Decisions, Decisions

 

On a quest to use up as much of my stash as possible, this is the next warp in the queue.

Right now the priority is the cotton flake in my stash.  It's bulky (comparatively) and takes up a shelf (or did) in my storage room.  As it happens, precisely because it is bulky, it is disappearing rather quickly.

One half pound tube weaves about 3 towels of a generous size - about 20 by 36 inches.

But getting combinations that please me is getting harder and harder because I am constrained by the fact I am working entirely from my stash.  No buying big 'bunny eared bags' of yarn from Brassard!

There is enough of the rose flake to weave all of this warp with some left over.  The rose is a challenging colour to work with because it has yellow in it.  When put with other colours, the rose can become 'muddy' in appearance.  I used it to weave two towels on the previous green warp and the result is dull, although passable.  I'm glad I only did the two, though.

Given the tendency for the yellow to turn the rose blah, I decided to push that tendency and will use it on this beige warp.  The rose should look like a pale brick shade and the whole cloth look fairly South Western.  Not a palette that speaks to me, personally, but I think should look fine once it's been woven and wet finished.

In the course of working with these colours, I added and subtracted various shades of beige to make a mix that I could live with.  I'm also trying to use up my 2/8 variegated and tried several different ones with this combo until I went back to my first choice - a mix of peach, yellow, blue and green in pale to mid-range tones.

Last night I was thinking about the kinds of decisions I make when doing a warp like this and I harkened back to Dorothy Liebes, a well known textile designer of her time.  She worked with architects and people like Jack Lenor Larsen and Marielle Rouseau-Vermette (sp?) studied with her.  

She had a mantra which I cannot now remember, although I had it memorized for many years.  It was all of the things she would put into a warp.  The list was about contrasts - shiny/dull, smooth/textured, etc.

I cannot now find it anywhere, so if anyone remembers her little saying, let me know...