Another rainy day...

Here is the finished bonnet...front and back and side ways...
One of these days I will figure out how to move these pictures around, where I want them. Until then I guess you'll just have to bear with me. The bonnet worked up real nice, and the yarn is soft. Plus since it's cooling off again here in Missouri, maybe their little girl will get some use out of it. Brian said it is supposed to get down to the 30's tonight...brrr! In fact I guess all weekend it is going to be chilly. I guess we got spoiled, we had about three days of 60's and 70's...which I wish it would've stayed that way...especially since it's almost May!



I also got my purse (Aspen Baguette) tightened up better on the cable stitches. Isela said I probably should've used 2 strands of the yarn instead of one...for it to have been comparable to the yarn the pattern called for. Plus we both think I should've tighten the stitches while I was working the row better. But I will tighten them, and then knot them...and since I'm going to have a liner I'll just leave them loose (since it will be covered up anyway. But I didn't get a chance to go shopping in town today, so I'll have to wait and pick up some handles maybe tomorrow and maybe some material for the liner as well.

Poor hubby may have to help me again with my sewing machine. The last time I used it...the tension was way off and we had trouble adjusting it. Plus I'm no seamstress...ask anyone in my family, they'll tell you...keep Jackie away from the sewing machine! LOL ;oP

I really need to start on my other blocks for the Project Afghan 2008, that we are doing in Loom Class. So I guess I'll leave you for now.

Finished looming my bag today...

Well I finally finished looming the Aspen Baguette and binded it off the loom...using the basic bind off like Isela Phelps video shows. But I messed up and didn't check on my handles that I have on hand...they are the wrong kind, just handles. I need to have the D-shaped purse handles instead. So I guess I'll wait until I have a chance to go to town and get some. Until then I need to figure out exactly how to tighten up my cables...they are too loose I think. In the patterns pictures it doesn't look like you have any loose, it just looks like knitting wrapped around knitting. I guess I'll have to experiment with the crochet hook tonight and see if I can tighten them to look better.

Also it only took 1 skein of Paton Shetland Chunky Tweeds, which was 85g/3 oz (it is 72% acrylic/ 25% wool/ and 3% Viscose...approx. 123 yds.) The color I used was called Biscuit Beige (it has flecks of blue and brown in it).

Also I forgot to mention that last week when we went to the city I was able to pick up a copy of Simply Knitting (printed in England) at Barnes & Noble. So I got a free pattern counter with my magazine too. It was a little pricey, since I don't really needle knit, but it had an article about sock yarn...which I found interesting. And who knows...maybe I'll figure out how to convert a pattern or two to the loom. It cost $10 .... so I don't know if I'll buy another one, although the next one is supposed to come with a neat yarn holder (with 3 holes), it's called a Yarn Tidy Bag...supposed to help keep your yarn tangle-free. Or maybe I should re-learn to needle knit too...nah! ;o)

Appreciate any hints you might have for me with my cables. Happy Looming!
JA

Another day...

Just wanted to tell you, that upcoming on Loom Class (yahoo groups) they will be doing a class on Baby Bonnets, pattern by Pam Keville. It will start on 4/27...running until 5/3 and then they will also offer Baby Booties class on 4/29 until 5/3...so you can make something special for the little girl in your life, or a special gift.

This was one of the first classes that I took when I joined Loom Class...it was wonderful...fairly easy, although I'm sure I asked several questions at the time. The teachers are also nice and patient, and when they are busy...other "student's" help each
other out!Also Loom Class is working on an Afghan Project 2008...where they work on a different block, every few weeks. So far I've finished the 1st block, which was "Diagonal Ribbing Stitch", but I need to get block 2 & 3 done soon...before I get too far behind. The 2nd block is more of a basket weave stitch, called "Flowers in my Baskets Square" and the 3rd block is called a "Lattice Block"...so far they have had the patterns written out and then they also try to have it in chart form too, I've decided I like the charts.

