The (Linen) bit in the middle

Well, after what seems like “my year of wool” (in fact it was only 4 months!), I knew I’d be heading for a reaction, and it came in the form of linen last weekend. Out with the winter wool, and in with the spring linen.

I wanted to do something relatively quick and satisfying, so I put on a shortish warp of pure linen, and the results are now on Etsy – 3 pure linen and 5 cotton and linen wash mitts. They really feel beautiful, the mix of linen and honeycomb weave gives a lovely texture, while the cotton ones have a gorgeous warmth to them.
I’ve pointed out to my husband that there’s not a bit of “green” in sight!
The truth is, I used to hate weaving with linen, but I learnt by trial and error that so long as the linen warp has at least 2 ply and a good twist, it can be as fine as sewing thread and it will not break. A little patience with the tension and a big damp tea towel draped across the shed and you can handweave metres without one flaw. Nothing like learning the hard way to get the gist of something!

Published by Ruth

I am a native of Ireland, but have been living and weaving between Barcelona and Ireland for over 21 years now; mostly in Barcelona. I studied woven textiles (and dyeing and felting) at Winchester School of Art, UK and have lived and worked in Ireland, UK, Japan and now Spain. Weaving takes up the space in my brain that is not filled with my daughter, son, husband and family - and "grown-up paid non-weaving work"...(the "mortgage paying" kind that takes up most of my time! As well as housework and sundry other things which I usually try to ignore as long as possible). View more posts

One thought on “The (Linen) bit in the middle”

I love your scarves and am so please I stumbled on your blog, because I found Colour Forecasting and Trends!! I usually have to pay quite a bit to go to a trend seminar, or travel all the way to Nottingham to access a trend library.

Thanks

Alison