Kelly Casanova Weaving Lessons

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Hug Me Cardigan – new pattern!

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My new pattern is inspired by the classic “hug me tight” shrugs I used to see some of my elderly clients knitting for their loved ones when I worked in nursing homes.

This cardigan was designed to be a simple but beautiful garment – perfect for those who are just starting out sewing with their weaving. It is also a “no cut” pattern for those who may be nervous about cutting their cloth for the first time. 

I love the way my hand dyed yarn turned out – quite different to what I expected but very much in the style I love. 


Woven with wool and designed to be a light fabric, it is a perfect garment for transitional weather because it’s warm without being too warm.

Check out my Etsy shop to find out more about the pattern.

Happy Weaving!

New Year, new pattern!

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Happy New Year to you all! What an exciting time to be alive 🙂
Although I spent New Year’s Eve in bed with a stomach upset, today I feel well and reinvigorated. 


Today I launched a new Etsy pattern and thought I would share some details of the process for you.

I started out with some gorgeous Australian Merino from Bendigo Woollen Mills and dyed it with Landscape dyes. I had a vision of the colour I wanted and it was almost spot on. It’s a very hard colour to photograph though, it’s not as dark as it appears here. I planned on having the colours split in the dye pot to give a subtle variation in colour and it worked out beautifully.

I absolutely love lace knitting and wanted to create something similar on the loom. A scarf that was light and airy with a pretty pattern and warmth and softness for wearing. 

I wanted all the finished details to tie in well with the design of the scarf, so the hemstitching was pulled extra tight to create space and the fringe was twisted. (See how different the colour looks here to the first photo!)

The end result is so beautiful! I was admiring myself wearing it in the mirror until my daughter came along and asked to try it. Well, it looks sensational on her, just the perfect colour, so she may get to keep it.

The PDF pattern for the scarf is now available in my Etsy shop, ready for you to download and start weaving! 



Weaving suppliers list

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This is certainly not an entire list of all suppliers, but I hope it’s a start for new weavers.
 
Thank you to my Facebook group weaving friends for your assistance in putting this list together. Please comment with details of other suppliers, particularly for countries not listed here.


Australia:

Petlins Spinning and Weaving Supplies, NSW, Ashford dealer, huge range of supplies.

BB Yarns Supply, QLD, Weaving threads and online correspondence courses.

The Thread Collective –  (Affiliate link) Online supplier of threads and looms. Louet and Ashford dealer.

Crafty Frog, Canberra, ACT, Ashford dealer, looms, yarns, accessories, instore classes.

Glenora Weaving and Wool, NSW, yarns, accessories, magazines and books.

Knit, Spin, Weave, S.A, fibre arts supplies, looms, dyes, yarns, books.

Woolganics, NSW, Australian organic wool.

Aunt Jenny,   Fibre arts supplies, weaving supplies, looms, Ashford dealer

New Zealand:
Ashford Handicrafts, New Zealand, large range of looms, weaving accessories, yarns and supplies.

Fibreholics, wide range of interesting yarns, classes

Wheels and whorls, Ashford dealer, huge range of looms, yarns and supplies

D.E.A. Yarns, Luxury yarns

Canada:

Jane Stafford, Louet looms, spinning wheels, yarns, workshops

Penelope Fibre Arts, large range of looms, weaving supplies, yarns

Maurice Brassard, Quebec, huge range of weaving yarns


Camilla Valley Farm, Ontario, Leclerc looms, weaving yarns and supplies

USA:

My Amazon Shop 

The Woolery, Kentucky, huge range of everything weaving related! (Affiliate link)

WEBS, Massachusetts, Huge range also.

Revolution Fibers  Looms, weaving yarns, craft kits, wheels, fibre supplies
Yarn Barn, Kansas, lots of yarn options Looms, weaving yarns, craft kits, wheels, fibre supplies

Paradise Fibres, Washington, huge range of yarns, looms and fibre art supplies

Weaving South West, New Mexico, Gallery that also stocks some small looms and varieties of yarn

Weaving Works, Seattle, looms, yarns, classes

Bountiful Weaving, large and little looms, yarns

Studio Thre3, AZ, Leclerc looms, yarns

Fibre Creek, AZ, range of looms and yarns

Heartland Fibre, Iowa, yarn (beautiful looking retail shop!)

