Gettin’ It Pegged…Loom Knitter’s Clique

“Calling All Project Pictures!”

As a new year approaches, I thought it would be a lot of fun to open a new page on the site.  This would be a chance for all of you to shine! 

I know that so many of you out there have purchased, or downloaded patterns from the many that have been offered here at the Loom Knitter’s Clique, as well as have attended my classes locally.  I would LOVE to see the finished items…and I know that everyone else would too!  I’m planning on opening a new page entitled…”Clique Pics”  (cute, huh?)  in which you wonderful loomers out there can feature your beautiful projects that have been offered here on the site.  It’s so encouraging  and inspiring to see what others have accomplished, and also to see how unique everyone’s projects turn out, even when using the same pattern.

To get the pictures to me, please send them in JPEG or GIF format, no larger than 600 pixels via email attachment to:

Bethany@GettinItPegged.com

Hurry!  I’d love to get the page up and going by the end of this week to begin the New Year with style!  Happy Looming…

Bethany~

Not to be left out of the mitt giving fun…Megan needed a pair of her own (poor thing had only been asking for them for about a year, but I didn’t have the chance to get to them before now!)  I made them on the sly, right in plain sight…when she’d ask what I was working on, I’d vaguely say, “oh, I have a class coming up…”  ;)    So sneaky!  I even measured her hand by quickly holding the knitting tool up to it while we were talking, & taking note of where on the tool I wanted the mitts to end on her wrist!  I love doing sneaky surprises accomplished right out in the open…it makes the end result so much more fun, because then the whole thing turns into a little joke about how they didn’t know what was going on right in front of their nose.  

Well, because this was a project on the sly…I realized I misjudged the width needed for the first panel.  I was about 2 pegs short on the Knifty Knitter blue loom.  I reeeeeeeaaaalllly didn’t want to go froggin’, so I did a little fix…

Megan is 11 years old, so the mitts needed to be narrower than a full round on the blue KK loom. 

I used 18 pegs on the first, then realized I really needed 20, which is what the bottom swatch is.

Pattern: (for those interested)  ;)   

*Basic Chain Cast on (20 pegs) using 2 strands WW held as one.

*Rows 1-4: fine gauge (not e-wrap) garter stitch: knit one row, purl one row…repeat.

*Rows 5-28: basic fine gauge ribbing…K1, P1, K1, P1…repeat all pegs, all rows, keeping knits above knits, and purls above purls.  *note: this number of rows may need to be adjusted for wrist/hand length!

*Rows 29-31: fine gauge garter stitch beginning with purl one row… 

*Row 32: e-wrap knit all pegs

*Basic Bind off.

To fix my width error…I just knitted up another skinny panel of 3 pegs in the same pattern as above.  (I used 3 pegs, rather than the 2 I was short to allow room for seaming.) 

~Wah-lah!!!  Equal sides!  

*Final Step: Stitch sides together, leaving 4 rows open for the thumb holes.

**Too Cool!

 Happy Friday!  

Bethany~

I hope you all have had a Fantabulous Christmas Holiday!!! 

Ours was splenderific!  For some reason this year, it finally sank into my deepest being that I didn’t have to be totally stressed out…our new Christmas tradition must be doing the trick.  Yippee!!  

Here’s a little peek into what things we did, and gave over the holiday…

These were goodie buckets we made up to give to all of my extended family.  Keep your eye out right after St Patrick’s Day to get these buckets, usually priced at around $2 each, for 90% off!! Now that’s a great deal!  My girls and I made dipped pretzel rods wrapped in cellophane and ribbon to add to the regular chocolate, peppermints, and pistachios.  This picture was taken before I tucked a tangerine into each bucket just for good measure.

I created these beautiful sparklies to add to each of my sisters’ & mom’s gift buckets.  They were a big hit!    

