Friday, August 30, 2019

Cottolin Towels and Napkins

I hosted my first Not 2 Square group meeting this August. We gathered in my studio, a workshop addition my husband and I had built onto the back of our detached garage, where I debuted my latest project: two tea towels and ten napkins. 

The yarn and instructions were from the Organic Cottolin Tea Towels: Eight Woven Twill Towels  kit by Halcyon Yarn. I was lucky enough to win the kit at the Halcyon Yarn booth at Convergence 2018 in Reno. I chose the Peacock colorway which consisted of 4-1,550 yard tubes of 2/8 organic cotolin in peacock, teal, magenta and lime, and the pattern by Michael Patterson for Halcyon Yarn. 

I followed the warp color guide, wound an 8-yard warp and dressed my 8-shaft Baby Wolf loom at 20 epi with the threading provided, which was based on a four-thread herringbone draft. After weaving two towels I decided they looked good in my studio, but I didn’t need eight tea towels out there. What I could put to good use would be napkins. I was able to weave ten unique napkins by varying the treading and weft colors and I am pleased with the result. 

The cotolin, 60% organic cotton and 40% linen, was a little rough on the tube and shed a bit while weaving, but the finished items have a lovely hand. When washed in warm water in the washing machine, hung to dry and pressed with my 35-year-old Elna clothing press, the cotton bloomed and the linen relaxed. The fabric length was cut apart, edges stay stitched, and items hemmed by hand.  There was a 15% draw-in and shrinkage so the finished napkins were a touch over 17” x 17”. I would definitely weave with the Halcyon Yarn cottolin again.


Mary

Mary's Napkins

Mary's Towels

Monday, August 26, 2019

Highlights from the County Fair

The Local County Fair has come and gone.  The weaving and spinning entries were amazing as usual.  Many of the Not 2 Square members entered beautiful pieces again this year.  Here are the highlights.

Betsy captured the People's Choice award with a beautiful shawl made from hand-dyed tencel.

Betsy's Shawl


Diana garnered an Honorable Mention with her bright and fun turned taquete towels made with 10/2 and 8/2 cotton.  


Diana's Towel

Ingrid submitted a shawl woven from Madeline Tosh merino yarns.  This was woven in an 8-shaft extended twill pattern.

Ingrid's Shawl


Jeanne won a second place ribbon with this elegant hand towel.  She wove it with 40/2 Normandy linen with Lanis Valley Linen as the pattern.

Jeanne's Towel



Karen won a first place ribbon with a fabulous wool rug.  

Karen's Rug

Marcy's classic dresser scarf, woven in cotton with M's and W's pattern won a second place ribbon.

Marcy's Table Runner

Mardi's show stopping shawl was woven in plain weave with rayon chenille.  It feels as fabulous as it looks.


Mardi's Shawl



Sue R. woven a colorful table runner from the warp left over from last year's demonstration project.  She used bleach to remove color from black yarn for the weft.  This inventive piece was a first place finisher.



Sue R's Table Runner


Sue V.'s yardage entry brought her a second place ribbon.  This cotton piece woven in a twill design used a variety of yarns from Sue's stash.

Sue V's Yardage

We are starting to look ahead to what we will be weaving for next year's fair entries.