Stash Reduction

 

These are the oopsie towels (one of them, at least).

The face I see becomes the 'back' and is more white; the front shows more of the warp and looks more blue/grey.  A subtle difference my ipad doesn't capture well.

But the towels after wet finishing show a nice bit of texture.  I'm going to explore that texture a bit in the next section of warp because the 'balance' of the cloth is 'off' - as in half of the warp threads are actually 2/8, not 2/16 - as they were *supposed* to be.  And that threw the pick count 'off'.  

I'm weaving the last of this combination now, and then I think there will be enough warp left to do two more towels and I will experiment with the singles 6 for weft.  Which means, the warp/weft ratio will again be 'off' and things will tend to want to be elongated because of the thicker weft.  With the 2/8 in the warp, as well, I'm not even going to *try* to keep everything balanced or wind up with a cloth that will be 'too thick/stiff' for towels during this first, tentative sampling.  So mainly I want to explore some things in the warping, and weave them on this warp as a 'sample' and then decide where to go for the next warp, which *will* be all 2/16 warp.  I'm thinking of using 27 as the density.  I have a 9 dent reed and I think anything denser than that with the singles 6 weft would become too stiff.

I'm not unhappy with these towels.  They are a bit 'thicker' than I had planned on making, but after wet finishing, I think they will do.  And the 2/15 cotton will be done, with just a few bobbins left to use for 'waste' purposes.  My goal is to get the singles 6 used up, although I'm getting low on 2/16 cotton and Canada Post is still on strike so rather than start ordering yarn, not knowing when it can be shipped, I thought I could examine my silk stash.  I found the bag of cashmere I've been 'hoarding' for years and figured it might be time to weave some silk scarves.

Little by little, my stash is going down, down, down.  And that is a good feeling...