Loom Knit Moshling

Oh geez, it's been over a YEAR since I've posted anything here!! That has to change. I promise, I have been playing around with the loom. Just haven't had anything to show. Well, that all changes today.



I don't have much to show but this little moshling named "Squidge". I made her for the daughter for Christmas. I made three moshlings you can read more about on my general crafty blog here. The other two were sewn.



I made this Squidge the same way I did the Pygmy Puffs on one of my DIY looms. I used the stick pen loom just because it was handy at the moment.



These are a fairly easy project for the loom. I finished knitting the body in way less than an hour using two strands of furry yarn. It's like making a hair scrunchy. You knit off the rows until the tube length is equal to the width when laid flat. Then you bring the starting end row up though the inside of the loom; place a small wrapped hair elastic around it; place the stitches back onto the pegs to knit off and tie off the piece by gathering it shut. It doesn't have to be perfect when using furry yarn. Just try to find the first row of stitches the best you can. The fur will hide the stitches anyway. The toughest part was getting the many paired limbs and eyes on even when hand sewing them on.

Wish me luck getting some more projects finished to post about. I'll be posing our progress on the new design for the loom as we get it figured out. Right now I'm still looking at ways to make them out of materials I can actually get. Later!

HP Unity Scarf Finally Finished

Well, almost one year later, I finally found time to finish the Harry Potter Unity Scarf I started loom knitting for my mom on my pick-up stick loom. I would have had it finished much earlier, but I've been busy with the tabistry projects among other things.



I'm really please with how it turned out. Though, I had to simplify the pattern way more than I would have like to by eliminating all the crests but the first one. Oh well. It's very soft, thick and heavy. Should keep her neck toasty warm on cold nights. The black yarn I used is Caron Simply Soft, which I believe is made from recycled plastic bottles. To me, that is just mind boggling. How can a yarn this soft and pretty be made from bottles? The color stripes are various acrylic worsted weight yarns that I happened to have around. Though, as usual, my camera is oversaturating the colors. They are far more muted than they appear here.



If you want to see some of the progress pics I posted while I was working on it, go to:

http://knitty-witty.blogspot.com/2008/12/harry-potter-unity-scarf-on-flexible.html

Thanks for looking!

Pygmy Puff Version 2 on DIY Loom

So, the daughter saw Arnold, the pygmy puff from the new release "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and wanted hers to have a face like it. However, instead of performing cosmetic surgery to give Nibbles a face lift, we finally agreed to make a new one out of some fun fur I found on clearance. We plan to enter our new version in the Leaky Cauldrons August HBP Contest.



We used our DIY loom with just 18 pegs. She loomed about half of before getting bored and handing it off to me. I must say I was impressed that she stayed with it so long. Fun fur is not a pleasant yarn to work with. This one is slightly different from the old one in that the elastic hole is now on his bum to make him a finger puppet or pencil topper. Since he is less than half the size of the old one, we also used a smaller clippy to attach him to her shoulder.



The eyes are black glass beads baked into a face that is skin-toned poly clay dusted with blue and purple eyeshadow. We added a tuft of various colors of acrylic yarn at his forehead.

Knitting Gloves

Inspiration struck this morning when I awoke. I thought of a way to knit gloves from the fingertips down on my adjustable loom without having to remove the stitches from the loom.


Let me explain. Here is the loom open as normal.


I closed off the pegs where the finger holes would be using a small rubberband with a spacer bead on it for each side of the fingers.


I knitted the fingers with separate yarn until the finger was the desired length. Slipped the stitches off of the inside pegs and placed them on the pegs on each side of them. Then, I removed the rubberbands I used to close the loom and replace the stiches Finally, I just knit around the entire loom like normal.

Please forgive the two different colored yarns, only two fingers and the fact I didn't tie anything off. The only real problem I'm facing is the hole between the fingers. I've been informed that this is nornal for knitted gloves, but I could probably close the hole by sewing it shut with the tail from each finger.



To make the rest of the glove would be indentical to the above. The thumb could also possibly be done the same way by leaving space on the loom for it and starting it further down.

If anyone has any suggestions to fix the holes between the fingers, I'm all ears.

Advantages of the Flexible Loom

Over Standard Looms and Boards:

• Compact - it is more portable than the knifty knitters or other wooden knitting boards and looms. Mine can be rolled up with a project on it without destroying it. Yet, when working on small projects, it will still sit upright on my lap or a table.
  
• Inexpensive - it's really cheap to make and doesn't take too much time or effort to assemble. No woodworking skill required or special parts to order.
  
• Resizable - It's customizable for each size project with minimal effort. And, can be broke up into two looms for projects in pairs like socks.
  
