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)

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.

Little snowmen and an angel finger puppet

Althea Burger send this cute little snowman picture and instructions to me a month ago, but things got a little busy so it didn't get posted at that time. However, I wanted to make sure I shared this quickie design with my blog readers so you can have this little trio ready to sing Auld Lang Syne by New Year's Day.

Little Loomed Snowman

Materials:

• 12 peg KK flower loom
• 5 or 6 peg spool loom.
• White 4 ply yarn,( and small amounts of red & green for hat)
• 7 Giant seed beads (4 black & 1 orange) for eyes,nose & buttons
• Black pipe cleaner or chenille stem for arms
• Yarn needle
• Tiny pompom for hat (red, green or white)
• Low temp glue & gun
• White heavy hand quilting thread and bead needle
• Craft or pillow stuffing
• One 1" Styrofoam ball for head
• 7 clear glass beads, small stones, or Poly Pellets for weight

Directions

Head & Body: With the 12 peg flower loom and white yarn, starting at head and working down, do drawstring cast on; knit for 36 rows. Cinch the drawstring cast on edge closed. Insert 1" Styrofoam ball up inside for head. (Note: I used the ball for the head on all my snowmen even if I used stuffing for the rest of their bodies for a neater appearance.) Stuff the rest of the body lightly and add about 7 glass beads or poly pellets for weight before you close the bottom opening. Thread white yarn onto yarn needle and thread it thru neck area and cinch it up to form the neck. Do the same with waist area.

Face & other features: Thread bead needle with white hand quilting thread and sew giant seed beads on head for a face: black for eyes and orange for nose. I didn't do a mouth. Sew black beads on body for buttons down the front.

Arms: Bend a tiny part of black pipe cleaner to hook into yarn needle eye and push needle and pipe cleaner thru middle section & out the other side of snowman for arms. Adjust arms until they look even and bend ends to look like fingers.

Scarf: Green or red yarn on 2 peg spool loom. Make a 30 row I-Cord.Tie off. Wrap & tie around neck area.

Hat: Using green or red yarn on 5 or 6 peg spool loom (I used a self made 6 peg Ioom), work a drawstring cast on and knit for 6 rows. Bind off loosely to make it look like a hat (Note: One suggestion would be to chain a stitch between each bind off stitch). Glue pom pom on top. Sew to top of snowman's head.

OPTIONAL: Add string to create a snowman ornament for your tree.


Angel Finger Puppet

Robin McCoy, from Rockin' The Loom blog and several Yahoo loom knitting lists, recently emailed me about an angel finger puppet she made which was inspired by Althea's Ghost Angel pattern.
Here are her notes in case others would like to make one:

• CO with drawstring cast on to the 8 peg end of the spool loom.
• Knit approximately 6 rows; cinch the cast on edge closed; knit 14 more rows for a total of 20 rows.
  
• BO with crochet bind off, chaining 3 stitches between each bind off stitch (Note: The ruffle look is cute for girl angels, but might just take it off with a loose gathered bind off and let it curl for boy angels).
• Tear a tissue in half or use a small amount of fiberfill and form a ball, stuff this down into the tube, toward the cast on edge. Use a yarn needle and thread to cinch up the neck of the angel.
• To make the wings, follow the same general instructions outlined for Althea's Ghost Angel, but use the 8 peg end of the spool loom and knit for the same 6 rows as the larger angel.

Robin states that she loves this little finger puppet and plans on making one for each child in her Sunday School class.

Thanks for sharing, Robin!

Snowman's Secret Towel Topper

This little project was worked up at the request of my friend, Tina, who lives in St. Augustine, FL. She made the Ms. Santa Towel Topper and challenged me to make a snowman topper. If you know me, you know that I love a challenge! So, on our weekly trek to our Alabama cabin near Centre, I designed the Snowman Towel Topper pictured above. While the actual design and knitting took a little less than two hours while riding in the car, adding details and finishing up took another hour or so at home. Now that I've worked out the pattern, I'm thinking you could make the whole thing in about an hour or so.

Now, what secret is this little Snowman hiding? Most towel toppers are physically attached to the towel , or they feature a decorative motif at the top of an exposed hook. This little fellow's towel is interchangeable, but the towel holder is completely hid beneath the topper body so you can switch the towel when it needs to be washed - or when you want to change the look of the snowman.

Towel holder ring on the underside of the snowman's body

If time permits, I'll try to write the PDF pattern up in the next few days. However, here are the general steps I used to make Snowman's Secret Towel Topper:

• This topper-holder was knitted from the bottom up using two strands of white and black worsted weight yarn and the Knifty Knitter Flower Loom.
  
• With the white yarn, work a three stitch picot cast on, then e-wrap knit stitches for twelve rows for the body. The e-wrap creates a looser knit in order to accommodate the towel.
  
• Flat knit fourteen more rows to form the head.
  
