tea towels inspired by the eras tour

i was chatting with my sister and my swiftie friend on our group chat and we decided that my next weaving project should be tea towels inspired by the eras tour. so i ordered up a bunch of new weaving yarn in new colors. it arrived right before i went to the states. last weekend, i got started on seeing how the colors i ordered play together.

i made vikleprøver/yarn windings to play with the colors. i think i'll start with lover, which is the one at the top. followed by 1989, which is the one at the bottom. i need to adjust the colors for midnights (on the right), as the brown doesn't work and it needs some burgundy. the one on the left is reputation. that one, i want to play with a more graphic look. 

we're going to make the warp for lover this weekend. i'm even going to put that sparkly yarn in there, together with the purple, so that there's a little sparkle to them, even though that's not necessarily traditional in a tea towel.

the planning is actually becoming part of the fun for me! that's not normally my core competence, nor something i like all that much. i'm learning how to achieve the look i'm going for. and even learning what i like and what i don't. i think it's going to be a fun exercise. and with all those eras, it should keep the loom occupied for a few months to come.

 

on the loom right now

i'm making another set of tea towels at the moment - these were colors chosen by husband's eldest for her kitchen in her new apartment. 

she wanted blue, green and brown and we also spiced things up with some accents in orange and tomato red, as well as a neutral, undyed thread. 

 i've finished 7 of 10 so far. i like the ones best that are ending up plaid. 

of course, i get quite a lot of "help" from mazikeen.  

 oh, and on the little loom, i've just prepared all the fabric to get started on that new rug for the kitchen.

weaving lately

 

the first set of rainbow tea towels were so much fun, i made a second batch of them! they make me so happy. i might even have to have a third round! though i want to make some bath towels and two scarves first. here's the colors i bought for the bath towels. they'll be in a waffle weave, so they should be good for toweling off after the shower. 

and a few more shades for the weft.

and this is the wool i got for the scarves i want to make.

and when we went to latvia in october, i bought some green wool for a rug for the bedroom at the market.

on the little loom, i've set up a warp for making rag rugs. then i came into some wool leftovers from a carpet factory and i'm now experimenting with those. weaving with wool is new to me. i'm making a small rug for the guest bedroom.

i got almost halfway on the weekend. keeping it simple. i have four shades of blue and i got some neon yellow for the stripes. i'm doing the walls in that room in light blue and i'll have some neon yellow accents - like an old wardrobe that i intend to paint neon yellow. light blue and neon yellow look surprisingly good together. 

before this, i did a small colorful rag rug using two duvet covers that i found. i made it as long as it could be with the fabric i had. it's about 180cm and will be perfect for the entryway by the back door.

i think i'll clip these both off the loom when i'm done with the wool one. i've got 16 meters of warp, so i can continue once these are clipped.  i also have fabric to make a new runner for the kitchen to replace the one i dropped a new bottle of olive oil on right after i made it. but i have plenty of warp for that. and maybe a couple more. i've been gathering old duvet covers in nice colors in the secondhand stores. it's so nice to give old textiles a new life.

oh, and it's not weaving, but i also finished my very first knitted sweater! it's the novice sweater in chunky by petite knit, using yarn that i had. it's not perfect, but i'm very happy that i knitted a sweater! i've already started another. 

have i mentioned the second loom?

way back in 2010, before we even moved over to this falling down farmhouse, i acquired a loom. it's never been set up, but i've had it all this time. so once we decided that the brewery needed to be a weaving studio, i knew i had to set it up. along the way, i had acquired a third one and several smaller table-top looms as well, but there's not room for all of them. i still have dreams of having a loom upstairs in what will be the living room as well. 

a couple of months ago, husband and i spent the day putting the loom together. the two smaller ones i have are of similar size and we had to bring all the bits out here in order to figure out which belonged to which loom. we did eventually figure it out. it was rather like putting together a puzzle.

here are all the bits of the 3rd one. i cleaned them up and then the went back into storage until i can set it up upstairs. 

husband put up some hooks so that the extra bits that i'm not using on the big loom could be hung up. it can have 16 pedals, but i'm not nearly that ambitious as of yet. i'm only using six at the moment. 

we finally managed to get it put together. i knew i would need to call my weaving mentor to help me straighten everything out with all those "søller" (again, no idea what they're called in english since i've learned this entirely in danish). 

the view of the second loom through the first one. now it's really, truly a weaving studio. i'm going to set up a warp for weaving some more rag rugs. after i broke that bottle of olive oil on the first one that i wove and the second one had some issues with the yarn quality, i really need to weave a new one for the kitchen. 

it was rather fun getting out all the things that came with the looms along the way and figuring out exactly what all i have. and as you might imagine, i have a lot. it seems like every loom comes with a box or two of accessories. 

a week or so after this, emmy did help me get everything all set up and ready for the rag rug warp. i have to order the yarn and then we will get it set up. 

see the difference? i took this photo today - those strings are in much better order, just waiting for the warp.

we enjoy sitting at this little table and doing projects, even if it is right by the door. we sat here and made our friendship bracelets for the taylor swift concert (did i mention that my sister and i went to taylor swift in hamburg?). it's really become our favorite room.

and the view from the other side. i've got a second round of rainbow tea towels on the go on the big loom. when they're finished, i'll make us some bath towels for the upstairs bathroom. i'm pondering the colors and setup for those as i weave the rainbow tea towels.

somehow the color of the wood and color of the floor just complement one another perfectly. i love this room so much.

even when i'm working at home, i sit in a lounge chair over in this corner, just so i can be in the room. 

we can still do other projects out here, for example, husband is painting a cupboard over in the far corner. he just put down a drop cloth to protect the floor. i've had the sewing machine set up on the round table a couple of times as well. and i had a zine project going on there over the past week or so. 

people are always asking me how i have time for creative projects. i think it's mostly because i would rather come out and be in this room, making something, than sit and watch t.v. and even when i'm working on the computer, it tends to be here. so i guess my answer is that if you quite literally make the space for it, you have all the time for creative projects that you need.

first batch of rainbow tea towels!

my first batch of tea towels is complete! they're so pretty and i was not at all done playing with color, so we made a new warp in the same color palette. 

i say we, because i am very fortunate to have my own personal weaving mentor, who gave me her loom and who is helping me every step of the way. 

to start off with, i played with some yarn i had in my stash - love the tweed effect of the nubbly yarn. i did enough to be able to make a little bag and now i've begun on the next set of tea towels. 

 

colors of kindness warp

here's how my colors of kindness warp turned out. i'm so grateful to my friend emmy for helping me make it yesterday! i spent all my time choosing colors and deciding when to add the next one and change it out and didn't learn as much as i should have about actually making the warp, but that was also something. and there will be more warps to make. this one will be tea towels where i play with color, learning what it does to this rainbow of colors when you weave in with only one color or another. it'll be a few weeks before i have time to dress the loom, as i'm really busy with work, but i can't wait.