A Springtime Purple Pin Loom Llama

Who needs bunnies and ducks when you can make your own fabulous purple llama for Spring?! Inspiration for this large but delicate creature came from a friend's quilt in the making, intended for a young relative. I think an actual woven animal is a perfect accompaniment.  

This Spring Llama was made from Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. I had most of a large skein and ended up using every bit of it. This is the first time I have worked on a stuffed animal in a larger size-- part of my interest in making the Llama was to try out a 4" x 8" loom that I had unearthed in my (very messy) hobby room. Keep in mind that you can make all the same pieces by joining two 4" x 4" squares. You can see details about the design and construction below. 

Because this was designed as a rather large piece, I wanted to weave it as quickly as possible and I also wanted to weave in a pattern to indicate fur. I chose pattern #4 from the old Loomette Weaves handbook that worked out beautifully.  

This is an overall pattern that is very easy to weave and, since you are skipping over or under a number of threads, makes the weaving go much faster. 

Here are the basic dimensions and woven parts of the of this Spring Llama.  Keep in mind that you do not have to have each of the looms that I used to make it, it is easy to join 4" squares or 2" squares to make any of the parts. 

I just noticed that I didn't indicate on the pattern that the bottom front of the body should be folded in a little-- check out the picture of the actual llama above. I think that makes it more llama-like. 

Here is a pattern for the head. The most challenging part of the pattern was figuring out how to make the llama nose. I did it by using a 2" x 4" rectangle, turning some of it to the inside. 

The original quilt pattern showed the llama with a colorful blanket on its back, which I definitely wanted to reproduce. I used a 6" x 6" pin loom and wound it in the two layer fashion, in other words, I just wound the warp on the loom and then used a number of different colored yarns for the weft. 

Weaving in this manner definitely takes longer than my normal pin loom weaving, but worked really nicely. I finished the two woven blankets with a single crochet in variegated red along the top edge and a single crochet in charcoal along the other three sides. I was hoping that the charcoal edge would make it look like a shadow, that the blanket was on top of the llama and I think it worked pretty well. 

The feet are also finished with a single crochet edge charcoal. I wove the eyes on my 1" pin loom, they could also have been done in a satin stitch.  The nose and eyes are done in black. I added a stitch of white yarn to each eye. 

The ears were each made using one 2" x 4" rectangle, stitched together at the top and stitched to the sides of the head.  You may have noticed that there is no tail on this particular llama. The reason for that is that I entirely ran out of the purple yarn and any other color would have been too jarring. 

After constructing the llama I decided to add a collar. I used the same variegated red yarn as on the blanket and made a 2" x 10" strip. I turned in both edges and stitched them together to create a 1" x 10" collar, which just fit around the neck without looking too tight. 

Spring is with us and with Spring comes rabbits and duckies and, of course, purple llamas. Happy Weaving!

Hanging Out with Hazel Rose

A long time ago... or at least it seems like a long time ago (before Covid) I used to go to fiber conferences. I would often teach classes, have a booth, sell pin loom items and books, and just generally hang around with other weavers. It was wonderful. My very favorite conference was the Oregon Flock and Fiber Fair because I could go visit my daughter in Oregon and because Hazel and Randy Spencer, owners of Hazel Rose Looms always came to that conference, too. 

I can't tell you how great it was to see her booth because, quite honestly, it's a lot harder to sell cool pin loom patterns if people can't find pin looms! 

We always had an agreement-- that when people asked me where to find looms to match my patterns, I could point them towards the Hazel Rose Loom booth out on the lawn... and when people were wondering what all they could make with her extraordinary variety of looms, she could mention the Pin Loom Weaving books available at my booth. 

I know that we will be back at fiber conferences in another year or two, but in the meantime I talked to Hazel about our meetings and learned a little more about what she's been doing. 

She reminded me of the lap blankets that I made using her 12" triangle loom along with 4" squares. I actually used two ends of worsted weight yarn to weave the triangles in order to get the same tight weave that you see in the 4" squares. 

Hazel noted that she had put together a really fun weave-along on at the Pin Loom Weaving Support Group, which people had enjoyed. I saw a bunch of the finished items, they were wonderful. We both talk about how much we missed traveling to fiber conferences to hang out and talk with other weavers. I hadn't realized it, but Hazel and Randy have been making looms and traveling to conferences for over 20 years. 

These are my basic Hazel Rose pin looms. While it makes sense to start out with just one or two-- I recommend starting with the 4" and 2" square pin looms, the rectangle looms are a much easier way to produce the various parts for pin loom animals and more complex patterns. 

I have to admit that I now own most types and sizes of pin looms. It took me a while to get over the guilt of having so many pin looms. It helps that they are all very small so that they don't really take up much space (as opposed to my yarn collection which has totally overwhelmed my hobby room and is making advances into what was once the guest room). What moved me past the last of my embarrassment over the number of looms I have is when a friend pointed out that my entire collection still costs significantly less than one small table loom. It's all a matter of comparison. 

I know it may be a while yet before we are all out on the road again. In the meantime it is nice to know that there are fellow weavers out in the world and we can get together through the Looms To Go group on Ravelry and the Facebook Pin Loom Support Group. 

ps: I have to admit that I love the Facebook Group Name just because it so aptly reflects that we've got all sorts of support from fellow pin loom weavers and that it's kind of an addictive process. MS

Pin Loom Mini Sweater Day deadline is December 17!

Have you sent your pin loom mini sweater picture to Florencia Campos Correa yet?

December 19, 2019 is MINI SWEATER Pin Loom Day, a day to celebrate all the possible pin loom mini sweaters that we can weave up.

Send a picture of your mini sweater to Florencia at florencia.campos@ullvuna.cl by December 17 to include it in the giant pin loom mini sweater picture.

See all the directions for making a mini sweater in the post just below this one. 

After I wove a mini sweater I decided that I had to create someone who could wear it. Introducing - Shama Llama!

Shama Llama is my new pin loom llama. She seems to have a life of her own and immediately upon being created told me that she intends to be a fashion model. I think she has a real flair for it. :)