A Loom Project in Memory of an Online Friend

Garter Stitch Hat

My family went out of town for over a week for Christmas, so I packed several projects to work on along the way and while there. For some reason I decided to grab a bag of mill ends of some bulky chenille yarn along with the green Knifty Knitter loom. (The loom had a half finished project of my six year old daughter’s on it that she let me finish on the way to Cookin’ Grandma’s house.) With the trip nearly over, I had not touched the loom after taking off my daughter’s project.

I was checking my email on my husband’s laptop when I came across a message from the group I belong to for parents of children with hearing loss. I knew as soon as I saw it titled with a member’s name, Jill, what had happened. I knew she had cancer and had not been active on the list lately. She was a parent who was willing to help out each parent new to hearing loss with lots of information and examples from her own experiences. I know I even have some of her messages saved in a file on my computer to read later on, in case I need help later for my daughter.

I was not sure at first what I wanted to do to honor Jill, but then when I was packing up to come home I saw the yarn and the loom. I decided that a chemo cap made in her honor to help another woman who is going through chemotherapy would be an appropriate project. I picked out a hat pattern and worked my way through about half of the hat on my way home.

Today my father contacted me to ask if I still made chemo caps; he remembered me making one for a fellow teacher before I had kids. Now I know where this hat’s home will be. My elementary school principal’s wife is going through chemotherapy and my father would like to give her a hat.

I finished the hat tonight and hope to mail it tomorrow, in honor of a good friend that I never met in person.

I believe that the yarn and loom made it into my luggage for this reason.

Read Full Post »

Learning to knit and purl on a knitting loom

I pulled out my Christmas gift the other day to start a different kind of project. I want to learn more than the basic stitch that came with the knitting loom set, so I checked out Loom Knitting Primer by Isela Phelps from the local library.

I have already made a hat from this book, so now I wanted to try something different. Since our downstairs can get a bit chilly at times and both of my daughters love to wear dresses most of the time, I thought leg warmers might be helpful. So I found a pattern for leg warmers in the book that is all knit and purl, which means I can practice these two stitches over and over until I make my head learn them. I think I know the difference now that I am this far on the first leg, but I still need to keep the book open to flip back and forth between the knit and the purl page to remember which one I am supposed to do. I have seriously considered switching out every other peg for a different color to help me remember whether I am on knit or purl.

I am using Lion Brand Homespun for this project, which was already in my stash. No new money spent for this project and more space cleared up in the yarn bins!

Read Full Post »

Some “knifty” hats

For Christmas I received a set of Knifty Knitter round looms. I thought this might be a way to use some of my vast stash of yarn in a new way. So, for the last few days I have been playing around with it. I think I have a tendency to wrap too tightly, but so far, so good. I had some Lion brand Fancy Fur that I had purchased for a dollar a skein which was a pain in the neck to crochet with, so I figured wrapping it on the loom would be much easier. Here is my second attempt at a hat (My daughter has the first one for her doll):

I checked a book out of my local library that has been a great help so far. The little page of instructions that come with the looms is not very helpful and really does not give one any idea of the possibilities with these looms.

Loom Knitting Primer, by Isela Phelps, has been helpful for me so far. Of course, I have not seen any of the other books out there in person yet, so maybe there are others that are better.

Here is the hat I made from the first pattern in the Loom Knitting Primer, with an added crocheted flower:

This hat is made with two strands of worsted weight yarn held together. I happened to have a couple partial balls in my stash, so I am not sure if it is Red Heart or Caron since the skein wraps are long gone. I plan to make a matching scarf for this hat, with some added crocheted flowers at the ends.

Read Full Post »