My Non-Expert Take on Weaving

 NEED

A loom, a needle, scissors, and some sort of yarn or fiber. That's it, for real. I got my loom on Amazon a year ago for $20, and I used the needle that I use to weave in my ends while knitting.

DON'T NEED

• A special warp thread. Though warp thread might make your life easier, I used The Petite Wool in "Natural" from We Are Knitters because it's what I had on hand. There was some minor felting/white fluff getting into my weaving colors but that was the most minor inconvenience, and I wouldn't let it stop me from making another piece.
• A special tool to go at the bottom of your piece to prop your stitches against. I cut up an old Amazon box to use for this and it worked perfectly. I've saved it for later use!
• A special tool to press down your stitches after each row. I seriously won't even look for one of these, because the kitchen fork I used was SO effective. The "pat pat" sound it makes it also super satisfying.
• A fancy dowel, especially to use while weaving. The tutorials I saw showed using a dowel to hold warp threads apart to make the actual weaving easier, but I didn't find this necessary at all. When my piece was done and I needed to find something to hang it on, I ordered a 12" long x 1/4" diameter brass tube from my local hardware store for pickup. The cost? $3. You may be able to find a twig outside which is just as good! I just live in a part of Arizona without too many twiggy trees. 
• Something to wrap your working yarn around. A fun tip with weaving - you have to keep pulling all of your yarn (minus the tail) through the threads as you go. Some people like to wind their working yarn around something to make this easier, but I found it easier to just string it through on its own. I WOULD recommend working with shorter pieces of yarn to make your life easier. Picking up new pieces of yarn is not scary in weaving, and it's more fun than pulling yards and yards of yarn through your threads when you don't need to.

FINAL NOTES

When I posted about this on Instagram, I had some people commenting that they've been wanting to try this but they were nervous. My advice is this: there is nothing to be scared of with weaving. You can use whatever fibers you want, you can use tools that you've got lying around the house, and pretty much whatever you make is going to be beautiful, unique, and personal to you. 10/10 would recommend you give it a try.