  In this paper, we explore how textile pattern-making can be a useful activity
for live coders used to manipulating software. We ran an algorithmic patterns
workshop in July 2022 -- with a node at "on the fly" festival in Barcelona, a
node in Sheffield and the workshop leader in Penryn -- where we created an
activity recreating ancient patterns by weaving on tablet looms that we
constructed from card and yarn, and sent to the participants for this remote,
multi location workshop. One of the aims of the Algorithmic Pattern project is
to highlight the relationship people have had with patterns over history, and
how we can use this to uncover certain misconceptions we have about algorithmic
patterns in contemporary society. We collected responses from those who
participated in the workshop and collated the responses. We found that tablet
weaving allows us to connect the physical patterns with their algorithmic
descriptions. Also, errors relate with the trade-off among expectations and
surprise and exploring new unexpected possibilities. Finally, sharing the
experiences among the participants allows us to observe how we interpret
patterns when comparing it with other experiences.
