Weaving Class Tote, part 2

The bag on the cover of the Spring 2025 issue of Little Looms was the goal.

Not too shabby.

But getting there was rather painful. After struggling with the instructions, the handwoven material, my lack of sewing skills, etc., I decided to make a practice bag. This helped immensely. Then I basically tore apart what I had accomplished so far and started over with the sewing of the handwoven. My seam ripper and I really got to know each other during this phase.

This inkle band is more substantial than the one for the practice bag, but I think it too is a bit flimsy. Annie MacHale weaves guitar straps using Sinfonia mercerized cotton; in the future, I will do the same when I want something more firm.

While the foam stabilizer was easy to sew through, tension problems arose when the layers included not only the handwoven, the foam, and the cotton lining, but the inkle band as well. Some have suggested using a "walking foot" (whatever that is) to remedy this.

Pattern: Weaving Class Tote, by Michele Marshall from the Spring 2025 issue of Little Looms
Weave structure: plain weave
Loom 1: Ashford rigid heddle 24"
Warp: 8/2 cotton in colors as close as I already had without buying (too much) more
Weft: 8/2 cotton in white
EPI/PPI: 12.5/11
Ends: 250 doubled, so 500
Loom 2: Ashford inkle loom
Warp: 8/4 cotton rug warp in colors I already had without buying (too much) more
Weft: 8/4 cotton run warp in white
EPI/PPI: 39/9
Ends: 73

This weaving project is the most ambitious one I have tried so far, but I learned a lot. When I recover, I hope to sew more bags, from both handwoven and commercial fabric.

Practice bag

I'm not a sewist. I can barely stitch a straight seam. So my stuggles sewing the Weaving Class Tote led me to stitch up a practice bag using commercial fabric.

The pattern in Little Looms provided a link to a two-part tutorial from the Missouri Quilt Company. I watched this multiple times, and the techniques finally sank into my tiny brain.

I think I purchased this material at a moving sale that one of the weaving guild members staged. Bosal In-R-Form Plus double-sided fusible foam stabilizer provides the stiffness needed for this bag to stand up by itself. The bottom is boxed, which helps as well.

The lining is some muslin that I threw into the dye pot after dyeing yarn with dyers coreopsis.

I wove the handles on my inkle loom using 8/4 cotton. They seem really flimsy, plus no matter how much I iron them, they look wrinkled. Also, they are too long for this size bag.

While this is not a perfect bag by any means, I am fairly satisfied with the results. Understanding the pattern instructions and improving my sewing techniques were the goals, and that happened.

Other things I learned (and they apply to many activities) include taking things slow, one step at a time, and walking away when I need a break.

Stymied

I had big weaving plans for this summer, but somehow they didn't happen. So I decided that Wednesdays would be blocked out for big projects, the kinds of things I am reluctant to start when I know I'll be interrupted by an appointment or an event or whatever. So this past Wednesday, I not only wove an inkle band, but warped the 24" rigid heddle loom and mostly warped the Samplet.

Then I thought I would weave on the 24" loom, but discovered that both shuttles are loaded for use with the (stalled) Great Grizzly loom. Then I picked up the Lempi sweater to start a sleeve, but despite having a boatload of knitting needles, somehow I did not have an extra 16" US8 circular one. (I want to work the stripes on both sleeves at the same time, so the colors line up.) Then I decided on a "palate cleanser" - the Timberlane cowl - but lacked a 16" US4 circular needle. Gah!

So I returned to the abandoned socks. Like most fiber people, there is always something that can be knit or spun or wove on hand.

Knitting: The body of the Lempi sweater is complete. A while back, I ripped back the tops of the socks I am replacing, so I could reuse the yarn, and am to the point of attaching that recycled yarn.
Spinning: I finished spinning the fiber from Three Moons Fiberworks and plan to chain-ply it (as soon as I review the process on YouTube).
Weaving: After reviewing my go-to warping videos on YT, I warped the 24" rigid heddle loom with 8/4 carpet warp so that I can weave a rug. With the warping instructions fresh in my mind, I then warped the SampleIt for some loopy dishcloths. And the inkle band is off the loom.

This coming week looks pretty clear, so once I get some of those necessary accouterments, I expect to be forging ahead on my fiber projects.

Have a well-equiped week!

