Designs that pickup both heddled and unheddled threads are so visually interesting. The whole look of the band is completely changed. And, amazingly, at most I am only picking up five threads in any given row.
In cleaning out a bag that holds one of my inkle looms, one that I had not used in a while, (the bag, not the loom) I found a plastic baggie full of string heddles. I have no memory of ever making them…
I make all my heddles out of Omega Nylon Yarn. The yarn makes heddles that are slippery enough to not stick to my warp but strong enough to stay tied and not come apart. The best part is I can have fun colors designated for each loom. Do you have a favorite material for heddles?
The big bundle of red ones are the ones I don’t remember making. I twist them into little skeins and store them on mini alligator clip paperclips. They store so nicely in this little box. I used to store my heddles on the looms, but realized they needed a different home. What happens to the extra heddles when I am using the loom, or all the looms ( yes, sometimes all my looms are occupied)? This has turned out to be the best solution so far. How do you store your heddles?
Again, I am reminded of how much I am enjoying the journey of this weaving study. There are so many possibilities for design on a horizontal stripe warp. This was such a simple motif to weave, yet creates such an attractive pattern. If I set the diamonds closer and wove additional diamonds in each row it could resemble a harlequin pattern. How cool would that be?
Until next time,
warp, weave, and be happy! ~ Jennifer
P.S. Today’s motif is from The Weaver’s Inkle Pattern Directory: 400 Warp-Faced Weaves by Anne Dixon, page 38.
More rhombuses. These bring to mind trellises leaning against a wall. Using two threads at each pick or row made these nice and bold.
I did modify this just a titch by making the overall motif shorter. The pattern in the book has the white one starting at the last pick of the black one. My warp may not make it to the end of the month, so I’m trying to conserve. Every row helps.
In my next post I will share three days in one. They are my favorite yet, and really make sense to be shared together. Yes, I looked ahead… I’ll be away from my loom and don’t want to fall behind. So I had to peak, but I stopped at three days.
Day 8 brings what looks to me like a rhombus doing a yoga stretch. I modified this one a bit, found on page 28 in Inkle by Evelyn Neher. The original motif is about half the size of mine, at only 13 picks long, but the band the original is woven on has a narrower pick-up area. Something just told me to fill my whole weaving area, which added 20 more rows of weaving. If I keep straying from the original designs, I am going to run out of warp before I planned. I guesstimated the length of my warp based on the average number of picks in 30 motifs. If I keep weaving more than planned for . . . Well, it is an adventure, right?
Playing with outlines again. This motif is very attractive. Wouldn’t it make a pretty band woven at intervals along an entire band. I can image the band warped with a fourth color in the middle. Something bold like red? Bright, maybe yellow? Ooo, or maybe multiple colors in one bold stripe? Hmmm…
Shuttle is loaded and ready for more weaving.
Isn’t this green from Lunatic Fringe just yummy? I’m seven days into weaving the first band of my daily band practice and I ran out of weft. This is one of my favorite shuttles to weave with, but it doesn’t hold a lot of weft. It was interesting, however, to calculate that I’ve used 6.8 yards of weft so far, that’s more weft than I would have thought. If my average amount of weaving stays the same, I will use approximately 350 yards of weft. Now I’m curious and will have to keep track.
If 2020 taught me anything, it is that time is a funny thing. This year time seemed to flow like molasses at warp speed. When things started to shut down I thought that we would have so much more time to do the things we never seem to have enough time for, like weaving. But, amazingly, the opposite happened. I seem to have less time for everything, especially weaving. Weaving is very important to me, and yet, I can never find time for it. So, 2021 is all about intentionally making time to use my inkle loom.
This year I have finally committed to do a daily weaving practice. Or should I say a daily band practice. Yes, pun intended. 😊
A few years ago, I took a workshop tapestry weaving workshop taught by Tommye Scanlin. She talked about her practice of weaving a tapestry diary. Her tapestry diaries are a way to practice her art daily and to chronicle her year. That was the first time I had ever heard of a daily weaving practice; the idea has intrigued me since. Her tapestry diaries are amazing. You are sure to enjoy them and should peruse her gallery of tapestry diaries.
Another artist who has influenced me to do this is Windy Chien, author of The Year of Knots. Windy decided to learn to tie a new knot every day for a year and chronicled her practice on Instagram, @theyearofknots. The work she produced for her year of knots is a feast for the eyes.
A horizontal stripe warp has always been my favorite for pick-up patterns and will be the warp for each band (unless inspiration leads me in a different direction – you never know when inspiration may strike). Choosing this warp perfectly fits with another inkle goal I’ve had for a very long time; to work through one of my favorite inkle books, Evelyn Neher’s self-published book Inkle. Using just her patterns on a horizontal stripe warp will get me through the first 72 days of the year!
