Dynamic

 

In my desire to use up as much of my stash as possible, I uncovered the singles 6 cotton cones.  I'd worked with it years ago and had fun playing with 'energized' yarn and all the possibilities that could be played with in terms of developing texture.  

Over the summer I started reading Michelle Boyd's book Twist, but had to set it aside as I dealt with some other writing tasks, but when I wet finished the next set of towels with the energized singles 6, I was reminded that I needed to get back to Michelle's book.

Why are the corners of the cloth curled, you might ask.  Well, those corners are curled because of the energetic nature of the yarn itself.  Since just the weft is the singles 6, the corners all curl in the same 'direction', following the push/shove of the energy still in the yarn.

Michelle talks a lot about the physical dynamics of the forces that we build into our cloth - sometimes all unknowing, sometimes on purpose.  Her book is a deep dive into trying to bring knowledge and understanding of the forces that we deal with, mostly unknowingly, and which tend to end in surprises - sometimes nice ones, some, not so much.

And this is part of why experienced weavers will urge newer weavers to sample, sample, sample.

The cloth in the tea towels is woven in twill - a 1:2 twill, to be exact.  I knew that the energy in the yarn would create texture (tracking) and wanted to control that effect.  The goal was a tea towel, hopefully with good drape and absorbency.  So far I'm pleased with them.  They have a nice hand, feel good to touch, and visually have an 'interesting' amount of texture.  Yes, tracking in a twill!  Who'd a thunkit!

Using the singles 6 as weft on a 2/16 cotton warp has resulted in the qualities I was hoping to see.  And yes, I did sample before I set up this warp.  I am just setting up another in the same design (different colour) because I'm pleased with them.  And I'm happy to weave the singles 6 into a cloth that I feel  should provide good service for anyone who is using it.

And yes, those curls resolve once the hems are sewn.  As usual I will hand hem (it's my 'watching tv at night' task) and then give the towels a final finishing press.  

On the topic of books, the new book I ordered arrived this morning.  I'm looking forward to taking a look at it.  

Stay tuned...