The blue cotton was a
mystery cone that I didn’t know how much was on it so I pulled the warp in 50
thread groups. And I tied on from the
middle of the warp so if I ran out I could change the pattern as I needed. Thankfully I was able to squeak out enough
for the entire warp although I did make the warp short but the width remained
the same.
For the weft I used white
cotton, actually the same stuff that was the warp in the previous runners (it
is a really big cone of white cotton!).
I love blue and white colour combination; it’s so clean and classic.
The last 6 inches of
weaving was terrible. I had eased the
knots through the heddles and they were sitting just behind the beater. Every time I changed treadles I had to clear
the shed, all the knots were sticking.
How come the knots were OK behind the heddles but in front they were a
sticky mess?! I was able to slowly weave
until I was 4 inches away from the knots.
I don’t think that I will
tie on another warp. I don’t think that
it actually is a faster warping process than what I do now. I don’t think that it saves me any warp
either. This time I was able to have
only 4 inches of warp waste but next time I wouldn’t weave with the knots past
the heddles so I wouldn’t save any warp.
I just found the whole process tedious, slow and frustrating.
But the runners are off the
loom. They are sitting in a pile waiting
to be washed. I hope to get to them
sometime this week. They look great and
I can’t wait to see them washed, hemmed and on a table!
This post is about 
After washing and pressing them I noticed that they are no longer the same. The grey runner is longer than the plum runner by five inches. And the plum runner is wider than the grey runner by two inches. It is amazing the difference weft can make to a project even when the two colours are supposed to be the same.
The both runners are finished with a two inch border with fancy hemstitching in the middle. The plum runner has trellis stitching and the grey has ladder hemstitching which I am going to be lacing a ribbon through to add a punch of colour. I haven’t bought the ribbon so I don’t know the colour yet but I am thinking blue.
For the plum runner I chose the weft dominant side. I think the warp dominant side too white and it washes out the pattern, although in the picture it looks pretty good.
For the grey runner I also chose the weft dominant side but for a different reason. The weft is a thick and thin variegated grey and black silk so on the warp dominant side there are splotches of black that look like mistakes.
On the weft dominant side there is more colour and the black blends in better.
The runners were so much fun to weave and I love the colours. The runners made a nice change to all the scarves that I have been weaving. I really like these runners, so much so that I have tied on, but that is another post!
This pattern really allows me to play around with warp colours the stripe placement. I pulled the warp with stripes in three different shades of grey, black, mauve and white as the divider threads. I used black weft on all six tea towels but every tea towel has a unique weft stripe sequence. These colours just look amazing with stainless steel appliances.
I thought I’d share my way of ensuring that all the stripes begin and end at the same place, so that when the tea towels are displayed they look their best.
I have a non stretchy piece of trim that is 36 inches long and that I’ve marked off with a line 4 inches from one end. I pin this to my woven cloth after a few picks and weave to the marker.
I then begin to weave any stripe sequence I feel like; when I’m happy with the result I pull the other end of the trim forward and match it up with the piece pinned to my fabric. I then insert a straight pin to mark where my stripes end. 
I can then forget about measuring my woven cloth, I just pin the tape to the cloth as I go along. I ‘frog leap’ two pins as I go along so that there is never a time when the tape isn’t attached to the cloth. 
When I reach my straight pin I start the stripe sequence I’ve chosen and weave it in reverse. This ensures that both ends match perfectly. 
I thought I’d share this photo….I feel like a proud mama with my first really ripe Meyer Lemon! I got one lemon last year that I had to remove when still under ripe; but this year I have 10 on my wee tree and one just about ready to eat!
I noticed when I was standing off square to the tea towel that there was a really interesting zigzag effect. This was totally unexpected since the pattern is basically rectangular blocks, but it certainly adds to the visual appeal.
This is a closer look at the Summer side and the Winter side and you can see that all those pesky reed marks have miraculously disappeared. I guess crossing your fingers and toes really does work!
I only had the enough of the soft teal weft to complete four tea towels, but luckily I had a slightly darker green/blue 2/8 cotton for the final two tea towels. Here they are side by side and I’m really pleased with both colours.
So here they are, all hemmed and pressed and ready for our fall sale in October. The only thing I would change is the length of the repeat. Each full pattern is just over three inches in length on the loom; and by tightening it up I could add weft stripes. Ah well ~ next time.
