This made me chuckle, as I realized how fond I am of chopsticks and how much I use them in the studio.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I thought:

‘Okay….I use chopsticks

in the studio ALL THE TIME

so….

how many ways

to use a chopstick

in the studio

can I think of ?

(There are 6

variations in the pic

to the left….)

Here’s my list of ways to use chopsticks in the studio:

1] Since this all started with me using a chopstick as an instrument of de-construction in unravelling weaving, that’s the top of the list.

2] Chopsticks can be carved into great weaving hooks. I posted a video about how to do this: Carve a weaving hook

3] Speaking of weaving: I really like to use chopsticks as shed sticks in weaving:  Weaving with yarn on the potholder loom

4] You can sand chopsticks, sharpen them, glue a bead on, and you have got knitting needles.

5] You know that weaving hook you carved? Well, you can carve a crochet hook with a chopstick, too.

6] In the pic above, a chopstick is supporting a spindle. I use chopsticks all the time to hold things up for photos. Handy!

7]  The spindle the photo support chopstick is holding up is made with: Yep…. a chopstick.

8] Cut a circle of wood, drill a hole in the center, and pop a chopstick in it: Voila! Perfect for holding small cones of thread or yarn.

9] Paint it black and hold a shawl closed with it

10]  Sharpen the point, and sand it, and it works well as a loop lifter for large spool knitters

11]  Ooooooh yes…. mustn’t forget this one: Chopsticks are excellent backscratchers!

12] And, what if you want to conduct your favorite piece of music? A chopstick is a fine little baton

13]  I work with charts all the time, so I lay a chopstick above the row I am working on to mark my place

14]  I wouldn’t recommend a chopstick as a bookmark, but a magazine place holder is within the realm of possibilities

15]  Have you ever had a small object roll tantalizingly close to the edge, but just out of finger range under a bookcase? Well, a chopstick is perfect for flicking the elusive object out of hiding.

16]   Floppy plants can be given a little backbone by supporting them with a chopstick

17]  You can make an impromptu Lazy Kate by poking  holes on each side of a small box and putting balls of yarn onto the chopsticks that are inserted into the holes in the box. Instant assistance in plying in handspinning.

18] You can stir paint with a chopstick

19] You can stir your tea with a chopstick, but not after you have stirred paint with it

20] You can wind yarn on it, like a mini nostepinne (How? Nostepinne how to link)

21] I make tatting shuttles, and when I am varnishing them, I need ways to suspend them. Chopsticks are great for supporting them as they dry

22] Do you need a peg for anything at all? Cut one from a chopstick!

23] Swirl the detergeant around in the pail with a chopstick before you place dirty fleece in it to soak.

24] Lift yarn or roving out of dye pots with chopsticks.

25] If you have long hair, you can twirl it around, and put a chopstick through it to hold it out of the way. I don’t have long hair anymore, so this one doesn’t really count on my list.

26] You can use chopsticks to make doll arms and legs

27] Chopsticks make great support sticks for shadow puppets

28]  You can use chopsticks instead of dowels to hang small wall hangings and tapestries

29] You can use chopsticks to make wrapped God’s Eye ornaments: Tutorial

30] And, perhaps, most important of all: You can eat your pad thai or sushi with chopsticks.

So,  can you think of other ways to use a chopstick in the studio?

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

She gave it to me, and I had an idea….

For years,

my sisters in law

had been giving each

other the same

cardboard box

back and forth

back and forth

at Christmas time.

That little box

held many gifts

and many memories.

It got shabbier and shabbier as the years went by, but, it became more precious even, than the gifts it contained.

We all would look for ‘the box’ to see how it was holding up.

Well, when the polka dot bear came in the door, I thought… ‘Hmmmm, what if I make an addition to this bear, and give it back to her?’

I asked Sis if she’d like to designate  Blue Polka Dot as a ‘Sister Bear’.

She agreed enthusiastically.

So, for several years, Sister Bear would travel back and forth from her house to mine, whenever she came back to Canada for a visit home.   Sister Bear lived with Sis  for about 6 months, and then me for about 6 months. Although, sometimes, if visits were more frequent, Sister Bear might pass back and forth more frequently.

Sister Bear became more and more elaborate, as each of us added more embellishments.

Sister Bear made a sad journey back to me 3 Christmases ago, after the death of beloved Sis……

Sister Bear  has lived with me since then, and has been the recipient of many hugs, and a fair few tears.

She has begun another chapter of Sister Bearhood, as Jim’s Big Sis has taken Sister Bear home with her.

