Tuesday, February 27, 2024

The Mystique - and Mistakes - of Steeking.

I have discovered that I am a knitter who loves colourwork more than lace or cables. I guess it's just the way my brain works. I can keep track - and stay motivated - by colours changing, more than I can in a complex cable or lace pattern.

So, I was immediately smitten with the Voyage Cardigan and saw it as a great way to use up a lot of my buckets of sock yarn. Plus plain sleeves, which would go quickly.

Just one (or three) little catches in this pattern. It involves "steeking".  

For those of you who don't know what steeking is, it is a way of being able to "knit colourwork in the round" and avoid having to purl. A number of stitches are added to the create the "steek", which is reinforced area that connects what will become the two fronts of a cardigan. The steek is the connecting element that lets you cut into your knit material. That's correct "CUT".  

This pattern also had "steeks" in the sleeves, so you knit in the round (again incorporating steek stitches) and then cut open the sleeve steek to pick up the sleeve stitches. 

I cannot believe that I have been knitting for 60 years and never experienced a "steek" before. They are the norm in many European countries and people swear by them. I think the whole idea of cutting a sweater was too scary for me, so I just avoided any mention of them. But this pattern was so fabulous that I decided to go for it. And there are a TON of videos and guides to help you gain courage. 

The colour work, as expected, was hypnotic. I used the pattern image as a guide for picking colours that I had in my stash that were close. And it went sooooo quickly. I just couldn't put it down - I needed to see what the next pattern would look like. Every area only involved two colours, and, a bonus of the "steeking" is that the new ends get cut off, so no ends to darn in.

Above is a picture of the fully knit body - with the shoulder seams joined - and you can see some running stitches up the front that show where the "steek" stitches are. I watched many, many videos on reinforcing before cutting. And was ready to jump in. The sleeves are also not yet cut, so more of a cocoon than a sweater. 

There are two tried-and-true favourite methods to reinforce a steek. One is to use your sewing machine. The other is to crochet a reinforcing chain stitch right next to where you need to cut. I have no idea why I was leary of trying the sewing machine method, but I was, so opted for the crochet chain method. Here are a couple of pics


This shot shows the crochet reinforcement on either side of the steek stitches.


This shot shows the front steek actually cut. You can see the running stitch guide for the edge of the steek.


This shows the sleeve steek cut - you can see the reinforcement crochet line.

Unfortunately, when I went to pick up the sleeve stitches, the crochet did NOT hold the stitches and I started to lose the edge. Yikes. I quickly ran to the sewing machine and did what I should have done from the start. It was fast, easy, and most important of all STURDY!!

Here is what the sleeve looked like once I picked up the stitches. I will be putting ribbon over the bulk in here, as well as on the fronts. 


And here is the sleeve in progress. I may have to do some duplicate stitch over the first row.  I may also try blocking again and see if that helps, after darning in the ends at the beginning. 


So, one and a half sleeves to go - the remaining sleeve is the "messier one". And the button band to pick up and knit.  Still a lot of work left.  And the fun really was the colour work, which I still love.

What were the mistakes? Not using the sewing machine at first to reinforce. It would have worked much better and would have saved me considerable time. And, there is also a boo boo in the colour work, which somehow I didn't notice until it was all done. Now I am leaving it in as a "creative" touch - like I did it on purpose. lol. I don't think anyone will notice except me. 

Hoping I can finish in the next week, but I do have a pair of socks that have a deadline, so you never know. 




Saturday, January 27, 2024

Paint by Number Revisited

Last weekend, our granddaughter was coming to spend most of Saturday with us while her brother and parents left to host his birthday party. As Everleigh is a keen young artist-in-the-making, we always have fun painting or doing a craft together.

Getting us each a paint by number set sounded like the perfect plan. When there wasn't an appropriate one for a 6 year old, I settled on a "mermaid kit" - image on stretched canvas and necessary paints for her, and a paint by number for me. The image is a cute, paint-splattered Dalmation pup, with lots of pink, purple and other bright colours, so I figured she would enjoy seeing it come to life. 

