Rigid Heddle Weaving - Log Cabin

Day 326: Weaving on a rigid heddle loom is a new experience for me, and although the basic principle (creating sheds, passing a shuttle) is the same as weaving on a standard loom, the operation is different. Rather than using treadles or jacks to change sheds, the weave raises or pushes down on heddles set in a frame. Notches in the sides of the loom allow the frame to be locked in place, freeing up the hands for shuttle operations. The warp is wound onto a roller in the same manner as it is on a regular loom, and the finished cloth is advanced in the same way. Since there are only two possible sheds (the positions of the threads) with rigid-heddle weaving, more elaborate patterns require the use of pick-up sticks or a second heddle kit if one can be used with that particular loom (mine allows it). That said, some interesting patterns can be woven simply by changing colours in the warp or weft. Here, I am weaving a log-cabin pattern using a repeat of B-W-B-W-B-W-B-W, W-B-W-B-W-B-W-B. Note that at the ends of each half-sequence, the order reverses and the last thread of the first half is the same colour as the first thread of the second half. Using the same two-part sequence in both warp and weft results in a change of the dominant colour in each block.