And now, Sister Bear will pass back and forth between us, and each of us will be adding new touches to Sister Bear while we have her.

Perhaps this is an idea that you and your sister or dear friend would like to adopt…… it’s amazing how precious Sister Bear has become to us.

If you decide to create a Sister Bear, please let me know! I’d love to see pictures.

I’ll take pics of Sister Bear next time I see her.  That will probably be next summer…. I wonder what Big Sis will have added.  I have plans for my next addition….

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Quilt of Belonging-The Invitation Project copyright

My dear friend pulled this incredible book

out of her bag and asked:

Have you seen this?

Quilt of Belonging-

The Invitation Project

by

Esther Bryan

and friends,

published by

Boston Mills Press

2005

is a spectacular book

that chronicles the creation

of a 263 block tapestry

of needlework techniques

made by people

who have immigrated to Canada as well as the many numbers of indigenous peoples who were here before immigrations began.

Esther Bryan is a fiber artist who conceived of this dazzling project and co-ordinated the vast number of people who were integral to creating the Quilt of Belonging. She tracked down an immigrant artist (who had moved to Canada) from every possible country in the world, and then invited them to express their culture by making a block that reflected their home country and roots. She also asked people from each of the indigenous aboriginal cultures do the same thing. Even cultures that have gone extinct are represented.

The book is just incredible, with a page devoted to each block in the gigantic quilt, with the story of the maker of the block, and a beautiful full color photo of each block.

The techniques are spectacularly diverse and masterfully executed. It is dazzling!

This is a reference encyclopedia of the needlework techniques of Planet Earth!

There is also a lovely website for the Quilt of Belonging, where you can see photos and also there’s a youtube video:

(youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4di1ftfa28)

It’s breathtakingly beautiful- what a treasure!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

FOUR blossoms on one of our Night Blooming Cereus opened all at once tonight!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I have been watching the

Night Blooming Cereus

plants with anticipation,

delight and awe.

At one point,

we had 13 flower buds on the

two plants.

Sadly, they didn’t all survive.

There are now 6 buds on one of the plants

and 2 on the other…..

This photo was one Wednesday night, when the buds were reaching to the full moon.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I have been taking pictures

as the buds have been progressing.

This afternoon,

I thought…

okay….

this is it!

Tonight is the

night!

So, when I came into the studio after supper and went, what is that amazing perfume?

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I turned around

and squealed like a

dolphin in a sardine

holiday camp!

Ms Kitty was oblivious

to the miracle that

was taking place

right beside her

and as long as there

were treats in her bowl,

‘myeh’ to flowers opening

all around her.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Whereas, I have been

going….

ooooooooooooooooh!

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwow!

and taking hundreds of

photos……

I turned the plant pot,

so I see the blossoms better.

Almost immediately,

the flowers turned

back toward the window.

Amazing.

It’s pitch black out, but they still wanted to be oriented to the outdoors.

amazing. amazing.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I am completely

gobsmacked.

We have never

had 4 blooms

open at one time before.

Extraordinary.

Simply extraordinary.

Oh! I have to go take another picture!

It’s pure magic! I feel so blessed!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

You see… it’s garage sales. And, oh yes, yard sales. And, um, well, yes… our favorite thrift store, too. They’re all so appealing!

photo byNoreen Crone-Findlay copyright

We love having a little schmooze -

there is something so fascinating about looking into the

artifacts of people’s lives…

but… sometimes,

peering into boxes can get  a person into trouble.

Take for instance, a box of free stuff at the yard sale in front of a church……

My first response when I saw these pillows was to reel backwards, and say… wow… those are AMAZING!

No wonder they were in the free box!  Words almost fail me when it comes to the astonishing dreadfulness of these pillow covers.

Now.. you might ask- ‘If you think they are so awful, why did you bring them home?’

Well… it’s the centers…. the embroidery looked quite gypsy-ish, and I thought…. oh!

I could do some serious upcycling here…. Salvage the embroidery and combine it with some weaving, some crochet….

you know….  ‘cross currents’ kind of stuff like I did in this jacket:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I combined embroidery

crochet

handspinning

weaving

knitting

spool knitting

and

tatting

all in  this one

jacket.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I thought…perhaps that I could get rid of the ghastly orange polyester

(many polys and many esters  were harmed in the making of those pillows)

and then salvage the embroidery.

But… what to make?

Should I upcycle them into:

• a tea cosy?
• a shawl or stole
• a jacket
• pillows? duh
• Jim suggested a hat. Um… noooooooooooo
• a bag
• a doll
• ?

