Tottie Talks Crafts Blog » tutorial & how to

Can Edward and Anastasia Bear be knitted with thicker yarn and larger needles?

tottietalkscrafts — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:04:47 +0000

Yes! They can!

Edward and Anastasia Bear are 2 little bears that I have designed for ‘Your Knitting Life’ magazine (formerly known as ‘Knitting Today’), and they’ve been in each issue of the magazine since it started.

They are small… they’re 6 inches tall, and are knitted on 2.75 mm needles using Regia sock yarn.

Recently, on Ravelry, someone asked if Edward and Anastasia could be made larger, and the answer is, ‘You betcha’!

The humungous Edward Bear in the photo is 18 inches tall. If you knit with 8 or 9 mm needles and super bulky yarn or 2 strands of medium weight yarn held together, you will get one very large Edward Bear! Stitch through the hips to make them bendable.

The pattern for the basic Edward is available for free from the ‘Your Knitting Life’ website: Edward pattern link.

You can see pics of the all Edward and Anastasia installments here: Pics

Can you weave tapestry on potholder loom? why, yes!

tottietalkscrafts — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:32:35 +0000

One of my Ravelry buddies just shared photos of a lovely little tapestry loom that he’s built.

He then commented that Noreen would probably say that you can weave tapestries on her beloved potholder looms.

And, of course, I chirrupped up: “Funny you should mention that, but Y E S you can! “

Last year, after the devastation of the earthquakes and tsunami in Japan, I was very upset, and sat down with my sketchbook.

I did a little drawing that made me sit up and say: “I could weave that!”

So, I whipped out my Harrisville potholder loom (Link to Harrisville) and cut a square of cardboard to fit inside it.

I made a cartoon of the basic elements of the drawing: A circle inside a square, and taped it to the cardboard.

I decided to use all Harrisville yarns and fibers in this piece, so I warped up with warp yarn from Harrisville.

I used a table fork to beat the weft strands:

When I was finished, I wove an inkle border on my Schacht Inkle loom

I saw how the circle could become a face, so I warped up, again, and wove this:

And, this face made me think of the sun, so of course, I had to weave a companion,

‘Song to the Moon’: woven with yarn from my stash

Normally, I dislike fringes, but this piece demanded them, so I faithfully added them.

I was intrigued by weaving the expressive little faces (remember, the potholder loom yields a woven piece that is 6 inches square)

so…. with handspun yarn and stash yarn, I wove this little tapestry:

I have been meaning to block these little tapestries, but have been busy with so many other things that I haven’t gotten around to it.

But, when Misha joked about me weaving tapestries on the potholder loom, I thought…

“Well, they’re not blocked, but so what! I’ll post a note about them anyhow!”

So, when my ‘to do’ list calms down a little, I ~~will~~, um…. I might get them blocked!

Until then, keep on weaving! I am….

And, don’t forget to check out my other potholder loom weaving on my website: LINK

Please remember that this post is copyright protected, so please don’t copy the images etc! Thanks so much~!

Free pattern for a woven elephant

tottietalkscrafts — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:56:52 +0000

The pattern has gone live for the
Woven Elephant that I designed for Lion Brand on the Martha Stewart loom
HERE’S THE LINK TO IT

She’s a cutie!

I love elephants…..

happy weaving!

More little looms from recycled stuff part 2

tottietalkscrafts — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:24:31 +0000

If you are teaching a child to weave, or just want an impromptu, no cost small loom for sampling yarns and colorways, this little loom is very handy.

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!!!!

Little looms from recycled things for teaching weaving or sampling etc part 1

tottietalkscrafts — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:13:53 +0000

Yesterday, I posted about teaching children to weave Link

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:

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.

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!

When should a child start learning how to weave?

tottietalkscrafts — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:21:57 +0000

It’s never too early, (or too late!) for a child to start learning how to weave.

I bought my daughter her first loom when she was 6 weeks old. It was a little Spears loom #2 from England.

And, when my daughter and son were little, I had several looms set up for them to weave on, whenever they felt inspired to weave.

And, now, my grandson weaves with me:

He’s been sitting in my lap at the loom since he was born, and he really gets what weaving is all about.

He’s helping me weave his Grampa’s Saori shirt:

He’s two now, and he KNOWS about the shuttle!

He demanded the shuttle, and put it into the shed, and helped it across with his beautiful little chubby hands….

He LOVES the bobbin winder:

His grampa will certainly feel the love that has been woven into this shirt!

What do I recommend about teaching children to weave?

You don’t need a loom to start teaching a child to weave- cardboard looms and foam meat trays are great.

(I’ll post some patterns and instructions for them)

Child friendly looms are great- the Cricket is wonderful, as are a whole slew of small looms- ESPECIALLY,

the wonderful potholder loom!

BUT- I DO NOT recommend trying to teach a child to weave with loopers on the potholder loom.

Loops are actually rather challenging to work with.

Yarn is much more user friendly, and I have all kinds of YouTube videos to help you get children weaving.

