Nine Pattern Threads

Day 49: In Baltic-style pickup on an inkle loom, warping is done in the usual manner with alternating threads being either heddled or unheddled, regardless of their colour. The pattern threads (white, in this case) are separated from one another by two ground threads (blue). For the sake of explanation, let's say that the first pattern thread is heddled. The two ground threads immediately following it will be unheddled and heddled respectively, and then the next pattern thread will be unheddled (i.e., opposite the first pattern thread). The warping continues across the pattern area in sequence (heddled, unheddled), meaning that because we began with pattern thread #1 being heddled, odd numbers will all be heddled, and evens will be unheddled. Since there are two possible sheds in inkle weaving, odds will be on the surface in one shed, evens in the other. Designs are created by either lifting pattern threads to the surface of their non-native shed, or pushing them down so that the weft thread passes above them, preventing them from appearing on the surface of the cloth. In this nine-thread pattern, there are a few passes where I have to do both in a single shed, i.e., lift some and suppress others. It is important to be sure that two ground threads remain between the pattern threads. If one happens to get picked up out of sequence, the result will be a twist which conceals part of the pattern thread, throwing the design out of kilter. When the weft is beaten into place, check to be sure that two ground threads appear between each pair of pattern threads, which here would appear as one white, two blues across the design area, ending with one white.