Thankful
Because gratitude is never out of season
I have been remiss - Substack allows me to plan ahead and schedule posts, but that’s not how my life, or brain, works! So let me start with a *thank you* to all of you who subscribe, read, comment, work my patterns, like my posts, buy my patterns, and generally provide the “life” that make Mingo’s Corner (in all of its iterations) work!1 It has been a really interesting year - and I hope that we all are heading into 2026 rejuvenated, focused, and connected to what’s really important!
It’s been a “tradition” of the last two years to provide a Thanksgiving story about Mingo - the namesake feline of Mingo’s Corner. I will add that at the tail end2 of this newsletter, because many of you may not have run across it yet - and it’s a good story!
Grab a beverage - there’s a LOT of news here to cover! And a BIG announcement at the end for the rigid heddle weavers!
Continuing Education Follow-Up
I *did* finish working on the multi-shaft version of the Aztec Diamonds pattern! It’s up now in Mingo’s Corner Shop and Jodi at Cotton Clouds will be having kits3 for the multi-shaft crowd (as soon as her big 12-days sale wraps up!)4 The photo shows finished fingertip towels, but the pattern is written for full-sized kitchen towels. The loom I was weaving on did not have enough heddles for larger towels.5
This was an excellent exercise for me - to work one of my “multi-shaft” rigid heddle patterns on a floor loom. I will likely do this again. I discovered that it bothered me to have a project in a different location than at home. Who knew? The yarn shop where I am using the floor loom is only about four blocks from my house - I walk there in less than 10 minutes. If I wanted to work on it, I had to make time to do so, which also put pressure on me to “get it done.” But I am happy to have this as an option for future multi-shaft projects and appreciate The Clay Purl letting me use their Schacht Baby Wolf. Here’s a short video of me working on it if you are curious!
The rigid heddle version of Aztec Diamonds has been out for a while! Find the kit for it here.
The Holidays are Coming
Okay, I am probably talking more about the spring holidays - like Easter or Mother’s Day, honestly - but if you’re ambitious, Christmas, Hanukkah6, Kwanzaa, or New Year’s Eve might be doable…
We have Heirloom Diamonds Napkins as a pattern! I need to give a shout out to PW, who asked about a pattern like this last spring. The timing wasn’t right then and I wanted to try a new-to-me yarn - Bamboo/Cotton 8/2. I’m seriously glad I waited on the yarn, while the pattern evolved quite a bit from that original idea. But the push was there - so thanks!
I decided to draw on my embroidery background for these. The decorative edging is technically referred to as “withdrawn thread embroidery.” Essentially, drawn thread (shorthand) requires removing threads from a ground fabric and working decorative stitches either within, or around, or across the open space. Since we are creating the ground fabric here, it’s easy enough to create spaces as we weave that we can later go in and highlight or emphasize. I’m not going to lie - the handwork is going to take you about as long as the weaving. But, and I hope you agree, it’s worth it!
It might surprise you that this is actually a 5-shaft pattern7 but we only need one heddle and three heddle rods to make this magic happen! Don’t let the three heddle rods scare you - they make better sheds than pick-up sticks and that’s critical with both this fiber blend AND the width of the napkins (they are 21” on the loom). The pattern includes details about how to amend the width and length of the pattern (in case you don’t want square napkins) and specific changes if you want specific sized napkins (like tea or formal dinner sizes). Which means, of course, you can weave these on a smaller loom, if desired.
Let’s talk about this fiber blend!
I am entirely in love with the Bamboo/Cotton 8/2 (70% bamboo/30% cotton). This would make a wonderful baby blanket and it’s probably going to work its way into some of my towels as well. It has a fabulous hand, went through the washer and dryer beautifully, and was nearly wrinkle free. I have an idea for a scarf as well, so you will be seeing it again. I have used bamboo/cotton blends before - it’s exciting to have it in the 8/2 range. I’m hoping for a lot more colors going forward.
