Monthly Fiber Arts Thread - October, 2021

October 1, 2021 | Diana in Wisconsin

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The Monthly Fiber Arts Thread is a monthly gathering of people that love yarn and fabric of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first project, to experienced fiber artists and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

It is impossible to hijack the Monthly Fiber Arts Thread. Knitting, crochet, quilting, weaving, general crafting - there is no telling where it will go, and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to our Fiber Arts Ping List.

NOTE: This is a once a Month Ping List. We do post to the thread during the month. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Fiber Arts fans are welcomed any time!

[MayflowerMadam]

“Hope you are feeling better!!”

Yes. Took a turn for the better after Day One of ivermectin. Thank you.

[Qiviut]

Nope, never used qiviut yarn .... up until a year ago, I was mainly crochet & never got into natural fibers. Now that I’m knitting, I’m giving ‘naturals’ a try. I’ve got some alpaca yarn I’m working with so the plan is to eventually “graduate” to something very special in qiviut!

[Qiviut]

I never got the other camera going (still on the 'to do' list) so this is with my phone - not great, but you can see the designs. I did the pastel green one first, then the white one & the peach one was the last off my needles. If you 'right click' & select 'open image in new tab', you can see a much larger version with better detail.

I had both the pastel green and peach yarns already so I loved being able to use "stash" yarn. Actually, the peach blanket was the 4th project with this yarn - I frogged the previous 3, just didn't like them. I bought the white yarn specifically for that blanket - it was to be a baptismal blanket. The peach and white are Simply Soft & the pastel green is Pound of Love. I have found some other patterns I want to make; however, I think I need to start working on that Christmas stocking before I get involved in another blanket.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

A green background would be pretty, too!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Gorgeous! You’re such a pro! :)

[Albion Wilde]

Took a turn for the better after Day One of ivermectin. Thank you.

So glad to hear it, MM!

[Qiviut]

Ok, so yesterday I started looking at the deer head stocking. A couple of things .... the head itself is 'intarsia', there is Fair Isle knitting, the heel is wrap & turn. I have done none of these 3 techniques before. I do not want to "seam" (intarsia piece worked flat).

So it was off to the videos ...

• Fair Isle is no problem - I can work that even if doing magic loop.
• The W & T heel can be worked magic loop - the issue is going to be where the heel is placed in relation to the deer heads. I sort of understand the W&T process - let's just say the pattern directions make a lot more sense now.
• Intarsia knitting - you have yarn on bobbins (or something like them) for every little patch of color. You do not want to have only ONE stitch in a color - they don't turn out well by the time you add color for the one stitch, then promptly switch to something else. There are plenty of spots where there is only one stitch - white highlights (nose/eye), parts of the antlers ... to name a few. In the instructions, it says you can use "duplicate" stitch for some of the 'one stitch' places. What the heck is 'duplicate' stitch? Off to the videos again!

So duplicate stitch is more or less "embroidery" on top of a stockinette stitch. It is a V stitch on top of a V. It will work great for those 'one stitch' spots ..... but what if I did the entire deer head in duplicate stitch (the chart for the deer head is just like a counted cross stitch chart). If "embroidered", I would not have all those little bobbins/balls of yarn hanging everywhere AND I could just knit the stocking in the round on magic loop, then go back and place the deer head(s) where I wanted them. This is (cautiously) beginning to sound like 'the way to go'.

So I think I am going to work a stocking in some scrap yarn & see how it turns out (sans deer heads). I'll then see if I can embroider a deer head on it. This will get me through knitting the W&T heel for the first time & figured out & I'll get to try some Fair Isle. When leaving out the intarsia, the two things I'll need to be careful about - marking the row where the embroidery needs to start AND will I have enough room to work with the stocking already in the round, not a flat piece? Fun times ahead .... love learning new things, too.

BTW, a "practice" piece is going to be a necessity. I want the stocking to be an heirloom piece, so I have to get all the bumps in the road out of the way. When I look at mittens, even baby blankets I've knitted, I could kick myself for the things I could have done "better" on the early ones which would have been improved if I had known then what I know now. Mittens aren't that big a deal, baby blankets are although what I would like to have changed isn't that obvious to most people. Anyway, stocking #2 will be much better (gift quality is the goal) than stocking #1.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Posting for Grammy:

"This shawl was knitted for my friend’s wedding. I used lace weight silk yarn and tiny needles and almost abandoned the whole thing when I had to rip out about 6 inches. When you drop a stitch it doesn’t make your normal run, it looks more like fireworks...a big spreading hole! Add to that I had about a month to get it done."

"It’ll be a while before I knit lace again. Grammy"

[Grammy]

Thanks Diana. I haven’t figured out pictures yet. I’m lucky I remember to “close my italians”

1

[Diana in Wisconsin]

No problem, Grammy!

Reminder: If you have photos you want posted but don’t know how, private message me here at FR and I will give you my e-mail address so you can send them to me and I can post them for you.

I LOVE it when people share their work. It re-emphasizes how far I have to go...but I’ll get there! :)

[Qiviut]

Since you knit socks .....

I have been trying to figure out ‘short row’ heels. My stocking pattern calls for a W&T heel (wrap & turn). So I’ve watched a couple of videos & then I found this one - if you haven’t seen it already ....

It’s gorgeous!
It’s really, really easy compared to some of the other videos I’ve watched.
It can be used on any size sock.
It can be substituted for any heel in any sock (unless there is a pattern incorporated into the heel).

