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.

Mr. Bee Happy

Jennifer Coldren has created the cutest little bumble bee pattern for the Knifty Knitter 12 peg flower loom. Thank you, Jennifer for sharing your talent!

Now, here's all the info:

"Mr. Bee Happy" Knifty Knitter Flower Loom Pattern"

The cutest miniature bee knit entirely on the Knifty Knitter Flower Loom. Easy to do, knit as one piece on the loom.

35th anniversary

Today, my best friend and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. This song says it best:

Granny's rose

The recent Hexed Granny Motif was such a hit that the loom knitted granny square tutorial is in the works. This post is a quick glimpse of the upcoming tutorial. In an effort to keep the tutorial as simple as possible I thought it best to start with a basic generic granny square instead of the more complex hexagonal granny. While unable to physically knit over the past week, I've been mentally knitting the loomy granny motif. Today, I finally had a chance to sit down (if you don't count jumping up every three minutes to extract my granddaughter from countless "no-no's") and test knit the tutorial square. The result is the Granny Rose Square pictured above.

Colors: When selecting colors for these squares I've found that nature provides the best color combinations. The color scheme on the square above reminds me of a rose bud pattern woven into a beautiful bedspread that my Grandmother used on special days when I was a child - thus the name, Granny's Rose. By substituting a different floral color (coral, violet, yellow, blue), the square acquires a new look. By the way, my initial impression of granny squares was not a good one, mainly due to the hideous color combination in outlandish projects of the seventies (example). While this is a good stash buster project, please think before you randomly pick up the lavender, chartreuse and florescent orange yarn. For a visual treat in color planning, visit Attic24 and click on the Crochet Category in the left sidebar.

Size: Basic granny squares are typically six inch crocheted squares with five concentric rows. For the loom knitted version, I decided on a smaller three row square utilizing a super bulky weight yarn which resulted in a four & one-half inch square when knitted on the large gauge Knifty Knitter Looms. However, by using the basic granny square formula, it would be very easy to add two more rows if you want a larger square.

Yarn: By using the super bulky Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick only one strand of yarn was necessary to produce the desired look of the motif. You could substitute two strands of regular worsted weight yarn, but this technique requires picking up & placing stitches back on the pegs which makes it easier in the beginning if you are working with just one strand.

Looms: The red center of the motif above was made on the Knifty Knitter 12-peg Flower Loom. The remainder of the motif was knit using two pegs of a Hobby Lobby version of the Knifty Knitter 24-peg Round Loom. The Flower Loom could have been used for the entire project, but as the motif gets larger it is cumbersome to work through the small center of the Flower Loom. Since you are only using two pegs, any of the large gauge looms can be used for everything but the center.

Every time I use the crochet techniques on the loom, I make new discoveries and correct previous errors. Hopefully, this will make it better for others who decide to attempt this slightly fiddly technique. The two five & three year old grandchildren that live with us start to school Monday, so the tutorial should be ready in a few days.