@coldstars. HWELL, so I kind of totally failed to count or anything before I started, so this is probably much larger than you were hoping for :B The only saving grace is that there isn't any extra shading built into this one, it matches up one-to-one with the pixels, and stronger color blocking makes large patterns less painful. I can have a stab at shrinking it up when I am less needing to sleep, but I figured I'd post this so at least it existed somewhere on the internet. Spoiler: large (creator is at pretty-things.tumblr.com) (anyone who might try to use this, please pay no heed to the colors in my document, just try to match things up to the original picture) A - dark teal B - pale pink I - bright green K - darkest green L - SUPER pale pink N - midtone pink O - white P - rich, darkish orange S - midtone greyish yellow-orange T - dark pink U - pale yellow V midtone yellow-orange (slightly darker than S) X - deep orange Z - darkish green
Spock! You have saved my life! Thank you! This is much clearer than the patterns I was wrestling with earlier ;-;
If you want a smaller version, just let me know! I went ahead and transcribed the pixels instead of tracing it smaller, but I can also trace it smaller if that would work better for you.
I really don't need to get into another crafting hobby..... but this is making me want to try cross-stitch.
It's pretty easy to get the basics, if you're not trying to get lost down the crafting black hole! I taught myself and aside from being reliably terrible at French knots (fuck French knots so much, seriously), it's pretty cheap and easy to find some free patterns and get some embroidery floss and aida cloth and noodle around until you get the hang of it. I use leftover rectangles of cloth to make bookmarks, and if you're not wanting to clutter up space with another craft, that sort of thing might be a good way to play around and avoid the craftpocalypse.
I finally finished it Spoiler: bigass pictures The blog writeup of the project is here, the ravelry entry is here - both include more pictures and details. (Also, this means that my knitting queue is even more empty, which means it's time for me to quietly point out the links in my signature - knitting commissions are wide open!)
@keltka it was a free pattern, actually! the pattern as written in the pdf is a bit, um, challenging, though. she only provides written out instructions, and all attempts @asynch and I have made to convert it to a chart have failed miserably - can't tell if it's us being novices at chartwriting, or if it's genuinely not a chartable design. I do have painstakingly gathered stitch counts for every row up to like, the last twenty, if you decide to knit it and would like some extra notes. ninja'd by @blue! thanks for digging up the link for me
Not gonna lie I do better work with written instructions usually—I need help with reading charts, like, I can't for the life of me work out how to do it @_@ AHHHH THAT WOULD BE AMAZING I need to check if I have enough yarn and then I'll get back to you! Have you thought about doing classes? I'm tryna pay for college but I'd defs wanna drop a few tip dollars in for a chart-class
...I'd never thought about doing classes before, but I'd be happy to work something out! either PM me or hit me up through the instructions at the "totally knit you a thing link" in my signature. I don't have the notebook with the row counts with me atm - if I don't get back to you in a day or two with that, ping me and I'll get to you :) It took me a bit over 600 yards of yarn, and I'd definitely recommend using something with enough natural fiber that it will take blocking well. I would also super recommend having dedicated notes while you knit this, as the first section of lace is An Adventure, and there aren't really convenient places for stitch markers.
For sure! It's going to depend on how much I have of what weight—and I've, never actually done, lace? before? so I'm not sure I'd be good for this one to START with, but yeah! I'll PM you now, and thank you again ^ ^
*does delighted dance over my beautiful shawl* It is my first shawl ever and I am so in love with it~ <3 There's no way to tell from the picture, but the yarn is surprisingly plushy for its weight and it makes the entire shawl really pleasantly squishy and I love it :D :D :D (okay I'll stop squeeing now)
Question. Does anybody here have any experience with painting fabric for embroidery? I have this tutorial that I've had my eye on for a while, without any project in mind, but because I never have any sense of the reasonable, I'm also trying my first non-cross-stitch embroidery project, and it's a stupid-complicated one. One sec, linking the picture for context Spoiler: large Ridiculously overambitious. But now I have my heart set on it, so I clearly Must Do The Thing. I really hate my brain sometimes. My problem is this: I plan to use my TV as a giant lightbox to trace my image to stitch. Easy enough. But if I trace, then paint, I'm worried the paint is going to obliterate my lines. I was pretty sure on my own, tutorial suggests I am correct about that. Additional uncertainty: I am using gel pens recommended for embroidery that erase from heat, I'm not using fabric markers. So I'm still not positive. But if I paint, then trace, am I... going to be able to see image through the fabric, or see my traced lines against the paint? I don't want to get too carried away. I just want some light purple shading top to bottom to give the project a little shape. But then everything is Uncertainty, and I've been paralyzed for like two weeks. I have limited ability to test things, because even if I set out to experiment and fail on purpose, after a few failures, my brain will mark this off as a doomed endeavor and it will probably be years before I try regular embroidery again. Right now I'm leaning towards tracing, painting very lightly, maybe painting a little more if my lines hold up, redrawing those upper lines as necessary, and going for it. Apart from the way I've staked my hopes and dreams on getting something this complex right the first time around, does... that seem like it will work? Writing it all out in words has helped, and I'm leaning towards that as my approach, but god is this stupid thing nervewracking. Also One separate embroidery question: Does anyone have opinions on embroidering on Aida fabric versus other fabric? The one blog that got me pointed this direction recommended Aida because the grid keeps you oriented, and I think it would be less prone to distortion. But I don't know if it's harder to work with than evenweave fabric. I am a rank beginner, and I hate being a rank beginner. New skills are awesome and all, but I'd just like to enter the field as a pre-made expert, is that so much to ask for?
I've done freehand embroidery (put the sigils of the Three Goddesses from the Legend of Zelda games on my little brother's dice bag) and since I was just outlining and then satin-stitching the designs to fill the space, the lack of grid was no big deal. I'm not sure what kind of stitches you were thinking of using for this project, but a grid may be more helpful for you if you're not just planning on filling in the spaces you outline. As far as the paint goes, if the ink you're using holds up well against plain water, I don't think a light watercolor wash would do much to obscure the lines, but I've never tried something like that either. Have you considered maybe just dyeing the fabric directly and then doing the lines and the stitching? That seems like the effect the watercolor wash is supposed to mimic, but since the dye would color the fabric itself instead of adding a layer of pigment on the surface of the fabric, it may save you some headache.
Dyeing or painting the fabric first, then (re)tracing the lines is what I'd suggest. Just from my very limited experience trying to paint a piece after stitching it, and finding that the water in the paint chromatographed the ink that I'd used to trace the lines with and stained the project.
Jesus fucking christ on a bicycle, you guys. This project. This fucking project has been a problem child from start to finish. I've sweat. I've bled. I spent $30 on fabric and dye that turned out completely unusable. But. After 20 hours and nearly $200, it's finally done.
