South American Pebble Weave

Day 127: A pebbled or speckled pattern in the background is characteristic of a number of different regional styles of weaving historically practiced in South America, and you will find it variously called "Guatemalan," "Bolivian," Peruvian" depending on the reference and usually with either adjective ("pebbled" or "speckled") preceding it. The geographic distinction seems to lie at least partly in the type and weight of the threads used to create the motifs, i.e., doubled threads of the same weight as used here, single threads of a heavier weight or ply and so on. In any case, the background, border and weft threads are functionally finer to allow the pattern (motif) threads to dominate the weaving. Typically, these motifs are highly stylized and elongated. The design on the left is "corn" (growing in a flower pot?) and the bird on the right appears to be a roadrunner or one of its kin. Both designs appear in "The Weaver's Inkle Pattern Directory" by Anne Dixon, a marvelous resource covering many different styles of inkle weaving.

Pebble is a heavily manipulated weave. On almost every row, the weaver must drop or lift pattern threads from one layer of the shed to the other. Warp floats in the motifs generally cross three weft passes, sometimes four or five (longer floats tend to snag, and are therefore not practical). The "pebbles" are picked up in the background on every other pass of the shuttle, staggered so that they do not occur one above the other in this particular style. Although this is rather time-consuming and requires the weaver's strict attention, I find it a very enjoyable process.