We examine the relations between weaving techniques and the social domain of knowledge and documentation, as expressed through the so-called ‘ladder’ techniques, in English terminology. These ladder techniques are characterised by their rows of contrasting colours in the simple form, or alternatively by their intercalated chequered patterns in the multiple form. Commonly they are used today to begin and end a textile design band, but they sometimes constitute whole bands. These ladder techniques have been mentioned in passing by a number of scholars, usually in the context of striped farming bags, both ethnographic and archaeological.