Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Red and White and a Little Green

The tea towels are off the loom, fulled and hand hemmed. The plan was to use up the last of the Curl Brothers 2/8 red cotton and I succeeded in doing just that. Succeeded so well in fact that I completely ran out about 40 inches from the end of my warp, so I got to make a dent in the last of the Curl Brothers green!
This pattern is just wonderful for tea towels, it really puffed up and has a lot of texture and I swear from a distance there is even some iridescence…I would really recommend this pattern, easy to weave, easy to spot mistakes and very lofty. You can see the texture in this close up.
On a completely different track, my tomato plants are doing exceptionally well and are into the 8th leaf set now. The grow lights have kept them from being too leggy, so that’s a bonus. I had to be quite horrid last week and felt so bad thinning each pot to only 1 plant, but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind….
Photo removed to save space...2012
My dilemma is that although the tomatoes are ready to go into my green house (you can see it on the far left of this photo), the snow on the ground states otherwise. We are still completely covered in snow as you can see. Usually, by this time I can have my plants out in the green house during the day and inside at night, but this La Nina year is throwing me for a loop. We are experiencing temperatures about 10 degrees below normal, that’s huge! Guess I’ll just have practice patience this year.

I went to the Shuswap Seedy Saturday last week; it’s an offshoot of Seeds of Diversity, which encourage saving heritage seeds- these seeds are open pollinators, so their offspring will be genetically the same as the parent plants. The seeds exchanged are never genetically modified, or terminator seeds – these are seeds that have been modified to produce sterile seeds to benefit the agrochemical industry. When you went through the door there was a huge table of seeds in bottles and envelopes, you just helped yourself to them and left any seeds that you had saved. It was wonderful and I was able to add 2 tomato varieties to my collection.

Weaving Words
The word texture is derived from the Latin verb textere meaning to weave.

9 comments:

Life Looms Large said...

Love the towels!! At first I was thinking Christmas when I saw the colors, til I read about them. They would make great Christmas gifts! (Not a hint....really!)

It already seems like a long time ago that you were posting about seeds and plants and getting spring started.....and it's still winter here. Hopefully spring is on its way!

That seed exchange is a great idea!

Sue

bspinner said...

The towels are great!!!! I sure do like the colors you've chosen.

Sunrise Lodge Fiber Studio said...

The towels look fantastic!!! The texture really is great! :) Spring is almost here!!! Hooray!

charlotte said...

This pattern looks great and I love the colors!

Theresa said...

Great towels. They look so plump and pretty.
Is the weave on 8 shafts? I know you show the draft but it's a bit tiny on my screen to actually count the shafts in the draft.
Spring, we're just happy with sun. Forget the temp this morning is 15 degrees F.

Deanna said...

Love the towels, they look *joyful*! That's cool about the seed exchange, too. I'm gardening-challenged, so I find this really fascinating and amazing!

Lynnette said...

Hi Theresa,
Yup the pattern is on 8 shafts. If it appeals to you send me an email and I'll send the pattern to you as a WIF. The photos just don't do it justice, it's by far the thickest towel I have ever woven with 2/8 cotton.
lynneisweaving@yahoo.ca

Cindie said...

I love your tea towels - did you put a plain weave border on the selvedge edges? or does the lace go to the edge? They are wonderful, I just may have to weave some in the near future.

Anonymous said...

I have to chime in to say the same thing: fantastic towels! Seeing them finished, I'd never have believed the draft is so straightforward.