One of the good things about 2020 is that I’ve had plenty of time for weaving.  During the Covid-19 shutdown at Fort Frederica I even taught a bunch of other people to weave.  One of my favorite students was the maintenance intern, Angela, who got so good at it she started designing her own projects.  Now that Christmas is over and gifts are given, I can share with you some of my 2020 weaving.

The Visitors Center at Fort Frederica was closed for six weeks.  During that time Tom and I worked some and goofed off some.  But I also did several weaving projects.  I wove two scarves out of yarn that I also handspun.  It was the first time I used my own handspun yarn for weaving and it turned out very well.  I like weaving scarves because they go very fast.  In fact, the first set went so well that I immediately warped on another set and had four scarves out of handspun yarn in no time.  And then I warped on some tencel and wove two more scarves.

Next I moved on to the project that intern Angela designed.  She wanted a “couch shawl.”  She didn’t need a blanket, because you don’t need blankets on couches in Georgia (unlike Ohio in the winter).  Instead, she wanted something to put on the back of the couches in the Seasonal Ranger housing to make it look more homey.  She picked out the pattern and the colors and then the two of us wove them together.  When we were finished we had two couch shawls, for the two couches, and one short shawl out of the leftovers.  I gave the short shawl to Ranger Michael’s daugher Mila who was having surgery.  He sent me this picture of her.  I think she looks like a tiny rabbi.

Once we finished the couch shawls, I warped on some cotton for the large, soft towels that I love to use in the kitchen.  I wanted to weave enough of them to be able to give them as Christmas presents.  I wove one set in cream, light blue, and dark blue.  Then a wove another set in white, pink, and purple.  I ended up with enough that every member of my family got one for Christmas.  I really like this weaving pattern because you can vary it enough to make it interesting, but the weaving itself goes really fast.

As my final weave for 2020, I warped on a set of placemats.  I wanted to give John and Jackie a set of Christmas placemats for their new house.  I chose the Honeycomb placemats from Tom Knisely’s book “Handwoven Table Linens.”  These placemats are woven with a thick cream colored yarn and thin red and green yarns.  On the loom the thick and thin just look like stripes.  But when you take it off the loom and wash it, the thick yarn creates a honeycomb pattern.  It was like magic!  I was so excited about the honeycomb that I didn’t notice the placemats varied in length from 12 to 24 inches.  Oh well, I’m not a master weaver yet.

I have enjoyed my 2020 weaving.  I love being able to make something beautiful, especially in a year that had so much ugly.

And, once again, for those of you who read all the way to the end of the post – I have a giveaway.  Four towels / cloths available and you can choose which one you want.  One through four from the top left corner down.  Just let me know which one you want and I will mail it to you sometime next year!