Saturday, September 7, 2013

Halloween is Actually Closer Than Xmas


 These Day of the Dead Earrings are a Lot Like Halloween ...


... not quite there yet, but getting closer. 

Pattern

Aunt Lydia's #10 thread in Mexicana Variegated colorway
6/0 Czech beads
Skull bead
Handy Hands #5 needle. 
Size 1.1 mm Crochet Hook
Stitch Safety Pin or Paper Clip

DS = Double Stitch
pb =  Place Bead

Load 10 Czech beads on the ball thread and have the skull bead ready for the Long Picot when you get to it. 

* To make the LONG PICOT that holds the skull, pull the ball thread up through the skull bead using a small crochet hook, then slip a pin or paperclip through the top of the LONG PICOT to hold the skull while you continue tatting.*

Needle Tatting Pattern for the ring around the skull is:


1DS, pb, 2DS, pb,  2DS, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb, *1DS Long Picot 1DS*, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb,1DS

Put needle through Long Picot end held open by pin or clip, and then through the End Loop and cinch to complete ring.  Knot.  Hide ends.
- - - - - - - -


I didn't add the R= 2DS,p,2DS that you see at the top of the picture to the pattern. I was thinking that I needed a tatted 'jump' ring to attach the ear wire.  Now I'm leaning twoards running the earring through the join knots once the thread ends are hidden.

On another note, Aunt Lydia's Metallic size 10 doesn't work for me on the tatting needle; the metal ply catches and bunches.  It might work in shuttle tatting and I know it works with crochet so nothing lost.

Finished Earring is Nickle Size

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Baby Jane Alteration

Second Attempt -- Pin-Curl Clips


Besides choosing smaller clips, I also chose to make a single crocheted leaf using Size 3 crochet thread on a D crochet hook.  I added definition to the leaf by using the color turquoise for the center vein (beginning chain) and sage for the body. 


Hook Size:  The 0 size hook compressed the stitches too much making the difference between a double-crochet and a single-crochet invisible.  The D crochet hook, while still small, creates looser stitches so that the leaf is fuller. Lesson: Do test leaves in several different size hooks.

Tails:  Leave a long beginning tail which will sew the leaf to the clip, and an ending tail at least twice the length of the leaf.  You might want to also add a bit of "stem" with a Chain 2, when you've finished the leaf. 

You can make the center vein stand out by running the end tail back through those center stitches before hot gluing the leaf to the clip.   Lesson: Sometimes it's actually worth it to weave in more than one tail.

It would also be possible to thread beads on that center vein enhancement as you go.  Lesson: When using more than one color of thread, be careful how you weave in the ends.  You can see a couple of sloppy mistakes in these pictures.

Clip Size:  This smaller clip is much more attractive and I will wear it in public.  If you do use the larger sectioning clip, I would suggest that you make several single leaves instead of the leaf chain. If I try it again I'll overlap them at a 30-35 degree angles during the gluing process.  More of a laurel leaf crown sort of thing. Lesson: Yes, the gluing process is necessary, if only to hold that stupid leaf in one place while you're sewing it down. 


  And yes, it DID occur to me that these leaves would make a wonderful Casual Tiara.  Perhaps in black?


Monday, May 27, 2013

Baby Janes


Remember that 4-year period when it was impossible to find Maryjanes that didn't look like bowling shoes, basic ballet style flats were unavailable for under $200 and flip-flops only came in the platform variety? 

This is what happens when all the Captains of Industry want to make a killing selling 'fashionable' shoes at a low price. All the factories in China start exporting hideous crap and only high-end shoemakers, here and in Europe, are left to supply the classic designs.

I think this may have happened to the Flamingo Clip.  Someone discovered she couldn't become an overnight millionaire making them, so everyone stopped. 

I had no idea of what those hair-clips were called before I couldn't find them.  It took many googles to find that name while searching for hair-sectioning-clips-in-plastic.  Flamingo clips look like the curved bill of a bird which explains the name.  Flamingo is so much more '80s than hair-sectioning-clip, so "Miami Vice."  And that's another clue to their demise right there.

Online I found some of the 4 inch model to hold an impromptu french roll and half-inch ones to adorn. But I couldn't find any of the 2-3 inch ones I use to pull the hair out of my face while I'm hunched over a project. 

This got my "dammit I'll make my own" dander up.

You can still find silver colored sectioning clips at beauty-supply shops and truth be told you can find colored plastic sectioning clips there or online.  The thing is you can't easily find the plastic ones in shops, and I hesitate to pay $4 shipping for $3 clips.  On the other hand, wearing plain metal hair-sectioning clips out in public kind of screams "She's desperately poor."  So, the metal ones must be enhanced and here's how I tried.

