Broken Chevrons, another easy tablet woven band

 I was looking through some of the silly charts I've played with over the years.  Some were drawn out (either by hand or using charting websites) for reasons I can't remember.  I was also looking through tablet weaving projects on Ravelry.

Chevrons.  They caught my eye.  I have charts.  I've seen project pics.  Maybe I need to warp it up and weave it.  Right now.

So I did.

This is a very common chart that one sees in a lot of places -- books, websites, handouts, etc. -- because it is striking in appearance yet quite suitable for beginners.  Also, it's such a useful basic-warp.  One color goes in A and B, the contrast color in C and D.  So many techniques start with something similar.  For the chevrons, one alternates two tablets set / with two tablets set \  (or vice versa).   I did 5 reps (10 tablets), though maybe I should have done 6 (12 reps).  I chose black and white for my colors.  The colors are staggered and offset to make little chevrons. The edge consists of three tablets on each side.  The outer two are black and the inner one is a contrast color, in this case a dark red.

This will probably be a gift, thus the choice of colors.

I used the usual stash of cotton Aunt Lydia #10.  The weft is something similar -- white big-box-store #10 cotton from my vintage stash of leftovers.

The band ended up around 90"/225cm long, around 5/8"/18mm wide.  The warp started out as around 8' (96") so that's not a lot of waste, yay!  It's also not that much take-up, which seems a bit odder.  The measurements were taken when the band was first finished and unblocked, so it might well shrink a bit after relaxing out the stretch and after blocking.

There are places where the chevrons are well-aligned.  Places that almost look like basketweave.  Places that look more like houndstooth.  I am not sure why, and again, will see what happens as the band relaxes.  My width is fairly consistent as is the distance between picks.  I suspect that the precise tension on each thread of each tablet might sometimes be slightly inconsistent, especially when I advance the warp or re-hang the weights, or as I continue weaving and the warp starts to stretch out under the tension.  And as always, maybe it is something subtle I'm doing as I weave.

Anyway, it is fairly striking and I like it, though I'm fairly uncritical and still tend to be thrilled at anything I make.

It is hard to untangle tablets and work out excess twist after the cats have sat on the warp and left their fur on it.  It seems to be shedding season.  Or something.  The fur wraps itself around the threads and then everything gets stuck and tangled.

I have no idea what I'll weave next.  More simple bands?  Two-pack 3/1 twill?  Back to two-hole?  Something else? Hmmm...

Broken stripes easy tablet woven band

 A friend supplied yarn for me in return for me using the yarn to weave them a sturdy strap.

Here it is.  The yarn is DK to worsted-weight cotton.  I used sport-weight cotton as the weft.  The band is roughly 5' long and between 1-1/4" and 1-3/8" wide.  As suspected, the thicker yarn meant that I had a higher take-up and a bit more waste at the end, and thus the band ended up a few inches shorter than usual.

The pattern is based on a chart from Lautanahuat by Maikki Karisto, p.105.  I simplified it, of course.

It was quick and easy to weave and I like how it looks.  I might have to make more bands in this style.

I could have dropped down to 14 tablets instead of 16.  Or expanded the band to have another set of stripes.  Or lots of other options.

I do like the design and color sense of the patterns in this book.

If I weighted each tablet separately, I might have been able to lengthen this by a few inches.  But it would probably have been offset by all the other hassles.  There are always trade-offs, sigh.