HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL

Hello everyone, after a long hiatus due to router, computer and digital camera issues, I'm back, and I haven't been slacking off in the knitting department while I was off line! I will be catching up the next two posts on what I've been doing all this time, and then I'll discuss what I'm working on now.

First, you may recall that I had been working on a skeleton costume. Well, it turned out that I was unable to get enough yarn to complete the project, so I finished making the shirt:

I had started out using Bernat Glow in the Dark yarn, but wound up finishing with Nightlights Glow in the Dark Yarn, which has a slightly lighter gauge. For whatever reason glow in the dark yarn must have been big last Fall, because I could not get more than a few skeins of it, and small skeins at that. I did the best I could with what I had. You will notice that on one sleeve, the arm bone is one long continuous bone; I wanted to see what it would look like if I just knit one long bone instead of separating them like on the other sleeve. As far as the digital camera is concerned, I no longer had access to the one which had a candlelight setting on it as freely as I had in the past, so I bought a cheap replacement camera that I thought would do the same thing. I should have known better, and I wasn't able to invest in another camera right away. Once I was able to get access to the camera with the candlelight setting again, I took this picture:

And here it is using some enhanced settings in the photo retouch program I use:

My November project was a time consuming one indeed, but one I take great joy in seeing the finished product: a cornucopia!

Yes, it's true, knitted cornucopias have been done before, but I've never seen one using raffia on the loom! I bought a couple of packages of raffia to work with, and found that it wrapped the pegs on the loom quite well. As long as I didn't wrap it too tightly, the raffia was flexible enough to work with without breaking. I simply knotted the strands together and knit with them, making for a more rustic and rough look:

Side and top view:

I used all of the round looms in the Knifty Knitter set, knitting a little on each one at a time and then joining the pieces together. To create the curl at the back of the horn, I turned one of the sections I was working on as if I was knitting a sock. Then I sewed two sections near the top of the cornucopia together. It really wasn't too hard to make, but you will want to use it in a well ventilated area. Raffia has a scent that some people may not like as they work with it. It didn't bother me though.

Then I knit the harvest bounty:

You may recall that I posted about making apples and pumpkins before on the loom, and I used the same techniques to make them. Simple on the round loom for the body, stuffed with batting, and I made the leaves for the apples on the straight loom, and the stems for the pumpkins on the spool loom, and sewed them on. The apple stems are just braided bits of brown yarn.

For the gourd I tried a new technique. I knew I wanted to use the flower loom to make the large end of the gourd, and I knew I wanted to use yellow and green yarn to make it. For the skinny "neck" of the gourd, I knew I wanted to use the large end of the spool loom. But instead of making the two pieces separately and joining them, I used a threaded yarn needle to remove the bottom end of the gourd from the flower loom and simply knit off the extra loops on pegs with the same colors as I placed the loops onto the spool loom. The flower loom and the spool loom don't have the same number of pegs, so it was necessary to decrease in this way for this technique. It made for a more unified look, and I used the same technique for a Christmas project I will discuss in the next post.

The corn I have made before using the round loom. This time I used the spool loom to make two small ones, stuffed them with batting and attached raffia to the top for the husk.

For the grapes, I cast on the 5 peg end of the spool loom and knit off 1 over 1 e wap stitches for 3 rows and then bind off. I made 20 grapes this way. The stem is simply bits of braided brown yarn.

I carefully knotted the tail from one end of the grape to the stems, and voila! The leaf was simple to make using the straight loom.

And there you have it!

Next time: Holiday projects!

Skeleton Shirt Half Done

Here's my progress so far:

I plan to make one more row of ribs and then the clavicle. On the side anchor pegs I will begin making the holes for the sleeves. I hope to have it completed by the next post. The pants shouldn't take too long to complete. It has been fun making it, but especially seeing the "bones" as they are completed. It's coming out so well, it's scary! : ) Can't wait to see it with the lights out...

There's a Skeleton In My Closet

Well, ok, it isn't really in my closet... it's on my loom! For Halloween I decided to create a skeleton costume, using the long straight blue loom on all pegs (including the corner pegs) and a giant ball of Loops & Threads Impeccable Big Worsted Black yarn, with Bernat Glow in the Dark yarn for the bones (to make it even more creepy when trick or treating). I'm winging it, based on what I already know about creating shirts on the loom. Here is the pattern I drew up:

Each week I will post a little more of the progress until the costume is done. So far I cast on with the Glow yarn 1 over 2 stockinette stitch and knit off 15 rows. I plan to sew in an elastic band later, so this will stop the stockinette curl. Some of you more accomplished loom knitters could probably add the elastic band while you put the loops of yarn from the cast on row back onto the loom to knit off a "brim" with the elastic band enclosed inside. Right now I want to get the costume finished so it can be ready in time. I'm making pants to go with it. I decided to make this costume large enough to fit over a pair of black pants and long sleeve black shirt for my 6 year old daughter. She wants to be a princess, but I figured she wouldn't mind modeling it once it's done.

The spine is 4 pegs wide, knit for 25 rows, and the bones go from 16 to 20 pegs wide for 7 rows, and I plan to make 3-4 rows of them, depending on how many I can fit on the size shirt I am making. It will probably wind up being just 3 bones, since I need to leave space at the top for the clavicle bone. Here's a close up of the ribs so far:

I got a new digital camera, and so far I am not thrilled with the pictures it takes, but it will have to suffice for now. I'm hoping that the glow effect will be visible with this new camera.