Spring Sunshine and Happy Colors

Great Colors Make Me Happy

Things that make me happy include grandchildren, sunshine, flowers and just the right color combinations.

My third foray into Strickler Draft #760 was a happy one. Color is one of my life-long delights. I am rather a practical person. Still, practicality does not exclude beauty.

I take particular joy in weaving everyday household textiles that are both useful and visually pleasing. This kitchen hand towel exemplifies my goal and makes me happy.

Kitchen Hand Towel, Stickler #760

Structure: Deflected Double Weave, #760 from "A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns from the Friends of Handwoven" edited by Carol Strickler

Yarns: 10/2 and 20/2 perle cottons in three solid colors and one variegated. Sett: 30 e.p.i.

Third color way of Stickler #760 on 8 Harnesses

Reverse Side, Third color way of Stickler #760

Spring has sprung. Yard work beckons and the fun continues.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

New Entry Rug

It must be at least 13 years ago that I first wove a Rep rug for our home's front entry. Since then the rug has been through it all, including teenagers and pets. The design was adapted from Laila Lundell's book, "Rep Weaves". The rug is still in rather good shape except for the permanent dirty look along certain pathways. Here you see old faithful in the background.

New Rep Rug on the floor near the old Rep Rug.

Recently we moved my mother into a retirement home and I wound up with several sets of light blue bed sheets. These were the perfect rags for my new rugs. They will remind me that the struggles my family and I have been experiencing over the past couple of years are over. We have been caring for my father who suffered from dementia. For the past year neither he nor my mother could drive and I was often called upon to chauffeur. It was difficult but my precious mother took loving care of Dad at home until the final two weeks of his life. He is now at peace in heaven and she can finally rest.

I wouldn't be telling you all of this except that since January my loom has been naked. Naked! It has not been idle for this long since it came to me back in 1989. All the work and angst dealing with a dementia patient took a huge toll on me. I just didn't have the heart or energy to do anything creative during the last few months.

After such a long break, getting back into weaving was sort of intimidating. I fussed around in my studio for some time before plucking up the courage to dive in again. Dive in I did and managed to design the widest rug I have ever woven. The profile draft is #203 from "The Shuttle-Craft Book of American Hand-Weaving" by Mary Meigs Atwater, a book chock full of great ideas. I could weave for a lifetime out of this one little book. It holds just the kind of inspiration I love.

That old rug was a work horse and was so beautiful I wanted to replace it with a similar one. My goals for the new one included:

• Using darker colors in order to better hide traffic dirt
• Using a busier block design to help hide traffic patterns
• Maintaining the yellow/blue pallet
• Adding a touch of red
• Weaving a slightly wider/longer rug

It turned out well. I cut this first rug off my loom to check the design before going all-out and weaving the longer replacement rug. For the longer rug I chose a slightly different block arrangement. That one still needs hemming but I'll post a photo once it is finished and in place.

Dot was kind enough to help me weave the new Rep Rug.

This, by the way, is the type of help I get around here. Jenny and Dot appreciate every stage of the weaving process. Can you see how I put socks over unused treadles? When setting up I simply leave unneeded treadles tied up as they had been previously. Binding them together in pairs with a sock helps keep me from mistreadling while weaving. I'm always looking for ways to speed up my weaving and keep myself from having to look down at the treadles. Socks work for me.

It is wonderful to be weaving again. Until I returned to my loom it didn't occur to me how much I missed weaving. There are a couple of things more to post including my super-secret jeans pocket project. Watch for them.

Weave on. Weave Off!

Granite Friendly Hand Towels

Handwoven Hand Towels by RepWeaver, Warp #91

These hand towels are from a warp tied on to my previous two warps. This means they are of the same threading but a different color-way than the other two. This time I decided to place the variegated ends in regular spots within the warp. For instance, I decided the thin middle stripe in the first five towels should be variegated. There are a total of four variegated ends within each threading repeat.

The drafts are #443, #444, and #446 from Carol Strickler's "A Weaver's Book of 8 Shaft Patterns", my favorite drafts from one of my favorite books.

While weaving these I was thinking how well they would go with granite countertops. My house does not have granite, maybe some day . . .

RepWeaver #91-4, Hand Towel detail

As a general rule I aim to chose a solid color from one of the middle hues of a chosen variegated yarn. That way there are both lighter and darker highlights sprinkled in with the solid colored main warp color. And if I match the main warp color to a mid hue, the variegated ends will sometimes seem to disappear into the background.

An issue on my mind while weaving these is how so often handwoven towels are referred to as "dish towels." I beg to differ. Handwoven towels, at least my handwoven towels, are meant to be used to dry your hands. I call them "Hand Towels". A dish towel is a thin flour-sack sort of cloth, preferably embroidered with a cute design to brighten up a sometimes tedious task. Something like this:

Two of my favorite "dish towels" and their embroidery patterns
from Bird Brain Designs ( #325) and Aunt Martha's (#4009)

Another thought is that towels such as these would work equally well in the powder room as in the kitchen. No longer will I label my towels as "Kitchen Towels" which is the way I have been doing it.

Ah . . . Autumn

RepWeaver Warp #89
Autumn Hues Towels

Since my fair complexion means I sunburn at the drop of a hat, darker days don't get me down. In fact, Autumn is my favorite season. The colors dazzle me every time. I love throwing on a sweater on nippy days and evenings by candlelight. Then there's all the excitement of the upcoming holidays.

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Can you believe it? We had a lovely time celebrating with loved ones and contemplating our blessings. Over the long weekend we were busy but we also took a little time to catch our collective breath before the Christmas onslaught.

Just before the holiday, I finished weaving my latest batch of towels. The draft is # 443-448 from Carol Strickler's 8-shaft pattern book, an all-time favorite.

Aside from producing Christmas gifts, the purpose of my RepWeaver Warp #89 was to use a partial tube of dark brown warp. I wanted to wind a 9+ yard warp because the longer the warp, the more sense putting all the work into dressing my loom. So . . . I went for it. I wind my warps double length with a cross at each end. This made the prospect of running out of dark brown part way in less troublesome. When it did run out, I merely substituted a slightly lighter shade of brown. The lighter brown also served as the tabby weft.

Every fifth warp end is variegated.

Earlier I'd ordered a tube of two-ply variegated cotton on sale from WEBS. Using variegated yarns is one of my color-obsessions. I untwisted the ply and used this particular yarn singly. Variegated yarn is best used sparingly. Here the variegated ends occur at about every fifth end.

Overall this warp was a success. Using two shades of brown for warp was really interesting. I especially like being able to compare the effect of the variegated ends against each shade of brown. It actually makes these towels very interesting.

Here you see the cone of variegated yarn that I un-plied and mixed in with my brown warp ends.  Also note the lighter brown in the center of my warp.

This particular draft is a delight. With six different tie-up/treadling options weaving these was fun and interesting.

Shooting the photos was fun because the colors reminded me of a glorious pile of brilliantly colored Autumn leaves. Warp #89 produced nine very nice towels in three different drafts and colors.

When I cut the warp off I secured the ends to tie on another warp of the same draft. Can't wait to play with the next color way. Check back for progress.

RepWeaver