I don’t really know much about Jewish symbolism, and so don’t know if these are useful. I haven’t woven all of them myself yet. Here they are if you’d like to try them. Please let me know if you have any suggestions to improve them.
To Knot or Not to Knot?
This is a tutorial on how to begin a square without tying a knot, how to read a chart and follow a pattern, and how to make BEAUTIFUL squares with even warp and weft distribution.
To begin, if you DO want to start your square by tying a reverse slip knot to secure the yarn to your loom, see this short video (there are obviously other parts in this six-part series, and you’re welcome to watch those as well. But be prepared to die of boredom because not only is there no plot . . . well, you’ll see).*
I mean, who doesn’t love a fluffy white sheep? Hey, wonder how he’d look with black wool?
The name of this pattern is a bit of a mouthful, so feel free to abbreviate—HBBX. It’s derived from a combination of Banded Heart and Diamond Bar X; hence the name. One of the nice things about this pattern is that the heart is slightly taller than Banded Heart (by one row), so it’s centered on the square.
I needed some color swatches for my current project, so I used this pattern and its variations for my samples (which is why I wove all the variations instead of posting, “Four more I haven’t tried yet.”). While weaving the second square (Variation 1), I discovered a mistake in the design, so the first sample has it and the second two, as well as the diagrams, don’t.
After looking at this more closely I see I left out the two center U3s of R8—another mistake! This square might look better had I put them in.
So named because of the diamond shapes that showed up between the woven diamonds.