Friday, December 12, 2008

Some More Caps!



This picture isn't too close to the real color...more a pine green than it seems here. The first few caps I knitted on the round loom by looping one single row of yarn loops over another single row of yarn loops (I'm not a real knitter, remember? I totally cheat with the round loom, and yet, success!!) I noticed that this produced a light sort of cap with a lot of breathing room ...spaces, if you will...in the finished products.
I wondered what would happen if I did two rows of loops over two rows of loops instead? I had to relax the tension as I went, or they wouldn't reach when I tried to ease the bottom loops over the top ones. What it produced was a much thicker cap, with a nice squishy thick feel to it...not as easy to expand. It held its shape well and the ridged pattern that happens was better defined.
For some reason this dark green cap just gave me a lot of problems. I had to take it apart a couple of times and this was the first cap where I tried making the rim, or band, or whatever it's called. But hey, I did it! When at last it was about finished and I was pulling the final piece of yarn drawstring-style together to finish the top, I heard a slight (and sickening) pop, and there were all the little loops sticking straight up, not held together anymore. I had pulled the drawstring too tight, and it had popped in two. I gingerly took the yarn hook and threaded it through the exposed loop ends and then went through the painstaking process of picking through every single one of them and pulling a thicker piece of yarn through each one. I took my time. Finally finished! And then I found that when I gave the cap to Jack to try on, since the yarn was thicker, there wasn't as much "give" as with the single-looped caps and it felt tight on his head.
I told him his head must have grown and that's what he gets for having the big head, ha! Ah well shucks, I was really wanting this one to be for him. Time to pull out the Big Head loom I guess? heh heh





This one was fun! It was my experiment with alternating colors to create stripes, and these were the only two colors I had left. I like it! I used two loop over two loop for the blue and three loops over three loops for the thinner brown yarn. Because the blue had more stretch to it, it's a nice flexible cap. I had fun with it :)








Not sure why, but this one was my favorite this week. Maybe it's because it's my first time trying this "fat yarn" but it's likely the muted colors that for some reason my eyes kept going back to. I love the way the rows stand out...on this cap I used two rows of loops over two rows of loops and got a very thick cap. There's not a lot of stretch to it, but the up side is that it holds its shape really well and is one of the neater looking rolled edge caps I've made.
Again, I can't believe I'm making anything real so soon in this process. Yay for the Knifty Knitter round looms! If I can make this, a five year old can!
Anyway, thought I'd share these pics. My daughter is making off with the final goods so I got some shots while I could :)
I find it really relaxing to work on these while relaxing. They are easy to do with other distractions going on around. In fact, I think knitting with the round loom actually helps me relax. It might be time soon to save a few nickels and check into the other handheld loom that makes scarves and rectangular shapes so I can knit up some matching sets, woo!
Now all I need is about two dozen cats, some little lace doilies, and a sturdy pair of house slippers and I can be the crazy cat lady who knits and talks to herself, ha :)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good work. I just started my first hat with the looms. I am using double strands so we'll see how it comes out! Anyhow, yours look great!

Michelle said...

Hey, we knitters are NOT crazy cat ladies! But you are crazy-productive with that loom thingy; congratulations! I need to get all my materials together for travel knitting; must have travel knitting when I travel!

Judy T said...

Those are beautiful! I'm being frustrated with the real thing. I saw one of those looms at the thrift store a few weeks ago- now I'm kicking myself that I didn't get it. I wonder if it's still there....

Robbyn said...

Thanks, Warren...can't wait to see your experiments! I wrapped two courses of the pegs, then another two courses, then pulled the bottom ones overthe top ones. I have no idea what other things I can try, but I liked dabbling with it a bit :)

Michelle...lol!! Nah, only CERTAIN knitters have true cat lady potential...hope it's not me, haha
You're right...I found something that is Robbyn-proof and I'm going to town with it because I can't believe I'm actually making something!! I have no clue how to knit at all, so this is progress :)

Unknown said...

Leg Warmers? I made some for my daughters ~ blue for Annon with blue wrist warmers & beige for bem. bem will get hers when she comes to visit. I made the boys wrist warmers last year & Llyw (my Goth son) still loves his & uses them. Could you go back & forth for a few rows instead of going round the loom? If so, wrist warmers are incredibly easy ~ I'll post the pattern I use on my wordpress blog when I get round to it (trying to add photos to the leg warmer post at the moment). The pattern is for a set of dp needles, but they act as a round loom would, so if you have a small enough 1, the pattern should work...

Anonymous said...

Umm, I have 5 cats & I knit. Admittedly only 1 is welcome in the house as she thinks that she's a dog, or at least a doggy-go-to-sleep-cuddle-toy! & she doesn't skank (steal) like the others do.
This is Killi using my wp signing, so you can get to that blog