January 7, 2009 · 2:43 am

Mapping the layout for new book

I have been working sooooooooooo hard on a new little book.

😀

The process has been really intense, because, as well as designing and making the dolls for the book, I have been learning a whole lotta new software and systems. Oh MY!

The book is called: Rosie Recycle Pin Dolls : Thrifty Little Dolls to Crochet or Knit And Spool Knit.

The dolls are adorable and I am very excited….

I’m getting close to being able to release it…. just working on finishing up the layout of the book….

mapping-layout

The process of figuring out where each page goes and how it gets there is a complicated one….

I ended up making little mockups that I could zing back and forth in and then map out the whole works.

Each page  ended up with 7 codes, telling me something that I needed to know for the pages.

Lotsa lotsa work….. and so worth it!

I have been working so hard on the book that I haven’t been keeping up with blogging.

I will blog a bit more about the process…..

until then…. it’s back to work on it, for me.

PS:  The book is done! Hurrah!

You can see some of the dolls in the book at:
http://www.crone-findlay.com/Crone-FindlayCreationsGallery.html

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

16 Comments

Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

December 31, 2008 · 4:37 am

Inkle Loom Dimensions

Recently, someone asked me about the dimensions of my inkle loom.

So, I’ve taken pictures of my loom and measured it, in hopes that this helps her husband in building her inkle loom.

My husband built mine from reclaimed wood from pallets, and it’s VERY hard wood.

You need hardwood for an inkle loom, as you put so much pressure on it.

I have woven everything from rugs to garments to bags to bookmarks on this loom. I love it.

inkle-loom-6

I am not alone in loving my inkle loom…. my cats LOVE to help me warp it!

inkle-loom-1

inkle-loom-2

inkle-loom-3

inkle-loom-4

inkle-loom-5

All images and content on this blog are copyright and not to be reproduced without permission.

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

28 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving

Tagged as , , , ,

December 24, 2008 · 12:13 am

Weaving Words

I love weaving words into inkle woven bands.

tottie-and-dame-julian-3

In this picture, Tottie Tomato is wrapped in the words of Dame Julian of Norwich’s prayer:

And all shall be well

and all shall be well

and all manner of things shall be well…

tottie-and-dame-julian-1

tottie-and-dame-julian-2

I love this prayer and say it allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the time……….

To pay homage to Dame Julian and her wonderful prayer,  I wove the bands that I used to shape her body (and her banner) on my inkle loom. I crocheted her hands and head, and wove the remainder of the elements of the sculpture on various other small looms.

I use a simple pickup technique for weaving words.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I think I should put ‘do a video of  weaving words’ on my to do list!

The images in this blog entry are copyright and not to be used by anyone else for anything else….

10 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

December 16, 2008 · 6:20 am

What’s on your loom for Christmas?

christmas-08-weaving-3

It wouldn’t be a proper Christmas without at least a little weaving!

My daughter and I are co-creating a present for her husband.

I warped up my Cricket (love that loom!) and am weaving up the bands that she is going to use to make him a pair of suspenders.

I wove about 20 feet of really nice bands…. I’ll show you pics when she’s got the suspenders done….

christmas-08-weaving-2

By the way, my husband made me that shuttle one year for my birthday. Isn’t it gorgeous?

He also built me my inkle loom, which I am working with to weave bands that say different things for different members of the family:

christmas-08-weaving-1

That’s for my son’s camera bag…. hope he likes it.

I love doing pickup techniques on the inkle. It’s slow, but satisfying!

So, what’s on your loom for Christmas?

Happy Weaving!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

17 Comments

Filed under gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as , , ,

December 11, 2008 · 4:36 am

Christmas ornament

One of our favorite holiday traditions is to make a Christmas ornament for our friends and family.

For this year’s ornament, I decided that I would make an Angel of Gratitude…

so I drew and colored her, and then scanned and printed a flutter of angels.christmas-ornament-2008-1qs

I glued them to wood,varnished them and then cut them out.

christmas-ornament-2008-3qs

I sanded and painted the edges, glued the loops on, cut out the backs and glued them together….

christmas-ornament-2008-2qs

and Voila! This year’s ornament!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

11 Comments

Filed under gifts & easy to make gifts & presents

Tagged as , , ,

November 27, 2008 · 4:33 am

Woven and Spool knitted Heart

blogspoolieheart-010qs

I designed this spool knitted and woven heart a year or so ago.

I’ve just re-worked the instructions and have them available as a pdf tutorial.

Click on my website for the contact info for the download.

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

10 Comments

Filed under spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, tutorial & how to

Tagged as , , , ,

November 19, 2008 · 5:10 am

Another healing/prayer shawl made with the mitered loop method

healing-prayer-shawls-qs-4

Last week, I wrote about weaving healing and prayer shawls on my Cricket Loom, using a method that I have developed (the mitered loop shawl). Here’s the link to the tutorial

healing-prayer-shawls-qs-5

This is one of the shawls that I have just woven for my daughter. The colors didn’t show up at all well… sigh. It’s much prettier in person! Much more turquoise-y.

