WeavingTools

I usually never have time to go shopping just to hang around. Yesterday I happened to drive by a local Goodwill charity shop that had opening at the new place. I pop in just for the support. I don't buy distaffs at second hand but I do have 2 of them. Now I found this distaff and decided to buy it just for the support. It laid next to the wooden warping paddle. They both looked old, vintge, miserable and worn out. I brought them home just with 5 €. I cleaned them and oiled with the Macadamia nut oil like I did with the Wind Catcher. Just look how beautiful they are now.

Someone would say this is not a warping paddle but a spaghetti serving size measuring tool. I don't know about that. All I know is that these were used as a warping tool around here when the spaghetti was not here yet. And many were hand made and home crafted. It might be a multi-functional object / design! 😁

River-Joki-Juukâ

I finally had the time to finish my own design Sámi woollen shawl. It is made of 100% wool and according to the tradition. I plant dyed the shades of yellow, red, green and blue. It is very airy and perfect for wearing it under a winter jacket around your neck. Because it is so airy, soft and light it is perfect also for a child's 1st Sámi shawl. It is called River - Joki - Juukâ. In this shawl you can see a river running free through a snowy landscape.💙

WeavingShawl

I started the shawl some days ago. It is my own design, but following traditional Sámi designing idea. My loom is not so big, but I wanted to do as big shawl as possible. That's why I make it in a bit different way.  I just leave extra loose yarn out of the side edges. That's how I can get 80 x 80 cm shawl. It needs a bit more professional touch and patience also in finishing it all at the end. But I am ready for the job. This is my restorative craft at the moment. 

StartingShawl

Last autumn I plant dyed some yarn for my upcoming shawl project and made the warp. It is going to be something very special.

I can't do it when the cats are visiting. Now when I know there will be weeks until they'll be back, I set up the warp on my loom. So, here it starts. It is going to be a Forest Sámi Shawl. It is a real restorative craft that breathes history and spirit of my ancestors through the traditional crafts. 

VerandaRagRugs

These 3 rag rugs I designed and made for our veranda. The veranda has 30 years old rugs, which still are ok and in use. For the arriving winter we need just thicker so I made extra triplet for cold season use. I have used old recycled linen and other home textiles plus old t-shirts and LP-yarn (80% of recycled cotton and 20% of other fibers) for these rugs. 

These two smaller ones will be placed by the doorsteps. Now you have seen all the 8 rag rugs I made summer 2024 following FashionNOW trend: HallwayRagRugs, PinkRagRug. NauticalRagRug, LibraryRagRugs and these 3 ones seen in this post for our veranda.

LibraryRagRugs

For our library I designed and made two rag rugs. This little one is meant to be placed under His rocking chair.

The longer one is designed to be placed at the front of the wood bench on which the dogs love to sleep. They sleep alone or still even together on it despite they hardly fit on anymore.

For both rag rugs I've used old recycled linen, old shirts and left over weft from YoungLady's project in 2020.

NauticalRagRug

I designed nautical-style rag rug for our living room. It is custom made for a certain part of the house like all the other rag rugs I've woven. For this one I have used textile industry left over material, old recycled linen and t-shirts. 

Also this one needs to wait in a safe place for the snow to arrive. Despite they are for different rooms they create ensemble set of home decoration and the spirit of FashionNOW.

PinkRagRug

Another rag rug has been taken off from the cloth roller of my loom. It is a bit girlish and includes so many memories of me & Young Lady. It is my own design but born with the idea that I have only a limited amount of each recycled material.

It is made of textile industry left over material, old recycled linen, t-shirts and tricot sleepwear. Only the warp is made of brand new yarn. Because it includes my and YoungLady's old clothes from the time she was LittleLady it includes so many memories despite it is a brand new home decoration textile! It is FashionNOW and brings us happy memories!

Now it is rolled up and placed in a safe place to wait until the snow arrives. Then I plan to place it on our kitchen floor to bring some cheerful color into the arctic Polar Night Season.

HallwayRagRug

I designed and made this rag rug. The warp is made of brand new black 100 % cotton yarn. It is necessary to use it for rag rugs to make sure it all will stay firm together and last decades.

It is approx 2,5 meters long and 70 cm wide. It has 3 sections and it is designed for our hallway. The black warp is practical because it looks neater longer.

One end of the rag rug is darker than the other because it will be placed closer the doorway. I have used old recycled linen, LP-yarn (80% of recycled cotton and 20% of other fibers) and left over weft from YoungLady's project in 2020 and textile industry left over material.

More than 50 % of the used materials are recycled. Rag rugs are always in fashion. If they are made in the traditional way like I do (recycled materials) they follow mega hot FashionNOW trend.

 

When you make your rag rugs proper they last for decades: even used recycled materials. Now I've roll up this beauty to sleep for a while. We will wait for the snow until placing it on the floor to prevent it to be dirty immediately because of the muddy paw prints!

CutOff

It has been exhausting job for dear Pii to share her loom for common good. I have no time to weave all the time but she do enjoys for the moments I stop.

It all just amuses dear Nuka who loves to observe what all is going on in the world; near or far. Little-big-Pii is still her baby. Nuka doesn't get tempered easily but if someone upsets her baby she begins to get heated on, except if it is something that happens because of us humans. 

It has been a long way to weave rugs. There is now -I think 8- rag rugs around the cloth roller. The cloth roller turn out a bit heavy but I could easily roll on one more.

Except one more doesn't fit in anymore. There just is no room for anymore to warp anything around the cloth roller. I am quite surprised for how many rugs there are room around the cloth roller in my tiny looms. Originally I put on 30 m warp at the covid spring 2020. Many have been finished  but usually taken off after one or two. 

This time I could weave as many as needed or fit around the cloth roller because we won't place these rag rugs on the floors until the snow arrives. 

Now it all waits me there until next week when I should have time to take them all off one by one and tie the finishing knots.

Done!

 

Done! I did it! And it was not as difficult and frustrating at all as I expected. I had planned to spend the whole morning, also the afternoon if needed, repairing the damages but I completed it in an hour. It is not neat. I neither changed any new heddle. Each heddle eye were undamaged so I used extra cotton thread (strong) to lift up the broken heddles. 

I already tried out and it all works and stays on with the knots! It feels amazing something was done this easy and fast; without tears. Now I can finish this rag rug and get them all out off the cloth roller!

OhMyLoom

 

By the arriving autumn the old green house has silenced from the summer guests. The visitors included animals: two happy young cats for 3½ months. They are full healthy and full of energy like only a healthy animal baby can be. That's why my loom faced devastation at one night when all humans were sleeping. Dear Pii was a bit upset because she lives behind the loom and has learnt it is not allowed to do anything but lean on them.

I have not cried for this yet but perhaps I will when I start to see if I can fix it... Only after doing something with this I can finish the last rug that fits around the cloth roller. I have started it and it is already for about 1 meter long. The problem is, because I use recycled materials, I have no material to be wasted if I want to follow the original design because that material is unique and I have it only a limited amount. Now I need to decide which is easier:

1. undo the rug start, cut it all off and fix the damage and weave the rug again OR 
2. cut it all off,  fix the damage and undo the rug start and weave the rug again OR
3. fix the damage, finish the rug and cut it all off

Hmmm... I am going to try out the 3rd option but we'll see how it goes...

NotYet

 

I was wrong. I told you that after finishing this you will see the complete rag rugs I've woven. I found out I can still weave one more rag rug. 

Pii is my loyal assistant. She lives behind the loom... and partly behind my desk, as you can notice from the pic above. It is her nest, her own place and she doesn't like the distribution but she doesn't mind me to step over her every now and then when I need to get behind the loom. 💕

When I finished another rag rug I realized I can do even one more. So after finished this one I have already chosen the materials for the next one. Which I will start -obviously- tomorrow. 

