Twisp of Fate

Warning – weaving jargon ahead!  But I need to put in the information for those who want to know…

Back in April, our guild had Robyn Spady come and teach a 2-day workshop called “Extreme Warp Makeover.”  I blogged about it here.  To summarize, we chose one of 3 threadings for our looms, then spent 2 days exploring all the variations we could get with different tie-ups and treadlings.  I chose the Rosepath Twill threading and set my loom up with 5/2 cotton sett at 16 epi, 9 yards long and 19-1/2″ wide in the reed, so I could weave towels on the rest of the warp after the workshop sampler was completed.  The main warp color was off-white or cream colored cotton, with 3 sets of stripes in light blue, turquoise blue and charcoal gray.

During the last 2 weeks I have finally gotten around to finishing off the warp and trying out some of the variations we learned in the workshop.  It was fun and informative, and I wound up with six quite different towels.

Towel #1:  Waffle Fashion (warp and weft floats with areas of plain weave) using cream cotton same as warp, except for the twill accent bands which used the charcoal cotton for weft.  This one shrank A LOT but it is nice and spongy and should be quite absorbent.

Towel #2: Summer & Winter Fashion (a simulation of traditional Summer & Winter by using a pair of blocks).  This was a 16-row treadling sequence with some paired pattern picks within each block.  The pattern thread was a 4/2 variegated cotton alternating with tabby picks in the cream cotton used in the warp.  Note how the dark color predominates the pattern on one side, the light color on the other side.

Towel #3: Summer & Winter Fashion using a simpler 10-row treadling sequence without paired pattern picks within each block.  The pattern thread was Aztec Cotton Boucle from Henry’s Attic alternating with tabby picks in the charcoal cotton used in the warp.  Also used the charcoal cotton for some point twill borders at each end.  The 2 sides didn’t look that different.  This towel feels great and should be really absorbent!

Towel #4:  Twill – pattern from Marguerite Porter-Davidson’s book (p. 17, treadling X)  I used the variegated cotton, with a couple of bands using the warp turquoise cotton.

Towel #5: the same Twill pattern, but different bands using the charcoal cotton (treadling VI from the same set of charts in Davidson)

Towel #6: Lace with Simultaneous Warp & Weft Floats using the Aztec Cotton Boucle for weft.  I quickly realized how quickly this was eating up the weft yarn, so I wound up using the lace pattern for a few inches only at each end with plain weave for the main part of the towel.  Love the feel of this one, and it will be so absorbent!