Shepherd's Krokbragd

Day 132: First, a word of explanation. Weaving is all that's keeping me sane right now. It lets me feel I have some small measure of control over my life, watching the pattern develop under my hands. Bear with me, dear readers.

Krokbragd sheep (turned krokbragd, actually) are fun to weave. If you're unfamiliar with krokbragd, it is characterized by being repeats of four throws which use three sheds. Two of the sheds are identical, so it's kinda like creating designs with a nine-pin printer. You don't have a lot of flexibility, but if you're creative, you can come up with some cute patterns. The design is entirely loom-controlled, although it takes some special setup to create the third shed. In this case, the sheep's legs are created by the repeating shed while the face is a different shed and the space between the sheep is another. The order of the sheds goes 1-2-3-2. No matter how wide your piece is, that's all you have to work with lengthwise.

My draft is a spin-off from one I found on line which had sheep which were rather too tall and skinny. I mean, I want wool on my critter, and I want lamb chops in my freezer, right? A sheep needs to be fluffy and plump. It didn't take much work to fatten up my ewes, and at the same time, I felt they should have a nice pasture, so I planted some daisies. I've woven many sheepie bands over time, and have used a number of variations. The band in the photo isn't exactly what the draft yields. The draft includes grass in the pasture, and in the band, I've substituted "X" (background) for the "G" grass. If you work the pattern a few times, you'll see how it can be changed up in subsequent bands. The warping technique for inkle loom is explained in Anne Dixon's "Inkle Pattern Directory," but I have included a visual to assist with her somewhat awkward explanation.

Lambs On A Loom

Day 158: There will be more botany to come, I promise, but today I wanted to share with you a little project I've been doing as an exercise as I try to improve my skill at krokbragd. The sheep are a smaller version of the ones I have shown before as turned krokbragd, and since this is regular krokbragd (as opposed to turned), the execution is a little different. In any event, the motifs can be no more than three threads wide, so creating recognizable designs can be challenging. That said, I have struggled with getting neat selvedges when weaving regular krokbragd, and recently came across some helpful hints in that regard. I also wanted to try this weft-faced weaving technique on a frame loom similar to those many of us played with in primary school, and I find it to be ideally suited to krokbragd. Weaving is done with a long needle, picking up individual warp threads manually. Since each "line" of weaving is actually made in three passes, a single "row" may contain up to three colours. I have found that it is easier to design on the loom itself than to try to graph out a pattern, owing to the unique staggered construction of the krokbragd weave. Also, by incorporating additional wraps around the outer threads once per sequence of three passes, I am now obtaining neater selvedges as well.

Krokbragd On A Frame Loom

Day 329: There are several new and exciting things going on in my little fiberarts world currently, and you'll be hearing about more of them in days soon to come. We'll start with the frame loom, my September Morn present-to-self. It presents weaving in its most basic form: warp threads wrapped around pegs, the sheds controlled by a stick inserted between them. Many weavers got their start on one of these in grade school, weaving a simple over-and-under tabby. However, any warp threads can be picked up with the stick, so many other weaving structures are possible. I was sure krokbragd was one of them, and although I was right, it is somewhat tedious to do. That said, the problem of slack warp threads was eliminated completely, making the trade-off worthwhile, and I was able to weave a tabby border for neater selvedges. For small pieces like krokbragd placemats, this little loom is perfect, and it folds down flat to be quite portable. Like many a child before me, I sit on the floor when I'm weaving on it.

Developmental Stage

Day 317: Recently, I stumbled across an alternate way to work krokbragd on a rigid heddle loom (as opposed to "turned krokbragd" as done on my band and inkle looms). In the past, I've had problems with warp tension when executing this style of boundweave on the rigid heddle while using a pickup stick and heddle rod in combination. I was anxious to try the new method, so I set up 31 warp threads at 7.5 epi so I could use leftover knitting worsted as the weft. The alternate system uses a pickup stick placed in front of the heddle rather than behind, a process which must be done each time those sheds are required, i.e., two times out of three in a sequence. It is slow going, to be sure, but I have had no issues with tension, which seems like an equitable trade-off, all things considered. However, there was another factor to consider. Because different sheds are opened with this method, none of my old patterns would work as drafted. Krokbragd does not lend itself to being designed on graph paper like many other weaves, so for the last two and a half days, I've been using good old "trial-and-error" as I tried to work out how to weave alternating rows of flowers. There have been a few hitches in the development of a pattern, but I finally have it nailed.

