Knifty Knitter

Knifty Knitter products are getting harder to find. My local Wal-Mart and my favorite craft store no longer stock them. It would seem a waste of time to do a product review. But it isn’t, by a long shot. If you loom knit for ANY amount of time you will encounter the name Knifty Knitter again and again in books, magazines and of course YouTube and I promise you that will want these looms sooner or later.

Luckily, if you have a computer and access to the internet your marketplace is global. Amazon and eBay give you a huge variety of GREAT deals. I say luckily because I believe these looms to be superior to most of the commercially available and reasonably priced looms. You do, however have to compare apples with apples. So when I say other looms I am comparing them to mass made plastic products like Darice, Boye and Martha Stewart and not say Cottage Looms,  CinDCraft Looms or KissLooms.

 

Knifty Knitter – Name Recognition is Valuable

The name Knifty Knitter is almost synonymous with loom knitting. Some people don’t even know that there are more loom manufacturers or that in some countries people make their own out of materials such as wood and styrofoam.

This product is well-known and loved. There are even die-hard knitters that refuse to use any other brand. Owning a product that a lot of people like and use means that information is easy to find and it’s in great abundance worldwide and in many languages. I myself have a Spanish language loom knitting blog called , ComoTelar.com and a sister vlog on YouTube with the same user name where I almost exclusively use the Knifty Knitter brand of looms. People from as close as Mexico to as far as Spain, the Netherlands and Asia are using them. I would say Mars but we haven’t made contact with them yet.

Social media is full of Knifty Knitter users, me included, that are more than happy to tell you all they know about knitting without needles thanks to this great product.

 

NOT Just Hats and Scarves and NOT Just for Winter

To many people have the misconception that these looms are only good for making hats and scarves. Not true at all. The possibilities are endless. Enough to make your head spin.

Let me introduce you to Sonia. She makes BEAUTIFUL shirts and sweaters. Note that not all of it is winter wear. There are great look summer and beach blouses and skirts. The material used to make the yarn can make you creations soft and a lacing stitch can make it breathable enough for even high tropical temperatures. Notice she has added ribbons and flowers to embellish her one tone shirt and skirt. I love it!

On an average she uses two different sizes of looms. One for the collar and another for the body of the sweater. I asked her about her looms when I interviewed for LoomaHat.com. She uses Knifty Knittter almost exclusively. Her other brand of choice is the Darice Looms. I must say that I agree with both of her choices.

To Read more about Sonia and her designs and her somewhat patterns: Click Here

.

Would you believe that you can make stuffed animals. Cats, foxes and elephants just to name a few.

Let me introduce you to Scarlett Royal. I solid loom knitter with exceptional skills. I love her work which she happily makes on her Knifty Knitter Looms.

She loom knits beautiful fingerless gloves, hats and scarves but I am always fascinated with her stuffed animals.

So enamored am I of her creators that I did a whole article to feature and give links to her free patterns. Yes I said FREE patterns and even better many include video tutorials

For More Information: Click Here

 

.

The Construction – Best of All

Of all the looms that I mentioned above, the Knifty Knitter has the best plastic. It is heavier and more solid. I have a loom that has been in use for over four years and I haven’t broken a peg yet. I make many different projects with very tight wrapping and still those little soldiers stand tall and never bend nor break. I have great appreciation for that fact.

But if one ever happens to break would you believe these folks also have replacement parts.

I actually got these to use with patterns that have more than one stitch. Like high-end stitch markers. For example if I have to knit and purl within the same row I will use the original color to knit and replace the pegs where I have to purl with these white pegs. Helps to keep me on track….  Love these guys. Note: I have only bought the large and they fit ALL my looms.

For a Complete Product Review : Click Here

 

One Downside: The Large Gauge – But EvenThat can be a Good Thing

The gauge is the spacing between pegs. Some of the other looms do better in this area. The Darice brand of looms is just a bit smaller and even that slightly smaller gauge creates a better looking stitch pattern.  Martha Stewart allows you to customize your gauge which is great just not a deal breaker for me.

Why is gauge important? It’s the difference between a nice tight stitch and holes in your project if you mostly use the e-wrap stitch.But you must consider the fact that this is not a major issue because there are ways around that problem.The large gauge in the Knifty Knitter is why I use two strands of worsted weight yarn when knitting most but not all of my projects. To Learn More: Click Here

The Upside to the large gauge issue:  There is this is consider, t helps you move quicker with your project. The smaller the gauge well then the smaller the knitting. Consequently, it will take you longer to knit 1 inch on the smaller gauge loom then on your large gauge Knifty Knitter especially if like I said before you use two strands of yarn as one.

