May 11, 2010
Moving to new blog site
I am moving to a new blogging site, blogger.com, so if you want to view newer posts, click here: http://kstdesigns.blogspot.com.
December 30, 2009
Internet Troubles
Just a quick note while I have some bandwidth to say that we are having internet difficulties. I couldn’t upload the last blog entry until just today, and I may not be able to upload any more for a while. Maybe not having internet will give me more time to work on my craft projects!
December 22, 2009
Too Late
I didn’t quite finish the angel in time. I know it’s not Christmas yet, but we celebrated with my parents this past Saturday, as we are going out of town to be with other relatives on Christmas day, and my mother is the one to whom I gave the angel. I might have finished all the stitching if I had been able to continue working until Christmas, but I wouldn’t have been able to get it matted and framed in time anyway. As it is, I finished almost all the stitching. I just have a bit of the wings to finish, the outlining of the wings and lion, and the gold cord overlay on the angel’s cape.
I am always amazed at the enhancement that outlining brings to a piece. Not all designs need it, but for those that do use it, the picture really stands out after the outlining. In this pattern, the sheep really needed the outlining, and look so much better now. The dress and its decorative metallic sections are very nice now too. Doing the outlining was a bit tricky, however, as the pattern does not differentiate between outline colors on the chart. The lines drawn on the chart are all the same type of line, and you have to determine which part of the picture you’re doing to determine what color to use. I actually couldn’t figure out a few lines, where the pattern called for white highlights on the eyes and fruit. I couldn’t see the white on the display picture, and so I couldn’t tell which eyes or which fruit called for it (I actually didn’t realize the decorative parts of the dress were images of fruit at first). While I’m mentioning difficulties, I should add that I believe there are at least two stitches on the wings where the wrong symbol is used, having been mistakenly replaced with a similar-looking symbol. I just stitched the color I think was meant to be used, instead of doing a single stitch of a different color in those two spots.
If you do this pattern, make sure you have at least two spools of the pearl Kreinik blending filament, #32. I ordered a spool of that earlier, as I mentioned, and it came within a few days, but then I used up pretty much the entire spool just doing the wings! I’m not sure if I have enough to finish or not, since I haven’t completed the wings yet, but we’ll see if I can get by without ordering more.
There are a few beads used in the pattern too, which I added a few days ago. They look quite ornate on the sleeves, collar, and halo. I did have to switch to a smaller, pointier, needle to thread on the beads. It’s a good thing I didn’t have to use such a sharp needle the rest of the time, or I would have plenty of needle-pricks on my fingers!
I’ll post a final picture when I get the angel completely finished, but I’m taking a break this week since we’re traveling. Time for me to get back to the crochet table runner too, and then start some new projects in 2010!
December 7, 2009
No More Filament…
Well, I seem to have a problem with running out of supplies. I finished all the colors with metallic blending filament, except for the wings, and then discovered I was just about out of the Kreinik pearl filament. It’s hard to tell how much is on those spools until you begin to see the core of the spool underneath…. Since the majority of the wings use that color, this presented a problem, especially since I hadn’t been able to find any Kreinik filament for sale at the local craft stores earlier. So I went ahead and ordered some online, from EverythingCrossStitch.com. They had one of the best prices I could find, plus cheap shipping. I went ahead and ordered some of the #4 braid cord in gold and silver as well. I need a small amount of those for the cross-stitch angel, but had been planning on just substituting a few strands of the blending filament. This will be better though. So now, the only substitution I’ve made is using citrine filament instead of star yellow filament for one color. I expect my order to arrive this week sometime, so I guess I’ll go ahead and start on the outlining until it arrives.
The blending filament colors have been more difficult to work with, as the filament does not pull straight the same way the embroidery floss does. Combining the two sometimes (often?) leads to tangles, difficult to unravel without breaking the filament. The filament does tend to break more often than the floss, so it’s better to use shorter strands. The pattern calls for 2 strands of floss and 2 strands of filament for each color, and I have found that threading my needle with just one strand of each, and then placing the needle at the halfway point and folding the floss/filament in half works really well. That way, once the thread combo is secured and I start stitching, I don’t have to worry about the thread coming out of the needle, and it’s easy to pull it taut and straighten it out when needed. You just have to be sure to stop when you still have enough thread left over to weave it through the back without too much trouble.
