One way to do a thicker spool knitted or i cord is to use several strands of yarn held together.

And, if you don’t have a spool knitter, not to worry! You have your fingers!

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I have made a video tutorial on how to make a spool knitted cord on just 3 of your fingers.
It works great!

Here’s the  video tutorial:

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The project on the foam food tray loom is a bookmark, but you can weave amulet bags,  rug mugs, small dolls and toys,  doll house rugs or squares that you stitch together to make larger projects.

It’s great for traveling, as it’s light, and if you use a plastic darning needle for weaving, it’s fine to take through airport security.

Yesterday, I posted part one of the recycled and upcycled looms: Here’s the link:  PART ONE

I think that one of the most accessible looms for beginning weavers is the  weaving stick loom.

I am doing a lot of designing for it – here’s my post about the mermaid to weave on the stick weaving loom: LINK

Happy Weaving!!!!

One of the pleasures of weaving is that it can be done with tremendously complex machines, but, can also be done with small bits of this and that from around the house.

Today and tomorrow, I am going to be posting little how to’s on making recycled and upcycled looms that are great for teaching kids how to weave,  or just for noodling about with sampling yarns and weaving little bags, or hacky sacks or bookmarks….

So, here’s today’s installment:

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If you make each grid square 1/4 inch, then the loom is  business card size, which is a charming size to work with, and to pop into a pocket or bag.

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If you weave 2 tiny rectangles on the loom, and stitch them together, then add a beaded fringe, it makes a very pleasing little amulet bag.

I think that one of the most accessible looms for beginning weavers is the  weaving stick loom.

I am doing a lot of designing for it – here’s my post about the mermaid to weave on the stick weaving loom: LINK

Happy weaving!

Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

The first two sections of the book teach a ton of useful and neat techniques for working with the Lily Speed-O-Weave looms- there are several different ways of wrapping the looms, how to tie the intersections, how to weave more than just hexagons on the hexagon loom ( half hexagon motifs and triangle motifs), how to make easy linings for projects, how to spool knit edgings over a core, how to make butterflies and hearts on little triangle looms (don’t have a small triangle loom? I’ve made a couple of video tutorials on how to weave triangles on the potholder loom. See  Potholder loom page ), plus the special hexagonal grid paper that I drew to be able to design with the hexagons. (Hexagons are tricky critters until you unlock the code on them! ) As well, there are instructions on how to work with the square and rectangular Lily Speed-O-Weave loom. And a whole lot more….

Then, there are 19 different projects:

Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

How to make hexagonal AND square baskets from upcycled fabric strips from torn up clothing- of course, you can use yarn, roving, string or cord to make the baskets, but I really enjoy using fabric strips, so I did the baskets with them.

Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

I already wrote about this freeform stole: Link

Lily-Speed-O-Weave-monster-designed by Noreen Crone-Findlay (coppyright)

and Monster Dear and Little Bunny: Link

Lily-Speed-O-Weave-Snuggle-Bunny-designed by Noreen Crone-Findlay (coppyright)

And then, there’s the coat that is so awesome that someone bought it the first time I wore it!

Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

And this elegant and cozy capelet

Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

I love stoles and shawls, so I design, make, and wear  a lot of  them:

Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

And, I love vests:

Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

The Lily Speed-O-Weave loom is great for potholders and placemats:

Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

And, bags! Lots of bags! (and I also included a pattern for making your own wooden handles)

Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

I could keep going : ‘But wait! there’s more! ‘…. but I think that you get the picture- the book is full of wonderfulness!

Order link: Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom book by Noreen Crone-Findlay

I’ve been working HARD on new books and am hunkering in and am  ~FINALLY~ getting them closer to completion and  releasing- oh my!

I took a little break from my looms the other evening to indulge in a little bit of upcycling.

My daughter in law gave me some of her torn blue jeans a few months ago.

Suddenly, the other evening, I felt the urge to take the scissors to them:

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I have a couple of dress patterns that I am besotted with these days, and find myself making them over and over in various configurations.

In my previous blog post, (link to post) I showed how I used my fave dress pattern with fabric that I had woven on various narrow looms.

Snipping up the bluejeans to fit the pattern pieces was a touch tricky, and forced me to bend a few ‘good seamstressing’ rules, but what the heck, why not?

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I am fanatical about pinning the living daylights out of the sections of garments when I am stitching them together, but I don’t pin my pattern pieces to the fabric when cutting out.

I like my rock collection that I have gathered up over the years. They hold things in place without damaging the pattern tissues.

And, of course, I HAD to save and re-use the bum pockets!

I also saved a little pocket from the inside of one pair for a cellphone or glasses mini-pocket, too.

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Unfortunately, when I picked the pockets off the backside of the jeans, there were 2 dark blue pocket shapes. Drat!

I thought about attempting to bleach them out, but then thought: Ah, why not consider them to be ‘design elements’?

I am tickled pink with my upcycled denim dress, and am so happy that a couple of pairs of torn jeans have come back to life as a fun and comfy tunic that I am going to enjoy enormously! Whee!

