Tag: love

Sharing Threads

Karen

When I started weaving these towels my daughter was not yet engaged. I had color and texture in mind, not bridal shower gifts. Now, with the wedding only a few weeks away, I am fortunate to have a set of handwoven towels to give the new bride! As if I had planned it that way. Next up, a shawl for me to wear at the wedding, but that’s a story for another day.

Towels just off the loom, not yet washed. Karen Isenhower
Just off the loom, cotton towels have been cut apart and edges serged, ready for washing. When washed, the texture of the cloth will “bloom,” showing off the distinctive structure, a 3-shaft twill with warp floats.

There are many things I have given my daughter without trying: my height and stature, similar laugh, interest in world cultures, musical talent, brothers (does that count?)… Melody and I have a lot in common, so I will give her a set of these towels as a symbolic gesture of the threads we already share.

You and I have been given an extraordinary kind of love from our Heavenly Father. The Father has given his kind of love to us, that we should be called his children. Like a daddy, he has passed his traits to his kids. In which case, we like to hear, “You look just like your Daddy.”

May your best traits be found in your children, or in the young people you influence.

With love,
Karen

Wishes Do Come True

Karen

You have to know what you want before you start. When a handweaver threads the warp, she is deciding in advance what kind of cloth she wants to weave. Your true intentions, like a threaded warp, are revealed in the fabric of your life.

Warp ends at rest behind the reed.
Warp ends at rest behind the reed. Every warp end is carried in the eye of a heddle, which sinks or rises with its shaft (pair of upper and lower shaft bars).

Did you know that your deepest wish shapes your life? When my foot presses a treadle on this Glimåkra countermarch loom, shafts sink and rise, carrying their heddled threads to their proper position for interlacing with the shuttled weft. That’s a fancy way of saying that the way the warp ends were threaded behind the reed becomes evident in the woven cloth in front of the reed.

When our whole-heart desire is to walk as our heavenly king walks, his love is activated in us, and is expressed toward each other. This deep wish to follow his ways forms the intentional threading pattern that makes stunning fabric possible.

(This is still the cotton warp for the rya knots project. HERE is where I threaded these heddles, and HERE is how the rya knots look.)

May your deepest wish come true!

As always,
Karen

Weft in the Background

Karen

With nine shades of blue, four shades of gold, and mixed strands of white / grey / lavender, in various weights of wool, the rya is a tactile and visual delight. There is a lovely surprise under the shaggy rya tendrils that you will not see unless you spread the strands apart and peer down to the cloth. The wool background weft forms a delicate repeating pattern underneath. And that hidden ground weft is the very thing that secures every tedious row of hand-tied rya knots. Like the background weft, when we choose to build others up, we weave a lasting foundation into our relationships.

47 rya knots across each row, forming a shaggy pillow top. Karen Isenhower
Shaggy pillow top. Each row of rya knots is made by slipping individual strands of wool yarn around pairs of warp threads, snugging them into secure knots. There are 47 rya knots across each row.

Sure, more knowledge and experience improves my skills. Skills that I can show off. Knowledge without love is a danger zone, though, that leads to arrogance. I can puff up myself through knowledge, or I can build up others through love. Wouldn’t we rather be the background weft that allows the rya to stand out? Our knowledge, with love as the operating system, has the capability of building up others. What love builds, lasts.

 (More thoughts about rya knots, and love as an operating system HERE.) 

May you find your place in the background.

Truly yours,
Karen

Tools Day: Electric Bobbin Winder

Karen

Every time I use my bobbin winder I am reminded of how fortunate I am. It’s electric. No one has an electric bobbin winder quite like mine, because no one else has my Steve to invent things like he does. He watched me using my nifty hand-turn Swedish bobbin winder many times. Steve decided he could make something better. A motor and an on-off light switch, with a variable-speed foot pedal. It’s perfect! I love it. But mostly, I love Steve.

Home built electric bobbin winder. Works like a charm.
Electric bobbin winder holds any length of quill. The quill fits tightly onto a tapered dowel that extends from the bobbin winder.

The leather quilting thimble keeps me from burning or cutting my thumb as the thread speeds by while I guide it onto the fast spinning quill on the bobbin winder.

I am on my very last tube of this shade of light blue. Will there be enough on this quill to finish the last blue section of the last of four towels in this color scheme, plus enough for the light blue hem?? Somehow, I think a tightly- and perfectly-shaped quill will be able to weave just a little bit further… (You can see the beginning of this set of four towels HERE.)

Just enough light blue to finish the hem!
Small amount of light blue left on the quill. Maybe I can use the remainder for a couple of small stripes on another towel.

Yes! Finished the hem with a little bit of light blue left to spare. This is a good day!

To request Steve’s parts and source list for the electric bobbin winder, click HERE to send me an email.

May you always have just enough of what you need.

Joyfully,
Karen

Keep this Picture in Mind

Karen

Have you thought of using the camera on your phone to help you recall details in your weaving design? I want the simplest way to remember this narrow blue and honey border stripe at the beginning of the towel so I can weave it exactly the same when I get to the other end. What better way than to take a detail snapshot with my iPhone? It’s handy, descriptive, and quick. There are some things that are best remembered with pictures.

Beginning of another towel on the loom.
After the red cutting line, a new towel begins with a honey-colored hem. The narrow blue and honey stripe will be repeated at the other end of the towel.

When our heavenly king walked the earth, he was a living picture of heavenly goodness. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. These threads of royalty stood out in humanity because of the contrast next to common threads of envy, selfishness, and prideful boasting. Considering this living snapshot of true royalty, we, too, can wear the clothes that are fit for a king (or queen)! Better than capturing a design element with our iPhones, is capturing the design for our lives from the heart of our grand weaver.

May you remember the details that matter.

Love,
Karen