When last I posted about my Macomber loom, I had just warped the loom for my first project.  That project is now finished so I thought I would give you a weaving update – whether you want it or not!

For my first project, I warped on 451 threads that were 13 yards long.  Once I had that done, I was ready to start weaving the Baker’s Dozen Towels from a Valley Yarns eBook designed by Anita Thompson.  I love to wind on long warps because I can do a lot of weaving without having to warp the loom again.  I got the warping done in January and spent an hour or so every day weaving through the winter.

The Baker’s Dozen Towels is supposed to produce 13 different towels, but changing the treadling for each towel with eight shafts is time consuming and tedious.  Not to mention I have a hard time getting off the floor from behind the loom.  Of course, this was my first time tying up this loom, so there was a learning curve.  But, instead of doing 13 different towels, I decided to pick my six favorite designs and weave two of each.  Doing the math, you might notice that only equals six towels.  For some reason, my towels still aren’t coming out the same length so that is something for me to work on.  Fortunately, with kitchen towels, it doesn’t matter if they are all the same length.  As long as they are soft and absorbent, they will do the job!

After weaving through January, February, and March, I was finished weaving the towels the first week of April.  I’m happy to say that I got better with tying up the treadles and even with reading a weaving pattern.  I also want to say thank you to my weaving assistant, Tom, who double checked that all the treadles were working correctly in the pattern.  I finished the towels the day before Easter and, when I took the cloth off the loom and hung it up, they looked like an Easter decoration.

I washed and ironed the cloth and applied the stick glue I use to be sure the towel doesn’t unravel before I get it hemmed.  Then I set about hemming each towel.  When I was finished I had a wonderful stack of 12 1/2 towels.

I really enjoyed this project, getting to know my loom and learning how it works.  Playing around with the different treadling (which leads to different patterns) and picking the colors for each towel was lots of fun.  I like weaving because it incorporates many of the things I am good at:  doing detailed work step by step but adding a little creative flair.  The towels are done and I am on to my next project.