Impala

		When @bokkyhome called for testers for her #bokkybag I knew that I had to make a card weaving strap based on the antler. In this blog you get an idea of how to do this yourself. It is not a complete instruction to card weaving, if you want to dive in this technique start with Elewys' channel.
		You can buy a loom and cards, or make them yourself. The one in the front is just a simple, but working loom. That's how I started. In my Dutch blog I wrote about my 'low budget looms'.
		You can use (fishing) swivels, rubbers band, elastic cords etc. to adjust the tension of your threads. I also use knitting items, zpagetti yarn and what ever I can find in my house.
		Threading of the yarn / starting position. I have a difficulty to understand the ABCD threading, so I use Up/Down, Back/Front. This is how you see it from above. The diagonal lines are the way the cards are placed (S / Z). There are two border cards on both sides and 8 pattern cards (P1 - 8).
		Border cards, two on each side. One with grey yarn, one with white yarn (background color of the pattern). The white yarn is threaded the opposite of the grey yarn. You will get a V on both sides of your strap. Make sure the ends are (almost) even. You need 4x grey and 4x white (or other colors).
		Pattern threading. I cut pieces of 1.5 meter and ended up with straps of 52 and 55 cm. For the pattern you need 4x red and 12x white (or other contrasting colors). Thread them as you see in the images and put them on the knitting needle. This way you get a flat start, which makes it easier to attach the strap(s) to the bag.
		The acturally weaving. There are 5 steps: 1. Thread the yarn (between the upper and lower part, images 1 and 4), leave a loop on the side 2. Flip cards (depending on where you are in the pattern) - images after the pattern chart 3. Turn the cards, top side away from you (second image), until the next side is up 4. Beat the yarn (images 3 and 5) 5. Pull the yarn to make the loop dissapear (6th image) I used two pieces of yarn to create a longer image
		Pattern for the impala, or 'bokkie'. You can use the forward / backward turning, but I prefer to flip. This way the cards are in line with the pattern and there is less chance on mistakes. The "F" indicates that you have to flip a card. I have added red and green labels on my cards to be able to track a pattern. With this pattern you will always have all the red labels up together. Same for the green labels. The "R" is where the pattern repeats itself. The first four turnings are easy, no flipping yet. When you have done four turns, the red labels will be up again ("R" line) and you have to flip all the pattern cards. Then after two turns the green labels will be up and you have to flip P2 - 6. Again two turns, red up, flip P1 and P8. Two turns, green up, flip P3 - 7. Two turns, red up, flip P3 - 7. Now you are back in the starting position => four turns without flipping
		Flipping the cards means to rotate them clockwise or anti clockwise. The same side stays up as you can see in the middle image. This is the "R" line. All pattern cards changed direction in the image on the right.
		I finished my straps with single crochet stitches on both sides - with a small hook. Since they weren't the same size and not long enough for backpack straps I improvised with my regular magic wand.
		Reel of the finished backpackbokkybag
		Have fun weaving

Funny Faces

	Someone in a Facebook group for tablet weaving had a struggle with the Ram's horn and it looked liked funny face. So I wanted to try to do this on purpose and the result is this picture on the left. Short explanation:
	First of all I tried to trace back to the warping. Also for the person to see what went wrong. Then with that information I designed my warp schedule on such a way that when red/yellow is up I have to flip/twist the red cards in the other direction. One could also use forward/backward.
	To change the direction of the funny faces the less disturbing is to change when blue/green is up (= red/yellow is under). Then again turn direction when red/yellow is up. That is: only the red cards!
	Difference between working with two weft threads and only one.

Low Budget Loom for Card Weaving

	Imagine, you have made a bag in tapestry crochet and you are thinking of making a strap with card (or tablet) weaving. But you have some doubt. * You might not like it * It is only for one bag * You don't have much budget
You don't have to buy anything - or not much - if you are a handy person who always keeps stuff-wich-could-come-in-handy. The most important is a piece of shelf so you can create your own Low Budget Loom.
Get some sturdy carton for the cards. On the Internet you can also find examples of making them from playing cards.
*Cut square cards. *Make holes in the angles. Be sure to align them as neat as possible. *Cut the corners to avoid yarn getting stuck when you turn the cards. *If you want to follow a pattern like the "Ramshoorn" (Dutch text) you can put some colored paper on the cards (top and bottom). *For the weft make a cut on all four angles, wrap around the yarn a few times, then fix it in an angle-cut. When your card slips out of your hand it will stop to unroll on a fixed point.
	For the basic of the loom take a shelf of about 50/60 cm. Fix another piece of wood on the back. A flat shelf doesn't work well since the cards are difficult to turn and tend to fall. Be sure to fix the back piece tight enough. There is a lot of tension on the yarn when you turn the cards. The little white triangle on the picture is normally used to strenghten a rickety cupboard.
When your strap grows use a round piece of wood or cut some pieces of cane.
	If you use cane, cut it close to the connection points. Shed or file the pieces, be careful not to hurt yourself! You can use screws, brackets or nails to fasten your work. Just watch the images and your collection of 'stuff' to get some ideas.
	When I start a strap I attach a piece of wood with some hooks on the frontside of my loom. For the next part to weave I change it for a piece of cane (see pictures). Use supplies like a kitchen s-hook and rubber band to attach yarn to your loom.
To keep the tension on your strap you can attach two pieces of cane with a rubberband somewhere on the backside of your shelf/loom.
	On the backside you can also use a s-hook and rubberband(s). Other usefull items could be paper clippers or clothespins.
More usefull stuff: *Tape to make sure your strap stays about the same width. *A wide pin to secure your cards. You can also put a crochet hook through the holes and secure it with a rubber band. *A smooth piece of wood to tighten the wefth. I use a bamboo crochet hook.
	Left: an extensive version of the Low Budget Loom Right: And when you finished your strap... Pull the yarn in small bundels through some of the stitches of you bag. Regroup them and braid the yarn.

Card weaving

Short time before the summer I accidently discoverd card (or tablet) weaving. So I tried. Watched some videos. Read on websites. Tried some more. The biggest struggle was to warp the S & Z correctly. The second was turning the cards in two directions. Certainly with wool! So I choose to flip the cards and 'translated' diagrams with F&B directions to diagrams where you can easily see wich card you have to flip + the direction of the cards on every turn.

On my cards I taped a piece of red paper between A-B and green paper between D-C. The red and green lines in the diagrams show where you have to flip some of the cards (a little triangle).

For the warping I keep ABCD on the right side, no matter if it is S or Z. Instead of using these letters where to warp I use the position. It is marked in Dutch and means Up (B), Down (O), Front (V) and Back (A).

The loom has a whole bunch of nails so it is easy to put each group of 4 threads on their right place. After the warping it is just a matter of putting all the cards with ABCD to the right and 'voilà' it's done.

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Ram's horn The first diagram is shown on the picture with the felted cords. Second one is the original Ram's horn and a test diagram. The third one was my son's suggestion: "it looks like waves, if you use dark blue for the air and some stars in it...". In four of the dark blue cards is a white thread wich I flipt and turned unequally to create an irregular pattern of stars.
Flames This image can be found on the internet with the numbers of the cards you have to turn F & B. I translated it into a flip-diagram and to make it easier I warped some of the cards 'upside down'. So every two turns you have some red cards up - these are the ones to flip (except the edges).
Cords
Cords on the left picture beneath this phrase are made of wool from an attick. There where a lot of weak spots so I threw them in the washing machine to get them more or less felted. And yes, it worked! 2d and 3d picture is a cord made of cotton to try out some of the diagrams.
Diagrams
Loom and warping On the third picture the cards are placed in S or Z position. Attached to knitting needles. It does work somewhat, but since the needles are not flexibel it was a bit difficult to pull the threads. Should try something more flexibel.