knitting needles are a subclass of magic wand that let you learn spells like "Judy's Magic Cast-On" where you create a series intertwined summoning circles that eventually bring you a sock
This lady is like a sewing engineer, and the way she breaks down the different planes of the body that clothes are being made to fit really made a difference in how i’m thinking about pattern fitting. Even if you’re not interested in sewing, understanding how pants work is pretty fascinating!
(yarn info, pattern thoughts, and extra pics under the cut)
I had so much fun knitting this little guy! I didn't go into it with the intention of making a patchwork elephant but I'm really pleased with the results!
The pattern was very interesting to follow, it was generally intelligible but just not how modern knitting patterns are written. My first attempt at the body piece had to be unraveled because I missed a row and his butt got mixed up with his back leg. Otherwise, not too hard, but if anyone has specific questions about how I interpreted the pattern feel free to ask!
(or any knitting questions really. playing knitting tech support is among my favorite activities)
I decided against making the saddle partially because I ran out of yarn and was dedicated to only using this set of yarn, and partially because I'm proud of my seams at the 4-way color changes and don't want to cover them up.
The yarn is a worsted mini set from my family's yarn dying business, Shelby Strings, in the colorway Geode Cache.
I like the patchwork effect so much that I'm working on writing out an adapted pattern to give out for free at yarn shows! A lot of people like our mini sets but don't know what to do with them, and I think this little guy is a perfect use.
I'm currently working on multiple pattern versions; one that's true to the original but written for a modern audience, and one with multiple colors (along with some tweaks for a nicer time sewing it up and a knit version of the tusks).
I'll be sure to post them here when I'm done, but I couldn't resist posting my perfect baby boy the moment I finished him :)
thanks for reading my ramblings, here's some more pics for the road:
here is my gay and friendly elephant pattern document! I've included a transcription of the original pattern, a translation of the pattern into modern knitting pattern verbiage, and notes on how I made my patchwork elephant because he's just so cute and I think everyone needs one.
if you find any problems with the pattern or have any questions, my ask box is open! and feel free to tag me in your elephantine creations! i want to see the world full of friendly gay elephants :)
I’m kinda surprised that nalbinding isn’t as popular as crochet and knitting tbh because it has an even lower barrier of entry tools wise and unlike crochet and knitting it makes fabric that you can cut.
I feel like part of it might be casual people are generally aware of the existence of crochet and knitting, even if they don’t know very much about either, but have never heard of nalbinding
Yeah I hadn’t heard of it until recently and I ordered a big bone needle for myself to try it out and that should be arriving soon.
I was surprised that I’d never heard of it though. It’s older than knitting and crocheting and even though it’s been done all over the world it’s super relevant to Nordic culture and my grandmother and I are both into keeping in touch with our roots a bit so I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it.
It seems like the sort of thing that would be popular even if not as popular as crocheting and knitting, considering the low barrier of entry.
You also don’t need a bunch of different sized needles for nalbinding or whatever. The size of the stitch is controlled either completely freehand or by pulling it against one of your fingers. Most people who have a lot of nalbinding needles seem to either have tried out wood, bone, and metal ones to see which kind they liked or they enjoy carving wood or bone and like making their own needles as an extra hobby.
It’s also a lot easier to freehand and adjust as you go than crochet or knitting and you mostly go by inches instead of rows and number of stitches so a large number of accessories like stitch markers or whatever isn’t really necessary.
Maybe the lack of accessories also makes it unpopular idk. People do like collecting things in their nests.
I've been wanting to do so, I cannot find anyone who can teach me, and any books I can find on it are Ass in the Visual Learning department. Otherwise I'd be making the hell outta some nalbinded fabric
I thought this would be kind of a niche post to make but I was quickly reminded that I’m on tumblr, the website full of gay people with one billion hobbies.
I'm going to guess that this is Breton lace (I can't entirely tell based on the picture, but while I'm sure there were women making different kinds of lace in the region, they probably wouldn't have been on a postcard. Besides, the tiny crochet hook fits.)
It's a derivative of Irish lace (crochet), and I am not having much luck finding out more info about it. (Someone more fluent in French than I am might do better - picot bigouden) https://picotbigouden.com/index.php/nos-videos/
I'm a little confused by the commentary. Breton laces are from the Brittany region of France. Bretagne has quite a few Breton lacemaking traditions, the Pays Bigouden is the most famous.
The postcard shows an Irish crochet, indeed, the woman is making the rochet (white vestment) for the Bishop of Quimper. She's not from the Bigouden country, but another one (that neighbours it, though). Her work is coming from a famous workshop in the Castle of Locquéran. It was set up as a lacemaking education centre to teach real Irish lace crochet technics to the wives of fishers from Plouhinec and Audierne, who faced economic hardship in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The sardine crisis of the period also affected the Bigouden country, giving a kick to the lacemaking sector, Irish lacemaking schools were set up there too. Btw, it's interesting why Irish lacemaking technics were taught instead of other French traditions, like from Normandy or Velay, my best guess is about the tools.
Also, worth mentioning that the Bigouden country is most famous for the coifs, the Bigoudène, besides of other lace pieces. But Brittany has like 700-1200 distinctive headpiece traditions, most of them uses laces and only a small part of it is Bigoudène.
A few examples of coifs incorporating lace, just from Bretagne:
The reason for the mistakes in my comments are that I just assumed that the postcard dated to once the Breton lace tradition was well-established. I hadn't considered the idea that this was back when Irish lace was still being brought over at the first time. (I would have done a lot better if I'd looked at the caption on the postcard instead of staring heavily at the lace before hitting the internet search, yes.)
I put the comments there because I know that a lot of the fibre arts community here doesn't have any French, and if I was struggling to find info on what the lace was (which was obviously not at all the point of the original post), a lot of other people who would be interested in that would also have trouble with it.
#for non weavers #the process of setting up a loom with a warp so you can start weaving is called dressing the loom #I just finished and removed my latest piece #so it is undressed
After 9 months of work, my Oseberg tapestry sweater is complete!
This was my first sweater knitted in the round, first stranded colourwork project, and my first time steeking. It was definitely my most challenging project so far, and a lot of learning and research was involved. I used a colourwork chart created by the very talented Molly Gifford, which is available for free on Ravelry
For reference, this is one of the fragments uncovered from the gravesite:
Some scholars think that the Oseberg tapestry includes the earliest known artistic depiction of Odin's ravens, Huginn and Muninn. So I added them to the sleeves as a little Easter egg.
How do you get a stretchy and invisible folded hem on a top down sweater? 🧶🌺☕️🫖🧶
I used to seam my folded hems with regular sewing stitches, but that tightens the hem. The 3-needle bind off isn’t ideal either, since it creates a bulky ridge 🤔
Recently, I saw this method of grafting the hem together, and I’m not going back! The result is invisible and as stretchy as the rest of your knitted fabric.
A geeky note: If you work around the purl bumps, your hem will be shifted by half a stitch. To keep my hem lined up neatly, I go up through one purl bump with my needle and down through the next 🤓🙌🧶
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