david-box

[david-box]

It's much much too late but! I have woven the first pattern repeat of the giant laurel band!

Thin acrylic yarn, double face weave pattern from Elewys of Finchingfeld.

1.5 inches down, 45 feet to go........

[david-box]

pro-immigration ideals started as "I don't think someone who crossed miles of desert just to get to the US should be deported and find The Wall to be inhumane" and now it's "I hope the act of someone non-american stepping foot onto this stupid ass line in the sand we've made for fuck-all reasons physically hurts you in a way doctor's can't fix"

[david-box]

This feels evil to see, like Im looking at a fundamental law of reality being challenged

[david-box]

Love being immune to anti-abortion arguments. "That's a person" I'm not defining a fetus that way and I will choose to define them differently at will. Idgaf. "Women are using abortions as birth control" okay 👍. "What if that baby grows up to cure cancer" they won't. "How come it's a baby of the mom is murdered but a fetus if she gets an abortion" because we define this ourselves. "You can prevent abortions by keeping your legs closed" I don't think anyone has to. "A million murdered babies a year" fuck em. "What if it's a late term abortion" what about it. "What if they regret it?" What if they don't. "Abortions aren't as safe as they seem and could irreparably harm fertility" we should make them better then. "it's un-christian" I'm not xtian. "Saying people should have a right to abort fetuses arriving from rape or incent negatively effects people who are products of those situations" sucks for them I actually think they should be able to get an abortion for no reason "what if they're doing it out of racism or because they don't want a disabled kid" stopping them will do nothing to help either of those things. I could go on but like. Do I have to.

[david-box]

P4GKF is the 8th most watched plane on Flightradar and I get to see this idiot circling above my house live

[david-box]

Reliving my trauma through kink but I get a bit too literal with it so instead of daddy dom play you lose custody of me

[david-box]

i made this with my hands.

[david-box]

New photos of old mittens! How to turn your wrists inside out.

[david-box]

so many articles about Fast Fashion, not enough articles about what the hell is happening to the quality of clothes

Like okay. People own more pieces of clothing nowadays and they wear them a lesser number of times before throwing them out. BUT.

Why do we pretend like this is pure vanity or careless wastefulness, rather than forced by the qualities of the clothes themselves?

The other day, I was going through boxes of old clothes in the basement in search of fabric to practice sewing on. The difference in quality of the fabrics themselves is shocking! The worn-out old jeans from twenty years ago are MUCH thicker and tougher than anything more recent. My old baby clothes are made as sturdy as my work clothes from today.

In the past couple years, I have had entire seams rip out of clothes on the first wash. That's not normal!

Polyester blend shirts that feel cozy and soft when they are new, become scratchy and rough after 20 washes or so. I am trying to avoid polyester, but it gets harder and harder; the other day i couldn't find a single pack of crew socks that was 100% cotton. SOCKS!

Also, pilling is out of control. The newest pants I bought developed pills within a single day of walking around campus with a backpack.

These companies are trying to frog-boil us but touching clothes from twenty years ago, the useless crap of today would stick out like a sore thumb...

[david-box]

More mittens yet.

[david-box]

A Brazilian opossum being presented to Queen Isabella of Spain in the year 1500 from The Zoogoer v.15:no.1 (1986).

Full text here.

[david-box]

Low space & low budget weaving

Want to weave but don't have space for a loom? Have a few sticks and yarns but no DIY skills? Come, be tempted anyway. Weaving is a whole family of crafts, some of which don't require a loom at all.

Small-ish looms like box looms (as basic as yarn wrapped around a cardboard grocery tray), inkle looms, and rigid heddle looms exist, but I'm assuming every possible space for a box in your life is already filled. In this post we're going even smaller and cheaper. As far as possible, everything either is flat enough to stow behind/under furniture or rolls up safely into a bundle of just sticks and yarn.

