Play With String

Play With String is on indefinite hiatus

2012-01-12T06:02:00.001-08:00

Those who stop by from time to time to read my blog may have noticed that I rarely post anymore. Here's the reality: arthritis and nerve damage have caused my manual dexterity to decrease to a point where knitting and crocheting are impossible for me to do. I'm a positive and optimistic person, and figure that one day I may have the ability to do them again, but in the mean time, I can't dwell on it, so I've moved on. My creative energy is now directed at my photography, something I've loved for a number of years. If you'd like to see it, please visit my web site.

To everyone who has taken the time to read, comment and tell me about your own crafts over the past several years, thank you very much. You're welcome to browse the archives of the site - go to the column on the right side of the page to see old posts by date or to search by topic.

New post: no crafts here....

2011-09-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

There's a new post on Play With String: no crafts here....

Play With String has moved! Please visit the new site.
(For the time being, you can still follow on Blogger -- I'll post links when there is any new content.)

New post: queer East Van bingo quilt

2011-08-13T01:15:00.000-07:00

There's a new post on Play With String: queer East Van bingo quilt

Play With String has moved! Please visit the new site.
(For the time being, you can still follow on Blogger -- I'll post links when there is any new content.)

New post: knitting octopus

2011-07-31T03:27:00.002-07:00

There's a new post on Play With String: knitting octopus

Play With String has moved! Please visit the new site.
(For the time being, you can still follow on Blogger -- I'll post links when there is any new content.)

New post: ad with knitting animation

2011-07-21T07:00:00.001-07:00

There's a new post on Play With String: ad with knitting animation

Play With String has moved! Please visit the new site.
(For the time being, you can still follow on Blogger -- I'll post links when there is any new content.)

New post: The Little Red Plane

2011-07-18T07:00:00.005-07:00

There's a new post on Play With String: The Little Red Plane

Play With String has moved! Please visit the new site.
(For the time being, you can still follow on Blogger -- I'll post links when there is any new content.)

New post: photo site

2011-07-14T11:15:00.005-07:00

There's a new post on Play With String: photo site

Play With String has moved! Please visit the new site.
(For the time being, you can still follow on Blogger -- I'll post links when there is any new content.)

New post: Ravelry article on Slate

2011-07-13T08:31:00.001-07:00

There's a new post on Play With String: Ravelry article on Slate

Play With String has moved! Please visit the new site.
(For the time being, you can still follow on Blogger -- I'll post links when there is any new content.)

blog moving

2011-07-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

This blog is moving over here: Play With String. I started to move to WordPress a while ago, but stopped because of some limitations and concerns with WP that have since been allayed; now I'm going ahead with the transfer.

Last time I looked at moving the blog, a few people expressed a wish to be able to continue to follow the blog via Blogger, so for now I'll post a link to the new site when there are new posts. This way, if you've subscribed here, you'll still be notified. I hope this will suit everyone!

While I was able to import the contents (including comments) of this blog into WordPress, the formatting of posts got messed up, so I'll be gradually repairing it. In the meantime, only the most recent posts will show up there. All the archived posts will reappear before too long.

See you over on the new site!

knitting obsession

2011-07-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

The Last Knit, written, directed and animated by Laura Neuvonen of Finland, 2005.

Tricot machine video

2011-07-01T07:00:00.001-07:00

I've loved this video for a few years. It has been pretty widely posted, but I figured I should put it up for those who have not yet seen it. Not only does it have very cool effects with animated knitted images, it's a beautiful song by the Québecois group Tricot Machine. ("Tricot" means "knitting.") I found the images wonderfully evocative of Montréal ... if you know the city, you will recognize the places portrayed.

video with knitting

2011-06-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

A friend showed me this video with amazing and hilarious knitting effects in it. It reminds me of some other videos I should track down and post here, too. Enjoy!

World Wide Knit In Public Day

2011-06-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

I've just been reminded (thanks, Teresa) that tomorrow is World Wide Knit In Public Day! Wherever you are, it's a fine occasion to go out and knit (or crochet, or embroider, or engage in whatever yarny fabulousness strikes your fancy) in public.

You can search on the WWKIP site for events in your area, or drop by your local yarn shop, park, café, etc. and look for other crafty types.

Here in East Vancouver, I've heard that people will be celebrating at Baaad Anna's with a sale (10% off everything). It's always a welcoming place to hang out and meet friendly fibre folks.

Have fun!

stolen embroidery works

2011-06-09T02:10:00.000-07:00

I just heard that two works of embroidery by artist Jenny Hart were stolen from an exhibition in Toronto. Details are here. Please share this and contact the artist if you have any helpful information.

photography

2011-05-25T08:05:00.002-07:00

At long last, I've set up a separate blog for my photography. I do post my photos here on Play With String, of course, but most often they're just for purposes of illustrating a project. The other blog is a place to share my love of photography and show how I see the world.

If you're interested, please visit Photography by Tricia McDonald Ward. I'd be very pleased if you'd like to follow me there! (Edited to update link.)

playing with different kinds of strings

2011-05-19T02:15:00.004-07:00

I'm taking a wee break from my fibre arts projects these days, and instead am using my free time to play music again. It's been too many months since I've picked up any instrument; now I remember how good it feels, and how essential to my soul it is to make music. I've been improvising with some slide guitar ideas the past couple of days, and today I picked up the dulcimer (mountain or Appalachian, not the hammered sort).

I had some dulcimer question in mind so started searching online, and happened upon this forum, which looks like a useful resource: Everything Dulcimer.

Here you can see my beautiful Folk Roots dulcimer, which I got about 25 years ago from Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Michigan. (Folk Roots is now made by Folkcraft, but mine is from back when Rugg and Jackel were making them.) I've customized it a bit over the years, getting a 6½ fret added, and adjusting the strings so they're equally spaced -- initially, it had a paired set of high strings, meant to be tuned identically, accompanied by two drone strings. Now it has four separate strings; this suits me because I don't play much in the traditional noter-and-drone style but instead tend to fret all the strings and do a lot of finger-picking.

EDIT: Here's something kind of nifty (or at least I think so!) ... I found a topic on the Everything Dulcimer forum where Howard Rugg, one of the founders and makers of these dulcimers, was offering to provide people with information on their instruments. It turns out he'd kept a log book with details about the solid wood dulcimers they made. I commented, and he kindly (and very quickly) replied, and I now know exactly when my dulcimer was made, and what the woods are: walnut sides and back, and a solid spruce top. As my friend Teresa remarked, it's a great intersection of old technology and new technology, to use the internet to connect with someone who kept a notebook back then and can now share the information with me.

I'm looking forward to increasingly warm weather and long days of sunlight, and much more music every day.

more about cherry blossoms at Joy Kogawa House

2011-04-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

I didn't make it to the cherry blossom yarn-bombing event at Joy Kogawa House, but I hear it was a great success. Leanne Prain gives an update over here. The participants did a beautiful job of decorating the cherry tree with knitted and crocheted blossoms -- do click the links to see their wonderful work!

Thanks very much to Teresa McCarthy for pointing out the link to Leanne's article.

cherry blossoms

2011-03-29T16:55:00.007-07:00

The cherry blossoms are so beautiful. Seeing them every spring is one of my favourite aspects of living in this city -- even a very grey day like today is made cheerful by these lovely flowers.

spring!

2011-03-26T17:30:00.007-07:00

I'm so glad that spring is here, and that the days are getting longer and a bit warmer.

adventures in sewing (and, ideally, refraining from tearing out one's hair)

2011-03-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

Sewing knit fabrics -- rather than woven -- became, of late, the bane of my creative life. I've never demonstrated any great skill with sewing, but over the past few years have learned to handle the sewing machine to the extent that I can make things like pillow cases and curtains, and hem skirts that are made of woven cotton fabric. But knit fabrics, which stretch and slip around and seem to tear easily if sewn incorrectly, have eluded me.

