Process Review: Snowflake Banners

I reached the end of the drawloom warp on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning, before Steve and I finished loading up the Casita travel trailer, I cut the warp off the loom. I grabbed a handful of thrums, chained them so they wouldn’t tangle, and threw the bundle into a small bag along with my cowgirl band heddle. And off we went for a short little getaway!

Relaxing under shade trees at the campground, I weave what I need for the four towels’ hanging tabs.

Steve is doing some wood carving. I tied my band warp to his chair. I doubled the 16/2 cotton warp threads in the cowgirl band heddle to make the band wide enough for towel hanging tabs.

Back home, after the towels are wet finished and hemmed, I have an “a-ha!” moment: Only one of these cloths shall be used as a towel. The other three cloths will serve as Christmas Snowflake banners.

There is some irony in the fact that I wove hanging tabs for these three cloths that have since been given an alternate purpose as celebratory Christmas banners.

Christmas Snowflake banners. Revisit the process with me, start to finish:

To see the towels from the first half of this warp, click here: Process Review: House and Home Towels. To see more about the cowgirl band heddle, click here: Cowgirl Band Weaving.

May you have “a-ha!” moments that change how you see things.

Love,
Karen

Cowgirl Band Weaving

Remember the rigid heddles for band weaving that Steve made for me? (See Process Review: Heddles and Bands) Soft maple, Spanish cedar, and walnut. Steve says they are missing the “cuteness factor.” So, what does he do? He makes a cowgirl heddle out of cherry that is cute as can be!

Miss Cherry Cutie has a warp of 8/2 cotton and 22/2 cottolin, mixed in an asymmetrical design. Steve converted a little sett tool into a shuttle by bevelling the long edge and carving the sides into curves to hold the wrapped thread.

Well, Miss Cherry Cutie wants to flip over while weaving. A little quilter’s clip on the bottom adds just enough weight. Problem solved. Now Steve wants to make one that has more weight on the bottom half.

Quilter’s clip at the bottom gives Miss Cherry Cutie the balance she needs to stay upright while weaving.
Quilter’s clip serves a dual purpose. Besides adding weight for balance while weaving, the clip holds everything together nicely. I can drop this small bundle in a bag, and add a belt and a band lock, and off we go!

Here comes Miss Cutey II in Spanish cedar, with a longer skirt. She doesn’t tip all the way, but she does lean this way and that. The clip helps her, too. Conclusion? The shorter version, with the clip, is more compact and is our favorite design.

Miss Cutie II has a petticoat that hangs below her skirt. This extra length makes her a bit more stable than Miss Cherry Cutie. I cut Miss Cherry Cutie’s warp in half to give Miss Cutie II a warp. These are the same threads, but arranged in a more symmetrical order. She has her own sett tool shuttle, too.
Miss Cutie II also benefits from the added weight of a quilter’s clip.

Look who shows up! Miss Cutie III in Spanish cedar. It’s time for a band weaving party, y’all!

Miss Cutie III shows up unexpected. She waits to be threaded with a few ends from the thrums of the Priceless Monksbelt Runner. (See Process Review: Priceless Monksbelt and Video.)
Facedown for threading, Miss Cutie III receives the 16/2 cotton threads for her warp. This warp has five doubled pattern threads.
Threaded and ready for a 5-thread pick-up pattern.
Narrow band, with a subtle zigzag pattern.
Back of band has soft floats in triangular shapes.

Persistence comes from having an end in mind. Prayer is like that. We know our heavenly Father hears us when we pray. We know his outcome is good. Faith compels us to persist in prayer. As we do, the Lord guides our heart to align with his will. All the while, he works behind the scenes to bring his answer, which is better than anything.

May you persist as needed.

In his time,
Karen

Process Review: Jämtlandsdräll with Julia

My intention is to weave fabric for a couple of cushy throw pillows. But after just one pattern repeat, I realize that this cloth on my brand new Glimåkra Julia is something I would like to wear! No pillows this time. Instead, here is my new autumn/winter shoulder wrap, embellished with frisky swinging fringes. Miss Julia has proven her worth on four-shaft Jämtlandsdräll (crackle) in 6/2 Tuna wool. Her next adventure will be something that explores all eight shafts. (See My New Glimåkra Julia Loom.)

Jämtlandsdräll Wool Wrap - woven on Glimåkra Julia.
Finished wrap. Ready for cool weather!

This project starts with the draft for the Jämtlandsdräll Blanket on p.59 of Simple Weaves, by Birgitta Bengtsson Björk and Tina Ignell. Tuna yarn samples, along with Fiberworks Silver for Mac, help me jazz up the color. I settle on three colors for the warp, with burnt orange as the anchor. Six different colors are used for the pattern weft, plus dark teal for the tabby.

Planning my next weaving project on Fiberworks.
Paint chips, Tuna yarn samples, and Fiberworks Silver for Mac aid my planning process.
Colors! Let's see how they work together on the loom.
Colors! Let’s see how they work together on the loom.
Beaming the warp on my new Julia.
Beaming the warp.
Weaving Jamtlandsdrall (Crackle) on my new Julia.
Daylight, plus colorful yarn. As summer is warming up outside, Julia is dressed warmly inside.
Weaving Jamtlandsdrall (crackle) on my new Julia.
There is something about weaving with a double-bobbin shuttle that I especially enjoy.
Color gradation in the pattern.
Some color gradation in the pattern.
My new Glimakra Julia!
Miss Julia, filling up her cloth beam.
Crackle (Jamtlandsdrall) in Tuna Wool.
Ending with a few picks of plain weave.
End of warp on my new Glimakra Julia.
Thrums at the end of the warp will serve as fringe.
Cutting off Jamtlandsdrall (crackle)!
Cutting off, giving a view of the back side of the cloth. Front and back have reverse images.
Jämtlandsdräll, just off the loom.
Jämtlandsdräll, just off the loom.
Twisting fringe on Jamtlandsdrall wrap.
Much to my pleasant surprise, after removing (unweaving) my short sample weaving at the beginning, and untying the front tie-on knots, I had the EXACT same length of fringe–to the centimeter–on both ends of the woven wrap.
Chunky, frolicky fringe.
Overhand knots secure the weft. Two groups of four warp strands each form each chunky fringe. Now, this wrap is ready for wet-finishing.

This is one of those times when the weaving is so satisfying that I truly don’t want the warp to come to an end. (…except that I’m excited to start on Julia’s second adventure!)

Jämtlandsdräll Autumn/Winter Wrap
Jämtlandsdräll Autumn/Winter Wrap

May your adventures never cease.

Happy Weaving,
Karen

Handwoven Scarves Embellished with Flair

You could say I finished these scarves too late. Winter in Texas has come and gone. But I prefer to think of it as considerably early. When cool weather comes back around in a few months, I’ll be ready. I began with the draft for the lovely Stardust scarf, designed by Mona Nielsen, published in Happy Weaving, from VävMagasinet, p.74. I simply substituted the yarn and colors in the book with what I had on hand.

New warp on warping reel for winter scarves.
Warp is mostly 6/2 Tuna wool, with some 7.5/2 Brage wool included.
Stripes on the back beam. What a lovely sight!
Made with yarn on hand. This means that additional stripes have been added to the plan.
Weaving by the fire in the middle of winter.
Weaving by the fire in the middle of winter. Mora 20/2, a fine wool, is used for weft.
Two new wool scarves coming off the loom!
Two scarves coming off the loom.
Fringe twisting.
Fringes are cut and twisted.

The scarves are delightful, but the icing on the cake is the addition of fluffy, furry pompoms, an embellishment with youthful flair. And that is exactly what I will put on at the first sign of autumn chill.

Making pompoms to embellish the handwoven scarf.
Some of the thrums are used in making pompoms.
With the Pom and Tassel Maker by Red Heart I can make seven pompoms at a time.
With the Pom and Tassel Maker by Red Heart I can make seven pompoms at a time. I wrapped the yarn around 100 times, making full and thick pompoms.
Each furry ball is shaped and trimmed.
Each furry ball is shaped and trimmed. I used 8/2 cotton for the 12″ tie around the center of the pompoms.
Adding pompom embellishments to the scarf.
Each pompom is stitched to 3 – 4 twisted fringes. Seven pompoms at each end of the scarf.
Handwoven scarves with pompoms!
Now, the scarves are ready for wet finishing. Notice how you can see the separate strands of yarn in the pompoms before they are washed.
Handwoven scarves with pompoms, hanging to dry.
Scarves have been washed by hand in warm water in a large sink, with Eucalan delicate wash. I purposely gave them as much agitation as I could by hand. They are hanging to dry. Notice how the pompoms have slightly felted, making them even more soft and furry.
Winter scarf amid spring bluebonnets in Texas hill country.
Winter scarf amid spring bluebonnets in Texas hill country.

Some things are certain. The sun will rise tomorrow. The seasons will follow their schedule. The faithfulness of the Lord our God will never end.

May you dress in youthful flair.

Warmly,
Karen

Process Review: Leftover Linen Waffle Weave Washcloths

This is the kind of weaving results that makes me giggle like a child. Waffle weave is one of those things I have been intrigued about for some time, and have wanted to give it a try. Will it really buckle up into waffled wrinkles? Will linen do that? Will it be even better than I expect? Yes, yes, and YES. Talk about transformation!

Using linen thrums for weft.
Taken from thrums, each length of thread is added with a square knot, which makes for slow quill winding. And slow weaving, as I untie each knot that comes along, and overlap weft tails in the shed.
Made with linen leftovers. Weft tails cover the surface.
Shaggy thick blue linen weft tails cover the surface.

Everything in these waffle weave washcloths is linen that has been leftover from previous projects. The tail end of linen tubes, quills that didn’t quite get used up, thrums, and threading missteps that gave me skinny warp chains of several meters. The warp is 16/2 linen, but the weft is everything from fine linen threads, to bundles of threads, to coarse linen rug warp. I discovered, as you will see, that the thicker the weft, the more pronounced the wrinkles. The thickest wefts have given me delightful accordion pleats.

Waffle weave washcloths made entirely of leftover linen.
Wet-finished linen waffle weave has a surprisingly soft hand. After hemming, I am trimming the weft tails to 1/4″, leaving a hint that this is made of leftovers.

Please enjoy this process video of the making of leftover linen waffle weave washcloths! Watch to the end to see the squishiness of this unusual cloth.

Don’t think that this is the end of waffle weave. I am already thinking of all the interesting possibilities…

May your best wrinkles make you giggle.

Happy Happy Weaving,
Karen