Sunday, March 7, 2010

Looming Demonstration @ Girlfriends

On February 18th I did a demonstration for the local Girlfriends group in Trenton.  I think everyone enjoyed it and I might even have a few converts to try out looming soon.  I'm planning on having some craft meeting get-togethers in the near future besides looming maybe we can work on crocheting and knitting (for whichever craft they know or want to learn) and maybe scrapbooking or card making.  I'm hoping that eventually we can come up with a charity project that we can work on together or all make the same thing to send somewhere, that it is needed.  They are alot of good projects out there to choose from, so when it comes time to make a decision I think I will put up a list of possibilities.

I first talked a little bit about the history of loom knitting, which is thought to have started back with the early North American Indians with finger knitting, and then on to sticks with short sticks in a row.  In fact the earliest knitting rake was found made in Germany in 1535.  (This is information I've found on the internet and in loom knitting books).  Then I talked about the many different looms available now and how I got started.  I first started with the Knifty Knitter Round Loom set of four brightly colored looms.  Then I moved on to their set of Knifty Knitter Long Board Looms and then slowly branched out to handmade looms from Decor Accents and CinDWood Crafts.  The differences in the different looms such as the Knifty Knitters are plastic and the others are usually made of wood.  There are also differences in the gauges of the looms, which is the size of stitches that they make.  The Knifty Knitters are more of a large gauge, wider stitch and can use bulky yarn easier too.  Where the others come in a wide range: small gauge, fine gauge and the really small extra fine gauge (which is what they use alot for socks).  Then I had to show them my attempt of a sock on the extra fine gauge XL loom...which I've decided I need more patience and time to actually ever get one done, I can't even imagine a pair! Ha! ha!  But I do plan on trying to make a pair of socks sometime this year on one of the larger looms instead and see how that goes.  And there are also a few weblinks with instructions on how to make your own looms...which I have been lucky to have a woodworking neighbor to make me a few too!

I showed the many different knitting looms I have (which if you look back at one of my past entries you can see all of my looms that I've stored on a door).  We talked about the different looming that you can do on the Round looms, which you can either do a full circle (which makes a tube) or back and forth (which they call flat panel looming).  Then on the Long Looms which are board looms or sometimes rakes.  Board looms usually line up the pegs on both sides of the two rows and you can loom stitches back and forth which makes a double knitting thickness, or you can loom in the round or like you do on the round looms.  Rake looming is what I usually do when I'm doing a flat panel on a long loom.

Plus I showed the many different tools that I have accumulated through the years, alot of the tools are the same that you might use for needle knitting or crocheting.  Some of the tools I have are:  Row counters, Scissors, crochet hooks, tapestry needles, stitch guides, stitch markers, measuring tapes, picks or hooks to use for your knitting loom.  My favorite hook is actually a tool that my husband says is a O-ring pick, but there are several out there and the different loom makers also have different picks of their own too.

I showed several of the books and booklets that I have accumulated over the years and a few DVD's that I have.  Plus I had some of the patterns that I have got over the internet too.  Then I did more of a show-n-tell of some of the many projects that I've made:  hats, scarves, potholders, purses, prayer shawls, swiffer pads, scrubby-o's, etc...  Plus Jean K. and Sonya T. also had some of their projects to show that they had made too.  Jean shared her experience with using "any" yarn that you have on hand to start with.  Her first hat I had told her she could use whatever yarn she had on hand...we didn't realize it was probably rug yarn...very bulky and thick, but it still was a great learning experience for her.  And I think one of her sons really liked the warm hat that she came up with!  Sonya had alot of different hats she had made her grand daughter and also an afghan she had made for her son.

I ended my demonstration by giving out some handouts of "Grammie's Newbie Links" from 10/22/06 and then also a handout I had made with links called "Video Help for Looming Stitches and Pattern Help" (which I ended up updating it and making it into a PDF file, so it was easier to go to the links).  The the lucky participants got to put their names in for a drawing of prizes.  I had a Swiffer pad & Scrubby-O; a washcloth & soap sack; and then I also had a Beauti Control little sample set in a zip-up back with a relaxation CD (for their own personal spa) and I had three more Scrubby-O's too so gave them away too.

We had a fun night, Jean K. also had a very nice devotional on Joy...having joy and sharing joy with others.  And now that I'm typing this up finally I'm thinking maybe I should maybe put my demonstration online...with pictures of what I showed.  Maybe that would help others too.