I thought I’d attach a picture of the macrame wall hanging I made a few years ago. It took me a few years to make, due to pregnancy, and then it was a while before we finally got it hung up, but it has really warmed up our all-white living room walls. I designed the overall pattern, using smaller knot patterns/instructions from a book called The Macrame Book, by Helene Bress. The book has lots of different diamond patterns you can mix and match. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the wall hanging is about 4.5 feet by 8 feet, so it’s pretty heavy. After finishing the knotting, I then wove in various types of fancy yarn to add some color. Some of the strands hanging down still need to be straightened, but since it’s hanging so high up on the wall, I just haven’t gotten the ladder out to fix them yet.
December 2, 2009
Angels
I just finished the last non-metallic thread color for the cross-stitch angel. For the last few colors I did (yellow/orange), there were quite a few regions with only a few, or even one stitch of a given color. This slowed things down a bit, as I had to start and stop frequently, finishing off the thread before moving to another region. But this is what makes the pattern look so intricate. Now, to do the final shimmery threads and add the beads and outlining.
I’ve also attached a picture of the angel tree topper on our tree (very near the ceiling!). I ended up putting our tree behind a baby gate, due to my 13-month-old, who had been trying extremely hard to pull the whole tree over on top of himself! This way, he can still see it, but can’t get to the tree, ornaments, or the presents! Maybe next year, he’ll be old enough to have the tree out in the open without continuous monitoring. Maybe next year, I’ll have made a bunch more crochet ornaments too.
November 28, 2009
Quick Christmas Present
The cross-stitch angel is coming along well. I finished the face and hands and hair, and am working on the lion now. The angel’s hair uses the same colors as the lion, so I figured I’d just go ahead and do them both, even though I had planned on doing the lion later. After the lion, then most of the remaining colors only have a few stitches each (other than the wings), and most of them involve metallic floss. So I’m getting very close, though I know the outlining will take quite a while. I always feel like I’m almost done when I finish the main stitches, but many times the outlining takes almost as long to do! Especially since in this case, the angel has a lot of decoration lines and not just simple outlining. Plus beads, I almost forgot!
On the crochet front, I saw a scarf pattern in an email from Lion Brand Yarn a few days ago, and realized it would be perfect for a quick gift to make for another family member. I grabbed some yarn I had left over, even though it was weight 4 and not 5 as called for in the pattern, and started and finished the scarf in one day! That was despite having to start and stop dozens of times to take care of the kids. So that’s done, and I’m going to make another one, from some 5-weight yarn I found in my stash, for another family member. With the 4-weight yarn, you can’t see the corkscrew effect as much, but the yarn is so soft and fluffy, it is still wonderful. The yarn I used was Yarn Bee Infatuation, in rattan color, about 1 1/2 skeins. The original pattern is the North Pole Ruffle Scarf pattern #90326AD on the www.lionbrand.com website, if you’d like to look it up.
I also decided to start on a little sweater for my baby boy, size 18 months. He has very little warm clothing (not that we need much here in Texas), but I’d like to make him something. And the size is so small that it won’t take too much time or yarn. I’m using some more leftover yarn I had, which is hopefully enough. I’ll put in pictures of it later, maybe with him wearing it, if I get it finished soon. I also started some crocheted pillows for my girls, but put those aside for now to do more pressing projects. So many things to make!
November 21, 2009
Angel Tree Topper
I finished the angel tree topper, and I think it looks pretty good. Very angelic! It really didn’t take too long to make, and was inexpensive, compared to a store-bought topper. The porcelain doll head cost $1.88, the doll cone $1.79, and the wings were $3.99 (plus shipping since I had to order all those parts). The wreath cost about $0.50, the fur $3.99 (but I used less than half of it), and I already had more than enough size 10 white crochet thread. I couldn’t find a plastic ring the right size for the halo, so I made one out of wire, crocheting around it. I’ll take another picture of her when I get the tree up in a week or two.
I finished all the green and purple shades on the cross-stitch angel too. Not as much of those colors as the red and whites/grays. There are still some more purple shades in the dress detail, but they all have metallic threads blended in, so I’m waiting on those. Next, I believe I’ll do the skin and hair, and maybe some of the orange highlights – just a few stitches for that color, I believe. It’s going to be close, but I’m still hopeful I’ll finish before Christmas. If not, well, the person I am giving the picture to as a present will understand, and be willing to wait a few more days, I think! (She may be reading this blog, so I won’t give away any more information yet!)
