Wednesday, November 12, 2014

We have a winner!


The October winner of the set of vintage stainless steel pin Weave-its is Joan A. of Canton, MI 

Joan noted, "I learned about pin loom weaving at a knit shop, De Vine Knits in Shipshawanee. I am not able to walk but my husband of 53 years takes me. I knit a lot."

Check out the Pin Loom Giveaways page for upcoming drawings for November and December. Winter is a great time for pin looms!  

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

The Nanny-Fanny Pack

I had the opportunity to visit my daughter, Taylor, in Portland, OR. While I was there she taught me about simplicity in weaving design and that if you have your phone, you don't need much else.

Her goal was to devise a "Nanny Fanny Pack", so named because, "Nanny and fanny rhyme... and I am a nanny. I need something that will hold just the essentials. If you're on the job you've got to have your cell phone as well as a pocket for a key or money. And it has to be secure whether I'm riding my bike or running down the street to the park."


Get the pattern for the Nanny Pack below.






The yarn in this particular nanny pack is a Superwash Merino by Ella Rae, a chunky yarn. Despite the description as chunky, it worked very well on the 4"x 6" and 4"x 4" pin looms.  Taylor also used two large eyelets, a heart button, a 12" length of yellow elastic cord, 36" of yellow webbing for the alternate belt and a 7" zipper, cut to fit the 4" opening.

When I was working on my copy of the nanny pack, I couldn't find any elastic cord. I did find packages of Goody hairbands that worked very nicely.

Because my phone is a slightly smaller size, the grey nanny pack has just one row of single crochet on each side. The original pack has two rows on each side in order to accommodate a larger phone.

This pack could be made equally well with all 4" x 4" squares. I would suggest joining the squares for the bag using a mattress stitch. See the page, Pin loom essentials for information on joining the squares.  Turn the sides of the bag to the inside and stitch to obtain the correct size bag for your phone.





Taylor talked about her experience with pin looms, noting that when she was little they were always around the house and she wove some small squares, with some help from her mom. When she was seven or eight she put together her first real woven project. There is a box in my attic filled with dolls and bears as well as doll and bear clothes. One of the most precious items (to us both) is a little baby doll blanket, woven and sewn by a little girl with her mom.