The thing about bamboo/cotton is that is has a sheen like mercerized cotton, but it’s absorbent, similar to cotton. So it’s the best of both worlds, plus it is light, breathable, and feels silky next to your skin. I want a summer-weight scarf to wear when working at the yarn shop from May - August and I think this is the ticket! It would also be lovely as a wrap for over-chilled restaurants during those same months.
And, finally, the BIG announcement!
Recently, I had the opportunitely to attend a few sessions of an online weaving guild hosted by Acton Creative.8 Many (many) years ago, I was part of a very active Embroiderers’ Guild chapter,9 but that is the only “guild” I have really been active in. I go to “Knit Night” at the yarn shop (which is only limited by what you can carry in and work on), but it’s informal. After attending Chris’ guild, I thought - we need something like this, but rigid heddle focused.
So, here we go! I’m still working out details, but the guild will be hosted on Patreon. We will do the actual meetings via Zoom on the 2nd Thursday of the month - starting on January 8th, 2026. Patreon gives us somewhere to chat, talk between the guild meetings, and handle communications (from me to members) that are guild-only.10 Right now, I have the Patreon set up - you can click here - and becoming a free member there will keep you in the loop.
Guild memberships will be $10 per month11, which will keep the lights on and things running. We will have a “guild only” chat area on Patreon, for those who want to follow-up on topics after our monthly Zoom meeting. I am hoping, going forward, we can have some guest speakers, as well as guild challenges, Q&A sessions, and just general rigid heddle discussions and support. Folks who weave on other types of looms are welcome - but we will be keeping the focus on the rigid heddle as much as possible.
I think there’s a LOT we can learn from each other - and together - if we can create a space that is focused only on our shared love of the rigid heddle! Feel free to ask questions here - or there - or by email or anywhere else! I hope you will join us!
Mingo, a Thanksgiving Story
And, as promised, I will close with a link to the story of Mingo. I hope this makes you smile!
ALL of the Mingo’s Corner statisitics are UP for the year - Etsy sales, newsletter subscribers, FB followers, YouTube - it’s all positive! I don’t care if “up” means .5% or 55% - it means I am connecting with more and more weavers and that’s what makes what I do matter.
Pun intended. Always, pun intended.
For those wondering, the multi-shaft loom kit is designed for a significantly longer warp length to accomodate both the different loom waste needs of floor/table looms AND to allow warping for four towels instead of just two. Obviously, we can warp four towels on most rigid heddle looms, but it’s not a standard. I, for one, lose interest somewhere in towel 3 and towel 4 can hold up a loom for weeks, if I just want to be done.
Only I could complicate her already busy Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend with two new patterns completed.
For the rigid heddle weavers - “heddles” on a floor loom are individual, mobile, pieces within the shafts. Our “rigid heddle” reeds are derived, in fact, from a combination of two parts of the multi-shaft loom - the heddles, which are threaded, and the reed, which is in the beater bar and also determines the sett on a multi-shaft loom. So a multi-shaft loom can have as many “heddles” as the loom set-up will physically allow to be lifted in a shaft. The floor loom I was using has 100 heddles per shaft, which only allowed for a 10” wide piece of fabric, at the sett and pattern I was using. Shafts can also have different numbers of heddles - because the reed in the beater determines the actual spacing of the fibers, not the heddles in the shafts.
Definitely a stretch…but you could use yarns on hand and perhaps make it happen!
Meaning, it would take five shafts to work this on a multi-shaft loom.
Chris Acton is an amazing teacher, has wonderful classes (in person and online) and does a lot of awesome community building with her Acton Creative Insiders. Her content is weaving focused, but Chris is a multi-shaft weaver at heart.
Waves “hi!” to my Dallas Needlework and Textile Guild from afar!
This is me, awkwardly apologizing for asking you to join”yet another” platform. It was unavoidable - at this point anyway.
After the page meets some “establishment” markers, Patreon will allow an “annual membership” subscription to be set-up.