New Inkle and Knitting

I got a new inkle loom a few weeks ago from Frank Trozzo on Ebay and I'm loving it. The loom is well made and easy to use. This is the latest weaving band on this new loom. I have lost my loom room for a little while one of the kidlets needed to come stay with us for a while. Needless to say I was depressed that I can't weave for a bit on the big loom ;( But since I also knit, I decided to tackle a new sweater. The pattern is Checker Lace V-neck Sweater . It's a great knit challenging to keep me on my toes but interesting enough to keep it from being too boring.

New Project

I started a new inkle band with inspiration from another piece of cloth. I'm in a blue stage this summer and being reminded of the ocean.

Along with the inkle weaving I also started a new bead loom project that will be incorporated with this inkle band. I haven't really worked out all the details, but I'd like to make the beaded portion the focal point of the bag.
I changed the colors of the flowers to compliment the inkle strap's and interior coloring and am having a ton of fun with it. Hopefully the vision I have in my head will work out into something tangible.

inkle purple 002

inkle purple 002, a photo by DEEPENDOFTHELOOM on Flickr.

This is a new bag that I finished and am starting on the strap. This by far is the most fun I've had in a while. I plan on constructing at least one bag next weekend since we have a whopping three glorious days off. Can't wait.

New Inkle Weaving

I started on a new inkle loom weaving for some new pocket purses. I used the material that will be the inside of the bag to govern the color I would use for the exterior. I'm really enjoying the weaving and love the exercise of pulling the colors from the fabric itself.

I started sewing the latest inkle band into bags. With the length I get from my loom I can produce two bags. I screwed up one entire bag and had only some material left. I made the small bag but could not line it, this is something I need to work out, as the liner is important for keeping thing from piercing the woven fabric and causing damage. The second larger bag is holding my card weaving cards, I would have liked to have my shuttle sticks with the cards and therefore need to design a longer bag. For now it keeps the cards in one place and I stuck the shuttles in there even if they stick out for now.

These are the cards that were made for me. I'm still working on cleaning them up and getting all the plastic bits in the holes smooth. I'm starting to get excited on the possibilities with these. I'm still not sure how it all works but that's not going to stop me from trying.

I'm planning on warping my RH tonight with what will become my son's bible cover. I"m going to use some of the techniques found in Woven Treasures, and hopefully I'll have something that can be sturdy enough to use. If the card weaving turns out well I will use it as a decorative book mark for the cover.

Books, inkles and Lots of Fun!!

The books my boys ordered came in yesterday, these are the Mom's day gift's from my kids, Card Weaving, Learning to Weave (I can finally return the borrowed book to the library) and Woven Treasures. I'm so excited, I've been reading the Card Weaving book and am planning to warp it on the RH, I saw a youtube video that was done this way and it seemed possible and easier than my small inkle. I've also convinced the plastic department manager at work that he needs to make me some cards out of 1/16" plastic, we have a router machine that can accomplish 30 perfect cards in 2 mins flat much easier and longer lasting that the deck I cut up. I will owe him a knitted cap this is what we bartered for, frankly I think I got the better end of the deal ;) . In Woven Treasures there's a book cover that my son has requested for his Bible, that will take top priority over the card weaving but it's all in the works because I plan to make a strips for the book cover to mark pages with.
I also need to think about a wedding gift for our friends they're getting married in August which gives me some time, but I'm a bit stumped on what to create for them, they have been previously married and have a house full of everything, I thought about a nice gift card to a restaurant but also wanted to hand make something for them to mark their special day, any suggestions? knitting although that's a close call or woven, give me some ideas please. With all that is going on creatively, Meg over at Megweaves emailed the deadline for Pics2Picks, aaaaacccckkkkkk, June 5 OMG... really... already!!! I have one more project I wanted to accomplish for the exhibition so I have to get my behind in gear and git-her-done (is that the way he says it?). That one will be a surprise so I can't show any pics until the big reveal.

But.... I can show you pics of my new inkle weaving based on the fabric swatch I chose. This is my own design and I like the colors and pattern, I may never be able to repeat the pattern but I like it, actually on second thought, I could if I wrote it down, I guess I need to start an inkle loom journal to match all the other weaving and knitting journals (yet another project, whew all this should take me well into the end of this year).