Almost famous

My SO and I visited the weaving guild exhibit this week. What a talented bunch! I knew the history of some of the items since they were the result of workshops or had been displayed during show-and-tell at meetings, like the inkle bands below. All of my entries were hung, so I was pleased to be included. I put prices on the wall hangings - we'll see if anyone bites.

Knitting: I am almost to the ribbing at the bottom of the Lempi sweater body; all that remains will be the sleeves and pockets and weaving in of ends. Yes, that's "all".
Spinning: I started spinning the roving I recently purchased at Three Moons Fiberworks, with the intent of separating the colors. But it's not working out as planned: the color bands are rather short and close together, plus the dyed sections are not dyed all the way through the roving.

So now I am hatching a plan to dye some roving with longer color runs and more saturation through the roving.

Long Thread, the publisher of periodicals such as Little Looms and Spin Off, is offering a new newsletter called Farm & Fiber Knits. I found a cowl in the WIP section that looks perfect for the samples from the natural dye workshop.

Photo "borrowed" from Farm & Fiber

The pattern was origially published in Spin & Knit 2016 and may be purchased here. I must finish either the sweater or the socks I've been knitting FOREVER before casting on.

Argh!!!

I was knitting along on the Lempi sweater, fat, dumb, and happy, listening to an audio book, when I realized I had forgotten about the buttonholes. I missed not one buttonhole, but two. I do not want to rip back 50 rows of knitting, but I will if I have to. But first, I will try to drop the stitches in the middle of the buttonband to see if I can insert them. Meanwhile, the sweater is in a time-out.

(I took the sweater off the needles again and checked the size again. Also, I was curious about how the sweater would look without the lower buttons. Um, no. It needs the buttons.)

Knitting: See above.
Weaving: The rag rug on the Grizzly was pulling in so badly I unwove most of it and started using a temple to keep the selvages straight. Speaking of selvages, I've been working on the inkle band, which is turning out nice, but again, those selvages could use some work.

I've been getting the itch to do some dyeing, maybe because the natural dye workshop is coming up at the end of the month. The instructor sounds much more detailed in her approach to dyeing, while I'm more experimental, but then she dyes larger batches and sells the end product.

I also miss spinning, so don't be surprised if more art yarn pops up here. I'd like to improve my technique.

Judge me

Last Sunday I picked up my entries to the county fair. Monday a fiber friend who had also entered items in the fair called to complain about the judging. For each item entered, we receive a ribbon and comments from the judges. Sometimes the comments make sense, other times they don't. My friend won best-in-show for one of her entries, but the ribbon was attached to the wrong item. I won best-of-show for one of mine, but when I looked through the comments, there was no mention of it, so now I wonder if I received someone else's ribbon. And one of my items received a red ribbon instead of the usual blue, but I have no idea what that means.

Knitting: I'm past the increase rows on the Lempi sweater.
Weaving: I made some progress on the rag rug. The inkle loom is warped.

I was still second-guessing my choice for an inkle pattern, and ended up selecting one from Anne Dixon's book, The Weaver's Inkle Pattern Directory. The pattern I chose is called "single flowers" and has three columns of flowers. What I didn't notice was one of the columns was offset from the others, and not the center one.

I ended up modifying the pattern so all three columns line up.

It's been a while since I have woven on the inkle, so I had to refresh my memory by accessing how-to's. That didn't prevent me from screwing up a time or three. It took two days and a lot of patience, but I finally succeeded.

Now I have four looms warped, and I may warp one more, the 24" rigid heddle, so I can try out the Freedom Roller. And I may warp the SampleIt and weave loopy washcloths; they are my favorite and I have only one.

Have a warped week!

Third time's the charm

I was approaching the third buttonhole on the Lempi cardigan when I realized that the first two buttonholes did not line up. An internal debate ensued, but in the end, I ripped back to the first buttonhole, which is almost all the way to the beginning. Contemplating entering the cardigan in the county fair next year helped prod me, as I knew it would be closely inspected by the judges. Also, for some reason I messed up several slip-one-purlwise stitches at the start of each row. Amateur mistakes. Ripping back did give me the opportunity to use a wrap-and-turn stitch instead of the designer's double stitch when shaping the neck, though.

