Category: Craft

Ok, I ripped

On By CarynIn Craft

So usually I am not a proponent of ripping out yarn work. If an item passes the 10 second rule (someone who is not an expert can’t find the mistake in under 10 seconds) it’s fine. I’ve put dozens of hours into knitting a fingering weight cardigan, finally getting it to the point it could be tried on. The intended target doesn’t like it. Honestly, I don’t either. The colors look fabulous in the skein, but I really dislike color pooling in knitting, and this one is particularly jarring.

Photo description: partially knit cardigan with arm holes, back, and sides in a variegated yellow and blue yarn with a small repeat, very visually busy.

So I had a choice: put a couple more dozen hours into an ugly item no one will ever wear, or rip it out and make socks that everyone will wear. Frog it time. (Rip it, rip it, rip it.)

Photo description: partial cardigan laying on the counter with the yarn attached to a wool winder.

I say “frog it” flippantly, but it is a heavy duty to destroy your own work, even when the intension is to make anew. To cushion the heartache, I shot some video of the deconstruction and posted YouTube shorts. It did provide some catharsis.

Photo description: yarn cake of fingering weight yellow, white, and blue superwash merino and nylon yarn.

Winding it back into a cake will help the kinks from knitting straighten out too.

Cat post rewrap

On By CarynIn Cats, Craft

The jute rope wrapped around one of the scratching posts was really getting worn. I ordered some new 1/4” rope, then cut off the top of the old rope. The bottom portion was still in decent shape, so I stapled the old end to the back of the post (which is actually two 2×4 boards.) I then stapled the new rope on and wrapped it tightly around the wood. I cut off some of the carpet so I could take the rope higher, because I have a couple long cats. I used a heavy duty stapler designed for furniture, with 1/2” staples.

Photo description: carpet and rope cat scratcher post with new rope on the upper half of the post. Gray tabby looking like he is about to start something standing behind the post.

Leadership commission

On By CarynIn Craft

I was commissioned to do a desktop inspirational piece on leadership recently. The parameters required fancy paper and something subtly rebellious. I found deckle edge recycled cotton paper, and did a design in Adobe Illustrator that says “Leadership is helping others grow” with custom mirrored leafy vines. The dot and dash borders are actually morse code and the bottom line says “let me work”. The top line uses more colorful language.

The paper went through my inkjet printer beautifully. I painted the leaves with various colors of iridescent inks, so each piece was unique.

Photo description: Deckle edge paper printed with black ink and colored with iridescent inks on cardboard surrounded by ink bottles and a paint pallet.

I then suspended the finished paper in a purchased desktop frame that uses two sheets of glass slid into a slot in the side of the frame. I really like the look of suspended art, especially with the lovely raw edge of the paper.

Photo description: Light wood frame with suspended art in the foreground, an additional two frames just visible in the background.

This design is also now available on my brand new TeePublic site!

Site note: My slide over to the blog title: Critters and Craft seems to have worked. The old link ofchickensandcraft.home.blog links to the new crittersandcraft.blog domain. Gotta love dynamic labels.

Another way

On By CarynIn Craft

Here is another way to reduce the likelihood that machine sewn stitches with unravel: tiny stitches. On a sewing machine that doesn’t have a reverse stitch, like my Singer model 66 treadle, turning the knob to the left to make the stitches smaller for a few stitches, then back right to increase the stitch length for the rest of the seam, is a little extra insurance. It also helps work the sewing machine oil (SMO) into the threads of the knob. Bonus.

Photo description: seam stitched on the diagonal of a light colored fabric strip showing smaller stitches at each end of the (wavy) stitch line.

This actually takes about the same time as turning the fabric and making a “reverse” stitch, currently. The stitch regulator knob of the 107-year-old machine is still a little stiff.

Yes, I can sew a straight line. I just need more practice sewing a straight line while turning a regulator knob and controlling the balance wheel so it doesn’t go backwards and break the thread. Goals.

Undressing

On By CarynIn Craft

So if putting fiber on a distaff is called “dressing”, then taking it off would be “undressing”? I’ll just file this under: Things that pop into my mind as I spin.

Photo description: 3D printed Turkish-style spindle with a chaotically wound “turtle” or cop of yarn next to a partially undressed distaff. The fiber is gone, but the handkerchief robe and tie are still attached.