photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Crocheters often weave.

Weavers often knit.

Knitters often embroider.

Embroiderers often crochet.

Tatters often crochet.

Spinners use their yarns in

all kinds of ways….

Some of us love to

explore all of the above.

And why not bring all  these strands together  in one piece? This is often called free form work.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I call it  a ‘Cross- Currents’ approach to the fiber arts.

This photo is the back of  a Cross Currents Jacket

in which I used handspun yarns,

with crochet, weaving, knitting,

embroidery, spool knitting  and tatting.

How do you pull together all the strands of  your yarn work

to create a Cross Currents piece?

Start at one point, and hold your focus,

and build out from that focal point.

Be flexible, and pin things together

before you stitch them together.

And, be brave!

Try things that you might not have thought of.

Most important, have fun!

Enjoy your yarns, they are your paintbrush and sculpting tools- and if you aren’t happy with the piece, don’t worry.

Yarns are forgiving. You can always start again.

Another opportunity to play with yarn…. win win.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I hope you have had a wonderful day that included lots of lovely green living

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

and eco projects, and that you are going to do something special for Earth Day tomorrow.

We are going to plant some baby trees.  That’s them in the pic to the right.

The Spool knitter is one that I made from a chunk of old wood that we found in Jim’s Dad’s workshop 10 or so years ago. Jim’s Dad was a champion recycler.

He would upcycle stuff in the neatest ways…. nothing much got thrown away around Mum and Dad’s house. If it could be re-used, repaired, re-purposed, reclaimed, or restored or renewed, you know it would be!

In amongst the things we found in the workshop after Dad passed away was a very old handle from some kind of gardening or maybe woodworking tool.  The wood is super hard and wonderfully worn.  You can feel the years of use that have gone into wearing the grain into the wood.

So, I have been really enjoying being able to upcycle that old handle into spool knitters for jewelry makers to create wonderful treasures with.

Today, as an ‘almost Earth Day’ project, I finished up  a bracelet that uses a fun bit of upcycling and reclaiming: (as well as the upcycled wood in the spool knitter itself, that is!)  I spool knitted a bracelet with copper wire, and pushed a vintage marble into the center of the spool knitted wire cord:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I bought the marble at our favorite second hand store, because it looks so much like the earth.

How perfect for an Earth Day bracelet.

Spool knitting with wire is somewhat tricky, as wire has no give. It’s worth it, though, as you can do fab things with wire!

There are a few things that I have found over the years that make spool knitting with wire much easier, and so I have made a video to help show these special hints and tips:

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photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The questioner had just gotten a fab deal on 24 gauge copper wire and snapped it up.

When she experimented with crocheting it, she found it to be not very pleasant to work with.  24 gauge is pretty energized, and fairly stiff.

Crocheting with it is mighty tough on the tendons.

She had seen that someone else had asked me to make them sturdy spool knitters for spool knitting wire and wondered if  the 24 gauge could be spool knitted.

Why would you spool knit wire?

Because you can make absolutely gorgeous jewelry with it!  Scrumptious!

I tend to use mostly 26 gauge wire for crochet and spool knitting, so I figured I had better give 24 gauge wire a try.

I tried it on the spool knitters that I had already made, and yes, it worked. BUT…. it seemed to me that it would work better with a different configuration on the spool knitter. One size doesn’t always fit all with spool knitters. In fact, it’s really helpful to have a selection of spool knitters in different sizes and shapes, with different numbers of pegs or nails.

By the way…. don’t try to spool knit wire on a plastic spool knitter, or on one with wooden pegs.

You’ll regret it…. plink, plink, plink…. the sound of breaking pegs…

I went out to the workshop and started working on a spool knitter that would work better for the 24 gauge wire.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I used  some wonderful old wood that we had inherited from my husband’s Dad (Earth friendly… it’s an upcycled very very old handle that had parted company from it’s original tool. I have no idea how old it is, but it’s O L D and incredibly hard wood!)

Anyhow, I made her a different configuration spool knitter, with a larger hole and the pegs spread further out, and it works a fair treat with the 24 gauge wire!

It’s slow going to work with such heavy wire, but worth it.

I decided that I had better make a video tutorial about spool knitting with wire, because it’s a whole other kettle of fish than spool knitting with yarn.

But, I had also been working on getting the soundtrack re-recorded and edited on a couple of other videos that I have just made, and ran into frustrating techno glitches (grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr).  So… it’s way late, now, and when I tried shooting the spool knitting wire video under artificial light, it looked baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

I need to wait for daylight to shoot it.

