Potholder: twisted

On By CarynIn Craft

So now that I’ve pinned a couple potholder pictures on Pinterest, my feed is flooded with pin looms covered in cotton loops. I saw a partially woven potholder that had adjacent loops twisted over each other. There were no instructions or guidance, so it took me a bit of experimentation, and I didn’t make an exact replica, but I did enjoy working on a new technique.

Photo description: potholder loom with loops hooked vertically across alternating warm (red and orange) and cool (dark blue, light blue, and green) colors. One green loop woven horizontally in the middle, skipping the first strand, the next two strands are twisted so the warm color is up, then strands 4 and 5 are twisted the opposite way so the warm color is up. The horizontal loop goes under the warm colors and over the cool colors twisted together across, with twist direction alternating.
Photo description: two more horizontal strands added on either side of the center strand with no twisting, the warm color went under the cool colors on the first set of loops, and the cool horizontal color went under the warm colors, this set of loops are woven in the original pairs as with classic potholder loop weaving.

I found it easiest to work this pattern from the center. I twisted one strand from each adjacent loop together then ran the weaving loop through the center of the twist. I then twisted the next two strands in the opposite way. It took some mistakes and undoing to get the pattern right. I found if the warm colors were up I probably had the twist right. The next two loops are woven normally for potholders, where the horizontal loop goes over or under both strands of the same vertical loop. After the second pass, the vertical loops are in the original position and I could make another twisted pass. So even though it was challenging to puzzle out, the actual weave technique boils down to three rows: one twisted, two plain.

Photo description: weaving finished, shown still on the pin loom, mistake in bottom right

In the finished weave, the strands aren’t twisted, but rather curve back and forth vertically, which makes an interesting X pattern. As I write this post, I noticed a weaving mistake. Ah well. It is a potholder. I do find that if I leave a pattern for a bit and come back, I’m more likely to spot such errors. I was too eager to cast this one off.

Photo description: same potholder finished with a chain edge, except on the top where the twisted path made for a stable edge.
Photo description: back side of the same potholder, showing horizontal stripes of warm and cool colors

Potholder: pattern reading

On By CarynIn Craft

Many of the pictures of woven loop potholders are taken when the work is still on the loom. This makes it easy to see the order of the colored loops by looking at the colors on the pegs. For plain weave potholders, this is all the info needed to recreate the pattern.

Photo description: potholder on the loom in light green and dark green, the vertical loops have 9 alternating colors, which then repeat, giving two light green loops in the center and light green on the outside. The horizontal loops switch this, with the dark green doubled in the center and on the outside.

Since the loom was out, and there were still loops left, I had to give this neat directional pattern a go.

Potholder: alternate cast off

On By CarynIn Craft

It bothered me that the cast off for my last potholder was so tight, so I did up another diagonal line weave and tried something different. I used the same method of weaving, working from one corner and hooking pairs of loops together at a ninety degree angles.

Photo description: potholder loom with purple loops on one side and the start of a rainbow on the other, showing how the loops wrap around each other in order to achieve a sharp return to the edge peg

To finish, I tied a new loop to a corner loop, by chaining them together, then threaded this longer strand through the loops on the side of the loom.

Photo description: finishing a potholder by running loops tied together through the loops on the pegs of the loom

This method of finishing does produce a softer edge, but it doesn’t have the neat, crisp look of a crocheted edge. It also makes the potholder one “row” bigger as it is essentially weaving an additional row on each side.

Photo description: two loop woven potholders using a diagonal method, left square finished off with traditional crochet chain, right square finished by threading tied loops through the edge

I did get my center twists all going the same way in my second attempt. Yay.

Throwback Thursday: potholders

On By CarynIn Craft

This is more of a craft Throwback, rather than a picture from the past. The potholder loom was a craft I did when I was young. All those loops! I bought two sets for my kids years ago, and they sat unused. I was recently scrolling Pinterest and saw a diagonal design that used a technique I had never seen. I had to try it. I dug out a kit from the craft closet and set to work figuring out how to do it.

Photo description: laying out brightly colored knit cotton loops on a standard potholder loom, laying on loose loops.
Photo description: weaving started on the potholder loom with purple and red loops that twist around each other and are hooked at a 90 degree angle instead of straight across. Harrisville Design box as the background.
Photo description: weaving finished and showing a strong diagonal line with green, blue, and purple on one side, and red, orange, and yellow on the other
Photo description: same potholder with the edges finished and removed from the loom showing a definite cup effect from the extra tension added by the 90 degree twist. This potholder later relaxed and laid flat.

This is a neat technique. I did learn that I need to pay attention to which way I twist the two colors around each other and keep it consistent. I switched directions a couple times in the project and it can be seen in the final product as an inconsistent line.

Long Turks head knot

On By CarynIn Craft

So there are Turks head knots, and long Turks head knots. Yes, this is what I have been looking for. I found a video tutorial, dug some hemp string from my stash, a pencil from my side table, and dug into weaving. The learning curve on this knot was made easier since I’ve been working on Turks head knots. The most time consuming part is tightening the knot because it is made from a single strand that winds around and around (and around), and the loose loop needs to be traced all through the knot. These are not quick projects, but they are so rewarding.

Photo description: tripled long Turks head knot on a #2 pencil made from natural colored hemp string, sleeping calico cat as the background

I tripled the knot, meaning I wove three strands parallel to the first grid. (My nautical and knot tying terminology is rubbish.) The knot isn’t perfect, but is stable enough to remove and replace, so it can live on, even if the pencil is sharpened down. Pencils of the house, beware!