Soft Shadows Wrap - Pattern Preview

 Today's preview is of the "Soft Shadows Wrap". This wrap takes on a striking appearance from the contrasting  color and texture of the yarns, as well as its rather unusual shape.

 Wide bands of fluffy yarn are alternated with a long color stripe yarn. Shaping is all done by increasing and decreasing. The yarns are carried along the edges, so there are not a lot of ends to weave in.

 

At about 100 inches long, the wrap can be worn many different ways, and is quite fun to play with. 

 Best of all, any gauge loom and yarn weight may be used. The pattern has variations for 3/4, 1/2, and 3/8 inch gauge looms. The sample shown is made with fingering weight yarn on a 1/2 inch gauge loom.

Loom Knit Shawls Vol. II is almost ready - just a few more days. In the mean time, I hope you are enjoying the previews, and please come back tomorrow for the next pattern.
Copyright 2013 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All Rights Reserved.

Pattern Preview - Gemstones Wrap

 

 Today's preview is of the "Gemstones Wrap". This fun wrap, scarf or shawlette is a great way to try out your inner artist. The little gemstones can be as colorful or simple as you like. Try a two color version, or use a textured yarn with a smooth yarn. 

 

 The version shown here is made from Knit Pick's City Tweed DK yarn, on a 1/2 inch gauge loom using only 54 pegs. I used a sampler of the yarn for the contrast colors, and a nice sage for the main colors.

The wrap is fully adjustable in size, gauge, and yarn weight, so you may use your favorite loom and yarns for this fun pattern.

The Loom Knit Shawls Vol. II e-book will include both a large print (24 point font) version and a paper-saver (12 point font) version, as well as a full photo gallery, schematic diagrams of each shawl, and a cover. The .pdf files are e-reader friendly, and in plain text for screen reader compatibility.

Please come back tomorrow for the next preview.
Copyright 2013 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All Rights Reserved.

Fascination Cape - Pattern Preview

 Today is the first of seven pattern previews from Loom Knit Shawls II: Colorwork, Shapes and Lace. The pattern is for a lovely colorwork cape with an art deco influence, called the "Fascination Cape". 

The Fascination Cape is worked entirely in garter stitch, using a faroese shawl shape. This shape creates a lovely drape in the front of the cape, but keeps the back of the shawl even, without a center point. The pattern is written row by row, to make it less overwhelming. 

The cape is worked on a 1/2 inch gauge hat loom in one piece- no seaming at all. In fact, there are only 3 balls of yarn used throughout the pattern, so there are not a lot of ends to weave in. Color changes are marked with peg markers, to make it clear where they occur. Worsted weight yarn makes this a cozy, but not overly heavy cape.

An optional single button is used at the neck in the front of the cape, but a shawl pin or brooch will work as well to keep the cape in place. Come back tomorrow for more pattern previews.
Copyright 2013 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All rights reserved.

Loom Knit Shawls II - Almost

Loom Knit Shawls II: Colorwork, Shapes and Lace is almost ready for publication. I am very excited about this pattern collection, and hope you will like it as well. I will be previewing the patterns during the coming week, but here is a  peek at them today. 

Gemstones Wrap

Waves of Lace Shawl

Afternoon Shawl

Afternoon Shawl

Soft Shadows Wrap

Fascination Cape

Country Day Shawl

I will preview each of the patterns over the next week, and tell you all about the techniques, gauges, looms and yarn variations. The ebook will be available about March 1st.

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

January Looming

The Loom-a-long Group at Ravelry is having a lot of fun this month with a "bootie-a-long". We are working on baby booties all month, and February, too. There are three different patterns to try, each with different techniques. It is a great way to learn some new looming tricks, and perfect the ideal baby bootie pattern to have in your loom knitting library. The photo shows the first of two free patterns, "Flower Loom Footsies" designed by Jenny Stark, made on the Knifty Knitter 12 peg flower loom. These have a very clever cast-off and beautifully written tutorial well worth trying.  The other free pattern is from Beverly Qualheim of Bev's County Cottage, made on a 15 peg 1/2 inch gauge round loom. The purchased pattern is "Bethany's Booties" from Bethany Daily of Gettin' It Pegged. These little booties are just beautiful! Come join in the fun anytime this month or in February. 

Copyright 2013 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom, all rights reserved.

Bulking Up Color Change Yarn

Long color change yarns are a delight to work with, but they do present a challenge for loom knitters who work with larger gauge looms. Very few of these yarns are made in bulky weights. The photo above shows JoJoland Rhythm which is a worsted weight yarn. But many of these lovely yarns are fingering weight. Doubling or tripling the strands is not an option, because the color changes are different in each skein. So what to do if you want a heavier yarn? 
My solution up to now has been to run a solid color yarn along side the color change yarn. This was not a perfect option, because the while the weight of the yarn was increased, the colors were washed out. This second photo shows an example of a Zauberball yarn doubled with a cream solid.

A better option is to use a technique of "weaving" your yarn as you loom with it. This technique is often called "Navajo Knitting" or "Navajo Plying", after a yarn spinning technique. The idea is to loosely weave your yarn into a big chain, which triples the thickness, and creates a bulky weight yarn. This is an excellent option for long color change yarns, because it preserves the clarity of the color changes. It does, however, shorten the length of the color changes, a problem to solve another day. Here is a link to an article describing the technique of "Navajo Knitting".

Blooming Loom: Colorful Patterns for Loom Knitters  e-book $12.00  
Copyright 2012 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All rights reserved.

December Looming

December already. How did that happen? My looms have been busy this past month, working on my next project. The little pile of swatches you see in the first photo is the start of a loom knitting stitch pattern dictionary. This is a rather large project, and I've already discovered the work will go much slower than I first thought, but I think (hope) it will be something everyone will enjoy. If there is a stitch pattern you would like to see in the collection, leave me a name and link, and you never know :)

Behind the swatches is my latest shawl, since I always have at least one in the works. I'm hoping to have a "Loom Knit Shawls II" pattern collection in the new year. 

The 'net has some great December loom knitting for you. Loom-a-long group at Ravelry is working on one of my free patterns, Travel by Rail Cuffs. Please join in and try this pattern for a last minute gift idea. It is a nice, small project on which to learn to make a ruffle, and try a little lace work. The second loom-a-long is a wide open "holiday gift wrap up". No special patterns,  just come and share your loomy gift projects and get ready for the holidays. 

The Shapely Loom e-book:  $12.00 US 





Blooming Loom e-book: $12.00 US

Loom Knit Shawls e-book: $12.00 US  

Copyright 2012 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom. All Rights Reserved.