Big Cotton Chenille Bath Sheets

Long ago ... I wove big bath sheets of 100% cotton with fuzzy chenille for the weft. They made great gifts and I found that they last well for a very long time, longer than any store-bought bath sheet. Recently, a friend was over and noticed a bath sheet on the towel rack. She was interested to know if I had more or was planning to make more.

I rifled back through my weaving project records to 1986 and found the project details. These bath sheets were obviously woven on my original loom that was 36" (90 cm) wide because my big loom arrived two years later. And when I rifled through a deep shelf unit I discovered some of the original chenille that I know will stand up to lots of use.

These new bath sheets are being woven 42" wide in seven wide stripes of Dornik twill herringbone. The stripes should look quite subtle in the finished towels. My interested friend commented on the dark coral specks and I was able to use that colour in the varied warp.

Beaming the warp onto the loom's back beam

Threading the 840 heddles (42 inches wide x 20 threads/inch)

Warp is sleyed through the 10-dent reed at 2 threads per space

Warp tied on and header woven. Note the faint wide stripes.

Starting a bath mat in 4-4 twill (over 4 threads, under 4, over 4, etc.)

And I'm off to a long warp of 18 metres.

I'll soon notify my friend when the bath sheets are ready. I appreciate receiving good ideas like this one, so once I finish the bath sheets and some bath mats I'll offer her as the idea person a first look to decide whether or not to buy. Instead of a formal commission project, there are no expectations on anyone and everyone's happy.

10th Set of Shetland Wool Blankets

This latest set of Shetland wool blankets is woven in the same twill pattern as the recent zingy cotton blankets. That was the plan - make a set of blankets in cotton before weaving with Shetland wool, just to give myself a better sense of this twill pattern.

The tones I used are stripes of near-black with charcoal or dark brown, interspersed with medium grey. The twill pattern is bold and perfect for big, warm blankets.

SH052

SH053

SH054 | Colours going across are near-black, dark brown and dark green

SH055

Some Finished Zingy Cotton Blankets

These blankets were fun to weave, easy to hem, and nice to finish up for measuring and photographing. These four are 135 cm (53") wide and range from 185 cm (73") to 200 cm (79") long. They're soft and drape well, and would be nice to wrap up in.

Here is one of my favourite colour combinations in these blankets.

And the four finished blankets (four more almost done, too) ...

C152 | 100% cotton | $170

C153 | 100% cotton | $170

C154 | 100% cotton | $170

C155 | 100% cotton | $170

Starting Off 2014 Well

This was a special Christmas gift from my sister, Alison, and an amazing surprise! I'm still smiling about it.

Each month has a photo of one of my blankets beautifully displayed in her house. January shows a wool blanket with handspun Romney wool from the Wenger Sheep Farm with one of Alison's needlepoint pillows. The rest of the calendar is just as beautiful. Great job, wonderful gift, thank you!

Zingy Cotton Blankets Finished on the Loom

Yesterday I finished weaving the zingy cotton blankets. One is being fringed and the rest will be machine hemmed. These were fun and interesting to weave, and will look better after washing than they do on the loom.

Warp colours in winter sunlight

C150

C151

C151

C152

C154

Hope your new year is off to a good start. :-)

Farewell to 2013

2013 has been very good to me in many ways. Cariboo Handwoven grew in sales, website hits, blog pageviews, and general interest in my community. My plan for 2014 has many exciting challenges, such as my show with potter Joan Beck at the Station House Gallery next November, continued blogging of my projects and thoughts, restocking of my studio and three local outlets with blankets and towels, and more.

Thank you very, very much to my sister, Alison, in Ottawa who has been instrumental in the growth and success of Cariboo Handwoven.

Thank you to Pat for all the systems assistance and advice I've needed over the year, and for his wise perspectives on many things.

Thank you to all the inspiration and guidance from artists like weaver Laura Fry, marketing coach Alyson Stanfield and self-described writer-who-draws Austin Kleon.

And a huge THANK YOU to my customers whose support has been wonderful and which I have so appreciated. All your written feedback is posted on my bulletin board or kept on file electronically. :)

Here are some of my favourite wool blankets from 2013:

SH003 | Sold in Ottawa in April

SH019 | Available

SH020 | Available in Ottawa

SH036 | Last available blanket in the Autumn Storm series

SH047 | Available

A209 | Sold in Ottawa in November

Best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy 2014!

Zingy Cotton Blankets

After weaving, fringing and selling many wool blankets lately, I needed a contrast. My big cotton blankets in bold twills have been fun to make as well as really popular, and another one just sold today in Ottawa. I decided last week to warp on wide stripes of interesting colours that Pat describes as "zingy." Here is the warp being threaded:

The blankets are the full loom width of 60" (152 cm) and the cotton is threaded again at 24 ends/inch. Total number of warp ends: 1,440. During the threading stage I play little mind games to get myself through the 5 or 6 hours it takes, and then there's still the next two steps of sleying the reed and tying on the warp.

Here's the first blanket underway:

I'm keen to continue weaving through the upcoming holidays!

Merry Christmas.