Adventures in Pin Loom Weaving—Tie a Colored Ribbon . . .

UPDATE: I’ve rewritten this pattern so it doesn’t involve using R16 as part of the design. You can find the rewrite on this page. Scroll down through several patterns till you get to “Ribbon Loop (rewrite).”

Though it’s not a symbol I’ve ever used before, when someone on the Pin Loom Weaving Support Group asked if there was a pin loom pattern for a breast cancer pink ribbon, I said to myself, “Why not?”

I’m in the middle of cataloging my collection of patterns and squares, but that’s really boring work. Creating patterns, weaving, and even winding skeins of yarn are all more alluring activities. And staying up later than too late–who could resist?

I drew this last night and refined it a little this morning. It’s off-center, so if you’re trying to follow the graph move the whole pattern one square to the left, and, uh . . . Don’t try to follow the graph.

I wove the ribbon up today while I was supposed to be cataloging. I know a graph isn’t an accurate depiction of what the finished square will look like, but I was concerned about the “corners” on the depicted ribbon loop. The loop looks more like a diamond than an oval. (In fact, the pattern is essentially, if not exactly, a mirror image of itself: two incomplete diamonds.)

***Remember: you can click on a photo to see a larger version. Click the back arrow to return to these instructions.

“Ribbon Loop” prototype

Reverse view of “Ribbon Loop”

Through the magic of Paint, I was able to alter the prototype without actually making another square.

The doctored version.

And last of all, again courtesy of Paint, I was able to see how it would look if I added beads to the floats–below are two different views.

Beads are left off the the topmost row (even though floats are there) and from the bottom two corners.

I prefer this version, though I’d leave the beads and floats off at the bottom corners.

“Ribbon Loop” Pattern

***Special Instructions

• This pattern continues into woven R16 (which is ordinarily a solid plain weave row), so when you take the square off the loom there are two floating warp loops. On the sample piece, I’ve secured them with a piece of matching scrap yarn. If you were going to join these squares to others I’d leave the scrap there till you’re ready to sew; then pull it out when you’re ready to join the squares. You could also crochet around the edge of the square and that would secure those floating loops (remove scrap yarn prior to crocheting). You could also just leave them floating; because there are only two floating warp threads no serious damage will occur.
• Weaving (L4) occurs from the top (3/4 edge) downward and the pattern will emerge ribbon ends first (nearest you). For this reason, the instructions are given from R16 to R1. Weaving in this manner results in the L4 weft threads encircling only one pin at the beginning and end of each row. This will not affect the finished look of the square.
  

  If you look closely you can see how the L4 threads wrap only one pin on the outer edges. Your first and last rows should be against the top and bottom pins. The loom shown here is “upside down,” meaning corner 1 is at the top right.

Recommendations:

The warping configuration, and yarns used, for the sample square is L1,2, &4: Bernat Satin “Silk” / L3: Lion Heartland “Denali.” I considered also making L1 pink. Not sure if the design would show up as well, but it might.

Warping L3 different from the others can be tricky.

“Ribbon Loop” Pattern

The pattern immediately below is for the prototype version. Variations on the basic pattern follow.

R16: P
R15: P-4; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-9; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-4
R14: P-6; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-5; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-6
R13: P-8; (U-3, P-1) x 3; U-3, P8
R12: P-10; (U-3, P-1) x 2; U-3, P-10
R11: P-12; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-12
R10: P-14, U-3, P-14
R9: Rpt R11 [P-12; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-12]
R8: P-10; U-3, P5, U-3; P-10
R7: Rpt R13 [P-8; (U-3, P-1) x 3; U-3, P8]
R6: Rpt R 14 [P-6; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-5; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-6]
R5: Rpt R15 [P-4; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-9; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-4]
R4: Rpt R 14 [P-6; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-5; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-6]
R3: Rpt R 13 [P-8; (U-3, P-1) x 3; U-3, P8]
R2: Rpt R12 [P-10; (U-3, P-1) x 2; U-3, P-10]
R1: Rpt R11 [P-12; U-3, P-1, U-3; P-12]

Variations:

To eliminate Loop “corners:” R5: P-8; U-3, P-9, U-3; P-8

To add “feet” at the bottom corners: R15: (U-3, O-1) x 2; U-3, P-9; (U-3, O-1) x 2; U-3

To add beads: place beads on L3 warp strands. I recommend 45 beads as shown in the photo below.

Strands 1 & 2: 0 beads
Strand 3: 1 bead
Strand 4: 3 beads
Strand 5: 5 beads
Strands 6 & 7: 6 beads each
Strand 8: 3 beads
Strands 9 & 10: 6 beads each
Strand 11: 5 beads
Strand 12: 3 beads
Strand 13: 1 bead
Strands 14 & 15: 0 beads

My preferred version with beads, without feet in the corners.
Also, notice the scrap yarn anchoring top of pattern. This can easily be slipped out if desired.

Definitions

Someone asked me what floats were and what L1, L2, etc. means. Here’s my answer: A float is a thread that should have been woven over (or under) as in plain weave. Instead it’s left to “float” above the weaving as part of a pattern. In the pink ribbon all the vertical pink strands that make up the ribbon picture are floats. L1 refers to the first layer of warping on the pin loom. There are 3 warping layers. The fourth layer is woven with the needle.