Fantasy Trim

Day 124: Looms seldom stand empty in this house for more than 24 hours. Almost always, there is a "warp in waiting" wound on a warping board, next in line to follow whatever project I'm close to finishing. I'd been thinking about krokbragd sheep as I approached the end of the red-and-green band I posted a few days ago, but then remembered that the "Crackle Weave Fantasy" tablecloth (HPB, green version, p. 196, VI) needed trim. The sheep would have to wait. Using two of the four colours from the tablecloth, I ran eight yards of warp with nine doubled pattern threads for my design. The border chains are threaded singly. When I weave a patterned band on Nelda (my Glimakra band loom), I put the ground and border threads through heddles, but I run the pattern threads straight through with empty heddles on either side of them to keep them from twisting together. This arrangement means that when I open the shed, the pattern threads are suspended between the top and bottom layers of background. Between the posts, I use the band knife to pick up the ones I need, transfer them to the shed with my hand, reiinsert the knife in the shed and then pass the shuttle. It's a little slower going than if I had heddled the pattern threads, but I find it much easier to see what I'm doing, and there's no danger of accidentally picking up a ground thread while manipulating the pattern threads.

Nelda's Tablecloth Band

Day 44: This band was designed to go around the border of a crackle-weave tablecloth. There are over two dozen individual motifs which appear somewhat randomly along its 26-foot length, each spaced by a repeating design. Mixed motifs are found in some Scandinavian trims, and the element of chaos just seemed to appeal to me. I warped Nelda (my Glimakra band loom) with what I thought was plenty of extra length, and partway through the weaving process, I said to myself, "Maybe there will be enough to put over the seams where I've sewed the panels together."** Wouldn't you know it? I'm about a foot short. At this point, I have three choices: leave the seams exposed (not really an option I'm considering), re-warp Nelda with enough to make five more feet of the same trim, or warp her with enough to make 11 feet of a different, narrower band to cover the two seams. I'll have to give this a chunk of think. Right now, I'm pretty tired of working on this particular project.

**That's a painful admission: I did not care for the way the tablecloth panels joined. I should have broken the tablecloth draft at a different point for the selvedges.

Ways To Weave

Day 36: A weaving group I participate in on line is celebrating their anniversary today, and we were asked to take pictures of our various looms. This is my collection. From top left, they are Max (Bergman countermarch floor loom), Pippin (a "Weave Ahoy" 2-shaft) ... and Merry helping; Schacht table loom; Jutta (Leksand made by my weaving partner Ed) and Nelda (Glimakra band loom); two rigid heddles and a frame loom; inkle looms big and small; assorted manual looms, including three pin looms, a backstrap, a bandgrind and two types of tablet weaving cards. I usually have at least one of the two rigid heddles loaded, but since I direct-warp them (which is to say I stretch the threads from one end of the living room to the other) and have a Small Helper who loves to play with/eat strings, I haven't set either one up. Inky-Dinky Inkle's band was finished before bedtime last night, and I'll be putting a new warp on it today. Max's project is nearing completion, as are the bands on Jutta and Nelda. Time to reload!

Banding Together

Day 23: I feel like I have been working on these two bands for ages. Rowdy little cats get very curious about moving feet as well as dangling threads and bobbins, and tempting webs of warp entice little paws into all sorts of mischief. That said, I've made enormous progress on both bands over the last few days as I fidget and fuss over situations beyond my control. I don't recall how much warp I put on Jutta (the band on the left) other than that it stretched all the way across my living room. Nelda's is at least thirty feet long, the measure determined by the crackle-weave tablecloth it will eventually adorn. The thread is twice the weight of Jutta's ground thread. As long as I wait until Small Cat is having a nap, I think there's hope that I may finish these up fairly soon.