Recently, I acquired a few pieces of clothing (all made of knit fabrics) that needed altering, so I rounded up some scraps of similar fabric and set to. Oh boy, did I make a mess! But I learned a lot, too. My first (many) attempts involved skipped stitches, broken thread, puckered and torn fabric, and much muttering and gnashing of teeth. I searched online for the topic, and hauled out the manual for the machine and started going through the troubleshooting instructions; in the process I

learned to change needles
experimented with thread made of different materials
got a great deal of practice at threading both the upper and lower portions of the machine
figured out how to remove the needle plate and clean around the feed dogs
scoured the stove .... okay, not a direct result of learning to sew, but a useful distraction for those moments when I wanted nothing more than to hurl the sewing machine out the window (probably just as well -- not very satisfying when one lives on the ground floor)

I truly had no idea what a drastic difference it makes to choose, for example, the correct type of thread and needle for the fabric involved. I won't claim to have any great level of skill, but I did in the end manage to alter a couple of garments with reasonable success. Here are the things I learned about sewing knits:

Use polyester (or cotton/polyester) thread, even if your fabric is 100% cotton -- it will stretch.
Buy thread of good quality. I was thrilled to find super cheap thread at the dollar store up the street, but it only snagged and tore in the machine. Better to pay a bit more and get a high-quality smooth thread.
Use the right size needle and weight of thread to go with your fabric. (Google or consult someone knowledgeable about this -- I learned only enough to find the correct supplies for my little projects!)
Use a ballpoint needle! Rather than piercing the fabric, it will push the fibres aside. If you make a mistake and have to rip out stitches, you'll see a lot less damage to the fabric than if you had used a sharper needle.
Same goes for pins -- get the ballpoint ones. (I didn't have any, so used plastic clothespins to hold my fabric together.)
Try a zigzag or elastic stitch -- it will give more stretch.
Experiment with changing the upper threading tension on the machine. I found that a somewhat lighter one worked better with knits. On my machine, the numbers go from 0-9, and 5 is normal tension; for the knit fabrics I set it at 3.
When sewing, make sure the rest of the fabric isn't hanging down or dragging, and pulling the part being sewed askew. It helped to move the machine over so there was more room on the table to the left of it.
Use your hands to keep an even tension on the fabric, both behind and in front of the needle, but don't stretch the fabric. Every knit has a different amount of stretch, so it's ideal to practice on a scrap of the same material before you start the project. And look at the grain of the fabric -- the stretch will be very different with the grain and across it.
Keep the sewing machine clean! A bit of dust inside any part of it can really mess things up and prevent smooth sewing. Use of a dust cover, regular cleaning, and occasional oiling, make a world of difference.
Persist! I was ready to give up -- and in a very bad temper through at least part of the process -- but stubbornly stuck with it.

There's something quite satisfying about starting to grasp concepts that had been a complete mystery. I doubt I'll ever be particularly accomplished at sewing, but I'm having fun learning some basic techniques.

cherry blossoms at Joy Kogawa House

2011-03-06T06:40:00.001-08:00

This afternoon at two o'clock, Leanne Prain and Mandy Moore are holding the culminating event in their community project, covering a cherry tree at the historic Joy Kogawa House with knitted and crocheted cherry blossoms.

Find more details of the project over here. To learn more about Mandy and Leanne and their yarnbombing book and escapades, visit their site.

clothesline picture

2011-01-22T08:10:00.001-08:00

Here's a fun project inspired by miniature clothespins that I ran across in a box of craft supplies: I got my 8 year old niece to cut out various pieces of clothing from stiff paper and decorate them with markers and pencils and sparkly jewels, and hang them on a little clothesline. We made the background from blue and green construction paper to look like sky and ground, and drew little baskets of kittens and puppies to round out our scene. The whole thing is attached to a piece of card (the backing from a used up pad of paper works nicely) and the clothesline string is taped down on the back of the piece. My niece loved this project, and it kept her busy for hours!

colourful blanket

2011-01-05T07:15:00.015-08:00

Here's a blanket I made recently for my eight year old niece. I used a lot of different colours in an asymmetrical pattern so that it would be bright and cheerful and quirky -- just like the delightful recipient! As with my nephew's baby blanket, this is made using Nashua Creative Focus superwash wool and a 5 mm hook. I really enjoy projects like this that are comprised of small squares. It was easy to carry around and work on while I was going to appointments and so on.

I don't recommend this yarn -- while it was inexpensive, it was full of knots and breaks, and the actual yardage varied widely. Rather than the stated 218 yards, each skein was about 40 to 60 yards short. I was not impressed. However, the final result is just fine, and as is always a good idea with gifts for kids, it can be thrown in the washer and dryer and should wear reasonably well.

baby blanket

2011-01-03T22:45:00.004-08:00

This is the blanket I made for my baby nephew. It's made of superwash wool (Nashua Creative Focus) so it can be thrown in the washing machine and dryer without a problem. I crocheted it using a 5 mm hook, making each square separately and then sewed the squares together, and finally added a border.

Christmas yarn

2010-12-25T11:00:00.002-08:00

Look at the beautiful yarn my husband JD gave me for Christmas! Okay, yes, I did pick it out myself, at our favourite local yarn shop, Baaad Anna's.

There are three balls of Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo, in beautiful shimmery colours: Limey, Banjo Blue, and Jack in the Box. This is a very soft yarn (80% bamboo, 20% wool) in a DK weight. No idea what I'll make with it, but I'm looking forward to trying it out.

And the stunning pink/purple (colour 01) yarn is Diamond 100% pure silk in a lace weight. I have been looking for a silk yarn in shades of pink for quite some time, and have found a lot of beautiful yarns, but they've all been blends with wool or alpaca. I can't wear those fibres, but can wear silk, so have been holding out for a pure silk yarn. The plan is to make a scarf from it - whether knit or crochet, and in what sort of pattern, remains to be seen. I can hardly wait to get started!

All who celebrate, I hope you have a very happy and peaceful Christmas time.

in case you need a spare...

2010-10-19T15:55:00.009-07:00

I wanted to make a little gift for my friend M. who recently had a hysterectomy. I found this pattern online, and knew it was perfect for her, because she has a wacky sense of humour.

I cast on some pink acrylic worsted weight yarn, using 3.75 mm needles, and made this for her. She received it today, and immediately fell into a fit of giggles as her perplexed young son opened the parcel for her. (However, it should come as no surprise that his silly Mom has very silly friends.) Dear M., here's wishing you a smooth recovery!

results: blocking with wire and foam mats

2010-10-16T16:15:00.006-07:00

Yesterday I used my new blocking equipment for the first time. The first result is a good one. (The crocheted lace scarf is my version of the Crocus scarf designed by Laura Rintala.)

It takes a little while to thread the wires in place along the edge of the piece being blocked, but it's still much quicker and easier than meticulously pinning out the entire scarf, and the results are much better than a previous attempt without wires.

A minor disadvantage is that the pins can easily poke right through the back of the foam mats, but not as much as would happen with sheets of cardboard. I attached three interlocking mats together to make a space long enough to block the scarf, setting them on the bed so I could reach them while pinning the scarf down. When I carefully moved them off the bed, they bent a bit but held together and did not interfere with the blocking.

Overall, I think the foam mats and blocking wires are very useful, and a great improvement on my previous system of cardboard and pins. I hope they will hold up over the long term.

blocking using wires and foam mats

2010-10-15T12:40:00.014-07:00

Yesterday I picked up some new blocking supplies: interlocking foam mats (sold at a toy store as floor mats) and blocking wires from a local yarn shop.

I've long been a proponent of blocking knitted and crocheted items, but have never used wires until now. The other day I was attempting to block a new project, and was very unhappy with the results. Even though I used a good quantity of pins and tried to pin it out very carefully, it turned out rather askew, and failed to fully show off the lacy design. It seemed like wires might help.

I was also getting discouraged with my usual blocking boards, made from sturdy sheets of cardboard covered in plastic wrap and towels. These boards have always sufficed in the past, but the reality is that they don't hold up for all that long, if you use them frequently; moreover, it has become physically too difficult for me to cut up the cardboard and assemble new ones.

I researched the blocking boards sold by yarn shops and online suppliers, and found them to be very expensive. Besides, the dimensions of the largest of them might be ideal for a sweater, but would be too short to block a long scarf all at once. It seemed to me that if I was going to pay a lot for a blocking board, I didn't want to have to wait while one half of a project dried and then block the other end. I'd heard a lot of positive reviews of the relatively inexpensive foam floor mats - many fibre arts folks had used them with great success, and so I decided to give them a try.

I'll give an update tomorrow with the results of today's blocking attempt.

mention: adapting crochet hook handles

2010-10-13T21:30:00.006-07:00

Kim Werker made a blog post that referred to my recent post on polymer clay crochet hook handles over on Crochetme.com today. I hope the idea is useful to somebody. Thanks, Kim, for the mention!

adapting crochet hook handles

2010-10-05T19:20:00.004-07:00

I'm interested in the different ways people adapt their crochet hooks to make them easier to use. In the past I've done one kind of adaptation, using foam, but I wanted to try the idea of forming solid handles out of polymer clay. The steel hooks in particular are very difficult for me to use, but I do like to work with thread at times and so need to use fairly small hooks (1.15 to 1.75 mm) (that translates to US steel hook sizes 9 to 4, or UK sizes approximately 3 to 2). Their narrow handles poke into my hand which hurts and really curtails the time I can spend crocheting.
Here are the two hooks for which I made handles. I used Fimo, one of the many brands of polymer clay found at craft shops. I just took some Fimo and after warming it up in my hands, rolled it into a rough tube shape and shoved the crochet handle into it, attempting to get the hook centred. (I didn't entirely succeed, but it's not too bad.) Then I rolled the clay-encased hook back and forth to (sort of) smooth it out. When it was covering enough of the hook, I pinched the clay in close where the hook emerges from it.

