My Mother's Crazy...Quilt

Day 286: The subject of crazy quilts came up a few days ago as a friend was preparing to go to a lecture on the subject as it pertained to those on exhibit at Whittier's birthplace. I sent her photos of a crazy quilt I'd made, explaining that I had never used decorative stitching to cover the seams as my mother did. Then it occurred to me that in the very bottom of my cedar chest, I had one of George's quilts ("George" was my mother's nickname). As I thought I remembered it, it was only a top, unfinished, but when I pulled it out, I discovered that indeed it was backed and batted...backed, with my mother's infamous lack of colour sense, with a huge peacock-tail print which would have served better as curtains in a hippie's Volkswagen van. The top, however, was tartan wool, and the seams were covered by embroidery stitches as I remembered. The quilt only measures 48" x 38", lap-robe size.

Contrary to what Patty heard at the lecture (that crazy quilts were usually made with silk fabrics), in my family, they were always made from wool suiting. When one of my great-grandfathers suits wore out, Old-old (my great-grandmother) would cut it into pieces for crazy quilting. The lecturer also asseerted that crazy quilts were not functional, being made of fragile silk fabric. True, perhaps, of those in the Whittier family, but Old-old's were definitely functional, and very warm! I remember bundling up in one when I was a very young child, the scratchy wool coarse against my skin. Old-old's also included embroidery stitches to cover and reinforce the seams, a tradition which my mother carried forward.

The discussion of crazy quilts raised a question in my mind. I found pictures of one I'd made only a few years ago, but for the life of me, I cannot remember who I gave it to. I have no idea how many quilts I've made over the years, but every now and then, someone will say to me, "I just love that quilt you gave me!" At least half the time, I reply, "Did I make you a quilt?"

A Proud McLeod

Day 278: My mother would be proud of me. I just took my McLeod of Lewis tartan shawl off the loom. This was a "bucket list" project for me: my family tartan made with authentic tartan wool (16/2) from Scotland. The fringe still needs twisting, and that will take a few days, what with 1024 threads to twist on each end in groups of eight (at least I think that's how I want to do it), but I have already filled out the paperwork to put this one in the Washington State Fair. It measures 32" wide by 78" long, and if I decide to wet-finish and waulk it, there will be some small amount of shrinkage. That said, I don't plan to do either. I have enough left to make a long scarf if I use the thrums as warp and the remainder on the cones for weft, but that will be a project for another time.

Setback And Revision

Day 238: Even when you're prepared for the possibility, it's disheartening when you have to rethink a weaving project. Despite using my table loom for some careful testing of the wool in order to establish the proper thread count necessary to achieve perfect squares in tartan, the floor loom had different ideas. I had woven 12 throws when it became obvious that my "square" was taller than it was wide. No amount of beating would cram 16 passes into the same space, and that meant my sett was too close together at 36 epi. In fact, it was so far off that I am acting on the assumption that my original "guesstimate" of 30 epi would have been correct, and that's what I'm engaged in presently: pulling all the threads out of the reed, changing to a different one, and rethreading. Note: this does not mean I had to re-thread the heddles! I've had to do this on a few other projects over the course of my weaving career, but never with 1024 ends to wrestle! And that said, if an epi of 30 doesn't work, I'll be repeating this process until I get it right. This is going to be an "heirloom" piece, so it has to be perfect.

Tartan Project

Day 193: Another of my "bucket list" weaving projects is in its initial phase. I have always wanted to weave my family tartan (McLeod of Lewis), and although I made a shawl using commercial knitting worsted, it was far from the vision in my mind. A friend gifted me with enough 16/2 (fine) Scottish wool thread for a shawl last Christmas, and after making a small test piece, I determined that it would have to be sett at 36 ends per inch to achieve a balanced weave. For the width I wanted, that meant 1024 ends in total. Obviously, winding it on the warping board was going to take a while, but even more critical to the project was tying an additional 600 string heddles. I figured I had plenty of time to do both because I had just loaded Max (my Bergman floor loom) with an overshot project which I wasn't likely to finish for at least two months. Well, I've made progress. The overshot is nearing completion, and I only have 50 heddles left to tie. It was time to start winding the warp. Merry has been a bit too helpful at times, but I think we have at last come to an understanding regarding teeth, toenails and tempting strings, although I have to hide the warping board between sessions. I'm halfway there.