I actually didn't know nor realize how much rug fits around the cloth roller of my loom. I had my loom in 2016. I have used them. But I actually have never before had this much around the cloth roller. There is over 10 m of finished rag rugs around the roller. I have always taken my loom as small one but they are small only what comes to the size and width compared to traditional Finnish looms. 

Rags&Rugs

I have been weaving more rag rugs.

I've woven many meters already.

There are already the rag rugs for out veranda and library.

After finishing this one for our living room, I must take them off because no more fits over the cloth roller. Then you will be able to see the proper pictures of each.

NewLife

For the 1st time in my life I visited Estonia and Tallinn in summer 2009. That was before I started this blog. In Tallinn I did only some shopping and one was to visit local Body Shop. From there I bought this fabric bag. Cotton fabric shopping bags are sustainable choice only if you use them A LOT. I have used this bag for 15 years and washed it several times. Now it found its way to store something I am up to...

In Forest Sámi culture the sustainable life style has always been one of the key points. In the modern times there was a period people were ashamed of it because of poor-shaming. Still it is something many Forest Sámi people hide from "outsiders". Because of poor-shaming. But here in my blog we all already know it is FashionNOW and there is nothing to be ashamed of. That's why I -again- show you what I have been collected. I have been collected old clothes. After the last use I have washed them and sorted out for the storage.

I have cut over 10 yrs old T-shirts and turtle neck polo shirts in pieces. You can do it yourself with the help of Rag -tutorial in my blog. In Forest Sámi (and many other) culture people recycled and upcycled everything possible. Old clothes were used as blankets and many other different ways. 

I have already woven one over 2 m long rag rug made of old linen. Dear Pii lives behind the loom and participates on weaving as the inspector general.

She thinks it is sleepy and boring and in her opinion I weave far too slow. I wonder how and earth she can sleep in that noise of banging. Anyway, we both are on a holiday and creativity actions and naps make so good on both of us mental health and recovery.

I have already started new rag rug where I use his old shirts. These rag rugs are going to be our veranda's new rugs for the coming winter. 

With the old pieces of clothes I use so called LP-yarn. It is made of 80% of recycled cotton and 20% of other fibers. It is made of yarns that form out loops. I use it to create warmth, softness and thickness for the rag rugs. It makes the rugs also to be a bit lighter and they don't get so heavy when getting wet when washing them by yourself.

SmallTableLoom

I recently visited south Finland and a recycling center there. I made a bargain and found old table loom. I already have one but could not leave this there. The one I bought 1½ years ago is Swedish. This one is from USSR (made in 70's or 80's). I suspect it is made in Estonia region, which later had its independence, but am not sure.  

It is children loom but very functional for band-weaving and other small projects where you don't need to use so much power. I paid just 10€ of it.

It all looks very interesting but also made in the way the parts are easy to replace. It had old warp and unfinished project on. It looked messy and complicated but easy to take off. It was not dusty or dirty at all.

OneMore

 

YougLady kindly asked me to weave one more rug for her student flat. She complained she often wets her socks when washing the dishes. That is not nice in Finland's WinterSeason. So, for the coming winter I made her one more rug. 

Cheerful Welcome

I've designed and woven a new welcome rug for our entrance. It is a bit summer style. On the other hand it matches with our colorful autumn, sparkles up our Polar Night Season and breathes the spirit of the spring until it will be the summer again!

The shades are totally different than I made almost 5 years ago. The green one is still doing great but I just wanted some new spirit for the entrance! I've just washed the green one and will use it in my garden.

It is a rag rug into which I've woven our linen and clothes of mine and kids! Let's save The Planet Earth!

I actually made it during the Weaving ABC online course where I teach people to learn to set up their own loom and work all the way to finished woven item. You can see Finnish introduction of the rug on my YouTube video I made for the students here.