Weaving the days away in 2025

I made a half-hearted resolution to write more than zero blog posts per month in 2025, so here on the last day of January I will try to make good on the resolution.

On January 16, 2025 I had the honor of viewing “A Handmade Life” on the big screen in Concord, New Hampshire. “A Handmade Life” is an hour long documentary that features 10 artists in the League of NH Craftsmen. Windwood Productions, located in Concord, NH, produced a thoughtful and entertaining film. Ian Scura, the director, even won NH Filmmaker of the Year for his work at the NH Film Festival! Bravo, Ian. I will keep you posted about viewing possibilities, including public television and streaming options, as they are shared with us.

Here are a two photos from our evening in Concord:

Since the holidays and a bout of Covid in December I have been exploring crackle weave and doing some sewing with my handwoven fabrics. I really like crackle weave, which is no surprise since I enjoy weaving overshot and summer & winter, and crackle is also a two shuttle weave. I do like the short floats that result with crackle weave. Here is an example:

The purple fabric on the loom is tencel and bamboo scarf. This is a four shaft design that I adapted from Davison. The resulting scarf is lightweight but structurally sound.

These are placemats in crackle (also a 4 shaft design). I used jewel tone 5/2 mercerized cottons in the warp, purple 5/2 for the ground weft, and 3/2 mercerized cotton in black for the pattern weft. Also, a structurally sound cloth. Yay!

A seemingly casual conversation that my husband and I had one morning in December about men’s hats led to me purchasing a downloadable sewing pattern from MadCap Hats and sewing up a cap using some of my handwoven tartan (merino/tencel blend) for him for Christmas. He rather likes his hat. I’d take a photo of him modeling it, but he is at work and he took his hat with him. Here is the hat on the table, taken after he received the hat as a gift:

I had so much fun making his hat, that I decided that I wanted to try making a hat for myself. I purchased a pattern from Charlie’s Aunt, located in the U.K. (also available on Etsy) and have made two “Heacham Cloche” hats using my handwoven fabrics. The first hat featured a pieced top sewn from bits of my handwoven fabrics in merino/tencel:

The second version is the same pattern but without the pieced top. I used a thicker fabric woven from Harrisville Designs “Shetland” in Topaz. It turned out well, even though the fabric is bulkier than the merino.

I’m pretty much out of handwoven fabric yardage (I’m looking at bits and pieces of leftover cloth at this point) for now but hope to continue to weave some woolly fabrics soon. Up next on the LeClerc, though, will be a warp rep piece. The Baby Wolf will probably be dressed in an overshot pattern, but maybe I’ll be too impatient to sew another hat and will have to put on a length of tartan. Or houndstooth. Or herringbone. I think herringbone might win.

Happy weaving,

Kate K.

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