I Learned Tablet Weaving!

Tablet weaving is a very old craft. It's been known since the Middle Ages, and it's thought to have been around since the Iron Age. That's nearly three thousand years ago! It was a favourite craft of the Vikings, and was quite common throughout Europe, Northern Africa and Western Asia. This great (and short) video shows a demonstration of a traditional pattern being woven at an Iron Age reconstruction farm in Norway.

But what is tablet weaving? It's a form of weaving that uses tablets or cards to weave a narrow band. The finished work is usually used for belts, straps, or decorative edgings for garments. The cards allow for coloured patterns to be created relatively easily, in just about any number of colours. Here's one of the finer examples I've seen; it's a set of bookmarks showing some of the different patterns achievable using the same set-up:

Picture source.
I've known about tablet weaving for years, but when I first saw pictures of the process, it seemed so complicated and intimidating that my brain shut down straight away. I never even gave it a second thought. Then a couple of weeks ago, Youtube recommended a video to me at random, and the comments underneath complimented it as the clearest and easiest-to-understand video on tablet weaving that they'd ever seen, so I thought, there's no harm in watching it. Here's the link. And actually, they were right! The video isn't even in English, and I got it straight away. I was so excited that I thought, I have to try this!

I got out my old embroidery frame and ripped off the sad, stained cross stitch piece that had been on it since I was a teenager, and converted it into a weaving loom. I found some wool in vaguely old-timey colours and went for it!

So, are you ready to see my janky first piece? Here it is!:

Hoo boy, is it janky! But I learned a lot from making this piece. I mean, A LOT. Firstly, don't use acrylic wool! It's too stretchy and fuzzy. You need a yarn that's smooth and shows up the pattern crisply. Also, I must have threaded the cards wrong because it was supposed to be a diamond pattern, not a weird wave and dot pattern. So be extra careful on which colours to put in which holes in the beginning. Also, you need to pull quite tight or it ends up rather cushy. Which is good for something like a blanket or a cushion, but not a bag strap or a belt.

But you know what? I'm really proud of it! It's been probably twenty years since I made something this crap and been so proud of it, not since I was a kid. It was actually quite a good feeling.

This guide was also incredibly useful to get me started. It has some simple patterns, and also diagrams which show how the mechanics of tablet weaving work very clearly. My second one was a bit better:

I started to experiment more with things like different patterns (chequerboard vs stripe), flipping the cards so the stitches slant one way or the other, and added a nice plaited loop to each end. I read somewhere that there has yet to be an example found of a historical tablet-woven piece in which the pattern was consistent throughout the entire length (at least, in the earlier period before it became institutionalised). That is, the maker changed up the pattern as they went along, usually several times. So that made me feel a lot better about experimenting! Here's a close-up:

I also learned that handedness is a thing. Yes, left handers are discriminated against even in weaving! (Sort of.) Basically it means that the cards have to be facing the way (i.e. left or right) that the designer specifies when you're setting the piece up. Which is almost always to the right, of course. In fact, most designers don't even bother to specify it because it's so common. If the cards aren't facing the correct way, the pattern appears underneath, and you're seeing the 'back' of the band as it's facing you. It's not the end of the world, but I have to keep flipping the loom over to check that the pattern is going well. (And to admire my handiwork, if I do say so myself.) I forgot about it for my third band, so again I'm having the same problem.

Here are some photos of it in progress, anyway. Firstly is cutting the threads and threading the cards according to the pattern. This is honestly the most complicated part and takes up a lot of the time in creating a band.

This photo shows the weaving project after I've started to get a good length going. I use the big pin to stop the cards from slipping backwards/forwards or just getting jumbled when I'm not working on the piece. For some reason I'm having a lot more problems with tension than the previous band, even though I set it up on the loom exactly the same.

Note it's slightly wider than the last one, and I added a third colour with a border on each side! Because of the handedness issue I mentioned before, you're seeing the back of the band in the above photo, so here's one with the loom flipped over so you can see the proper pattern:

And here's a close-up because it's just kind of cool. It's not perfect -- the edges are a bit untidy and sometimes there's a kind of double-long stitch where the direction of turning changes and I have no idea why -- but I like it!

