State Fair Sash 2015

Pretty much last minute in August I decided to weave up a sash using my handspun yarns. I'd taken a break from weaving to spend the summer with my kids and this was kind of a reintroduction to getting back to weaving.

For over a year I have been spinning local New Mexican churro yarn. My original thought was I could build up my stash of finely spun local wool yarns to maybe use for tablet weaving or some on the inkle loom. But here's the catch, and I knew this but I still needed to try, churro wool is really good for weaving rugs or items that need strength such as bags. It's not a good choice for garments. But I thought, maybe I could weave it for items such as belts, trim, or sashes, since these items aren't worn against the skin and need strength.

So I started with spinning my usual singles. Fat singles, and skinny singles. I prefer to weave with handspun singles. But no joke, every time I wove with them it did not go well. First I started with my inkle loom. And holy moly, shredded yarn. Then I moved to tablet weaving, and yikes, sticky, sticky, sticky beyond belief. So I abandoned my handspun yarns for quite some time and needed to just think about what I was going to do with them.

Then in August, I decided to sit down and respin my singles almost to the point of being over spun, then I plied them firmly into a two-ply yarn. I washed and set the skeins and proceeded to do the same to a lone red skein from a local yarn shop that I obtained a few years back. I also grabbed a non-churro wool yarn I had spun, a variegated off white with flecks of brown and respun that too.

Now I had a collection of 3 colors of churro, and 1 color non-churro. And here began the magic for me. I am usually pretty meticulous about drawing out drafts to weave and doing samples to work to a specific size for width. But a pattern popped in my head, a simple one, using a "comb" design and I just sat down and fully warped my inkle loom to the max.

I was pretty sure the yarn would shred and I would end up wasting it like I had been doing (it quietly kills me to waste yarn). And I am not sure if I've ever completely winged it when it came to warping. I had no idea how wide this woven piece would become let alone if I could weave it.

I used a thinner spun plied wool for the weft and behold, I was able to weave it. The sheds opened without much difficulty (advancing the warp was challenging). And I loved it! The simple comb design was just what I needed and it all came together much better than I could have expected. I finished the band, and twisted the fringes. I had a beautiful sash, strong and sturdy. An item that had simple beauty, but rugged enough to be used.

The thought entered my mind to enter it in the state fair. For me, entering a woven product was about complexity or something grand, but this sash didn't fit that bill. I wanted to enter it because all the wool was handspun (and a respun commercial skein), I had used local wools, my weaving was even with nice selvedges (edges), and I successfully used my handspun on the inkle loom without shredding. Not one warp broke or even showed signs of wear! I finally learned how I needed to spin my churro for weaving on the inkle loom.

So I entered it. And during my son's field trip to the state fair I dragged him to the creative arts building (my oldest son is pretty much completely not impressed with weaving, he is like, yeah mom, I've seen this a hundred times before). Even more crazy was I got a first place ribbon in my division! Wow! Coolest thing ever!

It was totally exciting to see that they appreciated exactly what I saw too. I really couldn't believe it! Anyhow, this sash is staying in my personal collection for the time being and now I am slowly working thru my churro roving stash, spinning heavy worsted weight two-ply yarns for weaving. I am hoping next year to go collecting local plants for dyeing (I completely missed doing that this year) some of my wool.

Lesson learned, weaving doesn't have to be super complex, and pattern challenged to produce something beautiful!

Details! The sash measures 108" (86" woven, 6" x 2 fringe). The width is 2 7/8".

 

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3 Color Pick Up Weave

The finished guitar strap.

Something new and exciting has come along for small loom weavers, the beautiful 3 Color Pick Up Weave!

Woven with the second draft option.

My love of this weave actually started with this sash by Annie MacHale. There was something just a little different about it, I could see that there were 3 colors, but I couldn't quite grasp how it was made.

Over the weekend Annie published her tutorial on how to do 3 Color Pick Up Weave. The design possibilities are ENDLESS! Included in the tutorial are two different kinds of drafts and a video, which is awesome, seeing the weave in action.

