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prettygoodwordheddle (HED-l) - n., of a set of parallel cords or wires in a loom, used to separate and guide the warp threads and make a path for the shuttle; a frame fitted with rigid wooden or plastic strips and used for the same purpose, especially in smaller looms.
To make it easier to run the shuttle through alternating threads of the warp, then switch the alternation, you need a device to raise and lower half the threads with respect to the others. Here's an example of the second type of heddle:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
If instead of a whole frame, you run the warp threads through say a wire with an eye, each wire-with-eye is a separate hole -- which lets you make more complicated weaving patterns, if you get clever with the mechanism that raises and lowers them. The name was altered from Middle English helde, from Old English hefeld, from the root of Proto-Germanic *habjaną, to have/heave, from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p-, seize/hold.
---L.
To make it easier to run the shuttle through alternating threads of the warp, then switch the alternation, you need a device to raise and lower half the threads with respect to the others. Here's an example of the second type of heddle:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
If instead of a whole frame, you run the warp threads through say a wire with an eye, each wire-with-eye is a separate hole -- which lets you make more complicated weaving patterns, if you get clever with the mechanism that raises and lowers them. The name was altered from Middle English helde, from Old English hefeld, from the root of Proto-Germanic *habjaną, to have/heave, from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p-, seize/hold.
---L.
