Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Time for More Yarn!

It's August.

I have weaving homework due in September and October.

Time to get to work!

Here's my dining room when I'm deep in thought about a yarn purchase.

I'm buying yarn right now to make 24 lace samples by mid-September. I've chosen a draft. Now I need yarn.

My plan is to do the samples at the start of the warp (4 samples wide by 6 samples long), then weave 7 dish towels from the end of the warp. I can never have enough towels for my kitchen, and the kitchens of friends. I love giving towels as gifts!


While I'm at it, I've got a towel warp on my Toika that has veered off course from my original concept for the project. I'm still very happy with the project, but I need a different weft color.

I have a bit of a purple cottolin from Halcyon that will be perfect for this project. Their website makes cottolin seem a little confusing.

A quick phone call straightens me out. Halcyon will still carry the Swedish cottolin that I love, but as a special order.

They will also be sourcing a new cotolin from Canada that they can get more quickly.

Fortunately, the color I want is still in stock so there won't be a long wait for it.


For my lace samples and towels, I've played around a bit with the Homestead Cotton color card. I'm planning a warp with 3 colors, then will experiment with different colors in the weft.

I used crayons to design my general color scheme. I won't really know what I think until the yarn arrives.

Fortunately, it's $3.50 for a 600-yard mini-cone, so I can afford to buy some extra colors.


In October, I have homework in the Theo Moorman technique. We just have to make a finished project, rather than samples to share with the rest of the class.

I've decided to try to make a bag using yarn left from my First-Time-at-WEBS Scarves.

I'll use the bulky knitting yarns from that project as the inlay threads. I have a blended yarn for the thick yarn in the ground cloth. But I need to find a coordinating thin yarn for the ground cloth. That thin yarn will also tie down the inlay threads. (If I'm using this terminology incorrectly, please let me know! I don't want to lead people astray!)

Luckily, Halcyon has Pearl Cotton that should do nicely.

Now, I'll just add some soda ash for a future dyeing project, and some new color cards since my Yarn Store in a Box is a little out of date.

Hopefully the yarn will arrive in plenty of time for my fall deadlines! (Of course, both of my looms are occupied too.....so I need to get weaving!)

I know these projects probably don't make a lot of sense to you from this blog post. I will be blogging about each one as I work on it....so no worries! Soon you'll be tired of me giving details about lace or Theo Moorman technique I promise!!

9 comments:

Theresa said...

Welcome back to the dark side! We've missed your fiber posts. :-)
Can't wait to see the towels in process and the samples going on.
Hugs and pets to Bailey. Bartlett yarns in Maine is hosting an open house, you can go see their spinning mule in action! Wonder if they give free samples away like Budweiser does? ;>

Theresa said...

LOL, should read like Budweiser does BEER, not yarn!

Delighted Hands said...

Looks like a great way to spend an afternoon! Glad you are back in the thick of things!

Charlotte said...

Ooh very exciting! The planning and musing over colours and patterns stage is always so fun. Looking forward to seeing the next instalment.

Annie said...

It's always fun, planning a new project. But often it's hard, too: decisions, decisions...
Planning towels is always great.
Moorman is a nice weave, but I found it hard to get it right at first. Lots of sampling is needed, I'm afraid. (and lots of different yarns) Looking forward to see what you've chosen.

Evelyn said...

Good reminder - I have samples to do for this fall. Cottolin is a great yarn for towels and I like the idea of putting on more warp for towels.

Janice Zindel said...

Looking forward to seeing your towels, in progress, & finished.

I love weaving with Swedish cottolin. Halcyon Yarn is a favorite. Cottolin is available from Vavstuga & Glimakra USA, too.

Sara said...

Oh, I can't wait to see your towels...and what a fun time planning and picking yarn! Thanks for the link to the cone yarn...

Sharon said...

I'll look forward to your progress and I'll also be looking for ideas. Can't wait~