I have put my craftiness on the back burner for a while. I finally decided to pull it out again. I found a really neat pattern for a patchwork blanket and that seems like something I could actually do (and enjoy doing!) I flipped through a book tonight at Wal-Mart and saw instructions for doing a cable knit stitch on the loom, but promptly forgot it when I got home and couldn't get it to even start the right way so I'll just have to actually buy the pattern for that one!
Anywho, back to my blanket. I have some baby yarn somewhere, but there is no telling where it is at this point. I have a slew of yarn that is thick and perfect for practicing with, but other than making pot holders and dishcloths, it really doesn't work for much else. But since the blanket is made of a bunch of different squares pieced together (and pot holders and dish cloths are square) I figured I could just make a bunch of squares and play around with how I would attach them before I invest in the pretty yarn to make a real blanket.
I settled in with all my stuff and got it all set up and ready to go. I couldn't find my little knitting tool, but I figured it wasn't too big a deal because I had pretty much always done this kind of thing without it. Except there are a few factors that I failed to consider. In my past experiences the pegs were bigger (and usually had a little notch in them to help get under the loops of yarn), the yarn was chunkier and easier to grab, and my fingers were much smaller! In this case, it just wasn't happening.
Fast Forward about 18 hours - I had to run a couple of errands so while I was out I went to Wal-Mart to pick up my little knitting tool. They didn't have any of the little tools sold by themselves. I was figuring on it costing about $3-4 for the tool, so when I saw a tiny loom with the tool and another plastic needle for $5.50 I just snatched it up.
With tool in hand, I tackled a new project on my knitting board. I quickly discovered that it still wasn't going to work well. For one thing, the pegs are much smaller and closer together so it's naturally tighter. For another, the pegs are straight and there is just no good way to get under the loops and flip them. I tried for a little while and it was just frustrating so I pulled it all off. I'm rather disappointed because I really wanted to like my knitting board, but it just doesn't work for me. I prefer the larger pegs on the Knifty Knitter. Fortunately for me, Knifty Knitter makes long looms that are basically the plastic version of my big heavy board, which is nice.
I did try something new on my big round loom (pictured here), and that is making a square. Now you may be asking yourself "how in the heck to do you knit on that thing, and more importantly how do you make a square on a round loom?" Both are quite easy, but are easier to demonstrate than to describe. I may do a step by step one day (after I actually complete something!) Jeff got a nice little tutorial and was asking me all kinds of questions, specifically about making a blanket similar to the one he had as a little boy. I explained how I could do something similar, but that there were differences in crocheting and knitting, specifically loom knitting with my limited knowledge. I discovered that I actually know a little more about this stuff than I thought I did! Now I just have to put it into practice!
I got a fair amount done for today. Now that I have something in progress I think I will be a lot more motivated to work on it! I am going to get some cute yarn next time I have a few dollars and use my new tiny loom to make a cute scarf. The tiny loom also came with a pattern for making cute flowers, so I may try making one of those and putting it on a pin or a clip or something. We'll see how that goes.
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