By Jane Patrick
Most of my weaving the past 20 years has been focused on the rigid heddle loom, specifically our Flip and Cricket looms. The warp painting workshop provided an opportunity to weave on a shaft loom (I used our Wolf Pup 8.10). I started with one of the threadings Sarah suggested in our class notes (1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,5,6,7,8,5,6,7,8,5,6,7,8). When it came to the weaving, I looked for a tie-up and treadling in the Block Twill Chapter of Carol Strickler’s A Weaver’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns. I searched for a similar threading to the one I had used and then studied the patterns until I found one that I thought would work for my scarves. I really liked pattern 241-244 on page 59. For my first scarf I chose the tie-up for #241-242. Now, on to the treadling. Since it had been a while since I had woven on a shaft loom, I decided my brain would have trouble following the treadling patterns in the book. I therefore devised my own, treadling a return point—that is walking across the treadles and back again.
For my second scarf, I stayed with page 59, changing the tie-up to the one shown for #243-244. I decided to weave the gray borders in a modification of treadling #243. I then wove plain weave for about 4" before switching to treadling #244 for the body of the scarf. I finished as I began. Who says you have to use the same treadling for the entire length of the weaving?
Treadling minder: To help me keep track of where I was in my treadling, I placed a cord around a treadle as an aid to help me.
Warp extender: I used some treadle tie-up cords to extend the length from the apron rod to the back of the castle. I looped the tie-up cord around the apron bar, made a lark’s head knot, and slipped a warp bundle into it, and pulled tight. (You can do this with rigid heddle looms too.)
Floating selvedge: A weighted floating selvedge was helpful in keeping the selvedge thread taut.
Fringe twisting: To help me make the fringe the same length, I placed a wrapped brick along the bottom of the scarf to keep the scarf from moving around. A healing board grid was a most helpful guide in making even-length fringes. I twisted pairs of threads using the Schacht Fringe Twister and to make the fringes evenly twisted, I counted revolutions for a beautiful result.
