Category Archives: spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting

Doll making as a healing art

In the past week, we have added several  friends and relations of relations to our healing prayers.

As part of my meditations and prayer work, I focus my mind by creating healing dolls.

I pour my love and healing thoughts and images into the making of a healing doll.

Stitch by stitch, I make a doll that I quietly, gently and peacefully pour my thoughts and intentions of wellness, loving kindness, tenderness, inspiration and insight into.

Sometimes, the doll is for a specific person, and sometimes, it is simply a response to feeling the call to make a sacred or healing doll.

I never sell these dolls- I give them to a person that feels right for it.

I wrote the book: Soul Mate Dolls: Doll making as a healing art many years ago. It’s out of print now.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

Over the years, since the publication of this book, I have continued to work with the sacred art of doll making for my own contemplative practice, but also professionally.

I have taught many workshops, and I have designed many patterns for people to continue to make dolls that are focused on healing themselves and others.

And, now I am working on a whole new book about the healing power of mindful doll making.

Until it is released, here are some of my designs that are available on my website http://www.crone-findlay.com and in my etsy shop. The link to my etsy shop is below each of these dolls.

May doll making be the source of great happiness, healing and wholeness for you, my friends!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

The crocheted Angel of Compassion link to pattern on etsy: Link

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

The Crocheted Angel of Healing dolls: LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

The Crocheted Angel of Peace: LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

Weaving with simple looms, such as the peg or stick loom is very meditative, and I find that weaving mermaids is an excellent way to focus my thoughts on healing body, mind and spirit: LINK

Simple tools can be used to make sweet little dolls that provide great comfort when tucked into a pocket, and they are so easy to pop into an envelope and mail to a friend:

The spool knitted tiny angels are so easy to make, but full of love, too:  LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

As are the Friendship Fairies: LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.crone-findlay.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

And, I mustn’t forget the Menopause Fairy!

After all…. the Tooth Fairy takes away teeth and leaves a gift of money, right?

Well, the Menopause Fairy takes away all manner of things and leaves behind the gifts of laughter, wisdom and compassion, as well as soooooooooo much more!!!!  LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

And, if the healing involves some deliciously wild energy, then perhaps a Wild And Wooly doll is in order: LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

If you feel a connection to Goddesses, I have designed a knitted pattern for the Venus of Willendorf.

I love holding her in my hand- she’s just a perfect little handful of the Feminine Divine energy! LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

And Venus of Willendorf inspired Goddesses to Crochet: LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

There’s also the Minoan Goddess of the Bees to knit: LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

There are so many women from history who are powerful role models and whose strength, dignity and wisdom are deeply inspiring and offer great hope. One of them is the Empress Theodora….. LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

May the work of your hands bring you soulful and engaging ways of healing your heart, mind, body and spirit and may it bring joy and peace and healing in countless ways to your family and friends, too!

Blessings abounding!!!!  With love, always, and all ways! 🙂

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Filed under crochet, doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, knitting, Peg and Stick Loom weaving, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting

Soumak-Pouch-Weave-Along-Part-6-Edging-Cords

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

Part Six of the Soumak Pouch Weave Along is all about the edging cords for the pouches.

You can use purchased braid like the Kreinik cord  on the edges of this pouch:

The edging is 3/8 ” trim:  # 170 Natural Pewter
http://www.kreinik.com/kshop/product.php?productid=17023&cat=0&page=1

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

Or you can make  your own edging cord:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

Starting at the left hand side, the cords are:

Square cord spool knitted with 2 colors on 4 pegs,

Cord Spool knitted with 3 pegs

Kumihimo cords – the directions for how to braid the round cords come with the Kumihimo kit from Mirrix

Tubular Peyote stitch cord- instructions are available in beading books and when you google ‘tubular peyote stitch’.

And last, but certainly NOT least, and definitely the fastest, easiest cord of all to make is the Simple Twisted cord, using the method that I have developed, using a spool and a crochet hook.

You will need a cord that is about 15 inches (37.5 cm) long to go around the sides and upper edge of your pouch.

The instructions for how to attach them to your pouch will be in the final installment of the Weave Along: Finishing Techniques.

Here are some videos that I have made to help you make your decorative edging cords:

How to spool knit a cord with just 3 of the 4 pegs on the spool knitter:

How to spool knit a square cord with 2 colors on a 4 peg spool knitter:

How to make a twisted cord with a spool and crochet hook:

Hope your pouches are coming along nicely! 🙂

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Filed under jewelry, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mirrix loom, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, tapestry, tutorial & how to, weave along

A video showing the Woven Women Mermaids Song tapestry

I am working on a large series of woven and mixed fiber media pieces that I am calling: Woven Women.

