Great idea. And this reminds me that I have a tiny suitcase of my grandmothers filled with odd bits from her mother's linen cupboard. Will have to check to see if there is anything towel-worthy. Thanks for the great idea
dear sarah, remember when all the holes out-muster(?) the workable web it's time for the linen to decay and hydrate to become paper. encouraging beautiful paper for the next incarnation. then it can be other love letter or fire starter or dust or ash or compost or..........
Oh, to be snuggled into those lovely blankets and know the comfort of your linen towels! Thank you for sharing everything about them. I am charmed with what they mean, while being an innocent who has never woven anything beyond inch wide colored strips of paper in elementary school. Knitting - I know something about and have admired some of your sleeves and button bands in pics! Truly! - But back to your linen towels ... You have planted a seed, and I may have to learn to weave. 😅 I often let my cotton bath towels air dry rather than tossing them in the dryer because I like the rough feel of them. In the winter I have taken to folding one into a square and placing it in my bed where my feet will be between the sheets, so I can slide me feet in at night. My feet LOVE this! Absolutely warms and softens the skin, too! Now I want to do this with one of your linen towels!!! I had always thought I might make some kitchen towels to learn to weave. But now I will be dreaming of linen towels!!! 🥰
I so agree about the bliss of air drying towels of all sorts (for of course I still have a stack of 'regular' pile towels that I save for guests who are put off by mat ramshackle linen ones). There is something so deliciously scrubby and comforting about the slightly stiff pile isn't there? And oh, the fresh dried smell. LOVE the idea of having one for my feet. Thanks!
A transparent tapestry? You mean like Theo Mormon technique with the tapestry supported by a translucent web? How utterly lovely. And of course the towels are just the web without hte tapestry part. They there's no reason they couldn't have a wee decoration just for fun.
Those textiles flowing in the breeze.... my goodness! They sent my heart aflutter. Ya know, if you were ever looking for an income stream, you could school people on living well, simply. You have truly cracked the code there. Not in perfection but in authenticity.
HA! Thank you Ellen, for that delightful and flattering comments. I'm definitely not seeking perfection (does such a thing even exist?) , but cannot resist noticing those moments when my heart too, fluttered and swells at the the wee delicious sights that sometimes use show up as with the line of waving blankets. Bless you for noticing.
Dear Sarah, thank you for a tiny 55 second video of a ridged heddle reed in action. As I watched it became clear that you were lifting and pushing. 🤔 Oh wow the reed creates the sheds! How ingenious is that! Here I’ve been a weaver for years but never used nor understood what a ridged heddle reed did. What an ancient marvel (and still being used today)!! Who knew!!😲🤭
OH Gosh I'm so delighted that the video make it clear! I'd actually never used a rigid heddle before starting to weave on a backstrap loom, so was equally thrilled by the clever design. I know spree traditional backstrap heddles do not have the holes in the middle (just the slots), so serve as a beater and/or a way to keep the warp threads in place, but not a shed making device (this is accomplished with sticks and string). The addition of the holes makes it all so freaking clever.
I am 250 miles from my looms, home, textile library, but seem to remember Paula Simmons may have had something in one of her books about a dressing for warps, likely linen. I wish I could look, but perhaps someone else has the books and could look. Your linen yardage is wonderful!
Thank you! As I took the video I wondered if I could somehow capture how the linen itself might feel in that moment of transformation as it is moving from yarn into cloth. In truth, it is an amazing thing to be part of.
I love seeing handmade things in use in everyday, real life. I don’t think anyone does it better than you! Another thing I love is air-dried laundry. No home I’ve ever lived in has been without a clothesline, and there is nothing better for sleep than lying in the fresh scent of air dried sheets!
I couldn't agree more about the bliss of air dried laundry--and always feel a little sad for neighborhoods where having a clothes line isn't allowed (undies being unsightly perhaps?). Of course a person could always say that the sheets are actually flags celebrating the sun and wind....
And thank you for that lovely comment about using hand made things in regular life. It is hugely important to me to do this -- and I love it when we remember that we can.
i love your collection of bed blankets every time i catch a glimpse of them on here! what a fantastic sleeping & dreaming spot they must make. and love everything about your towel making/relating to practice too. maybe one of these days i'll try it.
Thank you Trilby. I have to say that those blankets do manage to lift my heart almost every night when I crawl into them-- and even in the morning when I'm just making the bed. Same with the towels. I had no idea I'd feel this way about them and do feel ridiculously fortunate.
I have some old linen hand towels from my grandma's house that I've never used. I'm going to get them out and try them now!
Great idea. And this reminds me that I have a tiny suitcase of my grandmothers filled with odd bits from her mother's linen cupboard. Will have to check to see if there is anything towel-worthy. Thanks for the great idea
dear sarah, remember when all the holes out-muster(?) the workable web it's time for the linen to decay and hydrate to become paper. encouraging beautiful paper for the next incarnation. then it can be other love letter or fire starter or dust or ash or compost or..........
Well you know what Velma -- you're right. This towel may now be more hole than web--but I don't make paper, so what shall I do?
we...ll i know a papermaker...
