Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Loom Knit Shawls: From Simple to Sublime

Finished!  I hope you all will enjoy "Loom Knit Shawls: From Simple to Sublime".
   $12.00 US  ebook

Five loom knit shawl patterns and their variations will take you from a simple small shawlette on a large gauge loom, to a delicate lace weight yarn confection made on a ½ inch gauge loom. All the patterns may be made on a single 60 peg ½ inch gauge hat loom.

Variations include yarn weights of lace, fingering, DK, worsted or bulky. Designs vary from simple garter rows to beautiful flowers and geometric treasures. Shape your shawls in a classic full V-back, a long ruffed crescent, a Faroese half circle, or a petite shawlette.

$12.00 PDF download includes multiple files: a 52 page, large print version; 20 page, 12 point paper saver; and a separate photo gallery file, to let you print the patterns the way you like to use them.

The Patterns
1. “Sweet on Ruffles
This sweet little shawlette is a great way to loom knit a shawl if you are not quite ready to work with finer weight yarns, or want a fast, simple project. The shaping techniques used for a larger V-back shawl are the similar to the shaping used for this shawlette, but you are working with bulky or worsted weight wool, depending on your loom size. This pattern is perfect for learning short row ruffles, practicing blocking, and enjoying working with a pretty variegated yarn. The shawlette may be worn with the point in the front, tucked into a jacket, or with the point in the back, showing off your ruffles. The “simple” version of the pattern omit’s the ruffle.


2. “Peaceful Day Shawl
Peaceful is a large, one piece V-back shawl made on a 60 peg, ½ inch gauge knitting loom. After blocking, a small crochet edging may be added to the shawl. The lace rows may be placed any where you please within the shawl pattern, or omitted entirely in the “simple” version.


3. “Diamonds in the Ruff(les)”
Diamonds is a long, crescent shaped shawl that wraps around, and around your shoulders. It is made on a ½ inch gauge loom with 59 pegs. Diamonds may be loomed “simply” without the diamond lace panel. With the lace panel, a beautiful design is centered across your back, topped by gentle ruffles. Without the lace panel, softly shaped crescent shawl with a gentle ruffled edge is created.

4. “Hydrangea Petal Lace
Light as air, Hydrangea may be made in lace weight yarn using 58 pegs on a ½ inch gauge loom. Hydrangea is a full V shaped shawl that will fold delicately into a lovely neckerchief or wrap around all the way around your shoulders and back. If you are not ready to work with lace weight yarn, make a “simple” version of the Hydrangea with fingering weight yarn and use the 50 peg option given in the pattern.

5. “My Fair Faroese

My Fair Faroese is a half-circle shape made in 5 sections. To create a Faroese on a knitting loom, the shawl is loomed from one corner to the other, using 4 triangles and a straight center section. My Fair Faroese createsDK weight yarn.

Photos are in the previous post, "Almost".
Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Almost

Diamonds in the Ruff(le) crescent shawl

 Hydrangea Petal Lace Shawl
 Sweet on Ruffles Shawlette
 Peaceful Days Shawl
My Fair Faroese
The patterns are almost ready. All will have some variation, to make them a little more simple or fancy, lighter weight or heavier weight yarn, smaller or larger size. One loom will make all of the shawls - a 1/2 inch gauge with about 66 pegs. I hope you like the photos. PS to Kathie: I used my CinDwood 66 peg, 1/2 inch gauge, hat loom to make the shawls. The Shawlette was made on both the CinDwood and the Purple KK hat loom. Any 1/2 inch gauge loom will work, including the Markman half size and the DA regular sett.  And all are made in one piece.
Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Looming on the Net

 October will be a wonderful month for looming! The first photo shows what the loom class group at yahoogroups will be featuring; two beautiful new patterns from the Loom Lady, Brenda Meyers. The first  is a lovely "Falling Leaves Scarf", and the second project will be sweet pumpkin "loom"iaries. Brenda is a wonderful teacher, and it will be a treat to have her patterns for the class.
Over at Ravelry, the Loom-a-long for October will be a beautiful Fall themed table runner. The pattern is from Bethany Daily of Gettin' It Pegged, who will also be hosting the loom-a-long. Bethany's sweet new book, "Loom Knitting for Little People" has just been published, another treat for October loomers.
Just off of my loom, a faroese shawl in a pretty half circle shape. The photo shows the shawl being blocked.
Happy Looming!
Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy, all rights reserved.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Tea on Tuesday

 No time for tea today! We have a holiday dinner tomorrow night, and a very large chocolate mocha honey cake is in the oven, a pizza on the way home with my husband. I do have a few more shawl photos to share with you. The first photo shows the Peaceful Day shawl blocking. After it blocked, I added a little crocheted ruffle to it in a contrasting purple.
The second photo shows the Fareose shaped shawl on the loom. It is coming along very nicely, although I banged my head on the wall pretty well over this one. I think it will be a lovely shawl now, and it is the last pattern to be written for the shawl project. A little more testing on the small ruffled shawl, and then editing and photos - and finally patterns! 
Thank you to all of you who have sent me such wonderful, encouraging notes about the shawls. It keeps me working hard ☺
Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy, all rights reserved.

