Jan. 22, 2008 - I finished Grandma's scarf
Yesterday, I finished Grandma's scarf. It came out so pretty and soft. Here is a picture of it:
I made it from a pattern in the One-Skein Wonders book. Afterwards, I decided that I didn't want to wrap it clumsily in wrapping paper, and I have no gift bags right now so I made a gift bag. I loom knit the bag by weaving the bottom, and then knitting it on the red KK loom until it was long enough. I rolled the scarf and put it inside to get the perfect size. I bound off by crocheting two stitches in between each peg to make it looser. I then crocheted a curly bow to go around the top. Here is how it came out:
I think it came out really nice.
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Jan. 17, 2008 - Mittens....round loom and long loom
I discovered that mittens can be made on a Knifty Knitter long loom, just as easily as on a round loom. And using a long loom allows for many more sizing options. The only time, I think, you would not want to use a long loom for a mitten, is if you were planning a rolled cuff as in making a hat, as opposed to a ribbed cuff. I much prefer a ribbed cuff, because I think it fits better and looks nicer.
Here is a picture of a mitten made with a long loom using 20 pegs total:
Here are some basic instructions for making a mitten similar using a round loom. If you would like to use a long loom, just follow along knitting in the round with a long loom, using the appropriate number of pegs. Here is a drawing of what I mean by knitting in the round with a long loom:
You just pretend it's a round loom. But the narrowness of it prevents creating a folded or rolled cuff with it. Unless you chose to use the Knifty Knitter Purple rectangle loom, which is wider in the center. I adapted my mittens from the one loom mitten pattern, so it isn't my very own creation, just my interpretation of it. These instructions in PDF form.
Supplies needed:
-1 skein (or more depending on size) of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick super bulky yarn
-9 stitch markers (or more depending on size)
-crochet hook, to match yarn (I used k I think)
-darning needle
-scissors
-knitting tool
-loom (either long loom, mitten loom, or blue kk loom) This pair was made using the 18 peg ITA mitten loom.
To start off with, place stitch markers on every other peg. If using a long loom, then you will be using 18 pegs total. This is to help you remember which pegs to knit and which to purl.
Crochet cast-on onto all 18 pegs.
Next you will be doing a 1/1 rib stitch for 15 rows. This is done by knitting one peg and purling the next all around the loom. This is where a row counter comes in handy. If you don't have one, tally marks on a piece of paper works wonderfully. I keep a pad of paper in my loom tote just for this, and for knitting notes. Purling is where you place your yarn underneath the loop on your peg and use your knitting tool to pull the yarn up and through the loop on the peg. The loop on the peg is taken up and the new loop placed on the peg.
Next you will e-wrap the loom all the way around two times so that you have three wraps on each peg. Make sure that you wrap somewhat loosely, or knitting over will be very hard. We will be knitting the bottom loop over the top two loops, so 1 over 2 for the remainder of the mitten. For my mitten, I did this for 9 rows. The distance needs to go from your wrist to the base of your thumb. So adjust accordingly, I have small hands.
Now it's time to start the thumb. For my thumb I use only 4 pegs, with no turning pegs. I knit each peg going back and forth in a flat panel. So, I knit pegs 1-4, then I go bach the other way and knit pegs 4-1. For my mitten I did this for 32 rows total. Do this until the thumb area, is long enough to fit your thumb, make sure to end back at peg 1.
After the thumb is long enough you will continue to knit in the round until the mitten is long enough to cover your hand. For me this was 27 rows. That row counter came in really handy, didn't it?
Now, after it is long enough for your hand, you will have two loops on each peg. You will go around the entire loom and knit the bottom loop over the top loop on each peg to leave only one loop on each peg.
Now before removing the mitten from the loom, I have found it easier to finish the thumb while it is on the loom. To do this, you will thread a darning needle, with about 18-24 inches of yarn. You will start at the bottom of one side of the thumb, and you will tie a small knot to attach the yarn to the thumb. You will then sew up the thumb going back and forth and tightening until you reach the top of the thumb. Then you will place an extra stitch at the top to hold it tight, and you will run your needle under the inside of the thumb top stitches, snugly, but not overly so. You don't want to make your tip tight, you just want to carry your yarn to the other side invisibly. Then you will sew down the other side and knot it at the bottom. Run the yarn through the inside stitches to hide the tail and snip off.
Now, it is time to remove the mitten from the loom. You will do so using the gather method, just as if you were making a hat. Run the yarn through each loop on the pegs.
Then before taking it off the loom, turn the mitten inside out. Leave the thumb right side out. Then remove each loop from the pegs and tighten to gather. Tie securely with a knot, then tie once again with yarn tail from mitten.