Then I stood the hook on end to make the bottom end of it flat. I cut out a circle of white clay (with a metal thing that looks like a miniature cookie cutter) and using a gel pen, wrote the hook size on the circle (since the size marking is covered by the clay). With the same little cutter, I indented a circular outline on the flat end of the clay, and then using a thin blade, I scraped out the circle shape, leaving a circular indent into which I gently pressed the white circle. Again I stood the hook upright on its end and tapped it down gently to make the inset circle stick.

To make the spiral line design on the larger hook, I just took a piece of string and wrapped it firmly around the handle, and then pulled it off, leaving the indentation you see here. Then I put the hooks on a cookie sheet and baked them in the oven at 130º Celsius (that's 265º Fahrenheit) for 30 minutes.

The adapted hooks may look a bit amateur, but they are functional, especially the 1.25 mm hook - it's much easier to hold and use the hook with a fatter handle. The 5 mm hook is also much easier to hold, and feels great at first, but I think it might be a bit heavy for me to use for long, which sort of defeats the purpose of adapting it. However, I haven't had time to try it much yet, so will make an update if further use proves otherwise.

cakes (no, not that kind....)

2010-09-18T23:00:00.012-07:00

Not real cake, or even toy cake, alas ... but still of interest to those obsessed with yarn. I don't have a swift or a ball winder, so whenever I get new yarn, or unravel old knitted items, I wind my yarn by hand. No big deal -- and I'm good at winding it into a ball that holds its shape but is loose enough to avoid stretching the yarn fibres -- but I've always kind of wished I could wind yarn into tidy cakes that are easy to work from and don't roll all around when I'm using them.

The other day, I was reading about nostepinnes over on Ravelry, and became curious about how they worked. I read further, and then checked some local shops to see if these wooden gadgets were sold nearby. A couple of places did have one or two, but they were a bit expensive, and so I decided to see what alternatives people had tried. It turned out that a number of people had used various easily obtained items, like the cardboard rolls from paper towels, pens and fat markers, and wooden spoons. I gave it a try, and found that a marker was too slippery for me to get the yarn wound onto, and that a wooden spoon or pen was too narrow for me to easily manipulate. Since I had no paper towel rolls handy, I took a piece of scrap paper and rolled it into a tight tube and taped it shut. Following the excellent instructions shown on Fiber Fool (which I found via Nøsty Luv, Ravelry's nostepinne discussion group) I was able to wind a decent cake of yarn after just a couple of false starts.

It's easy to do, it turns out, and it's a delight to knit or crochet from the resulting tidy cake. The yarn is easily pulled from either the centre or the outside. The cakes stack nicely too, which is useful for storage. I first tried winding some worsted weight wool, and then some fingering weight yarn. After making several yarn cakes, I was feeling brave, and tried winding a hank of lace yarn (Misti Alpaca), and I'm glad to say it worked out perfectly.

I've made a few tubes of rolled card (stiff paper for some, and an index card for another) because it seems that different sizes of tubes suit different weights and quantities of yarn. I'd say it's a good little technique to learn for those who, like me, don't have a ball winder and don't want to acquire one. I'm not interested in acquiring an actual nostepinne now, because the cardboard tubes work just fine, and I suspect that my damaged wrists would not appreciate the extra weight of the wooden tool.

chocolates

2010-08-17T20:15:00.023-07:00

I made these chocolates the other day for my husband JD's birthday, and when I gave them to him, he immediately started describing exactly what flavour each one was. Who knew I could crochet something that specifically tasty?! ♥

The chocolates are about the same size as real chocolates might be, and are made from Cascade 220 wool, using a 3.5 mm hook. I don't have patterns for any of these ... I browsed online for photos of real and knitted / crocheted / sewn chocolates to get some ideas, and then made them up as I went. I recommend this as a simple project if you enjoy crochet improvisation. Each one is quick to make, and if it's not working out, you haven't wasted much yarn in the attempt.

For more details, see the project page on Ravelry.

cake

2010-08-15T20:30:00.023-07:00

Here's a little gift I crocheted for someone I know who bakes amazingly tasty and beautiful cakes. The larger piece is about 6 cm (2.5") across. I used a 3.5 mm hook and Cascade 220 yarn for the cake and the cake slice, and crochet thread (sizes 10 and 30) and steel hooks (sizes 1.15 and 1.25 mm) for the flower and leaf decorations.

See more project details on Ravelry.

wedding cake figures

2010-07-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

I crocheted these figures for friends who just got married this morning.

The dolls are 3.5" (8.5 cm) tall, and are made from various weights of crochet cotton -- the pink (of the skin) and the shades of blue (for the jeans) are size 10, while the black (of the tank top, chaps and boots) is size 5; I used a 1.25 mm hook with those threads. The red thread (of the T shirt) is size 20 and required a 1.15 mm hook to get a solid fabric. I would have preferred to work with a uniform thread size, but was limited by the colour choices at local shops. Changing thread size meant I had to make slight adjustments in the proportionate number of stitches; this is not that big a deal, but does require more time for experimenting.

The hair is made of tapestry wool, and the facial features are made of other wool yarns. The dolls are stuffed with polyester fibre fill, and there are pipe cleaners inside the arms and legs so that the figures could be posed properly once they were made. (If you want the figures to be endlessly poseable, you must use a wire other than pipe cleaners, because it won't hold up to repeated bending. And be sure to refrain from using any wire inside dolls meant for small children, since it can work its way out after repeated handling.)

The bass guitar is made of polymer clay, as is the platform. The figures are sewn to tiny holes in the platform beneath their feet. The first time I made cake top figures, I made each figure separately and then propped them up with toothpicks on the cake. This time, it seemed much easier to attach them directly to a base, so that the whole decoration could be set on the cake in one piece.

Congratulations to Andréa and Easton!

farewell, Tracer

2010-06-25T00:15:00.015-07:00

Our lovely, sweet dog, Tracer, passed away on Tuesday. He was born in 1997 on my husband JD's farm in New Mexico. He was a wonderful friend and companion, and the house feels very empty without him. We miss you and love you, Tracer.

oh crafts, how I have missed you!

2010-06-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hello, all. I had to take a few months off from crocheting and knitting in order to give my hands a much needed break. It's been a very busy time so it's not like I've been lacking things to do, but I have seriously missed working on my little projects, and have found myself very frustrated when inspiration and ideas pop up and I can't try them.

I'm very happy to say that I'm getting back to it now, starting with a small crochet project, and while I may need to keep a slower pace for a while, I am delighted to be making things again. There's a peaceful feeling I get when I'm improvising or designing or trying out techniques ... unlike my experiences with attempting to draw or paint, there's no stress involved in this work. It's fun and creative and relaxing. There's nothing competitive about it -- I don't care if eleventy-zillion people do it better than I can. I get such joy from playing with string and seeing where it goes. The simplest designs can delight me. Such simple fun can seem like a luxury in this chaotic world, and I feel very lucky to have the time and ability to do it.

I will return ...

2010-04-25T21:45:00.001-07:00

...before too long. See you in early/mid June.

on hiatus

2010-03-09T06:45:00.006-08:00

The arthritis and nerve damage in my hands has caught up with me, so, unfortunately, I have to put craft-making on hold for now. I expect to return to it after a rest of a month or two, and will resume posting here then.

still here . . . no, really!

2010-01-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

Tricia is sick right now but will be back before too long.

fingerless mittens in Cascade 220

2010-01-07T10:15:00.001-08:00

Here's a recent project, a pair of fingerless mittens for my dear friend, using Cascade 220 yarn in this lovely heathery shade of green. I did a modified version of the Berry Hill pattern, using 3.25 mm needles to make a warm fabric. I'm pleased to say that the mitts turned out well, and that my friend likes them very much!

in progress: baby blanket

2010-01-05T09:20:00.026-08:00

I've started working on a baby blanket that will consist of garter stitch squares of 15 cm (6") in five colours crocheted together with a sixth colour that will also be used for the border. The yarn is Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Superwash and the colours are 02 light blue, 11 bright green, 28 honey, 30 blue, 32 black and 34 olive. (You can probably tell that I'm not all that keen on the usual baby blanket choices of pastel shades.) I'm knitting with 6 mm needles to give a nice drape and light feel to the fabric.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T16:00:00.009-08:00

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe it's 2010 already.

