Lap Robes for Holiday Cheer

This is the second year that the Not 2 Square weavers have woven lap robes for something called Holiday Cheer.  Holiday Cheer is spear headed by Judi Barbour who has been collecting holiday gifts for members of our community who are still in their homes, but have illnesses or conditions that make it hard for them to get out and about.  Visiting nurses may be the only people they see on a regular basis. 

In researching what makes a good lap robe, we searched the Internet and found that almost anything goes, but that long fringe is usually not a good idea because of the possibility of getting caught in wheel chair wheels.  Here are pictures, dimensions and details about the fruits of our labors this year.

Diana Abrell wove the strips of striped fabric in cotton and then collaborated with a quilter friend who added commercial fabric blocks and a flannel backing.  Dimensions are 41" x 41"

Ingrid Knox wove two lap robes using acrylic yarns from her stash.  These are plain weave with lots of color and weave interest.  The dimensions are 39" x 40" and 38" x 43.5"

Igor Raven woven this lap robe using a double weave technique to get a wide piece on his Baby Wolf loom.  The warp is rayon/cotton and the weft is cotton from Henry's Attic.  Since hem stitching a double width piece on the loom isn't possible, he wove an inkle band binding.  The dimensions are 34" x 41"

Jackie Hervey had lots of odds and ends of rayon and cotton yarns.  She plied them together into a new thicker yarn and woven two robes using a 2/2 twill.  The colors are very complex in these pieces.  The dimensions are 30.5" x 38" and 30.5" x 37".

Gus Young wove two robes from cotton and rayon yarns and even some ribbon from her stash.  These were woven in an 8 shaft diamond pattern on her Gilmore loom.  The dimensions are 30"x37" and 30" x 34".

Dee Jones wove the blue blocks in this quilt type lap robe and then placed them in a batik fabric background, using her skill as a quilter.  The backing is flannel for warmth.  The dimensions are 42" x 42"

I (Beryl Moody) wove this turned taquete double width on my Baby Wolf loom.  Again, since hem stitching on the loom isn't practical for double width weaving, I wove an inkle band binding.  The yarns are rayon and cotton and even a bit of linen from my stash.  The dimensions are 27" x 40"

I should have put the combined lap robes on a scale, but my estimate is that we used up about 10 pounds of stash this year.  There were 10 lap robes and we hope there will be 10 happy recipients.

Diana's Studio

It amazes me how creative weavers are when it comes to finding places to weave.  Those of us who have a dedicated space are very fortunate.  I keep trying to remind myself of how lucky I am as I drag out yarn from bins or boxes stuffed in closets or under piles of other yarns. 

Diana's weaving space is neat and full of light. She has a large window to bring in light and enough room for her loom and other weaving equipment.

The piece on the loom is yardage that Diana is making for a collaboration with a friend.  They plan to make quilted lap robes for the Holiday Cheer project. 

Having a warping board at a good height is really essential for comfortable warp winding.  I love electric bobbin winders - they really make that job faster. 

Nice double weave wall hanging!

Plenty of storage for books and yarn.

This handy piece of equipment was made by Diana's husband to store unused heddles.  What a great idea to keep the metal heddles from being tangled or bent!

What a pleasant place to weave!

Knitting Yarns into Handwoven Scarves

 

Sock yarns for knitting are often really appealing.  Especially when there is a knitting shop sale and they are a real bargain.  One of the great things about them is that they aren't too bulky to be used as warp and weft and their color repeats can be varied and interesting.

 

The two scarves shown above were woven by Ingrid Knox.  She found the yarn (Alpaca Sox) at a knitting store and had just the right idea in mind to turn it into scarves.  These two are sett at 10epi and woven in plain weave.  The color repeats make a wonderful, complex plaid as they cross each other.  These scarves are 7" x 84" long.

 

Dee is a fantastic knitter as well as a weaver who loves to experiment.  She warped her loom with cotton yarns from her stash and used Noro for the weft.  I believe that both scarves used the same Noro weft, but the warp is a different color combination for each of the scarves.  They are also plain weave but the Noro is finer than the warp, making them slightly warp faced. The ball of Noro was labeled "World of Nature", and although I know there is wool involved, I don't know what the rest of the blend is in this particular yarn.