First Anniversary! 🎉

 My Megado 90 arrived in boxes one year ago today! I think we have bonded nicely and been making some nice cloth together and in that time we have made:  

• 4 shawls, 
• 7 scarves,  
• and 20 kitchen towels in the last year. 

I'm also 4 towels into another set of 6 or 7 ... so

It took me about 7-10 days to put her together and I only needed some help with the bottom rails due to back issues.  Nothing helps you to understand a loom, the parts and how they work than putting one together!

Do I miss my larger 110?  yes.... there are some project widths that push the limits of the 90.  Maybe one day my 'future' living space will allow for a larger loom. Until then Maeve and I will continue together.

Handweaving.net :: A Weavers Resource

 Such a wonderful resource for weavers of any level, and any number of weaving shafts!

As featured in the summer issue of Handwoven 2026

Handweaving.net draft #78116, original design by Ingrid Boesel

16 shaft, 28 epi,  20/2 silk warp and tencel weft, 

woven by Susan Harvey on a Louet Megado floor loom 

Painted silk warp (centre) by Carr Park Artisans (on Etsy)

Solid dyed silks by Treenway Silks

8/2 tencel from Webs

A warm thank you to Kris Bruland of Handweaving.net for inviting me to submit photos!

MacLaren Tartan : a multi country experience 🇨🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇺🇸

 I just discovered today that I have yet to post about a finished weaving project. Clean forgot all about it with all our summer activities! 

Every so often I get the urge to weave a tartan and go cruising at Handweaving.net for inspiration, along with a list of available colours in my stash. This time I was wanting to use some of my 10/2 cottons.  A tartan with not too many colour changes .... and this time I chose Maclaren.   Now the draft below is much brighter than the authentic tartan would be.  Also brighter than my actual cottons but I just quickly went for 'close enough' colours for the draft.     I also spread the draft over 8 shafts from 4 so I would have enough heddles per shaft.   Moving heddles on a Megado is a real bear!

My sett was 28 epi and I used a 14 dent reed.    The colours used were all Valley cotton:

• nautical blue
• porcelain green
• autumn blonde
• red
• black 

I put on 8 yards and got 7 generously large towels.  Rather than weave each towel separately, I wove continuously for the full length and would cut apart later.   I felt it gave me less to consider other than to keep weaving and not worry about where an ending could be. 

Here's the warp being beamed and it was  bright and cheery!  I found that the warp used most of my stash of the blue and green. I got another nautical blue from Webs but they were out of the green.   I put out a call on Ravelry's Warped Weavers Marketplace and had  Nancy from New Hampshire come to the rescue with a cone of porcelain green.   It would work nicely as the warp was all from one cone and the weft would be from another.  They would blend together just fine.   *phew*    Same thing for the blue cotton.

Here's a picture of the weaving underway. I was able to carry some colours up the side, by wrapping when switching shuttles, and some I had to cut off and change.    There was very precise number of pics so I was counting constantly.  No doubt about it, it a slow weave..... but once you get into the rhythm of it, it moves along. Not having a boundary set of a certain number of inches for a towel length meant you didn't need to keep track of that..... just keep on working to the next colour.    I just kept going until I saw the rod at the back of the loom come over the back beam.

Here's the freshly cut off the loom warp all laid out.... all 8 yards. There was very little yard waste.

And a closer view. Not that its relaxed, the squares all look square!

I found that 37  or 38 inches (can't recall which right now) occurred at a regular spot in the pattern, so serging apart was straightforward.   No big table for me but a cluttered desk will do.  It works and I just take my time as I go.

They were washed and dried and here I'm about to snip all the tails off prior to steam pressing them.    Hems were turned, pressed and pinned. I had a few evenings where I hand sewed all hems. I quite like the hand work and you feel productive as you watch the telly.

Now for some beauty shots....

They measure 22 inches wide and approximately 30-32 inches in length . Yes, there was a lot of shrinkage plus the hems.

A nice satisfying stack of softness.   Once again, thank you to Nancy of New Hampshire for the cross border assistance. Weaver are wonderful everywhere!    🌎 😊

Just Playing.... 🌈 with Colour!

I like to play with my Fiberworks (for Mac) program and try my hand at  creating colour gradients. I know what colours I have on hand, and what I feel looks nice when paired together.   I even like winding it up on the warping mill thread by thread. Weird huh?   😁

This is mineral green, greyed teal, blue Ming and royal  8/2 tencel (from Webs) when blended.   This is the draft I used to wind the colours.  Looks different  but that's because I need to see the colour changes clearly or else go blind trying to see what is next!

I wanted a large open feeling pattern; not so much grids and lines that can occur with some drafts.  This 8 shaft crackle weave suited nicely.   This is draft # 79248  at Handweaving.net

So for the first scarf I used coral 8/2 tencel as my weft. I felt it would pair nicely with the blue's and green's and it didn't disappoint !

But what really woke things up was lemongrass!   It adds "zing"   🍋🌱 and is my favourite of the two scarves!

It was an enjoyable weave, interspersed with Life chores and summer outings.    Fringes twisted up and wet finished.... pressed and trimmed and then time to snap some pictures. 

Coral weft and look how it turned out between the blue and greens!   It's a real chameleon!  The coral looks orange near the greens and pinkish near the blues.

Then it's lemongrass ..... which also changed the under tone colour depending on which side of the scarf you look at.    

It turned out even better than I had in my mind's eye and I can also see other future projects for this draft.   Hard to believe it's just 8 shafts huh? 

Play Results

 I'm reaching back to a post I did in April.....  called Permission to Play.   Sorry to the long wait but it's been a busy spring and now its summer.    Hubby was not well shortly after that post and spent 4-5 days in hospital so everything was paused.   He's okay now thankfully but he does like to keep me on my toes.

This picture might refresh your memory from when I wound the warp on.    It was about seeing what I could do with one inch of left over painted warp  from an older project.    I saved one end in case of breakages, and the other 24 end became the one inch in the middle.   My draft was a 12 shaft twill progression, modified from a 16 shaft version,  so this way there are two repeats in the one inch.   

I had been doubly blessed with greyed blue tencel. I ordered one but received and apparently paid for two.   I goofed up I guess so will be more careful going forward with my ordering at Webs.    I paired it with blueberry and layer with a transition sort of mid way.   The painted warp stripe looked 'blah' so I perked it up with a soft pale gold on either side. 

 To be truthful, I should have left then both sides solid blue's and just use the stripe to separate them, but that's hindsight.... 

I took many pictures of the scarves under way on the loom and they all came out looking very grey, with no hint of blue.  I couldn't work out what I was doing wrong and then I saw this meme on FB about optics.

I wondered about taking pictures later when it was all finished.... but while some turned a weird grey brown, I did get some that were okay.   Still not as good as the real scarves but ....

I used greyed blue tencel as weft for the first scarf and this one is my favourite.    The painted warp strip has colours that shift from plums and blues to bronze and moss green and you can only really see it up close and in person. The one thing that does sparkle is the gold.   I'm glad I added it. 

So of the three pictures shown above, the first one is the best for colour..... but all three look different.  There's that optical weirdness thing happening.

The second scarf I used navy tencel as I couldn't see any other suitable  choice.   Even with the darker blue it also photographed different in each picture. These are the best and closest, with the first being the best of the bunch. 

So that ended the 'permission to play' project and it was time to move to something new.   Here's an 8 shaft version of my modified draft.  (the 16 shaft version is also at handweaving.net)

We are staying close to home this summer and really enjoying our back yard and new wildlife.....

Our two resident rabbits enjoying some relaxation time.  Our garter snake  must have moved on. 

Clematis

Clustered Bell flower

Honeysuckle on the back fence

Peonies were spectacular !

Irises

We are tackling small 'fix-it' jobs around the house.  Just little things such as new heat registers, fresh caulking on kitchen sink, new drawer pull knobs, a lick of paint here and there.    Little things that draw the eye and once fixed they fall back into obscurity.    I'm also carefully going through drawers, closets  and downsizing.... seriously downsizing.   We are going to assess the real estate market once again next spring and see about finding a smaller home and yard. It's time, so   🤞     The markets and interest rates might settle down  by then.  A lot can happen between now and then, but it feels good to start preparing.  It's turning into a buyers market here but we know our worth very well and we're very patient.....

Back soon.... with another weaving post.    Happy Canada Day!  🇨🇦 😎 🍹