Some teas come in cloth tea bags that can’t be composted, so instead of throwing them in the garbage,
here’s a great way to upcycle the bags into yarn that you can weave with (or knit or crochet).
I’ve made a video about how to cut the cloth tea bags into fabric yarn-
What can you do with upcycled tea bag yarn?
Weave with it as if it’s regular yarn… for instance, here are a Star , a Dragonfly and Heart woven on pin looms that I designed for Dewberry Ridge Looms
Or: Make upcycled brooches- here’s a video showing how:
More videos about weaving with teabag yarn –
How to Weave Using Upcycled Teabag Yarn 2 Nails at a Time on Pin Looms:
I wrote and designed and wrote and designed sooooooooooooo many patterns and projects for the Potholder Loom Weaving book that the book became too big, and my editor and I had to make some hard decisions. Even so, the book is a lot thicker than the publisher had originally intended, so many thanks to Stackpole Books and especially to my wonderful editor, Candi Derr, for going to bat for the book and letting it grow bigger than it was originally intended.
We pulled this design from the book and now I am offering it to you as a gift.
If you want to make the blanket larger, use a 27 peg (Pro size) 9 inch loom instead of the Traditional 18 peg size potholder loom. If you want to make the blanket smaller, use the 3 inch size potholder loom (available here: LINK)
POTHOLDER LOOM GEOMETRIC BLANKET by Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)
The Geometric blanket is a cozy wrap to keep you warm no matter what season. The teddy bears and their friends are having a lovely picnic on the Geometric blanket. Won’t you join them?
NOTES: Feel free to change colors and yarns. The blanket in the photos was woven with a single strand of bulky yarn. If you choose to work with thinner yarns, you will need to purchase (or spin) twice as much yarn and use 2 or more strands held together as if they are a single strand.
The twill pattern is on page 59 of Potholder Loom Weaving. The brown and green butterflies in the original blanket didn’t work well, so use the twill pattern or you choice of alternates instead.
FINISHED MEASUREMENTS: 60 inches/150 cm square.
If you would like a larger blanket, then use the large size (27 pegs or nails per side) potholder loom, following the chart and weaving the same number of squares and rectangles. You will need to purchase at least 50% more yarn.
WPI of yarn: 6 wraps per inch
EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS: Potholder loom- 6 inch size (18 pegs or nails per side), Optional: Small size (9 pegs or nails per side) potholder loom; weaving hook; chopstick or knitting needle for shed stick; crochet hook; scissors; tapestry or craft needle.
YARN: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Tonal; Bulky #5 weight yarn; 80% acrylic/ 20% wool; 124 yd/ 113 m; 4 oz/113 gm; 1 strand of yarn is used as warp and weft. 3 balls of each of the following colors: #112 Raspberry; #153 Night Sky; #123 Sand; #126 Coffee; 4 balls of #194 Lime.
INSTRUCTIONS:
WEAVE:
20 squares in #194 Lime Here’s a link that will show you how to weave with yarn on the potholder loom: LINK
16 squares warped with #194 Lime and woven with #126 Coffee
16 squares in #112 Raspberry
1 square in #153 Night Sky
12 squares in #126 Coffee
36 rectangles, warped vertically over 9 pegs or nails, and woven horizontally over 18 pegs or nails in #153 Night Sky, woven using Rectangle technique on https://youtu.be/K2X4nLRBBNs
16 squares in #123 Sand
4 small squares in #194 Lime, woven using instructions for how to weave small squares (9 pegs or nails by 9 pegs or nails) on p.10 of the Potholder Loom Weaving book or instructions that came with the small size potholder loom.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
Stitch all the squares and rectangles together, following the chart .
For the last couple of years, I have been working 24/7 on 2 new books as well as a solo show of my mixed media wovenworks.
I am so delighted that both books will be released in 2020 in bookstores worldwide.
My publisher, Stackpole Books/Rowman/Littlefield has made ‘Potholder Loom Weaving’ available online worldwide for pre-ordering.
It will be on bookshelves worldwide in January of 2020. 😀
It’s a BIG book! It is 264 pages of tons and tons and tons of techniques and projects and I am thrilled to bits with it!
You can pre-order the paperback version of it now from all the online book sellers, and here’s a link to the Book Depository, who ships worldwide for free: LINK
The electronic versions of the book will be available in January- I don’t think it can be pre-ordered for Kindle etc yet.
The last couple of years have been really intense as I have been working night and day on two new books as well as new tapestries and woven works.
One of the books is now up online available for pre-order (I’ll post links asap) and one of the series of tapestries is now in the gallery (Harcourt House Gallery in Edmonton), awaiting the opening on October 18.
This piece is from my ‘Follow the Thread’ series of mixed media weavings:” Terpsichore- Carmen’s Birds”.
Terpsichore is the muse of the dance.
This piece is definitely influenced by my husband, Jim Findlay‘s commitment to playing flamenco.
I was having trouble resolving the piece, because I knew that she needed something to lift her to completion.
Then, my friend, Carma, who sings and dances with Jim and Susan and Barb in Corazone del Flamenco gave me a beautiful little black necklace with tiny birds, and Voila! Done! The birds were exactly what Terpsichore was needing (demanding!)
HURRAH! In 2020, my publisher (Stackpole books) will be releasing not just one new book from me (I was hard at work for almost all of 2018 on it), but-
WHEEE- while I was working sooooooooo hard on the book that will be released in January of 2020, I was also busting my chops on laying the foundation for the NEXT book that I am writing.
And, the good news is that they will be publishing the NEXT book in the fall of 2020, so most of 2019 will have me hard at work on it.
In fact, I am happily working on it now.
Last summer, my friends, Teresa and Darren Griffith gave me a huge bag of fluffy, fabulous fuzz from 4 of their gorgeous alpacas.
I don’t have a drum carder, so I hand carded and carded and carded it all and spun and spun and spun….
this basket of yummy yarn….
It may not look like much, but there is over a kilogram of yarn in that basket!
I thought that Teresa was brilliant to staple a lock of fleece from each of the alpacas to a card, so I would remember the name of each of the sweet alpacas who donated their loveliness!
And, now, I am joyfully weaving the alpaca yarn and will be including it in the NEXT book.
Hurrah!
and a thousand thanks to Teresa and Darren for their amazing generosity! ❤ and blessings to them both
I made a video tutorial showing how to weave on every other nail on the triangle loom when weaving with bulky yarns.
This creates an open lacy weave that drapes beautifully.
The shawl was woven on the 7 foot Dewberry Ridge Triangle loom,using super bulky yarn made by spinning together cotton threads with knitting machine and lace weight yarns.
The every other nail technique also works fine when 2 or 3 strands of medium or fine yarns are held together as if they are a single strand.
This is a very quick and easy way to weave a soft and drapey shawl.
The shawl in the video is a prayer (compassion) shawl made for a dear friend when she lost her Dad.
She loves the shawl, so I am pleased, because of course, I want her to feel that there is love in every stitch and that she can wrap herself in that love whenever she needs it.
Details: I spun a super bulky yarn by combining 7 strands of very fine crochet cotton and knitting machine boucle yarn- cotton and acrylic, on a bulky head spinner. The wpi is 5 wraps per inch. I plied it so it is 14 strands thick.
