Weaving the Giraffes

 I knew this wouldn’t be a breezy weave. 45 cards is a handful, and they didn’t want to turn. Along with that, the sheds were a mess. I learned a wonderful trick from Ewelys https://youtu.be/ooNOYUtc2ek?si=X9Gys0PQVdmD0rbd on YouTube. Clearing the cards is as easy as shuffling a deck. Pull them apart a bit and let them snap back together. After several “clearings,” the shed is clean and the shuttle can be passed. 

This pattern starts off with 4 backwards. Then the giraffe will present itself in full! The other thing I did was give the first card a little string on the corner at D. Then I didn’t have to check the side to see where I was at in the turning. When the tail came to the front edge, it was time to change direction. (I talked about this little trick in my past post. I picked up this little trick from: https://youtu.be/ooNOYUtc2ek?si=X9Gys0PQVdmD0rbd.

So much wonderful information out there! thank you to all who share their knowledge!

Here’s the pattern again:

Using #20 cotton its width came out to 1 3/8” and with a 62” warp the total length was 37 1/4” before wet finish. It’s still drying, so I can’t tell you the final length. I can tell you it was 262 rows! Also it took just about the whole spool of a 3 g. navy blue spool.

Of course I wove it with my backstrap loom. About 32 rows at a time was enough, then break time and come back later.

Setup was also discussed in the last post. Keeping the cards under control is probably the most important tip. As each card is threaded, slide it onto an upright piece of skewer to keep them in order. After setup and tie up are complete, use a knit stitch holder or other device to keep them under control when the warp isn’t under tension!

Weaving and Final results:

I think my granddaughter will like these. Till next time, Enjoy your weaving!