I am weaving it on my Saori loom, and am taking a very Saori approach to the placemat weaving.

What’s Saori?

It’s a soulful, contemplative  approach to weaving that is all about being experimental and open minded.

I’m hoping to get 8 placemats from the warp that’s on the loom, and am planning on doing lots of playful things with them.

My plan is to have each placemat be clearly part of a group, but to be unique.

Kinda like the family!

That way, everyone can choose the placemat that they want to use for that particular supper.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Today, I used a couple of fun techniques:

Inlay and tambour chaining.

To work inlay, open a shed, pass the weft strands through, beat, then lay in a contrasting thread or yarn, close, change sheds, beat.

Repeat until you have the shape that you want with the inlaid yarn.

I used green embroidery floss for this inlaid square.

The green embroidery floss isn’t thick enough to show up

particularly well, so thicker yarn is a good idea.

To do the tambour stitching, pass the contrasting yarn  to the back.  Hold it underneath the weaving with your non-dominant hand.

With a crochet hook, push through the fabric, pull up a loop of the contrasting yarn.

Repeat, and pull the next loop of yarn through the first loop on the hook- and keep on chaining!

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

This little inlaid square shows up better, as it is thicker than the green embroidery floss.

The combination of inlay and tambour chain stitching is simple, but quite effective.

You don’t have to combine them – they work well on their own, too.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Hmmm…. I wonder what I’ll do with this warp tomorrow?

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Lately, I have taken to adding a touch of whimsy to my sock knitting.

photo and project by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Now, I add tatted flowers to the top edges of my handknitted sockies.

I posted the pattern for tatted sock toppers a few weeks back:

Tatted Flower pattern

For awhile now, several of my friends have been asking me to please make a video about tatting.

I was kind of chicken to do that, because I hold my hands in an unconventional way in tatting.

I figured I would take flak about it.

I mentioned this on the Ravelry group: Tatta-Tat-Tatters .

One of the members is  a very experienced tatter who is very generous in her advice and mentorship.

She said: “Oh, don’t worry about people fussing about oddball ways of holding your hands when you tat!

People need to see lots of different ways of tatting. Just go for it. ”

I respect her a lot, and so I decided, alrighty!

I would go ahead and make a video about how I tat flowers onto socks.

I did the video.

And discovered, much to my chagrin, that I had made a video that was 10 minutes and 26 seconds long.

Ack! YouTube refuses to upload anything that is ONE second over 10 minutes. erk.

And, my Flip video allows you to trim the beginning or the end of the video… not the blatherie bits in the middle.

So….. I had to knit the second sock before I could make the video over again.

I sure wasn’t going to cut the tatting off to make the video over.

Needing the second sock to be done got me over ’second sockitis’ pretty quickly!

Alright! Take Two:

This time, I kept my beady little eye on the clock, which did make for a couple of fumbles,oh well…

BUT- YAY!  I got the video done in under 10 minutes.

I hope that it helps show how I tat fleurs on sockies…. and will help you tat ‘em, too, if you want to!

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You can use it to join virtually any kind of fabric: Knitted, crocheted,

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

woven, felted, whatever….

I have received a lot of requests from people, asking me to make a video of how the baseball stitch is done. I decided that the time had come to finally make the video tute.

Yesterday, I was alone in the studio, so didn’t have a willing extra pair of hands to hold the camera while I stitched away.

I decided that I needed a stand to hold the camera, so I went looking around the studio to see what I could put together to make a stand.

LOL! This is why it takes me forever to do some blog postings…. before I can do the post, I have to build a rig and make a this, that and ‘t’other….

For the base, I used this neat old black metal thing that I had found in the barn. I think it must have been part of a light. I dunno.

I had a piece of threaded rod, so I dug around until I found nuts and washers that fit it, and secured it to the base. Then, I took an embroidery frame and stuck it on the threaded rod.

Finding one more nut to secure it to the rod was a challenge, as the rod seems to be an odd size. And, then, I clamped on a nifty camera holder that my son loaned me.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Voila! 3 hours of searching and tinkering and

I had cobbled a rig to hold the little Flip video camera.

I then played around with making a background to shoot the video against…

listing off my links…

and it printed off on 2 pages, sliced in the middle, instead of one… sigh…

fixed that…

and set up everything in a corner of the studio.

Yay!

I started the camera and got half way through the tutorial….

and …. sigh…..

the camera quit.

Dead batteries….

Dealt with that, and started again…… by this time, the day had melted away, so I thought… ONE shot. That’s it. ONE attempt.

