Striped Napkins with Pick-up Pattern

Unlike doubleweave pick-up on a shaft loom, pick-up on the rigid-heddle loom is restricted to the slot threads. To balance pick-up on the rigid heddle, it is necessary to have an uneven number of ends because each pick-up unit shares a hole end with the unit next to it. In a stripe that has 19 threads, for example, you have room for a maximum of five 1-up, 1-down pick-up repeats, as each pick-up unit uses 4 ends. I arranged the pick-up patterns to create four napkins that were each slightly different. When I was finished, I decided it was “weaver's choice” as to which side was the right side, and hemmed two of them with warp floats on the top, and two with weft floats on the top, adding yet another element of subtle difference.

Structure: Plain weave with pick-up
Finished Size: 4 napkins 18" x 18", hemmed on all 4 sides.
Yarns: Warp: 8/2 unmercerized cotton (3,230 yd/lb, Venne), Green Apple, 204 yd; Brown, Brick Red, and Bright Pink, 536 yd each. Weft: 8/2 organic unmercerized cotton, Bright Pink and Brick Red, 330 yd each: Green Apple, 48 yd; light green sewing thread, 32 yd (for hems).
Warp Ends: 257 ends.
Warp Length: 31⁄2 yd (Warp yarn is used doubled; allows 6" for takeup, 26" for loom waste).
Setts: EPI: 12 (1 doubled end/dent in a 12-dent rigid heddle). PPI: 11.
Width in the Reed: 21 5⁄12".
Take-up and Shinkage: 7% in width and 15% in length.
Originally Published: Handwoven November/December 2014.