A simple, and very effective way to make a bag handle is to spool knit it.  There’s often a problem with spool knitted handles, though.
They can stretch and stretch and stretch. Not so good.
So, I use a couple of techniques to get around that problem.
Spool knitting with 2 interlocking colors works well.
Another way  to make a spool knitted handle that doesn’t stretch
is to spool knit over a stabilizing core of non stretchy yarn or cord.
I have been working on a bag that I have woven on the Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom.
I decided that I wanted to spool knit the handle and …read more

All week, I have been scrambling to get the various components made for a bag, using the Lily Speed-o-Weave Loom, spool knitters and vintage flower looms.
Why do cats always need to sit on freshly warped looms?
I worked with 2 looms set to their smallest dimension. (And was supervised well and truly by Ms Kitty)
You choose the size that you want the Lily Speed-O-Weave loom to be by matching up the holes on the sides and bolting them together.
I used Lily Sugar’n Cream in Black and White to make the front and back of the bag, and to spool knit the …read more

I have been working like mad on Lily Speed-O-Weave looms to show how good things can be created on these nifty vintage looms.
The project that I am working on is going to become a bag. I’ve been working on 2 looms at the same time.I have finished doing the knotting on both the front and the back of the bag.
Now I am working on the embellishment for the bag. It’s a butterfly/fairy, drawn with spool knitted cord.
This is the pattern for the butterfly/fairy. It’s about 9 1/2 inches wide and about 8 inches wide. I made 2 copies of the …read more

In the introductory video to ‘How to work with the Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom’, I showed a variety of things that you can make with the wonderful, funky old vintage Lily Speed-O-Weave looms.
I also showed how to wrap the 3 layers of yarn onto the loom.
In the second video, I am explaining how to do the stitching that locks the layers of wrapped yarn together to create the mesh like, knotted fabric.
I will be doing more videos explaining other aspects of working with the
Lily Speed-O-Weave loom.
I’ll get those posted this week.
And, I will also be working on a booklet detailing the …read more

The Lily Speed-O-Weave is a wonderful vintage loom that is no longer produced. Luckily, they still show up in garage and yard sales, second hand stores and on eBay.
I am in the process of making a series of ‘how to work with the Lily Speed-O-Weave’ loom video tutorials.
The first one is an introduction, showing how to wrap the loom with the warp strand layers.
The yarn in the video is Lily Sugar’n Cream in Black and Lily Sugar’n Cream in white. I hold 2 strands of yarn together as one strand throughout the whole project.
In the video, I  wrap the pegs …read more

The neatest sequence of events unfolded recently….
My dear son-in-law knows that I have been questing for a square Lily Speed-o-weave loom for ages.
He IM’ed me, saying: Hey…. there’s one on eBay……
I went and looked. Kewl!
But, the vendor wouldn’t ship it to Canada
So, I emailed the pic to my wonderful sister-in-law. She works close to the world’s best second hand store. She has found all kinds of nifty things there, and says most everything goes through that store at sometime or another…..
She popped over to the shop, sent me an email, and said:
They only have a hexagonal one.
I emailed …read more

Well, last night, I got all fed up with trying to figure out some of the ‘alternate flight plans’ of the strange little instruction booklet that came with one of my really old Lily Speed-o-weave looms.
So, today, I decided to give myself carte blanche on the second side of the hemp bag that I am working on.
It was exhilarating! After all, I am covering most of the mesh with spoolknitted figures and buttons and other bits and pieces….. so it was time to get playful!
and I did…….

Permission to be playful.
I gave it to myself, and here’s a permission slip for …read more

Last summer,  I made a bag to carry projects and stuff for the workshops that I taught at the Knit and Crochet show
So, I posted this:
Anyhow, I am making this wild and wonderful bag. It started out with a pair of painted wooden handles that I made a few years back.
you can see them by clicking
handles
I thought that rainbow hemp cord would be wonderful on my vintage Lily Speed-o-weave loom. I was right…. it’s great to work with. (click on the handles link to get the address for the hemp site).
And………
then, I thought……… OH! I should get …read more

My previous posting was about finding missing parts for Lily Speed-o-weave looms.
I just wanted to add one more thing……..
and that is, that you can make more than table mats with them.
I made this shawl from silk I spun myself, using the Lily Speed-o-weave loom and crochet……

Hmmmmmmm I think my daughter borrowed it…….

that happens…….
Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyrightwww.crone-findlay.com 

I have a fondness for the old metal Lily Speed-o-weave looms. They’re kind of weird, but they’re very appealing….

I have 2 of the hexagonal ones, and would love to find a square/rectangular one.
Anyhow, today, I glanced over at a placemat that I had made on the Lily Speed-o-weave loom, and was taken by how much the pattern looks like the ‘tumbling blocks’ quilting pattern. I took a picture of it:

but it’s hard to get the camera to see it the way my eye does…..
oh well….. c’est la vie.
I get a lot of emails from people, saying …read more