One of our Christmas traditions is to make ornaments to give to our family and close friends.
This year, my husband and I are making hearts using the Incredible Rope Machine from Schacht.
It’s the neatest tool… it looks like something Leonardo da Vinci would have invented.
I made a video showing how to make the hearts:
The flu knocked me for a loop, and as I have been slowly pulling myself out of it, I haven’t had much energy, so my blog has slipped off the rails.
I did want to mention, however, that I made a video about cutting up garments to upcycle them by weaving or knitting with the fabric strips.
In early October, my son in law’s step-dad passed away.
This was, of course, very hard on our grandson.
I talked with him about what it meant to him to have his ‘other’ grampa (not my husband) pass away.
I asked him if he needed something of his grampa’s to hold onto, and he said yes.
So, I asked for a couple of Bill’s shirts so I could make comfort critters with them.
I cut them up and wove them into kittys, as that was what my grandson asked for, so he has one, and other family members have them too. (I didn’t photograph all of them).
I also knitted a teddy bear for one of our relatives, as he is definitely a teddy bear guy 🙂
The bear and kittys have been well received and they do carry the love that went into every stitch of making them.
I’ve done this before, and have found that ‘compassion critters’ made from upcycled clothing of a dear one is very comforting for people in grief.
Every little thing helps….
Here’s the video:
The woven kitties and knitted bear are made from the following patterns:
I have always loved mermaids, and I am totally addicted to weaving mermaids these days.
I’ve made a video showing how I used my Mermaid pattern on etsy to weave Mermaids of different sizes on peg looms.
I took the original Mermaid that looked like this for the pattern:
And added a wooden face, leather hands, a little tatting, and a seashell:
She was woven on 1/4 inch diameter weaving sticks and is about 11 or 12 inches tall.
Also woven on the 1/4 inch diameter weaving sticks is this Mermaid, woven with hand spun art yarn and needle felted:
The same etsy pattern can be used to make totally different mermaids by changing the size of pegs or weaving sticks used and different thicknesses of yarns.
I used the smallest pegs on my 6 inch peg loom to weave the smallest Mermaid, who’s about 7 or 8 inches tall.
She’s woven on the 1/8th inch pegs.
The Mermaid woven with the 3/8 inch pegs is about 20 inches tall:
I did some geometric pattern weaving in her body, but it’s a little hard to see in this pic.
I used 2 strands of a very bulky chenille yarn held together to weave the largest Mermaid, who is around 28 inches tall.
When I was weaving the different sizes, I did tweak the pattern somewhat to adjust for the differences in the size of the pegs and thickness of the yarns.
Here’s the link to the pattern in my etsy shop: LINK
(sorry – it’s not free)
Happy weaving and happy Mermaiding!
The looms are from Dewberry Ridge Looms: LINK
My book: Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks is available from all your favorite online book sellers, and can be ordered through your local book store. It’s full of weaving yes-ness!
Here’s the video about the Mermaid dolls:
We have a tradition in our family of making Christmas/Holiday ornaments for our family and friends.
I have been thinking about what I should make for this year.
I always start working on them in the summer so I can get lots of them done.
This year, I wanted to celebrate my Peg Loom and Weaving Stick book being published, so, I designed Tassel dolls to weave with weaving sticks.
I am putting hooks on the back of them so they can be hung on Christmas trees, garlands or wreaths.
The Tassel Dolls can also have pins or loops so they can be worn on the lapel or the zipper of a bag.
I made the Tassel Dolls with weaving sticks from Dewberry Ridge Looms: https://www.dewberryridge.com/products/weaving-sticks
Here is the how to video that shows the step by step instructions for making the Weaving Stick Tassel Dolls:
Happy Weaving! Have fun making Tassel yarn dolls!
Octopi are amazingly clever and rather charming creatures.
I’ve had so much fun designing a woven Octopus family to weave on the Three Sisters Looms that I designed and Gary and Donna McFarland of Dewberry Ridge looms is building and selling LINK.
The largest Octopus was woven on the Vasilisa loom: LINK
It’s about 13 1/2 inches tall.
