Oh my word!

The flurry of activity at our house is just completely over the top!

My blog has ground to a stop, as I just can’t keep everything going all at once right now…

something had to give, and it’s been the blog.

Here’s a little (but no where near all) of what has been going on….

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

Really- there are things that simply shouldn’t be combined….

Like selling an acreage that you have lived on for 21 years and buying a house in the city….

Um… a large acreage that has accumulated a lot of stuff

(I know, I know, WE accumulated all that stuff…

it followed us home when we saw all it’s creative potential) …

:)

While working to deadline on a book (and doing all the photography and illustrations and diagrams AS WELL AS designing all the projects and weaving them all yourself…. )

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

eeks!  The deadline is looming – pardon the pun :)

BUT…. I am so incredibly inspired and excited by the designs and projects for the book that I am just over the moon.

And, am seeing rather a lot of the moon lately, as there aren’t enough hours in the day, so the hours in the night are full of the busy busy of it all.

I can’t show any of the projects yet, but, wheeeeeee!  I am just happy dancing and skippetty hopping over them.

I have been in love with peg loom weaving and weaving sticks for years, but that love has grown exponentially as I work on this book.

I am just boggled by the creative potential of the marvelously simple peg looms and weaving sticks.

In fact, I have passed along quite a few of my other, non-peg looms, because there is so much for me to explore with them that I just don’t have the time for many other of my looms.

Ah, the move: The downsizing, packing and dealing with all the insane bureaucratic hoop jumping has been epic.  Sheesh.

Just sheesh.

Oh yes… another leetle stressor in our lives is that we suddenly adopted a darling little puppy from a relative who couldn’t keep her.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

She’s enchanting- but wasn’t housebroken, so that’s been a challenge- another of those ‘don’t do this at home’ kind of things.

House training a puppy in deep dreary freaking freezing cold mid winter is not fun.

That’s not quite true- she loves gazing at the birds and thinks trips outside are marvelous.  (When it’s a million below zero, I don’t share her enthusiasm)

She has taught me to keep my shoes in a box that she can’t get into…

(yes, she did chew my most expensive boots)

and to not leave my favorite glasses where she can get them

(yes,  she did chew them, and my ipod earbuds up)

and to not let balls of yarn drop to the floor

(she outdoes a kitten in her enthusiasm for yarnplay- face palm)

She’s a right proper little scalliwag but we do adore her and are so happy that she’s part of the family.

There’s a million other things going on in our lives right now, but I must get back to work, so I shall just zip away and weave up some wonderful-ness.

Cheerio and tootlepip… which is what we always say to our grandson when he heads home from our time together.

I probably won’t be posting again for a couple of weeks, as we are soon to be hefting and heaving ourselves into the new (smaller, much smaller) house in the city.

And, then, it’s serious overdrive on the book….

so…. cheerio for now….

Poor Tottie Tomato has been left sleeping in her antique wicker suitcase for the entire month since we moved to our new home.  That’s her suitcase behind her.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay tottietalkscrafts.com

I’ve been working so hard to set up our home and my studio, as well as working hard hard hard on the new book, that poor Tottie hasn’t seen the light of day.

But, it’s time to let little Ms Tomato settle into our new studio.

She likes it very much, even though it is waaaaaaaaay smaller than our old one.

She loves to help warp up the peg looms, which is good, as I am weaving and writing and photographing and and and … full steam ahead!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay tottietalkscrafts.com

It really feels like home, now that Tottie Tomato is out and about in the studio with me!

Hurrah and, Whee and wow and whew…..

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay ww.tottietalkscrafts.com

I am such a happy and rather exhausted bunny.

A couple of days before my actual deadline, I  finished the manuscript, photos, diagrams and photo coding for my new book: Peg Looms & Weaving Sticks: Woven Projects & Techniques, Basics & Beyond.

Wow. BEFORE deadline. Wow.

My lovely editor is off in Scotland perusing fibery goodness there, so bless her heart, she has said to me to take a week or so to do the proofreading.  I love my editor.

Taking a week or so to do the proofreading is the most sanity saving way of doing the slow and essential plod plod plod through the manuscript, so I am eternally grateful that she has suggested this.  Like I said. I. Love. My. Editor.

The final couple of weeks of finishing the book were grindingly intense and the last few days were proper pinchers, so I have been having some delicious recovery naps in the last couple of days.