Here is a picture of the boxed kit. A 16 x 20 piece of canvas, all the required paints, 4 brushes and a hanging system, for $20. Seemed like a good idea. (Artist's Loft from Michael's BTW)


When I removed everything from the box, I was in for a bit of a shock. Although on the box, the paint areas look like they are a good size, here is what you see when you open the "legend". Zoom in a bit and you will see what I was in for. Luckily, I have a fancy magnifying glass, a gift from a friend, which came in very handy.

While Evvie and I painted together, which was a couple of hours, she was nearly done her painting and I had made a very small dent in mine. By the end of Sunday, after probably 8 hours, here is what I accomplished.

The good news is that it was just as relaxing as I remembered. And it turned out to be a very good "value exercise", which I always like to see. Got me thinking that perhaps I should have my "portrait" students colour or paint in the values on their patterns before they start hooking.

Evvie decided that this dog should come and live on her bedroom wall, which is what I had been secretly hoping would happen. But even better, her mom was about to buy another animal print for her wall and totally fell in love with this pup - who wouldn't? She was even going to invest in a frame so she could do a grouping with the other critters on one wall.

So the challenge was on. I really, really wanted to finish this in a week, so that they could take it home.

A few hours spent every day got me to the end of all the "splats", and just the background remained to be done.  Evvie and mom both wanted the background to be white, versus the light blue you see on the box. And it saved me another chunk of hours to leave it white. I was in!!

Here is another picture that I shared when the painting was done - just background left. I wanted them to be sure before I did anything that they didn't want blue. It was a unanimous "team white" decision, so I just had to cover all the little number 1s that were on the canvas - pale, but still there.

Today, this pup, who we named Splat, went into a frame to be part of a feature wall. I am so happy that he has gone to a good home.

My net takeaway from this experience is that, like most other things, paint by number has come a long way in the last 60 years lol. There are a ton of places online that sell them, a number who will create a paint by number from your photo (and not too expensive, I might add). There are sites that encourage you to do it as a social event - girlfriends and a bottle of wine. And some of the designs are very contemporary and would look great in any room.

I definitely give this exercise a hearty two thumbs up. It did keep me away from hooking for a whole week, so keep that addictive factor in mind. Totally worth the money and the time. 

PS  A little story about paint by number in my childhood. My oldest brother Bill loved these - the old kind of bucolic scenes, or trains, or whatever. And in the day, I think the paints were oil versus acrylic. He would paint the entire thing on Christmas day, rather than doing one colour at a time and letter it dry.

One year, he put his painting on the desk in our dad's study to dry. My sister Nancy had a phone call and decided to sit on the desk, in her brand new stretchy stirrup pants. When she stood up at the end of the call, she had an imprint of the paint by number on her backside. I laugh every time I think of that.  





Friday, January 12, 2024

Some Special Sparklers.

On New Year's Eve, our three grandkids were together, which is always a wondrous thing.  After dinner, to burn off a bit of steam, the kids were ushered outside, where there was a fire in the fire pit, and sparklers for twirling (with appropriate adult supervision).

Theo, our daughter-in-law took an amazing shot with the slow exposure on her camera and this was the result. 

I knew immediately that I would have to "hook" this moment. And today, I had a little time to see where this would take me. First of all, I wanted to get closer to the action, so I cropped it.

Much better to get in on those expressions. Jackson (10) already has swagger in his sparkler. Everleigh (6) seems very focused on watching what she is doing. And Charlie (2) is enjoying the wonder.

Next, I ran the image through my favourite Photo Editor - Photomania. And I decided the effect I liked best was "Brush Strokes".  Simpler sketch, stronger values, a much better hooking road map. Not much different from the original shot. 

