A Work In Progress

 

Yesterday I reached the estimated halfway point of the current warp, cut off what had been woven, separated the towels and got them into the washing machine.

With such a dark hue, I tossed a couple of Colour Catchers into the machine and after the first wash (with 'extra' rinse) noticed they had turned every bit as dark as the towels.

Back into the washing machine for another wash cycle (with extra rinse) and more Colour Catchers.  This time they were about half the value of the previous two, so I left those in the machine, added two more and ran just the rinse cycle.

After that, the two new ones were just 'blush' so I deemed the web 'done'.

About 20 or so minutes in the dryer left the towels a little bit more damp than I usually aim for, but the afternoon was shot and I didn't feel like weaving so I went ahead and pressed them.  In the end they weren't all that damp and pressed up fine.

The transformation was interesting.  The cloth is mostly plain weave with fine 'lines' of 2:2 twill running through to make a medallion design.  After wet finishing the cloth developed a nice texture and I'm pretty sure these will work well as towels.

Tonight there will be hemming to do.  One of the reasons I wanted to get these done now is that we are still having light well into the evening and they will be easier to see to hem.  

Here is the draft for the current warp.

I have more of the 8/2 cotton so my next warp will be set up with the same draft.  Hopefully next week.

Back in the 1980s I installed house a/c because at the time I was earning my income from weaving and couldn't weave once it reached 90F or so.  Once the studio warmed up, there was no way I could keep going.  Now we are facing 100+F temperatures early next week with 90+F temps either side of those record breaking days.

Staying home in the cool of the a/c, working in the studio, sounds like a plan to me.