Weaving Using Pick Up Sticks

If you are totally new to weaving with the pick up stick on the rigid heddle loom check out my latest knitty column.

Weaving using pick up sticks.

The action imparted on the yarn is both the up which lifts the yarns threaded in a hole and the pick up stick which lifts the picked up slotted threads on the stick. For my 24 rigid heddle loom i use 24 pick up sticks. When using a. You can do more than tabby plain weave with a rigid heddle.

In this case i m picking 1 down 1 up. Then you pick up the configuration you want behind the heddle. This class assumes that you have the ability to warp and dress your own loom without assistance and are reasonably comfortable doing so. Then you use a pick up stick to pick up only those.

Incorporate one pick up stick and you can weave on 3 shafts. This is called charging the pick up stick. I give a very basic primer on how it works and discuss how to weave warp floats. Here s what i ve been geeking out on lately.

Once charged you can slide the stick to the back of the loom and continue to weave plain weave. Your pick up sticks need to be longer than the width of your project or they won t hold the picked up threads. Pick up sticks can be used to create simple patterns for all over texture or to create complex designs that may travel or cover only part of the weaving surface. That s done by pushing your heddle into the down position and inserting a warp separator such as a stick paper cardboard or anything into the shed created behind the heddle so that you can see only all the slot threads.

In first fall edition of knitty i ll address weft floats. I can use these same sticks whether my project is narrow or full loom width. To place a pick up stick place the heddle in the down position so only the slot threads are up.