Many of these crafts have some crossover - the same setup can be used for multiple styles of weaving. Most of them can be improvised at home depending on what you have on hand, or if you need to buy something there is not a huge gulf between homemade vs professional equipment. Alas I am not skilled in any of these and my descriptions will not be wholly accurate; corrections and additions welcome! If you need help, I'd only be able to tell you to seek out books and tutorials yourself, ask other weavers, and just try stuff out.

All photos included with permission. My thanks to the people allowing me to use their projects! I saw so many gorgeous and skillful projects when assembling this and I wish I could have included them all.

Fingerweaving

Projects by @kitteniestkitten (here) and @wefty-weaver (here)

Culture - I am aware of this as a Native American technique, I don't know its history with any more specific tribe.

Fabric - "Warp faced" cloth of any width, insofar as warp and weft have meaning for this craft as the weaving is on a diagonal. Often used for sashes or blankets.

Method - There is no loom! A couple sticks hold the yarns to begin with, but then it is all freehand. Starting at one corner, you use your fingers to weave a strand through the other strands, and... that's it. Very simple beginnings work up to very complex patterns that no loom is capable of. The whole project can be rolled up when not active.

Backstrap loom

Projects by @calendae-creations (here) and @weavingforlooms (here)

Culture - I am most aware of this from the Andes but I think it is much more widespread than that.

Fabric - Warp faced or balanced fabric of any width up to your own reach, suitable for blankets and clothes and many other things.

Method - You are the loom! Several horizontal rods hold and manipulate the warp threads but your body provides the tension, with the other end hooked to some furniture or around your own feet. When not in use, you can roll up all the equipment into a small bundle of yarn and rods. You can also use a backstrap loom setup for other methods like tablet weaving.

Warp weighted loom

Projects by @shadowcreepling (here) and @doctormead (here)

Culture - used by ancient Greeks among many many others.

Fabric - any kind of fabric at any size. Shadowcreepling is using a warp weighted loom for a tablet-woven band, Doctormead is probably using heddle rods to make a wider piece of cloth.

Method - the warp threads are held by a bar at the top and tensioned with weights on one end that hang down towards the floor, then the weft is woven into them with any method such as tablets, heddle rods, or by hand (if you have a lot of patience) and beaten into firm fabric at the top or bottom of the loom. Warp weighted looms can be very big, but they are simple and can also be very small and taken apart when not actively weaving.

Tablet weaving / card weaving

Projects by @damage-ko (here) and @foxease (here, hardware from CellesKit on Etsy)

Culture - found as far apart as textiles (geographically and temporally) from Byzantine Egypt and the Vikings

Fabric - a warp faced fabric with patterns made by twining warp threads around each other, usually used for strong narrow bands like collars, belts, and shoelaces.

Method - the cards hold open the shed so you can pass the weft through, then rotate the cards to advance the pattern. Many people make their own with cardboard or playing cards, or you can buy some. The rest of the weaving setup can be improvised with a backstrap (or just a shower curtain hook clipped to your trousers), a cardboard box loom, or warp weights.

Rigid heddle band weaving

Projects by @pisaracraft (here) and @crookedtines (here)

Culture - small rigid heddles like the first project have been found in Roman archaeological sites across Europe. The larger rigid heddle in the second project is being used for "baltic pickup" style designs on the band.

Fabric - can be warp faced or a balanced weave, size limited by the size of your heddle.

Method - you provide tension with any setup you please such as an inkle loom, backstrap, or warp weights. The heddle creates sheds so that you can pass weft yarn through the warp easily. Infinitely many "pick-up patterns" let you weave patterns and even words into the cloth.

Pin loom / potholder loom

Projects by @pardalote (here) and @weavingmyheartout (here)

Fabric - a small square (or rectangle or triangle) of balanced weaving, which can be used alone or patched together into larger fabrics. Pin looms are finer and suitable for many knitting/crochet yarns, potholer looms are chunkier and designed for big elastics, but the method is similar.

