C
INTRODUCING THE ALL NEW SPIDER TM


No tangled webs here, just fast easy weaving. You can make this stylish, and useful, shoulder bag out of old cloth for free.


Having got your spider free with CME you might want to invest heavily in all sorts of materials to get weaving with; or you might want to keep a good free thing going; you could be on a roll here.

The shoulder bag in the picture cost nothing at all to make. It took one spider, some homeless printed cotton, left over from somebody's curtains, and a set of fingers. You'll probably find you already have some of those.

The spider is a an easy-going sort of tool that you can use, more or less, anywhere; even sitting on a tuffet. Whatever that
is. The spider is ideally suited to work with a fairly thick cord, or narrow strip, in a wide range of materials. Some quite expensive; some quite cheap; some free. Whatever you use you get a thick, strong weave; ideal for everything from a mat to a hat. Once you've mastered the bag the world of weaving will be your oyster.

There are several basic techniques, which are all easy. As with most craft skills, it'll pay you to have a practice first. You can usually unravel what you've done, so you won't waste any material. Don't worry, your work won't unravel when you don't want it to.

A bit of practice will also help you decide which material you prefer to work with. Anything that will slide through the spider will be fine. A cunning way to test it out is to thread an end through both holes and see if the spider will slide off under it's own weight. If it will it's fine; if you have to shake it it's probably fine; if the spider moves at all, when you shake the material, it'll probably be alright. If you can't get the material out again then at least you'll know it wasn't suitable.

Most handicraft shops will stock a range of suitable cords. Things like raffia; sisal; string; seagrass or, of course, rug wool. On the other hand you can do it for free with old cloth. That's what we've used for our shoulder bag.

If you're using cloth you'll be spoiled for choice. As a guide, fairly thick cotton seems to work very well. You can cut it into strips, if you prefer, but tearing is quicker and easier to work with. The strips can be anything from lOmm to 3Omm (3/8" to 1-1/4") wide. Just try a bit, you'll soon find out what works best.

Having got your material you'll need to thread your spider. The first thing you'll notice will be a little pick stuck in
the hollow handle. This is to make threading even easier; and it's yours, free with your free spider. Things must be looking up. Remove the pick and push the end of the material through the hole, nearest the spider's handle, from the convex side to the concave. Pull it along the groove and push it through the other hole, concave to convex, and pull it through until it reaches back to the handle.

Whether you use the pick, to help you, or not doesn't matter at all. You'll find it more help, though, when you come to the end of the length of material. The easy way to join another one on, provided the material isn't too slippery, is to thread the new length on top of the old one; 4Omm (1½"), or so, before it disappears through the hole. Then you'll be grateful for the pick, it can prod where no finger could ever go.

If you're using a slippery material, or just happen to be of a nervous disposition, and feel you need a more secure method of joining on a new piece then you can just cast off and tie the new end on next to where you stopped. To find out how to cast off you'll have to keep on reading.

So, you've got your material threaded in your spider, you probably haven't quite lost your pick yet, and you're ready to go. This is it:

This is part 1 to make the bag
All you have to do is push a loop through another loop. So, fold and twist the material, the bit hanging out of the end of the spider, into a loop. Working from the side that makes the loop stay a loop, the other way untwists it, push the spider through the loop as far as it will go. Grab the thread pulled along the outside of the spider, with your finger and thumb, and pull the spider back until it's about 2Omm (¾") away from the loop. Shove the spider through the new loop in your fingers, you can let go of the end now, and repeat the process. Congratulations, you're weaving.

What you'll get, if you keep going, is a long chain. Yes, it is a bit like crochet in reverse; when you get down to the (knitty gritty all weaving techniques rely on the same, simple, knots. All the free-hand methods of spider-weaving start out with a chain, it's what you do next that makes the difference.

This is part 2 to make the bag
To make a thick weave make a chain the length of one side of the piece you want. It's easier to measure the length, rather than count loops; you may well find you need to make loops looser or tighter as you go along. When your chain is long enough hang on to the last loop. Push the spider through one side of the link next to it and through the loop in your fingers. Pull the spider back, as before, and do the same thing with the next link along. Keep going, back the way you came.
You may find the links are very tight to push the spider through. Swearing horribly helps a little but starting again, and making looser links solves the problem completely. If you let go of the last loop and pull the spider the whole thing will unravel. You'll have wasted a few minutes, but you'll have learned something about your material. To make looser links you can either pull each loop a bit, by poking your finger between the material and the back of the spider when you grab it, or by pulling the spider back a bit further to leave more slack. It pays to try a small sample with every new type of material. You'll need looser loops, for instance, if the material is coarse, and drags a bit going through the spider; or especially if it is stretchy.

As you've probably guessed, when you get back to the start of the chain you turn around and make another row; but wait! At the end of each row you need to make an extra loop; just push the spider through the last loop, and make a new one, without going through the next link. If you don't make an extra loop, at both ends of every row, your work piece will turn into a triangle. If you want to make a triangle you've just found out how to do it. Just keep on going, backwards and forwards, you already know how to join in fresh pieces of material (unless you've been skipping bits, tut tut).

When your work piece is the size you want cut off the spare material, about halfway along the spider's handle. Push it through the last loop, which will leave the end threaded through, and give the end a tug to tighten it. Cut the end off, and that's it; 'though for extra security you might want to poke the end through a couple of links before you cut it.

