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I wove these a while back. They've just been waiting to be hemmed. I could probably ctrl-c, ctrl-v those first two sentences into my draft folder and use them over and over again because I am terrible about getting to the hemming. I could try to build up excuses for me by saying that I had to buy matching thread, but it's not much of an excuse. If I did offer that up, I would immediately have to follow up with the fact that I bought the thread in October, and I just got around to hemming these recently.
Anyway, these are new washcloths. I was inspired to weave them after the linen facecloth WAL over on Yarnworker. Yes, that was a while ago. The yarn is Red Heart Scrubby Cotton. I'm not too proud to admit it. The weaving went well. They washed up fine. I had a little trouble hemming them. Some of that was due to the fabric, but mostly it was due to me. I improved as I kept going with it, so the last hem is better than the first, and I'm OK with that.
Now it is time to put them through their paces and see how they hold up to use. I have hopes--not high hopes, but just hopes. I like making things we can use, and it would be nice to make a new pile of washcloths, but I won't weave any more of these until I see how this batch wears.
I did another WAL over on Yarnworker, and I felt like I was behind from the start. We wove rugs and covered two different patterns. The two selections from Handwoven Home are the Two-Color Krokbragd Rug and the Fabric Stash Rag Rug. Well, I didn't have all the materials for the Krokbragd, so I went for the Fabric Stash Rag Rug.
It was a fun weave. My biggest stresses came from my own error following the pattern, but it worked out just fine. Then I had another oopsy and could not continue weaving, and it actually made my previous mistake something that worked very well. I like it so much, that I haven't put this on the floor to be used. I need to get over that.
As always, I learned a lot through this process. I want to weave more rugs, and maybe even get a temple. I enjoyed this weave-along so much and learned enough that I decided to tackle a bit of Krokbragd, but that's a story for another day.
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| Before Washing |
So, in keeping with catching up on some of the things I did during my blogging absence, I present some of the least-impressive-looking weaving I did. These are the linen face cloths from Handwoven Home.
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| After Washing |
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| After Washing |
It was another WAL over on Yarnworker. I was not particularly interested in the pattern as I looked at it in the book, and I considered skipping it, but I am glad I did not, for several reasons. First off, I always learn so much doing her weave-alongs. Second, the more I weave, the more I improve.
Third, I have never woven with linen and was happy to have the support. Linen may never become my favorite fiber to weave with, but the effort was worth it, to me.
Anyway, these are not particularly impressive looking pieces. They do look better in person, as I just could not take a decent photo. Washing them transformed the pieces so much. They softened a lot and have been put into use here at home. That makes them a success in my book, and I think I might weave more of these.
Long ago, (not really, I just don't remember, and if I look it up, the blogging will never happen) Stacey mentioned weaving kits from Spunky Eclectic and that they have a club. I loved what she had woven, and for the first time, the idea of a club appealed to me. I'm still new to weaving, and the club is for the rigid heddle loom. I looked at kits. I thought about joining the club. I considered colors. Then, I bought nothing. I looked again and convinced myself not to get anything. I made some sort of comment about the budget. Stacey responded that $33 every-other-month probably wouldn't break the budget. Still, I had to think about it. Then I decided to go for it. I decided to really go for it by not selecting a color family, but instead, choosing the Surprise option. Then, I waited.
Finally, the day arrived, and I had my first club shipment. I looked at its bright loveliness, and worked to clear a spot on life and loom to weave it. Then, life was in full swing, and it was, well, it was kind of killing me. But we're not talking about that, and really, that kind of stuff is boring.
Anyway, let's just fast-forward to the weaving part. I loved playing with this kit. It is not something I would have chosen on my own; not the pairing of yarns, not the colors, but it was perfect. To me, it is candy corn, autumn, and sunshine. I decided to not make it a scarf as the pattern intended, but instead I turned it into a mรถbius cowl. I later found what would probably be a better way to do this, but I still think it turned out well. The weaving was fast with the big, lumpy, bumpy, thick-and-thin, this-will-not-be-even-so-no-need-to-try yarn for the weft that was so freeing. Then of course, there was the fun of the silver sparkle in the warp yarn that I just loved.
This is going to be either a birthday or Christmas present for the daughter, (she's a Christmas Eve baby) depending on the wrapping paper situation.
Now, I wait patiently for the next club shipment. Being open to whatever arrives is a good thing.
What do we talk about on Wednesdays? That's right, weaving. Do I have it in me to carry on a weekly blog topic for the foreseeable future? Have you been here before? So, no, I probably won't have weaving to show every Wednesday, but that's what day it is today, and as it happens, I have weaving to show.
Today I have a scarf to show. I wove this for my brother mostly from the yarn he brought back from Iceland last year. To add a bit more color, I also used some Lion Brand Amazing in the Arcadia colorway. I like the scarf, and had it ready to go for my brother's birthday and his trip with his family to Shenandoah. The yellow bit is probably my favorite, and it was totally unplanned. That might be what makes it best. I just loaded up the warping board and then moved it to the loom, and when I saw that yellow, I knew it would be good. After that, I just wound stick shuttles and wove, changing colors randomly until I reached the end. I think my brother liked it, and that is the best of all!
The poor wittle blog, all by itself, so lonesome, waiting so long for new posts and comment love. So, I decide to return to it, and as soon as I begin adding tags for the first post, there is eye rolling and an exasperated sigh. The blog wants to protest the manner of my return, but fears another long silence, abandonment, or, deletion. Still, I hear the sullen mutterings. It wonders whether I deliberately chose the return post topic deliberately in an attempt to find out if we will truly hear crickets chirping in the silence after clicking the publish button. It wonders if I had considered less popular, more repelling topics such as religion, politics, crafting my own reusable LadyDays products, or an extreme frugality that eschews toilet paper.
Ah, but this space has never been about popularity, so I carry on with the topic lying at my feet. What, not the topic at hand? No, that will have to wait for me to finish some mittens. I'm talking about weaving, and not just any weaving, but rugs. I decided to try out weft-faced (though I keep embarrassingly and erroneously typing warp-faced, even though I do know the difference) weaving. The purple and navy rug goes in the downstairs bathroom. The other one goes beside Bruce's side of the bed because he has wanted a rug there and he likes this one.
I ended up with two rugs because I was both stupid and lucky. I was stupid to charge ahead with something new without carefully reading the directions. What was my mistake? I was supposed to thread every other slot/hole spot on the reed instead of every slot/hole across. I remedied that by clipping the extra warp ends and tossing them over the back. Then when I finished the first rug, I re-threaded the reed as well as I could, and wove the second rug. That I was able to weave two rugs is the lucky part.
As far as the yarn deets, the purple yarn is Cascade Pastaza (discontinued yarn, and longtime stash resident) and I think the navy is Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride and Manos del Uruguay. That I was able to use up the Pastaza and some leftover random navy yarns is another way I was lucky. The other rug is Lion Brand Amazing in Glacier Bay. Perhaps we will talk more about that yarn later, but it may be one of those things that we will declare never happened. Anyway, now I just have to work up the nerve to put these rugs on the floor and use them. Actually, that does not bother me too much. I have made them to be used, I enjoyed making them, and if they need replacing, I will make more. I do have some yarn.
