Adventures in Historical Tabletweaving

Warp: White and blue wool Weft: White wool Pattern: Laceby Cards: 12 pattern + 2x2 border Width: 0.8cm Length: Approx. 1.1 metres So you may have noticed, I'm kinda obsessed with two-hole patterns at the moment, and this is one that people mention a lot.  It is described by Grace Crowfoot in Antiquaries Journal 36 (1956), in the article Anglo-Saxon sites in Lincolnshire by F.H. Thompson. The preserved fragment is only 3x1.1cm, found in the back of a 6th century brooch from Laceby, England. The original is made of linen. Crowfoot posits two different ways of weaving the band, one using a heddle (ie not using tablets), and one using "six 2-hole tablets, with two threads in each hole".  I'm utterly unable to explain how the latter system would result in the pattern reconstruction given (same as the one pictured) so I assume that the reconstruction was a bit of a stab in the dark.   This reconstruction uses a tabby weave.  You can see a similar (possibly...

Warp: Red, white, yellow and green silk (fibreholics) (original in wool) Weft: White silk (fibreholics) (original in linen) Pattern: St Maurice monestary, 8-10th century (Collingwood p. 156) Cards: 18 pattern + 2x2 border (2x3 in original).  2 holes per pattern card Width: 7mm (original 11mm) Length: 78cm This band is quite different to any I have done before.  The pattern area is woven with 9 pairs of 2 tablets, each threaded in two holes.  One tablet carries a red and a white warp thread, and the other a yellow and a green (note: these are the colours I used; discussion on the colours of the original below).  The tablets are manipulated individually to form the pattern.  The interesting point is that there is no warp twining: tablets "rock" from one colour to another but never complete a full rotation.  In the pattern to the right, the coloured squares show the colour that is up.  In the squares with the grey line through them, no colour...