Simply Happy Towels 😊 🌈

 

Sometimes I go back and revisit a draft and work with it again. Perhaps modify it, sometimes leave it as is.

This is my third time using this simple 6 shaft herringbone twill (four times if you include a scarf some years back too).   I have been asked to make more kitchen towels and when I ask them why, or what it is about the towels, they say "they are fun and colourful and make me happy when I use them".

A kitchen towel..... bringing smiles to household chores.   😁

Shared stories: A husband who asked where his favourite towel was, and going to the dryer to get it.   Two kids arguing about who gets the 'good towel'!

People who now use a clean fresh towel to rest dishes to dry rather than a draining board that gets slimy if not washed every day.... and who washes them every day? 

So I wound up an 8 yard warp and planned on 7 towels woven to 37 inches each and approximately 25 inches in the reed. They end up after wet finishing and hemming as approx 22 1/2 inches wide by 30 inches. 

I've had nice compliments on my colour choices.  I use rich deep colours in the little 2 end stripes and place colours that compliment each other.  A sampling across the rainbow or colourwheel.  The photo above shows the latest grouping.    If I could go back and change one thing, I would use a royal blue and not a navy blue.... but they are done.    The stripes are doubled ends of 8's cotton, treated as though they are one end.   I thought about using 8/4 cottons but I feel the ply would be rounder than two 8/2's and be more of a physical bump in the fabric.   If someone actually tries this, let me know how it went.    

Anyhoo.... I used 8/2 as I have more of it and a greater variety of colours and that was more important to me. 

The neutral in-between in this case is natural undyed 8/2 cotton.   It supports the stripes and let them shine and is the frame work for the 'best supporting actor' or weft yarn.    Also 8/2 cotton and I purposely go looking for medium to neutral shades such as the light grey, taupe and ivory cream.  But then you get braver and play with some  candy or gelato colours / flavours:  pale orange or 'creamsicle'.... light lime or 'limeade'..... or soft turquoise or 'mint'.    I carried on the candy theme and taupe became 'caramel' and ivory became 'Devon Cream'.    Salmon pink became 'bubblegum'.   You help create the fun right there on the loom!

Here's caramel 

Lime-ade was popular on my FB Thrums page. Over 800+ clicks!  😳

It took me  a while to weave off due to Life intervening (Hub was in hospital again) and also my policy of weaving for shorter time periods and stopping before I get tired or start to hurt (lower back etc). Kind of a less is more philosophy.  

But they were soon off, shown here serged apart, washed and steam pressed, waiting for hems to be turned.

Then I hand sewed the hems while we watched the TV. Thank goodness for longer daylight!  A final steam press on the hems to flatten after sewing and they were done. 

Simple and happy!   Can be a towel or a table runner. 

Hub wanted to keep one of us and I said sure! Which one?

While he was making up his mind, 4 sold to one customer..... I told him to hurry up! 😁

Here's the draft and that's a handweaving.net number so you can go there and download the WIF file and then play with colour.    8/2 set for twill is 24 epi.      Show me what you can do with this!

🌎 Mother Earth ~ version 2

 It might seem that all I have been doing lately is spinning but it's more a case of tidying up and getting projects wrapped and done.    To clear my desk off !  😁🧶

A few years ago now I bought some lovely spinning top from an Etsy shop called Beesybee  and loved the fibre blend of merino and mulberry silk and the vibrant blue / green shades in the top.    I ordered a second batch and then found I had to keep the two batches separate as there was a real colour variation between them.    Disappointing but taught me that I need to order what I want versus going 'economical'   😉

So Mother Earth version 2 gave me, between the 4 skeins,  a total of 324 grams or 11.4 ounces of 2 ply yarn. There is  644.5 metres or 709 yards total.   I have never been a knitter and so unfamiliar with the various knitting weights but I would call this a heavy lace weight.    

Then again, I could be all wrong! 

Okay.... all my spinning is caught up and I promise the next posts will be weaving related.   I have four scarves waiting for their time in front of a camera and a debut here.   📸 

Barn Owl ~ Nightstalker 2

Another spinning project completed but this time it was a commission job.   It will be mailed out after this weekend  to a customer in Victoria, BC. 

Night Stalker is based on a barn owl's colouring and so features the red of eri silk, sooty grey of peduncle silk,  beige of baby camel,  pale gold of muga silk and a creamy white superfine merino.    I bought the rolags from  Fellview Fibers in the UK.    Always a quality product and a joy to spin up!  

My customer bought one of my earlier Night Stalker spins and asked me to spin up more for him.   I slowly worked away all over winter and early spring. 

Freshly washed and dried and skein into satisfying braids.

close up view

Its buttery soft and light as a feather.

Weights in grams and ounces

I put them through the yardage counter as I wound into cakes. Totals for all four are: 980.5 metres or 1078.5 yards. 388 grams or 13.6 ounces.   I'm kinda sad its all done now!

But as you can see, I have moved on already.....