Knitting: I'm up to the second buttonhole on the Lempi sweater, which *does* line up with the first one. The socks are my portable project, but I haven't gone anywhere this past week, although I was wishing I had brought them this morning while I waited in a *very* long line to recycle some electronics. Spinning: The Polish merino skein I entered in the county fair won "best in show". I decided to take a break from spinning for a while, to concentrate on weaving and knitting. And maybe dyeing.
Weaving: I (finally) did the finishing work on two wall hangings and suspended them from branches gleaned from my backyard; separate post to follow. Struggling a bit with the rag rug on the Grizzly.

I want to weave handles for several felted bags on my inkle loom, so played around with color combinations, weaving the possible candidates onto a pick-style comb. The yarn is Omega Sinfonia cotton and the colors are 'Olivo' (olive), 'Olivo Intenso' (light olive), and 'Calabaza' (pumpkin). I was trying to match colors with the colors of the bags, but in real life, they are more saturated than they look on my computer screen.


The first four patterns are from In Celebration of Plain Weave, by Annie McHale, the fifth one of my own design. I was leaning toward candidate number 5, but now that I look at them again, maybe number 3? Does anyone have any opinions?

Finally, I tried to match the colors of a blossom from the black-eyed Susan vine, using watercolors. It's HARD! My goal was to come up with a pallette I could then use to create dyes for yarn, but now I think I need a different technique.

Have a colorful week!

Swatching matters

When the local spinning guild visited Wabash Woollen Works (which I have yet to blog about), my SO acted as my chauffeur (and earned props as the only man brave enough to do such a "girly" thing). While there, I told him to pick out some yarn for a new scarf. He chose a skein of alpaca in hand dyed "Marigold" and a skein of merino/alpaca in what I will call "Loden". Before starting the scarf, I created some samples to see what he might like.

I was concerned about the alpaca stretching (it doesn't snap back), so I first tried holding both yarns together and knitting some garter. Then I tried mistake rib with both strands, which proved to be too bulky. Then I tried some striping in mistake rib. And just for fun, wove a tiny sample.

Despite the diameter of the alpaca being smaller than the blend, the marigold overwhelmed the loden in the weaving. My SO did not want stripes and wanted less drape than one of his current scarves, so he picked the plain garter. I am slipping the first stitch knitwise to give the fabric more stability.

Knitting: The new scarf is now 7.5" long. I feel like I am in the homestretch with the Habitation throw, but each row is over 250 stitches now, so it is slow going.
Weaving: On the inkle loom, I wove about six inches of the Krokbragd sheep, then unwove about six inches, as I found I wasn't picking up one thread. I was tempted to just give up and cut the warp off the loom, but I knew I would feel better about it today. (I do.) This isn't the first mistake I have made on this warp, so I will soldier on and make more mistakes while I practice.

When I had my windows replaced recently, I took down the bathroom curtain I knit a while back. The inner side looks fine, but the outer one is surprisingly faded. I used Dem-N-Nit Pure Indigo Cotton yarn, so I guess I should have expected it to fade, just like denim does.

This past week was busy. One happy surprise was being able to attend my granddaughter's dance recital. Other than her piano recital last spring, I have not been able to see her in action up on a stage for a l-o-n-g time. This county is in the red zone now re Covid, so I don't know if "they" will try to shut down such events again. At least everyone, dancers and audience alike, was masked and there were enough performances that people could spread out in the high school auditorium. Unless things change, this will be our new normal going forward.

One down and one to go

I hope you are enjoying this holiday weekend. At this homestead, there were people and food, but the most important part is the people. We don't need a holiday to bring friends and family together, but it is a good excuse.

Now that the dining room table is not needed for a while, I moved the inkle loom back there. The only reason it was clamped to the coffee table in the den was for Zooming and for the online inkle class - I need to be close to the modem if not actually physically attached to it for video to come through without interuption. It's not an ideal setup, though, for weaving or for watching TV.

(Some of my visitors came bearing gifts. See the xmas cactus in the background? That's new.)

Knitting: Each half of the Habitation throw is as big as the other, but I want it to be larger and I want to use up more yarn, so I will keep going for now.

I'm still busy with physical therapy. My shoulder feels almost normal, there is zero pain, and I feel at least five years younger. My energy is returning as well. A lot to be grateful for.

Weaving Krokbragd on an Inkle Loom workshop

This past Saturday a dozen or so of us attended a workshop called Weaving Turned Krokbragd Sheep on an Inkle Loom, presented by Joan Sheridan via Zoom. One never knows how a remote workshop will work out, but this one was great. Joan had pre-recorded parts of it on video, with closeup views of the work at hand, so we were able to see (and repeatedly view) what to do. She also provided (at an extra cost) kits with the necessary yarn and doodads needed to not only weave sheep but to make a keychain.

The warping is a bit different with Krokbradg as one needs three heddles to make this work out. While the warping took most of the morning, the weaving was the most difficult part for me, as the heddles kept hanging up. I may play around with some alternative ways of handling them so they don't bunch up so much.

But weave we did. It's a fun project with fun results. But do you notice something odd in the photo below?

After I had woven a good eighteen or so sheep, I noticed an extra warp thread. What is so confusing is I had repeatedly counted warp threads, from the initial warping to the heddling to the weaving. And still one escaped my notice. Sometime I will reheddle and see if I can figure out where that errant warp came from.

Links of interest:
Heritage Spinning and Weaving (retail shop)
Joan's blog

Another bad news week

It's been another one of those weeks where bad news piles up on the personal front. A friend in hospice on the one hand, family drama on the other. At least I am peripheral to the family drama, just playing a supporting role. Still, it is rather unsettling.

Knitting: I'm almost to the halfway point on the Habitation throw. Instead of knitting it end-to-end, I'm going to knit each half, then graft them together in the middle. The end result will be a bit larger than the 40" x 40" size described in the pattern, but that's okay. When it comes to throws, the bigger, the better.
Spinning: I started plying the red Tunis - huzzah!

Weaving: The inkle band has been rather frustrating this past week. After struggling with the wider letters, I decided to move onto the numerals. But they are difficult, too. Sometimes inkle weaving looks wonky on the loom, but evens out when the tension is released. I'm counting on that.

I bought a new cell phone (some would say, FINALLY). What pushed me over the edge was one app I depend on no longer worked on my old (old, old) phone. The purchasing process just about sent me over the edge as well. Later, I noticed a cell phone kiosk as Costco. Next time, I told myself, I check there first.

Bad news week

I won't go into all the details, but my SO now has Covid, despite being fully vaxxed and masking. The weak link in that scenario was babysitting his 3-year-old granddaughters. Apparently, they were the vectors. He's doing okay, no fever or overwhelming fatigue or lung issues, but it will be a while before we can see each other again.

Knitting: The knitted swatch went through the regular laundry and didn't felt or shrink, just got really fuzzy. So now I know not to use that yarn for another L-Bag. The Habitation throw continues to grow.
Spinning: Red tunis, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Weaving: Still working through letters on the inkle loom. 'Z' nearly did me in; I'm going to skip it for now.

At the weavers guild meeting this past week (which I Zoomed), we were asked to bring our favorite weaving book. My favorite is usually the last one I bought, which in this case is Rebecca Mezoff's The Art of Tapestry Weaving. As you may recall, I took an online class from her, which was very helpful. However, trying to find a particular demonstration on the videos or a specific explanation in the printed material was pretty hopeless. This book fills that gap nicely. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in tapestry weaving.

If you are looking for a book about design, you can't go wrong with Tommye Scanlin's Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond. The exercises in this book are for more than just tapestry. I checked it out from the local library, will order a copy as soon as I get a round tuit.

I've been feeling the urge to dye again. And to weave something besides inkle bands. So far, surgery is still on schedule. I'm anxious to get that over with.

Still sparking joy

While searching for some holey socks that could be repurposed, I found myself digging through a tub of handknits and handwovens that I never wear. They are mostly scarves and shawls; there are even a couple of sweaters. (I tried on one of the sweaters and nearly could not get it off!) I considered adding these to the bin of fiber I've been offering up for free - there were a couple of Kidsilk Haze shawls that someone glommed onto the first month of giveaway - but discovered I am not ready to part with any of them.

Knitting: I finished the swatch I was knitting to felt (but not in time to make it into the weekly wash). It took me so long because that Habitation throw is addicting! Each row takes longer, so progress is slower.
Spinning: Red tunis, of course. Now that the end is in sight, I am more diligent about spinning everyday.
Weaving: Still inkling letters.