Halcyon Yarn,  looms, yarns, everything!

Lofty Fiber, weaving, knitting, spinning, yarn and classes

UK:
George Weil, looms, yarns, tapestry looms


The Handweavers Studio and Gallery, London, huge range of looms, equipment and yarns

Fibre Hut, Ashford dealer

The Threshing Barn, beautiful location in a converted spinning mill, looms, supplies and yarns

Wingham Woolwork, Wentworth, Ashford and Kromski stockist, looms, supplies, yarns
Colourmart, Online weaving yarn supplies

Hilltop Spinning and Weaving, Kent, Ashford looms, accessories, yarns

Frank Herring and Sons, Dorset, Ashford and Leclerc looms, yarns, supplies 

Weft Blown, Ashford dealer, large selection of looms, weaving supplies, yarns and fibre art supplies.

Wonky Weaver , Located in Wales. Wide range of looms including Glimakra, Schacht and Louet. Spinning, dyeing and fibre arts supplies.

Spain:

https://tejoloquehilo.es/es/ – Weaving supplies, Ashford dealer, fibres for dyeing and spinning. This site is only available in Spanish or Catalan but can easily be translated with Google Chrome.

https://www.textilesnaturales.com/ – Ashford supplier but also sell Louet table and floor looms. Their website is in English and Spanish.

France:

https://www.artifilum.com/ – Ashford supplier, they also sell Glimakra, Toika and Leclerc looms. Their website is in French and English.

The Netherlands:

Stephen and Penelope – Beautiful range of knitting yarns from lace weight to bulky, big range of fibre to choose from.

Wools of Nations – Excellent range of natural knitting yarns

Life and Learning at home

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This last week, the little one has had a nasty cold which means we have spent a bit more time at home than usual. This is a good thing! To wake up and have the day just waiting and full of potential.


Every now and then I write down some of the things we’ve done in a day. Especially if I’m feeling the kids haven’t focused enough on academics or, the ever gnawing feeling at many a homeschool Mum, that they haven’t learned enough.


Today it was challenging to write that list, there was too much! I thought I’d share with you some of what we did to give an idea of an average day and to show you that even if you don’t feel like you’ve done a lot, it’s pretty amazing when you reflect back.

Slip knots. The little one learned to make a slip knot from her sister and is now happily slip knotting everything in sight!

The list is randomly arranged and outlines activities that have happened at home today.

Knitting project, piano practice, music reading (the 2 older girls are teaching themselves from a book), baking, garden work and planning, animal care and lots of animal hugs, pats and trick teaching, World War II history, Ancient history, writing practice, Kahn academy, online physics game, singing practice, reading novels in bed, English, spelling and phonics, science – a lesson on reptiles and a fun activity that involved the taping of fingers to create webbed feet, prayer and religious education, library visit, grocery shopping where the girls used the self checkout to purchase, free play, drawing, movie watching, and chores.

And how could I not mention standing on your head? There are some in our family who must be upside down for at least a part of the day!








Knitted kitty

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Isn’t it funny how you can put a project aside for a while and it becomes difficult to pick it up again? I started this kitty last year, got the head and body finished and then just didn’t feel like picking it up again.

Over Christmas the weather was very warm and I was very tired. The whole family was tired. So we spent quite a bit of time watching movies and documentaries together and keeping things quiet. I get restless hands if I just sit and watch something, so it was the perfect time to pick up a bit of knitting.

It didn’t take me long to power through the rest of the pieces, and when she was finished I felt she needed a dress, so got straight onto the sewing machine, no pattern, no fussing around (no excuses!) and whipped up the dress in no time.

She’s pretty cute without the dress too 🙂

She was promptly gifted to my 8 year old because she is the only one who doesn’t have a knitted toy from me yet. They now share the same bed and kitty is never far away, yes, she loves her!

Now for the pattern details – Girl Cat by Little Cotton Rabbits. If you are not too confident with knitting, these patterns are really great, step by step, lots of photos, very well written. Most of the patterns come with instructions for knitted clothes and the designer has plenty of other gorgeous little animals to choose from.

