Handwoven cloths to dry your salad greens!

What does a weaver do when she runs out of drying cloths for her salad greens?  Warp up her loom with 16/2 cotton (from a couple of over-sized 2.5 # cones)  and experiment with lace weaves.

Jackie has a lot of skill in designing lace, so in the planning stages for designs for salad green cloths, she devised several variations that could be woven on the same warp.  She was undecided about the sett, but finally settled on 26 epi for these regal additions to her kitchen!  Some of the cloths are a bit crisp and we wondered if one of her cones had some linen in it.  Might make the cloth just a bit more thirsty.

Jackie isn't the only crazy weaver in our group.  Recently Dee's granddaughter told her that she never uses paper towels to mop up messes - always rags which she washes and reuses.  Dee's gift to her granddaughter was a collection of handwoven rags.  Overcast edges rather than hems, but still! 

Kimono top and a special baby blanket

 Wendy-Marie has been yearning to weave and sew a kimono top.  She found a plan for the design in an older Handwoven (Nov. Dec 1991 page 42).    Wendy-Marie decided on brown and purple plain weave for the body of the kimono and then added stripes to her warp for the band decoration around neckline, down the front opening and along the bottom of the jacket.  By weaving the trim along with her garment fabric it matched the weight of her kimono -  ingenious!  She also used color stripes along the selvedge edges to guide her when she was sewing the kimono together.  The finished garment is pretty special and looks great on Wendy-Marie's small frame.

 

 

Margie made baby blankets that were about 5 years overdue.  (Baby has grown considerably).They are woven with a white cotton warp in plain weave.  The special touch was Henry's Attic Pigtail yarn, which when washed blooms into soft splendor.  Unfortunately, Henry's Attic tells us that this yarn is no longer available.  Margie has her stash, though and will be making more for future great grandchildren.  Henry's Attic suggests bonded cotton chenille for a similar effect.

 

blanket before washing

blanket after washing