Sprang project #4 -- two-color acrylic bag

The learning continues.

I used acrylic this time.  And two colors.  I was actually trying for a different color pattern but got myself too confused, so I kept it simple.

There are 16 loops (32 ends total), with 8 of each color, alternating.  I used the frame with 20" PVC sides, and when the tension got too tight, I moved the loops to skewers and taped them to the loom.

I did a basic 1/1 interlinking pattern.

Diagonals!  I'm so pleased!

The acrylic is a little sticky, especially when I'm undoing mistakes.  But on the whole, it behaved reasonably well.

The above is after sewing up.  I did the same figure-8 loop around the threads at the bottom that I've done for most of my projects so far.  Then I sewed up the sides and ran a twisted cord through the loops at the top to use as a drawstring.

The above photo isn't a great angle, but it shows how the diagonals open up into amazingly cute stripes when the bag is stretched over something.

This size is about right for a cell phone or something of similar size.

Things I learned:

I am still quite terrible at sewing up.  Keep working on that...

I should have wriggled the piece to even out the gauge before sewing up.  It might also be a good thing to move the piece to skewers immediately after warping.  Or figure out something else to keep the top from being so loose.  Maybe these things were always attached to something firm, like a band or a purse handle or something?

When sewing up, secure the drawstring so it doesn't fall out of the loops I so carefully set up before sewing.  Also, make sure the drawstring goes in the correct direction.  Perhaps I should have a safety string through the loops that doesn't get untied and removed until after the piece is done?

When hiding ends, don't pull things too tight, and make sure you can loosen the ends to the correct tension before it's impossible to find them again.

Think about matching colors for sewing up the sides.  Should the edges be the same color?  Should I use different colors to sew them?

This is a fun and attractive pattern.  I like the color pattern and how it interacts with the interlinking pattern.  These could also be interesting hand/wrist warmers.  Or a hat.

On the whole, I'm pleased with the lessons I learned from this project.

Sprang Project #3 -- another bag

I want to make sprang bags, so I'm making sprang bags.

This one is using the same frame as project #1, to make a bag that is 12" deep or so.  I am using 16 pairs of loops (32 threads total).  The stitch patterns are the same as project #2 -- some 1/1 interlinking at top and bottom, and the allover holes pattern (2/2 alternating with 1/1) in the middle.  I finished the bottom as with project #1, and I sewed up the sides until the point where the 1/1 interlinking started.  There's a twisted thread drawstring.

My sewing still kind of sucks but I'm getting better.  This bag fits my water bottle better than bag #1 does, and it looks more relaxed when it's not stretched out.

I'm getting closer to what I think is the proper proportions for this kind of bag.

The photos are shown right after finishing, without any blocking and without doing much that will enable the tension to even out.

It's kind of fun to see this holes pattern just open right up once it's off the loom.  The bag that is just interlinking tends to close back up when it's not holding something.  This one stays relaxed.

So...  I've done my first reading of Collingwood's book on Sprang.  I'm sure a lot went over my head because I'm not ready to understand it yet.

It's shorter and less complex than his tablet-weaving book.

The 1/1 interlinking term seems to be used in his book.  Ditto for the "plait" and "overplait" terminology that Carol James also uses.

The 4-row holes pattern is something he calls a "hole design".  It's on p. 132, in a section called "using alternate rows of 1/1 and 2/2 interlinking (holes design)".  He says that this is "probably the most used method of patterning sprang fabrics" and that "[w]herever sprang has been practiced, this technique has been explored."

I like his charting method.  I also like Carol James' method and Jules Kliot's method (in the booklet published by Lacis).  I guess it's good that I'm pretty easy-going about sprang charting, at least for the simpler stuff.

The book went pretty quickly.  I have lots of inspiration for future projects as I learn more about this new-to-me ancient textile art, from Collingwood's book as well as other books and all the fun stuff I can find online.

