Nadina’s Free online knitting patterns

When you wrap the pegs of the loom (or cast on), be sure to not wrap the pegs too tightly or you won’t be able to knit off (lifting the bottom wrapped loop over the top wrapped loop on the pegs of the loom). I always put my opposite thumb down on the yarn (to regulate tension) while wrapping the pegs of the loom, but some people use their knitting tools the same way. Too loose of a tension isn’t good either. Getting the right tension takes practice, so don’t give up. I always hold the hook part of the knitting tool up while knitting off.

What kind of slippers do you like to knit? Tube style or with heels?
I am going to make the slippers the way I make my bath mitts on the little blue loom, using Red Heart Grande yarn, which is very chunky. I use the blue loom and do a flat piece for 20 rows, then switch to the whole loom doing a tube for
20 rows and gather like a hat. I sew up the back of the flat piece and I have a slipper:) The number of rows will vary with the
size that I need (I play by the ear). Then, I crochet around the edges to make them look better
or knit. What ever I want to do…

I find Kathy Norris’ book I Can’t Believe I’m Loom Knitting (Leisure Arts #5250) a great source for patterns for any knifty knitter loom

Baby Booties, made on any knifty knitter loom

Yarn: -two strands of four ply yarn Red Heart Ocean

Cast on to twelve pegs.
Single knit stitch, one row over one row knit back and forth, making a flat piece.

Knit until your flat piece measures three inches. Bring up for cuff. Let beginning yarn end hang and
will take care of later.

Knit three more inches until your flat piece measures six inches.

Remove from loom with gathering method with long yarn end.
Knot and secure end. Sew up side until you get to the cuff. Knot and secure.
Take yarn ends from beginning and bring one strand to other side of cuff.
Knot two yarn ends together. Make a bow and trim excess.

Two and half inches wide. Six inches in length with cuff up,
Four inches in length with cuff down.

I LOVE my Circular Solution needle cases…one for DPs and one for circulars…you can get them from most of the vendors online. They have the sizes marked on the pockets so it is easy to see which sizes I need to buy more of… Actually I was lucky enough to get one (from the creator) that did not have the sizes marked…so I could arrange it just the way I wanted to…
The best, I’ve found, have compartments to organize the needles and a zipper around the perimeter to keep them closed.
Others roll up and have a tie around the middle, also with organizing compartments. The big drawback, I’ve found, is the expense–they are usually FAR more expensive than I want/can afford to pay. My solution is to scour flea markets, sidewalk sales, resale shops, etc., and also E-Bay!
Give it a try– you’ve got nothing to lose, and might get a great “find” for your trouble! (By the way, if one can sew on a fair-to-middling basis, the roll-up kind wouldn’t seem too hard to make on your own!)

There is nothing wrong with knit casting onto the needles. It is the way I have cast on for many years. When you do, try this, it makes for a neater cast. Put the loop on your left needle, start by knitting into that loop and pull yarn through, then up over left needle (2 loops on left needle). From that point on, instead of going directly to the loop (as you would when knitting), place right needle BETWEEN loops on left needle, yarn over, draw through, and place loop over left needle. Going between the loops on the hook makes the edge much neater.

Pulling a loop THROUGH the stitch to cast-on a stitch is called the Knitted Cast-On and pulling a loop BETWEEN two stitches to
cast-on a stitch is called the Cable Cast-On. You can read about A LOT of ways of knitting in Montse Stanley’s Knitter’s Handbook

So here’s my $.02 on the idiot’s guide…

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Knitting & Crocheting, by Gail Diven & Cindy
Kitchel

Very good instructions & pictures of how to do cast on, knit, purl, increase, decrease, bind off. It also goes into knitting in the
round, fair isle, intarsia. Other sections on how to fix boo-boos such as dropped or twisted stitches, guage, and a discussion of different yarns & needles. 3 projects are included to use the skills as you learn them: a knitted dishcloth (increase/decrease), a scarf (knit/purl/counting stitches), and a hat (knitting in the round).

I would recommend this book to someone just learning how to knit—in fact I just used it to learn how to crochet, and it was clear & entertaining. I lent it to another woman who wanted to learn how to crochet, and she’s doing very well with it, too. But using it as a reference for either knit or crochet? I honestly cannot see myself ever opening it again, now that the
basics have been learned. A wonderful book to get someone started, but it’s a book that could be outgrown rather quickly.

I can tell you it’s not so easy to sew on buttons, especially with some of the interesting buttons you can get today!
You dont want the buttons you sew on a cardigan to look loose and dangly…Sometimes the chosen buttons can be too heavy for the knitted fabric. (This is fairly common with heavy pewter or other relatively heavy metal buttons.) The easiest way I’ve found around it is to sew on a smaller “backing button” along with the main button, but on the back of the buttonband. This goes a long way to stabilize the flopping button, and also keeps the knitted fabric more stable. The backing button can be an inexpensive plastic button that matches the buttonband color as closely as possible.

SO: Reinforcing with a clear plastic button (on the buttonband’s wrong side) will help prevent your knitting from stretching out when you wear your sweater buttoned.

This is especially helpful with soft, less stretchy yarns like cashmere and alpaca.