Yarn busters

Over on TipNut.com there is a great list of Yarn stash busters but I have been using my yarn by crocheting a lap rug.

First I have one of these ball winders which I found at a garage sale a couple of years ago. It was the best $3 I spent. It is very useful when ever you want to recycle wool from a jumper you may have unpulled.

I often recycle hand knitted garments. If I spot a good wool hand knit at a thrift shop I buy it and unpick it for the wool. These ball winders are great to wind the wool for you.

I got all my scrap wool together and made up new balls mixing yarns together so that they are the same weight. This means that they will crochet or knit up evenly as your gauge is not constantly changing because the yarn is of different thickness. It’s also fun as you can turn a boring yarn into something that is interesting very quickly.

Then I started this lap rug as a destash project. Progress has been good as the combination of a long week end and the fact that the weather is turning cold here now and it is nice to sit under while I make it. As you can see it’s half done!

As usual click on the photos for larger images.

 

Crochet Insider

Dora Ohrenstein runs the Crochet Insider which she describes as a labour of love.

The site houses interviews with designers, a gallery which also houses links to crochet practitioners sites and an archive. There is also book and yarn reviews. I am sure anyone interested in contemporary crochet will find the site interesting.

 

Vintage needlework magazines

I love curling up with a magazine and I have pointed to the On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics hosted by the university of Arizona as a wonderful resource for anyone interested in textiles. Many of these copyright free online books are not only of historical interest but are also a fantastic design source.

Today I want to highlight a few recent additions to the site as recently 8 issues of the the Home Needlework Magazine form 1914 and 1915 have been published on the site. These magazines have a dated charm that delights us one hand and yet many of the designs in them are very modern and can be easily adapted to a contemporary piece.

For instance look at these two designs I found in the Home Needlework Magazine March 1915.

For readers who are interested in historical or vintage knitting, crochet, tatting and lace patterns you will discover plenty between the covers of this magazine.

They are well worth downloading these PDF files and browsing during a quiet moment.

 

Learn how to crochet

There are a number of instructional tutorials for new hands to crochet on You tube I have been digging around to find them

Learn how to crochet

Crochet-How to Crochet a Circle

Learn how to crochet a flower motif (after finding recycled yarn)

 

Three links

With Autumn just around the corner in Australia I am once again looking at my knitting needles and crochet hooks. These Toe up Socks look as tough they would make great house socks and it would be a really useful pattern for using up wool scraps

Also Burdastyle has open source free printable patterns. You will find the catalog here

Quilting with Janet covers quilting techniques in a series of step by step tutorials

 

Some answers to readers questions and new tutorials

I was asked by a reader to do a round up of resources on creating fabric books particularly binding them. Unfortunately there is not a lot published online I thought I would throw the question out to readers. Leave a comment if you know of any resources about making fabric books particilarly binding techniques? The few resources and links I have leads to Emmy of Cramzy has been using fabric book pages format for the TAST challenge.

Fabric Art Journals is a blog about journals created from textiles and textile techniques. It was established for an group interested in creating art journals of fabric. I am not sure if this group is still active but it is worth exploring the archives as there are loads of links and inspiration on this blog. Anyone interested in contemporary textile techniques would find resources of interest. The group was established by Arlee of Albedo Design

The other question that landed in my inbox today is about embroidery on hand knits. Interweave press has a PDF on their site which covers embroidery on knits .

This You tube video shows how to embroider using a crochet hook so it is actually a contemporary adaption of Tambour chain stitch which is then double whipped to create a whipped chain stitch.

During the past week I have stumbled across a couple of tutorials too. For those who are stash busting and decluttering and have a stash of mens ties which need to be used, Carol of Carol Sews has posted a tutorial on using mens ties in a crazy quilted cushion.

Deireth of Tundra Threads has published a tutorial on how to make a Delta Braid

On another topic altogether but for anyone who is interested in the history of visual journals the Codex Atlanticus, is the largest collection of drawings and writings by Leonardo da Vinci, and it has been infested with mould. According to Italian authorities the mould, ranging from black to red in colour is going o be expensive to remove. What can I say except - bummer…

Just a friendly reminder My online class Sumptuous Surfaces will run again in January commencing January 24th. The last time this class was run some fantastic work was produced. You can see students work on the flickr group that was set up for students of the class. Even if you are not considering the class it is worth taking a look as there is some great stuff there. The class commences January 24th. There is further information about the class on this page and you can book this class here at joggles.com

I do not re-hash what is already online on my site. So if for instance you are participated in Take it Further challenge it is not the same material. A challenge is very different from a structured course as such. Please don’t confuse the two. In my courses there is always a strong design component that is applied to stitching. The class lessons explain both the principals of design and “how to” of design and are structured so that you move from stage to stage in coherent manner. The lessons include illustrations and step by step instructions about the process and you can read some of my students comments on the Classes offered page.

