This page is for new (or old) members who are joining in on any of the weave along proposals which, from now on, we will simply call TUTORIALS.

We have three options available and I suggest you read the advice thread   www.weavolution.com/node/5687  to find the tutorial best suited to your level.

Rather than getting lost on the tutorial pages themselves, you can ask your questions and post photos of your progress here.

Welcome to Lace Weaver who has just purchased her loom bars and will be warping up soon.

Davasdu has her homemade loom bars and beater and is also on her way.

Sharonl will be joining us soon as soon as she has finished her spinning project.

Weave2 will be back in action shortly.

jenandina is contemplating making a backstrap-maybe in twill-cool!

Anne Crowley, who is away for a week, will be strapped back in asap.Come back quick-we miss you!

Virag is jajimming and I am mug rugging!

kristina is exploring and experimenting with card weaving/backstrap.

Caroline is having fun on her rigid heddle and I am sure she will be back soon.

Jeannine and Tiia, , terryech, eglantine and Loom Monkey ...what about you?

bwknits is knitting helmet liners for the troops and will be trying out her backstrap loom after the 31st.

Aquinnah is searching for that ideal tie up place.

 

As for Franco....who knows? I can't keep up with him!!

 

Sorry if I have missed anyone. If I have, let us know here what you are up to. Don't keep your backstrap experiments a secret!!

Laverne

 

Comments

Thu, 10/08/2009 - 12:09

Aunt Janet (not verified)

I'm ready to jump in now.  I'll get my sticks together today, and warp up.  Looking forward to particpating.

Aunt Janet

Thu, 10/08/2009 - 12:18

bolivian warmi

Welcome Aunt Janet.

I have been wanting to change the name of those threads to just ''tutorial one'' etc rather than ''weave- along'' because  there is no official start date and people are welcome to come and join in any time. You are bound to find someone else working on one with you.

Here you can ask questions and show off your progress. Do you have a project in mind?

Laverne

Thu, 10/08/2009 - 14:06

bolivian warmi

Thanks Franco,

As you can see I went straight away and did it! I have edited the primary message many times but wasn't aware that I could change the topic name too.

Thank you,

Laverne

Thu, 10/08/2009 - 21:21

jenadina (not verified)

I've started my backstrap; it's just simple warp stripes. I decided against twill because I'm not entirely sure how to tie up the heddles for twill. The warp cross gets in the way (maybe because the warp is so short)...I think I have to pick up the entire shed with a pickup stick, then tie up the heddles. My problem is that I don't have any pickup sticks, and I don't have fingernails, either.

I'll edit with pics in a little while; I've misplaced my camera cable :(

 

Thu, 10/08/2009 - 21:34

bolivian warmi

Okay, you've given me something to work on here-tying up heddles for twill. For next time! So YOURS are the two mystery projects on the project page! I have been waiting for those photos to come up!

Laverne

 

 

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 00:39

jenadina (not verified)

Here are the pics I promised:

In progress:

finished:

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 00:43

Caroline (not verified)

LOVE the colours! That looks fantastic! Well done!

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 00:50

jenadina (not verified)

Thanks! The finished pic looks more yellow than it actually is, but I adore the colors. Fire!

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 01:42

bolivian warmi

Yes the colors are great and it has come out nice and straight and even. Have you tried it out yet? This will brightem up the Projects Page which is looking very pastel at he moment.

BTW I am going to make a video for that four-strand braid tomorrow.:-)

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 02:18

jenadina (not verified)

I haven't tried it yet...still working on my warp. I'm still new to the warping board (this is only the 3rd time I've used it) and I'm SLOW. I did manage to figure out that it goes faster with the warping board on my bed and the cone of yarn on the floor. Come to think of it, I might not be able to start weaving before Monday :(

I'm glad you're making a video of that braid...It was a little difficult trying to braid and click through the pics to the next step at the same time ;)

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 04:06

Aunt Janet (not verified)

Well, after a couple of false starts, I have a warp for a backstrap.  I had a hard time finding yarn, and will have to have another hunt, or order something on-line.  I could find lots of heavier, and quite a bit finer, but DK weight cotton was either fluffy, or non-existent in places I searched.  I finally took out the ball of Red Heart, Eco yarn, which is 75% recycled cotton and 25% acrylic.  It is fluffier than I would like, but it is all I could find to start out with.  It isn't very fluffy, but not very firm either.