I sat down at my loom and had a ‘mulling it over’ sort of a weave.

‘Mulling it over’ weaves are very good for the soul, and they tend to put things in perspective.

photo byNoreen Crone-Findlay copyright

As I was sitting at my loom,

weaving away

in that  ‘mulling-ish’ way,

I caught a flicker of

movement that had

me launching myself

across the studio

for my camera.

photo byNoreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Ms Kitty had made a decision.

She knows exactly

what the

awful pillow cases

are PERFECT for…..

yes indeed.

Ms Kitty

knows best.

For now…..

So…. what do you think?

What should I upcycle the amazing pillow cases into?  Really. They need to re-incarnate.

Those poor little poly’s and esters really did die in vain.

Oh, wait a minute….. once I separate the ghastly death of poly and ester from the embroidery, perhaps it can be upcycled, too….

I had been thinking ‘landfill’…. but perhaps I was too hasty…. hmmmmmmmmm

Now, you see why it takes us so long to get from one place to another.

It’s inspiration.

There’s just too much of it lurking in boxes labelled: ‘Free stuff- take this away’…..

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Wowsa! The Night Blooming Cereus is blooming! Omigosh! scramble madly for the camera!

I’ve been watching the buds on the Night Blooming Cereus in the studio for about a month now…. and started taking pics a several weeks ago when the buds started getting big enough to show up in pics:

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I thought that it would open tomorrow, so was startled to see it suddenly opening tonight….

by the way, I just love that it is also called ‘The Queen of the Night’, ‘Lunar Flower’, Luna Flower’, ‘Moon Flower’ or ‘Reina de la Nocha’.

It’s a REALLY big deal when she blooms, as she throws out an exuberant glorious, spectacular flurry of floral joy that lasts only a few hours.

You can actually see the flower pulsing open! and it’s one dazzling show! Sadly, it’s over in a matter of hours… but, oh those hours!

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I’ve taken dozens and dozens of pics in the last few hours, and now, (12:30 am as I write this) my beautiful Queen of the Night is beginning her retreat…. she’s closing down……

Good night, sweet Luna Queen….

By morning, she will have closed and be hanging quietly asleep, and in a day or so, will drop to the ground. I’ll take her outside and say a final goodbye…..

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Say it all together: ‘We must not clutter! We must be sparse, we must be spare, we must be oh so organized!’

photograph by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Okay, so my tongue is in my cheek when I poke gentle fun at the ‘gurus’ who have laid down the ‘no-clutter’ laws…

and I agree- I drive myself crazy with mis-placing stuff in my layers and heaps in the studio.

But, gee, sometimes, just a leeeeeeeeeeeeeeetle bit of clutter can be so much fun!

I was telling my friend about the oh so neat vintage Japanese silk reeling thingies that I bought at the Habu booth last year.

That’s one of them at the farthest left on the shelf and another hanging below on the pegs.

I can’t  remember their proper names, but, boy are they ever neat to work with.

I’ve used them for plying and they work beautifully.

They are a treasure for so many reasons… they feel wonderful, they feel imbued with history, and they still work!

I decided to take a pic of them to send to my dear friend, since I have been chatting to her about them.

Before I knew it, one thing lead to another…

and instead of just taking a ‘clinical’ pic of the silk reels, I had to gather up a bunch of things from around the studio and put it all together to keep the reels company.

Clutter? well…. yes….. but you see, I really am fond of all of it…….

and, it’s all so useful…. well, mostly…..

So, do you surrender to the joys of your clutter or are you ~oh so disciplined~ about it all?

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Jane is a very funny and charming woman who just knocks me out with her delicious and wry comments.

I am dazzled by her ability to ‘draw’ with tatting. Just look at this incredible Kangaroo:

photo courtesy of Jane Eborall copyright. Used with permission.

I asked Jane some questions about her work, beginning with where she lives:

I live in a famous town in the centre of England.  To give you a clue – the most famous writer in history was born here!

photo courtesy of Jane Eborall copyright. Used with permission.

1.  Do you have a favorite kind of project to design?

I think my favourite design project is always going to be something that nobody has thought of doing before!!  I like designing small projects but ones that can be expanded too.

Not really.  I love using beads, though.

Getting started!  Oh, and designing a pattern with the fewest ’starts and finishes’.  I don’t like having to hide ends so wherever possible I avoid those situations.

I love to see my designs being made by other people and seeing how they can vary.

