A dead giveaway: Yes, I am a fiber fiend!

In answer to Lime & Violet's question of the week: What's within 6 feet of your workstation that gives away your fiber passion?



Note: I just cleaned this desk off yesterday. It was overflowing with UFOs, FOs, knitting needles, crochet hooks, looms, etc. and I couldn't find anything anymore!

Wordless Wednesday: Home raised, handspun, hand (loom) knit, done!

Pattern here. More wordless here and here.

Friday Fill Ins and My Latest Loom Knitting Experiment

1. I love springtime in July?! (Hey, it's MN, we are getting a blizzard right now and we are expected to get up to 2 feet of snow). See for yourself.
2. Pancakes and omlets are foods I love to eat for breakfast.
3. It seems I'm always searching for ideas of things to knit :D
4. A good long workout is a great way to end the day.
5. I think I am addicted to yarn!
6. A vacation is what I've been craving lately.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to shoveling snow(?), tomorrow my plans include shoveling more snow(?) and Sunday, I want to stop shoveling snow!

My latest Loom Knitting Experiment

See how it's done here.

Tuesday's Toots

Today I have two toots. At first I couldn't think of a thing to brag about and then I realized that I need to give myself a great big pat on the back for working out for a whole week straight. I logged in 7 miles! Yeah! The Lord of The Rings really keeps me going!

Toot two for today goes to my two year old daughter (say that fast three times -- LOL)! She has slept straight through the night for three nights in a row for the first time since she was born! Hallelujah! Now I just need to catch up on nearly eight years of barely any sleep! I almost feel more tired now that I've gotten a full nights sleep than I felt when I barely got four hours! Go figure.

On a crafty note, I've been seduced by beads. No, I am not throwing down my looms just yet. Just taking a little break to prevent burn out. The pattern I was working up for my latest loom knit design has been frogged and I need to walk away from it for awhile. My loom along project isn't going great either! I don't understand the directions so can't work on that either. So, I will bead for awhile :D

Have a great day!

The Bounty

I had the pleasure of attending the Craft Council of America's Knit-Out and Crochet 2008 event at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN on Saturday February 16th. This was only the third time I set foot in the great Mall of America. The last time was seven years ago when my first born was just a baby. What a place! What an amazing event! And my, oh my were there ever the people there! Most importantly, for anyone who knows anything about loom knitting, the most important person in our little loom knitting circle was there! The sole purpose of my attendance at this giant event! My only goal was to meet this talented woman. Yeah, sure, bonus for the free patterns, crochet hooks, skeins of yarn, and knitting needles!

Well, after what seemed like hours of wading through the constant flow of people (all the time carrying my two year old daughter, I might add), I finally spotted her. At least I thought it was her. I could barely see the back of her head peeking through these giant glass elevators. I was behind the speakers so the voices were muffled but I thought I heard this woman say she was Isela Phelps!

The very long line I was standing in slowly inched forward. The microphone was handed on down the line of ladies seated at the long table on the stage. Each author introducing themselves as they held up the books they had written. Finally I reached the side of the stage and I got a better look at the ladies sitting on stage. It was her! But how was I going to meet her face to face???? Ohhh, the agony! My arms ached from holding my daughter...I was so hot I could pass out right then and there (there were so many bodies in one place)...my son and my other daughter kept wanting to wander off and my stress level was very high from making sure they were in sight at all times all the while thoughts of someone snatching them up kept coming to mind...the line inched further along. Eventually the line I was standing in for free stuff moved further away from the stage and from the person I attended the event for in the first place. I didn't think I was going to find her again in this avalanche of people! I looked back and the authors had moved off of the stage. Oh well, I thought, at least I got to see her.

I checked on the schedule of events and noticed Isela had a demonstration at 11:00 a.m. Checked my watch, 12:30! Dang nabit! I missed the demonstration too (the traffic was horrible getting to the mall and we just couldn't find a parking spot so we were late getting there)! Just about then my two little girls needed to go potty! Arrrrrrrrrgh! I stood in line this whole time and now they need to use the potty?? My sister and her friend said they would watch my son and told me to just go and come back to the line when we were done. Note to ladies in line behind me: So, sorry, my little girls need to go potty!

