Current Loom Projects

I recently finished a looper rug that was on Fanny, but I'm not happy with it.  I had trouble with the stretchiness of the loops and it affected the width of the rug.  Usually weaving tends to get narrower, but this rug grew in width.  Oh, well, live and learn.  I can still wipe dirty feet on it at the back door!  The color isn't the best in the photo.  It should have been taken in daylight instead of at night.  It really isn't this yellow.

Yesterday, I wound a warp of thick and thin yarn that my daughter Rachel dyed a while back when she came to visit.   It is a short warp, only 3 1/2 yards of thick and thin cotton.  I put it on Fanny, and is destined for towels.  A towel from the Handwoven publication, Winning Towels from the 21st century towel contest was the inspiration for the warp stripes.  I tend to like things symetrical, so I'm not sure how I will like these.  I wish I hadn't made the widest blue stripe quite that wide, and put part of it on the left half instead.  I still need to thread the heddles and reed.  I will be weaving it with white in plain weave.  I'm not sure if my weft will be the thick and thin yarn, or a smooth one.  I will decide after I sample.

The fabric with wool warp and rayon weft is on Arti, and is coming along nicely.  I can't sit very long at a time to weave, so it is a bit slow, especially with the color changes.  I've got about 30" done.  I really need to get a bench or chair that doesn't bother the backs of my legs so much, and is padded.

Since this project is just fabric, I'm not worrying about yarn ends hanging out at the selvedges, or being carried up the edges.  I'm not sure what this fabric will become, but it is helping to use up some of my stash. 

Victoria still has a narrow warp from a doubleweave class I took a while ago.  I'm not too motivated to finish this project, since it was just for sampling in the class.  It is only about 10" wide, so not very useful, and I don't care for weaving on table looms.  When I decide I need the 8 harnesses for a project, I will probably finish it, or just pull it off.  I'd really like to add some treadles to the loom stand, but need to get Bob willing to help.

Dorothy has a pretty towel started on her, with Atwater-Bronson lace pickup.  My daughter-in-law Rebecca has been up a couple times, and is interested in learning about weaving.  She did the first row of hemstitching on this towel, and did a beautiful job for her first time.  The patterns that will be woven are on the clipboard in the background.  The bottom three are done.

This is a combination of two projects.  Quite a while ago, I decided to weave a bag with green rug warp and old video tapes.  It was  designed as I wove, so I have some twill in different directions, plus some plain weave, or basket weave.  It didn't have straps, so I never finished the bag. 

While my daughter-in-law was up at Easter, I showed her how to wind a warp and put it on the loom, thinking that it could be the straps, but I didn't like how it looked.  The warp was too narrow  for the heavy Fanny, so I scraped that project.  It did serve a good purpose, though, because Rebecca got a nice bit of experience on the loom with beaming the warp, threading, and weaving twill in two directions, and doing some basketweave.  Wish she could be around more.  I enjoy teaching her weaving.

I had a band of red and black that was done on my inkle loom quite a while ago when I was testing it after making the loom.  It has been hanging around, decorating my wall, but I've decided to use it for one of the bag straps, and I threaded another one.  Whenever I get that one completed, I will have a nifty conversation piece grocery bag.  I'm calling this  bag my Secret Message Bag, since the message is on the video tapes.

Enough projects and enough yacking for now, since I have to be to work early tomorrow.