I just spotted this new tutorial on making flowers with ribbon on the Knifty Knitter Flower Loom:
http://radlinccrafts.blogspot.com/2009/08/cute-ribbon-flowers-made-with-flower.html
Here's another neat idea–embelish your cool crocheted purse with a flower:
http://yarnovermama.blogspot.com/2009/08/crochet-purse-with-knitting-loom-flower.html
I happened across this Knifty Knitter page from Anke in the Netherlands once before–and then I lost the link. It took a few searches before I found it again. Much of it is in Dutch, but she does include some translations. I think her patterns are really lovely. In particular, I like the blue sweater (scroll down) and the white purse (on the top).
Here's a new item for my wish list, the EvenKnit Sock Loom from DecorAccents Looms. Isela and her husband developed this item to please loom sock knitters–you can make socks for your entire family on this loom instead of purchasing different sizes for little feet or big feet. Also, instead of the e-wrap, this loom uses a zig-zag method. Instead of wrapping each peg, you simply weave the yarn in front of the pegs and behind the pins, then knit off! Super knifty! (Here's her .PDF instructions. Knowing Isela, a video tutorial isn't far off.)
I think at over $90, this may be a future Christmas gift and not just a little splurge. However, I must say that the DA Looms are lovely, well-made, and something a future loom knitter will be ecstatic to find in a treasure box 100 years from now, so the price is worth it, but with my budget, it does rank as a "super special" gift.
Besides, my one try at using a sock loom was pretty disastrous. I started out with my lovely EFG DA Oval Sock Loom, but didn't get past the toe. It seems that my eyes and very close, tiny knitting don't get along, and as a result the loom has been gathering dust for over a year. I've often considered swapping it with someone who owns a FG sock loom to see if a larger gauge would keep me interested. It's possible I'm simply not a sock knitter; but with an entire skein of bamboo sock yarn waiting for a purpose in life, I feel compelled to try again.
I saw this Knit-Wit kit on sale but didn't buy it even though it was the last one, figuring I had enough flower looms; however, I decided if it was still there the next time I shopped, I'd get it… and it was, sitting slightly askew just the way I left it even though more than a week had passed. For $5.00, I can call it fate, a bargain, or maybe both.
The Knit-Wit is a new-again loom, once very popular in the 1970s and now repackaged. Mine came with both a square and circular loom, plus a DVD with helpful instructions. I started making flowers, following the instructions to create a border around each one. Then, I took it a step further and started connecting them together as I loomed, creating this … scarf? I think it's a scarf, anyway. I have about two feet done, 21 flowers in all, but I'd like to more than double the length. I'm using Marry by Rozetti, a yarn I'dbeen saving to practice cables or use the triloom to make another shawl. But for some reason, this retro, slightly-groovy scarf is growing on me. Or, is it growing on its own? Without me knitting anything? Hmmm…
Knit-Witting is sort of soothing, once you get the hang of it. What next? A pantsuit, perhaps? Thankfully, the biggest project I've ever completed consisted of 1.5 skeins of yarn, so I don't think a flowered pantsuit will ever be loomed by me.