I'm not sure what I'll do for the next sprang project (almost certainly another bag).  Probably play around with more interlinking and maybe a bit of interlacing.  (I know that that means now!  And ditto for intertwining!)  Maybe a bit of color or an eyelet pattern, or trying to zero in on the perfect bag proportions for various stitch patterns.  At some point I'll switch to different thread, too.  But for learning purposes, this nice fat cotton is perfect.

The Second Sprang Project -- also a small bag (but different from the first one)

It's shorter than the first bag, about 7" instead of the 12" of the first project.  And it's wider, both because I used twice as many ends/strings (24 loops, 48 elements, vs the first project's 12 loops and 24 elements), and because the pattern stitch I used really expands compared to the first bag's pattern.

I decided to build a frame with adjusting tension, the way Carol James draws out in her handout for the Braids and Bands group.  Off to the big box store...  After a certain amount of wandering around and making do with what was in stock, plus a return trip to exchange the one PVC elbow that didn't match the others, I was ready to tackle the project.  I love my PVC cutter, first purchased when building my little PVC tablet weaving loom.

Carol James does not give dimensions in the handout I have.  I decided to use the entire length of PVC pipe.  Wow, the loom is really big!  It'll be good for when I decide to do sashes and other long projects.

But for today, I wanted something smaller, so I could make a bag that wasn't 12" deep.  I took out the adjustable metal threaded rod and turned the frame into a square, 20" on a side.

I wanted to do new things.  So, for this bag, I chained the bottom shut.  And I used a different pattern stitch, an openwork honeycomb-ish pattern that was also used in the hairnet found on the 5th century BCE Danish bog body known as Haraldskær Woman.

I've seen this done as a bag or hairnet in a few places.  The source I mostly used today is Sally Pointer's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFVEVIn1xNw&ab_channel=SallyPointer "Make a Sprang Bag with Handles: all over holes/ Haraldskaer pattern."

It seemed pretty sedate while I was spranging away, but it really opened up once off the loom.  The bag is 8" wide and very stretchy.  It has a few repeats of plain interlinking before I started doing the openwork pattern, and finishes up with a pattern repeat of plain interlinking before the bag is chained shut.  After chaining the middle, I sewed each side up to where the pattern shifted from the openwork to the plain interlinking.

OK, now I've tried two stitches!

The first is "plain interlinking", or at least that's what I'm calling it for now.  It's a 2-row pattern.

1.  Twist 2 loops over 1 loop at the start, then 1 over 1, finishing with 1 over 2 at the end.  (I think that's the Z version.  The S version is opposite, but I did all Z for this bag.)  Carol James calls this the "plait row".

2.  Twist 1 loop over 1 loop all the way across.  Carol James calls this the "overplait row".

The second is this openwork pattern, which I guess for now I'll call the Haraldskaer pattern.  It's a 4-row pattern.

1.  Twist 2 loops over 2 loops, all the way across.

2.  Twist 1 loop over 1 loop all the way across.

3.  Twist 1 loop over 1 loop at the start, then 2 loops over 2 loops, finishing up with a 1 over 1 at the end.

4.  Twist 1 loop over 1 loop all the way across.

It was a fun stitch to do.  I like the pattern a lot.  Heck, I like both patterns a lot.

Other things I learned:

It is wise to run the drawstring through the loops before you take it off the loom and/or remove the string/stick going through them.  Trying to get them all picked up and contained on the drawstring was a bit of a pain.

The drawstring, a twisted cord, could stand to be a bit longer.  Did I mention that this is a very stretchy stitch pattern?

I'm pretty terrible at sewing up the sides.  Oh, well.  I'll probably improve with time.

I could have left long lengths at the beginning and ends of the warp, to use for sewing up the sides.  But I didn't.  Also, I started sewing from the bottom towards the top.  So it probably didn't matter anyway.

I was able to adjust the warp tension a bit, yay!  And my top and bottom gauges are still relatively similar.

