Krokbragd Sampler Coasters

Dimensions: Three coasters each 4.25" wide by 4.25" long (plus 0.25" fringe on each end)
Completed: January 2016

I was leafing through The Weaver's Idea Book by Jane Patrick one day, and came upon a section on Norwegian krokbragd. It was intriguing: krokbragd is a weft-faced weave, and I had never done a weft-faced weave before. And it is also a twill weave. The combination seemed like a mind-stretching challenge for my rigid heddle loom (my only loom).

I warped with 8/5 cotton rug warp, 37 ends 5' long. I used two 7.5 dent heddles and set them up for the three-pick-repeat twill weave, which is two-up-one-down for the first two picks and then plain weave for the third pick.

For the colors that made up the patterns, I decided to use the five little balls of sampler yarns I had bought at the Vermont Sheep & Woolcraft Fair from the proprietress of Tidal Yarn. She gets her yarn from small New England sheep farms and dyes much of it using plants she grows in her own garden. I knew that I would quickly run out of yarn if I didn't have a larger amount for my background color, so I also bought one skein of JaggerSpun Heather 3/8 sport weight yarn in Sagebrush to use for that.

I chose colors and designs on the fly as they appealed to me, weaving 9 picks (or a total of 3 krokbragd rows) between each design. I ended up trying out almost all of the patterns in Patrick's book (except for the guitars), and then I invented a few of my own--some of which were successful, and some not so much. These were my two most successful designs:

I wove 7 picks of plain weave with the carpet warp at the top and bottom of each coaster, and left about 3" of space between each one so I could give them a fringe. Each coaster ended up being about 4.25" square on the loom, and about 4" square after I took them off the loom (not including the carpet warp edges).

Krokbragd results in really beautiful geometric patterns. The frustrating thing about it (which Patrick does warn you about) is that because of the twill structure plus the weft-faced nature of the style, it takes three picks to actually make one row of weave. This means it progresses really, really slowly. I had planned to make four coasters, but by the time I had gotten through my third, I was wiped out.

I have seen loads of impressive krokbragd rugs and wall hangings on the internet, and I have to say I don't know how the people who made them have the patience. Maybe it would be different if I had the correct loom for this type of weave.