Baby Blanket Number 4
After a desultory baby blanket couple of months and a rush to the finish on Sunday, I’m pleased to report that Baby Blanket Number 4 – the blanket for my Starbucks barista’s baby – is off the loom, finished and delivered. I’m pleased with it… I think. There were a couple of places where the rainbow block and the tonal blue block came out so close that it’s hard to know which is which. Overall, I think it’s a winner. It started as my least favorite of the blankets and may be my second favorite behind the Blue Blanket (Blanket Number 3). So without further ado…
Here’s the Fourth Blanket! (Is this the Doctor Who of woven baby blankets? At least it doesn’t have a long scarf.) You can see the “too close” blocks at the upper right corner and the lower left. They don’t show as much in the photo as they do in person, so maybe that’s just my eyes.
I’m off baby blanket duty for a little while. I’m waiting for Gen 2 of the Turtle Loom to come out so I can make a hexagonal blanket for my grand-niece. She’s named for my grandmother who was an avid quilter. Grandmother’s Flower Garden was Grannie’s favorite quilt pattern so I’m planning a similar design in a pin loom blanket for her namesake.
Old Books
We’re having an overshot weave-a-long over at FiberKind. One of the participants mentioned a book that she had luckily acquired – Foot Treadle Loom Weaving by Edward Worst. I’d never heard of it before so I dutifully went off to eBay and scored an absolute deal! I got both editions of the book – the 1924 copyright original edition, Foot-Power Loom Weaving and a revised edition, Foot Treadle Loom Weaving from 1976. The books are almost identical. The drafts are easier to read in the newer version, but they are both valuable additions to my weaving library. There are 4-shaft, 6-shaft, 8-shaft and 16-shaft drafts in the book and all were collected from traditional weavers. There are even plans to build a Scandinavian-style loom in the back of the book!
These books are right up there with Marguerite Porter Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book and Carol Strickler’s A Weaver’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns. They belong on every weaver’s bookshelf. Worst’s books are long out of print, so it’s a treasure hunt to find a copy, but well worth the effort.
