Call me lazy. I've been doing nothing in the needlework department. OK, well, not lazy, so much as outsidewardly-oriented. I've planted a perennial bed of lilac and ornamental grasses; I've walked; and I've started to exercise (a bit). I'm a Renaissance Girl, what can I say?
A friend did tell me about double-sided crochet hooks, and I am hoping to get out and buy them in the near future. I am always game for a new form of torture...er, yarn-based fun. So, I'll post an update when that experiment comes to fruition.
5/26/2006
5/13/2006
Catching Up and Dishing It Out
So much for keeping a journal! Due to a month of kiddie birthdays, I hadn't done much of any stitchery, so nothing to muse about.
We went to PA for a long weekend a few weeks ago. When we were there at Christmas, my mother-in-law had a knitted dishrag that had been given to her, and she seemed to like it (its reappearance on the counter immediately after we'd decontaminated it in the washing machine confirmed this). So, I had decided to make her another and had bought the yarn and a book. Didn't like the book once I got it home (all of the nice-looking ones were knitted, rather than crocheted), so I turned to other projects. Fast forward, and, while packing for the trip, I found a booklet on dishrags in a pile of crochet books in my closet. I'd had it all along. So, into my "in the car" bag went Leisure Arts #2666 "Lots More Wash & Wipes."
I made pattern #12 in the leaflet for my MIL--quick and easy, and it, unfortunately, didn't even manage to kill half of the drive, despite the distractions from the back seat (the kids were strangely interested in the dishrag, and insisted on inspecting the finished product).
I decided that another one might be the ticket for the drive home, so I headed to Michaels and bought another ball of cotton yarn. While there, I considered buying the materials to make a summer poncho. However, I was saved from myself by the fact that I couldn't find both a pattern that I liked AND the yarn to make it. :::whew:::
Anyway, to get to the point of all of this (didn't you realize there would be one?), I made pattern #7 for myself on the way home. It includes a stitch called Cross Stitch, as follows:
"To work Cross St, skip next dc, dc in next dc, working
around dc just made, dc in skipped dc."
There are two figures drawn to show the stitch being done by a right-handed crocheter. Oooooo. Journal fodder! Frankly, I'm glad that I had to figure this one out on my own because I cannot see how the stitch could be accomplished per the drawings--it shows the second stitch being done around the first dc on the crocheter's side of the piece. Frankly, this would require the stitcher to basically stand on her head to accomplish. My wrist certainly doesn't turn upside down. I tried to do it right-handed, as shown in the drawing, simply out of curiosity to see if I was missing the big flick somewhere. Nope. So, I did it behind the post of the first dc. Smugly, I was pleased that my "backwards" left-handed stitches looked just like the drawing, since I'd totally reversed not only the direction of work, but the direction in which the stitch was crossed.
So, what's my point? Even right-handed stitchers get obstacles thrown in their paths sometimes, courtesy of less-than-clear directions, bad drawings, and awkward "made up" stitches. The most important aspect of completing a project is to keep your eye on the big picture--what the finished product is supposed to look like--and then figure out how to reach that "look," using the instructions and photos given, with a healthy dose of your mind's eye thrown in for good measure.
We went to PA for a long weekend a few weeks ago. When we were there at Christmas, my mother-in-law had a knitted dishrag that had been given to her, and she seemed to like it (its reappearance on the counter immediately after we'd decontaminated it in the washing machine confirmed this). So, I had decided to make her another and had bought the yarn and a book. Didn't like the book once I got it home (all of the nice-looking ones were knitted, rather than crocheted), so I turned to other projects. Fast forward, and, while packing for the trip, I found a booklet on dishrags in a pile of crochet books in my closet. I'd had it all along. So, into my "in the car" bag went Leisure Arts #2666 "Lots More Wash & Wipes."
I made pattern #12 in the leaflet for my MIL--quick and easy, and it, unfortunately, didn't even manage to kill half of the drive, despite the distractions from the back seat (the kids were strangely interested in the dishrag, and insisted on inspecting the finished product).
I decided that another one might be the ticket for the drive home, so I headed to Michaels and bought another ball of cotton yarn. While there, I considered buying the materials to make a summer poncho. However, I was saved from myself by the fact that I couldn't find both a pattern that I liked AND the yarn to make it. :::whew:::
Anyway, to get to the point of all of this (didn't you realize there would be one?), I made pattern #7 for myself on the way home. It includes a stitch called Cross Stitch, as follows:
"To work Cross St, skip next dc, dc in next dc, working
around dc just made, dc in skipped dc."
