An Exaltation of Blocks - Huck Lace Towels in Handwoven Magazine

Huck Lace is a plain weave structure in which a pattern is created by warp and weft floats. Warp floats occur when a shaft is raised for a series of picks, while weft floats occur when a shaft is lowered for a series of picks. A common threading and treadling plan for huck lace is to assign five warp ends and five weft picks for each block in a design. In threading, each group of five ends alternates between even- and odd-numbered shafts. For example, the convention for threading six blocks of huck lace is as follows: Block 1 is threaded on shafts 2.3.2.3.2; Block 2 on shafts 1.4.1.4.1; Block 3 on 2.5.2.5.2; Block 4 on 1.6.1.6.1; Block 5 on 2.7.2.7.2; and Block 6 on 1.8.1.8.1. Plain weave is created in each block by raising odd ends followed by even ends. When huck lace is threaded on eight shafts, the plain weave lifts are shafts 1,3,5,7 and 2,4,6,8. When five picks of weft are thrown for each block, the treadling plan for one block begins and ends by raising the odd shafts, while the next block begins and ends with the even shafts.

Picks 1,3,5 are called the plain weave picks while picks 2 and 4 are called the pattern picks. Which shafts are lifted and which are lowered determines whether a block will show plain weave, a warp float, or a weft float. If a particular shaft stays lowered in picks 2 and 4, weft will float over the warp ends controlled by that shaft. For example, if picks 2 and 4 are controlled by the even set of shafts 2,4,6,8, and shaft six is lowered, weft will float on top of the warp ends controlled by shaft six. On the other hand, if a shaft is added, such as 2,4,6,7,8, the warp ends controlled by shaft 7 will float on top of the weft. Lowering a shaft creates a weft float; raising a shaft creates a warp float.

To learn more about Huck Lace, study The Best of Weaver's, Huck Lace, edited by Madelyn van der Hoogt.