Twisted yarns

I am so pleased! The lovely Jenny has very kindly loaned me an inkle loom! I couldn't wait to get it set up - so I pulled out my cones of stranded cotton and starting warping the loom (wrapping the threads around it), but about halfway realised something didn't look right and I had soon realised I had been bringing the open / unheddled threads over the wrong peg.... so I started again! It went much quicker the 2nd time around. Last night I made a start and seemed to get into a good rhythm straight away.... but time had crept up on me and I had to put it away. This afternoon I took it off the loom, with 1m of band approx 3/4 inch wide. I really can't wait to order a loom now! Sara  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Finally I have completed my mochila bag... actually finished Sunday, but then I had to make a cord. Fortunately, I bought a set of kumhimo disks for the girls at the beginning of lockdown. Instructions said you should cut lengths of thread 3 x the length of the finshed cordyou want....  1 wanted around 80cm, so used 240cm of each thread - and I have loads left over 😁... and the cord is longer than I planned (I may end up undoing a little to make the cord shorter... but we'll see! Ta da... Sara  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Quick update - I had another go on my makeshift backstrap set-up and managed a much tighter and neater weave Following the advice  from Laverne Waddington (a very experienced backstrap weaver), I tried again but kept the heddle further away from where I was weaving and I used a single strand of the same red used for the outside edges of the warp. It's only if you look really closely that you can glimpse tiny parts of the weft exposed  Sara  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Today I had a little play around - after a discussion with my ten year old about what cottons to use for the first experiment, we decided to try using a small rigid heddle I bought a few weeks ago and my supply of stranded cotton... We used a couple of chairs to wind the warp around - she chose a rainbow pattern, but we quickly realised the band would be tiny, so we decided that we would put a central white thread and then a mirror version of the rainbow... I had a little problem when removing the warp from the chairs, as the released suddenly and so I had some untangling to do (good job I had the cross over point safely secured and a tie around the end of the warp!). Pulling the threads through the heddle wasn't too tricky (2 same colour threads through each hole and slot and stranded cotton is so thin) - I found that using a 2mm crochet hook worked wonders. Anyway, I managed to cobble together a set up and had a trial run at weaving using the backstrap method.

Well, looking at suggestions for how to make a strap for a mochila bag, opened up a whole world of oprions! Crochet - done in rows in the mochila technique (carrying all of the colours as you go along each row, just like making the main bag) can make great patterns to match the designs in the body of the bag Macrame - I really liked this option, I can manage that as well (I used to make them, see earlier blog posts!), it's basically like making a giant friendship bracelet, but it will take some time! Stumbled across an amazing website while investingating options  https://friendship-bracelets.net/patterns/104117  - this is my own pattern... once you get to grips with the program, it's such good fun creating a pattern! Ply Split braiding  - don't really fancy trying my hand at this, but it looks cool -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53dzZ5WVRuU Inkle loom weaving - this looks amazing. I'd love to give this a go, I can't really justify buying one just to give it a

Over the last few weeks I have been very interested in making a mochila bag after seeing a bag created by Marion Verloop  Mochila bags So, after researching where to get the correct type of yarn (mercerised cotton 125m/50g), I ordered some "Yarn and Colors Must Have" - enough for Marion's beginner bag and also either the 2107-2018 CAL or the 2020 CAL... plus a couple of extras to get my free delivery! I ordered from Lindehobby.com as they had great prices and colours available So I began the beginner bag (it's a mini bag) - It's not too difficult if you can crochet, but you have to use 2-2.5 mm hook to make tiny stitches, which is a little tough on the hands until you get more used to it. The base caused very little trouble (once I had switched from a 2.5 mm hook to a 2 mm hook Switching to the sides was ok as well (the facebook page has links to fantastic instructions and videos and the group members are keen to share their advice)....  I hought I was doing well

Well, I havent updated in a good few years, but thought I'd resuurect my blog just to keep track of craft projects... over the past few years I have had long spells of not really doing anything creative, but about 4 years ago I started to crochet. Since then, I haven't looked back! I've mainly crocheted blankets - simply baby blankets as gifts for friends, large blankets for family to snuggle under, and intricate blankets to give away as presents (only to the favoured few as they take sooo long!) I also made some NHS hero dolls: for a neigbour who is a midwife, a friend's sister who is a respiratory care nurse and another friend who is exceptionally busy as a junior doctor  in a hospital... Sara  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