Inkle Weave Designing

The inkle bags are something that I really enjoy making and I can put them up for sale online. I came around to the idea that DD had planted in my head, why not, after all if they don't sell I've lost nothing, enjoyed my weaving, and expanded my skills. If they do well then that's great also, it's sort of a new attitude with my creative work, I want to do what makes me happy and for the moment this is what that is. To that end, I picked up a bunch of fat quarters that appealed to me in color and pattern. I lean towards the splotchy ones they seem very free form and laid back, although I know that they were really well planned out and not just happened, but they have a good vibe for me.
After rolling around the blogosphere, I came across this post at Weave4Fun great blog lots of info and ideas, but this post was something I wanted to try and thought it was a good exercise for me especially to pick colors for a specific fabric. I picked the fabric quarter that interested me at the moment and did the little card yarn wrap swatch (I don't know the technical name someone please let me know, I don't want to sound like a total buffoon).

The purple looks blueish on the card but not on my inkle I guess if I would have wrapped it next to the yellow it would have taken it's true hue being opposites on the color wheel. I started warping last night and hope to finish this weekend. I'm using one of Mary Atwater's draft from How to Weave on an Inkle Loom. I've change the color sequence and will add extra warp ends to get a wider band, hopefully it will look right once it's all on the loom.

Thank you!!

Thank you for all the suggestion and remedies, I have them all copied and as soon as I get another trigger will try them out. I'm on Macrobid and it's working, will have a Cystoscopy on Tues 5/11 and that should determine what it going on in there.


In other news I finished warping my inkle for a baja bag, I like the colors although I'm rethinking the hot pink, doesn't seem hot enough for the other colors but it's weaving up nicely and I'll finish it up and see how I feel about it then. If anything the strip can always become book marks or a strap for something else.



I also finished the cropped cardi and wore it on Saturday, I need to knit another, but this time I'm going to go down a size, I can't believe it I need to knit a medium, when a large is usually my size, but then again you can never be too sure with knitting patterns.

Leno Lace, Beads & Inkles

I started working on the table runner and finally decided how I was going to incorporate the beads into my leno lace work. I did a generous 4 x 4 leno, which open up some really great space and inserted the beads in between the spaces. I really like the way it looks and the natural wood beads really go with the beachy, sea foam theme on this one.

After the leno beads I did a more conservative leno in 2x2 above it. Since it's a table runner and my SIL loves to put a lot of tchotchkes on her tables, I have to limit the decorating touches to the ends. But I think I may take liberties with the extra warp and do some serious bead enhancements, I'm thinking of doing some squares of tabby and squares of beads, I really do like the effect and it's fun to experiment. I love when I work and get a creative influx of ideas, this time around though I writing and drawing as I go, it makes for slower weaving but I tend to lose the creative thoughts after I finish the actual piece, this way I can keep a record of what my mind is visualizing as I'm working. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but I'm hoping it will help me concentrate and keep me focused on what I want to do next.

I really enjoy the closeup on the camera, really gives you a good look at what's going on.

Along with the table runner, I started warping my inkle for what I'm calling a baja bag. It's a small bag to carry around a cell, id and some cash and lip balm what more can a girl want? Small, compact and flirty. I started with some black, variegated yellow, royal blue. I have neon pink to add and maybe some purple not sure yet. I'm trying a new technique on my loom since it's not open on one end I always run into a warping issues. I'm warping individual strands tied together, it's slower but the tension seems to be better and the ends are really tidy, which I like.

New Bag and Update

This is my new summer bag, can I just say I have a new appreciation for purse/bag seamstresses. This stuff's not and I do repeat not a piece of cake. Of course it would help if I knew what the heck I was doing but, live a learn. This bit here, was annoying I bought the hardware almost a year ago, you know I went into Joann's and they were like 60% off and I thought whoa, that's a great deal you never know when the bag making mood will strike. but don't let those little doughnut shaped things fool you, the screws on that are tiiiiiiinyyyyyyy.

