12th Century Latvian Band

Warp: Wool (fibreholics)
Weft: Wool (fibreholics)
Pattern: from Latviesu Jostas
Cards: 20 pattern + 2x3 border
Width: 1.5cm
Length: 55cm
 
This technique came up on the SCA-Card-Weaving list recently and I was inspired to give it a go.  The pattern is from Latviesu Jostas by Aleksandra Dzérvítis & Lilija Treimanis.  Wonder of wonders, this book was in the National Library of New Zealand (Finding a book I'm looking for domestically is a minor miracle).  The book is in Latvian and English.  Mostly it covers traditional patterns but it also has some 12th century patterns, although information from an archaeological perspective is lacking.  This one is described as "Stameriene, blue wrap".

The book is pretty emphatic about getting the colours to have the characteristic greenish tinge of local dyes.  I gave this a crack by overdying my blue, red and yellow wools with green dye.  It didn't really result in the right colours, but they are still quite striking together.
This technique is quite similar to that of the Swiss band I did recently.  Both feature a two-hole weave where the weft sometimes passes above both threads in a card to form a brocade.  This is the green in the pattern (with the exception of the green cards in the border).  The main difference is that this band has warp twining, although not as sharply as in a four-hole pattern.  Here's the back, where it's easier to see this effect.
If I was doing this again I'd make the green border tablet be on the outside, where it would mask the "blips" where the weft turns.


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