I am almost done a fairly large piece, called: Mermaid’s Song: 

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

She’s large- 6 ft by 2ft, and hard to photograph in my studio, so I figured that I would show a video of her.

I used small looms, knitting, crochet, tatting, spoolknitting and flower looms to make her, along with copper foil work.

Some of the looms were: 2 inch square vintage weave it loom, potholder loom, pinboard looms, Martha Stewart loom and flower looms.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

http://www.crone-findlay.com copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

And, here’s the video:

Remember: The size of your loom doesn’t limit the size of your finished piece!

Happy weaving! 🙂

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Filed under crochet, knitting, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

How to spool knit without a spool knitter

You can use spool knitted cords to decorate and embellish your crochet in a million different ways.

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!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

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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4 panel blanket woven on the triangle loom

I love geometry, and am intrigued by sacred geometry. I think that’s why I like working with looms that are different geometric shapes.

Last autumn, my nephew and his bride asked me to weave them a blanket as a wedding present.

Hmm- there were so many options on how to weave the blanket.

I settled on using my triangle loom that had recently arrived from Dewberry Ridge looms.  Link

I set it up to the 5 foot configuration and started weaving:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

I decided that 4 triangles on the 5 foot configuration of the loom, stitched together with the hypotenuse of the triangles forming the outside edge of the blanket, would work best.

I wanted to try giving it a bit more texture and interest than just plain weave, so I went with Over 2/Under 2, and loved it.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

The yarn is gorgeous Kertzer wool that has been discontinued. It took 12 balls of

Kertzer Rejuvenation, 100% wool, 100 gm/3.5 oz, 200 m/220 yds, color # 8006 to make the blanket.

I used  2 strands of yarn held together to weave the triangles for the blanket.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

To stitch the 4 triangles together, I laid them on the dining room table and stitched 2 triangles together (remembering to have the hypotenuse on the outside, and not stitched), then stitched the other 2 triangles together.

Then, I stitched the long center seam together.

I used the ‘V’ or ‘Baseball’ stitch to do the stitching.

This video shows how to do it:

After I stitched the 4 triangles together,  I spool knitted about 21 feet of spool knitted cord for the outside edges.

I stitched it onto the blanket edges….

Here’s a video that shows how to do that:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

I thought that loops at the corner would be pretty, so I added them

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

It was a crazy amount of work to make the blanket.

The weaving took 12 or 13 days of full days at the loom, and  the spool knitting, fulling, stitching etc added several more days.

So, this is NOT a quick and easy project.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

I hope that my nephew and his bride like it, and if they don’t, I gave them my permission to give it away, so that someone else can enjoy it.

No point in having it fill up a cupboard and not be used, so hopefully, it is keeping someone warm and cozy!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

 

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Filed under knitting, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, Triangle loom weaving, tutorial & how to, weaving & handwoven

Dragonfly shawl woven on the triangle loom

Last summer was a dragonfly summer. Countless dragonflies zipped and zoomed in glorious flashes of color and startling aerial acrobatics.

It was fabulous!

What wasn’t fabulous was the reason for their huge population upsurge: A vicious swarming plague of mosquitoes. UGH!

Ah well… here we are in deep mid winter, and now it’s just the memories of the dragonflies that are a pleasure, without the nasties of the mozzies.

I celebrated my love of dragonflies by weaving a shawl on the 7 foot configuration of the Dewberry Ridge triangle loom (LINK)

triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

I wove it with handspun wool that has shots of silk and angelina in it.

I also included rows of eyelash yarn every 28 nails, which gave me the perfect grid for embroidering the dragonflies.

triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

I embroidered the dragonflies onto the shawl while it was still stretched on the loom- the loom is the perfect embroidery hoop!

It is definitely a one of a kind, as all the combination of elements that came together to make it just won’t happen again.

triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

When I was doing the embroidery, I turned the loom every which way to make it easier to get to each square.

The dragonflies are embroidered with silk that I spun on my support spindle.

triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

I didn’t use a pattern or drawing to embroider the dragonflies.

Pardon the pun, but I just ‘winged’ it. :p

triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

People stop me to admire the shawl when I wear it. It gives me an opportunity to talk about weaving, spinning and embroidery (and spool knitting, too!)

triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

I don’t like fringes on shawls- so I spool knitted a looooooooooooooooong cord, and stitched it onto the shawl while it was still on the loom.

