Pattern Row Marker

Here's a good tip for working a printed pattern. Take a scrap piece of yarn a little more than twice as wide as your paper. Tie a knot so that the yarn will slip over the page snugly. By adding small beads or more scraps of yarn you can mark repeating rows abacus style by sliding them across. A simple but effective pattern row counter you can make in a jiffy.

About Me:

About Me


About me: Im married to a great man, that make me so very happy. Karl is very supportive in all things I do or try to do,he even helps me as I go along when needed. We have 4 grown children and two grandbabys. Im so lucky to have a hubby that shares in the same ideals, likes and dislikes.We live in central Fl. We love the outdoors, gardening, fishing, working with our hands and all kinds of crafts. I moved to Fl. from NE Tx.Jan.06 to be with Karl. I miss my children,grandbabys and kiddos and grandkiddos back in Tx. Karl and I both are Lightning Strike Survivors. With him bing hit once and me bing hit 10 times. Goes to show you that not everyone dies from lightning but sometimes it makes you wished you had due to all the pain and strange things that happen to your body after bing hit by lightning. Im learning to loom on round and long looms. There very easy to use and helps take my mind off some of the pain due to lightning.

May 16,2001 I took my son and daughter to meet up with my parents at a lake where my baby brothers wifes family were having there family get together. My children wanted to go swimming so we were playing in the water till I seen that sky was turning dark due to a comming storm,so we all got out of the water to be on the safe side and went back up to the camp site where my parents were set up. I had been seating with my parents till I got up and walked over to where my SIL parents camper and I hurd a loud round of thunder and out of nowheres this big white ball of lightning (comming from there camper ) hit me in my left eye and went out of the middle of my back,wow I had never been in so much pain. I thought my left eye was melted due to the heat from the lightning fireball OMG it hurt so bad like as if my eye was on fire. Both of my parents came over to check on me. My dad was trying to get me to talk to him but I couldn't even talk,oh I tried to talk but no words were comming out. My dad ask me if I was ok and said he seen that white ball hit me but didnt see it nowheres. Poor dad was freeking out and as for my mom she thought it was just a lighting bug that had got in my eye hmmm lol. All I know is I was on fire inside and out where the lightning fire ball came in and exited. All I could see with my left eye was bright white and a little orange lights, and wow my back was burning so bad. When I was able to talk, I ask my dad was my eye gone.Dad said no its still there ,then I ask him to look at my back, he said that there was a burned place in the middle of my back but it was ok so dad helped me inside there motorhome to rest. I didn't go to the hospital because due to my past hits with lightning the hospital told me if was wasn't dying or close to it there nothing they can do for anyone that lightning strikes. My mom helped by holding an icepack on my back and I had one on my eye. The lightning fire ball blinded me in my left eye till 2:32 pm the next day when my eye sight returned.

Happy Birthday to meeeee I could seeeeee, that was one birthday I will never forget. Thanks to the lightning loving me so much I now suffer with pain all the time and nerve damage and every time there is any lightning at all I feel it inside mt body and eye. My eye sight messes up where its hard to see every time there is any lightning at all around me. Don't ever think your safe in a car when its lightning because I have had lightning to come in the window when I was driving and hit my in the middle of my chest 3 times so far, just glad that someone was in the car with me each time due to me not bing able to move after it hit me for 5 to 10 min after. This is why I loom or do other thing to try and keep my mind off my pain. Hope I didn't bore you.

Have a great day

Loomed Firewood Carrier

Before we get to the main topic I'd like to know how many of you tried my Convertible Scarf pattern. Did you have any trouble with the pattern? Would love to see some pics of some of them and get some feedback. If I hear from enough of you will feature your pics and comments on my blog. email wandasims2002@yahoo.com
And now my hubby Karl...
Hi. Picture yourself on a camping trip walking in a pristine forest when you spot a downed tree. Knowing there is little firewood around your campsite you get out your trusty hatchet. In no time you have an impressive pile of firewood. How to get it back to camp? If you make one of these it's no problem at all.
Picture shows carrier with over 40 pounds of sticks.

