Showing posts with label loom knitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label loom knitting. Show all posts

Monday, April 14, 2025

It's been a month plus?!

 

I finished my 1st draft of my Morse code edging. I used single picots for dot and double picots for dash. I’m not that happy with it. It seems visually noisy.

Ring and chain edging with varied picots


There are other options. I could do SCMR (self closing mock rings) and so single picot for dot & Josephine knot for dash.

I could use a picot for dot & bead for dash. Or bead for dot and 2 beads (1 up and 1 down) for dash. I could even try, although I’m not likely to, using seed beads and bugles beads for dots and dashes.

I finally finished a bear from Loomahats book with tiny loom knit bears (look up title). I wanted to use up some yarn left from another project but there wasn’t very much. The bear body took most of it, but I wasn’t sure there was enough for the limbs, so I used leftover coordinating yarn for limbs, ears, and snout. Plus a 3rd yarn for the headband. I think I will also add tatted flowers to the headband. I wish I had thought of that before I sewed the headband to the bear.

Knit teddy bear in fuzzy yarn with smoother yarn limbs and headband


There’s a peanut butter snack ball recipe I’ve had for over a month. I finally picked up the last two ingredients. There’s an optional 3rd ingredient I don’t have, but it’s optional. And kind of expensive for the amount I need for the recipe.

Spring has sprung, in all of its pollinated glory. At least the flowers are pretty.

My friend with the mid-March birthday celebrated late this year. He rents a picnic pavilion at a park, as his house isn’t really big enough for all the guests. He makes it a cookout and provides the charcoal and everyone brings good. C made burgers and my favorite fruit dessert. C takes raspberries and blackberries, muddles some with honey and lime; he added fresh rosemary this time. Then mixes crème fresh with mascarpone, honey, and lime. Layers the fresh berries with the muddled berries, then covers the whole with the crème fresh/mascarpone frosting-like. The berries are quite tart and the frosting is creamy and they work together so well. Sorry, I don’t have pictures because I forgot.

March 29th, Tri-Tatters did our demonstration on the Matriarchs of Mordecai day. There was a lecture in the visitor center, so we were on the porch of the big house, aka the yellow house. If you look carefully, you can see the shadows of the display in the pollen on the tablecloth.

Shadows where items were, outlined by pollen

 

And footprints in the pollen on the porch (oooh, alliteration).

boards with smears in pollen

 

At the Carolina Fiber Fest I talked to a woman who concentrates on linen and cotton. She recommended I use 100% cotton thread to sew my linen edging to my linen hankie, since I am highly unlikely to find linen sewing thread.

If Michaels has 100% cotton thread, I didn’t see it. And of course, the thread rack at Joanne’s is denuded. I emailed one online company because I wasn’t sure which of 3 colors would work best, and you can’t really trust what you see on a computer screen. They were not helpful, ‘whichever one you think is closest.’ I understand them not wanting to take a chance since I asked for ‘closest to unbleached linen,’ but still. I’d rather have a ‘we do not have enough information to give you a reliable recommendation’ than telling me to trust my video card. The whole [gold and white/blue and black dressfiasco] proves that you still can’t trust video cards (although one article I read blamed other factors like people perceiving the color difference due to whether they think it’s in shadow or not and in artificial or natural light). 

I volunteered to make motifs for pin cushion/needle something for part of NCRL’s provided goodie bags to next year’s IOLI. I plan to make 25 and I made 14 in less than a week. I need to have them done by May 3rd, the NCRL Spring Lace Day. Sumiko is doing the sewing and she needs to have them on hand. 

pile of tatted motifs

 

I also need to recover my headphones. They are very expensive ones that I got secondhand for a really good price. Alas, the cover has split on one ear and I need to cover it before it gets worse. And if I’m covering one, I should cover the other. I have some nice, soft knit to use; black with white print.

I got the knit to make shorts or leggings but I’ve been using it to patch stretch jeans, etc. Both because a stretchy patch is better for a stretchy garment and because knits don’t need to be hemmed.

If you’re wondering why this post is so long, there are 2 reasons. One is that it has been a long time since my last post. The other is that my supervisor has requested that I avoid social media during working hours. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except the only people who can see my screen are behind me. I have a privacy screen on my display because I sometimes look at sensitive information. And there are times when I am quite busy and there are downtimes when I don’t have anything to do.

I can’t do trainings during slow times, because between the noise of the area and the poor quality of the speakers, I can’t really follow anything. I have old tv, radio, and movies playing because I feel no need to follow the plot and don’t need to watch them. I do have headphones, but they were ordered when I thought this change was temporary and I only needed them long enough to listen to voicemails, which are rarely more than 2 minutes long.

I have ordered new earbuds. One, I only need to wear one, so I can attend to people at the counter without an earbud that suggests I’m not paying attention to them. Two, I can actually hear training videos without ear pain. Most trainings can be interrupted, although being able to take them without interruption is better. That’s not going to happen, so I need to work with what will happen.

Obviously, I can’t tat or loom knit either. I hate having to look busy. I don’t mind being busy, just having to look busy when it’s not.

And I can’t go far from the counter for very long. Yes, other staff can handle it but the counter is my primary responsibility.

Instead, I will work on my writing. Thank goodness for the ergonomic keyboard.

Monday, March 03, 2025

Scarf, etc

 I did a pair of Marilee Rockley's earrings, from Tatting with Beads Jewelry. The pair from the cover. This time I used size 20 thread, Lizbeth, with kinda black beads. There's a hint of green in the size 6 beads.

Tatted earring with beads
Black is really hard to photograph well

 I also used some size 10 black crochet cotton to tat a new tab for my tote bag key ring. The tab, nylon strap, frayed to strings. It was holding on, but felt borderline.

 

Key ring with tatting visible, plus frayed edges of strap

I also went to a 3D printer and vacu-form workshop. Because of time and equipment constraints, we ended up using the premade forms, half-hearts. People could choose whether to make a heart candle or heart soap. I have a lot of candles so I decided to make soap. But I added so many flowers, I couldn't get the 2 halves together. Instead I have 2 half hearts.

One heart with blurred edges, flat side down. Other heart is flat side up and flowers are visible

I tried again to make a vinyl sticker of the drop spindle. But cheap vinyl was cheap. 

My pocket scarf is finished though, pattern by Loomahat. Mine is a little shorter, cause I'm a little shorter. I ran out of yarn as I was working on the 2nd pocket section. Luckily I had another skein (cause I looked for the 1st one and couldn't find more) that coordinates well enough that the 15 or so yards I used it not visibly clashing. 

Draped knitted scarfs, ends are turn up to form pockets

 

Just in time for more cold weather. 2 weeks ago: snow. Last week: sunny and highs in the 70s. This morning, frost.

But we heard thunder on Thursday so we may get snow by March 9th. There's an old saw about thunder in winter means snow within 10 days. There's meteorological science to back it up. You get a thunderstorm in winter when a cold dry front hits a warm moist front. Then vice versa, can mean snow.

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Trying to get back on schedule

 Went to see my parents last weekend. And since I took the train, I got some tatting done. Learning entwined rings, and trying in size 3 since size 40 about broke my brain.

Tatted hearton pattern page, Holding Hands Heart by Freubelkistb

 I tried it with some linen thread I had, but running out of thread and reloading messed me up.

Upper part of heart, 2nd set of rings are not entwined

 I made an earring from Marilee Rockley's book Tatting with Beaded Jewelry, but size 10 is a bit large/long for earrings for me. This will probably be a bag charm or a pendant.

Series of rings, some beaded, ending in a beaded picot with 1 large bead with 4 smaller beads on either side

 I've done it again in black size 20 thread. With smaller beads, too, of course. 

It snowed this week. We got about 3 inches of it. Then some melted and froze again. Then melted and froze again. 

snow covered ground with trees
Not far from my house, the day after it snowed

Holly leaves with icicles dripping from them
very wintry look

I got some shuttles from the craft resale shop. One is a Tatsy, with the instruction packet. There was a Boye shuttle in the same package, with some thread still on it. I tatted one of the patterns from the sheet.

Single shuttle tatting patterns with a metal Boye shuttle

single shuttle daisy pattern, in progress, from pattern sheet
I ran out of thread

 There was also an Aerlit,, with thread and a few rings tatted. I had to retro-tat a ring that had gotten twisted up, then continued the edging until I ran out of thread. I tat much tighter than that original tatter.

Aerlit tatting shuttle with ring and bare thread edging

 As a bit of a giggle, I made a hat for a coworker's cold cat.

 

knitted oval with 2 slits

And I made progress on my scrap bag (from Karey Solomon's Bring on the Buttons) during Richard Embry's Tat & Chat yesterday.

Button center with rows of tatting around it

And I spent some time practicing Marilee Rockley's technique for Victorian set split chain. I haven't mastered it, but I do have a better idea. Bad picture, but it was the only one I could get at the time.

tatted ring with a Victorian set split chain

 


Monday, February 10, 2025

Catching up I guess

Been busy, so here's a summary of my activities since the fair, in reverse order. There have been some other mending jobs, and some other tatting. Some trips via train to see family.

 

beaded tatted lanyar
beaded lanyard (Kelly Slack wristband pattern)

Tatted 3 dimensional basket with handle and a button base
original button basket design

Beaded tatted strap with swivel latch on the end
beaded wristband (pattern by Kelly Slack from A Twisted Picot)

Loom knitted scarf in pogress, finished end has ribbed cuff and section of seed stitch before changing to garter stitch
My pocket scarf in progress (pattern by Loomahat)

3-dimensional tatted basket with handle, textured chains, and button base
A green and yellow basket (playing with Victorian Sets)

Tatted bracelet with large cube beads
Finally finished this bracelet

Tatted pendant with stone center, teardrop shaped
Finally put the jump ring on this pendant

Sock heel with visible darning stiches
darned a sock, and it's wearable

Textured sweater with small contrasting darns, a square, a web, and a flower
Some visible darning

Tatted heart
a heart pattern (from a Palmetto Tat Guild hybrid meeting, Jan 2025)

Knit tube with ends of a thin strip of cotton pulled through it
Loom knit scarf slide, on fabric strip as demonstration

Dorset button center of tatted star
Martha Ess's Dorset button star/flake

Tatted teapot with Dorset button center
Martha Ess's Dorset button teapot

Mason jar looking ornament with bits of thread
A year in thread pt1

Another view of same Mason jar looking ornament full of thread scraps
A year in thread (orts) pt2

Palm side of glove showing visible mending at base of thumb
Mended a glove

Side view of glove, showing visible mending on outside of thumb
Darning to keep the hole from developing

Loom knit tube
Scarf slide, loom knit ribbon yarn

6 vintage tatting shuttles plus a bone crochet hook
Look what I found at the craft resale shop!

Plaque recognizing the group Triangle Tatters for volunteering at Raleigh NC parks
Tri-Tatters got recognized for our demonstrations at Mordecai, etc

Dorset button with needle and thread still attached
Dorset button (linen thread)

Tatted drawstring bag with First Place ribbon attached, NC State Fair
Look Ma! A blue ribbon!

Tatted and beaded brooch with button center, attached to NC State Fair first place ribbon
Another blue ribbon!

3 Art Trading Cards in a sleeve, signs that 1 is missing, attached to 2nd place NC State Fair ribbon
The missing card was later found

 

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Guess who got sick?

 You've got 3 guesses & 1st 2 don't count.

It wasn't Covid (I tested) but it might have been RSVP. It definitely involved mucus and fever. For about 2 days I lived on water and intermittent peanut butter crackers (I couldn't manage more than 1 at a time). 

I did get some tatting done, before & after. I made snowflakes for several friends (from A Veritable Tatted Blizzard). I gave this year's State Fair Ornament entry to a pair of friends who will appreciate it. 

I'm glad I went to see my family before Christmas, so getting sick didn't ruin that at least. But my other plans, Christmas dinner with my partner's family, sewing, tatting, etc all got kiboshed. 

I was already scheduled to be off work so no need to notify anyone there.

At least I recovered enough that I was both feeling better and not contagious so I could maintain the Christmas/New Year tradition of the party with my friends from high school, plus additions.

I don't think I got many pictures of the snowflakes I made. I'll need to check. I have 3 at least. The picture with 2 flakes are the same pattern that I made a slight error on. But once is a mistake, repeat and it's a design element.

Tatted snowflake in 2 rounds. Central round is spoked with rings on the end. 2nd round has a 5 petal flower above the rings of the 1st round. 2 small rings joined to the flowers keep the 2nd round stable
Frosted Flower Snowflake

2 tatted snowflakes, identical except for length of chains in 2nd (outer) round.
1st flake in the book, done twice
  
We had a springlike thunderstorm on the 9th. Luckily, we didn't get hit by a tornado but some neighboring communities did.
Intersection with stoplight at night, focus is on water flowing down a sidewalk
We got some rain on Jan 9th
 


Knitted scarf in progress hanging from a knitting loom. Yarn color changes from greys to white as it descends. Bottom is rib knit, then seed stitch, and rest is modified garter stitch (rows are 2 knit 1 purl)
pocket scarf progress

2 dimensional squirrel doll with embroidered features (tail, acorn, face, limbs)
Kiriki Press kit squirrel

small tin of Danish butter cookies with gift tag made of white paper folded and top layer cut like a cut out snowflake
I'm proud of this tag on a coworker's cookies

I also joined a 2024 Temperature Tat A Long (this is as of January 9th)
10 square tatted motifs, alternating square set and on point. 1st motif is metallic silvery blue. Other motifs have 2 colors, inner for low temp of the day and outer for high temp of the day. 2 motifs have beads added.
2024 TTAL January 9th
The metallic is to start the year & remind me where the start is so I don't accidentally join to the wrong end. Beads are for >1/2" of rain. No snow/ice yet.