Run all yarn ends for a couple inches under the stiches to secure. Then clip and turn your mitten right side out. You now have a beautiful, warm new mitten. I'm double blessed, I have warm mittens and a lovely daughter too, lol.
If you want to make smaller versions then experiment with using fewer pegs for small children, or more pegs for larger hands or men, using a long loom. Use different yarn for the cuff portion or thumb. Be creative and make them personal. Nobody will have mittens exactly like yours.
If you are using a thinner yarn. Knit 1 over 3 for a nice warm, tight knit. Adjust the rows accordingly if using a thinner yarn. The only difference in the pattern for the blue mitten using a long loom above, was that I used 20 pegs instead of 18 to make it wider for my son. Otherwise the rows are just the same.
I hope this was helpful to you. I have had lots of fun making my family mittens this winter
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Dec. 8, 2007 - I love my mittens!!!
Tonight we went to our little town's annual Christmas parade. It is a night parade, and it is all lit up and pretty. It is also freezing cold, lol. But, the children love it and it's lots of fun.
Today we also had our first snow that actually turned things white. It was so pretty. So, because of the snow, and because of the parade, I got to test my homemade mittens out. This morning I made snowballs, and the snow did not penetrate to my hands at all. My fingers stayed nice and toasty. And then tonight at the parade, my nose and ears were freezing, but my hands weren't cold at all. Yahoo! My poor girlies were wearing storebought gloves and when we got home their little fingers were hurting from the cold
. I am going to work really hard to finish up the mittens for each of my children, now that I have confidence that they work really well.
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Dec. 7, 2007 - I'm collecting....
I'm collecting all the loom knitting books I can find. So far I have collected these:
A Loom Knitting Primer by Isela Phelps
(Great book. Easy instructions, good patterns. She has a second book coming out sometime in 2008, I will definately buy this.)
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Dec. 5, 2007 - My sweetie wanted a bear so....
This is what I came up with:
Please excuse my sweetie's face, she had just finished making Christmas ornaments and drinking cocoa. The remnants of both the paint and the cocoa are all over her, lol.
I used the KK flower loom to make the bear and I made him in all one piece using the method for the thumbs from the one loom mitten pattern. This allowed me to create the arms, legs and ears. I used the drawstring cast on method which created the bottom. I made a bobble for the nose. I will change the dimensions if I make another one sometime. The arms I will make fuller, and the body shorter. But all in all, I am very pleased with how it came out.
And so is my little cutie pie.
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Dec. 3, 2007 - Look at this cute hat!
I made it Saturday night. I used the pattern for the woven hat in the book Learn New Stitches on Circle Looms by Anne Bipes. I used the yarn specified but a different color, not many of us can get away with wearing a green hat, lol. The loom I used was In the Attic's large blue 41 peg Flexiloom.
It was really easy to make once I figured out the pattern instructions, lol.
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Nov. 22, 2007 - I'm making mittens!
I recently bought a mitten loom set from In the Attic. I bought mine from an ebay seller and recieved free shipping. I highly reccomend these looms and that seller. I am hoping to buy the loom knitting book from them in the next couple months. I love my loom set! I have made two pairs of mittens so far. I am making them for each of my children, but haven't made them all yet.
Here is what I have made so far:
The blue ones are for my youngest. And the black ones are for me. I used the same loom for both pairs. The little blue ones, I folded the cuff forward and inserted elastic in the middle to make it snug on my girlies wrists. The ones that I made for myself are very warm so I'm sure that the blue ones are too. I knitted doing 1 over 3 for the body of the mitten to make a tighter knit. The cuffs I knitted in rib stitch using two strands.
I used the pattern that came with the loom pretty much for the black pair, except I did a ribbed cuff and thumb. For the blue pair I adapted the one loom mitten pattern from Amy Kay. I found that doing a basic plain e-wrap makes for a holey mitten. So, I prefer to 1 over 3. But I guess if I were using a bulkier yarn a plain e-wrap would work great. The one loom mitten pattern is WONDERFUL! It is very easy to make.
Now, I need to quit playing and finish up my Christmas crafting, lol.
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Nov. 22, 2007 - Look at the pretty hat I made!
I made this yesterday when I wanted something fun to do, lol. My kids all love it, I will have to buy more yarn and make some more of these.
Here are the instructions on how I made it:
Using 34 pegs on the purple rectangle Knifty Knitter loom.
