Holiday Guide Giveaway – Second Chance!

Posted on by texasgabi

The Second Chance giveaway is now closed. Congratulation to our winner, Wendy Allen, who has been notified.

Long Thread Media’s Holiday Guide has been a huge success with thousands of people signing up for a chance to win one of the 17 prizes.

We decided to give all y’all a second chance and this time, you can enter to win a TURTLE loom of your choice! Visit the Loom Catalog to see all the looms we’re making.

For a chance to win, sign up to receive TURTLE blog updates with news about projects, looms, and events:

For an additional chance, leave a comment here on this post and share which TURTLE loom you’d like in case you win (no worries, you change your mind later if you win).

The giveaway will end on November 30th, 2025, midnight CDT. We will randomly draw a name from all subscribers (old and new) and the comments on this post. We will announce the name of the winner here on this post on December 1st (and contact the winner via email).

Good luck!

The Lilia Shrug

Posted on by texasgabi

Let’s ring in the cooler time of the year! Sometimes when I go for a walk I want a little bit more than a scarf or cowl but not a full sweater. The modular nature of hexagons let me design just what I needed: A shrug that covers shoulders and arms enough to break a cool breeze, while at the same time offering plenty of freedom to easily move around.

I used one of my favorite yarns, naturally dyed organic Merino wool by Handspun Hope, in warm colors, and the flowery design combined with the rustic nature of the yarn made the perfect boho experience!

Another “one loom” design … the shrug is made using only the Original TURTLE Loom™ in R-regular sett for worsted weight yarns.

Click here to buy the pattern!

You can get the pattern (and the loom if you don’t have it already) at our Etsy store.

The pattern provides step-by-step photo-guided instructions for the shrug. It also contains bonus charts so that you can try your own flower colors or even design your very own shrug.

Please enjoy the beautiful photography by Gale Zucker. I thank Gale and model Sarah Shourds for this second-to-none presentation of my design.

Lastly, people ask me occasionally how I come up with the names for my patterns. I don’t have one source or one plan, and sometimes names just happen, like in this case!

Recently my husband and I shared a bag of Julio’s corn tortilla chips …

I noticed a cute picture on the back of the bag of the company founders, Julio and Lilia Garcia. I loved the sound of the Lilia name and decided to use it for my current design in progress, the shrug.

Doesn’t the real Lilia look absolutely sweet? I want to imagine that she might have liked a Lilia shrug … maybe not boho style, but of a thinner, lacey yarn with a gorgeous drape … we can dream, can’t we?

I hope that you will enjoy making your Lilia shrug!

Cranberry Bog Table Set

Posted on by texasgabi

I had just finished writing about color gamps for pin looms (see Little Looms Summer 2025) when the call for submissions for the Little Looms fall ’25 issue came out. Oh, the theme! “A walk through the forest”. Thoughts of sunlight sparkling through the tree canopy and the many colors and textures came to mind. That seemed like a perfect invitation to put pin-loom color blending instantly to good use.

I searched for a natural yarn with a good color variety for a forest project and discovered Bio Shetland wool by Kelbourne Woolens.

It is a soft, fingering weight wool in beautiful, some heathered colors.

Blending some of the shades would look like berries.

The greens and naturals would blend in perfectly to mimic moss.

There! … The project idea of a cranberry bog framed by a mossy path was borne.

For my weaving I chose the TinyTURTLE™ hexagon pin loom in R-regular sett. The regular sett for worsted weight yarn allows to blend different colors as needed by holding two strands of the fingering weight yarn together. The smaller hexagon size is perfect to achieve a good color variety in a project, and it scales nicely for a table runner.

There was a good amount of yarn left over, and honestly, I wasn’t done weaving yet.

Great coaster ideas came up: “A handful of cranberries”, using color blends from the center of the table runner. Then, the natural colors would make “stepping stones”, and the different greens would make perfect little “moss patches”.

You can find the pattern for the Cranberry Bog Table Set in “Easy weaving with little looms”, Fall 2025. If you are a Little Looms or All Access subscriber, you can also find the project in the Little Looms library.

I hope that you will enjoy making the Cranberry Bog Table Set to decorate your autumn home … and maybe make an extra coaster or a few to give to a dear friend …

Happy World Turtle Day 2025 GIVEAWAY!

Posted on by texasgabi

May 23, 2025 is World Turtle Day. Quoting the World Turtle Day website, “The day was created as a yearly observance to help people celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats around the world.”

CONGRATULATIONS to “andrea”, who won the turtle project bag!
The giveaway is now closed and the winner has been notified.
Thank you for all your awesome comments!
I think this will be a summer buzzing with crafting … enjoy and be safe.

To “shellabrate” I made a stuffed turtle, using our free turtle pattern and leftover variegated and tonal fingering weight yarns from ChaosFiber Co.

I used two strands of yarn for the weaving, which creates a beautiful basket weave.

I made the larger turtle, using the TexaTURTLE™ and the Original TURTLE Loom™, both in R – regular sett.

As a modification to the pattern I made the head out of two hexagons instead of three:

  • Weave two hexagons, sew together along five sides.
  • Place eyes near the center of each hexagon side.
  • Stuff.
  • Sew head to the neck area.

GIVEAWAY!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to “andrea”, who won the turtle project bag!
The giveaway is now closed and the winner has been notified.
Thank you for all your awesome comments!
I think this will be a summer buzzing with crafting … enjoy and be safe.

My friend Becky from ChaosFiber Co not only dyes beautiful yarns, but she also makes amazing project bags. These bags make perfect “habitats” for pin-loom projects. They comfortably hold a pin loom, yarn, and instructions.

When Becky and I visited recently, I detected a turtle themed project bag. I decided that this bag will make a great giveaway for this World Turtle Day.

TO ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN, leave a comment on this post and tell us what you will be crafting this summer.

This giveaway is open to all crafters. It starts now and will end Sunday, May 25, 2025, midnight US CDT. The winner will be chosen randomly, and the name will be announced here on this blog on Monday, May 26th.

Good luck, and happy weaving!

The Rhinebeck Headscarf

Posted on by texasgabi

Pin-loom weaving is a great way to use leftover yarns, even more so when those leftovers are precious, like hand-spun, or uniquely sourced or dyed fibers.

I recently had the opportunity to sample the first shipment of Handspun Hope’s Madagascar grown, hand-spun, and now also Madagascan hand-dyed wild Borocera silk. The five natural Madagascan colors are (clockwise starting at the top left): Black Mud, Psiadia Leaves, Tumeric, Passion Fruit, and Nato Bark, some of them unique in this world.

I knitted Martha Wissing’s Holtin sweater and was delighted to have some leftovers that I could try on my pin looms. This yarn weaves up beautifully on any TURTLE F-fine sett looms. It creates a nice solid fabric, is soft and therefore suitable to be worn next to skin. It has a beautiful drape (well … it’s silk), and the vibrant colors are second-to-none.

For the headscarf I used Tumeric, Nato Bark, Psiadia Leaves, and added some undyed silk for the remaining pieces and the ties.

I wove jewel shapes, hexagons, and half hexagons.

The ties are knitted but you can also crochet them.

The Tools

To make the scarf I used the Original TURTLE Loom™ in F-Fine sett and the Original Jewel loom in F-Fine sett.

The half hexagons can be woven on the hexagon loom, instructions are provided in this blog post. Optionally you can now pre-order the new Original Trapezoid (available in R-regular and F-fine sett) which will be released shortly.

The Yarn

You will need a total of about 158 yards.

I used about 42 yds in Tumeric (yellow), 41 yds in Nato Bark (brown), 25 yds in Psiadia Leaves (green), and 50 yds in natural, which includes the knitted tie.

The Pattern includes the instructions to make the headscarf as shown. In addition, blank layout charts are provided so that you can design your own headscarf based on the yarns that you have at hand.

You could also make the headscarf with hexagon and half-hexagons only, on just one loom. Instructions are provided in the pattern.

Get the pattern now in our Etsy store.

Not sure if your own precious leftovers are enough or right to make a Rhinebeck? Contact me with a brief description of the yarns that you have in mind and I will make a suggestion.

The Rhinebeck headscarf (and Martha’s Holtin sweater) will be on display at the 2024 NY Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck at the Handspun Hope booth, Barn 30, Booths 17 and 18.

Special thanks go to Gale Zucker, www.gzucker.com, on Instagram @galezucker, who went the extra mile to beautifully photograph the Rhinebeck headscarf in time, and to Gobrielle DeNinno, on Instagram @javagypsy, for stunningly modeling the piece.

Photo credits: I want to thank Diana Wiley from Handspun Hope, www.handspunhope.org, for allowing me to use her Madagascan silk photo for this post.