New Ideas for Old Jars... plus pin loom squares

Even though I believe that everything is better with pin loom squares, the primary focus of this post is some gift (or self-gift) ideas for using old pint jars. These pint jars came from local thrift shops where they often call out to me to be taken home and re-purposed. These ideas also make great craft fair items or items for fund raisers.

Sewing Kit

This is the only item that actually makes the  use of the pin loom square, turning it into an always available pin cushion.  Now you have an emergency kit of safety pins and other sewing necessities safely located where they won't get lost behind the dresser or in the back of a drawer.

Journal Jar

This is a collection of about 60 pieces of paper, each printed with a question to elicit some self reflection and perhaps a journal entry. The questions are folded over in matchbook fashion so that you can open them up one at a time and then fold them up again for later use.

This has proved to be a great gift for junior high and high school age people. If I want to give something more, like for a graduation gift, I will include a really nice blank journal with some cash in it.

Gratitude, Blessing or Worry Jar

This is my newest approach for using pint jars. I wanted a place to write down a prayer or worry, someplace that I could (hopefully) write it down and let it go. I found a bunch of wooden spools, these are not vintage, they came in a package of 12 from a craft shop, and I taped a strip of pretty homemade paper to each spool. Then I can write down whatever it is that I have to say and roll it up on the spool. I wrapped each with yarn for a little color-- since yarn is something that I have a lot of.

It would be possible to have different colors of yarn for different thoughts, but I didn't think of that before I started. A lot of the papers rolled on the spools are still blank, they were done for the purpose of demonstration.  But I'm going to start over and see if I can add a note on a worry that I need to let go of, or consider something I'm thankful for, each day.

One more sewing kit...

I know that this isn't a brand new idea, but it has been so fun to take a lovely old sugar bowl and repurpose it as a hidden sewing kit. And do you notice how well the upside down pin loom pin cushion works? Oh yeah.

I know that I can't repurpose every piece of glass, china and crockery that flows into the thrift stores but it sure is fun to save a few.

If you have any thoughts about other favorite purposes for thrift shop finds, please consider sharing them with me and the other Pin Loom Weaving readers. I would so appreciate it.  Thanks. MS

Pin Loom Table Runner

In an effort to make a fresh start in 2020, I have been working to clear out some of the stuff in my dining room. I rediscovered this cool table runner that I made a number of years ago when we first got our black dining room table. I wanted something that I could throw in the middle of the table that reflected the Craftsman colors in our house and could be used as a gaming board. I hesitate to call it a table "runner" since it is not long and skinny, but don't know what else to call it. Maybe, table mat? Table quilt? I have no idea.

The table runner/mat measures 24" x 24". It makes a really nice checkers/chess board but it works just as well as a mat for any game. I wanted the red squares to stand out so I edged each 2" x 2" square with single crochet in its own color and then whip stitched the squares together in black. The green strips are made from three 2" x 6" pieces, single crocheted around the whole strip in its own color, with a second single crochet edge in warm brown. The end squares are 4" x 4"s, edged in brown. Then the whole piece got another edge of half double crochet in tan. If I were making it again, I would probably do that final outside edging also in single crochet, because I think it would balance the colors better.

This would be a super easy pattern to modify to work with other color schemes. And while I was wed to the idea of making a chessboard, you could make it thinner and longer and turn it into an actual table runner... with matching table mats! Enjoy and happy weaving!

Pin loom weaving with Scrubby Yarn

Happy New Year!
This has been a great day for me because I learned something new. No. It was even better than that because I learned that I had been completely wrong about an earlier assumption that stalled me out for a couple years, and then I learned I was wrong.

I have to confess that I spent a number of years thinking that it was not possible to use Scrubby yarn on a pin loom. If you haven't seen this product, it is a 100% polyester yarn that is made for making dishcloths or scrubbies. It has a fringe of twisted yarns that makes it very effective for washing and scrubbing dishes and it doesn't hold bacteria easily.

Because of the multitude of twists and fringe in the yarn, I was convinced that I couldn't weave with it, and I found that thought to be very frustrating.

I was so convinced that I couldn't weave with it that I only tried weaving with one layer of the scrubby yarn, adding a single crocheted edge to the planned dishcloth. I created something that was so ugly that it could possibly cause flashbacks to the 70's.  I am going to share it with you below, I feel that I should take responsibility for at least some of my embarrassing creations.

The point of this confessional is that it took me about THREE YEARS to get over assuming that I already knew the answer and just sit down and  try weaving with Scrubby yarn at which point I found out that it weaves up beautifully. I wove the 6"x 6" square on the right earlier today and it makes a supple, thick cloth with a lovely pattern and its going to make a great dishcloth (and who knows how many other uses?)

Once I got started weaving with the Scrubby yarn it was hard to stop. I decided to make a flower scrubby, which is a stack of 4"x 4" squares, each turned into a flower and then stacked to become and really cute, handy pot scrubber. You can see all the directions for making the woven scrubby HERE/

I wove four 4"x 4" squares for the scrubby (but only used three of them). They came out with a great plaid look. I wove one larger, 6"x 6" square to use as a flat dishcloth. The yarn is not super easy to weave, you can run in to problems with the loops. Whenever I had problems pulling my needle and yarn through the weaving, I stopped, found the yarn loop that was holding it back (which was easy because it was straightened out, not curly) and cut it. That didn't hurt the cloth at all.

I ended up using three 4"x 4" squares and weaving one 2"x 2" for the Scrubby flower. I added a short crocheted chain, using two ends of Scrubby yarn, to make a handle for it. The Scrubby flower came out really well but it is so fuzzy that it does not photograph very well.

So here is the first thing that I've learned in 2020. I am going to try diligently not to make assumptions, get frustrated and then give up. I am going to work to keep an open mind and spent this year exploring ways to make brand new mistakes.  I hope that 2020 offers you many opportunities to try new things, too.  Margaret Stump

Merry Christmas

Mini Sweater Pin Loom Day 2019

Here it is, the finished collection of Pin Loom Mini Sweaters, from people across the globe. If you didn't have time to take part this year, plan ahead, there will be a Mini Sweater Pin Loom Day on December 19, 2020, too. I can't wait to see more fun and glorious mini sweaters!

You can see all the directions for making your own mini sweater below.

Florencia Campos Correa had a WONDERFUL idea which she was willing to share with me and I want to share with everyone I know... since pretty much everyone I know has at least one pin loom. So we are declaring December 19, 2019 to be MINI SWEATER Pin Loom Day, a day to celebrate all the possible pin loom mini sweaters that we can weave up. 

All of the directions for making and sharing your mini sweaters are below, courtesy of Florencia. You'll be sending a picture of each sweater to florencia.campos@ullvuna.cl to be added to the massive picture of all the mini sweaters to be published on December 19th. 

Florencia's sample sweaters are so neat that now I want to have a bunch of mini sweaters for my Christmas tree. I know that I am only going to get a few done this year, but if I keep it up, in the next few years my tree decorations may all be mini sweaters. 

Join in! Send in your ideas for a great pin loom mini sweater and we will all celebrate a very happy Mini Sweater Pin Loom Day this December 19th!

Weave a Christmas Tree Pin

Here is a fun, tiny ornament that can be created in a snap and work as a Christmas brooch or wherever you need a bit of embellishment. The sweet secret is just how easy it is to make a gorgeous woven pin using a few beads, a yard or two of fancy yarn and a 2"x 2" pin loom.

The Christmas Tree Pin calls for two 2"x 2" squares, a light colored backing square and a green square for the body of the tree. Use some brown yarn to add a tree trunk to the backing square. Fold the green square under to create a tree shape and add your choice of beads for ornaments. I used a small, star shaped button for the treetop star. Lay the tree piece on top of the backing square and join with a whip stitch in green along the outside of the pin shape. 

After I finished embellishing the tree and joined the two pieces, I felt that the pin looked too wide and flat. So I bent the two edges around in order to make a slightly three dimensional tree shape. You can see the way the pin looks from the back in the picture below. The final step is to add a pin, either a big safety pin or a craft-type brooch pin, to the back of the Christmas Tree Pin. 

I have a few dinners still coming up this season and these pins will be going as part of the hostess gift, either attached to a card or a bottle of wine. I'm going to keep my favorite to wear on a winter jacket... so I have a gift, too!

Happy Christmas Elephant To All

This can be a crazy busy season with lots of demands from family and work. If you're feeling overwhelmed, consider turning away from all those ridiculous demands for a bit and inviting in your very own Christmas Elephant.

The elephant and the rabbit patterns can be found in Adorable Beasts; 30 pin loom animals and 4 playscapes, I added a Santa hat for the season.

I hope everyone is having a fun, exciting season... or at least taking a little time for themselves in order to cope.