How Many Towels?

The warp's been cut off the loom, and the towels counted (twice, to be certain) and the final count is 17. I used my trusty Excel spreadsheet to calculate the warp length, and am sure I didn't put extra rounds on the warping wheel, so the only explanation I have for getting 17 rather than the calculated 16 is that the unmercerized cotton stretched a lot on the loom. I had weighted the selvedge threads separately, and they stretched out more than 6 inches longer than the main warp, so I know there was a lot of "give" in that yarn.

When I finished the last towel, there wasn't enough for a bread-basket cloth, and my patience was wearing thin, so I just cut off what was left. I know a fiber artist who says she can use the thrums. That's better than just tossing them in the bin!

Next up? More towels. A point threading this time, so border motifs like the butterflies I did on the first towel warp will be twice as many ends wide, and more visually clear. Screen shots of drafts to follow.

I have some cones of light pink 20/2 unmercerized cotton that I bought at a very good price to use for warp. A friend suggested I do a border pattern composed of pink loops like the Breast Cancer ribbons, and I've decided to donate some percentage of proceeds of sales of these towels to one of the Breast Cancer research funds.