In preparation for the SSWG Open House on May 1st, I have been threading up all my beautiful inkle looms my father built for me.


With plain patterns:


And Pick-up patterns (I'm still not sure I'm doing this one right):



Pick-ups are new territory for me. I have been content just mucking with colour and contrast using plain weave patterns. But now that I have finally grasped this basket weave threading, and figured out how to properly pick up the threads...I could be hooked. :)

This is some lettering and diamond shapes. I went totally 80's with my colour choices on this one. :P I know I had something in these colours back in grade school and for the life of me I can't remember what. The majority of the band is in mercerized cotton size 20 crochet thread. The black of the patterning is 100% wool. A four-ply I had stashed.



My best girlfriend arrives from Kamloops on wednesday, so I am trying to get as much of this stuff organized by then, so that we have time to relax before the Open House on Saturday. I am hoping she will just dive right in and make some creative projects with me. I really miss that! Also, I can't wait to break out the crib board and that dusty old Scrabble set.

Cheers!
JQ

Woven Inkles

Inkle madness continued:


I found a neat and colourful way to use up all the bits of inkle leftover from prior projects!
I wove them together and bound them with another inkle, then lined it and stitched a zipper in around three edges and put a loop at one end. This little "pencil case" is 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and opens almost flat. If all my neurons had been firing properly I'd have planned pockets inside, so I could use it for things like crochet hooks or drawing pencils and a little pad of paper, but now I'll know for next time.


I really loved how this allows for mix-matching all sorts of cool patterns for an attractive finished product.


I'm really proud of my most recent project. I call it my little jolly roger purse. I don't know why it makes me think of pirates. Maybe it's the black and white bits. I used a couple long inkles made eons ago by aligning variegated crochet thread as best I could on the loom, so that it came out as a rainbow. The result makes this purse warm on one side and cool on the other. Well. If you ask me it's 'cool' all around. :P The finished purse is 9" x 6".

The cool side:


WARM!

A couple views of the cool plangi (tie-dye) lining. I did a bunch of cotton fabric in plangi in my last year at the college, knowing someday it would be useful!



Alright. Time to go and start threading up all my inkle looms! I am running low!

Cheers n' Beers!

~JQ

Speedy update!

Summer is around the bend!


And with it comes the urge to make brightly coloured inkles and then make totes out of them. Here are a few pics of my recent creations. I would like to type more at the moment but my baby boy is currently melting down in his jumpy saucer.


Inkle tote #1 (9" x 12"):



The liner is hand stitched into the tote (some quilting cotton I had stashed in the basement):


Inkle tote #2 (8 1/2" x 14 1/2"):



The strap is card woven and the hardware is plastic that I salvaged from another bag:


Okay hearts off the charts everybody!
JQ

I got a new Camera!

So I can actually take really nice photos of the work I've been doing.
And I have been working. Honest.
Currently am putting together another inkle woven handbag for the Saskatoon Spinner's and Weaver's Guild Open House in May. also am finishing up a small tapestry, and I totally want to post images of these, but the new camera was given to me by my dad and he forgot to send the cord with it, and since I don't have a card reader...
EXCUSES EXCUSES!

But I do have this pic I took sometime around New Year's Day of the little blue woman I crocheted. She was an experiment in increases and decreases, and was made without a pattern. I purposefully didn't keep a record of the pattern because I wanted her to be spontaneous and original. She sparked some concepts for larger sculptural crochet projects. I'm a little shy to show her off but I really love her. Sorry this was obviously taken with my old junk camera. She's a bit fuzzy.



I promise I'll be back to post wonderful new pics as soon as I get either the cord or a card reader!

Cheers!
JQ