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May 12, 2021

Sorted

It is so nice to have the studio clean and organized. I find it much easier to relax in there when everything is neat and tidy.

The current projects have been prioritized, and I have had a glance at the calendar to spur me along.

There are two piles of fabric on the dining room table. Those will become twenty towels, just as soon as I finish them, probably Memorial Day weekend.

I actually hope to add another ten to them before then.

In addition to the weaving, I expect to publish the second book in the Bandera series by the end of June. Another sweet friend has volunteered to lend a third set of eyes to it for proofing purposes. I am sincerely blessed for the good hearts and strong minds surrounding me.

Optimism must be running through me, as I have finally allowed myself the pleasure of planning the remainder of the year’s weaving projects.

Tons of potential projects line the queue, but when I take pencil to card, it is the final cut.

There is no order, priority-wise to the looms as drafted. Their placement on the card simply represents how they are arranged in the studio.

The first project under each is what is currently on the loom.

While only May, Christmas is rarely far from my thoughts.

In addition to festive tea towels, gifts this year will actually be sarongs!

This will be no small feat. Each sarong will measure 40” wide and will be woven to 86” long before washing and hemming, where they will shrink some.

In the last batch, I used 10/2 unmercerized cotton for the warp and weft.

This time, I will use 20/2 unmercerized cotton for the warp and 10/2 for the weft.

It takes two threads of 20/2 to make the equivalent of one thread of 10/2.

Over 40”, that means I will have 1,600 ends of 20/2 thread, instead of 800 of the 10/2.

Never one to shrink from a challenge, I am also planning to beam 50-yards of it.

For the math wizards, that is 80,000 yards of 20/2 thread or 9.5 pounds of cotton.

To be honest, in addition to a flicker of excitement, I also feel just a bit of dread about the prospect of beaming it, although, the plan is to do so sectionally with the Sawyer Bee warping square.

I have done 35 yards in the past, but not at forty threads an inch.

R&M has 20/2 unmercerized cotton at a good price.

Last year, I placed an order for these:

I have an order on the way for some of these colors:

I will use a combination of mercerized and unmercerized 10/2 cotton in brighter colors for the weft.

I will use a simple draft for the pattern. I had good luck the first time I wove sarong fabric with this four shaft draft:

As it only used four harnesses, I was able to thread a plain weave edge on either side of the pattern using two additional shafts, something I am not able to do with an eight-shaft pattern.

However, I really like this eight-shaft draft, too:

As to the festive Christmas towels, I purchased a Jane Stafford kit called Holly & Berry in red. This photo is from her site.

These are the threads, which were in the kit:

In addition, I bought more Cottolin thread for green towels, too.

I think a pair with one in each color way will be delightful!

Speaking of Jane Stafford, my older daughter sent me a gift certificate for Christmas, and I bought another kit, as well as additional linen for these fantastic towels. Again, the photo of the finished towels is from Jane Stafford:

Here are the cones of linen thread that came with the kit:

These are the bolder colors with which I indeed to do a second run:

Lastly, back in February, South Texas experienced unprecedented snow. We actually had the dry, powdery kind of snow, instead of the wet, slushy stuff. As such, I availed myself of the opportunity to snow dye two warps.

The lighter warp is comprised four 3-inch chains. I will use solid stripes in between the dyed chains in these colors: