Category: Craft

Wooden tongs

On By CarynIn Craft

And the reveal… wooden tongs! I made wooden tongs as gifts this year. I used mesquite wood for the blades and wedge, but wasn’t confident with glue joints so learned to set brass pins. I posted on that previously, but didn’t show what I was actually making (spoilers).

Mesquite wood tongs shaped and sanded to 400 grit

After shaping and sanding, I did my usual water rinse to raise the grain, and was quite surprised that the mesquite was still quite smooth. I ran over everything with 400 grit again, just to be thorough. I added some embellishments with wood burning, then sealed with butcher block conditioner (which is a food safe mix of oils and wax).

Finished pair of tongs

Weaving loom rest

On By CarynIn Craft
Yard stick used as a loom rest on an arm chair

Because the cat gets a little perturbed when I rest the loom on her rump, I laid a yard stick across the arms of my chair to prop up my weaving. She is OK having her own shed (that is weaver humor, by the way).

I can neither confirm nor deny that I am doing last minute gift weaving.

Happy Holidays and good luck with last minute projects.

Apple peel

On By CarynIn Craft, games
Continuous apple peel

I had to peel an apple for my youngest because she has braces and needs it peeled and sliced. As I applied peeler to skin, I gave a try at getting it all off in one unbroken go. The removed peel makes a nice double spiral with some pleasing shade shifts. Glad all that fine motor practice on other crafts comes in handy.

Weaving in ends

On By CarynIn Craft

I’ve been experimenting with dealing with the ends of the yarn when weaving. I tried my standard way that I use for knitting and crochet, which involves running the end through the work and back again, which leaves visible traces. Then I tried splitting the yarn and weaving in sections, which gives a much nicer finish.

Back of cotton weaving with ends woven down and back, which makes a visible standing oval
Back of a cotton weaving with ends split and woven in, with arrows pointing to where the work was done
Back of cotton weaving with split and woven ends, before trimming

Yes, splitting the ends and weaving in the sections triples the times I thread a needle, but I think the end result is worth it.

Woven washcloth

On By CarynIn Craft
Washcloth woven with variegated yarn

So I’m learning. I blocked (got it wet, laid it flat to dry) my variegated yarn washcloth, and although the pattern of the yarn was interesting, my edges are definitely wonky. The sides are a little better where I used the meet and separate method described in Rebecca Mezoff’s book, and it also changed the variegation pattern, which is neat. (The three sections where the lines are thicker are done with two bundles of yarn, rather than taking one bundle all the way across.)

What I liked: the way the meet and separate weaving method made thicker lines.

What I learned: adding a twined pass at the bottom helps space the warp threads. I added another twined pass at the top for balance.