The Basics of Shifting Stitches on your Knitting Loom: Lace, Yarn Overs and Cables - Live Zoom Class

 

The second of the Masterclass 2022 series is coming up on Saturday, May 7th, 2022. Please join me for the live, one hour presentation all about shifting stitches on your loom. I'll break down the fundamental structure of lace, explain shifts, the variety of yarn overs, and basics of shifting for cables. Included with your $10 registration is the live zoom class, class materials (a mini-handbook), class recording, and my Dandelion Shawlette pattern. The class is given in an accessible format, with captions for the zoom presentation, narrative slides, description and alt text for all images, and large print easy to read materials. I hope to see you on Saturday!

9 am PST

10 am MST

11 am CST

12 noon EST

Register in my etsy shop. 

You can also find all 11 previous Masterclass recordings in the shop. 

Registration for the June 11, 2022 Masterclass is also open:

Special Techniques for Loom Knitters - Slipped stitches, Lifted stitches and Cables. 

We will take a break over the summer and return with two more classes in September and October. 

Dragon Oolong Loom-a-long

"Dragon Oolong" is the September - October Loom-a-long project for the Ravelry Loom-a-long group.  This is one of the patterns from my Small Shawls & Tea Parties e-book.

Scarf or wrap, you will enjoy
the free form nature of Dragon
Oolong. You may choose a solid 
color yarn or a patterned yarn, 
and knit until your yarn, or pegs, 
run out. This is a great “one skein” 
project to use up that very colorful 
skein of yarn that never seems to 
be right for anything else - the 
Dragon will tame those colors. 
There are a few guidelines for 
making the Dragon, but it really
 is a simple and fun knit that 
uses e-wrap knit and purl stitches.

Loom Options: 
3/4 inch - about 42 pegs 
5/8 inch - about 64 pegs 
1/2 inch - about 72 pegs 
3/8 inch small - about 90 pegs 
3/8 inch fine - about 100 pegs

Dragon Oolong is from 
the e-book “Small Shawls
 and Tea Parties: Seven 
shawls to make small, or
 large, and the recipes they inspired”.  $14.00 US
The e-book comes with two 
files, a large print 24 point 
font plain text version with 
100 pages, and a 12 point 
font paper-saver version 
with 45 pages. A photo gallery,
schematics, and recipes for a 
tea party are included. Files 
are tablet and e-reader friendly.

Copyright 2018 by Renee 
Van Hoy, all rights reserved.

Loom Knit Shawls III: Romance

Loom Knit Shawls III: Romance e-book

$12.00 US  

...Shawls... 

I love them. I love to knit them, I love to give them as gifts, I love to wear them, but most of all, I love to design them. The shawls in this collection have a romantic feel to them – a little lace here, a soft ruffle there, a new shape, a different texture. I’ve added some different lace styles to give you a feeling of Shetland, Estonian and other traditional lace styles. The pattern names are a tribute to Georgette Heyer, an author to whose romantic comedies I have spent many enjoyable hours listening while loom knitting.

April Lady

This sweet little shawl has a rather unique “square back” shape. The neckline curves nicely to hug your shoulders and stay in place. The pattern is written for 64 pegs, but you may make this any size you like. The photo shows the shawl made on a 3/8 inch gauge loom, but larger gauges may be used. The shape is particularly well suited for graduate dyed yarns that are done with matching ends – where the color repeats are 1 2 3 4 3 2 1. You may see these skeins sold for making matching pairs of socks, sometimes as two skeins, or one large skein. There is an option for adding beads to the center lace column.

Bath Cotillion

The edges of Bath Cotillion treat you two different types of lace work side by side. Together they make a striking complement to a simple garter stitch shawl.

Bath Cotillion is particularly nice when two yarns are combined – one in a solid neutral color, and one in a variegated pattern. The neutral yarn helps tone down the variegated pattern, making a softer combination perfect for a romantic shawl. Bath Cotillion is made on a 3/8 inch gauge loom with 78 pegs, but a 1/2 inch gauge may be substituted.