Polish dries quickly
What I used:

2 Sectioning Clips
Fingernail Polish - I chose green
Hot Glue Gun
Size 0 Crochet Hook (2.25 mm or B)
Size 3 Crochet Thread - I used Royale fashion crochet thread in Sage
A Crochet Motif Pattern - I chose a leaf pattern on Ravelry by Fable Handmade Goods, her "Leaves & Leaf Chain" pattern

Painted, crocheted and ready to glue

Green would be a good background color if you decided to crochet roses or pansies or any kind of flower.  Frankly, there's no reason why you should only crochet enhancements.  Left-over Halloween polish and some sequins could be enough to get that Disco Ball spinning.

A needle-tatted lace insert of outer beaded rings connected by arches or threads would work.  Glue on doll eyes would work -- you would just need a much stronger glue than generic hot-gun.  And why glue something to the clips other than glue?  They do make All-Temp Colored Glue sticks.  No reason you couldn't do free-form spaghetti monster squiggles.  Or snakes.  But I digress.

$-Store pins on top, working clothes-pin bottom.
I painted two clips with two coats of polish and crocheted four leaves with extra-long thread tails.  The tails came in handy.  Don't they always?

 For my first attempt I put the glue on the clip and pressed the leaves on and then clamped with Dollar-Store Clothes Pins. There on the right you'll see that the Dollar-Store Pins are small and not up to the task of pinning clothes to any thing -- but they're just dandy as light-weight clamps.

I unplugged the glue gun and walked away to let things cool.

When I returned I discovered the glue wasn't holding at all.  I lifted the leaves off and then peeled the glue off the clips and started over.

Picking up a couple of threads
3 pins seemed to be better
The second time I applied the hot glue to the leaves and THEN pressed the clips on the glue and clamped immediately.  

A knot to hold it.
When it had cooled the attachment was stronger, but not strong enough to withstand more than one wear.

Using the long tail, I secured the leaves to the clip by picking up a stitch or two on the left side and then running the thread between the clip's mandibles and picking up a couple of stitches on the right side -- back and forth -- all on the underside of the leaves.

So, if you've ever wondered "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", the answer is she's alive and well and in my apartment and not allowed to go out with these things in her hair. You who are much younger may wear them in public, with my blessing.  I will content myself with finding a tatting insert pattern that might work a little better.  Perhaps some decent, mature, hair-combs is the answer.
 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Continous versus Weave-It

I was lucky enough to run into Hazel Rose looms a few years ago when I belonged to a Tri-Loom Yahoo message board/email list.  At the time, there was a lot of experimentation by small woodworker/fiber artist teams who met on that list.  They discussed different ways of using the looms they made and different ways of making the looms.

The goal was to create a form of weaving which involved small to large frames studded with nails or hooks.

Small portable looms have been used for thousands and thousands of years.The types archaeologists tend to dig up, are usually of the tapestry or back strap or rug sort.  These looms require some sort of stationary anchor or weights in order to maintain tension on the warp threads. While you could unhook from the tree or whatever, in order to move your weaving with the tent and the herd, once you sat down again to start weaving, the loom was stationary.  You wouldn't pick it up and take it to the fire to work on while watching the pot boil, or pack it in a sack and carry it to town to work on while waiting in line.

Small modular looms that employ nails or hooks are much more portable, but are also not new.  "Weave-It" and "Love-or-Money" looms were popular during the last depression when weaving patchwork quilt size squares were popular among housewives.  They advertised themselves as perfect for creating an afghan or patching a pants knee. More than one person bought one of those looms believing they could actually weave an entire woolen suit and wear it in public and possibly sell clothes they had hand-made with it. 

These looms followed the mindset that you would have a warp and a weft.  One would warp the looms first and then, using a needle, weave back and forth to create a square of cloth.

When I first joined the Tri-Loom group they were concentrating on largish modular looms in the shape of a triangle that could be woven continuously.  While there was some talk that weaving shawls on these looms and selling them at craft fairs could easily recoup the cost -- that idea didn't last long. 

Weaving this way is no get-rich-quick thing.  There's no market for handwork here in the US that could possibly recoup the cost of the yarn.  There is so much cheap machine made crap flooding the market, you will not be selling stylish hand woven business suits using one of these small looms.  You will, however, be making your own blankets, scarves and shawls and ruanna's and your own washcloths, dishcloths and towels that will last you a lifetime.

The continuous method is different in that, there was no warp and weft.  The weaver doesn't warp the looms and then begin weaving.  The weaver attaches the yarn to a nail and starts weaving. 

The yarn is both warp AND weft. This type of weaving has the advantage that it was very homespun and novelty yarn friendly.  For the most part with harness and rigid-heddle looms, warp thread has to be uniform and smooth.  You can use whatever you like for the weft ... but the warp has to  be something that can be stretched at high tension and stand up to the abrasion of heddles.  While hand-spinners in earlier centuries produced yarn that could stand up to a loom, and while I have done so -- it's not fun.  It's hard work and there's nothing artsy-fartsy about it.