To make a looser, more open, weave start with a chain again but this time work back by pushing the spider through each link, to make a loop, but don't push it through the new loops at all. You'll get a chain with a loop sticking out of every link. Then turn around and make a chain over the loops. Make an extra loop first, as with the first method, then poke the spider through this new loop and through the first of the ones sticking out of the chain. Pull back to make a new loop, then through that and the next in line and so on. Finish and join on in the same way; 'though you might be a bit more inclined to tie in new pieces because having a double loop, on a join overlap, confuses things a bit.

You can also weave onto a backcloth, like rug-canvas or hessian, by making chains over it; pushing the spider through a strand in the canvas, or several strands in hessian, and through each loop, which will be underneath. The side with the loops on will end up thicker than the other one. Working on a backcloth can make a mat or pieces to fix together, either by sewing or weaving over two edges, to make something a bit more three-dimensional. Working on rug-canvas is incredibly quick.

This is part 3 to make the bag
To make a tube with a closed end start out by making a flat mat, starting with a chain at least 3 loops long, the size you want the end of your tube to be. Then work all around the edge and keep going in the same direction. The 'tube' will be the same shape as the base, of course. It is possible to use the more open weaving method, with loops sticking out of every other row, if you change from 'chain' to 'loop' in the same place every time you go around. This makes the whole thing more complicated, though, and you have to concentrate more. Nowhere near so relaxing.

This part 4 to make the bag
As a CME reader you're probably the adventurous type. Adventurous enough to want to make shaped pieces, as well as squares and rectangles; if you've read this far. You can reduce a piece by missing out the extra loop at the end of a row or, when you're working round and round, by skipping an occasional link of the previous row; it'll all pull together and won't show. To increase you can put an extra loop in anywhere you want to wriggle it in; it might be a bit tighter than an ordinary link.

This is part 5 to make the bag
The weaving over a backcloth technique really comes into it's
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   own, and perks things up no end, when you do it over something you've already made using either of the first two weaving methods. You won't have such straight lines to work on, as you will with rug-canvas, but you ca wriggle a line, or block, of loops in pretty well wherever you want. Appliqué already, and all with a free tool.

Nice though flat mats can be, you might well want to be a bit more adventurous. How about a tube then? Using the first method, with the thicker finish, start out with a chain but don't turn it around and work back for the next row. Instead put two ends of the chain together and start the second row from the beginning. The length of the chain, before you join the ends, will be the circumference of the tube. When you put the ends together make sure you're working in your favourite direction; if you don't you'll be sorry. Once the ends are joined just keep on going in the same direction. This gives a more even finish than joining two edges of a flat piece, 'though that would work. Working round and round, to make a tube, is surprisingly quick but any feelings of dizziness you may experience will probably be due to elation rather than speed.

This is part 6 to make a bag
If you want to join one piece of weaving to another just make loops through any gaps you can find along the edge of the first when you start weaving the second and you'll hardly see the join at all. To join two pieces that you've already made loop through both edges and make a chain along them. It'll work but it's more likely to pucker. Not the end of the world, of course, but if you want your work to be a pucker-free zone the first type of join will suit you better.
And so to the bag, at last. If you've been practicing, with odd small bits, you'll be pleasantly amazed by how thick and downright chunky the bag turns out.

Use the part 1 method to make a chain, and part 2 to make a flat mat. The size is up to you but bear in mind that, as you'll be working with flexible material, the middle will droop so the width of the mat will be twice the depth of the curved bottom of the bag. Our bag base is 75mm (3") x 270mm (10½").

When you've got your base work all the way around the edge, using the method in part 3. Weaving a 'tube' around a rectangular base will tend to draw the sides into a sort of bell shape. You can add to this effect by working along the inside of the previous row; or reduce the effect by working along the outside. To open the top out, like ours, use the 'increasing' method in part 4.

Stop weaving when you want to, of course, but our bag is l9Omm (7½") from the edge of the base to the top; if that's any help. The colour choice is yours as well. We used a blue-based printed cloth, the same as the base, for SOmm (2"); a brown-based printed cloth for a band 6Omm (2½") deep and finished off with the blue-based cloth again.

Now there's a choice to be made. To add a pattern, like our slightly psychedelic swirl you can use the method in part 5. The choice is whether to turn the bag inside out and be able to see where you push the spider through very easily, or keep it the right way and be able to see that you've pushed it through every loop as you go. We tried a bit of both, changing method to correct mistakes mainly. The beauty of it is that, right up to the time that you tie off the last loop, you can easily pull out what you've done and do it again. This means you can experiment and improvise a pattern as you go along, which is what we did; or draw a pattern first, with dress-makers chalk. Either way you can laugh in the face of mistakes, so relax and enjoy the craft.

Finally, there's the strap to make. This should join on securely enough by using the method in part 6; 'though we started, and ended ours a few links away from the edge, just to make sure. A strap has a job to do, after all.

Start a chain on one side of the bag and, when it's long enough for you, join the end on at the other side. We made ours lO7Omm (42") long. Work back, as though you were making a mat (part 2), and then make two more rows before casting off. We changed to the brown-based cloth, from the blue-based, after the first two rows and made the third and fourth along opposite edges just because we liked the look of it. We didn't cut the cloth between the last two rows, we just wove through the bag the change from one edge of the strap to the other.

That's the bag done, there's no stopping you now.
Obviously you've already got a free spider with this magazine. If you want another one, though, they will be available to buy at about the same time that CME comes out. The retail price will be around £3.25. Yes, that is more than the price of CME, with the tool thrown in; and yes, it is a funny old world.