Pick-Up Patterns

The pick-up warp

Pick-up bands have two kinds of warp: thin ground ends and thicker pattern ends. “The pattern threads… need to be at least twice as large as the background threads” ¹.

Torgenrud’s Hallingdal hairband draft ²:

• 37 ends: 11 pattern ends of red Möbelåtta 8/2 wool, 24 background ends of 8/2 cotton, and 2 red selvedge ends.
• Natural cotton weft; the band is 1/2 inch wide.

Norges Husflidslag’s band has 37 ends with 9 pattern ends, warped center first ³. Wind about 2 meters of each end for a band of a meter or more.

Read the chart

A pick-up chart has one column per pattern end and one row per pick. A filled square means bring that pattern end up to float on the face; an empty square means leave it down.

1. Open the shed.
2. With a pick-up stick or your fingers, bring up the pattern ends the row calls for and push the others down.
3. Pass the weft and beat.
4. Change sheds and do the next row.

Torgenrud’s rule: an even number of pattern ends is picked in pairs; an odd number gives a center thread for the design to pivot on ².

The band

North House’s class weaves a band of 36 to 72 inches and aims to have students design their own ⁴. Once a chart is in your hands, draw your own on graph paper with the same number of columns as pattern ends: diamonds, zigzags, and crosses are the old forms.

Finish

Cut the band off, leaving 6 inches of warp at each end. Knot the warp in small groups against the last weft, or braid it into ties, or fold the end and stitch it, as on the Nordfjord swaddling band’s bound end.

Try it

Before weaving the hairband, chart one repeat on graph paper and weave it once slowly, saying each row’s picks aloud. Speed comes on the second repeat.