I finally mastered cables on the loom!!!  This I’m very excited about, as I have tried and tried over the years I’ve been loom knitting and just couldn’t get the hang of knitting these babies without stretching those stitches too much.  Isela made knitting these beauties a snap!  The project above is made from the Jamie Mitts pattern in her new book, Learn to Knit Cables on Looms.  But the ones shown are now dubbed Emily’s Mitts!  She wears them most of the day, so she must think they’re the “bees knees”.

Of course, I couldn’t forget a little something for me!  These are wonderful mittens that I knit up based on Isela’s Itty Bitty Mitts pattern…just enlarged.  I love the way the thumb is done in one piece with the hand…no piecing after the fact!  Great idea!  :)  

…and by the looks of my old mittens, it was high time for a new pair!  

Happy Boxing Day!

Bethany~

What is celebrating Christmas like in your house?

Several years ago…after rushing around madly, like all the rest of the mobs to get ready for Christmas…baking, shopping, wrapping, cleaning, decorating, cooking, more shopping, more wrapping…etc…only to have the celebration complete in one frantic rush…then the great,  inevitable, anti-climax ensued…

…we decided to slow ours down a little, while (hopefully) making it more meaningful and our kids more appreciative.  We decided to make our holiday giving like the song, and begin our season the week before Christmas, if not an entire 12 days. 

We purchased (or made) our regular type of gifts that we would normally give to each other, and several little gifts that were just fun, or sentimental, or tastey…and began each opening one gift a night, building up to Christmas day, when the remainder of the packages (even if just one :)  ) were opened.  We also spent the evenings together doing something fun as a family…like watching a favorite movie (or new one!), or going to a Christmas play, or driving to view the holiday lights, playing a game…what ever came to mind.  We would also have on hand all those yummy comfort foods and goodies that are craved so this time of year.

Since adopting this…”our tradition”…we have been able to make the holiday pace seem so much more leisurely, and tons more enjoyable.  We get to savor the good parts of the season a little longer, and really appreciate the generosity of our loved ones  all the more… as well as developing ourselves into more thoughtful givers.

As we  celebrate our fifth day of Christmas, we hope that you are finding as much enjoyment and peace as we are, and that the traditions you are creating with your family are just a memorable.

God Bless,

Bethany~

Isn’t it great what you can whip up with a few beads & a loom?

This was the result of a class I’m teaching at the college all about Holiday Gift Giving Ideas~this is a super fast, but elegant project that any one would be pleased to receive!

 This one uses regular beading wire in black, on which beads are randomly threaded, then knitted into every loop of a 2 peg I-cord, a few at a time.

How easy is that?!

The bracelet is finished as you would a regular jewelry project…with beading crimps, and, in this case, a pretty toggle clasp. 

I dangled an old fashioned silver key charm, just for good measure. 

My favorite thing about beading with a knitting loom is how the beads are delicately encased by the swirly black wire…lovely!

*Also lovely….

the AMAZING closeups brought to you ala my new camera!  YES!!! 

Bethany~ 

There’s one more full week for those flying fingers to whip up some extra special goodies for those extra special people on your gift giving list.  There have been some excellent freebie patterns and tutorials listed on some of my favorite sites over the last month or so, that I wanted to point out, in case you might have missed them…

1. First, and most freshly released…Loom Knitter’s Circle Magazine: Winter Edition is out!  This is packed with lots of great holiday ideas and wonderful tutorials.

2. Isela, aka: Purling Sprite  ;)  , has created 3 sweet little miniatures: Itty Bitty Mitts, and over in her side bar you’ll find: Tiny Socks, & Mini Sweater.

3. Brenda, our lovely Loomlady, has created 3 beautiful holiday designs: Snowflakes, Victorian Lace Ornaments, & Poinsettias.

4. Denise, at Knit Chat, has posted 2 delightful embellishing ideas: Loom Knit Corkscrews, & Yo-Yo’s!

5. Over at Hankering for Yarn, Noreen has oodles & oodles of holiday ideas, but the ones I love the most are the Crochet Along Easy Mittens & Wishing Windows Loom Comfort Bear.