Oh, to be snuggled into those lovely blankets and know the comfort of your linen towels! Thank you for sharing everything about them. I am charmed with what they mean, while being an innocent who has never woven anything beyond inch wide colored strips of paper in elementary school. Knitting - I know something about and have admired some of your sleeves and button bands in pics! Truly! - But back to your linen towels ... You have planted a seed, and I may have to learn to weave. 😅 I often let my cotton bath towels air dry rather than tossing them in the dryer because I like the rough feel of them. In the winter I have taken to folding one into a square and placing it in my bed where my feet will be between the sheets, so I can slide me feet in at night. My feet LOVE this! Absolutely warms and softens the skin, too! Now I want to do this with one of your linen towels!!! I had always thought I might make some kitchen towels to learn to weave. But now I will be dreaming of linen towels!!! 🥰
I so agree about the bliss of air drying towels of all sorts (for of course I still have a stack of 'regular' pile towels that I save for guests who are put off by mat ramshackle linen ones). There is something so deliciously scrubby and comforting about the slightly stiff pile isn't there? And oh, the fresh dried smell. LOVE the idea of having one for my feet. Thanks!
Deliciously scrubby! This captures it perfectly. I will now look forward to the scent, too! May your milkweed be high as an elephant's eye. ✨
Linen is my current favorite. I’m making a transparent tapestry and it looks like I need to try out a towel next.
Thank you always for the inspiration- I’m beginning to get my weaving mojo back after too many deaths upending my life.
The creative flow will be found.
A transparent tapestry? You mean like Theo Mormon technique with the tapestry supported by a translucent web? How utterly lovely. And of course the towels are just the web without hte tapestry part. They there's no reason they couldn't have a wee decoration just for fun.
I picked up a book called Sheer Delight by Doramay Keasby. It looks very similar to the Theo Mormon technique. I’m just playing around with it.
Linen is so beautiful to weave and then to enjoy! Thank you, Sarah, for celebrating this lovely fiber.
Isn't it marvelous? A miracle plant for lo these many millennia. We're so fortunate to get to work with it and it never disappoints.
Love the lyrical clothesline video...
Thanks darlin! Hard to resist the varying cadences of the different blanket weights.
Those textiles flowing in the breeze.... my goodness! They sent my heart aflutter. Ya know, if you were ever looking for an income stream, you could school people on living well, simply. You have truly cracked the code there. Not in perfection but in authenticity.
HA! Thank you Ellen, for that delightful and flattering comments. I'm definitely not seeking perfection (does such a thing even exist?) , but cannot resist noticing those moments when my heart too, fluttered and swells at the the wee delicious sights that sometimes use show up as with the line of waving blankets. Bless you for noticing.
Dear Sarah, thank you for a tiny 55 second video of a ridged heddle reed in action. As I watched it became clear that you were lifting and pushing. 🤔 Oh wow the reed creates the sheds! How ingenious is that! Here I’ve been a weaver for years but never used nor understood what a ridged heddle reed did. What an ancient marvel (and still being used today)!! Who knew!!😲🤭
OH Gosh I'm so delighted that the video make it clear! I'd actually never used a rigid heddle before starting to weave on a backstrap loom, so was equally thrilled by the clever design. I know spree traditional backstrap heddles do not have the holes in the middle (just the slots), so serve as a beater and/or a way to keep the warp threads in place, but not a shed making device (this is accomplished with sticks and string). The addition of the holes makes it all so freaking clever.
So satisfying, swathes and swatches!!
What a beautiful grown up girl she is!
I am 250 miles from my looms, home, textile library, but seem to remember Paula Simmons may have had something in one of her books about a dressing for warps, likely linen. I wish I could look, but perhaps someone else has the books and could look. Your linen yardage is wonderful!
Thank you Janice, for that. I bet Paula did have some good linen dressing advice. What a fount of wisdom.
vos réalisations sont magnifiques et embellies par les réparations ! c'est une belle suite de vie.
Merci beaucoup. Le lin comme la vie, j'adore ça.
Watching you weave is mesmerizing! And what beautiful handmade blankets. :)
Thank you! As I took the video I wondered if I could somehow capture how the linen itself might feel in that moment of transformation as it is moving from yarn into cloth. In truth, it is an amazing thing to be part of.
Absolutely!
I love seeing handmade things in use in everyday, real life. I don’t think anyone does it better than you! Another thing I love is air-dried laundry. No home I’ve ever lived in has been without a clothesline, and there is nothing better for sleep than lying in the fresh scent of air dried sheets!
I couldn't agree more about the bliss of air dried laundry--and always feel a little sad for neighborhoods where having a clothes line isn't allowed (undies being unsightly perhaps?). Of course a person could always say that the sheets are actually flags celebrating the sun and wind....
And thank you for that lovely comment about using hand made things in regular life. It is hugely important to me to do this -- and I love it when we remember that we can.
I loved seeing you weave outside, so serene and calming in this noisy world of ours…. b
Thank you Barbara. And it feels that way from the inside too, most of the time -- like weaving creates a web of respite from all the input and noise.
i love your collection of bed blankets every time i catch a glimpse of them on here! what a fantastic sleeping & dreaming spot they must make. and love everything about your towel making/relating to practice too. maybe one of these days i'll try it.
Thank you Trilby. I have to say that those blankets do manage to lift my heart almost every night when I crawl into them-- and even in the morning when I'm just making the bed. Same with the towels. I had no idea I'd feel this way about them and do feel ridiculously fortunate.