Gettin’ It Pegged…Loom Knitter’s Clique

Guess What!

The spring issue of the Loom Knitter’s Circle is now LIVE!!!

*My favorite parts: 

• an absolutely wonderful new stitch pattern in Kathy Norris’ article on Keeping You in Stitches
• such cute little loomirugumi creatures…2 patterns by Jenny Stark, and a product review by Denise Layman
• a fun run-down of Isela’s trip to the Mall of America for the Knit Out 2008
• and my project pic made it onto the cover for the 2nd issue in a row!  Woo-Hoo!! 

Pop on over and check it out!  What will your favorite parts be?

Bethany~

Happy Valentine’s Day!     

 In honor of the occasion…

I thought I’d share one of my favorite Valentine crafts…

*Beading Hearts!*

Just click on the pic to see the tutorial on how to create these adorable little things with the ones you love most!

Enjoy!

Bethany~

Hey, all!  For some time now, I’ve been wanting to highlight a couple of wonderful  tutorials by two very talented loom knitters:  Stephany McElheran, of Loomy Daze & Denise Layman of Knitting Without Needles. 

 Stephany has a very informative video produced at this link about how to YO Y2tog, & SSK, YO.  Definitely something to put on your need to watch list!

But what purpose do these techniques have, you say?…

Well, pop on over to Denise’s post here.  She explains further what uses these seemingly mystifying techniques serve!  For knitters, and designers alike, these skills are great additions to add your knitting know-how.

And as a little by the by…you probably have seen the great to-do happening over at the Purling Sprite’s site…she’s providing wonderful video tutorials all about knitting cables!  If you haven’t checked them out…by all means!  Pop on over!   

Ladies…I’m sending a BIG thank you your way for taking the time to push our learning a little bit farther.  You’re all brilliant! 

Bethany~

Sometime back, during one of my college classes, we were discussing the need to have something other than post-it notes to keep our places while knitting with charts.  I’ve been mulling this little problem over in my mind ever since, constantly keeping an eye out for “just that perfect thing” that would be able to magically transform into a doable row marker.

Well, the other day I found it!  Michaels now has small metal strips in their wood crafting aisle.  Coupled together with magnet strips, this turned out to be just the ticket!  Here’s how I made mine:

Gather:

• your favorite paper bits and bobs leftover from scrapbooking/card making.
• your favorite adhesive…needs to be strong!
• pencil, scissors
• ink pad to coordinate with paper, or antiquing brown
• you might need some fine sandpaper
• and these items below…2 metal strips & sticky backed magnets

Step one: Trace around the metal strips with your pencil onto your decorative paper.  Cut out.

Step two:  Apply adhesive to the entire back of your cut out paper, remove the adhesive circle tabs from the back of the metal strips, and press the strips, back side down, onto the paper.  The back sides of these are kind of rough, so I preferred to have them covered up.

Step three:  Carefully press the sticky edges of the paper down onto the edges of the metal strips with your thumbs.  If this isn’t working to keep them down, then you might want to use your sandpaper, and sand the edges of your strips, so that the extra paper overlapping them is whisked away.

Step four:  On the back of the strip you intend for the back of your pattern, firmly apply the sticky side of two magnet strips end to end. 

Step five:  I love objects that are thoroughly antiqued.  One of the easiest ways to do this is to add a little ink to the edges of your projects.  It just seems to make them more interesting and dimensional.  See the right hand photo below for how to do this easily.

Step six:  Embellish!  I added a sweet little old fashioned wooden bunny, and some ribbon to mine.  I thought that was perfect, since I’m Angora!  ;)   But anything you like will do the trick…or you can leave it just your pretty paper.  What ever you decide, this is the part that really makes this your marker…all your personal touches!

Now you’re ready for your most difficult to follow knitting chart!  This won’t slip and slide, and you won’t have to worry about your sticky notes running out of stickum.  It’s also great as a place marker in your favorite pattern book while travelling, etc. 

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little tutorial…happy chart reading!

Bethany~

Just a note…

I’ve discovered a few little gliches in the 2 downloads from the Twisted Stitches page.

The new downloads are now corrected and have copyright notices and link information attached.

I realized that sometime down the road, (if you’re like me, and download things, save them, then get on with life & and get to them a long time later  ;)   )  you might actually like to remember where you found them, in case of questions, or whatever! LOL!

PS:  I am contemplating a wonderful contest to be launched soon~  of course, with a wonderful little gifty for the winner!  Stay tuned for the tantalizing details…

Bethany~

As promised…here is the pattern for cozy, easy to knit,  one piece Mittens!

I’ve included adult & kid size.

Click here to go to the Freebies Page to download the pattern.

**Also…check out the new “Twisted Stitches” page…where you’ll find 2 tutorials on cast ons that are frequently used in patterns found here at the Loom Knitter’s Clique!  Enjoy!  

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~

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~