Windowpane lace cell phone holder plus scarves for Spring

I was originally going to call this post, "Things to weave while hanging out at home" but realized that covers everything I have ever posted. If there was ever a perfect craft for something to do while hanging out and watching TV, I think that pin loom weaving is it. So this is one more-- actually, several more ideas of fun, easy things to do that are going to turn out really nice and be fun to have as Spring emerges.

The pin loom windowpane lace pattern is a favorite of mine because of its extraordinary simplicity and speed of weaving. I used a 100" cotton fingering yarn below in order to highlight the light, airy fabric for Spring.

The first step is weaving the squares. You will need four squares in Windowpane lace pattern for the cell phone holder.

WINDOWPANE LACE
Row 1: weave plain
Row 2: (U3, O1); repeat across the row, U3.
Alternate Rows 1 and 2, through Row 14.
Row 15: weave plain
Row 16: weave plain

The lovely thing about this pattern is that for the odd rows, you just weave plain. For the even rows, you just have to weave "under three, over one" all the way across the row, ending with "under three. The last row, Row 16, is woven plain as well. This is a pattern that I can handle while I watch TV- there is no counting, there are no complex changes from row to row. Its like the simplest pattern of all time and yet it turns into this lovely, lacy cloth. 

Next step, join the four squares to make a strip of fabric. I used the double overcast stitch to join the squares because I wanted to be able to carry my cell phone in the bag I'm making, so I did not want the fabric to give way. Here is the link for instructions for the double overcast stitch located on the Pin Loom Essentials page. 

Fold the fabric over to make a bag. My cell phone is short enough that I decided to make the bag with a flap over the top. When I am actually using the bag for my cell phone I may tuck that flap inside the bag.  You may prefer to fold the fabric in two and make a slightly longer bag.

Starting at the bottom of the bag, join the two sides using a single crochet stitch. When you reach the top of the bag, continue with a crochet chain for 36 to 44", depending upon your preferred length for the strap.

Then continue with a single crochet stitch from the top to the bottom on the second side of the bag and knot it at the bottom.

That's it!  I thought about turning the bag inside out but found that my phone is chunky enough that it works better with the crochet on the outside, you may choose to do it differently.

You will notice that I mentioned scarves earlier. I do not have any scarves made yet but I do have a bunch of really nice windowpane lace squares that will shortly go into a scarf. I'm thinking that once you discover how fun it is to make this fingering weight squares, you will soon have enough for your cell phone holder plus a scarf.

When you are ready to make your scarf, check out the different joining techniques shown on the pin loom essentials page and check out this crochet joining technique used in John Mullarkey's shawl for a variety of joining ideas/techniques for your Spring Scarf.  Now, go have fun and make something glorious!

Weave a Pin Loom Keyboard Case

I recently got a really neat little bluetooth keyboard and pencil to go with my IPad. There are a bunch of these little bluetooth keyboards available now (and I am not commercially connected with any of them).  I love the idea that I can turn my Ipad into a productive station any place I like but I’m not at all comfortable carrying around an unprotected keyboard and now I had multiple pieces of equipment that I had to keep track of.

What a perfect opportunity for a made-to-order pin loom keyboard case.

This was a small, fun project that gave me the perfect container for both keyboard and pencil. The keyboard is 6” x 12” by about 1”. I used my 4” x 6” pin loom to weave seven 4” x 6” rectangles in Paton’s worsted weight brown marl. Marl is light and dark yarns twisted together, in this case, brown and cream. It can (almost) give the look of a solid piece of cloth. The seven 4” x 6” rectangles were joined using double overcast stitch. Check out information on the stitch here and watch a video about using it here. I turned down the corners of one end and stitched in place. This end will be the flap. I edged the fabric strip in single crochet using a medium brown worsted weight yarn.

I then doubled the fabric over to form the keyboard case with about 3.5” of flap left over. I wove an extra 2” x 4” rectangle in the brown marl and stitched it to the inside of the flap for reinforcement. I used the same brown yarn to whip stitch the sides together. You can see information about joining crocheted edges here. The bag was then wet finished — washed very gently in cool water and steam blocked it lightly after it was dry. I sewed a button on the outside of the flap with another, smaller button as reinforcement on the inside.

I wanted a pocket for the pencil that I could keep closed but that was simple and easy to use. 

The pencil pocket was woven using one 2” x 6” and one 2” x 4” worsted weight tan and cream marl. The 2” x 4” was folded over the end of the 2” x 6” rectangle with the ends stitched together to make a loop of fabric. The pocket was appliqued to the outside of the bag, using the brown yarn to whip stitch it in place.

The final piece was a 10” crochet chain that I ran through the fabric loop and joined the ends together. This chain can be looped a couple times around the button to keep the flap closed and the pencil in place.

Making the keyboard case was a fun, relatively quick project and it has worked really well. I love that I can throw it in my bag--the keyboard is not going to get scratched, and the pencil is aways right with it. You may not be looking for a keyboard bag but the style works very well for tablets, phones or any other electronic bits that you may want to protect.  Plus it gives you a place to stow away all that stuff so that you can weave more-- which is always a good move.  Happy weaving!