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My mom and I have joined up and are posting our loom knit (me) and knit and crochet (mom) projects on our Facebook page. Coming to craft shows in the Niagara (Canadian side) region soon!

Here’s some more socks. The pattern is basic. K2, P2 for 8 rows for the cuff, then yo, K2tog (move the first peg to the second, yarn over it, not wrap it, knit the two loops on peg 2 as one stitch) P2, repeat around. Requires a loom with a multiple of 4 pegs. Used the 56 peg Knitted Knockers CinDwood 5/8″ loom.

Some socks, some yarn, new loom

I made the first pair of sock with sock yarn that self patterns. The second sock (2nd in process) is called “Vanilla Latte Socks” found on Ravelry for free, basically “K6, P2″ around with a ribbed cuff and wrap and turn heel method. Then I got all my existing sock yarn some partners, since I had only ordered one skein before. The SweetFeet can make a full pair with less than a skein. I love it!  I also got the new CinDwood loom, a 9 peg 3/8” gauge adjustable loom. Love it!

Photo dump

Some stuff I’ve made the past little while. I’m posting a tutorial on some of it eventually. Just been busy! First pic, starting a circle sweater which I have to rip out. Second pic. Swirl Hat by The Invisible Loom done using purls instead of ribbing with eyelets. Triple-Z rainbow pastel hat. Another variation of the swirl hat in green and brown, with eyelets swirling. And finally, the Growing Leaves cowl, which I gave my mom, a pattern converted to the loom. I’m posting a tutorial on it ASAP.

Unlock the Keyhole Scarf – Free Pattern/Tutorial

Finished!

I wanted to make a keyhole scarf for a while but I couldn’t find a pattern to suit me, so I used a few different patterns and made my own up out of it. I wrote down my steps in a notebook, which leads to a very confusing mess trying to translate it in type!

A keyhole scarf is a scarf that has a slit, so you can wrap it, put the one end through the slit, and it stays in place. This is a quick knit. It uses the garter stitch (knit one row, purl one row) and some increases (M1 and double e-wrap) and simple decreases. I’ll explain it throughout this tutorial/pattern. It’s pretty simple and I’d say a confident beginner could do it. It took about 200 yards of yarn and is about 38 inches long.

What You Need

• A loom with at least 18 pegs. I recommend a 1/2″ gauge loom for a worsted weight or a 5/8″ loom (like a Knifty Knitter) for a bulkier yarn. If you use anything smaller or bigger, the finished scarf will change in size. The example was knit on the 66 peg 1/2″ CinDwood loom.
• A measuring tape. I give measurements to the yarn I used, which was Impeccable Worsted. Your yarn may vary in thickness, your loom may also change the size of the stitches.
• A knitting tool, for, well, knitting.
• About 200 yards of yarn. It can be made bigger or smaller. I recommend worsted or bulky.
• Crochet hook if you choose a crochet cast on/off.

What it looks like when it’s done

What Stuff Means

• Sl: Slip the stitch (done at the beginning of rows, you skip the first peg, this gives a nice, braided edge)
• HS: Half stitch. Take the yarn from back to front and knit over without wrapping the yarn. This is done at the end of rows for a nice, braided edge.
• K: E-wrap knit
• P: Purl (tutorial here)
• M1: Make one. This is done at the beginning of rows where there is an increase. You take the last peg, move it to the empty peg beside it, and then reach down with your knitting loom and grab the “bar” you’ll see, twist it and place that on the empty peg, which will be the second peg. Here’s a good video tutorial.
• Inc1: Increase by one. This is done at the end of rows and you knit the entire row to the last stitch (no half stitch) then wrap the next empty peg twice, and knit the bottom loop over the top loop.
• D1: Decrease one. Take the peg second to the last (at the beginning or end of the row) and move it to the last peg. Knit the bottom loop over the top. Move that loop back to the empty peg beside it, where you removed the stitch originally.

