I can share a picture now :)

I did the exchange thing again.... I can share a picture of what I made, 'cause the other lady got hers...

I like to play around with different colours when I make this, my favourite coaster pattern. I make them either all solid colours, or using the variegated thread, like I did for that purple one last month, or I have fun with changing colours.... :)

I'm finished the baby blankie - it will be having it's bath today - the baby was born on Saturday, two weeks early!! But that's fine, 'cause she can't come home just yet, 'cause she's so tiny. So the blankie will be ready and waiting for her.

I'm going to be doing something completely different.... I bought, some time ago, then misplaced in the craft room (no, you can't see pictures of the craft room, until I clean it up, but let's just say, you know those jokes/cartoons/sitcoms where someone opens a closet door, and the floor-to-ceiling pile falls on them? Well, then, you don't need to see a picture) a set of those "Knifty Knitter Looms". Why? Well.... See.....

Back when I was a little little kid, I used to get these cool gifts for Christmas. It seemed like, every year, I got a new one of the same thing (back then, it seemed like every year, but maybe only two or three in a row....) - I got "refill" kits of cake mixes etc. for those old "Easy Bake Oven" sets - don't recall ever getting an oven, but there are pictures of me with one.... but I know I got the mixes and stuff, and got to use the "real" oven to bake them.... I also got a "needlework basket" thing.... Came with some yarn, crochet hook (cheap plastic), knitting needles, yarn needle (again, cheap plastic), sometimes there was a weaving loom (step up from cardboard with slits cut in it) and almost always, a "cork". You might call it a "knitting knobby", or a "spool knitter" or an "icord maker" or - I know there are about a dozen names for it. But, I was taught it was a "cork" or sometimes "spool knitter" because back in those days, spools for holding sewing thread were made of wood, and you could put nails in one end, and have a spool knitter.... Anyway, I always got one of these things, but don't recall every using it, or even figuring out how to use it. I have vague recollections of being shown, but since I had learned needle knitting, didn't quite see the point in making this thin tube.....

Anyway - When I was attempting to show my oldest grand daughter a little about crafting, I bought her one of these "knitting knobby" things.... and realized, I didn't have a clue how to make it work..... Very embarrassing.... So, I had to buy myself one, so I could learn... After all, I pretty much have a good idea of the basics, of what is *supposed* to happen with one....

Enter the "Knifty Knitter Looms"....

I bought a set. Figured, Ok, so maybe if I go larger, I can figure this corking business out. I bought them, but of course, had/have so many other projects on the go, that I put them into the craft room, planning to get around to it later.....

Then, of course, there was the part where I went looking for patterns of what to make on the looms.......

What I found, well, amounted to patterns for hats. Baby hats. Preemie hats. Adult hats. Hats with fur. Hats without fur. Hats with pompoms. Kid's hats. Then, of course, was the other hats - purse (hat turned upside down). Teacozy - hat for a teapot. Socks - hats for feet. Really - think about it.... I could turn almost anything into a hat, lol.... Finally, though, some people began to figure out how to do scarves or blankets, and there are some non-round looms (aka knitting boards) that help....

So. Yesterday, someone shared a link, intending it to go to a crochet pattern, but it got me to a website for looming - and a kitty pattern. Not a hat at all!!!! So, that renewed my interest and earnest at spending some time sorting out the craft room - and I found my looms!!!!!!!!

Guess what my next project will be?

By the way - I have nothing against hats, or people who make hats, but it just isnt' something that I'm likely to do more than once or twice - I mean, I only got one head, first of all. Second, I don't wear hats - almost never. I did finally find one crocheted hat pattern that I like. But I wear earmuffs. I like to needle knit hats for DH. He has one that I made him, that he really likes. And he only has one head, as well. The grandkids - well, besides the fact that they are growing, they only got one head each, and they are still young enough to lose hats - I could never keep up. So, when they are older, I'll make them each a hat if they want one.... But it will likely be needle knit.

I just wanted to try out the KK looms for fun... and because I'm just obsessive enough that I *need* to learn how to use a tool that should be so simple a child can use it (the original cork thing) but I can't seem to!! I won't be beaten!!!!

Tomorrow, I'll post again.... I'll be taking a pic of the baby blanket, for one thing, and I want to tell you all what else I found....