February TotM - Yarn - Feb 7

I don't have much more 20/2 cotton, and I want to try some towels in linen which I understand should make nicer towels than cotton, so I broke down and bought some linen.  As I mentioned before, I have not found a source for bleached linen.  I bought the half-bleached, which is not a cool snowy white but a warm ivory white.

The cone on the left in the photo is white cotton for reference.  The cone in the middle is half-bleached 40/2 "Normandy" by Henry's Attic I bought from Yarn Barn of Kansas.  The cone on the right is unbleached (natural) 40/2, also the Normandy.  I think the Normandy is made in Belgium.  The tubes are, from left to right, half-bleached 40/2 Valley Yarns (made in Egypt) from Webs, the 20/1 half-bleached Bockens (Sweden) from Vavstuga, and unbleached 40/2, also by Valley Yarns.  The Bockens is also available from Village Spinning & Weaving, from whom I would have ordered had I realized it since he is close to me geographically.

Regarding the cottolin for the supplementary pattern warp... the article calls for 20/2 cottolin, but that doesn't seem to be a standard size for cottolin these days.  All the sources I can find only have 22/2 cottolin.  22/2 cottolin seems to be around 3000 yards per pound.  I have a few tubes of cottolin, but sadly no red or even pink, so I'm trying a red cotton that looks similar in size to the cottolin I have and balances out at 3400 yards per pound, which I think makes it an 8/2 cotton.

Have you chosen your yarns for this project?

Weave along and get a chance to win the Towel of the Month!  If you are weaving along, please leave a comment to let us all know.  Put a link or url in the comment to a photo (on your Flickr, Picasaweb, Photobucket, your blog etc.) of your work in progress. Deadline is midnight GMT Feb 28, 2014.