Tom Knisely - Huck Lace Weaving Patterns with Color and Weave Effects: 576 Drafts and Samples Plus 5 Practice Projects

W hen I think of lace or hear the word lace, a particular image comes to my mind. Even after many years of weaving Huck Lace fabrics, when I hear lace, it registers as a decoratively patterned fabric that was knitted, crocheted, or constructed as bobbin lace with dozens of individual bobbins interweaving through themselves and creating a cloth that is open or even described as holey.

Huck Lace, however, is a loom-controlled weave structure that, when woven, creates short floats on the surface of the fabric. These fabrics can be described as having warp-way floats on one side of the cloth and weft-way floats on the back. Huck Lace can also weave with both warp-way and weft-way floats on the same surface of the cloth. This makes it unique from other lace weaves, such as Spot Bronson or Bronson Lace, that dont weave this way. Lace weaves are best described as fabric with short floats on the surface of a Plain Weave cloth. The floats are of a repeating pattern and not random. When weaving Plain Weave and the shuttle picks up a thread from the lower layer of warp and forces it to work on the surface, this becomes a warp-way float. If the nose of the shuttle jumps up and catches a warp thread from the upper layer of the shed, that causes a weft float. I remember hearing the story of how Madelyn van der Hoogt consoled a weaver when they discovered that they had made just such an unintentional error. Madelyn passed over it by saying, Well, look at this wayyou have woven an isolated Huck unit. Now I think that is how to make a booboo feel better, dont you?

Now lets take a closer look at this weave structure we have come to know as Huck Lace and see how it works. Huck is a unit weave. This means that there are defined groups of threads that weave as individual units. In Huck, these units are made up of an odd number of threads to the unit. The most common units are five-thread units. You can have as few as a three-thread unit or as many as a seven- or nine-thread unit, but these larger-numbered units are almost never used because the surface floats become too long and catch on things. Of course, this is all relevant to the size of thread you are using for your project. A fine thread sett at 36 ends to the inch could possibly work as a nine-thread unit. The floats would only be a quarter of an inch in length.

On a four-shaft loom, it is possible to have two alternating Huck units. I have seen several different variations of Huck threadings for four shafts, but the one that I like and have used consistently for this book is the one illustrated on page 5. The first unitIll call this the A unitis threaded 2, 3, 2, 3, 2. The second unitIll call this the B unitis threaded 1, 4, 1, 4, 1. A and B units alternately thread across the width of the warp. If a border threading is desired, that weaves as Plain Weave, and a threading of 1, 2, 1, 2, 1 will do the trick. When threading the loom, you must be mindful to alternate the A and B units and to always thread the loom so that the warp also alternates between odd and even shafts so that the fabric weaves as a true Plain Weave. This is also true when threading the border. If the border threading ends on shaft 1, then you will be correct to start the A unit on shaft 2. If the B unit is your last Huck unit threaded, it will have ended on shaft 1. The border threading will have to start with shaft 2. This will maintain the odd and even threading and weave a perfect Plain Weave.

Now lets look at the illustrated threading draft below. Shafts 1 and 2 make up the Plain Weave border and are also used within the A and B units of the Huck threading. Shafts 3 and 4 make up the pattern shafts. In the A unit, threaded 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, it is the threads on shaft 3 that control the pattern floats. In the B unit, threaded 1, 4, 1, 4, 1, it is the threads on shaft 4 that control the pattern floats. In the weaving of Huck Lace, if these pattern threads are raised during the weaving, a warp-way float is created. If the pattern shaft is allowed to stay down, then a weft float is made.

Look at the illustration below for Huck with warp floats. In the tie-up you will see the first two treadles are tied in the familiar Plain Weave tie-up. Treadle 1 is tied to lift shafts 1 and 3. The second treadle is tied to lift shafts 2 and 4. Treadle 3 is tied to lift shafts 1, 3, and 4. Treadle 4 is tied to lift shafts 2, 3, and 4. Treadles 3 and 4 are the pattern treadles. Treadle 3 is tied to lift the odd-numbered shafts as well as shaft 4 (4 is a pattern shaft). Treadle 4 is tied to lift the even-numbered shafts as well as shaft 3 (3 is a pattern shaft).

The treadling order of the pattern blocks imitates the threading order. This is known as weaving Tromp as Writ, which simply means to treadle in the same order that the threading draft is written. The first pattern block is treadled 1, 4, 1, 4, 1. Remember, Huck is a Plain Weave cloth with surface floats. The first treadle that you depress, 1, lifts shafts 1 and 3. The second treadle that you depress, 4, lifts shafts 2, 3, and 4. Ah, can you see what is happening? We first wove a pick on the 1 and 3 shed and then followed it with a 2 and 4 shed that also included shaft 3. Shaft 3 is a pattern shaft and is lifted in each of the five pick sequences that make up the first pattern block. This is block A.

The next pattern block, block B, is treadled 2, 3, 2, 3, 2. Treadle 2 lifts shafts 2 and 4. Treadle 3 lifts shafts 1, 3, and 4. In this five-pick sequence, it is shaft 4 that is being lifted in each pick. This makes a warp float in block B.

To weave Plain Weave alone, simply depress the first two treadles alternately. Be mindful, though, to always alternate the odd-numbered shafts with the even-numbered shafts. If your first pattern block starts on treadle 1, treadle 1 lifts shafts 1 and 3. Your last pick of Plain Weave should be on treadle 2, which lifts shafts 2 and 4. If you decide to start your first pattern block on treadle 2, than your last Plain Weave row should be on treadle 1.

Now lets look at the illustration for Huck with weft floats. In this tie-up, treadles 1 and 2 stay the same as in the warp float tie-up. These are our Plain Weave treadles. On treadle 3, it is tied to only lift shaft 1. The fourth treadle is tied to lift only shaft 2. To weave an A block, you start the first pick by depressing treadle 2. This lifts shafts 2 and 4. The next pick is on treadle 3. This lifts only shaft 1. With shaft 3 not tied to this treadle, it makes a weft float in the A unit. It weaves with a five-pick sequence. Treadle 2, 3, 2, 3, 2 to weave an A block with weft floats. Then follow up with the next five-pick sequence of 1, 4, 1, 4, 1. Treadle 1 is tied to lift shafts 1 and 3. Treadle 4 is tied to only lift shaft 2. With the exclusion of shaft 4 from this treadle, it weaves the B block with weft floats. There you have it. Weft floats on the surface of the cloth and the tie-up is lighter to treadle.