Yesterday a parcel with no return address appeared in my mailbox. I opened it to find this fabulous gift: the book Domiknitrix, and a beautiful cupcake ornament made of felt and decorated with seed bead sprinkles!

There's no name indicating who sent it, and while I'm pretty sure I know who it's from, the person obviously wants to be anonymous, so I will not put their name here, but will instead just say thank you very much! It was a delightful surprise to receive this gift.

I wish everyone a a wonderful New Year, and hope for peace, health and happiness for all of us.

Berry Hill fingerless mittens

2009-12-30T07:00:00.018-08:00

I made these simple fingerless mittens as a gift for my lovely mother, using a pattern by Liz Thompson called Berry Hill. You can find it free online via Ravelry. The pattern is very nicely written and easy to follow, and gives very pretty results. The yarn is Mirasol Hacho put out by the Mirsol project which works to support sheep-herding communities in Peru. To obtain the correct gauge, I used 3.75 mm DPNS, but the only ones I had available on short notice were bamboo, which I found very irritating to use. I'll have to find some metal ones in that size for future projects.The work of using those needles was all worthwhile, because the mittens turned out perfectly.

drawstring bag

2009-12-29T07:00:00.003-08:00

Here's a little drawstring bag that I crocheted recently. I used a 4 mm hook and Elann Peruvian Highland wool in vibrant shades of blue, turquoise and purple. It's done in the round, and I used single, half-double and double crochet stitches to give interesting texture.

Lollipop

2009-12-28T10:10:00.009-08:00

I've made Gir robot dolls (Gir is a character from a show called Invader Zim, and the knitted version is based on Tchemgrrrl's pattern, with a number of modifications) in the past (see some here) (and another over here). Recently, I found out that my 7 year old niece Maggie wanted one of these aliens, as she calls them, so I made her one for Christmas. Maggie seems quite happy with the new doll, which she has named Lollipop. Lollipop apparently likes to fly in a helicopter and ride a unicorn. What an adventurous robot!

The doll is 9" ( cm) tall when standing — 11" ( cm) with the antenna — and knitted on 3.25 mm needles using Cascade 220 yarn. The eyes are crocheted, and I'm pretty sure I used a 4 mm hook for them.

Fetching

2009-12-27T23:00:00.012-08:00

This is a fingerless glove pattern called "Fetching" that practically everyone and her dog has knitted since it came out in the summer 2006 issue of Knitty. I was looking for some gift ideas, and decided to give this a try.

I added an extra twist of the cable pattern to make the wrist longer, and lengthened the thumb section. I wasn't keen on the look of the picot bind off, so instead did a sewn bind off. And I wasn't too thrilled with the way the thumb was formed. I probably won't follow this pattern again, but I got a decent result which made a nice gift for my sister-in-law.

My yarn was Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Superwash in colour 08 Ivory, and my needles were 4.5 mm DPNS.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T23:30:00.005-08:00

I hope you've all had a peaceful and happy day. For those who celebrate, Merry Christmas!

I made this little snowman ornament for my husband, who likes it very much. The figure is about 1.5 " (4 cm) tall, and is crocheted using sport weight acrylic yarn and a 3 mm hook. The scarf is a crocheted chain, and the hat is knitted using 3 mm needles. The nose is made from size 10 crochet thread with a 1.75 mm hook, and the eyes are embroidered.

Christmas cat

2009-12-19T16:40:00.003-08:00

It's a busy time, getting ready for Christmas. I have a few projects that I'd like to post here, but I'm holding off because I don't want to show gifts I've made for family who may read this. There is one who doesn't generally use the internet or read my blog, so I think I can post her gift. It's a simple knitted cat like I've made before, and I think it came out looking pretty cute.

wow!

2009-11-28T00:40:00.003-08:00

I was surprised and delighted to read this blog post .... thank you so much, Anna! You definitely made my day.

Vancouver: fund-raising knit-a-thon

2009-11-27T12:40:00.000-08:00

This Sunday, 29th of November, Baaad Anna's is holding a fund-raising knit-a-thon where people can join with a high school group that makes warm hats, scarves and mittens for folks who are homeless. You can donate yarn, or money, or canned goods - donations go to the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre - and/or show up and knit or crochet contributions. All details are on Anna's blog. Hope to see Vancouver and area folks there on Sunday!

fridge squid

2009-11-25T17:15:00.003-08:00

In case you didn't know already: I love cephalopods in artwork and as toys. I know, I know, they're very popular all over the place right now. I don't care; I've always had a thing for them. Jessica Polka's Squid in Love continues to be a favourite pattern -- I rarely follow other people's patterns, but this is definitely one for which I make an exception -- and this time, to make the resulting figure quite small, I crocheted them using #10 crochet cotton and a 1.5 mm steel hook, with seed beads sewed on for the eyes. There's a little magnet inside each body; they work perfectly as fridge magnets. It's too much fiddly work (my eyes and hands are not really up to the task!) to do these often, but it was fun to try them.

wiggly finger puppets

2009-11-24T11:50:00.010-08:00

I first started crocheting finger puppets a couple of years ago. They're quick and easy to make, and a lot of little kids really like them. The (very simple) pattern is written up now - if you want it, either look below the cut, or download the PDF.

For my original post, go here. Pattern is below (click "Read more"), or download a PDF of it.

Wiggly Finger Puppets

Abbreviations (North American terms are used throughout)
st = stitch
sts = stitches
sc = single crochet
sl = slip
sc 2 tog = single crochet 2 together (decrease)
( ) = repeat directions that appear in parentheses
repeat ( ) around = repeat directions in parentheses until the round is completed

Gauge
There’s no required gauge for this project. Just use whatever hook works comfortable with your yarn and creates a fairly dense fabric so the puppet stays upright and is not floppy.

Version 1

Round 1: Starting with an adjustable ring, sc 6.

Round 2: Sc twice in each st. There are now 12 sts in the round.

Round 3: (Sc twice in the first stitch, then sc 1.) Repeat ( ) around. There are now 18 sts in the round.

Round 4 until end: Now just sc 18 each round until the puppet is the length you want. This could be anywhere from 5 to 15 rounds. (Try it out on your finger to see if it’s a good length.)

When you're done, sl 2 or 3 sts. Tie off the yarn and weave in the ends.

Suggestions: Change colours frequently. Then make limbs and antennae by chaining lengths of yarn – this creates wonderfully wiggly parts – or by knitting i-cord and sewing it on. Add button eyes, or embroider the features. Be sure to weave in all yarn ends securely on the inside of the puppet so little fingers don't catch and pull out the yarn ends.

Tip: It's easier to embroider a face or sew on buttons or antennae if you do it before the puppet is its full length. When you've made the "head" section, stop and sew on any facial features, and then carry on and crochet the rest of the body length.

Version 1

To vary the shape, as with the puppet shown on the right in the top photo, follow this pattern:

Round 1: Starting with an adjustable ring, sc 6 sts.

Round 2: Sc twice in each st. There are now 12 sts in the round.

Round 3: (Sc twice in the first stitch, then sc 1.) Repeat ( ) around. There are now 18 sts in the round.

Round 4: (Sc twice in the first stitch, sc 2.) Repeat ( ) around. There are now 24 sts in the round.

Round 5: Sc 24.

Round 6: Sc 24.

Round 7: Sc 24.

Round 8: (Sc 2 tog, sc 1.) Repeat ( ) around. There are now 18 sts in the round.

Round 9 to end: Sc 18 each round until the puppet is the desired length.

Have fun making your own cute wiggly puppets!

To download the PDF version of this pattern, click here.

cupcakes pattern now for sale

2009-11-23T14:30:00.001-08:00

Electronic version of the Cupcakes, of course! pattern is now available. More info below. (EDIT: forgot to tell you, if you're in Vancouver, you can buy a kit over at Baaad Anna's to make two cupcakes.)

The pattern includes 26 photographs showing the project in progress and completed.

The cupcake is crocheted in one piece (so you don’t have to sew the icing to the cake) and decorated with sprinkles or a cherry.

Required supplies

4 mm (G) crochet hook
worsted weight yarn (such as Cascade 220) in three colours. For each cupcake: about 10 yards (9.2 metres) of icing colour (pink, cream, etc.); about 13 yards (12 metres) of cake colour (lemon, chocolate) per cupcake; about 24” (60 cm) of red or other sprinkles/cherry colour
yarn needle
scissors
stuffing (such as wool batting,
polyester fibrefill, scrap yarn,
cotton balls)
one stitch marker

Pattern: $4.95 Canadian

sweet stripes

2009-11-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

Sweet Stripes is my new design. This is a knitting pattern that's made with worsted weight wool on four (or five) double-pointed needles. Vancouver folks can buy a kit that includes materials to make six of the little sweets at Baaad Anna's. The electronic version is available via Ravelry. More details below.

