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Treadling for Dummies Part 2 / No Peeking Allowed

10/27/2019

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No Peeking Allowed - Treadling Tips

Forgive me if I am repeating things I talked about in other posts, but some things bear repeating.
​
Everyone
handles their treadling differently, and that is just the way of weaving: everyone has their own way.
Personally I hate peeking at my feet while I weave. I feel it disrupts my rhythm and flow.
I do several thing to make sure I do not have to peek.

Walking the treadles:
I almost always walk my treadles.  Inside to outside. I find it easy to walk left right left right as I treadle.  My shuttle is (almost) always moving toward the foot that is depressed.  This is ergonomically preferably to using one foot over and over.  And it is surprisingly easy to manage walking the treadles with most treadling patterns.  My treadles on a 10 treadle loom would be set up for walking as follows:
Picture
Notes:
  • The suggestions outlined below will work as well even if you are opposed to walking your treadles.
  • Not all patterns lend themselves to walking but I have found that those drafts are few and far between.
  • I use computer software that would allow me to rearrange the treadles in the draft.  I COULD rearrange the treadles in the draft to match the way I have tied up the treadles.  But in actuality I DO NOT because I find it much more confusing to follow a pattern with that type of treadling diagram.
Treadling on the LEFT shows a point twill, treadles numbered left to right: 12345678.
I find this easier to follow even though my treadles are actually arranged like the treadling shown on the right.

​Personal preference.
Picture
Picture
Treadling on the RIGHT shows the same point twill with shafts shuffled  to the position used for walking.  Treadles in the tie-up are numbered left to right: 75312468 as if for walking. 
I would have a much harder time following this layout so I do not use the shaft shuffler for this purpose.

​Root your feet:
I NEVER move my foot off of a treadle until I need to use that foot again.  That helps keep me and my feet oriented` as to what treadle comes next.
  • Left foot presses treadle 1 and stays there
  • Right foot presses treadle 2 and stays there
  • Left foot then presses treadle 3 (moving my foot from treadle 1) and stays there
  • Right foot presses treadle 4 (moving my foot from treadle 2) and stays there...
You get the idea.  Not all treadles are a straight draw, but very few treadlings skip around in random order.  Generally you will only have to move your foot to the neighboring treadle or perhaps skip a treadle and move over 2 treadles.  This is easy to do without peeking.
Tip!
Lunatic Fringe Jazz Bands (designed for Schacht Baby Wolf and Wolf Pup looms), work really well to add a little tension to the treadles.  This helps prevent you from accidentally lifting or slightly lifting a shaft you are not using - even if you leave your foot on that treadle.

​Hair bands & treadle divider:
I have hair bands on each of my treadles.  In fact I put 3 hair bands on each treadle because I simply can feel them better with my feet. The purpose of the hair bands is to help my feet identify which treadle is which. Depending on my pattern, I slide the hair bands down where I can feel them or up out of the way.
Typically, I am walking my treadles from the center to the outside, so I might move hair bands down on the middle 2  treadles (treadles 1 & 2), I leave the next 2 treadles (3 & 4) in sequence “naked”, move bands down on the next 2 treadles and so forth.

No need to remove the hair bands between projects.  Just move them up or down on the treadle as needed.

If desired you can put a divider between the center treadles to remind your feet not to cross the midline.
Tip!
Heavy rubber bands can be used instead of hair bands, but BEWARE: they dry rot fairly quickly and will have to be replaced.
Picture
The hair bands and divider for a typical draft would look like this: hair bands on the odd treadles, divider in the center.
Picture
Treadles tied up for walking a twill, treadle divider in the center.
Picture
Hair bands
Picture
Divider made from a picture frame


​Weaving tabby and pattern:
When I am weaving a pattern that requires tabby picks to alternate with pattern picks, I will put my 2 tabby treadles (a & b) on the left and the pattern treadles (1 - 8) on the right.  I will move a hair band down so my foot will feel it on ONE of the tabby treadles and on every other pattern treadle.

I definitely use a treadle divider in this situation because my left foot has a tendency to need a reminder to only travel between the far 2 left treadles
Picture
The hair bands and treadle divider for a draft that requires tabby would look like this
Tip!
If you are weaving a draft that requires tabby and pattern to alternate one for one, there is an added bonus.  For tabby a (left treadle), throw the tabby shuttle to the left, for tabby b (right treadle), throw the tabby shuttle to the right.  This will help you keep track of which tabby is next if your feet get confused.

​Note:
  Many people place their tabby treadles in the middle or on the outside, but this requires moving your foot off of a tabby treadle to find the next pattern treadle.  I personally cannot keep track of which pattern treadle comes next if I do that.  If I use my left foot for the tabby treadles and my right for the pattern treadles, I can follow my rule of never moving my foot until it is needed again.  I will treadle tabby A and leave my left foot there, treadle Pattern 1 and leave my right foot there.  This way when I go back to weave the next tabby, I know I have to use the other tabby treadle (in this case Tabby B).  When I go back to treadle pattern, the fact that my foot is already on Pattern 1 reminds me of where I was and makes it easier to find the next required pattern treadle.

Exception:  On my Spring loom there are 14 treadles and they are quite far apart.  Placing the tabby on one side is pretty uncomfortable, so on that loom, I will put them in the center.  When I am weaving left sided pattern treadles, I weave tabby with my right foot and pattern with my left. When I am weaving right sided pattern treadles, I weave tabby with my left and pattern with my right.

Cheat Sheets:
Any complex treadling warrants using a cheat sheet.
I attach the cheat sheet to my castle.  If your loom does not have a castle, tape it to one side of the beater.
My cheat sheet consist of a strip of card stock and a large paper clip.
I write the treadling sequence on the strip and use the paper clip to mark my place as needed.
I store the cheat sheet with the notes I keep on each project.
Tip!
When you are first learning to walk the treadles, you can create a second cheat sheet to remind you  which treadles are where and which treadles have hair bands on them.  Once you get used to this system, you will not need this second cheat sheet.

​Examples of my cheat sheets:
Picture
Cheat sheet for an irregular point twill. I created duplicate treadles 5 & 6 to deal with the turn in the draft. They are duplicates of 3 & 2. This allows me to walk treadles 123456 ,and that is easier for me to keep track of than treadling 123432
Picture
Treadling for a simple advancing twill
Picture
Treadling for a plaited twill. The top line of numbers refers to the picks woven with my left foot, the bottom line to picks woven with my right foot. The circles indicate which treadles have hair bands down where my feet can feel them.
Picture
Treadling for a block lace weave. In this case I treated treadles 1 & 2 as tabby and tied them up for my left foot. I treadled the pattern blocks with my right foot. So the treadles were arranged like this: 2 1 3 4. Block A is treadled 13132. Block B is treadled 14142. "2A" means repeat block A twice, "8B" means repeat block B 8 times. "8pw" refers to 8 plain weave picks. "END" refers to the final sequence at the end of the scarf.

No peeking:
With my hair bands are in place and the treadling recorded on my cheat sheet, I can walk my feet happily along my treadles, and I never have to peek at those treadles again.

Try it!  You will like it!
Added bonus: 
​I do not ever have to label my treadles with that dreaded tape!

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Tip of the Month: Braille for the Feet

7/2/2017

3 Comments

 
​
​I have long used rubber bands on my treadles to mark my path and help me treadle without peeking.  It is a great tip.  But I go through rubber bands like they are water because they dry rot very quickly.  And they are hard to roll up and down the treadles between projects.
​
​Enter my student Jane Hunt.  She told me she liked my idea so much, she went to Target and bought a handful of ponytail holders!  She found that they slide up and down the treadles easily, and they are bulkier than the rubber bands. Bonus: I am sure they will hold up much longer too!  Thank you, Jane!  Why didn't I think of that??

As it turns out there are dozens of kinds of ponytail holders.  I picked the ones that I could double up and would fit well over my treadles.  Hence my unabashed ad for Goody.  These are nice because they have no metal joins on them that could scratch the wood.
 
Picture
Picture
BEFORE: Rubber bands on the treadles, ready to walk the treadles for a point twill
Picture
AFTER: Ponytail holders in place. The blue and green ones have been pulled down where my feet can feel them. I will walk this pattern from the center out, just as I did in the photo to the left.

​Walking the treadles:

I tend to walk my treadles from the center out whenever my pattern allows me to do so.  When I do that, I will put bands on the two center treadles so I can find my way back to center without peeking.  I also place bands on every other treadle going out from the center.
Picture
​
​Treadling straight across:
On the rare occasion that I tie up my treadles straight across, I simply put bands on the odd treadles and leave the even numbered treadles naked.
Picture
​
​Treadling pattern with tabby
If I have 2 tabby treadles and a group of pattern treadles, my personal preference is to have the tabby treadles on one side and the pattern treadles on the other.  If the tabby treadles are on the left, I will put a band on tabby a and leave tabby b naked.  I will then put bands on all of the odd numbered pattern treadles and leave the even numbered pattern treadles naked.
Picture

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Treadling for Dummies: Walking the Treadles

8/8/2016

13 Comments

 
When we first learn to weave we usually are taught to tie up our treadles from left to right just as they are written in a typical draft.
Picture
​

​​In a simple example, to weave straight twill you would need to set up 4 treadles as indicated below:
  • Treadle 1 lifts harnesses 1 & 2
  • Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
  • Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 4 lifts harnesses 4 & 1
Traditionally, you would set up the treadles from left to right as they are written in the tieup:
 
           Treadle           1        2     Center      3       4
            Lifting           12      23                34     41
            Foot                --Left--                   --Right--              
 
To weave this pattern, you would use your left foot to weave treadle 1 followed by treadle 2, then switch to your right foot to weave treadles 3 followed by treadle 4.