The Pattern

The pattern consists of 5 parts. The first head, the scarf body, the slit, finishing the scarf body and the tail. The first head is 6 inches, the scarf body is 20 inches, the slit is 2 inches, the end of the scarf body is 3 inches and the final tail is 6 inches.

Crochet cast on 6 pegs in the direction you choose. It doesn’t matter.

The head after increasing to 18 pegs

The Head

Row 1: Sl, K all, HS
Row 2: Sl, P all, HS
Row 3: Sl, K all, HS
Row 4: Sl, P all, HS

This is the beginning of the increase
Row 5: M1, K to end, Inc1
Row 6: Sl, P all, HS
Row 7: Sl, K all, HS
Row 8: Sl, P all, HS

Repeat rows #5-8 6 times and there will be 18 pegs cast on.

Row 9: Sl, K all, HS
Row 10: Sl, P all, HS
Repeat Rows 9&10 4 times for a total of 8 rows

Row 11: D1, K all, D1
Row 12: S1, P all, HS
Row 13: Sl, K all, HS
Row 14: Sl, P all, HS
Repeat rows #11-14 3 times for a total of 12 rows. There should be 12 pegs cast on.

The Body

Row 15: Sl, K all, HS
Row 16: Sl, P all, HS
Repeat rows 15&15 80 times (160 rows) or until you’ve reached your desired length. This would make the body 20″ long, excluding the head.

Finished slit

The Slit

This is where it starts getting complicated because you have to cut and reattach yarn. But it’s not that bad!
You’ll be working in short rows, not knitting the entire 12 pegs.

Part 1, with the working yarn at peg 1. You’ll be working pegs 1-6.

Row 17: Sl, K4, HS, Turn
Row 18: Sl, P4, HS, TurnRepeat rows 17&18 12 times for a total of 24 rows.

Another view of the slit

Part 2, cut the working yarn and leave a tail (to weave in at the end). Tie a slipknot and place it on peg 7. You’ll be working pegs 7 to 12.

Row 19: Sl, K4, HS, Turn
Row 20: Sl, P4, HS, Turn
Repeat rows 19&20 12 times for a total of 24 rows. Your working yarn will be on peg 7. Purl all the way back to peg one.

The remaining part of the body

Row 21: Sl, K all, Hs
Row 22: Sl, P all, HS
Repeat rows 21&22 8 times for a total of 16 rows

The final tail remaining

The Tail

This is just the first tail you made but in reverse.
Row 23: M1, K all, Inc1
Row 24: Sl, P all, HS
Row 25: Sl, K all, HS
Row 26: Sl, P all, HS
Repeat rows 23-26 3 times for a total of 12 rows. You should now have 18 pegs with loops on them.

Row 27: Sl, K all, HS
Row 28: Sl, P all, HS
Repeat rows 27&28 4 times for a total of 8 rows.

Finished!

Now you decrease
Row 29: D1, K all, D1
Row 30: Sl, P all, HS
Row 31: Sl, K all, HS
Row 32: Sl, P all, HS
Repeat rows 29-32 6 times for a total of 24 rows. This will leave you with 6 pegs with stitches on the loom.

Finishing touches
Row 33: Sl, K all, HS
Row 34: Sl, P all, HS
Row 35: Sl, K all, HS
Row 36: Sl, P all, HS

Cast off in your desired method. I used the crochet cast off. Wear and enjoy!

 

 

Sideways Slouch Beret

 

I made this sideways beret today. Pattern later.

Tangled

I’m currently working on a shawl called “April Lady” in the most beautiful yarn. It’s a new shawl pattern from The Invisible Loom. I love it.

This is about the halfway point. I’ve got a few rows left to decrease, it’s almost done.

I started an other shawl called “Cousin Kate”. its actually a shawlette. I love it. But I ran out of yarn (Ice Cream, flavour “Blueberry”)

Here’s my progress before running out of yarn. I ordered another ball of the Ice Cream, which is a baby’s yarn, but has beautiful gradients and is so soft. It’s a little thinner than worsted weight

See how close I am to being done?

