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:

Welcome 2024 with Flowers!

Posted on by texasgabi

I can hardly think of a better way to start the new year than with a fun, creative, purposeful pin-loom project.

Let’s beat the winter blues by weaving a Flower Top for warmer days to come!

In a nutshell:

  • Sleeveless, easy-to-weave, comfortable tee, suitable for beginning weavers.
  • Finished garment size: 24″ (M-L) or 27″ (XL-XXL) wide and 27″ long.
  • Loom: Original TURTLE Loom F-fine sett for sock/fingering weight yarn.
  • Yarn: A total of 926 / 1059 yards + about 50 yds for the crocheted borders, light-weight yarn.

The pattern is available on the Bluebonnet Crafters Etsy store, click HERE.

As so often, the Flower Top pattern comes with a story:

A couple of springs ago I noticed a Berroco knitted top pattern named Fleurine, which is worked in one of my favorite summer yarns “Remix Light”. I instantly fell in love except … I wanted to weave it! The idea for the Flower Top was borne.

I also love to sample yarns, and Berroco offers small samples of their new yarns twice a year in the form of “Yarn Tasting” kits. These samples are perfect for many crafts, including pin-loom weaving. In most cases the amounts for each yarn are just enough to weave one hexagon “flower”. That’s why each flower of the sample model is woven in a different Berroco summer yarn that I gathered from past Yarn Tasting kits.

While this is the story of how the Flower Top came about, the pattern can be woven in any yarns you like or might have at hand. Make all flowers in the same yarn, or “go wild” and make each flower different, for example in precious hand-spun or go crazy with scraps.

The example is woven on the Original TURTLE Loom™ F-fine sett for sock/fingering weight yarn, but you could use the R-regular or XF-extra fine sett looms as well … or mix and match!

The pattern is provided in two sizes that can be worn by many. Shown in the photos is the smaller size. Model Josephine is very petite, and she wears the top with a good amount of ease. I’m an XL, and I wear the same top with little ease. The pattern includes the chart for a larger size and some suggestions for further adjustments, and as usual, pattern support is provided to assist with your needs.

This garment will qualify if you want to participate in the Garment Challenge or get your Weaving Buddy badge!

You can find the pattern on the Bluebonnet Crafters Etsy store, just click HERE.

Special thanks go to Gale Zucker, www.gzucker.com, on Instagram @galezucker, for her amazing ability to bring out the best of hand-crafted items in photography, and to Josephine Ankrah, Instagram @sweetjsphn, who once again convinced with her ability to perfectly model the Flower Top.

The Ditta Vest

Posted on by texasgabi

From the early beginnings of my pin-loom journey I have been dreaming of make clothing items. Decades ago it was quite the standard for pin-loom weavers to think of making wearables. While there is much less the “need” to make clothing today, it can be fun and useful.

Ditta is a one-size-fits-many vest that will keep your back warm while gradually evolving into a flattering bolero-style front.

It can be worn open, or closed with a shawl pin.

The vest is woven on the Original TURTLE Loom™ R-regular sett for worsted weight yarn.

I used Purl Soho Linen Quill Worsted yarn, a beautiful natural and soft fiber blend that is fun to weave and awesome to wear.

You can use the same pattern with the F-fine sett and the XF- extra fine sett Original TURTLEs as well (and even a mix!) and use different yarns.

The pattern includes a blank chart so that you can create your own designs: Make the vest in a single, pretty yarn, use up scraps to make a patchwork vest, or plan yarns and colors in detail to make it “your” design!

Get the pattern at the Bluebonnet Crafters Etsy shop. We decided to ring in garment weaving with a 50% off sale until February 15th. No code necessary, the discount is automatically applied when you purchase the pattern.

Here is a 360-degree view of the Ditta Vest that also shows a little bit more the one-size-fits-many. I’m 5’5″ and wear size XL/14 clothing, for reference.

Suggestions on how to modify the size are in the pattern, and I’m happy to help with any questions that you may have.

If you decide to make the Ditta Vest, please share pictures! We will be tracking the Ditta Vest on social media with the hashtag #DittaVest.

There’s more to come!

Our ad in Little Looms Spring 2023 also announces that we will conduct a year-long pin-loom garment challenge this year: Weave any garment, on any loom, by Thanksgiving this year, to win an opportunity to have your garment photographed by professional photographer Gale Zucker! The details will be on the TexasGabi blog soon.

Special thanks …

go to Gale Zucker, www.gzucker.com, on Instagram @galezucker, for her amazing ability to bring out the best of a hand-crafted item in photography, and to Josephine Ankrah, Instagram @sweetjsphn, who added so much character to the Ditta vest by the way she models it.