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The creator of this HOWTO for making wigs out of yarn describes it as a project to all that cheap, bright acrylic yarn one finds in craft shops
. It looks like it'd be a great autumn hat, too.
Hallowig — Knitty (via Boingboing)
Whip Up's got a cool collection of tutorials on how to make your own knitting needles, even circular ones
make your own knitting needles: dowel, fimo and pencil sharpener! — Whip Up (via MAKE: Blog)
This month's sweltering temperatures haven't stopped Jeanette Renck from snuggling up in her Samoyed scarf.
And if her full-length matching coat, hand-knitted from 52 ounces of her beloved dog's hair, wasn't on display at the Orange County Fair, she would probably be wearing the ensemble regularly at home.
Dog-hair coat fetches top prize — The Orange County Register
2006 Designer Yarn of the Year Award
The results of the popular vote for this year's award are:
The winners and a selection of other entries will be available for groups to borrow and examine for one month. Phone the Guild to reserve a month. We mail it to you and you mail it to the next group on the list.
2006 International Back to Back Wool Challenge Results
Perpetual Trophies
Scottish Wool Centre, Aberfoyle, Scotland: For the winning team world wide: Hitsujikouboh Masako, Chibaken
City of Geelong, Victoria: For the winning Australian team: Spinning Knitwits, Paterson NSW
Shipway Trophy, Merriwa: For the winning New South Wales, Australia, team: Spinning Knitwits, Paterson, NSW
Canadian Cooperative Wool Growers Ltd Trophy: For the winning Canadian team: Toronto Spiders, Toronto, Ontario
Michell Australia Trophy, Adelaide: For the winning South Australian team: Gumeracha Gumknutters, Mt. Barker, SA
Brigadoon Trophy, Merriwa, NSW: The team with the greatest donation to charity: To be announced
World Record Merriwa Jumbucks, NSW, Australia $15,000 in 2004
Our Guild gives prize money to the RAS for excellence in felting, spinning and weaving. The following entries won the Guild awards this year:
Visitors to the Quilt and Craft Fair delighted in the Knitters Guild's stand.
Participants of a seminar at the Narrabeen Tram Shed decided to form the guild twenty years ago. They were well organised by Margot Chick, an active member of the Embroiderers Guild.
The Knitters have gone on from strength to strength as demonstrated by the imagination displayed at their 20th anniversary exhibition at Darling Harbour. It seems that anything can be knitted - from a paddock of sheep to a plate of cup cakes.
Learn how to sew conductive thread onto fabric to create soft circuits
with this detailed tutorial.
Attempts to imagine an alternate way of building circuits using fabric and thread and replacing the soldering iron with a needle. The results are washable, flexible, light and soft circuits. Possibilities endless (kind of). These circuits rely heavily on the use of conductive thread, you should consider the type of application and signal you need to transmit before trying to build anything out of thread.
Soft Circuits — electroniccrafts.org (via MAKE: Blog)
Here's a great way to reuse those plastic bottle caps from soda or water botttles — create a bottlecap pincushion. Perfect for when you have small projects and need to take those trusty pins on the road. There are lots of pictures for the step-by-step on verybigjen's flickr.
Bottlecap pincushions HOW-TO — verybigjen (via MAKE: Blog)
This is idiot cord, as in any idiot can do it. Geraldine McCulloch had a splendid example on her magic square vest that she wore to the May meeting.
Instructions, as in Interweave Knits, Spring 1998:
I-cord
With a double pointed needle, cast on the desired number of stitches.*Without turning the needle, slide the stitches to the other end of the needle, pull the yarn around the back and knit the stitches as usual; repeat from * for the desired length.
Applied I-cord
As I-cord is knitted, attach it to the garment as follows:
With garment right side facing and using a separate ball of yarn and a circular needle, pick up the desired number of stitches along the garment edge. Geraldine often has to use two circular needles for this. Slide these stitches down the needle so that the first picked-up stitch is near the opposite needle point. With double pointed needle, cast on the desired number of I-cord stitches. (Geraldine casts on three stitches.) Knit across the I-cord to the last stitch, then knit the last stitch together with the first picked-up stitich on the garment (knit two then knit two together.) Pull the yarn behind the cord (pull the yarn in front of the cord for reverse I-cord.) Knit to the last I-cord stitch, then knit the last I-cord stitch together with the next picked-up stitch. Continue in this manner until all picked-up stitches have been used. (Geraldine then grafts or neatly fudges the last three stitches to the three cast on stitches.)
NOTE: When working applied I-cord, as in all picked-up edge finishes, do not pick up every stitch. Work the edging for about 5 cm then lay the piece flat to make sure that the cord lies flat along the edge - if not, pull out the unnecessary stitches and rework, picking up more or fewer stitches along the garment edge, as needed.
When I googled "I-cord" I got 155,000 sites!
It seems that I-cord can be used in all kinds of ways. One site was about knitting a pair of gloves from the fingers to the cuff using I-cord for each finger.
