What to do with all those clipped ends?

 For years I have littered my house with small bits of yarn-- the clipped ends from pin loom woven squares and rectangles. I finally started putting an empty Kleenex box next to my chair in hopes of containing the mess. This receptacle is my next step up from the Kleenex box. 

This was a simple decorative box until I added a hole to the lid. But it has worked so well and been such an elegant improvement in terms of keeping the yarn litter off the floor and out of my vacuum cleaner that I had to celebrate it with everyone! 

Weave on! 

Pin Loom Mouse Sachets, also known as a Catnip Mouse

Here we are in the midst of summer. The one thing we can count on this year is that gardens will grow and flowers will bloom.  So I am reprinting this mouse sachet pattern, thinking that this might be the perfect time to plan out a Lavender mouse or two as fun embellishments or little gifts. 

Introducing the perfect house freshener/ fun cat toy/ unforgettable bookmark or unique sachet to tuck away in a drawer or closet. Make your very own rose petal mouse, lavender mouse, catnip mouse or an "insert-your-favorite-flower-or-scent-here" mouse.

This is one of my earliest patterns. I have been making catnip mice, mouse sachets, and weird little mouse toys for many years because people love them and it is a fun and easy pattern, using one 4"x 4" square and two 2"x 2" squares. They are easy enough to make multiples for craft fairs or church fund raisers.

Consider adding extra value with embellishment such as black beads for eyes or embroidered flowers to give your mice a whole new look. I chose to leave off the stitching for the nose, I think it gives them a cleaner, more modern look.

Enjoy this old pattern and may your home be blessed with pin loom mice!

Loomettes, making a good pin loom almost perfect

The Loomette is a vintage pin loom that has a lot to offer. Like the vintage Weave-It, it is readily available on Ebay and other online venues for very reasonable prices. It is a sturdy little wood-framed loom. The wider pin spacing means that there is more room to use variable yarns and the weaving needle won't get stuck between the pins. You can find lots of Loomettes that look as though they were never taken out of the box, in perfect condition after 60 or 70+ years. Unfortunately, there is a reason for that.

The downside with the Loomette is that, because the pins are not clustered in groups of three, it is more challenging to wind on the yarn. Each time I have done it I had to stop and think about it, I couldn't pick up an easy flow like the Weave-it or Zoom Loom.

So I decided to fix that. Now I can use my Loomettes with the same ease as my other pin looms and all it needed was a little nail polish. 

Some of the Loomettes came with two weaving bars that expand the weaving options to 17 different pieces. 

The Loomette pin pattern is slightly different than the standard Zoom Loom type pin loom. There are two less pins on the Loomette. Beginning from a slot to hold the starting end of the yarn, you follow a pattern of going around two pins, skipping one.


In order to make this easier to see, I painted white nail polish on each group of two pins that you go around for the first two layers. I marked the two pins that you go through to the third layer in green.

This pattern shows the pins that need to be marked in order to easily wind yarn onto the loom.

I have also marked the "gateway pins" to transition to the third layer.

You can see the different layers wound onto a Loomette below- making use of the marked pins.

Be aware that in the picture of Layer 2, the loom is now sideways, it returns to the starting side for Layer 3.

Original Loomette instruction patterns.

The final question is whether the Loomette is compatible with other pin looms. The woven Loomette below was so close to identical to the Zoom Loom product that I had to mark it with masking tape when I took it off the loom for fear of confusing the two.

I am certain that there are many weavers who are as comfortable winding the Loomette as any other pin loom. If you are not one of those, I hope these directions will help.

This gives me one more chance to include a plea for collaboration. If you have a couple pin looms or if you decide to pull out an extra Loomette and some nail polish, you now have the opportunity to share this craft with family and friends, and that gives you a superpower.  You now have the ability to create a baby toy or prayer shawl or other gift from your heart and hands in an incredibly short period of time through your unified work. And that becomes a gift of its own.
     Be well. Happy weaving!

2016 Pin Loom Workshops

I am lining up a number of workshops for this summer and fall. Please check on the 2016 Pin Loom Workshops page for the dates and locations. I am still working on the list and there are a few late-in-the-year fiber fairs still pending so you may want to check back in the future. I hope you find something that interests you!


We will be doing 2-D and 3 -D projects as shown here.

