Loving Little Scrappy Squares

 One day as we were coming home from doing some errands, Bill reminded me that he never took pictures of the cuddly poncho I was wearing, so I stood there, stuck out my arms, and he clicked. I finished it quite a while ago and I love it. I loved making it, love the way it turned out, and love wearing it.

There are 224 squares, all made on my pin loom from odd balls and scraps of yarn that I'd been given or found in charity shops, most left from other projects. I did a simple crochet border using yarn that a friend brought back from a Boston thrift store. It was on a huge cone. So far, I've used it to make a sweater, fingerless gloves, sock cuffs, and more and I still have some left.

I love my pin looms. This one has the pins further apart than most so I can use chunkier yarn or thinner hard held doubled if I want. I can also use a single strand of thinner yarn for a more open weave. The loom uses less yarn to make a square than knitting or crocheting would, so even small scraps go a long way. Some of the squares are plain weave but a few have a more textured weave pattern. All the yarn is wool, mohair, or a combination.

Both the weaving and the sewing together are very meditative activities and it's nice to relax into a project, play with colour and texture, and see how things unfold.

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Little by Little

 For several months now, I've been making squares on my pin loom. Not every day, but when the mood struck. I was using up scraps of acrylic and novelty yarns that people have given me through the years. I had fun playing with colour and texture as I made square after square. It's a 4-inch loom, so I knew I'd need a lot of squares to make a blanket. Earlier in the year, I took 70 of them from my accumulated pile to use for a different project, so the blanket had to wait a bit longer to be finished. But the other night, I wove in the last yarn end and it was done!

photo by bill burke

Here are a few pictures that show some more detail of some squares as the blanket is in use on the bed.

I am in love with this blanket. When it comes to making things, there is nothing I like more than playing with scraps. It makes me think of my grandmother, who was a sewist. She would take scraps and odd bits of fabric and make really scrappy quilts--not pattern, just squares sewn together. I loved mine and I remember sitting under it when I was small and looking at all the different colours and patterns in the small pieces of fabric. I do not get on well with sewing machines, so I end up making bits of fabric with yarn instead and get my scrappy fix that way.

When Bill first got me this pin loom and I was learning how to use it, I quickly realized that I didn't care for leaving the edges plain once they came off the loom, so played around until I had a crochet edge I liked. when I'm setting up the loom, I wind more yarn than the instructions call for and do a slip stitch border around each square using that. There is also a long enough tail left to sew squares together. I like the way the crochet frames each square and the way it looks when the squares are sewn together. It's a neater finish and easier to do. It's also sturdier. Unlike some of the mass-produced pin looms, like the Zoom Loom, this one is handmade and is meant to accommodate bulkier yarn--the pins are farther apart. This means I have fewer curves on the edges to use to connect the plain squares, which is why I decided on the crochet border. I wasn't happy with the end result when I tried to sew my first squares together without it, so I adapted. Years ago I had a vintage Weave-It pin loom, but I broke it, probably trying to use yarn that was too thick for the pins. I love having this one because I can use bulky yarn or two or more strands of thinner yarn held together. So many possibilities!

I have not yet used up my odd balls and scraps, and there is another scrappy project in progress. I guess I'll turn my attention to that now, along with some other things. 

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Scrappy Squares

 The other day, I posted some kumihimo braids made out of scraps and odd balls of gifted acrylic and novelty yarns. In addition to that scrappy project, I am also weaving squares on one of my pin looms. I started making squares when Bill first surprised me with the loom and I had a bunch made. I'd even started sewing them together into a funky scrappy blanket, but then I needed 70 of the squares for a different project, so more squares are needed. I am using some of the same yarns as with the kumihimo, but some of the novelty yarn I have doesn't work well for that. It does work with my pin loom, though, which has the pins farther apart than some looms to accommodate thicker yarns.

I leave long ends to use for sewing the squares together. I'm also making some plain squares so that when I put it together, I have some to break up all that texture. As with the kumihimo, this isn't a fast project, but it's fun to see the colours and textures playing together. I'm enjoying myself so it's OK with me if it takes a while. 😀 Maybe by the time the chilly weather returns, the blanket will be done. Less than 2 weeks until solstice and then we start losing that wee bit of daylight each day! Yay!

