Boye Round Loom Teddy Bear

Boye Round Loom Teddy Bear

I came across a video on day by a person who calls herself the Loom Muse- she has a video up for a simple pattern for a loom-knit teddy bear. I have previously made a bear with sewing, and have a patchwork bear my grandmother gave us as well as a Vermont Teddy Bear. I also have several small teddy bears, so when I saw this pattern, I thought it would be nice to make a loom knit bear.

A couple of notes- this is an easy pattern. The bear IS adorable. I followed her pattern fairly closely, only changing things like my cast off and sewing pieces together. What I will do on the next bear: I will make the arms longer and perhaps the body shorter, more like that "Silly ol bear" Pooh (I forgot, I also have several Pooh bears.) The Muse herself has re-done her original pattern, but the first one is so easy, I decided to stick with it. I may also in the future use three strands of yarn instead of two.

Here are her videos:

How to Loom Knit A Teddy Bear

How to Loom Knit Teddy Bear Revamped

(including her advice on gauges-slightly different from mine, as she doesn't define yards as "weights")

Here is my first attempt at a bear on looms (you might not know I have been loom knitting for over 12 years, but have never made animals)

My Bear's name is PB - (Pink Bear, but also PeeBee because I was swarmed by bees when I was 5 and the medication, well, yes, made me pee alot. I remember my mother making me a Pink Bear and we named her PB)

I did not use plastic eyes- I embroidered the eyes and nose. I also feel that perhaps the woman who wrote the pattern doesn't have the same needle knitting experience that I do- I am not saying that to criticize her, she seems very talented. But I started with needle knitting before loom knitting and sometimes that experience is a plus when adapting patterns. I may even make this bear on needles with the exception of the head, but even the head could be made on needles. My mother, an expert knitter, always followed written patterns exactly, and so her bear would have been like the bear above.  I probably even have the original bear pattern around here somewhere because I have all of my mother's knitting patterns.

I used Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo acrylic worsted-weight yarn in "Perfect Pink". The pink is not for the recently used "Pink Power" theme, but for my (c) "Pink Neelix" patterns. A pink Neelix (c) is what your mother might knit for you, as first influenced by Neelix of Star Trek Voyager and the blankets his mother knit for him.  You can find that reference in Star Trek Voyager, Season 4, Episode 24, in the first couple of minutes, when Neelix refuses to give Tuvok his sleeping blankets.

Knifty Knitter and Boye Round Knitting Looms

I watched a video today that compared Knifty Knitter circular knitting looms against Boye circular looms.  The video is very informative.

A little history on my circular knitting-I had every type of circular loom about 10 years ago, and still have my sock looms. I had switched over to circular needles for quite some time, and don't have any circular looms right at this minute.

I have been making flowers with flower looms, and actually used a potholder loom to make a very large square flower design.  I also decided I would try some circular looms for larger flowers, and found some second-hand Boye looms on Ebay, which should be arriving today.

In the meantime, I watched the video above and figured I would end up looking for Knifty Knitter looms because of the complaint about the peg scoop at the top being a little frustrating.  But , then I remembered why I am actually using them, and the scoop is an asset, and the fact that the pegs come out is also an asset. I can remove pegs to make different shape flowers.

So, in my case, the Boye looms are better for my use. This ties in with my preferring the vintage Boye Interchangeable needles over modern sets. People may complain that the needle tips loosen, but that hasn't happened to me but once, and the thicker, old, cables keep the stitches more consistent that skinny needle cables.

Kid's Spool Knitters and Rugs

There is a great advantage to some kid's spool knitters. If you look at the distance between the pegs, this is the stitch length.  Those knitters meant for very young children often have pegs spaced further apart than other knitters.  Not quite as long a stitch as a corker, but longer than a Knitting Nancy.  This is an advantage when planning braided rugs that will be sewn on a machine.

The longer stitch length gives a slightly more loose knit strand, which makes the braid for a rug slightly more flat. It then fits more easily under the presser foot of a machine.

Below is the pink rug I have started, using a blue plastic kid's knitter.  I have three jumbo skeins of Red Heart Super Saver Acrylic in "Perfect Pink"and am making a rug for a bedroom.

The knitter is about an 1-3/4 inches high and has a distance of 3/4 of an inch between the four pegs. I found four of them together on Ebay.