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Posts Tagged ‘Yarn’

Can a blanket stitch be used to connect pieces of a blanket?

January 30th, 2013 2 comments

I’ve been knitting nice big squares to make a blanket. The yarn I’m using is all different shades of bright green and I wanted to use purple to connect them. I don’t want to hide the purple color and thought a blanket stitch would work perfectly. Can I use a blanket stitch to connect pieces? How do you do it? Any help would be great!

No a blanket stitch is for going aroundappliquee or around the edge of the blanket, not for connecting two squares. Check out your library for embroidery and knitting books for examples ofstitchess that would work

What’s the best needle craft for someone to start out with?

December 23rd, 2012 3 comments

I would like to start doing needlework projects but am not sure where to start.
I am thinking about asking for some for Christmas is why! I used to do a needlepoint but I forget what it was, the fabric was the same colors as the yarn.

Alice and I started out the same, with stamped cross stitch. From there, I learned other embroidery stitches, did crewel as well as thread embroidery, and needlepoint. I can do counted cross stitch, but another that I choose not to do.
My mother latched rugs, that was as close as I cared to get to that. Just was not for me.
I sew, I bead on material, I make jewelry.

I would recommend stamped cross stitch, it is easy to learn, and as you can see, can lead to other kinds of stitching. And it is generally inexpensive to learn and do. I have some pillow cases in the works right now, they and the thread cost me way less than $10, I had the needles and hoops.

Lots of sites online, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby both sell it in kits, and some individual pieces like baby bibs. My local quilt shop sells lots of cotton with designs for embroidery stamped on it, some are copies of antique designs.

And from there, you can make quilt blocks and quilts, make gingham aprons with cross stitch designs, learn to embellish clothes and accessories, learn to bead fabric [it is easy].

I have a stitching book, I think it is from Reader’s Digest, that my Mom bought me, I have learned several stitches out of it. Visit your local library and book store to see what you might be interested in. And of course, ask for the book for Xmas, too!

Playing With Yarn

September 20th, 2011 No comments

Cut a piece of yarn about a foot long. Hold it at eye level. Shake it. Jiggle it. Swirl it around. Tie a knot near one end. Tie another one near the middle. Tie the two ends together. Swing the loop around your fingers. Hang it from a nail.

Yarn can be as playful as any toy you’ve ever had. Even more, because it doesn’t put any limits on your imagination. And it’s cheap. For about two bucks you can get half a pound of a bright, wiry acrylic.

So go ahead–start playing!

*****
If I could give one piece of advice to people beginning to use yarn, this is it: stay away from patterns. The people who write patterns are highly skilled, sophisticated designers, and your early (and middle and late-middle) experiments will look crude and clumsy compared to their work. But–BUT–the experiments will be YOURS, while other people’s patterns will not.
It all depends on what you want–if you want to make pretty things that other people admire, then patterns will help you. But those pretty things and that admiration will become addictive, and the longer you use other people’s designs, the harder it’ll be to create on your own.

If, however, you want to use your yarn like a painter uses paint, you need to develop the courage to be crude and clumsy and to make useless things that you throw away.

Eventually you’ll figure out how to make useful things if you want to, because you’ll be developing technical skill and design intuition with each experiment that you toss in the trash.

I’ve taught myself to use yarn the way I use paper. This is the second time I’ve tried to write this paragraph–the other one has scratches out and squiggles and a big X through it. And I’m going to throw away all the sheets that I’m writing on once I type everything into my computer.

I use my yarn just as lightly–I make something, fool with it a bit, maybe even admire it, and then toss it out. Sometimes my husband photographs some of the pieces for my web page, but I refuse to become attached to them because I’m much more interested in the doing than the done.

*****

Every so often I feel loose enough to dance with my yarn. I cut slits in the vertical ends of a piece of watercolor paper, warp with pearl cotton #8, tie a length of embroidery thread to a warp, and go looping and knotting across the page. My dance weavings are spontaneous–I don’t measure the slits, I don’t choose the threads ahead of time, and I don’t know where I’m going until I tie on a thread and start dancing. I rarely spend more than fifteen minutes on a weaving, but it takes me weeks or months to store up enough confidence to make one. Then, of course, I start having such a good time that I make two or three in one sitting!

*****

Find 3 yarns that look good together. Cut about a 2-foot length of each. Tie them together at one end, leaving about a 1-inch fringe. Lay the knot on the edge of a table, put a heavy book on it, and braid the yarns until you have about 1-1/2 inches left. Then make a knot at the end of the braid.

Now cut 3 lengths of each yarn, combining 1 of each yarn into each braiding strand, and make a braid.

Now cut 3 more lengths of each yarn, but keep all 3 of one color together to form a braiding strand, and make a braid.

Look at your braids. How are they similar? How are they different? Do you prefer 3 lengths or 9? Do you prefer combining the colors or keeping them separate?

Do this experiment again, but twist the yarns instead of braiding them. How do the twists look? What are the similarities and differences, both among the twists and between the twists and the braids? Which do you prefer?

This is an experiment you can perform again and again, using all sorts of yarns in all sorts of combinations. Try 3 of 1 yarn and 6 of another, or 2 and 1 or 7 and 2 or 2 and 3.

Just keep trying.

*****

The biggest problem in the yarn world today is the lack of education in art. The great pioneers of Hippiedom–Magdalena Abakanowicz, Lenore Tawney, Ed Rossbach–all went to art school and have remained actively involved with art and artists throughout their lives.

Keeping us ignorant could be a conspiracy on the part of the yarn establishment (whatever that might be) to keep us servile and dependent, but I doubt it. I think it’s just inertia, a continuation of the split (turning into a gulf) between art and craft. It’s easier for everyone to depend on a few leaders to make the patterns for the rest of us to follow. Occasionally a gifted amateur will break through with some original work, but mainly it’s the same old, same old, rutted, constricted way.

So how do you go about educating yourself? For starters, go through the shelves in the 700’s section of your library. You’ll find books about art theory and technique, as well as those beautiful collections of artwork. Learn about composition and design. Find an artist whose work you like and study that work. Find another artist. Watch some of Sister Wendy’s videos.

And start really looking at your world. Is the sky the same blue every day? How is it different from 9am to high noon to 6pm? Are all gray skies the same? What about grass–is it uniformly green? And is a tree the same color up close as when you’re ten feet away?

Look. Question. Look some more.

And never stop thinking and learning.

*****

Find a skein of yarn you like. Make a loop at one end and then knot the loop around its bottom. Pull a loop through it and knot that around its bottom. Pull and knot a few more loops. Then pull a loop and also pull it through another loop. Knot it around its bottom. Pull and knot a few more, then pull through another loop and knot.

As you keep going, you’ll be making a loose, loopy, spherical shape. Keep looping and knotting, occasionally stopping to look at your shape and judge where you need to loop next. When you have a shape you like, make one last loop and knot it, then cut the yarn from the skein.

Hang your sphere by its last loop on a nail over an archway. Look at it from all directions. Admire it for a day or two. Then take it down and make another one.

And another.

And another.

http://yarn-and-fabric.mustsee.info

Simon Rand
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/playing-with-yarn-60151.html

Creating Keepsakes for Christmas Gifts

September 15th, 2011 No comments

You can create some memorable and low-cost gifts for this holiday. Your family and friends will be so happy you did!

The most appreciated gift I made was an appliquéd picture of my sister’s two story English cottage. They had gone through some financial difficulties in which the loss of their home had been a possibility. I had not framed my gift and when she opened and unfolded it, she was so touched that she cried. She framed it and put it over their fireplace.

For this project I purchased only fusible webbing. I had everything else on hand. My design was very simple. I used an old photograph and did a simple sketch from that onto tracing paper. I traced each separate section on another sheet of paper, then I cut them out.

Place the pattern pieces and the fabric both right side up. Choose a heavier fabric such as corduroy for your background. Iron the individual sections to the background material using the fusible webbing. Machine or hand appliqué around most of the individual pieces with coordinating thread. Where they overlap another piece, you need only stitch around the top piece. You could add your own touches, such as your appliquéd signature or perhaps some hand embroidery.

My finished product was about a foot and a half by two feet, but you can make ours any size you desire. Choose a geometric or floral design. Find pattern books in a crafts store. You could even use a design from your child’s coloring book!

Other Gifts

One year, while my older girls read aloud for homeschool, I crocheted afghans. I chose colors that coordinated with the recipient’s home. Crocheting is easy. You can learn from how-to or pattern books from your library. The cost for yarn is reasonable too, and nothing can compare to the love of a hand-made gift! I also enjoyed this time of creating. It was relaxing and yet we were being efficient in doing two things at once.

I made cookies and candy every year when the children were home. One year we took the whole month of December off from school and baked nearly every day. As soon as they were finished and cooled, they went into the freezer. Then, about two days before Christmas they were thawed in their covered containers. The ones we wanted to frost and decorate were placed on the counter to dry. We gave away many plates to family and friends that year… at least thirty!

You could create Christmas baskets with your own home-canned or purchased jellies. Include hand-written recipes, home-made breads and anything else you would like to include, perhaps a bread knife or butter knife. You can make up home-made mixes, such as for muffins, and include the recipe. Perhaps you would like to include a bag of coffee.

Use your creativity! Nothing, to me, is as much fun as being creative. And believe me, the recipients will love your home-made gifts!

Lorraine Curry

Information Regarding Embroidery Garden

August 23rd, 2011 No comments

Embroidery is the art of embellishing fabric with designs that are sewed with strands of thread or yarn using a needle. Embroidery makes use of other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills and sequins as a means of further ornamenting a fabric. There are several classifications of embroidery deigns.

Embroidery design can be classified according to the basic foundation fabric used by the embroiderer. For example, free embroidery is one design where stitches are made without taking into account t the knit of the basic fabric. Crewel embroidery and traditional Chinese embroidery are in this category.

For more information on embroidery garden click here

Information Regarding Embroidery Garden

June 30th, 2011 No comments

Embroidery is the art of embellishing fabric with designs that are sewed with strands of thread or yarn using a needle. Embroidery makes use of other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills and sequins as a means of further ornamenting a fabric. There are several classifications of embroidery deigns.

Embroidery design can be classified according to the basic foundation fabric used by the embroiderer. For example, free embroidery is one design where stitches are made without taking into account t the knit of the basic fabric. Crewel embroidery and traditional Chinese embroidery are in this category.

For more information on embroidery garden click here