I’ve been working on this off an on for a while. I first saw the pattern last fall in the pin loom Facebook group but I was pretty early in my temperature blanket and that was a lot of square making. I wrote down how many squares and triangles I needed of each color and made a couple.

I didn’t have a triangle loom yet so the project was stalled.

When I got the needed triangle pin loom for Christmas last year it was continuous weaving, even spaced kind. I made the beak but I found it a little tedious and I knew the rest would be made on a Zoom Loom and was worried they would look too different. The zoom loom makes much thicker squares thanks to the layering weaving style.

Fast forward to the summer and I got the Zoom Loom style triangle set and I started making some triangles. When I finally finished the temperature blanket I knocked out the triangles pretty quickly.

Finally last week I finished the rest up. I decided to keep the original beak since only a small amount showed. I swapped out one red square for a fluffy tweed one to make it look more like an actual cardinal wing. I wasn’t sure if I should continue it down but I liked it as just an interest square. The yarn is not very sturdy so I don’t think it would have worked in a large area anyway, it was difficult to weave and sew into the surrounding squares.

The directions were pretty poor (missing a whole row and the directions for doubling up the triangles to make the eye and beak were nonsensical) but I think it turned out well! The original had you using white for the background but I think the blue is a lot prettier and dramatic.

I used my Zoom Loom and my 4 inch triangle loom. I was tempted to use my 2 inch triangle for the eyes and beak squares but I think I would have lost too much to the seams.

It was fun making a picture out of squares! I’d love to find a program that would help me come up with my own designs. I’m almost tempted to make female cardinal. Maybe if I do another project with muted colors. I used yarn leftover from the temperature blanket, some yarn I had bought as possibles for the blanket and another project so it was nice to use it up.