When November blends into December…
Hmm, isn’t that every year?
Regardless, November Morning Make trickled into December so I decided to ride the wave. I had something else entirely planned, anticipating some medical events and the necessary downtime. But Covid changed those (things got cancelled, I stayed healthy) and I enjoyed that beginning so decided to keep playing.
The first bowl came from a 3mm rope I purchased with the rest of my weaving supplies from Flax and Twine. The pattern is in her book, Weaving Within Reach. It was fiddly to start and it took me quite a bit to find a rhythm. I totally did not understand the finishing directions. What I did, however, worked but I knew I was doing something wrong. It’s still a bowl and it is still staying together!
After that I hit one of our local yarn stores for more rope. Their stock wasn’t the same, but it was still a 3mm rope, just softer. With two colours under my arm I kept going on the rope bowl fun. I even went ahead and started playing with the weaving pattern, with different levels of design success. These bowls don’t have as much structure but the weave is tighter. And I figured out what I was doing wrong in the finished directions.
It turns out I only have one real, large, round bowl. Many bowls, but in great shapes that are anything but typical bowl shapes. A lot of flat bottoms or wide openings. So all the bowls (save 1) were made from the same mold/bowl, not that it is totally obvious from the finished results. It was a bowl from Alexia Abegg.
The next batch of rope that I bought was from Flax and Twine again. This time a 5mm, so slightly thicker. And, shorter in length so the bowls did not end up as big as the first one. No complaints about that, but it is a noticeable difference.
Speaking of differences, the big difference between the rope from Flax and Twine and that from my local shop was that softness. That results in a bowl with more structure or less, so it would be personal preference. I really liked Anne’s colours at Flax and Twine as the ones at my local were a bit garish (neon pink and lemon yellow).
After a few bowls I was feeling a bit bored and a lot cocky so I decided to try something different. Anne had sent along some linen twine with my order. Twine/rope? Same thing, right? Obviously the size is different, and the texture, flexibility, and length of the spool. I ended up using 2 spools, with a simple knot to join them when necessary. Needless to say, I used a small bowl as a mold, just a little IKEA bowl. Small is not easier or faster, not at all. It took me a week to make the one little bowl. It was fiddly. I also used more warp threads than the big rope bowls so there was more weaving to do on the whole. The result was totally worth it. It is a compact bowl but with beautiful structure. As you can see, I did something a bit different with the finishing. The edge treatment is the same, but rather than weave the ends in I made them obvious with a visible knot.
December satisfied my need for meditative yet creative action for Morning Make with these rope bowls. It’s also piqued my curiosity for different types of woven bowls and even basket weaving. I’m not done with weaving yet.
