Rainbow Pinwheels

I just finished up a run of kitchen towels that has been a joy to weave. The very first towels I wove years and years ago used a two color pinwheel pattern. It's a "color & weave" pattern which means the pattern only works if you use both the correct weave structure and the correct color design. Look at the places where the vertical color and the horizontal color meet. It looks magical on the loom but it really shines once you've washed the cloth and the threads have had a chance to settle in. I love color and weave patterns in any case but the pinwheels are my favorite.

I was looking for a happy, light and carefree towel so I used eight different pastel colors along with natural. I did end up with happy towels although I might just have used a couple too many colors. With that many colors there is a lot going on in these towels. 

These are woven in cottolin which is a wonderful blend of fibers, 60% cotton and 40% linen. These towels are hardy and long lasting but still with a nice soft hand. The addition of linen to the cotton makes them tougher so they stand up to repeated washings better and also makes them more absorbent than the cotton on its own.

As usual, this run is 12 yards on the loom which means there are eleven towels and one bread cloth, which is really just a short towel. They are all happily hemmed and photographed and up on the website. Take a look!