by Karen Kalbacher

Created on: April 29, 2008

Circle looms have been around for a long time but have enjoyed a resurgence with the Knifty Knitter Circle Looms. The colorful looms range in sizes from a loom small enough for doll hats to a full sized circle big enough for looming men's hats or a woman's purse.

Using the looms is a snap. Wrap the yarn around twice and pull the lower loop over the top loop. It's a lot easier for the beginner than learning to knit in the round on attached knitting needles or with your basic knitting technique. The look of the knitting is a little different having a wide rib stitch appearance with a lot of space in-between the rows.

Pros:

1. It's fast and easy once you get the hang of it. Much quicker than knitting with needles

2. You can make both flat and pieces in the round. For round you just go around the circle as many times as you need to create your tube. The tubes are fantastic for hats, tube scarves, leg and warmers. Flat pieces can be made by going back and forth across the circle.

3. Doubling and tripling the yarn can make the knit fuller and tighter.

4. The looms come in several bright colors and patterns for the loom are color coded.

5.They also have looms that are long and designed for blankets.

6. Free patterns are available on the Provo Craft website: http://www.provocraft.com/projects/index.php

7. Since all the knitting is on pegs, you don't drop stitches.

Cons:

1. It's difficult to do normal style knitting on the loom. I have no idea how to make a cable knit on the loom.

2. Most of the patterns offered are scarves, hats and pillows. Recently mittens were added. There are a few purses too but everything is pretty simplistic.

3. If you wrap too tightly it becomes slow and hard to pull the loops over one another.

4. You can create holes in a hat if you forget what direction you're going when making a tube.

5. You can also pull the pegs out if you tug on them too hard. If you can push them in before the yarn falls off them it's no big deal, if notruined.

The Knifty Knitter Looms are a great product. If you're knitting impaired, this is for you and if you're a knitter these are great for making quick projects even quicker. They're fantastic for baby blankets and you can create a hat in less than an hour. Currently I'm making a Hobo Purse out of cotton for the summer and in just a few short hours in front of the TV, I'm almost done. I think these looms belong in any crafter's arsenal of useful and fun tools.

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