I have the warp on sticks, with the cross preserved.  I am stopping for the evening, and will add heddles tomorrow.

In the mean time, I taught two people to spin today.  the guy quit after a while, saying that he didn't have the patience.  The lady kept spinning, saying she could do this forever.  a couple of hours later she was still spinning and making very even yarn.  I shared your backstrap article on Weavezine with her today.

This evening my friend, Elijah joined me in sanding sticks for his loom.  I showed him your video on making the string heddles, and some of the pictures on your flicker page.  Elijah and another friend learned how to weave on inkle looms last week.  He is very excited about the backstrap loom.

So, it looks like I'm bringing along a few more backstrap weavers.  i'm guessing at least one will join up here at Weavolution.

Glad to be started.

Aunt Janet

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 04:11

bolivian warmi

You have had a really productive day!! I am reading this just before going to bed and this has made me so happy.

Looks like you are really set to go!

Laverne

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 06:36

Caroline (not verified)

Backstrap tends to get  contagious, hehe! I have a friend I'm encouraging to have a try, the only problems being we live about 1,000 kms apart and have no chance of visiting any time soon, and her internet is too slow to get to Weavolution.

Let us know how you go with the Red Heart Eco Yarn. Its a brand I actually recognise!! I have seen it in the shops here in Australia when I was hunting for suitable cotton for a backstrap project just over a month back. I thought it was probably too thick and too soft to put through a string heddle successfully.

I have a half finished tablet project on which I used knitting cotton; looks good, fabulous colours, but the yarn is abrading faster than I can turn the tablets. I also used similar knitting cottons  for an experiment on the backstrap, and left a lot of fluff on my heddles for a very short piece of 6 inches. I'm now using crochet cotton, and double mercerised perle # 5,  hoping they wear better. Its very hard finding suitable cottons, and I'm wondering if I should be production spinning strong alpaca and mohair in its place, or at least re-spinning acrylics. I did like the idea of the Eco Yarn, and may use it on my rigtid heddle loom where it won't get the abuse and I can exploit the colours - if I can find it in the shops again.

Good luck! This is a huge learning curve for all of us, and we come at it from all angles and types of experience, and its good to share what we learn, not just about how we do it, but about the materials we use too.

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 13:04

bolivian warmi

I have done card weaving and I agree that there is a tremendous amout of friction on the warps beween the cards but you are going to have to trust me on this when I say that there need not be that much abuse to yarns when using string heddles. 

If you are positioning yourself well in your backstrap and getting all the moves coordinated, you should be able to lift the warps straight up without dragging them across the yarns and doing the usual ''sawing'' action which goes on when one hasn't quite gotten it together. I ''sawed'' right through my warps the first time I was learning to use heddles in Peru. My teacher spoke Quechua and there wasn't a great deal of explanantion and so I had to very carefully watch her moves-there was no slowing down for my benefit!! and practice. By the time I had finished my lessons with her, things had improved significantly.

Opening your sheds smoothly and getting your edges straight are the two big things that one needs to focus on when starting out.

This is the yarn I used in the WeaveZine article. I just scraped my thumb nail over it under tension 6 times and this is the amount of fluff it brought up. Yet for the entire backstrap project it stayed in perfect condition.

This the pilling on my heddle string (same yarn as above) after a 1 yard double weave project. The pilling, however, did not cause the heddles to stick to the warps-we are not aiming for zero pilling.

