Log Cabin Cloths

I snuck in another project on the little loom over the last two days. The floor rug taught me that sampling really is worth doing, especially when I’m not 100% sure a yarn is suitable for weaving. But if the project was going to use plain weave, I could do my sampling on the little loom and there’d be less loom waste (leftover yarn that is cut off and thrown away).

There’s some Lion Brand cotton in my stash that I’d bought thinking I might be able to weave baby blankets and hand towels with. I also wanted to try log cabin patterning, and it seemed like a good one for this project. Instead of warping directly onto the loom, which can be a bit confusing with more than one colour, I measured the yarn and tied it on.

Log cabin was easier than I expected, and fun to do. But the weave was very open.

I wasn’t too alarmed. The hand towels I made a year ago in Bendy cotton were a bit open, but they filled in a bit once no longer stretched on the loom, and then completely after washing. Off the loom the log cabin cloths looked better.

After hand washing, spinning and a tumble in the dryer… better again, but not completely filled in.

I used the 5 dpi reed. I’m considering trying again with a denser, 7.5 dpi reed. But I have my doubts about the yarn’s suitability. It’s still a bit hard and stringy for baby blankets, though it may soften with more washing.

Still, the cloths were fun to make and I’d definitely use a log cabin pattern again.

6 thoughts on “Log Cabin Cloths

  1. Such a striking pattern in those high contrast colours. I wonder what it would be like with nearer tones? Drat – I was not going to get interested in weaving and I definitely don’t covet the Knitters’ Loom.

  2. Wow – who’d have thought a couple of cotton cloths would induce such loom-lust? Lol!

    I’m wondering much the same thing, taphophile. Every time I try something I can see a dozen new possibilities. There are just SO MANY things I want to try with my looms!

  3. One way to help you figure out the sett is to wind the yarn around a ruler for 2 inches. I say 2 inches because this is clearly thick yarn and a 2″ measure is going to be more accurate. Divide that in half for the number of ends in 1″. Divide that number in half again and you’ve got a good starting point for a sett.

  4. Hi Peg! I did measure the wpi. I only have 5dpi, 7.5dip and 12.5dpi reeds for the rigid heddle, and I knew 7.5 was about right for 8ply/dk cotton so it would probably be too dense for 10ply/aran weight. The only choice left was the 5dpi reed.

    But I’m noticing that cotton yarns can behave very differently from each other depending on their structure. Tightly spun cotton is too inflexible to form a snug fabric.

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