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Playable heritage game

Celtic knot weave

Also known as Celtic knotwork

Celtic knotwork is the art of interlaced cords that pass over and under one another with no beginning and no end, carved in stone, worked in metal and drawn on the pages of early illuminated books.

Play the previewAbout this tradition
Celtic knot weave: photograph by PKM
Photo: PKM, CC BY 2.5, source on Wikimedia Commons
Celtic knot weave: the game in attract modeLive previewPlay

Runs in your browser, works offline once loaded.

How to play

  1. Choose a colour and a motif from the strip under the panel.
  2. Tap a square to place it: the same motif appears on the matching squares all round the panel.
  3. Copy the small design above the panel, then press Check.
Rules at a glance
  • The panel is symmetric in four directions and across both diagonals, as knotwork bands are.
  • A square counts only when its motif and its colour both match the design.
  • Three stars need a nearly perfect copy; you can undo or clear as often as you like.

About the tradition

Interlaced patterns of this kind were made across early medieval Ireland and Britain, on carved stone, metalwork and manuscript pages, and are still drawn, carved and embroidered today.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of Celtic and Atlantic Europe.

Credits

Sources

Get the app

Celtic knot weave is one of 17 textile crafts in the Textile Crafts of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Submitted to the App Store and Google Play; in review. Store links appear here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 17 textile crafts in the app

In review on theApp StoreIn review on theGoogle Play

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