Choosing an Inkle Loom – What to look for

A brief discussion of what I’m looking for when setting up an inkle loom, as far as crucial peg locations go.

I recently spent a week teaching and selling silk at Gulf Wars, a weeklong SCA event, and ended up talking with a nice young lady about the inkle loom she’d bought; she was trying to figure out how to warp it and how to measure the heddles. Coincidentally that’s when I was reminded that a lot of inkle loom makers are not inkle loom weavers. So what follows is a discussion of what I look for in an inkle loom, design wise. (I’m also looking for good construction: pegs and base that aren’t too thin so that it doesn’t bend under tension, construction that’s solid and can withstand occasional drops, etc.)

And yes; I use coloured strings to keep track of what I’m measuring; always check the heddle loop lengths; it’s tempting to assume that it is always the length between the top and heddle pegs, but depending on the loom design this can be quite wrong.

The Four Peg Weaving Area

The four pegs that control the weaving area are the front, top, back, and heddle pegs. Other pegs will be arranged around them, because a pegged inkle loom is warped in a circular warp fashion. These four pegs should not be mobile in any way.

An inkle loom is usually warped with threads following alternating paths – the red path is the “Open” path, which is not controlled by a heddle, and the green path is the “Heddled” path, which has a sharp corner created by the blue heddle. The size of the shed is controlled by the red path, which is moved up or down to create the two possible sheds.

When I start using a new inkle loom, the first thing I do is warp the loom with two loops, one following the open path, the other the heddled path, so that I can measure the length of the heddles, and so that I can check the position of the pegs for weaving. (Sometimes after this check, I decide to use a different peg as the heddle peg.)

Things to look for in the Four Peg Weaving Area

The (red) open path is the one that shifts up and down to create the shed; ideally the green heddled threads stay immobile. As such, I need enough room for the red threads to lift above, and press down below, the green thread. The sheds are created by lifting up/pressing down the red area not covered by the green thread. If the shed is very small, I will need to compensate for that in the weaving, by using a slimmer shuttle or – if possible – choosing a different peg as the heddle peg.

Be careful when checking warping paths, by the way; the warp cannot go around the heddle peg; you wouldn’t be able to advance the band once the woven area reached the heddles.

How to Measure the Length of the Heddles

I like to use double-length heddles; these are loops that sit on the heddledle peg, fold around the warp string, and then back on the heddle peg. That allows you to add heddles easily while warping. When I’m measuring I also tend to colour code my string, so in this case I want to measure a blue (heddle) string long enough to fold the green string down to match the red string, as per the figure above.

Once you’ve got an open and a heddled warp string on the loom, to measure the length of the heddle, start with the blue string above the green. Go down on one side of the green string, around the heddle peg and back up, then do the same on the other side of the green string. Cut, leaving yourself a generous tail, and then carefully tie a square knot so that the green warp string follows the correct path. (For a singled heddle, just go down to the heddle peg once, but now you have to make sure the loop goes around the warp string.)

Once you’ve got a heddle loop cut and knotted to size, you can experiment with the various pegs on the loom to see which two pegs can be used to create a loop of the same size. Use those two pegs to create your heddle loops for the weaving project.

The Tension Bar

The tension bar should not be one of the four pegs that control the weaving area; the tension bar is the movable peg that allows you to shift the band around the loom by releasing the tension, and then tighten everything back into place. If the tension peg is also the front peg, the weaving area will change as you weave, which means the shed created by the heddle loops will change over time.

Having a tension peg near the front usually makes weaving easier since you can adjust it while weaving without having to shift the loom around; it just shouldn’t be the front peg.

Enjoy your weaving …

Now that you have the heddle loops knotted, you can go ahead and warp, alternating open and heddled strings as per the usual inkle weaving.

Fever

I must go back to the loom again, to the lonely warp bereft,
And all I ask is the pattern sweet, and a shuttle holding weft.
And the harness’ rise, and the shuttle’s clack, and the weft’s waves flying
And the reed’s pull on the fabric, and the waves straightened lying.

I’ve always been fond of John Masefield’s “Sea Fever”.

So this happened today. Just needs a name, really, since “Weave Fever” doesn’t work and “Loom Fever” is also wrong on some level> And this is also a reminder to myself to start posting again, dangit.

I must go back to the loom again, to the lonely warp bereft,
And all I ask is the pattern sweet, and a shuttle holding weft.
And the harness’ rise, and the shuttle’s clack, and the weft’s waves flying
And the reed’s pull on the fabric, and the waves straightened lying.
I must go back to the loom again, for the call of the warp I’ve tied
Is a wild call, and a clear call, that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a cosy day, with the sunlight glowing,
And the shuttle’s throw and the treadle’s rise and the weaving flowing.
I must go back to the loom again, to the gentle weaving life,
To the rose path, and the diamond twill, where the pattern turns are rife,
And all I ask is a pretty yarn for a laughing fellow-rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long warp’s over.

Celtic Chains on 12 harness looms

Today is a twiddling kind of day, while watching software install.

I haven’t had the energy to play with the 12 harness loom for a while, but I’m hoping to get back to that soon. Meanwhile here’s one more pattern I can try weaving on Esme when time and energy allow. If it wasn’t for the M-W warping that’s already on the loom, I could just warp threads from 1 – 12, and repeat, and all the chains would face the same way.

Rampant Ram of Gleann Abhann

It’s a pattern for the Gleann Abhann rampant ram, in all its tabletweaving glory.

So I was recently reminded that lo these many years ago I had woven some rampant rams in a baldric or two in kingdom colours, and someone asked me for patterns.

Now the Gleann Abhann colours are red/ black, and white: the background being red and black, and the ram being sheepishly white. And I will admit my ram isn’t pizzled (although that fleck of black almost hints to me …)

And having found a picture dating back to April 2015, next was to see if I still had the graphed pattern. back then, many patterns were graphed on paper, rather than in the computer, because paper was handy.

And look what I found. Ready for printing. It’s doubleface, the pattern is only 30 cards wide, and will look best if you start weaving the pattern (which is woven from the bottom up) when the white in the right hoof creates a \/\ pattern. If it doesn’t, back up and weave one more row of background before you start the pattern.

This pattern, btw, is free to use to make Gleann Abhann tokens. Attribution would always be preferred, but it’s not suitable for commercial use.

Blackwork and Pincushions

Brief description of making a biscornu.

So as I mentioned in the previous post, there’s an enchanting stitch along of 36 blackwork squares. And while I don’t have the energy, yet, to commit to 36 squares in one project, I was reminded of an old project I had previously enjoyed, which requires two squares of fabric to make a pin cushion.

Specifically, a biscornu, which is a kind of pin cushion created by sewing two squares together along the edges so that the resulting three dimension shape is octagonal.

The biscornu was created by first embroidering two squares on 28ct even weave fabric, using 60/2 silk (because I have lots of 60/2 silk handy) using the doublesided running stitch commonly used for black work. (Or in this case blue and green work?)

Then the squares are each surrounded by a red square, embroidered using the back stitch and keeping the tension loose. As you can see in the picture, the center of the top most edge of the lower square is marked with an extra stitch.

Both squares embroidered. There are some guide stitches basted in; I didn’t remove the urple since it ended up in the middle of the pincushion.

Assembly is harder to describe than to do, but basically the two squares are cut apart and then whip stitched together by looping under the red loops and slowly drawing it tight. Almost like lacing the two sides together.

The key point is that the corner of one square will always meet the center of one side of the other square. So when you start, you place the corner of the other square right up against that center little mark, and whip stitch together half a side. Then continue going around the corner, leaving the yarn loose until you’ve whipped around 4 or 5 stitches and then tightening the lacing.

I stuffed the pin cushion with some merino roving I had on hand when I had one side left to whip together. In hindsight I should have used more stuffing. Final step was to stitch together through both sides in the center and tie off. Without that final stitch, the result is much more like a pumpkin …

Both sides of the finished biscornu, seen from above.

Stitchalong Blocks – Quick link

Quick link to two lovely embroidery stitchalongs.

