Cricket loom Archives - The Loopy Ewe Blog

Malabrigo, Skein, Juliespins and More!

by Sheri BergerApril 1, 2013April 1, 20134 Comments

Happy April Fools day! No tricks or fooling today. Just lots of pretty yarn up on the website. Just up:

– Juliespins Superwash Merino Lace – These come in 960 yard skeins on a 100% Superwash Merino base. Julie very rarely repeats colors, so if you see one you love, get it now. These will knit up into gorgeous shawls and lightweight scarves or stoles. Need some pattern ideas? Swiss Cheese Scarf, Radiance Shawl, Longfellow, Citron, and Vostok. (I’d also add in Nuvem and Viajante, but I just talked about those last week.) Shown here in Holly.

– Malabrigo Rastita – This single-ply DK weight yarn is wonderful for creating warm hats, cowls, mittens and shawls. You’ll love working with it and wearing it. The colors are Malabrigo-Marvelous, as always. (Of course if you’re doing a multi-skein project, you’ll want to alternate skeins. Hand-dyeing creates a beautiful mix of colors that are hard to repeat exactly from one skein to the next.) You might try this with Flow, Sidetracked Cable Mitts, Yarnster Hat, Honey Cowl, and A Grey Loop. Shown here in Indiecita.

– Skein DK – This is our first time to have this base and it’s a fun one. 100% Superwash Merino with 280 yards in the skein. You’ll find it great for shawls and scarves, sweaters and hats, mittens and cowls. The firm twist gives great stitch definition. Check out these patterns for possible options: Chinook Scarf, The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief, Arbutus, Spiral Cowl, and Sea Beanie. Shown here in Ayame.

– ChiaoGoo Needles – more re-stocks in some of the sizes that were backordered the last time. You all sure love these needles. (We do, too!)

– Loopy Cakes – two new sets (Sizzle and Shakespeare’s Garden) and two re-stocks (Whisper and Doll Parts). My favorite project with the Loopy Cakes is my Cowl. Free pattern on this blog post. Wouldn’t it be fun to make that cowl out of Sizzle for the winter? It would really brighten any gray day. Shown here in Sizzle.

– Schacht Spinning Bobbins – these fit the Matchless, Ladybug and Sidekick wheels.

– Cricket 15″ weaving looms – Great for weaving scarves, towels, placemats and tablerunners. (Please note, due to the size, we’re only able to ship these to addresses in the U.S.)

Have fun checking out the new things and we’ll get your Boxes of Fun shipped out to you tomorrow!

Sheri onceagaindrawninbyprettyyarncolorstonight.
Stashcontinuestogrow.Icontinuetobehappyaboutthat.

Now Hooked on Weaving

by Sheri BergerOctober 3, 2012March 5, 201317 Comments

Well, I did it. I made my first scarf on the Cricket 15″ loom, and boy was it fun! I used a Claudia Hand Painted Worsted weight yarn (in our Peppermint Mocha colorway) that I’ve had on hand for 3 or 4 years. It was fun to weave and took two afternoons (about 5 hours, total, I think). My hands turned red as I was weaving it, so I knew that the red dye would run when I washed it. Despite a Shout Color Catcher in the water, the red still colored the white. Now, instead of a Peppermint Mocha scarf, I have a Cinnamon Red Hots kind of a scarf. But it’s ok – I still like it and I learned a lot on my first attempt. I’m excited to go through my stash and whip up some more! The whole reason I wanted to learn to weave is because I’ve heard it’s a good stash buster. I have some really pretty yarn in my stash that I still like, but don’t know that I want to knit with it. Weaving will be perfect.

Do you want to give weaving a try? We’ll offer another day-long weaving class at the shop in the spring. Our day-long class includes the cost of a new Cricket Loom, as well as the full day of instruction. However, if you’re not local or want to jump in sooner, I have to say that the instruction book that comes with it is very thorough. We shipped a loom off to a gal who wanted to learn to do this with her granddaughter, and they have used the booklet and are going to town on it. So if you’d like us to special order a loom for you, let us know! ($169, and it takes 4-6 weeks to get special orders.)

All of the gals who took the weaving class last month are now on their 3rd and 4th scarves, just because it’s so fun and a wee bit addictive. I finished that first one and started another one the next day. I’m doing this one in Wollmeise in the True Love color. I think multi-colors are especially pretty when woven.

Sheri stillhookedonknittingtoo,buthavingfunweavingrightnow

P.S. No post on Friday, as I’m out of town with some of my very favorite friends for our not-always-annual-but-should-be Girls Weekend. More next week, including Camp Loopy Project Three winners. Have a great rest of the week!

Weave a Scarf in No Time!

by Sheri BergerSeptember 13, 2012March 5, 201317 Comments

We offered a weaving class here at The Loopy Ewe last weekend, and it was a lot of fun! Each class participant got their own 15″ Cricket Loom and went to work, making themselves a scarf. Here they all are, learning how to warp their looms. The warping takes almost as long as the actual weaving part. You have to stretch the yarn a long way to get it the right length for a scarf.

Once the looms are warped and the excess yarn is rolled up, you can get to work with the weaving part, which seems like the most fun. Lynn, our instructor, brought her floor loom, just to keep us focused on which loom we might want to get next.

I can’t believe you can be done with a gorgeous scarf in a day! Two of the four had theirs done by the end of the day, and the other two were almost done by the time they left. Amazing. Here’s a photo of the pattern most were using – a houndstooth variation.

If you’re in our area, let us know if you’d like to take a weaving class. We’ll collect names for the next go-round. We’ll also have more 15″ Cricket Looms back in stock again soon.

So – do you weave? I can’t wait to jump in and make a scarf!

Sheri knittingcrochetingspinningweaving
Notimeforanythingelsenewafterthis