Long Loom book

This book was several years in the making, and all the projects use the double knit technique. There are many stitch patterns used in the various designs, including using beads and basic lace techniques, adding and decreasing stitches, and several bind-off and joining methods. Difficulty levels are Beginner, Easy and Intermediate. It's coming out at the end of April, and you can preorder a copy!

Sock Loom Book

A surprise greeted me in the mailbox today, an advance copy of Loom Knitting Socks. I was thrilled to see my socks on the cover. Well, not really my socks, but the Bead Peaks socks is one of the pairs I knit for the book. All sock designs are by Isela Phelps, and 16 of us helped knit over 100 socks in six weeks earlier this year. The book will be available at the end of September.

Shepherd's Harvest

I spent Mother's Day at the Shepherd's Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival in Lake Elmo, MN. It was exhilirating, overwhelming and inspiring. There was yarn in every stage including on the hoof. Sheep dogs did their herding thing, there were shearing demonstrations, carding and spinning machines everywhere. You could buy fiber in any stage, roving, skeins (dyed and undyed), and even knit up! There were even angora rabbits for sale.

Here is what llamas look like right after they get a "summer haircut"





There were four buildings of vendors, with hand made stitch markers, buttons and beads, beeswax lip balm, hand made soaps (some were felted), felted dolls with sculpted ceramic faces and hands, leather purse straps, sweaters and hats and mittens and slippers and shawls and scarves and ... the creativity displayed was indescribable. There were felting hat forms, blocking boards, lamb recipes, and every knitting, crocheting, weaving, and felting tool and notion you can imagine! Ever seen a two-eyed needle?

There was a full schedule of hands on classes too, for spinning, basket weaving, using circular sock machines, dying yarn, machine knitting, even blogging. What a day of fiber fun!

Any Loom, Any Yarn, Any Size Sock!

Yes, it's true, with this pattern you can make any size sock with the yarn and loom of your choice, with the caveat that the loom is able to be adjusted for the number of pegs in use. I can't tell you how many socks and sock parts I've knit to create this pattern. Really, it's a template, and it works like this.

1. Knit up a gauge swatch with the loom and yarn you want to use to make your socks. Measure the rows and stitches per inch.

2. Look at the (included) table to find the measurements that correspond to the shoe size of the intended sock wearer. You can make socks for an infant, a grown man, and any foot size in between all from this one pattern.

3. Plug in the numbers to make a few calculations. These calculations will tell you how many pegs you'll need and how many rows to knit for each section of the sock.

4. Write the results of the calculations in the pattern itself.

5. Cast on and start knitting!

The socks are made toe up (no seams!), and the toes and heels are knit with Japanese short rows. They're very simple to do (no wraps and turns like other short row socks!) but they do require some stitch markers -- little coilless safety pins work really well, since you'll be marking stitches, not pegs.



You can individualize these socks with coordinating heel and toe colors, changing leg length, amount of ribbing at the top, etc.

I hope you enjoy this versatile template pattern!

Head Hugger at LKC

The Spring 2009 issue of Loom Knitters Circle is now available, and it includes my pattern for a Head Hugger winter hat. It's not yet spring weather here in MN, and we still have days where such a hat is welcome, but you can always get started on next winter's knitting too! Unless you live in the southern hemisphere, then this pattern is here just in time! It's a portable project, so go check this out and all the other new patterns too.

Hiatus

I have been very busy with my looms and have missed posting about what's been happening. Rest assured, I'm still here! I hope to catch up on my backlog soon, and get those partially completed posts up here!

Teeny Tiny Socks

A friend makes teeny little socks on a very small custom made loom. When I saw those socks, they really struck a chord with me. You see, when my daughter was born 13 - 1/2 years ago, she had to stay in intensive care for a week. Her condition was fairly common; she just had to be on IV antibiotics for seven days before she could go home. As I spent hours in the ICU with her, I got to see the extremely ill and very premature babies in there also. The sight of those miniature feet is something I will never forget.

My friend made me a small loom similar to hers, and I have been trying out making those little preemie socks. But there's some Serious Single Sock Syndrome going on here -- none of these match!


1. Ribbed cuff, turned heel, stockinette foot, zigzag bindoff.

2. Ribbed cuff, turned heel, ribbed foot, flat bindoff.

3. Ribbed cuff, turned heel, stockinette foot, gathered bind-off.

4. Ribbed cuff, turned heel, stockinette foot, toe-up design.

I still don't have a sock I'm entirely satisfied with...

Headband

I finally got around to taking pictures of this little project. (IOW, my dd finally consented to modeling it!) This headband was made using a 10-peg fine gauge keychain loom that Isela Phelps gave out to people at the Knit Out at the Mall of America in Minneapolis in February. The headband pattern was part of the give-away. It is knit in a garter stitch pattern, with tapers at the beginning and end.


The recommended yarn in the pattern has some stretch, but I used some regular old worsted weight from my stash, and there's enough stretch in the garter stitch pattern that the headband fits comfortably and goes on and off easily.

It would be cute worn this way too.


If I were to make it again, I wouldn't use all the pegs, as I like my headbands a little narrower. I'd also do a longer section that is narrow to go along the hairline at the neck, and move the tapers closer to the ears so the width is just where the headband shows on top of the head. It really is an easy project, though knitting with a fine gauge loom takes a lot longer than knitting with the large gauge Knifty Knitter looms!