Blast from the past

This week I was able to add to the online shop inventory. This rug is softer than soft. It is a white cotton warp using the Goose Eye Pattern. For the weft I pulled out 15 or 16 cones of soft cotton flake in pinks/purples/whites/grays.

This beauty is a fringed rug using the Smokey Mountain River warp that I put on last fall. I used this teal and orange fabric that just knocked my socks off. It is the orange that really surprised me.

Here we have the a multi colored warp and blue flecked with white fabric weft.

These placemats however, are what this post is about today. Several years ago, I received a loom from my daughters MIL. She had gotten it from her SIL some 40 years before. She had tried to weave on it but with the little children under foot and little time to spare, she basically stored it for 40 years.

When the loom (45 inch Hammet) came to my house it had a warp on it. The warp was thru the reed and then 2/3 threaded thru the heddles. I spent a whole evening charting the threading that was already done, heddle by heddle. When I finished I could see where the middle of the pattern was, and how I needed to complete it.

I could tell it was an overshot pattern, so I just "tromped as writ" it. I did some research and quickly found that the pattern was called "Chariot Wheel". I was able to weave several sets of placemats and several runners with this warp. Some of which my daughter presented to her MIL for Christmas the next year.

These 6 placemats are the only articles left from the mystery warp. The Loom has found it's way to another weaver in the Tuesday Weavers. Turns out my 5"1' frame was just too little to weave comfortably on it.

If you want to see what we have for sale, you can find our shop at toosdayweavers.appalachianarts.net.

Happy weaving, Tina