Taking Up Slack

Even with my revised warping system using bag clips to ease out slack, I still wound up with quite a bit at the end of this band, particularly in the green pattern threads. Fortunately, it was possible to work it back toward where it was tied on, so there were no issues in the structure of the band itself, but had the warp been any longer, the threads would probably have become hopelessly tangled. X-ty-x Scandinavians have used Leksand-style looms over the years without difficulty, so it must be something I'm doing wrong. With that thought in mind, I have had an insight I'll be trying as my next experiment.

End Results

Day 107: For an experiment to be considered successful, it has to be repeatable. Can I achieve this twice in succession? I have two motifs left to weave before I take this band off the loom, and I have not had any issues with slack threads. As you can see on the right, where the threads tie onto the warp ribbon, there are no loops of excess. Each time as I have advanced the warp, I've smoothed out the slack and locked it in place behind the bag clips. Over the course of the band, it's evened out. For the record, this band has a narrow border (2 white outer threads and 4 green for a stripe, using 10/2 cotton), and 7 dark blue pattern threads (8/2) on a basket-weave ground (10/2). For the next experiment, I will make the border slightly wider and will add two more pattern threads, but I will probably weave the same length (i.e., on a warp twice the length of the loom and across a card table). Obviously, I don't have a measurement for the finished band yet, but it should be somewhere between 7-9 feet if my calculations are correct, guessing the actual working area.

Try, Try Again

Day 100: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Those seem to be the words to live by when warping a Leksand loom. The bag clips rescued my last band in the end, but what I really need to figure out is how to put a warp on with even tension which can be maintained through the weaving process. I decided to experiment with bag clips in place of choke ties, and as I wound on, I used them to move any slack in the warp toward the cloth roller. This is not a long warp by any means, but neither is it the minimum the loom can accommodate. I butted the loom up against a card table with a peg on the far side, effectively doubling the length to give myself roughly 9-10 feet of workable warp using seven pattern threads for the design. The pattern threads are where the slack comes in, so we'll see how it goes.

Borders

 

Day 134: When making bands, it's good to keep in mind that an attractive border can be as essential to the overall design as the central motif. A border can also be used to add width to a piece, but care should be taken that it doesn't dominate the work (unless, of course, you intend it to do so). Border designs can be employed as spacers between patterned segments, and don't have to be identical to the outer edges. Borders are generally loom-controlled when doing pickup in the middle section, but that's not a hard-and-fast rule, either. Here, I am using white 16/2 cotton for the ground and 10/2 for both the borders and the center motifs, and am weaving this band on my Leksand loom, Jutta. The heart design is pickup on nine pattern threads, with the center section of the adjacent chains in the border echoing the main colour.

Jutta's Band

Day 126: Another loom emptied! And I'm having a little problem...a little grey fuzzy problem...with reloading this one because the warp has to be stretched across the length of the living room. Merry thinks suspended threads are a kitty zip-line, so I have to wait until he looks like he's going to stay soundly asleep for an hour or so before I can even think about stringing a new warp. That's one major difference between a Leksand loom like Jutta and a Scandinavian band-loom like Nelda. A warp destined for Nelda can be measured off on a warping board, chained and managed exactly like the warp on a shafted loom. In my experience, tension problems occur when warping a Leksand loom unless it is direct-warped like a rigid heddle. This particular band was woven with 16/2 cotton for the ground (white), 10/2 singles for both the border and pattern threads. It is a little over five yards in length. Jutta was built by Ed Stevens, and was his prototype model. For that reason, she is very precious to me, and I have to figure out a way to foil Small Cat so she can be about her work again.

Bandweaving

Day 42: I am at the point where several projects are all going to finish up within a few days of each other, which means that my mind is racing. I am so taken with the 10/2 cotton on Inky-Dinky Inkle (as opposed to the 8/2 I usually use) that I really want to use it to weave krokbragd sheep on Nelda (my Glimakra band loom) when I'm done with the last two feet of tablecloth trim (30' worth!), but I'm waiting for a cone of thread to arrive. I think I will use 10/2 on a ground of 16/2 for Jutta (my Leksand band loom, made by Ed Stevens), which is the same combination as what you see mounted on her here. I intend to make a wider band this time, perhaps with 13 pattern threads (there are 7 in the current band, forming the green diamonds in the middle section). Nelda's tablecloth trim (not shown) is 11 pattern threads, which allows for much more detailed designs. Planning, planning! I'm always thinking at least one project ahead per loom, and usually more than I'll ever have time to weave.

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.

Scale - Upping My Game

Day 74: I am always looking to "up my game" with new challenges, particularly in fiberarts, so when I had devised a new and hopefully foolproof way of warping my Leksand loom, I also decided to change the scale of the weaving to one using much finer threads. The band on Pippin (right) uses 8/2 throughout, doubled for the red pattern. Jutta's band (left) is made over a 16/2 white ground with single strands of 10/2 in the border and single 8/2 for the pattern. Obviously, Jutta's delicate band is more suitable for clothing than the 8/2 bands I apply to bags and straps, and is progressing rather more quickly than I'd expected, given the weight of the weft thread (also white 16/2). Many traditional Leksand bands used even finer threads for the ground, something closer to the weight of modern sewing thread which, in fact, present-day Leksand weavers frequently employ. Given the success of this experiment, I may graduate to sewing thread next.

