The ones that I have been questing after are based on netting shuttles.

I have been weaving on my band and inkle looms with ‘the usual band loom’ style of shuttle, and they have been working just fine:

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

The top shuttle in the pic above,  is made by Harrisville, and comes with their Backstrap loom.

It’s a very pleasant shuttle… lightweight and sturdy.

The lower brass shuttle is one that my son in law made for me. I love it. It’s a hefty shuttle, great for beating in a thick warp.

So, why was I looking for the netting style shuttles?

Well… shuttles are to a weaver what a paintbrush is to a painter or a chisel is to a sculptor.

They are lovely tools that have a different feel in the hand and their own way of moving through the warp.

When we were away on holidays, I was dumbfounded and  absolutely thrilled to find not one, but THREE of the netting style shuttles!

Here they are:  Second hand store treasures! (From three different second hand stores in different communities).

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

My husband was not happy at the thought of me working with the top shuttle… it’s a lovely piece of ingenuity-

It’s wires soldered together to form a pleasing little shuttle. (about 6 inches/15 cm long).

He was appalled that it was made with lead solder.

I sadly promised him that I wouldn’t use it. Sigh.

A day or so later, I was tickled pink to find the shuttle in the middle.  It too, is very obviously handmade.

It’s been rather roughly sawn out of a strip of aluminum. It’s about 1 inch/2.5 cm wide by 6 inches/15 cm long.

I absolutely love it. It’s a GREAT little shuttle.

It’s excellent for opening the shed on an inkle loom and works well for pickup.  Funky, but oh so good!

The bottom shuttle showed up in one of my fave second hand stores and I practically swooned.

Such riches! To find THREE shuttles all on one holiday, especially such oddball little critters, was just amazing to me.

The white shuttle is plastic, not handmade, and is about 8 inches/20 cm long.  It’s smooth and sturdy and glides along oh so well. Bliss.

Now, you didn’t think I was just going to gloat about my treasures, did you?

That wouldn’t be very polite…. so, I have made a pattern of the aluminum shuttle.

Mine is very wonky, so I have corrected the pattern to make it more symetrical.

You can make it from thin hardwood if you are a woodworker, or metal if you have metal saws,

OR…. why not recycle and upcycle some plastic into a dandy shuttle for yourself?

Here’s the pattern:

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

You can make it larger than 6 inches/15 cm if you wish, or smaller, too, for that matter.

Mine’s 6 inches/15 cm by 1 inch/2.5 cm and that’s a really nice size for inkle and band weaving.

Happy Weaving!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

One of the passions that Terri and I share is a deep love of weaving.

Over the years, looms and spinning wheels and other fiber tools have gone back and forth between our studios.

Recently, the mini inkle loom that I call, ‘The Emperor’s Invisible Loom’, came back home to me from Terri’s where it had been observing life in her Saori studio.

The Emperor’s Invisible loom had it’s share of problems, and now they are solved (yay).  (click on the boldface link in the last sentence to see how).

I have a series of pieces that I am working on, and inkle weaving is a part of them.

I have been  thinking a lot about the yarns that I want to include in the series. (I don’t want to say too much about the series, because if I write too much about some works in progress, the life can go out of them. So, sometimes, it’s better to just skip some of the details.)

It’s clear to  me that using upcycled yarns really fits with my vision of the series….. and then I had an ‘aha’ moment….

photo and project by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

My husband bought me a bag of cheap and cheerful thread at our favorite second hand store a few months back, and I have been using it for lots of fun projects.

Like these Comfort Thread Dolls

and some wild

Tatted Bracelets

These have felt so satisfying that they have  made me re-think what is ‘good’ thread and yarn, and what isn’t.

Because I combined lots of strands together  to make the Old Fashioned Yarn Baby Comfort Dolls, I realized that this was a great way to work with the ‘not-good-for-sewing’ thread.

I thought….

Hey! what about using multiple strands of the cheapie thread for inkle weaving?

So, I got out a pile of small shuttles and a selection of bobbins, and started winding 6 strands at a time onto the shuttles.

This sounds so innocent, doesn’t it?

No problem, right?

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

WRONG!

Ack.

The thread was AWFUL to wind onto the shuttles!

I ended up with the stupid little tubes getting all snaggled and snarled and it was NOT FUN.

Phoo.

So much for great ideas.

Ah well…. I spent so much time working on getting the threads onto the shuttles and bobbins  that I felt committed to stick it out.

Which was good, because, in the end, it was worth it.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

I am really, really happy with the outcome – the bands are very nice and feel great in the hand.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

And, weaving with the threads was a total pleasure.

So, winding the little beasts tubes of thread (6 tubes held together for each shuttle and bobbin) was worth the trial and tribulation.

Will I do it again? Of course. I can’t let those little stinkers those sticky little tubes of thread get the better of me!

The woven bands are soooooooooooo worth it.

I think……

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

The cloth was invisible, right?

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

Well, I have been working with the Emperor’s new loom.

It’s invisible.

Okay…. the loom isn’t quite invisible,

but you can see through it.

It’s a tiny inkle loom that’s made of plexiglass.

It’s a fun little loom, but,

alas,  it does have some problems….

I really like this little loomie, so I have had to put on my thinking cap.

My thinking cap did it’s job very well, and, so, I am very pleased that I have been able to rescue the Emperor’s Invisible loom.

