By Helen Scherer

Discovering a 2017 English-language copy of Sonja Berlin’s Tablet-weaving—in True Nordic Fashion at the Eugene Textile Center was a delight; it was exactly what I wanted for quickly and easily learning about the tablet-weaving tradition in Norway and the other Nordic countries.

The first seventeen pages outline the history of tablet-weaving in each country: Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland and Sweden. In the section on Norway, Sonja mentions the use of warp-weighted looms as early as the 3^rd-4^th centuries as well as the tablets found in the Oseberg grave from the 830s. She highlights the distinctive Telemark Bands, which are used as belts and hair bands with Telemark bunads, and even provides a weaving pattern for “Belt Band Nr 1971-575, from East Telemark”.

The weaving instructions on pages 37-89 are very concise and easy to follow. Pages 90-92 provide instructions for tutoring children using smaller tablets.

Although the equipment list calls for a back strap loom, I chose to use my LeClerc Cendrel Inkle Loom with all but three pegs removed for my first attempt, knowing that I would have to jump up for every beep, bell, ring and buzzer in the house. Since tablet rotation causes the yarn behind the tablets to twist together, it is necessary to use a loom that can hold a long warp between sturdy pegs or beams, and since the warp can tighten or loosen as weaving progresses, the loom must offer a simple mechanism for adjusting the warp tension.

I purchased both wooden tablets and cards, but chose to learn with the cards, since their holes were labeled A, B, C and D.

For my first warp, I didn’t want to waste any of my precious stash of 6/2 Rauma Spaelsau Prydvevgarn, so I used 3/2 cotton thrums left over from weaving a color gamp blanket. Therefore, I had to use several different greens and several different reds for the two-color sampler that demonstrated “Five Pattern Variations”.

The resulting band was not bad. Even though the “stocking stitch” seemed to create itself evenly without fussing too much over how snug to pull the weft and how hard to beat it, it became evident that keeping a fairly constant warp tension and weaving consistently was important to avoid creating a snake that looks like it ate a few mice.

The sample bands begin on page 57, each introducing a new concept, such as color patterns, stocking stitch, same direction twining, direction changes, the relief (missed-hole) technique, cabling and double-faced weave. The book has an excellent section on Icelandic double cloth along with patterns for weaving a beautiful alphabet. Sonja also covers the Egyptian diagonal, the prehistoric warp-weighted method, six-holed tablets, brocading and Finnish reins.

The original book, called Brickvävning—så in i Norden in Swedish, was published in 1994 in connection with the Nordic Symposium on Tablet Weaving. The 2017 translation is very good (although the last sentence on page 52 might say: “6. If some holes were missed while threading the tablets, they should be filled now to avoid forming extra crosses in the warp.”) The book is well illustrated, includes a few brilliant color photos, and will be my go-to book for future tablet-weaving lessons. It has certainly diminished my fear of tablet-weaving: It is mesmerizing and not as difficult as it looks.

Helen Scherer first learned about handweaving from her mother, who had been a weaver in Norway during the early 1950s. She enjoys using several different types of looms and is focused on trying a wide variety of traditional Norwegian weaving techniques. Although she enjoys reading instructions from older Norwegian handbooks, she also treasures books in English that offer more clarity.