Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here’s the link to the article:

Noreen’s scarves/tablerunners

I designed a couple of scarves

that show several techniques.

One thing that they illustrate

is how to weave a narrow band

of fabric and then to use

my ‘mitered loop’ technique

to make a piece that is twice

as wide, but 1/2 as long as the

original woven fabric.

I also show how to work with

a clasped weft, which is one of

my most favorite techniques.

The scarves, which work really well as table runners, also feature a keyhole, so that one end can be pulled through a small opening to hold and shape the scarf.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I used sock yarn (Patons Kroy Socks and Patons Stretch Socks) and for both scarves.

I wove the multicolor scarf on my Saori floor loom,

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I wove the blue scarf on my Schacht Cricket rigid heddle loom:

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I feel like I covered a lot of ground with 2 little scarves!

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Today’s video is quite Earth friendly. It features an old kind of technology:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The Nostepinne.  The whozzawhat?

Nostepinnes are basically friendly little sticks that you use to wind a ball of yarn on.

A reader sent me a note, asking about winding yarn, and saying that she didn’t have a yarn winder.

Well, I DO have a yarn winder. It’s old as the hills, as I bought it when I was 15 and had just saved up all my babysitting  and part time jobs money and bought myself a knitting machine.

The yarn winder is now somewhat fragile, and so I don’t use it very often.

Instead, I wind balls of yarn with  nostepinnes.

My husband upcycled the  nostepinne in the picture from a handrail that we had installed in his Mum’s house to make it safer for her to navigate.

When she passed on, we took the excess handrails down and cut them up and turned them on the lathe.

My bit of Mum’s house became a  much used and loved nostepinne, and I feel the touch of her hand in it still!

It’s easier to get the hang of using a nostepinne by watching someone use it.

So, I have made a video  of  ‘How to wind a ball of yarn on the nostepinne’ in honor of Earth Day – to celebrate a very simple tool that works really well!  Here’s the tutorial:

There seems to be something troublesome happening with the embedding link, so…

if the video isn’t working properly for you, please go to the direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xuc11P4Wi4

Hope you had a lovely Earth Day, and have done some kind of upcycling, recycling or other form of green living and earth keeping!

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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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Wherever you go

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

whatever you do

be happy

and know

that

I love you…..

Guess you can tell that I adore her….. LOL!

I took pics of the process of carving the one of a kind crochet hook, and have  just put them together as a video tutorial.

Remember: Always wear safety equipment and work carefully!

Carving a handmade crochet hook is a slow and meticulous process.

You will need to work carefully, using close grain hardwood that can sustain the pressure of the carving, and even more important: To be able to stand up to the rigours of crocheting later!

By the way: Be gentle when crocheting with wooden hooks! Lighten up on your tension, as you don’t want to break the hook after all that work!

When shaping the hook section, sand after every little nip of the knife, and test crochet with it frequently to make sure it is a ‘happy hook’.  If it catches or splits the yarn, it’ll make you crazy, so keep working at it until the hook flows and floats through the yarn.

And, sad to say…. prepare for some ‘fail’ …… sometimes, you’ll invest hours and hours into making a handmade hook, and the stinker will break in your hands.  Sigh…. back to the drawing board.

But! when you do achieve a perfect hook, it is just a treasure!

Here’s the video:

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with my potholder loom, yarn  and stuff in a project bag .

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

As we rolled down the road, I was not happy to discover that I had left my weaving hook at home. Oh rats! That would mean ~no weaving~ for me.

No no no  no no no!

Luckily, I had an extra chopstick, so I knew I would be able to carve another weaving hook by upcycling the chopstick into a weaving hook.

When we got to the grocery store, my husband loaned me his pocket knife (mine was too dull to be safe to work with) and offered to go get the groceries so I could carve the hook…. what a sweetheart!

He went and got the groceries, and I rummaged around until I found a nail file and a little rock. That gave me all the tools  I needed to carve the hook.

I had my camera with me, and snapped pics as I carved, as I knew that this would be fun to share on hankering for yarn.

By the time he had bought the groceries, I had carved the hook. I was such a happy camper! Bless his heart!

So, here you have it: How to carve a handmade weaving hook from a chopstick – a fun bit of upcycling and DIY!

