WAL, Week 4—“Sunken Square”

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***(20 March 2019 UPDATE: see Loomette Sunken Square)***

I didn’t host this week’s Weave-Along, but I wanted to post the pattern in my notation style. Everyone’s mind seems to work a little differently and my mind likes to know when there are repeats in a pattern–that way, my brain doesn’t have to reset itself for repeated rows. I’m one up if I’ve already performed the steps successfully.

Thanks to LK Stimeling for making the job so much easier for me! Pin Loom Weaving Support Group, WAL, Week 4

"Sunken Square"

“Sunken Square”

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Adventures in Pin Loom Weaving–How to host a WAL Without Hosting a WAL

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Soooooooooo

I wasn’t supposed to host the WAL this week because, as LK put it, “Our much-esteemed host will be using her well-deserved time to catch up on her excellent blog”.  I don’t say it is an excellent blog myself, but “my friends tell me . . . .” (Ha ha! Name that movie and/or character . . . *ANSWER is at the ultimate bottom of this post).

Here I am, catching up on my blog and killing four birds with one stone–LA’s request, LK’s two requests, and her-and-my idea to create a template, or checklist, for future WAL hosts/hostesses. When I say “request” I mean they made a comment and I barged in with, “I was planning to do a blog post on that . . .” And I should also mention TW, who asked me how to do this in the first place—there’s no substitute for a live student, though we do pretty well on the Support Group.

TEMPLATE (which will be summarized at the penultimate bottom of this post. Template instructions are centered in this post.)

You might want to begin with a photo of the finished square or some other relevant photo.

Include the name of the pattern. You can say something about why you chose the pattern and/or its title. You can also add other introductory comments before digging into the nitty gritty.

Pattern #24: “Lines and Os”

This square has both a number and a name because it comes from the pile of numbered squares (it’s #24 in the stack) I have in my Catalog of Squares. (That gives me an idea for another blog post or page: A Catalog of Squares.) Originally #24 didn’t have a name and, after I batted several about, it ended up with the above colorless rendition.

Left is the sample pattern. Right is the original "#24."

Left is the sample pattern. Right is the original #24.

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How to Avoid MIS-Adventures in Pin Loom Weaving—Trouble Shooting

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As of today, the following information is as accurate as I can make it based on my 16 months of experience with the pin loom. Feel free to comment if you have other experiences or questions. While this post is meant as a trouble-shooting post for beginning weavers, I’m also including extra information so it will all be in one place. The information herein will serve as a glossary until I get a separate one made.

***Remember you can click on a photo to enlarge it. Click the back arrow to return to this post.

ANATOMY OF THE PIN LOOM

Pin looms have a frame and pins. Many pin looms have pins grouped (generally) in threes (three of the corners have different groupings). We call this a “three-pin configuration.” The Loomette’s pins are not arranged this way, but you can still weave with it as you would a three-pin configured loom.

The loom has four corners, three of which are numbered on the Weave-it and Weavette; Zoom Loom numbers all four of its corners. Loomette doesn’t number the corners, but there’s a notch for anchoring the yarn at corner 1.

From L: Weave-it, Loomette, Zoom Loom

From L: Weave-it, Loomette, Zoom Loom

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Pin Loom Weave-Along, Week 3—“Lattice Borders”

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“Lattice Borders,” from the Weave-it Magic Squares booklet, is a simple and versatile pattern. It’s somewhere between an overall pattern and a picture pattern, and would make a great border design on a scarf or blanket. It looks great in single or several colors, but variegated yarn is not recommended as the details of the pattern will likely be lost.

"Lattice Borders"--single color; this sample featured a mistake in the pattern. It has since been corrected.

“Lattice Borders”–single color; this sample originally featured a mistake in the pattern. It has since been corrected.

When I wove the sample pictured above, I made a mistake I didn’t notice till I took the square off the loom. “Rats!” I thought, planning to start over. Instead I went on to make the already warped two-color sample of the same square. While I wove I recognized the “blessing in disguise:” I could demonstrate how to fix a mistake in a square after it’s off the loom. Watch for that mini-tutorial later in this post.

"Lattice Borders" in two colors--warped L 1&3 in mc, L2&4 in cc.

“Lattice Borders” in two colors–warped L1 & 3: mc/L2 & 4: cc.

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