I was a lucky kid who got to take a textiles class last semester. One of the best things was that we did a tiny amount of weaving on the school's floor loom. It reminded me a lot of operating a clamshell press, but with multiple food pedals, because you "feed" the shuttle with one hand and pull it through with the other hand. Kind of like feeding paper. But there's not ink, and it's not as noisy, and it's probably warm because looms don't have to live in garages like presses.
Judie Eatough, the woman who gave our class a demo and warped the loom (which means putting yarn on it) for us is very active in the Utah weavers' guild. Where you can rent equipment for 10-15 dollars a month. Wut?
Anyway, when I asked her about her career, she said that many weavers, like her, have a science/math background (the jacquard loom was the first computer!). She got a degree in chemistry, raised her children, and ended up taking weaving classes as a hobby. She became so expert that she then taught college weaving classes for many years.
We learned the names of all the parts of the loom (yay jargon!) and wove this simple pattern from linen threads:
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