Make Like a (Pin Loom) Turtle

 I have had a LOT of adventures since last posting to this website, and have feel pretty guilty about not sharing with everyone. This is a turtle designed by myself and my daughter, Taylor, as a present to a young lady in order to gift her with a pet turtle that didn't come with a lot of housekeeping duties or salmonella. 

You might notice that this turtle has felted hearts all over its shell-- another upside of a woven animal. 

My favorite aspect of this particular woven turtle is that it can actually pull its head and legs into the shell (with some help from pokey fingers).  

The top turtle shell was woven from two 4" x 6" rectangles that were overlapped to create a dome. The corners of the rectangles were turned under. The head was made with two 2" x 4" rectangles, stuffed. The feet and legs were each made with one 2" x 4" rectangle with the sides turned under to make an approximate 1" x 4" limb. The feet had a little bit of stuffing added to them. I added a darker color yarn on the edge of the feet to look like claws. 

I made room for the retractable head and legs by weaving a 4" x 4" and using it to capture all the stuffing for the shell. That left an open section below where the head and legs are fastened. They can either stick out or be pulled in. I was really surprised at how well it worked. 

Here is one more shot of our intrepid turtle... not actually in her natural environment... since her natural environment is really my yarn room. 

And like this turtle I am going to try to spend more time out of my shell, exploring the world and sharing with others. 

Talk to you soon. Meg Stump

Pin loom weaving raffia, yes, it can be done

Raffia is definitely a summer fiber-- colorful, light, perfect for light breezy projects. But I have run into a number of pin loom weavers who questioned whether it's possible to weave with raffia, and my major concern, would it be fun to weave with raffia?

To answer the first question-- can you use raffia on a pin loom, the answer is a definite "Yes". Not only can you weave with it, you can add all sorts of patterned weaves to add to the summery feel. 

The second question-- "Is it fun?"  took me some weaving exploration to discover. 

If you have read many of my posts, you may have noticed that having fun while weaving is a top priority for me.  When I first wove with raffia it was definitely not fun. 

I first tried weaving with three layers of raffia, using a cotton yarn for the fourth layer and found the process to be frustrating and not fun. Not only was it extremely difficult to weave, but the several layers of raffia made for an overly-complex weaving surface. It was difficult to do and didn't look that good. But I found an answer. 

The answer was to use just one layer of raffia, letting the colors and pattern of the fiber shine through, and completing the weaving with a complementary colored cotton yarn. It worked beautifully whether you do the weaving in a plain, tabby weave or bust out an overshot pattern. (Reminder- you can find great overshot patterns at Eloominations.com.)

In terms of projects, I decided on a summer table setting, with raffia/cotton mats for coasters, drinks mat and place mats. I am still working (albeit slowly) on a summer table runner, using a variety of colors in the raffia and cotton.

So consider tackling a new fiber for the pin loom, and have a fabulous fibery summer!

Weave a ridiculously cute Pin Loom Owl Bag

Introducing an extremely cute companion for Spring. As you may have noticed I love making animals and owls are a particular favorite. I also love small bags and bags that have secret pockets in them, so the Pin Loom Owl Bag hits the trifecta. 

It is a great size to carry a phone and has extra little pockets in the wings. Each owl takes six squares for the body, two for the wings, and two for the eyes. This makes it a great project for those special leftover yarns-- too little to use on a regular weaving project, too precious to give away. The Owl Bag is made using only a 4" pin loom (except for your choice of purse strap) and features hand felted pin loom eyes.

Follow the illustrations below to make your own Pin Loom Owl Bag. 

A)  Lay out the six squares for the body and join together using a double overcast stitch. You can find further information about the double overcast stitch HERE. Fold the two bottom squares in half on the diagonal and tack them in place to the inside of the bag.

B) Fold the two sides of the bag in and finish joining the bag together. Whip stitch the bottom front and back of the bag together, first tucking in the corners to create a more rounded, owl-like bottom.

C) Weave two squares for wings. This is a great place to use your fancier yarns. Take each wing square and turn down the top corner and tack the corner to the inside. 

D) Line the wing up with the body so that the bottom tip of the wing is close to the bottom of the owl body. Tack the wing in place to keep it stable while you whip stitch it. Using the wing color, stitch around the two sides of the wing, leaving the folded-in top open to create a small pocket. Repeat this process with the second wing.

