Last Minute DIY Christmas Gift Idea: Loom Knit "Bear" Hat

You could easily make this hat for a bear, a doll or some other stuffed animal. All you need is the small blue Knifty Knitter circle, or whatever color is the smallest knitting circle in your set. It is the size you would make an infant hat with. These make fun little hats that you can give to go with their favorite stuffed toy or doll to dress them up. Or kids can make them by themselves. My daughter made this one for her bear at the cabin.

This would also make a great last minute homemade Christmas gift as it should take you less than an hour.

Loom Knit Scrubbie for Dishes

I made these quite a while ago for my mom. The smaller pink and white one I used the peach flower loom. That was the first one I made and I wasn't thrilled how small it turned out so I made the next one using the blue small round loom in the Knifty Knitter set.

For both of them I used tulle on a spool. Usually you can find these for under $2 a spool. This is also the same kind of tool I used to make these cute little skirts with.

They are pretty quick to make and you use a standard stitch on the loom. For the large one I cashed on 12th Rose and then cast off the same way you would close up a hat X bringing a strand through each of the loops on each page then hang tight. Then cut another strand of the tool and go through each of the loops on the opposite side and pull tight. Then I tied in a couple of knots to keep the front and back side tied together and keep it flat.

Loom Knit Slouch Hat

Man, I wish I had typed up the instructions for this when I made it last summer. I love this hat and wear it all the time when it is cold here in MN. I did use the yellow Knifty Knitter loom to make this and you can see I made it 15" long so that I could get the length necessary for slouchiness, and I added a brim. But other than that I can only tell you that I did a couple different stitches, mostly the wide figure 8 stitch to get the looseness needed for this type of hat. I worked hard and for a long time on this hat and wish I could tell you how to replicate it, but at least you can see it for inspiration.

Another Set of Pottery Buttons

I had shared with you about 4 months ago, these pottery buttons I made this fall. I made them with the intention I would offer them to my friends on our girls weekends, well, turns out I used many of that first batch to add to scarves and hats this winter, so I needed to make another batch and this is the result.One of my girl friends said she likes the fish ones the most, so I think I will make some more of those just so that I have more of a selection of those. I also tried some different glazes and textures with this batch too.

KNIT Pottery Bowl

I was beyond thrilled with how this KNIT pottery bowl turned out. It was a present that I made a friend for Christmas (I sure hope she likes it as much as I do). Below I will share how I made it. I think the bowl "mold" size that I used was perfect for a yarn bowl and I am planning to make more of these to give as gifts and for myself. :) Many other yarn bowls I have seen are thrown on the wheel, but I have a preference for slab rolling and hand building for my pottery.

Here you can see what the wet bowl looks like on the mold right after I finished carving out KNIT. As you can see from the top picture, you will put a ball of yarn in the bowl and let the strand be pulled through one of the letters as you use the yarn for knitting.

Here it is hanging out on the wedging table, with the wine chiller (I will tell you about that one next week!) before I put it on my shelf at the Art Center to dry.

To make this piece, I traced out my patterns, which are the bottom of the mold (just some hard plastic cereal bowl that I got for free years ago) and the perimeter of the outside of the bowl. I made little marks on the bowl so that I knew where I had started and ended. I cut out my patterns and them placed them on to my slabbed clay and put it on from there, wrapping the semi-circle piece around first and joining the edges with scratching, slip, and molding. Then, placing the bottom on with the same technique.

What you can see in the second picture is that I made a coil that I attached to the bottom as a lip and base.

I have a few ideas of what I want future ones to look like, so I guess I better get back in the Art Center and start creating!

Wordless Wednesday: Loom Knit Ruffle Scarves (Christmas Gifts)

I have made a couple of Loom Knit Ruffle Scarves for Christmas presents this holiday season. Those gifts have been given already, so I can share them on here. If you want to learn how to make your own, check on out my post on Loom Knit Ruffle Scarves & also watch my youtube video of how to make one.

Ok, this is turning in to a not-so-wordless Wednesday. I had made two of these scarves, but I guess I never took a picture of the second one before I gave it to a friend. Doh! But there are several others to see in the post I linked above.

Learn How to Finger Knit and Make a Scarf

In the YouTube Video Below you can listen to my 8 year old daughter teach you how to finger knit. It's simple and easy. She made the scarf in the picture for her brother using a yarn with a 5 weight, but you could make an even thicker one using thicker yarn. This is a super quick and easy way to knit a scarf.

Olaf Loom Knit Hat

If you have already learned the e-wrap stitch, that is really all you need to know how to do to make this Olaf from Frozen hat. The facial features are all felt pieces that I have cut out and hand stitched on. The twigs on the top and the bottom are all braided pieces of yarn that are tie off at the ends.

