Don't you just love dahlias? They are the one flower that I enjoy having in the house. The rest I leave outside and enjoy them there.
Simple pleasures...
When it comes to weaving, I have been exploring the ever complex twill and after a while, you start to wonder where to go next. Still mulling over my options, but for now I'm still with twill but less complex in the draft, threading and treadling. It makes a nice change actually! I've offered you glimpses of them under way here and here.
I wove Swedish 'drall vav' kitchen towels (or turned twill) as my first project when I got my Woolhouse Tools loom brand new back in the summer of 1998 and it was time to revisit it again. This time I'm using 8/2 (or 2/8) tencel in deep teal, sett 24 epi. I'm using 8 shafts and so have two blocks of 1/3 and 3/1 twill.
The weaving was fun and not complicated. No 'cheater sheet' to keep track was required and I wove away till I have roughly 72". I think the hardest part was choosing the colours for weft, which were also tencel. :)
Here's the purple one on the fringing board. I left about 12 inches for fringes as I like lots of room to move.
Coral looks rather peachy here doesn't it against the teal?
Next up was adding some sparkle. I didn't want it to overwhelm but just be there in a subtle way. That's the magenta weft below:
I like to get out my beads and look at all the options available but usually settle on 2 to 4 types and make it up as I go along. The first couple I play with and then go with my final choices the rest of the way across..... and the other end of the scarf of course! I have fun with this part and it didn't take too long to get them all done.
Next up was hand washing them in the laundry tub, a spin out in the washing machine and hanging to (nearly) dry. They were still damp when I gave them a good hard pressing this afternoon and then trimmed up the fringes neat with a rotary cutter. I think they turned out great! What do you think?
I think the magenta weft is my personal favourite....
The purple / teal combo sure had drama and is quite iridescent.
