This is yet another version of the Staraja Ladoga Fig 6/7 tablet-woven band. I've done two of them already. The first one was 12 tablets, all of which were threaded in all 4 holes. The second was also 12 tablets, but the inner four tablets were threaded in only 2 holes. This third one is like the second, except that there are only three inner tablets which are threaded in 2 holes, for a total of 11 tablets. (For the second and third, there are four edge tablets per side that are threaded in all 4 holes.)
I used the basic charting from Aisling's website, adapting the chart and the turnings to match the zigzag pattern from the earlier two bands. I used the same colors as my earlier bands, too -- red border, white background, purple zigzags.
To get the same zigzags, I ended up doing 7F7B, which seemed a trifle odd. Most of the 2-hole patterns I've done so far seem to work in groups of two tablets and two turns. But it worked out well enough.
I'm just about done with these vintage balls of thread. I might have enough to eke out one more band of some sort. Or I might throw the last few yards on an inkle loom. Or they might go into the weft-thread pile.
I think I might be done exploring this pattern. I don't know which of these versions is my favorite, though of course I'm not required to have a favorite. They're all cute. I do not care much about historical accuracy, but at least two people who do care seem to think that the original was a 2-hole pattern.
It bothers me a bit that I'm unable to get the weft spacing as tight as I'd like, to try to achieve something closer to 45 degree angles. Dunno if it's the thickness of the weft, how snug I pull the weft, the tension I'm using, the material I'm using, or if I'm not able to beat hard enough with my current set-up. The weft seems pretty firmly wedged into the shed when I end up needing to un-weave a mistake, so I'm really not sure exactly what's going on. Double-face and similar techniques don't count, of course, since their nature is to be more elongated.
This is probably the last post of 2023 for this blog, though of course one never knows. It's been a productive year. I've learned a lot and made a fair number of narrow wares -- inkle, tablets, braiding, etc. I've also done other things -- knitting, crocheting, spinning, dyeing, basket-weaving, sewing, leather-working, kitchen experiments, teaching, and no doubt other things I'm not remembering at the moment.
I don't have any particular plans for 2024 except to keep making narrow wares as well as all the other fun things I'm doing. It'll be a few weeks before I have access to my weaving stuff again.
I've received Claudia Wollny's new book on Twill. Yay! It took a while to arrive. The package was damaged somewhere along the line -- ripped up cardboard and rather damp, the address label half torn-off, wrapped in plastic with a sticker saying "damaged due to inclement weather". Sigh. But the pages are dry now with only a little bit of rippling, and the dinged-up corners would have happened after I dropped the book a few times. Hopefully I got everything that was originally included in the package.
It's an interesting book, more of a "how-to" than a pattern book, though it does include a fair number of patterns in addition to the exercises Wollny developed. I'll have to set up a warp and go through some of the exercises to understand how she thinks about 3/1 twill and its variations, along with how that compares to Peter Collingwood, Sarah Goslee, and others who have written about their theoretical understanding of the technique.
If one is only looking for patterns, one of Wollny's other pattern collections would be better. But I like the way this book discusses more generally and theoretically how to approach, weave, and design in the twill technique. I'm glad I bought it.
