My youngest’s favorite stretchy jeans developed a couple holes that needed mending. I asked her if she wanted a colorful woven patch, or flowers. She said striped clouds. Um. Ok. Hm. That isn’t in my bank of mending pins on Pinterest, but I’ll give it a go.
Photo description: pin sized hole in knit jeggings, backed by a jar of cream I used as a darning tool
I tried outlining a cloud, then filling it with stripes of chain stitch. The outlining was meh, but the chain stitch was surprisingly well suited to the stretchy material, and it grabbed the edges of the hole and pulled it closed.
Photo description: white thread used to make a striped cloud with outlining
For the second hole, I didn’t bother with the outline.
Photo description: cloud stitched with white thread using a chain stitchPhoto description: picture showing both visible mends on the leg of the pants
The stitches do look better from a distance, more cloud like. I would use a chain stitch again for visible mending on stretchy material. Spirals might be nice.
I decided to make a tatted swatch with my hand spun mint infused yarn. This is definitely the longest time I’ve ever spent on a swatch, all those little knots. I can attribute some of the unevenness of the knotting to variations in spin thickness, but my plan of attack also needs some adjustments. I tried making the first turn from row 1 to row 2, which turned out wonky. For row 3, I ended row 2, and started row 3 separately then joined it to row 2, which worked better, but still isn’t balanced.
Photo description: tatted square with uneven sides
I understand now why tatted doilies are worked in closed rounds (I don’t like cutting my ends, so have been resistant), and why running lace is popular. My next tatting example for my swatch book will be a length of lace rather than trying another square.
Here is an example of a picture without a thousand words from January 2013. As I was going through my album looking for Throwback posts, this almost didn’t make the cut because I didn’t leave myself enough information.
Photo description: printed image of an ancient bronze fibulae, clay model with wire spring, polished bronze clay fibulae (new), mystery fibulae (made by me)
At the time of the photo I was still experimenting with metal clay. My sister is an ancient historian and I suspected this was a project for her, so I pinged her for confirmation. She provided the name “fibulae” and an interesting article about their findings and use.
I can tell from my photo that I had a museum photo as reference, and I made a model with less expensive polymer clay, that looks more swan-like than my reference photo. The middle polished bronze clay fibulae I obviously spent more time on, but I’m not sure if I fired the clay with the wire in place or epoxied it in later (I’m already not using ancient foraging techniques, since I’m working with modern metal clay.) The last fibulae on the right is what raises the most questions. Did I not polish it? It is the same shape and style as the bright bronze, so I’m sure it is my work (my replication skills are not finely honed, especially then.) Did I try to antique it by adding patina, or is this how it came out of the kiln? Did I make this before or after the bright bronze fibulae? I have a feeling that I fired it with the wire in place and either the firing or the antiquing weakened the metal, causing the breakage. Did I do it on purpose? So many questions.
Here is a picture of the back, which answers the question of how the pin fastens.
Photo description: back of modern-made bronze-clay fibulae showing the pin pocket
I was struggling with the sides of my twined weaving coming in and not staying straight. My neighbor, who is an accomplished Cherokee weaver, and who taught me how to twine bags, suggested that I flip the work for each row. I had been working from just one side, going right to left, then left to right. For my rose fiber swatch I followed her advice.
Photo description: left twined weaving made with hand spun mint infused cellulose, right side twined weaving hand spun rose fiber
Flipping the fabric worked, the sides of my swatch are better than my previous attempts. They aren’t perfect, but my skills are improving. It is those little tips and insights that make learning from accomplished crafters so valuable. YouTube is great for general knowledge and diving down rabbit holes, but the knowledge we can gain when working with another crafter is invaluable.
Crochet cables are an entirely different beast than knit cables. Rather than just switching the order of a few stitches, it involves at minimum three different stitches, and different placement. I ripped out my swatch twice trying to get my brain wrapped around the technique. I finally made myself a rough chart, which helped, and religiously counted stitches on each row.
Photo description: hand drawn crochet chart with non standard symbols, a size G (4.0mm) crochet hook, and the cabled swatch made with hand spun two ply rose fiber yarn
I used a combination of single crochet, double crochet in the front post, and treble crochet in the front post. I have not puzzled out how to reverse the cable twist, although I suspect it involves some pretzel like moves.
Critters and Craft 