• Change to black yarn and knit seven e-wrap rows.
  
• Using the hang hem technique, reach down to the first black row and place those stitches on the corresponding pegs and knit off this row to form the hat brim.
  
• Flat knit six rows for the body of the hat, plus one e-wrap row for a total of seven rows.
• Purl one row, then using the hang hem technique again, reach down two rows below and pick up the stitches from the e-wrap row. Knit off to form the crown edge of the hat.
• Flat knit three rows to finish the crown.
• Decrease the twelve stitches to form pairs from pegs (1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12); lay the working yarn across the pegs & knit off two over one; and shift the finished six stitches so there are no empty pegs between stitches. Tighten working yarn to remove slack, then flat knit a row without decreasing.
• Decrease again by placing three of remaining six stitches onto the corresponding adjacent stitch to form three pairs of two loops. Lay the working yarn across the top of the two combined stitches and knit two over one. Shift these three stitches to consecutive pegs so no empty pegs are in between.
• Using the three pegs from the previous step, work a four inch I-cord and finish with a decreased bind off.
  
• Loop the end of the I-cord back about half way on itself to form a buttonhole.
  
• Finish the face & hat by sewing a button to the edge of the hat crown to form the hanging loop, and adding beads, buttons or embroidery for face decorations. Add a very small amount of stuffing to the hat to shape - if necessary. Also, after shaping the hat, use a yarn needle and close the inside opening at the base of the hat with a few tack stitches.
  
• Push a white shower curtain ring (or a large cabone ring - I couldn't find these, but the shower curtains are readily available and sturdier to boot) inside the head to shape. Run a gathering stitch around the neckline, cinch and tie off to form the neck.
  
• Make the body towel hanger by pushing a second white shower curtain ring inside the body and whip-stitch to the base of the neck.
• For the arms, using two strands of white yarn as one work a drawstring cast on using the five peg end of the Knifty Knitter Spool Loom. Knit using all five pegs until the I-cord is approximately eight inches long and work a decreased bind off leaving six inch yarn tail. Use a crochet hook and pull the arms through the "shoulder area" stitches on the body. (I pulled my in front of the ring). Even up the arms and tie them together in front. If necessary, tack them in place on the lower body.
• For the scarf, work an alternating red & white (or the colors of your choice) I-cord using one strand of yarn on four pegs of the Knifty Knitter Spool Loom. Tie and tack in place around the neckline.

All you need to do now, is hang your favorite holiday towel in the body ring and attach the hanging loop on a cabinet drawer pull. Your finished towel should look something like this:
Hopefully, I'll add the PDF file in a few days and send a message to Loom Lore readers through Notify (see upper right of sidebar) to let you know when it is available for download.

From turkey to snowman

Michelle's Frosty Snowman Hat

My Tommy Turkey Hat

Did you know that a turkey can become a snowman? Well, Michelle Thomas, a member of the hottest new Yahoo Group Knifty Knitter Loom Knitting Group, shows us how. She took my Tommy Turkey pattern and with some creative changes morphed him into a Frosty Snowman hat. I was so impressed that I got Michelle's permission to post the picture along with her changes on my blog. Thanks Michelle for sharing what is sure to be the hit of the season for all the loom knitters. Now, here are Michelle's instructions:

Frosty Hat
(original Tommy Turkey Pattern by Brenda Myers. Adaption to Frosty by Michelle Thomas)

Materials needed

• Red or Green KK Loom
• KK Spool Loom
• White yarn (for face)
• Black yarn (for hat)
• Orange yarn (for nose)
• Color of your choice (for "scarf" and stripe on hat)
• Black buttons or beads (for eyes)
• Knitting tool
• Plastic yarn needle

Brim:

• E-wrap cast on
• E-wrap stitch 14 rows
• Bring first row up and place loops back on pegs. Knit off.

Face:

• Change to white
• E-wrap stitch 9 rows

Hat:

• Change to black
• E-wrap stitch 1 row
• Rib stitch (k1, p1, k1, p1 .... ) 8 rows
• Bring the loops from the first BLACK row back up onto the pegs (like when doing brim) and knit off
• Change to color that matches "scarf"
• E-wrap stitch 4 rows
• Change to black
• E-wrap stitch 9 rows

Bind off:

• Move loop on peg 1 to peg 2
• Move loop 3 to peg 4
• Move loop 5 to peg 6
• Keep moving odd loops to even pegs until you have all of them like that. Knit off
• E-wrap pegs with loops on them (go behind pegs without loops) Knit off
• Thread needle with working yarn and do a gathered bind off.

Nose:

• On small end of Spool Loom cast on in orange
• Purl 2 rows
• E-wrap stitch 4 rows
• Gathered bind off
• Pull yarn to inside of nose
• Attach purled end to center of face with orange yarn.

Eyes:
With black thread tie on 2 black buttons or beads.