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!

Like a Chat With a Friend

Posted on by texasgabi

A few weeks ago I received an email from Long Thread Media co-founder Anne Merrow with an invitation to participate in her podcast.

For eleven seasons, Long Thread Media has been “telling the stories of cloth, thread, and their makers”, and this time Anne had chosen me to tell my story about the TURTLE looms.

I humbly and excitedly agreed.

The recording session felt like catching up with a good friend that I had not seen for a long time, Anne is a fantastic moderator. I hope that you will enjoy that experience when you listen.

The podcast is now available on the Long Thread Media website and you can also listen to it through any podcast aggregator (such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon).

If you are curious to see some of the customer projects that have impressed me, as mentioned during the podcast, you can see a selection in these posts. There are many more and I hope to find the time to post more customer projects going forward.

Lastly, here is an example for what I mention in the podcast about designing looms, where I occasionally move away from “plain math” and make looms more comfortable to work with and improve weaving results:

Several of our looms have a slightly widened opening that will make it easier to guide the weaving tool, and it will also compensate just a little bit for the typical, slightly tighter weave on the last rows (when you take the piece off the loom, the weaving bounces into a more perfect shape).

I hope that you will enjoy listening, but I’d like to encourage you to not stop with this podcast: I have listened to previous episodes when I needed some “downtime with inspiration”, which means I want some time away from the world, but with a little bit more than just relaxing background music. It has always been a delight to learn about other people in the fiber world, what they do and how they do it … interesting methods, projects, experiences. Grab your pin loom and a beverage, then relax and explore more.

Happy listening and weaving!

Photo credits: Podcast title graphics from @longthreadmedia, used with permission.

Deck the Halls with Little Looms Spring 2025

Posted on by texasgabi

While the rest of the world is scrambling to get ready for the big day next week, Long Thread Media is setting the stage for the new, awesome, coming-up-quickly year 2025 by releasing the Spring 2025 issue of “Easy Weaving with Little Looms”.

It’s another jam-packed issue loaded with inspiration about “lovely lace projects and clever containers”.

One of the 18 projects is my Pastel Piecework shawl, a triangular shawl with a playful arrangement of octagons and some open spaces in between.

Photo: LTM

The inspiration for this project started with the discovery of the yarn at one of my favorite local yarn stores, The Sated Sheep. The yarn is a fingering weight cotton from Schoppel Wolle named “Zauberball Crazy Cotton”.

Using two color runs of this variegated yarn that are close to each other yet still distinct creates very playful interactions of the octagon blocks. The soft to the touch, nicely draping fabric and the open spaces between the octagons will comfortably embrace you like a lace project is supposed to, and at the same time there is enough fabric to master that gentle spring breeze.

The shawl is woven using the Elongon 2″ F-fine sett and the Square 2″ F-fine sett to make the octagon blocks. The project is fun to make for all skill levels. The instructions are in the new Little Looms Spring 2025 magazine.

We also decided to use our ad in this issue to congratulate our Garment Challenge winners one more time and share their professionally photographed garments with you. For those of you who have followed the Garment Challenge all the way, Pat and Patti won the grand prizes of having their projects professionally photographed by Gale Zucker (if you wish to learn more about Gale Zucker, Long Thread Media did a great podcast interview with Gale). When the pictures came back I liked them so much that I decided to share them with all of you.

Pat and Patti’s project also inspired me to decide on two themes for activities in 2025, most likely in form of weave-alongs:

  • Patti joined the squares on her skirt using her sewing machine. “Sewing-Machine Joining” is a topic that is mentioned frequently in social media, and I think 2025 will be a good topic for a weave-along.
  • Pat is a master of using crocheting to shape her garments, as her cardigan neckline and cuffs show. My goal is to put some generally applicable tips together for a “Shaping Pin-Loom Projects with Crocheting” weave-along.

The dates have not been determined yet, but you can sign up and follow the turtleloom blog to be the first to know:

Weave Together 2024

Posted on by texasgabi

The TURTLEs are counting the days … “we” will be going to Loveland, Colorado, to be part of Handwoven’s inaugural Weave Together retreat later this month. Preparations are in full gear …

There will be a TURTLE booth at the Marketplace. I’m so glad that Deborah Bagley agreed to be my partner and help with keeping the TURTLEs in check! I will also be teaching two classes at the event … it will be busy …

I’m sharing this with you here on the blog for two reasons …

If you are anywhere near Loveland, CO, on February 25th, we’d love to see you!

On Sunday, from 4–6 pm, fiber artists are invited to enjoy free access to shopping in the marketplace at the Embassy Suites in Loveland, Colorado. Sponsor Yarn Barn of Kansas (oh, the yarns!!! See examples in the picture above) and the TURTLEs will be there. Yes, you will have pre-launch access to the new TinyTURTLE XF-extra fine sett and the “All American” Original TURTLE Looms (in R, F, and XF) that will become available to all in March. Deborah and I would love you stop by and weave a little bit!

Planning vacation mode for the Bluebonnet Crafters online store

While we’re traveling, the Bluebonnet Crafters online store will be on vacation mode (February 21st to March 2nd, 2024). There won’t be any listings visible on Etsy during that time, but you can always see all our looms on the Loom Catalog page. I will be checking messages as time allows. I hope that you will find this “early warning” useful with your order planning.

The Weave Together retreat is sold out, but if you’d like to see what it is all about or get on the waitlist, please visit the Weave Together website.

We can hardly wait for this experience,
and maybe, just maybe, get to meet some of you!