I posted the first of two issues of the Norwegian Textile Letter featuring the danskbrogd technique, a little-known weave structure woven in small area of Vest Agder, Norway. Danskbrogd is a little-known weave structure found in a small area of Vest Agder, Norway, with characteristic geometric patterns in a light color against a dark background. In typical danskbrogd coverlets, bands of small geometric designs were interspersed with bands of krokbragd. A second style has larger, bolder designs, bordered with bands of teeth and stripes.
There hasn’t been a lot published about this technique, so these issues will be a great opportunity to spark interest in it, particularly when all the photos and drafts of pieces woven by the Danskbragd Study Group from the 1990s are published in the second issue. And of course this is all self-serving on my part; I’ve been intending to weave in danskbrogd for years, and now I am fully equipped with instruction and inspiration. I have a large piece planned, but am sensibly starting with a test piece, to work with various yarns and patterns. Pathetically, here’s how far I am.
When I took Nedra Granquist’s three-shuttle rag rug class, I used the Glimakra at the Weavers Guild. It’s a beautiful loom, and so perfectly set up. As I warped it, I realized that I was using too much time and working way too hard to warp my own Toika. For one thing, inserting the tie-up cords through all the holes sometimes required using a looped thread, and on the Glimakra? Zoop, zoop, zoop, the cords dropped down the holes. So when I returned to my own loom, I bought a small, round file at the hardware store and as I encountered each bad hole, I quickly sanded down the inside to make the cord fall freely.
Traditionally, after I tied up my loom I would get up and down many times, adjusting individual shafts to improve the shed. Too much time, I realized, when I saw the beautiful shed that appeared on the Glimakra, as if my magic, when I finished the tie-up. So I spent time reading online, readjusted my Toika lamms, and generally, made everything very tidy. I credit Donna Hanson’s work with the Glimakra at the Weavers Guild for my now beautifully set up loom!
