The best way to appreciate tribal weaving is to understand its character. A carpet is made knot by knot, line by line, across its width, beginning from one end. It is possible to record every knot of the pattern on paper as a sequence of signs, one for each color: two red, six blue, one black, ten white and so on. Carpet patterns written down in this way are called "talims" and are commonly used in workshops. The advantage of the talim is that it enables a weaver to use a complex pattern without the higher weaving skill of being able to work in detail from an exact cartoon. A tribal weaver has to have the equivalent of a talim in his/her mind. Remembering a large complex pattern is comparable to knowing by heart a complete orchestral score. The way tribal weaver gets round the problem is to learn a fairly large number of Small patterns and use them in a variety of combinations and colors. Tribal weavings tend to have repeating patterns of fairly small size. WITHOUT THE MIND ENGAGING QUALITY OF COMPLEX DESIGNS, EXPRESSIVE POWER IN TRIBAL CARPETS IS ACHIEVED THROUGH THE USE OF SPACE, PROPORTION, COLOR, AND THE TACTILE ALLURE OF GOOD WOOL. It is common belief that repeating patterns lack depth and subtlety and are only woven by people of limited originality who know no better. Long acquaintance with carpets has convinced me otherwise. The ornaments in a classical repeat pattern look natural and relaxed as if they just fall into place by themselves. Yet their placement was no accident, for the difference between the effortless calm of a well planted tribal design and one in which the subtleties of spatial organization are not understood can be spotted immediately. IT IS A MISTAKE TO THINK THAT A SIMPLE DESIGN IS NECESSARILY SIMPLE-MINDED.