Some things are worth waiting for…. and sunlight is one of them.

So is a tutorial sharing secrets of spool knitting with wire, so stay tuned!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

You’ll need: A ball of pink yarn (I used Bernat Denimstyle in Weathered Rose)

A Potholder Loom,a weaving hook, a chopstick,a crochet hook,

a 4 peg spool knitter, a loop lifter,

a craft needle, a ruler, a dime, scissors, about an ounce of polyester stuffing,

about 10 inches of red yarn, a paper punch for circles, a paper punch for the heart,

or cut it out of junk mail freehand, thick craft glue, a bee button (ONLY for older children – NEVER use buttons, charms or beads on any toy or doll that you give to any child that is under the age of 7 years old), about 2 square inches (5 cm) of black felt for eyes.

Weave one square on your potholder loom, using two strands of yarn held together.

Spool knit the following  cords with all 4 pegs, using only 1 strand of yarn:

For the ears: 2 cords that are each 4 inches (10 cm) long

For the paws: 4 cords that are each 2 inches (5 cm) long.

Now, click on the video, and make yourself a Springtime Plushie Potholder Loom and Spool knitted Bunny!

All images, text, video and layout are copyright.  Video and photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I have several little loop lifters that came with red plastic spool knitters. They are really uncomfortable to work with, as they are too short and have a sharp sawed off end.

BUT… today I had a brainwave!

I often use sponge brushes in the studio.

I use them until they give up the ghost and squeak and crumble into tiny woebegone little bits.

I never throw away the wooden handles, as that would be a terrible waste, wouldn’t it? 

The handles pop off quite easily, as, luckily, they are not glued on.

So……… today, it suddenly struck me……

why not slosh a little craft glue into the hole in the handle and

stick in one of the too-short owee loop lifters?

Tadah!   It works beautifully!     I am so pleased!

The other loop lifter beside the newly cobbled together one is one of my other favorites. It’s a turkey skewer with a big glass bead glued on. It works really well for spool knitting fine threads and yarns. Ah yes… upcycling wins again!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I have carried it around in bags, moved it from table to desk and back, taken it out, put it back, taken it out again, sighed, and put it back …. and  just haven’t been able to finish it.

Why, why why, I snivel? It’s a simple little cap!

Alright.

Yesterday, I read a note about March being crochet month. I even joined a Ravelry group in celebration of Crochet month!

I decided- this is it!

Crochet Month is here- I am gonna finish that cap in honor of Crochet Month! (actually ALL months are crochet month for me, but that’s just being pickie pickie)

This cap is for a friend. He shaves his head and gets cold, so he likes to wear neat little caps. BUT, he owns a bistro (where my husband’s jazz trio plays all the time), so the caps have to be light enough to not make him uncomfortable when he’s making magic in the hot hot kitchen.

I made him a cap a few months back and it was too heavy, so I said, ‘No problem…. I’ll whip you up a light weight one’.

He can’t tolerate wool and cotton gets too floppy really quickly (I crocheted elastic thread into one of the caps he loves so he can wear it again) so it’s synthetics for him.

I just wrote up a tute on how I split the yarn for his cap

I took out the unfinished cap and glared at it, demanding to know why it was being so reluctant to come together.

Tahdah! the answer presented itself!

It wanted a spool knitted edge!

I whipped out my trusty little spool knitter, and whipped up a cord. I used more of the Caron Shadows, but didn’t split it.

I spool knitted a 22 inch long cord on all 4 pegs, then sewed the ends together.

Then, the cap just flew along!

The only problem was, that I had started at the center of the crown of the cap, and adding the spool knitted cord was, pardon the pun, a corker!

I ended up making the most complicated manoevers to  join the spool knitting to the cap, that I could never write the pattern out.

My husband tried it on and we decided it was quite fetching on him, so I am in re-design mode now.

I am designing and working on  another one – going in the opposite direction from the first one.

I’ll be able to write out a vunderbar pattern for it.

Here’s the finished Version #1 of the Jazz Cap

This is Babette, my new model.

Isn’t she wonderful? I bought her in a hat shop last summer when Jim and I were buying sunhats.

The shop owner had bought out a millinery business that had been going for 50 or more years.

She had several of these lovely ladies languishing without hats, so I was thrilled to adopt her.

Please welcome Babette to her new life as a blogmodel.

