My First Dishtowel…

Odd title I know, but usually when you drag out the “first” of anything you’ve done, it is something from the archives from when you were say, a teenager?

I’ve mentioned it before in this blog, I first learned to weave in 1974, back when bog jackets were relatively new, and the world was full of rug yarn and macramé.  I’ve never woven a dishtowel.  I know, there are no words.  Somehow weaving a product, meaning something that is finished when it comes off the loom, never really appealed to me.  I weave yardage.  I am a sewer sewist.  I like fabric.  End of story.

Except my guild, Jockey Hollow Weavers is having a dishtowel exchange.  To exchange or not to exchange, that was the question last September when I hesitantly scrawled my signature across the sign up sheet.  Anyway, it is nearly June.  The towels are due.  I won’t even make it to the last meeting, I’ll be somewhere in Oregon teaching at ANWG weaving conference.  So my lovely Brianna will have to take my towels and exchange them for me.

The assignment was simple enough, weave towels using complementary colors.  I pondered this all through the winter.  I pondered it while I sat in my jammies in front of the fireplace.  I pondered my jammies.  I liked the belt on the jammies.  I studied the belt more carefully.  I liked the structure.

I went to my computer and went right to the Webs link, and looked at what colors they had.  What makes a good dishtowel?  Cotlin?  That would be linen and cotton for those not in the know.  The colors were pretty.  I pulled out my color wheel.  Red Violet and Yellow Green.  Opposite on the color wheel.  I really liked the colors of the belt but they didn’t have that particular shade of blue in Cotlin.  So I ordered the yarn after some basic calculations.

Meanwhile, I played around with twill variations with a supplemental warp.  I used weaving software (Fiberworks PCW) to create a draft.

I took my four cones of red violet yarn

And wound a warp

And sleyed the reed

And threaded the loom

And beamed the warp

And started to weave.

They weave like a dream, and I’m already bored.  I wonder if I can make a summer top out of the one I have left after I exchange my towels?  🙂

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Janet
Janet
May 10, 2011 3:22 pm

Wow! Color!!!! That is so pretty — I especially like the little green lines hidden in there. Bam!

Elizabeth Bryan
Elizabeth Bryan
May 11, 2011 6:03 am

Ha Ha! In 18 years I have never woven a dishtowel either. But these are beautiful! Maybe I will weave some after all 🙂
What are the large plastic ties for on the back beam? Are they to hold something on that isn’t visible in the picture or just to keep the warp threads from sliding sideways?

Patricia
Patricia
May 11, 2011 7:12 am

We are all so different. I love making, having, using towels. They are so pretty and get seen and used every day. And, what a way to learn new things and use new colors.

Leslie Johnson
Leslie Johnson
May 11, 2011 8:05 am

I’m with Patricia — a towel makes a great full-sized sample of a threading or structure. And even if it has mistakes in it or doesn’t turn out quite as you planned, it will still dry dishes.

Jenny
Jenny
May 11, 2011 8:30 am

I am also doing my first dish towels for the JHW exchange. Began weaving in 1956, and came of age with Women’s Lib. Absolutely swore I would NEVER weave a dish towel. Well…I guess we learn/mellow with time. I have come to appreciate the pleasure of having something really nice for a simple, necessary and frequent job.

Your towels look great.

Annie Wall
Annie Wall
May 12, 2011 7:29 am

The one thing I’ve never woven is place mats, I can’t think of anything worse … all that hemstitching 🙂 I do weave dishcloths for exchanges and enjoy trying out new (to me) weaves.

Anne Davenport
May 13, 2011 10:46 pm

Hmmmmmm . . . . Guess I can stop feeling like The Weird One. I’ve been weaving for just short of thirty years, and have never woven a dish/hand towel. I have to do it pretty soon for a wedding gift I promised my nephew and his new wife after they were wed nearly a year ago. Got the yarns, but the entire venture makes me want to squirm.

Martha Witcher
Martha Witcher
May 16, 2011 3:03 pm

The towel warp is awesome, the colors are perfect – waiting for your first towel warp was well worth it! Towels are my favorite thing to weave, sometimes I think that is all I weave…

Sandra David
Sandra David
May 22, 2011 5:45 pm

Maybe boring to weave, but beautiful to look at. And a smashing summer top to boot? Hope so.

Sally
Sally
May 23, 2011 6:50 pm

Hey! I was at the McQueen exhibit Sunday, too! About 11:00 a.m. It was practically MOBBED.

He was really a master of many mediums and his atelier must have been IMPRESSIVE. Notice how he did shoulders (and the diversity throughout)? He certainly wasn’t afraid to break a pattern into a LOT of small pieces…

I would have loved to be his tulle merchant. (That person must have made a fortune!)

And yeah, ah, just finishing weaving the *first* dishtowel tonight…better get off the computer and get weaving!

Sally

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