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!

Placemats

The recent first issue of Debbie Bliss' knitting magazine had in it a handful of really cute patterns using her new superchunky yarn Como, made of wool and cashmere. Unfortunately, I can't afford that. I picked up some bulky wool from Elann and cut the cost of making these adorable placemats to roughly a third of what it would have cost. (Pats self on back.)

They are totally great, squishy and fat and lovely, even just in pure wool. A slightly thicker yarn would probably have done a bit better job, but who's complaining. These things only take about a half hour apiece, so in no time flat, I have a lovely table setting for the holidays. My only concern is that they are slightly smaller than I would like. They measure about 23cm x 28cm (which are the dimensions given by the written pattern) but I would really prefer them to have another couple of cm in both directions. I tried to block them bigger, but they bounced back to their original dimensions. They are clearly as stubborn as I am. I gave in... this time.


They are a big change from what I've been working on, recently (and with no pun intended.) Here is an image of the needles I've been using. The bottom one is the needles for the socks I just made (US2); the center ones are from the grey Drops hat (US6); of course the top are for the placemats (US17) and were bought especially for them. I am not convinced I'll ever need them again. Unless I decide I want more cute placemats.