Month: September 2020

Weave Along with Elewys, Episode 7: Snartemo II

The last video for the Hallstatt 152 skip hole may have been a bit too advanced for a beginner, so here is a very easy skip hole pattern for beginners!

The original band was found in Hægebostad in the southern part of Norway and dates to about 500 A.D. The tablets in the central area were threaded with only two threads per tablet, the border tablets with four.

The three graves at the Snartemo farm were excavated over an 85 year period, between 1847 and 1933, which uncovered a number of fantastic pieces, including a sword, glass beakers, gold rings and more, dating to about 500 AD. Grave II (excavated in 1878) and Grave V appeared to be those of a warrior nobleman, both containing remarkable textiles, including the bands we know as Snartemo II and Snartemo V, the latter being significantly more complex than the former. The simpler band from grave II was woven with 17 tablets in two colors of fine wool using the skip hole technique. It measures 0.9 cm, but colors have not been determined as no dye analysis has been done. Lisa Raeder Knudsen did a study of the extant piece and said, “In Bjørn Hougen’s book “Snartemofunnene” 1935 a drawing is shown, but the analysis is not correct.” More recent in-depth studies have been done very recently; the link is below.

As part of my Laurel Kingdoms project, this piece is celebrating the Kingdom of Meridies, which was created in 1978 from the Kingdom of Atenveldt in the Southeast United States. Its borders currently encompass the entirety of Alabama; almost all of Georgia; a sizeable chunk of Tennessee; a bit of Florida; and small portion of Kentucky. Their colors are black and white.

This pattern is completed by simply turning all the cards forward, throwing the shuttle after each quarter-turn. When the threads become over-twisted or after a chosen number of repeats–often I switch after 12 or 16 repeats–turn all cards backwards, throwing the shuttle after each quarter-turn. Easy as that!

Now, there is the new technique that was found in a recent discovery of a rolled hem. I could type up all the directions and details, but all of that can be found at their web site here: https://www.vestagdermuseet.no/snartemo-ii-narrow-band.

I hope you’re all enjoying this series and learning a lot in your weaving escapades! Let me know if there are more patterns you want to learn!

Elewys

Weave Along With Elewys, Episode 5 & 6: Hallstatt 3 / HallTex 152

This piece is one of my favorites, not just because it’s attractive and easy to weave, but it’s one of the oldest ones on record!

New research on Hallstatt 3 tablet woven band (HallTex152)
photo by Mervi Pasanen

It was found in 1991 in the Kernverwasserungswerk part of the salt mine in Austria. The salty environment kills single-celled bacteria that would cause the decomposition of organic materials. It is currently housed at the National History Museum in Vienna.

The archaeologists determined that the date for the piece is somewhere between 800 and 400 BCE (before current era). You read that right–FOUR HUNDRED BC! So sometime between the beginning of the Etruscan civilization and the Egyptians overthrowing Persian rule, some iron age miner dropped some woven fragments in a salt mine in Austria. Or really, one of several miners who left behind at least six pieces of tablet weaving. The oldest of the woven pieces, HallTex 288, a band of simple blue stripes, dates back to 1500-1200 BCE, which is about the time of the super-awesome rule of Queen Hatshepsut in Egypt. Objects 43 and 136 are also made with simple stripes. The other pieces, 123, 152, and 186 have more intricate patterns with meandering lines, solid triangles, and diamonds.

After the piece was found in 1991, a pattern was designed to recreate this piece, which is called HallTex 152, and is an easy beginner pattern.

I will create it for you today in the colors to celebrate the Kingdom of Atenveldt! This one is the pattern I’m using–I’ll call it option 1:

This is option 2:

This piece was woven using Option 2.

About 25 years after this piece was found, Maikki Karisto and Karina Gromer did a deep dive into researching the piece to see if the pattern was accurate. Looking at photos of the front and back of the extant piece, the weavers determined that this was more likely a skip-hole woven piece and did a number of test weaves before coming up with a new-and-improved pattern.

They determined that the yarns used are .4 mm, both Z and S plied wool. The extant piece is 12.5 cm long and 1.2 cm wide. The original colors may have changed a bit, but the salt in the mine helped preserve the colors quite well. They appear to be yellow-tan, brown and olive green.

New research on Hallstatt 3 tablet woven band (HallTex152 ...
For consistency, this is the pattern drawn up on the pattern drafter I use.

Bibliography

M. Karisto, K. Grömer. “Different solutions for a simple design: New experiments on tablet weave HallTex 152 from the salt mine Hallstatt.” Academia.edu. 2017. https://www.academia.edu/35616012/Different_solutions_for_a_simple_design_New_experiments_on_tablet_weave_HallTex_152_from_the_salt_mine_Hallstatt_M._Karisto_K._Gr%C3%B6mer_

Pasanen, Mervi. New research on Hallstatt 3 tablet woven band (HallTex152). . https://hibernaatio.blogspot.com/2016/09/new-research-on-hallstatt-3-tablet.html