Let's Weave . . . Telemarksteppe
I'm intrigued by Scandinavian woven textiles. I like their bright colors, their motifs and patterns, the intricacies of their weaving with frequent color changes.
I also love the charming names of their weaving techniques - dukagång (an inlay technque), krokbragd (a bound weave pattern), halvdrall (a Swedish block weave), krabba (another inlay technique), and rya (a pile weave).
The Danish have a word hygge (pronounced hue-guh) used when describing a feeling or moment as cosy. Maybe that's what I like about Scandanavian textiles, they just make me feel happy!
Joanne Hall's sampler for Swedish Art Weaves class
In a few weeks I will be attending the MAFA (Mid Atlantic Fiber Association) conference. This is a 4 day conference located on the campus of Millersville University in south-central Pennsylvania. Despite a wonderful selection of workshops, I easily chose Swedish Art Weaves to be taught by Joanne Hall. We will be weaving a sampler of Swedish art weaves–Halvkrabba, Krabba, Rölakan, Dukagång and Munkabälte (as pictured above). Look for a post or two on the conference and this workshop when I return.
But getting back to today's post, I chose Telemarksteppe, a weave structure originating in the Norwegian county of Telemark. It is a three-block structure woven on a tabby ground. The pattern I'm using is available as a free pdf download from Interweave here.
Traditionally, Telemarksteppe uses an unbleached linen warp and Rauma Prydvevgarn wool for the pattern weft. I like to "shop" my existing stash and so I used Bocken's unbleached Nialin 22/2 a 60% cotton/40% linen blend.
I needed 6 colors for the pattern weft. Back to my stash, I found multiple colors in a rayon/cotton rug yarn. The grist is a little thicker than the recommended yarn resulting in 14 picks per inch (7 pattern, 7 tabby) rather than the pattern's 34 picks per inch (ppi). Therefore, I had to adjust the pattern repeats to accommodate this difference and still maintain the same finished length. The rayon/cotton yarn provides a rich sheen that stands out nicely from the natural color of the Nialin. I chose spring-summer hues rather than the traditional Telemark colors which are more jewel tones- ruby, olives, deep blues.
An interesting feature of Telemarksteppe are weft loops along the selvedges rather than a traditional straight selvedge. I like the loops for this particular weave, but wouldn't say it will become part of my typical weaving repertoire.
I'm planning to use this as a table runner, however I have seen similar woven pieces as wall hangings. Laura Demuth, the author of the pattern I used, has a beautiful piece which can be seen here.
Weaving & Spinning demo @ Enoree River Winery - Newberry Ag + Art Tour
By the way, this was also the first weave on my Louet 8 shaft Jane table loom. I loved it! Easy to warp. Easy to treadle. Great shed. And it travelled well, allowing me to use it as a demo at the recent Newberry Ag + Art Tour.
Hope this gives you a hygge feeling!
