DFW Fiber Fest Coming Up Soon
The DFW Fiber Fest begins this coming Friday, in Addison, Texas (near Dallas). The market promises to be very good, and the workshops, too. I’m looking forward to both. The Fashion Show on Friday night should be fun. I’m still trying to decide what to show.
I have been gathering class samples and putting finishing touches on my handouts. This little sample turned out great. It’s a cable done in intarsia for my intarsia workshop. Here’s my class schedule. You can probably still sign up if you are going to be near Dallas at the time:
- Friday morning, April 28: Crochet Flowers and Leaves
- Saturday afternoon, April 29: Polymer Clay Button-Making
- Sunday morning, April 30: Intarsia from Beginning to End
Color changes on the cable-turning row are a challenge, but worth it, I think. Still, I wouldn’t want to do this sort of work if I had to do cable turns every other row. But I know better than to say “never.” Sometimes you just have to do the work to get the look you want. Can you tell I like to dip into my yarn collection?
In other workshop news, there’s still time to sign up for workshops at the Iwannaknit ReTreat, June 2-4, in Indiana. This is a relaxing and creative event for hand- and hobby machine-knitters. There’s plenty of time to shop at Lea-Ann McGregor’s shop, Knitting Today.
Button Class was Fun
Today was perfect for a button class outside at Joy’s Fabrics, which is in the shaded alcove of a shopping center. Seventeen ladies arrived around 10 o’clock, and we started by making pretend-lapis buttons. They are ultramarine blue with flecks of gold. Tiny amounts of white and translucent make them look startlingly natural. They are very easy to make. The secret to success is to grate the clay.
Our second project was a swirl button, my favorite button to teach. For one thing, the style is easy to make and most people are extremely pleased with the results. Participants pick two or three main colors, and one accent color for their buttons. One lady commented, “You can almost guess whose buttons are whose, looking at the clothes they are wearing.”
But people often pick colors I would never think to put together. Among others, I loved Sandy’s denim blue, orange, white and sparkle-clay. Another lady used green with the orange, white, and sparkle, which had a completely different and pleasing look.
When I see them swirled together and made into buttons, I am pleasantly surprised at how good they look together. The people who take my workshops help me look at color from a different perspective.
While we waited for the last batches of buttons to bake, we walked a couple of doors down the way, to Just Burgers, and ordered lunch. The burgers were just like homemade, with thick meat patties and fresh vegetables. Joy tempted us with a cake that her mother won at a cake walk. What a good way to wind up the class.
The group, called the Busy Bees, usually meets the third Saturday of each month at Joy’s Fabrics (Washington Street, across from HEB, in Stephenville, TX), 10 a.m. to noon. Most meetings have a show and share, and a certain project that the group discusses. Making purses will be the topic for the next couple of meetings. The Busy Bees don’t collect dues, but people often bring treats to share at meetings.
Yellow Samples
Here are some of the samples for my article about yellow, which will show yellow knitted into several different color combinations. The samples are pinned out and ready for blocking. They double as my Project Spectrum project for April.
Yes, I know. They are wrong side up. I cackle gleefully, rub my hands together, and say, “If you want to see from the right side, you’ll just have to buy the next issue of INKnitters.” A pretty strong incentive, don’t you think?
Hmmm…some of these look pretty good from the wrong side.
INKnitters magazine ceased publication before my article about yellow was published. I posted it here on the blog, in four parts.
Retro Project Spectrum
Yellow is on my mind these days, because Project Spectrum’s April colors are yellow and orange, and also because I’ve been working on an article about yellow for INKnitters off and on for months.
In the Project Spectrum spirit, I want to show you some yellow projects from my long needlework history. How long? I started knitting almost forty years ago. Yes, I do have a three-year-old daughter. Go figure.
Two little jumpers I designed for toddler girls were on the cover of Country Handcrafts in the Summer of 1994. My mom knitted the yellow one, and I did the blue one. The stitch pattern is “Mock Pleat,” probably from one of Barbara G. Walker’s knitting pattern treasuries. I’ll see if I can find the original magazine cover and post it here later.
For some reason related to our last move nearly three years ago, the yellow jumper was out on a pile of clothes I needed to put in storage. Then Ella, the three-year-old daughter I mentioned earlier, found it. She put it on. She loved it. It is too short to be a dress for her, but it makes the cutest top ever!