Are they doing enough?

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It’s usually on days when I’m feeling discouraged that I get that panicky feeling about the children and their education. Are they learning? Are they doing enough? Am I doing enough with them? I know that they’re happy at home and that homeschooling is a perfect fit for us, but I do find myself gripped with doubt at times.


This morning I was feeling a bit this way. I decided to write a list for each child and write down what they did within a certain time frame. I started around 9am and finished around 1pm.


5 year old daughter:
*Spelling and writing
* Helped to make bread, figured out weighing flour on her own for the first time.
* Read books.
*Kinetic sand (hours later, she is still playing with it, making all sorts of “treats” for her “shop” and other imaginative games.

7 year old daughter:
* Online maths program, learning money.
* Worked on editing her latest stop motion on the computer.
* Read books on her own.
*Played with kinetic sand with her sister.

9 year old daughter:
*Worked on a puzzle of the world with her brother.
* Free drawing and colouring in.
* Animal feeding.
* Reading on her own.
*Online maths program – graphs and area measurement.
* Knitting practice.
*Joining in the kinetic sand game.

14 year old son:
*Working on a puzzle of the world with his sister.
* Helping his sisters with maths and other study tasks.
* Spanish program.
*Online maths program – decimals
* Film and media studies.
* Bible study.

In addition to these lists are all the other tasks that they do every day like meal preparation, cleaning their rooms and keeping the house tidy, prayer, outdoor play and exercise and so many other things that are a regular part of daily life for us.

Hmm, I think they’re doing pretty well! Maybe next time you’re feeling inadequate, you could try writing down what the children are doing and you will realise that it’s more than enough!

Photography

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I’ve started an online photography course and I must say, it’s taken over my life just a little! That’s not to say that I’m not dyeing, weaving, spinning, knitting (and the rest of my little obsessions) but you could say that photography is currently centre stage and I really want to do well at this course.


So, I thought you may be interested in seeing some of my latest shots. I picked a few recent favourites.

Thanks for looking, I’m sure I’ll be back with more shots soon 🙂

Completed projects this week

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Not one but two projects completed for me this week, this is almost unheard of!
First up, the Primrose dress for my 4 year old princess. I knit this in 8ply superwash and hand dyed it just for this project. 

A little lace detail on the hem. 

And some ladybird buttons to finish off with. There is lace detail on the shoulders and sleeve trim too.  
I was really thrilled with this pattern – it was simple and easy to knit, the sizing is accurate and it was all explained so well that I didn’t feel like tearing my hair out like I normally would with a knitting project! The pattern in by New Zealander, Julia Stanfield.

Next up, some tea towels off the loom. I wove these with 4ply Bendigo Woollen Mills cotton.

I’m pretty happy with how they turned out, despite the wonky edges! I learned that weaving with 4ply is more challenging than 8ply.

It seems that as I grow more confident as a weaver and knitter I also increase in speed, which is a wonderful thing, it means I can turn out more beautiful things for my family!
Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along 🙂

Always making

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It’s true, I’m always making something and more often than not I’m making many things! Here are a few of my recent and current projects:

I’m quite in love with this Primrose already, lots of knitting to go but I’m enjoying every stitch. I dyed the yarn especially for this dress and it looks better than I envisioned. It’s going to be for my littlest woolly lover, she is a most grateful recipient of anything knitted.

Always dyeing yarn….sales have dropped off a little but it’s only natural considering it’s Summer here. Anyway, my Etsy shop is stocked with plenty of yarn at the moment.

I have tea towels on the loom and things are going pretty slowly. I’m hemstitching them on the loom which always adds a bit of time and I’m also using 4ply cotton, so the weaving is not quick. These are my first tea towels so I hope they are a success after this time investment!

I dyed and made a top for me – it didn’t suit me at all so I cut the main part down to make a top for my eldest girl along with some Euro fabrics from my stash and one of my favourite top patterns for my girls – CZM Mareen. This girl just won’t stop growing!
As usual I have about 1000 ideas for things I “must do” but don’t have the time or money for, but they keep me ticking and I’m grateful to the time that I currently have to be creative. I have a couple of exciting happenings cooking up in my mind for this month, so stay tuned for those!
God bless you all 🙂