I love spring so much – particularly because the prevailing gray is beginning to dissipate and the days are getting longer and longer. We have planted our garden to celebrate this time of year. Many of our plants bloom now and I wanted to bring the view from my weaving studio window into my towels. Bring on the color!

view from studio window web

Above is what I see when I look out right now (you can even see the reflection of my loom light in the shot). I am continuing to use my cotton knitting yarn stash so I created a warp in yellows and greens (with a heavy dose of white to keep things light). These aren’t colors I normally wear so how they ended up in my stash is somewhat bewildering, but I am glad to have the right tones available. Knitting yarn is a little heavy for towels, but it is super absorbent and, when mixed with finer wefts, has a nice hand. Inspiration was all around – even in my guilty candy habit! The loose sett further helps keep the towels soft and comfortable to use.

!dots

I spent a lot of time playing with various weft materials: cotton flake in birdseye twill and plain weave, yellow knitting yarn in a birdseye variant, white for the clean and cheerful look, and some old cotton sock yarn to run riot in purples and greens.  The double shuttle allowed me to use some pink and purple cotolin for weft borders (the birdseye gave me a sweet flower pattern to further emphasize the garden connection). By making each piece different, I was able to learn how the different materials affected the end result and I didn’t get bored weaving. I hope spring is headed your way soon too!

towel Collage 2