Two Looms, Two Bands, Two Methods

Day 180: Obligations kept me away from home most of yesterday and I was unable to give as much attention to my weaving as I would have liked. Frustrating, when you have a new toy and can't find the time to play with it! But my mind was hard at work, and although science might pooh-pooh the idea, I think I was building muscle memory even without performing the physical actions. When I was finally able to sit down with Jutta, my treadle foot and hands seemed to know what they were supposed to do. The blue band is my "skill-building project" for Jutta. The mushrooms are krokbragd, and are being woven on the bonker (Glimakra band loom).

As a sidebar here, I have a little story to tell. Since I was going to be sitting in a waiting room yesterday for a couple of hours, I needed some handwork to occupy the time. I thought it might be a good time to conduct a social experiment, so I packed up the supported spindle, some of my Ice Caves wool blend, and two small skeins of the finished yarn I've made with it so far. I positioned myself in the room at a point where I could be clearly seen by the office staff and milling salespeople and began spinning. It took slightly over an hour before the first curious onlooker dared approach me. "What is that?" she asked. "A supported spindle," I said. "It's a technique for making yarn." There was a pause, during which I drew out another length of wool and set the spindle to turning in its bowl. "You're...making yarn?" she said. I pulled the two finished skeins out of my bag and handed them to her. "Oh, that's LOVELY!" she said. "What will you make with it?" I told her it was destined to become socks, and explained that I'd combined wool with rayon to make them durable. She went back to her desk and I resumed spinning. Over the next hour, several other employees went to her rather than approaching me. "What's she doing, anyway?" and she would explain, "Making yarn!" It was a subtle way to increase awareness of the craft, a "free demo," if you will, which I hope might lead at least one of them toward their own exploration of fiberarts.

Picking Mushrooms

Day 135: I've been picking mushrooms without setting a foot outside! "Pick" in weaving terminology refers to one pass of the shuttle, and of course that's the context here. Since I was still trying to work my way through a pile of red thrums, Amanita muscaria was a good candidate for using them up. I tried to be as botanically correct as krokbragd limitations would allow, and although I wasn't able to depict the annulus without the stipe being too tall, I did include the volva (cup) which is characteristic of Amanitas in general. After getting these off the inkle, I warped up with a generic "little brown mushroom" somewhat suggestive of a Boleta. The red thrums are history now, but I have eight yards of warp measured to be hung on the bonker as my next project, hundreds of little Amanitas anxious to erupt.

Oh, Canada!

Day 133: When a Canadian friend saw my krokbragd rangers design, she said, "Classic Mountie outline. Taller boots." The suggestion immediately appealed to me. The RCMP uniform is arguably the most recognizable in the world with its belted red serge jacket, high riding boots and Stetson hat. The jodhpurs had to give way to design feasibility, but that was a small sacrifice and easily overlooked. I already had "sample" lengths of red warp left over from a previous design failure, and although it meant tying a lot of ends I wouldn't have needed to tie if I'd measured the warp directly from the cone, it was a good way to put them to use. Two Mounties in, I said, "Oh, they're adorable!" Having this design on the inkle and sheep on the bonker gave me the opportunity to run a different kind of experiment. Careful scientific analysis shows that over five minutes, four times as many passes can be made on the bonker as on the inkle.

When "Fail" Turns Funny

Day 131: Sometimes, "fail" turns funny. The concept of krokbragd ants on a red gingham check tablecloth background was a good idea on the drawing board, but even after careful counting and estimating how many throws would be required for the abdomen, the width enforced by the weft passes made the design much wider than I'd intended. My "ants" wound up being short and squat. I hadn't woven much more than an inch before deciding that this one definitely had to be cut off the loom. I turned the inkle so that I could view it in the proper perspective. The "ants" reminded me of something else I'd prefer not to find at a picnic. I'm sure you could have heard my shriek all the way to the Canadian border: "Aaaaaaggghhhh!!! TICKS!!!" I grabbed the scissors as fast as I could, and by bedtime, I had rehung the warp and was merrily weaving mushrooms.

