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sprang is habit forming
Jul. 29th, 2016 09:52 pmI don't recall if I mentioned the sprang workshop I took part in at Cudgel War--it was just to do a simple little pair of garters, but the "frame" we were using was clamping a couple of sticks to the table, and the table was long, so I wound up making a pair of belts, both of which were immediately put into service to hold up trousers. Both my poofy wool viking trousers, and the striped Thorsberg trousers I was wearing in the video I linked to yesterday need a draw string/belt to hold them up, and the tabby woven bands I had been using for them were never very comfortable. Sprang, on the other hand, being made by twisting warp threads around one another with no weft at all, is very elastic in nature, and is really comfortable when tied around a body part. Therefore I switched them into those trousers.
Then, when I got home from Hägnan I decided that I could also use some thinner drawstrings. The belts I made at Cudgel were done in a lovely wool, in two colours (maroon and white) in a diamond sort of pattern, done by using 4 threads of white, then 8 red, then 4 more white, and interlocking the threads by first exchanging the first two underside threads with one another and pushing what had been the second to the top and what had been the first to the bottom, then interlocking in a simple down-up-down-up repeating pattern till there are only two threads left (both from the top), at which point I pushed the first one I came to up and over the other and around to the back, leaving the hopped over on in front.
The new drawstrings, on the other hand, are made from a white cotton yarn, with only 8 strands total. When she taught the workshop she said that it was important to work from both ends--first do the interlocking from right to left on the left end of the table, then, when you push the second stick to the other end of the warp, while there do the interlocking there from right to left as well. Repeat, alternating sides. She said that if one does this than the resultant belt will lie flat, but if one works from one end only the belt will twist into a spiral. Curious about this, I, of course, had to try it. Since we need our table for other projects, rather than setting up the sprang warp on the table, I opted to clamp it to the upright logs that remain where the corner of the wall used to be between the office and the hallway when we took out the wall. This means that my threads, instead of running horizontally are now running vertically, which meant that it would actually be bothersome to switch back and forth which end I was working from. So I worked from the upper end only, and, sure enough, when the project was done and taken off the clamps, it did spiral, in a very pretty manner, and the drawstring is quite soft.
Then, just for good measure, I did another 8 strand drawstring clamped to a bench, so I could work from both ends, and, indeed, this one lies flat. The spiral one, however, I thought would make lovely ribbons to braid into my hair, so I have started yet another project, this time with the silk yarn I bought at Cudgel War--four strands of brown, and four of white, worked from only one end to court that lovely spiral (which would probably look dreadful in a wider project, but is an asset in one so narrow). Much to my surprise, even though I wound up with lozenges when working with 16 strands of the red and white for the first pair of belts, doing only 4 strands each of the brown and white working from one end only has resulted in a band that, while still under tension, is white on the right half, and brown on the other, with an interesting wavy border between. I think that when I take it down and it is free to spiral this will result in a pretty pattern to the twist.
However I am not ready to do that yet. Once I got the interlocking worked all the way to the center of the band I took more of the yarn and worked it through the warp the same way that the holding sticks would have been, had there still been room for them. Now I have that yarn pulled out to a clamp on the other wall, and I am interlinking it in the same way as the first (though it is only half as long). In theory, when it is done, I will have three spiral silk hair ribbons conjoined at one end that I will be able to braid into my hair. Of course, if I like how they came out, I will need to do another set of three, so I can have two braids.
Then, when I got home from Hägnan I decided that I could also use some thinner drawstrings. The belts I made at Cudgel were done in a lovely wool, in two colours (maroon and white) in a diamond sort of pattern, done by using 4 threads of white, then 8 red, then 4 more white, and interlocking the threads by first exchanging the first two underside threads with one another and pushing what had been the second to the top and what had been the first to the bottom, then interlocking in a simple down-up-down-up repeating pattern till there are only two threads left (both from the top), at which point I pushed the first one I came to up and over the other and around to the back, leaving the hopped over on in front.
The new drawstrings, on the other hand, are made from a white cotton yarn, with only 8 strands total. When she taught the workshop she said that it was important to work from both ends--first do the interlocking from right to left on the left end of the table, then, when you push the second stick to the other end of the warp, while there do the interlocking there from right to left as well. Repeat, alternating sides. She said that if one does this than the resultant belt will lie flat, but if one works from one end only the belt will twist into a spiral. Curious about this, I, of course, had to try it. Since we need our table for other projects, rather than setting up the sprang warp on the table, I opted to clamp it to the upright logs that remain where the corner of the wall used to be between the office and the hallway when we took out the wall. This means that my threads, instead of running horizontally are now running vertically, which meant that it would actually be bothersome to switch back and forth which end I was working from. So I worked from the upper end only, and, sure enough, when the project was done and taken off the clamps, it did spiral, in a very pretty manner, and the drawstring is quite soft.
Then, just for good measure, I did another 8 strand drawstring clamped to a bench, so I could work from both ends, and, indeed, this one lies flat. The spiral one, however, I thought would make lovely ribbons to braid into my hair, so I have started yet another project, this time with the silk yarn I bought at Cudgel War--four strands of brown, and four of white, worked from only one end to court that lovely spiral (which would probably look dreadful in a wider project, but is an asset in one so narrow). Much to my surprise, even though I wound up with lozenges when working with 16 strands of the red and white for the first pair of belts, doing only 4 strands each of the brown and white working from one end only has resulted in a band that, while still under tension, is white on the right half, and brown on the other, with an interesting wavy border between. I think that when I take it down and it is free to spiral this will result in a pretty pattern to the twist.
However I am not ready to do that yet. Once I got the interlocking worked all the way to the center of the band I took more of the yarn and worked it through the warp the same way that the holding sticks would have been, had there still been room for them. Now I have that yarn pulled out to a clamp on the other wall, and I am interlinking it in the same way as the first (though it is only half as long). In theory, when it is done, I will have three spiral silk hair ribbons conjoined at one end that I will be able to braid into my hair. Of course, if I like how they came out, I will need to do another set of three, so I can have two braids.
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