This is a dead simple tablet-woven band. It has 15 tablets, 4-threaded, alternating \ and / orientation. All turns are forward, though one can turn backwards when the twist builds up if desired. (I kept it all forwards.) It's a simple pattern of stripes and Vs and it looks the same on both sides. (The photo above shows both sides.)
It's meant for a gift/donation, where I like to do things that aren't too fiddly but still look nice.
The pattern is from Tablet Woven Bands from Egypt by Silvia "Aisling" Ungerrechts, p.20-21. It's one of two Akhmim bands in this section of her book. She says that the two bands from Akhmim are from hand-drawn images in the book Ueber Brettchenweberei by Margaret Lehmann-Filhes in 1901, with this one being in Figure 29 on p.20. (The drawing is included in Aisling's book with the original caption of "Schnurband aus Grabfunden in Akhmim".)
The original does not list the colors nor the width of the band nor the content of the yarns. I have no idea if the band is in a museum somewhere or even if it still exists. I don't see any information about how old it is, either, though I guess I could figure out some of these things if I went internet-searching or looked at Aisling's book more closely. I'm glad that it was documented and that Aisling has shared it with everyone.
Aisling chose wool in red, white, and blue. (A lot of these bands seem to use linen for the white/natural, but whatever.) I am weaving with cotton, as usual. It's better for gifts anyway since it's easier for people to care for than something which might shrink/felt unexpectedly.
I'm starting to get a bit low on colors in the Aunt Lydia's cotton stash (yay!), so I used my small, old stash of cotton rug warp, in dark purple, light purple, and olive green. I'm getting low on this batch of cotton rug warp, too, which is fine by me. I'm not crazy about its matte texture or how well it wears.
It turned out well. I'm very pleased with it and am happy to pass it along. It's a pattern I should keep in my general rotation for when I need to crank out something quick to use as a gift.
The band is around 15/16" wide (24mm) and around 65.6" long (169cm) before blocking. It should work well as a belt, a strap, trim, etc.
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A friend has been chatting me with about the Sion knitted purse 269, which I think I mentioned before. Photos can be found here: https://www.kornbluthphoto.com/SionPurse269.html with more of the Sion knitted purses (and other purses) here: https://www.kornbluthphoto.com/Purses.html
We had fun talking about knitting, dyeing, and spinning techniques. Next up is the braid! It's not completely shown in the photos. In particular, I would love to see all the ends to see if there are any loops. I'd also like a better look at the split braids compared to the main strap braid. And the knots, of course.
So... The purse is knitted in silk and it's pretty clear that the braid is made from the same yarn, in the same colors. It's a six strand braid, with each braiding element looking like it consists of 2 strands of yarn. For those who care, the yarn is Z spun and S plied, and dyed in blue, purple, yellow-green, orange-red, buff/tan (though this might have been darker or more distinct in the past), and natural/undyed.
It sure looks like fingerlooping at first glance, and indeed, I can easily crank out a 6-loop fingerlooped braid that looks right to the casual eye. I need to do a 6-strand pigtail braid to see if I can get it to look right, and also do a 6-strand loop-exchange braid, though I'm not quite sure the way the loops cross matches, and also whether the color progression would match without a lot of careful set-up. Oh, and a loop-exchange braid would have to be a 2-person braid, I believe, something I don't know much about yet. Or maybe it could be done with bicolor loops. Hmm.
Would the people making these purses known about 6-strand square fingerloop braids? As far as I can tell, the simple square/round fingerloop braids that show up in the braiding manuals tend to call for an odd number of loops. (Loop exchange braids tend to have an even number of loops.) But it's not too hard to independently re-invent an even-number square/round fingerloop braid. Another possibility is a fat fingerlooped braid that then separates the loops into two thinner pigtail braids (and/or is done with loops unreversed to split the fat braid into two thinner braids) as part of the pull-through closing strap. The photos aren't quite clear enough, and I'm too much of a braiding noob, to quite understand what I'm seeing. So I guess I'll get some yarn out and start to play. I should also see if I can find the article I've seen reference to, probably by Joy Boutrup, on the braids of these purses. If indeed it was these purses and not some other medieval-ish purses with fingerloop braids.
The fat knots and tassels on this and other Sion purses are entirely adorable, too.
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