Author Archives: Denise

About Denise

A stay at home mom of four, who homeschools, changes a lot of diapers.. minds the dog and in her spare time knits on her knitting boards and looms and occasionally picks up some knitting needles too..

The Striped Shawl

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So I showed this striped shawl the other day.. that was one of my commissioned pieces!
I made it for Authentic Knitting Board to be included in one of their kits.. you can find it here: Harvest Lace Shawl Pattern Kit

The pattern is there for download as well. I liked it so much I will make another one.. which is going to be a prayer shawl! One of these days I will also make one for myself!


That shelf is part of my new crafty work area.. I am awaiting the big piece to finish putting it all together! I pre- ordered a Workbox 3.0!! I can’t wait to have it set up completely and have a lot of my stuff organized in one place! This little shelf is a good start. Now I finally have all my knitting books and magazines together!

So What Have I Been up To?

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Wow! It’s been a while.. I have been knitting and working and many of you may have seen my latest book that came out last year!

If not here it is!

I like this one it was fun to knit hats! They are a quick and easy project! My favorite is the one on the top left with the flower pin!! So easy that one!

Another thing I have been doing is knitting a lot of prayer shawls and a few items for commission. I have knitted a log cabin blanket, a mermaid tail and a whole whack of prayer shawls.

Lately, I have been researching for another book project with my mother, that is a bit different than my other ones. It has involved, and will involve, some travel to go see some really neat items! I can’t talk about it just yet… but I can’t wait to share it with you!

I have also been starting on a journey to make my home healthier! Eliminating chemicals and cleaning naturally by using essential oils and other products. I am going to try to start blogging a bit more often. At least once a week and updating the site so keep watching this space!

Zippy Looms Turn a Corner!

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As you know I have been busy!! So busy I haven’t had much time to play with the new Zippy looms even though when I first saw them I thought I have found a perfect match for my monster ball of yarn.

IMG_4614But I digress! This week Knitting Board came out with a nice little addition to the Zippy loom line; corners!!

!cid_ii_150b9d0304bd48e4This is great! So now not only can we make flat pieces with the Zippy loom but items knit in the round.

One tip on putting it together, go ahead and put three sides and all four corners like this:

put togetherThen the last side should be slid in from the front like shown. The KB Looms logo will be on the outside edges of the loom, and there are some small arrows at each end of the side pieces will be on the inside of the loom.

So of course I had a little fun with this new toy!

I made a little tablet cozy, easy peasy. It took me about 45 minutes.

IMG_4616This is just a little garter stitch with some slipped stitch action! I love slipped stitches, they give a little fun texture to a piece and are super easy.. you just take the working yarn behind the peg and skip that peg.

I used my one shawl pin to close up  my cozy, but you can add buttons if you like and with these big stitches you don’t need to make button holes.

IMG_4618So here is how you make it:

Materials

4 Zippy looms

1 set of Zippy loom corners

100 yards of  bulky yarn

Loom tool

Optional:buttons or other closure hardware

 

With yarn held doubled, cast on 20 stitches.

Round 1: Knit all stitches

Round 2: *Purl 2, skip 1 repeat  from * to last two stitches purl 2

(Note: I recommend marking the pegs that you will slip as this will help when making the flap)

Repeat these two rows until the piece is the desired length to keep your tablet cozy ending on row 1.

Next row, knit 15 stitches, bind off 10 stitches,10 stitches remain.

Next row: Purl 1, skip 1, work in pattern slipping the marked pegs until the last stitch, Knit and turn to start next row.

Next row: Slip the first stitch and knit to the end of the row.

Continue in pattern, as for the body of the bag, until the flap is about 4 inches long ending with row 2.

Bind off all stitches.

Weave in the ends

Sew the bottom of the bag together

Add buttons if desired!

I hope you enjoy this little pattern and the Zippy loom corners as much as I do. I see quite a few fast knits in my future!

But as Levar Burton always says on Reading Rainbow, don’t just take my word on it! A few of my friends have tried out the new Zippy Loom corners and written up some patterns for you to enjoy:

Isela Phelps has a few goodies here!

Bethany has an adorable fall hat here!

Renita Harvey has a bit ‘o holiday fun!

And Jenny Stark has something terrific for you, too!