I’ve loved the Nymphalidea pattern that was re-written for the loom since I saw it. It’s free, too. It’s done with lace or fingering yarn, but it would probably work with anything. I have my handy Cottage Loom (118 pegs, 3/8″ gauge, 20″ long, fully adjustable) and the pattern calls for around 120 pegs, so this works, since its not exact. It’s sorta done horizontally, not really bottom up, like it seems like. It’s a cool pattern. Intimidated me at first, but now I’ve got it memorized and it’s super simple. It’s small in the pic, but will be about 50-60 inches long after blocking, and it makes the loom look small.
My new thing, the Kitchener bind off, and sideways hats. I’ve been making Kitty Mitts with this provisional cast on and seamless bind off, and found out how to make normal toques (as we call them in Canada) using it as well. Its a bit trickier when you aren’t ribbing, but my attempts went well. First is called “Sidestreet” and it pairs well with the Kitty Mitts because it follows a similar ribbing pattern. There it is on the loom with the provisional cast on. It looks super hard (the PDF is 12 pages!) and does take a bit to adapt to, but is actually quite easy and saves the time and hassle of seaming.
Here it is finished. Super duper cute. It’s a bit big on me, fits my roommate well (but I broke her heart and told her I hadn’t made it for her, she was just my tester, so I have to make her one now) and it will be a gift. Lots of people are getting hat/mitt sets this year. It was done in 6 wedges (pattern called for 7-9 but I ran out of yarn at 6) and the cast off is so-so. Next I made a pattern by the same author, called Vanilla on the Side (by Brenda Myers, she has amazing loom stuff) and it came out big, too!
But big hats are in fashion, I’ve noticed, and so are infinity scarves/cowls (especially in bulky) so I’ll be making those, too. Where is the time going to come from? I’m in school full time and only have a good 48 hours on the weekend to knit! The horrors! After school, I’m too tired and usually sore. So I suppose if I start the second I get home Friday night and go until Sunday night, I can knock a few projects off… …if I don’t sleep!
I love the “sideways” hats because you can customize them so much more than knitting in the round. The patterns are super easy, and ribbing is much easier going horizontally (knit one row, purl one row, rather than knit 1, purl 1 for entire row, in the round) The size adjustments are awesome, and I’ll be making many, many hats. Especially since this winter is going to suck!