This is my interior fabric "fun, sun and seashells", it's got generous pockets for sunglasses, cell phone and of course a set of knitting needles and yarn, should I be stuck some place in need of entertaining myself of a few hours.

What's that, did you hear that?! It was collective sigh of relief, Coach, Burberry and Kate Spade can breathe easy this is not going to be a new summer line, just one of a kind. I couldn't possible torture myself into make another just like it. LOL. But I do have another one I'm working on with jean material and some hand woven, yeah I was feeling masochistic this weekend and kept making bags. I plan to finish it tonight and maybe have some pics of it tomorrow and then the sewing machine is getting put away for another 6 mths or until I need to hem something.

On another more relaxing note, I've been weaving on my P2P project and I'm really loving the results. I ordered some new "clean" roving to start spinning from an Etsy shop owner. A huge thank you to all of you that had only kinds words and thoughts for me, I appreciate the support.

I'll take some pics of the alpaca stuff I got and the new roving I will receive so that you can see what I was dealing with and the difference.

Completed, Hemed and Ironed Out

It's finished!! Done!! Yes (with fist gesture and all) This is Hermia five months of knitting with fingering weight and 3.5mm needles, lace pattern and top down. I'm so happy it's finished. I washed and dried it, then I killed the acrylic yarn in it with a steam iron. That helped with the picot edge which was turning on itself, but after a good steam it laid flat as a board. I love the pattern and the feel of this yarn, I bought the yarn a year ago on Ebay at an estate auction the name is Fantina and it came from Belgium circa 1975 85% acrylic 15% nylon, 2 ply, very fine and soft I used 1050 yds and have 550 left over for something else. For being lightweight it was warm as I was doing my photo shoot, I guess in 85 degree heat a sweater even a light one is going to be warm. I'm hoping we'll get a temp cool down for Thanksgiving because this is what I'll be wearing, sans shorts of course, but it did look cute with the walking shorts.. I'll keep that option open.

God I need to loose weight ;) yet another goal that will not be accomplished during the holidays, at least I'm a realist, no pressure for the next two months.

The ladies from my knit group were really impressed with the crew sock rug, and wanted me to explain just how the weaving works. They asked if I could bring my loom with me to the coffee shop, well a 32" RH loom is really not the most portable thing to carry around never mind trying to set it up at a coffee shop, not happening. So I told them about my inkle and kid loom which are portable and are basic looms to get the weaving concept across to them. I could so see a small weaving shop for people to get excited and start weaving. ::dreams that this might one day be true::

The inkle has been in various stages of un-finish for over a year. I've been working on this very painfully slow, but I was playing with Mary Atwater's How to Weave on the Inkle Loom with no goal other than to get the sequence correct. I'm going to try to finish it off at knit nite and maybe use it for straps on a tote bag, especially since Delighted Hands had a great tutorial on her plastic bag totes.

This is a Brio Kids loom, this thing is not really a loom, but a toy. I warped it and tied it up because it's small and it really is a basic tabby weave visual for them to get the weaving, I wish I could get the plastic heddle thing to not wiggle around it's just a pain to maneuver. But for explanatory purposes it will have to do.

Inkle Bands

I've been working on my inkle loom and making these bands. I have three so far each measure 60" in length and are 3/4" thick. My concept for these is to weave them together to make a purse, I think I will need at least six to seven bands with handles and all. I'm going to start cutting them and hemming them this weekend hopefully I'll not encounter any problems there.

New Toy and Some Weaving

I got an inkle loom that was a great deal on Ebay. Since I didn't know if I was going to really enjoy weaving on it I didn't want to spend a lot. Well, I love it! what an interesting gadget, warping had it's challenges, but once I got through it, I started weaving. So far I only started today at lunch, since I can take the loom home just yet, ( I have to figure out how to tell DH that I bought yet another weaving loom, hehe).

Warped and started.

Side view of the warped inkle.

Close up of the strip.

I have two 3oz skeins of this particular yarn and want to finish it on something so I'll be weaving strips until it's gone. But I have a plan for the strips - your gonna love this, I plan to then take the strips and weave them into fabric for a bag.