Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1962, Page 61

FORN RÖGGVARVEFNAÐUR
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was then carried back over two threads and passed under these again from
right to left below the previous insertion, producing a loop on the face
of the fabric between the two pile ends. The loop, probably because of
the wiriness of the fibers, was not pulled tight, this taking up from 1 to
2 cm of the length of the strand. The two ends of the lock protruded about
evenly on the right side; on the back of the fabric there was no sign of
the knots.
Along 12 cm of the selvage on the large piece a narrow (max. width:
2 cm) piece of wollen 2X2 twill clotli overlapped onto the right side of
the fabric and was sewn down with coarse overcasting stitches of two-ply
z-spun, s-twisted woollen tliread (Fig. 1, lower left side). This strip was of a
lighter brown color tlian the main fabric, especially the lenghtwise threads
which appeared to constitute the warp. Tlie threads in this narrow piece
were single yarns. What was taken to be tlie warp was z-spun, the weft then
was s-spun. The thread count was about 7X5 per cm.
At the rounded end of the large piece, also on the right side of the
fabric, some more light brown woollen thread fragments were attached.
They were very matted and worn but appeared to be single yarns, some
s- and some z-spun and fastened down with two-ply z-spun, s-twisted
woollen thread. No weave was discernable.
Two simple loops of woollen yarn drawn through the fabric and secured
with single knots were found on the right side of the large piece, one close
to each end of tlie seam joining the two pieces (Fig. 1). The one at the
irregular side was about 6 cm long and made of two-ply z-spun, s-twisted
yarn. The olher was about 5 cm in length made of a cord yarn which
was two-ply s-twisted, each ply consisting of three-ply s-spun, z-twisted
yarn.
Descripíion of the small piece. The size of the small piece of the
fragment was 26X17 cm. There was no selvage present. Warp and weft
were both single yarns. Tlie warp was z-spun, more even but coarser
and not as tightly spun as the warp in the large piece. The weft was
s-spun, slightly spun coarse yarn. The weave was a 2X2 twill with a
thread count of 7X4 per cm. This fabric was more loosely woven than
the large piece and it also seemed more carelessly woven, showing errors
in the twill pattern and the pile knots appearing on the back of the fabric
in some places.
As in the large piece the pile was inserted in rows, one for every four
rows of weft, and the spacing of the knots was the same. The method of
inserting the pile varied in one small detail only from the other piece:
where the lock there had been brought back over two threads and carried
to the left under them again below the previous insertion (Fig. 5), the
lock here wras carried to the left again under the two threads above the
previous insertion. No traces of extraneous material were found on the
small piece, nor loops of threads, as on the large piece.
Other finds. The pile woven fragment from Heynes is a unique find in
Iceland. Other Icelandic textile finds from the middle ages show no