Placemats Galore

I don't make many handmade gifts for the holidays, since non-crafty folks don't always see the love and time and thought that went into them.  Every year, though, I make a few things to give to people that I think will appreciate them.

You may remember that in September I mentioned making myself a set of placemats, having completed a couple of sets for other people.  Well, as the holidays draw nearer, I finally decided I'd better spend some time washing and ironing said placemats, to get them ready for gifting.

They turned out quite lovely: a set in huck, in Bermuda Blue, and a set in huck lace, in Charcoal, for two people that I think will love those colours.  Then of course my own set, which I previewed at the time, also in huck lace, in Frost Grey.  All of them are 3/2 cotton (the first two from Cotton Clouds, and the third from Webs.)  While I love them all, I have to admit that I think the Frost Grey yarn was my favourite, and even better, it was actually the cheaper of the two.

I've got another exciting weaving project planned for first thing in the new year, but at the moment, my crafting table is covered with a different project: a new quilt!

Some Fancy Placemats

I've been doing a fair bit of weaving in the last week or so, making a couple of sets of placemats for holiday gifts.  (Yes, I know it's only September.  That's when holiday planning starts, right?)  Having finished those, I decided to whip up a little gift to myself, and make some new placemats for our own kitchen table.

These ones are similar to the Burnt Sienna ones I made for my Mom a while back, although those were simply huck, and these are huck lace.  If you look at the photo, you can see that the center of the mat is a bunch of little squares, alternating between horizontal and vertical floats, with little spaces between them.  Once they are off the loom and washed, those holes should open up even more as the threads all cuddle up against each other.  I've made mine in a fancy frost grey colour - with any luck, they'll class up this joint a bit.

Burnt Sienna Placemats

Last time I went to visit my folks, I noticed that my Mom is using the same green placemats that she's had forever (despite redecorating a time or two.)  I decided to take it upon myself to weave her some new ones, to refresh her table setting.  After colluding with my sisters a bit about what colour to use, I settled on a lovely Burnt Sienna colour, which is not something I would use in my own house, but I think she'll like them.

I followed a simple huck draft I got from the free Interweave eBook Free Handweaving Projects for Beginners (originally from Handwoven Magazine Nov/Dec 2009.)  Someday I think I'll make myself a similar set (probably in huck lace) in grey, but for right now, I made her two sets in this deep orange.  I ended up with nine in total, which is should be enough for everyone plus extra for a table centerpiece.  Because my beat wasn't always perfect, there is a bit of variation in size, but I guess the largest one can be used for the table center, and hopefully everyone will be too distracted by her delicious food to notice that their placemats aren't entirely identical in length.

The sett for these was 12 epi, which means that they were quick to sley (only 177 ends.)  They were also quick to weave:  although I started the project ages ago, I actually wove the last four placemats in just three days.  The huck draft is one that I've woven before, early on in my weaving life, but I feel like I did a better job of it, this time.  The front of the fabric has floats in a vertical direction, which are spaced out a bit more than the floats on the back, which pull in a bit closer, in a horizontal orientation, and look a bit more like a polka dot.  I'll let my Mom decide which way she prefers to display them.

Now I just have to decide which of my many weaving projects to work on, next!

The Huck Wrap

My fabric came off the loom yesterday, and man, was I excited to unroll it from the cloth beam of the loom. While it's all wound around and around, you can't really tell what you have, but once I cut the threads and unfurled it, I finally saw that I'd made fabric -- not just a little scarf or a sampler, but real fabric. So cool. It was about 21 inches wide and a couple of yards long. The final product was a slightly loosely woven fabric, quite stiff from being under tension on the loom. This photo shows what the fabric looked like, straight off the loom.


Being done the weaving doesn't make it done, though -- first I had to finish the loose warp ends, which I did by making a twisted fringe. Then I had to wash and dry it. Initially I thought I would hand wash it and hang it to dry. As I hung it, though, I thought about how cottons that have been tumble dried in a dryer are so much softer than ones that have been hung... So I threw it in the dryer, instead. Admittedly I was a little apprehensive about whether the whole thing would somehow fall apart in there, but I guess I wanted to prove to myself that my weaving is not a delicate fragile thing, but rather hardy like myself. I had it on low heat for a while, but I got impatient and turned the heat up at the end.


It shrunk a bit, between the wash and dry -- it lost about 5 percent of the length and near 10 percent of the width, so now I know to add that much to make up for shrinkage, in the future. The weave of the fabric isn't as loose after finishing, either -- the strands of yarn are all fattened and much softer, snugged up next to each other, rather than spaced apart. (Can you see the difference in the 'after' photo?) I suppose that will account for some of the shrinkage. It also makes the fabric a bit warmer; I wore it out yesterday, for the cloudy breezy weather, and it kept me surprisingly warm and comfortable.

The only downside to this wrap? It only used about half of the blue & red cotton yarn I have. Don't worry -- I have a really sweet idea for the rest.

Something I Don't Love About Weaving

It takes me about ten minutes to make an empty bobbin into a full bobbin, winding them by hand. It also takes me about ten minutes to make a full bobbin back into an empty bobbin, by weaving this cloth (since this piece is about 21 inches wide, so each pass back and forth takes up a much longer length of yarn than making a little five inch scarf would.)

Man, is my arm tired.

Huck

To distract you from the fact that I haven't posted pics of my finished Clapotis, here are some photos of my latest weaving...


I had intended to use this red and blue cotton to make some dish towels, and bought loads of it so that I could make a whole set and have enough to give a few away. (Yes, this is the yarn that made my weaving teacher cringe inwardly somewhat.) Then I realized that the yarn was a mercerized cotton, which makes it pretty and shiny, but less absorbent than untreated cotton would be. So I rethought the project and decided to make a little cotton wrap for cool spring mornings. I am determined to start wearing more wraps and shawls, as a defiantly uncool fashion statement.

I am using a huck weave draft, which I found in my book of weaving patterns. It is meant to be used on a finer thread, I'm sure, but I thought it would look cool with this. I am pretty happy with it, although the floats aren't as tight together as I'd imagined from the original pattern image, and I am having to beat it pretty firmly to get them as close as they are. As a beginner, I really don't have an idea of what I'll end up with until I do it. This can be fun or frustrating, depending on one's outlook. Personally I enjoy the surprise of it. You can't see the other side of the fabric, but there are vertical blue floats in the same spots that the front has horizontal red floats. When it's off the loom you will see its full glory.