Sweet Stripes - knitting pattern

REQUIRED SUPPLIES

YARN: Use a worsted weight yarn such as Cascade 220. You need approximately 5 yards (4.6 metres) of the main colour, and 1.5 yards (1.4 metres) of the contrasting colour for each sweet. Use up your leftover partial skeins!
NEEDLES: Use a set of four or five short, lightweight 3.25 mm (U.S. no. 3) double-pointed needles. I recommend 5” (13 cm) bamboo needles.
Very small amount of stuffing such as wool batting, polyester fibrefill, scrap yarn, or cotton balls.
yarn needle
scissors
1 stitch marker (a loop of yarn will suffice)

Detailed pattern includes seven photos of the project in progress and two photos of the finished items.

Pattern: $3.50 Canadian

cupcakes, of course!

2009-11-19T21:10:00.001-08:00

Remember the cupcakes I came up with a while ago? I've revised and completed the pattern, and they're now made of worsted weight wool using a 4 mm hook. They're crocheted in one piece, so the cake and icing parts don't have to be sewn together. (I really don't like sewing things together, so consider this a great advantage!)

This is one of the first patterns I'll be selling online - it should be available within a few days, if all goes well. (Vancouver folks, you can buy the pattern at Baaad Anna's, the fabulous yarn store on East Hastings. You can also buy kits that include the pattern and all the materials needed to make two delicious looking cupcakes.)

Play With String patterns

2009-11-19T21:00:00.004-08:00

I've been very busy putting my patterns together for publication, and am pleased to announce that the first three patterns are ready. They will be available to buy at Baaad Anna's Yarn Store in Vancouver, and I'll have online sales (for downloadable PDFs) ready shortly - within a week, if all goes well. You can also buy kits at Baaad Anna's which include the pattern and the materials needed for making the project. This is a new venture for me, and I'm delighted to have a chance to work with Anna to sell the kits and patterns locally.

I'll put up photos of the three pattern projects in separate post. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

sewn bind off tutorial

2009-11-19T20:20:00.003-08:00

There are many ways to bind off (or cast off, as some say) a piece of knitting. One method I often use is the sewn bind off. It's an excellent way to finish a piece of knitting if you want a nice stretchy edge. (Elizabeth Zimmermann explained this method in at least one of her books, if you want to look it up.) It works particularly well if you started your knitting with a long-tail cast on, and want a finished edge that looks very similar. The tutorial is behind the cut. (Click "read more" to see it.)
Here's how you do it. When you get to the point of wanting to bind off, cut your yarn leaving a long tail - probably 3 or 4 times as long as the piece you're going to bind off. Put the yarn on a yarn needle - one of those blunt plastic or metal needles with a large eye - and insert the needle into the first two stitches, exactly like you would insert a knitting needle if you were about to purl those stitches.

Pull the yarn through and make sure it's snug.

Then run the needle back through the first stitch only, this time running in the opposite direction.

Make sure it is pulled through all the way.

Now you can drop the first stitch off the knitting needle.

Now go on to do the same thing with the second and third stitches (which are now your first and second stitches).

Keep going until you get to the end of the row, at which point you just thread the yarn through your last stitch and tie it off and weave in the end.

Any questions? Leave a comment and I'll try to help.

adjustable ring tutorial

2009-11-13T00:10:00.003-08:00

The adjustable ring is a very handy technique for starting crochet projects that are worked in the round. I'll be putting up a tutorial shortly, but for now, I refer you to this one:

Planet June's magic ring tutorial

tasty

2009-11-05T12:00:00.017-08:00

And now, in the dual categories of "Best Response to a Crocheted Gift," and "Wow, You Fit the Whole Thing in Your Mouth?" I present Lee Harrington, the lovely person who inspired the creation of crocheted pie, in a self portrait, where he is "filling his pie hole." Who knew my woolly little design would get so much love and tasting? Thank you, Lee, for inspiration and entertainment!

welcome to Play With String

2009-11-03T13:00:00.001-08:00

Hello, everyone. I'm Tricia McDonald Ward, and Play With String is my fibre arts blog. The focus is on my projects and original designs involving knitting and crochet. I also feature some reviews of craft- and art-related sites, books, events and so on.

Welcome to new readers, and to those who've come over from my previous site. All the posts and comments from the old site are here. Please visit the archives, or look for articles by topic in the links list at the right. The new name and revised design reflect my focus on fibre arts work . . . I do indeed like to play with string!

To those who’ve been asking about my designs for crochet and knit items: I'm in the process of getting patterns ready to post. Some will be for sale, and some will be offered free of charge. If you’d like to be on my mailing list to be notified of new patterns, please comment here with your email address, or write to me at play.with.string AT gmail DOT com.

And to all who have inquired about buying finished pieces from me: please write to me. I don't take regular orders at this point, but will consider individual commissions.

To see the rest of the blog, click here.

strawberries

2009-10-24T08:50:00.003-07:00

So simple, and so cute .... these are almost as compelling to make as real strawberries are to eat. I really like them.

These are crocheted using a 4 mm hook and Cascade 220 yarn. The size is similar to real strawberries. If you're interested in learning to make these, please comment here or send me an email message (play.with.string@gmail.com) and I'll notify you when the pattern is ready.

Baaad Anna's

2009-10-17T23:45:00.000-07:00

I am delighted that there is a new yarn shop (it opened at the end of August) in my neighbourhood in East Vancouver. Baaad Anna's is on East Hastings between Nanaimo and Renfrew, right across from the public library. It's a pleasant place, with a nice range of yarns that are well displayed so that they're easy to see - and I was glad to find that they're organized primarily by yarn weight, which makes it easy to compare items. The selection will be increasing as more stock is added, but already there are many lovely fibres from which to choose.

Best of all, the folks working at Baaad Anna's are ever so friendly. Anna, the owner, was there when I stopped by the other day, and she was most helpful in answering my questions, and made me feel welcome to take my time browsing. And on a recent evening, my husband and I were walking by the (closed) shop late in the evening and we paused outside it. Suddenly, we heard a cheerful voice from someone on the sidewalk saying, "Hi! Are you knitters or crocheters?" It turned out that this was Caitlin who works in the shop. She was brimming over with enthusiasm, and urged us to come by for the Wednesday evening knitting group. Lovely! I'm looking forward to attending it soon.

I really like this: "Baaad Anna’s provides affordable, diverse, and eco-friendly yarn, knitting supplies and classes. We strive to create a community space for diverse crafters, parents, artists and non-conformist knitters in the East Van Neighbourhood."

For those of us who do fibre arts, or just love textures and colours, yarn stores can be wonderful little havens. Sadly, many places are not very welcoming to customers who are "different" (young, disabled, queer, transgender, pierced, etc.) or who can buy only small quantities of the lower priced supplies. Many of us have had the experience of being treated with disdain or suspicion or bare tolerance when we go into yarn shops. I'm very happy to have a nearby place where I can enjoy looking at yarn, and feel good about spending my hard-earned pennies.

For more information, please visit the Baaad Anna's site as well as Anna's blog.

sweater for teddy bear

2009-10-14T13:30:00.003-07:00

A wee bear of my acquaintance seemed to be in need of a warm winter sweater (he does hibernate, but must be equipped to go out for breakfast every so often, you know) so I used leftover yarn (worsted weight wool) from the sweater I made for my husband and made a miniature cable knit sweater using 4 mm needles. The resulting sweater is 8 cm (just over 3") from hem to neck, and 13 cm (5" and a bit) across the width of it.

Making sweaters for teddy bears is quite easy because it's quick to knit little swatches and get an idea of how many stitches and rows you might need. And shaping is simple: I just hold the work in progress up to the bear after every row or so and see when it's time to shape the armholes, for example.

Sol is quite pleased with his new sweater, and hopes to see you at Bon's in the near future.

mushrooms

2009-10-12T00:05:00.003-07:00

Hmm. The urge to make crocheted versions of food items is not waning. In fact, I seem to be compiling a long list of things that I want to try to make. Should I resist? I think not.

Here are today's attempts: three mushrooms. The larger ones are about 3.5 cm tall by 3.5 cm across the widest part (1 5/16" each way) and made with Cascade 220 yarn and a 3.5 mm hook. The wee one is 2 cm x 2 cm (3/4" x 3/4") and made with miscellaneous fingering weight yarns and 2.5 mm hook.

banana

2009-10-11T00:40:00.005-07:00

Yesterday, I was seized by a sudden, inexplicable urge to crochet a banana. Here it is.

It's made out of worsted weight acrylic yarn (except for the brown bit at the end which is lace weight wool) and is 9 cm (3.5") long. I used a 3 mm hook with the brown yarn, and a 3.5 mm hook for the rest of it.

