We have been home from our Spring Break cruise for about a week. We had a great time, although DH did manage to get himself the worst sunburn I have ever seen ON THE FIRST DAY!! I really wanted to take a picture of it, but he was so miserable that I resisted. He was in terrible pain for a couple of days and spent our shore excursions in a long sleeve t-shirt under an umbrella. He has been shedding his skin like a snake since we got home.
I only burned the part in my hair, like always. It is not going to surprise me when I have a narrow stripe of skin cancer on my head someday. We had lovely stops in Cayman, Cozumel, and Isla de Punta which is right off the Honduras coast.
This is our favorite beach in Cozumel. We did some snorkeling and there were hordes of colorful fish. My camera is strictly a land-lubber, so I don't have any pictures of them. I do, however, have pictures of all of the towel animals that our cabin stewards made for us. Yes, I am a dork.
I had a pair of socks with me that I worked on a little (and have been too lazy to take a picture of) but I spent a lot more time reading this vacation. I devoured Maeve Binchy's Heart and Soul. Her books are so cozy and the good guys always win. Then I started Beautiful Creatures which I bought for M but did not interest her. I was about halfway through when we headed home and I haven't seen it since - gotta figure out whose suitcase it ended up in.
There was a little bit of weaving on the cruise. I have been fascinated by this blog , but was reluctant to start tying myself to doorknobs and dresser pulls. Then I saw this idea, and a light bulb went off.
These are made of a long band that you fold and then join the halves side by side. More folding and some side seams and you have a teeny pouch. I made very basic braids for trim and straps, but the cool kids weave one band for the pouch and a narrower coordinating band for the strap. Some pictures here.
I found weaving these bands enchanting, but I was frustrated by the limits of my little picture frame loom. No one that knows me will be at all surprised by what happened next.
That is my new Schacht inkle loom. I got it on Thursday and have been playing on it ever since. I had to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but I still managed a lot of loom time.
This is my first inkle band, woven with #3 crochet cotton. It is 1 1/8" x 41". I lurve it.
Those patterns are created entirely by how you warp the loom, the weaving is just back and forth.
My second band was a bit more intricate. I took a pattern off the backstrap blog and learned how to do warp floats.
This technique is slower, but really not bad once I mastered the rhythm of it. This band is 1 1/8" x 30", I used #5 crochet cotton.
So far I have no plans for these bands other than laying them over the back of the couch and admiring them. That is more than enough function for me, and more bands will surely follow.
I am starting to think I am changing from a knitter who weaves into a weaver that knits. Imagine that!
Hi Knitasha,
Congrats on your "S" band! Thanks for visiting my backstrap blog and I hope to see you back there!
Laverne
Posted by: Laverne Waddington | April 12, 2010 at 01:05 PM
My ever-patient DH, who makes room in the budget for my hobbies as well as his, chuckled at the same place in your story that I LOL'd, and said, "Upgrade!"
Posted by: Katie B. | April 12, 2010 at 01:09 PM
Good to have you back! Lovely bands. Perhaps you could mount them onto something and make a cool belt so Miranda will stop complaining about the one I stole...
Posted by: Lindsey | April 13, 2010 at 07:17 PM
HI, I just discovered your blog. Love the name! I, too have been fascinated by Laverne's backstrap weaving blog. Always glad to see another join the ranks of inkle weavers. The Schacht loom is my favorite; of the 8 looms I own, I have 3 of these. Thanks for linking back to my blog! Happy Weaving! ~Annie
Posted by: Annie MacHale | April 23, 2010 at 10:19 AM