Shhh - I won’t tell anyone - but what’s on your loom this December?

Good morning from the Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. On my Carolyn table loom I have just finished sleying the Rustic Elegance linen tea towel kit from JST. I love how easy the 16/2 linen is to work with.

Last week I finished 16/2 cotton towels from Season 7 episode 8 Turned Taquete. My first project using 16/2 cotton, and I have to say, this weight cotton is now my FAVORITE for drying dishes. Super speedily absorbent !! I can't wait to complete the 16/2 linen kit to compare absorbency !!

Last evening I finished weaving and wet finishing a shawl using the JST pattern for Burgoyne Berries, but substituted Harrisville Shetland in Loden Blue for the berry color.

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Sadly, my David still has Summer & Winter placements on it. End of warp, though! No weaving for a little while as my attention has been hijacked by our kitchen remodel 😵‍💫. Looking forward to the next project, though. Whatever it may be.

Oh, very nice Cheryl. I would never have thought to weave towels with 2/16 cotton. Doesn't that take much longer to weave???

Hey Beth, Jane gave directions in the lesson pdf for 8/2 or 16/2 cotton. For the 16/2 the epi was 28 and the number of ends needed was something like 576 or so. Probably took about 1/3 more time to weave, so not too bad. Thankfully I'm not production weaving!!

Also, I used all 8 of the shafts on my table loom so I wouldn't run out of heddles.

Not quite on my loom yet, but just took this 10yd warp for Season 4’s Twills off my newly built DIY mill. I’m not sure the mill was faster than a warping board, but it was definitely easier on the body. Fun to build it as well!

Nice job on that. I have a DIY warping mill, too. ;)

In my quest for the best fiber for "drying" dishes, I have now finished weaving kitchen towels on two different warps. One was the 16/2 cotton towels I described earlier in this thread, and the other was 16/2 linen using the JST Rustic Elegance Towel kit My thoughts are:.

16/2 cotton. Affordable, many colors available. Finer yarn and thus needs a closer set and more warp ends. That being said, this yarn was easy to warp and weave. The absorbance vs 8/2 cotton was superior and I much prefer these towels vs 8/2 cotton for “drying” dishes. Comes out of dryer with very few wrinkles.

16/2 linen. More expensive and not available at my local yarn/weaving/spinning store. I feel very lucky to have a local store and try my best to support the business. This yarn is similar to 8/2 cotton in weight and sett. While I don’t consider this linen difficult to weave with, it is fiddly to weave with as it needs a very tight tension at all times and is less forgiving for any tension variations. The yarn is springy and likes to unwind itself from the bobbins. I know I could moisten them, but I prefer to weave with a yarn that doesn’t need special handling when a similar cloth can be woven more easily with a different yarn. The absorbance is also superior compared to 8/2 cotton. The towels come out of the dryer wrinkled enough that I feel the need to iron them before using.

In conclusion, thus far, Cottolin and 16/2 cotton are now my favorites for kitchen towels and I have a feeling my stash of 8/2 cotton will be languishing.

Our kitchen remodel is still in progress since Feb 23. So I know how it slows you down, sometimes to a stand still. Here' a "late" autumn towel warp in progress. 8/2 MB Cottons, 20epi, 24ppi

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Hand dyed 50% wool, 50% silk, DK weight. 31" wide. Still sampling for sett. but this is at 8epi and 20ppi in turned twill. I sampled earlier this year and didn't realize that the 50/50 was fingering weight, so, after measuring the warp (4 Yd) in DK, I wove a bit and am now cutting this from the loom for fulling to see what I think of the hand.

I'm thinking I don't like the turned twill so far apart for this shawl. I cut this off for fulling test, and will re-thread and dent for a closer set of twills. It's really thick and doesn't have the drape I want. But it sure is warm and soft in the 50/50.

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Here's a set of samples I wove for this turned twill project. I started out at 20epi, then re-dented for 16epi, and finally 12epi. The yarn was fingering weight. The above yarn is sett at 8epi for DK weight. But the 3/2 turned twill structure is probably not right for this shawl. I cut it off, and will full it. I bet I wind up with 10-12 epi. We'll see.

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Just finished 4 pieces to cover the arms of my white leather lounge :-) inspired from the twills lesson using DDDDDLDL & LLLLLDLD :-) now to think of a pattern for a blanket to cover the seat… maybe just using tine in tone with 3 shades of grey so that I can make some lovely cushions that won’t clash with too many patterns???

I'm new to JST, but have been using what I learned in Season 1. Here are the towels I made as Christmas gifts. Now I am well on my way into the first project for Season 2.
https://ibb.co/vPf2zxP
https://ibb.co/J5wSDjv