Historic tablet weaving

I have really enjoyed being a member of Facebook's Historic Tablet Weaving list and being inspired by the weaving of so many other people!

I wove almost three yards of 16/2 linen, which I am going to sew to a medieval dress.

This first one shows the wooden cards I use in different colors. They all have a strong grain, so I can tell where I should be without the ABCD labeling of modern cards.

And this has more of the repeat. The background is one of the natural cotton towels I showed in another post. The pattern is from Applesies and Fox Noses: Finnish Tabletwoven Bands by Maikki Karisto and Mervi Pasanan--a fabulous book with medieval designs and ones inspired by them.

Medieval Hood

Some years back, I had woven red and black Maine Line Jaegerspun 2/8 into 8-harness herringbone and broken diamond twill (same threading, different treadling). However, cutting into the fabric was another issue! I finally cut and hand sewed a medieval style hood in time for the Indiana State Fair, where it won a second.

First, a side view.

Next, here are views of the hood as I was wearing it wearing it at a recent SCA event. I definitely enjoyed wearing the hood, which was amazingly cozy.

Next, more cutting and sewing!

Tabletweaving Frenzy

In the Society for Creative Anachronism (an international group with areas divided into SCA kingdoms and smaller groups), the King of the Midrealm promised the King of Atlantia a fine set of clothes to be given at Pennsic War (a little camping event in western Pennsylvania with 12,000-13,000 medieval through Renaissance reenactors). I found a tabletweaving pattern which reflects the wavy blue and white section of Atlantia's heraldic device, selected Bockens 16/2 linen in dark blue and white, and worked with all speed, finishing it today so I can give it to the woman sewing the medieval Scandinavian caftan and hat. Someone else is sewing a tunic with another person's different tw pattern, and a third person is sewing the pants. Whew! I'm looking forward to seeing it being worn!

Mini-tapestry

Recently I took a three-hour tapestry workshop taught for Weaving Indiana (meeting in Fishers, Indiana) by Barb of The Weavers Loft (Gilford, Indiana). Afterwards, I was inspired to make a 6.25" x 6/25" mini-tapestry inspired by the mesas north of Santa Fe. All the yarns, including the warp, I handspun. I had a general idea of how I had hoped they would turn out, but wasn't entirely sure! I worked it on a Hokett loom, 8 epi. The next step is to finish the ends on the back and decide how to hang it in my office.

Towels in nature's own colors

Waaay back in the 1980s, I was in graduate school in Austin, Texas, when I learned about Sally Fox's efforts to cultivate cotton which historically grew in colors: from shades of brown, red, green, and the blue she's still searching for. When Weaving Indiana (a monthly guild meeting about 50 minutes northeast) had a towel exchange last November, I decided to weave up some of those natural cottons I had bought in the previous year or two.

Through the magic of weaving, all these towels were woven with the same tie-up but different treadling. The "tree" pattern was in an issue of Handwoven. I put the tie-up on my iPad using iWeave it, then I played with the treadling to create all these different towels. Here I have overlapped the finished towels.

Also, the next two pictures are the same design: one from the front, the other from the back. In weaving, sometimes the "wrong" side is more striking than the "right" one! (The difference in color is why cameras can be perplexing.)

And here is another diamond variation.

And zig zags!

 Part of what is so fascinating about this natural, undyed cotton, is that the color deepens when the fabric is simmered for at least a half hour!

Beaded Purses

Here are some of the beaded crocheted purses I have made in the past.

The first one I made started with a chain at the bottom, with single crochets worked in the top of the chain on each side, creating the spiral. Once the beading pattern was established, I kept single crocheting and developed the checkerboard design. Periodically, I had to add new beads but concealed the join so it is hard to find it inside. After the beading was done, I did double crochets to create holes for the ties, then more crocheting and beads at the very top. The last task was to string beads and crochet fringes at the bottom.

The photo doesn't fully show how this purse sparkles!

This purse is actually brighter and sparkles much more than it seems because the beads are cut.

The "shadow" on this Victorian-inspired purse is caused by the steel-cut beads not aging the same. The tie is a velvet ribbon threaded through double crochet. You can just see the top row of tiny beads.

(The background is a towel I wove of natural, undyed cotton--but that's a story for another post!)

Beaded Crochet Amulet Bag

Recently, I taught a class in beaded crocheting, so here is the information if you would like to give it a try.

