Valentine's Day

I really hadn't planned on making anything for Valentine's Day this year, but I was inspired by a close friendship to create a heart as a gift:

I knit this on the straight pink Knifty Knitter loom, starting at the bottom of the heart. I knit each heart panel separately and then sewed them together and stuffed them with batting. If you would like to make your own heart, here are the directions:

On one side of the loom , wrap the two center pegs (pegs 6 & 7) with a 1 over 2 stitch and knit off 3 rows. Increase by wrapping pegs 5 through 8 and knitting off 8 rows. Increase by wrapping pegs 4 through 9 and knitting off 12 rows. Increase by wrapping pegs 3 through 10 and knitting off 10 rows. Increase by wrapping pegs 2 through 11 and knitting off 18 rows. Increase by wrapping pegs 1 through 12 and knitting off 14 rows.

Then on the end of the loom with the working yarn, wrap 6 consecutive pegs starting with the end peg to the center peg. * Knit off 3 rows. Lift yarn from peg 6 to peg 5 and knit off. Lift yarn from peg 1 to peg 2 and knit off. Then on pegs 2 through 5, knit off 3 rows and bind off, leaving a 4" tail.

Then on the opposite end of the loom that still has yarn wrapped around the pegs, wrap 6 consecutive pegs starting with the end peg to the center peg. Follow from * above. This completes one heart panel. Repeat entire process to create another heart panel, then sew one side of the heart together along the outer edge. Partially stuff with batting. Continue to sew around the edge of the heart, but before you finish sewing the heart together make sure you have stuffed the heart with the desired amount of batting.

For the doily fringe, I used the green loom. Cast on 1 over 2 on 48 pegs (including 1 corner peg).Knit off 5 rows. Then starting at the end where the working yarn is, knit off a 10 row I-cord and * transfer the loops one at a time from peg 1 onto peg 2 and knit off. Then trasfer the loops from peg 2 onto peg 3 and knit off. On pegs 3 and 4 knit off a 10 row I-cord and repeat the directions from *, taking care to wrap the pegs one after the other going in one direction until you are done. Sew the fringe onto the edge of the heart all the way around, and voila! Needless to say, the recipient of the heart I made was absolutely thrilled.

If you want a heart that isn't so narrow or large (this one is about 8" tall), simply use a different straight loom and adjust the number of stitches and the number of pegs that you knit off of. More pegs = wider heart.

My heart, my heart

I was playing around trying to figure out how to knit a heart on the pink loom. There's probably an easier way, but I used two skeins of the Red Heart red yarn. I did two separate drawstring COs, knit a few rows and increased one peg, knit a few rows then joined the yarn and knit the rest of the body, decreasing slowly as I went down until I was finished. I stuffed it when it was nearly done. To make the i-cord, I knit a few rows of the Red Heart white yarn as a flat panel on both sides of the loom, using an extra peg in the hole at one end. Then I started at the upper end of th eloom to knit an I-cord, which I bound off by placing the yarn loop from the left peg onto the next peg on the right and knitted it off, starting the process over again until I got all the way to the end. Then I sewed the I-cord onto the edge of the heart, and voila!

It took me about 6-7 hours from start to finish, the creating of the I-cord taking the longest. Plus I used a 1 over 1 stitch for the heart, and found that after I stuffed it I needed to knit some extra yarn over some of the "bare" spots. It isn't the usual "perfect" shaped heart, and I like it for that reason.