In a woven fabric, the colors of warp and weft intimately interact with each other. Some color combinations show a clear contrast when they are interwoven, other color combinations blend together. This week, my mother gifted one of my handwoven shawls to a friend. The palette of green, blue and turquoise tints made for a lovely lively blend of colors.

We all can use a little luck sometimes. One of the universal symbols of luck is the four-leaf clover. Anyone who has ever tried to find a four-leaf specimen in a field of three-leaf ones knows it — spotting a four-leaf clover requires quite some luck indeed. Luckily, you do not have to look for too long to spot a four-leaf clover in the blanket that I share with you today. The pattern contains a whole field of fortune-bringing clovers.

Last winter, I discovered I could make wonderfully light yet warm shawls with blow yarn. I switched to lighter yarns when spring came around. I picked up the blow yarn again now that autumn is here. Differently from last year, I now have an 8-shaft loom and experience with advancing twill and echo effects. In my new project with blow yarn, I made good use of these new tricks.

When I got my first loom, I had been crocheting for a couple of years already. In fact, I got inspired to give weaving a try on a yarn fair I attended to serve my crochet yarn needs. I tried out several of my favorite crochet yarns on my rigid heddle loom with different rates of success. This taught me that I could weave wonderful kitchen towels with unmercerized crochet cotton. My habit of weaving crochet cotton towels continued after I obtained my floor loom.