Rainbow Tube Knitting with TP Roll Looms

Happy 2025! My last post about printing my hopeful Kamala prints has been staring at me every time I come back here. I am going to have to create 7 new posts in order to not see it anymore on my homepage, so that’s what I will do! I still love the prints, I love her, I’m so sad we don’t have a woman president, but it is too heartbreaking to see that post right now. I am moving on to rainbows and yarn and soft and cozy and happy. I rediscovered tube knitting and made some looms (is that what we call them?) from toilet paper rolls. It is so zen and relaxing, I think I might keep going and wrap a tree or create an installation. Must. Make. Art.

When I first started making these tube-knitted pieces I didn’t know what to do with them. I made a necklace for my mom for her 85th birthday which she loves because it’s easy to pull over her head, and it keeps her neck warm! I kept making long knitted pieces, trying out different ombre yarns, and just putting them in a basket. Then I went on a trip to Davis, CA to see my youngest at school and went to their famous farmer’s market. I found a woman who made wool yarn from the sheep in her backyard! I bought a rainbow skein and knew exactly what I was going to make with it (scroll down to see all the yarns in this heavenly stall).

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Materials needed for Tube Knitting with TP Roll Looms:

~ Toilet paper rolls or cut-down paper towel rolls

~ Popsicle sticks – 5

~ Beads or small buttons – 5

~ Glue gun

~ Wooden skewer

~ Yarns in any color, but for this post I mostly show the rainbow yarn (here is Fiber Confections FB page and Instagram, I’m not sure how else she sells her wool)

How to make the Tube Knitting Loom:

~ Glue the beads or small buttons to the tops of each popsicle stick

~ Glue each popsicle stick on the inside of the TP roll, leaving about 3/4 inch showing

Here is a photo from the Davis CA farmer’s market stall with all the yarns from the owner’s own sheep! Fair warning: The way this skein is wound – not in a ball but in a big loop – created a huge tangled mess. I have never worked with yarn that was packaged in this way, so I’m not sure what to do to prevent the tangled mess in the future, but my guess is I should have hung the yarn up instead of laying it on a table and been more careful when pulling. If anyone has any tips let me know!

How to Knit on a TP Roll Loom:

1. To begin, hold the end of the yarn against the side of the TP roll and then bring the yarn around the back of the first popsicle stick.

2. Wrap it around the front, then go over to the next stick and do the same thing, going behind the stick then wrap around the front.

3. Continue until you get back to the first stick.

4. When you get back to the beginning, now the yarn goes straight across the front of the first stick above the first loop.

5. Use the skewer to lift the bottom loop over the top yarn. This is where the beads/buttons come in handy because it helps the top thread stay in place as you lift the bottom one over the top.

6. After you lift the bottom yarn over the top, move the loose yarn over one and do the same: above the loop, lift the bottom over the top.

7. When you’ve made it all the way around once, push the start thread through the middle so it’s dangling down the inside of the tube and pull on it to tighten the knitting. You can pull it tight every time you go around in the beginning. Eventually when it’s coming out the end and long enough you don’t have to keep pulling to tighten.

Continue knitting in this way until you get the length you want.

8. To finish the piece, cut the yarn leaving about 8-10 inches.

9. Thread the loose yarn underneath the next loop, then lift that loop off the popsicle stick.

10. Then thread the loose yarn again underneath the next loop and lift it off, continuing until you have threaded and lifted off all 5 loops.

11. Pull the piece out of the tube. I like to thread the loose yarn back through that last loop one more time and tie it off.

Each piece is about 12 inches long.

12. Tie the two ends together to make a circle. You may have to do some double knotting before trimming the ends.

I decided to use the bracelets as napkin rings for the Thanksgiving table.

I made some name labels with brown paper bags and this tag-shaped paper punch. The letter stamp set is really old, like from high school (30 years ago!) and I haven’t been able to find anything like this, but you can use any letter set, or just hand write if you have good handwriting.

Here is a tutorial on how to make the paper luminaries.

Here are some outtakes from Thanksgiving! I taught some people how to tube knit, and everyone had a different way to wear their rainbow yarns. My sister-in-law sent me a photo of her cat, Octavia, wearing it as a collar. She said it’s Octavia’s favorite.

xx, Bar

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Did you like this post? Here are more posts using yarn: