I finally got around to trying out one of the bands from "Tablet Woven Treasures." It's been a while since I did any card weaving, partly because I really don't enjoy the warping side of card weaving and partly because I've had other projects on the go. I tell myself that I'll make things easier and do a continuous warp and then I fall in love with a pattern that doesn't lend itself to that technique. Cue miles of yarn in coloured groups cut into lengths then threaded and tied on four at a time. Sigh.
And so it was with this band. It is (almost) pattern number 23 in the book and one of the simpler bands with a four forward, four backwards turning routine. With the distraction of a banged up leg (see my previous post) I didn't want anything too complicated. As it was there was some grumpiness when I couldn't get the threads through the fishing swivels. More on those later.
The pattern is a simple threaded in design which I slightly modified. The original archaeological find was a decorative band on a skirt and had an asymmetric border pattern. I swapped over a couple of the colours to create a symmetrical border. I'm thinking of using the finished band on a hat but it might turn into a lead as it's just the right width for that and possibly a little narrow for the hat I have in mind to decorate.
I warped the loom following the instructions presented in a video by "KnowKnots" which uses those fishing swivels I mentioned earlier to reduce problems with twisting yarn and to help maintain even tension across your threads. The swivels are attached to a split ring. I used four swivels per ring. The four threads from one card are tied to the split ring, warped and then the ends are pulled through the other eye of the swivel and tied with a knot which can slide up and down the thread to adjust the tension. When that card's done repeat the process with the rest of them. I should have taken a photo when I first warped the loom so you could see the rings more clearly, but I didn't. Oops! Instead the image shows the view from underneath the loom which kind of shows the rings in action.
The yarn is an 8/2 Orlec from Maurce Brassard that I got when My Fine Weaving Yarns were selling off the end of their Orlec stock. I tend to tablet weave using mercerised cotton but the orlec is perfect for things that need to be hard wearing like bag straps or dog leads and because I got it cheap and there are more than 1,500m of yarn on each cone it is perfect for sampling new patterns.
The colours are very rich as you can see from the blue weft I'm using. The one down side is that using the same yarn for warp and weft I have to work harder at my band edges. Normally I use a warp which is twice the thickness of the weft (or thereabouts) which helps keep the edges tidy as the weft seems to squidge into the softer warp rather than sit on the edge of it. After a slightly untidy start I got back into the swing of things and I'm quite pleased with how the band is coming together now.
When I've finished this band I'm thinking of trying one of the more advanced patterns - number 47 which looks a lot like a sketch of a double helix. Or I might try something in between, an intermediate difficulty if you like. Until then, if you want to try a continuous warp you might want to check out Linda Hendrickson's video here.
If you have any favourite resources for warping or tablet weaving why not give them a shout out in the comments.
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