Loom Knitting an Ice Blue Cowl

 Ice Blue Cowl off the knitting loom.

Detail of the Ice Blue Cowl - Knit and Purl.

It really is knitting, though somehow, I feel like I'm cheating, and not really knitting without the traditional needles. 

I challenged myself to learn to knit this year.  I've been crocheting since I was a kid, but never really learned how to knit.  Now, with the wonders of Pinterest, I see so many patterns for knitted goods, and then I would get sad because they were too complicated, too beyond my abilities, too not-gonna-happen.  And then I thought, well, why not?  People learn to knit every day, and now with the wonders of You Tube, I can have at-home instruction for free anytime I want it.  And so it begins ...   I picked out patterns (Lots of patterns!) - I bought needles and supplies - and I watched some of those videos.  And still, the regular knitting came out as a jumbled mess.  I keep having to remind myself that anything worth learning, is worth doing poorly at first.  It will take practice.  And I would practice, and rip it out, and practice some more ...  and still put it down in discouragement.

I've been working on The Frigid Wind Infinity Cowl pattern because I thought it would be a good one for  a beginner.  I bought fat circular needles (Size 15 US) so I can knit in the round.  I bought some chunky light-colored yarn (not black) so I could more easily see the stitches as I'm learning.  Knitting and purling are easy enough, but the cast on got so curled and confused as the cord twisted and turned.  I tried to keep it straight, but it never quite worked.  I'm wondering if I cover that thin little cord with some surgical tubing, or something -- would it stay straight and stable?

What a mess!  I'll probably end up pulling this all out -- and this is the 4th or 5th try at it.

And then I tried loom knitting.    No needles, just a peg board and a pick.  The loom holds the tension nicely while you work.  And you're less likely to drop stitches.




Even the cast-on was a breeze.  I used this video by Good Knit Kisses showing the cable cast-on.  Quick, easy and elegant.  The yarn even sort of curls itself, giving you a clue for the next step of looping the adjacent peg.

Isn't that pretty!  And orderly and neat?

Good Knit Kisses has a very useful Loom Knitting Library on You Tube demonstrating many stitches and tasks.   Here are the 2 basics I started with : Knit and Purl.

 
 




The "diving for purls" mnemonic was very helpful for remembering which way to pull the yarn for purl stitches.  With this project, I've become very comfortable with knitting and purling on the knitting loom.

Here it is still on the loom.  The loom does stretch and distort it some, but it's remarkable how it comes back to it's natural shape with a little distance from the pegs.

Here's the view from the top.

I was having trouble keeping track of where I was in the pattern -- Was I supposed to knit or purl at that peg?   I wasn't really sure what the pattern was supposed to look like either, to even know if things were lining up properly with previous rows.    Nor how to tell if the stitch directly below was a Knit or a Purl.     It didn't seem to look like the pictures with the pattern.    I finally mapped out the pattern, and drew it out on graph paper.  That helped a lot!   I guess that means I know how to read a SIMPLE knitting pattern now.   This really helped me to keep on track.

I did a crochet bind-off as that seems to be very stable, and something I know how to do already.  And it looks nice. ;-)  I also did a crochet line on the bottom edge as the cast-on was loose and distorted.  The crochet helped to bring it back in line.

I also picked up some markers to mark the pegs when I needed to purl on any given row.  That helped me get in the groove, so to speak, and I could work more on auto-pilot without having to think so hard about what I was doing where.  That lets it be more of a working meditation.

 

I also purchased a loom knitting pick made by The Knitting Board.  It has a nice comfortable handle that made the process much easier.  The cheap picks that come with kits tend to hurt my hand after a while.

For future reference, here are the specifics of the yarn I used.

I know it's acrylic.  I think I'm going to steer back to the alpaca and wool now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing.

Knitting Checklist from Over the Rainbow Yarn.
I guess I need 2 knitting checklists -- 1 for Loom Knitting, and 1 for regular knitting with needles.

> For Loom Knitting, I can check off the following : 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 9- 11 - 12

> For Needle Knitting, I'm lagging behind : 1 - 2 - 3- 11 - 12