From Loom to Loops

It is hard to believe that this week was Week 6 of Beast to Blanket! The time has really flown by quickly and it seems impossible that we were ready to transition out of weaving and into our last module of knitting!

Peg Looms

We started class by talking about peg looms, particularly the two peg looms I brought into class. One has a weaving in process on it. I also brought in a blanket I’d made with the other loom, so they could see different sample weavings and how the differently sized pegs of the two looms changed the nature of the fabrics made with them. You can read about how we made our peg looms and the sample projects I brought to class in these journal articles here and here.

A few of the students took the opportunity to try out one of the peg looms with fabric scraps I’d torn up with the idea of making a rag rug. We didn’t have time for everyone to try it, but I plan to bring it back to class in case someone finds themselves having to wait for a few minutes for one-on-one knitting help in the next few sessions.

I am just as fascinated by the peg looms as I was when we first made them. I’m eager to see how the fabric rag rug turns out, but I’m especially interested to do more research into using raw fleeces for rugs. I’ve seen several examples where people have used peg looms to make rugs and mats out of raw sheep fleeces. This might be an excellent use for Mr. Darcy’s wool, as it is much rougher than that of the merinos, and his breed’s wool is most often used for rug making and felting. Perhaps another class will get to try that experiment!

One of the students who happened to already know how to finger knit watched me demonstrate on the peg loom for a few minutes and then commented, “That’s a lot like finger knitting, isn’t it? The pegs are sort of like the fingers.” She understood why I’d chosen these activities as our transition from weaving to knitting.

Our class then moved from examining peg looms to starting finger knitting.

Finger Knitting

Unlike with the other skills, some of the students were already familiar with finger knitting, and were ready to take off as soon as they could pull the yarn from their backpacks. But as you might know if you also are familiar with finger knitting, there are several ways to go about it. Most of the ones I’ve encountered will give similar results, but I wanted to focus on this transition I keep mentioning, and so I chose a method that I feel emphasizes it.

It’s All In The Loops

Weaving, as I taught the students earlier, is done by passing threads over and under other threads. Knitting, however, is done by pulling new loops through old loops. You can look at many fabrics and tell whether they are woven or knit just by looking at the structure. if it looks like a grid of threads going at 90 degree angles to each other, it’s most likely woven. If it looks like a bunch of Vs lined up in rows, it’s most likely knit, with the Vs being the legs of the loops (you can imagine a short upside-down U on top of the V to visualize the whole loop).

After making a setup row over their middle three fingers with a figure eight motion, I had the students wrap their yarn over the back of their hand and lay the loose yarn next to the old loops of the figure eight. They then pulled the knuckle side of that old loop off each finger in succession, leaving one new loop on each finger. The students repeated that motion, wrapping the loose yarn all the way around their hand and only pulling the loops off their fingers on the knuckle side, effectively making an i-cord with their finger knitting as they tugged their starting end snugly after a few rounds.

Everyone was able to get started successfully, and I promised candy to everyone who brings in a sample on Monday, with a larger prize going to the longest cord. The first time I taught this class, we had to adjourn to the parking lot to measure the winner.

Next week we start knitting with casting on!

Wool in the Wild

You never know what you’re going to find on the internet. This week provided a rare delightful discovery in Mia Hansson and her Bayeux Tapestry Replica Project.

Although there’s not enough time in the current Beast to Blanket class to go into the many ways wool embroidery has been used and enjoyed throughout history, the Bayeux Tapestry has to be one of the most recognizable pieces of embroidery in the world. Recording the conquest of England in 1066, it’s a historical document, a political statement, and an amazing piece of textile art.

It’s also enormous, at almost 224 feet long, and Mia Hansson is recreating it. For fun. She’s been working on it since 2016, has a Facebook group with hysterical comments about the details she finds funny as she goes along, gives Zoom presentations about her work, and sells coloring books and other related works.

I wonder how much wool she’s used so far? And how much longer she’s got to go?

Finished Objects

They’re no 224 foot embroidered tapestries, but I did manage to finish a couple items this week.

This is Elizabeth Zimmerman‘s famous pattern for the Baby Surprise Jacket, knit for a brand new great niece. I haven’t been good about keeping records for many years, but I looked at my old ones and saw that back then I’d knit at least a dozen of these. I just love this pattern. I never cease to be delighted by the final hey-presto! feeling of folding up garter stitch origami and finding a wee little jacket where a strange wad of knitting had been. I wonder if the clever EZ ever shared how she came up with this bit of woolly engineering?

One of the clever features of the pattern is that you make small buttonholes on both sides of the jacket. That way, you know exactly where to place the buttons when you sew them on. You simply stitch the little hole closed while you sew on the button. It’s such a smart, practical step. I like adding the i-cord bind off around the neck and edges, as well. I think it gives it a sweet and soft finished look.

This one was made with yarn we picked up on one of our Yarn Shop Hop trips this year. It reminds me of cupcake frosting.

And, just in time for 70 degree weather, I finished Greg’s double layered Musselburgh Hat. I seem to have a rare gift for finishing projects immediately after they are most seasonally appropriate. Thankfully, Greg is an organized and tidy soul, so if this warm spell holds on, as most of us hope it will, this hat will be carefully tucked away to wait until the next cold season.

What are you working on today?

Happy knitting!

Kiersten J