AND please remember: NEVER  work with a dull knife, and DON’T EVER point the knife towards your hands, fingers, or leg when carving or whittling. Always take tiny little slivery flakes off, and work slowly and carefully, nipping of the tiniest bits possible.

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She decided to make her a hankie with simple tatted edging, and asked for input.

I thought…. ooooooooh how neat…. I have a collection of vintage lace trimmed hankies that I love,

so it seems to me to be the perfect timeless and heartfelt gift.

I looked on the net to see if I could find some entry level tatted edgings,

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

but didn’t find any.

But, I did find 2 sources for linen hankies to add the lovely lace to:

mielkes farm

and

lacis

I looked at a heap of sites, and decided that it was easier to just do a quick tute here,

since the request had been for an entry level edging,

and all I saw were somewhat more advanced ones.

I also decided, that since I didn’t have any blank hankies, that I would

make  a bookmark instead.

I decided that I’d show 3 different quick and easy edgings.

I wove 3 little squares with crochet cotton

and my  little old Weave It

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

2 inch square loom.

And stitched them together.

For the first short edge, which is the edge at the bottom of the bookmark,

I decided to use a version of the same simple pattern that Itopped my socks with:

Starting at the lower short edge of the bookmark:

Tie the shuttle and ball of thread to a corner stitch,

ch 7 ds;

make a ring of: 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p,3 ds, p,3 ds, p,3 ds, close.

Turn, ch 7 ds. Join to next stitch on bookmark or hanky.

Repeat the  green colored pattern along the first short edge.

Working along the long edge: Still working with shuttle and ball:

Ch 3 ds, p, 3ds, join to next space or stitch on bookmark or hanky.

Repeat purple instructions along the long edge.

Second short edge: This is the top of the bookmark: Rings worked with shuttle only:

(I took the ball thread across the end, joining it to each loop of the bookmark,

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

but it could have been cut and rejoined for the second long side)

First Ring: 5 ds, p, 5 ds, p, 5 ds, p,5 ds, close.  Leave a space of about 1/8 inch,

join to next space.

Second and remaining rings: 5 ds, join to last  p of previous ring, 5 ds, p, 5 ds, p,5 ds, close.

Leave a space of about 1/8 inch, join to next space.

Repeat orange instructions across second short edge.

Repeat purple instructions along the second long edge.

Weave in any loose ends and trim.

I stitched bits of sample tatting and a tatted butterfly onto the bookmark to finish it.

I used a ball of really old mercerized tatting cotton size 100 for the edging.

I bought it in a second hand store in my youth, long ago and far away….

It is such a pleasure to use old tools and threads, and to give them new life.

Who knows? Maybe someday, someone will open a book and this little bookmark will fall out……

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photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

It is a treasure. It’s 100 years old and has delightful photos.

I find it interesting that Mary McCormack consistently calls the spool knitted cords, ‘webs’, rather than cords.

I think that this is probably because she likens a child (she always uses ‘he’ as the supposed spool knitting  child, never ’she’, sigh) to a spider spinning a web.

Her projects all involve spool knitting yards of cord, mostly on 2 peg spool knitters, and then stitching them into shapes that are then assembled for the finished project.

To be honest, I don’t know if crafters nowadays would be willing to do that.

Hand stitching things seems to be a process that is really resisted.
As I was reading through the book, my attention  was caught by  the use of  the terms, ’round webs’ and ‘flat webs’.

I thought… hmmmm…. this bears further investigation….. I wanted to see if what she was showing was different from the way I make 2 peg cord.

I thought that perhaps, I should make a  2 peg spool knitter just like the one she uses in the book, but then, I thought…. nah, let’s just make the cords, and THEN see about making some spoolies like hers.
So, I got out one of my Cordelia cordmakers, and  cast on in a figure ‘8′.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

McCormack does all her spool knitting on 2 peg spool knitters using the figure ‘8′  wrap. She doesn’t start with a slip knot, just by taking the yarn around the right hand peg. She uses a dowel with a center hole that she drops the yarn down, but since I am using a Cordelia cordmaker that doesn’t have a hole, I just hold the tail in front of the cordmaker.

I am using 2 strands of yarn held together, just because I wanted a thicker cord. I realize that that could be confusing….. sorry about that…..

So, you take the yarn around the right hand peg,between the pegs,  and around the left hand peg, then back between the pegs……and around the right hand peg again.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Then, you lift the lower wrap of yarn over the upper wrap….  of course, I had to take the picture, so I left the loop lifter dangling in space, but you’re not going to do that…

McCormack has the reader take the yarn around each peg, always following a figure ‘8′, and lifting the lower loop over the upper loop.

This creates a cord that is actually closer to being square than round. I worked the McCormack figure ‘8′ style for several inches. I kept looking closely at the resulting cord, trying to see if it looked any different from the cord that I make by the ‘zip round the pegs to the outside’  technique. I decided that I needed to try the ’round  the outside of the pegs’ method to see if I could see any difference in the resulting cord.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The littler girl in the picture captured my heart…. she has the classic resignation of the younger sister who knows that she is always going to be the one who is ‘the student’ when she plays school with Big Sister.

And, that Big Sister is ALWAYS going to be the one clucking, ‘giddyup’, and that she will always be cantering in the reins….. never the one who cracks the whip….Anyhow…. back  to the cords…. I placed a bit of yarn in the center of the spool knitter to mark where I had shifted from wrapping a figure 8 to going around the outside of the pegs.

I still was lifting the lower loop over the upper, so the only difference was not taking the yarn between the pegs.

I spool knitted for several more inches, and if I had not placed the pink yarn in the cord,   honestly, I would never have been able to tell the difference between the 2 wrapping techniques. So…. if you prefer to use the figure 8 technique, then do that. If you prefer the  other way of just going around the outside edge, then by all means, use that method. McCormack’s second technique for working with the 2 peg spool knitter creates what she calls, |The Flat Web|

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

This is a really neat, decorative cord that I quite like. The Flat Web is worked in the figure 8 wrap method. Wrap 2 figure 8’s on both pegs. Lift the LOWER TWO wraps over the upper wrap  on each peg. Then, wrap 2 figure 8’s again, and continue to lift the lower 2 over the upper one. (This is also  a great way of ‘beefing up’ a thin yarn ) I wouldn’t use the ‘Flat Web’ cord for dolls or toys, but for jewelry and embellishments, I would definitely choose it. Here is a comparison of the ‘Round Web’ and the ‘Flat Web’ cords:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Both are made using 2 strands of Lily Sugar’n Cream cotton. Spool knitting cotton is more challenging than spool knitting wool, as cotton doesn’t have spring or memory, so it’s not as fast as wool or most smooth spun synthetic yarns. I thought that it was really neat that McCormack has wristlets in her book. Just goes to show that some things that go round, come round again even if it takes 100 years.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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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)

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I had some discontinued Caron Shadows that I had used in another project that was rejected, so I figured I would be eco friendly and recycle and upcycle the yarn.

By splitting it, I was able to divide out the color shifting sections and use them in the design of the cap.

Splitting yarn is a pain in the neck if you don’t have the secret to doing it painlessly.

Here’s a quick tute on how to split yarn without tearing your hair out:

Take the ball of yarn and unroll a few feet of yarn. Stick a small crochet hook or turkey skewer into the ball to hold it together:

Now, split the strand of yarn into 2 strands and let the ball hang freely. It’ll spin like crazy.

DON’T do this while your cat is watching!

Wind the 2 strands onto bobbins or into their own separate balls, right up to the original ball.

Release more yarn from the original ball and keep on going.  Don’t release more than 2 yards of yarn at a time.

Voila! soon your ball of yarn will be 2 skinnier happy little balls of yarn!

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

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so I made a second one:

Because I had a plan…. bangle bracelets look better when there are more than one….

(BTW, the flash does nasty things to the bracelets…. in real life, they look smooth and kind of irridescent. The flash seems to expose their undies. How rude!)

AND, because I love Furoshiki.

What’s  Furoshiki?

It’s an ancient and elegant Japanese solution to carrying things in the greenest possible way.

Here’s a link: FUROSHIKI

I’ve impressed the heck out of all kinds of people by whipping a headscarf out of my purse and tying a couple of knots in it to make a market bag.

I have also been using bracelets  as handles for my version of furoshiki.

Here’s how:

Tie 2 adjacent corners to one bracelet, and the other 2 corners to the second bracelet….

and VOILA!

You have an instant, earth friendly, eco happy market bag, GREEN tote bag, carry sack, re-usable, upcycled, recycled tote!

HURRAH!

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

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