Proto-Ranger

Day 129: Back at the end of January, I began working on a new krokbragd design. My first draft had a fatal flaw, and I wound up cutting it off the loom after the first few inches showed that there was no hope of redeeming it. That said, the idea was sound, so I went back to the drawing board and did some revision. It does well to remind you at this point that designing krokbragd is the weaver's equivalent of drawing with a nine-pin printer. The difference is that I can make the characters taller, but no wider because I am limited to four throws, two of which must be identical, i.e., a sequence of 1-2-1-3. Most krokbragd patterns are geometric for a good reason! Once I'd worked out the pattern, it was time to experiment with colours. Since the bonker loom is occupied by sheep (the best ones yet, in my opinion), I had to weave my test piece on the inkle. I set up a little over two yards, confident that my design would work well enough to be usable. I completed the sample this morning and will be making one small adjustment to the design, and when I weave Version 2, I will use richer colours in some areas and a neutral background. The face will unfortunately have to be a brighter pink. The pale pink I used here is too close to white, but after purchasing four new cones of thread to find a better choice, I am out of options. We'll just have to assume Proto-Ranger forgot to put on sunscreen.

Hefty Herd

Day 111: When I took this photo, I still had about half an hour's work left to do. When I finally rolled the band off the bonker loom, I had a functional 10 1/2 yards (31 feet). After a short stint with a pocket calculator, I determined that my herd is comprised of approximately 450 sheep which ain't bad for less than a week's effort. I have made a number of different variations on this pattern, mostly changing up to daisies so that sometimes they have leaves and sometimes not, sometimes with taller or shorter stems, or sometimes omitting them altogether, but the sheep have remained the same. I do have another character waiting for the arrival of a particular colour of thread before I can warp up the new design, so I think I'll mosey over to the north paddock to see if I can muster a few more ewes in the meantime.

Weaving Krokbragd On The Bonker

Day 106: This half-minute video is not meant to be instructional, rather just a demonstration of weaving krokbragd on the Glimakra band loom, lovingly known to myself and friends as the "bonker loom." If you want longer to study the technique, a two-minute version is available on YouTube. However, I will do my best to explain the system so that you can understand what's going on.

When in normal operation, the bonker has two wooden bars each having two projecting pegs which hold the heddles. These bars are attached to the treadles, and a cord runs over a pulley at the top of a stationary middle post. When either treadle is depressed, one bar raises a set of heddles as the other one lowers its set forming, what is known as the "shed" where the two layers of threads separate. These could be called sheds 1 and 2 for the sake of this discussion. Krokbragd is a bit different. It requires three sheds rather than two, and one of the three is repeated twice in the same sequence of four passes of the shuttle. You can think of krokbragd designs as being made with a nine-pin printer. You can only have one of three layers of threads on top at a time, and one layer repeats between the other two, 1-2-1-3, 1-2-1-3 and so on. In order to achieve this on the bonker, one set of threads (the 1s) runs through the heddles on the front pegs. The other two sets of threads are not heddled on the loom itself. They run straight from the warp beam to the cloth beam. By hanging auxiliary heddles over each #2 and each #3 and attaching them in bundles to carabiner handles, they can be pulled DOWN (not up, as they would be on an inkle loom) to separate their respective sheds. However, you need to have room for the threads to separate, and because the righthand set of pegs interfered with dividing them, I had to reverse the bar so that its unused pegs projected out from the back of the loom. I know...that was Greek to a lot (most?) of you, so let's watch the demonstration.

I depress the treadle, raising the #1 threads and pass the shuttle through from front to back and lightly beat the thread into place. I depress the other treadle, lowering the #1 threads. #1 is now the bottom layer. With my left hand, I lift the two upper layers together near the fell line (the point where the new thread will lay). This causes the two layers to separate near the heddles. I insert the band knife between the top and middle layers (remember, the bottom layer is out of service), beat the previous thread into place, pass the shuttle. Then I raise the #1 layer again, beat the last thread into place, pass the shuttle. In the final move, I raise layers #2 and #3 again, separate them by lifting at the fell, insert the band knife between them, beat the previous thread into place, pass the shuttle. And now we're back to the first move in the sequence. There is a definitely rhythm to the action, as you can see. Sometimes a thread gets caught on one adjacent to it and requires a little extra assist to free up, but not nearly as often as happens on the inkle loom.

In conclusion, I'll say that it is a lot easier to weave krokbragd on the band loom than on the inkle, to say nothing of faster. I also make fewer mistakes, so there is very little back-picking to correct errors. And...although this should go without saying...it's just a whole lot of fun.

The Pink Sheep Experiment

Day 105: Although I had already ascertained that it was possible to weave krokbragd on the Glimakra band loom, I wasn't sure how a warp longer than my original sample would behave. To that end, I set up four yards of sheep, a more complex pattern than the flowers in my test piece. There was another foible I hoped to be able to resolve, that being that the lower peg on the back heddle bar prevented two of the three sheds from being opened fully. This had not been a serious issue with the narrow sample, but in the wider band, the interference made it difficult to see whether or not the shed was "clear," i.e., that the shuttle could pass through without picking up threads from the wrong shed. I played around with various solutions for an hour or so, none of which seemed to make any substantial improvement, and then as I leaned back in my chair for a break, the cartoon lightbulb over my head lit up: reverse the heddle bar so that the unused pegs pointed the opposite way! A few seconds later, I had undone the Texsolv cords and had reinstalled the heddle bar backwards. It still rode smoothly in its groove, as if perhaps the loom had been designed to make the reversal possible. As I've said before, there is very little instructional material available for this type of loom, either written or in video, but understanding the mechanics of weaving goes a long way in finding new methods or solutions to problems. The reversed bar solved the issue, and although the second and third sheds still require some manipulation, the actual weaving goes much, much faster than on the inkle loom. In fact, by the time an hour was gone, I had turned out as many sheep as I could have done on the inkle in two or three days, and of course the bonker loom is capable of holding significantly longer warps. Oh yes, you may have noticed that the background for the sheep is pink. I figured if I wound up having to cut the warp off the loom because the experiment failed, I wouldn't shed too many tears over the lost yardage.

Nine-Foot Flock

Day 97: I am a long way from taking Murphy's Band off the bonker loom, but only inches away from completing the Nine-foot Flock on the inkle. Sheep are so much fun to make in krokbragd that I've already picked out the colours for another band. Krokbragd is more difficult when woven on a regular loom because it is composed three sheds in four throws, two of which are identical. That might not seem like a problem, but it means that there is twice as much take-up on one set of warp threads because they pass over two weft threads. This means that the remaining two sets which only pass over one weft tend to go somewhat slack in comparison. While the problem still exists with an inkle loom or band loom, it does not develop to the same extent that it does on a standard loom. Even when working krokbragd on a rigid heddle, I eventually have to add additional weight to the loosened warps in order to maintain equal tension.

Mixed Media

Day 93: There is very little instructional material available for either Scandinavian-style band looms or for krokbragd weaving and, as far as I know, nothing which combines the two. Since krokbragd can be worked on an inkle loom, I was sure there was some way to adapt it to the bonker. I have long known that I do my best thinking when I'm horizontal, and thus it was that I passed a mostly sleepless night visualizing the various ways the loom could be set up to give three sheds. When I finally came up with what I thought was a workable solution, I wasn't sure if I'd have to remove one pair of heddle pegs in order to have enough space to lower...not raise as you would on an inkle loom, mind you...to pull down the threads not required in the active layer. As it turned out, I was able to leave the unused pegs and heddles in place, rigging secondary heddles on two carabiner "handles" so that I could pull them out of the way as groups. There were a few foibles to work out along the way. I'd crossed two threads while I was warping my sample and the sheds wouldn't open properly, and when I tried to shortcut fixing the issue, I compounded it instead. Then in the process of re-warping, I fouled it up even further and wound up cutting the first few inches of the sample off so that I could start over from scratch. Once I got that sorted out, things went smoothly, and I successfully finished up two yards of sample in very short order. That said, it was Friday the 13th, and Murphy had plans. That will be the subject of a future post.

Feeling Sheepish

Day 92: I've been feeling a little "sheepish" these last several days, so I broke out the inkle loom and set up a krokbragd warp with a favourite design. I've been mulling it over, and think I may have figured out how to manipulate krokbragd on the bonker (Glimakra band loom) to make a longer band. Bands on the inkle are limited by its size. This model allows for a warp just slightly longer than nine feet. On the other hand, the bonker loom can hold many more yards of warp. I've never even come close to filling it. Now it has to be mentioned here that I began working with this flock an hour or so before bedtime last night, which may not have been the best idea. It set my mind to puzzling over how best to warp the bonker to get the three sheds required for krokbragd weave. I tucked in for the night with visions of a vast herd of sheep in my head, and counting them as warp threads was certainly not conducive to sleep. In the wee hours, I had mentally drafted several potential experiments with one promising candidate rising to the fore. I intend to run a short test as soon as the current band comes off the bonker despite the fact that I already have measured warp for another project waiting in the wings. Maybe I'll get that paddock built this week after all!

Sheep In The Daisies

Day 53: I can't help it. I love sheep, and couldn't resist doing yet another variation on this inkle-woven krokbragd design, this time putting daisies in their field. In hindsight, I wish I'd made the stems a little longer and darker green, but that just means that I have an excuse to make more. Krokbragd on the inkle loom is fun to do, but it does not lend itself to complicated designs. Creating a pattern could be likened to designing a font for a nine-pin printer (remember those?), because although it can be made as wide as you like, the actual pattern must develop over four rows, two of which are identical and alternate. In this case, row one separates the sheep and is also the center and stem of the daisy, then row two creates a leg and a leaf, row three is the sheep's body and face, and also the space between the daisies, followed by row four which is a repeat of row two (i.e., the second leg and leaf). Krokbragd is not reversible. Solid blocks of colour appear on the reverse, visible here where the ribbon turns back on itself. Inkle weaving of any type (krokbragd or otherwise) is limited by the size of the loom. Three yards is the biggest flock I can manage.

Sunset Sheepscape

Day 356: After isolating the sheep motif from a krokbragd pattern in a book, I knew I wanted to turn it into a project of some sort. The book sheep were a bit tall and skinny for my tastes, so I changed up the draft to give them more wool and shorter legs, and as I was working them, an idea began forming which would allow me to use up some of the thrums and shuttle over-winds all weavers seem to accumulate. As I wove along, I added a stream, a forest, snow-capped mountains and a sunset/sunrise fading into a star-flecked sky without graphing out a pattern. Hindsight being clearer than foresight, I should have put more sheep at the bottom to balance the visual weight of the night sky, but I was happy with the way the concept of a "sunset sheepscape" had worked out. Another version is percolating: a whole flock of sheep in a pasture dotted with tiny red and yellow flowers like those in the lower portion of the pasture here. Bear in mind that I am constrained to work with a pattern repeat of only four threads. That doesn't give a lot of latitude for creating a design.

Krokbragd Sheep

Day 354: Debby Greenlaw's marvelous book "Krokbragd: How to Design and Weave" contained a draft for sheep which I dearly wanted to try. There was only one problem. It required an 8-harness loom, and both my floor loom and table loom are only 4-harness. I thought I might be able to effect the same thing on the rigid heddle with multiple pick-up sticks, but that proved to be more bothersome and time-consuming than it was worth. The pattern kept rattling around in the back of my head until a few days ago when the light bulb lit: the sheep were only three throws. The additional sheds which necessitated the extra harnesses were there only to weave more green between them! That had bothered me from the get-go. Sheep are not creatures who take well to social distancing, and having them a full sheep's-width apart seemed contrary to their herding nature. By changing the pattern up just a little to eliminate unwanted sheds (weaving sheds, not housing structures), my sheep were compelled to pasture in closer proximity. Satisfied that I could now make sheepie inserts at the ends of towels, I then went on to figure out how to do plain tabby weave on a krokbragd (three-point twill) threading. Yes, it can be done on a rigid heddle (white band at the top), although it leans toward being weft-faced instead of balanced. It's a small trade-off, and one I can accept. Next in my list of experiments-to-be-performed will be to turn the sheep 90 degrees so that I can weave them on the inkle loom: "warp-faced sheep," if you will, a whole new breed engineered for weavers.

Krokbragd Mats

Day 346: As one friend put it, this was a "doodle," an experiment to see which fibers in my stash were a suitable combination for krokbragd weaving.  I hung 69 ends roughly six feet in length using natural 8/4 carpet warp at 7.5 ends per inch (grudgingly revised after an unsatisfactory false start at 10 epi) and used 8/2 cotton for the weft. I've turned the corners back to show how very different krokbragd appears on the reverse. While the face bears intricate designs, the back of the piece shows long floats which, although still attractive, are unsuitable for the functional surface. Krokbragd is a popular weave for rugs when made with heavier yarns because of its weight and compactness. At this weight, it is ideal for table mats or coasters.

Tiles On A Crooked Path

Day 340: A few days ago, I featured the krokbragd pattern known as "flame point" (not to be confused with the pointed flame stitch of bargello, although it is similar in appearance). As I explained then, krokbragd means "crooked path," and refers to the lay of the threads in a tightly-packed weft-faced cloth. Technically, the weave is a three-point twill, the sheds always repeating in the same order over four passes of the shuttle, the #2 heddles being activated with every alternate throw. What's that? I heard muttering in the back of the room. You asked, "What is she talking about, anyway?" Never mind. You only need to know that you have three ways to raise the threads, and you have to weave four picks. That means that one of the picks has to be a repeat of heddle position, but not necessarily of colour. And that's where the fun comes in. This tessellation is woven on exactly the same threading as the flame point I described earlier. In fact, it's still attached to the loom. I merely advanced the warp, left a space, and started over with a different sequence of colours to obtain the squares. If you find the mechanical part of weaving krokbragd rather monotonous, you have the option to change up your design on a whim.