When I was younger, my father's mom taught me how to French knit. It was a little blue spool with nails on top that you would wrap the yarn around and knit off the nails. It was silly, and nowhere near being practical but always makes me smile. Even to this day I still have fond memories of running around my grandmother's apartment being followed by my fifteen foot yarn snake! LOL. This began my need to learn how to knit, and I mean needle knit. After years and years of frustration with tension and trying to get my projects to look decent and useable I gave up. Needles did not work for me. I wanted knitting to be something that would remind me of those past years with my grandmother, not be a source of frustration and stress.
Back in 2012 I had a desire to knit a mini blanket for my daughter that would be born in October of that year. I figured - hey, it's a blanket, flat and simple. Yeah, after a month of my tension being the same as I remember it, it looked like a dropped stitch, zigzaggy, lumpy sorry excuse for a blanket. I frogged it out and decided to search my Michael's for my trusty French knitting tool.
Well, I wound up coming home with a French Knitter on STEROIDS! The round Knifty Knitter looms went from about 3 inches across to 16 inches across, with up to 41 pegs! I was esctatic! Not only did I knit a blanket, but a pair of booties, and a hat to match. My tension stayed consistent, never wound up with a dropped stitch, and I loved every minute that I was making the layette set.
I used only the stockinette stitch for my first projects, only because I had to refamilarize myself with the tool. I was in tears as I knitted along, because not only was this experience rewarding for my soon to be born daughter, but also because it brought back my wonderful memories of laughing hysterically with my brother and grandmother all those years ago. Not only did this give me back memories long since lost in the recesses of my brain, but it also sent me on a hunt for the French Knitter that she had given me when I was ten. I actually did locate it. It is scuffed, the blue paint is dull and chipped, and there are tell-tell scrape marks from the needle pic. ***sigh*** So special.
There are many traditional knitters out there that say loomers are not knitters. That loom knitting is the easy way out and do not view this craft as the real McCoy. I beg to differ. Everyone's reason for their choices are different. I wish I could needle knit. It is a craft that I have extreme respect for. I always marvel at the technique of it, the intricate work and designs that come from it, and it will always intrigue me. I just hope that this insight to the choice I made as a loom knitter brings more knowledge to those that do not loom knit.
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