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I really should show you the dress that I made from a garage sale tablecloth… it’s great! I wove the neckband…. okay… must take pictures and get back into the habit of blogging again!

And, by the way…. Happy September!

So, that posting was more of a ‘how NOT to’ than a ‘how to’…..

Luckily, my finger is growing back and I have finished the chunky 3 bead necklace….

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I left the beads to soak in a bowl of vegetable oil for a few days. Because grandbaby is going to be chewing them, I don’t want to use anything that could be dangerous to him on the beads.

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And, that is why I am using organic cotton to spool knit the cords that hold the beads together.  (Lion Brand Organic cotton).

I spool knitted 2 short cords and stitched them into the spaces between 2 of the beads, and one long one for the neck cord.

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NOTE: The neck cord NEVER goes around the baby’s neck!!!

It goes around the neck of his grown ups, or is looped through the tie of the sling , so he can retrieve it when he drops it.

He only has access to it when he is being held and supervised, and not when he’s sitting in the car seat.

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The big holes are great for chubby little fingers to hold onto…..

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And those big beads are just so satisfying for a little guy to gum away on! (Well… to bite with his TWO new teeth!!!)

He absolutely loves the necklaces, and so do we.

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My daughter asked me to make her a necklace with large wooden beads so our wee fella could play with it and use it for teething.

I made her one necklace that was a great success: Minoan Goddess of the Bees necklace

So, I decided to make her another one- this time with several big chunky beads to keep him interested.

I cut a length of my favorite wood: Arbutus (also known as Madrona) that my sister in law had trimmed from a tree in her yard. (She saves me all their arbutus twigs and branches, bless her heart!)

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Then, I split my mini log into 2 sections on the bandsaw, and did some preliminary shaping with the saw.

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Over to the drillpress to drill holes for the beads.

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And, back to the bandsaw for more shaping…..

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Then, over to the belt sander for more shaping…..

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and then to the bathroom to staunch the flow of blood, when I sanded the first knuckle off, and  sliced the top off  the second one.

Well… that was a surprise!  I have never done that before!  And not something I would like to repeat!  erg….

it’s been 3 weeks, and my knuckle is finally healing… wowsa that hurt!

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Why on earth would anyone in their right mind do that?

Because I intended to ‘harvest’ the fabric

from both the garments and

upcycle them into something new and oh so much fun for myself.

The skirt was long enough,

and full enough

to be able to provide the body for this fun tunic.

And, the skimpy dress provided the pockets,

lower bands, and upper neck band-

and I just love it!

I wear it with leggings, and a t shirt

underneath, because my days of wearing

shortish dresses with bare legs are long gone.

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As I was taking the pic of the tunic,

I remembered another upcycling

project that I did recently:

I took a favorite old dress and cut it up

and turned it into a fun and floatie

overshirt…..

it just hit me that they would work well together!!!

Hurrah!

So, think twice before you toss old clothes,

and don’t let the frumpiness or too smallish-ness

of a garment put you off…

cut them up and re-configure them into something

that you will enjoy!

Hurrah for re-purposing, reclaiming, recycling, re-fashioning, re-using, re-creating, restoring, renewing and upcycling!

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Tarn is a terrific way to upcycle, recycle, re-fashion, re-purpose, re-use and reclaim old t shirts that are no longer wearable. Perhaps they are stained or have little holes in them, or the neck has gone all wonky, or they have a logo on them that you just don’t want to wear anymore.

In that case, turning the t shirt into tarn is a fabulous option.

I showed how to make a ‘buttonhole join’ in tarn here:

How to do the buttonhole join link

and in this video, I showed how to weave it on the potholder loom:

Potholder loom weaving with tarn

Normally, I use a swift to hold the t shirt when I cut my tarn. I decided that that wouldn’t be the best choice for making a video, as most people don’t have swifts, so I used a little stepladder to stretch the t shirt.

It’s kind of clunky, so you have to forgive me for the fumbly bits.

Here’s the video on how to cut tarn: LINK

I remembered this afternoon that I had been asked how to make a smooth join in fabric strip yarn…. so I thought that I would post a quick tutorial on how to do that.

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Everyone has their own system of cutting t shirts into fabric strips (tarn).

My favorite way is to stretch the t shirt over my swift and open it up until it stretches the t shirt taut.

I then cut a narrow strip, starting at the hem of the t shirt, spiralling up to the sleeves.

Then I stop and cut away the neckband, and cut strips around and around until I reach the sleeves.

I cut them off, and cut them into strips.

And then I wind them up into yarncakes on my nostepinnes.

This pic has a touch of oddness, doesn’t it?

The scissors floating in mid air are posing politely while my cutting hand is busily taking the picture.

You can see the loops of Tarn pooling up in my lap.

So, what do you do if you need to join one length of fabric strip to another?

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Cut a small slit into each end of the 2 fabric strips.

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Take the shorter piece through the slit of the longer piece.

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Now, take the tail end of the shorter piece through the opening of the shorter piece.

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Tug on it to pull it up tight, and Voila! the 2 strips of fabric are magically joined!