The inkle loom has been clamped to the diningroom table for ages, and quite frankly, I was tired of seeing it there. For the inkle workshop at the end of September, my laptop will need to be tethered to my modem, which is in the den. So I moved the inkle to the TV coffee table. The lid of the coffee table is hinged so that it can be raised vertically while remaining horizontal. Add a folding chair and it's a perfect place for inkling.

Sock it to me

Like most sock knitters, I have a LOT of leftover fingering weight yarn. Some people use it to make "crazy socks" which is definitely one idea. I've also seen larger projects like blankets incorporating LO sock yarn, which is what I am interested in. One fiber friend that I follow on IG (amyhesting on IG, Amycakes on Ravelry) posted about a throw she was knitting from her LO sock yarn. So that is what I am doing now.

This pattern is surprisingly fun because of the (sometimes unexpected) color changes. It's fairly quick because of the US6 needles. And it is light and airy, which I appreciate in a summer project, as does Beau.

Knitting: See above. I also started a swatch of the yarn I tried to crochet last time, to see how well it felts.
Spinning: Yes, more red Tunis.
Weaving: I decided to give up on the last practice warp; there were too many loose warps, plus I was nearing the end anyway. I warped anew, to practice lettering.

The spinning guild met inside and in person this past week. Unfortunately, the building at Salomon Farm where we usually meet had been booked, so we met in the Big Barn... which has no air conditioning... and we were asked to mask... and there were fans running. It was hot and we couldn't hear each other. Show and tell was skipped, but I did manage to get rid of more fiber and yarn and a couple of handmade frame looms.

I give up (sorta)

I gave it the ol' college try, but the red Tunis just became worse after my attempts to clean it using hand cards. So I decided to continue spinning (and picking as I go) until I have enough to ply. Then the rest of the roving is going to become dryer balls. I want to move on to better things.

Spinning: I did spin a little more of the red Tunis this past week when not tearing my hair out over the hand carding.
Weaving: I finished not only the heddle pick-up exercises in Anne Dixon's book, but also the unheddled pairs and unheddled singles and pairs exercises. Now I am starting the combined unheddled and heddled ones.

The inkle study group met today where I not only learned how to pick up unheddled and heddled combinations, but picked up a few tips to improve my technique. There is something to be said for learning in a group vs being self-taught or learning from YT videos. Next time, we hope to tackle Baltic-style patterns.

The spinning guild met for our annual picnic (no shared food this time) under a park pavilion (it's been raining almost non-stop around here) this past week. I spread out my decluttered offerings and got rid of about half of it. The next day I found MORE bits and bobs of fiber. I plan to keep hauling this stash to meetings until no one wants any more of it.

Old dog, new tricks

Have you noticed that we learn the most from our mistakes? I've been experiencing that quite a bit with inkle weaving. When I am doing something correctly, I don't always know how I am doing it correctly... until something changes and suddenly I am doing it all WRONG. Figuring out what is wrong and how to right it solidifies the lesson, though.

Sometimes what I am doing is not wrong per se, but could be better. I tend to pull the weft thread too tight and the yellow doesn't show through the heddled design. Not wrong if that is your intention, but if you want to see the yellow, something has to change. (Different colors might have worked better, too.)

Sometimes when things are not going well, we need to ask for help. I am getting my inkle help from fellow inklers - we have another workshop scheduled this month. That blasted red Tunis, though, required my posting a question on my spinning guild's FB page. That resulted in links to two "No Fleece Left Behind" videos on YT:

No Fleece Left Behind
No Fleece Left Behind, Part 2

I will give these methods a try, although I reserve the right to abandon this roving altogether if I so choose.

Spinning: See above
Weaving: See above but also I managed to hem another UFO that has been sitting around for about three years. Separate post to come.

Over a year ago, my dishwasher stopped doing a good job. I reverted to handwashing while I researched a replacement, but then the pandemic hit. Now that things are better, my daughter helped me pick out a new Bosch 800 series dishwasher and my son-in-law installed it last Sunday. OMG - it does such a great job. And it's nearly silent, too! I've been washing all my dishes and glassware as I felt like nothing got very clean with handwashing. I am also experimenting with how best to load the machine - very different from my old KitchenAid, which was over 25 years old and spent most of those years running on softened well water that still contained a lot of iron. I thanked the old girl and gave her a good pat, then kicked her to the curb, literally.