Walking the treadles is a much more comfortable, ergonomic alternative to this.  The treadles still lift the same harnesses in the same order in order to get the same pattern.  The difference is that the treadles under the loom are not tied up from left to right.  They are tied up so that you can “walk” the treadles left-right-left-right from the center out.  Your odd numbered treadles will be on the left, even on the right.  ​
For the straight twill shown above the treadles would be tied up as indicated in the draft above, but they would be in a different order under the loom as follows:
 
           Treadle           3        1     Center     2       4
            Lifting           34      12               23     41
            Foot                --Left--                   --Right--               
 
This allows you to comfortably rock from left to right as you throw the shuttle from left to right. ​​
Picture
Note the rubber bands on the center treadles.
My personal preference is to throw the shuttle towards the foot that is treadling, so I treadle 1(left foot is down) and throw to the left, treadle 2 (right foot is down) and throw to the right, treadle 3 and throw to the left, treadle 4 and throw to the right.  Then I move both feet back to the center (where I have rubber bands to help me find the center without peeking).
Tip!

Advantages to walking the treadles:
  • You develop a nice rocking motion that is very comfortable,
  • It allows you to improve your rhythm and speed up your weaving
  • The fact that your shuttle is always heading towards the depressed foot helps “cue you in” if you accidentally get off pattern.  If suddenly your shuttle is going left and your right foot is down, it means you have made a treadling error.

Tips for not losing your place and other notes:
  • After pressing a treadle, I keep my foot there (lightly) until ready to use that foot again.  In other words I never move my foot completely off a treadle so I always know what I did last.
  • If I am doing a sequence that starts over at treadles 1&2 (center treadles), I move my feet back to center together.
  • I use heavy rubber bands to mark my center treadles and other significant treadles to help my feet find the correct treadles without peeking. 
Tips!
  • For example, if I am doing a straight twill with 4 treadles, I would put rubber bands on just the center treadles (1&2). 
  • If I have a twill pattern that I am walking with 6 treadles like the point twill pattern below, I would put rubber bands on the center treadles and the outer treadles (5&6).  This helps me easily find the center treadles when I am returning to center but also helps me distinguish between 3 vs 5 and 4 vs 6 so that I don’t accidently press a treadle in error (because 3&4 are “naked” and 5&6 have bands).
  • Note: I do NOT recommend leaving “space” (untied) treadles between your treadles.  I think it disturbs the rhythm of weaving and the farther from center your treadle is, the more tiring the weaving will be.  SO keep them as close to the center of your body as possible.

A harder example:
 
​Suppose you have a simple point twill treadling.  Normally the tieup would be presented as shown with 4 treadles.  One full repeat consists of the six shots or picks shown above the red line in the draft to the right:
  • Treadle 1 lifts harnesses 1 & 2
  • Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
  • Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 4 lifts harnesses 1 & 4
  • Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
You could set those 4 treadles up in the traditional left to right configuration or walking style.  The problem with this is that anytime you are treadling 2 or 3, you need to remember whether you were going toward treadle 4 or returning from treadle 4.  The possibility of confusion is high.
​

Picture
Everything above the red line is one repeat
6 treadle walking option​:
​

But we can take it one step farther (assuming you have 6 treadles) and assign each of the 6 picks in the repeat their own treadle. Set those 6 treadles up walking style and you will find this treadling pattern easier to weave with no confusion.
  • Treadle 1 lifts harnesses 1 & 2
  • Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
  • Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 4 lifts harnesses 4 & 1
  • Treadle 5 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 6 lifts harnesses 2 & 3 
Picture
Everything above the red line is one repeat and weaves the same cloth as the repeat in the draft above.

​​Set the treadles up for walking as follows:
     
    Treadle      5          3        1      Center     2       4        6
    Lifting        34       34      12                23     41     23
    Foot             -----Left-----                         -----Right-----      

Rubber bands on the center treadles help your feet find the center at the end of the sequence. Bands on 5 & 6 also help your feet with the "no peek" treadling.   
 ​
Picture

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Treadling for Dummies: A Series of Tips / Part 1

7/15/2016

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​My Treadle Minder
​When weaving my Bronson Weave tieup, my left foot travels from treadles 1 to 2 and back, while my right foot travels down the pattern treadles 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10. My feet are always treadling left right, left right. But my left foot is going 1-2-1-2-1-2 while my right is going 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10. For my brain this is a little like patting my head and rubbing my tummy, and I have always had the tendency for my left foot to "wander" to treadle 3.
Tip!
​SO... I am now using my MS 150 biking award between treadles 2 and 3 to remind my left foot not to stray. It's nice to know that award is good for something! If you don't happen to have one, I guess anything narrow and vertical would do.
Picture
Picture
​This would work well for any pattern where you left foot is working one set of treadles independently from your right.  For example, I use the left 2 treadles for tie down treadles and the treadles to the right for pattern treadles in summer and winter.
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    Pattie Lamb

    I have been happily weaving since my son was born in 1988.

    All pictures on my blog are "zoomable" - just click on them to enlarge.

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