Then I need to finish up my Aspen Baguette.....I think I'm down to knitting the last 12 rows...so hopefully it will go fairly quickly. But I think my cables look a little loose, so I need to tighten them up and then I think it would look best with a liner on the inside. So I may attempt that, or I may twist a "friends" arm that sews to make one for me! ;oD

It's another nice day today, but they are talking like it might start raining sometime later today. While I was trying to do my blog today, I watched "Hairspray" on DVD...it was pretty cute! I can't believe John Travolta played the mom. There is alot of cool music and dancing and pretty good acting too! But I would say it's more of a 'chick flick'...I really can't see hubby watching it, especially since it 'breaks' into song every so often. Oh well...I needed a little something light to watch anyway.

Well I really must get back to my looms and try to finish up some projects today. Wishing you a Happy Looming day...

Signs of Spring....

Finally seeing some signs of spring....I am soooo ready! It seems like it has been a long winter here in Missouri. I am very tired of the cold weather! I look forward to the sunshine...warm weather...and hanging out clothes and bed sheets on the line (that may seem weird, but I love the fresh smell from drying outside).

Now if I just could get in the swing of a full spring cleaning mode! But one thing I need is several days in a row, where it will be nice and warm (no rain or wind storms in the forecast). Then maybe I'd feel a little more perky...these cloudy days just don't seem to get me in the mood.

Of course dear hubby said last night that "someone" should mow the yard soon...I wonder who "someone" is???? Ha! ha!

Well...speaking of work...I probably better get busy with laundry, dishes or something! Too bad the magic cleaning fairy doesn't exist...I'd love for someone to come in a wave their magic wand...or like Samantha on Bewitched used to do...just wiggle her nose. Wouldn't that be great??? Oh well...we can dream can't we? Have a great day!

Finally found something to help rotate pictures!

Yeah! Today I was looking through Mozilla and seeing what add-on programs they might have and found "Image Assistant", which is a Firefox add-on. After you download the program you can use your mouse and right click and a menu will pop-up and then you choose open image. This then gives you their toolbar to work with the image and luckily rotating an image is one of the choices. Then once I got the picture the way that I wanted it...I just saved it.

Then of course I had to upload it again to my blog, and then move the picture where I wanted it. But at least it helped some.

Sometimes I think I would be better to actually make my blog in Dreamweaver and then post it that way. I don't remember having quite this much trouble putting pictures and text where I wanted them...but it's been awhile since I've used it...so I'd probably have to re-learn everything anyway. I just wanted an "easy" way to put down my thoughts and projects! So here I am!

Thanks for those who have tried to give me helpful hints...Jeannette I did have my pictures rotated in my camera, but when they uploaded from the SD card...they were back to the orginal way. Oh well...at least I found an option that works...even if it does take a little extra time. I wish blogger would just let you right click and put your image where your arrow key was...that would make it so much easier!!!!

Projects I've worked on in March and April (so far)

Been a little busy with family and friends this last week...one really nice thing was dear hubby & I got to go to the city for a wedding reception for friends of ours...son! Plus got to spend the night in a nice hotel...and sleep in for a change. Much needed rest & relaxation...and the party was great!

I thought I should let you know what I have been working on most recently. The main thing that I finished up was my daughter's afghan that I made on the infinity (of S-Loom) in brown colors. I made one earlier for my son for Christmas and also entered the pattern in DA's Fall Contest. I was soooo lucky to win a $100 to spend on merchandise from Decor Accents Inc. I had so much fun figuring out what to order (and then spending some of my money too!), I ordered the prayer shawl loom, the 30" adjust-a-loom & end pieces, a new pick, two of the new books that are out "Learn To Knit Cables on Looms" and "More Knitting Wheel Fashions". But I show you those some other day!

Anyway the 1st one I made for my son I used Caron yarn One Pound (Black #503) and (Claret #562). This yarn has no dye lot and is 100% Acrylic and is Worsted Weight, 4 ply/16 oz. or 453.6g.

The 2nd one I’m making is for my daughter with the yarn from Bernat Camouflage Ombres in the color called "Outback" (it's variegated brown & tans) and then also another One Pound skein of Expresso. I used between 3-4 skeins of the Bernat yarn and 1 skein and part of another skein of the One Pound Expresso yarn. It also seems like that the 2nd one is a little bigger...I guess I must've loosened up a little more on my knitting the second time around.

Both of these afghans are over 5 foot long as you can see from the pictures and they are around 43-46 inches wide. It takes me awhile to knit these on a loom, but you got to remember that I don't just sit and loom all day...and sometimes I don't have time to loom at all for several days. So it might not take you as long to make one as it did me. ;o)

I've also started working on another prayer shawl, with my new prayer shawl loom. I'm using the pattern that came with the loom (and it's also on her website). The only thing that's different is I'm using a small thickness type yarn, so I'm sure it's going to take a little while to actually finish it up. But I didn't want anything too heavy, something that I could wear during spring or on a cool summer night. The yarn I'm using I got from my scarfette pal at Christmas, it is Moda-Dea Dream Solid...Color is Nutmeg. It feels so soft and dreamy...must be how it got it's name!

Then in Loom Class at least two of the ladies are going to teach us different stitches in the next upcoming months and then towards the end of November, early December they will tell us how to put them all together. So far I have finished block #1, which was a diagonal rib block and they have started block #2, which is the basket weave block and you can also add many different embellishments to it if you'd like. You can also look at the blog that tells you all about it with links for the patterns as well. Each block is supposed to be 12" X 12" and so far we use 2 strands of yarn as one, and they are using the red round knifty knitter loom to make each block. I have also learned that I do like using the knitting charts when working on projects like this and it helps to have a magnetic board and magnifying line tracker to keep track of the rows.

I'm also working on the Aspen Baguette purse by Isela Phelps which has made me learn how to do cables! That has been a little hard since I had never done any pattern's with YO's (yarn overs) before. And for some reason my brain just kept trying to make them hard, but they are not. Luckily I’m on the DA’s eloop and asked about the stitch that I was having problems with….and thankfully Isela saw my question and was able to answer it.

This is for the 6 peg stitch cable or C3F. What I did was knitted the flat stitch, then e-wrapped the 1st peg. Then knitted the flat stitch, then e-wrapped twice on the 2nd peg, and then
repeated what I did on the 2nd peg on pegs 3-4-5 and then knitted the flat stitch and e-wrapped (once) the 6th peg (the last one), then I went ahead and did the next stitch so that the ewrap on the 6th peg would stay on…it was a purl stitch (the 7th peg with the purl stitch).

Then I went back and took each of the e-wraps off of each peg, one at a time. But I did NOT knit the ewrap stitches (I didn’t take the bottom loop over the top loop or loops). You can look at my loops, that are rather big behind the other knitted stitches, this is before you move the stitches around to make the cable.

My cables may be a little too loose, I won’t be able to tell until I’m finished. The pattern says you can adjust them with a crochet hook and weaving them in secure, tying a knot if necessary, because you would make the knot on the inside. As you can see I'm using the green round knifty knitter, but be sure and follow the pattern closely because I've noticed it's easy to forget if you need to knit or purl on a stitch...especially if you get interrupted when working a row.

If you are on Ravelry.com you can look me up, my id there is "ilove2craft". I'm still figuring out how to use the many options on there, but I want to highly recommend their site if you like to do looming, knitting or crocheting. They have a tour that you can check out before you get signed in as a member...it's FREE! But you do have to sign up and wait for them to send you an invitation, but it usually doesn't take long...they even have a place you can check to see how long you might have to wait.


Well...it's getting late and I need to finish up for today. Wishing you all "Happy Looming"!

Sharing a little of my first experiences with looming...

Well I seem to have neglected my blog...I guess life just keeps us busy. Plus I just don't know where to begin. I would like to show you all the different projects that I have done so far, but I haven't always been good about taking pictures of them. But I will share what I do have. Plus I also want to share the many different looms I have picked up along the way since I first started this craft. I have several which I still haven't had the time to loom on yet, but hope to soon.


Today I will show you some of my looms and tools that I use. The first set that I bought was the Knifty Knitter's (the round set). Shortly after that I acquired the spool loom (the small pink one) and also the flower loom (which does have removable pegs). Of the Knifty Knitter's the first set has the small blue loom (this has 24 pegs), the next one in the set is the red loom (this has 31 pegs), the next one is the green loom (which has 36 pegs) and then finally the last one in the set is the yellow loom (which has 41 pegs). These are all in what they call the regular gauge, which mostly uses 2 strands of worsted weight yarn when making items.

