The bands from yesterday blocked out to the same length, whew. So the inconsistent weaving could be an illusion, fingers crossed, due to something about how the cotton is stretching out under the tension. Plus I suspect there's a bit of influence from things like where the weight is hanging, how far from the weight and the weaver's side fixed point the weaving is, and maybe a bit about how much twist has accumulated and in which tablets (i.e. edge tablets accumulate twist faster than pattern tablets for many patterns, and I untwist them only so often). I'd add my own stress levels, but I feel like I'm pretty consistent when I beat down the weft, and the band's width is pretty consistent. So sure, maybe, but for a band done over a short time it shouldn't be a huge variable.
Whatever the reason, I'm glad the pieces are pretty close to identical length after soaking them in water, smooshing them around a bit with my fingers to encourage threads to adjust evenly, and then letting them hang (unweighted) to dry.
What's next? Well, I have more gold/teal yarn, both my own and my friend's contributions, and maybe I should make another set of bands for my friend to choose from. If so, I'm likely to weave the Falun pattern I've done before. That's because my friend provided some threads of different thicknesses, and that would suit the Falun pattern splendidly. I also want to make a long monochrome belt from one of the yarns that was provided, just because. And maybe a checkerboard pattern because it would be cute. And maybe some fingerlooped cords/braids because why not?
I'm thinking about other things on my to-do list. I'll list some here because it'll help me remember.
I'd like to do more pack-idling patterns. I've not yet done Cambridge Diamonds, and there are a few other already-worked-out patterns floating around on the 'net that could be fun to do. Heck, even my own charting of the Felixstowe band is a lot of fun and I could do that one again. Even monochrome pack idling makes very attractive bands.
Twill is fabulous and I should make more. I should experiment with the two-pack method for color changes as well as the handle-every-card method. I should also work through more of Claudia Wollny's exercises on charting 3/1 twill (the subject of her Twill: 1+1 book).
I adore two-hole patterns and should continue my explorations of various missing-hole techniques. I also want to make more cords, because they're ridiculously simple and ridiculously fun. And ditto for various monochrome patterns, whether simple or complex.
The new book by Aisling on Coptic tablet weaving is a lot of fun. Sure, I've already done a few of the bands (that were published before the book came out), but I should explore more of the patterns in there. I also want to continue exploring the lovely Finnish Iron Age style patterns from Karisto/Pasanen.
I've not done a lot of double-face because I keep getting distracted by other things. I should do more double-face. I should also play around with the double-face seal tag patterns from the article that had the tablet-woven cord in it.
Someday I should branch out into brocade just to see what I think about it. It looks so fiddly that I don't have a huge interest in it right now, but maybe quick/easy patterns might be worth doing if they aren't much fiddly-er than doing diagonals, double-face, or 3/1 twill patterns.
Sulawesi, double-cloth, etc., are also things I want to try someday. I've not yet been interested in floatwork techniques or cables or some of the less-often-seen techniques outlined in Collingwood, but again, maybe someday.
What have I forgotten? Uh..... I'm interested in just about everything, so no doubt I'll get seduced by an interesting idea or pattern, warp up, and start weaving to see what happens.
For braiding:
Continue working through ideas on Ingrid Crickmore's website. Have fun with colorwork, become more consistent with the 9-loop braids, explore more braid structures (through her website, LM-BRIC, the medieval patterns, etc.), work on getting better at making longer cords. Also, I've met a few other finglooping enthusiasts, so we should start doing multi-person braids.
Drag out the marudai and play around with those braids again. Plus freehand braiding.
And so on... I have similar lists for knotting, and maybe it's time to learn sprang. Or I could bang out some inkle bands for fun (I have zero interest in pick-up patterns for now). There are lists for the other textile crafts I do, too. Heck, maybe I'll suddenly become obsessed with knitted doilies again (there are many patterns on my want-to-do list) and switch over to that for a while.
So, what should I do first? My guess is a monochrome belt for my friend. I'm thinking the pattern where one alternates three S cards with three Z cards, as wide as one wishes. I've done it a few times before, though not yet in cotton. It's properly historic, which I think my friend cares about, at least a little bit. I think 21 is a good number of tablets -- reasonable enough to show the pattern but not ridiculously wide. And it'll be quick and easy to weave, offering plenty of calm meditative tablet-turning while thinking about other topics in tablet-weaving. Hmm, we'll see.
Thus ends this year's End of July stream-of-consciousness Natterings from the Noob. I'm no longer quite so overwhelmingly noob-ish, but there's still so much to learn. Better to have Beginner's Mind than to be arrogantly sure that one has reached the pinnacle of understanding.
Also, I think this is post #100 on this blog, or very close to it. I might as well celebrate with a lot of verbiage and plans for the future. Summary: I've learned a lot and done a lot over these 100 posts, and I want to learn a lot more and do a lot more over the next 100 posts and beyond. Oh, and cats are usually terrible weaving assistants, which I think might be this blog's unofficial motto.
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