E) Make the owl eyes. The colored portion of each of the owl eyes was made by cutting a 1 1/2 inch circle from a felted pin loom square. See directions for felted squares below. I used yellow and pale blue for the owl's iris, but you can use whatever color you want. The owl's pupils were made by cutting a one inch circle from a black felted pin loom square or using a 1 inch button.  I stitched the iris on to the bag but found that glue worked much better for attaching the pupils. 

F)  Add the owl beak. Using a tapestry needle with your choice of color, use satin stitch to create a beak that is approximately half inch wide at the top, tapering to a point over its three-quarter inch length.

G) Attach your handle. These owl bags were made using small bamboo rings and lightweight faux leather straps.  

Since first making the Owl Bags I have found that the lightweight straps work beautifully and the bamboo rings really don't work at all. Using the bamboo rings was a fun experiment but the only place they are really handy is if you want to hang your owl bag on a doorknob, maybe as a catch-all for pens or scraps of paper. If you want to use it as a purse, I recommend a manufactured or handmade strap. 

Making felted squares. Squares used for felting need to be constructed from 85 to 100% wool or they will not felt satisfactorily. Since you will only be felting one or two squares, you can do it easily and quickly by hand. Submerge the squares in hot water, add a small amount of shampoo or mild dishwashing soap and rub and roll them vigorously between your hands. They will very quickly begin to shrink and thicken as the fibers pull together. They only need to shrink by about 25%. When the squares measure about 3ins, rinse them out and lay them out to dry. When they are dry you will be able to cut out the circles for eyes with minimal fraying. I think a little fraying looks good because it softens the eyes, so don't worry if they are not perfect.  

There is another great reason for making Owl Bags. As the world starts to get moving again and craft shows open up, Pin Loom Owl Bags make a really cute craft to sell. 

While the copyright says that you are not allowed to make copies and sell my patterns, you are always welcome to make and sell your own hand woven goods. 

I do hope that if you decide to make some Owl Bags that you will share some pictures with me.  Margaret Stump

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!

The 2020 Pin Loom Commemorative "Dumpster Fire" Christmas Ornament

2020 has been a pretty challenging year. What with a pandemic and politics and quarantines, unemployment and some super-weird theories about what has been going on (yep, I'm looking at you, Q-Anon) this is not a year that many would ever want to experience again. 

But even a terrible year needs to be remembered, and what better image to commemorate the year 2020 than a dumpster fire? 

Here is my take on a special pin loom Christmas ornament made especially for this strange, terrible year. It is easy to make and, considering that you are only going to weave one-third of the flame squares, pretty quick to finish. 

The Dumpster Fire ornament is made with three 4" squares and one 2" x 4" rectangle. If you do not have a 2" x 4" loom, weave another 4" square and fold it in half.  I used two shades of green for my dumpster, you can choose whatever color you want, perhaps a deep blue, to match the local dumpster color. After weaving, I made a single crochet edge on both of the dumpster squares. 

Weave the flames for the dumpster fire. The easiest way to do this is to wind the yarn for a two layer weave rather than the usual three layer weave. Choose some flame colored yarn. I used variegated red yarn alternating with yellow yarn. You are going to make two layers of flame, I used darker reds for the back layer and more yellow in the top layer. 

Warp the first layer as in the normal pin loom instructions. Then turn the loom 180 degrees. Go around the first pin and warp this layer as in the pin loom instructions for the third layer.  This will give you a solid warp, you will be weaving each line (not every other line as with the normal pin loom weaving pattern) one third the way up the square, then stop and tie off your yarn. 

Once these squares are off the loom clip the yarn to better represent flames. Stack the flame squares on top of the 4" back of dumpster and stitch in place. I added a 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of cardboard on top of the flame squares to stiffen the ornament and stitched the cardboard to the woven portion of the flame squares.  

Before adding the front of the dumpster, use a white or light grey yarn to stitch "2020" to this rectangle.  The stitching should not look too perfect, which worked out really well considering my embroidery skills. Use a whip stitch to stitch the top of the dumpster to the back of the dumpster.  Add an 8" crocheted chain to the back as a hanger for the ornament. 

