A stitch of whimsy

Sideblog of yarnings 🧶. Oldish to the world but newish to fiber crafting. Euphorika @ Ravelry.

[annaplexis]

🧶🧶🧶 My favourite tip: Weave in the first end in advance

FAQs:

❓Why do I fray the end first?

👉 To taper it, so it blends better.

❓What if I want to frog?

👉 You can unravel down to the very last stitch, then pull out the end and start anew.

❓Does this work with all yarns?

👉 It works best with non-superwash wool, but I use it with most yarn qualities.

Everything you need to know about casting off

Regular cast off This is the most basic way to cast off. It normally turns out rather tight though. I like to go up half a needle size to ge

[systlin]

Here, a cheater course on caring for natural fibers!

1. Wool. Treat it like it has the delicate constitution of a Victorian lady and the conviction that baths are evil of a 17th century noble. (If I get in WATER my PORES will OPEN and I will CATCH ILL AND DIE.)

2. Cotton; easygoing. Will shrink a bit if washed and dried hot.

3. Silk; people think it’s like wool and has the constitution of a fashionably dying of consumption Victorian lady, but actually it’s quite tough. Can be washed in an ordinary washer, and either tumbled dry without heat or hung to dry.

4. Linen; it doesn’t give a shit. Beat the hell out of it. Historically was laundered by dousing it in lye and beating the shit out of it with wooden paddles, which only makes it look better. The masochist of the natural fiber world. Beat the fuck out of it linen doesn’t care. Considerably stronger than cotton. Linen sheet sets can last literal decades in more or less pristine shape because of that strength.The most likely natural fiber to own a ball gag.

[wooloops]

I told myself I'd focus on my queue this summer, but when I saw Oreann's otterly cute Cœur de Loutre pattern on Ravelry, I knew I couldn't not make it. Sorry, queue.

[on-whereabouts-lane]

The Duke is done! Who will be next 👀

[kikuism]

all 3 of my ppg hoops!!! these were made over the course of 3 years!

[annaplexis]

It’s undeniably cotton season in this part of Europe, and while cotton is a wonderfully versatile natural fibre, it does have one frustrating disadvantage: the ends tend to poke out after weaving in.

So, I take extra care with cotton ends. As with joining skeins, I cut each ply at a different length while weaving in.

I also check the yarn ends after the first wash and trim or sew in any ends sticking out…

How do you handle your yarn ends in cotton? I’d love to hear if you have any tips!

Everything you need to know about weaving in ends

Most people I know, hate weaving in ends. I used to hate it too, partly because I was young and impatient (that issue has been resolved: I a

[wisphunt]

My final for the first year of my fashion and textile course :] fossils cardigan featuring living fossils like coelacanth and lots of dinosaur bones. Big love letter to palaeontology and natural history. Got super into my knitting machine but I wasn’t very adept with it yet so I sort of crocheted around the edges of my pieces and sewed them all together, and crocheted some edges/ribbing. The buttons are handmade from polymer clay. Used some second hand gold yarn I found in a charity shop and a whole bunch of mixed variegated wool together. My most ambitious project yet I completely just did not speak to people for that final month I was working on this 😭

Some close ups:

And my watercolour paintings this piece was based on:

[annaplexis]

Invisible stranding, also known as ladderback jacquard 🧶 🧶 🧶

This is a technique for catching floats which is completely invisible from the right side. To work it, cast on an extra stitch behind the work and purl it on every round with the colour not in use. This creates an extra layer on the wrong side, like a spider’s web. When the pattern is completed, the extra stitch is eliminated by knitting it together with its corresponding front stitch.

This method is ideal for sweater yokes with isolated motifs and very long floats.

I once tried it on socks, but I wouldn’t recommend it for that purpose: the extra layer on the inside tends to catch when pulling them on…

You can practice this technique with square 28. The Invisible One of the Learn-to-Knit Blanket. Find the pattern in the book Learn to Knit in 50 Squares.

Learn to Knit in 50 Squares includes the squares you will find on this website along with some new ones introducing more exciting and advanc

[theenbyroiderer]

Dove deep in my fiber stash looking for color inspo for my next embroidery project. Just picked out colors that sparked joy. Turns out I had my heart set on pastel rainbow...? Well, at the very least these colors will photograph a lot better and easier than my last project.

[loopedwithloveau]

Crochet Fishies

[wooloops]

When I first embarked on this journey into crochet, it was always to reach this point-- to have the necessary skills to take on a Megan Lapp dragon pattern.

The kid has named it Equinox the Spring Wyvern. It's based on the Large Wyvern pattern but with light-weight yarn. Claws are made with silk clay; armature (for poseability) with wire and so much duct tape.

[annaplexis]

Here’s a simple bobble:

👉 kyok, turn, p3, turn, CDD.

But… I prefer to knit backwards instead of turning and purling. So this is how I do it 😉🙌🧶

How to knit backwards and how to make bobbles

Have you ever tried knitting backwards?

Yes, and I love it

Yes, but it’s not for me

No, not yet

No, why would I?

Voting ended onMar 16

[bwabbitv3s]

I finished the last constellation tonight. All 40 of them are now done! Went through and double checked and every stitch is in place for them and all the beads are in place. Which just leaves the milky way part to do.

[bwabbitv3s]

Started stitching the Milky Way in. Slowly making progress on it as I am hiding the travelling thread so the back will look nice.

Looks pretty cool and keeps the readability of the other stitches. Very happy with it. Just a thousand or so to do. As they are in a grid roughly every centimetre apart.

[bwabbitv3s]

Update on the constellation quilt. I have gotten the last Milky Way stitch done now. Which means the quilting part of this project is done. My next step will be to baste the edges down, remove the pattern, trim the quilt square, and lastly attach the binding.

[bwabbitv3s]

Progress on the constellation quilt has come along quite a lot now. Finished the binding on the quilt over the weekend. I prefer to machine stitch the binding to the front then hand stitch the back side. It gives such a nice finish to the quilt. Took the time to measure it also and it ended up being 72" by 72" (183cm by 183cm).

With that done I could finally start removing the pattern. Which is taking both less time and more time that I thought it would. As it rips really easily so that goes fast, but the tiny corners and removing it under the beads is slow. You can now see the difference in the glow effect with it against the dark front of the quilt instead of the pattern.

[bwabbitv3s]

Behold the stars of the constellations of the northern sky! I love how this quilt has turned out. It was a lot of fun to work on and the effect is so cool in person. Overall I would estimate it took about 90-100 hours to complete. Give or take 10 hours if you want to count the time I spent custom dying the fabric.

I made sure to get a nice photo of it in daylight. For once I also remembered to get a quilt label on it. The back really shows the difference in readability of the quilting on the ice dyed fabric compared to the solid front. Thank you everyone that has followed this. I am glad you all found joy in it.

Those that are interested, here is the pattern I used by Haptic Lab. I made the large northern hemisphere version, and plan to make the matching southern hemisphere one next year. I also got your back for the less crafty people. Haptic Lab sells finished quilts in this pattern, both as a large quilt and a small one.

[pokemonarchive]

Wooloo (2022) - Start Deck 100 CoroCoro Comic Version Illustrator: OKACHEKE

[wooloops]

I'm in love with this yarn.

Ullrike by Anki Merino Sock in Spring Passion.

[wooloops]

I'm crocheting today! No hooks needed for this part.

[velvetmasonry]

Textile Fragment with Unicorn, Deer, Centaur and Lion, Scandinavian, c. 1500