There are two figures drawn to show the stitch being done by a right-handed crocheter. Oooooo. Journal fodder! Frankly, I'm glad that I had to figure this one out on my own because I cannot see how the stitch could be accomplished per the drawings--it shows the second stitch being done around the first dc on the crocheter's side of the piece. Frankly, this would require the stitcher to basically stand on her head to accomplish. My wrist certainly doesn't turn upside down. I tried to do it right-handed, as shown in the drawing, simply out of curiosity to see if I was missing the big flick somewhere. Nope. So, I did it behind the post of the first dc. Smugly, I was pleased that my "backwards" left-handed stitches looked just like the drawing, since I'd totally reversed not only the direction of work, but the direction in which the stitch was crossed.
So, what's my point? Even right-handed stitchers get obstacles thrown in their paths sometimes, courtesy of less-than-clear directions, bad drawings, and awkward "made up" stitches. The most important aspect of completing a project is to keep your eye on the big picture--what the finished product is supposed to look like--and then figure out how to reach that "look," using the instructions and photos given, with a healthy dose of your mind's eye thrown in for good measure.
2/18/2006
A Back-Handed Explanation
In considering what to include in this journal, I've been thinking back to the times when I learned new needlecraft skills. If you do an internet search, you can find a lot of material out there on learning left-handed. However, while the basics are there for us lefties, there's no information on what to actually do when we progress past our first potholder or scarf. You could take a class, but, unless you luck out, you're going to have a right-handed instructor. I remember trying to learn to crochet from my right-handed grandmother--an experience even more exasperating than teaching my right-handed son how to tie his shoes. In the end, many "How To" books and websites advise you to "simply learn right-handed" if you can't figure out how to do it left-handed. Hmmm...I wonder how those right-handed people would like it if their left-handed instructor told them, "Oh, just learn left-handed. It doesn't really matter anyway"?
So, now that my children are old enough to leave me in peace, and the kitten has learned that messing with yarn in motion is not the way to win my heart, I'm going to start reexploring the art of knitting; venture into some more difficult crochet projects (asymetry, here I come!!); and may even get out those tatting supplies that I just had to have NOW NOT LATER--three years ago. As I do, I'll revisit my own learning process, and discuss problems I run up against.
So, now that my children are old enough to leave me in peace, and the kitten has learned that messing with yarn in motion is not the way to win my heart, I'm going to start reexploring the art of knitting; venture into some more difficult crochet projects (asymetry, here I come!!); and may even get out those tatting supplies that I just had to have NOW NOT LATER--three years ago. As I do, I'll revisit my own learning process, and discuss problems I run up against.
Starting Somewhere
Well, you have to, don't you? I've been wondering about the craze of journaling, so I decided that I'd give it a try. I recently started knitting again, and, as a left-handed person, I thought that a journal of my left-handed attempts at various needlecrafts might be an interesting foray. I know that, in the past, it's been an adventure of sorts. Well, at least keeping the yarn away from the cats has been a challenge.
I've been crocheting since 1996 or so. I crochet left-handed. Since my main products tend to be blankets and potholders, this has only ever one caused a problem (a pair of slippers for my son, where I had to reverse the instructions, after swearing like a Sailor didn't fix the mess that had formed). That said, when I taught myself how to knit many moons ago, I learned right-handed. It works for me, and it's a little less confusing. I recently got back into knitting (after a 16-year hiatus), and picked up Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch. So, while I'm still knitting right-handed, I'm exploring various ways of carrying the yarn.
And, for the rest of the run-down:
Cross-stitch/Crewel: Left-handed
Tatting: Left-handed
Let the games begin. :)
I've been crocheting since 1996 or so. I crochet left-handed. Since my main products tend to be blankets and potholders, this has only ever one caused a problem (a pair of slippers for my son, where I had to reverse the instructions, after swearing like a Sailor didn't fix the mess that had formed). That said, when I taught myself how to knit many moons ago, I learned right-handed. It works for me, and it's a little less confusing. I recently got back into knitting (after a 16-year hiatus), and picked up Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch. So, while I'm still knitting right-handed, I'm exploring various ways of carrying the yarn.
And, for the rest of the run-down:
Cross-stitch/Crewel: Left-handed
Tatting: Left-handed
Let the games begin. :)
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