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May 30, 2023 newsletter

New Tea Towel Kit – Crisp & Classic in Linen

Sharon, our new JST dyer, wove these stunning linen tea towels in no time.  This is the result of her first experience weaving with linen, and she loved it!

Linen is a beautiful piece of cloth that will get softer and softer with age. A truly delightful piece of fabric that is happy to do the “mundane” job of drying your dishes. Another classic towel to add to your kitchen.


Comparing the David III and Spring II

I’m often asked “What’s the difference between the Spring ll and David lll”. It made me think that the best way to describe their similarities and differences was to make a wee video. We hope you enjoy it!


All Spring II looms are in stock and should arrive within 7 days while the David III looms will ship out mid-June. JST offers free shipping on all Louet looms within Continental North America. We also offer the option to pay a $1000.00 CAD deposit on your loom with the balance due when the loom ships out to you. This gives you the flexibility to make smaller payments toward your balance, at your convenience.

Spring II

Spring II is available in two sizes, either 8 or 12 shafts:

Spring 90: 35″ (90 cm) weaving width – 8 shaft
Spring 90: 35″ (90 cm) weaving width – 12 shaft
Spring 110: 43 ½” (110 cm) weaving width – 8 shaft

Spring 110: 43 ½” (110 cm) weaving width – 12 shaft


David III

The David lll is an 8-shaft loom and is available in three sizes:

David 70: 27 ½″ (70 cm) weaving width
David 90: 35″ (90 cm) weaving width
David 110: 43 ½” (110 cm) weaving width


Here to help

Have a weaving question? Find us on the Jane Stafford School of Weaving Forum and on Weave with Jane Stafford at Ravelry.

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May 23, 2023 newsletter

Did you know that Thursday is Towel Day?

Are you a Sci-Fi fan? If you are – you probably already know about Towel Day and its origins. If not, and you love any excuse to weave another towel – this newsletter is for you too!

How did National Towel Day come about???

“A towel, [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.” It is because of this quote that Towel Day was first celebrated on May 25, 2001, two weeks after the author of this well-loved book – Douglas Adams’ death.

So – hitchhikers and friends, get weaving 😉


All-Time Best-Selling Towel Kits

In honour of Towel Day – we thought we’d feature some of JST’s all-time best-selling towel kits. Choose one (or two) kits and have fun weaving them up and have them ready to share with your sci-fi family or friends.

Granny Pam’s Inspiration in Bouclé

Level of Difficulty: Beginner
Weave structure: Plain Weave
Material: Cotton Bouclé
Each kit makes: 9 Tea Towels

Loom requirements:
Shafts: 4
Reed: 12 dent
Weaving width: 22″


Tea Towel Time with Jane Towel Kit

Project Specs
Level of Difficulty: Beginner
Weave structure: Plain weave, 2/2 Twill, Basket Weave,
Turned Twill, Broken Twill, 1/3 or 3/1 Twill
Material: 8/2 cotton
Each kit makes 12 towels. Finished dimensions: 21″x 27″ hemmed.

Loom requirements
Shafts 4 or 8
Reed: 12 dent
Weaving Width: 26″


Rustic Elegance in Cotton

Level of Difficulty: Advanced Beginner
Weave structure: Huck lace
Material: 8/2 cotton
Each kit makes: 8 towels

Loom requirements:
Shafts: 4
Width in reed: 26 ½”
Reed: 12 dent


Ocean in Bouclé

Level of Difficulty: Beginner
Weave structure: Plain Weave
Material: Cotton Bouclé
Each kit makes: 9 Tea Towels

Loom requirements:
Shafts: 4
Reed: 12 dent
Weaving width: 22″


Abalone and Ebony Towel & Scarf

Level of Difficulty: Intermediate
Weave structure: 4 shaft Bronson Spot
Material: 8/2 cotton
Each kit makes: 3 Tea Towels & 1 Scarf (silk for scarf sold separately)

Loom requirements:
Shafts: 4
Reed: 12 dent
Weaving width: 19.5″


Inspiration from a Sari

Level of Difficulty: Beginner

Weave structure: Plain Weave
Material: 8/2 Cotton
Each kit makes: 12 Towels and a bit of play time 🙂

Loom requirements:
    Shafts: 4
    Reed: 12 dent
    Weaving width: 24″


Huck Lace – Mountain Views

Level of Difficulty: Advanced Beginner
Weave structure: Plain Weave & Huck Lace
Material: 8/2 Cotton
Each kit makes: 8 Tea Towels

Loom requirements:
Shafts: 4
Reed: 12 dent

Weaving width: 25 ½”


