Rainbow Napkins, Done!

I've finally finished weaving the napkins. I decided to experiment with weaving using a temple for this warp. Not for my edges, they're always fine - but it was suggested to me that a temple would reduce draw-in, and therefore allow a wider cloth for the same amount of threads. Since I weave long production-type warps of 12-14 yards, this should in theory save me on thread cost. 

Well, it slowed me down dramatically. I could have woven twice as many napkins for the same amount of time. The temple has to be moved every half-inch or so, in order to be effective. Even though the temple removal and replacement took just a few seconds, it interrupted my "flow" and took some of the enjoyment out of the weaving. And it's got to be FUN, otherwise it's not worth doing!

A temple is a great tool for keeping the woven cloth stretched to its proper width, and I'll use it for weaving rugs, but for towels and napkins, it's not for me. Lesson learned!

Here are the finished napkins - washed, dried, pressed, and hand-hemmed (available in my shop, link on the right):

Catching Up

So where was I? 3 months of silence. I really meant to keep you up to date... Best intentions, best laid plans, etc. Anyway, I've been spinning and knitting and weaving and even crocheting, and I haven't taken the time to tell you about any of it, have I?

So far in 2014 I've spun 7.5 POUNDS of fiber. Seriously. Look - I've been keeping track on Ravelry and also on Flickr. That's a lotta yarn. I've also knit a vest, finished knitting a sweater and started knitting another one, and started weaving some soft cotton napkins, random rainbows like the dishtowels I love to weave. Since the napkins were started this week, you get a picture:

When they're done, I plan to list them in my shop in pairs. I'll let you know when they're ready.

I also have TONS of the aforementioned yarn to photograph and list in the shop. Photograph - ah, there's the rub. My least favorite part - but it has to be done, otherwise you can't see the yummies.

What else? Well, we tripled the size of the vegetable garden this year. Mr. Debbie has gone all out - he put down black garden cloth, planted the veg, and mulched everything. My part was planting the seedlings indoors and nurturing the little guys under lights. We have a lovely crop of lettuce that we've already been harvesting for salads, and I'm hopeful for tomatoes, zucchini, spinach, and beans. We have some other things planted that I'm not so sure about, but only time will tell.

Hmmmm... Oh! I got a breadmaker for my birthday in mid-February, and I have been baking all our bread since then. Mr. Debbie is in heaven - he adores bread, and has declared that my bread is tastier than store-bread even the few times it's lasted long enough to get slightly stale toward the end. The smell of the bread baking is delightful.

And I bought a bicycle to ride back and forth to my Jazzercise classes. It's a 3 mile roundtrip, which is a nice addition to the Jazzercise workout. I worked out a route that only requires crossing 3 busy intersections, all at traffic lights. I haven't ridden a bike in years, I'm having so much fun! And of course I'm wearing a helmet, something we never did as kids.

So much to tell you... I'll try to be good and update more often. Promise!

Handwoven Holiday Napkins in progress

I wanted to put another project on my loom quickly - I missed throwing that shuttle! I rummaged in the stash and came up with a warp that I received in a guild exchange last year.  It was supposed to be for 2 short towels, but I'd rather have regular sized towels, so I'm weaving 3 napkins instead. The structure is a simple twill, and is weaving up fast.

Handspun Cotton Napkins in Progress

During the Tour de Fleece, I spun 800+ yards of cotton 2-ply on the charkha - SO MUCH FUN! The intention was to spin weft for some handwoven napkins - it was a fun challenge with my friend David of Southern Cross Fibre. He dyed part of the warp (which is a combination of commercial cottolin and cotton) and sent me half of it - we're weaving the same napkins on opposite sides of the world! I started weaving today:

I love the texture of the handspun cotton weft! The fabric reminds me of linen. This is a fun project, and is turning out even better than expected. Just a stepping stone to my dream of spinning the weft AND warp for weaving my own curtains. :)

Charkha-spun

I switched gears on my Tour de Fleece bike and decided to spin cotton on the charkha. I've wanted to gain more charkha proficiency, so my friend David (of Southern Cross Fibre) and I challenged ourselves to spin enough cotton 2-ply weft for a set of 4 handwoven napkins. We'll need 650-700 yards of 2-ply yarn, ~4800ypp, and we'll use commercial cottolin (that David has dyed in yummy colors for us) as the warp.

Here's my progress so far - 500 yards of 2-ply:

I love charkha-spinning. I'm going to spin another 200 yards of cotton, and then I'll explore spinning some animal fibers like cashmere and yak, along with some recycled denim fibers. FUN!

Handwoven Napkins - Chocolate Covered Cherries

I've participated in several weaving exchanges with the Jane Stafford Textiles group on Ravelry - we've done towels, placemats, and this spring we did napkins. The group chose lace as the structure, and 8/2 cotton as the yarn. I prefer a finer thread for napkins myself, but as I have plenty of 8/2 in stash, I decided to go with it.

I chose a light brown and a good medium red, and a 4-shaft draft from the Best of Handwoven: Atwater-Bronson Lace ebook. I wound the entire warp at once on my warping mill - I prefer doing that, rather than winding in smaller bouts.

On the loom and ready to go! This is my Macomber loom from the back - you can see my hanging metal harnesses and inserted eye heddles.

The lace blocks alternate with plainweave in an easy-to-remember repeat. I'm not a fan of changing weft colors so often - those little end tails are tiresome to tuck in over and over!

The draft calls for a hem - I decided to hemstitch instead, and leave a 1" fringe. I think it adds a nice touch. Ready for mailing!

They're on their way to Canada, where the coordinator will sort out all the napkins received and send back an assortment. I'm looking forward to seeing the creativity of my fellow exchangers.

I'm planning to weave myself a few sets of napkins - our household is doing our best to move away from using disposable paper towels and napkins, and it's one step closer to my dream of weaving all our home textiles. My next set will be in finer/thinner cotton, and believe me, it won't have so many weft color changes!