This type of threading comes from a small province in Zanavykija, Lithuania. There are very few examples of this weave in one book about Lithuanian Sashes, and maybe one or two examples on the internet other than Annie's blog. It's a very rare weave not often seen.

So here are just a few samples that I have to share:

Woven in wool, with the first draft option.

First draft option.

First draft option.

For the guitar strap I just went for it, no pattern ideas in my head, I just started picking up and this is what I came up with!

Hop on over to Annie's blog (linked above) to read more about her tutorial, and the tutorial is available on Etsy (also linked above). I can't wait to see what everyone makes!

Lastly, the details! Woven on an inkle loom, 3 colors of cotton yarn, width 2", and length 49". I used a brown leather fob kit (from Annie) to finish it off!

Aletta's Guitar Strap

This sweet strap was originally a custom order. Unfortunately, the individual changed her mind at the last minute about what colors she wanted. But no worries! My soul sister exclaimed I love pink!

In some ways this strap was a challenge because of the color combo. Rarely do I work with pink as a main color. But overall I think the strap is perfectly funky with its addition of orange and purple.

The recipe: handwoven on an inkle loom, 100% percent cotton yarn, 5 colors, plain/simple weave, handmade leather fobs with handstitching, machine stitching to attach slider and loopers.

Aletta, enjoy, and hope to see this strap in action soon!

 

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Golden Yellow Border Guitar Strap

Golden Yellow Border Guitar Strap

This strap was woven on a inkle loom. It measures 2" in width.

The weaving technique is called plain weave. That kind of makes me laugh,

because plain weave can be composed of the most awesome colors! Not plain at all!

100% cotton! Colors: Golden Yellow, Olive Green, Off White, Cinnamon, & Rust.

Front and Back of strap, leather fobs need slits cut in!

Handmade leather fob w/ handstitching (made by me), black plastic slider and loopers.

The Full Strap

This strap can be adjusted 33" to 57".

This sweet strap is up for grabs, contact thru FB, etsy, or email!

Slider Close Up

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Meandering Tablet Weaving

Note: this draft of a blog post has been sitting for quite some time. These bands were done in August or earlier, and some have been sold already. I wanted to add links, but I unfortunately can't find the time! We've been back and forth to the hospital with both my sons, and sadly my oldest is still in there :( I've become completely unreliable at doing anything in a timely manner! But my sons are worth it!

I keep waiting for a "break" from my daily happenings. And I do get a few here and there, and I quickly set up my backstrap tablet weaving project to weave a few rows. But both my kiddos have the cold virus with croup. We've never had croup before, and wow, it's terrible. So weaving time is out. I hope to catch up on reading, writing back, and a couple blog posts that have been sitting in draft for awhile.

Morning Weaving the first of my images that I saw at Pinterest! Whoop!

I thought I better get this blog post started because, for the first time, someone pinned one of my images to Pinterest. I hadn't started pinning my images yet, for I didn't think I had enough readers, but two individuals actually shared my photo on Facebook, one person I don't know, but I am sending a thank you to Annie for sharing (as I suspect that may have led to pinning, lol!).

But before I get into the details, I have to tell you I was about to give up on Facebook, for my weaving and my personal page. I don't want to install another app for messaging, and I rarely use the laptop/home computer (I would have to wait on line for a turn, lol). I've stopped using twitter (need to delete that permanently) because I could not figure out how to "use" it. I made my Instagram account private, as I watched Instagram delete people's for apparently no reason, and now I rarely accept new people unless I recognize their name from somewhere. Generally, I find Facebook a time waster (no offense), but there is one group that saved me from giving up.

The Historical Tablet Weaving Group is, well, downright awesome. Most everyone is a happy bunch, and it is fantastic seeing everyone's weaving and learning. And if you're looking to weave something historical accurate in certain time period, this is a great place to start.

Anyway, that's about it for my technical updated! Almost everyone is done with their withdrawal from me cutting off the cable tv in our home!

.kivrim/running dog.

I wanted to actively start doing what I call two-pack tablet weaving. One pack moves one direction, the other moves in the opposite. What better place to start than with Kivrim (I affectionately call it meandering) and Rams Horn variations. And wow, the sky is the limit for patterns on the internet.

.running dog/kivrim, in wool.

.running dog/kivrim, in cotton.

I started with a basic Kivrim often called Running Dog. Then I moved onto the classic Rams Horn, and then it's variations. I used this opportunity to sample the following yarns: size 10 crochet cotton, sabanilla weight churro wool, Shetland fingering weight wool, peruvian fingering weight wool. Out of all these yarns, the Shetland did not work out for me on my Inkle loom. And yes, all of these were done on Inkle.

The surprise for me was adapting a John Mullarkey variation, and, wow, it came out spectacular. This was not something I could have predicated, and this is the band that is now floating around the web. This band will be available as a key fob shortly.

What I learned: I love doing two-pack weaving!

And lastly, if you become a member of TWIST, there are a wonderful selection of articles and drafts available.

 

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Hot Days, Summer Breezes & Monsoon Rains

I have to laugh at myself, after a tough last few months of winter, I had this crazy idea that I would have a lazy summer filled with crafting and cooking!

I must have forgotten for a split second that I have children! Two very, very busy boys that need to be moving, especially my little guy. And interesting things have been happening, and I want to share but alas, I have no time to sit and organize my thoughts. I am hoping to catch up on emails at the end of the week as I will be traveling for a wedding.

And the business of weaving. I really thought I'd have both these backstrap woven projects done by now, but not a chance. I can safely predict that they probably won't be done until September, so you see, no new backstrap projects till then. I have many ideas floating around in my mind, but I don't want to get too many projects started. And I've committed to producing other projects too.

So I'll share some pictures, and well, I'll see you in August :)

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As The Light Grows

.a little bit of practice tablet weaving on the inkle loom.

Not always by my choice, I've done very little weaving as of late. I have two backstraps in progress, one a sample, and the Inkle loom is dressed, woven with a few rows at a time, when time permits. As my time for weaving started to dwindle, I mostly did sampling, a new wool yarn to try, and practicing nawa awapi.

I'm elated that spring is here, but it's an equally difficult time. My rhythm tells me it's time to stick my hands in the earth, clean out the chicken coop and rabbit shed from the winter, but then I remember, I'm not living that life right now. For a few years now, I've buried those feelings, thoughts, but I desperately need to release them.

.nawa awapi, plain tubular, and dropped warp ribete.

I was speaking to a relative recently. Mostly about life's tides. The fear that hospital stays will come back, thou I deeply feel we are past that frequency. I made a comment that I couldn't have imagined that my life would have taken this odd course, the one without a vegetable garden, not putting up our own food, no rabbits, no chickens, and that dream of having a few sheep, or entertaining goats, has not come back to me. She said, yes, I wouldn't have imagined you where you either, but don't give up.

It's time to let go of what I'm not doing, mind you, I also have a great appreciation for all the thing I've done in the meantime, it does not go unnoticed by me, formost being a mother.

.an ambitious warp that will be a WIP for sometime, I wish I could memorize the pattern.

If I'm honest, I think I would have to say I gave up. Or I would change the goal and say, I will eventually have at least 6 chickens, or, just two rabbits, lol. But, I've come to the realization that I am not quite ready to give up entirely. Something deep within me has shifted and I know the next few years are bringing profound change. I'm not sure it's the change I think I want, but it's coming, and I still want to believe that I have the desire to influence that change.

.on the inkle loom.

That's where I'm at these days, on the cusp of a new shift. The possibility of things to come.

The next two weeks will bring an end to an insane amount of commitments, activities, birthdays, and holidays (sighing in relief). I'm looking forward to a solo trip to Colorado in July for a much awaited wedding. There may even be camping involved, which delights me to no end. I'm ready to spend a few days with the friends that are more family to me than friend. And mostly, to see my sister from another mother (lol) marry an amazing guy!

.a sample, modified Mapuche design.

Let June bring new weaving projects? I hope!

 

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