A Simple Beaded Amulet Bag

Supplies: crochet cotton, beads which can fit through the cotton folded in half, crochet hook appropriate for the size of cotton. (The sample was made with size 3 cotton and size 6 beads.)

1. Slip beads from sewing thread onto crochet thread. Don’t try to do too many at a time or you could risk breaking the sewing thread and having beads cascade everywhere! In the sample, I used 84 beads (7 in each row). It’s better to have a few extra than too few.

2. Chain 29, then join. This gives you a circle of 28 stiches (7 sets of 4 stitches). Single crochet around.

(You will actually be working in a spiral, so no end of row extra chaining will be needed at the start of each row.)

3. At beginning of second row, insert hook, pull thread through, slide one bead toward the far side of the circle, then hook thread to complete single crochet.

Note: the bead stays on the far side. If it slips through, undo the stitch and redo.

Single crochet three stitches.

4. Repeat: single crochet with bead, then 3 single crochets without beads to end of round.

5. Single crochet 2 stitches, *single crochet with bead, single crochet 3 stitches; repeat to end.

To check your work, you should have staggered rows of beads like in the sample.

Repeat rows 4 and 5 for 12 rows or to preferred length.

Single crochet one plain row then fasten off. (Before you fasten off, see if you would like a second plain single crochet row. Turn work inside out then sew bottom edge. Thread ties carefully inbetween stitches of final row and fasten. Enjoy!

To use a finer thread, work a sample with finer beads then increase number of starting chain stitches, being sure you can divide them by 4.

To make a larger purse, you will need to decide on your desired width, then make multiples of 4 in your total chaining. Obviously, you will need to add beads, so that means you will cut your working thread, leaving a 2-3 inch tail. Restring, then start the pattern again, catching the tail of your first thread inside the purse (leaving 2-3 inches of the new thread to be carefully threaded through later).

Don’t overload your thread with beads because glass beads will abrade the thread, and that will show on the non-beaded stitches.

When using finer thread, you might want to end with 1 single crochet row; 1 row with doublecrochet, skip 3 stitches, repeat to end; and 1 single crochet row.

Knitted Amulet Bag

1. Cast on 28 stitches, using double pointed needles which will give firm, close stitches. Knit 1 row in the round plain.

2. Before starting row 2, slide one bead next to the needle then knit 4 stitches, then 

*slide 1 bead then knit 4* to end. Check that the bead is not caught in the stitches but is between them. Slide 1 bead, knit 4 stitches to end.

3. At start of row 2, knit 2 stitches, *slide bead, knit 4* and repeat until 2 plain knit stitches remain and knit those.

4. Continue alternating 2 and 3, checking that you have rows of alternating beads to desired length.

5. Knit 2 rows plain and cast off (not too tight, not too loose). Sew lower edge close. Insert ties between stitches.

When using finer thread, you might want to end with 1 plain row, 1 row with yarn overs every 4 stitches, then 1 plain row.

Note: there are other methods of knitting with beads, but this is the simplest and good to use for a first project.

Mini-mitten Mania!

After all the mittens, there should be no surprise that when the Latvian mitten group on Ravelry had a min-mitten exchange, I had to participate. I used 1.5mm or 000 needles and Koigu fingering yarn. I didn't enjoy the tiny thumbs, but the hands were fun and I was surprised at how recognizably Latvian the minis were. They aren't true miniatures (wearable by dolls) because the yarn isn't stranded to keep the hands and thumbs open.

This is the first pair I made, "larger" than the others. When I realized I had made a mistake in the brown, I decided that meant my first pair would be mine! The thumbs are hard to see because they are knit in pattern.

These are the exchange pairs. Note that one even has a tiny version of the braid in the "wrist."

 I mistakenly sent the box to the wrong address (fortunately, to someone 40 miles from the intended recipient). This is my "Oops. Thank you." pair for her.

And these are the pairs I received!

Obviously, minis can be great ornaments or nametag decorations!

Mitten Mania!

Woops! It's been an entire year since my last post, but that means I have a lot of catch-up posting to do.

Since October, I've been doing a lot of wool mitten knitting with patterns from Ravelry. This first one isn't a Halloween pattern, but I had a perfect shaded orange for it.

This next one was my first mystery Knit-A-Long, and I really enjoyed seeing it develop.

Can you spot the images from The Secret Garden? This was January's KAL.

And of course, Saint Patrick's Day!

I chose this pattern for Ravellenics (started on the first day of the Olympics, finished by the closing ceremonies).

Fun!

The ram and ewe mittens.

And more to come later!