Pin Loom Hooded Scarf

This idea came about because I had some interesting yarn sent to me from an ancient stash. The hooded scarf was woven on a 6" x 6" pin loom and a 4" x 6" pin loom. It could as easily be woven on a 4" x 4" pin loom, like the Zoom Loom. There are diagrams for both patterns below.

This hooded scarf was woven from Unger Driftwood-- a two-ply yarn; one thick ply and one very thin ply that seemed to be there only to give the yarn some texture. The yarn is a medium gray with bits of color spun in at random intervals.

Please note, this pattern shows one-half of the hooded scarf. You will need to weave this pattern two times, in other words, 4) 4" x 6" rectangles and 12) 6" x 6" squares for the complete scarf.  If you are weaving with a 4" pin loom you will need to weave 42) 4" x 4" squares.

I wanted this to be a simple pattern that could be whipped up over a weekend. In order that it could be woven and assembled quickly--

• the weaving is done with the Triple Rib Pattern (see below), which reduces the actual weaving by about 30% and
• the scarf is joined using a mattress stitch, which you will find directions for on the Pin Loom Essentials page.

Weave the squares with a Triple Rib Pattern

The ribs are formed when you slide the needle through the warp without weaving. This produces a lump of three weft threads clustered together. This pattern can shorten up the cloth a little but it makes a nice texture, particularly for an item where you want to have some weight of cloth to keep out the cold and damp.


 

 

Triple Rib Pattern for 4" and 6" pin loom.

 1. Weave Plain
 2. Weave Plain
 3. Slide needle through threads without weaving.
 4. Weave Plain
 5. Slide needle through threads without weaving.
 6. Weave Plain
 7. Slide needle through threads without weaving.
 8. Weave Plain
 9. Weave Plain
10. Slide needle through threads without weaving.
11. Weave Plain
12. Slide needle through threads without weaving.
13. Weave Plain
14. Slide needle through threads without weaving.
15. Weave Plain
16. Weave Plain - THIS IS THE END OF THE 4" LOOM,

CONTINUE FOR 6" LENGTH LOOM.

17. Slide needle through threads without weaving.
18. Weave Plain
19. Slide needle through threads without weaving.
20. Weave Plain
21. Slide needle through threads without weaving.
22. Weave Plain
23. Weave Plain
24. Weave Plain

Join the squares using a mattress stitch. 

If you have already checked on this joining approach, you know that this stitch allows you to very quickly join two squares. Because this is a relatively small, lightweight item, the mattress stitch, which is a lightweight stitch, seems to work very well.

Full the cloth by hand washing with a wool fiber approved product or shampoo.

I keep of bottle of sensitive style shampoo around just so that I can easily finish my pin loom items. Washing the scarf will bring about some shrinkage and will let the fibers bind together more securely. I wanted a hooded scarf that would stand up to sleet and snow and cold, wet weather and this one works beautifully.

I have come to see that the style is as old as time, people were probably wearing something a lot like this since the beginning of weaving. I am also a bit surprised that the woven squares don't particularly stand out. I realize that all of us who weave regularly on pin looms could easily pick out the joins and would know that this hooded scarf was woven on a pin loom, but I think that most people would not realize that it was pieced together. And most important to me was that it wove up very quickly, had a lovely texture that matched the yarn and was sewn up just as quick. I have now made a couple of these hooded scarves and have found them to make a usable, reasonable gift.  So as we enter the season of gift frenzy, if you are looking for a handmade gift with a twist-- not exactly a hat but more than a scarf-- perhaps this will be just perfect.

Never underestimate the power of a mug rug

The yarn is Vanna's Choice Lion Brand "Seaspray Mist".
The other yarns were worsted weight scraps from my collection.

Its summer. This is a great time to kick back with a simple pin loom project.  If you have kids to entertain, its nice to be able to introduce a project that they can accomplish in a day or two.

Plus, its too hot to have half an afghan on your lap while you're putting it together. This is the season for portable projects.
 
My favorite simple project is the mug rug. There are endless variations and we all need a coaster sooner or later.  The mug rugs shown here were made to match the mugs in order to turn a so-so gift into something personalized and special.

To make the coasters shown above, weave a 4" square and add a 2" x 2" poppy colored square, turn into a Loom Bloom by pulling on one horizontal and one vertical line of yarn. Secure the flower with a contrasting color. Make the flower stem by using a running stitch in the darker color. 
 

 Coasters come in such infinite variety. Angela Tong  made the incredible coaster on the right, taking advantage of one of the pin loom's best properties, that its a wonderful medium for cross stitch.  The complete directions can be found at her site, Angela Tong Designs.











Another design from the web - Purlbee offers a kit with Zoom Loom, yarn and instructions for a great set of coasters. 



 Happy summer... happy mug rug making!   Weave on!   Meg

Soft Boxes - An assembly for 4" pin looms

IN THE JUNGLE SOFT BOX

Soft boxes combine the fun and creativity of pin loom weaving  in a medium size project. A lovely little 3-D box that comes with a canvas on each side.  These boxes were made as gifts. The attached jungle animals and cats are buttons that are usually available at fabric stores.

Each soft box is constructed from twelve 4"x4" squares. The squares were woven on a pin loom, then a single crochet edge was added. The exterior squares were finished with free stitching, buttons and yarn pulled through using a crochet hook to create loops.

FOUR SEASONS SOFT BOX

After completing the embellishment, an exterior weavie is sandwiched with another weavie for the lining (I usually weave a lighter matching color for the interior) with several layers of quilt batting in the middle.

The two woven layers with batting are whip-stitched together. The sides and bottom are whip-stitched to create a box. The top edge of the box is finished with a single crochet row to give it extra structure and to carry the color that was used for joining around the top.

The soft boxes were made primarily with medium weight worsted wool.
You may notice that the background of the "Winter" side of the Four Seasons box is woven with stripes of white and a cream color. This is accomplished by winding one color on the pin loom for the first two layers, then knotting on the second color to use for the third layer of winding and to weave through.

The top of the soft box was made by the same process as the sides with the addition of an extra row of single crochet, chain 2 at each corner, then two rows of half-double crochet with no  added chain stitches to create a box lid. 

ADOBE HOUSE SOFT BOX

The boxes have proved to be very lasting and reasonably useful. Most end up being used primarily as ornaments and holders for jewelry or other personal items. I use one when I travel to protect a glass cologne bottle. They are soft and crushable and easily straightened out at the end of the trip.

One thing that surprises me when making a soft box is just how much weaving and work goes into it. That may sound like an unfortunate admission but what you get out of the work is a small but treasured prize. 

Rosebud - pattern for a pin loom blanket

This is a blanket made using 2" x 2", 4" x 4", 2" x 4" and 4" x 6" pin looms. It measures 50" x 60" (126 cm x 152 cm). My intention was to capture the flavor of an Amish quilt, with the joins between the individual weavies substituting for the quilting. It is called "Rosebud" because that was the idea for the stylized flower in the corner of each piece.

As with any quilt pattern, the variety of pieces in each block opens the possibility of tremendous variability in the final design. Personally, I like the simplicity of using a dominant color for most of the weavies, letting the bit of color in one corner stand out.

My concern in using one dominant color for the blanket was that it would feel flat, that it wouldn't have enough texture. I decided to add texture by deliberately buying a few skeins of navy yarn at a time, ensuring that the colors of the blocks would vary and that I could afford to buy the yarn.

The blocks were primarily made separately. I would weave enough weavies for one or two blocks, then join them and add a crocheted edging to each. That way I could put them away until I had the 30 needed for the blanket.



One feature that I consider an advantage to using pin looms is that it is not as important to match colors in an exquisite manner. Many people have had the experience of finding that the yarn they want to use comes from two dye lots, almost but not quite a match. With pin looms it is possible to separate those different dye lots in a pattern so that the difference is indiscernible. Or you can feature the differences.


The Rosebud blanket was assembled by using a single crochet edge on each weavie, then whipstitching the weavies together. That has been one of my favorite approaches to joining items because I feel that the edging matches the weight of the pin loom fabric. But as you can see with Rick Fahrenbruch's work, there is no need to edge the individual pieces in order to get a finished look. I am going to write at least one article on various approaches to joining weavies together for this blog, as well as have a bunch of information on approaches to joining in Pin Loom Weaving.

Gift idea - Pin Loom Wash Cloths

A number of my family members will be getting herbal soap accompanied by hand woven wash clothes for Christmas. I have never really gotten over the belief, ingrained as a child, that the most heart felt gift was one that was made by hand.  I'm not making the soap, I figure you have to pick your battles, but I am making the wash clothes, which are turning out far better than I expected.

I lucked upon a cone of Sugar and Cream cotton yarn, 706 yards (646 m), for ridiculously low price. That is a lot of hand made wash clothes. Actually, I just stopped and figured out the number. There are four woven squares in each wash cloth.  Each woven square takes 7.5 yards (6.9 m) plus a yard (.9 m) for joining. So each wash cloth is 31 yards (28 m) which means that I could make about 23 wash clothes from that one cone. I realize that a handmade item can't be all about the savings but sale items often encourage creativity for me.

I used a weaving pattern that was popular for both the Weave-It and the Loomette.

DIAGONAL HALF SQUARE 

Row 1: Weave plain.
Row 2: U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3.
Row 3: W2, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, W2.
Row 4: W4, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3.
Row 5: W2, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, W6. [5]
Row 6: W8, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3.
Row 7: W2, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, W10. [4]
Row 8: W12, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3.
Row 9: W2, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, W10. [3]
Row 10: W16, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3.
Row 11: W2, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3, W18. [2]
Row 12: W20, U3, O1, U3, O1, U3.
Row 13: W2, U3, O1, U3, W22. [1]
Row 14: W24, U3, O1, U3.
Row 15: W2, U3, W26.
Row 16: Weave plain.
"WEAVE 22" from "Original Loomette Weaves." Los Angeles, California: Cartercraft Studios, 1937, and "Weave-It Weaves." Book No. 1. Medford, Massachusetts: Donar Products, Corp., 1939.

One further choice. 

When I started making the wash clothes, I finished off the first two with a line of single crochet. Then it hit me, there was no real need to add a crochet edging. One of the interesting aspects of the weave-it is its finished edge and I have found that I rather like the scalloped, lacy edge. However,when I make dish clothes (which is what I am going to do with the two on the right) having that extra single crochet edging makes sense. Perhaps next time I make dish clothes I will use a half-double crochet for a thicker, more structured edging.

Please keep in mind that you are seeing the washcloths straight off the loom. They will shrink and soften with washing.

Wash cloth squares on and off the loom.

.