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In Real Life

 Iris asked to see the pin loom triangle hat in real life, so here it is from this morning:

We were heading to Aldi to do our weekly shop, thus the mask. And I am experiencing my usual summer poor sleep and other crud, thus the numerous layers of bags underneath my eyes! In real life for sure!

I hope it's a nice day in your part of the world.

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Triangle to Square to Circle the Head

 I recently finished weaving enough triangles on my pin loom to create a hat, which I love. My triangular pin loom has the pins closer together than my square or heart, so fingering/sock yarn is perfect. I love the way the sock yarn weaves up on this loom, although sometimes with yarns that have longer colour changes, the triangles are just a single colour. It's fun to see how each yarn behaves on the loom. 

I finish all my pin loom weaving pieces by crocheting a slip stitch border around the edge. I like this better than just leaving the loops as they are when they come off the loom--it adds a nice frame and it gives a sturdier edge for connecting pieces. In this case, I decided to add another crochet border with dark blue laceweight yarn, which made the colours pop.

To start, I put four triangles together to form a square, which became the crown of the hat.

Then I added triangles along each edge, point side down. The next round was triangles in the corner spaces, points towards the corners. Then two more rounds like that, before a couple rounds of crochet at the brim.

Since it's all sock yarn, which is superwash, laundering will not shrink the triangles, but the dark blue is plain wool, so I did toss the hat in the wash just to firm that part up a bit. It's a slouchy sort of hat, but not a huge slouch. It's lightweight, colourfully funky, and comfortable to wear. I had lots of fun making it. I do love my pin looms!

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Pin Loom Hat from Noro Wool

 Last December, a friend sent me a box of yarn that she'd bought about a decade ago, thinking she might learn to knit or crochet. I did teach her to crochet years ago, but somehow, she did not become obsessed with yarn. This is difficult for me to understand 😉😃, but we can't all be in love with the same things. She has her own creative interests. She was tired of having the yarn in her house, so sent it on its way across a continent and an ocean, arriving just a couple of days before we came here to look at this apartment. It was packed again in short order and when I unpacked it again, I added it to the rest of the yarn collection. The box contained a mix of yarns--novelty ribbon and eyelash yarns, as well as some wool and blends of wool, mohair, and other fibres. There was a ball of Noro wool in there. Noro is known for the colours of the various yarns, mostly with long colour changes and lots of colour in a ball (although there are more muted colourways). It is gorgeous yarn and this ball was in my kind of colours--cool jewel tones. I thought when I first saw it that I would make a hat out of it, but wasn't sure how I would do it. I knew from past experience that both knitting and crocheting would require the use of some scraps with the ball of Noro to eke out a hat. I let it sit in the collection and let the ideas percolate. Then Bill got me a pin loom and I started playing with that. It seemed perfect for the Noro wool. I thought weaving would be a great way to allow the colours to shine and it would allow me to get more mileage from the yarn, as the weaving uses less than knitting or crochet. I wasn't sure how many squares I would get from the ball, but decided to just start making squares, see how many I ended up with, and take it from there. I ended up with 13 squares and I might have enough left for one more (I kept some yarn back in case I needed it to sew up or crochet a border or something). 

I needed to put a bit of a border on each square, just to get the circumference right, so I rummaged round and came up with some scrap balls of some very dark blue laceweight yarn I'd gotten a few years ago at a charity shop, which I doubled up. I experimented with crochet stitches of different heights, measuring after each and doing some calculations before going with one round of double crochet, which was perfect. I like the effect of the dark frame around each square, which makes the colours pop even more. 

I left long tails when starting and ending the border rounds, and I used those to sew the squares together, which I did in the order in which the yarn came off the ball. I sewed 5 together into a tube and then sewed 5 more to each other and the first set. I didn't need any more height and considered cinching the top together by weaving some yarn through and pulling closed but I decided to crochet around the top, decreasing quickly, instead. Finally, I crocheted around the bottom using single crochet, chain one around. This pulled the bottom in just the right amount. I don't want my hats to be really tight, but if they're too loose, they slide around and are not very useful in wind. 

