More Than One Needle

I've woven most of this afghan with one needle. I tried using two at a time and it worked pretty well. So I dug deep and found, not one, not three, but eight needles. Using them all at once would finish a whole inch in one pass across the afghan.

I've done this weaving before, but I'm doing some experimenting this time around. Let me tell you that this particular experiment was less than a glowing success!

I had trouble moving each needle from one side to the other of the table without dropping one or more other needles off the edge.  The yarn was not cooperative as you will see shortly.

 

 

I discovered that it is much easier to make a mistake than it would be with a single strand at a time.

 

 

Which I pulled out and rewove working between the other strands already in place.

I did figure out an easy way to keep the needles organized. You stick the point into the fabric in the correct order.  Then you know which one to use next as you work across and they don't fall off the edge of the table.

 

 



I think I will stick to using fewer needles from now on.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

P.S. Three needles is do-able. After that, you have to be very careful.

 



 

Figuring Your Yardage

Knitters and crocheters have to use the draconian measure of working a row, pulling the yarn loose, and then measuring the yarn in order to figure out how much yardage they need to complete a project.

Another possible option would be to finish the project and write down how much they used. This would help any future purchasing of yarn for doing the same project but doesn't do much to help the person who works the pattern first.

How much yarn you will need for mesh weaving is fairly easy to figure.

1. Measure the length of the mesh.
2. Add about 12-16 inches for fringe and the natural up and down of weaving.
3. Count the number of rows per color.
4. Multiply length times the number of rows. Make that into yards.

My current project is just under 400 rows wide. (Figure 8 rows per inch.)

 

I am making 9 stripes. There are 4 rows of purple per stripe. That makes 36 purple lengths.

 

Each stripe is 9 rows across. I adjusted the center row by adding an extra 2 strands. That makes 83 lengths of variegated yarn.

 

36 + 83 = 119.

 

Subtract that from 400 and I have 281 strands of lilac (or a few less).

 

Multiply by 2 1/2 yards and these are the amounts of yarn that I currently need:

 

Lilac - 702 1/2 yards

Purple - 90 yards

Variegated - 207 1/2 yards

 

The shopping then becomes easy since skeins/balls of yarn are labeled with the yardage.

 

Thanks for visiting with me,

 

Kathi Linz

 

Flipping the Afghan

Sometime back, I said that when the finished work became too cumbersome on the side nearest to me, I would turn the work. That puts the empty mesh over my lap. The table supports the heavier finished part of the afghan.

I've arrived at the halfway point and it was more than time to turn the afghan around.

 

I finished the knots on what used to be the beginning of the rows, so now the first half of the blanket is knotted at both ends.

 

 

 



When I flipped the chevron pattern baby blanket, I had no problem continuing with the pattern. Since the visible mesh didn't matter as part of the pattern, I could always start weaving going down into the first hole.

 

(Just to remind you how it looked)

 

 



But since I now have to consider the pattern of the mesh, I've discovered that it was easier for me to hit the first hole when I worked above the finished part. My mind has to work harder to figure out the pattern working below the previous rows. I can't tell you why that is. I'm simply reporting my observation.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Making Progress 2

I'd planned to be on the fourth stripes by tonight, but I foolishly went and bought groceries after work instead.

Tomorrow is another day. I should be nearing the middle before I sleep tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Any Questions?

Any craft has its basic rules in order for it to look the way you want it to work. If you know the rules well, you can figure out how to correct or cover the mistakes you will inevitably make.

I'm an expert at making crochet mistakes disappear in the grand scheme of things and am learning quickly how to correct for mesh weaving errors. Nothing about this craft is really difficult. It takes some planning and paying attention to the pattern.

If you have any questions that I haven't addressed or, if you have information that I haven't stumbled upon yet, please add comments.  I would love to hear from others doing this particular yarn art.

I'll try to post my progress tonight.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Doing the Math P.S.

After I carefully explained how to count and divide up the length or width of the mesh in order to construct a pattern, I would like to take a little of the sweat out of the equation.

If you work from one side to the other and the last rows don't add up the way they are supposed to, you can trim a little more or fold an extra row or two under to make it come out right.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

I'll post my progress later tonight or tomorrow.

Making Progress

I don't want to put you all on hold, but I do want to finish this project before I go on to the next one.

I finally decided to put in 9 stripes. There will be four on each side and one up the middle.

