Category Archives: towels

cottolin, handwoven, towels

Simple, Functional Towels

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I’ve been looking forward to seeing the first three towels, together, and finished, and was able to do that tonight. The towels on the left and right each had a different weft, and though they look very much alike, if you look closely there is a subtle difference.

In a few minutes, the warp will be lashed back onto the rod and the loom will be ready for me to begin weaving more towels tomorrow. Again, there will be different wefts used, some “solid,” some overall plaid, some with plaid borders, all in twill. After those, I plan to play around with with treadling and see what happens with the remaining warp.

I’ve been cranking socks again, sold a pair today, mailed a pair off to NY state, and have three or four more orders to take care of. Now, I’m looking for a balance in time between the weaving I want to do, and the socks needing to be cranked, and still allow some time for spinning and felting. I have a lot to accomplish before spring and warmer weather, when I will also need to work on the house.


The photo above is my home and weaving studio in the Northwoods of WI.
cottolin, plain weave, seine twine, towels, twill

Simple Towels

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Today was again spent at my loom weaving another towel, this time “plaid,” following the simple stripe pattern in the warp. I’m enjoying weaving each one up differently and looking forward to group photos of the towels to show the variety. Although they are plain weave or twill, a nice variety of looks can be achieved.

Six more tubes of natural/unbleached cottolin arrived today so those, along with the several tubes of bleached I already have, will keep me in weft for awhile yet. Also in the package were two more tubes of seine twine so I can go back to making heddles whenever I am ready.

anklets, towels

Socks-Anklets

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Not long ago I had a special request from a gentleman, could I make anklets? After getting color preferences from him, a pair were made and are going out in the mail today. He asked if I could use wine or navy, so I used both and added black, making a flexible color combination.

Today I am working on the loom, and had hoped to post a photo of a towel in progress, but the long cottolin thread I was hemstitching with broke part-way across the width of the towel, so it’s back to the loom for a little unweaving and try again, or weave a plain weave hem to sew later.
cottolin, CSM socks, goals, handwoven, heddle jig, long-eyed heddles, table runners, towels, twill

New Beginnings for 2009

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The New Year seemed a good time to begin the new warp, a 10 shaft twill with stripes of bleached and unbleached 22/2 cottolin, sett at 24 epi, 2 epi in a 12 dent reed. This afternoon I tried out a singles slub linen, first with one strand, then with two, both as plain weave and twill. Ideas for borders are going through my head as I weave. In a bit, I’ll begin weaving the first towel or runner on this 15 yard warp.


Also this afternoon, my son Noah made a heddle jig for me, cutting and sanding a board and setting in the nails for the long-eye heddles I need to make for the drawloom. There is a heddle on the jig, though the seine twine is difficult to see here.

This sock pic was taken this summer, on a sunny day, on the lakeside porch. I enjoy taking photos of my weaving, and socks. I photograph my work outdoors in summer, to get as close to the true colors in the yarns as possible. Taking pics indoors in this log home, where the logs absorb all light, is a challenge anytime of year, and something I continue to work on.

This is a wonderful time of year for setting goals for the coming year, re-prioritizing, listing what needs to be done, and later the feeling of accomplishment of checking things off as they are completed. This is also a good time to consider marketing, looking at the big picture of the year ahead, making choices for venues, and remembering not to over-commit. And as always, continue to take care, ensuring fine finished work.
countermarche tie-up, table runners, Texsolv cord, towels
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After several days of interruptions and shifting priorities, I am back working on the CM loom. Days ago, I had found quite a number of tie-up cords missing, so I ordered a spool of Texsolv cord. Today I counted out cords to see how many long and short cords I had, cut those needed and with a lit candle, slightly melted the ends to make it easier to pass them through the holes in the lamms. Since I’m setting up for a ten shaft twill plus plain weave, I needed 60 long cords and 60 short cords (shown above).

Sitting inside the loom, I added the long cords to the upper lamms and my 16 year old daughter , after being shown how, added the short cords to the lower lamms. Then after tieing up the treadles, I’ll be able to thread the heddles, tie the warp on, and begin weaving.

In addition to the bleached and unbleached cottolin for weft, I have cones of white slub cotton, and also found cones of unbleached slub tow linen on my shelves, so I will have even more variety in design choices. I am going to enjoy weaving these towels and table runners.

cottolin, table runners, towels
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Though traditional in appearance, this is what I’ve chosen to weave again, this time in white and unbleached cottolin for towels and table runners. There are probably other colors on the shelf that can be used as weft, too. Most of what I’ve woven in the past four years or so has been with rug warp and batik fabrics for weft. This will be a great change of pace, and a good reminder that I love weaving with finer threads. Though the 20-24 epi of this new warp is not really “fine,” it is a good way to get back to weaving something other than 10-12 epi.