The warp for my runners is unbleached 2/5 cotton and I have enough for two runners. The weft that I’m using for the first runner is silk noil in a soft plum that has bits of cream, brown, black and red. The pattern really shows up well with the plum weft.
If you have ever wondered what the difference between a table runner and yardage is, it’s the fact that a table runner has a border on all edges. This runner has 2 inches of border on each side and the finish hem will also have 2 inches of border with trellis hemstitching in the middle.
The weft for the second runner is a similar silk noil but in grey. The weft has more variation in grist than the plum weft, unfortunately there are a lot of knots in the skeins so I am constantly reaching for the scissors, hence the title running with scissors!
The second runner is actually weaving up a little differently then the first runner, it’s a little wider and the picks per inch is a little different but not enough to impact the 45 degree angle of the pattern.
The runners are still on the loom at this point and I am really looking forward to seeing them completed. I’m really enjoying the easy weaving of the runners and so I am thinking about tying on to the warp.
Ngaire developed this pattern from a pattern by Mark Wilhite found in Handwoven November/December 1990, but I asked if I could weave it as I loved the colour. It’s quite amazing how each weaver changes patterns and how they evolve. Ngaire took out the plain blocks and merged the two pattern sequences as well as turning the draft.
The treadling is done in duplicate pairs, so although the pattern has 68 picks, it’s a cinch to remember. (1-3-2-3, 1-4-2-4, 1-5-2-5 etc) I’ve tied the loom up so the treadling is a walking sequence. My left foot does the alternating tabby treadles and my right foot takes care of the four pattern treadles. Sooooooo easy! 
This photo is the reverse side of the fabric ~ the Summer side, and it actually has the truest colours of all the photos today. 
The tube lying down is the sum total of the weft I have left after weaving only four tea towels! The other two tubes are pretty close in colour and have enough blue in the green and I’m hoping that one or the other will work on my final two towels! 
The garden keeps me from my loom, but my nicely filling pantry is showing the fruits of our labour. We have jars of jams galore and beautiful Okanagan peaches and green filet beans just waiting to be opened on a cold winter day!
This may come as a surprise (not!) but I wanted to try a new lace weave and Swedish lace came to mind. I liked the pictorial properties that the lace has. I found a draft on Handweaving.net for hearts on 16 shaft showing hearts facing each other and changed the draft to suit my loom, which only has 12 shafts. I ended up with a 9 shaft pattern.
Due to the size of the hearts and not wanting to cram them too tightly I was only able to get three hearts across and for added interest the hearts are offset. When I saw them on the loom I was a little concerned because the floats were quite long at just a smidgen over ¼”.
The weaving went quite quickly once I actually sat down to weave, funny how that works! I took my time and measured every pattern repeat as I went because it would have been noticeable if they were differently sized. I didn’t have to do any un-weaving as miraculously each pattern repeat was the right size which is a first for me!
At the halfway point I changed the direction of the hearts, because I wanted the ends of the scarf to match. There was an optical illusion that made the upside down heart rounder and shorter, but they weren’t!
After washing I stuck the scarf outside and learned something interesting. Bamboo takes a very long time to dry but if you stick it outside at 35C with a light breeze in about an hour it will be dry!
This scarf is so lacy, truly lovely – even with the wrinkles!
There is a shiny side and a matte side to this scarf. The shiny side is the weft dominant side, the Tencel side, and the hearts gleam. The matte side is the warp dominant side which is where the Bamboo really takes over.
When I was twisting the fringe I was using a cookbook called Mediterranean Diet to hold the scarf and that gave me the idea to call the scarf Love in a Mist because it reminds me of the delicate blue flowers of the same name. They are also known as Nigella and the seeds are edible, tasting of pepper and lemon and is mostly used in Middle Eastern Food. The picture is from the herb garden that lines the path to the front door.
The scarf has a wonderful drape and I love the combination of Bamboo and Tencel. Bamboo has such a richness of colour and the Tencel adds lightness and shine. It is a wonderful match as long as the Bamboo is used as the warp and Tencel is the weft ~ reversing the two can create linen-like hard selvage turns as the Bamboo keeps it round shape and doesn’t snug up quite as well.