A 20" frame leads to about 7" of spranging on each side before I close it up.  The other frame from yesterday (my tablet weaving loom, actually), which I think is about 28", leads to about 12" on each side before closing up.

I should probably make a few more frames that are smaller or more portable.

This bag will probably look better after blocking, but it already looks pretty good.

I've already had some requests for bags, even with my beginner-ish skills.  And requests for teaching.

I don't know what I will make next.

The first sprang project -- a small bag

I have complete my very first sprang project and I am very pleased with myself.  It's a simple bag, very much following the project guidelines that are in Carol James' workshop that she did for the Braids and Bands mailing list.

Much was learned.

I used some Sugar and Creme cotton yarn I found in the depths of my oddballs stash.    I rigged up my little PVC tablet weaving loom into a simple frame.  I used 24 ends (12 pairs).

This is very much the most basic interlinking pattern.  Each row is 1 s 1, with the rows staggered.  In other words, one row is 1 x 1.  The other row starts with 2 x 1, has the middle be 1 x 1, and finishes with 1 x 2.

It spiraled quite a bit, of course, since all the twisting was in one direction.  But after sewing it up and scrunching it up, it seems a lot better.  I haven't yet blocked it so don't know how that will affect things.

Once I ran out of room in the middle, I finished it using the method in the handouts -- tie a thread around the middle, twice (in a figure 8), knot it, and then use the ends to sew up each side, matching the edges.  I wasn't particularly neat with that, alas, but hopefully it'll be better and closer to invisible than it was this time.  For a while, I was pretty sure I hadn't aligned the edges properly.  But it worked out, whew, and even if it's not perfect, it's not obvious.

I did a twisted-cord for a drawstring, running it through the top loops and then tying an overhand knot at one end.

It looks rather peculiar but it is indeed stretchy!  It'll fit around a water bottle.  The length and width aren't too different from how they looked on the loom -- about 12" long and about 2" wide.  My gauge is relatively consistent and I like the fabric that was created.

This very much has the vibe one would expect from a First Project.  But it is a successful project.  Now on to project #2...   I'm not sure what it will be, but my guess is another bag.

I'm having fun reading things about sprang by a variety of authors and also checking out whatever I can find on the 'net.  So many possibilities...

Another Belt Pattern (2-hole)

Here's another belt from the Lautanauhat Facebook page (the people who did Applesies and Fox Noses and Tablet Woven Treasures), this one from a description in a post from  August 16, 2016.  Here is the link to the photo plus written description.  The pattern is described as a "medieval tablet woven band in wool."  It is a monochrome two-hole (or two-thread) pattern that is similar to the brick patterned belt I posted about roughly a week ago.

As usual, I substituted acrylic for wool for this first attempt.  It worked, but undoubtedly wool would have been better.  I really must start using wool instead of acrylic for tablet weaving.  I'll need to learn how to handle wool since everyone warns me that it's sticky, which I assume is a polite term about the threads trying to felt to each other from all the twisting.

The acrylic was rather stretchy.  My guess is that it's not Red Heart, which tends to be scratchier but less elastic.  Since I wove under tension, it'll be interesting to see if/how the band changes as it gets a chance to relax and I block it.  (Well, wet block it.  I know that synthetics don't truly change much unless one uses an iron to change their texture.)  I used the same acrylic for both warp and weft.

The band is pretty cute.  I do not like the reversals much.  They're too obvious and messy.  So...  for the next time I make this, I'll probably work out the twist and keep going forward.  If I flip the cards to reverse again, I'll try to space them out regularly and then put something on the belt in that area to hide or distract from the reversal, to make it seem intentional rather than messy.

I think it would be fun to use two different colors for this pattern to make another series of horizontally-striped bands, this time in 2-hole tablet weaving rather than simple inkle weaving.