She wears it whenever it’s clean, with leggings or shorts. Very cute! And when it’s dirty, I pop it in the washer and dryer, because it is knitted of Red Heart acrylic. Great stuff. The article was “Sunny Knit Jumpers,” Country Handcrafts, pp. 6 ff., Summer 1994.
A beautiful magazine called American Handcrafts was published for a few years in the late 1970s. This top, embroidered in shades of blue, was on the cover of one issue. I loved it and made the blue version for my mom. I made the orange and yellow version for myself.
The designer planned the embroidery design to fit on the pieces of a blouse from a commercial sewing pattern available to sewists at the time. The embroidery was done first, and then the pieces sewn into a blouse. I still have the mag, so will post the designer’s name whenever I find it. (All my old magazines are stored away.)
Mom and Daughters Making Buttons
I have a button-making class coming up on April 22 (Joy’s Fabrics, across from HEB in Stephenville, TX, 10:00 to 12 noon). To get in the spirit, we broke out the polymer clay today. I made a ton of buttons. Eva and Ella joined me at the table, creating objects of their own.
My beginning button classes always include the fabulous swirl button. You twist and turn the clay, roll it into a sausage shape, cut it up, roll it into little balls, and smash the balls of clay under your thumb. Make a depression in the center of the button, stir up some holes for sewing, bake, and voila! Buttons you can use!
I love swirl buttons because you can easily match the colors of a sewing or knitting project, and they are easy to make. You can also use up scraps to make this style. I used bits and pieces left over from polymer clay demonstrations and other projects to make these.
The last time we played polymer was almost two years ago. At the time, I made a beige piece with fuchsia jellyroll slices on it. I had a project in mind, but never was able to finish it. So today I added a top layer of translucent clay coated with gold-colored leaf. When you roll it very thin, the gold leaf cracks. The translucent clay becomes more transparent after baking. The effect is rich because of the gold, and muted because of the thin layer of translucent. You can see the jellyroll slices on the buttons.
What will I do with all these buttons? Well, whenever I get my online store up and running, I will probably sell them. But in the meantime–why do you think I had to start making wall hangings? To sew to my many buttons!
Here’s what the girls made. Three-year-old Ella made “Wallace” (the blue thing), a pendant, and her first button. Hurray, Ella! Ten-year-old Eva made a fish, a tiny container, and, of course, buttons! She’s a veteran button-maker.
Polymer buttons are machine-washable and dryable. Yes, it’s true! They are very durable.
Past Glories
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Every now and then my past comes back and surprises me! I designed many patterns for knitting and crochet magazines in the first part of the 1990s. So today, I’m looking through Herrchner’s Yarn Shoppe catalog, enjoying the yarn bounty that we could only dream of in the 90s. I flip the next page, and there is a pretty pineapple pattern crochet top in cotton, with the pattern showing up beautifully against the black dress the model wears underneath.
I designed it!
It first appeared in Crochet Digest’s Autumn 1997 issue (“Pineapple Lace Top,” pp. 6 ff.). I believe that my mother crocheted the top according to my instructions. Really, that is the best way for me to design, because it forces me to write the pattern first, instead of relying on notes that aren’t as thorough as I thought at first. The top looks as good now as it did then.
My pineapple top is part of a collection of pineapple pattern items in a book. Here’s a link that shows the front and back cover. I think I’ll order it and relive my glory days.
Back Again with Something Finished
I finished something, finally. Eva’s yellow vest, which doubles as a sample for my next INKnitters article, is done! I darned in the last few ends and sewed on the buttons during a pleasant visit to the Coffee Studio, with Ella and my mom. Now I need to organize my thoughts for the article, and figure out how many more yellow samples to make.
Last week was completely lost on me and Ella. We were sick in bed with fever and other uncomfortable symptoms. When I took Eva to school on Monday, I looked around and saw a world of green! The fields and the trees burst into life in a few short days (well, short for them, but long for suffering invalids).
In spite of our dry months last year, a few wildflowers are blooming. My girls picked these for me. These are mostly different kinds of paintbrushes, with a winecup and a few other little flowers. I love spring.
