To be honest, I don’t know what this is going to be, but the squares have marinated in my stash long enough and it’s time to do something with them. My hope is that it’ll be contemporary, yet wearable. The original plan (many months ago) was a very ordinary, traditional vest, but I’ve moved beyond that now. One really nice thing about weaving little pieces is that you can change your mind very late in the game.

I have three largish Weave-It projects in various stages of incompletion. My ever-present challenge—to finish something. This blog and Ravelry are doing a lot to help me conquer that. Over and over I read or hear, “Weaving on little looms is so much fun! Now what do I do with the squares?” Everyone seems to have a box full of squares. The purpose of this blog and the original site is to get you making stuff! Lets see some finished projects, OK?

Where to get inspiration?

• Look to other fiber techniques. Go to a quilt show. Scroll through Favorite Projects on Raverly (where I found some GREAT ideas that will hopefully translate to weaving). Pull out (or bid on) those old 1970’s Granny Square Crochet magazines. Go to a museum and look at their textiles. Look at examples of ethnic clothing, which were usually based on squares and rectangles because fabric was too precious to waste by cutting curves.

• Sample like crazy and let your samples be your inspiration. Dump them all out on the floor in front of you and just look and feel. Ideas will come!

• Let the yarn tell you what it wants to be. Personally, I can’t decide what yarn to use for any project unless I’ve had experience with that yarn in the form of swatching and sampling.

• PUSH yourself to try new things. Explore crazy ideas. Sample that thing you dreamed about last night.

• Keep a notebook in your bag or pocket to jot down ideas and rough-sketch inspiring objects.

Then DO it!

Jan has a brand new blog, Still Playing With String, where she is showing applied I-cord borders on her WAL squares. A great idea and wonderful execution to boot. Check it out. Diane at Lace-Lovin’ Librarian has added tatting motifs. (Did you know this group is lousy with librarians? It’s true! At least three that I know about.) And there are more wonderful things to see by clicking on the linked participants. Visit them and leave a comment. They’ll appreciate it.

On a sort of weave-related topic, my invitation to Ravelry came a few days ago and I’ve been logging in knitting projects and looking at all the exciting patterns, projects, yarn porn, people, groups, etc. I’m “eLoomanator” if you’re already on it. (Let me know if you are! And that was the best photo available…I’m camera shy.) If you aren’t there, DO sign up on the waiting list. Because we’re gonna lobby hard to get weaving added to knitting and crocheting. Don’t you think we should be represented? Isn’t weaving a natural companion to knit and crochet? Yarn + manipulation = cloth.

If any of you are still loomless, I will try to help you locate one on eBay. Many get overlooked.

Weave-It Rug Looms. If you’re up to the task of making your own, here are photos and dimensions. Good luck.

Frame is made of four pieces with dovetailed corners.
Frame dimensions:
.75″wide
7/16″ high
5.5″ per side
4″ interior opening
Top interior edge of frame is beveled. Corners are slightly rounded.
Peg spacing, if there were pegs in blank spots, is 4 per inch.
Pegs extend 1″above frame, and are about 3 to 3.25 mm in diameter.
Pegs are positioned slightly inside the midline of frame. From center of peg on one side to center of peg on the opposite side is exactly 4.75″.

Have you seen the What If? textile blog of quilter, Jude Hill? I’m bowled over by the creative possibilities she explores—ideas that we can often apply to our bits from small looms. CHECK IT OUT! And be sure you scroll through all of the archives. It’s amazing. I could spend the next month there.

Some of my weaving samples above. I think we need a name for the WAL and have decided to call it “Square Deal Weave-Along” for obvious reasons. OK, it’s sort of silly, but at least people might remember and distinguish it from any other WAL’s that may be going on out there.

The 70’s were a rockin’ decade for free-spirited needlework designs! These two garments are from EXOTIC NEEDLEWORK with Ethnic Patterns, Techniques, Inspirations by Dona Z. Meilach and Dee Menagh, published in 1978 by Crown Publishers. They were tucked into the crochet chapter, even though they are mostly woven. You may not be able to see it in the B&W scan, but the designer has incorporated peacock feathers in the skirt border. An old envelope purse (on the bench) was refashioned with extra squares and and fringe to complete the outfit.

Both designs are by Lillian Bryce. I haven’t been able to locate any information about her, but would love to know what else she designed for little looms.

Sunshine at Sunshine’s Creations posted a Block of the Month on September 1st that sent me running to the loom collection. She calls this Disappearing Nine Patch because it starts as a simple nine patch that’s cut and reassembled as something totally different. It’s not quite that easy when you weave it, but the end result is quite similar, yes?

This little project was a lesson in seaming for me. I’ve always tried to have loops offset when doing an overcast seam, thinking it would avoid gaps and holes. Well, that’s just not always possible when you’re flipping around so many pieces. So I tried to be neat and not obsess over it. If you’re offended by any seaming irregularities, don’t tell me!

There are tons of quilt blocks that we can make with a collection of Weavette Looms, or a Loomette with “adjustabar”. Check out Buncha Squares (August 14th) at Mason Dixon. We can do that! And this free quilting block site, Quilting Arts Forum, has lots of candidates, too.

Abby at abmatic/k has a detailed tutorial on making the diagonal (twill) weave pattern on Weave-It type looms. This pattern is tricky to execute with a needle until you get into the groove. She has all kinds of useful tips to help us along. Thanks, Abby!

On her blog, Noreen Crone-Findlay has a great two-part video about on how to weave with yarn on potholder looms. She demonstrates very clearly and I expect there will be an immediate run on potholder looms! If you get the potholder looms with corner prongs, you can also weave a la Weave-It or Weavette with the three-layer wrap and then needle weave. Noreen has both a website and a blog, so check them both out.

Old knitting bags on ebay have been like a siren song to me and here are a few that I bought for use and display, including one made with a little loom.