It’s got to be a short one this time, folks, but I hope this newsletter finds you well, with time to weave and no pressures to do other things!
A quick reminder about subscribing (for free) on Substack, so you can see all the things easily (like footnotes and videos - and it’s free!)
Danish Medallions?
Yep, Danish Medallions - a fun, hand-manipulated technique that works so nicely to add a bit of flair to your plain weave. Most easily accomplished using a short stick shuttle and a crochet hook (one that is approximately the size needed to work with your yarn, but just guess at this.) Both the Syne Mitchell Book, Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom, and The Weaver’s Idea Book, by Jane Patrick, have great instructions on the technique, if you just want to go look them up right away.1
Hopefully by now you’ve seen this table runner somewhere! It is the May Flowers Runner and is actually a free pattern I designed for Cotton Clouds for the May blog post. This month, Jodi is writing about Perle cottons, which are mercerized cottons (and all of *that* is explained in her blog post). I just designed and wrote a project for her using her new line of Pearly Perle 6/2. It’s a dream to work with and, despite all the color changes, this runner wove up quite quickly!2
Of course, Jodi has a kit ready for you as well, but the pattern is free - and I’d encourage you to peruse the Cotton Clouds blog in depth. There is SO MUCH information about all sorts of fibers in there, and a LOT of free patterns, most geared for folks with less experience, but many that are still a lot of fun for the experienced RHL weaver, too (plus some for the multi-shaft crowd). It’s a treasure trove, for sure!
Tell me more about these medallions!
Below is the photo of my rendition of the Gumdrop Scarf from Handwoven.3 At some point, the designer might not recognize her project as I didn’t do stripes, I didn’t use any of the fibers she called for, but I did adjust my threading to skip dents. I also erred, and I should have known it was going to be tricky. I did my scarf “base” as a silk/linen/SW merino blend (superwash doesn’t tend to shrink much in wet-finishing) and my medallions were in a lovely coordinating color of perle cotton.4
Insert differential shrinkage here - where two yarns don’t shrink at the same rates. That said, my medallions are fine and my real issue (which you don’t notice in this photo or while I’m wearing it) is that the medallion stretch is about an inch narrower than the body of the plain weave scarf because the cotton shrank more than the wool.
But I was working on this scarf while I was texting Jodi and somewhere in all of that, we started discussing the May blog and…. well, the May Flowers Runner happened! And I suggested that, aside from beautiful plain weave plaid, let’s add a fun technique, too - the Danish medallions.
Notice that in the scarf, the medallions actually form part of the edge. In the original pattern, the designer did not knot the fringe, or twist it or do anything - the bottom of the medallion worked for her as a hem. If they were placed closer together, the medallions would *definitely* work as a non-traditional hem. I chose to knot, then braid, because one of my fibers (the Malabrigo Susurro) has a very soft twist and has a linen component. My fear was that, left loose, it would just disintegrate.
Another lesson learned
But, twisted fringe, my preferred finishing technique, was *also* out. Susurro is rather loosely plied in what spinners refer to as the Z direction; my other yarn was plied in the S direction. Twisting fringe requires you to over-ply the two yarns together, then let them ply-back in the opposing direction. But you cannot ply two yarns of different twist direction - one will fall apart, unply, or both.
Braiding it was. I opted for a four-strand braid, with 9 ends (3 pairs of two and one pair of 3 - this was never going to be easy). They still have a twist in the braid. I don’t know if it’s my braiding skills, the twist difference, or the fact I tend to add twist to fibers while I work with them.
For the May Flowers, the Danish Medallions are simply a design feature. We folded the hem for a flatter finished look, though if you like fringe on your table runner, go for it! Just know that perle cottons, at this gauge, are a soft single plied together, so if you want to wash your runner (or other object) in a machine, it might not continue to look as neat as your initial finish. I’d recommend gently hand washing with even a short fringe.
A few last notes and a video
Take your time warping this one! It’s not difficult, and I made it easier than it might first appear. The weaving has a weft chart with boxes to tick as you work - so you don’t have to worry about losing your place.
The Pearly Perle doesn’t really lend itself to the color-change technique I usually teach - the split ply worked around the edge. You’ll just have to tuck the tails in on the edges a few stitches (I took the Navy ones to the first Navy warp stripe; the rest to the gold warp stripe after that).5 But tucking in tails is MUCH faster and makes this an easier weave than you might think! The Medallions do have a right side and a wrong side, so if you’re a purist and need to have your tails tucked to the wrong side - tuck them to the back.
The Medallions are optional - there’s a note for what you might wish to change in the weft if you choose not to work them. If you’re up to the challenge, there’s a video I’ve uploaded to YouTube to help with this (or any other Danish Medallions you wish to play with!)6
And that’s about it! I hope you all find this runner as much fun to work as I had (with Jodi) putting it all together!
And in this (Mingo’s) Corner…
Currently, I’m working on a Little Looms submission, plus playing catch-up on my Tapestry Classes, coordinated with Gist Yarns and Rebecca Mezoff (who’s a marvelous instructor!) There’s also a Zoom class in the works7 that will focus on using heddle rods and a pick-up stick - but just one heddle.8 I’ll keep you posted on that as it’s dependent (a bit) on things way outside my control.9
Thanks to everyone who has visited Mingo’s Corner Shop recently and liked, or favorited, an item! I’m just glad people are finding my designs there and I have plans (so many plans) to add to the available options!
Meanwhile, enjoy this lovely late spring and find time to weaving something wonderful!
These are two books that I think should be on every RHL weaver’s shelf, for the record. There are other good ones, but these are my most referenced.
I may have needed more time to calculate the yardages and account for all of the tweaks we made during the process. Seriously!
Handwoven, May/June 2017
Sadly, not Pearly Perl. Just something I had in stash.
Just like we all learned for our first weaving projects (I hope!) Leave the tails out until you wet-finish, then clip them close to the surface.
Hopefully the massive downpour we were experiencing while I was recording doesn’t interfere with the audio too badly. Sometimes the timing of these things just isn’t ideal!
Date to be determined, but perhaps the end of this month.
It’s an introduction to the “accessories.”
I guess it’s time to share - we put my mom in hospice care in mid-February. Every commitment I make right now comes with the caveat that things stay stable with her.