Boucle and Chenille
I hate Monopoly. For me, Monopoly is a long painful process of losing. I lose every time, and you can’t just quit because then you’re a sore looser. I didn’t realize until I was older that the reason I always lost was because I wasn’t willing to take risks. I needed to keep a safe cushion of money back just in case disaster struck (I didn’t cheat either, maybe that was the real reason I always lost)
I live my life pretty much the same way. I take “safe risks”. Risks that if it doesn’t turn out I really haven’t lost anything. Mostly I’m ok with being like that, but sometimes I wonder what I could I do if I took more risks.
Weaving is ones of those places I can take risks. I’ve got nothing to lose and lots to learn. Every failure is really just learning what doesn’t work. So my risk? I bought things I couldn’t feel before buying and had never seen woven in real life. See what I mean about safe risks?!
Chenille is the French word for caterpillar and it describes the yarn well. I bought cotton chenille but it can be made with rayon or acrylic. Essentially it is created by placing short lengths together between 2 strands of core yarn and plying it all together. It doesn’t feel so soft while using it but after washing it is quite lovely. Think about rag quilts. Before washing the raw edges are just…blah. After washing those edges become all fuzzy and beautiful. That’s what happens with chenille.
My dream for the chenille was bath towels for my husband and I. I decided to start with hand towels. And in an effort to set a good example, I sampled, sort of. Well, not really. What I did do was warp for two hand towels. I wove 1 plain weave (my “sample”) then wove a waffle weave for the second. It would have counted as a proper sample if I had cut the first one off, finished it then, based on my results, decided what to do with the second towel. I seriously thought about it. On the other hand, if these are samples before making a big bath towel, then I guess I really did sample!!
I love my chenille towels. The plain weave is very soft, maybe a little thin for a bath towel. I threaded it at 10 epi and wove at about 8 ppi. I’ve heard that chenille has a tendency to “worm” if it isn’t beaten tightly enough so we’ll see what happens over a number of washes. Worming means that a strand of the chenille works its way loose and causes loops to show in the weaving. The waffle weave is very thick, maybe a little stiff. Again it was 10 epi but closer to 15 ppi. I expect with use it will soften up more.
Boucle is yarn that has loops and twirls in it. Again, mine is cotton but in theory it could be anything. (Sometimes I spin boucle yarn by mistake!) I had heard that cotton boucle can make lovely bath towels but I really didn’t believe it. I like a really thick towel.
Like the chenille, I wove 2 hand towels, 1 plain weave, the other with some weft floats. I used a 12.5 dent reed with 12 ppi for plain weave and 15 ppi for the second. I was right, not thick enough for a bath towel (although my daughter wants a bath towel like the plain weave sample, she obviously likes a really thin towel) However, these are amazing kitchen towels! A tea towel and hand towel set. Or if you travel and need quick(er) drying towels, or towels that take less space in your RV than regular towels these would make a suitable bath towel.
I’m going to hang on to the chenille towels and see if any worming happens and find out how soft they will get. But, the boucle towels are ready for a new home. They would make a fabulous wedding gift, housewarming present or something special for your kitchen. If you are interested, click on Products in the menu at the top of the page.
