Off the Loom...

This time it is all in Gray...

Off the Loom and Oodles of Scraps...

I finished one more rug this week.  After getting one about a quarter of a way through and just not loving the pattern and color combo, I took it all off and started again, ending up with this one.

                                            It is the Caribbean Rug now in the shop.


But after a few weeks of weaving rugs from T-shirts that have been cut up, I had an overwhelming amount of scraps needing a purpose, so I spent some time in the late night hours last night getting them cut into useable pieces and organized for a few new projects.  Here is some of the fun we have come up with as well as some new booties/slippers I have designed for the shop.

 The girls and  I made some headbands, bracelets and teething rings for Israel.  I had also made some rag balls earlier this week for Israel who is obsessed with texture right now.  That bin of t-shirt yarn always looks so fun to me!

And these are some of the new bootie slippers I have made out of the T-shirt scraps.  Israel wears these style booties all the time.  Pretty soon I am going to need to add no-slip fabric to the bottoms;(-he is growing just way too fast.

A weekend sale in the shop will be starting at midnight.  All prices will be marked down 20%.  Happy shopping my sweet friends. And have a lovely weekend!

Off the Loom...

It is pretty tough to sleep with the cold I have, so I spent some time last night finishing up the rug I had on the loom.  This one is now my favorite thus far!  I wove it a bit looser than the last and was happy to see the result.  It came out a bit larger and much thicker, cuddly soft even.  It was intended for the shop and as much as I am tempted to keep it, I managed to get it listed this morning. I named it Lite Brite because it reminds me of my kiddo's light brite. The primary colors married with the black really made them pop.  This rug took 26 T-shirts in all.  My thrift stores are going to be seeing me a bit more than normal I think.

On the Loom...

This is the current project on my loom.  Another colorful rug, but with transitions of black throughout it.  Matt and I went out last night for a belated Valentine's dinner since he was working the evening of Valentine's Day.   I was happy to celebrate late anyways because I am not a crowd person, we usually try to avoid date nights on the weekends and holidays.  The restaurant was quiet and enjoyable, we even got a chance to chat a bit with two sweet older women sitting next to us(they were taken with Israel). Before we even made it to the restaurant though, Matt was patient enough for me to make a thrift run to gather the rest of the colors I needed for the current rug.  So I quickly raided the T-shirt isle for black especially.  I am hoping I now have enough to finish this rug.

Unfortunately I have come down with the bug that has been going around our home.  I feel the worst today and am hoping it is the worst day.  I knew when I woke up that i was only going to feel worse as the day went on, so I managed to get a roast in the crock pot right away and get my current orders for the shop shipped.  Madi is going to help me teach the little ones today while she waits for her knew curriculum to come in, and maybe I will just sit and roll some balls of T-shirt yarn for the rug this afternoon instead of crawling into bed.

Matt is in one of the busy seasons for his ministry.  He has had 3 retreats consecutively this month, the last being this weekend.  He is also sharing in the visitation pastor responsibilities until we hire on a new visitation pastor, so the days are longer right now-good-but certainly long.  We are looking forward to some vacation time coming up.  Not going away this year for our anniversary, we are sure going to miss it, but we are using that budget for braces and drivers training for our older two.  So grateful for the ability to take care of those two big blessings this year.  So with vacation time, we are ging to do some much overdue repairs around the house.



The kitchen is our main project.  The wall has been unfinished for over a year now-we had started in this early in my pregnancy with Israel last year.  We had taken out the door between the bedroom and kitchen to give the bedroom more wall space, but then had to abandon it to conquer the build in the basement before Israel was born.  We are finally at a point to take the kitchen on again.  Years ago, we were given a used dishwasher and we had also purchased a stove top to replace our barely functioning one, but time has just never been there to put them in.  We are seriously hoping it will finally happen.  The kids are of course very excited about having a dishwasher!  We have washed dishes by hand their whole lives, I am just not sure what to expect. But, all of that aside, the time off together will be very welcomed!

Off the Loom...

Late last night I finished the rug I was making for Israel to play on.  It is the first I have finished using the full size of my loom.  I was thrilled with it's result and have added some more experience to the learning process.  It is a 4x4 foot rug and works so well for a play area.  Working with all that color was amazing.  Anxious to start on the next.

On the Loom...

My excitement is growing!!  This is my current project-it looks as fun as a fresh new big box of crayons!  It is the first time I am doing a rug the full size of my 6 foot loom.  And I have done it with t-shirts.  I found a fabulous tutorial on how to cut t shirts into one long piece of yarn.  It is fabulous!  Here is the rug thus far-19 shirts used so far.

We have a few sickies around here, poor guys.  I haven't done any weaving since last weekend, so this weekend with a quieter pace, I have been able to get some more practice and relaxation with this one.

Off the Loom...

                                           It is finished and beautiful...and in the shop!
  

What's On The Loom...

I know I've been MIA since Thanksgiving.  Thank you sweet ones for sending notes of concern and encouragement, it was greatly appreciated!  Everything has been wonderful, just needed to pull back from a few things to enjoy my family over the holiday season, and a little recoup from the crazy preChristmas pace in the shop!  I will post a more comprehensive sharing of life later, but I wanted to at least share a new skill I am learning and thoroughly enjoying!

I have been dreaming of this for a very long time...being able to weave on a large scale.  So, for my birthday this year, Matt and Cole helped me build a 6 foot loom.  We almost did not have the space to build it-hard to find a 6 foot by 6 foot open space in our little home.  Fortunately when in use, it takes up practically no space!  It is on the unfinished outside wall of our new bedroom in the basement.  We laugh because Matt and I's bedroom in the basement looks like a movie set from the outside with all of the studs exposed.  It happens to be the only "wall" though that is not used in one way or another.  So attaching the loom to it worked very well!  The picture should help make sense of what I am saying.

        (through that door is our beautiful new bedroom which you would never expect from the outside)


The loom is basically just an over sized potholder loom, the kind we all did as children. We used simple 2x4's for the frame.  It contains 268 screw pegs on it. 67 on each side.   It is the most calming, easy going craft-therapeutic even.  I can do 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there and come back or leave it whenever I want.  I do not have to duck away to do it, I can be around the kids as I work and even Bell has her own smaller loom that she sits and works on by me.

My first project was a small rug made from cotton jersey stretch reclaimed from bed linens.




And this is what is on the loom right now.

I am ready to cast off the loom with this rug.  If all goes well, it is going to go into the shop.  I used both jersey sheets and tshirts for this rug-so soft and cushy.  These go relatively fast.  My hope is to begin a wool rug and that one will probably take me a good amount of time.  Smaller pieces of fabric to attach and many more garments included than in a jersey rug.  The jersey rugs I just tie, but the wool I am going to sew strips together.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!!