The pattern on this site is a serial pattern. Like serial books, which are published one chapter at a time, serial patterns are published over several short installments. The site I saw had all four fingers knitted and there was a promise that further installments would solve the problem of how to join them to the palm and then incorporate a thumb. Very much a work in progress.
An I-cord can be decorative. It can be spiral by purling for two rows followed by one row of plain.
It can be striped or picotted. It can be used to make pouches.
To embellish a hat.
Any idiot may be able to make it but it seems to me that many cunning minds have made full use of this technique so I propose that it be re-named the Ingenious-cord.
Ugh ! A dull subject. But if you have some down time, it's a good time to check the loom over. I can't pretend to tell every point to check, as there are a ton of different makes of looms out there, but here's a few common items to think about.
For scratches use a matching color crayon, they're made of dye and wax, just the thing for scratches in wood. For an old screw or nail hole put in a brass wood screw and it'll look like it was well cared for. Any steel or wood axle that turns in a wooden hole, put in candle wax. Any steel pin or axle that turns in a metal hole or bearing, put in a drop or two of medium oil (not if it's part of a brake.) Avoid very light oils like " a sewing machine oil", use about 30 to 50 weight oil, it'll tend to stay in place and not be as likely to drip out.
I also like two greases that you can find in a sporting goods outlet, "Reel Grease" and "Gun Grease" are both high quality greases that can be used sparingly on a loom and they come in small tubes so you don't have to buy a large amount when you don't want to. White Lithium grease is good for metal bearings, vaseline is not. Talcum powder squirted into a wooden bearing area will help to reduce friction also.
Any wood part that turns or rubs against wood, wax it with candle wax or canning wax (not if it's part of a brake.) Beeswax is best on cords that rub against something. A rope brake on a wooden beam or drum that's not holding tight might benefit from a little athletic rosin or the rope may have a glaze, so I'd replace it with a heavy cotton or hemp rope. On the loom frame, use Johnson's paste wax; it's my favorite, it may also be historically accurate for old looms. Avoid using soap as a lubricant, it attracts and holds moisture. I won't use silicone on a loom, silicone is OK on automobiles.
Grab any part of the loom and give it a shake, does the reed rattle, does a joint move? If the reed appears to be slightly curved, set it in so the concave side faces you. If it rattles, shim it with waxed paper or tinfoil; neither holds moisture. Center the reed and tie a colored thread in the middle dent. You may also like to put a dot of marker ink in the center of each shaft, the beater, and the back beam. Shim up and tighten up your friend, it deserves it. Sight down the breast beam, the back beam and the beater, to see if they're still straight. Adjust the shafts so they sit or hang level; check the level of the beams also. Check out every bolt and nut to see if they're snugged up.
Examine any ratchet pawls for damage or excess looseness. If a bolt is allowed to get loose, it might start making the hole oval shaped or oblong and that'll take some woodworking to bring it back to the original round hole shape. If the loom has recently been assembled measure the distance from the right rear leg to the left front leg, then do the left rear leg to the right front leg. The measurement should be exactly the same. Attach a magnet within reach for a blunt needle. Attach a clip of some sort close to eye level, for notes or drafts.
Reprinted with permission of Bill Koepp in California who is a member of the WeaveTech group that exchanges information at yahoogroups.
Check out the cool Sanrio DIY Crafts page where a user has collected some super cute Sanrio cross stitch patterns. There is of course lots of Hello Kitty to choose from but Chococat and Bad Badzt Maru also make an appearance.
Ruth of Wooly Wormheads Ripping Yarns has her technique of creating spiral knit hats up on her blog. Each spiral takes just about 5 to 20 minutes to make and it's a great way to get rid of odd bits of yarn in your yarn stash.
Spiral Play — Wooly Wormheads Ripping Yarns (via MAKE: Blog)
A preview of the article to be published in the 2006 Hand Weaver and Spinner, the Journal of the Hand Weavers and Spinners Guild of NSW. Available for $12 later this year.
The Egyptian
Twenty years ago I made my first homespun vest. At a time when I believed every bit of anything spinnable was precious, I was given a very smelly, moth-infested bag of silver mohair by a friend who was moving house. Now if you think that spinners and weavers are bad hoarders, how about this for a compulsive stasher! My friend Margy had stored this bag of mohair (along with many others) for the day when she might take up spinning.
Many hours were spent shaking out the short spikey moth-chewed bits on the lawn in the sun. What was left was blended with corriedale. I must have done a very good job shaking out the moths and spikes because I still have the vest. Just as I'd done enough to make something, my husband and I flew out of Sydney on a trip to Egypt.
A Ba Na ethnic minority woman, Y Thoai, has become as one of the most successful businesswomen in her birthplace of Kon Tum Township, in the Central Highlands province of the same name.
The 30-year-old woman who started her business from scratch six years ago is now managing the Tay Nguyen Brocade Weaving Co-operative that was established entirely through her efforts.
Ba Na minority woman in Kon Tum develops art of brocade weaving — Nhân Dân