Tag Archives: cord loom

December Wreath

By

IMG_8181This wreath post ends my trek of posting a wreath a month.
These 2 wreaths are made using the same tools and techniques as my January wreath.
They are quite festive and jolly for Christmas.

I wish you all joy & a wonderful holiday

sparkwrth

~*~
My two December wreaths, pictured at the very top of this post, are made with Red Heart yarn on a Knifty Knitter cord loom and some flower looms that I don’t know what their name is.
IMG_7474

sewmiconThank you Charlotte for being my inspiration.
I can hardly wait to see what you’ve planned for next year.
🙂

 ~*~
Here’s why I posted a ‘Wreath of the Month’ for every month of 2014.
~*~

spgrnbgln

misc thoughts & hints for yarnies & loomers

By

t6027t6028

This blog post is a few miscellaneous thoughts and hints for yarnies like me. I hope one of them  may help make your yarn crafting adventures more enjoyable.

The Knifty Knitter cord loom is a fun little gadget. It makes a nice cord with 5 pegs, but if you want a smaller cord you can use 3 pegs.
IMG_6994

Jute or grass twine makes a lovely cord for trivets or even little baskets.
IMG_7007

I find that alot of times my Martha Stewart loom pegs don’t want to stay put. It’s a major irritation.
I first tried yarn stuffed in the holes, then tried bits of paper, then masking tape, they worked but I wasn’t happy with them. Then I tried painter’s tape and I haven’t looked back.
I use a layer(or 2) of painter’s tape over the loom holes.
I use a toothpick to break the tape over the hole and then push the peg in.
This method works really well for me.
loomtape

I had My first experience at rolling a ball of yarn that wasn’t end fed like the 4 ply skeins I usually use.
t0473I got frustrated at first with the skein tumbling and capturing everything including the attention of (our dog) Sheli. He and I got into a bit of a kerfuffle for a few seconds.
I stuffed the skein into a plastic grocery bag and hung it on my arm. I quickly discovered that not only was it protected from Sheli, but it fed easy and rolled beautifully.
I do love accidental discoveries. 🙂
lbrolling

I bought my first couple skeins ever of bulky yarn. It’s Lion Brand Hometown USA
It’s a bulky yarn and is 81 yards long
I wanted to see how big a square made with 81 yards would be, so I crocheted a solid granny square. I used a size N crochet hook. The square came out to be about 12 inches x 12 inches
I decided to try a regular granny square and was amazed that it too came out to be about 12 inches x 12 inches… I would’ve thought that it would have been bigger. :/
lb81yardsAnyway, this was a pretty good experiment because now if I want to make an blanket of granny squares out of bulky yarn, I can better guess how much yarn I need.
I’m envisioning a big bulky blanket of 12 inch squares. I think it would be fun to try. I may make one sometime.

This is all my thoughts and hints for the moment.
I hope they’ll help make your yarn crafting more enjoyable.

You’re welcome to share your hints if you want too.

Here’s wishing you happy
adventures in crafting!
t6027t6028
🙂
spcr1

Needle Punch Embroidery

By

IMG_7061Through happenstance or what a person might call surfing pinterest, I came upon a needle-craft called Needle Punch Embroidery. 0-IMG_6928You use a special-made punch needle that feeds the thread/yarn through the fabric and leaves a loop. When you’ve done several stitches, it resembles carpet. I don’t recall seeing or hearing of it before.  Needle Punch embroidery seemed like something that I might be able to learn in short span of time and would probably enjoy doing. Plus, I always like to learn a new craft.

I surfed for awhile in various online craft stores and after a day of thinking about it, I finally ordered a punch embroidery kit and a set of punch needles.
When my order come in, I was dismayed to discovered that I hadn’t ordered the right size punch needles to do the kit with. I went back online and ordered the right size puncher and it should be here in the next couple days.
*I know puncher isn’t what folks call the punch needle, but it’s easier than typing out ‘punch needle’ every time. 😉

Anyway…
I was not to be deterred from trying the punch embroidery.
I improvised. I got some white cotton fabric, put it in a hoop,
drew a heart in the middle
and began learning to use a puncher.IMG_6928I think my heart turned out fairly well.
I immediately put silicon on the back of the heart and
let it dry for a few hours so the yarn wouldn’t pull out.

I decided to go a bit further with my punch heart piece and do regular needle embroidery around it. After I finished the embroidery, I couldn’t just stop with mounting it on cardboard. It looked so plain. I made a crochet chain and glued it around the edge and then made some loom flowers and put on it. I hung my heart-work on the wall. It was okay, but still had the look of an unfinished thought.
I left it hanging and went about my day. Every now and then I look at it and think it needs something else.IMG_7054

IMG_7096Shelibean has been playing with the test cords I’ve been knitting on my beanpot loom. I watched him prancing around with a gold one wrapped around his belly and it occurred to me that perhaps, I could use a loomed cord to outline my heart-work. Sheli must’ve read my thoughts because he suddenly pounced on my feet with a green loom cord in his mouth.IMG_7091

I took the green cord and glued it around the heart-work and it looked good, but still the piece needed something… mmm.. of course, leaves for the flowers. I crocheted the leaves and glued them on and finally my piece of heart-work was finished.
I’m really pleased with the finished piece.It has so many textures. I enjoyed using alot of different techniques in creating it.
needle punch embroidery
regular embroidery
flower loom
crochet
knitting cord loom
And it only about 7 inches tall.

Unfortunately I’m not sure how these photos look. I’m running a msert file on our desktop and can’t use it to edit the photos. I used my laptop to edit them… so they might be a bit yucky. Later on when I can check my blog on our desktop, if these photos look too yucky, I’ll upload new ones.

Have you ever tired Needle Punch Embroidery?
Do you enjoy learning to do new crafts?

I wish you all a warm week of sunshine.
🙂

spcr1

Handmade Bean Pot Cord Loom

By

bpcl6
Sunday morning I woke up wanting to make some knitted cording, but I wanted it to be smaller than my Knifty Knitter cord loom makes. Some days I’m not real patient and Sunday morning was one of those times, so ordering a new loom wasn’t an option. I didn’t feel like going shopping, so I decided to make one of my own. 

Making a loom is somewhat simple if you have the right materials.
We have finishing nails which work well for loom pegs.
And after an hour of brain storming and rummaging through my craft supplies, I settled on a wooden bean pot candle holder for the base of the loom. I figured it’d be easy to drill and put nails in.

My husband is a good sport whenever I have an idea for a new creation. He’s always right there to help. I rely on his knowledge of what I call ‘Guy Stuff’ when it comes to using power tools or building anything.
We went straight to work on it at 5 am…

bpcl1

The finishing nails were originally 2 inches long and way too
long to use, so my husband cut them down to about 1 1/8 inch.bpcl2

I drew around a penny and drew a star in the middle to
use for a pattern for the placement of the nailsbpcl3

We marked where the nail pegs go.bpcl4

First drill or bore out the center hole to 1/2 inch,
then drill small holes for the nail pegs,
Lightly sand any splintery or rough spots,
make sure the center hole is smooth.

Carefully tamp the nail pegs in place.

bpcl5

It took about 30 minutes to get my little cord loom made.
I got some yarn and began to use it immediately.
I was pleased to discover that the upside-down bean pot shape fits
in my hand almost perfectly & made looming the cord more enjoyable.

My new cord loom turned out better than I’d hope
(and saved me some money too. I like that. 😉 )

I hope your weekend was a pleasant one.
Wishing you all a week of successful
and fun creating & crafting.
🙂

spcr1