The day started out innocently enough yesterday. I had a couple of the older grandkids in tow, and we had decided that the toys that I have had at my house for the grands to use while they are there are getting too wore out and frankly they have been the same toys for years. Our plan of action was to make a round of the local thrift stores to see if we could round up some new playthings.
We headed out after breakfast and at our first stop we collected about a dozen of those matchbox cars for the soon to be 4 year olds, and a bunch of car like things for the soon to be 8 month old. There were also a couple of board games, a whole bag of playdough tools and a couple of kids type musical instruments.
I had set the limit of thrift stops at 4, so as not to wear us out, but we were surprised to find that at the second stop, we found a couple of things that filled out our purchases to the point that we felt like we had done enough shopping for one day and it was time to move on to lunch, and an afternoon of playing with new stuff at Mimi's!
One of the toys was a small basketball hoop that we could attach to the porch, so that the previously mentioned soon to be 4 year olds could shoot some hoops. The second thing I found was a set of watercolor pencils, that I know will be a hit with this crowd, and last but not least, we found a Friendship Bracelet Party box that had never even been opened! I happen to have some very craft oriented grand kids, so we snapped it up and we could barely wait to get it home.
On our way home we also stopped by one of the big box stores to get supply of those
little rubber bands that kids use to make bracelets too! I discovered
when we got home that the package held 8000 bands in there, in all the colors of the rainbow! My eldest grand child is really into making stuff with them, so I think we are in good shape on that front.
(I neglected to take a picture of the full box, so you will have to use your imagination on this one.) Inside the box there was beads and string of all colors, some elastic, and a bead threader.
There were also these foam loom like things, two square looms for flat bracelets and two round looms for, well round bracelets. There is a different pattern represented on each side of the loom, so 4 patterns for flat bands and 4 patterns for round bands.
I wasn't too interested in to looms for the flat bracelets, cause I do that all the time on the inkle loom. What I really wanted to do was understand how the round looms worked!
I carefully read the very clear directions on how long to cut the yarn and how use the color coding on the loom to get the design you want. It was really fun to do it! I loaded a loom for one of the kids, and then one for me.
I sat there, getting ready to start when it dawned on me! Like a ninja warrior, Kumihimo, a Japanese braiding technique, which I have managed to avoid for years, had sneaked up on me and tricked me into liking it!
Today I found that my Library doesn't have any books on the subject, and last night, I may have purchased some more pretty shiny yarn. I also happen to know that there is a grown up Kumihimo loom in the annex at the Appalachian Arts Craft Center, I bet it's been plotting this for months!
Until next time, Happy Spinning, Knitting and Weaving, Tina
We headed out after breakfast and at our first stop we collected about a dozen of those matchbox cars for the soon to be 4 year olds, and a bunch of car like things for the soon to be 8 month old. There were also a couple of board games, a whole bag of playdough tools and a couple of kids type musical instruments.
I had set the limit of thrift stops at 4, so as not to wear us out, but we were surprised to find that at the second stop, we found a couple of things that filled out our purchases to the point that we felt like we had done enough shopping for one day and it was time to move on to lunch, and an afternoon of playing with new stuff at Mimi's!
One of the toys was a small basketball hoop that we could attach to the porch, so that the previously mentioned soon to be 4 year olds could shoot some hoops. The second thing I found was a set of watercolor pencils, that I know will be a hit with this crowd, and last but not least, we found a Friendship Bracelet Party box that had never even been opened! I happen to have some very craft oriented grand kids, so we snapped it up and we could barely wait to get it home.
(I neglected to take a picture of the full box, so you will have to use your imagination on this one.) Inside the box there was beads and string of all colors, some elastic, and a bead threader.
There were also these foam loom like things, two square looms for flat bracelets and two round looms for, well round bracelets. There is a different pattern represented on each side of the loom, so 4 patterns for flat bands and 4 patterns for round bands.
I wasn't too interested in to looms for the flat bracelets, cause I do that all the time on the inkle loom. What I really wanted to do was understand how the round looms worked!
I carefully read the very clear directions on how long to cut the yarn and how use the color coding on the loom to get the design you want. It was really fun to do it! I loaded a loom for one of the kids, and then one for me.
I sat there, getting ready to start when it dawned on me! Like a ninja warrior, Kumihimo, a Japanese braiding technique, which I have managed to avoid for years, had sneaked up on me and tricked me into liking it!
Until next time, Happy Spinning, Knitting and Weaving, Tina
2 comments:
How fantastic!!!! More fiber fun!
Fun day! I like simple eight-strand Kumihimo (bottom left up, top right down, quarter turn clockwise and repeat) to do in front of the TV instead of knitting. It makes great purse straps.
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