I’m not sure I’d be classed as a professional as I don’t ask for payment for patterns.  But I have been designing for probably thirty years. I started by accident in order to amuse a class of four/five year olds.  I made earrings!

Now this is difficult to answer.  Almost impossible.  It can be anything.  Something I see while out walking, something I see in a shop.  It can be something somebody suggests or just an idea that pops into my mind.

I dabble in sewing and have done a little work with crochet, netting and combining netting and tatting.

Hmmm, once a design is finished it’s of no further interest to me, I’m afraid!  I tend to put most of them onto my web site.  I do give to other sites and magazines too.  I’ve never quite ‘got round’ to doing a book as the next idea is usually ready to be started!

No, see above!  Too busy on the next idea!!

Nowhere!  They can get them for free from my pattern pages.

Yes, I do have a blog.  It’s the one place I can be really myself and talk tatting and make fun of myself!  JANE’S BLOG

photo courtesy of Jane Eborall copyright. Used with permission.

12. Do you have a tatting community that influences you and is important to you?   Is it important to you to be in touch with your peers?

I belong to lots of online tatting lists and am an avid watcher of blogs.  It’s very important to me to be in touch with other addicts and to talk to them regularly.

The next one but that’ll only be my favourite until the one after!  I think I have a certain special feeling for one or two.  The Tattysaurus because he was one of the first patterns I put up on the internet and the flower fairies too – they took roughly three years of ‘return visits’ to get sorted.

Oh yes, loads!!!  There’s currently an ostrich that’s lurking in the corner waiting to be taken out yet again!!

You could link to my WEBSITE- and just keep asking questions!!!  I’m really only small fry in tat land, though!

Bah, humbug, say I- Jane is one of the jewels in the crown of the tatting world, she’s just a very humble one.

Bless her funny and generous heart and hands! Yay, Jane!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Lots of suggestions were made, and at one point, with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, I suggested that he use duct tape to attach the tatting.

Immediately, that brought up all kinds of crazy ideas and one thing lead to another…. and, well, before you know it, I had issued a challenge.

It’s an odd one….. How can you combine duct tape and tatting in the same piece?

There are no rules, (well, there is one rule: You have to combine tatting and duct tape in the same piece)

and there’s no timeline…. just play with the idea and see what comes up…..

One member of the group mentioned that she envisioned a duct tape corset trimmed with tatting. Ooh lah lah! Fun!

For me, the natural choice was to make a piece of jewelry. I did pages and pages of drawings and sketches.

Eventually, the sketching process lead me to thoughts of making pins that are images of the Little Black Dress.

I was thinking of working in black duct tape, so, you can see how one thing lead to another.

(And the thoughts about  the Little Black Dress triggered my musing on the perfect crocheted LBD, that I wrote about yesterday.)

So, I moved from sketching the LBD, and started snipping:

project and photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And, then, it was time to get out the duct tape, and start making that perfect, tiny Little Black Dress!

project and photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Ah, yes, the tatting part of the challenge! I couldn’t find my ‘80′ tatting cotton, so had to settle for ‘50′ weight, which is heavier than I had wanted.  But, still…. it’s fun

Here we go:  The Perfect Little Black Duct Tape Dress Trimmed with Tatting:

project and photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

You are cordially invited to join in on the Duct tape/tatting challenge!

Make something (anything- I just really like making fun jewelry, but I’d love to see some larger pieces!) with duct tape and tatting, in any way, any how, and show  us what you did!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

You can add a little embellishment to socks that you have knitted or crocheted,

like these ones that I just finished knitting.

Or, you can dress up purchased socks by stitching on purchased or crocheted or tatted

lace.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I tatted super simple flowers onto these socks…. it took 4 attempts to get the sock

edging right.  I found that I liked it best when I cut the self striping yarn into colorways

that made sense for the flowers.

The flowers are rings of 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p,3 ds, p,3 ds, p,3 ds, p,3 ds, p,3 ds, close.  So, I put the flower colors onto the tatting shuttle, and used the green shades as the ch of 7 ds, to make them read as the stems for the flowers.

By cutting the yarn, and paying attention to where the colors were going to be, it made the flowers read much better than when I  just let the yarn come off the ball willynilly.

Don’t be afraid to cut the yarn! Make those stripey bits work for you.

AND…. have fun tatting with sock yarn. Sock yarn is springy and bouncy and tats up just beautifully.   So….. sock yarn is not just for knitting or crocheting! Get out your tatting shuttles and tatta-tat-tat with it!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn