My favorite season is autumn. Because of the weather, yes, but mostly for the fact that this is the time when the new fall/winter yarns are released!
This year, I decided to do something new and share my sampling thoughts with you in a video, starting with a selection of Hobby Lobby yarns that I tried out recently.
Please let me know what you think about such a presentation! Are you enjoying it? Do you find it useful? Would you like to see something different? Leave a comment here on the blog …
Last week, I stopped at Hobby Lobby to take a look at their new yarns. Taking a “shortcut” through their fall decoration department turned out to be not a shortcut, though, particularly when an adorable little hedgehog, holding a scrubbie pad, caught my eyes. “It needs some color, though …”
On to the yarn department, to find some seasonally colored scrubbie yarn. The plan to make a scrubbie cover was confirmed!
Back home I wove two hexagons on the Original TURTLE Loom™. It goes so fast, you probably won’t need more than one cup of tea or glass of wine to finish the job.
Using any of the tail ends, sew the two hexagons together along four sides, insert the scrubby that comes with the hedgehog, then close completely. Weave in any remaining tails.
I call this a pin loom doodle project … a project that just happens by chance, low key, no stress, but a lot of fun.
When this scrubbie is used up, I’ll get a utility sponge and cut it to shape, and maybe the next scrubbie will be – very seasonal – in red, for the holidays!
Hobby Lobby offers the hedgehog with scrubbie online, but they seem to be very popular and at the time of this writing the item is sold out. Check with your local Hobby Lobby if you have one (and don’t forget to bring your coupon). If you are out of luck, Hobby Lobby and many other home decoration and crafting store are great (or dangerous) places to find a substitute to display your seasonal scrubbie, for example a pretty little plate or dish. Or consider using a “last one of the set” dish that is collecting dust in your cupboard!
Projects that look interesting on both sides are the theme of Handwoven November/December 2020. Weaving hexagons with two colors and changing colors after every row creates a unique pattern where the right side of the fabric shows the opposite pattern to the wrong side … two opposite faces, like Janus. (Meriam-Webster, Janus, “: a Roman god that is identified with doors, gates, and all beginnings and that is depicted with two opposite faces”)
The weaving pattern will work on all TURTLE hexagon looms. For this demonstration and for the Janus doily project we used the Original TURTLE Loom™ and Universal Yarn Uptown Worsted, a quality acrylic yarn that is super soft and comes in many colors.
Weaving a Janus hexagon is not complicated, you just have to look out for a few things. Even better, we’re explaining a different, speedy method to fill in the center of the hexagon: Instead of the traditional back-and-forth weaving, we are using what we call the Afterthought Layer Weaving Method™. Everything is explained in the following video.
Using a different loom? You can! The weaving method is the same for all TURTLE hexagon looms, but you need to adjust the number of wraps: Use a little bit more than half of the recommended wraps for your loom to weave the last “layer”.
What to do with Janus hexagons? Here are just a few ideas about arranging those hexagons differently. Add to that using different colors!
