Shoelaces

What does it say about me that there is nothing so trivial or mundane in my life that I cannot delight in ornamenting it by hand? Witness my tablet woven shoelace, which I I am ridiculously pleased with.

I met up with an old friend yesterday, and we discussed, as well as many other topics, the nature of blogs. He reminded me that blogs just need to please their intended audiences. Mine is really here to remind me of what I'm learning in the fiber realm; so there is a lot of technical information that you, Gentle Reader, may not find interesting or comprehensible. Sorry!

Anyways, the laces are 10/2 mercerized cotton (leftover from the napkin gamp project), 2 border cards and 10 pattern cards. Pattern from a John Mullarkey class. 2nd shoelace (not pictured) is a different pattern.

What did I learn in the class?

• Pull on tail and weft after 2 and 4 pics to collapse your weaving down to the right size when you're starting.
• Figure out in the first couple of repeats what your weaving is telling you. For example, buildup of twist, or direction of arrows in the pattern can tell you if you're rolling forward or backward. Jot this down in case you forget, which you will, if you're me.
• Mark the hole on the top warp side on one of the border cards so you know when you're done 4 turns.
• When throwing the weft, catch the loop on your ring finger; snug down against the weaving; pinch the loop in place with thumb and forefinger. Pull until the loop disappears, then a teensy bit more. If you still have a picot, snug it in a bit more after turning the deck and packing the weft.

What did I learn as a result of class?

• I need to be making a project. Just weaving bands does not appeal.
• I'm getting better at reading where I am in the pattern and at picking out a few rows when I make a mistake.
• I may prefer to weave on an inkle loom as opposed to weighting the warp.
• The cats really enjoy coffee and table weaving on the deck.