Knitting, not just for grandma's anymore!

 

I have always love any kind of crafting, creating, painting, or any kind of making. I learned to knit and very poorly crochet when I was about 10-years-old and still to this day don't have any complete projects to show for that phase of my crafting.

For Christmas this year, from my soon-to-be sister-in-law(who is adorably awesome) I got one of these bad boys!

I have been loving it! It is very simple and the possibilities are endless! You can use any yarn colors or weights. Each variation creates a different look!

Here is how it works:
1. To get started wrap the yarn around the two pegs on the very end. This is to keep the yarn stable while you are wrapping around the rest of the pegs. At this point you may use two different yarn strands at the same time for a thicker scarf, or you may use one for a lighter scarf with a more open knit pattern. I am using one here.

2. Next, take the yarn (still attached the to spool) to the left of the first peg on the top and wrap around so the yarn is crossing once.

3. Continue the figure 8 pattern by taking the strand down to the left of the bottom peg. Then start the pattern over again on the next top and bottom pegs.

4. Continue with the pattern until the last two pegs. Once you reach the bottom peg, take that string back up to the top peg and wrap around once more and continue the figure 8 pattern going the other way.

5. The strings should look like they are going the same way.

6. When you get all the way back to the peg you started with, finish the figure 8 pattern and wrap around one of the holding pegs to keep the strings tight while you start knitting.

The loom should look like this from the side.

7. With your loom tool(it should come with your loom, but if it does not they sell these separately at wal-mart for about a dollar) take the bottom over the top string and over the peg. The top string should remain on the peg.

 

8. Do this for every peg on both sides of the loom. It should look like this when you are finished.

9. Unwrap the end of the yarn from the holding peg and take it directly from the last peg you used in the first pass to start another figure 8 pattern by starting to the left of the peg directly across from it.

10. Continue the figure 8 pattern until the end of the loom. Wrap the yarn around a holding peg while to repeat step number 3.

11. Once all of the bottom strands are brought over the pegs, use your finger to push the yarn down to make room to start a new row.

Your loom should look like this, and you'll be ready to start the figure 8 pattern over again!  

 

If your yarn ball runs out or gets knotted up, simply tie a new strand tightly to the old one and keep going. You can also use this technique to change colors(a cute color block scarf would be easy)!

 

If you want to make a skinnier scarf, or anything else, you can use the same loom and create a different look by only using the loom to the half way point!

 

Happy Knitting!

 

 

Check out some of my projects using a knitting loom:

 Coming Soon! :)

 

 

Next up: Mario Question Mark Box pillow tutorial