Method - wind yarn lengthways around one set of pins and then pull yarn widthways through these strands with a hook. Or, work at 45 degrees in continuous strand weaving! Lots of room to experiment with colour and texture. You can improvise a pin loom by cutting notches in a square of sturdy cardboard.

Needle weaving / stick weaving / peg loom

Projects by @thaylepo (here) and @pastelispunx (here)

Fabric - weft-faced fabric and rugs of any size.

Method - thread long thin warp threads through the pegs, then wind a thick weft (eg heavier yarn, sheep fleece, or long scraps of fabric) around the pegs. Push the weft down along the pegs as they fill up, so that it slides off onto the warp. The pegs can be secured in a base to make a peg loom for large projects, or just handled freely. I believe these evolved as separate crafts and the nuances are different, but the overall method is similar.

Frame loom / tapestry loom

Projects by @squeakygeeky (here) and @battlestar-gasmacktica (here)

Fabric - weft-faced or balanced fabric ideal for wall hangings and upholstery, size limited to the frame being used.

Method - (usually) thinner warp threads are wound round a frame, such as heavy cardboard with notches cut in the end, a picture frame, or a small and flat purpose-made loom. Thicker weft threads are woven in by hand using needles or just small lengths of yarn. Some people make lifelike images, others make more ordinary fabrics or geometric patterns.

Bobbin lace

Projects by @crochetpiece (here) and @noxx-notions (here)

Culture - began in renaissance Italy and spread throughout Europe, often as a cottage industry.

Fabric - balanced fabric usually made of very thin threads in freeform shapes. It's not usually considered "weaving" but the basic cloth stitch is definitely a woven fabric!

Method - each thread is wound onto a bobbin (e.g. a clothespeg) and then bobbins are crossed over each other to weave threads together. The lace is pinned to a cushion to hold everything in place while the design grows.

[david-box]

smolweaving resources

a masterpost of resources to complement that post going around the other day with a glossary of several different kinds of small weaving. design your own potholder loom squares: https://friendlyloom.com/pages/potholder-design-wizard

make a pin loom: https://windsweptmind.com/2016/07/04/adventures-in-pin-loom-making-and-so-can-you/

warp a pin loom the regular way: https://adventuresinpinloomweaving.com/2018/09/21/choose-your-warping-method/

the diagonal way: https://howdidyoumakethis.com/square-pin-loom-speed-weaving/

fingerweaving

how-to: https://www.metismuseum.ca/fingerweaving/

another how-to: https://nativetech.org/finger/beltinstr.html

additional resources: https://jumaka.com/2019/03/finger-weaving/

tablet weaving

how-to: https://www.shelaghlewins.com/tablet_weaving/TW01/TW01.htm

another how-to: https://jumaka.com/2019/02/card-weaving/

personal favorite site for designing tablet weaving drafts: https://twistedthreads.org/

backstrap rigid heddle weaving

how-to: https://spinoffmagazine.com/backstrap-rigid-heddle-basics-get-weaving-handspun-bands/

3D printed rigid heddle backstrap loom parts:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6141824

3D printed rigid heddles for band weaving:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3999858

inkle loom weaving

how to build a loom from pvc and get started: https://littlelooms.com/a-free-guide-to-inkle-weaving/

inkle loom/rigid heddle backstrap pattern design: https://carolingianrealm.blog/PatternGenerator.php

[david-box]

huck lace sample from the floor loom

[david-box]

I haven't posted any of my own work here recently because I'm in the middle of a million things without finishing any of them. But! I had a long weekend and ended up hyperfocusing and finishing this in 3 days!

It's definitely the largest wearable piece I've ever worked on. The pattern is called snowdrop, which i got from Sparrow Spite's patreon this month.

[david-box]

So so so so proud and excited about how this sweater turned out. Design is so gorgeous (Pattern: Petiteknit’s Moby Sweater) and love how the stitch definition works with this cotton yarn (Rowan!)