Pile-o-puffs

  

The "Hexagonal Geopuffs" will arrive as a project on Yahoo's LoomClass, Monday, May 14-26, 2012. These little motifs, designed for the 12-peg large gauge flower loom, were inspired by the beekeeper's quilt hexipuffs, a needle knitting design by Stephanie Dosen of tiny owl knits. Both the Geopuffs and the Hexipuffs are reminiscent of Victorian Era biscuit or puff quits, which were made with individually stuffed square "puffs" and sewn together to make a quilt. Also, they can be left unstuffed and used a coaster.

Other than being six-sided puff motifs, the geopuffs and hexipuffs are a bit different. The original needle knitted hexipuffs are made from the bottom to the top on the knitting needles using sock yarn and require seaming. The loom knitted geopuffs are made from center-to-center using regular worsted weight yarn and require no seaming. Also, since the latter design is formed from the center outward, it tends to be more consistently symmetrical, and is a good alternative design for those of us who are not needle knitters. 

The term "geopuff" comes from the basic geometric shape. The hexagonal geopuff is the first in a series of geometric puff motifs that I hope to develop. These will include squares, rectangles, triangles and trapezoids.

Currently, the pattern will only be offered in outline format through LoomClass to accompany the explanations of the techniques which will be posted via the LoomClass message board. The complete tutorial pattern, which will include all the geometric puffs, will be available at a later date.

 

Hope to see you in class!! 

June 2012 UPDATE: 

 Hexagonal Geopuff Pattern with links to the YouTube video tutorial series is now available by clicking the pattern link in this announcement and in the Pattern Box in the right sidebar.

LoomTech column in LKC

 

The 2012 Spring edition of the Loom Knitters' Circle (LKC) e-zine is now available and packed full of creative patterns, features and other invaluable information. We even have our very own "loomy comics" called, Side Stitch, by a very talented young lady, Megan Dailey. (Note: past issues of LKC are available here.)

I'm always excited with the publication of each issue of LKC, but this current issue was very special to me. It was not only published on my birthday, April 15, but includes a new column that I will be writing called LoomTech. In each issue, I will focus on specific knitting techniques as they apply to the knitting looms and include a pattern that will allow the reader to "loom & learn" the featured technique. The current LoomTech article is "An introduction to slip-stitch knitting" as an easy way to add color to loom knitted projects. The slip-stitch technique is demonstrated with a project pattern dishcloth designed especially for the large gauge looms called "Bunnies in the Garden" (shown above). Once you get into the rhythm of the stitch pattern for this dishcloth, you can easily make one in about two hours (more or less). 

I would love to hear feedback and/or suggestions for future topics for the LoomTech column.

Wild hares

Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land is the master of tiny knit creations and one of my favorite amigurumi artist.  Winners from her recent Tiny Baby Bunny Contest are currently being featured on the Mochimochi Blog. I did a loom knit version of her free Tiny Bunny pattern for the contest, but my time was limited and the competition was fierce. Never-the-less, these were such fun to make and easily converted to the loom.

My loom knit Tiny Bunnies were made using the 10-peg CindWood Thumb Loom and one strand of Red Heart Super Saver in assorted Easter colors. For the bunny's body, I used the drawstring cast on, flat knit for ten rounds and did a gathered bind off. The I-cord ears were also done on the same thumb loom using two pegs. Otherwise, I basically followed the original pattern.

These are great if you need a quick "basket-stuffer" for Easter. 

Autism Awareness Day, April 2nd

As usual, I'm always late, but I just discovered this last Friday "Light It Up Blue" as a symbol for World Autism Awareness Day. I had a battle with food poisoning over the weekend, so we only did simple LED blue light lanterns for the doorway this year. Next year will be better - I hope.

A sign of the times??

About.com states that, "Autism was first described as a unique disorder in the 1940s. In the early 1990s, autism diagnoses began to soar. In the 10 years between 1993 and 2003, the number of American schoolchildren with autism diagnoses increased by over 800%."

The CDC Data and Statistics for Autism Spectrum Disorder indicates a rise in autism prevalence from 1 in 150 children in 2004 to 1 in 88 as of 2008. Please note that the data is for children whose birth year is 8 years prior to the surveillance year. So if I'm understanding this correctly, this does not include children born after the year 2000. If this is the case, the statistics may be an even higher ratio than indicated on the CDC data. Never the less, this is a tremendous increase from 1 to 2 in 10,000 in 1980. To sum it up, autism is the fastest growing developmental disability in the United States.

Get all the facts about autism from Autism Speaks.