The handsome model is Lio, the amazing dancing monkey.

bombyx silk scarf

2009-10-09T16:00:00.004-07:00

This scarf is made from the absolutely gorgeous Indigo Moon bombyx silk in the colour peridot. (I wrote a bit about this yarn before.) It's done with a simple garter stitch (knit every row) with the first stitch of each row slipped to make a nice selvedge. I used 3.25 mm needles and cast on 60 stitches using the long-tail cast-on method, and just knit until I was nearly out of yarn, at which point I finished it with a sewn bind-off to keep the end from being too tight. The finished scarf is 56" (142 cm) long and 10.5" (27 cm) wide, although it's quite stretchy lengthwise, so when I wear it, it ends up being longer and narrower. It drapes beautifully and is very soft and wonderful to wear . . . and it's done just in time for me to wear it in the cooler autumn weather.

mmm, pie!

2009-10-06T20:10:00.004-07:00

The other day, a lovely new friend made a very entertaining reference to pie, and I was inspired to make a pie for him. I'm not a baker, so I decided to crochet something.

While I didn't take a photograph of the first one, I did jot down what I was doing so I could make another. (The first one shown here is nearly identical to the original.) Mmmm, pie!

I used a 3.5 mm hook and worsted weight yarn (Cascade 220, which seems to be my favourite yarn lately .... it's easy to use, and is relatively inexpensive as far as wool goes.) I used colour 2401 for the red filling, and and 4010 (a Cascade Heathers yarn) for the golden-brown crust. The pie is about 5 cm (2") in diameter.

Later, I made a strawberry pie in pink for another friend. It's smaller, made with fingering weight wool for the crust (Patons Purple Heather in colour 6604) and a sport weight acrylic for the filling (Encore Sales Stitch 'n' Sew in colour 89243). A 2.5 mm hook worked well with both those yarns, and gave me a pie that's about 3.8 cm (1.5") in diameter.

Here you can see the two side by side with a ruler to get a better idea of the size.

Okay, enough chitchat - let's have pie!

Thanks to Lee for the inspiration! ♥

Pirate tea cozy

2009-09-28T18:15:00.001-07:00

Arrr! Shiver me timbers and pass the chamomile! Here's the pirate tea cozy that I recently designed and made for my friend Spike. It's done in double knitting, so is completely reversible, with a white-on-black image of skull and crossbones showing, and a black-on-white image that shows when it's turned inside out. Both sides have all the knit stitches showing, and are knit at the same time. Besides the versatility of appearance, double knitting is a good technique for a tea cozy because it is twice as thick and so should be more effective as a cozy. It's a great way to make warm hats too. (If you want to learn how to do double knitting, here is Stitch Diva's tutorial, and here is Knitting Help.com's video.)

I used Cascade 220 wool in colours 8010 (cream) and 8555 (black) and it took about half a skein of each colour. Each side is knitted separately on straight needles, and then the two pieces are crocheted together, with gaps left for the handle and spout.

To make a nice looking cast on edge, I recommend using a long-tail cast on where you have both colours of yarn in hand and alternate casting on stitches of each. (Here's a video that shows how to cast on this way.)

If you're interested in this design, leave me a comment or email me at play.with.string@gmail.com. I'm not sure whether I'll publish it as is, or do a revised version, so it may not appear for a while, but let me know if you want to be contacted when it's ready.

Model: Spike's tea pot.

scarf (one more photo)

2009-09-22T21:15:00.009-07:00

Yesterday I wrote about the scarf I just finished knitting for my aunt Ticia. Today I gave it to her - she likes it, yay! - and she put it on and posed for me. It was a warm, sunny day so a funny time to wear a scarf, but doesn't it look fabulous on her? I'm very pleased.

reversible cables

2009-09-21T16:30:00.008-07:00

I love knitted cables, but didn't think they were suitable for scarves because they always have a good side and a reverse side that shouldn't show ... or so I thought. Then, while perusing Ravelry for inspiration for a new scarf, I came upon this pattern for a cable knit scarf that is entirely reversible: Knitty's Elbac ("cable" backwards). The principle was quite obvious once I read about it: cables are ribbed (knit and purl stitches alternating) and the knit stitches pop out on one side of the fabric, while the purls are, of course, knit stitches from the other side of the fabric, and pop out there. So you use twice as many stitches as usual to make a cable: a two stitch cable takes four stitches, for example. Elbac is not the only pattern that uses this technique; it was just my first exposure to the idea. And it's a nice simple pattern for a first attempt at reversible cables (or any cables, for that matter.) I very much like the pointed ends, which are accomplished by increasing stitches at the beginning and decreasing in the final rows.

I used Cascade 220 wool in colour 2419 which is a lovely heathery purple-pink. The scarf, which is for my aunt Ticia (she's a lovely artist from New York City - visit her site!) took two skeins of the yarn. I used 4.5 mm needles and at first was concerned that the fabric was not draping adequately, but 5 mm needles made the cables too loose and shapeless. Now that the scarf is done, I think it drapes perfectly well.

RIP Mary Travers

2009-09-16T21:30:00.002-07:00

I'm very sad to hear the news that Mary Travers has died. She passed away today at age 72. Anything I could say about this wonderful woman would be inadequate, so please see the links below - especially the link to the Peter, Paul and Mary website - for more about her.

New York Times article.

Associated Press article.

Wikipedia entry.

Very moving comments from Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey on the Peter, Paul and Mary website.

Peter Yarrow says, "I have no idea what it will be like to have no Mary in my world, in my life, or on stage to sing with. But I do know there will always be a hole in my heart, a place where she will always exist that will never be filled by any other person. However painful her passing is, I am forever grateful for Mary and her place in my life."

Noel Paul Stookey says, "i am deadened and heartsick beyond words to consider a life without mary travers and honored beyond my wildest dreams to have shared her spirit and her career."

cake top dolls

2009-08-05T11:20:00.003-07:00

I made these little figures to decorate a wedding cake for my friends Nancy and Jen who got married the other day.

The dolls are just under 3" (7.5 cm) tall, and are crocheted from cotton and linen thread using a 1.25 mm steel hook. They're stuffed with a bit of polyester fibrefill and the arms and legs have folded pipe cleaners inside them to make them flexible. (NOTE: this method is NOT suitable if you're making toys for children. First, they're not safe because with extensive handling the wire could work its way loose and come through the outer fabric; second, the bendable parts will not hold up to endless manipulation, and will eventually stop bending.)

The guitar held by one of the figures was made separately, and can be taken on and off the doll. It has a wooden toothpick inside it to help it keep its shape. To get the colours I wanted for it, I used a bit of wool and acrylic instead of the cotton and linen thread used for the dolls. (I generally use what's on hand, rather than buying materials specifically for my projects.)

The other figure sports a tool belt which is just a crochet chain of sock wool. The "tools" are a piece of a round toothpick, a spring from a miniature clothespin, and a hook from a hook and eye set found in my sewing box worked perfectly as a pair of miniature scissors.

I cut little pieces of wax paper to set on the cake under each figure's feet to prevent marring the cake or staining the dolls, and used round toothpicks to prop up the figures. (Someone else actually put them on the cake - I was worried I would ruin the perfect surface!)

Congratulations, Nancy and Jen!

button cookies!

2009-05-31T08:20:00.001-07:00

I swear, these are the cutest things I've ever seen.

My friend Romham made these wonderful cookies, each of which looks like a large button. I couldn't taste them (pesky allergies) but my husband says they were "absolutely delicious," and he is certainly a snack aficionado.

Romham was inspired to make these after seeing a similar idea that someone else had made, and I think they did an amazing job.

The only problem with the cookies was how many bears they attracted. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Music + cookies = one very happy bear.

finished: four scarves

2009-05-30T00:15:00.004-07:00

These are from several months ago - they were gifts, so I didn't post them at the time I made them.

All four scarves are crocheted lengthwise using a half double crochet stitch. I love the look of the strip that changing colours every row yields. Depending on the yarn and my gauge at the time, I used hooks of 4.5, 5 and 5.5 mm. After crocheting them, I tied on fringes to match the colours of the stripes.

The black / grey / cream one and the blue / pink / cream one are made from Cascade 220, which is a lovely and reasonably priced wool yarn that I quite enjoy using.

The purple / turquoise / yellow one is made from Elann Peruvian highland wool, which yields reasonably nice results but is not that great to use, having too great a tendency to split.

The blue / navy / brown one is made from some of the Elann wool, with some Patons Clansman wool and some Sirdar Majestic wool; these two yarns appear to be no longer available. Using a variety of yarns that vary somewhat in weight was interesting, because it meant that I needed to adjust hook size on each row. I made guesses and figured it out through trial and error, and it came out pretty well.

