Ms. Santa Towel Topper

Need a helper for the holidays? Ms. Santa Towel Topper is handy in the kitchen or she can just hang around and brighten your day. All you need is a 12-peg Knifty Knitter Flower Loom, 5-peg end of the Knifty Knitter Spool Loom, a small red towel, small amounts of yarn in red, white and flesh tone and about an hour (more or less).

This towel topper was designed about three years ago, but I never posted the pattern. Before she was forever lost, I decided to add the pattern to my Pattern Box on the right, or you can click here to download. Ms. Santa has always been a favorite with my grandchildren, so I hope she brings a little happiness to you, too.

Update: Here is a Ms. Santa Towel Topper knitted by Tina in St. Augustine, FL. I love the contrasting green towel.

Tiny Tim Turkey

Althea Burger, who designed the Ghost Angel, has created "Tiny Tim Turkey" just in time for Thanksgiving. She also wanted to share the directions with other loom knitters who read my blog. Thank you, Althea, talking the time to write the instructions and send me pictures of your crafty projects. We will be seeing more of Althea's projects in the future.

Talking turkey (pattern instructions)
(PDF version here)

Materials

• Spool loom or 2 pegs on any loom for I-cord
• 24 peg loom (KK blue loom)
• 12 peg loom(KK flower Loom)
• Small amounts single strand 4 ply yarn (gold, dark brown, black, red and variegated fall colors for tail feathers)
• 1" Styrofoam ball for head
• Low temp glue & gun
• Google eyes
• 12" chenille stem (brown or black) for feet
• Fiberfill stuffing
• Size G crochet hook
• Yarn Needle

Body

• With the 12-peg flower loom and gold yarn do the drawstring cast on.
• Knit in the round for 31 rows.
• Draw up and close the cast on edge.
• Work a gathered bind off on the last row; tie off and remove from loom leaving an 8” yarn tail at end.
• Stuff and close up bottom end; thread yarn tail onto yarn needle and stitch up thru middle of body and back down several times. Pull tight to make indentation. Tie off.

Fan Tail

• Using variegated fall colored yarn and the 24-peg large gauge loom work a drawstring cast on.
• Knit for 12 rows.
• Cinch the drawstring yarn tail to close the cast on edge and tie off.
• After completing row 12, cut the working yarn leaving a yarn tail long enough to wrap around the loom plus about 4” extra. Bind off by threading a yarn needle with the long yarn tail then sewing up thru the loops and taking them off the pegs. Tie off very loosely.
• After removing from the loom, stretch out other end (see the Ghost Angel wing directions) to make a flat circle shape; fold circle in half to make crescent shape; sew up open edges loosely and sew completed tail to back of body above the center bind off indention. Spread out like a fan.

Neck

• Using the spool loom or two pegs of any loom and dark Brown yarn make an I-Cord for 8 rows.
• Bind off and leave yarn tails at both ends.
• Sew one end to center of body where indentation is and other end to top of body where the head will go.

Head

• With the 12 peg loom and dark brown yarn work a drawstring cast on.
• Knit for 6 rows.
• Cinch the drawstring yarn tail from the cast on edge close and tie off.
• Do a gathered bind off after finishing row 6 and leave a yarn tail at end. Remove from the loom, but do not close the bind off edge shut.
• Insert 1" foam ball into the head and draw up the bind off yarn tail tight around the ball and sew whole thing to top of body at top of neck.

Legs
One 12" chenille stem. Fold a little bit of the stem so you can hook it to a big yarn needle and thread it thru the bottom of the body (with the needle) for the feet. Bend both the ends of the stem to look like toes (see photo below).

Beak
Using a crochet hook and the gold yarn, chain 3 and double crochet three times in third chain from hook. Slip stitch into top of chain three. Leave yarn tail and sew to front of head. (Note: If you cannot crochet, you can work a 3 row I-cord and shape it to make the beak.)

Waddle
With the crochet hook, chain 4 with red yarn. Sew to side of beak. Glue on eyes to each side of beak.

Wings
Make long loose stitches with YARN NEEDLE in dark brown yarn 6 or 7 times in same spot on either side of body. Spread stitches out to look like wings.

Beard
One short length of black yarn (about 5 1/2 " long) folded in half and sewed to front of neck.With yarn needle,separate the 4 ply stands of the yarn, fluff a little, and trim. Pull the beard into position in the center front of the turkey.

Finishing
Make a “back support stitch” with yarn needle and dark brown yarn several times at the bottom back of body to make ledge to support the body and keep it from tipping over. (Note: I use Poly Pellets, which is available at most craft stores where stuffing is sold, in the base when stuffing toys for added base weight.)

Ghost angel

When my good friend Althea Burger wanted to make a little loom knitted angel, she decided to modify Boo-Ella, my little Halloween ghost, and I just love what she did. Pictured above is Althea's ghost and angel, which sort of looks like a knitted version of your good & bad conscience. Here's how Althea took the pattern from being "bad to good":

The angel is knit from the head down using the 12 peg KK flower loom and a single strand of 4 ply yarn. To begin, work a drawstring cast on and knit 28 rows; this forms the head and the body.

Close the cast on edge by cinching the beginning drawstring. Bring the yarn tails to the inside and tie off. When I made Boo-Ella, I did a picot bind off. However, Althea didn’t do anything fancy, just threaded a needle thru the loops, took them off the pegs, and tied it off very loosely.(Note: If you wanted to add a little more ruffle to the skirt edge, you could work a basic flat bind off and add one or two extra chain stitches to each peg by knitting off the same peg once or twice during the bind off procedure. )

After removing the angel from the loom, stretch the bottom to shape it into a flared skirt or let the edge curl up just a little; the effect you get here depends on the type bind off you used. If you did the needle thru the loops bind off, then the skirt will curl just a little. If you did extra stitches between the bind off stitches, the skirt will flare out just a bit.

The head is just a 1 "Styrofoam ball stuffed up inside and some yarn threaded thru the neckline on a yarn needle, which is pulled tight and tied off. Embroider eyes and mouth.

The wings are made in two pieces and stitched together. To make one wing, use the 12-peg flower loom and do a drawstring cast on. Knit for 6 rows; finish the cast on and bind off edge the same way you did the angel’s body. After removing from the loom, stretch out the open edge (step 1, pictured below), mash the bell shape flat to form two halves and sew the open edges together matching the stitches (step 2, pictured below). This completes one wing (step 3, pictured below). Make another wing and sew the two wings together where the cinched cast on edges meet. Sew the wings onto the back as one piece along the center-line. The halo is simply a plastic wedding ring used as a party decoration from Wal-Mart. It has a cut in it which allows you to spread it apart, attach it to the stitches of the head, and snap shut so it stays there.

The arms are knit as one piece using two pegs to create a 13 row I-cord. Use the drawstring cast on for it, too. Be sure to leave about a 3 inch yarn tail at both ends. Thread one tail in a yarn needle and push it thru the body below the head on one side and out the other side. Adjust the arms so they are both the same length and tie the tails so it looks like praying hands.

This is optional, but you can tie a jingle bell up inside the angel or make some angels in pastel colors, too.