Spring at the Cabin

Level of Difficulty: Advanced Beginner
Weave structure: Log Cabin
Material: 8/2 cotton
Each kit makes: 8 Tea towels

Loom requirements:
Shafts: 4
Reed: 12 dent
Weaving width: 23⅓ “


From Our Inbox

We’ve been saving Carol Lansinger’s emails until we had a newsletter that was perfect for her story and photos. The Towel Day issue is it and we share her journey with you today. Carol lives not too far from us in Kingston, WA. She has shared her story with us by writing about the journey she has made through the School of Weaving and JST. As you can see and read – her hands and mind never rest and she has gifted a lot of towels to family and friends. We know that any hitchhikers she has among her family and friends, now own a special towel and are ready for Towel Day 😉 Thank you for taking the time to share your story, Carol.

Thanks go out to all of you that send in items for the “From Our Inbox” section of our newsletter. We love matching the emails we receive to newsletters, as we have done this week. 

Hi Jane and team,

I thought I would share a bit as the classes have meant so much to me this year. I can see my progress that lays the groundwork for continuously being inspired by not only the course and where I take it, but also the show and tell. I get to now have a list of projects that I want to do as well as keep up with the class work! I work full time and look forward to spending time with the loom (weekends are way too short!).

This year, I decided to use the class projects throughout the year for towels for Christmas gifts. I am already running a bit short as I have already given away some as birthday presents throughout the year. Meaning next year, I need more towels….

The class projects are:
Turned Twill (upper right corner)
Crackle weave (lower left)
M’s and O’s (lower right)
Holly Berry linen towel kit with added pastels (upper left) – class catch up from prior season on lace

I have so appreciated the projects and the encouragement to play. I will do the towel I am most interested in. Get some practice with the project, and then start to riff and may go back and do the ones that Jane did make sure I didn’t miss something. I find out rather quickly what I like and what doesn’t work so well with the color. I find that a 6 yard warp is enough to give me 6 towels. More than that, I want to get on to the next project. I need the practice of dressing the loom and am actually liking that process very much.

The color play is so fascinating and a good stash really helps!

Thank you so much for bringing me along this year and I can’t wait for next year’s pile of Christmas towels for sending. Got to stop doing Birthdays …..

Oh and I almost forgot that I do have 4 more gifts – Whew – I was wondering why I was short on the Christmas list:
Collapse weave scarf Kit (wool and Silk) – Upper left
Abalone Towel/wrap Kit – (already gave towels away) – Upper right
Overshot class project (cotton and Zephyr) – Bottom left
Overshot class project (dyed silk warp and Zephyr) – Lower right

And – from Carol’s most recent email …….

A few more projects done so far this year to stay current and catch up on prior episodes! More gifts are lining up for Christmas 2023 and a wedding:
Summer/Winter – (8/2 & 8/4 cotton) sized for towels and a little more drape 10 EPI- left
C&W turned twill – 8/2 cotton- center left
Rustic Elegance added color for fun – 8/2 cotton -Huck Lace – center right
Block analysis- Zepher warp/Silk weft – upper right
Block analysis – 8/2 cotton warp/Silk weft – lower right in purples (gift for co-worker’s wedding)
So love the classes to launch off and play.
Cheers,

Carol Lansinger


We offer FREE shipping on all Louet looms within Continental North America. We also offer the option to pay a $1000.00 CAD deposit on your loom with the balance due when the loom ships out to you. This gives you the flexibility to make smaller payments toward your balance, at your convenience.

Here to help

Have a weaving question? Find us on the Jane Stafford School of Weaving Forum and on Weave with Jane Stafford at Ravelry.

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May 16, 2023 newsletter

New Bambu 12 Colours

Hooray, we found more shelf space when we recently did a spring cleaning of the Studio! Now, we’ll be using that space to bring you new choices in your weaving life! This week we’ve added some new colours that are perfect to include in a summer scarf or wrap.

Watch this space as we add new yarns and colour options that you will soon be able to add to your own stash.

Limited Supply

Limited-time offer on Mandarin!


Our Bambu 12

available in 100 g cones with 1,386 yds/cone (6,300 yds/lb)

The raw material for these yarns is derived exclusively from the pulp of bamboo trees grown under sustainable agricultural practices. Because the base is consistently lighter than that of pulp taken from typical trees harvested for common rayon, the production of our Bambu yarn is subjected to less chemical treatment than usually applied to the production of common rayon. We recommend twisting your fringes before washing.

Sett:
plain weave: 24 epi for a very fine, gossamer fabric
Twill (3/1: Turned Twill): 30 epi for a stunning fabric


We’ve been testing a new yarn!

