Shadow Weave

Day 347: One of my favourite YouTube weavers hosts "weave-along" sessions in April and October. I couldn't participate in April because I had a project on the loom, but this time, she caught me just as I'd reeled off the summer-and-winter coverlet. The loom was empty, and I had not yet decided on a new project when she announced that the October Weave-Along would feature shadow weave. Shadow weave is not a technique, but rather an exercise in "colour and weave," i.e., using colour within a given weave structure to create a design rather than using only the weave structure. It is a relatively new style of weaving, developed and introduced to new weavers by Mary Meigs Atwater in 1942. It is related to "log cabin," but carries the same principle further to create more complex designs. Warp threads are hung in a repeat of one dark, one light, and weaving is done with two shuttles, again one dark and one light, always alternating. The design is governed by the threading, i.e, which heddles/shafts hold the threads. It is fun and fast to weave, with a rhythm which is almost like a dance. I'm nearly done with the first of three towels in green and yellow.