Applesies and Fox Noses!

(Originally posted 20 Jan 2015)

Happy new year, all!

All I wanted for Christmas was a copy of Applesies and Fox Noses…and a bike helmet.  Lucky me–I got both!

Applesies and Fox Noses - Finnish Tabletwoven Bands

This is the new go-to book for tablet weaving historians this year (it’s a bigger genre than you’d think!).  Several of these patterns (not all) are based on historical finds from the Karelian iron age in a graveyard just a short drive north of Helsinki.

This book has some seriously complex patterns in it, but the first few look simple enough, so I started there.  The first pattern wasn’t quite so inspiring, so I turned a couple more pages and decided on pattern #5, the S Sign.


Now, because this is in a book, I’m not sure if this is something I can publish in its entirety, so to avoid a problem with the authors, I’ll just show you the turning sequence, which seems different than how the pattern is laid out*.

1.  With A-D at the top of the pack, (my cards are colored blue on that side), turn all the cards back for five quarter-turns (toward the weaver).
2.  Split deck:  cards 1-6:  turn four quarter-turns back; cards 7-12: turn four quarter-turns forward.
3.  Turn all cards five quarter-turns forward
4.  Turn all cards five quarter-turns back
5.  Split deck:  cards 1-6:  turn four quarter-turns forward; cards 7-12:  turn four quarter-turns back
6.  Turn all cards five quarter-turns forward

*All cards have to face right, and there may be some adjustments in the future since I threaded it backwards to begin with…