Weave Pin Loom Carrots for Spring

Spring is in the air and the time is right for making pin loom carrots. Brighten up a counter or add them to a package as an extremely unique embellishment. These were so much fun to make that I'm going to end up with a big bunch. The larger carrot was made using a 6" loom, smaller carrots from a 4" loom. It would be totally possible to make a gorgeous giant carrot by joining four 4" squares, but I'm okay with these sizes. 

The carrot greens are made with lime green scrubby yarn, which has a wonderful organic look. I added the root texture with stitches in light brown yarn and used the same color for some straggly roots.  These directions are repeated below along with my attempts at illustrating the making of a pin loom carrot. I hope you'll try a few carrots of your own.   Happy Spring Carrot Day!

Unearthing Old Pin Loom Projects

After falling off of my very lax schedule of posting a couple times a month, I found that I needed some inspiration to get back in the swing of pin loom weaving and writing about it. I ended up going through some very old boxes that had been lost in the basement and found a hanging that I did in about 1980. Sad to say that the mice had found it and made the most of it. But despite some holes and evidence of an ancient mouse nest, I still like this hanging very much. I completed it back when I was falling in love with weaving squares, but struggling to figure out what to do with them. The strips of cloth between the colored squares were sewn from upholstery cloth that I had dyed black.

I also found the original paperwork and one so-so picture of an early weaving project, Victorian House. I am really quite proud of the project except that I look at the construction and wish that I could go back in time and teach myself how to properly join the squares.  It took me another thirty plus years to build a library of good pin loom joins. 

That's it. Two pieces that I feared would never see the light of day again. I will get back to posting on current projects again very soon.  I hope everyone is well and working to be patient in dealing with the many issues (plague, crazy violence, etc.) that we are facing these days.  MS

This Valentine's Day send a Valentine Elephant

This elephant started out intended as a "Good Luck" Elephant. As I was finishing it I realized that we are only about two weeks from February 14 and, while you might choose to change the pattern on his sides to something that features hearts or flowers, this lovely little elephant would make a really special Valentine's gift.  

Of course, you could make it even more special by threading a diamond ring on his trunk-- that would really be unforgettable. No, I take that back. That might just come off as pretentious and overbearing. Just go with the elephant, it is heart warming and sincere. And have a wonderful (possibly socially distanced) Valentine's Day. 

This pin loom elephant pattern is featured in the book Adorable Beasts along with 29 of his best pin loom friends. 

Once you have woven your pin loom elephant (or other preferred valentine object, you can decorate it with any design.  The designs on the left are a few that might work for you. 

 

Pin Loom Panda, a new beast for a New Year

It's a new year and like a lot of people, I want to do everything I can to make it better than the last one. So this seems like a great time to introduce a new "adorable beast". The panda is not in the Adorable Beasts book although the bear is-- you can see the difference between them in the picture at the bottom of this post. 

This means that with a few alterations from the original bear pattern found in Adorable Beasts, and with a change of colors of course, you can delight your world with a special panda mascot, or a whole panda family. 

To make a panda you will need the original bear pattern found in the Adorable Beasts book.  (Just look slightly to the right of this post and you will see all the particulars on the book.)  The difference between the Adorable Beasts' bear and the panda is the size of the head and neck. In order to look like a respectable panda, the head must be a larger size than you will see in the original pin loom bear.                 

Follow the directions for the Adorable Beast's bear making these changes--

1. Instead of using 4" x 6" rectangles for the body, make the body using two black 2" x 4" pieces for the front of the body and two white 4" x 4" pieces for the back of the body. 

2. Make the legs just as directed in the book using black yarn. 

3. Make the neck 7" around. 

4. Make the face by using a 3" x 3" square, or use a 4" square--tucking the extra cloth to the inside. 

5. Make the ears in black and add extra large black spots for the eyes. I also made the black nose bigger and more pronounced on the panda.  

These changes in the bear's dimensions seem relatively minor, but they are enough to produce a pretty darn good panda. Enjoy! 

If you have any questions about this process, feel free to get in touch. My email is located in the right hand column at the bottom. You just need to take the spaces out. I would love to hear from you. 

Margaret (Meg) Stump

2020 Mini Sweater Pin Loom Day

It's finally arrived, the perfect prelude to the holidays, Mini Sweater Pin Loom Day. Thanks to Florencia Campos Correa for challenge of organization and photographic work. Check out Gary the Wolf modeling this year's entry in the post right below this. 

If you didn't get an entry in this year-- plan for next year. Heck, you could just make up a great mini sweater over the holidays and have it all ready for 2021. (I bet you could even send the picture to Florencia now, though there is probably no prize for having the first entry in for next year's mini pin loom sweater day.)

Hope your holidays are great. Here's the link to the mini-sweater instructions, just in case you want to get started. 

There's still time to weave something for Pin Loom Mini Sweater Day

There are just two more days before the Mini Sweater deadline on December 18. Check out all the details HERE and join in with your own pin loom Mini Sweater. Then check back after the 20th to see everyone's contributions. 

I am not comfortable making a mini sweater without also making a creature who can happily wear the sweater. So this is Gary, who I believe is a wolf, but keeps introducing himself as a coyote. 

In addition to the sweater, Gary is wearing matching board shorts. He reports that he is an outdoor kind of guy and enjoys talking about his feelings and taking long walks on the beach. Considering his report, I'm pretty sure that he is really a wolf. 

New Felted Purses; use pin looms to create new patterns

Felted pin loom purses have become a new passion for me. They combine all my favorite things, being relatively quick to weave, allowing me to use small bits of yarn (all wool, so they will felt) and then getting to experience the alchemy of felting. Seeing the woven squares, rectangles and triangles meld into perfect objects. 

 Okay, none of them are actually perfect, but they were each very fun to make and will go on to become handy bags around town, or possibly bags that hang in my yarn room, holding yet more yarn or accessories. 

My original plan was to produce bags that could be carried in a folded over shape. But if I had wanted that I should have made them plainer or made a pattern that worked better in the folded position. As it was, these look far better as pictured, so the whole "folded over" idea will have to wait for a future project. 

I am still struggling with adding straps and hardware. I am just learning how important the right leather work is to the piece-- but I find it easy to ignore that work because weaving is so much more fun.  

You may have noticed the woven triangles in the purse on the left. This was my first project with the Wunderwag 4" triangle loom and it worked out really well. (There is a link for Wunderwag Looms in the links list in the right column.) It is so much fun to see the range of patterns that become super doable with the use of squares, rectangles, triangles... plus extra shapes like hearts and the six sided turtle looms. The decorative section on the bag on the right was made with 2" x 4" rectangles to make 2" x 8" rectangles. The edging of each the bags was made using twelve 4" x 4" squares. 

Once sewn together, the bags were felted (actually fulled) by hand using hot-ish water and a little shampoo, agitating them until they got about 20 to 25% smaller and thicker. 

These have proven to be a fun and versatile project, I am definitely going to be making more since it is so easy to make new, different patterns each time. And because it is getting very close to Christmas, I am pretty sure that at least two of these bags will end up as presents, hanging in other people's yarn room.