I also found out there was a DVD available online from americanknitter.com, it is called "Round Loom Knitting", which I ordered. It helped alot when I started, because I could actually "see" how the stitches were done, how she worked her pick, etc... I guess you could say I'm more of a visual learner when it comes to this craft. On the DVD they have four lessons and a bonus lesson on how to knit with needles. Lesson 1 is "Hats" - changing colors, creating a brim & pom-poms. Lesson 2 is "Scarves" - sizing, closing ends on a tube scarf and adding fringe. Lesson 3 is "Slippers" - looming flat pieces, and closing a heel. Then the last Lesson 4 is "Socks" - which shows how to make vertical color patterns and creating a heel.

I still haven't done lessons 3 & 4, but it is on my to-do-list! You will be amazed of how many patterns & projects are out there for you to make! Plus the many different ways of doing them too. And not only that there are some very talented ladies out there...who come up with all of these ideas. It seems to me they must have several hands attached...because they are always making something new!

The first few items I made on the loom were hats! Some with a brim and some without, some were knitted 1 over 1 while others were 2 over 1. Then with hats I used various yarns: variegated, solid, and eyelash yarn. After making several hats I had to make scarves to go with some of them...using various patterns and colors. I also attempted leg warmers, but could never quite get the size and yarn to work out for the person I was making them for.

Before long I found my first yahoo group about loom knitting...it was loom class, and many others followed shortly after that. The first project I made in "Loom Class" was a baby bonnet, and after I made the first one I found out that friends of mine were having grandchildren so I ended up making 6 bonnets....different colors...different yarn. I even made one with the cotton yarn (that you usually think to use for dishcloths), because the expected baby was going to be a late spring baby.

I just loved doing the class! You signed up for the class, downloaded your pattern for the item, got your supplies ready and started your project. If you had a question about how to do a stitch, or anything else related to the project you could just ask. Typing your post and then sending it to the group you would receive all kinds of help...either from the author of the pattern, or teacher, or other loomers. It was a fun learning experience, and I ended up with a beautiful handcraft gift as well as the experience to make more.

The first book that I would recommend is Loom Knitting Primer by Isela Phelps, besides having 30 different fun projects to do, it has very good illustrations & directions. Lots of pictures and drawings and also charts. Plus towards the back it tells you a little about board knitting as well and as some felting projects too. You can also purchase it at her families website: Decor Accents Inc., her husband makes many wooden looms with nylon pegs. Plus she also has lots of instruction...written and illustrated on her website and even videos of some of the basic stitches as well. (Once you get acquainted with the looming community you will find she is one of many talented ladies I was talking about.)

Well, that's all for today...hope this helps you a little if you are just getting started. Check out the links on the side for the different Yahoo groups and some of the websites of the vendors that I have either used myself, or they have come highly recommended. Be care...it can be an addiction...you want more looms, more yarn, more, more, more... ha! ha!

Another good place to go is so far their membership is free, you just need to sign-up and then wait for your invitation. I was lucky mine only took about two weeks or less. It is a place for anyone that does crocheting, knitting, or looming (any yarn craft it seems). They have a tour that you can take that explains it and shows you what all it can do. My children told me it was a little like "facebook" if you know what that is...except more for adults with a yarn/craft addiction. One thing I like about it compared to my yahoo groups, is that you actually get to see pictures of your 'friends', that is if they loaded one on. You can look at the different projects they are working on and many other things too! I can even have a link to my blog and it shows any updates that I make. There are groups to join there too...I'm in a few. One of the groups does a knit-along or rather loom- along once a month, where we all work on the same project together....or at least we all try. Sometimes I have so many projects I'd like to do, but just don't have the time!

Well...that's it for today! Happy Looming and God Bless...hope you have caught the looming bug!
JA

PS: Sorry for the sideways pictures...I guess I will have to tweak them ahead of time and save them after I've rotated them. I couldn't figure out how to do it any other way in blogger.