Crafxzen

Crafter of old school handwoven loop potholders.

Category: Uncategorized

How To Make a Red Orange and Yellow 3 Color Checker Potholder

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On January 25, 2020

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I turned a checker pattern into this 3 color checkered red, orange and yellow patterned potholder. To make it, use the following colors for the columns:

red,red,yellow,red,red,red,red,red,yellow,red,red,red,red,red,yellow,red,red,red

Next weave in these colors for the rows:

orange,orange,yellow,orange,orange,orange,orange,orange,yellow,orange,orange,orange,orange,orange,yellow,orange,orange,orange

Start off by weaving the first row color of orange underneath, then over the column loops.
Weave the second row color of orange over, then underneath the column loops.

To make this using different colors, substitute your first color wherever red appears, substitute your second color wherever orange appears and substitute your third color wherever yellow appears.

Tie off the ends, starting at the top left corner. The hanging loop will end up being the 2nd loop at the top left corner.
See my Loom Potholder Tutorial for further details on weaving the ends together.

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How To Make a Yellow and White Checker Two Pattern Loop Potholder

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On January 18, 2020

In Uncategorized

 

I made a cheery, checker two, yellow and white patterned potholder. To make it, use the following colors for the columns:

yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow,yellow

Next weave in these colors for the rows:

white,yellow,white,white,yellow,white,white,yellow,white,white,yellow,white,white,yellow,white,white,yellow,white,white,yellow,white

Start off by weaving the first row color of white underneath, then over the column loops.
Weave the second row color of yellow over, then underneath the column loops.

To make this using different colors, substitute your first color wherever yellow appears, substitute your second color wherever white appears.

Tie off the ends, starting at the top left corner. The hanging loop will end up being the 2nd loop at the top left corner.
See my Loom Potholder Tutorial for further details on weaving the ends together.

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Order from the Potholder Gallery

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How To Weave A Christmas Red White Green Abstract Pattern #1

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On December 4, 2019

In Uncategorized

I’m working on a few Christmas themed potholders in red, green and white. This is the first one I made. To make it, use the following colors for the columns:

red,white,red,red,white,green,red,red,red,green,red,red,green,white,red,red,white,red

Next weave in the same colors for the rows:

red,white,red,red,white,green,red,red,red,green,red,red,green,white,red,red,white,red

Start off by weaving the first row color of red underneath then over the column loops.
Weave the second row color of white over then underneath the column loops.

To make this using different colors, substitute your first color wherever red appears, substitute your second color wherever green appears and substitute your third color wherever white appears.

Order from the Potholder Gallery

Loom Potholder Tutorial

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How To Weave a 2 Color Tee Pattern Potholder

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On November 20, 2019

In Uncategorized

I made this two colored Tee pattern potholder using pink and lime colored loops.

To weave this pattern, first add the column loops in this order:

pink,pink,lime,lime,pink,pink,lime,lime,pink,pink,lime,lime,pink,pink,lime,lime,pink,pink

Next, weave in the row colors. The first row, which would be lime, starts out weaving under the first column. The second row is pink and would start out weaving over the first column. The row colors are:

lime,pink,lime,pink,lime,pink,lime,pink,lime,pink,lime,pink,lime,pink,lime,pink,lime,pink

To make this using different colors, substitute your first color wherever pink appears and substitute your second color wherever lime appears.

Order from the Potholder Gallery

Loom Potholder Tutorial

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How To Make A Hand Woven Cotton Loom Potholder Tutorial

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On July 19, 2019

In Uncategorized

The best way to get started making potholders is to pick up a potholder loom kit. This potholder loom kit has enough loops to make 6 potholders. A smaller version is also available that makes 2 potholders. They both come with the loom, hook, loops and instructions. They are made by Harrisville Designs, a textile company in New Hampshire. They make high quality, 100% cotton loops. The loops are all uniform in material and stretchiness.
The looms have 18 rows and 18 columns.
Start by picking the colors to use for the potholder.

Next, plan the pattern. The easiest to get started with is a checker pattern. This is where 2 colors are used and every column peg is color 1. Every row peg is color 2.

Once the colors and pattern are figured out, take each column loop and hook it onto a peg and stretch it onto the peg at the opposite end of the loom.

When the column loops are in place, the row loops can be weaved in. Start at the top row and weave the loop under and over each column loop until the end peg is reached.

The loops may need to be stretched before weaving it on the loom. For row 2, weave the loop over and under each column loop.

For row 3, weave the loop under and over each column loop.

Continue alternating under and over the column loops until the loom is filled.

Next the edges can be finished. To finish the edges, I usually start at the top left column loop. Take the hook and put it through a loop, pulling the loop onto the hook.

Take the loop to the left of the first loop and pull it onto the hook.

Now take your hand not holding the hook and pull the first loop over the top of the hook and second loop, keeping the second loop on the hook while the first loop comes off the hook and wraps the second loop.

Next, pull the hook through the loop to the left of the second loop onto the hook and off the loom.

Pull the second loop over the top of the hook and third loop, so that it comes off of the hook and wraps the third loop.

Continue working your way around the entire loom. The loop to the right of the first loop will be the hanging loop.
Work slowly and carefully on the last two sides as the loops may start to come off of the loom without the support of the other sides. This was always the toughest part with the old loops I used when I was a kid. The Harrisville loops are so much higher quality and make finishing the last sides easier.

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Harrisville Designs Potholder Supplies

Crafxzen Potholder Pattern Selector

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On July 6, 2019

In Uncategorized

My Crafxzen potholder builder allows a user to choose a pattern from a pattern list. The first 25 patterns are based on known patterns used by Harrisville Designs. At the bottom of the list are two patterns which generate unique patterns.
The first unique pattern is called Unique Abstract. This generates a pattern using a different color for each row and column loop. The colors are based on the colors currently selected.
The second unique pattern is called Unique Single. This generates a pattern using a different color for each row’s loop. The same colors are also used for the column loops. The random colors are based on the colors currently selected.
Each time the Unique Abstract or Unique Single option is clicked, a new pattern will be generated. The previous pattern will no longer be accessible.
At some point, I plan on adding the ability to save a list of favorite patterns.

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Welcome to the Crafxzen Blog!

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On June 26, 2019

In Uncategorized

Crafxzen is my new crafts website. Currently, users can custom order hand woven loom potholders. Customization options include choosing colors, selecting a predefined pattern, generating a potholder based on a random pattern or manually designing a custom potholder.
Potholders are created using a hand weaving loom my grandmother gave me when I was a little girl. I’m not sure what age, but I’m guessing it was somewhere between 8 and 12. Over the years, I would make a random potholder here and there. The loops I used were from bags of assorted loops. The colors were random and the material of the loops would vary. Some loops were nice and stretchy, while other loops were difficult to stretch to fit on the loom. Making the potholders could get a little tedious and frustrating.
A few months ago, I discovered that there is a company in New Hampshire called Harrisville Designs that makes loops. The loops are 100% cotton and are all made in the United States in Harrisville, New Hampshire. The loops are totally awesome! There are 34 different colors. You can buy bags of assorted colors or bags with a single color. The material of the loops is fantastic. They are very high quality. They are all the same material and stretch perfectly to fit on the loom. I was so excited to discover this company, that I decided to start a craft business selling custom order hand woven loom potholders. These potholders are very nice. I don’t use them too much as potholders, but I do use them a lot as coasters and hot pads/trivets. I’m also working on trying to make a bath rug from the potholders sewn together. Making potholders is a fun, relaxing, non-screen activity.

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