Happy blogiversary to me! It's been three years since I first looped yarn around a knitting loom peg and discovered I liked it and wanted to blog about it. There have been lulls in knitting, and I've ventured into other fiber arts, but I still like my little blog and will continue to write about my successes and failures.
Speaking of other fiber arts, I received part of my Christmas present yesterday, all items chosen for backstrap-looming fun and ordered from The Woolery just a few days ago:
~ 8 dent Beka 10" rigid heddle
~ 10 dent Beka 10" rigid heddle
~ Three shuttles: a Kromski (also acts as a beater with its sloped edges), a Beka, and a Beka belt shuttle (with a beater on one edge)
I did make my own rigid heddle out of popsicle sticks (the bottom photo), but after a bit of experimenting, I realize it's meant for weft-faced projects with strong warping thread, like jute. The rough edges will fray any other type of warp. I was using alpaca here and it didn't do very well. My finer Beka heddles can be used for balanced weaving--hopefully! I'm very excited about the shuttles, too, since I've been using a piece of cardboard with my projects so far.
Please note that in the post below, I added Laverne Waddington's new blog on backstrap weaving. Hooray!
(Invitation only. Black tie.)
I've been working on a project using my 28" Authentic Knitting Board, so I've put my backstrap experiments on hold. However, that doesn't stop me from thinking about it. Here's a list of some sites and books I've drawn from over the past few weeks. I'll be adding to this as time goes on:
Webpages:
- Laverne Waddington's blog: http://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com and Flckr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39560980@N05/
- Bob's Crafts. A simple backstrap with a rigid heddle: http://bobscrafts.com/bobstuff/backstrp.htm
- Franco's Fiber Adventures. Backstrap looming and more: http://francosfiberadventure.blogspot.com/
- Weavolution's Backstrap Group. A huge amount of information and enthusiasm: http://www.weavolution.com/node/3150
- "Backstrap Basics." Laverne Waddington's Weavezine how-to article: http://www.weavezine.com/content/backstrap-basics
- "Backstrap Basics." Videos accompanying the Weavezine article: 1) Narrow Warp; 2) Wide Warp + Heddles; 3) Wide Warp + Opening Sheds; 4) Wide Warp + Finishing.
- Know It All's Making a Natural Weaving: http://www.knowitall.org/naturalstate/html/Weaving/Weaving-Picture.cfm
- Flckr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=all&q=backstrap+weaving&m=text
Books:
- Backstrap Weaving / by Barbara Taber and Marilyn Anderson, New York : Watson-Guptill Publications, 1975.
- Rigid Heddle Weaving / by Karen Swanson, New York : Watson-Guptill Publications, 1975. Note, this book is about using a rigid heddle with a backstrap or tapestry loom.
- The Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing Book / by Rachel Brown, New York : Knopf : distributed by Random House, 1978.
I was feeling just a little bit desperate to try weaving. I wanted a loom! And I didn't want to wait. But then reason set in. Why would I need to spend a bunch of money to try weaving? Couldn't it be done in a simple way? Without a lot of fuss? When I posted a question on Ravelry, a kind weaver suggested I try backstrap weaving, so I checked out the book "Backstrap Weaving," by Barbara Taber and Marilyn Anderson. A few hours after I opened the first page of this 1975 classic, I had assembled everything I needed to weave: some dowels, twine, yarn, and a ruler. I was ready! And I was hooked!
The first picture on the left is of the warp. I decided to start by making the first project in the book, a backstrap, but I chose the worst kind of yarn possible--100%, scratchy, sticky wool. I bought it second-hand for $1 and the label said Icelandic wool. It looks nice in the pictures, doesn't it? I flipped over a footstool and did the figure eight warp which I then transferred to the dowels. Everything was going smoothly--I even attached the string heddle, which pulls up one set of the warp thread to create the shed, or the space between the bottom and top warp.
See that big hunk of wood in the third picture? That was my sad attempt to find a beater, or the piece of wood that beats the weft in place. It didn't work because it was too blocky, so I swapped to a ruler, which makes a fine beater.
I felt creative that day so I braided some hemp twine and made the strings that tie the entire backstrap loom into place--or in my case, onto the radiator. After struggling a little bit with the loom flipping over a few times, I braided another "holder." This time two separate braids that hold the sides independently. (It works great, but I still use the first one at times.)
At this point, I realized that using wool was best left to experts. Because the warp is wound rather tightly, each thread rubs against the one next to it, causing little snags. I think mine started felting! So, I reluctantly took the entire project apart before weaving one row and searched for some cotton. I found this crazy green and orange, sport-weight, mercerized cotton at Hobby Lobby. It's Sinfonia Melon. This time around, it was easier to wind the warp to get started, and I wound 50 ends. Since I had actually done a string heddle before, the second time was a breeze, especially since I used a long piece of mercerized cotton. And then came time to try to weave. I was stumped again. It just didn't seem to "work" when I tried to open the sheds. The nearest one, with the string heddle, was easy. It was the back one that confused me. How do you get the bottom strands to come up to the top? Finally, I turned to the Internet and discovered the all-time best article on backstrap weaving EVER! It's called "Backstrap Basics" by Laverne Waddington, published in the September 16, 2009 edition of the online magazine Weavezine. Here's the link: http://www.weavezine.com/content/backstrap-basics.
Not only does Laverne clearly outline how to assemble and use a backstrap loom, she includes videos! When I saw how someone weaves on a little loom like mine, I knew I could do it on my own.
With my new yarn, everything was easier. It's the only advice I can pass along at this early state: use a nice, slick yarn if you can! The weft can be thicker and woolier, but I chose to stick with cotton, again Sinfonia sport weight, this time the color is Olive. After several hours of studying, thinking, attempting, and tearing apart and putting back together, it "only" took me three hours to weave the backstrap, and then another thirty minutes to braid the ends. If you look at my edges, you'll see what is the most difficult part--keeping the selvedges even, but I noticed a lot of improvement as my project neared its end. I've already started my second project which I'll post about soon.
As for the "What is this?" post from last week--I'll share with you my very basic rigid heddle later on when I use it with the backstrap loom.
What is this thing? Is it homemade? (Obviously -- needs sanding, don't you think?) What will it be used for? Will it work when it's used for what it's supposed to be used for? (I can only hope!) And who drilled those terribly crooked holes? (Ummm... that would be me.)
Tune in later this week for all the details. Wow! The excitement!
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
