The Heddle Puzzle

As promised, a discussion of the heddles.  This YouTube video shows what they look like.  Once I looked closely, they weren't at all what I had expected.  I've heard the term "knit the heddles", but they don't really look "knit".  I haven't been able to reverse engineer them, and I haven't been able to connect directly with anyone who knows how to make them.  

My friend Diane Howes sent me a couple pages from Luther Hooper's "Hand-Loom Weaving".  (Thanks, Diane!)  It was first published in 1910, so the lingo is kind of out-of-date, but I get the general idea. However, that's not to say that I'm ready to sit down and make some. The figure in the book shows a tatting shuttle, and the directions describe what we would consider "knotting," not "knitting." (But it's not like nålbinding, for those who might be familiar with this type of not-knotted, one-needle knitting.)

So what's next? Maybe I really do just need to sit down and try to do it.  Wish me luck!

Here's what the harnesses looked like when I first took them  off the loom.  The heddles were still on the harnesses, but they were in poor condition.  A slight tug would break them.

Here's a closeup of the heddles, although they are hard to see since the twist of the linen makes them coil.  Under tension on the loom, they open up to about 10" measured on the outside edges.

This shows the ends of the heddles, where they are tied onto the harnesses.

This is a photo of the harness pieces themselves after removing the heddles and washing them.  The score marks every 1 1/2" are used to ensure that the correct number of ends per inch (epi) is attained in the warp. As you weavers know, the correct epi is also dictated by the reed, but when the heddles are knit continuously, they can't be stretched out or compressed together, so they also have to be at the correct sett.  I imagine this means that a weaver would need multiple sets of heddles in order to weave goods at different setts.

Coming up is the story about the pulleys and our visit with Craig Evans.