Krokbragd

Day 280: "Learn something new every day." I've always liked that motto, and while sometimes my daily lesson is something as small as looking up a word I don't know or finding an interesting fact about a plant's life cycle, there are times when it means taking up a whole new hobby. Such was the case when I was looking on YouTube for one thing and stumbled across quite another: krokbragd. The word is Norwegian and translates to "crooked path" or "lightning path," and applies to a weft-faced method of weaving. It is a three-point twill (i.e., it's woven with only three shafts) and can easily be made on a rigid heddle loom using a pickup stick or a second heddle for the third shed. Since my rigid heddle loom was occupied at the time, I warped my floor loom for Experiment A, a throw rug in a simple flame point using scrap yarn in seven colours for the weft. Carrying two colours up the selvedges made for a less-than-perfect finish so I will need to crochet or braid an edge to conceal the evidence of poor technique. Next, I put a second project (Experiment B, above) on the rigid heddle loom and by paying closer attention to the tension of the carried threads, the selvedges on this piece are much improved even though I'm carrying three colours at once. Each sequence must be beaten firmly in place using a comb to ensure that the warp threads do not show in the cloth. If truth be told, I am enjoying weaving krokbragd on the rigid heddle more than on the floor loom although it's slow work. That said, the rigid heddle is only 10" wide, so any major project will be made on the floor loom by default.