Once upon a time there were three little bells: Papa Bell, Mama Bell and wee little Baby Bell. A couple of weeks ago I knitted some bells using the Knifty Knitter flower loom. Recently,
Kansas, another loomer, posted some mini bells on her
Canadian Crafter blog that she created using her 8-peg thumb loom. Someone on the Knifty Knitter Yahoo Group asked where they could get a thumb loom like the one Kansas used to create her mini bells, so I decided to see if the Knifty Knitter spool loom would work for this project since I had one on hand.
The Knifty Knitter spool loom is a dual loom. On one end there are 8 regular sized pegs spaced ¾ inch from center to center of each peg. The other end features 5 small pegs spaced at approximately ⅝ inch from center to center of each peg. Since I was testing the 8-peg end of the spooler, I decided to try the 5-peg end, too. Here’s what I did:
- Papa Bell The “Papa Bell” was made on the 12-peg KK flower loom following the directions in My Pattern Box on the right for Knifty Christmas Bells.
- Mama BellThe “Mama Bell” was made similar to Kansas’s mini bell with a little variation at the top of the bell. Using 2 strands held as one on the 8-peg end of the KK spool loom, I did e-wraps and knit for 8 rows. On row 9 I did a flat knit stitch. On row 10 I decreased every other peg by combining the loops on pegs 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 & 7-8 (this leaves double sets of loops on pegs 2,4,6 & 8); and then did a flat knit stitch on the remaining 4 pegs. I did a gather bind off and finished the bell using the same method outlined in the instructions for the Knifty Christmas Bells.
- Baby Bell
- “Baby Bell” was done on the 5-peg end of the KK spool loom using one strand of yarn, e-wrap and knit for 6 rows. Rows 7 & 8 were done in a flat knit stitch. Finally, I decreased the pegs by placing the loop from peg one onto peg 2, then placing the loop from peg 3 onto peg 4 and leaving peg 5 as is. I used a gather bind off and finished similar to the instructions for the Knifty Christmas Bells, except I was working with only one strand of yarn instead of two.
The picture of the three bells shows the outcome and comparison in size of the bells. Height measurements are approximately as follows: Papa Bell – 3 inches, Mama Bell – 2¼ inches, and Baby Bell – 1¼ inches.