Light, compact and strong. You can make this from various materials. This one is made from jute twine. Almost twice as thick standard weight yarn and much stronger. This can be made on a rake or round loom. After making it I think it should be a bit wider and not as long so the pattern below reflects this using a technique I call knot knitting.
Should last many years if taken care of.






Click on pictures to see full size image.





Firewood Carrier Pattern

Supply List: 2 rolls Jute twine (350 ft)
2 wooden dowels 15-18" long, 3/4-1" dia.
Blue KK Long Loom or Green KK Round Loom
KK I-Cord Loom Gauge not important

Notions: Loom hook, crochet hook, scissors, metal yarn needle, hand saw.

We will be using pegs 1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28 and 31 only as a flat panel throughout pattern. Working with one strand.

Step 1
Leaving 4 foot tail place slip knot on first peg, skip pegs 2 and 3, e-wrap 4, Continue in this manner to peg 31. E-wrap peg 31 and work back to peg 1.
Knit over all pegs. All e-wraps should be on same pegs.

Step 2
All rows are worked the same. All pegs are worked separately.
On peg one E-wrap, knit over. Do this 3 times on same peg, pulling yarn tight after each yarn over. You should have 3 st on peg one.
This will create a knot.
Repeat on pegs 4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28 and 31
Continue for 48 rows or until desired length.

Step 3
Binding off. Use gather method but tie knot in each stitch pulling working yarn tight to next stitch.
Leave 4 foot tail

Step 4
Shaping net.
After taking off loom grasp the net tightly and pull the knots tight. Do this across then up and down all rows.

Step 5
Attaching dowels.
Stretch out net width wise to get dowel length.
Cut dowels to length. Lay the net flat. Place dowel across one end. Roll netting over dowel until net meets tightly. Now using the long tail, Using metal yarn needle sew stitches together all the way across to make a tight sleeve for the dowel. Optional* To keep sleeve from sliding make a stitch across the center at the end of dowels in netting It should like this (!) at the end of dowel.

Step 6
Make handles.
Using small end of KK I-Cord Loom E-wrap as per directions until 17" long leaving long tail on both ends(for sewing handle together). Use gather bind off method.

Step 7
Attaching handles.
Measure to find center of dowels. 2" from center wrap end of I-cord around dowel leaving about 2" of
cord to attach. Using the long tail on I-cord sew together. Pull I_cord tight at dowel and stitch across to make handle bind tight to dowel.
Repeat with other end of handle. Attach 2nd handle following method for first handle.
Weave in all tails.

Note: If you leave out dowels and attach handles to netting then sew up sides, you have a sturdy, compact shopping bag. The materials in this pattern are biodegradable
If it should become lost in the woods it will rot away so as not to endanger wildlife. You may want to use a stronger, longer lasting material for use at home.

Copyright BY Karl K LaChevet 2008 All rights reserved. For personal, non-commercial use only. E-mail contact: bassman_1001@yahoo.com

A busy week Looming

This has been a busy week of looming and crocheting. Ruby did most of the crocheting and some looming too. Wow. Can she hook that needle! Some of her projects are on my previous post. She will be joining us often in the future.
As for me I finished Afghan block #2, decided the shade of green was too bland so back to the yarn store (grin) and picked out a deeper green and made another. This one stands out much better. Thanks goes out to Jenny Stark for sharing the pattern and teaching the class. Great job! An easy fun pattern and I think it looks great.








The new dolls have started a doll craze as more people are getting dolls and I've been getting a lot of emails for patterns for doll clothes. Ruby has been crocheting most of the doll clothes while I've been in the laboratory experimenting with my looms. I came up with a quick easy bootie design I really like using the knifty knitter flower loom. The same bootie will fit a newborn too.
The pattern needs a little tweaking yet.









Also loomed some doll panties, a little blouse and a couple of hats you can pull the pig tails through the top of the hat. I think they are so cute!




Modeling is hard work!






Still working on the rest of her outfit. More on it later.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, hubby finished his firewood carrier and finally got some pics of it for me. Turned out great. I'm so proud of him.
It holds a lot of wood. It's very sturdy and looks great. Should last for years.
Here's a pic of it rolled up. As you can see it's very compact.


