Weaving a Blanket

One of my early weaving memories is my mother at the loom in our living room weaving a blanket.  That old loom had a maximum weaving width of 32" so she wove four panels and sewed them together to make a warm wool blanket that would fit my parents double bed.  I remember both my mom and dad working on the blanket and I know I wove a bit of it too.  I checked with my brother and sisters to see if they wove any of it also and was surprised to hear they didn't.  I would have bet the farm they had woven on the blanket.

This old blanket has not had an easy life.  When I went upstairs to look for it this afternoon, I found it in the guest room closet rather in the cedar chest where it should have been.  It has moth holes in it and was very dirty so I dumped it in the washing machine immediately.  I know it's been washed lots of times over the last 50 years so I wasn't concerned about it shrinking.  It's already done as much shrinking as it could.  It came out of the washer clean and soft and smelling wonderful.  I've brought it out to the studio to air dry.

My next woven blanket happened this past Christmas.  We got a commission for a wool blanket that turned into two blankets.  A good friend of my brother wanted a hand woven blanket to give to his wife for Christmas.  My brother sent me some pictures of their living room so I would get an idea of what colors they liked.

It was a great project!  I found a great turned twill pattern that meant a stunning weave structure but an easy treadling pattern.  Complicated treadling patterns drive me nuts so I'm always looking for the easy ones.

I like this pattern so much that my next run of kitchen towels will use it.  The yarn will be cottolin rather than wool and the colors will be different but the weave structure will be the same.  I think they will look just as wonderful as these blankets!