Why spend time doing things like "writing my dissertation " when instead I could be making a shoelace

Working on my first tablet weaving on my new inkle loom that I constructed myself!

I've graduated to tablet weaving, which is inkle weaving but with a bunch of cards that you twist around to make patterns. It's a little fussy, but the results are completely worth it.

I spent the SCA meeting warping my Ashton belt! I'm trying a new technique and I'm not sure if it has a name. I warp two threads at the same time (one thick thread in matte cotton, and one fine metallic machine embroidery thread) and treat them as a single thread.

Ideally the metallic threads will remain subtle yet provide a cool iridescent flash through the weaving, and won't tangle everything up hopelessly. We shall see! I'm gonna throw on a podcast or something and see how far I can weave in the 3 hours before I go to bed.

Tried my hand at Inkle and Card weaving.

The second photo is of my inkle weaving, tension is all over the place. My mother did the card weaving and is much more consistent... and strong enough to make a belt!

Literally all I want to do is inkle weaving.

I finished the sheeps, then made a quick, shorter band to try out baltic style pick-up weaving! My tension on the pick up band is incredibly uneven, but I'm still really proud of it.

The sheeps were woven using tablet weaving and the cables are the baltic pick-up, also sometimes called basketweave pick-up. I'm looking forward to tryinf more of this style of weaving!

I’m gonna weave myself some suspenders. (Important first step: warping the damn loom wrong.)

Started a new band to use as trim on a shirt I’m in the middle of sewing. This is the original pride flag designed by Gilbert Baker. The orange blends in with the red next to it more than I’d like, but I was working with limited colours in the sewing thread stash. It’s got better contrast in person.

Each colour section is 10 doubled threads wide, for a total of 160 threads. In this section I was trying doubled weft as well - one of the purple warp and one of the pink. It’s, eh, okay I guess? I think the dark bumps on the pink irritate me less than the light bumps on the purple.

Keeping the doubled weft threads the same tension is a bit of a pain though, so I’ll go back to one thread in the weft when I need to join more in (I only wound a short length of weft to test with). Maybe if I’m lucky there’s a colour in the thread box that will blend with both sides of the warp.

I might try thin stripes of brown and/or black between each colour on the next band, as a nod to progress pride while honouring the history of the movement. (I wouldn’t have to deal with different coloured weft bumps if I put a brown or black border on each side, too.)

That voice in your head that says you can totally warp up that pattern after dinner? That's the devil. Halfway through a stack of cards you is definitely not interested and especially not pleased to know its all over your bed so they can't even give up and go to sleep.

Happy New Year! I've decided to start 2024 out by making something deeply frivolous: Handwoven rainbow shoelaces.

Are they something I could buy? Absolutely. But the act of staring at the brightly colored yarn is making me happy while I practice keeping my selvedges pretty and my tension even.

Last night I finished up the first length of trim I'm making for my Regency Zelda costume, and pulling it off the loom really showed how much practice I need to keep everything even. Not surprising, given that I only started weaving two months ago and have mostly been using a rigid heddle loom! I'm thoroughly enjoying being new at a craft and giving myself the grace to make things even though they won't be perfect.

That's something I kind of lost sight of with cosplay and sewing. I was holding myself to the kind of standards that made every project just kind of stall out as I got in my own way, second guessing myself and my skull level. Getting past that feeling and back to the joy of making things is something I've been working on and something I hope to carry into the new year.

Trans flag woven band on an inkle loom! The cotton crochet thread I used makes it so surprisingly strong

Pride diamonds!

This pattern and variations here: twistedthreads.org/set/MGkr6GpGGbMWZd85r

Two meters of Inkle loom plain weave took me only a few days to finish --that's being very careful with keeping the edges even-- unlike my other projects which usually take a month or so. 😅

I hope my sister likes this bag strap. I also hope the length is ok for her to use. The adjustable range is 1-2 meters.

I finished a thing today. It’s a thing I’ve been putting off for a few weeks. The apron I love to use had a part that was falling apart - so my husband, new to weaving, wove a replacement for it. It was a little thin, so after I sewed the ends so the weaving wouldn’t unravel, I put two lengths together to make it wider. I took a picture after attaching it to the apron - you can see the old ragged material, the wider woven piece, and the length that was left.

Why did I put it off for a few weeks? Probably because I was worried it wouldn’t be perfect. I wasn’t sure of my ability to incorporate my husband’s work into another piece and have it both look good and work well. What changed? Nothing - I just decided it needed to be done, not perfect. Now I can use my apron again without worries! Yay!!

Opalescent handspun wool yarn.