I have a really exciting project in mind for the next thing I will do. I want to make a sampler loosely based on a crocheted granny square pattern.

Stay tuned. I'll keep you as informed as I can.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz
 

Extra Mesh

If I'm weaving a whole afghan, it gets a bit cumbersome to work with the extra mesh in the beginning and the finished woven section at the end.

It helps to make a few folds and pin them together or run a loop of yarn every so often along the length of the cloth like this.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz
 

A Couple of Thoughts on Weaving with Yarn

Sometimes when you pull the yarn through a number of holes in the mesh, the yarn will wind around itself and make a knot.

 

Hopefully, you understand that the proper way to deal with this is to stop pulling and work the knot loose.

 

 

The other thing that might help you as you weave is to know that sometimes - at least when I weave - the yarn untwists.  If this happens to you, figure out which way to twist the needle and give it a couple of turns to tighten up the yarn.  In my case, I have to turn it clockwise.

 

Thanks for visiting with me.

 

Kathi Linz



 

Ways to Work

The old patterns say that you should work from right to left and from the bottom to the top. This assumes that you are right-handed. It also means that the company wanted you to point you needle away from your body and work upward across your work space. I'm here to tell you that's doing it the hard way. 

Their directions make sense, in that your right hand will rest on the finished part of the work. That makes a softer place in the mesh. If you rub your hand across the empty mesh often enough, it starts to feel as rough as sand paper. Working over the yarn-woven section is much softer.

It is, however, MUCH easier to lay the mesh sideways in front of you so that you can work across the table from right to left, weaving the length of the fabric without having to reach forward as you weave.

If you are left-handed, then you should work the opposite way - from left to right.

As I worked the baby blanket in a diagonal chevron pattern, the mesh itself was barely visible and made no impact on the finished product. Working the length of the mesh leaves some of the mesh visible and that has to be calculated into your pattern.

Some people have more than one weaving needle. They can thread several at once and work a whole section of the mesh at the same time. If you do this, be very careful about how you start each needle so that your visible mesh will create the pattern you've decided on.

Two possible ways to place the needle:

 

 

Mesh showing up/down/up/down

 

 



Mesh showing up/up/up. Can continue in upward diagonal or make step pyramid down from here and then up every certain number of rows according to your choice.

More thoughts on using more than one needle. I think it would be harder to keep the mesh from rippling unless you stretch the mesh after pulling each needle through every time. I do that anyway using only one needle, but it would be critical to do this if you are using more than one needle. Each new row locks in the row before it. Keep a close eye on the ripple in the mesh as you weave.

I have been known to work in order straight across. But I am just as likely to do each side, then a section in the center to establish my pattern and then work the rest of the parts in between.

On my current project,  I am weaving a lilac afghan with some narrow stripes of a complementary variegated yarn. There will be an odd number of stripes so that one stripe will be in the center of the afghan. It's tempting to make each of the stripes and then fill in the spaces between with the lilac color.  The only thing that gives me pause about that plan is the pattern of the mesh that will be showing. It would be fearfully easy to mess up the up and down step pattern of the visible mesh if I traipse merrily across the piece without carefully figuring which way the mesh will appear.

All of these decisions are up to you. If the visible mesh is not a big deal to you, then you are free to weave any section of the work that you want to do. If it is important in the scheme of your pattern, then make sure to take it into account when you do the next strand of yarn or the next section up the way.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz


 

Doing the Math

If you are going to space out your stripes or whatever pattern in an even way on your mesh, you are  going to have to do at least a little counting.

I started on one edge with an idea in my mind for the rest of the panel.

Here's one way to do it. Once I determined the width of my accent stripe, I counted the rest of the panel by fifties - one side, then the other side - until I got to the center. I marked the center row since I want a stripe running up the middle. The middle row is marked in red.

Now, even though I am not likely to work the pattern in fifties, this will make the counting easier since I know how many rows are in each section. 

When you set up your design, you might want to mark it off in smaller numbers or in larger numbers depending on the image you have in your mind about how it should turn out.

If you have already worked a few rows to see how the design looks, please remember to figure that number of rows on the other side before you start to mark off the fifties.  My edge pattern was: 5 rows lilac, 2 rows dark purple, 9 rows variegated, 2 rows dark purple, making 18 rows in all. When I started on the unworked edge, I had to mark off the first 18 rows before I counted the fifties.

Also, count 50 on the left, then 50 on the right, back and forth, until you get to a small section in the middle, which you will count across and then divide in half to get the exact middle row.

I hope that made sense.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi Linz

 

Starting a Blank Canvas

I've shown you how to trim and baste the hems. 

How do you plan a blank canvas if you have an idea, but don't know the exact size of each portion yet?

Here's how I do it.

This time, I'm working the length of the canvas rather than side-to-side.  However, I learned from the baby blanket that it's much easier to work across the table instead of reaching forward to work UP the length of the blanket. So I've incorporated that into the way I'm going to weave this afghan.

I'm starting on the outside edge. I will work far enough into the pattern to like the way it looks. Then I will flip the mesh and work the other side in the same pattern. 

As I get a little farther into this piece, I will show you what I mean.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Erasing a Mistake

I tried to weave a six-pointed star. Emphasis on "tried".

First, I laid out two perpendicular lines so I could keep track of the pattern I saw in my mind.

I started with purple to make the first point of the star. It was to be a quilt-like pattern with six diamonds meeting in the middle and forming the points on the outer edges.

I finished the purple section and went on to the peach colored section. Between the two diamonds, I had already covered half of the area.

It simply didn't come out the way I'd planned.

So how do you undo, redo, fix something that goes wrong?

If you've done something in a long straight line that doesn't turn out the way you'd like it to, just grab the end and pull. You can use the yarn again.



If you've woven back and forth with one length of yarn - and if you are very patient - you can unweave it by pulling up a loop near the end of your work and working it loose.

I chose not to do it that way. I pulled up a loop at the turn of my weaving and cut the yarn in several places. If you do this, be careful that your scissors don't catch in the mesh.



Then you pull the cut ends to take out the yarn.

 

 

The mesh is not harmed and you can start over or make the corrections as necessary.

 

By the way, I am not going to give up on this pattern.  I've just decided not to start here. I think a little more practice and a couple more test runs will get the job done.

 

Thanks for visiting with me,

 

Kathi Linz

 

Thickness of Yarn

Working with the baby yarn spoiled me. It made the weaving easy.

When I tried to use regular worsted weight yarn (4 weight), it was just a l-i-t-t-l-e bit too thick to easily fit through the mesh. So I was fighting with the pucker again. Weaving with worsted weight yarn is do-able, but not as easy.

I know there are some "worsted weight" yarns that are a bit thinner than average. Variegated yarn often is just a tad thinner. Also I am going to experiment with a 3 weight to see how that works.

I don't want to give up the bolder colors just to make the weaving easier. Baby yarn weaves well, but often comes in pale colors.

I'll just have to see what works best.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz
 

Finished Baby Blanket

Here's the finished work. It only took a week - and I had to figure it out almost from scratch.

I have photos of the last couple of steps.

After I worked on the blanket for a while and had one end finished, I found that it was easier and cooler to turn the blanket and work from the middle out to the other end.

 After I finished, I was thrilled beyond description that I had knotted the edges as I went along at the end of each strand. You can't easily knot the beginning of each row, but it's only one more stitch to knot the ends.

After I finished the rest of the knots, I had to trim the fringe.

I hung the edge of the blanket over the side of the card table, straightened out the fringe, and trimmed it to a nice length on all four sides.

I think it came out okay, considering that I worked out most of the techniques by myself. Setting it up was the hardest part. Once I made the important decisions, it was as simple as anything I've ever made.

Give it a try. You might enjoy yourself and come up with a nice piece of yarn craft at the same time.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Another Observation on a No Bunch Mesh

Mesh tends to pull together as you weave it. If you pull the yarn into its stretch, when you release it, it shrinks and the mesh pulls together.

Ripples make the dimensions of the piece you are working on uneven. You don't want that.

The piece I am currently working on is not rippling like my previous pieces. I think I've figured out why.

Each time I weave as much as the needle will comfortably handle, I pull the yarn through. Then I put a pointer finger on the beginning of that section and the other pointer finger on the new end that I just wove. Then I stretch the two ends apart. The yarn and the mesh both come out even if I do that consistently.

No puckering this time around. I'm pretty happy with it.

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting with me,

 

Kathi Linz

 

Cutting Yarn

Your raw materials for mesh weaving are utility mesh and skeins of yarn.

I showed you how to prepare the mesh, but I haven't said anything about how to cut the yarn so that it comes out right.  SEEMS straightforward, right? Well...maybe.

The first property of yarn is that it stretches. In this craft, that matters quite a bit in two ways. First, it matters when you cut it, and, secondly, it matters when you weave it.

When I made my first two afghans, I measured the length of the mesh and added a few inches in my head for the fringe. Then I found something approximately the right length (turned the card table over and wrapped the yarn around three of the legs in a triangle pattern). I cut all of the yarn at once and draped the lengths over a coat hanger. I had a handy peg or something near my work station so I could just reach over and grab another strand when I started each row.

So far, that makes perfect sense, right? Well, it did to me at the time. Perhaps time and practice have made me a little more cautious. Here's what actually happened when I did it that way. The kit contained a certain amount of yarn and no yarn on the market matched it. If I put even an inch or two extra on each strand, I came out short on the number of lengths I needed to finish the afghan. You'll see that I went over by more than a couple of inches. Creativity helped me overcome that, but it didn't end up the way I had planned.



Another thing about cutting the strands all at once, is that if you measure too short, you can't fix it. Better to cut it too long than too short and make sure you have enough yarn to cover the area.

When I had all of the strands on a coat hanger and pulled one strand loose, the whole bunch was inclined to slide along with the one I pulled. Some ends tangled with each other. If I wrapped the yarns across my shoulders, I could pull a strand loose with less draggage (is that a word?), but still the whole pile would shift.

Here's what I am doing differently this time.

1. I cut one piece and made sure it was an appropriate length.
2. Once I knew the correct length, I cut a few strands at a time.
3. I measure the strands on a yard stick that I keep close to my table.
4. I measure the yarn loosely. If I stretch it during the measurement, it may not be long enough to fit the row I am working on.

Please feel free to find a method that works for you, but please learn from my mistakes. Think about the stretch of the yarn when you cut the strands you will weave.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

 

Fringe Options

Most of the time, you won't have to think about the fringe until your project is finished.
When I worked on this ripple pattern, I had some strands of yarn that are very short and only woven through a few holes in the mesh. I didn't want them to come loose while I finished the rest of the piece, so I thought about how I wanted the fringe to look right away.

Here's what the unfinished edge looks like.

I tried the traditional type of fringe which is to take a given number of strands and tie a knot near the edge of the fabric.

This blanket is for a baby. If I put a bunch of knots on the edge, both the mother and the baby are going to have those clumps pressed between them, leaving dents in their skin.  Not what I have in mind for a nice present.

I pondered the possibilities. If I just trimmed all the strands to an even length, it would look nice and LIKELY would stay together. But as I said, some of the strands at the lower edge are only attached to a few spaces in the mesh. One good tug and those would come out.  Also not what I have in mind for a nice present.

So I wondered what would happen if I made a small locking knot on each strand.

 

 

I threaded a short yarn needle and poked it back through the same space that it was last woven through. I didn't pull it tight. That forms a loop.

 

Then I pulled the needle through the loop and snugged it down to the mesh edge.

My concern was whether or not the knots would be large enough to cause rippling along the edge. After I completed knotting all of the strands, I was pretty happy with the way it came out. The edge looks smooth and doesn't have any uncomfortable clumps.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi

 

 

Working Surfaces for Mesh Weaving

As I mentioned in the last post, while you weave, the one thing you really need to be concerned with is keeping the yarn smoothly tight without drawing the mesh too tight. The easiest way to accomplish that is to choose a proper working surface.

You need to choose a flat, hard surface. The old patterns say that you can work with a pillow on your lap. I don't think that is the best choice. It doesn't offer enough support.

Here are some better options:

• A card table. Have a chair tall enough so that your arms don't get too tired.
• A large book on your lap. This might be a good solution for traveling. Keep a careful eye on the tension of the yarn since you will have a smaller working area.
• A kitchen or dining room table. This is likely to be taller than a card table, so be aware of your arms and shoulders as you work. You could try using a step stool - the kind that has a lower step and then a seat. Some kind of taller chair.
• An ironing board. This one gives you a nice long surface to work on and it adjusts for the height you need.
• A coffee table may be the right thing depending on how ornate it is and, once again, the height. See if you can find a stack of pillows to sit on or a footstool that will give you comfortable access to work. Please don't sit on the couch and lean all the way forward to work on the coffee table.

The first order of business for this work is to make sure that your physical needs are seen to. Don't hurt your back, shoulders, or arms while you are working on something fun.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

Preventing Bunches

When you weave through the mesh, you have to be extremely aware of the tension of the final pull of the yarn through the holes.

