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August 01, 2016

Weaving, weaving, weaving....

 The rag rugs are off the loom.   I did a little bit of research before I started them, then just wound a warp and started weaving.   I had ordered Tom Knisely's book on Rag Rugs, but it didn't arrive until after I had finished weaving the rugs,  cut them off, and had already tied the fringe on the denim mat.    I don't mind doing things like this in a bit of a reverse order because I end up learning a lot and understanding the process, so it makes more sense when I'm reading about it.  


I tossed the denim rug down in front of the woodstove, just to see how it looked and immediately Kevin ran to it and claimed it.   It made such an impression that when I had finished the hem on the orange/pink rug and popped it on the floor to see what it looked like, my husband asked me which cat I had made it for.  :)  Kevin doesn't seem to care that the denim rug is a bit uneven where I used different weights of denim and although I cut the thinner denim into wider strips, it didn't accommodate the differences enough.

I still need to finish the hem on the striped rug.  I'm going to bind it, so will have done three different types of finishes on my practice rugs.

I am planning on making a bag, so I started with the strap.  My inkle loom has been sitting in the storage room with an abandoned tablet weaving project on it.  I cut it off and after wiping off the spider webs --ick-- I dressed the inkle loom with some wool yarn.  I had no idea where my old heddles were, so I had to retie all of them.  I usually use store string for my heddles, the same stuff I use for the drive band on my Mazurka, but I grabbed some leftover of something else.  I started to weave and the heddles immediately got fuzzy, which of course snagged the wool yarn.   I had the joy of cutting and retying new heddles on the existing project.   That was fun (not so much)!   I cut off almost 3 yards of inkle woven band, in a no-brainer pattern,so I could chat and spend time with the family and not have to worry about counting pick up threads. 

2 comments:

  1. I always had a giggle about inquisitive cats on other blogs - until we found our little tomcat (not so little anymore, but still sweet:)... now I have my very own snoopervisor, who has to sit on everything, give new things sniffs and boops etc... luckily he seems to have stopped playing with yarn balls - the first few months were rather destructive with this! the new rug goes well with Kevin's colours, no wonder he took it over:) I should start cutting up my own batch of old t-shirts here, because Maisie (the new shelter dog) has chewed through the two smaller mats - and started attacking the last, bigger one:( I do think I might crochet instead of weaving though! apart from the fact that the large weavemaster loom takes up a lot of space; I think crocheted rugs are stronger, where chewing dog teeth are concerned...

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  2. Bettina, you have a new cat and dog? I think you need to update your blog so we can see your new pets!
    I think perhaps the crochet may be stronger, if your dog eats through the warp threads. I've decided I am not fond of fringes on rugs, since the cats seem to think they are for chewing on.

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