In Person Experience

I am really fortunate to live close to a lady that is extremely talented at tablet weaving (and all sorts of other weaving).  Drifa is a fellow SCAdian and I was fortunate enough to be able to learn some tips from her in person since many of my friends (some from quite far away) all told me she was *the* authority in this craft.  Lucky me that she lives within 45 minutes of me!  Her blog can be found here, I'm a big fan of it: https://drifasweaving.wordpress.com/

When I went to visit her I had recently purchased a small inkle loom because I had read that inkle looms could be adapted for tablet weaving.  Drifa taught me how to string my warp on the loom and how to do a continuous warp.

The warp is the thread on the loom or the thread which you are weaving through.  The weft is the thread you pass through the warp with.  I wanted to show a picture because I didn't know what these terms meant when I started.

Prior to coming to Drifa's to learn technique, I had seen the continuous warp done by Linda Hendrickson on youtube and found it to be particularly helpful before seeing it done in person on an inkle loom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eConIrGd7Og

Once my loom was ready, Drifa showed me another basic pattern and taught me a few tricks on how to pull the weft back and hold tension until it has completely passed through the warp.  This helped me make the sides of the weave much more even and neat.  It also helped with the consistency of the pattern.  Below are some photos of that project - note how much better it looks than the first two I did on my own!  In person training is very very helpful if it is an option!

I still really love this pattern - see how nice and neat it looks with the right technique?

Here is the finished product - I use these as garters for my linen stockings!

I wanted to post about the thread/yarn I used for my wool products!  I actually use a wool/silk blend.  The brand is Cascade Venezia Sport and it is a 70% Merino Wool, 30% Silk blend.  I like it a lot because it has the feel and thickness of wool and doesn't pill as much.  I've used it for all of the wool products I've made so far.

The Cascade Venezia Sport Wool/Silk blend I use - it is really nice!