• Adjustable Gauge - I can change the gauge by changing the peg size or simply by adding a couple spacers between the pegs. No more large/extra large gauge only Knifty Knitter projects for me!
  
• Increase/Decrease on the fly - I can increase/decrease at any peg on the loom. Try that on a Knifty Knitter! Even the knitting boards can only increase/decrease on the ends unless you move each loop down the loom each time. May not mean much for most projects, but it definitely makes it more versitile. Should be great for cables and such.
  
• Double-knit - You can change the shape of the loom with a project attached to it, which is pretty cool. You could switch from knitting in-the-round to double-knit and back in a single project.
  
• Gussets - Now gloves and other items requiring gussets are faster and easier. You can knit them continuously all on the same loom.
  
• Also great for making i-cord, small projects like spool-knit, or even use it as a peg loom for rugs.

More Pick-Up Stick Loom Experiments

Here is an earlier attempt at "pick-up stick" loom showing what it looks like in the middle of some decreasing:

Here is the results.





I made a cone hat for my daughters doll. It was mostly an experiment in decreasing on the loom. I removed 1 peg at several points equally all around the loom after every 9 rows. It is pretty small and I used black yarn, so it's really hard to see the decreases.

Once I started building it with 2 sticks together, I tried a sample starting in 1 over 2 and switching to regular 1 over 1 on the top. I eventually made an adult size of this pattern, but failed to take a pic before it dissappeared.

Harry Potter Unity Scarf on Flexible Loom

************* UPDATE October 2009 *******************
Scarf is finally finished! Check it out here.
*************UPDATE February 21, 2009*******************

I'm finally to the last four bands for color! It's been slow going on this, lately. I've been so busy with other things I just haven't had the time to work on it. I really want to get it finished, though. It's going to be a very thick and warm scarf.

*************UPDATE January 16, 2009*******************

I've just reached the halfway point! Yay! BUT, I've decided to scrap the crest on the neck for this time around. I've had to put it on the back burner for a few days and need to get it done before winter is over! :) I'm planning on making a second scarf when finished with this one, so I may try the intarsia stuff on it instead. Wish me luck!

*************UPDATE January 05, 2009*******************

I've now got the bottom four stripes and the thin red, gold, and green stripes are finished. I'm going to be experimenting with the crest on the back of the neck before I continue. The scarf seems to be knitting well. I'm really liking the gauge the loom is producing at 4 stitches per inch. The knit pattern is much more subtle and sturdier feeling than the green Knifty Knitter extra large gauge I used on the Slytherin House Scarf. But, it's not too small that it takes forever to knit.

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Just started a new scarf for my mom. I'm making the Unity Scarf that Neville wears in the Harry Potter movie Goblet of Fire.

I changed a few things like adding a Hogwarts "H" crest on the ends and I think another one at the neck. The crests aren't turning out as hoped, but someone on craftster has suggested a fix, so hopefully that will make it better.

Progress so far:




Here is my pattern idea:



And, the crest:



I'm using my new "pick-up stick" loom. It seems to be working wonderfully so far. Here's a link to make the loom (http://knitty-witty.blogspot.com/2008/12/making-easy-knitting-loom.html).

How to Make an Easy Knitting Loom (Tutorial)

This tutorial is now available in PDF format.

Download Tutorial

The Most Versatile Portable and Easy to Use Knitting Loom Ever

NOTE: I have put together a starter kit with 16-64 pegs, rubberbands and spacer beads. Just email me at the address is in my profile for details. If you want to try making a knitting board, I can throw in some wooden dowels and more rubberbands.

You'll need the following to create your own flexible loom:

- Pegs Any of the following will work:

• Pick-up Sticks (fine - small gauge)
• Swizzel/cocktail stirring sticks (medium - large)
• Pencils or Ball-point Pen barrels (large - extra large)

- Small Rubberbands

- Spacers - optional.

- Knitting Tool - optional.

- Wooden dowels or pen barrels - optional for Double-Knit.

Here is what I used for my current loom:




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Here is my current loom being used as a knitting board to knit a scarf in a mix of e-wrap and double-knit.

To read/see more of it's progress, click here.

I've been experimenting with different materials to make a finer gauge knitting loom for socks. And, I've come up with a decent idea. I tried bamboo BBQ skewers, but they splinter and are pointy at the end. So, I found some of those cheap plastic "pick-up sticks" from the old game with the knobbed ends at an online party supply store. My daughter needed trinkets for her holiday party, so we bought a huge lot of them.

