The Dragon's Lair

Here's a peek at the first two of the "Hidden Jewels" towels on the loom.

The first was done with a black weft for the entire towel (the lighter colored band is the sewing thread section that will be folded into the hem). Here it is getting started ~

Look close - they aren't all the same twills! (I'll put a larger version of this picture over in the Gallery) I had fun playing with the threading for this design. First time using a drafting program on the computer! Woohoo!! Maybe I got a little carried away...

And here is a look at the second towel, which will soon be finished also ~

As you can see, this one has alternating bands of all three colors. I'm not quite as happy with it as I thought I would be, but I was already 7 or 8 inches into the towel before I decided that - and even though I wasn't thoroughly thrilled with it, it was alright and didn't merit a massive un-weaving effort. So this is how it shall stay. Hopefully once it's up for sale it will find someone out there that appreciates it more fully and will give it a loving home.

I think I'll go for more of a plaid type effect next time by varying the width of the stripes and maybe mixing the order together differently. Still need to figure out the details though.

So I'm curious - what do you think of the overall look of this second towel?

It's really kind of amazing how different yarns that are supposedly the "same" kind can be. Take 8/2, unmercerized cotton for example - pretty straightforward stuff, right?

Not really. This one is smoother, where that one has some slubs now and again... this one has a tighter twist, that one is softer... One could come up with a variety of variations (say that ten times fast!) - which is just what the cottons in my current towels have done. I didn't notice it while they were sitting together in a friendly little bunch of cones, but once I started working with them the differences soon became apparent.

The black is deliciously soft and smooth, and the finest of the bunch - though I expect that the reverse of these traits is that it is the comparatively weakest of the bunch as well. It had not a slub in sight when winding out yard after yard of it to make the warp. Simply one of the nicest unmercerized cottons I've seen so far.

The magenta is my "middle ground" one of the three. More what I'm accustomed to seeing in an 8/2 cotton - not particularly slubby or so smooth as to be noteworthy. Ever so slightly thicker than it's black companion, but not enough to make really noticeable differences.

The green, on the other hand, is the opposite of the black. It's notably rougher, and about as slubby as it could possibly be without becoming a cotton flake or something that is intentionally that way. It's also thicker than the other two - enough so that, when used as weft, it affects the weave! It would be great for releasing some pent up aggression since it has to be whacked good and sound with the beater a few times to make it somewhat match the black stripes. The diamonds still look ever so slightly larger, even with the extra attention to the beating, but not enough so to cause problems.

It's amazing how different each of these can be, and yet they're still considered the "same thing".
If I'd ever heard of such a thing as 7/2 cotton, I'd have my suspicions about this sneaky green yarn only masquerading as an 8/2. Hmmm...

I hope you'll pardon the picturelessness (I love making up my own words! LOL) of this little post. I'll try to make up for it soon, perhaps even later tonight, by showing you my first two towels!