Ukulele strap part 1

I decided my ukulele needed a strap. Maybe it was mostly an excuse to design a new card woven pattern, maybe it was to use up cotton crochet thread, most likely I decided to make it myself because I don’t have enough works in progress.

I used this tablet weaving designer, and came up with this pattern.

Photo description: Tablet weaving pattern diagram generated in Tablet Weaving Draft Designer v1.5.0. Diagram shows how to setup the cards in the tablet, and which way to turn each card for each pass of the weft thread.

I warped my loom with #10 cotton crochet thread in black and rainbow. The rainbow warps I aligned by color. It was quite serendipitous that a color repeat in the thread was just a little longer than my warp length, so I could have all the colors, and very little waste.

Photo description: Handmade Inkle loom warped with black and rainbow thread with weaving cards made from an Uno deck.

I used the black thread as the weft, and started with a few passes held straight with lengths of 18 gauge wire, then doubled the weft back on itself for several rows. To end, I used a loop method to draw the weft back on itself to help lock the weaving in place.

Photo description: Weaving in progress showing a wavy green and black pattern with solid black edges and rainbow colored loops along the weft pass to use to draw the weft backwards.

I love this pattern. It is balanced so the twist does not build up in the warp, except when I make a mistake. Even when I miss a turn or double a turn, it still looks cool, and it is double sided! Win! I love the middle, but the edges vex me because they are not even (an artifact of the balanced weave). I may try a plain woven edge next time around (my youngest has requested one for her uke.)

Photo description: Finished woven band with color changes along the spectrum in the same wavy pattern.

Now to make it useful in addition to decorative.