11 mm Band

Day 184: Now I feel I am truly weaving in the Leksand tradition instead of just making pickup bands! This dainty band is only 11 mm wide. I used #80 tatting cotton for the warp, 8/2 cotton for the pattern/coloured threads and weft. I call it "S & Z," appropriate for a spinner's band, given the direction of twist for singles and plied yarn, because that is how the figures appear on the face. However, the reverse side (shown where it is wound onto the cloth reel) is equally attractive. In the course of weaving the first foot or so, I've made some discoveries regarding how the warp should be wrapped around the terminal posts (pattern threads lowest to maximize the "up" shed), and also for the rhythm of the treadle action to eliminate redundant footwork. I nearly have the pattern memorized, and only have to refer to my cheat-sheet for the two throws in each figure which are opposite to one another to make the S or Z. Committing a pattern to memory is crucial to building up speed, and it keeps my old brain flexible.

Jutta's First Band

Day 181: Four days ago, I sat down for the first time at a Leksand loom to make my first few faltering passes in the creation of a band. My fingers were clumsy, holding an unfamiliar tool (the bobbin), and my mind was fogged with habits ingrained while working on the Bonker. The closest simile I've been able to draw would be the switch from driving a car with a clutch to one with an automatic transmission, although in this case, Jutta's solitary "pedal" complicated matters to some degree. More than once, I stomped on air when my foot wanted to raise a different shed because on the Leksand, the sheds are manipulated by hand and band knife. The instinctive response to the need to raise threads was not always the correct one. When operating in one mode, "up" meant "up," as in "point your toes up," while in another, it meant the opposite, i.e., push down with your toes to raise a shed. By the time I got to the end of my warp, I felt more comfortable with the method and was actually starting to build up some speed. But now comes the serious part. Having taken my "trial run" off the loom, now I have to hang another warp, and will be using a different system than the one Ed showed me. Wish me luck. If you don't see me tomorrow, listen for the sound of my head banging against a wall.

Two Looms, Two Bands, Two Methods

Day 180: Obligations kept me away from home most of yesterday and I was unable to give as much attention to my weaving as I would have liked. Frustrating, when you have a new toy and can't find the time to play with it! But my mind was hard at work, and although science might pooh-pooh the idea, I think I was building muscle memory even without performing the physical actions. When I was finally able to sit down with Jutta, my treadle foot and hands seemed to know what they were supposed to do. The blue band is my "skill-building project" for Jutta. The mushrooms are krokbragd, and are being woven on the bonker (Glimakra band loom).

As a sidebar here, I have a little story to tell. Since I was going to be sitting in a waiting room yesterday for a couple of hours, I needed some handwork to occupy the time. I thought it might be a good time to conduct a social experiment, so I packed up the supported spindle, some of my Ice Caves wool blend, and two small skeins of the finished yarn I've made with it so far. I positioned myself in the room at a point where I could be clearly seen by the office staff and milling salespeople and began spinning. It took slightly over an hour before the first curious onlooker dared approach me. "What is that?" she asked. "A supported spindle," I said. "It's a technique for making yarn." There was a pause, during which I drew out another length of wool and set the spindle to turning in its bowl. "You're...making yarn?" she said. I pulled the two finished skeins out of my bag and handed them to her. "Oh, that's LOVELY!" she said. "What will you make with it?" I told her it was destined to become socks, and explained that I'd combined wool with rayon to make them durable. She went back to her desk and I resumed spinning. Over the next hour, several other employees went to her rather than approaching me. "What's she doing, anyway?" and she would explain, "Making yarn!" It was a subtle way to increase awareness of the craft, a "free demo," if you will, which I hope might lead at least one of them toward their own exploration of fiberarts.

Meet Jutta, My Leksand Loom

Day 179: Meet Jutta, my Leksand loom. None of my other looms are named, unless you count the Bonker, but this distinguished lady deserves more than to be called simply "the Leksand loom." I spent several years of my youth living in Ballard, Seattle's Scandinavian district, and I think that must be where I first heard the name. I loved the sound of it as it flowed from a Norwegian or Swedish mouth: "Iyuuutt-ta," a distinct pause separating the two t's, and a U formed deep in the back of the throat and so round you could roll it across a pool table. It stuck so firmly in my mind that I gave the name to a character in a fictional piece about park rangers, Jutta Arnestad coming into being in the storyline long before there was an Arnie in my life. In any event, before I retired last night, Jutta had been given her name, but we were still struggling a bit with her job performance. Like so many things I've learned over the years, I had to sleep on it to let everything Ed had taught me soak in. This morning's session produced a much better band. Jutta produces many of the same type of bands I weave on the bonker (not sure about krokbragd yet), but she arrives at the destination via a different route in the same way that weaving with two heddles and two pickup sticks on a rigid heddle loom can give you the same four sheds you'd open on a standard loom by operating treadles. The end result is the same, but the process is different. You'll be seeing more of Jutta as we become better acquainted, each of us learning the other's foibles.