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 I found a great book on loom knitting. It is called "Loom Knitting Primer - A beginner's guide to knitting on a loom". This is a wonderful book for teaching loom knitting basic and advanced techniques. My first project was this winter hat pattern.
I was attracted to this pattern for two reasons. First it was a great introduction to purl and knit stitches on a round loom. Up until this hat, I had only done ewrap stitches. This hat is all purls and knits! The second thing that attracted me was the use of a different color to create a design. I had done a simple stripe before but never anything as intricate as this.  Overall, I found the patter very easy to execute. Knitting and purling was a little difficult at first, but after doing 40 rows, you get the hang of it and start to speed up. Still not as fast as the ewrap, but you end up with a better looking result. Creating the snowflake pattern was also not very hard. You just follow the pattern and use the appropriate color when called for. I did learn that I should work on minimizing my floats better. The outside of the hat looks great, but there are a lot of floats on the inside. I don't think it is a major issue, it just makes it easier to snag the yarn and mess up the hat.
One big thing I learned is that I needed to buy a row counter and stitch markers. With a pattern like this, it is very important you remember what row number you on so don't mess up the effect. Even though I thought I would remember my row number when I got up briefly to stir the soup, I was wrong. Any small interruption and my mind went blank. I ended up writing down the rows as I got to to them. I've since bought a row counter and find it much easier.  The stitch markers are needed to help me remember whether I am on knit or purl. The brim of this hat was created by doing knit two, purl two every row for two inches. Unfortunately, at one point I messed up and started to knit when I should have purled. I didn't realize it until it was too late. The end effect is one half of one row not matching. Nothing horrible, but it bugs me every time I see it. In the future, I'll put stitch markers on the pegs to let me know if I should be knitting or purling.
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