Determining Sett

Day 157: When you're planning a weaving project with an unfamiliar thread/yarn, you need to determine the proper sett if you want to achive a balanced weave. For a tartan to be authentic, it must adhere to the proportions described in the Scottish Register of Tartans. It should be a 50/50 weave, which is to say that it should have the same number of warp threads and weft passes in an inch. Given the variation between yarns, how do you figure out the correct sett? A good starting point is by ascertaining the number of wraps per inch (WPI). Wind the thread around a ruler with each wrap taken as close to the previous one without compacting them. Cover an inch on the ruler and count the number of wraps. Divide the WPI in half if you plan to weave tabby, or by 2/3 for twill. And I cannot emphasize this strongly enough: this is only a guideline! You may have to adjust, as I did for my 16/2 Scottish wool. It wrapped the ruler at 40 per inch. This suggested at 30 warp ends per inch (EPI) would be a good sett. However, because this wool was very expensive and I only have enough to weave a shawl in my McLeod tartan, I decided to make a sample to confirm the sett. At 30 EPI, I made 40 weft passes to the inch ("picks per inch" or PPI), obviously not a 50/50 weave! Yes, I could still weave perfect squares, but my goal was to weave my official tartan, not just a plaid in McLeod colours. Therefore, I had to make some adjustments. By changing the sett to 36 EPI (tighter), the weft picks didn't pack as firmly. I'd found the sweet spot, although it will still take some careful attention to beating to keep consistent throughout the piece. I think my mother would be proud. (Footnote: the McLeod of Lewis tartan is mostly yellow and black with a fine red line, so I wove this sample using red because I knew I'd have more than enough. The yellow in the photo is not wool. It's a piece of nylon cord I used as a separator.)

A Timely Gift

Day 114: Imported from Scotland via Canada, a much-anticipated Christmas gift was delivered to me a few days ago by a weaving friend, timely in that it barely escaped falling under the ludicrous Trump Tariff on Canadian goods. This fine 16/2 wool will be woven into a light summer shawl of my tartan, McLeod of Lewis, also sometimes laughingly referred to as the "loud McLeod." I will be weaving it to spec, as it were, because true tartans must conform to how they are registered with the Scottish Registry of Tartans. In this case, that means a repeat of 16 black, 2 yellow, 16 black, 2 yellow, 16 black, 24 yellow, 2 red, 24 yellow on a twill threading. Because I plan to weave it on my floor loom at 30 inches wide (to shrink down to roughly 27 inches), it will require 900+ string heddles for a sett of 30 ends per inch. Max currently has about 500, so there's a lot of knot-tying in my future. I may have to adjust the sett somewhat in order to obtain a 50/50 weave (i.e., one with as many weft passes as there are warp threads in an inch). The wool is not the thinnest fiber I have ever woven by any means, but it will take extra care to be sure I don't break threads. However, first I have to finish weaving "Friend Evelyn." I have 8 feet done, and about 15 to go.

The Loud McLeod

Day 201: I finished twisting the fringe on the loud McLeod shawl yesterday morning, completing what was one of the fastest weaving projects I've ever done. As I was nearing the end of the work at the loom, a friend said, "Whoa! Slow down!" so I took a day off to pull weeds in the garden and catch up on a few other outdoor tasks. Even so, it was only five days from measuring warp to ready-to-wear, and then I found myself again looking at a naked loom. My stock of fibers is by no means low, but not necessarily in colours or quantities which work together. Dithering over a new project, I went for a walk to clear my head and by the time I'd covered a mile, I'd solved the problem. Now exactly what the new project is, I can't say because it's destined to be gifted come Christmas. That said, the table loom is also empty. I think I need to take another "planning" walk, but not in my McLeod shawl. It'd hold up traffic for sure!

