Turned Monk’s Belt

When I got the latest issue of Weaver’s Craft, I knew I wanted to make the Checkered Stripe Towels.  The ones in the magazine are white, with blocks of medium blue, light blue, black,and violet.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have all those colors and decided to see what I could come up with, with what I do have.  I wrapped yarns around a ruler, trying to find a color combination that would work.  I knew it wasn’t going to be the most beautiful towel in the world but this is what I came up with.

The first picture shows the the truest colors on my monitor.  The darkest color is more of a dark purple than blue.  The green and violet are almost spot on.  And you know what?  I like the colors better than I thought I would.

So, let’s see what I learned.

• A turned draft can be quite useful.
• I can now imagine how a supplemental warp would be helpful (at least I think I can).
• Just because you think it’s going to be ugly as sin, doesn’t mean it actually will.
• Don’t forget to tie the ends of the lease sticks together because they just might fall out, causing many bad words to come flying out of my mouth.  I threaded it anyway, take that Evil Lease Sticks!
• It takes me 3 times as long to warp back to front as it does to warp front to back.  I just can’t seem to get a groove going.  That might or might not have had something to do with the sticks falling out, grrr.
• Winding multiple colors at the same time was not fun.  Maybe it will be better the 2nd time.

Yarn: Purple and violet – Silk City 5/2 Perle Cotton, green – UKI 5/2 perle cotton

Measurements before washing – 19 x 37 1/2 (I didn’t plan to make it that long but the warp was there so why not.  I can cut it down or use it for something besides a towel).

After washing – 16 5/8 x 32 1/4