Shadow Wrap Short Row Heel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDw7RSmxVxs

“This heel is knit with a series of twin and triple stitches to “build” each side of the short row heel. It is very easy to follow, there is very little counting and and it creates a perfectly symmetrical heel that has a deep and comfortable fit.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I love Denise’s videos .... she has a real passion for knitting, socks in particular it appears. I’ve already learned so much from watching some of her videos that will help me tremendously with the Christmas stocking project I want to make.

[Qiviut]

I did my yarn shopping for my Christmas stocking(s) this morning. I decided to use RH Super Saver for 2 reasons: cheap as yarn goes, plus they have a large variety of colors.

First, I stopped at Walmart to see what the price of their yarn was & to check colors: $3.67/skein. They had the “frosty green” I needed for the background for the deer head. They also had a “claret” & a “medium thyme” green. Those 3 colors blend beautifully.

Off to Michael’s and surprise, surprise .... their yarn was buy one regular price at $3.99, get one half price!! They had a hunter green and burgundy ... the two colors I thought I wanted when I was first thinking about stocking colors. I also bought white, 2 different browns & a black. That averaged out to $3.00/skein. Colors were very limited at Michael’s ....

Back to Walmart where I got the claret, frosty green, thyme & a charcoal gray that I needed for some shading on the deer & maybe the antlers. I’ll have to play with the deer head colors.

Not a bad haul. I love getting yarn, but hate spending money, so the Michael’s sale was nice. I have two stockings I want to make & I’ll scrounge around for more patterns so I can use up the yarn I just bought. Black, white, the browns & gray .... I won’t be using a whole lot of those so they’ll be around for other projects down the road.

Back to the videos .... figuring out how to do things in knitting I’ve never done before. I think I found the heel pattern I’ll be using (beautiful & relatively easy) so that’s a load off the old brain. I also now know how to knit in ends for color changes .... no weaving in ends at the end of the project. The big bugga boo is that deer head ... try intarsia or use duplicate stitch. I’m going to try duplicate stitch first.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’m STILL waiting for my box of ‘Mystery Yarn’ from Lion Brand. It SHOULD have been here by now.

Also, I only know about three crochet stitches, but I’ve also won TWO Blue Ribbons. The secret to my success? Lack of competition and showing up, LOL!

Starting on another afghan this evening, then I am doing some SERIOUS stash busting and making a ton of Preemie Caps with the softest yarns I have on hand. Will also work on Lap Robes from leftovers from the last afghan I made; I hope I wrote down some instructions for myself, somewhere! ;)

Have a box of baby blankets ready to go to ‘Warm Up America’ and will take them to the post office next time I go to town.

Beau will be back from Bear Camp on Thursday, so I am scurrying to make it look like I got some things done while he was gone. I have kennels to get ready to receive* (he’ll be bringing home 8 dogs) and a few other things I want to accomplish this week. I really only have to show him the pantry full of all the CANNING I did and that should be the end of that, LOL!

*Kennels: Floors swept, fresh bucket of water, fresh straw in their dog boxes and a Milk Bone on each pillow, LOL!

[Qiviut]

Beau should be VERY impressed! The Milk Bone on each pillow is a nice touch ... the dogs will be happy.

My bro/SIL visited last evening & had the collie with them (she was at the beach so I didn’t dog sit her). We kept each other company on the porch while the humans were visiting the folks. I did sneak in & get her a Milk Bone out of my “professional dog sitter” box ... I had to get some small ones I could carry in my pocket for treats.

So ... I ordered a skein of yarn from Amazon ... color “mushroom”. If it’s the color I’m thinking (hard to tell from pics), it should help me with the deer head on that stocking. I’ve started the cuff ... about half way through & I’m figuring out the color scheme ... cuff/toe will be claret, heel will be thyme. I think I’ll have a better shot at seeing the stitches with thyme when working the heel. Anyway, I’m glad to be actually knitting on it - it’s kept me awake the last two nights, trying to figure out various aspects in my head ... busy brain, no sleep.

Hope your ‘mystery yarn’ arrives soon - early Christmas! :-)

[MomwithHope]

Beau is a lucky guy hope he knows it.

[MayflowerMadam]

Back in the ‘70s I took up crocheting and made a few afghans. Before that, I did tons of counted cross stitch. So I found a good compromise. I taught myself the afghan stitch (weird stitch) which creates an “even weave” grid. Then I cross-stitched floral motifs with yarn on top. It was pretty cool.

Now I have nothing having to do with yarn. Only fabric (quilting and crafts) and counted cross stitch.

[Judy]

That is a great heel! Thanks for the video...she is a good teacher.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

He appreciates me. Treats me like a Queen. :)

Started going through my Yarn Stash and was looking for a place to donate Lap Robes for Veterans. Well, Facebook is down and so is their page, so I looked further and came across Agrace (end of life care) and they’re asking for ‘Comfort Shawls’ and they look pretty easy. They ask that we use Homespun Yarn (Lion Brand) and I have some of that on hand. I don’t really like working with it, but it’ll get it OUT of here!

Here is their site if anyone is interested. Knit or crochet pattern instructions and they look pretty simple.

https://www.agrace.org/donate/comfort-shawls/

I was thinking of making my Mom and her BFF (now, roommate since Mom was widowed a few years ago) Prayer Shawls and if this pattern looks appropriate, I may use it for that, too.

Yay for Stash Busting! :)

Just FYI:

Comfort Shawls, Prayer Shawls, finished size: 26” x 60”

Lap Robes, finished size: 36” x 48” (No fringe on these; can get tangled in wheel chair spokes!)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I know the Afghan Stitch - it is ‘weird,’ LOL! :)