As my husband and I waded toward the bathroom I looked back over at the stage, I noticed these tables with the authors sitting at them! Whoooooooo hoooooo! Then I saw her! She was quietly sitting there and I walked right up to her and introduced myself! Isela shook my hand. I told her my name and my yahoo and Ravelry user name and told her I had just tested knitted her cabled mitten pattern for the Loom along on Ravelry. She knew who I was and thanked me for my help. She asked me if I was enjoying myself and the only thing I could think to say was how terribly hot I was! She introduced me to her talented husband Sam. I shook hands with him and asked him about those cute little looms they were giving away. He told me about Isela's second demonstration at 3:30 that afternoon and he told me they would hand them out at that demonstration. I handed Isela my Loom Knitting Primer book and she signed it for me! While she was signing it, my four year old daughter tugged on my sleeve telling me she had to go potty! Oooooh, the agony! I wanted to chat with her longer! Catch 22! If they hadn't had to go potty I wouldn't have gotten to meet her, if they hadn't had to go potty, I could have chatted longer! LOL! At least I got to meet her and I got her autograph! Isela stood up and shook my hand again and I dejectedly walked off toward the ladies room! Oh, why couldn't my hubby have taken them to go potty??? Oooooooooh nooooo! I left without getting my picture taken with her! I brought my camera and didn't think to get my picture taken with her??? What a doodoo bird! Ok, I thought, I have another chance, I can go to her demonstration at 3:30! My spirits lifted.



We found our way back to the line where my sister and my son were after the "potty break". I excitedly told my sister I got to meet Isela Phelps! My sister doesn't know a thing about loom knitting, she is more into needle knitting instead. She asked me who she was. I showed her the book I had and her autograph. She said that was cool. We stood in line waiting and inching along for about 45 minutes longer picking up free patterns and crochet hooks and knitting needles. Eventually we reached the end of the line and the kiddos had had enough. Everyone was hungry and thirsty. And I was exhausted from carrying my two year old.

The Mall of America is four levels. Since I hadn't been there in seven years I had no idea were the food court was. My sister's memory was a bit fuzzy on that too (even though she had been there more recently than I). All the while carrying my daughter (she just wouldn't go to my husband and she was so scared of all of the people she wanted me to hold her), we wandered around from floor to floor trying to find a place to sit down and refresh ourselves. Eventually my sister and her friend decided they wanted to just leave the mall and find a place to eat away from the mayhem. I hesitated since I really wanted to go to the loom knitting demonstration at 3:30. We seperated and my husband and I remembered we had seen a Subway somewhere so we set out trying to find it. 45 minutes and several floors later we finally found it! It was 2:00 p.m. The kids were tired and cranky. We promised them rides (there is an amusement park right inside the Mall of America) if they just held out a little longer.

After we ate we headed for the amusement park. Alas, we just didn't have enough money on us to purchase tickets. Ideally, if you want to go on rides you buy tickets at the beginning of the day and ride all day. It didn't look like you could buy tickets individually to ride only a few rides. An all day pass for one person was all we had. The kids were heart broken. We promised them we would take them during the week sometime and bring enough money for everyone to ride next time. It was just too much, the kiddos were tired and dissapointed. It was 2:45 and my four year old daughter threw herself on the floor of the mall and cried. We had to go home.

I left the Mall of America with lots of patterns, some free yarn, a crochet hook, a set of lighted knitting needles and my autographed book of Loom Knitting Primer, but no cute little loom keychain (sniff, sniff), and no picture with Isela. Perhaps next year???



My notes for the next Knit-Out and Crochet of 2009 if it comes back to the Mall of America:

• Leave hubby home with the kids
  
• Bring camera and use it!
  
• Arrive in plenty of time to go through the lines of free stuff so I can find the people I want to see and spend more time chatting with them!
  
• Bring something to drink!
  
• Wear a t-shirt!

My Crowning Achievement!

Now you can create a pair of gloves with fingers in half the time it takes to needle knit a pair! Create a pair of these cozy gloves with fingers using your fine gauge round loom with 40 pegs (the fg adult sock loom from Decor Accents was used for this design). These gloves features a thumb gusset that swings both forward and backward making them interchangeable, therefore you will not have a right or left hand glove! I didn't officially time how long it took me to create a pair of these since I took lots of breaks to care for my family, however, I would guesstimate the time at approximately 3 hours for each glove! That's half the time of conventional knitting on DPNs! Once you get the hang of things, your next pair should go even faster still. Sized to fit a medium/large woman's hand, they make a great last minute Christmas gift for the women in your lives! The skill level is intermediate since you will be using some advance seaming techniques. A link for a great video tutorial on this advance seaming technique is provided for advanced beginners to broaden their looming skills! Enjoy!

"Oh mother dear, we sadly fear that we have lost our mittens."

Today was a busy day. I got all of the house cleaning done and got to the end of that giant pile of laundry! I sat down this evening and finally finished my fourth pair of mittens. I made a pair for my son who is by far the worst offender of losing his gloves and mittens. It is just crazy, he is constantly coming home without anything on his hands or on his head. Yesterday he had a cough and I told him to get a hat on his head as he was leaving for school. He right away said he lost it on the bus. Apparently he has a little theif that keeps taking his stuff (an older boy). Well, he is in luck, his set of mittens are done. I finished his matching scarf too. I still need to start on his matching hat. It really is a nice set. It has three shades of brown and a light blue in the yarn. I will need to post some pictures soon.

I got my Crafters Choice catalog yesterday. I really enjoy this book club. It is by far the best club I've been in. There are several knitting books I would love to order. If you are looking for a great craft book club, this club is an excellent choice! I ordered a loom knitting book last month. It was on backorder and will not ship until sometime in February. I am chomping at the bit with anticipation to receive it. It was written by Isela Phelps. I have found a lot of valuable information online from Isela. Thanks Isela for your helpful information!

Who am I and what do I know?

If anyone was wondering why I started this blog I'll explain. I picked up a knitting loom for the first time back in November of 2006 after my sister took me to this quaint little yarn shop in Avon, MN where she purchased some knitting needles and a couple skeins of yarn. She pointed to a loom while we were there and said her friend's daughter was knitting hats with one of them. I picked it up and inspected it and it piqued my curiosity. I learned to knit with knitting needles from my mother when I was a child but hadn't knit anything in many years (simply due to a lack of time due to my large family). Since I am always interested in teaching myself new things, especially anything related to the creative arts, I wanted to teach myself how to loom knit.

I went home that day without buying the loom this little shop had but kept the idea in the back of my mind. A few days later I was in Crafts Direct in Waite Park, MN. I walked down the isle with the yarns and spotted a whole pack of knitting looms from Provo Craft called Knifty Knitting Looms. They were on clearance and I couldn't resist. I bought a couple skeins of yarn and an instructions booklet to jumpstart me on my looms. I decided to make a couple hats for my kids since they are forever losing their hats and mittens. It went very quickly! I had a hat made in a couple hours. I knitted up my couple skeins of yarn and sat there wishing I had more. My family and I were in the middle of a move and we had a shed full of boxes packed up with all of our stuff. In one of those boxes I knew I had some yarn stored away from back when I was working on a crochet project. I ventured out to the shed and began digging. I was elated when I found a skein of bright red and bright green yarn. I snatched them up and went back inside and sat down with my find. Since it was November and Christmas was just around the corner, it was perfect for a cute little Christmas hat for my three year old daughter. I knit her up a hat by the next day. She loved it! Of course, after knitting up a couple hats, everyone else wanted something! Thus began my love of the knitting loom.

I’ve been knitting a little every day on my looms ever since. I have discovered that there are so many wonderful things to knit (I just learned the other day that you can transfer needle knit projects to a loom too). I am just amazed at how quickly the projects go (which is great for me in my busy family of eight). The results from a knitting loom make me look like an expert knitter who has been knitting for years! My sister is enjoying her knitting needles and I am enjoying my knitting looms. I am now here in this blog, typing away with the intent on sharing my ideas and teaching others while I learn and hopefully find some other loom knitters out there who I can connect with and learn from too! Of course, being the creative person I am, I will from time to time discuss my other creative endeavors too! I also can’t leave out mention of the recipients of all of my little loom knitting projects – my six little children.

The first tip I would like to share: if you only have a couple stitches to hold, instead of a piece of yarn or a stitch holder, use a twisty tie. My latest project called for dropping just two stitches and placing them on a stitch holder or a piece of yarn. I found threading a stiff twisty tie into the loops and pulling them right off the pegs was quick and convenient. I just twisted the end of the tie after I snatched up my loops, tucked the tie down into the middle of my loom and carried on with my project slick as a whistle.