I think “Leno” is kinda the worst name for a lace technique ever. Because you don’t think of delicate, sinuous, woven lace; you think of the guy with The Chin. But leno is what they called it. But what is Leno? I’m so glad you asked. So in normal plain weave, every thread crosses the … More Leno
Happy Feast of All Saints! Today we dealt with our candy hangovers in our own ways: me with a healthy breakfast and quiet lute music, the kids with the metaphorical hair of the dog. This witch, ghost, and monkey trio had a great time last night. Stringbean is finally old enough to take charge of … More October 2020 Roundup: The Sewing Bug
Some things are so nice, you make them twice. Sort of. I made these lovely bench cushions early this year. I was super pleased with how they turned out, and they greatly increased the comfort level for the bench-sitting crowd. However, they had a couple of engineering flaws. First, they were not washable. A major … More Bench Cushions Redux
Even in a leap year, February does tend to get away from one. It was a very cold month, with more days than not in the -30s, with windchills one the -40s. We were also cut down with a series of colds, which for once I took the brunt of. When I was functioning, I … More February 2020 Roundup: Cold
OK, that’s a stretch, but it sure felt like a lot of finishing. I thought I’d take today to talk a little bit about finishing the Twelve Fourteen Towels of Christmas. Once I finished weaving off the last towel, I had an impressive stack of unfinished weaves stacked in a corner of the counter. I … More TTofC: Eleven Miles of Finishing
Surprise! This bit of Christmas knitting is not a towel at all, but a scarf. After completing the 201 class, I said to myself, I’m on a roll! Why stop? So I started Liz Gipson’s 301 class on working with pick up sticks. The 301 class introduces you to weaving with a pickup stitck, which … More TTofC: Ten Pickup Patterns
What I neglected to mention yesterday is that the log cabin pattern is part of a family of patterns called “color and weave.” Whenever you use changing colors in the warp and weft together to make a pattern, that’s color and weave. I think it has to be plain weave? I’m not the expert here. … More TTofC: Eight Pairs of Patterns
Log Cabin is a stunning example of how a bafflingly complex-looking pattern can be made in plain weaving, just by arranging colors. Last year I figured out, just by messing around with my daughters’ loop loom, that you can make stripes by alternating colors in both warp and weft. In other words, if every other … More TTofC: Seven Log Cabin Stripes
Last December I wrote about my accomplishments for the year gone by, and my hopes for 2019. It was very interesting to read through and see what I thought would happen, and compare it to the reality. I. Intentions That Came True… Sort Of A. The Year of the Sweater I declared 2019 to be … More How 2019 Went
Happy feast of our blessed Lord’s birth! We’ve had a lovely holiday here in our new home. It’s so much quieter than we’re used to, which translates to holidays being less work, so we’re thankful. We went to a community feast Monday night: We had a family birthday party for Jesus last night, Spent yesterday … More The Twelve Towels of Christmas
Osborn Fiber Studio 