Put the Wow in your Woven Rugs and Accessories

Hello, weavers! I’m honored and delighted to introduce myself to you as the new editor of Handwoven. You can learn a little more about me in this interview.

Here at the beginning of my tenure, I find myself overflowing with ideas for inspiring stories, projects, and ways of sharing them with you—and also with trepidation about following in the footsteps of Handwoven’s former editors.

As I make my way through all 219 back issues of the magazine (spanning 45 years!), it’s clear that Susan E. Horton, Anita Osterhaug, Madelyn van der Hoogt, Jean Scorgie, Jane Patrick, and Handwoven’s visionary founder, Linda Ligon, were (and still are) smart, creative, and skilled weavers and editors.

Weaving trends have changed over the decades. Nevertheless, my personal to-weave list grows longer with every back issue I read, precisely because of the skill those editors used in covering this craft we love in a way that still feels relevant. My fondest wish is that my work here lives up to and builds on their legacies.

---

Onward to what you’ll find inside the Summer 2024 issue

We‘ve got rugs! From left, Suzie Liles's Building Block Rug in taqueté; Cynthia Cox‘s Core Spun Comfort Rug made from mill waste; and Tom Knisely‘s Sand and Sky Stitched Double Cloth Rug.

If you have bare floors in need of covering, you’ve come to the right place. The brilliantly colorful krokbragd rug on our cover had everyone on staff excited. Wouldn’t it brighten your space?

If that’s not quite what you’re looking for, we have five other rug projects to consider. Some use rags, stash yarns, or even shearing leftovers; some have bold geometric shapes; and one special project makes a rug that is supremely fluffy.

Asymmetry is the focus of Brenda Gibson‘s Emerging Asymmetry Scarf in deflected doubleweave, and Deborah Heyman‘s Changing Lanes Scarf in twill.

Curious about asymmetry? Start out by reading about how to design a balanced asymmetric pattern. If you’re not up to designing quite yet, we have several gorgeous asymmetrical projects to get you started.

Other stories include how to weave with a clasped warp on a multi-shaft loom; ideas for weaving in the face of movement tremors; a review of two books you might want for your library (one of them written by a former Handwoven editor!); and how a unique commemorative banner was designed and woven—you may have seen it in person at the 2022 Complex Weavers Complexity exhibit.

Online, will find three fun projects as part of this issue: a handsome scarf inspired by zebras on the Serengeti, a table runner using precut quilting fabric to mimic rep weave, and scrappy rugs for your mugs.

The Summer 2024 issue of Handwoven is available here.

What’s on your loom right now? Please show us on Instagram or Facebook by using #handwovenmagazine. And send your weaving questions and comments to handwoven@longthreadmedia.com.

Happy weaving!
Lynn

Lynn Rognsvoog is the editor of Handwoven.