Tag Archives: #atozchallenge

Y Is For… Yarn! – Of course!

Knoontime Knitting

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I love yarn, (which is probably obvious, since I wrote about the joys of a yarn stash on my main blog today, too).  But I do love the stuff – I adore digging my hands into it, squeezing it, feeling it reflect the heat of my hands back to me.  I relax when I feel yarn – it’s a very tactile sense of calm.  Sometimes, when I’m working on a new design project and don’t yet see the pattern in my mind, I will walk around the house holding a ball or skein of the yarn.  Doing that lets me meditate with it, commune with it, and let it speak to me.

I know that probably sounds a little wooly-bully (or, let’s face it, a little nuts), but it’s true.  Designing for me is a very tactile process.  I think it has to do with the fact that I don’t translate 2D to 3D in my head, so my design process is physical and not conceptual.  By holding the yarn, I literally “get a feel for it” and am able to see what kind of textile I want to create with it.  Is it light and airy?  Do I want to make something lacy?  Is it heavy and chunky, with a strong body?  Cables might be more the ticket.  This particular yarn in the picture is a Merino wool and alpaca blend with a little bit of silk I think, if memory serves.  It doesn’t have a whole lot of bounce to it, so it’s not very springy; but it’s very soft.  The shine that it has, which isn’t all that visible in this picture due to the lighting, says “sparkle” to me – and I plan to use beads in the lace.

What about you, Dear Reader?
Do you think in words, images, sensations, or something else?

X Is For… X-Stitch!

Knoontime Knitting

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Cross-stitch is one of the easiest needle arts to learn.  It’s just making little “x’s” all over the fabric, using different colors to create a design.  This particular one is from a book called Hand-Stitched Boxes by Meg Evans.  The box is remarkably easy to make, and I’ve done several designs, but this is the pattern that’s in the book and I’m sharing it here because it has cross-stitch motifs.  I made a miscalculation on the canvas, and my design is a little modified because of it, but that’s the beauty of cross-stitch – it’s very easy to modify it and come up with things that you like better.

One hint when working cross-stitch:  decide which direction your “X’s” face.  Either have all the bottom stitches going right and the top left, or vice-versa, but keep it consistent throughout the pattern.  This is how you get the characteristic sheen that’s one of the hallmarks of good cross-stitch.  Also, keep your stitches on the back as neat as possible and don’t use knots to secure the thread.  Just sew over the tails.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What would you put in a box like this?

W Is For… Weaving!

Knoontime Knitting

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Weaving is one of the oldest textile arts in the world. The most complicated looms, like the huge one featured in the movie Wanted, are the same in principle to the simple back looms used in the mountains of Peru for centuries.  The idea is you use something to put the warp under tension.  Shown above is my simple Cricket Loom, with the warp threaded and some of the weft worked.

The thing I find interesting about weaving is that it’s more complex, at least to my brain, than knitting.  I have to make peace with winding on the warp, and with the mechanics of the loom itself.  The process of actually weaving, meaning putting the shuttle back and forth, is relatively straightforward.  But, as my weaving teacher Natalie Boyett of the Chicago Weaving School pointed out, half of weaving is winding on the warp.  Accepting that, embracing it, helps one enjoy the process of weaving even more.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What unexpected thing has your crafting taught you?

V Is For… Vinegar!

Knoontime Knitting

VI love vinegar. I use it in salad with fruit instead of dressing; I splash it on vegetables when I steam them; and I use it as part of the seasoning when cooking chicken. I particularly like flavored vinegar.

Making flavored vinegars isn’t difficult.  You cook the vinegar with the additives, either before you let it steep or after, depending on whether it’s fruit or herbs.  Then you let it steep for a few weeks in a dark, cool place and voila, flavored vinegar.

I’ve got plans for a vinegar book that talks about how to do it, but until I write it, you can find some amazing vinegars at a shop in Grand Haven, Michigan, USA called Grand Haven Vinegar and Oil.  Their dark chocolate balsamic vinegar is worth sipping on its own and their fruit vinegars will make you want to find the nearest spinach merchant.  Lovely stuff, vinegar.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What’s your favorite condiment?

U Is For… Upholstery!

Knoontime Knitting

2015-04-24 Pic 1Yes, I know. It’s an ugly chair.  I, however, happen to like it.  It belonged to my great-grandfather and is in serious need of re-upholstering, but because of its construction that’s not inexpensive.  For one thing, the pegs that hold the armrest in place are broken and the glue holding them in place is congealed and hardened.  Never fear, I have the missing piece in a safe space.

What you can’t see is that when I inherited the chair, my cat at the time took a serious dislike to it – I can’t see why; what’s not to love about brown and yellow plaid? – and scratched the back left side to bits.  I finally got him to stop but the damage was done.

When we moved, my husband and partner both said, get rid of the Ugli Chair.  But I can’t.  I love it.  It wants to be loved, it wants to make people happy.  It wants a place in the home.  And it’s damnably comfortable.  And let’s face it – when you’re sitting IN the Ugli Chair, you can’t SEE the Ugli Chair anymore.  Problem solved, right?

And in the meantime, until it can be refinished into a less… baby shit brown and pancake sort of color scheme, we’re plotting to design a soft, brown, washable afghan that can be draped artfully over it so it at least looks intentional in the library and not like a “Dear God, what is that?”

What about you, Dear Reader?
What furniture do you have that you can’t bear to part with, even if it’s no longer the height of fashion?

T Is For… Tunisian Crochet!

Knoontime Knitting

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A few years ago, I decided to try Tunisian crochet.  I took a class at a local store and talked about the challenges of the art in a blog post, here.  Since then, I haven’t played with it much, other than to give it a shot for a project that became a gift for a friend.  I used the basic Tunisian crochet stitch to make a pocket on a backpack.  It’s like anything else, if you take the time to practice, you get better.

I made a fabulous discovery recently.  There’s a site called Craftsy that has classes on all sorts of crafts, from textile arts to visual arts, cooking, woodworking, you name it.  They’re adding new content all the time.  They have a great class in Tunisian crochet that I found super useful.  My blocks around translating 2-D to 3-D aren’t as difficult to overcome with the videos, because you can stop and start and replay to your little heart’s content – even better than feeling like you’re annoying the poor teacher by asking them to show you something, again.  Here’s the class on Tunisian Crochet so you can check it out.  Be sure to poke around, they have free classes so you can try them out without committing money.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What classes look fun to try?

S Is For… Soapmaking!

Knoontime Knitting

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Soap.  We all use it.   But do we really understand what it is?

Most, if not all, of the stuff we buy at the grocery store or fancy upscale shops isn’t soap, it’s detergent – or, if you’re lucky, it might just be glycerin, which is a part of the soapmaking process but still not actual soap.  Soap is made when you add lye to fat and it saponifies, the chemical reaction that results in soap.  Far from producing the harsh bars of yesteryear, today’s craft soapmakers can make a variety of fine products that nourish the skin instead of stripping it of its natural oils.

The bars above are a simple, basic soap that can then be grated down and mixed with more water, as well as other additives like essential oils, herbs, flowers, and fruits, to create French milled soap.  Made by “cold process,” they contain pork fat (lard), olive oil (pomace), coconut oil, and lye.  C’est fini.  That’s all.  The great thing about these bars is that if you have sensitive skin, as I do, it doesn’t irritate it (unless you have a specific allergy or intolerance for the ingredients themselves.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What kinds of body cleansers do you like?

 

R Is For… Rubbings!

Knoontime Knitting

RGrave rubbings is a hobby common in genealogy.  People interested in their family history sometimes make rubbings of their ancestors’ grave markers as a way of preserving it as art.  I don’t know where most of my ancestors are buried, so that’s not something I’ve been able to do with my genealogical research; however, that doesn’t mean it’s not something that is a satisfying way to spend an afternoon.

Some friends and I went to the memorial at Tippecanoe Battlefield, not far from Lafayette, Indiana.  Many of the graves had gorgeous stone carvings and we took a box of crayons specifically saved for this purpose.  We wandered the graveyard for about three hours, looking for designs and my friend’s ancestors.  It was sobering to know that so many people died there, but we came home with some beautiful reminders of our trip.  Sadly, when researching for this post, I couldn’t find the file where I stored them, so clearly I need to do some more filing.  But the memory of the day, and spending time with a friend who herself has now passed on, is bright in my mind.

I found an interesting article in Family Tree Magazine that details how to make grave rubbings, if you’re not familiar with the practice.  As I said, I keep a special box of crayons (one of the deluxe ones with all the colors, I might add) for the purpose.  It’s even got bold writing on the lid, “for rubbings only.”

What about you, Dear Reader?
Where might you go to make some rubbings?

Q Is For… Quilling!

Knoontime Knitting

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One art I’d like to try someday is quilling.  This is an art that uses small strips of paper, wound to various tightness, to create a three-dimensional art.  When I was a child, I remember seeing ones that were usually monochromatic, usually white.  I don’t know if that’s because it was in vogue at the time or if that particular area of California just had artists that liked working in plain colors; but when I did some research for my post, I found some amazing, inspiring images.  Take a look.

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I love how simple this star is, and how it cycles through the colors of the rainbow.

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I love peacocks!  This one is incredible – look at the level of detail!  The height of the pieces differs depending on whether it’s the branch or the bird, too.  Such complexity!

I found a detailed YouTube channel that has classes in quilling for free, here.  You can see all the different kinds of designs possible and maybe get inspired to try it yourself!

What about you, Dear Reader?
What art calls to you, that you haven’t tried yet?

P Is For… Pysanky!

Knoontime Knitting
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Egg decorated by A. Catherine Noon from a design in the Ukrainian Design Book by Perchyshyn et al. Image Copyright 2014 Everett C. Wilson. Used with Permission

I adore pysanky.  I talked about the legend about them on my main blog a couple weeks ago, here.  Today, I wanted to talk more about the craft of making them, since Knoontime Knitting is about the crafts.  I was first introduced to the art of pysanky, or Ukrainian decorated eggs, when I moved to Chicago back in 1998.  The art, however, has a history stretching back 5,000 years.  The tools are reminiscent of Bronze Age technology:  the kistka, which is used to draw on the egg with melted wax, is a simple metal funnel attached to a stick with wire.  The wax is typically beeswax.   The egg…

Well, we all know where eggs come from.

But which came first, the chicken or…

Come on, I couldn’t help myself.  ANYway, pysanky is a slow process, because you draw the designs on the egg, then put it in a dye bath, then draw some more, then dye, until the design is finished.  You’re not done there, however.  You then melt the wax from the egg, using either a candle and paper towel or a melting board and an oven.  I’ve only used the candle method, though I’m curious to try the oven method one of these days.

The designs themselves have ancient history too.  The design above, for example, represents bear claws.  The colors represent the mother goddess.  The red is actually supposed to be solid, but I like how the wax didn’t quite cover it all the way and there are flecks of black in it.

That’s what pysanky teaches you:  no matter how painstakingly you work, the pysanka always has the last word.  Part of the art is about acceptance, and another is about patience.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What have your hobbies taught you?