Treasury curated by daysbydilekakar.

An email was waiting in my inbox when I got up this morning with this bit of exciting news. The treasury was put together by daysbydilekakar, a very talented jewelry designer. Thank you Dilek Akar for including me in your selections.

As of yet, none of the laces have been sold, but I know they are coming, so I am weaving away to be ready. There has been a lot of interest though. The loom is warped with another design, and I’ve ordered more blue yarn.

It’s funny, now that I’m weaving shoelace, I look at people wearing sneakers, and think, “You could use some jazzier shoelaces.” I never really thought about the shoelaces we wear before now. They are so plain! Everyone needs a pair of these laces. Besides, it is for a good cause!

warp, weave, be happy!

~Jennifer

Blue + Yellow = the colors of the Boston Marathon

Blue + Yellow = the color of new inkle shoelaces I wove

Hello feet. It is so nice to see you again after nine months.

In a recent post I mentioned a special project I was working on. Finally complete and ready for reveal, my latest project is inkle shoelaces. I wove them to raise money for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Practical, cute and for a worthy cause. You can not beat it.

The senselessness of that tragedy compelled me to want to help. As I thought of a way to do something, the idea came to me to raise money for the marathon victim fund, The One Fund, which was set up by the mayor of Boston and the govenor of Massachussetts. But how? Then inspiration hit; I could weave shoelaces, in the colors of the Boston Marathon. The colors are so inkle perfect, not to mention the coincidence of them being my college school colors. So, I am weaving 117 pair of shoelaces and selling them through my Etsy store for the symbolic price of $11.70 to raise money for the victims of the 117th running of the Boston Marathon.

Boston has held a special place in my heart since the time I first visited Boston at the age of 16. I knew I would live there one day. Something about the city just spoke to me. After college that dream came true and I actually got a job that paid me to relocate to Boston. I cherish the time I spent in Boston. There is a spirit and energy to the city that I can not resist.

Trinity Church in Copley Square reflected in the John Hancock building. Ingenious design.

So much open green space in the middle of the city. Fantastic.

Even though we don’t currently live there, the events of that day feel like they happened in my backyard. Steps from the finish line on Boylston St is where my husband and I had dinner on our first date. Blocks from the finish line, sitting on a bench on the Esplanade along the Charles River, where Boston holds its Independance Day celebration, he proposed to me.

Yes, this is the actual bench where he proposed.

Half of those very happy years were spent living in Watertown, with my now husband. On this year’s marathon day, our special town, the town we plan to move back to one day, was transformed into a place I could not understand. A town on lockdown. Watertown was our peaceful place, our home, a place for walks along the Charles River and to our favorite diners, including one that was in the heart of the craziness of that day.

To me the Boston Marathon represents all things good. People train and train and train to run the marathon in support of people, in honor of people’s memories, to commemorate triumphs over personal battles, to accomplish a personal life goal and myriad other great reasons. Friends, family, and strangers all show up along the race route to show their support of the runners. It is a day full of goodness and good feelings. Even though the day was tarnished in such a violent and tragic way, Boston is still a place of goodness. The marathon is still an event about goodness. I hope that my shoelaces will in a small way add to that spirit of goodness.

Now, I must go weave. I’ve got some shoelaces to make!

warp, weave, be happy!

The Academy of American Poets has designated April as National Poetry Month. As a handweaver and lover of words, I believe poets and handweavers have a lot in common. Poets interlace words and weave beautiful poems just as weavers interlace warp and weft to make beautiful cloth. Inkle weaving is a simple basic weave structure that, with a bit of imagination, can produce wonderful cloth. Likewise, a haiku, a simple poem woven of three lines of five, seven, and five syllables respectively, with a bit of imagination can produce wonderful verse.

So here, in honor of National Poetry Month, I give you my simple inkle haiku.

House needs to be cleaned.
Laundry is overflowing.
Instead, I will weave.

What does your inner poet have to say. Please, share your haiku with me!

warp, weave, be happy!

~Jennifer

Floor inkle loom or a harp. Let your imagination be your guide.

*Loom is warped for a very special project to be reveled next week. Stay tuned.

The last time I sampled a warp, I tied each warp end on individually, but I wanted a more efficient method to accomodate sampling a warp with more ends. So, in preparation for the goodies soon to arrive, I dug in my stash and found a skein of inexpensive acylic yarn that I bought because I liked the colors, but had no plans for, and tweeked my method a bit.

This time, I tied the warp on in groups instead of individually.

And, I warped over the top back peg. This kept the heddled and unheddled warp yarns laid neatly in place even though they were tied in groups.
    

A surprising result of tying the warp on in groups is that the groups wanted to twist. But, they easily straighten out with a few toothpicks inserted at the beginning of weaving (or what every you have on hand).

The sample band, including fringe is only 16 inches long. Even my mini inkle loom can not make a band that short.

The length and width were just right to understanding this yarn. From sampling I learned:

- This yarn is “toothy”, meaning it sticks to itself and needs to be coaxed apart at each pick. The skein is really soft, so I wasn’t expecting this.
-This yarn is self-striping. The label did not indicate this. I was hoping for a more verigated dye pattern.
-This yarn is not a good choice for weft. The pulling, tugging, and passing through the shed weakened it and caused the yarn to break. I switched to a cotton weft, which was thinner and smoother than the warp, and it worked much better.

I would call these tweeks a sampling success. Based on this sample band, I know this yarn is not good as a weft or as a stand alone warp yarn. Possibly, I will use it for an accent or  a pick-up yarn in a band. Hmmm…

warp, weave, be happy!

~Jennifer

And yes, these are my crayons, not my sons.

Well, I got that same thrill recently when I went to the Florida Tropical Weavers Guild Conference. Unfortunately, I didn’t go to teach or attend any of the workshops this year. The baby was too young to leave for too long. But, I did get to sneak away for an afternoon to see friends and shop, courteous of my wonderful inlaws, who were in town.

And just look at what I bought!

Eye candy!

I know! Isn’t it pretty.I love looking at this yarn! Crayon nirvana all over again. But, this is even better. It’s like fiber crayons; the box of 64 with a sharpener.

The yarn is from Lunatic Fringe Yarns. They have brilliantly come up with a 10/2 perle cotton yarn color wheel called ”The Tubular Spectrum”. Endless inkle color play for sure. I also had the pleasure of meeting Michele Belson, one of the owners.

Look at all those colors! Oh, the projects that await.

I have used Lunatic Fringe yarn in many of my projects, so I am excited to have the full color spectrum. It was my intention to buy the colors I didn’t already have, but I decided to buy the whole kit because it was so much more cost effective.

Besides, one can never have too much yarn. Right?

warp, weave, be happy!

~Jennifer

The inkle basket is created by cutting 1 or 2 inkle bands into strips and weaving them together in a simple over under pattern. For a little contrast, I used two different bands to make the basket , but it would look really nice made out of one band too.

Supplies needed:

1. Inkle band(s) 2. masking tape 3. extra yarn and thread 4. all purpose glue 5. knitting needle (optional) 6. scissors 7. straight pins and embroidery needle 8. something to measure with 9. clothes pins (*not pictured: 1/8″ (3mm) wide coordinating satin ribbon and sewing thread)

We have to do a bit of math to determine the length of inkle band you will need.

Multiply width of inkle band by 3 = width of basket base
Multiply width of basket base by 3 = length of one *vertical inkle strip
Multiply length of one *vertical inkle strip by 6 = total length of band needed for *vertical strips of the basket

Then:

Multiply width of basket base by 4 = length of one *horizontal inkle strip
Multiply length of one *horizontal inkle strip by 3= total length of band needed for *horizontal strips of the basket

*vertical and horizontal refer to the direction of the strips as they are woven to make the sides of the basket.

example: band is 1 inch wide
1″ x 3 = 3″
3″ x 3 = 9″
9″ x 6 = 54″
3″ x 4 = 12″
12″ x 3 = 36″

Following the example above, with two bands, as I did, you would need one band at least 54″ for the vertical strips and one at least 36″ for the horizontal strips. If using only one band the two totals need to be added together. Your band would need to be at least 90″. These totals are excluding fringe. The width of the bands will determine the final dimensions of your basket.

So let’s get started!

You will need 6 vertical strips and 3 horizontal strips each cut to the lengths you calculated.

To prevent the ends from raveling, seal the ends. Thread a needle with sewing thread. Put a bit of glue on the end of the thread as wide as the band. I call this glue thread. Yes, I thought long and hard on that name.

Insert the needle into the “tunnel” between the warp layers, one or two rows from the top edge. Pull the needle and thread all the way through until the glue thread is sandwiched in the band. Press firmly with your fingers to seal.

Trim the strip above the glue thread row. Apply glue along the top of the cut edge. Let the glue dry for at least 15 minutes. Your strips should be good and sealed now.

Now we are ready to make a basket!

Begin with 4 vertical strips placed like this.

