Houndstooth Check—Pin Loom Pattern—Part II (for Loomette)

Last night I figured out the houndstooth check pattern on the Loomette. The Loomette’s pins are not separated into groups of three with wide spaces between, they’re evenly distributed.

I explained the instructions for the Weave-it or Zoom loom, in the Part I tutorial. If you missed it, you can find it here: http://windsweptmind.com/2015/05/27/houndstooth-check-pin-loom-pattern/

***REMEMBER: If you can’t see a picture clearly, click on the photo and it’ll show up larger. Click the Back arrow to return to these instructions.

What is houndstooth check? By alternating two strands of one color with two strands of a second color you get this cool pattern. Weaving magic!

Materials

4-inch pin loom
6-inch weaving needle
needle threader (optional)
fork (optional) to pack the rows together (especially helpful during second weaving layer)
4 yards of color 1 and 4 yards of color 2 (It’s not necessary to measure them out ahead; you can pull them straight from the skein. But if you have scraps, they need to total at least 4 yards apiece.)

Step 1–Warping the Loom: Layer 1, Color 1

Begin warping at the lower Left (L) corner of the loom–the corner with the notch in it. (The word Loomette is at the top of the loom, the letter A at the bottom, in the center.)

Leaving a tail of about 5 inches, tie a slip knot in the yarn and slide it over the second peg at lower L corner. OR use the notch to anchor the yarn.

Bring the working yarn to the left of the first pin and straight up. Loop (or wind) it around the first pin at the top of the loom, then down again and loop it around pins 2, 3, and 4 at the bottom. KEEP THE YARN LOOSE. (Remember, click on the photo to see a larger image; click the Back arrow to return to these instructions.) (Right here is where to make the adjustment. Come down in the same place and wrap pins 1, 2, and 3.)

Continue warping Layer 1 (L1) in this manner: from the bottom, loop around 3 pins, to the top where you skip 2 and loop around only one. Back to the bottom: skip no pins, wrap three . . .

Work your way over to the right (R) corner. At the bottom R, bring the yarn around to the vertical pin side and make a slip knot around the first one, but don’t cut the yarn. (***You will be untying this knot before you begin to weave, so make sure it’s untie-able.) If you can’t work a slip knot here–because it’s kind of tricky to get it placed just right–you can just wind the yarn around the pin a few times. Don’t worry if it loosens because you can snug it up later. Also, you can cut the yarn now–after wrapping it 4 1/2-5 times around the loom–but I’ve found that leaving it attached to the skein works better for me. I’ve done it both ways, so it doesn’t really matter.

You now have eight groups of double strands.

Step 2–Warping the Loom: Layer 2, Color 2

Leaving a 5-inch tail, tie color 2 onto the third pin, lower row of pins, L side. Loop this strand left around that same 3rd pin and draw it up to the top, looping it around the third pin in that row. Bring the yarn straight down and loop it around pins #4 and #5. Continue warping in this manner: up, skip one pin after color 1, wrap one pin; down, around two pins to surround color 1. (You’ll be leaving one blank pin between each of the color 2 columns at the bottom.) (Remember, click on the photo to see a larger image; click the Back arrow to return to these instructions.)

9/11/16—I can see that there’s something inconsistent in the warping of the end of L2. I’ve photoed it and will try weaving it as it really should be.

To finish warp layer 2: at top R, loop the yarn around the last pin (right next to color 1 pin). Bring the yarn straight down and sandwich it in between the last two pins at lower R. (It’s sharing the space with its predecessor, so there are two threads in that last space.) It looks smooshed, and will make your first few stitches tough, but after weaving Row 1 it will be easier. (I would say that the way I have it warped right now–the “correct” way–it never gets easy to weave those strands next to 2-4 side. I would suggest figuring out a way to condense strands in the center or on the 1-3 side.)

This creates a layer of 8 double strands set to the right of the first layer of 8 double strands–a total of 32 strands.

Step 3–Weaving: Layer 1, Color 2

Wrap Color 2 all the way around the loom 4 1/2 times. (You can go around a full 5 times to be on the safe side, but 4 1/2 times is the minimum.) Cut the yarn and thread the needle.

BEFORE WEAVING:

• UNTIE THE KNOT FROM LAYER ONE (on the right-hand side, not the knots at the beginning, lower L; those stay until the square comes off the loom).
• The tails of Warp Layers 1 and 2 will now be hanging/pointing vertically downward through the pins at the bottom of the loom.
• In order to interlock the corner threads, take the color 2 yarn (light pink in the photo) over and under the color 1 yarn (dark pink) tail before beginning Weaving Layer 1.

Weave Under, Over (U, O) each strand across. Notice the first thread looks sort of loose; it will tighten up when you pull the needle and yarn all the way through. Needle enters below first pin on 2-4 side and exits below first pin on 1-3 side.

You will now mimic the Layer 1 Warping pattern as you weave this layer. Always begin weaving Under, and end Over.

After row 1: loop the yarn around 3 pins on 1-3 side of the loom, weave U, O across; exit row 2 between second and third pins on 2-4 side of the loom. To begin row 3, loop around third pin and weave across (U, O). Continue weaving layer 1 in the same manner.

Complete weaving layer 1 (row 16) by looping two pins (instead of three) on L; weave U, O across. Exit above last pin at top R. You have 16 rows of color 2.

Step 4–Weaving: Layer 2, Color 1

Return to lower R corner where color 1 awaits. Wind the yarn around the loom 4 1/2 (or 5) times. Cut; thread needle.

Now you will fill in the missing rows! Weaving pattern will now be O, U for each odd row; U, O for each even row (because you’ll be catching an outer loop—see photos). I didn’t note pin entrance and exit because for this layer, I just concentrated on filling in, but if you look at the photos you’ll see the row placements are consistent (except for in the corners where I had to adjust).

Row 1: Insert needle above first pin on lower R. Weave O, U across. Exit row between first and second pins on 1-3 side, and O the outer loop.

• Notice how layer 2, row 1 matches the weaving pattern of layer 1, row 2. The yarn follows the path of least resistance, so it scoots up to the top. Now you have to force row 2 between those two good buddies. 🙂 (This is where the fork becomes a veritable necessity. Use it to pack lower rows and separate the ones you need to stitch between.)

Row 2 (and all subsequent even numbered rows, i.e. the rows that start on the L side): Take the needle U outer loop of color 1, then O first vertical strand.

Continue weaving layer two by skipping two rows of layer 1 color 2, filling in two rows of color 1. Always catch the outer loop (L rows) with the needle, which makes a neat selvage edge.

Weaving Layer 2, Row 16: Bring yarn around one pin at top L, go U outer loop; O, U across. Exit above last pin, but below Layer 1, row 16.

Here’s a look at the finished square still on the loom. A total of 32 vertical rows and 32 horizontal rows.

Remove the square from the loom by sliding it upward on all sides and popping it off (which is pretty fun). Gently tug on the slip knots at lower L corner to untie.

You can use the excess yarn tails to sew this square together with others.

Ten down and one still on the loom. How many more to go? (I’m still not tired of making them.)

Looks like I’ve got a good start on another blanket . . .