Current Project: Inkle

A friend of mine gave me some beautiful pewter-grey merino-silk roving and a drop spindle for my birthday in January.

By March I had spun it up into a lovely, lofty, 2-ply fingering-weight yarn.

Now I've decided that what I'd really like to do with it is make it into a "thank-you for giving me this wonderful project" gift for him.He

He enjoys the SCA recreationism, so I decided to make an inkle-woven band for trimming a costume piece.

It's coming along surprisingly well, considering the mistakes I'm realizing that I've made!

1. the wool yarn I'm using for a warp likes to stick together and doesn't open a nice clean shed. Weaving is slow, and somewhat stressful to the yarn. Sizing the warp has helped somewhat, but not enough. Next time I am going to use a smoother yarn for the warp! (cotton, linen, or silk, perhaps)

2. The handspun that I am using for the pattern-weft is being frayed by the passage through the shed. I am seriously considering rewinding the yarn onto a boat shuttle which should help protect the yarn from abrasion.

3. I've already simplified the pattern once. Counting the threads for pickup by hand is a little faster and more uniform when the pattern is simple enough to memorize.