At JST we are always looking for the best yarns for our weavers and we fell in love with these samples of 16/2 Baby Alpaca. In the very near future, we’ll be filling our shelves with a range of beautiful yummy colours. In the meantime, we have these two colours in stock. Only 10 cones are available in both Cloud and Kentucky.

16/2 Peruvian Baby Alpaca put up in 100 g cones – 984 yds/cone, 4457 yds/ lb.

plain weave: 16 epi & ppi
Twill: 18 epi & ppi


And we’re back at it!

Our new dye studio is up and running! Sharon has been getting our first batches ready for the dye pots. Don’t forget to sign up for the back-in-stock notifications on your favourite silk colours. That way we’ll know what colours need to jump to the front of the line 😉 

JST Hand-Dyed Silks


In Case You Missed It

Handwoven Magazine May/June Cover

Barbara Mitchell is a very talented weaver we have been working with at JST for a number of years. This month we were thrilled to see her Colour and Weave scarf – Shadow Boxing – on the cover of the newest issue of Handwoven Magazine that is on its way to subscribers’ mailboxes. If you love this scarf and want to weave it – the Shadow Boxing draft is in the magazine and the colours of Bambu 12 yarn that Barbara wove with are … Truffles, Pearl, Emperor, Aruba, Borage, Lime Grass, Cerise, and Cyclamen (or Raspberry).


We offer FREE shipping on all Louet looms within Continental North America. We also offer the option to pay a $1000.00 CAD deposit on your loom with the balance due when the loom ships out to you. This gives you the flexibility to make smaller payments toward your balance, at your convenience.

Here to help

Here to help

Have a weaving question? Find us on the Jane Stafford School of Weaving Forum and on Weave with Jane Stafford at Ravelry.

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May 9, 2023 newsletter

Magical May

One night last week we looked out and up at a sky was an incredible pink! It was the most amazing pink that matched and surrounded the flowers of a Camellia bush in full bloom. The magic sky slowly deepened to the richest pink/red that you can imagine. As weavers – the first thing that goes through our minds is how can we use that colour in a fabulous piece of cloth – maybe a scarf, a cozy wrap for a spring night or …… Picture a scarf made out of 40/2 linen with the subtle colour of Peachy Keen and/or Violet Ice mixed with the Linen as weft. Not in the mood for a scarf? who says you can’t have pink tea towels? Just imagine the fun you could have designing your own towels using 8/2 cotton in Salmon, Peach, Fuchsia, Cinnamon or with Bouclé in Salmon –  which are the colours featured above on our May calendar page 😉


JST Pink Kits

Can you tell that pink is our “flavour” of the month? We thought you would enjoy seeing different kits that play with pink in their design. You can wrap yourself in pink or use it to brighten up your kitchen in the months ahead.

English Rose Lace Scarf Kit

Project Specs
Level of Difficulty: Advanced Beginner
Weave structure: Canvas Weave
Material: 40/2 linen
Each kit makes: 2 Scarves

Loom requirements
Shafts: 4
Reed: 10 dent
Weaving width: 16.5″


Sweetheart Bronson Lace Scarf

Project Specs
Level of Difficulty: Intermediate
Weave structure: 8 Shaft Bronson Lace
Material: 20/2 Bombyx Silk & 8/2 cotton
Each kit makes: 2 scarves

Loom requirements
Shafts: 8
Reed: 8 dent
Weaving width:18″
Finished Dimensions: 16″ X 63″ long (plus fringe)


Tea Towel Time with Jane Towel Kit

English Rose

Project Specs
Level of Difficulty: Beginner
Weave structure: Plain weave, 2/2 Twill, Basket Weave,
Turned Twill, Broken Twill, 1/3 or 3/1 Twill
Material: 8/2 cotton
Each kit makes 12 towels. Finished dimensions: 21″x 27″ hemmed.

Loom requirements
Shafts: 4 or 8
Reed: 12 dent
Weaving Width: 26″


Back in Stock

Ruckle Beach Wrap

Harrisville Shetland is such a wonderful cosy yarn. Available in lovely heathered colours, it weaves up quickly and blooms beautifully when wet finished. Ruckle Beach Wrap kit contains enough yarn to weave one blankie or two wraps based on one of the squares from our colour and weave gamp (DDL), woven in a frame. Once fulled and brushed, it makes the perfect light throw or snugly wrap for curling up with a cup of tea and a good book.