Well its the weekend here and I am off to do my Saturday morning jobs as I back to the routine of work on Monday …

 

What is Scrumbling?

In response to my post pointing toward Crochet workshop sheets to download Christine asked if scrumbling was suitable for children. I thought it a very good question so decided to expand a little on this morning.

I think if the stitches were kept simple and the scrumbles small it would make an ideal activity and encourage creativity as the activity is freeform. Children have not been told they can or can not yet do something and are not stifled with notions of the “right” and “wrong” way. There are lots of cheap yarns on the market and I am sure a good scrap scavenge would harvest plenty of yarns for a childrens group to use. I would love other peoples opinion on this but I think children would love it.

If you don’t know what I am talking about when I refer to scrumbles take a look at these. Some people refer to it as scrumbling and others call it freeform crochet and knitting.

I love scrumbling but never seem to get enough time to do it. Free form crochet is a modular technique. The image above is an example of what the scrumbles look like before they are assembled into a larger piece of fabric. This can be anything from a bag to a cape!

Because the pieces are made or stitched together in different directions they do not drop. Prudence Mapstone has described how to create a scrumble . As you can see they built up motif by motif. For a simple scrumble Myra Wood has Freeform demo on her site. As you can see even those with basic crocheting skills can create a scrumble. Marlo Cairns has also illustrated how scrumbles are built up.

The next step is to combine the pieces. They are either stitched or crocheted together. Here you can see the pieces being joined together (As a tip I weave in the ends as I go as it is a huge job!)

To help Christine and to spark the interest of anyone else who is curious about freeform crochet I thought I would pull together a few links on the topic.

If you are interested in garments take a look at Myra’s freeform wearables and her blog

For heaps of inspiration (and getting lost for a few hours) browse the 8 exhibitions on the A girl can never have too many handbags site. Another series of exhibition can be found on the If the hats fits site.

60 Odd a Fiber Odyssey was a challenge in which 61 freeform practitioners swapped 61 five yard bundles of yarn and then set about scrumbling. Take a look at the site to see the results.

Another inspiration site is A celebration of freeform crochet. Have a look at the scrumblers gallery. Yet more visual stimulation can be found on Bonnie Pierce’s site Elegant Freeform Crochet

If you are interested in scrumbling the Free Form Crochet Guild runs a Yahoo discussion group FFCrochet

I couldn’t find many blogs that are devoted to freeform Crochet. Leave a comment if you know of any as if there are any out there I would love to know of them. There is a flickr tag scrumbles and a Freeform Crochet group which will keep you browsing for way too long. Now the problem with posts like this is that I am now in the mood to dig out my half finished scrumbles and I have work to do. It’s painful I tell you!

On another note.

I am taking a few days off blogging but will back on Tuesday with the next challenge stitch. I have a busy weekend coming up, Jerry and I are both on leave  and we plan a little break.

Also I have turned off snap preview because after my question yesterday the majority don’t like it.

 

Crochet workshop sheets to download

For anyone who is interested in freeform crochet otherwise known as scrumbling these Crochet workshop sheets are worth browsing. The files are available to download as PDFs from Sylvia Cosh and James Walters.

They are described as

These worksheets were created in order to save workshop students from having to make basic notes during hands-on sessions, because this is hard to do when you’re up to your elbows in hooking and looping all day. So I’m not sure how much real use they’ll be to anyone who’s never attended any of the workshops, but you’re welcome to get what you can from them as they stand.

Although obviously a workshop situation is the ideal learning environment these notes look very handy. They are concise yet cover the basics for freeform crochet. The sheets on colour combinations I am sure will be of immense to use. They are the sort of document that is ideal to print out and paste in the back of your visual journal as a general reference, not only for crochet but other projects as well.

 

Solving one of those Oh No! moments

Over on Crochet by Faye, there is a great tutorial on correcting a misplaced buttonhole in a crocheted garment. This clearly illustrated disaster recovery article is definitely worth bookmarking as the solution and engineering involved are quite ingenious!

 

Subversive crochet

Micro-Fiber Militia is run by a group who describe themselves as Crochet Graffiti Artists that take crochet into public spaces. They cover urban objects such as parking meters with cosy crochet pieces. Subversive textile practices such as this always makes you look at textiles in new light. Check out the blog.

Thanks goes to JD of jumpstarts for the link