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

4 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving

Tagged as , , , , , ,

November 14, 2008 · 9:11 pm

Green crafts- hand made book with spool knitted binding cords

wooden-book-qs-51

Oh my.

This week….. winter arrived…..

So, it’s time to get to work on Christmas presents.

I love green and eco crafts –  recycling and re-using things to up-cycle new treasures…

wooden-book-qs-2

I am making my sister-in-law a hand made book with wooden covers.

The wood has been hanging around our barn for more than 20 years.

It was part of an old stage set from my days as a theater set designer.

I cut out the covers and and sanded the edges and scuffed up some layers of the paint.

I then painted  gold around the edges.

I drew a Celtic Interlace then drew a tree over top of that.  I connected the tree into the interlace and erased the bits I didn’t want.  I painted and etched and drew, until I was satisfied with my version of the Celtic Tree of Life.

I tatted 2 butterflies and a dragonfly, and glued them to the inside cover.

Then I spool knitted 3 cords for the binding.

I folded some recycled/reclaimed pages that had been used on one side and punched 3 holes in them.

wooden-book-qs-1

I put them all together…..

wooden-book-qs-3

And all in all…. I am very pleased with it….

wooden-book-qs-4

Hopefully, my sister-in-law will enjoy her book. She’ll be able to put more pages in when she fills these ones up.

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

13 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, tutorial & how to

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

November 11, 2008 · 7:38 pm

Weaving a healing or prayer shawl on the Cricket loom

Recently, my sister-in-law had an abscess in her brain, which is devastating and life threatening.

Her friends and family rallied around her and have formed a loving caregiving team.

I decided that as part of my caregiving, I would weave healing and prayer shawls for her and some of her closest friends.

So, I warped up the Cricket Loom from Schacht (I love this loom…. it’s beautifully engineered and weaves like a dream. It’s small enough to be portable – you can weave in the car, and big enough to handle full size projects.)

Here’s the Cricket warped up for one of the healing / prayer shawls:

healing-prayer-shawls-qs-1

I put approximately 150 inches of warp onto the loom, which is pushing the limit, but there’s a reason for that.

I used Caron Simply Soft combined with some tweed weaving thread from my stash for the warp, and the tweed thread for the weft.

I used 2 strands of yarn in each of the slots and holes. I put the tweed yarn only in the holes and the mixture of yarns in the slots.

After I wove the long strip of fabric, I folded it, and stitched the ends together like this:

tottie-tutorial-healing-shawl-1

This forms a long loop. Trim the excess warp strands to a few inches. If you use a sewing machine, use a zig zag stitch. If you do it by hand, work a Philipine edge first to secure the warp strands

Now, fold the ends into points:

tottie-tutorial-healing-shawl-2

Pin the folds in place, and sew the center seam. Stitch the ends in place, and steam and press.

Voila! a beautiful  healing or prayer shawl:

healing-prayer-shawls-qs-2

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

18 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as , , , , , ,

November 10, 2008 · 6:06 pm

Green crafts -Twig buttons with spool knitted cords

I was given a leather coat about a year or so ago.  I was delighted, as I have always wanted one.

But…..

I ended up leaving it in the closet…. it just felt frumpy.

I thought that perhaps I might turn it into a leather skirt, as I have always wanted one of those, too.

But then, my daughter showed up wearing a great leather jacket that she had just bought at the second hand store. She looks fabulous in it, and it made me think….. hmmmmm…..

maybe I should look again at the leather coat.

I realized that it was the buttons! Boring, boring boring….

So, I decided to get adventurous.

I consulted Tottie Tomato, who suggested:

arbutus-buttons-qs-5

that I use some of my stash of treasured arbutus wood (aka madrona) twigs.

I LOVE arbutus, and when we make our yearly visit to the west coast, I always bring home twigs that my sister in law saves for me when she prunes their arbutus tree. (Arbutus don’t grow where we live, sigh.)

So, I cut up one of the arbutus twigs, drilled holes and sanded the ends.

Voila!

a box of fine buttons!

arbutus-buttons-qs-6

Next step: Spool knit 4 or 5 inch long cords for the buttons:

arbutus-buttons-qs-4

and sew the ends together to make a loop

arbutus-buttons-qs-3

and choose flat buttons to be the anchors on the inside of the coat.

Then, sew the buttons on:

arbutus-buttons-qs-1

and now the coat is REALLY fun to wear!

arbutus-buttons-qs-2

I am just loving it.

The arbutus twig buttons remind me of one of my most favorite places on earth, and an old coat that was languishing in the back of the closet has a whole new life.

By the way, the wire pin doll on the lapel is one that I made with wire from a yard sale.

I’ve been making wire dollies since I was a little kid. My dad used to bring home scrap wire from work for me.  I was a dollmaker even then, and designed the little wire people and gave them to all my friends and relations. And, here I am , a million years later, still making little wire people from left over wire…..

I was born to be an eco crafter.

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

17 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, tutorial & how to

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,