Friday, September 16, 2011

On and Off the Loom

I have more photos of "the shawl project" to share with you today. The first photo shows the pink Hydrangea Petal Lace Shawl being blocked. It was made from 50 pegs, and blocked to 64 inches by 28 inches.




The second photo is shows a large V-back shawl on my 66 peg 1/2 inch gauge CinDwood loom. The center point of the shawl is at the bottom right of the photo. The yarn is Knit Picks City Tweed in Plum Wine, a soft blend of merino and alpaca in a DK weight. The shawl has simple lace rows that will follow the "V" shape when it is blocked out. I'm planning to add a little crochet edging in a contrasting color.
The last photo shows the Diamonds in the Ruff(les) shawl being blocked. This shawl was made on 58 pegs, and blocked out to over 75 inches. It wraps around and around for a wonderful effect, with the lace displayed nicely across the back.
I'm about to cast on the last of the "shawl project" shawls. I've made the doll size model, and I just have to decide on the yarn.
What's on your loom? Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved.                                                                       

Monday, September 12, 2011

A Loom Mystery

Just off my loom, the first photo shows an unblocked pink Hydrangea Petal Lace Shawl.  This version was made from a fingering weight yarn, using only 50 pegs on a 1/2 inch gauge loom.  The second photo is my loom mystery. The pegs and loom piece are from the new Martha Stewart loom. The mystery is what size and gauge is this loom?  There are two peg sizes. The pegs come separately from the loom, and fit firmly into the peg slots. I've lined them up in the photos with my tactile measuring tape to give you a general idea of how the pegs measure in different configurations.
Starting from the left side: Two large pegs next to each other have a very narrow opening for yarn. A fingering weight will fit between them, but the pegs are very large, so I'm not sure what kind of fabric this combination will make.The next combination is two large pegs with an empty peg slot between them. This appears to be larger than the yellow Knifty Knitter, about 7/8 inch gauge.  One large and one small peg have about a 3/8 inch spacing, but the peg sizes are different enough that the fabric made will be uneven. Two small pegs with one empty peg space between them are 3/4 inch space, and are pretty close in size to the pegs on the old long Knifty Knitters. Last, the two small pegs have about a 3/8 inch space, similar to the "small" gauge.
For comparison, I've lined up the Martha pegs with my Markman Adjustable looms. The Markman large gauge (3/4 inch) is smaller than the large pegs on the Martha.
The Markman 1/2 inch gauge is larger than the two small Martha pegs. There is no 1/2 inch equivalent on the Martha loom, which disappoints me, as this is my favorite gauge.
The Markman small gauge is similar to the Martha loom with two small pegs next to each other. So, is our mystery solved? Maybe. Martha's loom appears to have a 7/8 gauge, a 3/4 gauge,  and a 3/8 gauge (extra large, large and small). The Martha loom is "semi-adjustable", allowing for you to make a fixed loom in many different configurations. It is not an adjustable loom - it will not let you change the number of pegs you are using while you are working on a project. But it does give you a greater number of pegs and options. Hopefully there will be a few more configurations and peg sizes coming to fill in the gaps between the peg sizes. Overall, I'm pleased to have this loom, and look forward to trying some of the lace pieces I've been working on in the 3/8 inch gauge on the Martha loom.
Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Tea on Tuesday

Tea this week includes a beautiful skein of Alpaca yarn sent to me by Regina of Howling Wolf Herbs. 375 yards of a deep brown fingering Alpaca that is soooooo soft! Regina is an avid loom knitter, who has a beautiful site with wonderful herbal products and yarn. Thank you so much Regina! On my loom, but nearing the end, the diamond and ruffle shawl is shown in the second photo. This pattern is part of the "shawl project", and will have both a simple and more challenging version. This version has a lace inset, and is made in fingering weight yarn. A simpler version can be made in heavier weight yarn without the lace inset, to make a simple crescent shawl with a gentle ruffle along the edges.
Here is a close-up photo of the diamond lace inset, which makes the pattern a little more challenging (but not too hard, I promise.) And now for tea: this past week, we enjoyed this pear pie with Bartlett pears right off our tiny pear tree.
Our Pear Tree Pie


dough for a double crust deep 9 inch pie
8 - 9 ripe pears, peeled and cut into small chunks
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a pie pan with dough (I like a deep dish clear glass pan,) chill until needed. Combine the pears, brown sugar, nutmeg, almond extract and salt. Taste for sweetness, add a little sugar if needed. Add flour and mix well. Pour pear mixture into prepared pie pan. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust. Place on a lined baking sheet. Bake in lower part of the oven for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 40 minutes more, until pie crust is lightly browned and filling is bubbly. Cool and enjoy!

Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved.