Sunshine after the rain (Krokbragd #6)

It is a spectacularly warm and sunny day out there. The kind of day that wreaks havoc with my crafter's "pale and interesting" complexion. So what's a woman to do? Many of my friends are posting images of their newly weeded flower beds, neatly trimmed lawns and other fruits of their gardening labour. I have no interest in gardening though I do very much enjoy the gardens others create, but I forced myself outside for fifteen minutes with a coffee on the patio to top up the vitamin D and then it was back inside to do what I do best: avoid the sun.

So was I relaxing with the inkle loom and that pretty band I warped up earlier in the week? Nope. I was back with the krokbragd.

I know, I know, I keep saying I will just work on a limited number of projects at a time but this is only project number three if you don't count the pile of mending that needs doing and the trousers pattern that I need to recut and...

If you remember from the 21st May 2021 - I was so enjoying working on the krokbragd sampler than I decided to warp up my 24" loom to make a rug for the bedroom.

So far I have completed two pattern blocks - as you can see. I was toying with the idea of interlocking them, but I quite liked the separation between the patterns in the sampler so I've kept that aesthetic here.

I originally thought I might go for softer colours with a lower contrast than you normally seem to see in krokbragd. These blues and green certainly produced what I wanted, but I am really liking the striking contrast between the soft grey and the navy and black marl yarn used in the top image, so I suspect the finished rug is going to have a mix of those high and low contrast blocks. It will be interesting to see how the colour scheme progresses. Well I'll be interested to see it.

What are your thoughts? Do you like the low contrast colours or are you all about the sharp definition? Why not share your views in the comments?

Sampler samples (Krokbragd #5)

The krokbragd sampler is coming along nicely. I'm very much enjoying the design process and working with a limited palette of colours. A trawl of the internet reveals there are lots of examples of krokbragd with a rainbow of colours but I felt drawn to some of the more muted colour schemes. Don't get me wrong some of those brightly coloured designs are gorgeous - okay, they're all gorgeous it's in the nature of the weave - but I like my decor to be more gentle on the eye, the colours of the coastal landscape are my go to paint samples.

I toyed with the idea of going all natural and maybe sourcing some undyed alpaca but decided to work with what I already had rather than splash the cash. After all I bought that yarn because I thought it was lovely and letting it sit in a box isn't the best way to use it.

After trying colours against each other I chose some British wool I'd bought from a weaver in Scotland who was having a de-stash. I decided to use just three colours throughout the sampler - cream, blue and green - to let the patterns speak for themselves rather than let the colours be the star of the show.

The first image is overlapping bars. I think of it as being a more modernist take on krokbragd. With bars of various lengths it could make for a very interesting pattern and kind of reminds me of some of Anni Albers' weaving. Perhaps not up there with the Bauhaus trained weavers but it has a pleasing rhythm when you see it across the width of the fabric.

The second pattern I think of as interlocking tuning forks. There is something fascinating about the way the patterns interlock and change colour at the same time. Perhaps if MC Escher had been a weaver this is the kind of pattern he might have come up with. I think it deserves a variation with more colours to really show off the colour changes. One to think about when I'm back to the design sheet.

So that's a little taster of what I've been working on and I've enjoyed the process so much that I took some of the money I saved by not buying a load of alpaca and finally bought a set of double heddle blocks for my 24" loom. I had considered selling it a while back but now I am going to warp it up and make myself a lusciously thick krokbragd mat for the bedroom. Just the thing to step onto when the mornings get cold again.

So what's inspiring your work at the moment? Why not share it in a comment

Return to Krokbragd (Krokbragd #4)

It felt like the time was right for more Krokbragd. I am toying with the idea of putting together a book, maybe more like a booklet, of patterns for rigid heddle weavers with double heddle blocks. Even if I'm the only person who reads it I think it will be a useful project and a great way of designing a Krokbragd sampler.

I find the idea using two heddles suits me much better than making string heddles or using pick up sticks for Krokbragd. Using two heddles make the process faster and really easy, and I keep my string heddles for inkle weaving.

Obviously any design is only as good as it looks in the weft, not on paper (or screen) so task number one was warping up the loom ready for weaving. Task number two start designing. This post is about the warping process. Back in Krokbragd #3 I posted the above warping diagram for double heddles - back heddle at the top of the diagram, front heddle at the bottom.

I thought it might be useful to see what the warping diagram looks like in reality. To tie in with the diagram I used three different colours for the warp. Remember - the warp will be completely covered by the weft so the colours don't matter. I had a lack of suitable green yarn, so I've used white instead.

Notice how there are twice as many white (green) threads. They form the two instances of shed 2 colour in the 1 2 3 2, 1 2 3 2 weft pattern in a single weft pass. What that means is although it looks like there should be four actions per pattern row (1 2 3 2) each pattern is actually made up of three passes of weft colour not four.

With the different coloured warps it is easy to see the three separate sheds. With both heddles in the up position the "pixel" of weft colour will appear over the shed 1 warp. Red in the diagram.

When the front heddle is in the down position and the back heddle is in neutral then the "pixel" of warp colour will be in the repeated shed 2 positions. Notice how the white warp threads appear closer together - because there are twice as many of them.

Finally when the back heddle is down and the front heddle is in neutral the weft "pixels" will appear over the shed 3 warp. In all three pictures the back beam is on the right hand side of the image so the back heddle is what can be seen in the second and third images in the series of heddle position photos.

To complete the series of images the same colours of yarn were used to spread the warp - to show how the weft would build up into a pattern. You can see the 1 2 3 2, 1 2 3 2 repeats of the red white blue white red... The weft hasn't been beaten down as it would for actual Krokbragd but hopefully the images will help you to make more sense of the previous Krokbragd posts.

If you've found the images useful why not let me know with a comment.

Krokbragd comparison (Krokbragd #3)

Latest update - check out Krokbragd #4 for images of the warping pattern with actual yarn.

It has been a head-scratching week here at KiniB. Trying to make sense of the various Krokbragd instructions across various books and websites. I think I've got my head around it but if anyone spots a mistake hopefully they'll let me know.

I have based my research on the warping pattern from Yarn in my Pocket. Back slot to front slot is shaft (weft thread colour) #1. Back slot to front hole is colour #2 and back hole to front slot is colour #3. There are twice as many #2 warp threads to create the repeat in pattern 1-2-3-2, 1-2-3-2...

Remember - in Krokbragd the warp is completely covered by the weft so it can be of any colour and would, I expect, normally be one colour. For clarity, so you can see which thread goes where, three colours are used in the diagram.

I chose the 2&3...1&3...1&2...1&3 (1... 2... 3... 2...) lift pattern as a baseline, because that seemed to produce the most consistent results when testing patterns. Putting that together with the warping shown gave me the lifting and shed sequence shown below. Note that while that looks like four separate movements there are only three movements involved. The 1&3 repeats are created in one pass of the weft.

Now lets add some weft colours. We'll use blue, red and green in that order.

Lifting both heddles (2 & 3) and passing the weft creates a pattern pixel of weft colour A (blue).

Lowering the front heddle (1 & 3) and passing the weft creates a pattern pixel of weft colour B (red).

Lowering the back heddle (1 & 2) and passing the weft creates a pattern pixel of weft colour C (green).

The next step was to map the instructions from other Krokbragd resources onto this pattern. The results are as shown below. The different order of lifts means that if we use the weft colours A (blue), B (red) and C (green) in the same order for each set of instructions, they will appear in different parts of the four pixel/warp wide pattern.

For example. Yarn in my Pocket starts the sequence with shafts 1 and 2 lifted, opening shed 3. So when we pass the blue weft it will appear in shaft position three of the pattern. Next in the sequence shed 1 is opened so the red weft will appear in the first position. Finally both heddles are raised to open shed 2 which gives two green threads. The resulting four column thread pattern is shown below each table.

If we apply this logic to a simple pattern it is easier to see the effect of these different mappings. In the top row we have, to the left, the original pattern using the sequence described by Ask the Bellwether. To the right is the same pattern using the shed sequence from Yarn in my Pocket.

In the second row are the patterns based on the sequences in "The Wheel" and in the booklet "Krokbragd and Boundweave: Three, Four and Five Shafts" (also known as "Blended Draft for Krokbragd" by David Xenakis).

It should be noted that in David's book he uses a different warping pattern, as shown below. Notice how the repeated thread corresponds to the Slot - Slot warps.

I don't know if anyone else will find this piece of research useful, but it has really helped me to think through how Krokbragd patterns are constructed and how one small change in lifting order can completely change the way the pattern appears when woven.

If you would like a copy of the spreadsheet, you can download it here

Do let me know if you've found it helpful.

Krokbragd confusion (Krokbragd #2)

Latest update - check out Krokbragd #4 for images of the warping pattern with actual yarn.

As the tag line says, the aim of the blog is to celebrate the intersection of art and science. In light of that I decided to apply my technical knowledge to Krokbragd weaving. OK, I'll admit, I got the nudge from a question on the Facebook "Weaving Krokbragd" group. The question was asked "How do you design a pattern?" That got me thinking. I've been able to follow instructions, such as those in Jane Patrick's "Weaver's Ideas" book, but I still didn't really understand what I was doing. So I did what any good scientist does and read the literature.

The group has a treasure trove of information. I scanned the files looking for more information and to my delight a new file seemed to hold the Rosetta Stone of Krokbragd on a rigid heddle. The description was clear and concise. I felt like I was beginning to understand how Krokbragd patterns could be created but there was a problem.

I had been using a 1&2..2&3..3&1.. lift pattern. My Krokbragd Rosetta Stone gave the lift pattern as 2&3..1&3..1&2. Oh! How can that be? My patterns looked like patterns I'd seen, so I'd assumed I was doing things right. I didn't really know how they worked but I could create arrow heads and flame points and was jolly pleased with myself. I rechecked my lift pattern and to steal from the legendary Eric Morecambe - It seemed I'd got all the right moves, but not necessarily in the right order.

I read on.

The file explained by lifting 2&3 (raising both heddles) the first pick (strand of weft thread) would cover warp thread #1 (shaft 1 warp in shaft loom terms). Lifting 1&2 (lowering the front heddle) would cover warp thread #2 and lifting 1&3 (lowering the back heddle) for the third pick would cover warp thread #3. I compared that to the warping guide from Yarn in my Pocket blog 93.

A penny started to drop. When the weft goes over the top of the warp it creates a "pixel" of weft coloured pattern. Each pattern group is made up of columns of yarn pixels. Each column is four pixels wide because the pattern repeat is 1-2-3-2---1-2-3-2---1-2-3-2... Hopefully you can see from the diagram that there are twice as many green threads because that part of the pattern appears twice.

Well duh! I hear you murmuring. I know, I embarrass myself, but I'd got so hung up on shafts and heddles and three wefts to one pattern row that I'd forgotten the basics of weaving. Let's have a picture to make things clearer. Hopefully you can see which part of which heddle is controlling the shed.

Note - in Krokbragd the warp is completely covered by the weft so it can be of any colour and would, I expect, normally be one colour. For clarity, so you can see which thread goes where, three colours are used in the diagram.

I opened a spreadsheet programme and began to transfer the pattern for a Krokbragd sheep. Then I automated it, so that as a colour code is entered, the pattern repeat appears.

I began adding more drafts to the spreadsheet and as I did so I noticed that some of the patterns didn't seem to work. Eh? Surely I was now the Krokbragd Queen. Did I not understand the principles of creating a Krokbragd pattern? I had a spreadsheet and everything. So what was going wrong? The guitar pattern seemed particularly loathe to bend to the will of my spreadsheet.

The pattern draft indicated wefts of White Red and Green should create a red guitar neck with green tuning pegs. Instead of two sets of pegs, the pattern was generating two red necks. The design is in "Weaver's Ideas" so I took a look at that.

The weaving draft seemed to start on #2 rather than #1. So I moved the colours across one shaft. That was a bit better: one guitar neck, but with floating tuning pegs. Still not right. So I did what any good engineer does - I bodged it. I rearranged the colours until I got the image I was looking for. Then I tried weaving it. That was interesting.

I discovered that using my 1&2..2&3..3&1.. lift pattern created the floating tuning pegs pattern to the above right. I swapped to 2&3..1&3..1&2.. and Eureka! Guitars.

I was of course thrilled to be able to try out designs as digital pixels before turning them into cloth pixels, but I was puzzled by the variations I'd seen. I looked at my Krokbragd resources and noticed there were three different variations of the lifting order. There were also two different ways to warp two heddles to create the three shaft pattern.

Crikey!

I needed a way to try and compare each method, without having to rewarp my loom. So it was back to the spreadsheets. Next time I'll share my findings.

Introducing Krokbragd (Krokbragd #1)

Weaving appeals to me on many levels. Firstly, it's a relaxing thing to do when it's going well. Unweaving when I've made a mistake - not so much fun. Secondly it appeals to me on an engineering level - taking yarn and locking it together into fabric. How cool is that? Then there are all the wonderful patterns and the interplay of colour and texture which combine in countless variations. There is much to keep the mind occupied when planning a new weave.

When weaving there are threads that run top to bottom (the warp) and threads that run from side to side (the weft - like "left" in left to right). Often the weave is designed so that the warp and weft share equal billing (take up the same amount of space). That type of structure is called a "balanced weave." Krokbragd, on the other hand, is a "three shaft twill, weft faced" structure. The "weft faced" part of that means the left to right threads completely cover the vertical threads. The three shaft bit means that normally you'd weave this on a shafted loom, not a rigid heddle loom. The twill bit, I'm not too sure what that really means, but it's got something to do with getting those diagonal lines you see in posh coat fabric. Put that lot together and you create a fabric that is thick and luscious to the touch and it is my new weaving passion.

The name is Norwegian and apparently means "crooked path." I don't speak Norwegian, so I'm going to have to trust that's true. Not knowing anything much about weaving on a shaft loom, I also had to trust the scant resources I found when trying to translate Krokbragd patterns for rigid heddle use.

My first port of call was Jane Patrick's book "The Weaver's Idea Book." It is an excellent general resource and there are several patterns in there for the aspiring Krokbragd weaver to attempt. Unfortunately, Jane's approach is to use pick up sticks and/or string heddles. That sounded like way too much faffing around, but without setting up the sticks the diagrams made little sense, so I hit up the internet in search of an alternative.

Fortified by a cuppa and a digestive biscuit, I discovered that Krokbragd is threaded on a four-thread repeat, over three shafts. The pattern repeats 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1...

Bibble!

Thankfully a little more searching led me to a blog which began to clear up some of my confusion. Yarn in my Pocket blogs 93 and 100.

Alison provided a really neat explanation of how Krokbragd works. Even better, she provided a threading diagram to warp a rigid heddle for Krokbragd. Result! Here is my version showing how to thread the warp through the front and back heddles. In the diagram, the back heddle is the one at the top.

Note - in Krokbragd the warp is completely covered by the weft so it can be of any colour and would, I expect, normally be one colour. For clarity, so you can see which thread goes where, three colours are used.

Alison gives the "treadling" pattern as 1&2..2&3..3&1.. Without shafts, I was still unsure what that meant. Then I found Amelia at Ask the Bellwether. Amelia provides an excellent mapping of heddle position to shaft tie up. The table shows the relevant section.

At last I could start to weave. Following Alison's threading and treadling or lifting patterns and with Amelia's translation of shaft to heddle I had enough information to begin weaving. First I had to set up the warp. Oh man! It felt like I was warping for a week. Of course being something new, it did take a while to get everything in the right place and I'm now getting faster, but that first time was a three cup of tea warp.

At first I had no real idea of what I was doing, just randomly adding colours, because I still didn't understand enough about the process to translate the pick up stick patterns to what I'd warped up, but I managed a bit of "flame point" some zig zags and what I think could be described as "interpretative" versions of arrows, rockets and beach huts.

It was slow going. Each "row" of weaving requires three passes of the shuttle and heavy beating to squash the fibres down into a single line, but eventually I had fabric. Thick luscious fabric. I didn't really understand how the patterns worked and my pull in at the sides would have made a Victorian corset maker proud, but I was thrilled.

I hope you've found the links useful. If you know of any other good resources, why not share your discovery in a comment.