So, even though it’s far from perfect, I did make it through without the cat jumping into the middle of it and the dog barking his head off or the phone ringing. whew.

Now that I have a workable system for making solo video tutorials, I’ll be making more of them.

Here we go , for starters: Here is the tutorial on How to do the Baseball or V stitch: I used 2 squares that I had woven on the potholder loom, but you can join any kind of fabric that you have created, in any medium, using the Baseball stitch.

copyright, all rights reserved.

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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 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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Part 1- upcycling a bag of funky mystery thread

So, I got out some of the tatting shuttles that I love to carve and filled them up with multiple strands of the threads:

Part 2 – Choosing colors and loading tatting shuttles

Now, some folks might say that this is NOT really tatting… but it is!

Really!

Part 3- The Josephine Knot worked over the bracelet

Changing colors might seem tricky, but it’s not….

Part 4 – Color changes

And, one bracelet was good, so 2 were even better! Besides, now, I can multitask with them!

Wear them as bracelets, then whip them off and make a magic market bag- INSTANTLY!

Part 5- How to turn bangle bracelets into an oh so Green, eco friendly market bag

No animals were harmed in the making of these bracelets.

She did, however, supervise the whole process VERY closely.

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

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This is a rather unique approach to tatting…. there are no lacy bits, no loops, picots, chains, just plain Josephine Knots over a simple flat wooden bracelet with upcycled funky thread.

(Feel free to do this with gorgeous thread! It will be – well….. gorgeous!)

Now…..

What if you want to change colors?

Easy peasy….

1 choice is to cut the first color, leaving a few inches to spare.

Just pick up the next color, and hold the thread end from it together with the last  thread end, and carry on as if you were in your right mind.

When you make the first pass with the second color, make an ‘e’ with the thread to encourage the thread to tighten up.

Squish the threads really close together.

Sometimes, let the threads at the inside of the bracelet lay on top of the previous one to make them fan out a little and get maximum coverage.

Continue to add more colors, working with just one tatting shuttle at a time

OR

With all your shuttles all at once.  Don’t cut the threads, just carry them along the outside edge, and tat over the non – working threads.

As you decide that you’ve done with one color, snip it and work over the ends to hide them. When the bracelet is done,  snip the last colors, thread the ends into a sewing needle and take the ends inside all the wraps.

Voila! an upcycled thread tatted bracelet!

Ahem. I know I shouldn’t…. but I just couldn’t resist:

Always, Mum, you take the silly pictures of me…..

this will cost you in tuna.

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

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I didn’t tie the thread to the bracelet (by the way, this would work on any bangle bracelet).

I just took the thread through, and pinched it to the bracelet with my left thumb.

Then, I started making Josephine knots over the bracelet. What’s a Josephine knot?

Basically, it’s the blanket stitch.

∞The tatting shuttle goes through the bracelet, from the front to the back, and a loop of thread goes over your left index finger.

The shuttle comes up through the loop and then is pulled tight. ∞

The thread ends are carried along for awhile and eventually snipped off.

Repeat from ∞ to ∞

until you want to change colors……

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

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Not primo for sewing… so what to do, what to do….

Hmmmm…. good for spinning… yes! Will set some aside to use when spinning ‘designer yarn’.

Wait a minute…. this is T H R E A D, right?

T H R E A D !

Thread = tatting……yessssssssssssssssssssss………..

And, then I HAD it!

I decided I would  finally get around to finishing some wooden bracelets that I made last summer.

My plan was, cut out plain wooden circle bracelets and crochet yarn around them.

Good plan…. but – I have a BETTER one!

I will use the mystery thread and tat it around the bracelets! Yes!

I picked out a group of colors that I thought would work together….

Then,  I grabbed one of the bracelets, and a spool knitter,  and some bamboo skewers. (Every studio should have chopsticks and bamboo skewers!)

I slid a bamboo skewer through each of the spools of thread and put them on top of the spool knitter to separate them. You could stick the ends through a shoe box to achieve the same result, but this was easier for me.

And, then, I started winding thread onto tatting shuttles

To wind thread onto a shuttle that is closed at the top like these Great Mother ones, or a traditional netting style shuttle, you loop the thread over your index finger and slip it over the head. Flip the shuttle and repeat.

I had to put the shuttle down to take the picture, but you don’t do that when you are filling the shuttle.

I decided to leave the pink out, so just filled 4 tatting shuttles with thread: Royal blue, tan, silver/pale blue, and dark brown.

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

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