Watch Me Weave

Hello, everybody and welcome to another episode of cinnamon stitches. This is a totally different type of video. I'M your yarn host jennifer. Let me get some things that are just out of my reach closer today. You guys are just gon na keep me company. While i play with this loom, this is not a tutorial by any stretch of the imagination. I have used this thing exactly one time. I'Ve watched some videos that is about it. So this is not a tutorial, and this is not an opportunity for you to criticize me either. So if you're an experienced loomer - and you see that i'm doing something that you don't appreciate, you don't like - or that is wrong - just keep it to yourself because i'm not trying to be rude at all. But when it comes to knitting, whenever i show knitting i'm a new knitter, i get a ton of unwarranted critique and criticism. I am going to show you what i'm doing, how i'm doing it and yeah so to start to make the strings that go on here and no, i don't know all the official names and you don't have to correct me on any of this know. It'S coming. I know it's coming. Oh, let me look at mine. Let me look at my thing. Okay, the warp the warp is, the string that goes back and forth. I'M using cotton and the reason i'm using cotton is because this is scrap and it gives me a nice neutral base and it gives me strings that i can see very easily and that's why i'm using white i'm using cotton, because i know that it's kind of Sturdy and i it yes cotton stretches, but i'm just playing i'm just practicing, and i just wanted you guys to be a part of what i'm practicing on now. As you know, my filming board is a blocking mat or a floor. Mat that i got the other side is actually a wood grain, but this gray side actually is like um. I don't know it shows up well in videos, it it doesn't absorb light and it actually reflects the light enough that it helps me. Have a nice lighted surface for you guys now what i'm doing is i'm just doing like a double knot. It'S not even a double knot, i'm just flipping it through twice and then tying it and from what i understand is you need this to be tight back and forth, and so we're going to do it as tight as we can and we're just going to zigzag. This back and forth around all these little pegs trying to keep it tight, trying to keep it evenly tight. You want this to not quite be guitar strings, but you don't want it to be loose and floppy either i find loom looming weaving to be very relaxing and like calming to me. This is something that my mom. When i was a little kid every christmas, she would try to get us crafts to keep us busy during winter break, because you guys know that i'm from a cold climate - and if you don't keep your kids busy they're in the house all day, they will drive. You, nuts, and that is why she always tried to encourage us to to be crafty and have crafts in the house, and one of the things that she would buy us is those little potholder loom things the loom base was like a metal thing with spikes. All the way around, they would give you those little loom, um band things and you would just make potholders or whatever else that nobody ever used. You know you know so that is my extent of weaving experience, but i always found that to be cathartic to be. You know calming chill. You want to make sure when you're doing this, that you get every peg and you don't have to use white, i'm using white because i'm just starting out and it's easier for me to see - and i eventually want to upgrade and do different color techniques and maybe Do to where i try to like accomplish plaid effects, really was stuck to the paper that was weird anyway, see it's nice and talked, and we're going to be using a bulky yarn for this. I'M just using up some of the other london k yarn that i got from tuesday morning on clearance, because bulky yarn works up fast, and so it's good to practice with something but like, even when you're learning to knit or crochet it's good to start off with A bulky yarn because it helps you to let me turn this. It helps especially like little kids. It helps them to not get frustrated. You know it it's and a fast way to complete a project when you loop your knots in this way where you you loop it in twice, it helps lock the knot in a little better. You see what i did. I pulled it right off, so that's why we're using bulky, because this is practice. This is not for anything. This is not. I screw it. Let'S put another knot, this is just playing, and sometimes it's good to play with yarn. You know i don't remember if i did that twice and only did it once sometimes it's good to play with yarn and just you know not have a purpose dang. I did it again. Oh my god. Never never a dull moment here on sit on stitches. You guys never a dull moment, and i know if i let this go loose too much. It will loosen up through here and that's not what i want one more try. I know the people that we were laughing at me. I just i can hear you. It'S all right go ahead and laugh. I did it all right. Let'S get rid of this white move it over here now we are going to start off using the thin white just to give us a little bit of a base at the bottom. Just to give us an edging, because when i did my last one, let me grab it, i did a crochet border around the edge of it to give it some stability around the to almost frame out my work. I didn't do it across the bottom, but i didn't need to because i put you know: i put a layer down there, but i like having the white border on there in crochet because it pulls the stitches apart. So because when you weave, it tends to want to go in and especially when you're just starting out and that helped everything stay a little bit square. So we're going to do the first row in cotton, and this is a trick that i totally totally learned now. All of the sticks that people are using look like this, except they have a pointy end and i don't have supplies. I just have the loom - and i have this little shuttle thing that came with it - that i don't like touching because it's balsa wood and it like really. I can't my fingers, don't like it, so we're not gon na be using that. But - and i didn't have one of these to like go in between the yarn like this, and so i stopped and got myself a couple of paint sticks from home depot for free by the way they're free - and i just use this - to divide the yarn when I'M weaving paint stick now i keep one of these up at the top, because that's a trick. I learned in one of the videos i was watching so there's always one up there and then this one will go the opposite of which one i weave that, and this will be our first weave they weave it in and out and in and out. I find this so calming. I don't know why it's just relaxing to me. I probably need to go put my eyeglasses on, though all right and then flip it up, and then you have room to work in between there. I'M going to pause and i'm going to find my eyeglasses though, and good thing i found was: i bought a spare set of eyeglasses. I can't find my regular ones all right now. If you have one of these, you can wrap this and use it as a shuttle to pass it back and forth. I do not like the way that feels, and my daughter has a plastic one upstairs, so you can just kind of like feed it through any way. You want any way that works for you not a big deal. You want to leave like a little tail at the end so that you will um. You can weave that in later nobody down, then you just bring this down. This is going to be like the end of your border, to kind of keep things stiff and then push that one flat and pull it out and then the one we stuck up at the top is already ready for us so that we can just weave this Back through like this, you can also always make like little balls or little skeins of yarn to feed this through. If you want, they have special wrap techniques that they have online, that i was watching that eventually i will get the hang of doing, but right now, this is just me getting a feel for how all of this works and how all this you know, whatever see And then you want to leave a little bit on the edges. You don't want to pull that too tight or else this will end up being pulled in in the center, and you lay that flat and you push back up to the top. So it's ready for next time, then you come back through and you like do this kind of thing. Just remember. I think mr simon is home from work. Girls just remember when you're weaving every other row should be alternated, so the ones that are down for this row will be up for the next row. That'S one of the things my daughter struggled with when she was learning to weave and she would just keep going back and forth and she didn't realize you had to alternate rows and so because it's on the top of this strand here the next row, it will Go under this this strand, because it's on top this row, girls, scarlet's a troublemaker an instigator and, like i said this is not a tutorial by any stretch of the imagination. This is not something i have a wide knowledge base in. This is just playing and they have combs and stuff and, like hair, picks that you can use and brush this down, because you want this to stay kind of like every row to be tight together that one take it out, bring the one from the top slide. It down pop it up. This is just a starting loom to see if i like, weaving, because i've been interested in weaving for a long time, and this is just just me experimenting to see if i like it or not so far, i like it, but i don't know that it will Ever be as important to me as knitting and crocheting, but this is something that i enjoy doing, like it's very relaxing and calming to me, so there's lots of different ways to like wrap or to weave or to get colors and stuff. Like i don't know any. I don't know any of that right now, i'm just playing with the yarn and just you know, making colors. I eventually would like to do some things that are reminiscent of native american type textiles. I mean i'm never trying to to pretend that i'm something i'm not. That'S not the the idea of that at all, but i just love the way like southwest type um art is, i just i've always really liked southwest specifically type things um or even mexican style art. I mean that's important to my kids, because my kids are mexican. My husband is mexican, so i also like having mexican style art around them around myself, because i think it's important to remember your family's culture. I mean i just think it's important to remember that kind of stuff and i always try to encourage my kids with that kind of stuff as well. So i really would like to do some aztec type art, some style weaving. But, of course, that's going to take a lot of research. It'S going to take a lot of you know a lot more knowledge base than what i have currently my my children's grandmother, mr cinnamon's mom, now she's white, but she is a long-term relationship with a man that who is a mexican. I think he was born in mexico, his family all lives in mexico and mr cinnamon's dad is mexican and um. She in the past has given me some amazing handmade um towels from her sister-in-law, her sister-in-law, crochets and makes does embroidery and stuff and so like, if you've ever seen like those dresses where they have the beautiful flowered embroidery on the like the bodice. If you've ever seen the movie coco, i know this is sad representation. It'S a cartoon, but if you've ever watched, the movie coco like mama coco, has this dress on in the end and it's a white dress and it has these beautiful, beautiful flowers embroidered in the bodice. I'Ve always wanted a dress like that, but, like i, i don't live any place that i can find that kind of stuff. I just have always. I think, that's that style of clothing, that style of art, the embroidery it's just. Oh, it's breathtaking to me. It'S so amazing - and i have a couple of tortilla towels - is what i'm told they are, but they will never ever be used because they are too beautiful. They are these beautiful white towels that are embroidered with those same types of flowers and there's a crochet border around them in these beautiful vibrant colors, and