The first task for the new year is (apart from committing to actually post regularly) is to start documenting the latest custom tartan. As you may already know I have designed and woven numerous tartans for friends and family over the last 5 or so years. All starting with our own custom ‘Prentice’ tartan – using colors from the Prentice family crest.
I’ve woven this tartan in handspun/dyed, as well at the above in pearl cotton. Other tartans in cotton as well. The throws seem most popular.
The new project is a tartan throw for my sister-in-law and her husband. They recently bought a ‘mountain’ retreat on Lookout Mountain in Northern Georgia with magnificent views out over GA and AL. As a house warming present I promised a throw and quickly set to work designing/modifying a tartan for their new home. Based originally on the Ralston USA Tartan but modified to include a color for their surname (Brown), I was able to come up with a workable design which they liked.
I matched the colors with the 3/2 pearl cotton available for Yarn Barn of Kansas and they, as usual, delivered quickly. I’ve been heavily involved in the later stages of the studio build for the last year and have just passed the all essential 1st and 2nd electrical inspections and can have power connected at last although as it has often been the case this has proven more complicated that I’d like, with the need for a septic certificate needing to be on file before the power company can connect me. So a slight delay as the local septic inspector is on holiday over the Christmas break – meaning we have a large hole in the back yard until after the 9th! Regardless I can get on with the studio dry walling etc in the meantime. Despite those delays I wanted to see how the colors would work in the tartan so wound on one complete pattern.
With the sett for 3/2 cotton in 2/2 twill being 12 epi the throw will be approximately 4′ x 6′ – adequate for the back of a couch or a comfortable chair. I still have to finish winding on the patterns as well as free up some space to dress the loom as the actual studio still has scaffolding in the center of the room. This was needed to fit the overhead fan while still leaving room for the inspector to see all of the in wall wiring. I’m sure with some careful shuffling I can achieve both.