I take rather terrible photos, alas.  The weaving is actually consistent (horizontally and vertically) except for the little bloops at the reversals.  Any weirdness is due to a quick photo taken with the band not being carefully flattened and posed and my shadow (of course) in the photo.  That's true for most of the photos I take, alas.

What did I learn?

I like two-hole patterns.  I like these simple belt patterns.  I like brick patterns (which are two-hole patterns that I am using to make belts).  I like a lot of these little throwaway patterns in the Lautanauhat Facebook page (in addition to their fabulous gift patterns, of course).  There are several more of them, often simple little belts and cords and the like that have only a brief written description to go along with the photo or video.  I'm happy that I can work with the description and don't necessarily need a charted pattern.

I don't like flipping tablets.  I don't like reversals that are done merely for the purpose of removing and reversing built-up twist.  I am fine with reversals for other purposes, of course, including historical accuracy as well as for pattern-development purposes.

I used my regular cards (from Robin & Russ Handweavers, so you know they're old/vintage!) since I didn't have enough of the little ones.  They work fine, of course.  I kind of prefer the little ones so I'll have to see if I can find a source for more.

The cats slept through most of this band so weren't available to act as weaving assistants.

What's next?  More two-hole and/or more belt patterns, possibly.  Or maybe something simpler.  We'll see.  I'm eyeing some straightforward diagonal-ish patterns, but also thinking that one of those threads can clearly be removed, with a contrasting color used for the weft to highlight the missed hole.  As usual, we'll see.

Another Band Done (Diagonals-type pattern)

 And it's done.  I am pleased.

I ended up with about 42 repeats (at 16 turns per repeat), about 160 cm long (64-ish inches), about 3 cm wide (1.25-ish inches).  There was about 4-5" of waste at the beginning and about 9-12" at the end.  I might have been able to eke out one more repeat, but decided that it was too aggravating.  The last few repeats were already aggravating and didn't look as clean and even as earlier in the band.  I can't remember how long my initial warp was, but I think it was in the 2 meter range.  It was probably a bit longer than that if I assume that take-up was roughly 10-20%.

The above photo shows more or less what it looks like.  I think it's striking even with the imperfections.  I have no idea what I'll use it for!  I will need to sew it to something, though, since in a few places near the beginning, the weft is showing on the bottom of the band.  I think it was either near where I was unweaving a mistake or when I was catching bottom threads above the shed and hadn't realized it yet.

By the end of the band, I'd gotten into a nice rhythm.  I'd make this again, probably with 28 rather than 24 cards.  I'd love to get some plastic cards in different colors to make it easier to move cards into the proper packs (forwards vs backwards).  I counted carefully with the monochrome cards, and that was a wise thing to have done.

Things I learned:  Well, I already wrote about the main thing.  It's important to clear the shed properly.  Otherwise, you risk catching the lower threads in the upper part of the shed, and that affects the clean diagonal lines of the pattern.

I tried using chip clips to hold the warp after the warp got too short to handle in my usual way, which is to tie all of it into a knot and hang the half-full gallon milk jug from the knot.  The chip clips were so-so.  Sometimes they'd hold the tension and sometimes threads would slip.  It did keep the threads separated so that the cards were able to turn even in the fairly tight space that was left as I neared the end of the band.

I like doing diagonal-type patterns.  They're pretty straightforward and very satisfying.  Using multiple packs requires a bit more room than one-pack patterns, but that's OK.  It might be easier to do a few more repeats with smaller cards.

On to the next pattern!  Whatever shall it be?  I guess I'll find out when Inspiration strikes.

Fun with Diagonals

I am finally weaving a band that I warped up well over a year ago.  Hmm, well over two years ago, but all of my weaving stuff was in boxes in storage for at least a year of that.

The pattern is from Peregrina1 (that's her user name on Ravelry).  She posted a photo of a lovely band and was kind enough to share the pattern.  It's a diagonals-type pattern.  I didn't have the same colors she used (which are extremely attractive).  I picked colors from what I did have, making sure that the contrast color was indeed contrast-y.  I think I made a reasonable choice from what I had available.