Changing gears and shifting back into ‘real life’ is a quietly satisfying process.

I got explosively inspired for the ~NEXT~ book, so have been galloping into it, being incredibly inspired and feeling all excited and delighted and then taking another recovery nap.

Wow.

And, now…. for a few hours of sipping tea and sending my eyeballs on a mission across the screen:

Must. Find. All. The. Errors.

Must. Polish. Any. Clumsiness.

And, then…. I’ll take another lovely nap.

I love this book.

I love the next one.

Wheeeeeeeeee………..

I am utterly aghast.

My lovely, but now ~former~ editor has just let me know that Stackpole books has been bought by another publishing company.

My book, which is in the production layout stages will now not be released until late 2017.

I am so sorry for the people who have lost their jobs, and I am also so sad that my book has been delayed for more than a year.

After I designed the tiny knitted comfort bears, LINK , people asked for crocheted comfort bears. LINK.

Then, people asked me for woven comfort bears, and I started sketching and drawing .

The drawings that really delighted me were for a ~flat~ teddy bear, all round and rolly polly. So, I have designed this dear little flat teddy bear to be woven on weaving sticks or peg looms.

A ~FLAT~ Teddy Bear?! Seriously? Yes!

Rolly Polly Flat Bears by Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

The Rolly Polly Flat Bear is a charming little teddy bear that is meant to be small, because it’s one of my series of comfort bears.  So it fits in the palm of your hand, or in a pocket.

Because it’s small and flat, it can go everywhere.

Rolly Polly Flat Bear can be stitched to a hat or a bag or have a pin stitched to it’s back and be worn as a pin or whatever you can imagine.

It can also be popped into an envelope and mailed to a friend.

Being a very little Rolly Polly Flat Bear is a good thing- it’s so easy to have adventures when you are small and flat.

And,  Rolly Polly Flat Bears are especially good for teddy bear makers, since they are so easy to make.

Rolly Polly Flat Bears by Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

You can make different sizes of the Rolly Polly Flat Bears by using different sizes of weaving sticks and different thicknesses of yarn.

I’ve decided to make Rolly Polly Flat Bears for our Christmas tree and for all our friends and relations’ Christmas trees, too.

I hope that you will have fun weaving Rolly Polly Flat Bears, and please do take pictures and share them to show what your Rolly Polly Flat Bears have gotten up to!

Here’s the link to my etsy shop for the pattern:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/265438897/rolly-polly-flat-teddy-bear-woven-on?ref=shop_home_active_1

Happy weaving!!!

I’ve been designing some very whimsical things for Weaving Sticks and peg looms lately….

For instance: Dancing Flat Sheep :)

Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

After all, with yarn, all things are possible!

So, here they are:  Happy Dancing Flat Sheep.  :)

Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

The finished size of the Dancing Flat Sheep is determined by the size of weaving sticks or pegs and thickness of weft and warp yarns, as well as the spacing of the pegs or weaving sticks.

So, you can make wee little sheepies with very thin weaving sticks or pegs and sock and eyelash yarns:

Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

OR:

Medium sized sheepies using sport weight yarns and slightly larger weaving sticks:

Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

OR:

Go for the gusto, and do big sheepishes, using art yarns, rovings, bulky or even fabric strips or Tarn:

Dancing Flat Sheep by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c) http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Have fun and Happy Dancing and Happy Weaving!

The pattern is in my etsy shop:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/266333229/flat-dancing-sheep-woven-on-weaving?ref=shop_home_active_1

It must be the weather, as more whimsy is on it’s way…..

After I designed the goofy dancing sheep LINK, I thought…. hmmm…. I really should weave some sheep with their feet on the ground.

So, I started the way I always do…. by sketching and noodling and asking myself: ‘What if?’  and, ‘Could I do this or that?’

And, after many iterations (aka: I tried this that and the other and they didn’t work) , I am delighted that I have finally

completed the design and made the  pattern for Fleur:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/267537489/whimsical-folkloric-sheep-pattern-woven?ref=shop_home_active_1

and Bellissa:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/267537489/whimsical-folkloric-sheep-pattern-woven?ref=shop_home_active_1

Fleur and Bellissa are whimsical Folkloric inspired sheep to weave on weaving sticks or a peg loom.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/267537489/whimsical-folkloric-sheep-pattern-woven?ref=shop_home_active_1

The finished size is determined by the diameter of weaving stick that you choose and the thickness of the yarn.