6. Anne, at Loom Knitting, has a toasty new pattern for a Neck Warmer!

7. And here, at the Loom Knitter’s Clique, you’ll find Candy Cane Characters , Christmas Goodie Greetings, Bling for your Tree, Raffia Handbag, Loomy Beaded Bag & Felted Bottle Hugs!

This should keep you busy for the countdown to Christmas!  I hope your fast flying, gift making fingers enjoy! 

Bethany~

This is the kid’s crafting article in the December SW Washington Family Magazine.  The article explains how to create 2 types of ornaments, but only pictures one…

…so I’ve included the other…which I think is the most fun to do, because it lets those special little kidletts become the center of attention on those twinkling Christmas trees.  :) 

These make terrific Grandparent gifts! 

Happy Christmas Crafting!

Bethany~

Loom Knitted Spa Set!

*Bath Mitt*Bath Scrubby*Felted Button Box*

Aren’t they sweet!  I just love the way these little beauties turned out!  These are wonderfully simple, yet interesting to knit up on your Knifty Knitter blue round (24 peg) and green long (50 peg) looms (or similar  :)  ).  Just pop on over to the Peggin’ Pages to pick up your copy…this month’s edition is only $7.95 for all three projects…my little Christmas gift to you!

Bethany~

Our local Michaels was flooded six inches throughout during this past week.  Needless to say, there was plenty destroyed and lots of mud and guck left to deal with.  Everything that touched the water had to be thrown out due to possible contamination…who knows what’s been floating around in all that swamp water?  My heart sank as I went to check out the classroom…a room where I have devoted three years of my life.  Lots of things will have to be thrown away…an entire organizer full of beads…a basket of yarn and supplies…some art work…everything that was anywhere near the 6-8 inches of the flood water.  The walls that I painted myself will have to be torn out and new ones put in. 

Now to the bright part of my day…while the flood was covering everything, and all we could do was imagine what was happening…I remembered the box of donated squares for Warm Up America that we had been collecting.  We had quite a few…enough to put at least one blanket together, and I had spoken to the person bringing most of them in.  She was the representative from a senior center way out in the country.  Every year her little group got together to do something special for the community, and this year they picked our WUA program to give their time and energy to.  We were planning a joining party in January.  Well, the donation box was kept on the floor, wrapped in pretty paper, waiting for donations from giving people.  I was sick at heart about this the most, knowing that they couldn’t be saved.

When I was about to leave the store the other day, one of our people came up to me with the box.  She asked me if I could check to see if any were ok.  I thought…there’s no way!  The box is melting on the outside!  Then I remembered…

When I was decorating the box, I didn’t like the idea of those special donated squares being just dropped inside a dirty old cardboard box, so I lined it with a large plastic garbage bag…the wrapping paper was covered over the top of this.  My heart sang as I realized that my impulse wasn’t just coincidence…it was to save the efforts of these wonderful souls who gave of their time to help keep the community warm.  Every one of the squares were completely dry and untouched by the contamination.

Thank goodness for blessings from above.  It’s times like these that show you that it’s the little things in life that help you keep going.

Bethany~

These are some of the greetings I gave my extended family last Christmas…I thought you might like the idea for this Christmas!

These are recycled loose leaf tea cans, but Pringles cans would work just as well…They now hold jelly bellies and a magazine gift subscription certificate!  I spent some time collecting all my Christmas supplies…paper, embellishments, stamps, punches, etc…as well as adding a little bit of new ones…and came up with these designs.  There’s lots of sparkles and bits and bobs of little glitzy things sprinkled all over for good measure.

The next in line are my Christmas Card Pockets…these are so easy and quick…I used premade card and envelope packets…but you could easily use cut down cardstock…and just by refolding them and making a little band that slides across their middles, makes it so easy to slide a little snack size baggie of goodies inside!

Again…just use all your pieces of Christmas glitz & goodies, and create a ton of these in no time!  These were in lieu of my hand out Christmas cards…that way they got a little assortment of goodies along with the greeting.  :)  Each of the little tags on the fronts open up to reveal a little to and from, etc.

Happy Goody Can/Card Making!

Bethany~