Taking up needlework again?

[ShiroKuro]

I somehow missed this thread when it first started, but I just got done watching @Bernard ’s sewing video. You all are so very talented!

When I was little, an Italian aunt who spoke almost no English taught me to embroider. I loved sitting with her and imitating her stitches while she talked in a seemingly endless stream. We did several flowers and shapes and then did a pretty handkerchief.

Then I almost never did it again. I think it wasn’t the embroidery that interested me so much as it was being with her.

[wtg]

@AndyD That's great. People don't mend socks much these days. They just throw them out.

Did MrsA use a Speedweve?

For those who are not familiar with it:

Link to video

[wtg]

@ShiroKuro said in Taking up needlework again?:

then did a pretty handkerchief.

My mom and my grandmother used to embroider handkerchiefs and/or crochet a border on them. Ditto for pillowcases.

This cotton pillowcase is soooo soft from years of being washed.

I have stacks of linens stashed away that I'm going through and finding homes for. I'll keep a few items but it's time to let go of many of them. Still trying to figure out what to do with the linen table cloths and matching napkins that my mom embroidered. We don't entertain in that fashion anymore. Hell, we don't entertain anymore! The eBay and Etsy markets are flooded with this kind of stuff, but I'll still see if I can find a good home for them.

[AndyD]

Did MrsA use a Speedweve?

I watched, thought it about time I learnt. She sewed around the holes to reinforce the wool, then sewed across.
Luckily the largest hole was only the size of your little finger nail.

[Bernard]

@wtg Your slipper socks look terrific! I make similar ones in knitting using rug wool.

Your aunt's crocheted edgings are beautiful. One of my aunts use to make tatted edgings for her handkerchiefs. I can still picture her with the oblong shuttle (she didn't do the needle type of tatting).

I have never seen Speedweve! Cool!

[Mary Anna]

I'm thinking about starting a crocheting project over the winter break. My oldest grandson, Stud Muffin, will graduate from high school in a year and a half, which gives me hope that I could finish an afghan in time for his graduation. I was kinda thinking about this pattern, which looks like cat faces when you study the stitch, but just looks like an afghan from a distance. He likes cats, but this pattern looks less childish than some, and it doesn't look hard. What say ye, fellow crocheters?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/725544588/row-of-cats-kittens-afghan-crochet?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_all&utm_custom1=_k_EAIaIQobChMIkIDfuZCSigMVqkd_AB1_vyQKEAQYAiABEgKA2fD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_21500569332_164907277083_707558291651_pla-293946777986_c__725544588_101943559&utm_custom2=21500569332&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkIDfuZCSigMVqkd_AB1_vyQKEAQYAiABEgKA2fD_BwE

[wtg]

@Mary-Anna Sweet! I’ve never seen that particular stitch before but it seems to be popular. I think this scarf uses the same stitch.

https://loopsandramblings.blogspot.com/2012/02/kittens-in-row-scarf.html

Maybe the scarf would be a good way to see how difficult the stitch is to do, and to get a sample you can see in real life before you get rolling on a bigger version.

[Mary Anna]

@wtg That's a good idea!! Thank you!

[wtg]

I had a chance to look at the scarf pattern more closely and from quick perusal it seems to be reasonably well-written. Sometimes they are really sketchy and unless you are a very experienced crocheter, it can be hard to figure out what the author was trying to describe!

I don't think the stitch is too hard to master, but I don't know your skill level; the project is rated Easy to Intermediate.

I like the explanation in the pattern about carrying forward the color, which means you don't have a lot of ends to deal with when you're finished.

I was looking around for other things you could make in that stitch ("kittens in a row" seems to be the descriptor), and came across this completely different afghan done in Tunisian stitches. I thought it was really cute:

https://knitterknotter.com/free-tunisian-crochet-blanket-pattern-kittens/

[Mary Anna]

I've never done Tunisian crochet, but it doesn't look too hard and it might be fun to do something different.

I'm a reasonably experienced crocheter, in that I'm comfortable with all the standard stitches and can follow a pattern to make the fancy ones. I haven't done much that has to be fitted, though. I've been more of a blanket-and-scarf crocheter, but I can make fairly intricate patterns for those. The cat pattern I posted looks very straightforward at whatever level I am. I think that the Tunisian one would be straightforward once I learned the stitch.

The main thing about the one I posted is that I think it mainly just shows you how to make the cat stitch. The more challenging thing will be to decide the dimensions and do a test row to decide the size of hook and the type/thickness of yarn. Until I know those things, I won't know how much yarn to buy.