 Cousin Kate

Cousin Kate is fun little shawlette with a bit of a difference. The shaping is not the usual triangle, but a square backed shawl that hugs your shoulders, framed by a soft, romantic ruffle. Want a larger shawl? No trouble, just add yarn. Want a wider shawl? Just add rows where the pattern tells you. Have a gradient dyed yarn? This is the perfect pattern. Try a larger gauge loom, a heavier weight yarn – Cousin Kate will love it all. The photos show the pattern made on a 1/2 inch gauge loom with 45 pegs.

Leonie Shawl

This sweet crescent shawl has a border of pretty lace medallions. The crescent shape dips low on the back with a gently rounded center.  I've written the lace steps by step, line by line. Leonie is made on a 1/2 inch gauge loom using 55 pegs.

Miss Trent

This elegant wrap takes its influence from Shetland Lace designs. One of the joys of this type of lace is that you may make the pattern in yarns from lace weight to worsted. Traditional Shetland Lace is made with the lightest possible yarn. The pattern uses a 3/8 inch gauge loom with 62 pegs, but you may increase to a 1/2 inch gauge for a lighter, more traditional Shetland shawl.

Venetia

This large circular cape features a wide collar and beautiful panel inset in the back. The shape combines the best of a half-pi shawl with Faroese shaping. While Venetia is beautiful when made in two colors, it is also easily made in just one. Venetia is made on a 1/2 inch gauge loom using 74 pegs.

“Loom Knit Shawls III: Romance” e-book comes with two .pdf files, a large print (24 point font) version, and a paper-saver (12 point font) version. It is screen reader and tablet friendly. Also included are diagrams of all six patterns, and a full photo gallery.

 Loom Knit Shawls III: Romance e-book  $12.00 US  

Copyright 2015 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All rights reserved. Do not copy or distribute.

Coming Soon...

Coming soon...

"Loom Knit Shawls III - Romance"

A collection of six 

patterns celebrating 

the romance of shawls

Previews in a few days.

Copyright 2015 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All rights reserved. Do not copy or distribute.

Almost September Looming

September will be an exciting month for me. The Geranium Petal Shawl will be the Ravelry Loom-a-long group project. In anticipation of the loom-a-long, I've updated the pattern and added a second version of the Geranium - a full sized shawl. 

I'm also nearly finished with a new e-book pattern collection. The book is called "Little Scarves: Baktus and Karius for the Loom". It will contain 8 patterns based on the triangle scarves known as Baktus and Karius.

 To celebrate the loom-a-long and the new e-book, I'll be having a drawings. The prizes will include lots of yarn and a very cute knitting tote. All September purchases $8.00 and up will be entered in the drawings.

 In addition, all purchasers (past and future) of the Geranium Petal Shawl pattern will receive a coupon for $2.00 off the Little Scarves collection, and all purchasers of the Little Scarves collection will receive a coupon for 20% off the Kitten's Lost Mittens pattern collection.
I hope you will join in the loom-a-long, and watch for the previews of the Little Scarves patterns next week.

The Loom Knitter's Stitch Dictionary
$24.00 US ebook, including the Stitch Sampler Pattern Collection 

The Geranium Petal Shawl: Two Sizes
$4.50 US  


Copyright 2014 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All rights to text and photos reserved. Do not copy or distribute in any form.

Wingspan for Loom Knitters Loom-a-long

 The Ravelry Loom-a-long group will be working on Wingspan for Loom Knitters during April and May. Please come and join us.

We will be making both the original Wingspan for Loom Knitters, shown in the second photo, as well as Wingspan In Lace, shown in the third photo. 

The patterns are both in the Wingspan for Loom Knitters e-book, which also has information on how to size your Wingspan from a scarf to a large shawl, and for using looms in 3/8, 1/2 and 3/4 inch gauges. 
I hope you will come join us for this fun project.

Kitten's Lost Mittens e-book: A collection of mitts and mitten patterns for loom knitters
$9.00 US  




Copyright 2014 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All Rights Reserved

November Looming

This month the Ravelry loom-a-long group is having an open house. For the first time, needle knitters have been invited to join the loom-a-long for the Dragon Tail Scarf. It has been a lot of fun, and there is already a loom-to-needle translation of the pattern. I think that the most interesting part is seeing the scarf on needles instead of on the loom. We even have dragon name generators to help name your project. The loom-a-long runs all through November, so please drop by the open house and say hello.
Also continuing is the Diamond Lace Shawl loom-a-long, a pattern by Anne Bipes. This has been a very popular pattern, and everyone has enjoyed making it very much. As always, the Leafy Sea Dragon and Artist's Palette Shawl have their "on-going" loom-a-longs, so if you are working on those patterns, this is the place for you to share your projects, ask questions, and visit with the nice people on Ravelry.

Just off my looms is the shawl in the photo. It is a crescent shaped shawl made on the 120 peg round afghan loom in 1/2 inch gauge. The yarn is a "graduate" dyed fingering weight yarn that starts with a tweedy brown, and gradually changes into the autumn shades. I keyed the changes in the lace pattern to the changes in the yarn color. What's on your loom?

The Artist's Palette Shawl e-book  $8.00 US

Wingspan for Loom Knitters e-book $8.00 US


Loom Knit Shawls Vol. II e-book $12.00 US  

Copyright 2013 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All Rights Reserved.

Putting Some Spine Into It

 You may not know it, but putting a spine into a loom knit shawl is not so easy. In a needle knit pattern, the spine down the center of a triangular shawl is created by working yarn-overs as the shawl is knit from the center, outward. There are two general needle knit shawl structures; one starts from the top center of the shawl, with just a few stitches. Stitches are "picked up" along the edges of a small section of garter stitch, and the shawl is worked outward, increasing both sides at once, until the bottom edge is reached. Try this on a loom....

The second needle knit shawl style starts at the bottom, with hundreds of stitches cast on, and the shawl created by working with an ever decreasing amount of stitches towards the center. Neither is a practical way of making a shawl on a loom, and you can tell this because there is not a pattern for the loom that makes a "top down" or "bottom up" shawl.  I tried to worked out shawl patterns that created the same look, by using the short rows to create the appearance of a center spine. In the first two photos, Peaceful Day Shawl and Sweet on Ruffles Shawlette , you  see the center spine created by the short rows, with both the shawls made on a hat loom using less than 66 pegs.

 In the third photo, the aqua shawl, the necessity of balancing the two different yarns and the color changes led to a different spine. In the Travel By Rail Shawl, color changes create a striped spine,  that defines the center of the shawl, without the appearance of yarn overs.

 In the fourth photo, the "Steamer Shawl" has an eyelet stripe down the center. This is a much larger, defined spine. For this shawl, I had planned to have the spine match the eyelet rows on either side, and have ribbons run through all of the eyelets. In the end, I left the ribbons out of the center.

 The next photo shows a spine with an entirely different purpose. For the American Paris Shawl, the spine is off center, and needed to both define a new section of the shawl, as well as coordinate with the eyelet sections of the stitching. A single row of eyelets was worked at a color change point to create this appearance.

The last photo, of a shawl still on the loom, shows the evolution to no spine at all. When blocked, this will be an seamless heart shaped lace shawl. Although it is worked in 4 distinct sections, it has the appearance of a full sized, one piece shawl. It is made on 58 pegs of a hat loom. So, the question remains for me, now that we loomers have looms with large numbers of pegs readily available, is it still important to worry about spines and shawls made within the confines of a hat loom? I think the answer is yes. It will not be practical to work on a 400 peg loom and manipulate hundreds of stitches for decrease/increase rows (within the row of stitches.) Short rows are a fabulous, easy solution for loom knitters to create shapes, in any stitch pattern, on a small number of pegs. And we have all the spines a needle knitter could ever want. 

Loom Knit Shawls: From Simple to Sublime  ebook $12.00 US 
Copyright 2012 by Invisible Loom, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved.