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Year: 2014

8 Ways to Weave in Your Ends – Knitting Tutorials

I’ve been a knitter of sorts for almost 40 years and can confidently say that if I can imagine it, I can knit it. However there’s one thing that I’ve never been 100% sure about: darning in my ends. My darns are always secure and neat but after hearing a judge at a knitting competition say that that best knitters darn in their ends so you can’t even find them, my confidence in my technique flew right out the window (along with any desire to enter any more knitting competitions).

The Purl Bee has set me straight with her tutorial on eight different ways to darn in your ends when knitting. I was doing it properly all along!

Weaving in Your Ends – Knitting Tutorials: Finishing Techniques – Knitting Crochet Sewing Embroidery Crafts Patterns and Ideas!.

The Purl Bee is a great blog, not just for this article. So even if you know how to darn in your ends when you knit, check it out anyway. You’ll be glad you did!

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Rainbow Loom Starburst Bracelet

Rainbow loom starburst bracelets

The starburst bracelet is probably the first complicated looking bracelet that most people try when learning to use a Rainbow Loom so I decided to give it a go and make Charlie a couple of them. He’s only five years old, so anything more complicated than a triple single is usually up to me.

I used the following video to learn to make my bracelets and would add the following tips:

  1. When adding the bands for the starburst patterns, push the way down on the pegs as you go
  2. Keep them in order. It will make hooking the bands so much easier.
  3. Use a contrasting colour for the capping bands on the starbursts at least the first time you make the pattern. It will help you keep track of where the capping band lies as you work.

Despite it’s complicated look, I found this design is very easy to work and memorise and it’s already become a favourite of Charlie’s and mine.

I hope you’re enjoying my series of Rainbow Loom posts and that it’s saving you a lot of time having to go through youtube videos to find the best ones! Don’t forget to sign up to be notified of future blog posts if you’re interested in more. Next time I’ll be posting a photo tutorial of my own as well as some videos on adding large charms, Loomey Time watches and button closures.

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Rainbow Loom Angry Birds (Red)

Rainbow loom Red Angry Bird

Charlie is a big Angry Birds fan, so I thought I’d have a go at he insisted I make him a Red Angry Bird charmon the rainbow loom. I think it turned out quite well, even though I didn’t have the right coloured bands for his belly.

I would rate this as a challenging project. Because of the amount of bands on some of the pegs, you have to pay very close attention to picking up the correct ones when moving them with the hook. You’ll also need good quality rubber bands as they are under a lot of strain during certain parts of the construction.

I used the following video by DIYMommy to make my bird. It’s very thorough but a little bit fast to keep up with. Judicious use of the pause button will solve that problem, though.

Anyone who has been following my rainbow Looming adventures so far may be wondering why I skipped straight from beginner projects to advanced ones. I’ve found that my past experience with French knitting and crochet have really helped me get a grasp of the Rainbow Loom in no time flat.

Now I’m off to search through the stash for a pony bead because my 20 year old daughter has put in a request for an Iron Man charm…

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Rainbow Loom Beaded Railway Track & How to Make Longer Bracelets on One Loom

Beaded ladder rainbow loom bracelet

As you can see, Charlie lost the “what are we going to make next” stakes and I made myself a beaded ladder bracelet 🙂

The ladder, or railway track bracelet is made in the same way as the triple single bracelets Charlie and I made in a previous post but, just to make sure, I checked out this video first.

I made mine with ladders on every second set of posts because my beads were too large to put them on every post, which meant I also needed to make it longer to get in a full rainbow. I worked out how to do it myself but this excellent video from Craft Life shows how to make a triple single bracelet longer even if you only have one loom. Variations of this technique work well with many different styles of bracelet. If you’re an adult, don’t be put off by the presenter’s young age, she’s an excellent teacher.

Now I guess I had better go and make that red Angry Bird charm or Charlie isn’t going to be very happy with me…

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The Island of Misfit Toys

Poor misfit dolly

I found this poor misfit hand puppet in K-Mart today. I desperately wanted to bring it home but I have no room!

Whilst I wonder how on earth it made it through quality control, I’m glad it did because my daughter and I had a great laugh playing with it before we decided we should act like the adults we are. Party poopers 😉

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