That was wonderfully easy! I held the spool knitted cord up against the outside of the nails, and ‘v’ (baseball stitch) it to the shawl.

This video shows how to stitch cord to a finished woven edge:

Happy dragonflies! Happy triangles! Happy everything…. 😀

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, Triangle loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

3 new video tutorials about spool knitting and potholder loom techniques

I took time away from blogging over the Christmas holidays, but I have been a busy bunny making video tutorials.

Here’s a video tutorial on how to stitch spool knitted cords to woven or other finished edges:

And, another how to on stitching things together- this time, it’s how to stitch potholder loom squares and motifs together

Here’s a video tutorial on how to spool knit  with the Martha Stewart loom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWoYAs-L3yM

How to spool knit on your fingers:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-nEfmge_Ygvi

And, there are lots more spool knitting video tutorials on my youtube channel: LINK

So there you have it Lotsa video tutorials…. hope they are helpful!

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, potholder loom, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, tutorial & how to, weaving & handwoven

A quick easy and comfie capelet (caplet ?) to weave

I have just released the pattern for my new woven capelet (caplet?) – it’s quick and super easy to make, and wonderfully comfortable to wear.

Potholder loom woven capelet (c) by Noreen Crone-Findlay

The Capelet is made by weaving simple squares with yarn on the potholder loom, and stitching them together.

The drawstring is a spool knitted cord.

Potholder loom woven capelet (c) by Noreen Crone-Findlay

When the drawstring is tied, it gathers the points of the squares into petals.

Potholder loom woven capelet (c) by Noreen Crone-Findlay

The capelet is flattering to all figures.

The pattern for the capelet fits sizes Small to Extra Large.

It is easy to adjust it to fit more voluptuous figures.
The pattern is $4.95 Cdn and is available at:
http://www.crone-findlay.com/Crone-FindlayCreationsPotholderLoomWeaving.html

Happy weaving, and joy in all that you celebrate!
:o) Noreen

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, potholder loom, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, weaving & handwoven

Woven Whimsical Cats

One of the joys of self publishing patterns is that I get to talk about them as soon as I finish them. (Not allowed to do that with commissioned projects! It’s up to the editors to decide when the word goes out on those).

Whimsical-woven-cats-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-(c)

My most recent self published pattern is for the Woven Whimsical Cats.

You can order the pdf pattern from my website:  Link

They have been so much fun to design.

I started the designing process for them last February.

I went through several variations of them  before I settled on the two versions that are in the pattern.

There’s the sitting Whimsical Cats, who are infinitely poseable (and can be convinced to wear shoes and play musical instruments, too!)

Whimsical-woven-cats-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-(c)

They have distinctly, ‘Who me?!’ expressions of feline innocence, which probably means that they are up to all manner of mischief!

Their ‘Laying Down’ cousins:

Whimsical-woven-cats-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-(c)

are lovely to rest your wrist on when playing with the computer mouse.

Of course, they might take a swipe at the mouse, but that’s to be expected, isn’t it?

Whimsical-woven-cats-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-(c)

They were woven on the lovely potholder loom from Dewberry Ridge looms:http://www.dewberryridge.com/products/potholder-loom

Whimsical-woven-cats-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-(c)

The yarn is art yarn, handspun by the delightful Nancy Nagle of Nangellini: www.nangellini.com

Whimsical-woven-cats-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-(c)

When I was designing and weaving the Whimsical Woven cats, I was remembering all the wonderful cats who have graced my life with their marvelous ways.

So, here’s to our Feline Friends! with love and thanks for all the blessings! 😀

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Filed under Dewberry Ridge looms, doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, potholder loom, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, weaving & handwoven

“Keep Calm and Carry On” Banner to weave and spool knit

During the second world war, the British people were encouraged to hang on in a challenging time by posters that said: ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’.

Keep Calm and Carry On Banner by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

Well, times are challenging again, and the advice to ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ is still worthy!
So, I decided to weave a banner with these notable words emblazoned on it.
I made a pattern with lots of photos and step by step how-to’s. (It’s what I do well 😀 )

Keep Calm and Carry On Banner by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

I think that it would make a wonderful gift. And it’s fun to make, too!
I wove it on a  potholder loom, but any loom that gives you a 6 or 7 inch square would work just fine.

If you are not a fan of spool knitting (although, in the pattern,  I show how to quickly spool knit on 3 pegs) then you might want to buy yourself a Latchet Lucet from Dewberry Ridge looms: LINK
The pdf pattern can be ordered for $5 (paypal or etransfer) by sending me an email Contact

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