 

 

 

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 13:12

jenadina (not verified)

I agree, Laverne. On my purple scarf project, I had quite a bit of pilling due to the nature of the acrylic yarn. But on my backstrap project, I had the heddles lifting straight up (though I do it differently...Instead of rolling the heddle bar over my hand, I use my weaving sword to push the shed stick away while pulling up on the heddles.) With cotton, the shed opens very cleanly and easily, and when I removed my heddles there was hardly any yarn residue on them. My yarn was unmercerized and I was a little worried, but wow! It sure was easy to weave after that acrylic from h*ll scarf!

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 13:30

bolivian warmi

Your way of opening the heddles is actually the way that the vast majority of weavers that I have met here do it and the way i would choose to do it on a much wider warp. They push down with the sword, punch the warp with their fist, push against the warps with their thumb or use a special implement (in the photo below) to go pushing the warps down.

I think that everyone goes developing their own quirky way as they get more experience. (I think a video on different heddle lifting techniques may be called for here!)

Did you respin the acrylic? That will help a lot the next time. If you use acrylic in a warp-faced project the fibers will mesh and when you open the sheds there is weird tearing sound but that's normal!

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 16:41

francorios (not verified)

Nice color!

I like the shuttle/beater you have. What do they call that? I know there is a name for it.

Have a good day!

Franco Rios

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 23:41

bolivian warmi

UPDATE.......Loom Monkey has joined us again and is thinking about making a backstrap. Meanwhile Jenadina, Caroline and I have become the ''twill triplets'' and have started an impromptu twill weave along. You can find us playing over here............

www.weavolution.com/node/5597

All are free to join in.

Sat, 10/10/2009 - 23:55

jenadina (not verified)

My shuttle is a 6" Leclerc stick shuttle, and my beater is a Schacht weaving sword. I adore my sword; it's very smooth and never, ever snags the yarns. I have the 30" sword; I think the smallest is 16". The Leclerc stick shuttles have a beveled edge as well. I also have a pair of Kromski stick shuttles; they are actually beveled on both edges. What I don't own are pickup sticks!

Sun, 10/11/2009 - 00:04

bolivian warmi

No one is in any hurry here! although I will possibly finish before you with my 15 inch warp!! :-)

BTW the braid video is up.

Sun, 10/11/2009 - 00:07

jenadina (not verified)

I'm in a hurry...just because I want to see how it comes out!

Sun, 10/11/2009 - 00:10

Caroline (not verified)

Why not take a leaf out of Franco's book and use chopsticks with a point on the end? I use a length of dowel, and have straightened up one end by flattening it off into 3 sides,  and given it a point. Its perfect for me!  Light in weight and because its 3 sided, very easy to hold in the hand, and much easier to manipulate than a sword, particularly in a fine warp.

Sun, 10/11/2009 - 00:23

jenadina (not verified)

Good idea! I have hair chopsticks that would probably work pretty well. I love the sword for beating, but it's way too heavy to pick up warps with.

Sun, 10/11/2009 - 04:44

Aunt Janet (not verified)

I woke up at 1AM, and wove my back strap.  I have some sleep issues, but I always say that if I can't sleep, I might as well start my day, whatever time it is. 

The Red Heart Eco Yarn worked out just fine. I used the pale green.   I think it isn't as heavy as the yarn Laverne used on her backstrap, so mine is a little narrower.  I also think that it might have stretched a bit.  But all in all I like the finished result.  (I'll post some photos, when I get my camera back from DD._  I'm looking forward to weaving some more and getting used to the backstrap.  It is such an elegant loom.

I found the weaving to be awkward at first, then easier as i wove along.  I have another warp ready to attatch to the sticks.  Stripes this time.

Aunt Janet

Sun, 10/11/2009 - 05:03

Caroline (not verified)

Oh, dear, do you realise what you have done? Hehe! I had just about convinced myself that I did NOT need to visit my LYS and buy some, that it would not be strong enough etc,  and I would never find a use for it..................... It is a pretty yarn and I like the colours - I'm presuming that it is the same brand as I've seen here - we don't often see US brands in Australia, well not at reasonable prices. I shall have to go back and have a good look at this now as I do have a couple of projects in mind where it would look nice.

The yarn I saw was quite thick  by Aussie standards and would be described as a bulky yarn; very soft and with a low twist. I was debating whether it would work as warp in my Knitters Loom.

Sun, 10/11/2009 - 11:52

Aunt Janet (not verified)

Well, a bit more on this yarn then.  The RH Eco yarn I bought was just a bit smaller than DK yarn.  It was under $3 US for a ball big enough to weave the whole backstrap..  I bought it for twine.  The feel is interesting, papery.  I had a hard time with a ruler as a beater, that was just a little bit rough.  The problem was the sound of the roughness against the cotton.  Rather like fingernails on a chalk board.  A smoother stick solved that problem.  I wonder if the stretchiness will be problematic over time with the backstrap.  It is almost too big anyway, and if it continues to stretch, it will be.  I'm wondering about the strength, too. If it keeps stretching, with the tension we use on backstrap weaving, will it eventually start breaking threads.

So, in conclusion, the jury is still out on Red Heart Eco Yarn.  Worth a try, I'd say.

Sun, 10/11/2009 - 14:14

Caroline (not verified)

I'll have to go and have a look at my yarn store! What I saw for sale was in 50 gram balls, and priced at about  $7.00 US. and yes, that makes it cheap compared to Peaches n' Cream! I know it should be the same yarn as you have, but many times we find that its not, even though Australia is a small market, so maybe the requirements for overseas markets are different. Whatever, I might risk it and see what happens, in the interests of science of course, hehe!

Sun, 10/11/2009 - 14:32

bolivian warmi

Weaving in the still of the night must be lovely except for that ''fingernail-against-the chalkboard sound. Glad you managed to fix that! Of course all the movements are awkward at first-a bit hard getting it all coordinated but it seems that you did very well and I am glad that you felt more in control by the end and that you enjoyed it enough to go and warp up straight away for another piece.

You must show this off to your friend Elijah.

Hope to see your photos soon-up on the Projects Page too.

Mon, 10/12/2009 - 12:42

Aunt Janet (not verified)

I finished my striped band.  One thing I did that is silly now that I look at it is that I started at the end with ties.  OOPS.  I put it on a needle to get that even end, but of course, now I have knots on what should have been the smooth end.  Got that one now, so next time I'll put the needle on the end with all continuous loops.  DD will be home today, so I can pick up my camera.  She uses it for my etsy store.  She has a good light box, and takes terrific photos. auntjanet.etsy.com.

I want to do one more band, with combination of vertical and horizontal stripes before I move on to the double weave.  Warp is on the warping board, ready to attach to the sticks.

Elijah will be joining us soon.  He is busy with fall chores, getting things finished up before our rainy season.  He is going to notch the sticks for his loom and mine also.  I know I could do that myself, but he offered, and I'm going to let him do it for me.I think my other friend, Christen will be warping up also. 

 

Mon, 10/12/2009 - 12:45

Caroline (not verified)

Thats terrific, look forward to seeing the photos!

Its even better that you will shortly have company - you will all be able to help and encourage each other, its much more fun that way.

Mon, 10/12/2009 - 14:04

bolivian warmi

Wow, you are really moving along! and learning lots of things on the way. We can't wait to see your photos. I imagine the whole process for this second band was smoother and easier. Did you use your own woven backstrap to make the second band?

 

Mon, 10/12/2009 - 16:12

Aunt Janet (not verified)

Yes, the whole process was easier for the second band.  Of course, I contrarily wove the wider backstrap before trying a smaller sample, therefore making the learning progress a little more difficult.  I used my woven backstrap to make the second band.  It worked fine.  It is so soft, though, that it is already looking used.  I'll make another eventually, when I find the better yarn for the purpose. Weave on!

aunt Janet

Mon, 10/12/2009 - 16:43

bolivian warmi

Well I am glad that that yarn made it through the weaving process okay even if it is too soft to be good backstrap. Well you are all the wiser now :-)

Wed, 10/14/2009 - 21:58

bolivian warmi

Aunt Janet.....where are you? Don't keep us in suspense with those pictures! Did DD not show up with your camera?

