Shadow Weave: How Else Would We Celebrate Groundhog Day?

For about 10 years, I lived in a small coastal Connecticut town that celebrates Groundhog Day, complete with a parade. A huge fiberglass groundhog sporting a different outfit every year made its way from its storage unit at the boat docks to the top of Main Street in the bed of an antique truck. Other antique vehicles followed, as well as a crowd of townspeople using noisemakers and banging pots and pans. While I didn’t always go to the parade, I did enjoy the small-town atmosphere of the celebration.

I‘ve probably watched the movie Groundhog Day more times than I attended that parade. It always intrigues me how well the movie‘s repetition brings me to the point of exasperation—and then changes its rhythm just as I’m ready to quit watching.

I feel the same way about some of my weaving projects. Although I love the repetition of a simple treadling, I get antsy after a bit and start looking for ways to change things up. I suppose I’ve woven multiple pieces that are identical (well, as identical as handwovens can be...), but my favorite warps are the ones that let me play—whether it’s with treadling, tie-up, weft type, or colors.

In honor of the groundhog’s shadow, I decided to find some shadow-weave patterns from Handwoven that can be woven with different wefts or treadling patterns for different looks. You can see them in the photo at the top.

You‘ll find the drafts for Deb Essen’s Surprise! Shadow Weave Towels in the Nov./Dec. 2020 issue, my own Shadow-Weave Towels in the Sept./Oct. 2017 issue, and Barbara Goudsmit’s Shadow Play Kitchen Towels in the Nov./Dec. 2021 issue.

Bonus Color-and-Weave Options

And because in the movie Bill Murray wears a woven scarf that looks like a simple color-and-weave design, I also tracked down some color-and-weave patterns for the rigid-heddle loom.

From left, Carla Jeanne Hubbart’s Wrap Me in Houndstooth Shawl, Deb Essen’s Color-and-Weave Napkins, and Yvonne Ellsworth’s Fourth of July Picnic Towels were all woven on the rigid-heddle loom.

You‘ll find the drafts for Carla Jeanne Hubbart’s Wrap Me in Houndstooth Shawl and Yvonne Ellsworth’s Fourth of July Picnic Towels, both in the May/June 2021 issue of Handwoven, as well as Deb Essen’s Color-and-Weave Napkins in the Spring 2022 issue of Easy Weaving with Little Looms.

The designers for all six of these projects (which ironically includes me!) have provided weaving options for the antsy among us.

Here’s an idea straight out of the movie: Put on some extra warp length, weave until you can’t stand the repetition any longer, and then switch it up. Who knows what you might discover. Another kind of shadow? Or a new color-and-weave combination?

Weave well,
Susan

P.S. If the groundhog sees its shadow this year and you are looking to learn something new during six more weeks of winter, we have a whole range of courses to check out. Those include one on shadow weave and a course on color-and-weave on the rigid-heddle loom.

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Originally published Jan. 31, 2022; updated Jan. 27, 2025