https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/knitting-loom-hand-warmers-and-matching-crotchet-headband-in-easy-knits-wool • Posted by Sarah W.
Okay so knitting scares me and frustrates me. To be specific Knitting with needles scare me and frustrates me. I drop stitches, I can never get a good rhythm going and I find it takes forever to see results. In other words me and Knitting needles don't get on. However, that doesn't change the fact that I still envy those who can knit. One of my best friends knits and I entirely covet her skill and expertise in this form of yarn craft. I have a massive interest in creative arts and how these can be adapted to enable individuals to engage in these. I happened to read an article recently about an elderly man who had been diagnosed as terminally ill who wanted to give back to the hospital who had cared for him and started knitting hats for newborns and premature babies by using knitting looms as he couldn't use knitting needles. That sparked a memory I had from when me and my sister were taught by my mum to knit on a knitting doll or spool and thought I could try it on a larger one. So I bought a set of looms, got some gorgeous wool from Easy Knits and a book called "I can't Believe I'm Loom Knitting" by Kathy Norris and it worked! Now I can knit without needles! Yay!!!!!
Okay so knitting scares me and frustrates me. To be specific Knitting with needles scare me and frustrates me. I drop stitches, I can never get a good rhythm going and I find it takes forever to see results. In other words me and Knitting needles don't get on. However, that doesn't change the fact that I still envy those who can knit. One of my best friends knits and I entirely covet her skill and expertise in this form of yarn craft. I have a massive interest in creative arts and how these can be adapted to enable individuals to engage in these. I happened to read an article recently about an elderly man who had been diagnosed as terminally ill who wanted to give back to the hospital who had cared for him and started knitting hats for newborns and premature babies by using knitting looms as he couldn't use knitting needles. That sparked a memory I had from when me and my sister were taught by my mum to knit on a knitting doll or spool and thought I could try it on a larger one. So I bought a set of looms, got some gorgeous wool from Easy Knits and a book called "I can't Believe I'm Loom Knitting" by Kathy Norris and it worked! Now I can knit without needles! Yay!!!!!
Gather Materials: See 'You will need list' left. For this project I used a skein of Easy Knits single ply wool. I choose Atomic Kisses which is gorgeous in various shades of vivid pinks, reds and purples. I had never worked with single ply wool before. At first I found it very fiddly to work with but when I allowed a loose tension on the loom and when crocheting, I found it was very pleasant to work with and it has a lovely soft texture.
Place a slip knot over one of the pegs and E-Wrap the wool around the pegs to cast onto the loom. I really recommend "I can't Believe I'm Loom Knitting" by Kathy Norris. It acts like a step by step course on loom knitting and has lots of pics to illustrate each process and the book is only about £3 on Amazon. (this is not an endorsement but, my own opinion ;-))
Begin a basic knit stitch. It should begin to look like this (see picture left).
Keep Knitting till it gets to about 30cm long or till it gets to a length you are comfortable with. You can keep testing it by placing your hand into the middle of the loom and the tube of knitting till its to your desired length
To cast off I used a single crochet stitch with a 3mm crochet hook which gives a nice neat edging to the finger end of the hand warmers. To do this you place the hook through the loop of the last peg worked. Lift it off the peg with the hook and lay the working yarn over the hook and pull through the stitch on the hook. Repeat with the other stitches giving a nice neat edge to the knit. create a knot at the end and weave into the end of the row.
This next step is optional. Place the hand warmer over the hand and choose where you want a thumb hole. The tension should be stretchy enough and stitches wide enough to place your thumb through to work out where you'd like it to be without damaging it.
Once you have chosen where you want the thumb hole bind the hole using a yarn or darning needle and the yarn and trim away any stitches. I know this is a bit of a backwards way of doing this but I haven't yet mastered how to decrease and increase stitches yet. Repeat steps 1 - 7 for the other hand warmer.
For the head band create a crochet chain of stitches that's about 45cm long and continue with a double crochet stitch all using a 3mm crochet hook.
Continue the double crochet stitch for 8 rows and cast off.
Choose a ribbon that matches or complements your wool and measure and cut 2 lengths of about 30 - 40cms. Here I have chosen to use an embroidered dark pink ribbon with lighter pink diamond motif from Tiger which complements the different shades in the atomic kisses wool.
Insert the lengths of ribbon in the middle on either side of the band and about two stitches in. Does that make sense? just see the pic on the left ;-)
Fold over about 3cm of the ribbon and stitch into place.
And voila your matching headband is complete
So you should hopefully have a completed set of Head band and hand warmers. You look gorgeous darlings! ;-) xxxxxxxxx