Lion Brand Yarn Martha Stewart Crafts Knit and Weave Loom Kit (5000-100)

I just received my loom kit today and got it all set up and felt I just had to write a review right away.. Reason for this is I have a KB 4-1 loom which I also love, So i decided to do a comparison as some of the review for this set were very positive and some not so. As we all know nothing in this world is perfect and we always find fault if we look hard enough. I honestly can not find that much to complain about, yes the pegs do have a tendency to come loose but then again how tight did you have it wrapped which was one of MY problems. I really love the versatility of this kit ........yes the KB loom is equally good in comparison just can't make quite as many different shapes and sizes.......I have another KB loom coming and to be truthful I am tempted to order another one of these as the price keeps going down and down. I have a big need for them as I have been making hats for the homeless and needy in our community and the way the weather has been in South Dakota I will be at it for quite some time I think. Sorry didn't mean to be so long winded, just wanted to share. Thank You

This is one product where I actually did a lot of research before purchasing, including reading the top-rated Amazon reviews.First, my skill level: I can knit and I can purl with regular needles. I cannot knit with needles in the round, regardless of whether I'm using a circular needle or double-pointed needles. I can crochet about 2 rows before giving up. I have never before finished a knitting or crochet project. So I am maybe one step above an absolute beginner. I have never used another knitting loom, so I can't compare brands.I will say that the reason I chose this loom over others (I actually bought 2 of them after reading reviews wherein the reviewers complained about lost pegs) is because it seemed so versatile: multiple configurations, two different sizes of pegs instead of only one, etc.At any rate, I have already completed about 30 rows of the hat project from the instruction booklet. It is SO easy to knit in the round with this loom, which is something I've always wanted to do but haven't been able to before. And there are none of the problems with seams or areas of loose stitching that occur (according to what I've read online) with double-pointed needles! Also, everything works up super fast. I thought, based on my rate with regular needles, that I would finish the hat in time for NEXT winter. But now I think I will be done in another session or two. The instant gratification is nice, and helps keep me motivated to keep working.I also like the pegs in contrasting colors. These are wonderful for marking the beginnings of rows, but I can also see them coming in handy for when I want to do both knit and purl stitches in the same row, without constantly referring to the pattern. (I rather like mindless knitting as something to do to keep my hands busy while watching television.)I have noticed the pegs being loose only infrequently. This seems to match up with places where my yarn tension is too tight, like the work is pulling at the pegs. In general, I did not have any trouble placing the pegs or fitting the different segments of the frame together. I actually thought it was quite easy, and the loom secure afterwards. I occasionally carry my work in a tote bag, and have not had any problems with any of the knitting-in-progress coming off the loom, though I have not been particularly gentle with it.I have three small complaints and/or concerns, however.1. The instruction booklet really is not very good. It seems much more substantial than it actually is, because it has Spanish and French instructions in separate sections from the English ones, with the same pictures repeated in each section. I did not find the pictures helpful at all. They were too small for me to really be able to see what was being done. However, I was able to follow the written directions and did not have any trouble casting on, knitting, purling, or binding off.2. I wish there was more advice in the booklet about maintaining proper tension. The first couple of rows on the sample piece I tried were WAY too tight. Practice has led to better results here, but the booklet really doesn't cover it. I actually think it would be easier, when you are just starting out, to work with the large pegs spaced every other hole, rather than using the small pegs. However, the booklet suggests using the small pegs first. I was getting frustrated using the small pegs, but am having much more success with the large ones.3. Like the other reviewers, I am not terribly happy with the knitting tool, either. Part of the problem with the tool was, I think, related to the tension issue in #2 above. My tension was so tight that the tool was uncomfortable to use. I have bent the tool rather significantly more than once. It hasn't broken yet, but I am concerned that it might. (Luckily I have the tool from the second loom set as a backup.) I have gotten happier with the tool as I have begun to fix my tension problems, but I don't expect it to last a long time. Update 5/7/13: The tool broke. The metal snapped right at the area where the metal part emerges from the rubber handle. Argh! I've finished one hat and half a scarf and I've already burned through the first tool. I won't change my rating because I didn't expect much from the tool, but figured I should update the review with the information. Update 5/9/03: I e-mailed Lion Brand after the tool broke and they contacted me this morning. They've promised to send me a replacement knitting tool. Update 5/12/03: The replacement tool arrived yesterday, much earlier than estimated.However, I am so happy with the progress I've made and the ease of knitting in the round, as well as the multiple possibilities for configurations, that I think this loom rates 4 stars, despite my aforementioned issues. You can always supplement the instructions with online videos and instructions, and the Lion Brand website does have a lot of patterns (although most are for scarves and hats). Also, for what it's worth, you can't make a big circle, but you CAN make a big oval. Assuming you don't do anything strange as you round the corners, this should result in a nice circular piece when removed from the loom. (The hat in the booklet, for example, is knitted on an oval-shaped frame.)Update (4/17/13): I finished the hat. There is one wonky place where I didn't have the tension right, but I am super-pleased with the results considering this is the first thing I have ever tried to make on this loom. I am next going to try making a scarf because I have not yet done flat knitting on the loom. I may make it striped so that I get some experience with changing colors.Update (5/12/13): I discovered the Lion Brand channel on YouTube yesterday. If you are having trouble with the instructions in the booklet that comes with the loom, try there. I couldn't figure out what was going on with the weaving instructions in the instruction booklet, but there are three excellent videos regarding warp, weft, and removing the finished piece from the loom. There were also a lot of double knitting instruction videos for the loom on YouTube that have really clarified things for me. So I think Lion Brand is really trying to support this product fully (they also answer questions in comments on the YouTube videos), and that is appreciated.Update (5/29/13): I did run into the problem of pegs coming out last night. I was making a simple hat with an e-wrap stitch, but the pattern was written for a Knifty Knitter loom and the only way I could get the right number of pegs was to make a square loom from the MS pieces and work in the round on that. So there may have been some tension problems. Also, I finished the scarf from the MS loom's instruction book, though I made it striped as I indicated I would earlier. I am not thrilled with the instructions in the booklet for changing colors on a flat, single-knitted piece and came up with my own way. I've since encountered better instructions for changing strands/colors in Loom Knitting Primer.

In A Rush? Here's The Summary:PROS:-Versatile and easy to customize; so many combinations to choose from and covers many loom styles (round, flat, double-sided, and weaving).-Can use multiple looms at once without having to wait to finish one piece before starting another (but still depends on which pieces you use).-Pretty easy to disassemble and can fit in a small container or in the case it comes in.-Great for both thin yarns (size 4) and bulky yarns (5+); just space the pegs to your liking or even mix and match different sizes.-Has contrasting colored pegs so you can mark important areas to modify pieces at those intervals without having lots of little stitch markers.-Easy to understand instructions; great versatility for more experienced knitters, but easy enough for someone without experience to jump in.CONS:-Poor molding; some pieces don't fit together properly and have to be modified to use as advertised.-Some pieces arrived dirty/had food on them and had to be scrubbed and hand-dried (they don't air-dry well. ESPECIALLY the many hundreds of pegs).-The weaving stick isn't long enough to go through the full size configuration (it needs to be about 4 inches longer), so you either need to find/make a weaving stick, weave your fingers in to reach, or use a smaller configuration.-The hook is really bad, it's just a bent wire with no smooth tip that will snag your yarn; I strongly recommend buying a different hook.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -I love these looms; they're very versatile and are designed so that you have the right spacing for pegs of different sizes no matter how many you connect. I purchased 4 of these because I wanted to make a giant loom using all the straight pieces and two U-bend pieces to make a double-sided, seamless piece about 9 feet long, and it's worked out so well. It's difficult to go from one end to the other for each row, but that's no issue with the kits, just the nature of having a long loom. Normally, they're very easy to use, and you can customize the size and type of loom and the spacing on the pegs to your liking. There's also plenty of pieces so you can make multiple looms for different projects at once, or if you're making things like socks or gloves, you could have two identical ones and work on them in tandem.What's disappointing, though, is that their quality is kind of poor; in all 4 kits, quite a few of the pegs had pieces of plastic around their top edge or the loom pieces themselves had covered holes that were left over from the molding process. Some pegs even had extra bits of plastic sticking out from the bottom that I had to trim off with pliers. They're not hard to fix, but it is annoying. Also, some of them were used and weren't cleaned. They looked dingy and in one of the sets, it looked like someone spilled salsa in the holes, let it dry, then rinsed it before they returned it. It was really gross, but unless you open the kit, you wouldn't have known. It's all clean now, but if you're going to resell something, you should make sure it's clean in the first place.The worst issue, though, is that some pieces don't fit together properly; some of the pieces slide in and are locked with a peg easily, but others can't fit all the way, or, even when you get them in, the hole on the bottom is off to the side so much that you can't fit the peg in. The issue in most of these is, on the inside of the slot, behind the hole on top, there's a big bump that's keeping the other piece from going in all the way. It can kind of be fixed, but it's difficult and really limits the size you can make if you can't use a certain piece. Using a large pair of scissors, you can carefully carve it away, but it won't remove all of it. It was enough for my pieces to fit again, but it still gave me trouble because the hole on the bottom still didn't line up. You can fix this a bit more easily by taking those same scissors, a pair of needle pliers, or similar tool, and twisting it in the hole (carefully) to carve away/open up the sides just enough so that a peg can fit in and keep it in place.If all that hasn't scared you away, it really is a great kit to have, especially if you want to make longer looms, large woven items, seamless pieces, or custom circular sizes. I do think it was worth it, personally, but I'd like to see them fix these issues with the molding themselves and maybe even offer replacement pieces if they're not to the standard they're meant to be in.