So that's my hat--all squares from the same ball of yarn. The colours take my breath away--I just love them. I'm looking forward to cooler weather when I can wear it. It's a lightweight hat, so good for chilly days that are not too cold. We wear hats all the time, so we each have a collection of hats and something to suit whatever conditions arise!

And now, I'm off to make a cup of tea and to cut a couple of pieces from the loaf of wholemeal raisin bread that is fresh out of the bread maker.It smells so good in here at the moment--it's a rainy, windy day as Storm Francis moves through, so the smell of freshly baked bread seems like a perfect.accompaniment to my kind of day 🍞😋

I hope you are well and staying safe!

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Using Leftovers: A Pin Loom Scarf

A few weeks ago, I posted about the pin loom that Bill surprised me with. I've spent many happy hours with this little tool since then, weaving away and listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I started with some smooth cotton scrap yarn. I made 6 squares and practised joining them, following along with instructions both in videos and in the printed directions that came with the loom. I wasn't too keen on any of the joins, to be honest, but I crocheted around the resulting rectangle and made a little hanging loop and had a hand towel for the kitchen. With all of the hand-washing going on these days it comes in handy and since it's useful, the joins seem flimsy and messy don't bother me that much.

Once I knew I wanted something different as a finish to the squares, I played around until I found what I liked. That is a crochet slip stitch and chain border around each square. This provides a clean frame for the squares and provides versatility as far as joining goes--I will be able to sew the squares together along the crocheted borders or they could be crocheted together. I could also build on the crocheted edge to create a more elaborate border as a frame for the square. The joins would also be sturdier, which is important if making a blanket, shawl, or other garment.

When using the pin loom, the yarn gets wrapped around the pins in a particular way (depending on the loom and configuration of the pins) and then the yarn is wound around the outside of the pins to measure how much will be needed for the weaving itself. Then the yarn is cut, threaded through the weaving needle and is used to weave through the warp. I simply wound the yarn around 5 extra times and when the weaving is done, I pick up a crochet hook and use the tail to slip stitch and chain around the square. When that's done, I have a tail long enough to be securely hidden or to use for sewing squares together, if that's what I want to do.

I've been making squares out of all sorts of yarns, including some novelty/textured yarns a friend sent me a few months ago. I have a large project in mind for those, so am simply making squares for now. I don't want to put any together until I see what I end up with and arrange them how I want them. I plan to crochet them together with one colour of smooth yarn, but the squares themselves will be a mix of different yarns, textures, and colours. Fun!

I had one leftover ball of silk/cashmere yarn that a different friend brought back for me a couple of years ago--she found it in a thrift store in the US when she was there. There were 4 balls of a blue-grey, one ball of cream, and one ball of light brown. I used the two single balls to make myself a neckwarmer and three of the blue-grey to make a scarf with pockets, so I had scraps of cream and brown, a few scraps of blue-grey and a full ball. I made as many squares as I could with the yarn and today, I put together the blue-grey ones into a short scarf. I decided that, instead of attaching the squares along the edges, I would layer them in a diamond shape. I rummaged around in my stash of beads and bits from deconstructed charity shop jewellery and picked out a few pieces to use as embellishments. I used the long end tail to sew the squares and to attach the embellishments.

It's hard to see in the pictures, but the bottom diamonds are the blue-grey and cream held together.

I have a couple of squares made with the light brown and cream, but I will use those for something else. This scarf is just the length I wanted--it sits around my neck and the ends do not hang down too much. I plan to wear it secured close to my neck with a small pin/brooch. It will be nice when we are back in my happy seasons of autumn and winter.

Meanwhile, the pile of 4-inch squares keeps growing and ideas for how to use them are bouncing around in my head. I'm having so much fun with my little handmade loom.

I hope this day finds you safe, well, and experiencing many moments of quiet joy!

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