Update on the Prairie Points Blanket

Caroline Fylpaa, the pin loom weaver and pin loom maker of Prairie Points fame (see the original post HERE) was kind enough to send a picture of her finished blanket. Caroline noted that her Grandmother's Nine Patch with Prairie Points did well at the Beltrami City Fair and was then accepted for the Minnesota State Fair. Caroline reported that this blanket was woven in a 70/30 Targhee wool and nylon sock yarn from Montana, "beautiful and lofty." "Plus I always full a weaving project, it smooths things out... similar to blocking after knitting." 

It would have been cool to get to see Caroline peeking out from behind her creation, but I sympathize with the idea of preferring to be represented by one's work.  This blanket has finally convinced me of just how well a sock yarn works on a pin loom.



The blanket came a long way from her  beginning squares, with a 2x4" square constructed for each prairie point, woven with her own, handcrafted, adjustable weaving bar. 

Pin Loom Weaving Needles revisited

One of the great challenges of pin loom weaving is that while the looms last virtually forever, they are useless without the right needle. Happily, I am here to report that there are an increasing number of good needles available to you. Keep in mind that a 4" pin loom works best with a 6" rounded tip needle. The 2" pin loom needs a needle that is about 4" long with a rounded tip.

Here is a list from my exploration of needle resources. I doubt that its complete, I hope that you will consider adding on any information you have discovered about needle availability.

1)  Replacement needles from Schacht Spindle Co., makers of the Zoom Loom. Many Zoom Loom sellers will likely have 6" weaving needles in stock or be able to get them for you.

2)  6" Trapunto needle. Trapunto is a style of quilting/fiber work that calls for a long needle with a blunt tip. This needle appears to be exactly the same dimensions as a pin loom weaving needle.  When I did a search online I found the Havel's Sewing website, which offers both trapunto needles and my next suggestion. There appear to be a number of online sources for trapunto needles.

3) Ribbon Weaving Needles. This is a set of three needles, 4", 6" and 8". I bought this set locally but they are also available from Havel's. (I do not have any kind of relationship with this business.) These needles are also available from a variety of online sources.  

These needles have a rectangular cross section, they are very strong and have a blunt, rounded tip. Their dimensions are 1/8" wide and 1/16" thick and they do easily fit through the pins when held on their side. The 4" needle works beautifully with a 2" loom. Because they are stronger than a normal pin loom, I am tempted to use them when I am working with a person new to weaving who, I fear, might bend my weaving needle. This set also offers an 8" needle which is very handy if you have a 6" pin loom or any larger loom. I have had a few weavers note that they like to use a larger needle on the 4" loom because it is easier to handle and hold on to.

4) I found all of the following needles in local big box craft stores. The dimensions are correct for weaving on pin looms but all come with sharp tips, which means that you do need to round off the tip using a file or whetstone. 


This set of three decorator needles includes one 6" needle with a pointed tip. I find the other needles too thin to be of much use.

5) This set of four upholstery needles come in 6", 8", 10" and 12" lengths. The two largest seem too unwieldy to be helpful. The 6" needle works perfectly on a 4" pin loom, once you round off the point. I normally use this 8" needle on my 6" pin loom.

6) This last entry is for the 2" pin loom.  This is a package marked Doll Needles found in the notions department. It contains five needles, but the only one that interests me is the one large 3 3/4" needle that works perfectly with the smallest pin loom.

There have been several occasions where all of the notions, including these needles, have been on sale for 50% off.  Since I am teaching classes with these looms, I often swoop in and pick up a bunch of packages.

When I started using these looms a number of years ago, there really was a sense of looking for a needle in a haystack. Now I am happy to report that we have finally have haystacks full of needles-- perfect for pin loom weaving! 

A summer project for a winter blanket

I was cleaning out a storage area-- something I do every decade whether it needs it or not-- and found a number of old projects.

Some of these have been featured before, some not. They are all made with pin looms, two of them using square and triangle style looms. You'll notice that a couple of the blankets spotlight a house medallion. I have always liked old fashioned brownstones and was delighted to discover that I could recreate the look of brick by using three layers of mahogany yarn woven with one layer of tan.

This second blanket never quite took off. It was a little too small and after beginning a verse around the outside, I decided that I didn't like it enough to finish it, but didn't want to mess it up by removing the letters I had inserted. This is probably one of the better and more finished of my unfinished projects.