This type of scarf is a quick and easy project, and a good option if you have smallish quantities of leftover yarn in a variety of colours.

Indigo Moon bombyx silk

2009-05-28T07:00:00.004-07:00

Hello! Life is far too busy lately for me to update very often here, but I will continue to post as I'm able. Thanks to those who do stop by to read this blog and especially to those who send me kind messages.

A few months ago, I bought this gorgeous Indigo Moon bombyx silk yarn from Three Bags Full here in Vancouver. The colour is peridot. At $49.95, it was far more expensive than any yarn I've ever bought, so I was only able to get one skein. There's a lot of yarn in the skein, anyway: weight and length varies slightly with each skein; the one I bought is 105 grams and 674 yards. It's on the heavy side for a lace weight yarn, and is almost into the light fingering weight category.

Using this yarn is a complete luxury, and I'm really enjoying it. It's very soft and smooth, and -- unlike unplied silk which I've used in the past -- isn't prone to getting fuzzy and catching on things while it's being knitted. In fact, it's holding up very well to my usual habit of knitting and unravelling and reknitting, as I change my mind about exactly what to do with it. (I'm making a simple scarf.)

Bombyx silk (also called mulberry or cultivated silk) is said to be completely hypoallergenic and free of odour. Certainly, I find it to be far easier on my hands than any material I've used before.

finished: sweater

2009-04-04T06:15:00.002-07:00

Last week, I finally finished the sweater I started working on last summer. Phew! It turned out I had plenty of yarn after all. Why? Seems that I had a ridiculous amount of variation in my gauge ... for example, each sleeve had precisely the same number of stitches and rows, but one came out 5 inches longer than the other. Right-o. I was pretty exasperated with myself, let me tell you.

Anyway, I re-knit some parts, and then did a lot of creative blocking, and it all came out fine. My husband likes it very much, which is the important part. Of course, the season for wearing it is pretty much over .... but there's always next year!

To make sure it was coming out correctly, I did two fittings. The first was a rough one where I stuck the (nearly-finished) parts together with clothespins and got a general idea of the size. At this stage, I realized I had to reshape the front of the neck somewhat, which was easy, if a bit time-consuming. The next fitting was when I was nearly done; for this, I basted the whole thing together quickly (with bright red yarn, so I could see just what I was doing) and made sure it was fitting exactly right. Everything looked fine, so I picked up stitches around the neck and did the collar in ribbing; then I sewed all the pieces together.

I chose a drop-shoulder because it's easy to design this type of sweater; in retrospect, I wouldn't necessarily choose this for a sweater in this weight with cables, because it adds a bit to the bulk of it. I'm still pleased with it anyway.

spring

2009-04-03T21:45:00.004-07:00

It's feeling much more like spring these days. I love having light in the late afternoon and evening again.

There's this rhododendron growing outside my window, and every year I wait for the pink blossoms to come out, and hope there's no frost or heavy windstorm to kill them. This year it's looking beautiful so far.

Blogger is doing a very bad job of aligning my photographs when I want the first one to the left or right of the text, and the rest of the photos centred below. It's fine if I have a lot of text beside the first photo, but if there's blank space, it overlaps the photos or cuts off part of the image. A bit annoying ... if anyone knows a good way to fix this, please let me know.

I'm back

2009-03-15T20:20:00.002-07:00

It's a little later than planned, but I finally have a tiny bit of time to put into posting here ... life continues to be wonderful and busy and stressful and exciting all at once.

Here are a few shots from recent rambles around the city.

sporadic blogging

2009-01-09T08:45:00.003-08:00

It's been hard to keep my blog up with any regularity lately, as much as I'd like to do so. I'm very busy getting ready for my wedding which is coming up at the end of the month, and between that and the other things going on in my life, there's little time for writing posts here.

I will stop by in the next few weeks to post some recent projects that haven't gone up yet, once the recipients have seen their gifts.

Otherwise, I expect to return to more regular and frequent posting in mid-February.

Big thanks to those who read and comment here and contact me about the blog. Please come back in a few weeks!

Meanwhile, I leave you with a few photos of the beautiful antique miniatures that my family sets up every Christmas. Aren't they beautiful?

more snow

2009-01-05T23:45:00.003-08:00

The amount of snow we've had in recent weeks has been unbelievable. I've seen nothing like it since moving to this city in 1990. It was a very white Christmas indeed!

big snake

2008-12-21T14:00:00.005-08:00

FIRST: I made a skinny snake for my niece Maggie a couple months ago, but when I asked her what she might like for Christmas, she said, "another snake!" so I decided to make a big one this time.

I knitted the body of the snake on 3.25 mm double-pointed needles, and when I reached the head I switched to crochet and made the rest of it using a 3.5 mm hook. The eyes are embroidered using the same yarn, and the tongue is just a folded length of chained (crochet) stitches. The snake is 185 cm (73") long with a circumference of about 17 cm (6.5"). Made from acrylic worsted weight yarn, it's stuffed with polyester fibrefill, so it's washable.

NEXT: My posts are a little sporadic these days, because I'm doing some gift knitting and don't want to spoil the surprises. Here in Vancouver I continue to be snowed in, and am taking the opportunity to knit and crochet even more than usual. I hope you're all keeping cozy and warm, wherever you are.

AND NOW: Here are some more views of the snake. She's a wonderfully twisty creature who likes to get into a pretzel shape. I hope Maggie has fun with her.

snow!

2008-12-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

We don't usually get a whole lot of snow here in Vancouver, but right now we have plenty! This is definitely a time to stay inside and work on crafts.

Here's the view from my front door.

DIY DPN holders

2008-12-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

When I'm doing a project on double-pointed needles (DPNs) it's a pain to take it out with me unless I have a good way to keep the needles firmly together so the knitting can't slide off them. I've used rubber bands in the past, but they don't tend to last, and are fiddly to put on.

At a local dollar store, I found these key chains with plastic coils on them -- 4 for a dollar -- and they work perfectly for this purpose. They're easy to cut with regular scissors, and each one will yield several coils that wrap nicely around a set of 4 or 5 DPNs. If your needles are a thicker gauge, just stretch the coil a bit so it fits well.

Some people make holders that cup around each end of the needles, and then attach by elastic strings. This is great if your DPNs are all the same length, but for those of us who use odd sets of needles, a holder that wrap around the needles at any point is much more suitable.

Farewell, Odetta

2008-12-03T18:00:00.002-08:00

Oh, I'm very sad about this. Odetta Holmes, an amazing singer and civil rights activist, has died. She was almost 78.

I feel very fortunate to have seen her perform at the Mariposa Folk Festival in the '80s. She was the only performer who spoke out from the main stage for gay and lesbian rights (it was the anniversary of Stonewall that weekend) and when the response from the audience was tepid, she lectured the crowd about why it mattered to care about this, regardless of your own sexual orientation. At another point in the weekend, she was singing on a small stage in a tent, along with Eric Andersen and others, and I was sitting right next to her for a few minutes, but I was too awestruck to do anything but smile at her. What a beautiful and inspiring person.

Here are some news articles if you'd like to read about her:

obituary in the New York Times

Odetta, Voice of Civil Rights Movement, Dies at 77.

Odetta: Soul Stirrer, 1930-2008

NPR: Odetta: Legendary Folk Singer Dies At 77

Odetta Holmes Felious Gordon, 31 December 1930 - 2 December 2008

thrift store finds

2008-11-23T22:45:00.001-08:00

This weekend I had some good luck at local thrift stores, and found a few inexpensive sweaters suitable for unravelling so the yarn can be reused. Normally, I look for good quality wool or cotton items, and don't consider synthetics, but this time I found a soft green acrylic that looked and felt so nice I couldn't resist. Unfortunately, its shoulder seams are serged so not all of the sweater is useful, but I did retrieve a good quantity of yarn from it.

I found quite a few sweaters that were handmade -- very nice looking, but clearly made by an individual. It was interesting to see how well (or poorly) different people had finished their sweaters, and I wondered how they ended up being given away. I didn't happen to want the colours or type of yarn these sweaters were made from, but if you find some, they're ideal for unravelling, because they're often knit in the round and will come apart most handily.

Review: Knitting Around

2008-11-17T08:30:00.001-08:00

Knitting Around, by the wonderful and inimitable Elizabeth Zimmermann (1910-1999), was published in 1981, and is as interesting and delightful today as when it first appeared. I just finished re-reading the book, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Zimmermann explains knitting principles in a straightforward fashion, and makes the concepts very accessible. She presents pattern ideas twice, both as concepts that the more experienced knitter can understand and use, and again with a step-by-step approach that is helpful for the newer knitter. The book includes patterns for slippers, mittens, sweaters and shawls, and all the designs are easily adapted to suit current styles.

