Sneak Peeks
It’s been exactly a year since I wove some monk’s belt towels. That batch did not use up my yarn stash as much as I hoped. I still have just odds and ends of mercerized and unmercerized cotton, cottolin, and linen, in different sizes and colors. Stripes are a great way to blend those yarns into useable textiles, so I am working on another batch.
Monk’s belt in mercerized cotton.
Close-up
This is about a 6-yard warp – I have so many ideas about ways to vary the weft stripes that I wish the warp were twice as long.
Outside, there is one common persimmon tree that is covered with fruit (and about 100 with no fruit). I will be experimenting to see if it works for a dye or mordant. Last summer, before there was fruit on the tree, I thought it was a tupelo (black gum) tree – tupelos look very much the same, but their leaves are opposite instead of alternating.
I did one sample with the leaves, with alum mordant and an ammonia dip afterward. It gave a gorgeous golden yellow, that was very lightfast. So I have high hopes for these fruits!
Common persimmon, Diospyros virginiana
The towels look great–that’s my next planned project!
There are so many weave structures that look good as towels – it’s so hard to pick! And it’s always cheering to walk into the kitchen and see a handwoven towel.
But, but…How can you resist EATING the persimmons? They are my favorite. I can see counting that out later this fall–two for me, one for the dye pot.
Really? Common persimmons? The one-inch across kind? I eat the ones out in West Texas that are small and brown and taste like figs, even though they have a 1:10 fruit-to-seed ratio. But I tried just a bite of this kind, and it was sweet, but then my mouth got all pickled. I thought it was ripe. Do you eat this kind? Do you cook them, freeze them first? What?
Yup. Just the common native persimmon. Diosypros virginiana. I think they are delicious enough to be worth dodging all the seeds. I just eat them raw—usually after a frost and when they shake willingly from a tree. I’ve heard that many make jams or wine, but I’ve not had the chance to try either, though I would like to.
Okay, well we don’t usually get a frost, so I will pop some that look ripe into the freezer and see what I think! I eat beautyberries when I’m out and about; I will be happy to find another wild treat.
The blue and white towels are pretty – like that color combination. Your weaving sounds very interesting…
Thanks! One thing I like about weaving is that I don’t get halfway through a project, then stash it in a closet, and then forget what I was planning to do with it – like I sometimes do with quilting! But with quilting you can change things around more at the last minute. So for me the two crafts strike a good balance.
Love the colour of the towels – happy weaving!