Pippin Weaves!

Day 58: Pippin weaves! By the time I finished hanging the warp last night, I only had a few minutes to weave a header before it was bedtime. This morning, I settled in shortly after breakfast, and was delighted with how quick it was to make progress on a simple band. The borders are loom-controlled, and the center section only has five doubled pattern threads, so there isn't a lot of pickup to be done. I wish I'd used a darker colour for the broken S, but hey, I only warped six feet for this first run. There was a little trial-and-error as I worked out the best point at which to snug up the weft to keep the selvedges even, since when the new shed was fully open, it made it hard to draw it through. I saw that it was not mandatory to open the new shed to the maximum, and by allowing the warp to be very slightly relaxed (operative word, "very"), it allowed the thread to be gently pulled through without danger of breaking it. I see potential experiments here, possibly even extending to weaving turned krokbragd, one of my favourite techniques. Pippin is a winner!

Introducing Pippin

Day 57: Every year, I buy myself a Christmas prezzie. This year, I splurged a bit more than usual after falling in love with a delightful and beautifully made small band loom of an entirely different style. Although it weaves warp-faced bands like an inkle loom, it functions in much the same way as a regular loom, i.e., the sheds (two) are opened by raising or lowering shafts/heddles. Warp is held on the back beam, finished band wound onto the front. And it holds a phenomenal amount of warp for its compact size! It stands a little over a foot and a half tall, and could in a pinch be rested on a lap. It will make bands up to four inches wide. Many weavers name their looms, and of course I have named my "floor model" band looms Jutta and Nelda respectively. This little darling is Pippin!

Bandweaving

Day 104: Of all the yards of bandweaving I have done, this one has got to be my all-time favourite. It was woven on the bonker loom (Glimakra band loom) and has thirteen doubled pattern threads in three shades of green. It measures out at just shy of five yards. And right there, you have one of the reasons I love working on the bonker loom: I can make longer bands than on the inkle, which is limited to about nine feet. As you can see, either side of the band could be used as the surface. When I first started weaving it, I taped a "cheat sheet" to the loom to remind me which pattern threads were to be picked up with each pass of the shuttle. After weaving for a while, the pattern committed itself to memory and the cheat sheet was only necessary when I needed to pick back because I'd lifted the wrong pattern thread.

Christmas-Present-To-Self

Day 359: Every year since I have lived alone, I have celebrated the holidays with what I refer to as a "Christmas-present-to-self." Sometimes, it's purchased out of season (a kayak, for example), but usually, I try to have it arrive as close to December 25th as is reasonable. This year, I rather expected that it would have to be shipped from Sweden to a US supplier and then to me, so when I placed my order, I was anticipating an arrival date some time in late November. It showed up on my doorstep four days later! It took an hour and a half to assemble and an equal amount of time to sort out the warping system, but by evening, I was weaving my first ribbon tape on a Glimakra treadle band loom. By the end of the next day, the two-yard warp was fully consumed, and I pulled it off the loom. That first band was no thing of great beauty. Far from it! The selvedges were rough, it widened and narrowed where I hadn't kept even tension on the weft, but I could see a decided improvement from the start of the band to its terminus. A bit braver, I tried a second warping method which required some engineering and a few innovations in order to put a longer warp on the reels, and in short order, I was again weaving, this time on a wider tape. The piece still has a few foibles which reveal my inexperience with this type of loom, although they are levelling out (literally) as my work progresses. The unusual thing about this style loom is that the warp runs crossways to the weaver's position rather than lengthwise. The shuttle/quill/bobbin is controlled by the left hand while the right runs a beater. Since my band knife (the beater) is taking a little longer to get here, I am for the moment using a table knife, beating the weft into place with the blunt side of the blade. The treadles are on a pulley, raising and lowering the sheds as they are depressed by the weaver's feet. The whole process is much faster than band-weaving on an inkle loom, and the reels can hold a much longer warp. Plus, it's just plain fun to do!