobody wanted it so her family took it and it sat in her mother's basement for years. When her mother was cleaning out the basement, she came across the loom, knew Hoperich liked to do crafts and offered it to her.

Her husband, Dave, put the loom back together and she contacted a nurse at the hospital where she worked because she heard she was a weaver. The nurse, Shirley Campbell, came over to her house that day, the day before Thanksgiving, and so the lessons began.

"She was so excited about getting a young person into weaving," Hoperich said, adding she was anxious herself to learn how to use the loom.

She joined the East Ohio Handweavers Guild, a group which promotes weaving and can help newcomers get started. She's always wanting to learn new techniques and that's part of the meeting when the dozen members get together on the third Saturday of each month at Harmony Village in Columbiana.

She's also attended workshops to hone her skills and learn new methods, something she said she likes to do because it's more challenging.

She taught all three of her sons how to weave and hopes someday to pass on the tradition. Since the beginning, she's acquired a second large loom and a table top loom and works throughout the year on projects.

"It's sort of like an addiction," she said.

Hoperich said anyone interested in learning to weave can contact her at 330-427-7672. She can give them information about the guild, whose members can help a newcomer find a loom and get set up and started.

Homespun Christmas continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at the various stops. Hoperich's home at 5210 Leetonia Road also serves as the stop for handpainted wood crafts and kitchen utensil creations by Karen Harrold and Tony Lights, a collection of artistic candles created by Tony Greier, along with prints of original chicken and floral paintings.

Other stops along the tour include Mary Lou Bontempt's Salt Box at 39866 Crestview Road east of Leetonia Road, Sue Hahn's Old Times at 41547 state Route 558 just east of state Route 164, Gerry Pirone's Cranberry Shed at 5007 Fairfield School Road between state Routes 558 and 517, Wilms Franklin Square Greenhouse and Christmas House in Franklin Square at the corner of Lisbon-Canfield Road, state Route 558 and old Route 344, and British Pastries at 268 Main St. in downtown Leetonia.

Amish Quilts and Crafts at 41658 Kelly Park Road, just south of state Route 164, was part of the tour on Saturday only.