I want to weave a technicolor flock with every permutation and combination of colors and textures and hand spun yarns and art yarns and rovings, and, and, and…

They make me laugh, which is always a good thing.

Here’s the LINK to the pattern in my etsy shop:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/267537489/whimsical-folkloric-sheep-pattern-woven?ref=shop_home_active_1

The end. LOL.   Well, Bellissa’s ‘end’  :)   Happy weaving!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/267537489/whimsical-folkloric-sheep-pattern-woven?ref=shop_home_active_1

This is the latest in my series of Woven Women mixed media tapestries: “The Stories We Tell”.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Here’s the video that explains it:

I wove the center galaxy section on a 15 inch peg loom from Dewberry Ridge looms. The dragonflies and star were also woven on looms that I designed for Dewberry Ridge.

I wove the words on my double slotted rigid heddle.

I worked the hand in Teneriffe lace and lucet cords.

It’s 20 inches/50 cm wide and 21 inches/52.5 cm tall.

It took more than 8 weeks of intensive weaving for me to complete this piece.

I have just posted a new video on how to weave circles of any size, using a peg loom or weaving sticks.

This means that you can weave rugs, mats and all manner of wonderfulness any size that you want, on any size of Peg loom.

Happy weaving!

PS: To weave the first circle in the center, you may want to watch this video:

I have been wondering if I could weave with copper wire on my weaving sticks…. there’s a reason- I want a band woven with copper wire for a new piece.

And, the answer is, ‘Yes!’.

weaving with wire on weaving sticks.

I made a little video about it:

Here are the links to the sources of the weaving sticks that I used in the video:

Dew berry Ridge https://www.dewberryridge.com/products/weaving-sticks 

http://daegrad.co.uk/page4.php?category=8&view=productListPage

For the last few months, I have been working on a very large mixed media tapestry in my series of ‘Woven Women’.

This one is called: ‘Essence’.

Woven Woman (Essence) by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

She’s over 6 feet tall, and has about 2 feet of warp strands hanging below the lower edge, so she’s about 8 feet tall in total.

I used many different looms to weave her…. beginning with my ‘Story Loom’ (designed by Susan Barret Merrill of

Weaving a Life LINK)

“Essence” on the Story Loom (c) Noreen Crone-Findlay

I also used:  A rigid heddle loom, a narrow band weaving loom,  peg loom, weaving sticks, Star Loom, tatting and wire work.

I posted links to 3 videos that I made about various looms and techniques I used in weaving ‘Woven Woman: Essence” here: LINK

And, made a video so you can see her a little more clearly:

Happy Weaving, and here’s to Essence, however it reveals itself (or in this case: Herself).

People keep asking me for help with advancing the warp on long peg loom weavings.

So I have made a video showing the stages of how to move the weaving down the warp strands- on long, wide warps, it takes a lot of effort!

I wove my husband a mat for his morning pilates and he loves it.

So do the dogs, so the mat does NOT live on the floor!

It’s 2 feet wide by 6 feet long.

The loom is from Dewberry Ridge Looms and the yarn is from Briggs and Little.

It’s 100% wool and makes a scrumptiously  cushioned rug.

Here’s the video that explains the process of advancing the weaving:

The Bound Double Damascus Edge works beautifully to finish Peg loom woven fabric:

It’s sturdy and secure.

Here’s  a video about how to do the Double Damascus edge and then how to stitch over it for a Bound finish.

We have a tradition in our family of making Christmas/Holiday ornaments for our family and friends.

I have been thinking about what I should make for this year.

I always start working on them in the summer so I can get lots of them done.

This year, I wanted to celebrate my Peg Loom and Weaving Stick book being published, so, I designed Tassel dolls to weave with weaving sticks.

I am putting hooks on the back of them so they can be hung on Christmas trees, garlands or wreaths.
The Tassel Dolls can also have pins or loops so they can be worn on the lapel or the zipper of a bag.
I made the Tassel Dolls with weaving sticks from Dewberry Ridge Looms: https://www.dewberryridge.com/products/weaving-sticks

Here is the how to video that shows the step by step instructions for making the Weaving Stick Tassel Dolls:

Happy Weaving!  Have fun making Tassel yarn dolls!

I’ve just made a video that shows some of the projects in my book, Peg Looms & Weaving Sticks

(release date: Sept. 1, 2017).

