I warped my small sprang loom again using dyed wool yarn, once again determined to make this one a little better than the last. I warped on a few more times to make it wider to help combat the natural inclination to twist.

This attempt was an improvement on the previous tries. I achieved an even fabric, even though finishing the middle is still vexing me, it was less wonky than the last times. I tried a different method too: chaining each side separately, rather than both together. It still needs work.

I used the extra yarn from warping to sew up the sides, and strung yarn through the top to make a drawstring bag.

The sideways stretch of the bag is easily double the height. There is no stretch vertically, which I need to take into account when designing a piece. This tiny bag would do well to hold dice. I’ve seen some larger bags made with wood handles that would outperform a similar bag in crochet because crochet stretches in all directions and tends to droop over time.

I’m determined to add Sprang to my crafting repertoire. This round, I secured the bottom of my small bent cane loom with some paracord so it was less loosey-goosey. I added life lines using hemp string, and used hemp for the header and footer ties. (Why hemp and paracord? That was what was next to me. The paracord is too thick for the lifelines (to me), so I replaced them with thinner hemp.)

Using wool yarn and making a wider sample did help with the bias twist a little while I was working. I did some interlinked rows, and tried some intertwined rows to the middle.

I went to finish the center with a crochet chain and everything went wonky. The chain crawled upward on the yarn, making the two uneven halves even more uneven.

When I took the sample off the loom it curled unevenly, wonky and crumpled.

I wove in the ends, catching the live loop of the crochet chain when I went up the side, and blocked the piece by wetting and pinning it to dry.

Undeterred, I made a third attempt. Rather than the chain finish, I tried warp and weft plain weaving the center part. Abysmal. The plain weave has no stretch and completely threw off the stretch of the sprang. I mention it only so I remember that I tried, and rejected, the method. It doesn’t even deserve its own post. I’m not giving up, though.