Still plugging away...

I just finished weaving the twelfth towel on my pebble weave warp.  Let me tell you, that last one was a squeaker!  The end of the warp was right behind the shafts, and the shed (the opening through which I throw the shuttle) was quite small by the time I was done.  The long piece of cloth was then zigzagged at each end and is in the wash.  This time I used some washing soda along with the detergent, which is supposed to increase the towels' ability to absorb water.  I've heard that from several sources, so I'm anxious to see if it's true.

All told, I wove 4 purple towels, 3 turquoise towels, 2 bright blue ones, 2 emerald green towels, and one towel using a color called "jeans."  After the wash and dry, these will be ironed while still in one long piece, then all of the edges of the hems will be zigzagged, cut apart, folded and hemmed.  The individual towels will then be washed a second time, ironed, then photographed to put in my shop.  Phew!  That's a lot of work for a net income of ~$22.00/towel.  I sure wish I could convince folks to buy things through means other than Etsy, as they are taking a fairly large chunk of each sale and shipping now.

Here's an image of the cloth all rolled up on the beam of my loom, waiting to be pulled off;


Who doesn't love a nice, neat roll of cloth?

I've also been working on a second pair of Northman mittens, this time for my older son.  I'm happy to say that the first mitten is done, lining and all!  I've started the second one and am a few inches in, but it will be another week-plus before I see the light at the end of this tunnel.

The finished palm side:


and I shot of the lining, which is a bit over-exposed:


Have I mentioned how much I'm loving working with color??

We are having a very atypical day, weather-wise, with the sun out and temps near 50 in my area.  It felt so very nice to be able to go for a walk and not freeze my face in the process.  It's back to reality tomorrow, but I'm enjoying it while I can!

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