8/2 un-mercerized cotton

About

8/2 Un-Mercerized Cotton

Mitzi’s price for this yarn is $19 per cone. Cones are mostly 1 pound to 1 pound 2 ounces with an occasional cone weighing 15 ounces, not including weight for the cardboard insert. In researching prices for 8/2 cotton, the average price is $26 per pound.

Currently available in 17 colors (plus a few random cones from local estates) 3360 approximate yards per pound. Recommended sett is 18-24 ends per inch.

About weaving with 8/2 100% un-mercerized cotton

Currently I am weaving overshot using my 8/2 cotton, color fog, for the warp and tabby shots. Wound on 6 yards of warp, sett at 16 ends per inch (EPI), 17” wide in the reed. The pattern I set the loom up for is from “A Handweaver’s Pattern Book” (green cover, revised edition, 1958) by Marguerite P. Davison. Lovingly referred to as the green book. The pattern is found on page 131, Johann Schleelein’s No. 123. Such a beautiful pattern with circles, crosses, and diamonds.

So far there is a table runner using a worsted weight wool (red) for the pattern weft.

2 kitchen towels using my yarn #301 from the shop for weft; It is a 9/3 100% un-mercerized cotton, 2520 yards per pound, so a bit thicker than the 8/2 warp (Comparable to 6/2 in size).

Also a red table runner that will be for sale like the one I made for myself, and another table topper with a thick and thin or boucle’ wool yarn that is variegated

rainbow colors. This weft yarn was a random ball in my stash, so how much is there will determine the length of the runner. Variegated yarn doesn’t show the pattern near as well as a solid color but it’s looking pretty. There may be room to weave 1 more towel, yaay! I am a fly by the seat of your pants girl and enjoy using up yarns from my stash. It is easy to confuse my stash with my business, but I do my best to keep it separate.

The towels when hemmed and washed will be about 15” wide with a woven length of 30 inches total including 1 inch at each end of plain weave in “Fog” for hems, so probably 27”.

Recently I learned a trick for weaving with a plain weave tabby. If you enter the shed with the tabby yarn on the side of that tabby treadle, it helps keep up with what tabby treadling is next. Tips and tricks shared are so helpful, and I definitely would not be the weaver I am without my local guild! Overshot can be daunting but taken one step at a time I find I can get into a rhythm, often referred to as “the dance”.

One reason for this is commercial patterns require more fabric than I usually produce. And apparently, I like to make things more complicated! I made up my own pattern, used buttons and tucks, added pockets with scraps of fabric, and it turned out great! It is a bit oversized, so I can wear it over a bulky sweater, or not. It is lightweight, mostly cotton, and very wearable. I like color, and pink is probably my favorite color, so I have already worn it quite a bit.