…compilation of tutorials
I found another program again to make beautiful things with: Knotsbag.
I’m not so far yet because I haven’t learned so much yet. I have to continue practising until I also can make so beautiful knots :)
Links:
Knotsbag, a Knotwork Design Software (so stunning! ;-))
Here at unikatissima: Entries with the subject ‘digital’
Not long ago I found great Makrame tutorials, e.g. a tutorial on how to makrame a basket.
Sigh. When I find the time ;-)
Links:
How to Macrame a Basket
As I said before, I mostly knit/crochet with the yarn end that sits in the skein to prevent the skein to roll all over.
Sometimes I must roll my yarn ball myself and I found that the tutorial on how to make my own center pull yarn ball is really a help.
It works great!
Links:
Center Pull Yarn Ball
Here at unikatissima:
Detangling Yarns
I found a great tutorial for a beaded macramé bracelet with a very interesting closure technique.
I’m not sure if I am patient enough for this bracelet, but I know that I must try it as soon as I find the time!
Links:
Beaded Macramé Bracelet
I continued to play around with the Crazy Daisies. It is so much fun and I’m working on a Crazy Daisy Scarf. On the photo you see my scarf.
One thing I found out is that I love the little flowers much more without any edging. Therefore I’m joining them while working.
I’m measuring the yarn and wind the daisy. In doing so I’m pulling the thread immediately through the loops of the previous daisies using a blunt tapestry needle.
It takes a little longer, but this way I don’t have to assemble later and avoid the problem of hiding the ends.
The other thing I played around with is another cardboard loom. In my first Crazy Daisy entry I used a cardboard version of the ice-cream-lid-loom.
Later I found other daisy looms and created my cardboard version of it. It works very well.
My cardboard loom consists of 2 cardboard disks. I taped them together and put 12 pins between both disks. I can then wind a daisy and when finished I pull the pins out. For the next daisy I put the pins back in my cardboard loom.
Note: I found out, that the disks must be very tightly taped, otherwise the pins fall out.
I always use the same pin holes and this way the tape won’t be damaged. I used my well taped cardboard loom over and over and don’t have any problems with the pins.
This way I can make my loom on the spur of the moment in the shape and size I need at the moment. I also tried a square one and the square daisies looked also nice.
Links:
unikatissima’s Crazy Daisies
At the website of Knitting-and.com where I found the Crazy Daisies I also found the Butterfly Loom.
As always I didn’t want to buy something without knowing if I will use it ever again and cut my butterfly loom in different sizes from cardboard as you can see on the photo.
It worked out very well, but although I’m always coming back to different kinds of weave I think I’d never be patient enough to actually create something with this technique. It’s a pity.
;-)
Links:
Knitting-and.com: Butterfly Loom
via Knitting-and.com at The Butterfly Loom:
Patterns for the Butterfly Loom
Joining Butterfly Loom Motifs
You can also find a description, faq’s and a gallery of items made with their Butterfly Loom
Here at unikatissima:
Crazy Daisies
I mentioned previously crocheted buttons, beaded beads, paper beads and fabric beads.
Another way to make your own buttons and/or beads is knotting fabric.
On the photo you see my first attempt on this technique: I admit that I still have to work on it ;-))
It is tiny (about 0,5 cm / 0.2 inches) and was made from a very light fabric that frayed heavily. I thought that this could look interesting, instead it looks unfinished.
Back to the drawing board ;-)
Links:
Knotted Fabric Buttons and Beads
At unikatissima’s:
Crocheted buttons
Beaded beads
Paper beads
Fabric beads
I have a lot of yarn and thread rests, some of them quite short and I had no idea, what to do with them (except Freeform needlework as a matter of course ;-)).
And then one day I found an article about the ‘Magic ball’ an article about the ‘Magic ball’ and decided that this is it ;-)
In the bottom line it’s nothing else then taking your short threads and knotting them together (with a weaver’s knot e.g.) to get a long enough thread to knit or crochet or what ever you want to do.
On the photo you see three tests I did: On the item above I simply knotted different strings into a long thread and crocheted. It were quite short strings.
For the item below left I took two skeins of yarn, one green and one rose. I knitted with two threads and knotted them so, that I began working with 2 greens, then a green and a rose, then 2 rose, a green and a rose again and back to 2 greens. That way I got a kind of blend between the two colours.
The item below right is made in the same way, but with one light green and one dark green.
I’m sure that I will get back to this technique again.
Links:
Make your own magic using knotted yarn leftovers: the link isn’t available no more.
At unikatissima’s:
Freeform Needlework
Weaver’s Knot
While searching for something else I found a lot of instructions and tips about Crazy Daisies and had to try them immediately ;-)
As you can see on the photo, my attempt on winding daisies on my own daisy loom worked out very well.
I cut the loom (the purple item on the photo) from thick cardboard. I think that the ice cream lid loom is better, because plastic won’t loose its shape so easily, but for just a couple flowers cardboard is fine.
At my first flowers I just made a very simple backstich center, but even so I find those little flowers stunning ;-)
The dark red flower is a daisy with an open center, but I made it in a different way: I didn’t wind the thread to the other side of my selfmade cardboard loom but to another notch (always the fourth notch in place of the sixth, I think. I didn’t write it down, because I don’t like it so much).
I’m planning to make something like the shrug with a lot of flowers and a simple crochet edging.
Eventually. ;-)
Links:
(all in English, but with explaining pictures and photos)
Instructions and tips about Crazy Daisies
For example:
Round ice cream lid daisy loom
Instructions on how to wind daisies
How to make a backstich center daisy
How to make a open center daisy
Simple crochet edging
Stole, Shrug, Handbag and Three Different Shapes on the Crazy Daisy Winder (from 1945)
The original title of this tutorial is ‘Knitting from both ends without going mad’ which is very to the point ;-)
I mostly work with the yarn end that sits in the skein to prevent the skein to roll all over, but then often the yarn entangles so much, that I nearly can’t work anymore.
This tutorial was really a relief ;-)
Links:
Knitting from both ends without going mad (with explaining photos)