Holiday Kitchen Towels

Nothing spruces up the kitchen during the holidays more than newly woven festive towels (besides the smell of freshly baked cookies that is…).

This year I wanted something simple and quick to weave during this busy season. These are perfect for the home or as a special gift for a loved one.

I’m using a Kromski 32” Harp Loom and a 10 dent heddle. 

At 1st glance these may look like ordinary stripes, but if you look closely you will see the lovely texture that my slubby cotton flake yarn adds. It makes for a wonderfully soft and absorbent towel. 

The order of threads is not really important. You can easily come up with your own sequence and color choice. These would be great in virtually any color combination for any holiday or – just because! They would also be suitable for a 24” loom with just a few less threads.

This project used:

8/2 Unmercerized Cotton in Red, White and Green

100% Cotton Flake – unbleached 700 yards per 8 0z.

Warp length 3 yards

Width in loom 26.5”

Width of weave including draw in 25”

Pre-wash length off the loom  2.5 yards (90″)

Post-wash length is 80″ and the width is 23″

I know that 8/2 is typically used at 20-24 ends per inch, but I wasn’t certain about my cotton flake yarn. I used a Kromski WPI Tool to determine the size dent I would need for this project. Simply put the WPI means Wraps Per Inch. By winding the yarn around the tool and counting the ends, it is easy to determine the size dent needed. In this case, I was able to wind 20 ends. Therefore I decided to use the 10 dent Heddle and hold my yarns doubled. And since I wanted a softer, looser weave on these towels, I knew that would also work for the 8/2 cotton.

Since all yarns are held double throughout, it made direct warping a bit different than the normal method of just pulling the loops through the slots. For this, the loops are drawn through in their final position, using both the slots and the holes of the 10 dent heddle before winding onto the back beam.

The shuttle is wound with 2 strands as well. If you have 2 cones of your weft yarn, this is a simple task. Just grab an end from each cone and begin to wrap the shuttle.

I only had one cone on hand so I’m winding off small amounts of yarn into a ball using a ball winder. This way I can hold the ends from the inside and the outside of the ball together as I wind the shuttle. I’ve used the white 8/2 cotton as the weft on the entire project.

When the shuttle runs out and it’s time to add more yarn, this simple trick can minimize the viability of the join. In order to have the least noticeable yarn change after starting a new shuttle, I recommend cutting the end of one strand of the weft yarn shorter than the other, bringing both to the front just as you normally would when changing yarns. Do the same to the new yarn on the shuttle. This way there are only 3 yarns overlapping at any give point. Once the towel is wet finished it will be virtually undetectable.

If you were to simply overlap as if the strands were one, there would be 4 strands at the point of change over as shown above.

By taking a moment to trim one of them there is a much smoother transition.

I wove these as one long warp – no measuring needed for the individual towels. At the end of the warp, weave a couple inches of waste yarn at the end to keep things from unraveling. Once the towels are off the loom, the ends are secured by knotting the fringe ends. Then the entire warp is machine washed and dried. I cut my towels to be a total of 34″ each and then hemmed by hand. There is a 12″ scrap left over that I will use to make a small project later. I think it’s always better to have a bit left over rather than finding it to be shorter than what you wanted.

I hope your home is filled with Holiday Cheer this year! And maybe your kitchen (or a loved one’s) will be extra warm and inviting with a new set of cozy, colorful towels.