Then:

And last strip placed; your base is built. The base square should be centered with the strips edges being evenly lined up on all four sides. Tip: Use a knitting needle to help nudge the strips into place.

Use the masking tape or straight pins to secure the base so it doesn’t shift while you weave the walls.

Begin building the walls by weaving a horizontal strip around the base strips.

Add glue to the overlap of the horizontal strip inside the basket.

Oops, the strips in this picture are not sealed…

As you continue building the walls of the basket it might be helpful to fold the vertical strips over the horizontal strips to aid in keeping everything in place.

This is what it will look like when all of the sides are built.

Whipstitch around the top edge with the embroidery needle and ribbon, securing the vertical strips to the horizontal strip. Be sure to insert the needle below the glue thread row.

Braid handles out of the fringe you cut off or lengths of yarn. Wrap the ends with yarn and sew to the basket.

And ta-da, you have a woven inkle basket!

My basket is filled with some fibery goodness that just arrived in the mail. Can’t wait to empty it and fill it again. What will you fill your basket with?

warp, weave, be happy! ~ Jennifer

How do you sample inkle weaving. Heck, compared to a floor loom warp inkle loom warps are sample size. Even though I’m planning a narrow band, only 19 warp ends, warped at the shortest length it still uses 19 yards of my limited quantity and expensive warp material. I’m sampling leather. $$$ You get the picture.

Here’s what I came up with:

I cut 19 ten inch lengths of the leather. Then, I cut 19 pieces of an inexpensive nylon yarn (it was the first thing I grabbed) and tied each to one end of each leather piece. The nylon pieces were long enough to tie to the front peg of the loom. At the other end of the leather, I tied it to the nylon yarn without cutting it from the spool.

Nylon tied to both ends to make one long warp end.

Then, I wound that warp end onto the loom, cutting it from the spool when I got back to the beginning; tying it off.

Warp ends individually tied to the front warp peg.

Top of warp ends tied to the nylon yarn.

Top of leather/ nylon warp heddled and unheddled.

Side view of leather/ nylon warp threads.

Usually, I don’t tie-off each warp thread individually, but it worked well here. I have woven and taken out three different weft materials so far. The leather has a memory, so the weaving leaves it a bit wavy. I’d hate to do that if it were a real warp.

I do have a lovely mini-loom that I use for sampling when the material isn’t so precious. I’m curious to know what other people do to sample inkle weaving.

warp, weave, be happy! ~ Jenifer

Yup, I made change purses with the bands from my last post. I’ve actually wanted to do an inkle change purse since I first learned how to weave inkle. The original idea and inspiration came from a great tutorial on Curious Weaver. My purses ended up being slightly different than her lovely purse, however. I sewed my bands vertically to minimize the amount of cutting and joined them by hand to be able to hide the join stitches.

I used a blanket stitch to close the side seams.

The purses are lined with cotton batik, which in hindsight I should have cut on the bias to allow for give inside the purse.

My assembly method more closely follows the tutorial from U-Handbag. Both tutorials miter the corners to give a flat bottom and use a glue-in frame. My purse frames are the sew-in type, stitched with nylon beading cord (think fishing line).

The first purse ended up being a tricky little project at times. There were some lessons learned:
-Very fuzzy yarn is not good for inkle weaving. You WILL end up cutting it out.
-Darker, thicker, contrasting yarn is a good idea for doing pick-up weaving when you are sleepy- easier on the eyes.
-Once you get the rhythm of pick-up it goes faster than you think it will. It can take a while to get a rhythm.
-Measuring accurately prevents a lot of headaches.
-The trick to sew-in purse frames: the needle needs to be inserted at an angle.

Now that I know what the heck I’m doing, I’ll definitely be making one of these again for myself. The bottom of my pocketbook is always full of change that I can never seem to find when I’m ready to pay for something…

I have one more gift to make, which hopefully, I’ll be able to get to this week, between the diaper changes and feedings of one and the potty training of the other. Stay tuned.

warp, weave, be happy!

~Jennifer

I did about as much “unweaving” with this band as I did weaving, but in the end I am really happy with the final result. The two pick-up patterns are Baltic-style pick-up on 13 warp ends from page 75 of Anne Dixon’s wonderful book The Weaver’s Inkle Pattern Directory 400 Warp-Faced Weaves.

(Pattern 1) Left: band front Right: band back

(Pattern 2) Left: band front Right: band back

Pattern 1

Pattern 2

Dropped pick-up warps to separate patterns.

Stay tuned for the cute project planned for this band…

warp, weave, be happy!
~Jennifer