Modular looms, on the other hand, minimized abrasion on the yarn.  While weaving with some of the fuzzier mohair yarn is extremely difficult and time consuming -- other hand spun types like boucle and thick-N-thin bloom with this style of weaving. 

Usually, if you're going to weave Weave-It style with mock warp and weft, you'll need to use a Weave-It loom.  And you can find them for sale on eBay and elsewhere.  Hazel's looms, on the other hand, offer the best of both styles. They can be used either as a continuous weave loom or as a Weave-It type.  And interestingly enough, the every present X-mas variegated yarn behaves differently in each style of weaving.  You can see from the ruler that I've estimated that the Xmas yarn changes color about every 14 inches.

On the left is the Weave-It (WI)style and on the right is the continuously (C) woven.    Laying down a warp and then needle weaving a weft produces a plaid-ish square.  Weaving continuously, on the other hand, produces a log-cabin-ish look.  The differences don't stop there.  The WI square is much more loosely woven and you can clearly see the difference between the blue and the white backgrounds through it.  The background change isn't as noticeable on the C square, because it's woven on the bias, continuously and so contracts as soon as it's removed from the loom. 

Back when I frequented the Tri-Loom group there was a woman who actually space dyed "sunset" yarn so that weaving continuously would produce a triangle with a yellow bottom point that faded up through oranges and reds to purples and deep, deep blue at the hypotenuse.  Others were experimenting with math to place specific colors in specific places on the piece based on the size of the loom and the length of the color repeat.


If the squares above had been woven in 100% wool or Cotton, they could be fulled and both would be usable cloth.  The WI would be a more stable square while the C square would be more stretchy, but both could be joined to similarly woven squares to make a larger piece of cloth..

So, if you've suddenly discovered that you're spinning too fast for your knitting needles this may be a way to test the weaving waters before you plunk down $200 to $2,000 for a traditional loom.  If you want to learn more about these types of looms drop by Hazel Rose's website or Google "small looms."

Friday, January 4, 2013

Harlot Scarlet and Other Odd Things

The scarf I'm working on has two rows.  One is knit.  The other is simple lace pattern of decreases, yarn-overs and knit stitches in-between. Both sides of the work look amazingly alike.  This can be a problem if I can't remember where I left off when I set the work down the night before.

I'm sure that you can always tell where you are in the pattern when you pick up knitting you set aside.  You're either looking at the purl side of the work or you're not.  You're in the middle of the second repetition of a lace pattern, or you're not.  I'm lucky if I remember what row I'm on while I'm on it.  Yesterday, I got tired of dealing with a Miss Marple Mystery every single time I picked up my needles.   So I did something about it.


I've never had a manicure I haven't been able to trash in less than an hour. I type for a living and I type for pleasure.  I've worn the little letters off more than one keyboard.  But every once in a while I NEED orange and chartreuse fingernails.  This means that I have a wonderful collection of brightly colored enamel that will wear FOREVER on anything other than my nails.

Last night I decided that one of the needles would be the passive needle and that would be the one I use to knit the plain row.  It would be the plain needle.  The other needle would be the one I use to complete the pattern row.  The the active needle got a good glop of scarlet nail enamel.

Now, even if I find myself in the middle of a heated discussion, or the middle of a volcanic explosion on Nova, or a stirring paragraph in the book I'm reading, I'll never lose my place in the knitting. All I have to do is look at the butt end of my needles.

I don't know that you'll find this little tip useful, but go ahead, paint your needles.  You don't have to explain why to anyone on the bus.  It can be our secret.


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

A New New Year's Resolution

It didn't take long for me to break a pre-pre-New Year's Eve resolution that I would stop inflicting fiber experiments on my family when gifts are part of our celebrations.  Sorry ladies and gentlemen.  I'll do my best to keep the presents to things you might actually use or be able to regift.

At the same time I am partially confirming a real resolution to knit and crochet more and do less housework.  While I was guilty of washing the kitchen floor this morning and am in the process of baking a couple of squashes, I will be working in fiber and blogging about it much more this year. 

This is the beginning of a scarf using size 6 needles, and Vanna's Glamour in Diamond.  The pattern is a simple one: Two rows, one patterned and the other plain knit.  The result is a sparkling chevron pattern with eyelets.  I've condensed the pattern row onto a post-it so it can be carried with me in my tiny turquoise project tote.  The pattern can be found in Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders

I'm thinking this collection of patterns is going to get a lot of use.  I do enjoy spinning novelties and working with luxury fibers, but I usually run out of oomph after one or two 300 yard skeins.  Because chevrons play well with variegated yarns, and judiciously placed eyelets play nice with fuzzy yarns, I can see that this little blingy scarf will be a staple.