I  solved the dilemmas with a couple of  ‘outside the box’  solutions.

The heddle bar was in the wrong place which made trying to open the sheds absolutely miserable.

It was too far forward, which meant that the sheds simply weren’t opening.

So, I drilled some holes further back and inserted a new heddle rod.

Voila! that works beautifully- the sheds are now easily opening!

Okay, so that’s one problem solved…..

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

Another big issue

was that there was no way of tensioning the warp strands-

this was just plain skeeeeery

when it felt like the poor brittle loom was going to go ‘kersproing’ and shatter!

So, the easy peasy fix for that was to add 3 more rods to the outside of the loom while warping it.

I use loopers from a potholder loom (I really don’t like weaving with loops, but boy are they handy for this kind of thing!) and slip the ends of the extra rods through them to hold them in place while warping and weaving.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

When the weaving tightens up through take-up, just slip a rod out, and the weaving can progress without stressing the loom.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

Adding the extra rods is really good for maximizing the warp.

It allows you to weave a band that is longer, without the warp getting so tight that you have to cut it off.

See?

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

I am very pleased with the adaptations that I have made to the wee Emperor’s Old Loom.

It now has a new lease on life! Hurrah!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

She has written about what it has been like for her to do the sewing of the memorial textiles (called antependia) that we have co-created in memory of her Nana, my precious mother in law….. we both found it to be very stirring to put huge effort into creating a loving memorial to a marvelous woman who was central in our lives.

Here’s her entry: Chloë  and the memorial textiles

Here’s what I wrote about this process:

1] Starting the weaving 

2] a not so stellar moment…. 

3] weaving…. 

4] weaving a metaphor

5] my part finished…. 

Sunday morning, we’ll be participating in the dedication of the altar cloth,  pulpit banner and  table runners.  Jim’s trio is going to play, and a friend of ours, a fabulous singer, is going to be singing. It’s going to be wonderful….

I’ll take some pics and post them……

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I’ve written about it before – memorial textiles 

For the last few days, I have been deeply immersed in finishing up the bands so my daughter can take them and stitch them to the ‘antependia’ (sacred textiles).

There’s nothing like knowing that if you don’t get your part of the project done, then the project doesn’t get done! eep

So, weave weave weave…. I’ve woven miles of bands…. and now, I get to pass them to my daughter, for her to make her magic with.

She’s good.

She’s REALLY good!

She’s her grandmother’s granddaughter for sure )

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Chloë wrote today about her part of the Memorial textiles that we are working on in celebration of the life of her grandmother/my beloved mother-in-law.

Chloë’s doing a fabulous job on them, and it’s a HUGE project, all driven by love.

Jim took some pics of me working on my part…. the weaving of the narrow bands that are trimming the banners and altar cloth and side table runners:

When I was first approached about weaving this memorial for my precious mum-in-law, I envisioned something much bigger.

I got WILDLY inspired and came up with a really exciting concept.  It’s a huge and exuberant idea for a wonderful weaving project!

So, the seed is planted for a project that I KNOW is going to see the light of day- sometime…..  it’s gestating – and I know it’s going to be fun!

BUT… there was a VERY firm nudging that kept coming up for me. It was a prompting that  I believe was coming from Mum, saying: Keep this simple!

And judging by the ‘deer in the headlights’ look in the eyes of the memorial committee  when I proposed the very high energy (lotsa people involved) project, that inner prompting was right.   THIS  memorial project does need to be elegant, minimalist and simple.

Simple ain’t easy, though… Chloë  and I are working our butts off on it.

And, it is just SO RIGHT!  It seems to me that women have found ways of remembering each other and making connections in and through their threads since the beginning of time.

We are all weaving a tapestry of life that carries our memories and love in every one of the precious threads we spin each day.

Here’s to the tapestry!

What are you weaving into the threads of your life?

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

It’s taken awhile to get all the details sorted and everything approved, but now things are on fast forward.

Turns out what the committee wanted was to replace the worn out  navy blue velvet  with new velvet ones, to have me weave decorative edging.

Sewing velvet is one of my least favorite things on earth, so my wonderful daughter has taken on that part. (Bless her heart!)

She’s doing all the sewing by hand, which is a LOT of work.

And, she can’t do it until I get the bands woven…. so….

Today, I got out my bobbin winder and filled a paper quill with a heap of white thread…….

and my inkle loom, and then I got warping……

and now…. weave….. weave….. weave……..

 It’s going to be a touch slow, as pickup weaving is done stitch by stitch…..

and – there’s love in every stitch.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I have woven countless vests, bags, dolls, rugs,  and components of other garments and accessories on the inkle loom.

This is my two sided inkle loom that my husband built for me.  The two sided inkle looms are slower to warp, but are sturdier than some open sided inkle looms.

If you are going to buy  an inkle loom, make sure it is VERY sturdy. You’ll be putting a lot of pressure on the pegs of the loom, and if they give way, it can be infuriating.

Also, make sure that the mechanism that allows you to advance the warp is very sturdy, too, as there is a lot of stress on it.

If you are going to be working with inkle looms, you definitely will want to buy Helene Bress’s book: Inkle Weaving 

I’ve uploaded tons of pics of various inkle woven projects. Just scan down the categories to the right and click on the inkle weaving  and narrow band weaving category. It’ll pull up lots of pics…..

Happy Weaving!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn