Red-White-Blue Swedish Lace

More of the Swedish Lace warp........ I am having fun thinking up some different looks for this red warp. Why not use some blue and white and get all 4th of July-ish!

So far I have a solid red towel, and green-red towel, and now a red-white-blue towel. I like this latest combination. It will have a solid red hem, then the white and blue alternated.

I may try another towel using different blocks with these same colors. I usually start thinking about the next combination before I get finished with the one I am working on. I hope that is normal........

Red and White Swedish Lace?

For my next trick... how about some white on red. This time I think I will alternate two different blocks four times each the whole length of the towel. (I am still allowing for a plain weave hem.) This should go pretty quick. That is if I can get to the loom. Some times it is just to far down the road to reach. ;)

Again, you can find this draft and all kinds of interesting facts in the Jan/Feb 2006 Handwoven. This was a really great article by one of my favorite weavers, Vicki Tardy. Check it out. Or you can go to Cotton Clouds and they have a kit! I am just a fan of Cotton Clouds, so you are on your own there.

A Little Red and Green

OK, I have a Swedish Lace tea-cup towels that is red on red. How about green on red? I think so too! After all, Christmas is just around the corner. Well, if you are old like me, then the months just fly by.

The hem is plain weave, then a few rows of one pattern.

Now I will weave the center 25 inches the same block.

This is what it will look like on the back side. Or maybe the front side.... green weft wise, red warp wise!

Red Warp

Glad I picked red to work with. It seems to have brought me out of my lackadaisical zone. (yes, I had to look that word up..... who knew it was such a silly word?)

reed

heddles

raddle

combing out

tensioned and ready to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Now I am ready to throw the shuttle. This is Swedish Lace by Vicki Tardy from a Handwoven Jan/Feb 2006. I met her at a Midwest Weavers Conference and her style of teaching reaches my brain cells. She has also done some exciting work with creative overshot too!

Still messing around with doctors and waiting rooms, so my weaving will still be 'hit or miss', so I thank you in advance for checking out my blog.

Back In The Saddle?

Trying to get back to my looms. Knowing my brain is still fuzzy, I thought I had better try to start out slow and so I looked for one of my favorite weavers, Vicki Tardy, to see what some of the drafts she had published in Handwoven might be. I found in the Jan-Feb 2006 an article on Swedish Lace where Vicki has you thinking about learning while weaving towels. And to top that off, I was able to find a kit at Cotton Clouds for the same such draft. So far, so good. Not too much thinking, but I did have to pick white or a color. I picked RED hoping to energize my dull brain cells. So far, I have wound the warp and have started putting it on the loom.

Secret Tie-Dye Tip

Wanted to share a tip about rinsing your dyed warp chains, t-shirts, what-ever..... using the Fiber Reactive Dye for cotton, silk, Tencel, bamboo....(not wool).

After I have dyed the articles- Here I have some cotton hankies and some more of the cotton t-shirts that turned out to be too small for grandson, and a couple of adult t-shirts.

I let them dry in the sun (if possible) or in the basement if it is raining. Sometimes I don't even wait until everything is dry. I do TRY to make myself wait at least a couple of hours before I am ready to remove the rubber bands and rinse. But instead of taking to the sink and rinsing and rinsing and rinsing, I have a secret method.

Now here is the tip I wanted to share. I fill my bucket with water and 'Synthrapol' and then put in as much as I can of the items - at the same time - and let that sit overnight. And the next morning I pour off the liquid, and rinse by hand in the sink. There is very little dye left in the fibers. So there is only one or maybe two rinse cycles. Try this the next time you dye a warp chain. You will spend a lot less time rinsing out the left-over dye.

 

 

Throw in the washer and dryer or dry out side. Either way, your dye is set and you have spent less time rinsing out the excess dye.







 

A Grandson To Dye For

Been playing with the grandson and tie-dye! Grandma and grandson had a great time. No dye on clothes or shoes we were wearing at the time...... just our hands!

Shawn dyed his own t-shirts.

Grandma dyed the hat with the yellow bill and Shawn dyed the rest!

Shawn dyed these two cotton scarves for his sister and his mother. (His brother gets a  t-shirt too! But it is already packed for the trip back to VA.)