When you click on my Potholder loom weaving page on my webiste: LINKIE

and scan down to the bottom of the page, you will find all kinds of YouTube links for my video tutorials.

I recommend the book: 1,2,3 Easy as Can Be Critters to weave on the potholder loom

and Weavagarumi for beginning weavers.

So, go ahead, and get those kidlets weaving!

It’ll be the gift that keeps on giving, as they will be embarking on a magnificent voyage of discovery that will last their lifetime!

Happy Weaving!

Now the corrected video for weaving on double hole rigid heddle loom

tottietalkscrafts — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:47:54 +0000

I am so excited- I have just learned more exciting things about weaving with the double hole rigid heddle loom!

The other day, I posted a video about how thrilled I was because I had finally figured out how to weave with the double hole or 2 holed rigid heddle loom. Link to previous blog post

I had extrapolated from how I wove pickup on the inkle loom, and was, to put it bluntly, wrong wrong wrong about so much of what I was doing.

A lady on the Braids and Bands list LINK on yahoo very politely, graciously and gently let me know that there was a much better way to weave with the double hole rigid heddle.

She told me that the Latvian way is to NOT drop the background strands, but to keep them in the weaving- and ONLY drop the pattern threads when they are not called for in the pattern.

That way, they would form tabby weaving, with no long floats (Happy dancing!) with the pattern threads showing up beautifully in reverse on the back of the band! H A P P Y HAPPY DANCING!

Look at the difference! the bit of band on the left was my first way, and the bit of band on the left is the right way!

Who wouldn’t want their bands to be sturdier, and reversible?

AND here’s MORE good stuff:

I also decided to get over my attachment to the weaving stick, and to keep my hot little hands out of the weaving, and to weave it like a traditional weaver (I almost added the ‘put on the big weaver panties, but didn’t, oh wait, I just did….) and weave the band ONLY with my shuttle.

Well, of course, that speeds things up and I am now clipping along like Daisytrains, merrily weaving MUCH nicer bands!

Not perfect, but oh soooooooooooo much better!

I have deleted the first video, and have made another, showing my next stage of the journey.

Once, when I was a child, I must have said something very stupid, because my father raised his eyebrow, fixed me with a baleful gaze and pronounced that Abraham Lincoln had declared that it was better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt.

ouch.

Well, I think that Abraham Lincoln and my father weren’t ~always~ right about remaining silent.

If I hadn’t had the courage to speak up and be willing to be found wrong about what I was doing with this, I would STILL be doing it wrong.

So, I say: Be willing to be thought a fool.

Speak up and ask.

There are kind people out there who are willing to show you a different way of doing something, and that way may make a world of difference in a skill that you are learning.

BUT… you’ll never know if you don’t have the guts to say:” This is what I am working on – got any suggestions?”

Besides, when you have big ‘aha’ moments in your learning curve, it can really be useful to other people!

So, that being said: Here’s the latest installment in my voyage of discovery with the 2 hole rigid heddle loom!

How to weave narrow bands on the 2 hole or double hole rigid heddle loom

tottietalkscrafts — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:38:55 +0000

I love weaving narrow bands, and have been hooked on pickup techniques on the inkle for more than 20 years.

Last year, I became fascinated by Sami bands -thanks to the online workshop taught by Susan Foulkes on the wonderful Yahoo groups: Braids and Bands Link and Band Snoddar Link

I loved the workshop so much that I bought Susan’s book, and I highly recommend it – when you click on the blurb link, you’ll still have to type in Sami band weaving.

I wove my husband a shirt last summer, using the Sami rigid heddle technique for the bands: Jim’s shirt LINK

One thing lead to another, and I became obsessed with the double hole rigid heddle.

I bought one on etsy, from Grace and Fred Hatton’s shop: LINK

(I drew and burned the bunnies on- it comes without decoration) and then couldn’t figure out how to weave with it. ARGH!!!!!

BUT… this is what I do! I am a professional designer, with small loom weaving being my special area of expertise…

so I just wasn’t willing to give up on it.

SO!!! I am THRILLED! that my dogged determination to figure it out has paid off!

I am now happily weaving away on the 2 hole rigid heddle loom.

And, I decided to make a video so that you can weave on the double hole rigid heddle loom, too!

Full of excitement, I made a video, showing what I was doing, but a kind weaver on the Braids and Band group gently pointed out to me that there is a MUCH better way of weaving the bands.

So, I went back to my loom, did it the way she said to, and VOILA! I now have beautifully reversible bands with no ugly floats!

I have deleted the first WRONG video and have made a new video, showing the much better way of weaving!

I love it- the internet wins again- I get to learn a new technique and be mentored by people half a world away!

And, then I get to share the learning curve with you! Wheeeee!

I am now weaving ONLY with a shuttle, and not inserting my hand into the shed, and I have stopped using a pick up stick.

These are the shuttles that I prefer to work with. I made them from old rulers that I found at the thrift shop.

