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Thursday, August 20, 2020

My Grand daughter, Meta, age 10, is Learning to Play the Ukulele.


And came to me, a weaver of bands, to help her make a ukulele strap.  Meta is the one on the left out front.

I suppose since the beginning of time, people needed a strap on their instruments. I am in the older age American group and I remember the popular inkle looms in the 70's when we hippy guitar players wove straps on our inkle looms.  My daughter once asked if I was a hippy. I do have a photo of myself in my gauze shirt, bell bottom pants and fringed moccasins sitting cross legged on the couch playing my guitar. Happy to say I was not into drugs, but I did drink wine and tried to learn how to play the guitar. I  do have a photo of this, will post when I find it.
Macrame was popular too back then, but most people liked the smooth, tight woven bands you could make on an inkle.



We used mostly cotton yarns with bright colors and plain patterns.  Today we have so many different fibers to choose from, colors and patterns plain and fancy.











So when Meta wanted to weave her own band, she chose this watermelon pattern. I showed her how to measure, cut, warp and weave and she did a nice job.



Would you like to learn how to weave plain and fancy patterns on a small band, inkle or box loom? See my web site on Tape Looms at www.eastknollpottery.com or order on Amazon, my book, Tape Loom Weaving, simplified.  It will show you how to make a simple loom and how to weave basic and fancy patterns.

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