I made my tablets out of thin cardboard (from a pasta box), but they don't last for too long unfortunately. They eventually get mashed up from all the handling. The first set was already ruined after only the second band. Yet you don't want to use thicker cardboard because it has to be smooth so the threads don't get caught when you turn them. It's a bit of a catch-22. I want to upgrade to wood once I'm able to order things from overseas again. Here's a good video on how to make your own tablets. I would recommend rounding off the corners -- you can use scissors or a corner punch.

The variety of patterns that can be made is almost endless -- abstract shapes, words, florals, and the typical Viking dragons. Apparently there are double-faced patterns where it's the same on each side so I wouldn't have to worry about handedness, but they're very complicated and I'm not ready for that yet. Perhaps one day!

Now I just have to figure out how to use all of these strips of weaving!

Book Review: Road Seven

Please note: this book was provided for me to read and review by LibraryThing's Early Reviewer programme. You can rest assured however, that this is (as always) an honest review!

Brian is a loser -- a thirty-something failing Phd candidate with no girlfriend and an annoying flatmate. He's had debilitating headaches for years that he can't be bothered doing anything about, and is a disappointment to everyone in his life.

Mark Sandoval is an enigma. A best-selling author notorious for his conspiracy theory-laden output, he has mysterious glyphs scarred all over his body, supposedly given to him during an alien abduction.

When Sandoval hires Brian to travel with him to a far-flung corner of the world to investigate an alleged unicorn sighting, that's when things start to get interesting. The main action is set in Hvíldarland, a fictional country that's a lot like a miniature version of Iceland. The locals are tough and don't take kindly to strangers, and there's definitely something fishy going on. Not only is there an American military base hidden in the woods, but the area Sandoval wants to investigate is reputed to be an Álagablettur, a sacred place of power haunted by spirits.

Is the unicorn real? What's really going on at the military base? And can Brian and Sandoval go even one day without being beaten up?

I enjoyed Road Seven very much. It had a barbed wit reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk and subject matter worthy of The X Files which made it intriguing and readable. I'm also fascinated by all things Icelandic at the moment, so knowing it was set within that culture made it even more interesting.

My only criticism is that it takes a long time to get to the action -- the protagonists only arrive in Hvíldarland about a third of the way into the book. Once it gets going though, I was completely absorbed in the story. At the end, some of the ends were tied up tight, and some were left hanging loose. Sometimes I find loose ends annoying, but in this book, I found that the right ones were handled in the right way.

Would I read more from this author? Definitely!

A Noob Reviews : Tang Garden (the Board Game)

Tang Garden is a "Eurostyle" game from ThunderGryph games, which was brought to life through Kickstarter. ("Euro" games are those in which players work together or simultaneously on their own part of the game, but don't directly compete.)

The Game:

Tang Garden is set in the Golden Age of China. The aim of the game is to build a beautiful Chinese style garden which appeals to the various characters in the game. Players take turns to build up the landscape and add decorations such as pavilions, bridges, trees, and flowers to the board.

Features:

The game board is plain -- to begin with! There are landscape tiles to lay down in several variations, namely greenery, water and rock. There are also various decorations, some of which are 3D, including pavilions, bridges, birds, flowers, and trees. Landscape panels are placed vertically in slots on each side of the board, with room for up to 5 on each side. 12 character figurines with corresponding character cards, a character board with blocks to collect, decoration cards, landscape tokens, character influence tokens and coin tokens are also included. This seems like a lot of stuff, but it all makes sense once you start playing the game.

Gameplay:

Each turn, the player can choose to either build or decorate. Building involves placing a landscape tile on the board to expand the garden. These feature either greenery, water or rock, and the edges must match up to the adjacent tiles according to certain rules. This aspect of the gameplay is very similar to Carcassonne, if you've ever played that. On certain positions of the board, there are round landscape tokens. A player can collect a landscape token when placing a landscape tile on this spot, and then has the right to place a vertical landscape panel on the edge of the board.

Decorating involves adding a decoration to the board. It's probably best to wait until there are a good number of landscape tiles on the board before starting to decorate. The player picks up several decoration cards, chooses one to keep, then places a corresponding decoration onto the board. Points are awarded at the end of the game for each decoration, and bonus points for sets, and the decoration cards help to keep track of how many each player has placed.

After this, the player can choose to do an influencing action. This involves the characters in the game. Characters include the Emperor, Empress, Lady, Poet, Monk, etc. Each player starts out with one character and can collect up to three more during the game. The characters have their own attributes which can help or harm a player both during the game and at the end. For example, the Empress earns 6 coins for every pair of flower cards that the player collects. However, if she can see the Emperor or the Lady at the end of the game, the player loses 9 coins. (I'm sure there is an intriguing story behind this!) Three of the four characters that a player collects can be placed on the board, and the position and direction they are facing are very important. This is where the vertical landscape panels come into play. If the character is facing a landscape panel with a matching symbol (e.g. sunset, deer) they earn extra coins at the end.

To be able to acquire more characters, players must collect landscape blocks, which are earned through decoration cards, and then placed on the player board to keep track. Special lantern tokens are available to influence characters, such as allowing the player to change the way the character is facing.

Once the board is almost full (when there are three or less of the round landscape tokens left), the game ends and the coins are awarded. To some extent, you can prolong gameplay by avoiding placing tiles on a square with a landscape token on it, but eventually the game must end. The instructions guide you through the awarding of points in the form of coins. The player with the most coins at the end wins.

Pluses:

++ Everything about this game is visually stunning. The creator clearly put a lot of thought into the concept of an aesthetically pleasing garden, from the flowers and trees to the landscape panels around the edge which introduce the concept of skyline views.
++ The 3D aspects of the trees, pavilions, bridges and landscape panels added so much to the game. They helped to really bring the garden to life. The character figurines added to this as well.
++ All of the pieces were very high quality, made of thick card or wood, with beautiful colours.
++ The idea of building a garden is just a pleasing concept in itself to create a game around.

Minuses:

-- There are a lot of pieces and parallel things happening during gameplay which seems very daunting at first, but it was very quick to get the hang of.
-- The cardboard coins were a bit standard. They were nicely designed, but not outstanding. Husband is a bit of an aficionado when it comes to that kind of thing, so perhaps we're spoiled? He replaced them with some metal coin tokens from his collection. Similarly, the character figurines were just slightly too small for my average eyesight to appreciate properly, though having said that they were very detailed.

Final Comments:

Tang Garden is not only a beautiful game, but it has a lasting playability. It's complex enough to keep me interested, but not so much to be daunting. I can see myself coming back to it again and again.

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First Sewing Project in Years: Face Mask

For some reason I've had a strong urge to sew recently, after literally years of umming and aahing and putting it off. Occasionally I'd buy fabric but not use it; I'd just stash it. I know why I was procrastinating -- I'd lost the manual to my sewing machine and was worried I'd forgotten how to use it (re-threading the bobbin is the trickiest part). Worse than that, I was worried that my 25-year-old machine no longer worked!

With all of that on my mind, I have no idea where the strong urge to sew came from, but I got out my machine and gave it ago. I'm happy to report that the machine still works, and I made up my own 'manual' by sketching the bobbin and how the thread is arranged in situ. In fact, it seems to work even better now than it used to. Perhaps it's the patience of age which makes me run the machine slower than I used to?

I found a half-finished project from a few years ago. It was a pouch but I couldn't remember exactly how I was going to make it. When I saw this Face Mask pattern from The Stitching Scientist online, I thought it would be a good easy project to practice with. Not to mention current.

I went through my smallish stash of scraps until I found a piece of fabric large enough:

I thanked my past self for washing them years ago, though they did need ironing. Thankfully I also found some nice elastic in my findings stash. I cut out the pieces according to the pattern. I made the side bindings 1cm wider than the original, because I wasn't quite sure how that part worked, and I thought it better to be safe than sorry.

After sewing the front and back, and gathering the side pleats:

After inserting the elastic and sewing on the binding:

I'm really glad I have my pinking shears. They make it so easy to prevent fabric from fraying without having to muck around with double seams, etc. I got pretty confused about how the binding is finished off, and I think I fudged it a bit, but it still looks okay, I think: (Actually, I neatened it up a bit more after taking this photo.)

The finished product! Can you see me smiling at you?

It's a little loose around the nose, but a dart or shirring would fix that. Or use a shaped version, many patterns for which can be found online. And remember -- this type of cloth mask doesn't protect you from catching a virus.

Then I asked Husband if he would like one, and he said yes, and even offered up a spare Star Wars pillowcase that he had to make it from.

I matched it with some blue fabric I had on hand, which I think is left over from a sheet that I made into a skirt (maaaany years ago). I followed the same process but forgot to insert the elastic! Thankfully I realised straight away and was able to fix it without too much fuss.

Finished!

He looks awesome, huh!
I've already started work on my next project -- a skirt. Updates soon!

101 Things in 1,001 Days #2 : One Year To Go

I've just realised that I only have 1 year left to go in my second 101 Things in 1,001 Days project! A year seems like a long time but hardly any time at all, simultaneously. I don't know about you, but when I'm in this situation, it's tempting to start thinking about all the things I won't have time for, so I thought I'd have a look at some things I can/will do in the next year.

#10 Create a Pleasing Garden
This plan is going very well, thanks to some planning, hard work and visits by various tradesmen. I have a general plan for the garden overall, and more detailed plans for some areas. As the weather is cooling down now, it's too late to plant any new plants, so I can focus on helping the ones I've already planted through the Winter, and installing some other stuff that you normally find in a nice garden. Husband and I have discussed the kind of outdoor furniture we want so we can actually spend time in the garden next Spring.

A 'before' shot!
#56 go overseas
This is (hopefully) happening! Husband, my Mum and I are going to Europe for a month at the end of this year, if everything goes according to plan. It's been 10 years since I last went overseas; here's a picture of that:

#69 Make Cheese
I'm completely obsessed with dairy products lately, for some reason, and I've already been experimenting with making yoghurt and some strained yoghurt variants (blog post coming soon!). Actual cheese is a lot more complicated, but I'm feeling an urge to give it a go.

#36 Do The Sketchbook Project
This is a new project. I swapped out an item I didn't want to do anymore and replaced it with this one. Sometimes that happens when new things crop up or I just lose motivation to do something I originally put on the list. The Sketchbook Project is an organisation in the U.S. that has a library of artist books. For a fee, you can purchase a book, fill it, and then send it back to them, where it will be held in the library forever. Many of them have been digitised and you can view them online. It's a rabbit hole that can amuse you for hours on end.

#38 Finish Duplicating my Blog
My poor blog has been through a lot in the 15+ years it's been around. A couple of years ago I started a project to transfer all of the posts from LiveJournal to Blogger. Halfway through that, the photo hosting site I was using decided to start charging an exhorbitant fee for their services. I wouldn't have minded if it was reasonable, but it wasn't. I downloaded all of my photos from that site (15 years' worth!) and re-uploaded them to Blogger. That took a really long time, too. I only have one thing left to do, and that's post a re-direct notice to my original blog so people know that it's not actually dead.


#39 finish Konmariing my emails
When I first started this project a few years ago, I had over 5,000 emails. I created a series of sub-folders for emails that need actioning, to read, links to online shops, courses, etc. Every day (or 5 times a week at least), I worked to reduce it and now there are around 100 emails. I can't seem to reduce it any more though, no matter how hard I try. I've unsubcribed to countless newsletters but I still receive 10-20 emails a day. I really want to try and find a solution so I can end this project, but I have a sinking feeling that it will be ongoing. Perhaps it's more realistic to find a way to minimalise the amount of time/work I spend on it.


#87 Sew 5 Garments
For some reason I've been intensely into sewing in just the last week or so, after a slump of many years. I made a face mask as my first, 'ease in' project, and I'm currently working on a skirt. This is the fabric I'm using. Again, a blog post is forthcoming!

#74-#78 Various Reading Goals
The obsession I had with reading for the last few months has abated a bit, but I still think I can tick off a few things. One of my goals was to read 5 books from LibraryThing's top 106 unread books list (based on the tags people use in their catalogues). I've read 2 already so I'm well on the way.
Another goal was to re-read the Harry Potter series; I don't feel like it right now but as the weather starts to cool into Autumn, it might return.
I decided a few years ago to re-read Dickens' A Christmas Carol every Christmas, just because it's a good reminder to be nice to people, and it only takes a couple of hours.

These are the books I had earmarked for my most
recent reading challenge -- I read less than half!

#62 Make 12 New Recipes from my Cookbooks
I have a tendency to go straight to the internet when I need a recipe or to check how to make something. Between us though, Husband and I have over 100 cookbooks, and we've moved them to a special bookcase near the kitchen, so it would be a shame not to use them! I've already made 2, so I have a bit of a way to go, but I love food and cooking so it seems reasonable. (Actually, I made lemon juice cheese from my cheese-making book a few weeks ago, so if that counts, it's 3.)


#101 write a New 101 List
There's almost no doubt that I'll be doing a third 101 Things in 1,001 Days, so this one goes without saying.

I Really Need to Finish this Knitted Dinosaur!

I've been working on this knitted dinosaur since 13th June 2013 (thanks Ravelry for helping me keep track!). That's, um, rather a long time. It was stuffed in the back of the cupboard for a long time, and has moved house with us once. I started it because I just felt like making a dinosaur and wanted the challenge, but I guess that wasn't motivation enough. After my friend had a baby last year, I decided to finish it and give it to her for her first birthday.

The body was almost finished. I'd gotten stuck at the Wrap and Turn instruction for the head shaping. Now I remember why I gave up on it! It took a while nutting out, and I had to rip back twice, but I finally understood it. I finished the body; it just needs to be stuffed and a face and other details embroidered on.

Since then I've made two legs out of four. Looks like they'll be cute, stumpy legs -- the best kind!

Then I just have to make 10 back plates (two pieces for each), and the four pointy thingies for its tail which I'm assured are called thagomisers. Everyone else calls them thagomizers but, being an Australian (we follow British spelling), I just can't bring myself to spell it that way.

I have until next weekend (9 days) -- wish me luck!

You can get the pattern for the dinosaur and see a photo of a finished one here. There are also some really adorable ones on the Ravelry page. Though, looking at the photo, I can see that the head on mine is much smaller. I'm sure everything will be okay though... maybe...

Addendum: While I was writing this blog post, I got a message from my friend saying she is cancelling the party due to the virus. While I'm very disappointed, I totally understand. There isn't as much urgency to finish it now, and my rather click-baity post title is totally irrelevant. But I'm going to post it anyway. As a great Australian once said, "such is life".

Book Review: Quarterstars Awakening

Please note: this book was provided for me to read and review by Library Thing's Early Reviewer programme. You can rest assured however, that this is (as always) an honest review!

Set in an world of high fantasy, Quarterstars Awakening is reminiscent of Tolkein yet builds an original world all of its own. Quarterstars Awakening is the second book released in the War for the Quarterstar Shards series, and I have to disclose that I haven't read the first. However, chronologically it is a prequel set a few hundred years before the rest of the series, and I have been assured that it can be read as a standalone book.

Humans and elves have been at war for centuries, and humans are struggling to survive sandwiched between their traditional enemies, dragons, and other aggressive creatures. There are two races of elves in this iteration, the Val and the Sor. Each despises the other, yet have created an alliance to best take advantage of their differing strengths. The behaviour and appearance of the elves is not your typical Tolkeinesque stereotype -- they are shorter than humans, have different physical abilities such as leaping long distances, and have a war-like streak. And, of course, two different races of elves with such polarised worldviews also adds interest.

Quarterstars Awakening chronicles the failed truce between the human King Dar Drannon and his elvish counterpart Keiyann Krowe, the star-crossed love between their children Jaerick and Traelyn, and the discovery of the first Quarterstar Shard. There are four shards in total, and if they are ever re-united as part of the complete Quarterstar Talisman, doom will come to the world. The Talisman, thought safely kept in the catacombs below the elvish city, is missing. Can the lovers, with their memories of each other only newly re-instated, overcome the machinations of the elvish king's advisor Naemyn, who wishes to bring ruin to their world?

The book unfortunately suffers from a lack of editing, but responsibility for this can be laid at the feet of the publishers, not the author. As a picky reader, I cringe at grammatical issues and find them hard to put aside. The lack of flow in some passages and switching between formal and informal language was a little grating. However, the author's flights of fancy more than make up for this. The concept of the Quarterstar shards, which will bring a vague but terrifying doom if ever brought together, is intriguing. I enjoyed the character of Traelyn, with her wisdom earned during an unnaturally long life and her relationship with her children and grandchildren. The human soldier Voll and his unlikely friendship with the dragon Aegyn was also a high point. Some of the most compelling scenes are the battles in which dragons fly overhead, and the elves' magic produces giant winged spiders and other terrifying creatures. Knowing that Quarterstars Awakening sets the scene for a whole series set in this world has me intrigued.

Would I read more by this author? Yes!