Pattern Reading: Bowties and Diamonds

The pattern in this section was designed using Jeff Bigot’s SeiZenn Pattern Editor and was reproduced here with his permission.

Yarn Requirements ( based on a 2 yard warp)

28 Yards Turquoise Blue 53 Yards Lemon Yellow 16 Yards Magenta Approx. 14 Yards Natural (weft)

Warping Guide

Typically, the warping guide will take one of the two forms below where each vertical column represents a single tablet and each row represents the thread that goes through the hole indicated. For example, card 1—the leftmost card— should have Z threading with straw colored threads in each hole, card two should have Z threading with straw colored threads in the first three holes (A-C) and a burgundy colored thread in the last hole, and so on. To know how many ends you will need of each color, count all the squares of that color in the warping guide.

You may or may not see initial positions and card numbers below the colored section if the initial position is A, and, in general, warping guides are read from left to right. In some patterns you will see the numbers 1-4 in place of A-D to indicate the hole to thread, and the indication may be to the left (shown below) or right of the colored section. You may also see symbols rather than colors in the diagram accompanied by a key. If possible, it’s a good practice to check the warping guide against four consecutive pattern rows that are turned forwards, because it can tell you whether the twist shown refers to the twist of the threads or the tilt of the cards. Check out A Note on Twist and Tilt for more information.

Two variations of a warping guide resulting in the same band are shown. On the left A is on the top and on the right A is at the bottom.

Weaving Directions

There are a number of ways to represent the turning directions of the cards. The figure below shows three of the common ways turning is represented. Graphical representations are typically accompanied by a table or written instructions, such as the one in the figure below, which can offer a lot of clarity. Tablet weaving diagrams and their accompanying tables are usually read from the bottom up and left to right, as they represent what the band will look like as you’re weaving.

Below, shown are three representations of turning diagrams are shown. The first, on the left, shows the twist that results from each turn, which is good indication of what the band will look like woven. The second is very similar to the first, but—rather than showing a full square of color—it only shows the color that should be in the band and the twist that results from each turn. In this version the shaded boxes represent backward turns. The third version combines the ideas behind the first two by overlaying version one with red downward arrows to represent backward turns. All three representations could alternatively be described by the table under the turning diagrams.

Three Ways that Turning can be Represented in Pattern Instructions

Row	Forward	Back	Row	Forward	Back
8		1-12	16		1-12
7		1-12	15		1-12
6		1-12	14		1-12
5		1-12	13		1-12
4	1-12		12	1-12
3	1-12		11	1-12
2	1-12		10	1-12
1	1-12		9	1-12