New Year, New Project!

A cold January is the perfect time to start a new weaving project! The Scandinavian Weavers’ latest group warp is a pattern called Kukkoladräll.

The Kukkoladräll pattern was composed by Elsa Kerttu in 1926 when she was a student at Jämtslöjds Kvinnliga Slöjdskola (Women’s Craft School) in Östersund as an assignment to create a pattern in Jämtlandsdräll. It was named after Elsa’s hometown of Kukkola, a small fishing village in northern Sweden, just across the border from Finland. A lovely version of this pattern was woven by Ulrika Bos Kerttu, Elsa’s niece, in a palette she named Cloudberry. The draft for the pattern is copyrighted by Sveriges Länshemslöjdskonsulenter and provided bytextilhemslojd.se

The Weavers Guild of Minnesota is equipped with two Glimakra looms for classes and group projects. The Scan Weavers generously dug into their stashes for the linen warp. At least 14 of us will weave on this warp, so it is quite long.

Warping is always more fun with a group! (Especially with coffee breaks.) Below, Lisa Torvik explains the benefits of pre-sleying the reed to newer weavers Holly and Beth.

Patty Johnson demonstrates how she used to warp her Glimakra all by herself – controlling the warp tension while winding on the back beam. Fortunately, Lisa is there to help.

Lisa reminds everyone to spritz the linen warp with water to prevent breakage. (Lisa does this every time she advances the warp, which she does every three to four inches.)

Lisa adapted the draft for towels and included four motifs across the width instead of three.

Lisa wove two towels in different colorways. For the first, she used 16/1 linen doubled on stick shuttles for the pattern weft and 12/1 linen for the ground shots.

For the second towel, Lisa chose to work with perle cotton for the pattern weft.

Stay tuned for more updates on this project. I like to think that Elsa Kerttu’s original design of multiple squares was inspired by the many small fishing huts in Kukkola.

If you now want to visit Kukkola as much as I do, search online for the Kukkola Tourist and Conference Board. They say the area provides natural beauty, peace, and creative inspiration. What could be better for weavers?