I'm having fun with it.  It felt most comfortable to use my PVC loom, so that's what I'm doing.  I did have to track down all the pieces and remember how to put it together.  Storage, boxes, etc.

This photo shows a few pattern repeats.  You can see the white PVC of the loom and the skewers I used at the start of the band to make sure I've threaded things properly.  The perspective is a bit funky -- the band is relatively consistent in width, honest!

What am I learning?

Well, I'm getting lots more practice with unweaving.  If I'm distracted or tired, it's easy to rotate some cards forward instead of backward and not notice for an inch or so.

I'm also getting yet more reminders that it's important to watch the shed.  It's apparently very easy for me to catch bottoms threads into the top part of the shed without noticing, especially from one of the interior packs of cards.  That became very obvious when I was unweaving.  I think that's part of why the line of the pattern isn't always perfectly clear -- a thread from the lower shed is on the surface next to the proper top threads, rather than remaining properly on the backside, and thus obscuring things.  Or some of that may end up easing out when I block/finish the band -- we'll see.  Or some of it might be due to slight differences in thread tension and shed-beating, leading to slight differences in the lengths of the floats.  I don't know but I'll try to get it figured out and then do my best to improve.

I used the thread that was already on my shuttle as weft.  I like that it's thin -- it looks like #30 crochet cotton, perhaps #20.  But it is white or off-white, and it does show along the edge and sides.  I probably should have chosen something closer in color to the edge threads.  In general, the edges aren't perfect and the width isn't perfectly consistent, but given how long it's been since I've done much, I'm not gonna beat myself up about it.

I love how the pattern is built in sections -- each group of four cards is 8F8B, but each group is staggered by four rows from the adjacent group of four cards.  The outer two groups are 2 cards since the pattern is on 24 cards instead of 28, and I wanted it to be symmetric.  There are also 2 more cards at each side as edge cards, which are all blue, alternating SZ or ZS, and only turned forwards.  I'm using the two-packs method of keeping things straight -- the forward pack and the backwards pack, re-arranged every four turns.

I love how these complex-looking designs arise from such simple rules.  These kinds of bands end up being twist-neutral, too, without needing to reverse the weaving or work out extra twist or anything like that.  And obviously the forward-back turnings can be different  -- 6F6B, or 4F2B2F4B, etc. -- or the groups of cards can be offset by two rows rather than four, etc.

Not every diagonals pattern is like this, or at least I don't think they are, but a lot of the ones I find attractive are.  They also tend to be fairly easy to weave since they're made from such simple building blocks.

The cats, surprisingly, aren't as terrible about helping as they were several years ago.  They watch, but mostly they're content to chew on the wooden skewers at the beginning of the band or to bat around the warp that's hanging off the back end of the loom.  Sometimes they like to sit so they have a close view of the shed when I'm unweaving, making it tricky to determine what is a thread and what is a cat whisker.  One cat likes to lie on my neck, along my shoulders, as I weave, but that's not too big a deal.

I have no idea what I will use the band for, if anything.

I am such a noob!

OK, so I have a bit of time and want to play with my new little PVC loom.

I feel like such a newbie!  Of course, it's fun.  I am learning through making mistakes and all that.  So many blogs have such wonderful tales of success, though.  Or at least interesting mistakes.  I am still in the stage of making all the beginner mistakes.  That is a necessary stage, of course.  Should I even be writing about it?  Or shall I wait until I look more knowledgeable and competent than I currently am?  Since I am writing about it, I guess that's the answer.

OK, then.

I am doing a Kivrim-style tablet weaving pattern, since I've not yet done a pattern that has some (but not all) of the cards either getting flipped or turned in different directions from the rest of the pack.  I found a draft on the 'net somewhere, and off I go.