This is mostly to remind myself of these stitchalongs when I have time again. (Stop giggling back there, I can hear you. Ditto the smirking.)

https://cliffsidestitches.com/stitch-alongs/

These are patterns from a lady who describes herself as follows in the About section:

I’m a needlework designer and stitcher, specializing in modern interpretations of traditional motifs from around the world. My designs are not meant to be historically accurate reproductions. I frequently adapt patterns and colors to appeal to a 21st-century sensibility, while respecting the spirit of the original source. Although I employ a variety of techniques including canvaswork and surface embroidery, I am particularly attracted to cross stitch and blackwork because of their widespread use in many cultures and time periods.
https://cliffsidestitches.com/about/

Playing with Quilting Block designs – Field of Flowers

So for Christmas this year I acquired a modular pinloom from a seller on etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/TotaLoom). The looms are modular, with pin bars and angled corner pieces, so that you can arrange it into hexes and diamonds, and squares, etc. (The angles I have so far are 60, 90, and 120 degrees.) Of course, then the question becomes what to make. I started with making diamonds with some yellow acrylic I had left over from mom’s visit.

And then this morning I started noodling about patterns. This pattern block uses the hexagon as it’s main inspiration, although all the shapes are variations of the hexagon so that they can all be woven with the continuous warp approach. I’m calling this one the Field of Flowers, and I’m thinking I can vary the fields by using different colours.

Resizing a pouch – adjusting the pattern

So it started with the green pouch, which was knitted on 000 needles with 2/18 merino wool, and each side was 33 stitches wide. The green pouch is a cute little pouch, and the other side is actually a reverse image colour wise, as you can see in the picture below where the needles are rearranged so that the eventual side seam is in the center of the picture.

In progress, you can see the colour change happening on the side seam.

So in the new blue and white pouch I had some design choices to make. For starters, I wanted to make it larger, so decided I would use larger needles – 00 rather than 000 – and I would have three pattern repeats across a side rather than two. Switching the needle size results in a slightly less dense fabric after finishing; when I knit this wool the 000 ends up being just a little tight. The 00 size is hitting a sweet spot; 0 produces a light and flowy fabric that is not ideal for pouches. (So now I have to train Sammie to stop eating the pink knitting needles, those being the size 00 ones.)

So I was just going to grab the previous pattern and insert an extra flower. Easy. The original pattern is 33 stitches wide – 2 times 16 and a 1 stitche repeat on the edge, so just add another 16 stitches making each side 49 stitches wide.

It wasn’t until I’d knitting past the row of 6 florets on the top that I grabbed the graphed pattern and realized my mistake. In the original pattern the flowers are not in the middle of each half of the pouch, but are a little closer to the center. Adding another flower means adding 13 stitches, not 16. But I was already half an inch into the pouch, which means I’d been knitting for well over an hour. Time to pull out the inkscape again and fix the problem.

So this pattern looks a little odd because of the dots on the left side; that’s the 49th stitch which didn’t fit on the graph but is there. (Since someone asked, as always, the pattern is knitted from the bottom up, which is a habit I developed while tablet weaving. It doesn’t matter much either way, but knitting it top down results in the little crosses not looking like fleur de lys.) The green line, by the way, is the dividing line between two of the four needles holding stitches. I knit these using 5 double pointed needles, so each side of the pouch is 2 needles wide.

Adding more class notes

Braid using 8 loops and 3 different techniques.

Sometimes an appendix in A&S documentation screams to be be turned into class notes. In this case, the class notes are for fingerloop braiding: specifically to braid a sampler that on eight loops … except when some loops are doubled up and you work with effectively six or four loops.

I’ve added the new class notes to Class Notes, but the pdf is available here, all 4 shiny pages.

FingerloopBraiding_Sampler_01 Download

Variations on a Theme of Grecian Keys

Blathering a bit about designing and iterating a design.

So musing some more about pattern design, and specifically designing for small pouches. I wanted to do something with a greek key design so I started with a simple pattern. (Okay, I was inspired by the thought of thorny rose stems, but then got carried away … It happens) And as you can see below, this is how I usually expand and iterate patterns until I get things I like.

Problem was, as I started knitting it, that the space between the rows was one stitch too large, resulting in an uneven pattern, as you can see below.

So I fiddled some more, bringing the stripes closer together, and then for a final attempt I tried to super impose the stripes, resulting in the following two patterns. Now, of course, I have more pouches to knit, to see which looks best.