To meet with the women at the Nazarene Church two weeks from tomorrow night, that is. When I was getting all the Weave-it and other small looms together, I discovered that I didn't have enough long needles for weaving. So last Monday, when I was in Paducah for my Velcade infusion, I went to Hobby Lobby and Michael's. Neither of them had anything suitable. During the week, I thought that perhaps quilting stores might be the right place to look. Yesterday, after letting the tech prick my finger to find out how 'thick' my blood is and then discuss my coumadin dosage with the nurse, I went to Quilt in a Day. I didn't find what I need there, but I had a nice chat with the owner about our fiber pursuits. From there I went to Quilter's Alley. I think it was the first day of work for one of the women there - the other was definitely training her. They had exactly what I was looking for (I had been carrying one of the needles I've been using with me to show people what I was looking for). It's called a 'trapunto needle.' I'm going to keep the packaging this time, in case I forget when I need to replace needles again.
I have three sizes of the Weave-it looms - 4 inch, 2 inch, 
and 4.5 inch. The largest one is made of wood and is meant to be used with heavy yarn for making rugs. The trapunto needles do not have large enough eyes for such yarn, so I thought of using a large crochet hook, but that wasn't successful. Looking around for something to use, my eye fell on a wire heddle for the floor loom. The actual eye of the heddle is not particularly large, but the 'eyes' at the ends for putting it on the rails of the harnesses/shafts are quite large. I tried using the heddle as a weaving needle, but it is too pliable to work well. Then I tried looping one end of the heddle through the eye of a large tapestry needle and doubling it back. The tapestry needle is stiff, of course, but that arrangement didn't work well either. Then it occurred to me that I could just loop wire through the eye of the trapunto needle and twist it to make a large eye, but the 15 guage wire I have on hand is too thick. So I figured I'd buy thinner wire next time I'm in town. But then I had another idea - try a coilless safety pin. IT WORKS!! So, I'm ready.
and 4.5 inch. The largest one is made of wood and is meant to be used with heavy yarn for making rugs. The trapunto needles do not have large enough eyes for such yarn, so I thought of using a large crochet hook, but that wasn't successful. Looking around for something to use, my eye fell on a wire heddle for the floor loom. The actual eye of the heddle is not particularly large, but the 'eyes' at the ends for putting it on the rails of the harnesses/shafts are quite large. I tried using the heddle as a weaving needle, but it is too pliable to work well. Then I tried looping one end of the heddle through the eye of a large tapestry needle and doubling it back. The tapestry needle is stiff, of course, but that arrangement didn't work well either. Then it occurred to me that I could just loop wire through the eye of the trapunto needle and twist it to make a large eye, but the 15 guage wire I have on hand is too thick. So I figured I'd buy thinner wire next time I'm in town. But then I had another idea - try a coilless safety pin. IT WORKS!! So, I'm ready.
This is another small loom - isn't it cute? You turn that handle on the side to create the 'shed' to weave the weft through. It works more like a floor loom than the Weave-it does, but makes a four-inch square as well.And finally, here is the ROYGBV laprobe that I made a few weeks ago. Lexi couldn't understand how a circle (as it appesred on the circular needle) could become a square.
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