If you don't pull the yarn tight enough, there will be bunches in the yarn that will make the finished product feel rough and will snag easily.

If you pull too tightly, the mesh will pull into the center and you will have a wasp-waisted product. The edges will probably have a ripple as the center tightens.

The best way to work the yarn is to pull it smoothly tight. Then run your hand up the row to smooth the mesh upwards along the length of the yarn.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi

Getting a Good Start - Part 2

Once you make sure your starting row is going in the exact direction you want it to go, there are still a couple more things you should watch for before merrily heading toward the finish line.

I wove 6 rows across in the ripple pattern I wanted to make. This is a side-to-side pattern, giving me the option of making fringe on all four sides or weaving in the ends on two edges.

At first, I was planning to make fringe only on the top and bottom of the blanket and weave in each strand on the sides. As I worked the first six rows, I left short ends to make the finishing of the edge easier.

Then after I saw how the blanket was beginning to take shape, I decided to leave fringe on each side. That meant I had to reweave those six rows to leave a longer tail on each side.

 

On my first weave, I skipped every other hole. When the six rows were done, I analyzed the look of the project. Fringe was only one consideration. I want this to look good all the way through as I intend it to be a baby gift. Skipping holes left too much of the mesh showing. So I rewove those rows, going through every hole.

 

That looked a lot better, but I was using baby yarn and the final effect looked too thin.

I did an experimental row using a double strand of baby yarn. (Worsted weight yarn is the best weight for this medium.)

 

After just one row, you can see that it looks fuller and more substantial. The color shows up better as well.

 

All in all, I believe I rewove those six rows five or six times until I was completely satisfied with the way it was looking.

 

 

Once I liked it, I started to fill it in.

 

 

 





At this point, the project becomes easy - almost mindless - depending on the complexity of your pattern.  The decisions have been made. The corrections improve the appearance. And on you go to a sweet finish.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi

Getting a Good Start

Let's say you've come up with some utility mesh and a 5 inch weaving needle. (Actually, you can use any yarn needle, but the short ones make this process long and tedious.)

When you get a piece of mesh, it's likely that the ends are not even. Find the first row that goes all the way across and trim the uneven part off on each end.

Cut along the selvedge edge on each side. Please be very aware of which row you are cutting. It is easier than you would think to slip over to a different row.

Now turn about 4 rows under and run a basting thread or yarn through both layers. I used a contrasting color so that when I work around that area, I don't accidentally stick my needle through that basting stitch. If that happens, you have to cut the thread/yarn out of the work.

 

Depending on your pattern, you might also want to mark off your mesh to help you get the pattern even. I'm planning a ripple pattern, so I marked off every so many rows to get the points to match up.

 

Hint: You'll still have to hold a ruler to the tips of the ripple to make sure they all end on the same row across. One of my points missed it by one. In the grand scheme of things, that is probably not critical, but your pattern may need to be exact. It's better to make adjustments at the beginning than to be frustrated later on in the project.

 

 

 

Here's my first row.  Do you see how the points don't match?  This is where you make the adjustments that will make the pattern easy to do and the finished product a joy.

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting with me,

 

Kathi Linz





 

Everything Old Is New Again

In my younger days, there were at least two companies that packaged yarn, a length of utility mesh, a long needle, and a pattern.  Frankly, some of the patterns needed a translator, but more on that later.

I made two afghans like this. Both were done in the simplest pattern possible. I had no idea that there were variations available. They are easy to make and are lighter weight than afghans made by knitting or crocheting.

Recently, as I was trolling eBay, I found more kits, "vintage" they call them now. I ordered the ones that I found because I was curious about the different ways the mesh could be worked. As you can see from the picture above, all I knew how to do was to weave in a straight line.

Well, not any more, baby!! I've learned that the mesh can be woven in any direction and in any pattern I care to dream up. I can even make the same pattern look different depending on how I use the needle.

Curious? Please join me in this super simple, very rewarding old-new craft. We're going to bring it back if we can.

Welcome to mesh weaving. The materials are cheap (See the Amazon ad on the right. Jo-Ann Fabrics also carries this material, but it costs twice as much and other vendors sell it for up to $9.99 per yard. Phew!). The designs can be as simple or as complex as you choose to make them, and each piece can be a work of art.

Stay tuned. There's much more to come.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi Linz