I’ve recently picked up loom knitting as a new hobby. It was kind of unexpected, but turned out to be lots of fun.
When Mom and I were at the craft store last week, we found a small circular knitting loom, and, naturally, it came home with us. 🙂 I’d tried loom knitting before, but hadn’t made anything besides a cylindrical tube belt at knitting club over a year ago. This, I thought, would be a fun way to expand creativity.
First I made a little sleeve-like knit tube (which might function as a petticoat for Ruby). Then I wondered what else the loom could create. I noticed that the circumference of the loom was the perfect size for a doll hat; for Ruby, to be precise. And it was high time Ruby had a hat of her own. Thus began an evening of research.
After watching a couple of tutorials on how to finish off a hat — called the “gathering method,” a super easy technique with the help of a yarn needle — I attempted my first-ever loom knit bobble hat, made with an acrylic-wool blend. Here’s how it turned out:
The finished product was great, and much smoother than expected… but the wide spaces between the pegs made the stitches look stretched out. (It isn’t as obvious in the photo above, but definitely in person.) So I tried knitting a second hat, with two strands of yarn combined. I used 4 Seasons 8ply wool, and Moda Vera Beetle in green as a contrast. This time the stitches on the hat were closer together, and nicely proportioned:
The colors of this hat have now inspired me to start working on a whole new outfit set for Ruby — a combination of knitting, crochet, loom knitting and embroidery. I’ll post about how these projects develop over the next few days.
Here are the two hats together:
Aren’t they adorable? 🙂
Ruby tried on both hats and told me they’re a bit snug; guess I have to adjust my knitting tension so the stitches aren’t too tight. I also have to take into account Ruby’s abundance of hair volume. So all future hats will have to be a bit looser, or with 3 strands of yarn combined.
Looking ahead, I’m going to make a pom-pom for the green-and-white hat, then maybe crochet a tiny flower for the navy blue hat. We shall see!
These hats, I think, are the start of many new craft endeavors. In my search to find out how to loom knit a hat, I discovered all kinds of awesome loom knitting sites, tutorials, and patterns. I honestly didn’t know one could do so much with a knitting loom! (Yes, it is possible to specialize in one craft and be completely unaware of all the other awesome ones out there, let alone how they work.) So now there’s a new “world” of handmade crafts to explore in future. 🙂
