Gerd Lindman Nilsson, Daldräll

Gerd Lindman Nilsson weaving daldräll on a four shaft loom at Nordiska museet in Stockholm.

Gerd has specialised in weaving beautiful, varied fabrics on a simple four shaft loom. This was the most common loom in the areas where dräll has been woven, Dalarna and Jämtland in Sweden, and Österbotten in Finland. Jämtlandsdräll and Österbottensdräll is called Crackle weave in the US. I haven't found an English term for Daldräll, maybe someone can help me?

The variations seem to be endless. Gerd has a site in Swedish, with many photos: Daldräll. She has also written a book, now out of stock, but she may have a copy to sell on her site.

In my childhood tablecloth woven in Österbottensdräll were used on solemn occasions, like Christmas, or a christening. My grandmother on my father's side was a skilled weaver, but most of her fabrics were inherited by my aunt so I don't have any of her tablecloths. What I mostly remember is that it was a nightmare for us children to sit at a table beautifully set with a handwoven cloth. I was and still am unable to eat or drink without spilling. Therefore I am thankful my sister saved her beadspread and gave it to hubby and me at our wedding. It's now displayed as a wall hanging, well away from the sun, in our house: Grandmother.

Väv - Weave

So, all of you who want me to start weaving: I have come as far as to look at weaving again. I'll show some of the beautiful fabrics hubby and me saw at Nordiska museet in Stockholm last Sunday. The Weaving exhibition is now closed, but the museum has plenty of other things to see, so do visit it while in Stockholm.

The exhibition showed a cross section of traditional weaving in Sweden today. There is of course many artists working with weaving. You find their work in art galleries and public buildings.

I may show the photos with the kind permission of Nordiska museet.

Åkdyna (Travel cushion) by Kerstin Winther. Flamsk (Flemish weave). Linen and wool.

Åkdyna (Travel cushion) by Rebecka Winther. Flamsk (Flemish weave). Linen and wool.

Längd (Fabric length) by Kerstin Stenback. Munkabälte (Monk's belt). Cotton and wool.

Fälltäckesvåd (Sheepskin coverlet weave) by Hanna-Kristine Lindström. Plattväv (Platt weave, weft float patterning). Cotton and wool

Hängkläde (Hanging) by Inger Arnell. Oliksidig korskypert (Unbalanced Swedish cross twill). Cotton and wool. Löpare (Runner) by Britt-Marie Berggren. Treskaftskypert (Three shaft twill). Cotton and linen. Hängkläde (Hanging) by Brith Lindström. Oliksidig korskypert (Unbalanced Swedish cross twill). Cotton and wool.

I' sorry to say I forgot to take a photo of the labels for all except number 158, but I still want to show them. 158: Förlåt, draperi (Cover curtain) by Västmanlands läns hemslöjdsförbund (Västmanland County Handcraft Association). Halvkrabba (Halvkrabba). Linen and wool. These covers seem to be of older origin.

Duk (Tablecloth). Weaver Hans Thomsson, designer Helena Bengtsson. Damast (Damask). Linen.

Duk (Tablecloth) by Elsa Persson. Damast (Damask). Linen.

This was only a small section of the exhibition, my personal choices. There was also lots of looms and people weaving, some of them weaving really intricate fabrics. All this happened in the museum's impressive hall. You can see the exhibition area at the far end, with the market place in front of it, and to the right is the café I can fully recommend for lunch or a snack.

Tomorrow I'll show one of the weaver's working at her loom.

Inkle loom!

 Hubby gave me this wonderful little loom for Christmas. It was out of stock then, so I got it this week

Am I happy? Yes! Thank you so much Kari!

It's a Schacht inkle loom. The size is perfect, you can have it in your lap and sit in your comfy armchair if you have a suitable table to lean it on. I have a piece of board on my lap to make the weaving more steady.

I have already woven two ribbons, so far simple ones. Of course I had mislayed my shuttles, it's a long time since I last used them. So I bought two new ones from Toika Looms. When I was carrying them up to my study I saw - the box with my looms and shuttles... it's been there all the time I've been looking for it.

If anyone knows what those kind of looms are called in English, please tell me! It's a kind of backstrap weaving. They have been common all over Scandinavia, and I think elsewhere too. I found my cards too, up to the left in the picture. I'm not good at using them. I find the technique difficult to understand and to figure out where I'm going during the weaving process, but I also realize they are very handy and highly useful tools when you want to weave intricate patterns. The blue-white ribbon I wove on one of the backstrap (?) looms. That's a technique I'll recall in my next ribbon, for now I only have a faint memory of how you do it.

As you may have noticed I'm badly struck with weaving fever. As if Toika would have known that, they sent me their catalogue for this year with lots and lots of goodies: looms, equipment, yarns, weaving programs if you want to go digital with your loom. Sigh... See the small pretty loom down to the right? I think it would fit into my study if I do some fixing and organizing first...

But, so far, so good. The inkle loom and the small weaving frames I showed in an earlier post will cure the worst of the fever. Here's the first ribbon I wove on the Schacht loom:

Wooden antique flask with ribbon of hand dyed sock yarns

The Schacht loom is far more handy and easy to use than my old ones. For one thing, you warp on the loom, and it's ready to use. You can put it away for a break, and the warp doesn't get tangled up. I'm so very satisfied with it! I'm now looking at my handspun odds and ends. I need 2.5 meters for one warp thread, so as you can figure out, almost any left over can be used. I see endless possibilities.

Only I have to finish a color blending workshop for Online Guild first... :) And a few SALs and KALs on Ravelry... and a cardi for my little nephew.

Edited to add Feb 27 2012:  The two looms I show above are called "rigid heddle" in English. The English term "rigid heddle loom" refers to the heddle loom you keep on table. It doesn't have a back strap and it's bigger. Thanks to Birgith in Sweden!

Weaving

Something odd happened when I took my first weaving lesson in the 80s. I'm quite sure I had never used a loom before that evening. When I sat down and picked up the shuttle and put my foots on the treadles I new I had done it before. The loom was old and in a bad shape, but it didn't bother me. I was fascinated. The familiar feeling from that first evening never left me during the years I wove.

Some time later one of my friends also wanted to weave, so we bought a big loom together and I put it up in my living room. Yes, I put it together myself without help. I used stools and chairs to keep the different parts in place while trying to lift the very heavy warp beam and secure it. I'm not a big person, so getting a good grip of the beam was difficult, but I made it. My friend was off on a trip and I had no patience to wait for her. When she came back it was time for the warp. I had taken our yarns to a warping service, because warping a towel warp felt a bit scary.

A good advice: keep your puppy in another room while warping... we where a bunch of colleagues from my job having a good time warping the big loom, and suddenly there was a puppy holding on to the linen-cotton warp with her small sharp teeth. We had a hard time trying to fix that later when we started weaving.

Life went on into new directions, so some years later we sold the loom. Hubby and I moved into a small house with no space for a loom, and even if we later moved to a bigger house, I have no loom.

I'm weaving on a mini loom now. I bought one this autumn to calm down, because the weaving bug had bitten me once more and I found myself being restless and nervous because I couldn't weave.

It's fun to make small squares. I sew thread after thread and think of nothing. (As far as that is possible.) If you want to buy one, search Etsy for "mini looms", or buy one of these: Hazel Rose Looms. My 5 inch square loom is from bigfam15.

Here is one of the towels I wove on my big loom, and on top of it four squares woven on my mini loom. I used a very dull handspun woolen yarn that I didn't know how to use until I thought it would be a good weaving yarn.

Drama: December morning light!