Loom-y stuff

[dinmaker]

Right, so I've just made my loom, but I don't seem to be able to make anything with it, no new lores opened up when I picked up simple mechanics, what am I missing that is probably blatantly obvious?

[Thedrah]

have you discovered flax/hemp fiber, wool, or silk cloth? because you need those to use a loom. it only processes stuff, doesn't open anything new up by itself

[dinmaker]

No, No I have not, I know where to pick up silk and wool but I've not got the skills or the sheep respectively. But where would one pick up flax?

[shubla]

But where would one pick up flax?

From field where flax has been planted and is ready to harvest-

[Thedrah]

first you need high exploration and perception to find seeds such as flax from wild windsown weeds (www) then dry them on a drying rack (i think 8hours, might be 16hrs) like a hide. then pray to rng that you get flax or hemp. i recommend picking every www that you see. drying 50+ isn't unheard of. the seeds that will come out vary by region (not so much biome afaik) so explore often and typically in a straight line for more variety imo
barley is also important. allows chicken coops and beehives

[themommawolf]

For wool, finding a clover works as well. Left click clover in inventory, then right click on sheep to feed clover.
Right click on sheep again to select shear wool, be sure to have your axe equipped.
The sheep will run away from you, will need to chase that bugger down.

Best bet is to be as close to sheep as possible when feeding clover, preferably in front of, by one tile.
You can repeat this every five or six minutes to get more wool, as long as you have clover.

Wool is made into bandages for healing, and wool yarn (need a spinning wheel for yarn).
Yarn makes wool cloth for other uses.