Wow! The new Little Looms Fall 2023 issue has taken off to new heights. Big congrats to editor Christina Garton and her team for curating another excellent collection of small loom adventures, from rigid heddle to inkle to pin looms.
As always, each of the projects has a story, and I’d like to share some of those here.
I designed the Forest Toques with the issue’s theme in mind: “It Takes Two”. I jokingly call this project the “Toque Two”.
It’s the same hat, but depending on how you turn the hexagons when you sew them together, you get a smaller or a larger hat size.
For the model I used the Original TURTLE Loom™ R and the gorgeously beautiful and soft Noro Miyabi yarn that I discovered at a local yarn store (Farm to Needle). The same hat could also be worked on the fine sett or even the extra fine sett loom.
The story of the Phoenix Rising Shawl is about dreams coming true. Since I was a teenager I’ve wanted to express the glow of a fire in a fiber project, but I never found the right yarn for it. At the same time, I’ve for many years adored the yarns of the Hedgehog Fibres company, but many of them were a bit thin for pin-loom weaving … until Merino Aran became available. The vibrant colors for “fire” and “ashes” caught my eyes, probably because I had just shared the story of Phoenix rising from the ashes with a friend who needed some encouragement.
Sampling the yarn on multiple pin looms revealed that the Original Jewel R loom created perfect radiance, combined with “ashes” hexagons from the Original TURTLE Loom R … and the Phoenix Rising Shawl was born. Thank you, Christina, for calling it a “showstopper shawl” in the editorial!
Greta Holmstrom is occasionally test-weaving new TURTLE looms, and I think it was about two years ago when I sent her some, including a diamond or tumbling block shape. How awesome to see Greta’s Star Shawl in this Little Looms issue, combining hexagons and tumbling blocks! You can weave the shawl using the Original Diamond 2″ F and the Original TURTLE Loom F, or – if you prefer to use worsted weight yarns, use the “R- regular sett” versions of both looms.
Debbie Shelmidine was our April Travel Turtle host last year, and we mentioned then that she is a veteran pin-loom designer who has published designs in Handwoven as far back as 2008 and also in the very first Little Looms issue in 2016 before she took a design break. How precious it is to see her comeback in Little Looms Fall 2023 with the perfectly-fall Autumn Leaves Runner! Debbie wove the leaves on the Elongon™ 2″ R loom in Peaches & Cream cotton and embroidered the leaf stems … brilliantly easy and beautiful!
There is much more to the issue, of course, and you can read more about it on the Little Looms website. And if you have questions about any of the projects that you can make with TURTLE looms, please contact us any time!
PS: If you saw our ad in Little Looms Fall 2023, you’ll know that there’s still more to come … the Polka Dot Cowl.
Soon … not yet …