Anyhow, the point of this post is that if you have plans for a blanket for this winter, you need to consider starting NOW. 

Pin loom blankets are different than knit or crochet. They start as a bunch of small squares and rectangles, each woven independently.


This is the perfect time to start thinking about your own winter blanket. What about drafting out a simplified picture of your own favorite house as the focal point and adding a couple borders of your favorite colors?

Even if you don't want to sweat over house details in the middle of summer, you can weave up the border blocks while sitting in the back yard.

Or start by picking out some soft yarn that is going to keep you cozy this winter and weave a few squares while you're at the pool.

Wherever you start, you're going to end up with a great blanket this winter in seemingly no time because so much of it was accomplished over lazy summer days. 

  Hope you have a great 4th of July! 

The 100 Pin Loom Squares weaving book

Is there any pin loom fan out there who has not yet checked out the new pin loom book-- 100 Pin Loom Squares: 100 Exciting Color Combinations to Try, Plus 15 Stylish Projects by Florencia Campos Correa?

I am excited about the book because it offers directions for tabby and a variety of patterned weaves. It has suggestions for using the pin loom as a regular warp/weft loom, which is necessary for certain kinds of patterns, like houndstooth or diagonal weaving.  I can see this being a great resource for building ideas on patterns for projects.

I am hoping that Pin Loom Weaving and 100 Pin Loom Squares are just the beginning trickle to a flood of great new pin loom weaving books!

Happy All Hallow's Eve & Día de Muertos

This is the time of year when many cultures celebrate our link with those who have gone before.

These pin loom dolls are intended to represent Day of the Dead figures. I posted them among the marigolds because this autumnal flower is closely associated with the celebration.

From what I have learned, the skeletal figures aren't supposed to be scary so much as to represent the spirit of a person.  The idea is that
the skeleton is what is left after the body has decayed. So the skeleton is used to represent the person's spirit or soul, in other words, that which remains after death.

Day of the Dead or Día de Muertos decorations often feature this representation of spirit celebrating all the different aspects of life. Check out this site for a variety of craft ideas for a Day of the Dead celebration.

If you have the book, Pin Loom Weaving, you may recognize the doll figures here updated with suit coats and skirts as well as skeletal heads. The (slightly fuzzy) bony hands and feet were accomplished by adding short pieces of chenille sticks to the ends of arms and legs. Don't these guys look like they're posing for an album cover?

The very best to everyone for Halloween, All Saint's Day, All Soul's Day and Dia de Muertos. 

Weaving with weird stuff

I love the idea that almost anything is weavable on a pin loom. Here are two of my most recent experiments.

We're coming up on the holidays and I have been looking at the multitude of spun and woven fibers intended for scarves with the intention of making some pretty little bags for the holidays. I think they would be great as part of a gift or as the basis for a holiday purse.

I found this particular fiber in a "Please get this out of our store" bin. It is flat and ribbon-like with a generous amount of gold colored fiber woven through.

Here are the specifics:
Red Heart Boutique Sashay Metallic
Fiber Content:     66% Acrylic, 23% Polyester, 11% Metallic
Skein Weight:     3.5 oz (100 g)
Yardage:     30 yd (27 m)

So the question becomes, can you weave with it on a pin loom?  The sample you see to the left was woven with two layers of the gold fiber and two layers of a wool sock weight yarn. I found that it was best to roll the fiber against my leg just before laying each 4" piece between the pins in order to turn it into a rounder package. I don't think it makes any difference to the outcome, but that made it easier to wind on.

I always wind on the difficult fiber first and weave through with something easy to handle.  As you can see this produces a wider shiny stripe of gold and with a smaller stripe of white. I think that it would be possible, but not easy, to wind on three layers of gold and then just weave through with the lighter wool yarn.  I think it would be possible to wind and weave all four layers in the gold fiber but the effort, for me, would not be worth the tremendous amount of difficulty.

Second strange fiber-

As I may previously mentioned, I am fond of shopping at thrift shops because the items are so interesting.  They represent a cross section of American passions over the past thirty or forty years.

I don't know that I can call this particular item a passion, perhaps more an infatuation, a reflection of an earlier age that introduced the slogan "Better Living Through Chemistry". 

From that earlier time I found one skein of a very weird yarn.


This is Phentex, a knitting yarn made of 100% polypropylene. It is reported to be:
stain resistant
machine washable and dryable
will not stretch or shrink
keeps the shape you knit in
non-fading fast colors
long wearing and
non-allergenic

It looks as though it is made from exactly the same stuff as pantyhose. I did a search online and found another person who had discovered a skein of this stuff, but it was white rather than brown. A newer version of this yarn is listed as "slipper and craft yarn" which makes sense because it is very hard to the touch and might work well for knitted slipper soles.

Comments in Ravelry notes the hard, scratchy feel of anything that is made out of this yarn, noting that it is extreeeemly durable, seemingly impervious to wear. There are 40 year old slippers still out there that were made from it. Of course, that may have as much to do with the fact that the slippers were so uncomfortable that they never had a chance to wear out.

There is no twist to it, so it splits very easily-- not quite such a problem for me as for a knitter, but still difficult to work with. The greater difficulty for me was that the yarn was a little too thick to comfortable weave on my 4" pin loom. I finally wove two squares on a Weave-it 5" rug loom which I crocheted together to make what appears to be an impermeable pot scrubber-- which is shown above.

Have you run into some strange fiber that has offered an unexpected gift? What unknown or underestimated fiber is out there, just waiting to share its gifts?  Please share your experience. 

My intention, metaphorically, is to spin flax into gold, to show each fiber in its best light.

John Mullarkey; weaver, teacher, artist, Zoom Loom creator

Pin looms are, in many ways, defined by their size. The fact that they are small supports their capacity to offer convenience, portability and ease of use. However the fact that we are always producing small patches of fabric leads to the number one burning topic among pin loom weavers, how to join them together.

Which leads to my introduction of John Mullarkey. You have likely heard his name. John is the weaver who worked with the Schacht Spindle Co. to design the Zoom Loom.  This is a link to an excellent article on John's involvement in Zoom Loom's genesis.


But that's not all... remember how I said that joining techniques are so important to pin loomers? John was the Best of Show winner in the 2010 "Not Just for Socks" Contest for the Spanish Moss Shawl, using a single crochet join to create this light, airy shawl.


Schact Spindle is now offering a variety of projects for weaving including the Spanish Moss Shawl as well as purses, pillows and a variety of projects that are all made with the Zoom Loom.

Click here for complete directions for this incredible weaving including a close-up of John's joining technique.

Come join the conversation

...Lola Colleen Watson has built a meeting place for all of us.  

A number of weavers have mentioned that they wish they had somewhere to talk and share about pin loom weaving.  Lola Colleen Watson heard the call and has established the Pin Loom Weaving Support Group on Facebook.

      I was an avid knitter before I had a baby and found out about the zoom
      loom brand of pin loom from a knitting designer I follow on instagram. It's
      easier for me to sit and do one of these at a time rather than a whole
      knitting project. After my baby was born I also got really into woven wraps
      and am fascinated by this new world of fiber arts. I think pin looms are a
      great low cost way to get a taste for weaving.

If you have thoughts or questions that you would really like to share with another pin loomer, this is the place to go.  Tell Lola I said "hi" and thank her from me for taking the time to give us all a place to talk. 

Check out the Facebook Pin Loom Weaving Support Group 

6" Pin Loom Correction

A reader/weaver/loom maker wrote to ask me about the pattern for the 6" pin loom that is available in the book Pin Loom Weaving. She was having problems making the pattern of pins work. I went back to the book and checked the pattern and found that it was wrong, I had managed to insert too many pins on two of the sides. Just enough to make it goof up, not enough apparently for me to notice that I had gotten it wrong.

I want to apologize to anyone who has struggled to make the loom with the incorrect pattern. I feel terrible to have sent out something that wasn't right. There is now a corrected pattern on the page titled: New 6" Pin Loom Template. This will allow you to download a PDF of the correct 6"x6" template.

Please note:  In order to make certain that the pattern prints to the correct size, you need to click the download button and print it through Adobe. If you print it directly from the shared file, it may come out an inaccurate size. When you print it, make sure that you hit the radio button that says: Print at actual size. Otherwise it will print too small and you'll have reason to get upset all over again-- at least that's what I did.

Again, my apologies for this error. Please feel free to download the updated 6" loom pattern.
Meg Stump

We have a winner!