The medium size Octopus was woven on the Mollie Whuppie Loom: LINK
And, the littlest Octopus was woven on the Thumbelina loom: LINK
All three are great for babies- as long as you don’t use beads or buttons, but embroider the eyes instead.
I just read a report that babies love holding onto the tentacles of toy cephalopods, because they find it comforting. Apparently, the tentacles feel like the umbilical cord, and most babies play with the umbilicus before they are born.
Fascinating!
The smallest octopus lives quite happily on a lapel or collar or pinned to a hat, scarf or bag when you stitch a pin to it’s back.
The loop on top of their heads is great for hanging them up on push pins or curtain rods for room decor.
The loop also is perfect to hang the octopus from the baby’s crib, cot or stroller.
The pattern, with step by step instructions is available in my etsy shop: LINK
Happy Octopus weaving! Enjoy those cephalopods!
Recently, I had a lovely conversation with my darlin’ grandson.
He said to me: ‘Nanma, I LOVE your dolls. Will you make me one for Christmas?’
I was thrilled that he is pleased with my work and that he wanted me to make him a doll for Christmas.
What an awesome 7 year old he is!
I asked him if he wanted a wooden one or a woven one, and I was convinced that he said, ‘Wooden’….
So, I stayed up very, very late one night, and got up early, to carve him a wooden doll:
I used a birch branch from our son’s neighbour’s tree. It’s been drying for a year and a half and is lovely to carve.
Tottie Tomato cheered me on as I carved.
She comforted the new doll, because she knows that the knives, chisels and sandpaper are very uncomfortable, and that paint brushes tickle….
After he was done, and I had knitted his sweater and jeans, Tottie Tomato and New Boy went to hang a few ornaments on the tree in the village.
Something was feeling not quite right….
I thought: I have to check and see if Grandson actually said that he wanted a wooden doll…..
So, I asked him which dolls he loved?
Wooden or the woven art dolls?
We were out at a concert of his Grampa’s music, so I sketched the shape of the 6th Sense art dolls in the air.
YES! he said, firmly!
THOSE are the ones I love!
Oh oh….
I asked him to draw in the air and show me what shape he had in mind.
Yup….. Woven Women 6th Sense art dolls, and NOT 6 inch tall wooden dolls….
oops.
He specified that he wanted it soft to cuddle and that it had to wear black shoes.
I asked him to draw exactly what he wanted…..
He held his hands up in the air and showed me the size.
So…………………………
I have been weaving up a storm……………. well, a doll, along with a few other things……
I used the tapestry weaving technique to weave the body front, and plain weave for the back.
I did a clasped warp technique for the arms and legs to make the color changes work for the arms and legs.
I hope that he approves of how I interpreted his design!
I hadn’t thought of making him a doll for Christmas, so I am incredibly grateful that he asked.
And, because I didn’t get the brief right first time around, our little sweetheart gets TWO dolls, not one!
For now, they are chilling out by the Village Christmas tree, enjoying themselves in knitted armchairs that I designed for Findlay and Flora Bear.
The pattern for the chairs is in my etsy shop:
I can’t bear to wrap them until the last moment, so I will have a chance to enjoy them, too!
Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah, Happy Solstice, Happy Yule, Happy EVERYTHING to you and yours!
Love and blessings all round.
May 2017 bring Peace, Wisdom and Compassion!
Many years ago, I had a wonderful dream about the Northern Lights.
I dreamt that thousands of shooting stars were streaming down the Northern Lights (aka Aurora Borealis), but when I looked closer, I saw that the shooting stars were actually Star Babies 🙂
They were laughing, tumbling and frolicing in delight.
It was a wonderful dream, and ever since then, I have designed and made variations on the theme of ‘Star Baby’.
Here’s my woven Star Baby:
STAR BABY TO WEAVE ON THE DEWBERRY RIDGE STAR AND THUMBELINA LOOMS
DESIGNED BY NOREEN CRONE-FINDLAY ©
These woven Starbabies can hang up as ornaments or be pinned to a lapel or just played with as cute little dolls.
FINISHED SIZE: Approximately 5 inches/12.5 cm tall.
