Tablet Weaving
I’ve always enjoyed braiding and have made many items out of alpaca by spinning the yarn into cord and then using different types of braids to make rope, leads, collars, reins, etc. What I love about braiding is the speed. In about an hour I can have a finished product. The drawback is the ability to have patterns. I’m confined to solid colors, a random color insertion or stripes.
Always thinking about other ways to use my alpaca I came across tablet weaving. The tablet weave has been around for 100’s of years and is the basic form of weaving. You can use any type of fiber like, silk, cotton, wool and yes alpaca. What I like about tablet weaving is the ability to insert patterns and more colors into your work that braiding can’t do. I’m currently learning how to make a simple checker pattern as you can see from the photos.
Tablet weaving is a slower process. With the pattern I’m currently working on the most time consuming part constantly having to untie and take out the twist that forms in the tail. I think I’ll be working on a better board with some swivels that will take out the twist as I weave. Other patterns involve a forward and back movement of the cards so a twist never builds up making the weave faster.
To learn more about tablet weaving here are the 2 sites where I learned the most.
http://www.stringpage.com/tw/basictw.html
http://www.lindahendrickson.com/
UPDATE! Visit our Warping Your Mini Loom Post
Don’t forget to visit Alpaca Farm Girl’s Fiber Arts Friday!
OMGosh that is so cute. Your Bacon looks like my Okra… aka Miss Kitty. I love the name Bacon Wrap.
What a totally cool idea! I must make one as soon as the Christmas rush is over. Thanks for sharing this cool idea!
That is so adorable, and I love the name.
Hi, Im going to try this with all of my 16 alpacas and see if it stops… my 8year old white male from licking the wire fencing and my other darker ones from getting those patches. I will let you know my results!
thanks
it is hard to do
How many horses get under there at one time? I have 5 horses and need shelter from wind and rain.
It’s footprint is 9ft wide by 12ft long. Usually 2 friendly horses are comfortable in there. You can extend the length to as long as you want but I wouldn’t make it any wider than 10 ft or it might not stand up to strong winds. If I had to do it over again I’d make mine 10′ wide instead of 9′
To house 5 horses I’d recomend making at least 2 of these shelters. You could probably “Cheat” by making them side by side and sharing 1 wall.
Better yet: learn Quickbooks and it will make your tax preparations so much easier.
We absolutely love the rug! Also love that it is made from recycled fibers -a big plus as we are eco-friendly! And yes, Twila took a liking to it instantly.
I'm interested in trying to felt a soap within a plastic bag! Much less mess….
I LOVE that you mad your our leads and that you used alpaca for the fiber and I don't blame you for not wanting to sell or give them away. They look beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
fabulous that you make rope. I made simple long lengths of 3 strand only using husbands electric drill with a bit modified to hold a hook, and a friend at other end of the room holding yarns x 3. Have small girls hair braider that I use to make scarf fringes, makes two twists that then turn other way to one twist. Now madly wondering how I can beef that up to make rope.
I LOVE THEM! You have a unique way to use your fiber that I'm sure most of the alpaca industry would never have thought of. They are beautiful.
These are really neat!
I wish I could use this method but I have a frontloading washing machine.
But I do basically the same thing with large tubs. Also, love your method of drying. I lay mine on top of my dryer onto a thick towel — it gets just warm enough to help the drying process!
I use my twine for wrapping gifts of all varities…even a bottle of wine will have a twine bow. I have used twine as a makeshift belt and to tie objects together in the barn. I use an old feed bag to store my twine so it's ready for use. My kids use it to play with the barn cats. The other day in the freezing snow, Brother Bear was running around outside the barn with twine in hand and there were two cats going crazy.
Love your post!
Thank you for the wonderful how to! This looks really fun!
What an awesome post! I've learned more in the last few minutes about rag rugs than I have in the books I have on the subject. Thanks so much for the effort and sharing. – MaLinda
Enjoyed your lesson! I've bookmarked your page as I've always wanted to do this. I even have the copper wire in the basement…
Thank you for such an in depth how to. Now I want to go tear up some sheets and make my own rug. I love your idea of making it a kid's project too. I can totally see my kids "helping" me out.
Thanks for sharing and for participating in Fiber Arts Friday. I look foward to more of your posts.
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Crochet Tips…
I found this site to provide some useful tips….
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http://www.braidedrugsonly.com...
Thanks for the post, very good thoughts and ideas. Will check back….
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braided rug runner…
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