Baby Set

It's been a long time since baby girls arrived in my family. In the last 4 years, my two youngest sisters have had three boys each. However, my nephew and his wife will be welcoming a daughter next month. Finally a good excuse to buy something pink. This sweater is a combination of ideas from Graciela's Hugging Sweater and Emmy's Throw-On Sweater. There's a little shaping around the front of the neck and a shell-like crochet trim. It's made of Pound of Love yarn and is so soft. There are no babies around here so I really had to guess on the different pieces. I have no idea what size it is but it should fit her soon unless she's tiny.

Hugging Sweater

This is another project from the LoomClass. Graciela's pattern called for the garter stitch. I changed to stockinette just to see how it turned out. The edges were finished with a row of single crochet. The sweater is soft but looks pretty small. The garter stitch would allow more stretch, which would be a real advantage for a growing baby.

Scuffie Slippers

When I got tired of making hats, I tried the slippers at http://www.yarngear.com/. They were easy to make and a good way to learn to do heels. My sister has worn out hers already just wearing them around my house when she comes over to play cards. Kansas had these slippers posted on her blog and I liked the fun fur she added around the cuff. The pattern came from http://www.loomknittingdesigns.com/ . The slippers are easy to make on the blue loom. The only change I made was to do them toe-up. I'm hoping these will last my sister a little longer because they're made with Thick 'n' Quick yarn. She was pretty excited when she saw them.

Friday January 12, 2007 - 06:34pm (PST

More Dishcloths

Here are a couple more dishcloths that were knit on needles. The one on the left is called Textured Squares. On the right is Triangles Galore. Both patterns can be found at http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/dishcloths.php . I've been trying to work on a sweater on my new AJAL. It seems as though whenever I put the loom on my lap, one of the dogs wants to be there. Usually it's the 8 year old rescue Yorkie and the knitting board gets put aside. Fortunately he doesn't mind if I use needles (circular so they don't poke him) or the round Knifty Knitters. No spoiled dogs at this house!

Tuesday January 9, 2007 - 07:02pm (PST

Emma's Pupsicle Sweater

Emma is wearing her new sweater (another LoomClass project). You might be able to tell by her expression that she is not a sweater girl but she needs one if she wants to go for rides in the car --- and she loves that. Being such a small girl, her sweater was done in a couple of hours. I want to make another one with better yarn (this was too silky) and smaller leg openings. Thanks to Kathy Norris for sharing this pattern.

Sunday December 10, 2006 - 05:07pm (PST

Throw-On Sweater

This is my throw-on sweater (a LoomClass project). It was made with Red Heart yarn. I used 2 strands for the ribbing and 1 strand for the rest of it. The body and sleeves were done in a 1 over 2 stitch. Instead of a collar, an icord finished off the neck. The whole thing took 21 ounces of yarn. Thanks for sharing the pattern, Emmy. It was easy to follow.



Saturday December 9, 2006 - 02:51pm (PST

Dishcloth Break

I've been working on a sweater, which is a more time-consuming project than I've done yet. As a break from it, I got out my needles and knitted a couple of dishcloths. Actually, the routine now is that I work on the sweater (on the round KK's) until one of the dogs wants on my lap. Then there isn't room to loom so I take out the needles. The one on the left is called Idiot's Dishcloth (or Grandma's Favorite) and the one on the right is Garterlac. The Garterlac really caught my eye and was surprisingly easy to do. The patterns for these and many others can be found at http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/dishcloths.php .

Monday November 27, 2006 - 07:13pm (PST

Looming the Family Way

My younger sister came for a visit last week. She lives in Spokane, 6 hours away by car. Naturally, I taught her to loom. In two days, we made two hats with matching scarves for her two granddaughters for Christmas. The hats were done on the round green loom. The scarves were made on the purple loom, using it as a knitting board. Here you see my dogs lending their moral support. The finished products are in the photo album.

Thursday November 16, 2006 - 02:48pm (PST

Hats for LaVette

LaVette came last weekend to pick up Bella (her Chihuahua had been staying with us while LaVette got settled in a new city). They had a very happy reunion. When they left, they took a huge bag of 62 hats (49 made on the green loom). These hats are destined for the homeless in Sacramento. It's been fun trying different patterns and color combinations but after making over 100 hats for charity, I'm ready to loom something else!

Thursday November 9, 2006 - 10:45am (PST

Tiny Socks

Here's the latest project from the LoomClass. The pattern for Tiny Socks with Sharp Heel was posted by Graciela. Not having the baby sock loom that was suggested, mine were done on 16 pegs of the small gauge Wonder Loom. It was a little awkward doing such a small project on that loom but they seemed to turn out okay. These socks really are tiny.

Friday October 20, 2006 - 11:16pm (PDT)

Hat on the Purple Loom

This very small hat was made using the purple loom as a knitting board. The solid color is stockinette stitch. The red and white part is done in rib stitch. Because this was a practice project, I decided to make the length of the loom be the width of the hat and just knitted it to the length I wanted. It came out as a rectangle that had to be seamed at the side and gathered at the top. The hat measures 6 1/2 inches across and 6 inches top to bottom (with the bottom turned up).

Tuesday October 17, 2006 - 09:57pm (PDT)

Kids and Looming, part 2

Sergio is Jesse's 7 year old brother. Sergio decided he was missing out on something fun. So his parents got him his own set of looms and he came over for a lesson. Here he is working on a hat made with camouflage yarn. He couldn't get the hang of wrapping all the way around the loom and then knitting off, so he worked on one stitch at a time. He was pretty excited when the knitting finally was long enough to hang below the loom

Saturday October 7, 2006 - 06:53pm (PDT)

Kids and Looming

This is Jesse, my 9 year old great-nephew. I bought him looms and showed him how to use them late in August. While working on his hat, he watched his grandma learn how to remove and gather a hat and how to make and attach a pompom. He finished his hat all on his own and then called me to tell me how much he needed a pompom maker. Since I had promised to buy him one, I went to the story the next day. Gotta keep those promises! Here he is wearing his first hat.

Saturday October 7, 2006 - 06:51pm

Embellished Hats

The LoomClass group announced a class for embellishing hats and Target began selling pony beads in their dollar bins. Obviously, some of the beads had to come home with me. Target had beads that were square, rounded, sea animals, stars, butterflies, and dogs. I bought them all. My first hats weren't very satisfactory because the beads got lost in the ribbing of the brim. Then I remembered Grammie Cooper's trick of turning the brim so the purl side shows. What a huge difference that made. More of the hats are shown in the photo album.

Friday October 6, 2006 - 06:33pm

Loomed Dishcloths

These dishcloths were made on a loom from Cathy Rodammer. I really like the gauge. The loom is easy to use and I've had fun trying some of the patterns posted in the Dishcloth group. From left to right, these show a pawprint, swan, and watering can.

Thursday October 5, 2006 - 11:20pm (PDT)

Loomy Beginnings

I want everyone to know it's all LaVette's fault. She wanted to learn to knit but lived over an hour away. So we compromised by both buying Knifty Knitters and learning to use them together. We began with squares for Warm-Up America.
After completing 50 squares, I was ready for something else. Next came slippers, dishcloths, and then hats. And that's when things got out of hand. Recently I took a bag of 47 hats to my niece. They will eventually end up in an orphanage in Romania. First I was trying out different stitches and patterns. Then I kept buying pretty yarns. Most recently I learned how to add beads. Now I'm just trying to use up the rest of the hat yarn before I go on to other projects.

Thursday October 5, 2006 - 04:01pm