Cutting the warp comes first, I guess.  The last few bands have been done with continuous warping.  This is a threaded-in pattern, so needs specific lengths cut and threaded.

That is done.  I put two clamps on edges of a table and wound around them, one round per thread.  However, the different colors are slightly different lengths.  Apparently, I was using a different amount of force as I wound each color around the C-clamps.  I blame the cats who were helping.

Then I threaded the tablets, carefully looking to see which way to do it.  S, Z, etc.  Then I realized I did it backwards and re-threaded the tablets.  Sigh.  I know that every pattern writer has his/her own notation method, card orientation, and so on.  So this is a good reminder to be patient during this part of the process.

Cats are not nearly as helpful as they imagine.  I do not need any felines to sit on the cards, nor on the copy of the threading pattern, nor on the warp.  The warp threads do not need to be treated as exciting new cat toys.  I do not need to roll a chair out of the way to move a cat, then realize that some of the warp threads have wrapped around the chair wheels.  I am an idiot.

Now on to the loom part.  I am having trouble with tension.  I am using all my kumihimo weights on the back end of the warp, but everything seems to slide around too much anyway.  It's hard to keep the threads under consistent tension -- some threads seem looser than others.  Also, the photo of the band on the loom in the original web link looks lovely, but it's not clear what I should be doing to start the band, when it is not long enough to wrap around the front PVC piece to clip to itself.

All of these seem like issues that any new-ish weaver has to solve, so I will do that even though my solutions will evolve as I learn more.  I put a loop of yarn on the front end of the loom, have knotted the ends of the braid, and have hooked that to the loom with an S-hook.  I am wrapping part of the warp around the back end of loom before dropping the warp over the end of the table and weighing it down.  That is helping, but it is possible I simply need more weight.  I have also clamped the loom to the table to reduce the shifting around.

I have followed the advice to use pieces of wood (bamboo skewers since that was the first thing I grabbed) to make sure the pattern is threaded in properly.  Several turns forward -- yep!

Since this is a newbie-ish band, I am using the thread that is already on my shuttle for weft.  Green goes with black and pink, right?

If this ends up being too annoying, I will set up my C-clamps and use those to hold the cards and the two ends of the warp.  But I would like to try using this style of loom, with weights on the ends of the warp instead of the warp being tied to something.

Since I appear to have the tablets set up properly, the next step will be to weave with the real weft.  Ooohhhh......  I don't know if I'll get to it today, but hopefully I'll do it soon.

Maybe someday I'll get around to adding photos.  But apparently that won't be today.

Fun with PVC

Today I made myself a little PVC tablet-weaving loom, using Alice Schlein's instructions for the PVC hybrid loom on her Weaverly blog.

It went together quite easily!  The hardest part was hauling the 10' length of PVC pipe throughout the store.  The store clerk snickered every time I dropped it or banged it into something.  The teenager accompanying me was mortified.  Too bad -- if you worry too much about being embarrassed, you risk missing out on a lot of potentially fun things.

I followed the blog's advice and got a PVC pipe cutter, too.  That took a few minutes to figure out.  But soon enough, I was marking out measurements and cutting PVC.  After the pieces were cut, the assembly was extremely rapid.  I don't plan to glue anything -- I want this to come apart for easy transport.

The next few days look pretty busy, but I will try to warp up a few tablets to take my new little loom for a test drive.  Usually, I use a couple of C-clamps and weave between them, or I tie one end to a doorknob and the other end gets attached to my waist.  It will be interesting to try this little loom.

Depending on how well this works, I might make Sharon Kersten's PVC Inkle Loom from the March 2009 issue of Handwoven.  Inexpensive, easily-transported looms are a fun concept.

It cost about $10-12 plus the cost of the PVC cutter (another $12 or so).  I have 30" of PVC left along with some L and T connectors from the bags of each that I bought.

I am a terrible photographer, but I will try to add photos sooner or later.