So even the so called downside has it’s good features.

 

For Exact Gauge Information for the Knifty Knitter and other Brands: Click Here

 

The Variety of Looms and Other Merchandise

Aside from the most common round looms you will find other specialized looms that are useful in unique projects.  Like the flower loom used for exactly what the name saws, to make flowers. You have the VERY cool spool loom. This is one of my favorites you would not believe what you can make with this little fella. To make you head spin just put the words Spool Loom in a google image search. All of the looms come with the yarn needle and yarn hook included when you buy them.

A lot of the other brands don’t offer the variety I can’t explain why. I do know that Boye brand, which for some time labeled itself as Knifty Knitter, has almost the same list of styles but I must admit that I am NOT a fan of this brand at all. I did a review and explain my reasons. If you would like to read this review: Click Here . They do have a really nice Sock Loom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, regardless of the shape or use of the loom most have removable pegs. This is a blessing and a curse depending on the project and yarn. What ever you do PLEASE if the pegs on your loom are removable, do not glue the pegs in permanently because regardless of the style the day will come when you will discover why they made them removable.

.

Lots of Books with a Focus on Knifty Knitter Looms

There is a healthy library of Loom knitting books with a focus on the Knifty Knitter. As I said before, you won’t find that abundance for the Authentic Knitting Board Loom or the Martha Stewart Looms.

In fact with the latter you can not use these books or the thousands of Free Patterns on the web.The gauge is different. Unless you have been loom knitting for a long time it’s hard for you compensate for this difficulty. What makes it a uniquely cool and flexible loom is what makes it a troublesome product.

 

Some of My Favorite Loom Books

.
.

Knifty Knitter – The FREE Patterns

In March of 2013 I embarked on journey to find 100 FREE round loom patterns for my fellow loom knitters by the end of that year. Yes, I found OVER 100 FREE patterns for the round looms for January 1, 2014 and I would say that if not 90% then over 80% of the patterns listed on this page were made by designers that use Knifty Knitter.

Again, almost everyone, if not every single person who loom knits knows Knifty Knitter and has designed a pattern that works with this product.

That means that for those folks that bought Martha Stewart the waterfall of patterns available for Knifty Knitter don’t work well. There is a lot of tweaking going on in order get the gauge somewhat right especially when it comes to the Martha Stewart brand.

This issue alone is why I keep spares of these looms. FREE Patterns is a great phrase for any form of knitting.

.

For a List of FREE Patterns: Click Here

 .

Lots of Videos on YouTube

There are so many FREE loom knitting tutorials on YouTube where the instructor uses the Knifty Knitter brand or one that is VERY compatible. It’s with an almost 99% certainty that most projects and patterns you find online can be made with this brand of looms.

It’s the easiest method of learning new techniques, stitches and cool and unique patterns. Like a personal at home teacher for loom knitting. I love YouTube and use it regularly. You should too.

For My YouTube Loom Knitting Channel: Click Here

.

 

 

.

 

In Conclusion – 5 Star Ratting !

I love these looms. I prefer a finer gauge but that’s not major deal for me because I have learned how to work around it. I wish I could find them at the corner store but there’s always Amazon.

Bottom-line is they help get the job done for a good price and for a long time.

 

Loom Size / Hat Size

Size Chart is based on Averages. The information is only a recommendation. Please use your own judgement in the final decision.

Note: Rows are based on 1 strand of thick yarn or 2 strands of light or medium weight yarn, e-Wrap Stitch and No Brim.
Chart Update: 10/2014
For a Folded Brim you may need 6 - 18 rows depending on the recipient. Note that to make the brim you fold the knitting in half.

1 inch = 2.54 centimeters

Hat Recipient	Avg Head Circumference	Loom Size	Hat Length	Number of Rows
AG Doll	11 in / 27 cm	Sm 24 Pegs	4 in	20
Preemie	12 in / 30 cm	Sm 24 Pegs	4 - 5 in	20-25
Newborn	14 in / 36 cm	Sm 24 Pegs	5 - 6 1/2 in	25-30
Baby - 1 yr.	18 in / 46 cm	Md 31 Pegs	7 in	25-30
Toddler	21 in / 53 cm	Lrg 36 Pegs	7 in	25-30
Tweens & Teens	22 in / 56 cm	Lrg 36 Pegs	8 in	30-34
Women & Lean Men	22 in / 56 cm	Lrg 36 Pegs	8 - 9 in	32-40
Lrg Women & Men	24 in / 61 cm	X-Lrg 41 Pegs	9 -10 in	38-45

 

If You Lost Your Instructions : Click Here

 

==========================================================================

Tagged: knifty knitter, looms