Raffia Danish Medallions Ornaments

Posted on by texasgabi

Oh, the bliss! Easy Weaving with Little Looms Holiday 2021 is here!

It is showtime for the TURTLE Elongon 2″ R in this issue, with Edith’s adorable Foxy Birch Blanket in one of her favorite yarns, Blue Sky Fiber Woolstok, and my Painted Pillow, in one of my favorite “doodle” yarns Noro Kureyon.

And there is so much more (including my article about joining pin loom squares, may the TURTLEs forgive me)! Get the printed copy right here, or check out the digital or subscription offers directly from Long Thread Media.

But because this is a “holiday” issue, we also decided to treat you to a free project, as it was announced in our advertisement: The Raffia Danish Medallions Ornaments are an interesting way to explore a classic hand-manipulated weaving method that looks great on both sides.

Universal Yarn’s Yashi raffia is the perfect fiber for the ornaments, because it creates an instant stiffened fabric that stays flat without further treatment.

The ornaments are designed so that once you take them off the loom, they are (almost) ready to go onto the tree.

Get your Original TURTLE Loom “R”, then download the pattern and have a wonderful time!

20210923-RaffiaBaubleOrnament-V10Download

Harvest Hues Winner

Posted on by texasgabi

It was so much fun to read the comments! Cat toy (with catnip or … a bell!) seems to be the most popular suggestion, but dish scrubby (Hobby Lobby carries the hedgehog scrubby holders again this year!), acorn, pin cushion (good one), gnome (yes, we really should have another gnome), pumpkin , dryer ball (hmm … haven’t made one of those yet), shower loofah (yass!), potpourri sachet, soap sack, pot scrubber, or hacky sack. All of the above would work! Click on the links to see some examples.

But before we go any farther, let’s congratulate Melinda Crittenden on winning the skein of I Love This Cotton in Harvest Hues! Melinda, check your messages for some more information.

The project in the picture is a little sponge puff, made of the leftovers from the one skein of “I Love This Cotton” that I used to make the Leaf Pile Hand Towel.

When I weave hexagons, I measure start and end tails as recommended in the instructions, so that I have enough yarn to sew the hexagons together. This does leave clip ends that can be used as stuffing for something, or to make a “leave no ends behind” hexagon: Just knot the clippings together and weave away! It will be fun and funky, and is very functional.

I also had enough of the cotton to weave one more “normal” hexagon, and while the lavender sachets are extremely popular and the idea for a soap sachet invites itself because of the cotton yarn, I wanted to do something different.

I decided to make a little sponge puff: Sew the two hexagons together along five sides with simple whip stitch. Get a sponge pouf made of netting (or any other type of netting, even some plastic produce netting will do). Clip the thread that holds the netting puff together, then stuff the hexagon pouch as desired. Cut the netting (depending on the pouf, you will be able to make 2-4 sponge puffs). Close the remaining side of the sponge puff.


It feels soft to the skin, will lather soap nicely, and it will dry out reasonably well after each use.

Happy fall weaving!

Come Visit Us at the CHT Conference!

Posted on by texasgabi

All TURTLEs are busy preparing for an appearance at this year’s Contemporary Handweavers of Texas conference in San Antonio, TX. The great news is that the vendor market will be open to the public, so anyone can come!

We will not just bring all TURTLEs, but also exhibit some of the projects that have not been on display before, including the Wings shawlette, the Indian Blanket flower afghan, and the Hope vest. There will be more on display, as space allows … let us know if you want us to bring any other specific project that you’d like to see!

Besides the TURTLEs, we will have all currently in print Little Looms magazines available for purchase, as well as the current Handwoven May/June 2021, SpinOff Summer 2021, and PieceWork Summer 2021 (all published by Long Thread Media).

The hours for the Vendor Hall (Grand Ballroom E and F) are:
Thursday     4 pm – 7 pm
Friday 11 am – 5:30 pm  AND  7:30 pm – 9:30 pm (“Moonlight Madness”)
Saturday 10 am – 12 noon  AND  1:30 pm – 7 pm

Make it a road trip … the conference offers free access to the remarkable CHT weaving exhibit, which is an awesome opportunity to get inspired by an exquisite variety of masterly handwoven treasures. And if you have not been to San Antonio before, add a visit to the historic Alamo (One of the tour guides is a fellow pin loom weaver … ask for Laurel!) and the River Walk.

While exercising good COVID habits (wearing masks and cleaning hands and tools frequently), we will have a sample table to try out the TURTLEs, and we will be there to answer any questions that you may have.

As simple as that … hope to see you, soon!

Turtles are Back!

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After an “interesting” week of rolling blackouts, frozen water pipes, and cold coffee, we are very happy to say that all turtles made it safely through this record breaking winter weather in Texas. There’s still cleanup and repair work that needs to be done, but we will start shipping and making looms again.

Thank you, all, for the many kind words and comments that we received!

Turtle Will Go Hibernate for a Little While …

Posted on by texasgabi

Long story short, Texas is in an extremely cold and long stretch of winter weather, and our workshop has no heating. If “winter” is just a couple of days, as usual, we can make up for that time, but right now it looks like there won’t be any lacquering possible until the end of the week.

What that means … Our Etsy store will look empty, but:

Be assured: While loom production will hibernate, we’ll still be chatting hexagons and projects and answer any questions that you may have!

To hibernate, Turtle chose one of Beth’s flower scarves made of 100% wool Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok which creates a light, soft, and warm fabric … perfect for a good cuddle.

Stay warm, be safe!