Project Specs
Level of Difficulty: Advanced Beginner
Weave structure: Plainweave
Material: Harrisville Shetland
Each kit makes: 1 blankie or 2 wraps

Loom requirements
Shafts: 4
Width in reed: 43″ for the blanket or 32″ for the wrap
Reed: 6 dent or 12 dent

For fulling tips, visit our Knowledge Base.

School of Weaving subscriber?
Watch the video Fulling in the Washing Machine.


Limited Supply

Mohair Bolero Bouclé

Our supplier sent us Mohair Bolero Bouclé instead of the Brushed Mohair so that means you’re in luck! Grab these while we have them on our shelves! Bouclé mohair is easy to warp with and it weaves up quickly at 6 picks per inch and can add some texture to your project.

Mohair Bolero Bouclé is made of 78% Mohair, 13% Wool and 9% Nylon in Natural at 980 yds/lb and available in 100 g cones. It’s a joy to dye so imagine weaving with this mohair in colours you have created! Double the fun 😉


Mother’s Day

Are you looking for a last-minute gift that will give your “weaving” Mom some fun choosing an item she has wanted to add to her weaver’s toolbox? These E-Gifts are perfect. 


We offer FREE shipping on all Louet looms within Continental North America. We also offer the option to pay a $1000.00 CAD deposit on your loom with the balance due when the loom ships out to you. This gives you the flexibility to make smaller payments toward your balance, at your convenience.


Here to help

Have a weaving question? Find us on the Jane Stafford School of Weaving Forum and on Weave with Jane Stafford at Ravelry.

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May 2, 2023 newsletter

Soft & Snugly

Spring is finally arriving on our coast and every living thing around us is taking a deep breath and looking forward to being surrounded by new life, in so many forms. It’s a joyful time of year and there is nothing more heartwarming than the arrival of a brand new baby, no matter what season they are born in 😉 These 2 blankies have proven over and over again how much they are treasured by the family that receives one as a gift. You’ll see it for years as the “comfort blanket” of choice for the baby you wove it for as they grow. Is now the time to think about having a blankie woven and waiting to wrap around a new bundle of joy in your world?

Monte Cristo Baby Blanket

Project Specs
Level of Difficulty: Beginner
Weave structure: Plain Weave
Material: Monte Cristo cotton
Each kit makes: 1 blanket

Loom requirements
Shafts: 4
Weaving Width: 35″
Reed: 8 dent

Each kit includes
Weaving instructions (including draft)
1, 1lb cone of Monte Cristo cotton

Already have our JST Monte Cristo Baby Blankie pattern? Just buy the cone of yarn right here!


Canvas Weave Baby Blanket

Project Specs
Level of Difficulty: Beginner
Weave structure: 4 shaft canvas weave
Material: Monte Cristo cotton & 8/4 cotton
Each kit makes: 1 blanket

Loom requirements
Shafts: 4
Weaving Width: 35″
Reed: 12 dent

We can make this kit in any colour you like! Simply, put the Canvas Weave Baby Blanket kit into your cart, on the checkout screen in the “notes” section let us know what colours of 8/4 cotton you would like us to make the kit in.


New lower shipping rates
now you can order more yarn!

With our new shipping rates for orders under $250 CAD, we offer a $17.00 CAD flat rate on orders to Canada & USA. (some exceptions apply such as oversized items). Now adding to your order doesn’t mean higher shipping rates, you still will pay only $17.00 CAN for shipping.

Remember, spend over $250.00 CAD and you’ll receive free shipping! Receive 10% off & free shipping when you spend over $500.00 CAD (Some Exceptions Apply. Please see our shipping policy page for full details).

JST Shipping Policies


From Our Inbox

Shirley, from Campbell River – just over the water and up the coast of Vancouver Island from Salt Spring Island – sent us a photo of her exploration with what she learned in Season 6 Episode 8 – Summer and Winter. She has taken that episode and created her own design for her placemats – it’s stunning, Shirley! 
Here is a sample of my interpretation of the Summer and Winter study. I used 2/8 cotton for the warp and pattern weft and 2/16 cotton for the tabby weft. I used Jane’s threading but set it at 16 epi. (Next time I would try 18 epi.) After sampling all the alternative treadlings, I settled on dukagang for a few mats.

As always, I found this to be fun and challenging. Thank you Jane!

Shirley Greening

We offer FREE shipping on all Louet looms within Continental North America. We also offer the option to pay a $1000.00 CAD deposit on your loom with the balance due when the loom ships out to you. This gives you the flexibility to make smaller payments toward your balance, at your convenience.

Here to help Have a weaving question? Find us on the Jane Stafford School of Weaving Forum and on Weave with Jane Stafford at Ravelry.