Inkled

I follow a blog called Inkled Pink. Not many recent posts but for a while the owner was posting "daily band practice". That's what inkle weaving is - the creation of warp-faced bands. My goal is to practice a bit every day, most recently trying to learn pick-up, but I still found our recent mini inkle workshop to be helpful.

Two members of my weaving guild have been supporting each other (mostly remotely) as they explore inkle weaving. Cindy and Phil (who insists he is *not* a weaver despite evidence to the contrary) showed a select group of us how to pick up both unheddled and heddled designs. I had (mostly) mastered unheddled but could not figure out the heddled version. Cindy demonstrated and I learned what I was doing wrong.

Yellow is unheddled, gray is heddled

The group hopes to get together again, as the 2.5 hours *flew* by.

Spinning: Despite running the red Tunis through the drum carder, not enough VM fell out - there is still a lot there, so the spinning continues to go slow. I'm afraid if I take a break from it to spin something else, I'll never make it back.
Weaving: Inkling (see above).

The pandemic may not be over, but it is starting to feel that way for me and mine. My granddaughter is not vaccinated yet, so still wears a mask indoors when we are out and about, and we have been out and about A LOT. She spent a week at "zoo camp", then attended a kids art class at PFW. She is spending Tuesdays with me (I sense a book coming from this: Tuesdays with Grandma) which means I transport her hither and yon. She is also taking tennis lessons through parks and rec, piano lessons through PFW, and now she is interested in chess! Yesterday we spent some time at the local chess club (and learned a few things), then visited Artlink to see the member show. She is 10 now and even more fun to be with. I don't know much about chess, but if we are going to play with any frequency, I will have to up my game (so to speak).

The inkle hole

I'm enrolled in a mini workshop next Saturday, in executing pick-up on an inkle loom. Toward that end, I dragged out my already-warped inkle loom to practice with because I hate to feel unprepared. The inkle loom was warped from a previous practice session, but despite viewing a couple of YT videos, I managed to screw something up and could not advance the threads. I cut that bit off, then rewarped the loom... several times before I got it right. Today I found another warping error, but I think I can continue, at least for a while; I didn't position the part that loosens and tightens the warp correctly, so now I can't loosen it enough to slide the warp forward. We'll see how far I get before having to cut that warp off, too. Chalk it up to a learning experience, better now than in the workshop.

(As a knitter, I am used to preserving as much yarn as possible when working on a project, as sometimes the yarn is rather expensive. When the yarn is 8/4 carpet warp, however, I am wasting pennies, not dollars. Also, I save the waste to use as thrums.)

Spinning: More red Tunis, of course, but this week spun while sitting on the deck.
Weaving: Inkling (see above).

I took some UFOs to JoAnn to try to match material to line the bags and thread to hem a doll blanket. So many choices of fabric, most of them for quilting, it was paralyzing. Then there was the checkout line. Ugh. One thing I have no patience for anymore is standing in lines, especially if I have only a few things to purchase. I managed to find some thread at home I can use for the doll blanket. I supposed I can order the fabric online, then just pick it up at the store. Right now, I still feel rather paralyzed.

(A similar thing happened when shopping for a new dishwasher, but I took my daughter along and she helped me narrow the choices.)

Pickup sampler

I am trying to teach myself pickup weaving on the inkle loom. My technique is not kosher but it works for me and my old eyes. As one of my computer profs used to say about programming: There is more than one way to skin a cat.

I've been relying primarily on Anne Dixon's The Weaver's Inkle Pattern Directory for instructions. Watching a couple of YouTube videos did not help much, so I came up with a technique of my own, using a US1 double-pointed knitting needle to pick up threads. Also, I pick them up in the just-beaten row, as otherwise I wind up making a LOT of mistakes.

Unweaving pickup is NOT an easy task, as you need to pickup as you unweave as well, and pickup however you picked up wrong in the first place, if that makes any sense. After cursing, the phrase most often muttered by me was "HOW did I do this?!?" But once I developed my picking technique, the mistakes grew fewer.

Initially, I tried to just wing it. But after struggling to the point of tears, I realized I learned to knit by slavishly following patterns; I can learn pickup the same way. Once I started working from inkle patterns, things went much smoother.

You can pick up heddled threads and/or unheddled threads. Doing both together is challenging, but that is how you get the most interesting results. Pickup is a lot slower than plain weave, but not that bad (she said optimistically).