And, now, it’s back to work on Jazz Cap #2….. more later……

(image source: photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay. Copyright, not to be used without permission)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Crochet, tatting and spool knitting are so dear to my heart and VERY harmonious to combine.

I really enjoy making flat multi-media dolls to embellish garments and accessories.

Here are a few of the flat dolls that I’ve made with tatting, crochet, spool knitting, using everything from handspun angora  to wire:

They’re stitched to a tote bag that I bought at a second hand store. (love it) *G*

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I’ve just become acquainted with some wonderful new spool knitters:Crystalite French Knitters from Susan Bates. They’re 4 and 6 peg spool knitters and are very sturdy.

I really like them! They’re solidly made and are very nice to work with.

One of the things that is really neat is being able to see the cord while it’s still inside the spool knitter. They come with a wonderful little tool (Sylvalume Handi tool) that has a hook on one end and a point on the other.

Definitely thumbs up on these ones!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

About 10 years ago, I was thrilled to bits to see a very special spool knitter on eBay. I have always loved spool knitting, but until then, hadn’t seen a spool knitter that looked like a doll.

I was so excited to see a spool knitter that was painted to look like Little Orphan Annie. I bid on her and won the auction.

Boy, was I ticked off when the seller decided that the price hadn’t gone high enough and refused to honor the auction. Humph!

I was really annoyed. But, I always figure:

Why get mad? Why not get creative?

So I asked my husband to turn me a spool knitter on the lathe, so I could burn it and embellish it the way I wanted.

Little did I know that one thing would lead to another.

And, so…. over the last decade, we have made countless spool knitters – each one totally unique and one of a kind.

The spool knitter on the right in the pic above, is the very first spool knitter that we made.

The one on the left is a vintage Spears spool knitter that a friend sent me. I would have LOVED to have had one like that when I was a child!

I am still completely in love with spool knitting and am still designing for the spool knitter. It’s such a delight!

Here are links for lots of spool knitted projects that I have designed. Have fun with them!

AND

Happy news for people who would like charming little spool knitter people at a very reasonable price:

Lion Brand makes darling little 4 peg spool knitter dollies.

They are really sturdy and very pleasant to work with.

My next posting is about some more new spool knitters that I really like.

(PS: I don’t profit by telling you about them- I just really like them.)

Happy Spool knitting!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

What on earth does Jane Austen have to do with Panda Bears?

Here’s the scoop – I have been working on a new Jane Austen spool knitter for weeks now.

It really hasn’t gone well. I have drawn the face at least 7 times, and each time, I have ended up sanding it off the spool knitter. argh.

I ended up painting layers of gesso on the spool knitter and just leaving the white ‘ghost of spool knitter future’ sitting on my desk.

I asked Jim to turn me another Jane Austen and he looked significantly over at the verrrrrrrrrrrry blank one. Oh okay!

sigh….

I have also been having trouble with 2 other spool knitters.

I painted and sanded off the paintings and painted again and sanded off again… and again. Ah, phooey.

I was looking at my blank spool knitters and feeling like they were mocking me. But then, a whisper of an idea started to unfurl…. earlier in the week, I had seen a pic of a panda bear online.

I love panda bears. I’ve designed all kinds of homages to them:

crocheted: (from my book:

Crocheted Teddy Bears

and woven on the potholder loom : from my book:

Potholder Loom Teddy Bears and Monkeys, too

It struck me that the simplicity and charm of the panda bear face would be wonderful on the spool knitters.

Bingo! I was totally inspired! So, I sat down and started painting.

I painted a Panda Bear 4 peg spool knitter:

and since two Panda Bears are better than one, I painted another one! This time, a 5 peg spool knitter:

Painting the panda bears in just black and white was very liberating. It made me realize that I wanted to work with just black and white and grey for the troublesome Jane Austen spool knitter.

It’s really clear to me that the spool knitters are very determined that they are going to be what THEY want to be, and I have to stand back and let them flow through me. When I try to push my concepts and ideas on them, they push back and refuse. Sigh.

So, when I let go, the spool knitters come to life in a delightful way. Which is exactly what has happened with the new Jane Austen spool knitter:

Isn’t it neat about synchronicity and how one thing can lead to another in the creative process? It’s like one thought or image can become the doorway for a whole cascade of ideas.

Have you had a strange pairing up of ideas that helped you to break through a stumbling block?

What’s your version of ‘Jane Austen and the Panda Bears’?

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay(copyright) 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn