Weaver's Poker - How Wendy-Marie Used Her Cards

Wendy Marie wove a set of stunning purple towels for her challenge.  The cards she drew were as follows:  

--Color: Purple

--Color relation: Monochromatic contrast

--Pattern/Structure: Summer & Winter

--Yarn: Ribbon

--Design element: Border

Here's her description of the project: 

Sarah H. Jackson’s design for “Four Blocks on Four Shafts: Summer & Winter Towels” (Handwoven, May/June 2013) was the inspiration for this piece. Some unusual things about her design are:

1) Both the pattern and the tabby weft are the same grist. Normally, pattern yarn is slightly thicker in Summer & Winter.

2) The pattern and tabby colors change every inch or so, together with the treadling. The effect is a complex interaction of three colors (warp, pattern, tabby) as well as the interaction of the different blocks.

3) She {Sarah} manages to obtain 4 pattern blocks on 4 shafts, and still preserve the tabby ground.

It is a complex design, and at moments I felt like a pianist trying to play 3/4 time with my right hand and 4/4 time with my left – a real mind boggle.

   

Threading

 

Like Diana, I did not want to buy more yarn. I had a drawer full of various 10/2 purple cotton, but no 8/2 purples. So I reconfigured Jackson’s design, which calls for 8/2 cotton sett at 18 epi, into 10/2 cotton sett at 24 epi. To restore width lost by the denser sett, I added 12 ends to each of the six warp colors, and repeated each of the 4-thread units six times rather than five.

It was hard to predict how the colors would work together, so I just grouped the rosier purples on one side and the bluer purples on the other side. In retrospect, I wonder if the white warp would look better on an edge rather in the center, where it tends to bisect the towel. 

 

Purple Summer & Winter Towels

 

How was I going to add ribbon and border? At this point, I considered dropping those, and just showing up with a “three of a kind” poker hand. But eventually it dawned on me to use the ribbon as a loop to hang the towel on a drawer knob. The ribbon also provided a border. The loop added a little zing.

 

Towel Detail

Towel Detail

Towel Detail

Use of Ribbon

 

 

I’m glad the Weaver’s Poker challenged me to stretch beyond my usual thinking.