I found a 1/3 ball of the Ice Cream yarn, but its tangled so badly I couldn’t untangle it. I tried for almost three hours. Here’s a time lapse of me untangling for a bit.

If that damn ball would have untangled, I would have the damn thing done! Got another 10 days to wait for the yarn.

I bought it from JoAnns, online, and picked up a universal S -loom (afghan loom) on sale for $24.99, US. After shipping, I paid $50 for the yarn and the loom, which is a good deal.

I went yarn shopping and stocked up. There were a lot of good deals. I left with a huge bag full.

Knitting the days away.

I often have more than 3 projects on the go, but right now, I just cast off another project and have only one project on one loom. This is rare for me. I do need to buy yarn.  I’m going to blow $200 on yarn in a couple weeks.. until then.. I present the Manitou Scarf. It uses a technique called “Indian Cross Stitch”, which is like mock cables with a different result. I enjoyed the pattern.

Finished

The back

Fun with flower looms

I have a cute little flower loom set.  The Hana-Ami set, which is sold at Michael’s and other craft stores, but I picked mine up on eBay. I never really used it, and then my friend sent me the Knit Wit and I decided to find my other flower loom, so I can put all sorts of flowers together to make an afghan, or a blanket, perhaps.

Here are some flowers:

A first attempt with the Hana Ami set

Another try with the Hana-Ami set, two looms used

Experimenting with weaving

Weaving finished and on the loom

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Weaving off the loom

Working on the basics

Knit Wit Flower Loom

A friend, in our swap, sent me a “Knit Wit” loom. It’s a flower loom with 12 pegs out to the side and you can make little flowers out of yarn. Here’s what it looks like:

The little booklet it came with

Labelled it and the pegs are out

Finished a flower, ready to take it off by pushing a button that brings the pegs in

The loom with the pegs in

Its super neat. Here are my first attempts:

With a border

Without a border

It’s pretty easy to use, you have to keep tension right or it’ll get wobbly, and I didn’t do the centre right, but I’ll keep playing. I have a lot of spare yarn.

I’ve made progress on my Manitou Scarf, and I started a Leafy Sea Dragon. Here’s the progress so far. The yarn is from Mary Maxim, and is Mary Maxim brand Garden Boule. It’s kind of a pain to work with, but it looks nice.

The start of a leafy sea dragon scarf

The yarn ruffles a bit, not as much as other yarns though. I do love the colours and variegation. 

Mini Shawl in Stages – My Fair Faroese

Another Invisible Loom project. I can’t get enough of their patterns! From the Loom Knit Shawls book. It’s lace, and I love it. I used a yarn, smaller than worsted weight, but not lace, just the right size for this project. It’s called “Ice Cream” and I used the blue and white ball. I also have a pink and yellow ball I’ll probably be making another shawl with. The entire shawl took less than one ball of yarn!

Here it is after Section 1 was finished,

Here is the 2nd section

In the third section I’m shaping the back.

I didn’t take a pic of the fourth section, but it’s the same as the first, just shaping around the shoulders. Here’s the finished project on the loom.

And finally, the finished product off the loom, before weaving in ends.

I didn’t block it, I don’t think it needs blocking, and here it is on me.

You can see the lace more here.

I love this shawl, it’s so soft, and I love the book I got it from. I strongly urge loom knitters to pick up an Invisible Loom book because they’re the best patterns I’ve ever found and almost all my projects are from their books. The books changed loom knitting for me. I realized you could do so much with them.

This shawl was made on 40 pegs, you don’t need fancy looms for most, most of the projects take 60 pegs, and I have several looms that can hold them. I use CinDwood Looms, and love them. They’re definitely worth the extra couple bucks and they last forever. I got my first one (a 90 peg small afghan round loom) last year and it’s still in great shape and I’ve never had a problem with it. I use it all the time. It’s my favourite loom.

So, go loom knit! For the Invisible Loom books, if you can e-wrap knit and purl, you’re set!