Loom Knit a Beanie for left handed beginners.

After having a mini break from blogging because of a 'little' surgery on my leg, it is time to let you know what's been happening in my creative world.

The title of this blog is a little bit of a fib. I'm not going to teach left handers how to loom knit because. Well, I'm right handed! How this came about is I happen to have an 8 yo granddaughter who has been hassling me to teach her to knit or crochet.

Problem no 1. I am right handed and she is left.
Problem no 2. My knitting skills are pretty hopeless.
Problem no 3. At this point in time she has the attention span of a goldfish and not the best fine motor skills.

Mikala age 4

She's only 4 in the above pic, but still sports the most glorious auburn hair and big cheesy grin!

Back to teaching her some form of fiber craft skill. (Her Mum was never interested in the finer arts of knitting/crochet)

We tried first with finger knitting with one finger. Nah! You should give this a go (as in teach someone), even with finger knitting you have 3 fingers on one hand doing different things. Let alone the other hand winding and pulling the yarn over! Fail! (totally forget trying to using two knitting needles at this point)

We tried crochet - but then you not only have the right hand/left hand issue, you have the controlling the hook, holding tension and both hands are going at the same time. Fail!

What to do? I then remembered my father had purchased a round loom knitting gadget for my mum when she had her first stroke. She had been an amazing knitter before but unfortunately, dementia was accompanying her in her older age and she had short term memory loss. So knitting was out for her and the loom sat in a box.

The loom pictured was found on Ebay, but you can pick them up anywhere like Spotlight in Australia for under $20.00
I knew I had to keep it simple with Mikala at this point, so decided to give loom knitting a go.

I'm not going to attempt to teach you how to loom knit as there is a plethora of great videos and information out there already. I did find this great little utube video created by what looks like a little girl not much older that my baby. Perfect!

So sitting with the smallest round loom and some red yarn in front of my computer, I created this.

Loom knitted newborn baby hat.

Now, not too bad for a rank beginner! Shame about the pom pom though. Its a shocker! :-)

So then I went and found some pink chunky yarn and started another, but this time left handed. Its actually pretty easy as there is not a lot involved and if I start it off and finish it for her then all she has to do for starters in get the hang of weaving in the same direction with the yarn going from inside to out. I'll let you know how she goes.

But in the meantime, I thought I would have a go at an adult size slouchy beanie for myself. I have to admit crocheting is a lot easier on my hands and this is a bit boring to do. But I will chip away at it!

Loom knitting an adult slouch beanie.

A little hint though, It creates a loosish weave, so to make a warmer hat double the yarn or use a chunky yarn. I am using an 8 ply wool blend here. Plus the special hook provided (which I'm sure makes the job easier) was missing, so I improvised with the handle end of a 2.50mm crochet hook.

I'll pop up a pic when I'm finished.

Have you got creative with knitting looms?