Placemat Challenge

Tina mentioned our placemat challenge in her post. Well, here's what I'm hoping will be my contribution to the placemat pile.

The warp's been on the loom for a long time. Production always comes first!! However, I've wanted to weave these particular placemats for a long time. I bought the filler strips at R & M several years ago and the bags sat there waiting for the right time! I've got 4 of them woven now and hope to get the rest done this week.
I'm really liking the balance of brown and teal. There will be a dozen of these placemats and then I"ll see how much warp I"ve got left. I have no idea how much I put on the loom. There should be enough for 12......I hope!

When I do my regular production, I know exactly how much I put on and what's going to be woven. With placemats I generally just start winding a bunch and figure I'll just make as many as there is warp for.

In weaving this one, if there's warp left, I want to do a couple of runners. Maybe weave mostly teal with brown stripes at the ends or vice versa.

Anything to tempt a potential buyer!!

The warp's just carpet warp but that works well for placemats.

We had such a good time last week at The Woolery. It's fun to see new weavers build their stash. When I started to weave it was assumed we would just use carpet warp. I even wove some tops that I sold using carpet warp. The tracking on carpet warp made them look like they were intricately woven. I don't think we had much encouragement to try finer yarns or to explore much, even 8/2 wasn't available at the center. So seeing how the new weavers now are willingly trying the finer yarns is so good. It took me years to build up the courage to try yarns like 10/2.  Having our group that meets each week and seeing new weavers use the fine yarns is encouraging for me.

These few weeks before January are my free time. I'm weaving things for fun, not production. I may only get this warp woven because of family responsibilities but I'm happy to sneak down to the studio and get some done! I'll let you know how many placemats I end up with!
Until next week, keep weaving and relax!
Carol