Yesterday, I posted a  pattern that I made from a vintage handmade inkle weaving shuttle.
Today, I thought… I should use that pattern to make a shuttle!
Then I remembered that I had a piece of an old ruler from my husband’s Dad in the studio.
I don’t know what he used the other half for, but I am pleased as can be to have this half!
I traced the pattern onto the ruler.
Because I promised my friend, William, that I wouldn’t use power tools until my eye is completely healed, I used simple hand tools.
My eye is really not there yet, so power …read more

Yesterday, I embedded the first half of my ‘How to Weave with yarn on the potholder loom’.
Today, I am embedding the second half of the tutorial.
In this half of the tutorial, I give all kinds of helpful hints and tips that I have discovered over the years, as I have been weaving with yarn on the potholder loom.
One tip: What if you have a ‘plain jane’ kind of a yarn?
You can make it more of a designer yarn by combining it with strands of thinner yarns, and threads, which is what I did with the yarn in the photo to …read more

Butterflies are one of my most favorite motifs to work with.  When a friend requested more ideas of what to make with triangles woven on the potholder loom, I was inspired to design this butterfly:
You’ll need to get out your potholder loom, and your spool knitter  and less than an ounce of yarn in wing colors and less than an ounce of black yarn for the body.
If you haven’t seen my video on
how to weave a triangle on the potholder loom
then, click on the link  above, because you’ll need to know how to do that.
For this butterfly, I combined a …read more

The potholder loom is a wonderful little loom. It’s portable, cheap and cheerful, and TOTALLY under-appreciated!
Well… I LOVE it, and design lots of fun and neat things with it.
BUT… you have got to forget about those looper things…. ugh.
Yarn is good.
Yarn is everywhere! It’s got color, texture,
and is a pleasure to work with on the potholder loom.
Everyone thinks that you can only weave squares on  the potholder loom.
Not so! I have figured out  how to weave a triangle on the potholder loom,  and have just made a video that shows how I weave triangles.
I love ‘multi-tasking’ with my tools, so …read more

It’s spring! And, even though I may be too late for Easter with this bunny, I hope that you will have lots of fun weaving and spool knitting a darling Springtime Bunny.
You’ll need: A ball of pink yarn (I used Bernat Denimstyle in Weathered Rose)
A Potholder Loom,a weaving hook, a chopstick,a crochet hook,
a 4 peg spool knitter, a loop lifter,
a craft needle, a ruler, a dime, scissors, about an ounce of polyester stuffing,
about 10 inches of red yarn, a paper punch for circles, a paper punch for the heart,
or cut it out of junk mail freehand, thick craft glue, a …read more

A member of the Ravelry group: Tatta tat tatters had a lovely idea for a shower gift for her friend.
She decided to make her a hankie with simple tatted edging, and asked for input.
I thought…. ooooooooh how neat…. I have a collection of vintage lace trimmed hankies that I love,
so it seems to me to be the perfect timeless and heartfelt gift.
I looked on the net to see if I could find some entry level tatted edgings,
but didn’t find any.
But, I did find 2 sources for linen hankies to add the lovely lace to:
mielkes farm
and
lacis
I looked at a heap of …read more

This morning, a friend wrote me a note, and mentioned that she liked the bags on the cover of my new book.
I was startled-
How on earth did she know what was on the cover?
Aha!
Amazon.ca….
wheeeeeeeeeee!
There it is!
and they are taking pre-orders…. yay!
So, I thought that I would check Amazon.com to see if it was there, too.
Nope….. not there.
Instead, I was asked the question:
‘Did you mean: “The Women Big”?’
Well, once I wiped the tea off my computer screen, I politely declined to look for
“The Women Big’.   Thanks, I’ll just wait for The Woven Bag.
Image Source: Photo by F&W Media copyright

Recently, I blogged about test driving the new Cricket Loom from Schacht Looms.

I gave The Cricket Loom a rave review and showed a bit of the healing/prayer shawl that I wove for my sister in law.
She’s been terribly ill and has scared the bejabbers out of us….. She had an abscess in her brain, which was life threatening and harrowing. She’s had surgery and it was successful.
Weaving a healing/prayer shawl for her was very soothing for me.
It allowed me to pour my love for her into every stitch…

I hope that it will bring her comfort. I love to think that …read more

Tottie Tomato began her life here on hankering for yarn.
And, she’s undergone all manner of transformations.
Such a busy life for a little tomato!
She now has her own blog in which she and I share our love for spool knitting, crochet, tatting, knitting, small loom weaving, sewing, doll making, puppets, wood working, recycling and eco crafts, to name just a few.
She’s just getting started, but do check her out: Tottie Tomato
Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Grace and Fred Hatton are creating a wonderful body of work, making and weaving with Scandanavian narrow double hole rigid heddle looms.
Grace’s fascinating article in Weavezine is here
and Fred sells the gorgeous looms he builds here
Awesome!