A Color Gamp Bandana

Posted on by texasgabi

As a weaver, at some point during your weaving journey you most likely have encountered color gamps, the systematic use of color combinations within a project.

It has been a great privilege for me to write about special aspects of color gamp weaving on pin looms for the Little Looms magazine, and you can read about it in the new Little Looms Summer 2025 issue that has been released today.

For the Weave Together 2025 retreat, I designed a sample project that allows pin-loom weavers to explore color-gamp weaving in a practical project: A Color Gamp Bandana.

Louët’s Venne Eco Jeans (available at Louët dealers like the Lone Star Loom Room) proved to be an excellent yarn choice for such a project. I used it double-stranded on our TinyTURTLE F-fine sett hexagon pin loom .

Colors from left to right:

  • 19-5056 Olive
  • 19-3005 Deep Red
  • 19-4038 Slate Blue
  • 19-1021 Cornsilk
  • 19-4060 Steam
  • 19-3034 Pelican Pink
  • 19-6005 Sahara.

For the gamp, I combined these colors with themselves (see diagonal) and then with each other, and arranged them in a gamp with slanted columns (read about that construction in the Little Looms article).

Using seven colors and the TinyTURTLE loom makes a project large enough for a bandana that can be worn with a bandana clasp clip or ring (I used a faux leather clip).

If you would like to make a larger bandana, consider adding more colors or use the same colors on a larger loom!

While this project concludes our Weave Together 2025 miniseries I hope that you enjoyed it and will stick around, because there’s always more … alligator Mardy is right around the corner, and I saw a bunny hopping across the lawn recently, and then there is a long list of pin-loom tips and tricks that want to be shared …

Simply sign up to the turtleloom blog to be notified so that you don’t miss anything:

Take a moment and share what you thought about this miniseries
in the comments below!

Let’s Have a Countryside Brunch

Posted on by texasgabi

Weave Together 2025 location: York, Pennsylvania. Theme: Traveling. Retreat focus: Weaving immersion, yarn, good food.

There is no escape … this is inspiration for an outdoor brunch with a country table setting! I grabbed some looms, yarn from the Marketplace, and designed a Countryside Brunch Table Topper, which is our third Weave Together 2025 project.

The Yarns

Lofty Fiber’s LoftyCotton Pillow Soft yarn is a beautiful thick/thin cotton that weaves up great on our F – fine sett looms, but for this project I used it double-stranded on the R – regular sett which allowed me to blend colors.

I also discovered Circulo Natural Multicolor 4/6 at Lofty Fiber, a variegated thick cotton that weaves up into a sturdy fabric on the R – regular sett looms.

Looms and Instructions

To make the project, weave:
– 6 jewel shapes on the Original Jewel Loom, R, in Circulo Natural, I used multicolor 9392
– 12 hexagon shapes on the Original TURTLE Loom™, R, holding two strands of Pillow Soft together (I used colors Gold and Cayenne)

Joining pieces that are not organized in rows and columns is not always easy (ask any quilter), so here are a few “best practices” tips that you may find helpful when assembling your table topper:

To assemble the center circle, layout the jewels with the end tails pointing together and the start tails pointing into the same direction, for example “all to the right”.

Join the jewel pieces along the long sides first. Secure the first stitch (splice the yarn tail with the first stitch as shown), then whip stitch along the side, skipping about every fourth stitch.

Before joining the last two sides, use the following method to make a nice center … no ugly hole, and the jewel shapes don’t pull together and pucker.

Tip: This method works for joining other shapes, too!

  • Start with a securing stitch at the top of the current jewel (make one stitch around the last warp and split the working yarn ), to make sure that the yarn stays in place.
  • Gather one stitch at the tip of each jewel shape …
  • Continue all around.
  • Pull in the circle enough to reduce the opening without pulling in the jewels too much.

Next, add the hexagons all around the jewel circle, like a ring or border.

For a neat border, first attach hexagons to the bottom sides of the jewels as shown.

Finally, “insert” a hexagon each into the remaining spaces.

Tip: If you use the hexagon tails facing towards the jewel circle as shown, you can use those tails for the sewing and you will have no tails left after that … which makes a really neat edging for the table topper with no more tails to weave in.

There you have it! All done!
Serve with bread and cheese and a beverage of your choice …

A Giveaway!

Posted on by texasgabi

This evening, the Weave Together attendees are invited to a Shop, Sip & Weave Night at the Marketplace (the TURTLEs will be on exhibit). While only Weave Together patrons can attend, it doesn’t mean that we can’t have any fun here on the blog!

Congratulations to Gwen HERNLEY, who won the muud bag and a TURTLE loom of her choice! The winner has been notified. Thank you to all who participated!

The theme of the evening is traveling, and I think there is no better way to travel than with a pin loom.

When it comes to traveling in style with a pin loom, I discovered a perfectly sized case from the muud company (available through Universal Yarn). I like the Heaven bag for my Original TURTLE looms, and there is enough space for the tools, yarns, and pattern.

Photo: Long Thread Media

A Heaven bag (and a TURTLE loom of the winner’s choice) will be raffled off at the Shop, Sip & Weave event, and we will give away another combo here on the blog.

The giveaway on the blog is open to all pin-loom lovers … for readers it’s a chance to win, for Weave Together attendees it’s a second chance in case they don’t win at the retreat.

TO ENTER, leave a comment here on this blog, telling us where you would love to travel with your new loom case.

The giveaway is open now and will close at midnight CDT, March 25th, 2025.

The winner will be determined randomly, and the winner’s name will be posted here on this blog.

Dream, weave, and enjoy. Good luck!

A Very Lofty Headscarf

Posted on by texasgabi

The stunning Cherry Blossom Scarf by Yvonne Ellsworth on the title of Handwoven Spring 2025 instantly captured my attention … yours, too?

Reading up on the project details I noticed that the scarf uses one of my favorite mohair yarns, Berroco Aerial.

One thought lead to the next, and I wondered if I could use any leftovers from such a project to make something nice with pin looms.

For my second Weave Together 2025 project I settled on the idea of making a headscarf, light enough to keep the wind from messing up one’s hair, but without being too warm … perfect for traveling.

The Rhinebeck Headscarf pattern that was released last fall already includes a chart for such a headscarf, made of hexagons (and half hexagons) only.

Based on my calculation there should be enough Aerial left after making the Cherry Blossom scarf to pin-loom weave a headscarf. I randomly wove up hexagons in both colors and arranged those into stripes. Feel free to create your own color distribution!

To give the head row a little bit more strength, I wove the pieces for this row by holding a strand of Aerial and the very soft LoftyCotton 8/4 from Lofty Fiber together.

This approach on its own would make a great sweatband, too.

Instead of knitting an i-cord to tie the headscarf I came up with the idea of using a mitten clip as closure (I found some on Amazon).

With just the mitten clip, the headscarf will fit a small adult head, and you can add a trapezoid on each end of the head row to make the closure easily adjustable for larger head circumferences.

To make the headscarf you will need:

Happy Leftover Weaving!

Weave Together 2025

Posted on by texasgabi

This year’s Weave Together retreat is starting today. I won’t be joining in person in beautiful York, Pennsylvania, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t chat about it!

I had the opportunity to get my hands on some of the yarns that will be available at the retreat’s Marketplace, and i used those for a few projects that I want to share with all of you over the next days.

The first project is a little Weave Together 2025 table runner, inspired by the colors and the logo of the event.

Loom maker Louët carries Venne yarns, and I used BIO Cottoline and BIO 8.2 Katoen (Cotton) for my project.

While those yarns are designed for multi-shaft weaving, I used them very successfully double-stranded on our F-fine sett looms. The fibers are smooth to weave, resulting in a project with vibrant colors and a beautiful gentle sheen that is second to none.

Here are the instructions for making the little table runner:

Looms

Looms may sell out quickly. We list more as they become available, or contact us to setup a custom order.

Original TURTLE Loom™, F – Fine sett

Original Diamond, F – Fine sett

Original Trapezoid, F – Fine sett (this loom is optional. Instructions for weaving half hexagons on a hexagon loom can be found here)

Yarns

Venne BIO Cottoline in 3-4043 Darknixe, 3-4053 Gentian, 3-4039 Deep Blue, and 3-5052 Poison Green.

Venne BIO 8/2 Katoen in 5-7100 Cream and 5-5003 Kentucky Blue.

Venne yarn is available at Louët dealers, one example is The Lonestar Loom Room.

Weave the following shapes … remember to weave the yarn double-stranded. The chart also provides total number of shapes and yardage in case you want to use your own colors:

HexagonsDiamondsTrapezoidYards per color (rounded)
3-4043 Darknixe, light blue1225
4053 Gentian, medium blue1225
3-4039 Deep Blue, dark blue1225
3-5052 Poison Green, medium green1225
5-7100 Cream,
natural		745
5-5003 Kentucky Blue, dark green532
Total number per shape4128
Total yardage for the project177

Assembly: Use whip stitch to sew the pieces together according to the following chart. I found it easiest to sew the hexagons and trapezoids together first into columns, and then “fill in” the diamonds.

Make it your own! You can easily adjust the length by adding/subtracting more hexagon/trapezoid columns and diamond spacers. If you wish to use your own colors, feel free to print or download the following chart for your design:

Don’t miss the next project story! Sign up to be automatically notified when new projects and news are posted:

We will also do a SPECIAL GIVEAWAY this Tuesday, March 25th, 2025. This event will be one day only, so make sure to check the blog that will post that day.

For blog readers this is an opportunity to win, for Weave Together attendees this is a second chance to win.

Details in Tuesday’s blog.

Whether you are attending the Weave Together retreat or are at home … HAPPY WEAVING!