The yarn types used was:
White Bernet Baby Blanket Yarn - 2 skeins
Walnut Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky Yarn (leftover, you don't need a lot but thick,chunky yarn will make thicker twigs.)

I e-wrapped with 2 strands of white yarn until I had created a hat that was 8 1/2 inches long and cast off. I then attached the felt pieces I cut out and "twigs" I braided by hand stitching them in place. The nose is three-dimensional and stuffed with a small amount of batting.

Thrifty Thursday: Learn to Loom Knit & the "REALLY BIG" Chunky Cowl

Sometimes it is more economical to knit a handmade gift than to buy one, sometimes it isn't. Honestly, a handmade knit gift is about the time you put in to the gift and thinking about the person that you are making it for when you choose your yarn and spend you time making it. Of course, you can probably get machine knit items in stores for cheaper in some cases, but you lose the personalization and thoughts of the person while you create it.

If you pay attention to sales in advance, you can buy the yarn you want for much cheaper. If you don't have your yarn in advance for a discount, don't forget about getting coupons from Michael's or JoAnn's to get one regular priced item at a discount (usually 30-40%). You can download their apps on your phone and have their coupons available at your fingertips.

To make this I used the largest (yellow) Knifty Knitter round loom and knit using a basic e-wrap stitch (video) until I used an entire skein of Bernat "Really Big" yarn. I kind of wish I had bought 2 skeins of it because I would have like to make it even taller. It does knit of tight and looks nice.

I added a fun little pin to the cowl to add some interest. It took maybe an hour to make this cowl because the yarn is so thick. It is a very quick project.

Try It Tuesday: Basket Weave Loom Knit Hat

I was so excited with how this hat turned out. This is a gift that I made for my dad. The yarn I used was Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in the color Barley (how appropriate for my farmer father - LOL!) The skein has 106 yds in it and I would guess I used about 3/4 of the skein. I made this on the yellow knifty knitter loom, but you can easily adapt it to other looms.

Brim: To make the bring I cast on 14 rows in an e-wrap stitch. Watch this video on how to e-wrap if you are new to loom knitting. After you have 14 rows, bring the loops from the first row back on the loom and cast over the 14th row over the top of the first row, this will knit the brim together and create a thick brim.

Body of the Hat: The pattern simple and you just repeat rows of 4 until you have the length you want. Leave space to just e-wrap 3-4 rows at the end. For me this meant I did the patterns of 4 rows, 5 times.

Pattern 1: Knit 4, Purl 4 (watch this short video if you need to know how to purl) keep with this pattern until you have gone all the way around the loom
Pattern 2: Purl 4, Knit 4
Continue repeating these patterns until you have achieved the desired length

I used stitch markers to mark every 4 pegs so that I didn't need to keep track of counting.

Also, the loom I used for this one was the yellow knifty knitter loom with 41 pegs. If you do the match you realize I have an extra peg, so my last section I made 5. You can't tell that section has an extra stitch.

DIY Pottery Buttons

I first saw some pottery buttons at JoAnn Fabrics with a price tag of $3.99 a piece and while that isn't crazy expensive, I really liked the idea that I could make my buttons as well as my hat. I made a variety of buttons for 2 reasons, I didn't know what would look best on the hat that was still in my head at the time (obviously, I finished the hat in the meantime while they was being fired and glazed) and I wanted to have a bunch of buttons to have some friends choose between for a women's knitting/crocheting night.

I plan to make some more buttons, but these are a start. I will probably get to some more after I get some pottery Christmas presents done. Doing pottery is so much fun and I love creating things out of dirt, but it is time consuming and since I have to go in to the art center to use the pottery studio and they have limited open studio hours, it takes a while to get projects done, but they are getting done and I look forward to sharing more with you. I will be sharing a tutorial on how to make the slouchy loom knit hat in a future post as well.

Try It Tuesday: Loom Knit Baby Booties

Are these not just the most darling little things you ever have seen. I made these for my newest nephew that was born 6 months ago.

To make these you need the Knifty Knitter Flower Loom (or another 4 1/2" loom, the KK one is the peach colored smallest round loom.)

If you have mastered the basic e-wrap stitch, then these should be a piece of cake and are a great next item to make after you have made a baby hat (yes, I gave a matching baby hat as well.)

You want to want these to be thick and warm for their little feet, so you will either need to double up and use 2 strands of weight 4 or 5 yarn, or a single strand of weight 6. I used double strands of a weight 5 yarn that is made from alpaca wool (so soft!)

