Category: Fiber Arts Friday

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Fiber Arts Friday – Loom and Skein

Hi Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday folks.

Ugh, the “day job” has had me very busy this week leaving me little time to enjoy my farm and all the animals let alone fiber arts.

So, here are some teaser photos of the project I have on the “secret loom.”  Ok, now that you have a photo of the loom do you have any idea what it is? 

Rug Loom

Rug Loom

The “rug yarn” I’m using on this loom I made from a fingering weight alpaca yarn using an “Embellish Knit.” I knew those As Seen On TV things would come in handy every now and again.

Lastly, I did manage to finish a skein of yarn.  The colored part is a merino/bamboo dyed in what I call “wine” colors.  Purples, reds, golds and the black is 100% alpaca.   I managed to work up 250 yards of this yarn and now I just need a project for it.

Alpaca Merino Yarn

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Fiber Arts Friday – Picture Frame Looms

Welcome Back Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday Folks

Sticking with my theme from last week I’ve been researching homemade looms and decided to try one of them out.  I picked a simple picture frame loom to start with and though the loom is simple apparently the technique for use is not.

Picture Frame Loom Attempt 1:

I found an old frame in my basement, knocked out the glass and said goodbye to the ugly hotel art that was in there and got to work.  The warp is VERY simple.  Take your string/yarn and wrap the loom on the longest side.  Wrap as wide as you want your end project to be and space the yarn about ¼” apart, keep tension taught and even.

Weave your fiber of choice over under all the strands.  Because there’s a space in your warp thanks to the thickness of the frame one direction of weaving is very fast and the other direction is slow going having to go over/under on the way back.

Here’s my work thus far… FAIL.  As you can see I started to cinch the ends too tightly and the bottom of my project is wider than the top. ERRR

Picture Frame Loom

Picture Frame Loom

Picture Frame Loom Attempt 2:

Ok, so I totally ripped apart my project and started again.  This time I decided to try using some dowels to speed the process up.  1 Dowel is fed through the center of the warp to keep it open.  The 2nd Dowel I put on the bottom and used loops of yarn to attach each top strand to the dowel.  That way when I pulled on the dowel all the attached strands would move with it causing a nice little shed row without me having to weave over/under.

Here’s my new attempt.  Still a fail in my mind but I’ve gotten better with leaving slack at the edges so they don’t taper in.  I was using a fork to pack my rows and apparently I didn’t do that great of a job because they are very loose.  Oh well, I’m still learning.

Picture Frame Loom

Top Secret Loom Project.

Ok my last loom experiment used a new loom entirely but alas I didn’t have time to document it so I’ll have to leave you wondering how I made this until another post.  I’ll give you a hint though… this type of loom is often used to weave raw wool locks.  For my mini test project in this photo I chose to use some pin drafted roving (available in our shop of course).  I can’t wait to attempt a full scale project on this loom.  I’m going to see if I can use raw alpaca, I’m not sure how well it’ll hold together since alpaca doesn’t have the memory or desire to felt quickly like wool.   Don’t worry, I plan to document the dickens out of this method since it is rarely used.

Weaving with Roving

Last day to enter the Alpaca Sock Giveaway – Drawing is tomorrow 11/13/10

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Fiber Arts Friday – Cardboard Looms

Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday Folks

On my travels through the InterWeb I came across some fun new things to try out.  I am always interested in weaving and love my mini loom but I want to make bigger things than a 1-2 inch wide strip.  So, I traveled through the cyberness and found some fun projects for kids making a weaving loom out of cardboard.

The idea is simple really.  Take a piece of cardboard, cut ½ in slits every ¼ in down one side and again opposite that side.  String up your yarn and start weaving over/under.  I’m surprised really that I didn’t learn this in Girl Scouts.  I guess I was more interested in starting fires than girly things.  Here’s a link to the tutorial I used.

So, tada! My first ever woven coaster.

Coasters are fine and good but bigger, I want BIGGER!  I like the idea of cardboard looms so there really must be something that I could make using one.   Of course the fruits of the web were bountiful yet again.  I present to you links to wonderful documentation on how to make your own cardboard triangle loom. 

Building a Cardboard Triangle Loom

Weaving on a Cardboard Triangle Loom

http://www.sandiveracres.com/fiberCreations.html has several beautiful creations off a loom she made. Here’s a photo of her loom and the shawl she made

It appears that the Warkworth Spinners & Weavers Guild in Warkworth, Ontario are the authors of the above files and I thank them tremendously for providing such detailed information.  I will be working on making my loom and weaving on it over the next few weeks.

Lastly there’s still time to enter in our Alpaca Sock Giveaway!  Just do one or more of the following to enter.

Like AlpacaBytes on Facebook
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Comment on the Alpaca Sock Giveaway Post – Spam will be deleted and is not eligible

The contest remains open until 11/12 and a winner will be drawn on 11/13

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Fiber Arts Friday – Crochet Bath Mat

Welcome Fiber Arts Friday and Craft Friday Folks

I have been home sick for most of the week which gave me some time to do a bigger project.  I had almost 2 pounds of Caron (Crap) yarn left over from my mom’s country flannel blanket project and decided to put them to use.  Since I really hate the feel of this yarn I didn’t want to make anything I had to wear.  It’s more of a blanket or rug yarn than a wearing yarn.  Hmmm… Rug yarn? Sounds like my kind of project!

I didn’t want to bore myself with a typical rug so I decided to learn a new stitch while making the center of this one. I figured I’d have enough yarn for a 2×3 foot rug so my ultimate goal was to have this one as a bathmat.  The best bathmats have a plush feel and that’s what I wanted this rug to be like. I looked around at a bunch of stitches and settled on the Cobble Stitch for the center.  The cobble stitch is really easy and goes like this  SC TR SC TR……..  That’s it.  Because I chose to use one of each color for the center you can’t really see the detail in the stitch but the treble areas puff up and make for a fluffy plush mat to step on.  The Single color boarders are just a SC all the way around.

2ft x 3ft bath mat with cobble stitch center

Lastly for FAF I want to introduce you to my next Wii game which I am now coveting.  Please Santa bring me this game for Xmas!  It is called… Kirby’s Epic Yarn.  Here’s the trailer for the video game.  Just check out that yarn knit world and all the buttons!