Self published in 1974. An amazing book and rare find, grab one if you can!
To keep myself on track, I made a few simple rules for myself:
1. Interact with my loom for at least 15 minutes every day, either weaving or warping.
2. Post my progress daily.
3. Enjoy the weaving.
I invite you to follow along with my #dailybandpractice here on my blog, on Instagram @dailybandpractice, or on Facebook @inkledpink. And, here is day 1!
Day 1 of #dailybandpractice. Page 23, Inkle by Evelyn Neher
Do you have a daily weaving/fiber/art/ or other creative practice? Have you ever done one in the past?
Other inspirational daily fiber practices you should definitely check out:
1. One Button A Day (@ginabsilkworks on IG), by Gina Barrett. She hand stitched an amazing button a day for a year. The final collection is museum worthy. Check out both years 2016, and 2020.
2. One Year of Stitches (@1yearofstitches on IG) by Hannah Claire Somerville. While we have all sheltered in place, Hannah has “stitched in place” since March, a stitch a day. The stitch she chose is so perfect to chronicle such a bizarro year. She has been stitching her way through the years since 2016.
It must match! That is usually my philosophy when it comes to my selvedges and my choice for weft yarn. The little peek-a-boo of color that dots the sides when the weft color does not match the warp color disturbs my sensibilities. But then, one day while looking at all the eye candy on the inkle Facebook page I saw a post by the uber talented inkle weaver Annie MacHale, about a “braided” inkle band edge. Annie has such a wonderful eye for color, it is not a surprise she designed this ingeniously lovely edge. My philosophy quickly became a distant memory. I had to give it a try. The result is now one of my favorite bands! And with Annie’s okay, I share “how to” with you.
To “braid” your selvedges, you need three colors of yarn, preferably with a noticeable color differnce. Use color one for the first warp thread and color two for the second warp thread. Warp the rest of the band according to your pattern until you come to the last two warp threads. Repeat the same process for your last two warp threads as you did for the first two. Use color three as your weft yarn to create a “braid”.
However, beware. . . After I started weaving I realized my selvedges did not match. . .
How could this be? Here is a tip: remember to reverse the warping order of the last two colors when you get to the end. The first and last warp threads show as the “dominant” color. So, by warping the first thread with rust and the last thread with white, the edges where different. To make them match I should have warped the first and last threads with the same color.
While I did not intend to make my selvedges different colors, I actually like the way it turned out and now, if I choose to, I can recreate the mistake- or shall we say, design element?
So, why is this my favorite band? It feels fantastic! It has the most pleasant hand of any band I have ever woven. And I love the colorway. I do not usually work with autumnal colors.
This was my first time working Patons Yarn. The warp is Patons Grace 100% mercerized cotton and Patons Grace Wool and the weft also is the Patons Grace mercerized cotton. I was a bit nervous that the wool would be “sticky” and I would have trouble making a shed. It stuck a very little, but nothing an extra shimmy of the shuttle at the fell line could not fix. I can not wait to warp another band with only the cotton for the warp. I really am a cotton girl at heart. I just love working with the stuff.
Cheers to “braided” selvedges! Hopefully, you will give it a try the next time you warp up your loom.
Celebration time – January is National Hobby Month! Really, there’s a month for that? How cool, a month dedicated to exploring one’s hobby. My hobby (a.k.a. passion) and reason d’être for this blog, is inkle weaving. We met two years ago. It was love at first warp.
An awesomely talented weaver (B.L.) in my guild, Weavers of Orlando (WoO), offered to teach me and a fellow member how to weave on an inkle loom. During that lesson I knew I’d found my weaving calling. The creative bug that lives in me couldn’t stop smiling. Nor could I. The process was almost instant gratification. Warping and weaving were fast. The fabric it produced was beautiful. Oh, this was for me.
Every year WoO holds a holiday sale of members’ lovely handcrafted items. Being a new weaver with little time I had never participated. That year I wanted in and wanted a not too time consuming, but quality, project to submit. I came up with watches using inkle weaving for the bands.
my first inkle project
I recently turned the first band I wove into a belt for a friend. It only took me two years to do it, but she loved it.
My first band.
Merrium-Webster’s dictionary defines a hobby as “a pursuit outside one’s regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation”. Yes, inkle weaving is relaxing, but it also energizes me. I find so much joy in watching my inkle bands grow as I weave and coming up with ways to use them. While January is designated as National Hobby Month, I celebrate my hobby every month.
inkled pink 