Gettin' Kitschy with Granny Rounds!

I am a novice loom knitter, having learned last winter and picking it up again this winter.  (I can't seem to even touch yarn when its not cold!)  I am always thrilled to learn something new I can do with my looms, most of which are Knifty Knitters, so when I saw Kristen's Good Knit Kisses Granny Round Challenge on Facebook, I was sucked right in!

I had no idea that I could make a flat, filled-in circle on a round loom.  It was so fast and easy to learn with Kristen's fantastic video (click here).  (Don't you like how I call her by her first name?  Yeah, well, she is in my kitchen a lot -since that is where my laptop usually is when I watch her videos or read her Facebook posts- so you know we are pretty tight. hahaha)

In a matter of minutes, I had granny rounds!  I used two strands together to make these.

It helps to know how to e-wrap and how to purl on a loom, but she does show that on the video.  You will need a green (36 peg) Knifty Knitter loom and 6 spacer rings (although she used ponytail elastics).  I suggest watching it all the way through and then watching it when you have your loom and supplies in front of you and stopping to complete each step.  By the end, you will have a completed granny round!

Because the granny rounds are made mostly by e-wrapping, I used my stylus for this project.  Basically, I use a straw or other tube that I feed the yarns through.  It makes the tension happen correctly and automatically and makes it all go so much faster.

Basically, you just need a straw, pen casing, or anything hollow for the yarn to move through.

To thread your yarn through the tube, which is now magically a stylus, place your yarn on a folded pipe cleaner.

Push the pipe cleaner, folded end first, through the stylus.

And pull it all the way through to remove the pipe cleaner, leaving the yarn threaded inside.

For this project, I used two and three yarns at once.  I threaded them at the same time.

Instead of using my fingers to e-wrap, I hold the stylus to wrap around the pegs.  I use this with all my looms.  I push the stylus down and out of the way, toward the yarn, when I don't need it (such as for using a purl stitch) and back up when needed.

So then...I had these granny rounds.  Neat and all, but what to do with them?  

That is where the challenge really was for me.  I decided to make a bolster pillow using stuff in my stash, including the yarns and dacron batting.  These granny rounds reminded me of granny squares so variegated yarn just felt like the way to go and a funky, kitschy bolster would be the result.  I used three yarns for this.

The ends of the bolster were granny rounds.  The body was made by e-wrapping three yarns on the blue long loom until I had 21" of knitting.

I pushed the bottom (the cast on end) up through the loom and placed the cast on loops on the opposite pegs so that I could make sure it was lined up straight with all pegs covered.  I started with the center pegs and worked each side to the final loops on the ends.

I moved each to the corresponding peg directly across and knitted off each peg.

I used a flat panel bind off to remove it from the loom.  This created a tube with a seam.

I used a crochet chain stitch to join one granny round to one tube end.

I cut off a yard of dacron batting and trimmed two widths of 12" and 10".  I placed the 10" piece on top of the 12" and rolled it to form the filling for the bolster.  (Dacron is upholstery batting and much stiffer, thicker, and sturdier than quilt batting.  It holds its shape better.  You could use a foam bolster instead or wrap dacron around a foam bolster as other options for the inside.)

I slid it into the knitted cover and sewed the final end in place using the same crochet stitch.

That was my first entry for Kristen's challenge-- totally silly.  It has been claimed by my kiddo for her reading nook.

For my second entry, I used the crochet stitch to place two of my practice granny rounds back-to-back to make a hot pad for my tea pot.

That was my second entry!

OK- that was just fun!  I loved learning how to do the granny round and I had never used multiple yarns together on the pegs at the same time.

Quick Links:

• Kristen's How-to Video for Making Granny Rounds! 
• Written Directions for How-to Make Granny Rounds (and Granny Hexagons too)
• Granny Round Challenge info
• Video on 10,000 Yard Yarn Giveaway Granny Round Challenge 2013
• Good Knit Kisses Loom Knit and Craft Club on Facebook
• Granny Round Challenge Pinterest Board

Thank you for checking my blog post today.  Check out Kristen's challenge.  She is giving away 10,000 yards of yarn by randomly selecting entries so you can be silly and have fun with it!

To see many of my previous projects, check My Project Gallery and my Loom Knit pages.