POINTS TO REMEMBER WHEN WEAVING WITH THE DOUBLE HOLE RIGID HEDDLE LOOM:

Disclaimer: I offer this chronicle of my learning curve with this technique humbly, with the best of intentions, and with a fair amount of delight and excitement at finally being able to weave nifty bands on the double hole rigid heddle loom.

NOTE: Many weavers choose to use backstrap looms for narrow band weaving, but I find them too painful for words, so I use my Cricket loom Don’t have the tension set too tightly. You need a little give with the tension. You’ll find the perfect tension on your loom.

1: When you thread the heddle, take all your pattern strands through the upper set of holes.

2: The pattern threads should be heavier than the background holes. I also like to have the weft strands be a little heavier than the background strands.

3: The selvedge strands can be heavier than the background strands of warp, if you wish.

4: The selvedge and background strands are threaded into the slots and lower set of holes. Threading the double hole rigid heddle is deliciously quick and easy. I do use a warping board to make my warp chains first, but you don’t necessarily have to do that. See: warping board link

5: It is a really good idea to add extra length to your warp strands for sampling and experimenting.

6: Traditionally, wool is used to weave decorative bands, but I prefer to work with cotton. I use one strand of cotton for the background strands, and 2 strands for the pattern strands, and depending on how beefy I want the selvedges, more than 2 strands of warp for the 2 outside selvedge strands.

7: Each square on the graph paper represents one set of warp strands. I copied out a 15 strand pattern from Susan’s book, but traditional knitting patterns often work really well for band weaving. I clip my pattern to a metal board and use a magnetic strip to keep my place.

8: You will be following the pattern, slipping warp strands onto your shuttle, and will drop the pattern strands below to the bottom of the shed when your grid square is white. The background strands are always woven in every row, forming a tabby weave. When the background strand is dropped, it forms the reverse pattern on the wrong side of the band. Nifty, yes?

9: Look carefully at your pattern to decide if your odd or even rows will be the ‘up’ position of your heddle. The ‘UP’ position (heddle lifted, which brings all the pattern threads to the surface) is the best choice for rows that have the most pattern strands in them. The pattern that I am using in the video happens to have the most pattern threads in the even rows, so I chose to have the ‘Up’ or lifted position be the one I’ll use for the even rows.

10: Start weaving with the shuttle at the left hand of the band, with Row 1, of the pattern revealed on your chart. Cover the rows above it.

11: The odd rows will have the heddle pushed down. The slot threads are on the surface, and you can see the pattern strands below them.

In the photo above, the background threads from the slots, as well as the border strands, are in my hand.

The odd rows are lovely to weave. The shed is open - slide the border strands onto the shuttle, then, read the pattern, block by block. If the grid is white, pass the shuttle further into the shed, allowing the background strand to stay on the shuttle, but if the square is colored, pick up the pattern strand and put it on the shuttle.

Push the shuttle against the fell line (the last woven row) and tap it to beat it into place. Pull the shuttle all the through, and it is now on the right hand side of the weaving. You are ready to weave an even row.

12: On the even rows, lift up the heddle. The pattern strands pop up to the surface.

Read the pattern, block by block. If the grid is white, put the background strand onto the shuttle while passing the tip of the shuttle over the pattern strand, which will push it out of the shed.

If it’s colored, move the shuttle through the shed, picking up both the pattern thread, and the background strand that is in the lower hole of the same vertical bar as the pattern thread. And carry on across….

Bring the shuttle to the fell line, and tap it to beat the last row in.

Pass the shuttle all the way through and Voila! another woven row!

And, here’s the NEW video showing a MUCH BETTER way of weaving with the double hole rigid heddle loom: Happy weaving!!!!

4 panel blanket woven on the triangle loom

tottietalkscrafts — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:41:27 +0000

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:

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.

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.

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:

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

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.

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!

Video tutorial for NOT chained finish for woven squares

tottietalkscrafts — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:20:26 +0000

My favorite method to weave on looms that have pegs or nails, like the Potholder loom, or Lil Weaver looms from Dewberry Ridge (LINK), is to weave with the continuous Potholder loom weaving method.

Usually, when you weave a square on the potholder loom, or other small loom, using the potholder loom method, you will need to chain the edge to finish it.

BUT… that can really affect the finished size of tiny squares, when working on the little 2 or 3 1/2 or 4 inch size looms.

So! I have come up with a way of finishing the edges of the squares, while you weave them. Voila! No need to chain the edge!

Why would anyone want to weave on such tiny looms?

Well… they are so portable, you can take them anywhere,

AND… because weaving miniatures is so much fun )

Wee-woven-monster-and-kitty (c) Norteen Crone-Findlay

The Wee Woven monster in the photo above was woven using the Kitty pattern from my book: WEAVAGARUMI LINK

You can see the difference in size- The Weavagarumi Kitty is woven on the potholder loom (also from Dewberry Ridge POTHOLDER LOOM link )

and the Wee Woven Monster is woven on the 2 inch Lil Weaver. Fun!

Here’s the youtube video with the tutorial on how to make some ‘edge magic’!