Hi There, For any new weaver looking at A Handweaver's Pattern Book it must seem like chicken scratch but I like to look at it as a treasure trove of saved knowledge. This book is a historical source of weaving patterns that was published in 1944 long before there were computers. The method of notation is older than what we are now used to but at the time is was easily understood. It doesn't matter if the treadling is on the right or the left...you start at the top and treadle down. Some patterns have 2 columns of treadling so start with the column that comes directly out of the tie-up box and then the pattern may continue in the next column. The treadlings that have numbers in the columns refer to the number of times you treadle that treadle and in most cases these are supplementary weft structures that have alternating tabby picks in between those pattern picks. It will say "use tabby" and that infers alternating tabby picks. It is extremely useful to read the chapter notes before you dive into the drafts as there is a lot of information in those notes. You do have your hands on a gem...I have learned so much from these drafts, things I didn't understand early on are clear as a bell now, but it does take time. Weaving is an incredibly deep subject, worthy of a lifetime of study. Start at the beginning of the book and slowly work your way through. I'm sure you will come to see it as a great gift. Fingers crossed, Happy Weaving, Jane

Hi Barbara, it doesn't matter whether the tie-up is on the right or the left. They will be the same when you tie it up to your treadles. You start at the top of the treadling draft and if the 1st pick at the top is in the 3rd column you would start there and follow the rows in the columns down. Each column represents a treadle. If the top pick starts on the right hand column you start on the right ....if the first pick is in the left hand column you start on the left, always weave going down. If the tie-up box is 6 columns wide it is for 6 treadles. 4 columns wide...it is for 4 treadles. etc. Your Spring II loom is a parallel counter-marche loom. It will have 2 setts of lamms. One thing to remember about your loom is that the lower lamms are your risers and your upper lamms are your sinkers. The tie-ups in MPD's book are all for sinking shed looms so you will use these tie-up for your upper lamms. But on a counter-marche loom you also have to tie-up the empty boxes to the other set of lamms. So....if MPD says 1 and 4 in the tie-box...you will tie those to your upper lamms. You will then tie 2 and 3 which are empty to the lower lamms. If you go to Season 2 in the episode about looms I explain all this and I think it will be really helpful for you. :)

Thank you so much Jane for explaining this all to me. Now I have my Spring. 2 and ready to learn ...

Awesome

The Weavers' Source Book is full of interesting profile drafts, which can be used with a number of different weave structures like overshot, turned twill, summer and winter, crackle, etc. It is not a pattern book at all, and is nothing like the green book. No tie-ups or treadlings are provided, only traditional named threadings that have been gathered from historical coverlets and the like.

If you have worked your way through Season 6, Units Blocks and Profiles, you'll find the Weavers' Source Book useful. But if you're expecting weaving drafts, you'll be disappointed. When I was a newer weaver I picked it up, expecting it to be just like the green book, and ended up setting it aside for a few years. Now I see if for the wealth of information it is. It took an immersion in units blocks and profiles to make that mind set change, though.

The table of contents a Foreword, Editor's Introduction, and an Explanation of the Charts, followed by 117 pages of profile drafts. As I said, no tie-ups or treadlings are given, as those will vary based on the structure you apply to the profile.

I hope this helps you make up your mind!

That helps Immensely!! Thanks so much for your thoughtful and complete insights.