Loom Knitting Advent, day 25 brings you one last loom knitting surprise: Mister Quinzee, a fun little ‘snowman’ with a hollow core, perfect for storing a little bit of holly-jolly!
Designed by Jenny Stark
Mister Quinzee
A quinzee is a simple shelter made by hollowing out a pile of settled snow. It is simpler than an igloo, yet it is an effective way to stay warm if you are out in the winter elements for very long. The instructions for this project won’t help you create a winter shelter, but they will help you create an adorable snowman with a hollow ‘shelter’ for your favorite goodies or trinkets.
Knitting Loom: Hat Loom
Yarn: Hat: Red Heart Stellar in Celestial.
Head: Bernat Baby Blanket in White.
Notions: knitting tool, tapestry needle with large eye, scissors, 4” x 4” round paper mache box with lid, LaMode button set #2010, glue gun and hot glue, pencil, blush (optional).
Size: Approximately 7″ tall (excluding pom-pom)
Gauge: Not essential for this project.
Abbreviations:
K = knit stitch
P = purl stitch
Techniques
Double E-wrap Cast-On: Wrap the first peg twice. With the knitting tool, pull the lower wrap past the upper wrap and over the top of the peg. Repeat this process for each of the remaining pegs. Cast on is now complete. Continue on as directed in the pattern.
U-wrap Knit Stitch: Bring the working yarn in front of the peg to be worked, above the existing stitch on the peg. Bend the working yarn around the peg, creating a u shaped wrap. Knit the lower stitch over the u wrap.
Basic Bind Off: Knit the first two pegs. Move the stitch from the second peg over to the first peg. Knit the lower stitch over the upper stitch. One stitch has now been bound off. Move the stitch from peg 1 to the empty peg. This is now peg 1. Knit the next stitch. Move the stitch that was just knit over to the first peg. Knit the lower stitch over the upper stitch. Continue working in this manner until there is one stitch left. Cut the working yarn, leaving a yarn tail that is at least 4” long. Wrap the yarn tail around the last peg. Knit the last stitch over the yarn tail and pull the yarn tail out through the stitch. Bind off is now complete.
Gathered Bind Off: Loosely wrap the working yarn in a circle around all of the pegs that have stitches – two times. This will ensure that the yarn tail is long enough to complete the bind off. Cut the working yarn, then unwrap the long yarn tail from around the pegs. Lay the yarn tail below the stitch on peg 1. Using the knitting tool, pull the yarn tail up through the stitch. *Lay the yarn tail below the next stitch. Using the knitting tool, pull the yarn tail up through the stitch. Repeat from * for all stitches on the loom. Once all stitches have been bound, remove the knitting from the loom. Pull on the yarn tail to cinch the opening closed (unless otherwise directed by the pattern being worked). Bind off is now complete.
Pom-pom: Lay the yarn across the palm of your hand. Wrap the yarn around the hand about 20-25 times. Slide the wraps off of the hand, keeping them pinched together at the center. Take a separate length of yarn and tie it very tightly around the center of the pom-pom. Knot it securely. With scissors, cut the loops at each end of the pom-pom. Be careful not to cut the center strand that holds the pom-pom together. Fluff the pom-pom and trim any longer strands, if needed. Use the yarn ends from the center tie to attach the pom-pom to the project.
Instructions
Loom Set up:
For this project, you will need
- Two 25 peg rounded loom pieces
- Two 3 peg connectors
- 28 pegs
Combine the rounded loom pieces with the connectors to create an oval loom. Place the pegs in the loom, skipping every other hole. The loom is now set up to knit in large gauge, in the round. It should look like this:
This set up is used throughout the project. You are now ready to begin knitting.
Hat:
With the Red Heart Stellar, cast on 28 stitches using the double e-wrap cast on method.
Rounds 1-8: K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Rounds 9-35: K to the end of the round.
Remove the hat from the loom using the gathered bind off method. If desired, create a pom-pom and attach it to the top of the hat. Weave in all yarn ends. Set hat aside for now.
Head:
With the Bernat Baby Blanket, cast on 28 stitches using the double e-wrap cast on method.
Rounds 1-20: K to the end of the round.
Remove the head from the loom using the basic bind off method. Weave in all yarn ends. Set head aside for now.
Finishing:
Plug in the hot glue gun and let it warm up. Pick up the round paper mache box. With the lid on the box, use the pencil to trace a line around the perimeter of the container, just below the lip of the lid.
Remove the lid from the box and set it aside for a moment. Slip the knitted head piece onto the box, like a sleeve, lining the bind off edge up with the pencil line on the container.
Using the hot glue gun, carefully glue the bind off edge of the knitted head sleeve to the paper mache box.
Next, wrap the cast on edge of the knitted head sleeve down around the bottom of the container, gluing it in place with the glue gun.
Remove the button set from its packaging and glue the buttons to the front of the container. (I started with the carrot/nose, then added the button eyes above it.)
Add blush to Mister Quinzee’s face, if desired.
Fill the paper mache box up with some sort of wonderful, then place the lid back on the container. Slip the knitted hat on over the lid and pull it down until it rests just above Mister Quinzee’s eyes. So cute!