The winters can get long here in the country; encouraging even the most determined person to eat to excess. From previous posts, you know that one of the things that I’ve accomplished is to lose a considerable amount of weight without dieting even one day. Part of my weight loss strategy is to find something to do that doesn’t involve excessive eating.
One of the crafts I’ve tried is knitting. Unfortunately, I’ve found that knitting needles don’t work very well with larger hands (nor do crochet hooks it seems). Fortunately, I’ve found a good substitute, the Knifty Knitter. It’s a hoop or elongated loop with pegs sticking out of it. I’ve found it very fast and easy to use. There is an interesting history behind this device, but I’ll leave that for some other time. I originally objected a four hoop set that can be used for a number of purposes such as hats. However, with a little ingenuity, I’ve also been able to make slipper socks with it like these:
After a while, I also purchased several elongated looms. I purchased the set, which works fine for garments such as scarves and blankets. In fact, just this weekend I finished this blanket for my wife:
The blanket is made from four panels that I created with the longest (22″) loom. It uses the double knit pattern, so it looks like it was knit on both sides and is quite thick. My wife says it’s quite warm. Because the blanket uses a double thread throughout, it’ll also wear quite well.
I’ve also made a number of sets for people. The biggest set I’ve made so far is a hat, scarf, and blanket set for my niece and her baby. The set turned out quite nice and I was pleased that she seems to like it so much. Here’s the set:
Of course, this isn’t the only craft I’m involved with, but it’s the one that I can perform when I have just little bits of time here and there. Future posts will tell you about other sorts of crafts that I enjoy in an effort to keep the hands productively busy and the mouth free of food. Let me know about your crafts at [email protected].