Simply True 🐸

I thought this stated my relationship with my loom quite accurately!    😁

Grape Arbour

 So while we're doing green hand spun yarn, here's another I completed recently.   I have had this fibre for many years and it was long overdue to be spun up.   It's Corriedale that I bought from Aurelia Fibres (of Merritt, BC). I think the fleece was dyed in and came from New Zealand if I trust my memories.   Bought at a spin in in the Okanagan many years ago.

Drafting up the floof went very well.  It didn't behave badly at all and was a very pleasant spin. Made me wonder why I took so long to do it!

I divided the fibre into two equal portions and later when plying, I purposely  plied them from opposites to get some 'barber poling' effect.

Just the one skein.

Dime for showing the grist better. 

The skein went from a puddle...... to a cake. 

It reminded me of a pleasant afternoon sitting in a grape arbour in 2009, in the Okanagan Valley.

Shades of Scotland

Finished up on April 6th, otherwise known as "Tartan Day".... this fiber colour way by Beesy Bee Fibers (on Etsy)  called  "Scotland". It's a blend of merino and tussah silk and yummy soft.

Wouldn't you fall for this too?  💕😁

So I ordered 450 grams  and have been spinning this off and on for 18 months.   Seems there are some 'thorns' in the Scottish heather. The two fibers of silk and merino don't mingle all that well and both have different length staples.  So it was more of a grudge match and one I was determined to win.     So I'd weave a bobbin of this 'highland heathen' and then spin up something that wanted to play nice.    And repeat until it was all done.     Sort of a carrot and stick approach  (to me 😳🥕 )

I was able to keep it consistently fine, with cussing as a sauce.    I had some nice compliments on it at the recent guild meeting and one member was sympathetic when he heard the fiber mix and said it must have been a long road...

So spun up on my Hansen Mini Pro as a lace weight  2 ply yarn. Washed in scent free soap and then skeined up when dry.

The 🇨🇦 dime for  context.

Then I used my swift, ball winder and yardage meter  to run it through into cakes and get the mileage.

The totals are:  (for all)  412 grams or 14.4 ounces.    991.42 yards or 901.2 meters

.... and for sale in my Etsy shop as one batch.    😊

Permission to Play

I'm back again... and fairly quick about it  too.  It's Easter weekend and I hope all of you who celebrate, have a nice time with family and friends.  🐣🐰

So do you recall this recent posted project?  It featured a painted warp by Loominaria, who are now sadly closed.  There was 25 ends of this painted warp  left over.    A smidgen.  Too little to do anything with, and too much to throw away.....    That started a nugget of thinking. A challenge even.  How to use that 25 ends to its best advantage.

So one end was reserved for any mishaps and the remaining 24 represented one inch in a warp.   How to maximize that one inch?   It's a series of plums, blues, bronze- brown and gold tones. Even some mossy green tones.   I decided to go with two shades of blue.   Greyed Blue and Azure.   

After mulling and playing around with various drafts, I fell back to my favourite.  I have it in 16 shafts and 8.... so I reworked it  to a 12 shaft (of draft #78116) to maximize the 24 ends.   With some gradient on either side as the blues shift from one side to the other.   Will it work?   I have no idea until we try....   The colours in the draft are NOT a good representation of the actual used.....

Here's the 8 shaft version #75578 (as a bonus 😊 )

Here it is being beamed on using the Helping Hands from Lofty Fiber, and below, I'm taking another try at using the paper holder from Gingerlocks Handwovens. This time with non skid matting underneath so they don't move and create torque in the paper.   It worked!

Closer look at the paper hangers below.

Gingerlocks Handwovens had slipped two of these 3D printed 'balls' in my order and you slip them on the (non removable) posts on the Megado.  They went from a hazard to a nifty hand up. 

Another new toy from Lofty Fibers is the sley assist and it's designed for Louet looms: Spring, David and Megado.  They also have a beater brace for the Spring and David but not yet for the Megado so you'll see I have used soft cords to tie off the beater to upright.   The assist is secured by a 'screw' that sits on the reed slot. The darker support shifts on a slot to accommodate any height reed.  You can have it angled (as shown) or lay it flat.   (I'm sure they are working on similar device for other loom brands)

Then you reach through and sley the ends through the reed.  I think next time I will tie off the beater so it leans backwards a bit and reduce the reach.

All done.... and time to shift it to an upright position and place the top of the beater back on. 

Here the reed is upright and is held in place by slots in the end of the sley assist brackets.  You loosen the light grey screw to shift it along in the reed track and snug it in tight to hold the reed in place.

Reed in the slot on the left..... and below, on the right. 

Once the top is back on and secured, the brackets can be loosened and removed.   I liked the process and will use it again for sure. I was reaching up and over the top of the beater to  sley the reed and this old body complained every time. 

So sometimes you just have to play with new toys, new ideas and  take a leap of faith.....  Next time, we'll see if my idea of how to save and use the painted warp ends plays out.....

🌷 🐣 🌷