There are several tablet weaving fragments that were found in the Oseberg burial, and this is one that I designed based on images I have found on the internet. I cannot vouch for its historical accuracy, but it is one interpretation of the design and it looks FABULOUS!
As I mentioned in the previous pattern from the Oseberg dig, these finds date solidly in the Norse era, 834 AD. A large burial mound was discovered at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway. The ship and some of its contents are displayed at the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy, Oslo. Among its finds were a loom (commonly called the Oseberg loom), weaving tablets, a sled, a cart, animal carvings, quite a number of textile remnants, including a work in progress (known as 34D). The burial contained the remains of two women–one about 80 years old, and the other somewhere between 25 and 50 years old (opinions vary) and she may have been a slave or a relative to the elder.
This weaving piece is being done in the colors of the Kingdom of Calontir as part of the Laurel Kingdoms project–halfway through the list! The Kingdom is made up of the states of Iowa (but not Davenport or Bettendorf), Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Their colors are purple and gold.
Edit: A comment from Amy Bischoff suggested that I make a couple of minor changes to the pattern to make it twist-neutral! Thanks, Amy! The pattern here is the new-and-improved version.
There is a pair of books written by Bente Skogsaas that has patterns for many other pieces found in the dig if you are interested in doing more of them (the newest book is on my wish list…). She is self-published and is doing all the sales and distribution of the book, so you may contact her directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bente.skogsaas. (PS – I am not getting any kickbacks from the sale…just putting it out there for those interested in adding to their library.)
Greetings – and thank you yet again!
I am trying to understand the patters and having a dickens of a time (catches me by surprise since I’m a software developer, which is ALL about pattern recognition – must be age!).
I suspect this exists somewhere in your videos and/or site, but darned if I can find it – so here goes.
I understand the S/Z for card threading, and if I understand that in the pattern the white background is turn forward and the dard backwards, but why would I see a difference in the angle on threads in the pattern. E.G. row 1 column 3 has the angle to TopRight, whereas in row 2 it is to TopLeft, is that simply because it is now turning forward instead of back, and that impacts the angle ?
Again, thank you!
JohnO
I wish I knew how to answer that… I think it has to do with the twisting and untwisting of the threads as you turn the cards.
Thank you so much!! Love your weaving and making patterns available to all of us. I have a question, skip hole is not in my range (yet), can the pattern you did for your daughter be converted to a non skip hole format? I have spent many happy hours following along with you. Thanks again for leading us into this amazing skill.
You could add another color into the vacant holes but the pattern will no longer be two-sided.
Hi!
Thank you so much for posting patterns and helpful videos! I’m weaving Oseberg 21 now, with a contrasting weft, so it shows at the corner of each lozenge shape (having to make a virtue of necessity, since I ran out of black).
Some thoughts on the Oseberg 21 pattern: if cards 7 and 15 turned forward at pick 13, and backward for picks 14 through 16, this would continue the long-running thread motif in the upper arms of the cross, as well as making the whole body of the pattern twist neutral.
Thank you again for all the posts.
Thanks! Wow! I will post that image on the blog. Just as I finished a video on using fishing swivels for tablet weaving….