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.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Holiday Decompression

One of the best things about Xmas is the days AFTER.  Presents have been given and received and there is no more pressure to do last minute design corrections and last minute re-weaving/knitting/crocheting/tatting/spinning.

Additional benefits are the leftover bits and pieces -- the oddballs.  With oddballs comes the status of creating a personal piece, tied to the gifts given that year; a piece that can be worn by the maker.  

This year I'm making an Idiot Shawl which in a couple of years will be joined to next year's idiot shawl to make an afghan. 

Assemble the bits and pieces of wool left over from this year's projects and separate into groups.  Decide which color will be the main color throughout -- I usually choose the color that I have the most of in either spun or dyed roving/yarn .  If you don't have one color that stands out as the main, you can tie all the stripes of color together with a purchased or spun or dyed yarn.  Black is a good choice if your colors are bright and you like the illuminated/stained glass look.  White is excellent if your colors are pastel.  Something I learned recently while researching different Granny Square patterns, was that any darkish color can be used to crochet all the finished squares together as long as it works with the colors it abuts.  Using a color that isn't as harsh as black or as bright as white can make the same difference as, say, using fresh ground pepper instead of tobasco at the table.  The visual feast presented by that type of moderation is far more digestible.

The idiot shawl is based on the idiot washcloth pattern.  The only difference between the shawl and a washcloth is that you never decrease when knitting the shawl.  You will increase until you get a shawl the size you want or you get to the last odd ball. 

Pattern:

1.  Cast on 4 stitches
2.  Knit 2, increase by knitting in the front and back of the 3rd stitch, Knit stitch 4.
3.  Knit 2, Yarn Over, Knit to the end of the row.
4.  Repeat Row #3 until the shawl is as wide as you would like, or get to your last odd ball.
5.  Knit 2, Yarn Over, *K1, K2tog, YO*, repeating between * * until you get towards the end, finishing the row with a YO, K2.  Fudge if necessary.
6. & 7.  Knit.
8.  Bind off loosely, weave in ends.

Note here -- I join the balls together using Russian Join .  It gives you a little time to decide if the colors you're putting together actually belong side by side.  Alternately, you can overlap the old and the new yarns and knit with both for a a few stitches before dropping the old yarn and continuing on with the new.

Have a very happy New Year and see you soon!

P.S.:  I've been watching Lone Ranger re-runs while working on this blog post and the episode plaing now keeps mentioning a little western town called Colby.  Colby, Wisconsin is the birthplace of Colby cheese and I have a sudden, uncontrollable urge to run out and buy some ... and some fudge of course ... and maybe some pears.  Happy Happy!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Those little extra things ...


You may recall that this past year I've been learning tatting as an additional skill.  I've also used it this year as a way to enhance the holiday gifts I've been making.

There's always someone, though, a hair-dresser a health care worker or a co-worker, who should get a little more than a tip or a card.  Something that could be considered an enhanced holiday card and so not demanding a reciprocation, and finally something that lets that person know they are valued.  

It's even better if that extra something can be attached to the inside of the card in such a way as to make it easily re-gift-able.  Post-It-Notes serve that purpose by holding the earrings in place and also displaying them while making moving them to a new card easy.
 
After searching everywhere for a good, small snowflake, I designed this earring.  Designed is a strong word for what I did.  I kept trying various options until I finally happened on this and had the foresight to write down what I was doing while I was doing it.

Materials:

Size 5 tatting needle
DMC Blanc No. 20, Cebelia, white cotton
6/0 Czech Glass Beads

It took a lot of trial and error to devise this pattern and I learned two of three important answers.   

First, I initially planned on placing the beads on the tips of the snowflake but encountered two problems.  

  1. Beading the ends of the picots caused the flakes to fold in on themselves -- not good.  
  2. I was having difficulty maintaining the space between the bases of the six rings.
Using the beads as bumpers between each ring made the thread between each ring uniform in length.  It also created an equally weighted circle in the center of the motif. 

Second, I wanted all the picots, both those at the tips of the rings and those joining the rings, to be of equal length.  I found the best option was drawing a 3/8" line on my index finger in black ink, and then washing the finger so the stain wouldn't transfer to the thread.

Third, and this is the problem I've not yet solved, the final joining picot ends up twisted, no matter what I do.  There are plenty of tutorials online advising shuttle tatters how to avoid that twisted link, but I have yet to find one for tatting needle users.  I just placed the twisted picot where it seemed the least noticeable.  Here's the scribbling I did.  You can see how I was documenting my progress, then scratching out and trying something else.

And here is the finished pattern.

Prep:


String at least 6 beads on the thread.  You will need to use the tatting needle to do this as it must be able to slide through them.  If any bead won't slide over the needle, either discard it or set it aside for use with a #7 or #8 needle on a different project.  

R = Ring
- or p = picot
+ = join
3 or 2 = number of DS

First Ring.


3-2-2-3 Close. Tie.  Do not Reverse.
Slide a bead up in place at the base of the ring along the ball thread.  
Pass the tatting needle through the bead once more so the ball thread and needle thread are coming out of the bead, and laying parallel.

Rings 2 through 5


3+2-2-3 Close. Tie.  Do not Reverse.
Slide a bead up in place at the base of the ring along the ball thread.  
Pass the tatting needle through the bead.

Ring 6



3+2-2  
Fold motif in half vertically in order to join to the first side picot created on Ring 1.

+3  

Closing this ring can be tricky.  Before cinching it tight I re-arrange it gently so that the top picot lies to the outside of the ring and the two legs of the ring point to the center. Tie.  Do not Reverse. 

Slide the last bead up in place at the base of the ring along the ball thread. Pass the tatting needle through the bead then pass the needle through the base of the first ring, knot.  

Finishing: 

 Weave tails into the rings and clip short.  When a sufficient number of snowflakes are finished, get them wet and pin them out to dry a styrofoam block.  I like to spritz them with 3 sprays each of fabric stiffening spray and let them dry a couple of days before hanging them from an ear-wire.

If any of you know how to avoid twisting a picot while needle tatting, I'd love to know for next year. 

Now this particular pattern, in sport weight or worsted weight yarn, adorned with 2/0 beads would make excellent detachable tree ornaments for the front of a card for next year.  Have I tipped my hand there?   Happy Hollandaise!!!