Today, I was thrilled to receive my first edition copy of Of Coverlets the Legacies, the Weavers. I am having trouble reading the drafts. On page 33 there is a two block draft that I have been trying to decipher. If I am reading it correctly Block A (the right hand block) should be threaded (1, 2,2,2,2) X 10, 1. What I am really have trouble understanding is the symbols beneath the threading. They read, II S (21U). It is my understanding that that the II indicates a two shaft pattern. The S according to the key indicates Sequence. What does this mean? That it is to be treadled as drawn in? Does the (21U) mean that the block should be treadled 21 times star fashion? Any clarification, would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I highly recommend the book :)
Hi there,
I wish I had the book in my collection, it sounds fabulous! I'm not familiar with the symbols unfortunately. Were you able to sort it out?
You are correct in that you will thread it 1, 2,2,2,2 x 10 ending with a 1...that gives you one of the block elements.
Reading it from right to left...you have 1 and a divider line and then 2,2,2,2....that entire section is 2 units. (or to put it another way) the one on one side of the line and the 2,2,2,2 on the other side of the line tells you that there are 2 units in that section x 10 gives you 20 units plus the extra one outside the bracket makes it 21U or 21 units. The the other block comes next and its the same thing but the 1's and 2's are reversed. This is done on 2 shafts. Reversing the 1,'s and 2's give you the 2 different blocks. If you look at page 32 you'll see the entire legend. Let me know if this helps.
I was just explaining this to Ginette because she is here for filming and asked about it. You can think about those 2,2,2,2 all on the same shaft as a thick thread...and the single 1 is the thin thread....If you only have 2 shafts and you want to reverse that block you then have to have 1,1,1,1 and a single 2. It is like repp weave in a way.....It is creating a rib :) Super cool.