Do you remember as a small child playing with a knitting dobby?  It was a small (in my memory, red wooden) item.  A mother would begin by wrapping yard magically around the 4 pins at the top, then I would continue by placing the yarn on the pin and pulling the loop below it off.  As I worked, a knitted cord would drop from the center of the dobby.  Lord knows what I did with those cords, but I think Barbie was the recipient of all my knitty creations. 

Using the dobby lasted about as long as the loom that made very colorful square looped potholders, but both of them taught me hand-eye coordination and a (very) basic fiber art form.

Today a number of knitters have taken up this form of knitting; it actually has a name: LOOM KNITTING.

Anne Bipes is a blogger and author who writes about loom knitting.  Her blog is a resource that contains several wonderful tutorials.  She shows several methods of casting the yarn onto the loom: a crochet cast on. and a cable cast on. Both, she claims, give a tighter edge than the package instructions of loop-cast on.  If you are thinking (like I was) that only small items can be made by loom knitting, check out her directions for a simple afghan pattern.

Joining Anne as an enthusiastic loom knitter/ teacher is BlogHer Denise Layman at Knitting Without Needles.
Her recent How SWTC and Cat Bordhi Made My Morning reminded by why I don't miss living in the Midwest. (the words "Lake Effect Snow still give me shivers). But the socks in that post? Very nice! Who knew one could make socks on a loom?

This past week, the loom knitters have decided to share a "little" meme.  Only 86 questions!  It looks like it may have been started by Karen of Crea8tiveKJsCorner. Both Denise and Anne answered this, as did The Purling Sprite

Interesting in connecting with other loom knitters?   

They have their own group on Ravlery

And if your interested in podcasts, BlogTalkRadio's Knitting 911 had a one hour episode with Lynn Markman, owner of Markman Farm, a knitting loom manufacturer!  "We love to loom together!"

Debra Roby blogs her creative life at A Stitch in Time and her mundane life at Deb's Daily Distractions .