Are skeleton tie-ups possible on a counter-marche system?
You can still have some skeleton tie-ups with counter-marche looms. If you wanted to weave tabby on 4 as a skeleton this is what you do. I can only show you this in a tie-box
| – | – | – | – | – | – |
| X | X | – | – | O | – |
| – | O | – | X | X | – |
| X | X | – | O | – | – |
| O | – | – | X | X | – |
The above is a little tie-up box. The first treadle has a tie-up cord on lower lamm #1 (o) and a tie-up cord on upper lamm #2 (x) and #4 (x) and there is no tie-up cord on 3 the 2nd treadle has nothing on lamm one, an upper cord on #2 and #4 (x) and a lower cord on #3 (o). When you step on those first 2 treadles they make a perfect tabby shed. The other half of your tabby is on the other 2 treadles. You will note that not everything is tied up making it possible to step on 2 treadles at the same time. You can find more information on this in The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers pg 11 – Skeleton Tie-ups on a Counter-marche Loom for Summer and Winter. I am assuming that you are weaving summer and winter. In this case, you will need to create two treadles that have only 1 or 2 tied-up to them. Take any treadle: short cord on one, long cord on 2. Take the next treadle and make it opposite: long cord on one, short cord on 2. Don’t put anything else on those two treadles. Then use your other treadles for the block combinations that you want but don’t put anything on lamms 1 or 2. This way you can use two treadles at one time.
I just bought a Louet Spring loom and am on to my second project on this gorgeous loom which is a couple of mohair shawls for some friends. Which sent me looking for your recommended tie-up for mohair. I found your skeleton tie-up for 4 shafts so just adapted for 8 shafts and in case your readers want to know what it looks like here’s the tie-box…please feel free to share if you think it’s useful. I tried it and it works a treat!
X upper lamm, o lower lamm, – leave blank
