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

First look at Pin Loom Weaving book

I have been on pins and needles, counting down the days until the Pin Loom Weaving publication date and waiting for the return of the items that will appear in the book. Many of the items are now back and I have started taking pictures to share, you can see some below. However, the publication date has been moved back a month, it is now June 1st, 2014.  AAAAAUGH!

I know that in the larger scheme of things it won't make that much difference, but I am really looking forward to sharing the book with everyone. In the meantime, here is a beginning sample of the Pin Loom Weaving items.

This is my most recent take on a yarn bag. I wanted to make something very simple, very usable. I like the idea that you can make them as deep as needed by adding on extra rounds of weavies.

Dogs and cats... The dogs came first, the rest of the farm animal set (sheep, horse, cow, pig, cat, chicken, house and barn)  followed. The design is variable enough so that you can create your dog favorites and put together your own dog show.

Animals Toddler Blanket... one of my favorites. It offers a number of features including soft, cuddly edges, a colorway and illustrations that will work for little boys or girls. The illustrations are applied with black crochet cotton and are reasonably easy to apply. The heavy lines are made using a crochet hook, fine details added with a tapestry needle. All the instructions and illustrations are available in the book and the book will be available June 1, 2014.

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. 

Pin Loom Chickens

Chickens with wings posing with egg

The pin loom chicken pattern was developed a number of years ago and appeared in my first book, Weavies One.

The first chickens had no wings, like the example on the shelf. The wings are an option that offers great little pockets for storing things away that you don't want to lose... unless you forget that you put them in the chicken wing. I find the chickens to have an interesting, if beady-eyed, personality. 

Materials:
Yarn - All of the examples are made with worsted weight yarn and worsted weight chenille yarn plus polyester stuffing and some plastic pellets at the bottom for extra weight and stability.

The original chicken pattern called for all of the pieces to have a single crochet edge and be joined using a whip stitch.

These examples of the chicken pattern also show some of the variations made available by choosing a mix of yarns. For example, the green, wingless chicken was wound with one layer of beige chenille yarn, then finished with a green worsted weight yarn. This worked particularly well because weaving with something very fuzzy, like the chenille yarn, can be difficult. The yarn can break or knot up. By winding the difficult to weave with yarns onto the loom first you can integrate them into the weaving without having to manipulate them so much.

I made one new generation chicken-- shown below with the horizontally striped wing. Instead of using a single crochet edge on each piece and whipstitching together, this chicken is joined using a single crochet to join the two pieces, then the join is turned to the inside. You can see a close up of the two approaches on the Pin Loom Essentials page.

Because the new chicken is a bit smaller due to the difference in joining, the original beak was too big for it. For a smaller beak, I used some yellow fingering yarn to make a lighter weave and folded the 2" x 2" weavie 3 times, to create a small cone.  I also used two 2" x 4" weavies for its wings instead of the 4" x 4" weavies used for wings on the more vintage style chickens.

One of the chickens has apparently laid an egg. The egg was woven with one layer of chenille and an off-white worsted weight yarn. I wove two 2" x 2" weavies that were stitched together with a running stitch, leaving a hole at one corner, then turned inside out and stuffed.

Pin Loom Advent Calendar, part I

I didn't fill in all the numbers
but you get the idea.

Christmas brings forth my best intentions and designs, such as plans for a Pin Loom Advent Calendar that has been in the works for a number of years. I am getting closer. The green 4" x 4"squares for the banner and the 2" x 2" multicolored squares for little pockets for treats are all woven and waiting to be assembled. My original plan called for a simple grid, which is a perfectly acceptable way to put together the calendar, but seemed boooring.

Here is the newer plan, still in the formative stage. Proof that I'm basically a "nothing succeeds like excess" kind of gal.

This Advent Calendar calls for 25 green squares as well as 24 background squares in a variety of neutral colors. It measures approximately 20" wide by 30" high. In the real hanging the green squares will be a little more random. My plan for the numbers is to use short lengths of brightly colored nylon cord, attaching them with hot glue and then binding them in place with micro-filament thread.  The skinny yellow stars will be yarn embellishments. I am not sure how I am going to make the top star on the tree, I might change it out for a pin loom angel. 

Although it will be too late to use the Advent Calendar this year, I will continue to work on it. I hope to share pics of the actual weaving in  Pin Loom Advent Calendar, Part II.

From the little bit of experimenting that I have done so far on the real squares, it looks like I will need to make a number of changes to this plan including adding more ornaments to the tree and throughout the hanging. One idea that I hope to initiate with this project is making small ornaments out of felted weavies. After all, what better medium for felting than small woven squares? 

Wish me luck. Meg