Category: Finished Object

Inkle Weaving on Rigid Heddle Loom

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I was convinced I could weave an inkle-type band on my Glimakra Emilia. I studied several pictures of inkle looms, and even though they aren't expensive, I still wanted to try this on my loom. So, I dug up two curtain rods, putting one in the highest heddle notch and the other underneath the bottom of the loom. If I do this again, I would spend some time searching for a better dowel or metal skewer to hold the string heddles. 

I then cut and tied the string heddles, warped a very short and simple red and white warp, and started to weave. Even though I thought this would work, I didn't actually think it would work so well. The Emilia has a nice slant that made getting a wide shed easy.

After just 30 minutes of weaving, I had a slightly clunky but nicer-than-I-expected band. Next: dog leash??

Weaving a Band on a Rigid Heddle Loom

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I had a crazy idea to weave a band, and I considered trying my backstrap loom, but then started thinking about weaving it on my Glimakra Emilia. I used my 10 dent heddle, some worsted weight yarn, and an inkle shuttle. There were some good instructions on doing just this in both great rigid heddle books, one by Betty Linn Davenport, and one by Jane Patrick. However, both warned not to expect perfect results, primarily because the heddle spreads out the yarn too wide, and most RH looms don't like a lot of tension.

My loom has the benefit of being extremely sturdy and I really cranked up the tension in order to draw the spread out yarn down into one narrow band. I made certain to warp light colors in the slots so I could try a simple pattern. The heddle was used only to raise and lower the warp, and the inkle shuttle was used to beat the weft.

This was super fun; however, my thick-yarned band looked a little nicer on the loom than off. Whenever I wove the pattern, the edges pushed in a little. So, it's a touch wavy, but I love the rich colors. Next time I'll definitely use a finer, smoother yarn and warp a slightly wider area.  (There's always a next time!) 

Pink Scarf

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My niece is quite an accomplished crafter, and she asked to weave a pink scarf the next time she visited. I bought some extremely pink acrylic yarn from Hobby Lobby. For the warp we used the solid color (Boo Pink), and we doubled the weft with a spotted pink (Pinkalicious). She was able to hemstitch and weave about a foot of the scarf before leaving. I finished up the weaving and realized how slippery the yarn was. She had to really work for her first woven scarf! She did a fantastic job with a thin and difficult yarn, and I think the scarf looks great.

It may be difficult to part with this scarf and mail it to her. Maybe there's enough pink yarn left to make one for myself??

Color Patterns: Four by Four Scarf, Houndstooth

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She's helping! I love it when my cats decide to check out my weaving progress. 

I spent some time weaving color patterns, no pickup sticks are needed. The first attempt was made using Frog Tree Meriboo, and I warped four ends next to four ends of different colors. The weft was done the same way: four picks of purple, four picks of blue. The edges look scalloped because I started the colors on opposite sides. I actually like the look. This scarf, using just 200 yards of yarn, is very petite, coming in at 5" x 48" with about 4" of fringes on each side.

The next attempt is still being finished. It's a houndstooth pattern, created by warping 2 ends by 2 ends of contrasting colors. Again, the weft mirrors the warp pattern. And once again, I began the colors on opposite sides to get the scalloped look. This is an old acrylic yarn that I'd rather not use for anything, but I wanted to try to make a cover for my piano keyboard, and if it doesn't work out, I won't mind at all. (Maybe it will be a kitty blanket!)