WHAT YOU NEED: Dewberry Ridge Star and Thumbelina Looms, Latch hook lucet from Dewberry Ridge Looms or a regular lucet.
About an ounce/28 gm star colored yarn and about and ounce/28 gm yarn for the body.
Face: 1 inch/2.5 cm diameter button and a 1 ½ inch/3 cm diameter circle of lightweight fabric. Needle and thread to gather the fabric circle.
Features: Fine tip permanent marking pens, light pink crayon for cheeks.
WEAVE:
1 Star following the instructions that came with the Star loom from Dewberry Ridge Looms
1 Thumbelina arch shape following the instructions that came with the Thumbelina loom, also from Dewberry Ridge Looms.
Make 2 LUCET cords:
Arms: 2 ½ inches/ 6.25 cm
Legs: 3 ½ inches/ 8/75 cm
ASSEMBLING THE STAR BABY:
Fold the Arch shape in half.
Stitch the Center back edges together to become the body. Leave the lower edge open.
For the head, leave half of the arch not stitched.
FACE:
Stitch around the outside edge of the fabric circle,
then place the button on the circle. Pull up on the thread to gather the circle of fabric tightly.
Stitch in place on the back several times to secure the stitching.
Draw the features onto the face.
The seam is at the back of the body.
Place the face button onto the head. Pull the edges of the head forward and over the edges of the button.
Take the needle and thread through the back of the head and park it for now.
Thread a length of yarn into the weaving needle, then take the needle through the edge stitches. Pull up to gather the head around the face.
Wrap around the neck several times.
Take the yarn end to the back of the head and stitch in place to anchor it.
Use the sewing thread to stitch through the back of the head to secure the face button in place.
In Part 2, I’ll show you how to finish the Star Baby.
This is a tiny video that I made to introduce the Star Babies:
Yesterday, I showed a sketch of a tiny toy bunny rabbit that I designed.
Here are a couple of them:
I have just uploaded the video for how to weave the toy bunny on the Dewberry Ridge Thumbelina Loom:
The bunnies are about 2 1/2 inches long and about 1 1/2 inches tall.
They are quick and easy to make and fit in a pocket or would make a great stocking stuffer.
Happy Weaving!
Many of our friends are in the process of selling and buying houses, and moving to new homes.
We’re holding them in our hearts and wishing them the most joyful time in their new ‘Home Sweet Home’.
So, it’s natural that my tapestry diary would be about home sweet home.
I had an ‘aha’ moment when it struck me that using the ‘Home Sweet Home’ tapestry diary piece as the front cover of a needle book would be a fun thing to do.
What’s a needle book? It’s a way of storing and carrying your craft and sewing needles so they don’t get lost in a project bag or box or disappear inside a pincushion.
So…. tahdah!
A ‘Home Sweet Home’ needle book woven on the Thumbelina loom…
In order to weave the spine of the needlebook, you need to be able to weave a narrow rectangle on the Thumbelina,
so, I made a video on how to make the Thumbelina Needle book.
And, the video shows how to weave the narrow band:
Here’s the needle book open:
Here’s the video:
By the way, you don’t have to weave a little tapestry for the cover of the needle book…. plain is fine, too!
Happy weaving!
I’ve been designing some very whimsical things for Weaving Sticks and peg looms lately….
For instance: Dancing Flat Sheep 🙂
Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
After all, with yarn, all things are possible!
So, here they are: Happy Dancing Flat Sheep. 🙂
Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
The finished size of the Dancing Flat Sheep is determined by the size of weaving sticks or pegs and thickness of weft and warp yarns, as well as the spacing of the pegs or weaving sticks.
So, you can make wee little sheepies with very thin weaving sticks or pegs and sock and eyelash yarns:
Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
OR:
Medium sized sheepies using sport weight yarns and slightly larger weaving sticks:
Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
OR:
Go for the gusto, and do big sheepishes, using art yarns, rovings, bulky or even fabric strips or Tarn:
Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Have fun and Happy Dancing and Happy Weaving!
The pattern is in my etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/266333229/flat-dancing-sheep-woven-on-weaving?ref=shop_home_active_1
It must be the weather, as more whimsy is on it’s way…..
Noreen Crone-Findlay, designer and author
