Taco Tea Towels

During 2011, I took part in a tea towel exchange and the results were so much fun. One of the tea towels I received was this symphony in warm colours.

This tea towel became my ‘go to’ cloth to wrap up warm corn tortillas on our weekly Mexican Monday, so it is associated with many, many happy memories. Now, after nine years of use wrapping up the hot off the grill tortillas, as well as the obligatory dish drying, it's a tad faded but still in wonderful condition, all soft and absorbent.  Just goes to show that investing in a handmade tea towel is well worth it!

The colours I chose for my Taco Tea Towels are from M. Brassard et fils in Quebec; Orange Fonce, Honey, Brick, Mauve and Cerise.  All are in 2/8 unmercerized cotton, which is the perfect tea towel yarn in my opinion.

The pattern I decided upon is the same pattern I used on my very first project on my Louet Spring Loom in 2008.  It is a 12 shaft pattern that has sections of 2/2 twill, basketweave and plaited twill.  I put on a warp 7 yards long to make 6 tea towels each 36 inches long.   Hmmm, when will I ever go metric....Canada went metric in 1970 and I use metrics for everything except weaving, go figure!

The weft on the first tea towel is Framboise ~ another Canadian foible in that I see framboise, I write framboise but my mind translates it to raspberry right away....ahh the joys of bilingualism.  This weft really highlights the orange plaited twill  and the 2/2 twill sections.

The weft on the second tea towel is Orange Brulee, or burnt orange, and in this tea towel the brick plaited twill sections are the star.  You can really pick up the basket weave in the mauve stripes too.

The garden shot this week is a new addition to my growing love of cone flowers in my perennial borders.  This one is Echinacea purpurea ‘Green Twister’ and what a beauty.