And to create my sketch, I ran the Brush Strokes effect through "Coal Sketch", another effect on Photomania.


The initial result was just way too many lines in black and white, so I used the slider to reduce the effect, and let more of the photo show through, while still keeping a good strong line I can use for my pattern. I will trace the key lines onto a piece of tracing paper, and use that to transfer the pattern to backing.

This whole photo editing process is one of the technology tools I cover in my workshop, Creating Fibre Art in the Age of Technology.

My Workshop Week 2024 class filled in a couple of days after registration opened. My wait list turned into a second workshop in early March. And now I have another wait list for a third. It makes me so happy that folks are keen to learn about all of these tools waiting out there on the internet.



Friday, January 5, 2024

A New Online Adventure

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope your holidays were filled with love and joy (remember, I'm a big seeker of joy and mine certainly was). 

I started my year off with a big learning curve.

As mentioned before, I am one of the instructors teaching a Zoom workshop in Workshop Week 2024. My workshop is Creating Fibre Art in the Age of Technology, one of my passions.


Here is a link to their Instagram page, where you can see all the information about the lectures and classes during the week.  https://www.instagram.com/inthestudioonline/

My workshop filled incredibly quickly and a second one was created for March 2. It too is filled. I am so thrilled that so many people are interested in learning about the free, online tools that can be used in mat making - or any fibre art, for that matter. 

As part of our instructor responsibilities, a group of us were asked to take over the Workshop Instagram page - for a day - and tell the followers a bit about ourselves. My day was January 3rd. I had not taken over a page before, so that was a lesson unto itself. And then I had to figure out what I was going to say. 

I eventually settled on six posts, which I spaced throughout the day. You can see them (should you want to) if you go to that page.

I feel like I can put another notch in my "online adventures) belt. 

And it is always fun to learn something new!!!

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Finding Joy in Small Things

 Another interruption from "Hooking for Joy" was more Joy.

I made a few little ornaments - they are punched - and gave them as hostess gifts and decorations for people who are far away. Here they are posing for their close up on our mini tree.

Making home made ornaments has always brought me Joy. My kids received an ornament every year for the tree, so when they moved out, they already had a full tree worth of ornaments. 

I am now continuing that tradition with their kids. This year the Tree Stars for Jackson and Everleigh, and the Spiderman ornament for Charlie. (see earlier post)

Looking at all of these ornaments reminds me of when I made them, and why they were important that particular year. They are not trees, they are time capsules. 





Saturday, December 9, 2023

A Darn Good Lesson.

In my never-ending quest to save my husband's socks, before they get turned into creatures or Christmas tree ornaments, I have tried just about everything. I have patched, duplicate stitched, tried working with extra reinforcing fibre in the heel and toe. And to date, although they have prolonged life somewhat, they have not been the perfect solution. Perhaps there isn't one.

But there has been a lot of chatter lately about the re-emergence of the Speedweve Darning Loom, which apparently was a big fixture a few decades ago. After watching a couple of YouTube videos, I decided to order one and give it a try. The cost was not prohibitive, and I can always use a new approach.

Today I tried to use it. First of all, I am pretty sure I ordered the small and got a large version. Not sure what you would darn with this, but I decided to "give it a go" anyway. (Because there is nothing there for scale, the wooden holder is 5" in diameter, and it has 28 hooks versus the 14 that I saw in both videos. Even getting that disk into the sock was a bit of a workout.


And I haven't felt so "left handed" since I first learned the Kitchener Stitch decades ago. (I can now do that procedure left or right handed, but still avoid it whenever possible.) Just trying to set the thing up required more than two hands - my husband got involved. Remember, there are his socks at stake. 

No matter which way I tried to set up my "loom" stitches for weaving, it felt awkward and backward. But I pushed on. And after much swearing and do-overs, I got it done. The loom stitches were in and on the right hooks, and I was on to the "weaving" step.  It wasn't perfect (as the woman in the video stated), but it fell off twice. 

