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Twill block towels

beaming towels with the valet
Somehow I can’t stop weaving twill blocks. The straight edges & the contrast in the colors, they just draw me in. Apparently others, too.

My daughter asked me to weave a few towels for her to give as Christmas gifts. Sure, no problem. I gave her images of 6 weave patterns from my weaving software, and she chose twill blocks.

Since each towel needs to be a different color, I warped in solid cream – actually it’s just natural/undyed cotton. It looks so boring as I’m getting it on the loom, above.

But look what happens when I add the colored weft.

twill block towel pattern

I decided to vary the size of my twill blocks across both the warp and the weft for a bit more visual interest. Took quite a bit of calculations to get the treadling to where I wanted to be in the middle of the towel. And a touch of unweaving when I didn’t end up there after all. 😉

Here’s a shot of both the top and bottom of the towel. The color in this photo, taken in natural light, is much more like real life.

twill block towels, up & down

I had to order the weft yarn for her other two towels. It should arrive tomorrow.

But I warped for six towels, not just the three she ordered, so I’ll get to play with other colors, too. In fact I’m heading to my stash now to see what turns me on for weft, then back at the loom. I do like weaving towels. They’re so quick!

Wordless Wednesday, 12-7-16

christmas-mantle

Wreath decorating

my wreath

my wreath hanging

Earlier this week my daughter and 3 of her friends came to my house to decorate wreaths for their front doors. We planned this well in advance, and I’d been collecting decorating materials for several weeks, as had my daughter.

Amanda's wreath

Amanda’s wreath

We had a great time, and despite their initial hesitancy, each of those women made a beautiful wreath!

Kristen's wreath

Kristen’s wreath

We started by tying our own nice, full bows.

Susie's wreath

Susie’s wreath

Then we tied and glued on everything from pine cones to curly willow twigs, hydrangea to dried grass heads, dried apple slices to dried rose buds, and lots more.

Liz's wreath

Liz’s wreath

One of the young women couldn’t make it, so the next morning I decorated the remaining wreath and delivered it to a friend.

Jennifer's wreath

Jennifer’s wreath

We’re going to make this an annual party!

All words, no picture

“If the president does it, that means it’s not illegal.”
–Richard Nixon, 1977

“The president can’t have a conflict of interest.”
–Donald Trump, 2016

‘Nuff said.

My Black Friday

black rayon chenille warp

This is my idea of Black Friday. I’m working on a custom order for a solid black rayon chenille scawl. “A what?” you might ask.

I don’t know what else to call it. It’s wider than a scarf and narrower than a shawl, so for today I’m calling it a scawl.

The order came from a woman who’d visited my Etsy store. She initially ordered a red scarf, but through communication with her, she decided that a wide, black scarf (or scawl) was what she really wanted. All good with me.

I’ve also sold an alpaca scarf on Etsy. So even taking into consideration that this is the best time to sell things, and that I’ve taken care to use tags that help me get found, it looks like Etsy was a good decision for me. I am POSITIVE I would not have sold either of these pieces through my website.

And I’m being successful in limiting my time spent on Facebook, so that’s been fine so far, too.

Hope you all had plenty to be grateful for, and enjoyed your Thanksgiving, regardless of how you spent it.