pickup

I used Tahki Cotton Classic Lite Yarn, Weight-Sport / 5 ply, 146 yards per skein-I warped Loom using a 10 dpi heddle. 4 Celadon, 4 Light Silver, 16 Celadon, 4 Light Silver, 16 Celadon, 4 Light Silver, 4 Celadon. Straight Weave 3 rows Celadon, tie off the 3 Celadon rows in groups of 4 to make fringe. Straight Weave Grass Green for 2 rows then start pattern 1 with Grass Green. P/U Stick 1= 4 up, 4 down P/U Stick 2= 2 up, 2 down In Colors: Grass Green & Teal Pattern 1: Up & P/U Stick 2 Down Up & P/U Stick 2 Down P/U Stick 1 Down Repeat Pattern 1, 3 more times alternating colors Pattern 2: Straight Weave in Colors: Celadon, Grass Green & Teal 4-Celadon 2-Grass Green 2-Teal 4-Celadon Pattern 3: 2 up, 2 down in Colors Grass Green & Teal Up & 2 up, 2 down Down Up & 2 up, 2 down Down -Change Color- Up & 2 down, 2 up Down Up & 2 down, 2 up Down Repeat Pattern 3, 1 more time. Pattern 4: 2 up, 2 down in Colors Grass Green & Teal Up Down & 2 up, 2 down Up Down & 2 up, 2 down -Change Color- Up Down & 2 down, 2 up Up Down & 2 down, 2 up Repeat Pattern 4, 1 more time. Pattern 5: 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 up Up & 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 up Down & 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 up-Change Colors- Up & 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 up Down & 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 upPattern 6: Up-Grass Green, Down-Teal -Weaving to Right to Left- Up-Grass Green Down-Teal -Weaving Left to Right- Up-Grass Green Down-Teal Repeat pattern 6 until your paper protecting the yarn drops from the loom and you can see the end warp threads tied on. Pattern 5: 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 up Up & 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 up Down & 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 up-Change Colors- Up & 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 up Down & 4 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 16 up, 4 down, 4 upPattern 4: 2 up, 2 down in Colors Grass Green & Teal Up Down & 2 up, 2 down Up Down & 2 up, 2 down -Change Color- Up Down & 2 down, 2 up Up Down & 2 down, 2 up Repeat Pattern 4, 1 more time. Pattern 3: 2 up, 2 down in Colors Grass Green & Teal Up & 2 up, 2 down Down Up & 2 up, 2 down Down -Change Color- Up & 2 down, 2 up Down Up & 2 down, 2 up Down Repeat Pattern 3, 1 more time. Pattern 2: Straight Weave in Colors: Celadon, Grass Green & Teal 4-Celadon 2-Grass Green 2-Teal 4-Celadon Pattern 1: Up & P/U Stick 2 Down Up & P/U Stick 2 Down P/U Stick 1 Down Repeat Pattern 1, 3 more times alternating colors that end in Grass green as the last color. Straight Weave 2 rows of Grass Green. Straight Weave 3 rows of Celadon, Tie off the 3 Celadon rows in groups of 4 to make fringe.

Rug finally off the loom a couple of weeks ago and I am starting to finish it.  Need to needleweave some of the back in place, braid the fringe and steam press it.  Photos soon I HOPE!

Rug for fun done with natural dye from my valley or grown in my garden. Yarn is a 3 ply leicester longwool spun for me by Taos Wool Valley Mill. I spun the sample for the mill and they spun the wool for me!
Yellow - Agarita
Blue - Woad overdyed with Japanese Indigo
Green- Agarita overdyed with Japanese Indigo
I have been working more on the dyepots rather than weaving since I am learning what gives me color here at home and the dyepots are winning out over the looms. Which is ok. Once I focus on the loom I use up my hand dyed yarn fairly quickly. You can check out my blog for more detail and process photos on the dyeing. http://web.me.com/debmcclintock/Site/Deb...

Done with split shed pickup technique with 3 wefts. Please see Jane Evan's excellent webpage that details this technique.  janeevans.ca/Techniques.shtml

This is a special rug for me as it is a connection between the Lao design process I have learned over the past 10 years, my traditional way of doing split shed combined with learning the colors of my valley here in our new home after our move.  A very satisfying combination!

Finally a mandolin strap for myself! The main problem I've had with finishing inkle straps is the large number of  warp threads at the ends. If one is going to use an end finish, such as a buckle or self-turn around a slider or sandwiching between other connectors, this isn't an issue. However, when creating a strap to tie either around an instrument neck or make a loop around an instrument body scroll (like the F-style mandolin), too many warps ends gets messy.

I took a single design motif and repeated it down the strap, alternating some on-the-fly patterning in between the motifs. A few were repeats, but I tried to get something a little different in between each main motif.

One end of this strap is the standard slider (I'm still trying for a decent cloth-based leather replacement for the button end). On the other end, I ran several rows of straight weaving without pickups in the center, then removed one pattern pair (purple) and adjacent background threads (black) between the edging rows and center every row. (The border pickups continued.) Removing warp threads has to be done carefully to continue the background pattern uninterrupted. After cutting the warp threads at the end of the warm, I left the ends dangling. When the center pattern area had been removed, I did several rows of just the border pattern before cutting all pattern threads and pulling them back on top of the work. I worked several rows of just the black in plain weave before finishing it off. The narrow black strip was turned under and sewn to the strap using weft thread. I braided the two ties before finishing those ends with an overhand knot.