Just as in any other field, there are ebbs and flows in weaving interests. Almost like fads, there are rises in the number of projects you see in a certain weave structure, yarn type, or weaving style. A certain draft or yarn type will catch the eye of someone, they will weave something beautiful with it, and that will propel others to also look at that draft or that yarn in a new way. Here are a few examples: bumberet, iridescence, shadow weave, chenille yarn, rainbow yarn cakes, and deflected doubleweave.
The Circles and Checks Towels In Turned Taqueté by Susan Poague that were in Handwoven May/June 2019 is the type project that catches people’s eye. For the past few months, I’ve seen people posting pictures of their versions. It’s a draft that is easy to envision in your own colorway and is easily adapted to your stash at hand, something especially nice during this period of social distancing due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Your version of the Circles and Checks towels will make wonderful gifts—post social distancing, of course! Photo by George Boe.
With that in mind, I went into my technical editing files and found the WIFs the technical editors created when they were working on Susan’s towels. They developed three: Circles, Checks, and Circles Variation. I checked the WIFs over, cleaned them up, and uploaded them to our WIF library.
The towels can be woven on an 8-harness loom and require only one shuttle. As you can see in the photographs, Susan chose a green/blue palette using 8/2 cotton, but I’ve seen some stunning rainbow versions and other colorways that are equally beautiful online.
Download the free WIFs and play around with them, adjusting them to fit the color scheme of your choice. Put on some soothing music and start warping. Social distancing may not seem like such a hard thing after a bit, and you’ll end up with some beautiful towels in the process.
Weave well,
Susan