Inkle weaving and lichen dyeing

I finished weaving the narrow Andean pebble weave samples what seems like weeks ago.   The designs and instructions  are from Laverne Waddington’s e-book available on Weavezine.  I cut it off and  saw the error – too many ends  of brown on one side (or too few on the other)  How did I miss that?  I kept thinking there was something wrong, but it just didn’t twig.  Oh well…  here are a bunch of bookmarks.

A little August life  took precedence over weaving, but I did get a new wider warp onto the inkle loom and have begun weaving some of the wider designs from the  monograph.   (which is also available in hard copy)  I am using string heddles for each of the pebble sheds  in front of the regular inkle heddles.  All of this looks easier on a backstrap loom, but  I am finally getting used to using these and it is going more smoothly.    The ends are a bit sticky, and I keep missing a stray end here and there and having to go back as much as forward.  That is perhaps just my poor technique and/or the type of yarn.   I am using a mixture of 5/2 mercerized and crochet cotton again.  The 5/2 just doesn’t have the tight smooth twist of the crochet cotton, but I have more colours to choose from in it.  There is a big float in this bit and I will have to take it back – again.

This is a jar of lichen “fermenting” in ammonia.  This was a very small handful collected about a month ago.   It looks like the right stuff and I am looking forward to trying it out.