Unroll the Cloth Beam of 2020 – Year in Review Video

Every year my weaving journey is peppered with notable highlights. Here are seven such highlights from 2020: 1. Siblings Tapestry, complete and hanging in our living room. 2. Joanne Hall (my weaving mentor and friend) visited our home in February (while in Texas for her Swedish Art Weaves workshop). 3. New 8-shaft Glimakra Julia countermarch loom. 4. My favorite fabric of the year, Jämtlandsdräll in 6/2 Tuna, woven on the brand-new Julia. 5. Rag rugs woven on the drawloom. 6. Studio tour on Zoom for the San Antonio Handweaver’s Guild In November. 7. Handwoven Christmas tree skirt with Nativity appliqué from handwoven remnants.

Pictorial 4-shaft tapestry.
Last year began with completion of this Siblings tapestry.
Jamtlandsdrall on the Julia with 4 shafts.
Favorite cloth of the year. Jämtlandsdräll on the new Julia.

2021 is beginning with the start of a new pictorial tapestry, an empty loom waiting for a new warp, and a drawloom warp that is near its finish line. Plus, two other looms that are mid-project. I am not expecting any dull moments around here. Thank you for joining me in this ongoing adventure.

Four-shaft pictorial tapestry weaving.
Tapestry for the new year. I am starting with practice weaving for certain sections of the planned tapestry. You can see a pair of eyes on the cartoon under the warp threads.

Unroll the cloth beam with me and go back through time to recall the Warped for Good projects of 2020:

God completes what he begins. My prayer for you is that his finishing work will secure any loose ends.

May you see how far you’ve come.

Happy New Year, friends,
Karen

Process Review: Jubilation Bath Towels

Jubilation Bath Towels are completed, just in time for Christmas! They go with the Jubilation Hand Towels I wove earlier this year, named with my father in mind. (See Process Review: Jubilation Hand Towels.) Nothing deterred my father from deep abiding joy. These bath towels are a tribute, as well, to my husband’s patience. He requested handwoven bath towels a few years ago. Laughably, my first eager attempt resulted in towels scratchy enough to be used as sandpaper back scratchers. Now, finally, we have absorbent and soft handwoven cottolin bath towels suitable for my Prince Charming.

Cottolin bath set. Handwoven bath towels, hand towels, wash cloths.
Jubilation Bath Set. Four bath towels, four hand towels, two wash cloths. Cottolin warp and weft. Six-shaft broken and reverse twill.

Don’t you love it when the end of the warp yields bonus results? Just enough warp to make a pair of wash cloths, in which every one of the seven colors of quills was emptied. Hurrah!

Handwoven bath towel set. Glimakra Standard loom.
Cottolin bath towel set, soft and absorbent. All quills were emptied off in the final length of warp, making colorful wash cloths.

Enjoy the start-to-finish process with me in this slideshow video:

May jubilation reside in your home.

With the joy of celebrating Christ’s birth,
Karen

Process Review: Weaving Rhythm

“With so many looms, how do you decide what to weave every day?,” I was asked. The answer lies in my Weaving Rhythm. I have five floor looms. I happily aspire to meet the challenge of keeping all of them active.

Glossary

Weaving Rhythm ~ A pattern created across time, through a regular succession of weaving-related tasks.

Arrange individual tasks to keep each loom consistently moving forward in the weaving continuum.

Weaving Continuum ~ The cycle for each loom that is continually repeated.

When the first few centimeters are woven on a new project, begin planning the next project. When finishing is completed for the current project, wind a new warp and dress the loom for the next project.

First Things First ~ Prioritize daily tasks to maintain the Weaving Rhythm.

  1. Finishing
  2. Dressing
  3. Weaving

Do some finishing work first. Do some loom-dressing tasks next. The reward, then, is sitting at one of the dressed looms and freely weaving for the pleasure of it.

Weaving bath towels on the Glimakra Standard.
Glimåkra Standard, 120cm (47″), vertical countermarch. My first floor loom. Weaving the third of four bath towels, 6-shaft broken and reverse twill, 22/2 cottolin warp and weft.
Weaving hanging tabs for bath towels.
Glimåkra two-treadle band loom. Weaving hanging tabs for bath towels. 22/2 cottolin warp and weft.
Glimakra 100cm Ideal. Sweet little loom.
Glimåkra Ideal, 100cm (39″), horizontal countermarch. My second floor loom. Dressing the loom in 24/2 cotton, five-shaft huckaback, for fabric to make a tiered skirt. Ready to start sleying the reed.
Hand-built Swedish loom.
Loom that Steve built, 70cm (27″), horizontal countermarch. My third floor loom. Weaving the header for a pictorial tapestry sample, four-shaft rosepath, 16/2 linen warp, Tuna/Fårö wool and 6/1 tow linen weft.
Sweet little Glimakra Julia 8-shaft loom.
Glimåkra Julia, 70cm (27″), horizontal countermarch. This is my fifth (and final?) floor loom. Weaving the first of two scarves, eight-shaft deflected double weave, 8/1 Mora wool warp and weft.
Weaving lettering on the drawloom.
Glimåkra Standard, 120cm (47″), horizontal countermarch, with Myrehed combination drawloom attachment. This is my fourth floor loom. Weaving some lettering for the seventh pattern on this sample warp, six-shaft irregular satin, 16/2 cotton warp, 16/1 linen weft. 35 pattern shafts, 132 single unit draw cords.

Give Thanks ~ Live with a thankful heart.

Every day I thank the Lord for granting me the joy of being in this handweaving journey. And I thank him for bringing friends like you along with me.

May you always give thanks.

With a grateful heart,
Karen

One More Swedish Art Weaves Bag

A warp is finished when the woven cloth has been taken to completion. At that point, the loom is free for a new warp. That is the rule I’ve given myself. If I ignore the rule and put on a new warp before its time, the unfinished cloth has a way of staying unfinished for too long.

Joanne Hall's Swedish Art Weaves workshop in San Antonio, Texas.
Ready to pack up after the Swedish Art Weaves workshop and take my loom back home. The Joanne Hall workshop was sponsored by the enthusiastic San Antonio Handweavers Guild a few months ago.
Monksbelt woven with pick-up.
Monksbelt pattern continued at home.
Swedish art weaves - dukagång.
Woven from the back, this dukagång pattern came from a Swedish publication I borrowed from the San Antonio Handweavers Guild library.
Weaving krabbasnår and other Swedish art weaves.
Krabbasnår, just behind the fell line, is from a pattern in Heirlooms of Skåne, Weaving Techniques, by Gunvor Johansson.

Thanks to that completion rule, I have a new bag. This fabric includes the various patterns that I wove in Joanne Hall’s workshop on Swedish Art Weaves several months ago. You will also see that I explored some patterns on my own at home. I gained two excellent outcomes from this finishing pursuit—a new bag to use, and a loom that is free for the next warp! (See the first bag here: Monksbelt Flowers on a Shoulder Bag)

Making a bag from Swedish art weaves.
Side piece, krabbasnår, is hand-stitched in place. From the top of the bag to the bottom – krabbasnår (krabba), rölakan, halvkrabba, dukagång, munkabälte (monksbelt), each section separated by plain weave stripe variations.
Handwoven bag made from Swedish art weaves.
On this side of the finished bag, from top to bottom – halvkrabba, dukagång, munkabälte. I made the hard decision to take out a section of rölakan I had woven in order to be able to put the knots from the linen warp at the top of the bag.
Handwoven bag made from Swedish art weaves.
Bag is lined and has pockets, and has a magnetic snap closure. The 6/2 Tuna wool shoulder strap was woven on my Glimåkra band loom.
Handwoven Swedish art weaves bag just finished. Now, on to the next warp!
Now, on to the next warp!

Left to myself, I’d rather do what I want. I’d rather start a new project than bring an “old” one to completion. I’m glad my Lord is faithful with me. He completes the work that he began. The Good Shepherd tends his sheep. He leads us to the still waters of peaceful perseverance, saving us from the regret of going our own way. And we have his perfect outcome to look forward to.

May you resist doing what you’d rather do.

With you,
Karen

Monksbelt Flowers on a Shoulder Bag

Remember Joanne Hall’s Swedish Art Weaves workshop that I took a few months ago? With the warp that was left, I explored some of the art weaves in more depth.

Monksbelt (Munkabälte), Dukagång, and Halvkrabba can be seen below the warp.
Monksbelt (Munkabälte), Dukagång, and Halvkrabba can be seen below the warp.

I finished off the linen warp by making a front and back panel for a small shoulder bag. A monksbelt pattern is scattered like flowers on the front. The back has various stripe patterns in weft-faced plain weave. I wove a shoulder strap on my band loom using 6/2 Tuna wool for warp and 12/6 cotton for weft.

Weaving Monksbelt with half heddle sticks.
Half-heddle sticks and batten in front of the back beam, for weaving monksbelt patterns.
Pick up for monksbelt.
Pick-up stick in front of the reed is being used to weave a monksbelt flower “petal.”
Handwoven shoulder bag in progress.
Back panel has varying stripe patterns.
Cutting off.
Cutting off.
Glimakra band loom. Narrow wool band.
Narrow wool band for the bag shoulder strap.

The bag has simple construction, mostly hand-stitched. In one of my remnant bins I found a piece of wool fabric that I wove several years ago. It’s perfect for the sides and bottom of the bag. The lining uses pieces from fabric that went into my latest rag rugs, and has pockets, of course.

Making a handwoven wool bag.
Overhand knots secure the warp ends.
Construction of a wool shoulder bag.
Ready to assemble all the parts.
Constructing a small handwoven wool bag.
Handwoven wool pieces are hand-stitched together.
Handwoven wool bag construction.
Bag construction continues with stitching the back in place.
Magnet closure on a handwoven bag.
Magnet closure is added to the lining before stitching the lining in place. Knots and fringe outline the top of the bag.

This bag with Monksbelt Flowers is for carrying sweet memories, happy moments, and heavenly dreams.

Handwoven shoulder bag.
Inside of handwoven wool bag.
Pockets in the lining.
Monksbelt Flowers handwoven shoulder bag.

Resources: Swedish Art Weaves workshop with Joanne Hall; Heirlooms of Skåne Weaving Techniques, by Gunvor Johansson; Väv Scandinavian Weaving Magazine, 2/2013.

This is the time for my annual pause for the month of July. I appreciate you joining me in this weaving journey!

I look forward to being back with you again Tuesday, August 4. In the meantime, joyfully draw living water from the source, Jesus Christ.

May you carry no more than necessary.

With love,
Karen