Habeo instrumentum pro quo

 As I wrapped up the baby blanket project, I was eager to dive into my next SCA endeavor - finally weaving the pouch section for the Haithabu bag I am creating. As I started this, I found my absolutely favorite weaving tool - my double ended sleighing hook/threading hook - had gone on walk-about. I had a near meltdown and frantically ordered a replacement to be picked up Monday. But I couldn't sit and not try to make progress, so I found a small crochet hook and attempted to make progress. I found not having the right tool for the job to be so completely wretched that I got myself completely turned around and did my math for the number of heddles wrong. I finally threw my hands up halfway through threading and walked away for the night... and promptly found my tool. With a fresh start Monday afternoon, I recounted and rethreaded everything. I only found one error involving 2 threads in the reed, which was easily and quickly fixed. 

I planned to weave 12 inches wide for 30 inches for the Haithabu bag, but that's a pitiful amount of fabric to loom waste ratio so I decided to plan a second project with the same warp. I added another yard to the warp to make fabric for a haversack. There may be a little extra, and I'll turn that into a little pouch for something else. 

There's a lot about this project that makes me excited. It's definitely a stretch as this is the first time I'll be weaving to CUT fabric! I'm also using cotton(not my favorite fiber at all) that has been dyed with natural dye stuff - indigo and acorn leech water. Cotton not only wouldn't have been a fiber appropriate to my period/persona, but it also has none of the loft, elasticity, or forgiveness of wool. It stretches and doesn't hold color well, which is a problem with natural dyes already. However, the yarn I'm using has been mercerized- a process that I find adds shine and a level of durability to the cotton fibers, also makes it less able to absorb water. 

My first inch or two of weaving this lozenge twill was tense. I wasn't sure I liked it, and have a VERY finite amount of these colors to work with. I put a picture out to a few folks who won't give me falsely positive feedback and they liked the contrast. They confirmed that the weave pattern was visible and looking good. So I kept going. By inch 7, I was happy with the choices I made and content that it would look great when it's completed. 

It was a ridiculously fast weave. I completed the target 30 inches in a few hours in one evening with breaks for doom scrolling, even dealing with a broken warp thread (pictured above). 

Today I will switch gears away from the point draft for lozenge twill and continue with straight weaving for ripple twill - a variation of chevron twill. Ripple twill is not a common pattern, but there is evidence of the draft that is a whole length of fabric. Some researchers believed this pattern pops up as a mistake in threading. Fortunately there is new information that shows it in a large enough sample that it seems to have been intentional, not just a mistake (http://www.vikingage.org/wiki/wiki/Cloth_Weaving_Patterns#harv_note-HUNDT_1981).