In other words, I'm going to have to first turn my art project into an engineering problem. lol

[wtg]

@Mary-Anna Like you, I'm a reasonably experienced crocheter when it comes to blankets and scarves. I tried a Tunisian crochet project years ago and it was very easy to pick up. From what you described about your experience level, you would have no problem.

In other words, I'm going to have to first turn my art project into an engineering problem. lol

Is there any other way?

[AdagioM]

Welcome to my design world @wtg and @Mary-Anna !

I love that Tunisian crochet version, very elegant.

[wtg]

@Bernard said in Taking up needlework again?:

Your slipper socks look terrific! I make similar ones in knitting using rug wool.

I thought these were cute. They're crocheted. And felted. I downloaded the pattern so I could see how they're worked. Seems pretty straightforward.

https://hobbii.com/product-patterns/hobbii-design/felted-slippers-crochet

I've never tried felting. Have you done it? Is it as easy as that pattern makes it look?

[ShiroKuro]

@wtg those are very pretty!!

[Bernard]

@wtg Those look warm and comfy! No, I've never done felting because it seems so hit or miss. First the object needs to made oversized (how much?), then it shrinks in the wash (how much?). If I'm going to spend a bit of time making something I want to know it's going to fit, not 'maybe' fit.

[AdagioM]

I used to do a lot of felting (or fulling). Mostly bags, because they don’t have to fit! But I did do slippers once. You have to check them early and often, so you don’t go too far. I have a top loading machine, so that made it easier.

[Mary Anna]

Those felted slippers are to die for! But the process does look a little terrifying. I also really like the ones wtg posted. They look like they fit like a glove. (Only you don't have to make the fingers!)

I missed sk's grandmother's work before. Wow! I love all of those. I have some dresser scarves my grandmother made a very long time ago. (She died in 1939.) One of them has the roses made of standing crochet stitches (my mother called that Irish crochet), very much like the work sk's grandmother did. The others are embroidered with crocheted edging. There's a woman named Poppy Lu who upcycles old needlework into clothing and posts the process on TikTok and other video sites.Those felted slippers are to die for! I also really like the ones wtg posted. They look like they fit like a glove. (Only you don't have to make the fingers!

I missed sk's grandmother's work before. Wow! I love all of those. I have some dresser scarves my grandmother made a very long time ago. (She died in 1939.) One of them has the roses made of standing crochet stitches (my mother called that Irish crochet), very much like the work sk's grandmother did. The others are embroidered with crocheted edging. There's a woman named Poppy Lu who upcycles old needlework into clothing and posts the process on TikTok and other video sites: https://www.tiktok.com/@poppyluclothing

[Mary Anna]

Muffin and I went to the yarn store this weekend and I got yarn for the first few rows of the cat afghan, so that I could do the pilot test for the engineering part of the project. (It will be a many-colored thing and also they had plenty of the black and gray yarn from the same dye lots, so I'm not worried about matching.)

I'm almost finished with the fifth row, which gives me two "starter" rows and one three-row-deep band of cat faces. I'm happy with the size of the cats, and I think it will work up very nicely. I might make them a little smaller--finer yarn, smaller hook--for a small project like a scarf, since it would make the cat faces crisper, but I don't want to spend fifty years on it. Stud Muffin graduates in a year and a half!

I did the first two rows where you're basically just getting things started, then I did the next three-row band in black, which comprises the first band of cat faces. Now that I can see how much yarn it takes to do a row, I'll go back and get yarn in several other "cat colors." I hope I can find a sort of heathered golden brown and a similar gray, so that I can get a tabby effect. I have the black and gray. I'll get a different shade of gray and two shades of solid brown. (There are white cats in the world, but there doesn't need to be any white in a blanket used by a teenager.) So I'll have at least seven bands of cats before I have to repeat, and I think I'll have to repeat seven times. (I'm less sure about that last factor.)

The picture shows tassles and no border. I think the tassles will just get messed up, and I think a border, probably black, will make it stand up to hard use better.

I'm excited. I love starting a new project!

[wtg]

I'm on a slipper kick...check out these felted birkenslippers.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/birkenslippers

I'd like to try out the Happy Sheep yarn that's used in those pink felted slippers I posted earlier. Of course I'm drawn to the variegated full price colors.

But before I place an order, I'll go down to the basement and refresh my memory regarding how big my stash is already...

[AdagioM]

@wtg Just remember that you want wool, non-superwash wool, if you want your project to felt!