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.