In the movie A Christmas Story, Ralphie’s aunt
sends him a homemade pink bunny suit for Christmas. To Ralphie's humiliation, his mother makes him wear it. I don’t want to do the
equivalent of that to any of my friends or loved ones. If I give you a
gift of a craft, let me know if it is ugly or unsuitable. [Please be gentle,
though. Crafters put much love and time into what they do. In my past, I have
stomped, ungraciously, on many toes because I didn’t understand that about
crafters.]
If
you have lived in Vermont in August, you understand the zucchini phenomenon.
Zucchini get big. Horribly, frighteningly big. And numerous.
[Insert dramatic
music: dunh dunh DUNNNNN!]
Gardeners
have no choice but to either let it rot on the vine [pretty close to a cardinal
sin] or to give it away.
[Insert
dramatic music: dunh dunh DUNNNNN!]
Lest
my friends and loved ones run away screaming at a crafting equivalent of the
zucchini phenomenon, I make this pledge.
My pledge to my friends:
1.
I will not make you a project out of scraps of
yarn.
2.
If it is variegated yarn, I will be careful to
match it to your coloring and style.
3.
Oh, I don’t know. But there’s probably
something else I should promise.
Why did I choose Loom Knitting?
I
haven’t crafted with yarn for years. This year, I started again. I saw a loom
in a craft store. I thought about it for a couple months. Then I bought a set.
What
made me decide to try loom knitting?
I
recall telling a friend about why I stopped knitting. I explained that when I
made a scarf, it might start with a width of twelve inches and end up only
eight or ten inches wide. She suggested that I was dropping stitches. Perhaps,
but that wasn’t the real issue.
I
have a problem with tension.
I
break needles. Really. At least I used to. Metal knitting needles broke in
my hands. Plastic crochet hooks heated, melted and bent. And blisters, oy, the blisters!
The
loom gave me hope. In the recent past, I’ve dealt with a lot of anger, stress
and fear issues. Maybe the loom would be my enforcer. Maybe it would be my
gentle guide. In any case, it seemed like a good opportunity to see if my
successes in my spiritual life would lead to success in my knitting life. I fantasized
about not breaking needles, yarn or my skin. To see the fruit of my inner work would
be worth the twenty bucks! I bought the rectangular set.
Discoveries as a Knifty Knitter Knewbie
1. Buy a crochet hook immediately.
At
first, I thought I’d never have to pick up a crochet hook again. The looms came
with a hook device and a little yarn needle. I was all set.
At
home, I read the booklet that came with the loom. It said to use a crochet hook
and do something or other to remove the finished piece. Blah, blah, blah. I
work with computers. I know how to work around a problem. No crochet hook? No
problem.
I
pounded out my first scarf in an evening. With a knitting loom, the stitches
are large and you finish projects in a third of the time. It was late. I didn’t
need that crochet hook; I’d just use the hook and yarn needle.
Well,
I was very wrong about the crochet hook. When I took my first scarves off the
loom, they came out looking like factory seconds.
I
bought a crochet hook.
2. Knitting with a loom has proven close to
addictive for me. I spend a whole lot less time on facebook now.
Ergonomically,
however, one must be wise.
II
Samuel 23 tells of Eleazar, one of David’s mighty men. He fought so long and
hard that his hand got stuck to his sword.
9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite,
one of the three mighty men with
David, when they defied the Philistines that
were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away:
10 He arose, and smote the
Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and
the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him
only to spoil.
Remind
yourself to take breaks while knitting. The loom is actually friendlier to my
hands than a crochet hook or knitting needle. Even so, repetitive injury can
occur. Stretch a lot during your session, from your head and eyes down to your
fingers. A few “buttocks tucks” and “Kegels” might be good, too. (No one need
ever know about the latter.)
One
other possible risk is to your skin. I had a hangnail on the thumb of my
dominant hand. When wrapping yarn on the pegs, my thumb kept bumping the pegs.
Ow! ow! ow! ow! Be aware of your posture and the idiosyncrasies of your own
knitting style. For me, the awareness was all I needed. Listen to your body.
Knitting should cause joy, not pain.
A
benefit of loom knitting is that the pegs help keep the tension even. You
shouldn’t have to use much effort to slip the yarn over the pegs. If you are
getting a blister or the pegs are lifting out, you are using too much tension
in the yarn.
Fighting
the Philistines is one thing, but not being able to open your hand after a
session of knitting is another!
3. I call it the “sproing.” Some yarns
seem to have their own ideas when being forced to submit to the loom. The
scenario: I have just looped 51 loops onto my loom and am about to secure the
end piece of yarn when sproing! The
yarn unwinds itself rapidly and I have to do it all over again.
It’s
actually kind of funny, but if it happens to you a few times in a row, well, I
feel your pain.
4. Your personal space will increase with the
size of the loom. Be considerate of those sitting next to you, especially
if you are in church or at a lecture! I wouldn’t loom knit at an auction,
either.
5. The Pivot Point: when doing a small
project, it won’t seem to matter. When doing a long knit, however, you may find
the yarn and your project get twisty – and the sproings happen more often. Pick
one end of the loom and work back and forth with it (as opposed to going in
circles). The yarn and project will actually teach you this, so don’t fret
trying to wrap your brain around it.
6. Count rows from your very first project.
When I knit, I keep a pen and index card next to me. I mark the card with a
“tick” when I complete a row before I wrap a new row.
If
you are going to knit anything besides scarves, you do well to firmly establish
good counting habits. You can use a store-bought clicker or write it down,
whichever works better. Trust me, when you are making that first poncho or
vest, knowing the count will prevent uneven sides. (I didn’t count on my first
poncho. That’s why I know.)
7. Odd and even: Once you get started on a
project, you’ll notice something topographically beautiful starting to happen. Odd and even rows will
often correspond with working right to left or left to right. This is another
observation and you don’t have to fight to understand it. Your project will
teach you.
When
I’m loom knitting, I find that because of how I wrap my loom, I work left to
right on odd rows and right to left on even rows. I don’t bother to figure it
out until I’ve gone back and forth a few times, numbering my rows as I knit
them. I notice the pattern by row five or six.
Why
is this important? I’d love to say it’s because I’m a mathematical genius.
Whether I am a genius or not, I am interested in applying principles. Knowing
the correspondence of direction with odd/even numbering will be one more way to
help you keep track. In spite of diligent counting, even the most careful can
make mistakes.
8. If you do make a mistake, take heart. Either undo what you've done until you find the mistake or figure out how to repeat the mistake. A mistake repeated suddenly becomes a pattern. You knitting genius, you!
Remember, it's all about joy.
I
hope that employing these principles and suggestions will help you have fun
with your new hobby!
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