I know what you're thinking...how can that little thing hold all that wood. Just have to come back and see. Will feature it in the next post.
In the meantime Loom On

Meet a Dear Friend Ruby Darlene Rambo

Hi, I would like you to meet my dear friend Darlene Rambo. Darlene and I met in our yahoo loom class one day and have been having so much fun. I just wish I could learn to crochet 1/2 as good as Darlene. We both chat on yahoo every day. We crochet and loom as we chat on yahoo messenger and we both are learning alot from each other now that we both have our new baby dolls. She's a hookin' and I'm a pickin' LOL.
Thank you Darlene for being a dear friend. Darlene even has a new loom pattern now and I told her I would post it here for you and her pics and other things she has made.


Daisy Baby Hat

Pattern by Ruby Darlene Rambo

pattern done using e-wrap on blue kk round loom
Tools needed: Blue KK Loom, Knit-Wit or KK flower loom, pick,
yarn needle, scissors
Using two strands as one knit off 6 rows for brim, add off color for 2 rows. Do 6 more rows put first row back on pegs to finish brim.
Continue e wrapping to length you want gather off-do not tie or cut yarn yet.

Using Flower loom or knit-wit as per instructions with loom Make flower in basic color, trim with contrast color, Gather top of hat to fit flower and tie off. Attach flower with contrast color to hat, tuck in all tails

Copyright Ruby Darlene Rambo 2008









This is the outfit that the hat pattern goes with, I think its just so cute don't you?


Here are the shoes she just made for her babys outfit.





This is another outfit Darlene made.




Hope you enjoy Darlenes work, she will be adding more cute things soon.

New Baby Dolls

Hi There, I have been having fun looming new things for my baby dolls hubby and Ruby got me for my early birthday gift. Trying out new ideas I'm making up as I go so no need to follow a pattern. There are two preemie dolls, one miracle baby and one My dream baby. My friend Darlene sent me a big box with the two preemie dolls, two hand made pacifiers, two beautiful sets of crocheted booties and a gorgeous porcelain doll she'd made herself. Also went shopping for yarn and other goodies for babies. Woo Hoo! Will post pics of babies soon.
Making a pair of baby pants on the loom-will write up pattern as I go.
Had loomed booties for preemies but turns out their feet are really small so will do more on big end of I-cord loom. Hat was perfect fit.
Right now working on second block for Loom Class.
Special thanks to Darlene and Hubby for a great early Birthday Surprise.
Also Darlene taught me how to crochet her pattern for baby booties.
Thats all for now.
Loom On, WandaJean

Making Things For A Friend

Even as the spring storms have been looming so have I. Using a variation of Robin McCoys Strawberry Sundae Deluxe hat pattern I did some preemie hats and booties for a dear friend. We were talking and she asked how I was at making booties.
It has been AGES since I made baby booties. But I gave it a shot and tried a heel for the first time. Made them without a pattern. They turned out great I'm happy to say. Hope your baby enjoys these Darlene as much as I enjoyed making them.
I got an early Birthday present when Darlene sent me a bond knitting machine.
Happy Birthday to Meee! Whoo Hoo. I love it!
Meanwhile Hubby finished his firewood carrier and will feature that in the next post.
He did a great job on it and I'm so proud of him.
Loom On!

Finished my first afghan block

Finished my first afghan block for LoomClass. This one was hosted by Robin McCoy.
She's such a doll. Seemed such an easy pattern but turned out to be tricky.
Those pesky frogs kept jumping in LOL. This was my first time using a knitting chart. I like it. Even got to see how right handers do it. I found it was a lot easier to turn the loom upside down when working right handed and right side up to do it lefty as I'm left-handed. Learned a chain stitch cast on and found out the right way to do a knit stitch-well there are three ways to do a knit stitch.
The frogs in the pic- one on left is waving hi, we're back and one on right is laughing at all the frogging I had to do before I finally got it right.
Thanks so much Robin McCoy for the pattern and being so patient. She's a great teacher.

Cable can be such a pain!

Our internet has been having problems. It would connect, disconnect, connect again just long enough to tease me. Calling the cable company was as frustrating as the connection. After 5 no shows they finally sent out not one but two guys who ended up replacing everything only to find out the problem was elsewhere.
It's finally working-better than ever so hopefully I can keep my blog up to date now.
Thanks for dropping by.