Adventures in Pin Loom Weaving — 9-Patch Plaid

I didn’t plan on writing this post, nevertheless, for my own use, I took photos of the process. Had I planned on posting we wouldn’t have the kitchen tablecloth in place of a backdrop.

Finished 9-Patch square.

I also didn’t plan on creating a nine-patch block. I was trying to see if I could get a solid blue square in the center of the block. I intended to invent a new method of weaving, but lapsed into the old way of weaving (with plans to try my more ambitious idea another time).

[If a weaver wants to create a more even nine patch block, they could follow these instructions and just alter the width of the stripes.]

Layer 1–L1 has 16 strands, so that was easy. I tied color one on at CR 1 and proceeded with warping as usual. After four threads were in place I decided that was the width I wanted all the way around my blue square. I took the color one yarn outside the pins on the 1-2 side of the loom and counted backward from Cr2 to determine where to continue warping. [You could tie off and tie back on again, but I am too lazy to do that; besides–all those cut ends to deal with! Another option is to tie magic knots every time you change colors. I’m not so wild about tying them that I would take the time to do so in an experiment.] As I said, L1 has an even number of strands, so it was easy to drag the yarn across be;pw the pins and continue warping from the same side of the loom (L2 and L3 weren’t as easy). I left the color one yarn hanging at Cr2 and went back, tied on color two and warped the eight center strands to complete L1; then I tied off color two on the 1-2 side.

L1 has 4 strands of orange + 8 strands of blue + another 4 strands of orange.

L1 and part of L2 in place.

Layer 2–I began warping as usual: four strands with color one. After fiddling around a bit and trying several configurations, I concluded it was best to tie off on side 2-4 and tie on at side 1-3. So, with color one, I warped four more strands at the end of L2, then left the yarn hanging at Cr3.

I tied color two on where I left off after the first four color one strands (on L2), warped 7 threads and tied off where color one began again. (In the photo it looks like I didn’t tie off, but I cut the yarn there. You’ll see in the next photo that I temporarily tied colors one and two together at that spot.)

L2 has 4 strands of orange + 7 strands of blue + 4 strands of orange. (The number of color two strands will even out in L3 and L4 when we’ll warp 7, then weave 8, rows of blue, respectively.)

L2 complete.

Layer 3–Take color one around Cr3 and continue warping four strands. Now make a decision: will you carry the yarn outside the pins or tie off at 3-4 side and tie back on again at 1-2 side? Tying off and back on is the easier way. I chose the lazy way.

L3 complete.

NOW HEAR THIS: once you are familiar with your loom and the weaving process, you do not have to be a slave to the set-up. I took the color one yarn outside the 3-4 edge pins and over toward the 2-4 side of the loom, then placed four strands in the correct vertical position even though they were a bit off according to “correct” warping. Note that color one finishes off at Cr4. (Had I tied off on the 3-4 side then back on the 1-2 side, I would have ended at Cr2.) (I think.) (But it doesn’t matter; weaving from any other corner still smells as sweet.)

Photo shows places I tied yarn temporarily together. I could have taken the time to tie magic knots every time I changed colors, but obviously I didn’t.

Tie color two on the 3-4 edge, complete warping L3, then secure yarn on the 1-2 side of the loom according to your preference.

L3 has 4 strands of orange + 7 strands of blue + 4 strands of orange.

Layer 4–Weave–in this case–from top to bottom of the loom. I wrapped 2 1/2 times for each color. Weave four strands of color one, eight strands of color 2, four strands of color one. It is NOT RECOMMENDED that you weave all of color one, then go back and fill in color two. I’ve tried it before and it’s difficult to accomplish. Just unthread your needle and leave color one hanging while you weave color two in. Then take color one yarn down 2-4 side and continue weaving. (Again, you have the option of tying off and back on, or tying magic knots.)

Weaving in progress.

L4 yields a total of 8 color one, 15 color two, and 8 color one warp and weft strands (31 in each direction)–or four 8 x 8 stranded color one squares, one 15 x 15 stranded color two square, plus four 8 x 15 halftone-stranded rectangles.

The completed square on the loom. Hopefully this photo will answer questions you may have about what goes where when.

***Yarns used in sample: Color one–Caron Simply Soft “Mango”; Color two–Caron Simply Soft “Cobalt Blue.”