January 10, 2023 newsletter

JST Calendar!

Are you looking for a way to bring a bit of sunshine into your days? Our fabulous calendar, loaded with stunning photos, is enough to make any weaver dream of warmer days and a beautiful assortment of yarn to weave with. Our 2023 calendar is now on sale for $19.95 so buy one to hang as inspiration near your loom! But…order one while they are still available…having these fabulous photos nearby will open lots of “what if’s” as you design your own unique cloth.

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New Kit on our shelves!

Kiki’s Swedish Lace Tea Towels

Sometimes it’s just fun to feature a weave structure in a newsletter and see what can be created using that structure. That is the path that Kiki’s Swedish Lace Tea Towels lead us down…..as Kiki created another delightful pattern that we can now share with you in a kit. She created towels, as a member of Jane’s Dream Team, for our School of Weaving’s episode on Swedish Lace – Season 5 – Episode 5 – should you want to review the secrets behind Swedish Lace. Scroll down to see a description of what you could learn by watching this episode. Everyone who sees this pattern wants to make these towels and Kiki has graciously shared her pattern with you.

Project Specs

Level of Difficulty: Advanced Beginner
Weave structure: Swedish Lace
Each kit makes: 8 Tea Towels

Loom requirements

Shafts: 4

Reed: 10 dent

Weaving width: 24″

Finished Dimensions: 18.5″ X 26-30″ long

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SweDISH Tea Towels

The SweDISH Towels (get it 😉) were designed by another Dream Team member – Rebecca Logan. Enjoy weaving them in the colours of the Swedish Flag – blues and yellow. They blend Huck and Swedish Lace and are a lot of fun to weave using the treadling in the pattern provided with the kit or as you create your own design. 

Project Specs

Level of Difficulty: Advanced Beginner
Weave structure: Huck with Swedish Lace
Material: 8/2 cotton
Each kit makes: 8 Towels

Loom requirements

Shafts: 4

Reed: 12 dent

Weaving width: 25″ ish

Finished dimensions: 21″ x 26″ ish, hemmed

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First Time Weaving Swedish Lace?

We have another great episode on the School of Weaving that builds on everything we’ve learned about Huck. Swedish Lace is Huck’s cousin. They live on the same side of Lace Street. Swedish Lace units are the same as Huck’s but in Swedish Lace we are allowed to repeat those units as many times as we want. Ms. Swedish Lace is a little more lenient 🙂 When we understand how this works, it means we can use Swedish Lace and Huck in one piece….as you will see in our show and tell.

Things we will learn in this episode:

• That Swedish Lace grows out of Huck
• That our A units and B units can be repeated in our threading with the addition of a tie-down thread
• That our A units and B units can be repeated in our treadling with the addition of an extra tabby pick
• That we can use our Mother-of-all-tie-ups and weave it in weft spots, warp spots and lace
• That we can overlay everything we played with from our Huck gamp and our Huck Colour and Weave gamp
• That there just isn’t enough time to weave it all in one lifetime 🙂

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Removing a warp from your loom to use later

We recently had a request for one of our School of Weaving members who wondered how she might be able to remove her dummy warp and keep it until she wanted to use it again. Well ….we had the answer for her on our Knowledge Base. We thought that this might be useful information for others – so here goes……. Hi,  Just finished weaving a second shadow weave scarf. The first one was my dummy warp in different colours. Now I want to start an all-new project. How can I save my dummy warp, which steps do I take best to take it off the loom and save my dummy warp for the next time I want to weave a shadow weave scarf?

Before you cut the cloth off your present loom, weave approx. 1 inch of good solid plain weave and then smother it in fray check or even white glue.  Wait until it is dry and very secure then make a plain weave shed and insert 1 lease stick beyond the glue line (in between your glue line and the reed), then make the other plain weave shed and insert the other lease stick.

Then you take the tension off at the front and squish it all together and tie up your cross. After you have your cross tied back into the warp you are ready to cut in front of the glue line.

Now you can take the warp off the loom. Release the tension from the back and pull your whole warp out the front. It is helpful to have a 2nd person if the warp is of any length. And you should put some cinch ties along the warp to secure it.

Once you have it all pulled forward you cut the warp at the back of the loom, and carefully, very, very carefully pull all the ends out of the heddles and reed. Tie a knot at that end and you can chain it up to your cross.

When you are ready to put it back on the loom. You put the apron rod through the cross end of your warp at the glue line.

Ta da!

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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.

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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.