Project: Goose-eye twill tea towel series (rainbow variation)

I enjoyed working the Glimakra tea towel kit so much that I ordered some additional cones of the Swedish cotton yarn and decided to work up the pattern again using colours of my choice.

For this series I chose 8/2 cotton in 6 colours of the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.  The pattern for this particular towel reflects so the pattern mirrors after the purple stripe, progressing back to a red stripe at the outer right hand side of the towel.

I particularly liked how quick and easy it was to set up the loom using the kit last time.  There were comparatively few snarls and tangles requiring cleaning as I wound the warp onto my back beam, and the yarn held its tension well throughout the project.  If anything, however, working from scratch to measure out the warp from cones made it even quicker to set up the loom - - fewer tangles in my chains meant faster overall setup.

I used my trusty Kromski Harp loom flipped upside down as my warping board to measure out 4 yards of warp as follows:

12 ends bleached white
12 ends red
24 ends bleached white
12 ends orange
24 ends bleached white
12 ends yellow
24 ends bleached white
12 ends green
24 ends bleached white
12 ends blue
24 ends bleached white
12 ends purple
12 ends bleached white
[the pattern now repeats, reversed, starting with the purple, then blue, green, yellow, orange, and finishing with the red, for 432 ends in total]

The tie up was simple enough across 12 ends as shown below:

The goose-eye twill required a repeating series of 12 rows as follows:

Row 1 - shafts 1 and 2
Row 2 - shafts 1 and 4
Row 3 - shafts 3 and 4
Row 4 - shafts 2 and 3
Row 5 - shafts 1 and 2
Row 6 - shafts 1 and 4
Row 7 - shafts 2 and 3
Row 8 - shafts 3 and 4
Row 9 - shafts 1 and 4
Row 10 - shafts 1 and 2
Row 11 - shafts 2 and 3
Row 12 - shafts 3 and 4

4 yards of warp is perfect to weave up 4 towel in the goose-eye twill where each towel measures 24" with 1" of space left for a hem at each end (26" in total per towel).  There was ample warp left on the loom so that I did not feel like I had to work right up to the apron rod, but not so much wastage that I felt like cutting down the warp for the next time I work these towels.

I spent about a week on these towels, from start to finish, and they were a real pleasure to work just like the last set.  I think I will make a series of these goose-eye twill towels to give out at Christmas as gifts, customizing the colours for certain people.  Me, I love the rainbow, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Finishing was just as easy as last time - simply cutting the towels apart and running a simple hem and throwing them in directly in the washer and dryer.  After washing and trimming off loose ends the goose-eye twill pattern popped even more than when the work was on the loom, and the finished towels are very soft with a lovely drape to them.

I have already begun work on the next set of towels in this goose-eye twill series, the ones I call the "blue period" because they are in shades of blues and lilacs that the Nerd's mother loves.  I also have a mind to do the same but in shades of green for the Patriarch, as his kitchen is all shades of green accents.