weaving log cabin on a rigid heddle loom

Despite many very good videos and explanations on the internet, I still got muddled up and took three attempts to figure this pattern out. I got some nice looking fabric but they weren't log cabin.Maybe I should have just stopped and thought about how it works with the slots etc. first of all!

A couple of things I noticed: same thickness yarn for each colour works best; very distinct colour difference works best - well maybe when I get more experienced I'll flout that 'rule'!

First off, I wanted to be able to use the direct peg warp thing ( I think that's what its' called). My knowledge of the terminology leaves something to be desired so I hope that the following description is not too poor. I decided to warp both colours at the same time, so taking two threads (each way) through each slot; thus, four strands in each slot to start with. I skipped every other slot to enable me to space everything out nicely afterwards. I found that, for a 'six' block with 14 repeats, I needed to warp in 21 slots - giving a total of 42 threads of each colour (84 in all).

Then, I needed to figure out the sequence of slots and holes. I did the following sequence:

(dark in hole, light in slot) times three; (light in hole, dark in slot) times three - then repeat across the heddle.

 If you held all the threads together flat, you would see D,L,D,L,D,L,L,D,L,D,L,D etc.

The weaving is easy after that! Two shuttles, one dark, one light. Take dark shuttle across (I did right to left) in up shed, then light shuttle same direction with a down shed. Return direction dark up, light down. I repeated this sequence four times but I think it would depend how thick your yarn was.

Be careful at the selvedges, I found that on the left I needed to take the 'leading' shuttle under the other and on the right I needed to take it over.

Now change: let the light shuttle be the lead for four repeats. Be a bit careful with the selvedges when changing colour.

Ta dah!