Instructions:

• Cast on your double strands around the loom on all pegs once, do not go around again.
• Next cast on your e-wrap stitches in the OPPOSITE direction, ending at the first peg you started with. You will have 4 strands on each peg now.
• Pull over the first 2 strands
• Continue to e-wrap around the loom in the first direction until you get to the last peg. Then pull over your bottom 2 strands. 
• Keep casting on & pulling over with this pattern until you have created 7 rows. This is creating the hole with which the foot is slid in to and we will hand stitch the heel later.
• After you have pulled over the 7th set of strands, continue e-wrapping in the SAME direction that you cast on.
• Pull the bottom 2 strands over the top 2 strands and continue your e-wrap in the same direction. Do this until you have created 9 rows. 
• After you have finished the 9 rows, take the stitches off by threading a piece of yarn through the casts remaining on the loom and then pulling them tight (just as you do on a hat.)
• Finally, thread a needle with yarn and hand stitch closed the heel.
• Your have now finished a pair of booties. I made little pom poms and just weaved a piece of yarn through the foot hole to add ornamentation.

This is a fun and easy project that you can do while sitting and watching a movie.

Loom Knit Boot Cuffs

These were quick to whip up and you could easily embellish them with buttons or hand sew some lace to them at the top if you wanted additional detail.

Here you can see all the supplies I used and the finished cuffs. Not sure why one looks bigger than the other in this picture. They were made on the same loom and fit the same.

I used the smallest Knifty Knitter loom that is used to make infant hats. I started out by casting on with an e-wrap and then pulling over a single stitch to make 10 rows. After making 10 rows I put the first row back on the pegs and pulled the stitches over so that it created a brim.

Then I continued to cast on 20 more rows to make sure that they were long enough to go in to my boots a bit to where the back of my boots  has a cut out design.

To finish the bottom I made a single chain around the bottom using a crochet hook. But if you have bigger calves this will make too tight of a bottom for you and would recommend using a needle and threading yarn through it and taking the stitches off and use a whip stitch on the loops and the space between the loops.

Pinterest Looming

Just a few projects I have made on my looms that I found the patterns on Pinterest. All the pictures below are projects that I have made, but I did include a link to the inspiration page I found on pinterest.

Barbie Dress from Loom A Hat

Valentine Heart (made in to an ornament) on Squidoo

Snowflake Ornement from Loom Lore

Yarn and Twig Dandelions from luvinthemommyhood

Try It Tuesday: Make a Scarf! 15 Options!

Which Scarf Will You Make?

Sequins and Lace Cowl

Chunky Cowl

Quick and Easy Loopy Scarf 

Ruffle Scarf

Skinny Looped Infinity Scarf

Loom Knit Snake Scarf

Loom Knit Ribbons Scarf

Handmade Fleece Scarf and Mittens

Wide Figure Eight Scarf

Leftover Fabric Scarf

Straw Weaving Scarf #1

Straw Weaving Scarf #2

American Girl Doll Scarf

Two T-Shirt Scarves

Loom Knit Play Balls

I made these for my new nephew and am happy I could give him a homemade gift. I made 2 different sizes. The larger size was made on the blue circle loom (typically used to make infant hats) and the smaller ball was made on the peach colored flower loom (uuuhhhh - typically used to make flowers.) You can see pictures of looms with yarn on them below.

I just did the Basic E-Wrap Stitch to make them and added in a stripe in the center to make them a coordinating set. I stuffed them with batting around a small jingle bell in the center before casting off and closing.

To make the larger balls I cast on 25 rows on the blue circle loom.

To make the smaller balls I cast on 16 rows on the peach flower loom.

Santa Wine Bottle

Another fun project using my Clover Wonder Knitter! Well, I just made the scarf with the pink attachment for it and stitched it to my desired length. The Santa hat I used the larger end of the spool loom and stitched on about 10 rows. I made the small pom poms by wrapping the yarn around two fingers. This was a pretty quick project that I thought made a cute little accessory on a gift of wine for a friend.

Try It Tuesday: Sequins and Lace Cowl

Another loom knit gift. I used the yellow knifty knitter loom to make this and the yarn is Patons Sequins Lace Yarn, which is a weight of 2 and has the sequins already. By using this thin yarn, it gives it a lace look and the stitches look different with more emphasis put on the spaces and how the yarn is knit together.

I used a basic e-wrap stitch  to construct this cowl. You can read the linked post and see the video tutorial if you need more explanation on how to do that.

To cast off and finish the piece, I did a simple chain by picking up a loop and then a second and pulling the second loop through the first loop so that I was left with only the second loop on the crochet hook, and then pick up another loop and continue doing this until you have taken all the loops off the loom. Tie in your end.

This will create a tighter circle on one end and I think it looks good to put the cowl on with the tighter end first so that the end that is more loose drapes over the top.

You will want to keep creating rows until you have your desired length. I made mine about 16-17" long.

If you are looking for another idea to use this yarn with, I also made a headband with it using straw weaving, if you haven't tried that, it is pretty fun.