Cold facts

The visiting snowmen face some cold facts...

"Where's the snow? Someone said there was snow in Georgia and we made this trip for nothing....."

Yes, sadly all the beautiful Christmas snow has melted!

(Snowmen & photo compliments of Amy & Joe Duffey;
pattern based on Althea Burger's Little Snowmen)

Snowflakes & peppermint

Merry Christmas from LoomLore! 

What a beautiful snowy Christmas Day, which gave me a chance to pop on my old Peppermint Twist hat and my new favorite Peppermint Candy Cane scarf for a little playtime in the snow. 

The scarf, completed two days ago, is made with one strand each of Lion Brand Jiffy True Red & Crisp White on a 15 peg one-half inch gauge round CindDWood loom. Since the stripes are two stitches wide and the loom has an odd number of pegs, the diagonal stripes are formed by continually flat knitting knitting two pegs with a red strand of yarn and knitting the next two pegs with a white strand of yarn.  Knitting two or more colors where the color changes occur within a few stitches of each other is referred to as color stranding and creates a double thick fabric. When using the color stranding method, it is imperative to keep the yarn from twisting, so as I knitted the two-stitch stripes, I kept the red strand on top and the white strand on bottom.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to add a tassel or pompom to each end of the scarf, so I never did either one. This was a fun project and I plan on making some more of these little color stranded tube scarves and perhaps explore new color patterns.

All my best to you during the Holiday Season!

It's still snowing!

Snowman TP Cozy

Christmas is my favorite time to create new little loomed lovelies for the holiday; however, I've been hard at work on pattern revisions for publication, so I've not had much time to blog. In the meantime, my good friend Althea Burger sent me her latest creation for the Knifty Knitter Looms, a cute little snowman toilet paper cozy. This little loom knitted cutie was inspired from the crocheted versions from Mary Maxim, but I really like Althea's knitted version much better. The Snowman TP Cozy pattern is listed below or it is available as a PDF file in the Pattern Box on the right. Be sure to post a "thank you" to Althea for sharing this pattern in time for the holiday season!

Althea's Snowman TP Cozy

Size: About 10 inches high
 
Materials

• Looms: 31 peg large gauge knitting loom for the snowman (red Knifty Knitter loom was used) and 8 peg spool loom for scarf
• Yarn: worsted weight in white, burgundy and orange
• Size E crochet hook
• White craft thread & needle
• 3 large buttons for body
• 2 small buttons for eyes
• Yarn needle
• Large white pom pom
• Fiberfill stuffing
• Roll of toilet paper

DIRECTIONS

Body & Head
"E wrap" on the 31 peg loom with white yarn for 38 rows. Pull up loomed edge to hook the loops onto pegs and make a very long "brim". Continue to "E wrap" for the head for 16 more rows. Slightly stuff the head part and tie it off.

Hat
With burgundy yarn,"E wrap" on the 31 peg loom 10 rows, make a brim, then continue to knit 12 more rows. Tie off. Add pom pom.

Scarf
With burgundy yarn, on spool loom, drawstring cast on flat knit for about 25 inches (closing the CO after knitting about six rows). Do a gathered BO. Cut, tie & secure the yarn tails. Stretch it out a little to set the knit stitches.

Nose
Row 1: Using orange yarn and E crochet hook chain 2, sc in second ch from hook. Chain 1, turn.
Row 2:  2 sc in st, ch 1, turn (2)
Row 3: 2 sc in each st, ch 1, turn.(4)
Row 4: 2 sc in first st, sc in next two sts, 2 sc in last st. (6)

Finishing
Cut yarn leaving a tail. Fold piece lengthwise and use yarn needle to sew up the sides to make pointed carrot-like nose. Sew to center of face. Using craft thread and small needle sew large buttons on front of body and small buttons on face for eyes. Tie scarf around neck area. Place hat on head, stretch it a little if necessary.

Indian Corn

Someone on Yahoo's Knifty Knitter Group recently asked if you could make Indian corn on the knitting looms similar to Alicia Kachmar's crocheted design that she describes in her blog post, "It's never too late for Indian corn."  I had actually saved the link to Kachmar's Indian corn post over a year ago and had tried to work out a stitch pattern that would look acceptable on the knitting loom. At that time, things just didn't click and I moved on to the next project at hand. When the subject came up again, I decided to give this project another shot.  

First, deciding on the stitch pattern was the key to making the corn look like corn. After searching several needle knitting sites, I settled on the wrong side of what's known as the "linen stitch." The next thing was to translate the stitch pattern to the looms and decide on which loom to use. Since this stitch required an odd number of pegs and I planned on working it in the round, the five-peg end of the Knifty Knitter Spool Loom became the loom of choice. After working out the translation, everything sort of fell into place. Here is an expanded explanation of the linen stitch for the 5-peg loom:

Linen Stitch

Rnd 1: Flat Knit peg-1, pass the yarn in front of peg-2 without knitting; flat knit peg-3, pass the yarn in front of peg-4 without knitting; flat knit peg-5.

Rnd 2: Pass the yarn in front of peg-1 without knitting which will leave two sets of yarn strands on this peg, flat knit peg-2; pass the yarn in front of peg-3, flat knit peg-4; end row by passing the yarn in front of the peg-5.

Repeat rounds 1 & 2 until you reach the desired length.

**Note: On pegs with 3 loops, knit 2 bottom loops over top loop.

Kachmar recommended using Lion Brand Homespun yarn for her crocheted corn. I tried the Homespun on several ears of knitted corn, but quickly discovered that I preferred Red Heart Classic or Red Heart Super Saver using one strand of solid with one strand of variegated yarn in autumn colors. Also, don't be tempted by the self-striping yarn, because it doesn't change colors quick enough to work properly with the little three to four inch ears of corn. You'll soon discover that trying different yarn color combinations is fun and addictive with this project. You really can't tell how the colors are going to work until the corn ear has been knitted and turned so the wrong side becomes the right side.

The Indian Corn pattern is available as a PDF file here, or in the Pattern Box on the right. It will also be offered as a class project on Yahoo's Loom Class during this upcoming week (November 7-13, 2010). Kudos to Alicia Kachmar for the inspiration for this project!

Specs, the amigurumi owl

Guess whooooo's flying your way for an autumn loom-along at Yahoo's Loom Class? Meet Specs, the little amigurumi owl, who is made on the Knifty Knitter Flower & Spool looms. Specs, standing about four inches tall, was especially designed for this week's Loom Class (October 24-30, 2010). 

I have also added the pattern to my Pattern Box on the right or you can download the pattern here. However, many times we cover topics and questions during class time that aren't always covered in the pattern instructions. So, come on over and join us while we make a parliament of owls!

My lil' punkin

What would an autumn be without a pumpkin hat for the newest member of the family? When I first started loom knitting back in 2006, I made a very basic little pumpkin hat for Will & Kate, my now four year old twin grandchildren.  In keeping with tradition, I wanted to design an updated version for their new brother, Luke (picture above).

The Lil' Punkin Hat features a one inch rolled brim and six sections divided by a line of purl stitches. This project was made on the Knifty Knitter long green loom using loom clips to create the 42 pegs used for the body of the hat.  Using the loom clips to decrease created a smoother top and allowed the stem to be knitted directly into the hat.

To add some finishing touches, a leaf made on the Knifty Knitter Flower Loom and a curly tendril  made on 18 pegs of the KK long loom were each knitted separately and stitched to the top of the hat to complete the little pumpkin. The pattern is listed in the Pattern Box on the right as Punpkin Hat with Leaf & Tendril.