Designs and Patterns

Rows of knots are tied on a foundation of warp and weft and become the pile, which consists of upright yarn. The warp runs along the length of the carpet and the fineness of the weave depends on its thickness and the proximity of the warps to one another. When the rug is completed the ends form the fringes, which may be weft-faced, braided or tasseled or secured in some manner.

The wefts pass under and over the warps from one side of the rug to another. They are loosely plied or sometimes untied to allow them to be tightly packed to secure each row of knots.

Weaving normally begins by passing a number of wefts to form a base to work on. The knots are tied around consecutive sets of adjacent warps. The fineness of the weave depends on the density of the knots.

Village or nomadic rugs generally use traditional inherited designs, which are reproduced from memory.

These often have totemic or symbolic associations, but in most instances they are mutated forms whose original significance has long been forgotten. Most sophisticated town rugs are curvilinear designs reproduced from paintings and the head weaver calls the designs.

Looms.

Looms don't vary greatly in essential details, although they vary greatly in size and sophistication. The main technical requirement of a loom is to provide the correct tension and means of dividing the warps into alternate sets of leaves.

Looms can be vertical or horizontal. Horizontal looms are generally fairly small - they are often used by nomadic/tribal people and are easier to transport, as they can be assembled and dismantled quite easily.

Vertical looms are undoubtedly more comfy to operate, although they are not transportable and thus, only found amongst sedentary people.

Tools

A number of essential tools are needed to operate the loom:

* A knife for cutting the yarn as the knots are tied
* A comb-like instrument called the "kirkit" for packing down the wefts
* A pair of shears for trimming the yarn.

Knots.

There are two basic types of knots, upon which variations are based.

" The Turkish "Ghordes" knot, which is typically double-wefted
" The Persian knot, which is typically single-wefted