INKnitters Out at Last
The long-awaited winter issue of INKnitters is finally on the newsstand. Subscription copies should arrive any day now. I am extremely pleased with the article I wrote for this issue. It is called “Handmade and Altered Books for Knitters.” It follows in the wake of the enormous scrapbooking trend, and all of the interest it spawned in bookish crafts, old or new.
My idea was this: “What about scrapbooking, making books, and altering books, with a knitting theme?” I got busy working on samples for the article. It took me a long time to make the samples and write the article, but the result is worth it! The samples are very different from everything else I do. It’s good to explore new craft territory every now and then.
My friend, Jane Hurwitz, made a book for the article as well. When we met in the late 1990s, we were pleased to find out that we both enjoyed knitting. She started spinning sooner than I did, but I got there eventually. We hadn’t seen each other in several years when we talked on the phone early in 2005. It turns out she has been making books by hand! What perfect timing.
You can see all the pages of her book here. But do read the article, because it tells more about her book and the others. I would welcome your comments and observations on the article and any other article I write.
One altered book I started, but didn’t get very far on, is called I Love Pink It is a collection of all kinds of pink stuff, mostly made or drawn or photographed by me, plus pink trivia. The cover is above. My daughter, Eva, designed and colored the inside cover, here. I have a lot of work left to do on it, so it is my March Project Spectrum project.
These are a few of the pink-related photos for the book: the old dairy barn in the sunrise, pink Texas wildflowers, my pink projects. Why do some of them have zig-zaggy edges? Because I used pinking shears. That is so clever. This book will leave no pink stone unturned.
Updated 2022 to replace a link that didn’t work anymore. You may be able to find copies of INKnitters on Ebay.
Textile Windfall
There are advantages to being known as textile lovers. Eva, Ella, and I reaped the benefits yesterday. My Aunt Mary used to sew a lot, but she can’t see to sew anymore. She gave us a bag of fabric, appliques, felt pieces, and trims. Eva loved a paisley print, which is destined to become a skirt for her. Aunt Mary knows we appreciate it, and will use it. Thank you notes are on the way!
Sometimes friends of friends of friends of friends find us, too. Former students of my Mom’s teacher friend offered her a box of trims and fabric from their mother’s estate. The lady sewed, but the children didn’t. Their teacher said, “I can’t use it, but I know someone who will.” The box has been making its way to us for several months, and it is finally here.
We felt like treasure hunters as we pulled out borders and trims, one after the other. I love all the crochet, but the rick rack and crochet trim is my favorite. I’ve seen the combination of crochet with rick rack and other trims in reprints of old crochet books, so it’s been around for a while.
Several of the trims look like they’ve been removed from some other piece, and saved for another use.
We are grateful to those who take the time to pass these wonderful things to someone who will love them.
The sewing lady had wonderful taste in trims–our minds are spinning with possibilities!
Crochet, Crochet, Crochet
It’s crochet city up here around Washington DC. Ladies are wearing fine thread crochet tops. Some are worn over solid color tops. Some are lined. Our group ate supper in malls the last two nights, and we saw those cute crochet tops in lots of shop windows.
Crochet is all over accessories, too. Claire’s Accessories, the best girl store I know, had thread crochet-covered headbands and journal covers. Individual crochet flowers crop up as decoration on all kinds of stuff. Handbags are either crocheted or have lots of crochet in the construction or trim. And we saw lots of crochet shawls and ponchos.
Then there was the skirt in pinapple-pattern crochet, lined with white. Eva thought it looked great. “I made one like that, years ago,” I said. How many years ago? About 25. It was originally lined in white, but now in green, which is Eva’s favorite color. I promised to find it for her. Check back, because I’ll post a photo of it.
Guess I can also haul out the pretty pineapple-crochet shawl I made about the same time as the skirt, and I’ll be on the cutting edge of fashion.
We have a couple of hours at the Smithsonian Museums tomorrow, and we’ve tentatively agreed to see the First Ladies’ Inaugural Ball Gowns. Can’t wait!
March 20, 2006: Here are the pics of the crochet skirt. Couldn’t resist including our wisteria in one of the shots. My memory was pretty good about when I made the skirt. It was in a show called “Tying the Knot,” a show of wedding clothes and accessories at Hill Country Weavers, Austin, Texas, in 1982.