Interspersed with the knitting instructions are photographs of Zimmerman's knitted pieces, plus drawings and paintings of plants, scenery and her family, as well as a series of anecdotes about her life from childhood onwards. What a pleasure, to read about her life and learn about the woman who has made knitting accessible to so many people.

I highly recommend this book for any knitter, regardless of level of experience.

unravelling = free/cheap yarn supply

2008-11-14T07:15:00.005-08:00

I've mentioned unravelling sweaters to reuse the yarn on here before, but I realized I've never posted links to some good resources about how to do this. Below are links to the best tutorials I've found online.

Most resources I've seen advocate putting the yarn in skeins and washing it. Personally, I usually skip that, and just roll it directly into balls as I unravel. But if you have the time and patience to do the entire process, then go ahead -- it can make a difference in how the yarn knits up, and if you don't like your results with kinked yarn, by all means wash and hang it up to straighten it out.

I just took apart two large cotton sweaters that I got for free, with excellent results. Unravelling is a wonderful way for those of us with a minuscule yarn budget to maintain a source of supplies for knitting and crochet.

Now for those resources ... and thanks to the lovely people who put these up!

Neauveau Fiber Arts: How to unravel a sweater to recycle the yarn
My Virtual Sanity: Recycling sweaters for yarn
Recycling yarn / unravelling thrift store sweaters

science geek amigurumi

2008-11-13T22:00:00.001-08:00

People post some fun things over on weloveamigurumi. This caught my eye: crafty_shanna's science geek amigurumi. Go read the entry to see her other items (and the clever names she gave them), and if you're at all interested in amigurumi (knitted and crocheted toys) do join or at least watch the community for some interesting and original creations.

stripey cat

2008-11-11T08:00:00.003-08:00

Here's a cat I just made for my Gramma ... she loves cats, so I hope she'll like this stripey toy one too. I've made quite a few of these kitties before, but only a couple have been striped. If you're making one, I suggest doing stripes that are two rows wide. It's easiest for carrying the yarn, and gives a nice result. I made this one on 3.25 mm needles using an acrylic yarn (the orange) that's splitty and stretchy and a bit of a pain to use, but is such a pretty colour, and a sturdier wool yarn (the grey) and the two worked together reasonably well. The eyes are buttons - the kind with two holes make very good cat eyes.

As always, the toy is stuffed with polyester fibre fill. I buy the Simplicity fibre fill at Dressew, and the last time I went there the packaging had changed and the fibre fill looked different. This is my first time using the new product, and it's disappointing: poor texture, and it fills toys less evenly. Why do products get changed for the worse? Oh well.

Now little Stripey must travel to Florida to meet Gramma. Bon voyage, kitty!

in (yet further) progress: Aran sweater

2008-11-10T22:30:00.002-08:00

Yep, I'm working away on the sweater. It was originally supposed to be a birthday present for my fiancé (that was in August) but I was on hiatus from knitting due to difficulty with my hands. Now I'm aiming to get it done well in advance of Christmas time. After much knitting and frogging, I seem to be on my way. One sleeve is done, and I'm working on the front of the body now. It looks like I'll have just barely enough yarn -- I sure hope I don't run out! It's not the most sensible thing to do, making a sweater without extra yarn, but I'm hoping for the best. Good luck to me! (My sweetie says that if I run out, I should just go buy some teal wool and make one sleeve out of it. If it's not going to match, let's make it really contrast! Of course, if I actually did that, would he actually wear it? I think not. Hmm.)

Now I just have to convince Tex to stop dancing on the work in progress. It's very hard to knit when you do that, little buddy.

ReVision - the Art of Recycling

2008-11-08T12:20:00.002-08:00

ReVision - the Art of Recycling is "a two day juried show featuring recycled artwork: art made from anything reused, recycled, salvaged, scrounged or found - be it useful, beautiful, odd, playful, or thought provoking." This show is on this weekend at the Granville Island Hotel, until 5 pm today, and 11 am to 5 pm tomorrow (Sunday). I'm going to check it out. Hope to see you there!

Mimi's miniatures

2008-11-07T22:30:00.001-08:00

These miniatures are amazing. Mimi fashions them from air-dried clay, and uses scissors and tweezers to form the tiny details. She is from Bangkok, and many of her miniature pieces show foods that are popular locally, including yen ta fo (a noodle and seafood dish) and the various foods on street carts. She buys the dishes and other props to display the food on, but I am no less impressed at her abilities. Visit her Flickr photo page to see more of her wonderful work.

I can't imagine having the manual dexterity to make such tiny detailed pieces ... but I am inspired to play with fimo (one type of polymer clay) for the first time in many years!

what a wonderful day

2008-11-05T08:00:00.003-08:00

We get the most incredible light here on the west coast of Canada, and there's something particularly dramatic and beautiful about a brilliant golden autumn sunset reflecting on the glass of downtown buildings when the sky in the east is dark indigo and cloud-filled. Here's the view I had yesterday afternoon.

wedding invitations

2008-11-02T16:45:00.004-08:00

I'm getting married in a few months, and decided to make the invitations myself. It's going to be quite a small wedding, so it was very manageable to make the quantity required.

As you can see, I didn't want anything terribly traditional (no white or cream, thank you!) so I chose blues and greens for the background colour (card stock) and a granite-look grey paper for the inside information and the "you're invited..." piece. I decorated the cards with cheerful patterned paper that came in a variety packet, and punched flower shapes in various colours. It was fun making each card a bit different, and I'm happy with the results: simple, cheerful, and inexpensive.

I bought the patterned paper and the flowers several months ago at Ruby Dog's Art House on Main Street in Vancouver, a wonderful place that -- I was very sad to learn the other day -- closed down recently.

in (somewhat further) progress: Aran sweater

2008-10-31T08:00:00.004-07:00

I wrote here quite a while ago about a sweater I was designing. While I had the preliminary design sorted out, I had to set the project aside because knitting was becoming too painful for my hands. (For some reason, I find crocheting much easier on the hands at times.) In the past few weeks I've picked it up again and am now working diligently on it. After a few unsuccessful starts, I am making good progress with the first sleeve.

While it's easy for me to measure gauge and calculate the dimensions of a sweater when dealing with plain stockinette or a consistent pattern over the whole garment, I have a terrible time figuring it out with cables. Even though I do large swatches and carefully measure to calculate stitches and rows per inch for every different cable pattern, and can do the math without difficulty, I can't seem to make calculations that accommodate the vagaries of my knitting gauge. So I end up having to knit the actual garment in question -- or at least large pieces thereof -- in order to see if it will be the correct size. Yes, I spend a lot of time frogging my work!

I'm about half way through one sleeve now, and things are looking good. I chose a simple 4-stitch twisted cable for the outside middle of the sleeve, and surrounded it with panels of seed stitch, stockinette and reverse stockinette. I'm knitting it in the round and increasing on the underarm side, where the seam would be were I knitting the piece flat. I started on 3.25 mm needles for the cuff ribbing, and switched to 4 mm needles for the remainder of the sleeve.

merino wool scarf

2008-10-30T10:15:00.002-07:00

Here's a project I made a few years ago. Just yesterday, I was having breakfast with the lovely recipient, my friend Romham, and I finally remembered to take some photos. The scarf is made of a soft merino wool in three shades of pink. I don't remember the exact name of the yarn, but I know I bought it at Birkeland Bros. Wool here in Vancouver.

I knitted the scarf on 2 mm needles in a simple seed stitch pattern. I added fringe, and then blocked it thoroughly by pinning it out on the floor and dampening it with cold water. I waited until blocking was done to trim the fringe so it would be nice and even. The blocking worked wonders on the scarf, and its shape has held up well for nearly four years so far.

autumn flowers

2008-10-27T09:50:00.002-07:00

These are photographs I've taken recently in the False Creek area of Vancouver.

another beautiful day

2008-10-18T21:50:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was oppressively grey, with a sky the colour of pewter, but today's weather was a welcome contrast, with gorgeous blue skies and sunshine and gold and red leaves everywhere. Here are some photographs I made during my walk home in the late afternoon. I love autumn!

autumn photos

2008-10-17T23:00:00.001-07:00

We had some glorious autumn days here in Vancouver last week. Here are a few of my recent photographs.

jewel bag

2008-10-13T08:30:00.004-07:00

This was another quick and easy project, made on the spur of the moment for my niece Maggie. She had some new jewels (crystals and stones) and I figured she should have a special bag to keep them in.

The bag is crocheted in the round from the same Red Heart acrylic yarn that I used to make her snake, using a 5 mm hook. The drawstring is a chain of two strands of the same yarn.