Leno Lace
Leno is not a true lace but it will produce a very lacy looking shawl.
The size of the woven blocks will vary depending on how many leno sections you put in.
I have used a contrasting yarn color to show the leno more clearly.
I have finished a continous weaving on a 2 foot loom before I start the leno design.
You can also do the Leno lace by moving the yarns back over a nail as
you
weave
instead of after the weaving is all done.
I decided to make my blocks 8 nails wide. So I moved the yarn from the 9th nail back to the 8th nail.
Then move the yarn on the corresponding side nails to adjoining nails. For every empty nail at the top you will have two empty nails on the side.
You will find that sometimes you have to bring a yarn around the outside of the empty side nails to get the open work to be even. Some times the yarns will line up so you can leave the side nails open.
When you get all the yarns moved you will have open ladder work left. Here I have left a wider woven area in the center. You can design any size of blocks you want.
I like to measure out enough yarn to weave up from the side, go across the top to the next ladder and to weave back down to the side. The ends will become part of the fringe. You could also use ribbons to weave with.
Using a tapesty needle go under two and over two yarns in the opposite direction from the way you are weaving.
Then bring the top of the needle over to twist the yarns. You can twist only two yarns together or 3 by going under 2 and over 1 yarn. Or you can vary the number of yarns you use to twist.
Continue twisting yarns to the top line then lay the yarn across the top to the next ladder and weave down. Tie the end off into the fringe.
To do the horizontal ladders measure enough yarn to go across plus the length of fringe on both sides.
Tie the ends around the side nail and weave across. I like to make a tie where ever the yarns cross. This helps stabilize the grid and gives you a nice base if you want to either sew on beads or do more needle weaving over the crossing yarns.
This shows the leno finished. The photo on the right shows the weaving off the loom and I have finished the top line with single crochet enclosing and covering the loose yarns I had placed between the ladder sections.
This would look lacier if I had used finer yarn. Also if I had placed the leno sections closer together or made the ladders wider by leaving 2 nails empty on the top line and 4 nails on the side for each ladder.
This is an easy and fun technique with a wide variety of design possibilities.
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Revised August, 2004
Copyright © 2002-2004 B.A.Herdman