Comfy Blankets

Terry's baby blanket

This post is about comfy blankets. For some they conjure up cozy nights in front of the fireplace.  For others they are a traditional welcoming present for a new baby.  Whatever your approach, there are a lot of options with regard to purpose, size and materials.  

There are baby blankets, elegant throws for the sofa, the classic "car blanket" or cozy afghan, large ruanas that can double as a blanket, lap blankets for wheelchairs, and full size blankets for a bed.  They can be made from practical washable yarns, luxury fibres or sweater weight wool.    

There are a number of ways to weave a blanket depending upon the equipment you have and your ingenuity.  The major issue is how to create a long rectangular piece of cloth that is wide enough to serve as a blanket.  The major limitation is the width of the loom on which you plan to weave the blanket.

What follows are two examples of equipment extremes.

Linda's blanket warp on 60" loom

Our guild is lucky enough to have a 60" wide counter balance loom.  It is ideal for weaving a wide blanket in one piece.  The photo above shows a multi-coloured wool warp wound on the loom's sectional beam.  The warp was the foundation for a man-sized blanket.

At the opposite end of the equipment spectrum we have the baby blanket wrapped around the teddy.  It was woven with a washable synthetic yarn on a 20 inch rigid heddle loom in 3 panels.  The panels were joined by a decorative herringbone stitch.  The challenge with this approach is to weave the pattern consistently for the length of the warp so that you can match it across the 3 panels.  You can also add interest by highlighting the join with hand sewing.  

Mary's blended colour blanket

  

 Mary's large blanket is another example of a pieced blanket.  It has muted stripes symmetrically arranged around a panel of blues.  The middle panel was woven separately and added as a design feature.  It also avoids any irregularities in matching the two sections that were woven on the same warp.

     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Throws, afghans and lap blankets are often narrow enough to be woven as one piece on a 45 inch or even a 36" loom.

 

The blue throw with fine stripes of textured thread is an example of  designing the cloth "in the reed".  This designing technique starts with a number of small warps, each consisting of a different yarn.  The order of the yarns in the warp is determined as you thread them through the reed.  This is a great way of using up small amounts of fancy threads.  The throw was a cooperative effort by 3 guild members.  Pauline and Myrtle designed the warp and Kathy wove it on one of the studio looms  

Mixed warp throw

The plaid mohair afghan was also woven in one piece on a 45 inch loom.  On a loom 45 inch loom you can weave a blanket that is 40 inches wide in one piece.  The blanket will be brushed vigorously to bring up the mohair nap which helps to trap heat.

Jackie's mohair blanket

If you loom is too narrow to weave a blanket as one piece you can always try a double weave technique.  With this technique you weave two layers simultaneously.  If those layers are only joined on one side then the resulting cloth is (almost) twice as wide as the warp.  It takes some practice to make the joined edge invisible in the final cloth but once mastered the technique is fast and easy.  It avoids problems with matching patterns.  With 8 or more harnesses you can make a patterned blanket without the worry of matching the patterns.

The cotton carriage blanket was woven on a 36" loom in a plain twill.  The weft was a variegated yarn the same thickness as the striped warp.

double weave carriage blanket

Weaving Inspiration

Doug's boat pillows

"Weavers' block" is not a technical term describing weave structures.  It is a form of "weaving depression" akin to writers's block.  The symptoms are easy to identify.  You can walk past a shelf full of colourful yarn and nothing catches your eye.  Your loom sits idle (sometimes dressed, sometimes naked).  You haven't made a yarn purchase in months and the arrival of the latest Handwoven magazine doesn't pique your curiosity.

There are many possible causes.  Perhaps the last project was a disaster or you hate the look of the unfinished warp sitting on the loom.  Maybe you are stuck planning a piece for someone and you haven't found the perfect design.  Or it could be endless grey weather, Covid isolation burn out, or a mind too crowded with issues to let the weaving muse in.

So, this post is about people finding inspiration to start planning a new project and it starts with the wildly colourful pillows shown above.  They are replacements for aged pillows on Doug's boat, S/V Westwind.  So you might say that "need" was the inspiration for this project.  The colour scheme is a salute to Mexico.  Bright coloured weft bands are woven on a warp of black 2/8 orlec that helps to make the colours pop.  What a great project to counter act those grey skies.  Something that is fun, colourful and lets you explore treadling as the muse directs you.

Corie's huck scarf

Corie's scarf is an adventure in huck and a departure from plain weave.  She wanted to try a textured weave.  The scarf is woven with a cotton slub yarn that enhances the texture created by the huck skips.  The colour scheme echos the colours in the Pueblo pots, a rusty orange and warm neutrals.  

Mary's string scarf

Mary's scarf was inspired by a magazine cover, a stash purchase and curiosity.  The scarf is made from very fine soft wool that came from a summer stash sale.  The exact nature of the yarn was a bit of a mystery at the time.  It was spun in Japan long before most of us ever thought of becoming weavers.  The scarf is almost transparent.  The decorative bands on both ends are hand worked Spanish Medallions.  

The inspiration for the scarf came from the very first issue of the magazine, Handwoven in 1979.  The front cover of the magazine featured a woman in a full length white dress.  Instructions for weaving the yardage were included in that first issue.  

 

The tea towels in the photo below were inspired by a study group exploration into parallel threading (a threading that merges two identical drafts one being the "echo" of the other).   Carol chose a monochromatic colour scheme in blues.  All the towels are from the same warp and show how treadling can dramatically alter the pattern.  The yarn is 2/8 cotton.

Carol's tea towels

Pat's scarf

The final example is the result of re-reading a weaving book called Double Two-Tie Unit Weaves by Barrett and Smith from 1893.  Towards the end of the book Pat found a curious section on ribs and plain weave with an intriguing photo of a cloth with weft wise ribs.  She wondered what it would look like interpreted in finer threads.  The warp is stripes of 2/20 cotton and the weft is 2/16 bamboo.  The ribs appear as short rows of shiny dots against a matt tabby background.

So if you can't seem to get over that block you can, join a study group, workshop or guild challenge, re-read some older weaving books or magazines, check out those mystery yarns in your stash and try them out, look for colour inspiration from ethnic or other sources, or take a jump into a type of weaving you've never tried before. 

But most of all don't get stuck thinking you must produce something practical every time you warp the loom.  You can take a risk on the unknown, throw caution to the winds once in a while and just weave for the sake of weaving.