Trying Something New

Ok I warped the Inkle Loom again.

New warp for Monk’s Belt

This time I strayed from the Baltic pages of the Inkle Pattern Directory and wandered over to the Monk’s Belt pages. Alas and alack, I started learning a bit from the get go. Though it looks like a pick up pattern again the warping of the loom was very different from anything I have done yet.

Do you see the difference?

If you look closely at the above picture, you will that there are three heddled warps together with one unheddled after. The burgundy here are a basic plain weave threading. each are every other one heddled and unheddled. But… and this is a big but. The green warps are all heddled. So this all means that three are heddled together. Hmmm… this was enough different to give me some antziness over how this was going to go.

So here we go.

First try at Monk’s Belt

Yikes! not going well at all. just have to remind myself that when I started with Baltic those didn’t go well at first either. But all the same. This isn’t looking good at all. There is plain weave between parts that are suppose to be a flower. Hmmm… No flowers at all here. So what is wrong? Decided that the tension was a bit wonky so if we did something with that maybe there could be help. So I unwarped what you see and then cut sections and retied them on tighter and more even. So lets try this again.

Second try at Monk’s Belt

So with our new better tension and deciding to go with something simpler than the flower, we went to the first sample and started working. Ok I can see the pattern this time. I still don’t like it though. It does recommend that the pattern threads be quite a bit larger than the plain weave threads. Not sure that would really help. At least with my liking it.

So the question is now will I finish this band? Not sure. I think I may just try different patterns down it and see how they look. Not as homogenous as all the previous bands but will not be wasting this warp. I had already discussed (with myself) throwing this warp away. Alas I love the colors. I hate wasting it all. So hence it still resides on the loom.

I see a Baltic pattern in these colors in the very near future.

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Baltic 5: Thin and Fast

I have now done another inkle band and it was also a Baltic pattern. Now this time around I did figure out what the number stands for. It is the number of pattern threads in the warp. Seems simple enough but took me quite awhile to sort that on my own, and it did make this ole brain befuddled for a short bit.

Beginning my second Baltic pattern

But back at the ranch, I looked through the patterns and picked a simpler one than the last one and picked black and green threads. I really like the pattern and the colors. One great thing here is that the pattern was easy to see what one was to do next, so I didn’t need to keep the book out and could just work away at it. There was only one line that I tended to mess up, but it didn’t take but one more row to catch it. So easy to go back and fix.

Original homemade shuttle and new one

I did decide during this that the original homemade shuttle needed to be retired as the points were getting torn and catching easily on the warp threads. So got another box from the trash and made a new one. It actually is thicker, but i don’t think it will last as long. Will have to see. I think the next one will be out of plastic, if I remember to save some next time some comes in here. Actually, can’t wait to have my own wood shuttles again. Lots of things I can’t wait till again, but the Lord is saying wait some more, so wait some more and making do, we are.

Finished band

Amazing how fast this one was to do compared to the last one. Now, only dealing with 5 pattern threads does make a difference and a simpler pattern helps. It does seem so much longer than the other, but I know that has to do with how thin it is.

The two bands lying together

So here are the two bands together. I do love how it looks if I were to sew them together. I am contemplating several bands sewn together for a larger piece. If I go with this I need to do another of this one. Alas I did learn something laying them out – despite thinking my beating was consistent, it very much wasn’t. This part looks better than some. but the waves do not line up perfectly across from each other.

Always something else to work on. Does anyone ever become a total master of their craft?

Baltic Style Inkle Finished!

Finished and still on the loom

Ok, I did finish the inkle weaving I wrote about last. I must first thank Barb and Diane for giving advice after my last post. It went much better, and I think I got fairly consistent with my selvedges. I actually wove more of the warp than I ever have tried on the loom. Only about 3 inches not woven.

Close up of pattern and weaving

Several things are seen in the above photo. One is that rough beginning I wrote about before. Hopefully you can tell it did get better in the lower runs. And you can see in the top right corner one problem I had near the end. Yes, one warp thread for some reason, unknown even now, came quite loose. It didn’t untie from its other end but must have come loose enough anyway. That did make that last bit of weaving a bit of a chore. I was always having to pull it straight and fiddle it to make it lay right but we did manage it just so we could get as far as we did. Sometimes I just get something in my head and so continue when really one should quite and call it good. But despite probably pushing it too far, I was quite pleased that after the rough start my pattern and the book’s looks very much alike. Yippy!

The completed band

So here is the completed band. And though at one moment I was done with Baltic weaving – Guess what? Yes, I already want to try another one in the book and maybe weave several to sew together and make a larger piece. I do like to dream big so will see how it goes.

I must say one thing this picture does for me is show improvement and for that I am thankful. So will the next one be perfect? Hardly I doubt, but hopefully will make this look sad in comparison.

Oh and the colors here are better than the other post. These are how it really looks.

A Forgotten Belt – Found

Don’t you love surprises that make it feel like Christmas any time of the year? Well, that is what happened this past week for me. I have a drawer with  shawls that I pull out on Sunday’s to wear in a way too cold church for me. (In fact I almost died last Sunday – well, I felt like I just might freeze to death and get a massive cold off the cold air blowing around.) Anyway, this past week I happened to think that this drawer had more than shawls in it and started digging. That is when I found this forgotten piece of weaving.

Maroon inkle belt with pick up

I made it when I was playing with the inkle loom more than I have lately, and it was a success. Not all my pick up back then looks this good. But anyway, I made it to wear with a dress, but I seldom wear the dress out of the house, so seldom wore the belt, so seldom remember it is hiding away.

Now I need to find a new outfit to wear it with and I think I know what I will try it with first.

Inkle Woven Guitar Strap

I had forgotten this one until a bit ago and found it in my husband’s office. He had once decided to learn to play the guitar but other bits in life got in the way and he hasn’t yet. But, I had made this for him back when he was seeming serious about it.

Now I was incredibly proud of this at the time that I made it. I still do love the colors that are in it but the edges really show that I was a beginner as they aren’t as smooth and even as I would like today.

My inkle loom was made by Mark for me and I have done a few things on it. Here is a picture of it at the time that I was weaving this strap.

I really need to weave another inkle band as it has been some time since I did.