Laverne

Thu, 10/15/2009 - 03:22

Aunt Janet (not verified)

Laverne,

  this site has become rather difficult to navigate.   Other than that, I have woven four pieces on my backstrap so far.  Three simple bands, and the backstrap piece.  I would like to load some photos, but don't know how.  I know that Franco told us once how to do that, but I can't find those instructions. 

I'm ready to begin double weave.  Once again, I'm going to start out on an easy, basic one.  I would like to then weave a wider piece for a bag.  I think I'll put some of that crazy passementerie weaving on the bag. 

   One of my bands went home with my granddaughter today.  She was pushing her hair out of her eyes, and I had that strap handy, so we made it into a hair band.  The colors are eggplant, lime green and deep red.  It was amazing that those were just the colors she was wearing, too.  I'll have to get a photo of that one later.

   So, as soon as I get those instructions on uploading photos, I will post them.

Aunt Janet

Thu, 10/15/2009 - 03:43

bolivian warmi

Hi Aunt Janet,

Here are the instructions for uploading photos..........

www.weavolution.com/node/1328

Do you mean that weavolution has become difficult to navigate or the backstrap group beacause you can start up a new thread if you like. You won't need to be constantly scrolling down then.

How nice that you already found a use for a band.

Okay, keep us posted on the double weave-don't  forget there are video instrutions for that too-there are 3 short video segments on my Flikr page. You can find the links on the Double Weave tutorial page.

Let us know if you still have problems uploading the photos. Congratulations on your progress!!

Laverne

Thu, 10/15/2009 - 04:24

bolivian warmi

I have started a new page for this thread as this one is quite long now. It has the same title only PART TWO. You can find it here............

www.weavolution.com/node/5941

If you can avoid it, please don't post here anymore. Thanks!

Laverne

Thu, 10/15/2009 - 12:48

Aunt Janet (not verified)

I'm still having a hard time uploading photos.  I'll have to wait till somebody younger than I wakes up to give me some more instructions.  Just can't find my photo files.

It is the backstrap group that is becoming difficult to navigate.  I have been scrolling all over the place trying to find the double weave tutorial.  I'm not sure if it is the one with diamonds, or the scroll pattern.  I think i want the scroll pattern tutorial, but I don't want to jump ahead if I'm not ready for it.  But even if I want one or the other, I can't tell which is which untill i scroll through a lot of stuff.  I'm not sure how starting another thread will help.  Except that it might keep the tutorials from getting cluttered.  Is that it?

Thu, 10/15/2009 - 13:06

Caroline (not verified)

Its become difficult because we can reply directly to a post, like I am to your posting. So everything gets out of chronological order and becomes harder and harder to read when its a busy forum. Also the pink envelope icon doesn't always work so finding the latest post can be complicated. We do keep asking admin to sort this out, but its in the too hard basket, unfortunately. I now do all my searches based on time and date, and hope I don't miss anything, but its frustrating, to say the least. The only work around is to not post a reply to a posting, just add your comment to the end of the thread, like on Yahoo.

Laverne has restarted this thread anew to try and work around this problem, and has headed the thread as part 2.

Thu, 10/15/2009 - 13:11

bolivian warmi

The scroll pattern is the double weave tutorial. It is on the page that is titled Intermediate Tutorial-double weave. Here is the link..............www.weavolution.com/node/4611

These were originally set up as weave alongs and, therefore, there is a lot of chat on those  pages from participants. I have left the instructions there so that others who missed the weave along can still make use of them. You will have to wade through the chat although the questions asked there about problems that folks ran into may be the very queations that you need answered.It is all worth reading.

The next logical step after doing your striped pieces is the warp float patterns ad would recmmend doing this before attempting the double weave. This is the link......................www.weavolution.com/node/4611

Again, it is worth reading all the comments on this page before you actually get to the instructions.

Good luck with the photos.

Laverne