Box Loom

In 2014, I was doing an weaving demo at The Barony of Aquaterra's, Ursulmas event and was introduced to a gentlemen named Ivan who makes inkle looms. He heard I was a weaver and stopped by to get feedback and talk about looms.  I found that he had brought 3 with him that day, so I offered to display them near my demo so I could help promote them.  I fell in love with the smallest one but didn't connect to make the purchase. 

My Box Loom

After doing a few weaving displays, I figured it was time to step up and get a loom a tad more "period-esque" loom for display use, so I contacted Ivan and setup to purchase one at an event where we would both be. We met 6 months later at Dragon Laire's event, June Faire and I made the purchase.  

I have made a pair of winingas (Viking Leg Wraps) on it and its a very nice, and easy to use loom.  I would certainly recommend one from him.

Inkle Pattern - Greek Key 'Pickup' Pattern

When I first saw Inkle Weaving, I thought it was one of the coolest things and wanted to give it a try. 

I then saw another person doing tablet weaving but thought it was the same thing since they were both being done on an Inkle loom.  

example of Greek Key Pickup Pattern

I purchased a really small inkle loom off ebay to test the waters before dipping too much money into this new craft. After research, I found that Inkle weaving was a little plain and simpler than I had wanted, so I jumped right into tablet weaving.

After a year and a half and more than 2 dozen pieces of trim completed by tablet weaving, I started seeing more and more Inkle patterns that I liked.  This fascinated me more since I have yet to do 1) an inkle pattern, 2) create and use string heddles and 3) to do pickup weaving.  I came across this fantastic pattern and tutorial by Annie MacHale on her blog: ASpinnerWeaver and had to try it.

Annie has a great YouTube Video to follow as well as instructions from her blog below:

If the video wasn't clear enough, or if you don't even want to watch it, here are the basics:

In the center of my band, I have 7 red threads in the open shed and 6 black threads in the heddles.

In plain weaving, they form horizontal bars of alternating colors.

To get the "Greek Key" I've picked up pairs of each color, alternating black and red while also alternately picking up from the right and left side of the pattern area.  

Here are the basic moves for doing the pickup:

1. Insert shuttle and beat but do not pass weft.
2. Reach through the top layer and pick up the desired pattern threads from below.
3. Add these to the top layer and pass the weft.
4. Change sheds.
5. Repeat above sequence.

Here is the weaving sequence for this pattern, specifically:

1. Pick up the two red threads on the far left.
2. Pick up the two black threads on the far right.
3. No pickup in this row.
4. Pick up the two black threads on the far left.
5. Pick up the two red threads on the far right.
6. No pickup in this row. 
7. Repeat above sequence.