I used small hair rubberbands (real rubber, NOT the new plastic kind that break) and plastic beads with large enough holes for the rubberband to go through. The beads aren't necessary. Twisting the rubberbands inbetween the sticks will produce smaller spacing. I joined one row of rubberband near the top and one near the bottom to keep the loom stable. This is all that is required for knitting in-the-round or flat panel.

To double-knit, I added ball point pen barrels taped together to stiffen the sides and two rubberbands to each end of the loom with spacers to change the distance between the two rake sides. Since the scarf is fairly wide, I also added some paint sticks I had to help stiffen the center even more to prevent it from bowing under stress. NOTE: This loom should not be wrapped too tightly, or bowing will increase.

Earlier attempt at "pick-up stick" loom showing decreasing:

Read/See more about this loom experiment, click here.

Click here to see my other attempts at creating this loom.

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The last thing I really need to experiment with is how wide I can make the loom before it starts falling apart. So far, when the rubberbands are tight, it holds together really well for hat/scarf sized projects. The largest I have attempted so far is an 8" scarf with 64 pegs, which makes the loom about 13" long.

Spider Beanie

This item, which was the first thing I completed for the OYP swap, didn't fit in the can. Well, it did before I made everything else, but here it is modeled by me:





I used scrap yarn I was given. The orange/black (acrylic?) yarn is kinda scratchy, so I put a thick fuzzy chenille type on the band around the head. The knit pattern was made on my DIY pen loom with a slightly altered "rib stitch"(It really a 1 over 2) I learned online. I made the pom pom body, but the head is a store bought pom pom I had left from another project. The spider (cat) eyes were also bought for another project. Overall, I think it turned out really cute. It looks ordinary until you see it from the back staring at you.

My daughter didn't want to give it up, so I guess I'll be making her one. Probably pink/brown.

Double knitting success

Well, here it is. I managed to double knit on my DIY loom. Yes it is really small and skinny, but I will be making a wider full-size scarf for my mom as soon as I get more yarn and finish my craftser swaps.



The blue and white was done with one peg spacers on both sides while the orange tighter knitted one was done on what is shown with only a bead spacer between the sides. I forgot to use an anchor yarn on the orange and it was difficult to pull out of the loom. Oops!

I will probably use long dowels instead of short pens when I make the wider scarf. I just wrapped more rubber bands around the horizontal pens to attach them to my existing round loom.

One note I should mention. The plastic bands I'm using, which were hair accessories, are starting to break when I try to reuse them. Seems they are only good for one use and then just snap. On the first use they are fine, but can't reuse. (Is this another modern example of "planned obsolesence" or disposable goods?) How weird. Anyway, I bought some actual "old-fashion" real rubber bands and will be trying them next time. They should hold up longer.

Bear Hat on Bic Knitting Loom

Here is yet another hat. I didn't really intend on making this wearable (hence the size). This was just an experiment in decreasing stitches on my Bic pen loom creation. I have discovered that I can actually add and remove pegs from the loom while working, giving me the ability to increase/decrease stitches while knitting "in the round". I need to improve my placement of the decreases, but at least I figured out how to do it. I'm eventually aiming to make some contoured fingerless gloves and some socks to wear camping. I will need to use thinner pegs, though. I'm thinking BBQ skewers at the moment.






Here are close ups showing the decrease effect. Not the best placement.





Next I think I've found a way to double knit on it as well! I'll keep you posted on my success. :)

************UPDATE************

I did it! I figured out how to double-knit on my pen loom. Check it out here. I'm all ready to start making a double-knit scarf!

Adjustable Round Knitting Loom

I'm taking a short break from my can tabistry to share my new creation I'm rather proud of.

I've been try out some knitting with my daughter before she goes back to school. I came across a post on http://www.renaissancefestival.com/ about finger weaving (I'll post some of our finger weaving soon). Anyway, since then, we've been doing a lot of experimenting with loom knitting. Being a thrifty person, I was playing around with things arounds our house like combs and pencils. Finally, I've come up with a great new adjustable loom for knitting.

Here is Jeudi modeling her new hat while displaying our loom. I ran out at 32 pens. Have to wait to make a hat for myself until I can get more.





Makes a great duck beak, too!!


I used BIC stick pens, small rubber bands, and beads. It separates anywhere along the pegs and can be laid flat. When ever I need, I can add/subtract pegs really easily. No extra looms to carry or fancy tools necessary. I love it because I can just roll it up yarn attached and all and stuff it in a bag for long car rides.



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Before the adjustable BIC loom, I had tried a pencil loom. I tried tying string to each pencil, but it took too long to put together and I couldn't make it smaller as easy. I made 2 hat/scarf sets for Jeudi's dolls.