Showing posts with label blankets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blankets. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Uncovered

 Remember this?

This was originally intended to be for a pair of "Big and Little Brother Blankets" for my two grandsons. I started working on them about a year ago, and then the project got buried under a pile of incoming boxes from my stepmother's home plus making room in my front room floor loom room for remodeling. My sewing room became my storage area and has been so for months now. But the other day I took a break from dealing with our abundance of tomatoes, blueberries, and milk to make some progress in organizing my storage mess.

Anyway, I can get to my table loom again! I'm not sure if the project will still become brother blankets, but I love the colors. Once harvest, canning, and cheesemaking season slows down, I'll be able to get back to it. 

Currently my evening weaving is still on Winter Leaves, which looks exactly the same now as it did then, except I'm making progress on length. 

So, just checking in. How is everybody else doing?

Uncovered © 2026 by 
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Monday, November 17, 2025

Brother Blankets Sample #2

Sample #2 for my Big and Little Brother Blankets

  • Yarns: Hobby Lobby Baby Bee Sweet Delight
  • Yarn size: sport weight
  • Sett: 10 e.p.i.
  • PPI: 10
  • Structure: Plain weave
  • Pattern: Every third warp end is solid green. The other two and the weft are the multi-color variegated yarn.
  • Width 
    • on loom: 15.5 inches
    • after finishing: 14 inches
  • Length: since it's a sample, I didn't measure the length
  • Wet finishing: same as sample #1
  • Weaving notes: 
    • When I measured the warp, I used two variegated skeins starting with the same color, so the colors were wound in pairs.
    • Other than that, I didn't line up the yarn's color changes for either warp or weft in any planned way; the color changes were long enough to create the plaid look as it is. 

It definitely has a different look than sample #1.

close-up of sample #2

The solid green stripes break up areas of solid color. Even though I didn't plan the plaid, you can see from the first photo that a definite repeatable plaid emerges from simply using the yarn as it comes off the skein. 

I like plaids, but I think the close-up view is more interesting than see it from afar.

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Tuesday, November 04, 2025

Brother Blankets Sample #1


  • Yarns: Hobby Lobby Baby Bee Sweet Delight
  • Yarn size: sport weight
  • Sett: 10 e.p.i.
  • PPI: 10
  • Structure: Plain weave
  • Pattern: Variegated yarn with Fibonacci stripes in green at 13, 21, 34, repeat
  • Width 
    • on loom: 15.5 inches
    • off loom: 14 inches
    • after washing: 14 inches
  • Length
    • on loom: unknown
    • off loom: 34 inches
    • after washing: 32.5 inches
  • Wet finishing: 
    • warm soak and squeeze with Ecos dish detergent
    • two rinses in plain warm water
    • spin cycle in washing machine
    • laid flat to dry
    • cool press with iron
  • Weaving note: I didn't line up the yarn's color changes for either warp or weft in any planned way; the color changes were long enough to create the plaid look as it is. 

Since this was just going to be a sample, I didn't write down how long my warp was nor now long I wove for. With my Glimakra unavailable due to room remodeling, I'd pretty much given up on weaving actual blankets. But since I had the yarn, I decided to just have fun with it and see what the color variations would do. 

Looking at the finished sample, however, I'm wondering about weaving several strips and sewing them together to make a blanket. Three strips sewn together on their lengthwise edges would make a rectangle 32.5 inches by 42 inches. Adding a crochet border would enlarge it just a bit. That might do for a baby blanket. And I could probably get one made by Christmas as a baby gift. The three-year-old would likely prefer something else anyway!

© 2025 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Trying To Remember Where I Left Off

It's been a busy summer in the garden and the kitchen. Every day was filled with picking and preservation. While I didn't get much else done, our pantry is the fuller for it. 

Finally, with the arrival of autumn, I have some free time to do other things I enjoy. Which brings me back to the project I started to plan before harvest season kicked into high gear - my big and little brother blankets. The problem is that I lost the momentum of my planning process. 


Fortunately, I made good notes on both this blog and in my fiber notebook. The warp had been on my warping board for months, and I finally got it on the table loom. Even so, the mental and emotional energy flow for this is gone. 

That said, I am very much enjoying getting back to weaving. The color changes for this yarn (Hobby Lobby Baby Bee Sweet Delight) are long and so give it a wonderfully plaid look, which I like. 

Given that my floor loom won't be available for a good many months due to room remodeling, I likely won't get to weaving baby blankets any time soon. When I'm done with this sample I'll put it aside along with the rest of the yarn and see what happens in the future. 

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Monday, June 23, 2025

Big & Little Brother Blankets

 This is a project I've had in mind for my grandsons. The "big" brother is 3 years old and the little brother is 1 month old. I doubt either one will actually appreciate the gesture, but a handwoven gift from their grandmother is something I want to do! And with the Glimakra set up with a new treadle tie-up system, I'm anxious to see how that goes.  

I've done my yarn calculations a bit backwards. Rather than start with a finished size, I'm starting with an on-loom size. I have an idea of the draw-in and shrinkages, and the final size really isn't technical; in the ball park baby blanket size will do.

Warp
  • on-loom width: 40 inches
  • sett: 8 e.p.i.
  • on-loom length: 40 inches
  • crochet edges so no fringe: 3-4 inches between blankets
  • loom waste: 28 inches (I'm never sure about this with the Glimakra)
  • Total warp yardage: 2960 yards
Weft
  • length for each blanket will be same as width, 40 inches
  • on-loom width 40 inches x 8 p.p.i. = 320 inches for 1 inch of fabric
  • on-loom project length: 80 inches
  • 320 x 80 = 25,600 inches = 712 yards
Total yarn for project (warp + weft) = 3672 yards

Not included in the above yardage is the crochet edging. I will edge each blanket in a different color, so I'll wait on that.

I want to use Hobby Lobby Baby Bee Sweet Delight because it's cuddly soft and washable. And this week it's on sale for 30% off, so now's the time to buy. Hopefully, I can find enough skeins to pull it off.

© 2025 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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