Here is a throwback from this blog, where I made my own plastic bottle string cutter. I’m still trying to figure out what all I can do with the ribbon.
African violet bloom
My African violet bloomed! My friend gifted me a mother leaf, which gave rise to six plants, which I put in individual lined pots that I could lift to put water in the bottom. I have been adding AV fertilizer once a month. I have discovered the African Violet Society of America website, and scrolled through their gallery of 3,000 varieties. Based on the bloom and leaf color and edge, I believe I have a “Buffalo Hunt” variety. The maroon color is really quite lovely!
This could be a new rabbit hole…
String heddles
Next up for my new inkle loom is to test making a band with string heddles. To make the heddles I tied cotton string around the top post and heddle post, tied a square knot, and trimmed the ends.
I made 26 heddle strings, then strung my loom with medium cotton (4) yarn with a metallic sparkle in a continuous loop 53 times, putting a heddle on every other loop and taking that loop over the top bar.
This set up with a plain warp faced weave is making a 2” wide band, which I quite like for bag straps, especially cross-body straps.
I like the string heddles better than the laser cut rigid heddle. The shed is easy to change and doesn’t spread out the warp threads, so I’m finding it easier to keep the width more consistent. I am having trouble moving the band around the pegs when I need to weave a new section. I think when this band is done I will sand all the dowels with fine grit sandpaper and finish them again to see if they will slide better.
First band
I finished the first band on my new inkle loom, made with leftover pearlized cotton, mostly variegated, in teals and browns, and a laser cut rigid heddle.
This was a good learning project. I found out that the laser cut rigid heddle is too wide and makes it difficult to keep the edges even because of the inconsistent edge tension as I weave closer to the heddle. I also learned that I need to leave more unwoven warp if I want to do twined fringe on both ends of the band, which I have discovered I quite like. I love my new loom, but have identified some carpentry weaknesses, particularly in the supports, that I would make differently if I were to build it again. I also found that I need a bar across the front of the loom so that when I’m beating down the weft, I have a more even pressure across my midsection, rather than one rather edgy stick poking under my ribs.
Tunisian crochet reverse stitch
I experimented with the Tunisian reverse stitch for a 7×9 block for Warm Up America. In Tunisian simple stitch you pick up the front vertical bar, in the reverse stitch you pick from the back of work and the back vertical bar. It makes a very thick pleasantly squishy fabric.
Blocking the rectangle will probably even out the edges and reduce the slight curl. The tutorials I found claimed this is a flat stitch, but my sample has a vertical curl, not nearly as pronounced as the horizontal curl of simple Tunisian crochet, but still present. It could be my edge stitch tension or technique, though. Experiments will continue.