Here is a picture of my first results. Not horrid, but not great!! But the hole was covered. 


After a break and a walk outside, I came back to try to apply some of the learning from the loom towards my old technique, which involved putting a papier mache grapefruit into the sock, instead of a darning mushroom.

What the loom taught me was that the elastic tension around the hole made a big difference. So, once I got the grapefruit in, I put an elastic above and below the darning area. And I made the long stitches freehand, without any hooks. Easy, peasy. And so was the weaving. I think without the hooks in my way, I could just move around much for easily.

Here is the result "without" the loom. (And before the clean up and darning in of ends.)

Again, not perfect, but more symmetrical and not pulling on the sock. 

So, although the Darning Loom may have been a waste of whatever I spent. The lesson about tension on the darning grapefruit was worth every penny. 

I am pretty sure my technique still needs lots of work. Like a tighter weave, perhaps. But at the end of an afternoon, I have two socks with darned patches that may last a little longer.

My husband has been warned that as long as he refuses to wear slippers over his socks, and wears friction holes on the bottom of his heels from the hardwood, these will be his last home made socks. He can just go and buy much cheaper socks, which i would not waste my time on saving. Stalemate!!


Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Some Merry Interruptions

 While progress continues on Hooking for Joy, there were a few little Christmas goodies that needed to interrupt. In fact, there were three Christmas stars, some sock monsters, a little knitted monster and a sock tree (a prototype for many to come).

The Christmas stars were a request from my daughter, since they decided this year to get two small trees instead of a large one (so they wouldn't have to rearrange all their living space), and she needed two hooked stars - one for each tree - so there would e no arguments about who gets the star!

Simple hit and miss stars turned out to be quite the "hit".

Here they are on the backing.

And here they are on their respective trees.

You may have noticed a third star drawn on the backing. Good eye! This was for the third grandchild who does NOT have a personal tree. And his became a Spiderman ornament, his big favourite superhero of the moment. 

Next, without a real deadline, is me doing a few things to save socks that have been darned, patched and now are just "dead socks". A while ago, I started with a sock cat, which I finally got stuffed and done. Then I created a couple more. I think they are pretty sweet. I have no idea what will become of them, but they will give a second life to those socks. In lots of crazy, adorable ways. 

Some monster leftovers were calling to become a tree ornament, which was fast, easy and cute. I see lots more of both of these ideas in the future.

A while ago, I knit a sweet monster blanket and matching monster for a new little human. Here's a link to a post I shared in May. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/9152499513632375208/6888797437981590244

She is now a few months old, getting ready for her first Christmas. We get to meet her tomorrow, so a whipped up a little "grinch-like" monster that can hide in the blanket. And her mom and dad will get the first sock tree ornament.


I love making and giving home made things at Christmas. I have since I was about 12 years old. For me that is the joy of the season. There's that Joy word again. It seems to be popping up a lot lately, which is great.

The Joy mat continues to evolve. I have been spending a lot of my time working on the hit-or-miss section, being mindful that everything needs to get lighter as we travel to the top. It's such a great project to sit at whenever I have a little bit of time. I continue to enjoy this process.

I promise to share some progress shots one day soon.  










Friday, November 17, 2023

Background Check

Well, my original instinct about the background turned into reality this week. Once I had one of the swirls done in the light values at the top, I was able to check the multi-grey value background against all the different swirls.

And I am happy with it, at least so far.

Here is a picture of it around the dark to medium areas. By placing the lightest values of the grey next to the dark outline of the dark swirls, it separates nicely and allows me to add the other grey values into the negative space between the swirls - always an interesting thing to hook. 


And I could kind of reverse the value order of the greys around the lighter swirls. And I think it is working there too.  I have proved to myself that I can tailor the background grey values around each and every swirl. I was so excited to see the progress that I hooked myself into a cramp today. 