I’ll be making more videos, showing more of the projects in the book.

The book is available online from the National Book Depository: LINK and from local bookstores.

Happy Weaving!

(I am seriously Happy, happy dancing!)

I was very surprised the other day, when a friend in England sent me a photo of herself, holding ‘Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks’!

I haven’t received my copy yet, so I was amazed to see that it has made it’s way to England before it’s official release date.

It was neat to see what the final version of the front cover looks like.

I still don’t know what the back cover looks like

So, this video, which I had planned to be a ‘Sneak Peek’ at the book, isn’t really a sneak peek since some people already have it (even if I don’t!)

In this video, I am focusing on the wearables in the book.

The book can be ordered from the Book Depository- I’d never heard of them until my editor told me about them, but I think it’s great that they ship worldwide,  free.  LINK 

Happy weaving!

Oh my word.

My editors and I poured over every word of the manuscript of ‘Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks’, over and over and over, and yet a typo slipped by us!

For the Cowl on Page 29, #2- It should say ‘Weave 30 inches” NOT 36 inches.

Apologies!!!!!

I really hope that this is the only typo to have sneaked past us!

Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks are great for weaving baskets.

Because I had already designed a collection of weaving stick baskets for my etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/111292892/pdf-pattern-for-all-kinds-of-baskets?ref=shop_home_active_4)

I wanted to do something completely different for the book.

I was really happy about figuring out how to weave squares on the peg loom and weaving sticks, so it was natural to weave baskets using squares.

I also thought that it made sense to make round baskets for the book, as well, so I came up with a very simple little round basket that I call the Blessing Bowls.

The size of the baskets is determined by the thickness of yarn, cord, t shirt yarn, string or what ever you decide to use, as well as the thickness of the weaving sticks or peg looms.

Baskets are such a useful thing, and they are so much fun to weave. I hope that you will enjoy weaving them on peg looms and weaving sticks!

The book can be ordered  from your local bookstore, or from any of the usual online sellers or from the National Book Depository, (new to me!).
Here’s the link for it:
https://www.bookdepository.com/Peg-Looms-and-Weaving-Sticks/9780811716123

There are many ways of working with color on the peg loom.

One is to work intuitively, adding and changing colors whenever, wherever you want to.

Another, is to use a cartoon or template- a technique that I cover in my book: Peg Looms & Weaving Sticks 

If you would like to chart out designs and work from them, I have made a video showing how I worked from this chart:

In the video, I show how to work a locked join when changing colors, as well as simply stacking colors when working the diagonal lines.

Even though  the techniques are shown on a peg loom, they work just the same on weaving sticks.

The loom in the video is from Dewberry Ridge Looms.  The yarn is from Harrisville yarns.

I have always loved mermaids, and I am totally addicted to weaving mermaids these days.

I’ve  made a video showing how I used my Mermaid pattern on etsy to weave Mermaids of different sizes  on peg looms.

I took the original Mermaid that looked like this for the pattern:

And added a wooden face, leather hands, a little tatting, and a seashell:

She was woven on 1/4 inch diameter weaving sticks and is about 11 or 12 inches tall.

Also woven on the 1/4 inch diameter weaving sticks is this Mermaid, woven with hand spun art yarn and  needle felted:

The same etsy pattern can be used to make totally different mermaids by changing the size of pegs or weaving sticks used and different thicknesses of yarns.

I used the smallest pegs on my 6 inch peg loom to weave the smallest Mermaid, who’s about 7 or 8 inches tall.

She’s woven on the 1/8th inch pegs.

The Mermaid woven with the 3/8 inch pegs is about 20 inches tall:

I did some geometric pattern weaving in her body, but it’s a little hard to see in this pic.

I used 2 strands of a very bulky chenille yarn held together to weave the largest Mermaid, who is around 28 inches tall.

When I was weaving the different sizes, I did tweak the pattern somewhat to adjust for the differences in the size of the pegs and thickness of the yarns.

Here’s the link to the pattern in my etsy shop:  LINK
(sorry – it’s not free)
Happy weaving and happy Mermaiding!

The looms are from Dewberry Ridge Looms: LINK

My book: Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks is available from all your favorite online book sellers, and can be ordered through your local book store.  It’s full of weaving yes-ness!

Here’s the video about the Mermaid dolls: