Erica, I posted several things this morning, most without word verification -- but one message required word verification (probably because it contained some links, which makes sense).
It posted just fine... then I noticed a misspelled word and edited it. I was asked to word-verify it again after editing -- then was informed that my message had been queued for approval by the moderator.
Wonderful idea, parking idle shuttles nose-up on the castle like that! That's pure genious, Sally.
I love the evolution of this pattern. It started out being interesting, then got better, then better, then better. I'm staying tuned for your next comments....
Paul, here's a collection of articles from the WeaveZine archive that can step you through some of the great suggestions in this thread. Take a look -- they're nicely illustrated and can spark your imagination, which is always a wonderful thing. (The links below will open in a new window.)
This first article shows you how to weave pictures using the inlay technique: Diaphanous Leaves. "Inlay" is just what it sounds like it might be: laying some extra weft threads in as you weave. You can make all kinds of pictures this way, even pictures that use several colours.
This second article shows you how to weave nice, regular patterns that can look like rows of flowers or people or butterflies, using a twill structure known as "Rosepath": Down the Garden Path with Rosepath. This is how you get nice patterns like the ones shown above in Sally's sampler.
The third article shows you all you need to know about the simple laces that Laurie mentioned: Weaver-Manipulated Lace Weaves. These aren't pictorial, but they're fun to do and quite beautiful.
As a final note, "Pick-up" is another term that's what you might imagine it to be: in an open weaving shed, you pick up warp threads from the bottom layer and bring them to the top, which changes the way the weft will show for that weft shot. Sometimes when you're weaving pick-up, you'll also drop warp threads from the top layer down to the bottom layer, which also changes the way the weft will show for that weft shot.
Are you using any weaving books to help you in your explorations? Not all books will cover pick-up patterning, but many do....
In any case, you now have lots of interesting ways to weave pictures -- and if it catches your imagination, it can lead you into even more ways of weaving pictures! Keep posting. We like to watch as people get more and more excited about weaving. :-)