A Yarn Infusion!

I was quite surprised when I reached for yarns for the last runner project and found that I had big gaps in my supply! Since there was a postal strike looming across Canada at that time, I was *forced* to rely on my reserves  and as a result went with the navy blue 16/2 cotton. It was a warp that needed daylight and an additional light source too. It seems my eyes aren't quite as young as they used to be.  My first choice was a white, or natural or flax coloured mercerized cotton and I was completely out!
So out came my colour charts for Brassards and I went shopping. I built a list and then let it sit over night, then I cut it back to a reasonable amount  :) I have plenty of 8/2 cottons and so decided to stick to just 16/2 cottons for this order.   All these colours are available in 16/2, 8/2, 4/8, 8/8 and even the mop cotton and a 8/2 boucle cotton. Its wonderful to have so many choices and colours... all with great service, and, happily for me, in Canada!

I ordered four cones of each of 16/2 mercerized cotton in white, natural and a colour called flax. They are smaller sized cones of 227 grams. These will be warp for things such as runners, guest towels where I want a better quality look and a bit of shine.

Then I ordered some basic white regular 16/2 cotton. As well as being warp of weft for 16/2 towels, I also use it as weft with some 8/2 projects to help reduce the over all weight of a cloth. These are half pound cones:

Okay! this is filling up my bare spot on the shelves, as those are some of my basics  Now for some colour as  I have a hankering to try more towels in 16/2 . The finer cloth feels nice to the hand, is still very absorbent and they sell well.

So I went with a soft lime green and hunter green, navy blue, brick, creamsicle orange and a colour called honey:

I tried to get a triad from the colour wheel. I have no set plan or draft right now but simple went for colours that appealed to me. I've done other colour arrangements in the past two years and it was time for something new!

So with my order all in place, I did allow myself one guilty indulgence! I saw from their sample cards that they have French linen and I was curious. I've seen Irish, and Eastern European and even Belgium linen....so I ordered two cones of 9/2 linen in natural, my preferred colour for linen.

I think you can see the lovely sheen to the cones here, but what you can't see is the nice even twist and then there is the way the yarn feels soft to the touch. Linen usually feels wiry and so this is is a nice feature! I'm looking forward to using this as weft to some of the new cotton I just bought.

So what's going on with the looms? Well, I'm winding an eleven yard warp for ten towels (plus samples) for my large Woolhouse Tools loom which seems to be constantly interrupted by 'Life' but is slowly making progress. More on this project at a later time!

I still have the 12 shaft tie up on my Louet and seem to have settled on an altered version of the bookmark draft. Here's a peek (taken with my cell phone camera). Details to come as its still under way right now. Its the lazy hazy dayz of Summer so nothing is happening quickly it seems!

I see that the local Fall Fairs are coming up soon and we are into the last weeks of summer before the kids go back to school.  It goes by so quickly huh?

Before I leave you for this this time, a small announcement: Treenway Silks has been sold and the business has been transferred to the new owners in Colorado! You can get all the details at the web site  here
Rather than come from the island just off shore from where I live, my silks will have to travel a bit further now...

That's a Wrap....

Spring, and the better weather must be here and how can I tell that? Well, it seems that all the blogs I follow are slowing down how often they post... including me. To be truthful, I haven't been weaving as much due to a bum knee, which is improving, thanks, and many things that take me on errands or outside more.
It seems the bonus of having a car at my disposal once more means, I'm doing more away from home. All those errands that Hub used to do are now mine. Ouch, a two edged sword! While I do like getting out more, the loom(s) are sitting patiently waiting for me. They are good that way.

I have also discovered that I am avoiding the 4/8 cotton placemats on the big CM Emmatrude. There's no other way to describe it. Why? I have no idea.... I must be a fine thread snob. But I will sit my butt down and weave them.... once the fine 2/16's warp is set to go on Lilibet. Can't have a naked loom! After all my MIL is coming next Tuesday and the studio must look like a hive of activity (even if it isn't :) She's here for a week so no weaving then either. That would be rude wouldn't it? 'Scuse me, sit right here, and I'll be back in an hour or two!

I have bought another used loom bench and it will come along with my friend, Lynnette, when they come for a visit in either July or August. It's a Woolhouse Tools commuter bench so essentially the same as the bench for my Woolhouse Tools loom. It will be be for my Louet Spring, Lilibet as the little tiny bench I'm using there is too small for the width of the loom. The smaller bench will shift to the Jane on her stand. Hub thought I could just drag one bench over to the other loom but I quickly straightened him out on that. Both looms are at different heights. End of story.

Oh, and I finally broke down and bought a gently used copy of the Janet Phillips book 'The Weaver's Book of Fabric Design'. I feel pretty darn pleased at getting it for $42.00, postage included. Just one small tear in the dust jacket and I can live with that. New starts at $75.00! It's in the mail to me as I write.

So I did dangle a nice picture at the top to lure you in and so we'll continue on with the regularly scheduled post:

This part of the post will show the final finishing of the recent towel project and a bit of show and tell. Once the cloth comes off the loom, I take it to the sewing table and use my serger to cut the towels apart. I have a White Speedyloc serger and love it. The only downside to a serger ( and I must admit my knowledge is extremely limited) is the threading. I cut off near the top by the cones and tie a knot and take off the tension, then pull the new colour through. So I cheat.... but every now and then I am forced to thread from scratch and its a chore and a half... The connections points are colour coded but the guide book is flat, and in black and white. Definitely something was lost in translation from Chinese into English. (no offense) If we had stayed living where I bought it, a few in store lessons would have been the smart way to go!

Serging seems to secure the the raw edges of handwoven fabric far better than simply sewing or zig-zagging the edges. The only thing I might not serge is a fine thread fabric where you don't want *any* extra bulk at all in the hem edge.

Here's the stack all serged! A satisfying feeling....

With this particular pattern, 'breaks and recesses', there is a nice clear line on which to fold and turn. In this case I decided to machine sew over hand sewing as these are clearly towels. Some of you may be familiar with the gifting of a kitchen towel only to see it being used as a runner, or some other use..... or worse still, stuck in a drawer as it's 'too good' to use! Machine sewing the hem is my way of trying to steer the end usage :)

This was an 11 yard warp which produced 10 towels, woven to 34" each, plus a small strip for samples and of course, loom waste. Before they were off the loom, I knew some were sold. I just didn't know how many! I wanted at least a couple for our kitchen. One was woven with 2/16's in black to coordinate with the black accents on my Ceran stove top. The second was woven with the thicker boucle weft but I had forgotten to to use a finer weft for the hem area, so this one was for us as well. Since we are hand washing dishes ( long story, short: dishwasher broke, too old to fix and we are waiting till the kitchen is reno'd to buy another...) the thicker towel is perfect for us! I brought them to the kitchen right away!

The black weft really makes the colours pop...

While the white seems to soften them and reduce the intensity of the stripes...

So 4 towels were bought and whisked off to Toronto and this is the balance of the herd all posed for show:

So I have a lot to do in the coming days: bake some desserts, clean house, laundry, grocery shop and we have to get the lawns and such under control before Mom arrives..... wish us luck.

I'll be back after she's gone home....