I wonder if you're talking about Swedish Weaving aka Huck ...

This is done by picking up floats on the front of the fabric; nothing goes
through to the back of the fabric.

It can be done on huck toweling fabric (or in today's market, on Monk's
cloth, which is approximately 7 stitches to the inch). A float would look
like this: ||

You can see more by going to http://www.swedishweaving.com ... you can see a
design/pattern.

Gentle as you go,
Marny