As far as the initial purpose of this rug - Hooking for Joy - I can say that every step along the way has been filled with joy. Ask me again after I slog through the straight line hit-or-miss. 

I will update again once I am cramp free and get going again. lol. 



Sunday, November 12, 2023

Progress on Hooking for Joy

 Let me begin by saying how much I am enjoying hooking this.

After so many yarn and 4-cut projects, this is like stretching my arms and flying. Plus each little "swirl" is unique. And there is no "wrong" in this. So it is very freeing and joyful. Guess I am achieving my goal even though it is early days.

The idea was to have the spheres get lighter as I moved up the rug. So the bottom was very dark. Then came some medium dark. Then medium. And I am moving towards the medium light. Then the light. 





There are swirls on the other side of the centre panel as well. Smaller, but still quite a few. And the centre panel is just straight line hit-and-miss. I am popping in a few leftover strips as I go to hold the spot as the values need to change from dark to light in there as well. 

Once I get all the swirls done, I will have to figure out my background.I am leaning towards different values of grey in the negative space between. If I have a light, dark and medium, I can use whatever value I need next to each sphere. The lighter ones will need medium and dark next to them - the darker ones will need the light.

By the time I share my next progress post, I should have a little test of the grey background in a few places. It's nice to be able to move around and work on what brings me joy at each sitting.




Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Hooking for Joy

I was trying to decide whether this post should be called "Looking for Joy" or "Hooking for Joy". Decided to go with this one.

As things have gotten increasingly horrible in the world, my joy has taken a huge hit. I am one of the happiest people I know, and the weight of everything that is going on right how has really taken its toll on my joy. Two wars, freak of nature incidents all over the world, politics completely paralyzed around the globe through polarization and politicizing of everything. Add to that my incredibly slow crawl back from Covid and my heart and head both hurt from the hopelessness everywhere. 

But this week I had an idea for a project that might bring some joy while I look for joy. 

Don't get me wrong. I have a wonderful life. I am an incredibly lucky human to have the existence that I do. The loving family that I have. And the comforts that I enjoy. But it just gets heavier and heavier to process everything that is happening to those much less fortunate than me. And I am burdened by the weight of it all. 

A few years ago, I drew a pattern on a huge piece of rug warp. It was supposed to be for some crazy multi-fibre yarn that I bought. But the yarn didn't work, so the pattern got shoved aside. I even turned it over and drew something on the back, but this week, it is getting a second life.

I just found the original post - which was 05/06/2018. And the original plan was for it to be a headboard, which is why it is the shape it is. 

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/9152499513632375208/280184271176479569

Fast forward to this week. I started to think about all those swirls and how they represent the whirling  in everyone's brain all the time. And right now, trying to process the horrible state of man's inhumanity to man, those whirls are dark and joy-less. I think I may have found a concept to help me find the joy. I  am hoping that hooking for will help lift me from the dark swirls as I search. 

Here is the pattern, with more swirls added. And I hooked a few swirls in the bottom. 

Here's a closer picture, so you know it's not all black. And gradually I will make my way to the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I am not often a concept hooker - I usually work from photos - so this is a big leap of faith for me. It may not be what I want it to be, but I already have enjoyed hooking a few swirls, starting with the darkest ones.

In my mind, there is a dark section at the bottom, a mid value section as I hook my way to the joy, and a lighter section when I get to the end of this journey. 

To try to show what is in my head, I put some worms on the pattern to show the transition from dark to mid to light values. (Oh, forgot to say that I intend to hook most of this from my worms.) I am sure I will have to add as I go. 

I also did think about the middle section, and decided to try straight line hit-and-miss, using the same colours that are in the swirls. That section will also transition from dark at the bottom to light at the top. Here's a picture of the beginning of that section - outlined with some black and white beading. I think I will like this. 


The background (between the swirls) will remain an unknown for a while longer. A few ideas are in the back of my head, but I think I will keep hooking the swirls and see where that takes me. The teacher in me is yelling "You have to have a colour plan for all of it". But the joy seeker in me is saying, "Wait, it will come to you in time."

