At the end of last year, I think there were a total of 90-something tea towels. I remember thinking when I tallied them all up that had I known how close to breaking one hundred I was, I would have pushed a bit more.
While there was no specific goal this year, I blew through two hundred tea towels a while ago.
There was so much weaving this year, I made a point to create a special warp for some sarong fabric.
South Texas is hot most of the time. There may be a week of really cold weather where I feel as though I cannot get warm, but the rest of the time, it is comfortable or just hot, dang hot.
When I am home, my uniform of choice (and comfort) is a tee shirt and sarong.
Last year I bought a Teema towel. It is fantastic!
In July of 2019, I decided to try to replicate the Teema. My results are here.
The weft was 10/2 with a sett of 20, and I used different wefts including 10/2, 8/2, and 5/2. The 10/2 weft with a light beat matched the fabric of the Teema towel perfectly; however, I believe the original was actually made with 20/2 warp and weft with a sett of 20, using two threads as one.
The four shaft pattern I used also helped to recreate the Teema towel.
This time, I again used 10/2 weft, which I hand dyed back in June.
When I finally got a chance to get it on the Beast (56" Macomber), I used 10/2 cotton for weft, both mercerized and unmercerized. The unmercerized matched the original, but I had more colors in the mercerized.
I also chose an 8-shaft pattern, instead of the original 4-shaft one.
Despite using 10/2 warp and weft with a sett of 20, I think the pattern change and the use of mercerized cotton created a cloth very different from the original; however, the fabric is still nice and supple, just not as soft (particularly with the mercerized 10/2 weft).
Does the fabric work as sarong fabric? You bet!
The ten-yard warp actually produced four sarongs, but one has already been conscripted into duty.
I will definitely be making another batch or two of these, but I think I will revert back to the 4-shaft pattern and making sure I keep both warp and weft unmercerized 10/2.
29 days until Christmas...
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