The McLeod Project

Day 197: They call it the "loud MacLeod." The tartan of MacLeod/McLeod of Lewis is even more recognizable than Royal Stewart, being one of very few "plaids" with a yellow ground (a "plaid," incidentally, is a garment rather than a pattern). It also happens to be my family's tartan by way of an indiscretion committed by my grandfather's mother with a man of the clan, a dalliance which, according to his personal research, led to my grandfather's birth. My grandfather went to Skye in the early 1900s to speak with people who had known his family and found enough support for the story to convince him of his right to the tartan. Although that bloodline is somewhat diluted in its present incarnation (me), I am proud to be a McLeod (the spelling used in our line), if from the "wrong side of the blanket."

The necessity for sticking close to home has found me digging into my stash of fibers with a critical eye to potential projects. I had on hand a good supply of Caron "Simply Soft" worsted in gold, harvest red and black, having used the colours previously to make ladybug and bee hats for Joppa Flats. Those, or as close as makes no nevermind, are the colours of Clan McLeod. Obviously quite a bit heavier than I would have liked, availability suggested a project to follow the tablecloth: a McLeod shawl. I was able to find the exact sett written in the code unique to tartan weaving, and reinterpreted it to proportions reasonable for the yarn. Admittedly, the width of a shawl only allows for one full repeat flanked by a half-repeat to either side, but at approximately six feet in length, there will be five red intersections. The worsted-weight fiber makes the weaving move very quickly. By yesterday evening, I had woven over two feet even though I had spent very little time at the loom. I suspect the McLeod Project will be done by Tuesday.

Woad

Day 175: "Woad's the stuff to show men! / Woad to scare your foe-men! / Boil it to / A brilliant blue / and rub it on your legs and your ab-DO-men! / Ancient Britons / Never hit on / Anything as good as woad to fit on / Neck or knees or where you sit on! / Good for us today!" So go the words we used to sing around the campfire at Society for Creative Anachronism events. Although my SCA persona was not Scottish, I am fiercely proud of my wrong-side-of-the-blanket descendancy from the McLeods of Lewis (Skye) and break out the garish yellow tartan for days such as today, World Tartan Day. Alas, it is past the season for haggis, but lovely weather for gadding about in woad.

Hit The Woad, Mac

Day 71: Och, an' it was wi' great stealth an' cunnin' thot I trackit the wee savage beastie to its lair an' there did discoover na jist the ane, but its kith an' cousin alike. Three haggis! Three did I take wi' nought but a wee dirk an' strength o' arm. Fellow Scotsman Maureen McLean put claim upon a carcase, but the remainin' twa (adult and bairn) repose in the coolness o' the freezer to await Hogmanay and Rabbie Burns' natal day respectively. I canna pipe them in, so I give ye an Ode to Woad for the occasion (NOT original!):

What's the use of wearing braces?
Spats and hats and boots with laces?
Vests and pants you buy in places
Down on Brompton Road?

What's the use of shirts of cotton?
Studs that always get forgotten?
These affairs are simply rotten,
Better far is woad.

Woad's the stuff to clothe men.
Woad to scare your foemen.
Boil it to a brilliant hue
And rub it on your back and your abdomen.

Ancient Britons never hit on
Anything as good as woad to fit on
Necks or knees or where you sit on.
Tailors you be blowed!!

Romans came across the Channel
All wrapped up in tin and flannel
Half a pint of woad per man'll
Clothe us more than these.

Saxons used to waste their stitches
Building beds for bugs in britches
We have woad to clothe us which is
Not a nest for fleas

Romans keep your armours.
Saxons your pyjamas.
Hairy coats were meant for goats,
Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas.

Tramp up Snowdon with your woad on,
Never mind if you get rained or snowed on
Never need a button sewed on.
Go it Ancient Bs!!

Och, But No' A Haggis

Day 59: Regrettably, I was not reminded of St. Andrew's Day (Scotland's national day) until it was too late to hunt the reclusive and estimable Haggis. However, I discovered their lair last year and managed to snare two, round and plump, before the season ended. The larger of the pair was reserved for Robert Burns' birthday, when it was served in Capt. Morgan Corbye's cabin with steaming neeps on the side. And alas, I have neither bannocks nor baps to accompany my meager meal tonight, but the day shall not go without a nod and a nobbler in honor of my Scottish ancestry.