Hello, friends. It is finally starting to feel like Spring here in our corner of New Hampshire. I planted snap peas and radishes in the garden today. The chives, rhubarb and asparagus seem to have tolerated some of the colder nights that we have had recently. Whew!
I did some overshot weaving last week using a traditional pattern, “Whig Rose,” but my warp was a little less than traditional. I used a vineyard colorway for the first warp:
The second warp featured autumnal colors:
I must say, threading the warp for this cloth was a bit fussy; 10/2 mercerized cotton never seemed quite so fiddly until I worked on this design. One color here and another color there seemed like a good idea in the design stage, but ordering the threads in the reed and heddles was a different kettle of fish. But I rather like the end result. The cloth is off of the loom and washed but I am behind on hemming!
I’m working on shawls now in merino and am enjoying the process. I plan to bring a few of these to the League of NH Craftsmen Summer Fair in August. Yes! The Fair will be at Mt. Sunapee this year and I am looking forward to participating. As soon as I have a booth number assignment I will update my “Events” page here. Yay! But I digress. Back to the shawl. I am using Valley Yarns Merino/Tencel in white, steel, and elderberry. (I can’t get past thinking of black raspberry ice cream when I look at the lovely purple). The yarn is soft and light, and I love the way that the fabric blooms after a gentle wash. I hope to weave a few more shawls in different color combinations. For as many years as I have exhibited my work, shawls are relatively new for me to display at a show. I guess we will see how it goes!
It has been a while since I released a new weaving pattern so I’ve decided to get started on a kitchen towel draft. These take a while to put together but I hope to have this ready before too long. I always like to work on cotton-y things in the warmer summer months.
Be safe and well, friends.
Kate K.
Kate Kilgus 