1. Crochet cast on using two strands as one of Red Heart Light & Lofty Yarn-Puff.
2. Do the garter stitch for 12 rows. (Knit row one, purl row two, etc.)
3. Cut working yarn leaving a tail long enough to tie on second color. I used two strands as one of Bernat Softee Chunky -Berry Red.
4. E-wrap for 10 rows.
5. Decrease 4 stitches. Wrap and knit off. (I did this by taking each end stitch and moving it over to the next inside peg. There would then be two stitches on each corner peg. Then I e-wrapped and knitted off.)
6. E-wrap for 5 rows.
7. Decrease 4 stitches. Wrap and knit off.
8. E-wrap for 5 rows.
9. Decrease 4 stitches. Wrap and knit off.
10. E-wrap for 3 rows.
11. Decrease 4 stitches. Wrap and knit off.
12. E-wrap 3 rows.
13. Decrease 4 stitches. Wrap and knit off.
14. E-wrap 3 rows.
15. Decrease 4 stitches. Wrap and knit off.
16. E-wrap 3 rows.
17. Decrease 4 stitches. Wrap and knit off.
18. E-wrap 3 rows.
19. Remove from loom and do a gathered bind off.
20. Sew on a pom-pom onto the top of the hat and weave in loose ends. *I made a pom-pom by wrapping the yarn around my fingers until it was fluffy. Then I removed it and tied a length of string around the center tightly. Then I cut the loops and fluffed out my pom-pom.
Merry Christmas!
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Oct. 26, 2007 - Tiny loom knit stocking
I made a small loom knit stocking to go into some gift baskets that I am making for Christmas this year. I used the Knifty Knitter Flower Loom (I bought one at Walmart and one at Joann). I have also made smaller versions using the Knifty Knitter Spool Loom by adjusting the number of rows for each section until it came out to be the balance that I wanted. When using the spool loom, the knitted portion is too bulky and will not fit through the spool, it will just bunch up inside of it.
These instructions in PDF form.
For my stockings I just used Red Heart worsted yarns in red and white and Lion Brand Fancy Fur in an off white color (its what I had on hand).
1. Cast on all pegs of the flower loom using 2 strands of white and 1 strand of the fancy fur. Knit 5 rows alternating between knitting a row and purling a row.
2. Switch to red using 2 strands of yarn together. I switched by knotting and cutting the tails. Knit 10 rows.
3. Tie on 2 strands of white again, but don't cut the red off. (For every row next to the red, to prevent a gap in the stocking you will need to lift the red loop off of the peg on the edge and bring the white yarn around it. Replace the red loop back onto the peg you removed them from.) Knit over 6 pegs. Turn, skip one peg and knit 4 pegs back. Turn, skip one peg and knit two back. Turn and knit two again. Turn, knit four again (you will knit the two knitted and one on each end of the white). Turn and knit 6. You should be back to the place where you tied the white onto the loom. Tie your white yarn again to the red yarn and cut the white off.
4. Knit 5 rows of red. Tie white back onto red and cut red.
5. Knit 4 rows of white. Remove by gathering off loom.
You now have a cute small stocking to use as an ornament on your tree or as a sweet gift!
For the spool loom these are the basic instructions, I believe this is using the larger end of the spool. The smaller end makes adorable tiny stockings too.:
White, two strands three rows, purl, knit, purl.
Red, 7 rows e-wrap.
Heel, white, knit 4, furn knit 2, turn knit 2, turn knit 4.
Red again, 2 rows.
White again, 2 rows. Gather bind off.
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Nov. 30, 2006 - I did it!
I made my goal of 60 hats for the homeless.
It feels so good to have actually done something. And it was so good for the children to see and participate a bit by donating their odd balls of yarn. It was such a simple thing, but hopefully my small example will yield big rewards in the future with my children as they grow and mature.
And, I discovered that the more you use the knifty knitter, you get callouses, lol! I'm so glad I bought the knifty knitter set last year though. It has really come in handy this year.
My children also enjoy the knifty knitter!
Here my #5 child, Mara, is modeling a hat she made with the knifty knitter.
And here my #4 child, Chloe, is showing how much fun she has with her knifty knitter, lol.
You can do lots more with a knifty knitter than just hats though, in case you are not a big hat person, lol.
You can make lovely holiday decorations.
And slippers (please forgive the horrible photo, it is before my new camera)
The knifty knitter can do all sorts of things, lol! Of course you have to help it along.
In case my knifty knitting has inspired you, or you are just curious, here is a link to patterns and info on it.
Different looms and stitch instructions
After I finish some of my other projects, I would like to try the mittens on the loom.
Knifty knitting is fun, easy enough even for those that "aren't crafty", and children love doing it.
Okay my sales pitch is over.