Wendell W. of Kennesaw, GA is the August winner.

I have to say, I am close to astounded that I won the vintage pin loom!!  I could count on less than one hand , I think,  the number of things I have won on my 75 years.

I'm pretty sure it was while living in the Dallas TX area in the mid 70's that I purchased my first pin loom - a Weave-It.  (At that time I was becoming involved in rigid heddle and later 4 shaft weaving.) Since then I have acquired a few others -- new, used, wood, plastic.  Pin weaving is such a fulfilling activity.  Easy to do and keep at hand or travel with and not particular about the yarn it will accommodate.  I have woven many hundreds of squares and other shapes on 2", 4" and rectangular looms.

Are you signed up to win the Pin Loom Giveaways coming up at the end of each month? 

Newest pin loom winner

The third book and loom winner is:

Cheryl F., Tyler, Texas

I don't have a lot of experience with Pin Looms.  I am new to any kind of weaving.  I have done some yarn weaving on pot holder looms and have a triangle loom.  I am excited to see what I can make with a pin loom.

We have a second winner

Melanie Viney, Merrigum, Victoria
Australia

Melanie is one of the many Pinloomweaving readers who check in  from across the world. She is looking forward to getting her book and loom.

  

Our first book and loom winner: 

Melise Gerber,  Altadena, CA.

You asked me to share a bit more about myself:  I am 47.  My paternal grandmother taught me all kinds of needlework, knitting, crocheting and needlepoint when I was 7 or 8.  I have always loved the feel of hand-woven fabric, and tried learning on a rigid heddle loom, but a traumatic warping experience led to my selling my loom before I ever even used it.

About a year ago, I read about weave-it looms on Ravelry, and was able to purchase one on eBay.  I love weaving little squares on this loom--I especially like seeing the way the weaving changes my expectations for the way hand-dyed yarns work up.  But, so far, I haven't found many projects that I like that can be made with these little squares--and whenever I DO try to make something from them, I am REALLY unhappy with the options I have seen for joining. 

So, I am really looking forward to learning from your book.  Thanks for choosing me for this contest!!

Don't forget that there are going to be pin loom giveaways each month thru December. Its not too late to sign up! 

Pin Loom Pinpressions

A Pinpression is a plastic version of the metal pin art toys. It sells at Wal-Mart for about $5.00. I first came across the pinpression when I was looking for stocking stuffers. Unfortunately, it did not work as well as the type with metal pins, but that turned out to be for the best.


Because the Pinpression that I had bought didn't work very well, I thought about throwing it away. Then I realized what I was looking at. The toy is made of two plastic boards that are perforated with rows of holes as well as a clear plastic board on top.  It is held together with plastic bolts and acorn nuts.

It dawned on me that if I took out all the plastic pins, I could turn this item into a pin loom.  Here is how it has worked out so far:

As much as I would have liked to just keep the original hardware, it turned out to be easier to get 1" x 1/4" cap screws with matching nuts to secure the boards together. Keep in mind that you want to get the same threading on both parts, they come in 20 and 28- either will work, just make certain that they match.

I used 1 1/4" cedar shingle nails as weaving pins. I took the boards with me to a hardware store and simply tried different nails until I found some that would go through the holes without being too tight or too loose.


These nails turned out to have a rounded rather than very sharp tip, which is helpful. My only regret was that in order to get the 40 or so than I needed, I had to purchase 370. If possible, look for a source that lets you purchase less of them.

My goal was to be able to produce a small square or rectangle that would match my Weavette and Zoom Loom sett and offer slightly different dimensions to fill in an occasional need for an off size weavie. I haven't been able to do that quite yet although its close.

This little loom could work quite well on its own-- without comparing it to a standard loom. This has been a fun loom to experiment with because of the reasonably low initial investment and the potential to weave a number of different squares.

 

The next two pictures show the same weaving on and off the loom. The square measures 2 1/4" x 2 1/4". You can see the pin placement from the back in the picture above that shows the loom back and the cedar shingle nails.

The four weavings on the left in the picture below were all created on this pin loom. In comparison, the grey square on the right was woven on a 2" Weave-it.

Despite some frustration regarding the learning curve, I found that it was possible to complete a pin loom with a finished selvedge all the way around.  If you have any questions about this process, leave a comment and I will try to fill in the details.   Happy weaving!