Something New
There's one more thing that I bought at MS&W that I didn't mention in my "what I bought at the festival" post. This was partly because I forgot about it and partly because I wanted to play with it and have some results to show off before I talked about it. If you read Julie's blog, you've already read what she has to say about her Weavette. I bought mine at the very same place (Haltwhistle Fibers) , only I purchased the 4" x 4" Weavette. Weaving is one of those crafts that I've been interested in for some time (and I can remember playing with my potholder loom when I was small, and working on a very simple frame loom when I was about 10), but have shied away from because of the fact that it's not a cheap pursuit to embark upon. I can be fickle with my crafting hobbies and I figured that I needed to find some smaller scale way to try this out to see if it was worth it to me in terms of both money and space to move on to bigger and more expensive things.
Clearly, the tiny weavette is a good place for someone like me to start. In addition to the loom, I also bought a handy-dandy little book of textures (I do like me some spiral bound craft books! Why can't more people make books like this?) to help me on my way. I thought about the yarn to use it with for a little while, and then settled on some of the 50/50 silk/fine wool blend that I had spun after Christmas, since I thought for the first experiments it would be best to do something where color didn't get in the way of being able to observe the texture.
First off, I had a lot of fun doing this. The instructions that come with the Weavette and that are in the book are excellent and easy to follow. It took me no time at all to "warp up" this little loom and get started on my first square of plain weave. Taking it off the pins was a little adventure because I was curious as to how the fabric would change. Clearly, the frame put tension on the fiber, so would it retract a bit like I would expect knitted fabric to do? In this case, it changed very little, though I suspect that some of that has to do with the high silk content (and, thus, reduced elasticity) of the yarn I chose. For a little while, I couldn't put that square down. I was completely surprised that in less tthan 15 minutes I could create this wonderful little square bit of cloth. So I made another, and then another. I think I might like this whole weaving thing!
I think it's appropriate that there should be a convergence of cross-stitch and weaving for me right now. As soon as I started to handle the plain weave square, it occured to me that this was no different than the woven linen fabrics that I've used to cross stitch on. Amazing how it can take actually making something on my own to help me see the painfully obvious. The weave is quite large, though, so I don't know that embroidery floss would be my best bet to cross-stitch with. But what about the silk single that I am spinning up right now? Could be an interesting combination, I'm thinking, if I can find a simple design that will fit in the confines of a relatively small space. I've been wanting to join Julie's pincushion challenge, but given my rudimentary (at best) sewing skills I was at a loss for what to do. Now I am beginning to think I might have the inkling of an idea.
There's also a pretty rich set of patterns out there on the internet for this little toy. My favorite site was eLoomaNation, a site that focuses on doing interesting things with little looms, and which has a whole section filled with vintage patterns and projects for use with the 4" x 4" loom with lots of nice downloadable PDFs.
Can you tell what toys I'm going to be playing with this weekend?
Hey, that's cool!!!
Man, i sure didn't see those at MS&W. Hmmm.
Deb's been talking about wanting to weave...could be a beginning for her as well.
~Suz~
Your squares are so cute, what do you plan on using them for?
I am totally in love with my 6"x6", and I definitely notice with wool yarn that it shrinks up when you pull it off the pins. But I guess it would differ based on how much tension you put on it too. I am going to be making a throw out of Trekking XXL.
I love the texture of the other two patterns you used
Remember that woven fabric isn't finished until it's been washed. That's when you'll see the real change in look and feel.
I love Weave-It's too and have some vintage ones, 2" square, 4" square and at Stitches one year I bought some rectangular shapes. This year at MD I bought larger 6" ones including a triangular one. Great for scraps and with the various shapes you can make clothing too. And they are portable! Have fun. Do a search for Hazel Rose looms and you'll see a lot of different shapes and books.
Thanks for the tips on washing squares (Catherine) and giving me another place to check out for different size and shaped looms. I've already been thinking that it would be fun to have a 6 x 6. Loom... I'd never thought about having a triangular one!
Way cool, KB.
How'd we miss them???? My sister was specifically looking for weavette looms and we didn't find them - guess we just didn't look hard enough.
Try it with Noro Kureyon...yummy! I have had so much fun with my 4x4 that I also bought a 6x6 in Maryland...the jury is out as to which is more fun. (BTW, there was a pillow at the SOAR Gallery last year made from all the yarns from one of the spinning classes...spectacular!)
Very neat, my husband constantly wants me to get a loom over at The Weaving Department in St. Louis to make guitar straps. I keep telling him after the first 10 what would I use it for, I dont even know 10 people who need a guitar strap.
Ooo, thank you so much for posting that like to eLoomaNation, Theresa! I got a 4" weavette last month but haven't sat down to play with it yet. It really only took 15 minutes to make a square???
Hmmm . . . this could be dangerous. Because, yep, I've always wanted to weave but it seems so expensive . . . what you said!
Kristi -- 15 minutes is about all it took me. I think the thing that takes the longest time is just figuring out how to get it "warped" -- after that, it's cake.
Rebekah -- I think Julie and I would both love to have your husband talk to our husbands... we've got no problems being enabled to buy more fiber equipment.
Diane -- they were easy to miss... but if you check out the link to Julie's post, she provides a link to an online store that sells them.
Marcia -- I'm going to have to try the Kureyon. I bet that would be lovely in the 6x6 size for a pillow when 4 of them are connected.. So many things to try with this little loom!
That eLoomaNation site is a great find! Now we can even make ourselves bathing suits out of weavette squares :) But seriously, I love all the pdf's of the old pattern booklets. And I can't wait to see what you come up with for the pincushion challenge -- I'm very intrigued by your idea!
I love those weavette looms. That's seriously on my wish list and I love them as something to use up the scraps of yarn too. I see that I will need to get this summer.
Wow - you really could start with fiber (or a sheep ;), spin it, dye it, weave a background, and cross-stitch it -- the whole thing handmade! Impressive, and inspiring....
Too bad I didn't spot you at Sheep & Wool! If you take any book to Kinkos, they can turn it into a spiral bound book. Really. I know it is hard to believe, but true. I think they may not be able to do books over 3 inches thick, but still how cool is that? Love the Weavette!
eLoomaNation owner here. My experience is that it takes less than fifteen minutes to weave a 4 x 4 square, but then I have to spend about three minutes admiring the finished square, front and back, stretching it, patting it, comparing it to all the others, etc.... May I chime in and agree that Kureyon is fabulous on these looms? My favorite project to make so far has been the Kureyon afghan pictured in the Gallery/Home Dec section. If you click on the detail photo, you can see how the colors and textures work together. FUN!
Ooh, so cute! I had no idea you girls were going looming?!!! I should have suspected from Julie's longing for that car sized loom in that one booth...
Your textures are so pretty, and I agree there are endless possibilities for color/texture combos that can be joined up for table mats or pillows, etc...so fun.