i just love that style of art. I just love it. So that's the kind of stuff that i would love to recreate through weaving is you know that style of art in mind to hang around my house and every time we go to california? I look for that kind of stuff like we go to the to the grocer, the grocery stores out there, like all have that kind of stuff, that's imported from mexico. I mean it's not authentic, it's not the expensive stuff, but they have that style of tea towel. But i like the homemade stuff better. Actually, i'm kind of like working with this cotton. This bulky stuff works up quickly and it's it's fine to work with, but i don't know i might just go grab some more cotton. I would really like to make a um a little serap like a miniature serape. How pretty would that be? I know i totally went from talking about native american and mexican and i know two different cultures. I get it, but i, like both styles, i like i, i specifically like navajo navajo art. Cotton is stuck knotted up. That'S probably why people work with smaller and we're close to the end, so we can just cut this now. If i haven't - and i know that i have weavers in here - i don't know if they're watching, but i know i have weavers on my channel. If you have anything to say about any of this, i totally i welcome comments as long as they're not like critical. I just don't like because i i clearly say i don't know what i'm doing. I don't have a clue, i'm just playing but like if you have any like helpful websites. I know a couple of you have already linked me to some some youtubers like. I really appreciate that kind of thing, because that's helpful, critiquing and criticizing somebody who's, a beginner is not helpful but like helpful tin, hints or like if you like, this paint stirrer stick thing if you have any like cute little tips like that, like i know, i'm Probably gon na hit up the dollar store and buy a hair pick, because i know that they sell hair picks at the dollar tree, and i know that that works really well for like pushing the stuff down. And of course i need to go. Have my daughter bring me her plastic shuttle for this, so i'm not feeding my fingers in there so much because i noticed that that does it stretches the fabric when i'm in there a lot whoops. Take that one out. I don't know you guys. What do you think? I know you can't answer me back by the time this is uploaded, but i'm thinking about getting some thinner, some cottons and weaving them. Instead of this bulky yarn just to see if i can get like a a pretty effect, i don't mind having to sit around while i you know, and while i work on it when i can, because i know i'm not going to finish this anyway, while we're On here i think i might is that long enough to go back through yep, just barely just barely and i take weaving with the very same type of ideas with any other craft that i do. I don't plan it out ahead of time. I just kind of go with what i feel the project calls for or what it wants to be. You know, and i do need to work, because i know that my ends here they go from either too loose or they get a little bit tighter and like there's all kinds of stuff, i need to learn yeah. I don't think i'm gon na use this. I use this last time and it's fun to play with. I think i'm gon na get some thinner yarns. That sounds fun to me now. Where did i put my cottons because i moved everything? Hmm, i think i have a yarn, i think, would be pretty. I'Ve had this yarn for a very long time. I got it with the intention of making a shirt and i started it, and i did not have enough to complete the shirt and this yarn is not available anywhere else or this material is not, and this is cotton rayon blend. I think this would be so pretty in there. Let'S see the piece fell off, so we're just going to cut it and go with that now. There'S this technique, where i've seen where you do like a figure. Eight like this, so we're gon na try that i've. Never tried this before never tried it before. Instead of doing the shuttle we'll see how this works, this is kind of pretty yarn because it has first of all it's flat. It'S a ribbon style yarn, but also it has bits of shiny, see how it's shiny right. There i feel, like i'm, doing this too wrong, because the lady that showed me how to do this in a video. So don't let your fingers like and that's exactly what's happening like i said, we're a beginner here, we're a beginner here all right. This last row was down, so we need it to be over so i'll. Take this out and this one back down pop that up, i'm just gon na tuck this in we'll weave that in later we'll tuck that to the back, we'll leave it in later. I don't know if that's what you're supposed to do, but i don't like it all hanging out in the ends, so that's what we're doing just roll with the flow. This actually feels like this might be thinner than the cotton. I don't know how this is going to work, but we're just going with the flow guys we're just playing just playing with yarn. It'S really pretty the way it's shiny like that. Now, let's see, i don't think i've ever seen. Anybody in any of the videos i've watched, use, variegated yarn for this. It'S always like solids and i'm sure that they do it with solids for a reason, but no, i don't ever have any rhyme or reason for the reason. I do anything, oh by the way, while we're talking well we're talking um there's going to be a video sometime this week with my sister, hopefully um by the time this video has aired. I will have already been to michigan and back um, i'm going up there for baby girl's third birthday, and my sister has asked if we could do a video together for the channel. I was like yeah. You got any ideas, she's like yeah. I want to go shopping with you like right, so that's something for you guys to look forward to shopping videos with she hates being called this with baby cinnamon mini cinnamon. She don't like that. I said: well, we could call you paprika, oh god, god love her. I called her last night just to talk about some stuff that was going on in my personal life. That was, i needed to talk about, and i had to stop for a second and just thank her, because she is a sense of calm and she is a sense of safety she's like my safety net, and i can talk to her a lot of times without Any judgment - and i know how rare that is with people - it's just it's not i don't know it's rare. You know i need to come in from the side because i'm getting confused by the way. I don't know how many of you know this, i'm actually ambidextrous. So i can work almost evenly. I can write almost evenly with my right or my left hand with the exception of crochet. I cannot crochet left-handed, so you know just about anything else. Left-Handed though i i told my sister at one point i was like. I wonder if i was meant to be left-handed, but my mother like made me right-handed, because you know that is possible to train somebody to be right-handed, but now i'll just take it as mammodextress. That'S good enough! Okay, i don't know what in the heck is happening here, i need to weave that back down, yarn's getting a little tangly, so so, while yes, this would be easier with a shuttle. I just can't use that that one, you guys think of this yarn. I don't know if this is the right type of thing to use for this, but i'm not making this to sell. I mean i'm making it for myself, i'm making it for just the joy for the practice of doing this and i totally messed it up. Now. Now it's just all falling apart. That'S all right, like i said this is not a tutorial. This is not a tutorial. What do you guys think of that color? I love that strip of pink in there, like that. I wonder if doing it with this type of this type of colorway, this mildly self, striping colorway will give it like a um, a srirapay style. I mean this is not at all strappy, colors or like materials, but i give it that type of aesthetic. What did i do? I messed up? I messed up. Yes, i did ah jen. These are probably laughing at me. Probably were telling me i was messing up before i was messing up. I don't know how i did that under that one yeah i messed up. I think i pulled the wrong stick out. I don't know i'll, probably figure out what i did in the last whenever, when i rewatch this video, you guys probably already saw the mistake, it don't matter it don't matter we're just playing with yarn for the heck of it. Now i was told by several people - and i did know this - that you can make this style loom at home. It'S not a big deal. If you have somebody who's, crafty with wood or you yourself are crafty with wood um. You can do this with like pegs. You could do this with nails. I'Ve seen it with like just nails evenly spaced apart all right. Now we got it the right way. Just like hey that's cool, i just this was only nine dollars, and this was way better than spending 50 for the loom. I actually really want which i'm glad i didn't buy, because i don't know if this is going to be something that i like right now and i don't like in the future or if this can be something that actually sticks. And so i don't want to put a lot of money into something that i'm not positive, i'm going to like long-term this time. It really is mr cinnamon that came home. Is that coffee for me yeah? Oh, i love you. Thank you! I'M filming! I love you. Yeah, mr simmons home, he brought me a coffee now we all know i'm not supposed to have caffeine, but it was a really rough weekend. You guys are actually by the time you get this video. I made this video way over a week ago, so this is from the past. This is the day after i cleaned and organized and moved furniture in the yarn room, and so i'm exhausted today and on top of that, the kids are back in school full time. Now so i had to get up extra early, which my body's not used to and there's a new traffic pattern for the school. It'S like a whole thing and there was some personal stuff in my life this weekend. That was really really stressful and hard to deal with and there's totally a knot in this yarn a little knot. So i'm allowing myself a little bit of caffeine today just to get through the day, and i will let my heart react. However, my heart wants to react to this coffee. It'S just a little coffee and i don't drink like starbucks or any of that, because, god help me starbucks would kill me starbucks would kill me. I drink coffee from wawa, it's not as strong! So look at that. What do you guys think? I really like that? Let me move you in closer, so you can really get a look at that not pretty the way that shininess is in there yeah. I like that. I'M just gon na leave that part where mr cinnamon came in. I'M not gon na cut that out of the video, even if you guys can hear a smooch he's my husband. He loves me. He kissed me all right now, like i said, i'm not going to make this one long, video, but a couple of people have asked if they could watch me weave. They said they were interested and, honestly, i know i'm using a thin yarn and i hadn't planned on that. You don't have to use thin yarn all the way through um you can play with textures in different yarns. You can weave in hunks of roving, which i have seen some beautiful things where they weaved in chunks of roving, and i was like. Oh, i want to do that. It looks like little clouds and like this one, video i was watching in particular, she made this thing that looked like mountains and clouds, and it was just stunning - and i want to be able to do that. I want to be able to do that, yeah that little shiny bit is kind of pretty in there. I think the thing that i learned last time is to make sure that these all kind of stay separated, while you work because they tend to want to like squeeze in all right guys. Well, we're like 35 minutes in and we've only gotten like a half of an inch, so i'm gon na, let you guys go and i'm gon na continue to work on this. Thank you so much for joining me. While i play with my loom and thank you for not criticizing me, but i do appreciate tips and tricks that you have learned through the process of weaving and um. Thank you for joining me and thank you for watching this, and i will see you tomorrow. Bye guys