These Dumpster Fire ornaments were so easy and fun to make that I wove a couple more so that several relatives will get their own special remembrance of this very special year. 

Pin Loom Angels

I was going to call this "Pin Loom Angels for the Holidays" but angels are good for any time of the year. 

Four inch pin loom squares make surprisingly good wings and my plan was to make some angels with sparkly wings by adding sparkly material woven into the squares. The two angels on the left have silver zigzag laid into the first layer finished off with soft, white yarn for a sparkly, fluffy look. 

However making angels is a little like eating chips for me, and I have found that there are lots of angel wings on the market that compliment a pin loom angel. So there is also an angel with rusty, tin wings and one with some sort of sparkly, plastic wings. 

Here is the short form for directions to make the angel, there are more extensive directions for making people in two of my books- Pin Loom Weaving and Adorable Beasts. 

Each angel is made with six 2" x 2" squares (or one 2" x 4" rectangle for the head and four 2" x 2" squares for the arms and legs) plus one 4" x 4" square for the gown and two 4" x 4" squares for the wings. Fold the square for the gown in half and stitch closed to make a long tube. 

The head is made by stitching a circle on two of the 2" squares, leaving a corner open and turning, and then stuffing. Stitch the head into one end of the gown. Stuff the body with a few layers of quilt batting or other cloth. I used several layers of fleece as stuffing for the body to make these angels. 

Make the arms and legs by rolling the two inch squares and stitching along one side. Attach the arms to the outside of the gown securing with the same color as the gown. Attach the legs by stitching to the bottom of the gown.  Weave two wings using any combination of sparkly and fluffy yarns that you want. Keep in mind that you can wind any difficult to weave yarn on the loom first and then weave through with a smaller, more supple yarn. Tuck in one corner and fold on the diagonal. I choose not to make a perfect triangle because I wanted the two corners to stick out from one another so that each angel is flying with double wings. Stitch the wings to the angel's back as shown in the illustration.

I used a variety of feathery yarns for angel's hair. The hair was added using a small crochet hook, looping a 4 to 6" length of yarn under the scalp and pulling a loop through and making a larks head knot. The final step is adding a little more glittery or colorful yarn for halos and other embellishment. 

One of the fun aspects of making pin loom people or pin loom angels is that yarn comes in lots of colors, just as people, and angels, do. I used wool and acrylic worsted weight yarn for all aspects of the angel body and gown except the hair, which was a lighter, feathery scarf yarn.

These particular angels are going to be visiting several different family Christmas trees, sending love and comfort in a year when I can not take the message in person. But then, that has always been the purpose of angels. 

Pin Loom Monster Softies for Halloween

 It may be a strange Halloween this year, less trick or treating and LOTS MORE MONSTERS! 

These Monster Softies represent so many of pin loom weaving's best features. They are made of bits of whatever yarns and embellishments you choose, they weave up and zip together in no time, and each one is a unique creation. 

Right now my favorite is the Vampire Bat. He has a pocket in front to carry his flashlight...which he has apparently lost.  I am also rather partial to the Ghost Monster. 

The diagrams below show the basic dimensions for these Monster Softies but keep in mind that there is no limit to what you can create. 

A few notes about construction: With the exception of the vampire bat, all of the seams on the softies are turned to the inside and then the bodies are stuffed. Also, I used two 2"x 2" squares for each of the feet/legs but it is important to make each foot/let narrower than 2" or there will be no space between them, the two legs will take up the entire width of the body, which looks weird. I also found that the hands/arms looked better if, after stuffing and attaching to the body, I put a couple stitches in the "palm" of the hands to flatten them out a bit. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! LET'S MAKE OCTOBER PIN LOOM MONSTER MONTH!

Free Pin Loom Rabbit Pattern

It is getting close to Easter, which may feel pretty subdued this year. What better time to make up a few small companions for your Easter basket? This is a free pattern available in the Pin Loom Pattern Shop.

This pattern uses one square to make rabbit ears, head and body. This rabbit is made with one 4 x 4" square for the body plus several 2 x 2" squares for the front and back feet. The rabbit pattern includes a fun, easy pattern for a little carrot to go with the little rabbit. Click HERE or click on the Pin Loom Pattern Shop page to download the free PDF instruction sheet for rabbit and carrot.