I’ve worn headbands pretty steadily since high school….I love having long hair, but when brushed out my curls go full Merida with extra static, which makes visibility an issue and containment a must. I perform with a variety of musical groups, and of course black is the standard attire. A few years ago, I bought an inkle loom made a few bands, I have red and lime green, purple, and nice patterned one in cream and browns. It’s been time to make a black one for quite some time, and I’ve had the crochet cotton dyed for it for a year or so, but just getting the motivation to weave through a basic back band was lacking.
Earlier this year, though, I realized I could try weaving it on my Saori loom. It could handle switching the sheds, and maybe I could even use the beater, which would be very nice….my hands really hurt after a bit of using the belt shuttle on the inkle. (And honestly, I find the whole inkle to be awkward, and a bit of a hassle to warp. Hey, not all looms are for everyone!)
So, I pulled out my ball of dyed black (ok, charcoal) yarn, and my warping pegs, and that cream/brown band for measurements, and decided to go for it. The day before the latest big concert, with both of my groups….the symphony AND our community choir. What can I say….I guess I like pulling off the seemingly impossible.
It turns out our dining room table with two leaves is close enough to the length I needed, plus a bit for loom waste. It even turned out that the one knot I had in the yarn hit right on the peg where I’d be cutting anyway.
I lashed the back loop on with a festive holiday pencil, and cranked on the warp (not much needed, just a turn or two, so I didn’t fuss with paper). Then I threaded the heddles….which I lost some of the cross, or messed up holding it somehow, I found an end without a home, so I just left it out. What’s 59 threads instead of 60? I sleyed the 10 dent reed at 4 threads per dent, as that seemed to work out to the width of my original band. I tossed a few pics of thrums from my last project to get the tension evened out, I should have used something larger (to even the tension out better with fewer pics) and more slippery for later removal, but this was handy. I finished this Friday afternoon, and went to our first rehearsal that evening.
Well, eureka, it works a treat, and so fast. Now I can stop lusting over a dedicated band loom, because this Saori loom can totally do it, and I don’t need a weaving knife. It was very easy to open the shed, pass the yarn, press the pic in about half way, then snug up the yarn to the selvedge and finish the beat, change sheds, and repeat. So fast.
It took me an hour or so Saturday morning to weave the band off, and I wasn’t working particularly quickly. I took the completed band (which ended up only have a few inches of waste…..I like plenty of fringe on these) to our second rehearsal Saturday afternoon, and braided ends during the pieces I didn’t sing or play on.
I didn’t quite get all the ends braided, but it was done enough to wear at the concert that evening. A friend in the choir Kineared me during bows, so there’s proof of use!
Overall, I’m super pleased, and I can see I’ll be weaving many more bands on this loom.
