weaving

Hand woven dish cloths

Over the weekend I wove some dish cloths with some beautiful Australian 10ply cotton that I rainbow dyed. I’ve been wanting to try out waffle weave and thought that kitchen cloths would be perfect.

All of these were woven on the same warp on my rigid heddle loom. Did you know you can do that? Warp once, weave many, much easier! Just leave a gap of 5 – 6 inches between each cloth, towel or whatever item you’re weaving. I hemstitched each one on the loom and left a short fringe at each end.

They sold like hot cakes with an order for more and I’m not surprised. If you’ve never tried a handmade cotton kitchen cloth (either woven, knitted or crocheted) you really should, they are far superior to any commercial cloth. I use mine as a multi purpose kitchen cloth for wiping and washing. They last a long time and can be thrown in the wash and line dried. My next order is for re-usable baby wipes – another great idea.

These are some other cloths I wove last year in plain weave so the baby wipes will be similar – fairly thin and very soft for baby skin.

The next thing for me to look at is tea towels. I really wasn’t happy with my last lot – I think the cotton was too thick, I need specific weaving cotton.

If you’re interested in trying waffle weave on your own rigid heddle, there is a great pattern sequence HERE, look specifically in the comments section for the sequence.

You need one pick up stick but it’s very easy to master.

Specifications for my cloths:

10 ply cotton (warp & weft)

7.5 dpi

60cm rigid heddle loom

Hemstitched on loom.

Wet finished, laid flat to dry.

Linking up with Creative Friday on Natural Suburbia.

Woven lap blanket

by Kelly 2 Comments

A lot of the things I make by hand are a labour of love these days and this blanket definitely falls into that category!

This was my first double weave project on the rigid heddle loom. A brief explanation: The loom usually has one heddle to weave cloth a certain width and in a single layer. Add a double heddle kit (giving you now two heddles instead of one) and you can weave double the width of cloth. The idea of this really appealed to me, as my loom is 60cm wide which is not wide enough for a blanket.

Well, what a steep learning curve! There is not a lot of information about double weave available and it took me a long time (hours in fact) to get the loom warped (normally takes 20 – 30 minutes) and getting all the heddles threaded was a strain on my back. Did I mention my back injury has flared up again? Anyway, once I got to the actual weaving I encountered more issues and re-started twice before I felt comfortable with what I was doing.

The weaving took a long time too. When I finished and took it off the loom I found a lot of floats (threads that didn’t catch in the weaving pattern and so just “float” on the surface of the work) on the underside which was disappointing – they don’t look good and take a potentially professional looking piece to a somewhat amateur piece.

The story ends well. The blanket isn’t what I hoped it would be but it was an excellent learning exercise (not to mention one in patience!) and it’s a terrifically warm and cosy lap blanket that has been used nearly every day. Success? Sort of!

The specs in case you’re a weaver –

10ply woollen yarn (didn’t record the amount, silly me)

7.5 dpi

60cm Ashford rigid heddle loom

Will I make another blanket? Oh yes I will! Will it be double weave? Oh no it won’t! It will be panels which I will join – I know the seams will show but it has to be easier than double weave!

Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn along 🙂

Rainbow wrap/shawl

by Kelly 5 Comments

I started with these 8ply merino colours from my hand dyed stash.

I warped the loom and wove using a very deep purple.

And this is how it turned out!

There are many styles to wear a wide, long shawl in.

It’s lovely and warm too.

Weaving this has given me some fresh ideas on using the warp as a feature.

I’ve ordered a second heddle kit for my loom, which means that I will be able to weave double the width of cloth without buying a larger loom! Exciting! I’ve always wanted to weave baby blankets and the new kit will allow me to do that.

There is always something new to learn or a way to expand your skills.

Happy creating!

Dye, spin, weave!

by Kelly 3 Comments

My first 100% hand dyed, hand spun and hand woven item! I’ve been working up to this for a while, practicing my spinning to get a more consistent yarn.

I decided on a “long and skinny” style. It is a plain weave but the interplay of colours makes it appear more complicated than it is.

I used First Edition fibre to dye and then spin, it’s lovely and soft.

One of my dreams is to do many more of these types of items and be able to sell them. I love the authenticity of making the item from start to finish (OK, I didn’t shear the sheep!) But from my experience as a handmade artisan I seriously doubt that customers would be willing to pay the amount I would need to charge to cover the time invested – many, many hours. Still, I may just do the occasional piece and make it available for sale. I’d love to do some pieces for exhibition or competition as well.

This was the original yarn.

What’s next? Perhaps a shawl? Phew, that’s going to take a while, I’d better start spinning!

Fibre, glorious fibre!

by Kelly 6 Comments

With Winter in full swing here it’s all about the fibre for me at the moment! I had a go at dyeing roving for the first time. The colours are beautiful (mixed berry I think), but not exactly what I anticipated- there was a lot of residual dye. Some online fibre dyeing friends recommended more vinegar and a longer steaming time. This roving is from Bendigo Woollen Mills.

I’ve since dyed some more roving, applying the recommendations and it seems much better this time. I’ll show you the new roving when it’s dry, we’re not exactly having the best drying weather here of late.

This is the first bobbin spun from the first roving and I think it’s really pretty! I’m trying out a spinning technique called fractal spinning – can’t wait to see the results.

I ordered some roving from First Edition Fibres and got the most beautifully soft and fluffy fibre. I think I will spin some of this in this natural colour as well as dyed, wouldn’t it make a gorgeous baby blanket?

I’m calling this project my “crazy scarf”. I’m using all different bits and pieces of hand dyed and handspun yarn in a somewhat random fashion (similar to the “crazy quilt” technique). Just for fun 🙂

Anything fibre related happening at your place this weekend?

Hand woven scarf charity auction

by Kelly Leave a Comment

This scarf is hand dyed and hand woven from handspun yarn 🙂 I’ve added a little beaded trim for a bit of bling. The scarf’s weft is throwsters silk, which is a waste product from silk making. It has a firm, rather than soft or floppy hand.

I’m auctioning the scarf on my Facebook page tonight at 8pm with all proceeds going to Mary’s Meals – a very worthy cause. I hope you can make it, and if you’re not on Facebook just contact me and I’ll place a bid for you. Bidding starts at $25 AUD plus post ($8).

The Handmade Library Showcase

by Kelly 1 Comment

I’m participating in The Handmade Library Showcase for the first time tonight! The showcase runs on Facebook and features many talented handmakers. The theme is “Something Old, Something New”.

Here is my “Something New” – a scarf I wove from my hand dyed 8ply merino. The colourways I used are “Bougainvillea” and “Pink Princess”.

And my “Something Old” – a silk children’s cape made from my hand dyed silk and silk ribbon.

Both are up for grabs at 8pm tonight, hope you can make it 🙂

Silk scarf

by Kelly 1 Comment

I bought some silk yarn a while ago and I was scared to dye it – it’s expensive and I hadn’t dyed it before. So, I worked up the courage to dye it and I liked the blue but wasn’t thrilled with the pink/green. It sat around for a while and I tried to decide what to do with it.

I was itching to get something on the loom, so I warped with the blue without thinking about it too much.

Then I wove with the pink/green. And I was pleased. As I wove I saw the potential and the beautiful sheen and I felt happy!

Off the loom, a wash and a dry and WOW! You just can’t photograph something that is shimmery, but this is so shimmery and the colours set each other off beautifully!

Sometimes I take a chance when I make something and it turns out badly. But then sometimes it turns out brilliantly and that is such a joyful feeling.

I’m putting the scarf in my Etsy shop for now and we’ll see if anyone else likes it as much as I do 🙂

Alpaca scarf off the loom

by Kelly 4 Comments

This scarf was partly experimental and I found after starting to warp that my mental calculations were not sufficient – I ended up using twice the amount of yarn for the warp than I thought. But that’s ok, these things happen 🙂

I wove with 4 colours – logwood brown, purple and pink/green using alpaca 8ply.

The scarf turned out very long and wide, almost shawl proportions. Perfect for Winter (not so perfect for modelling on a hot Autumn day!)

This is how the warp looked on the loom.

I’m going to make this my next charity auction item, starting on Friday at 2pm. The auction will be on my Facebook page with all proceeds going to Mary’s Meals.

Linking up with Creative Friday and Fibre Arts Friday.

Completed projects this week

by Kelly 4 Comments

Not one but two projects completed for me this week, this is almost unheard of!

First up, the Primrose dress for my 4 year old princess. I knit this in 8ply superwash and hand dyed it just for this project.

A little lace detail on the hem.

And some ladybird buttons to finish off with. There is lace detail on the shoulders and sleeve trim too.

I was really thrilled with this pattern – it was simple and easy to knit, the sizing is accurate and it was all explained so well that I didn’t feel like tearing my hair out like I normally would with a knitting project! The pattern in by New Zealander, Julia Stanfield.

Next up, some tea towels off the loom. I wove these with 4ply Bendigo Woollen Mills cotton.

I’m pretty happy with how they turned out, despite the wonky edges! I learned that weaving with 4ply is more challenging than 8ply.

It seems that as I grow more confident as a weaver and knitter I also increase in speed, which is a wonderful thing, it means I can turn out more beautiful things for my family!

Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along 🙂