Already, ,just through the motion of sitting at the frame, pulling these loops and letting my mind wander, I am lifted a bit. I realize that nothing on this project is going to solve any of the problems of the universe. BUT, if it helps me deal with them in a "more me" way, that is all I can ask for.

Some folks have "worry stones". I think I am a rug hooker who has "worry worms".  And pulling a thousand loops a day, using the worry worms, seems to be a good thing right now. 

Stay tuned. 





Saturday, October 21, 2023

Older Mat. New Post.

For years now I have not only been using "free stuff" on my computer to help me hook from photographs, but I have also been teaching people about it. 

All my "hooking from photos" classes - live and virtual - use free online photo editors, but I also introduce my students to resources that are on the internet that they may not be aware of.

I have been invited to participate in Workshop Week 2024, which is an online extravaganza of teachers and courses. My course will be related to using your computer in rug hooking. And it will introduce those registered to the resources. 

I decided to do a blog post about my rug that I call "April Tech", which was a rug I created using my computer to do each and every step. A little background for the name and design. I had a "December" mat and thought it would be fun to create a mat for each month. As I was teaching this course in April, I chose April. (Those are still the only two month mats I have hooked. lol)

Step l: Clip Art (the perfect argument against "I can't draw".)

I thought that a kid carrying an umbrella in "April Showers" was a great place to start. I found the following clip art which was the foundation of the design. The main motif. There were lots of choices. Just google the image you are looking for with "Free Clip Art" and voila. 


I also wanted umbrellas for the corners. And I wanted some kind of cloud clip art.



Remember, these are all free!!! Royalty Free and Free to use. 







Step 2:  Fonts  (the perfect argument against "I can't print.")

I wanted a font that would be easy to hook, and that looked like April. I I went to dafont https://www.dafont.com/ and sampled a couple that I liked.


I blew them up to the size I needed and tried them on for size. 


I wanted to use a picture of my grandson, instead of the little girl under the umbrella, so I found a shot that I liked, cropped the image to get in closer, and put in his face.  


Step 3:  Enlarging

I used a free online resource called blockposters to blow up the image of Jackson's face inside the umbrella to the size I wanted. This resource works with your uploaded image in multiples of an 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper. So you can go two wide, three wide. It sends you a preview and gives you finished size dimensions. You can just tape the sheets together to make your final size. 

Then, on a piece of gridded paper, I put all the elements together. (This I did with scotch tape and scissors - I know it could be done on the computer, but old school seemed the best for me at this step.) 




With Jackson in position, the font selected, and the clip art umbrellas in the border, I was ready to go.
(Forgot to say that Jackson's photo was run through Photomania to create the value sketch I used for hooking him. )

A couple more decisions were made simpler with more online resources. I found an image online - not one to copy, but to do a colour selection from it for the rain on the inside - not the border. The colour plan was created by sampling the colours in the image using Paintbrush - a free program for Mac (it is called Paint for PC and does exactly the same thing.)

On to the hooking. There is no online resource for that lol. Just one loop at a time. Here is a progress shot - nearly done, but still a few things to change. You can see that already, I have used the same cloud swirl on all sides, instead of the raindrops I had originally thought of. 


Here is the final piece. 



I changed the single line around the main motif - opted for a rainbow of colour instead of the black and white beading. And I added a golden yellow outline to the lettering to make it pop. I hooked one line of the background wool around the black border, and then hooked a line of the golden yellow. 

It was a fun challenge to myself to prove that from start-to-finish, I could create an entire mat using the free resources that are readily available. I had used all of them together for many, many years. But not all in the same piece. 













The Mystique - and Mistakes - of Steeking.

I have discovered that I am a knitter who loves colourwork more than lace or cables. I guess it's just the way my brain works. I can kee...