And I am blazing through the cardigan, considering it took me four months to knit it last time. I've already gotten both sleeves done and attached to the back, and I'm working on the next part of the back. My hands are not thrilled with this pace, though.
finished fingerless gloves/arm warmers for my mom, now about 1/3 done a headband for her to finish up the yarn bought for the armwarmers. Yaaaaaay
I got the headband done, no pic for now. Started a new shawl, same pattern as the last one i made. I dont have the link on me but it's called High Plains Drifter, a nice 2 row repeat for when you really really dont want to think about complicated things Spoiler: Pic I'm using, I think, aslan trends royal alpaca in like, idk what the colour name is, its the lilac purple. And the darker one is Malabrigo Ríos in 872 Purpuras. Kind of expensive but like, its gonna be nice and soft as hell
Crafting yay: finally found the pattern for this dress I've been planning to make for like a year! Crafting woe: I'm doing an abraca-fuck-you embroidery as a christmas present and I can't find a fabric that feels right. I need to find a fabric soon, my embroidery speed is approximately glacial.
Things no one tells you will make your life infinitely easier when hand-sewing: a pair of pliers because sometimes when you work with dense fabrics or 10 layers, a pair of pliers will make everything so much easier.
Nearly done the cardigan! I sorted out the sleeves (the fucker gets knit from the collar down, so the sleeves...go different than how you'd initially imagine them, if you're trying to seam them from the angle you were knitting from), and I'm just picking up stitches for the collar edge, and then once that's done, all I have left to do is the finishing. And then blocking and putting pockets on it. It's looking a lot smaller than the first version, and if it ends up too small, I'm going to go punch a duck, I stg.
Cardigan update: it's done and buttons are on it (which means I can actually put it on and see how it fits). It's...definitely way smaller than I wanted it to be, but it at least fits. The bottom button is fastening just under my bust, though, and the hemline is hitting around mid-back. The pattern preview suggests it should be hitting around my hips or waist, but the pattern preview is on slim manniquins. It at least fits across the shoulders and isn't hanging anywhere it shouldn't, even if it's ended up as a mini-cardigan. I'm planning on figuring out where to stick pockets on it, rather than seeking out ducks to punch or frogging it and trying to resize it a second time.
(i think there might have been a fiber-arts-questions thread somewhere but i can't find it so *shrugemoji*) so i'm making a cross stitch sampler for my friends' wedding, and i'm really excited!! i've never really been a "crafty" person, but i really enjoy cross stitch, and it makes me feel good to be able to make this kind of gesture for them. i also think they'll get joy out of the thing i'm planning to make. but i've never designed a piece on this scale before, so i'd appreciate some tips! basically, i'm planning to have a running flower border (the flower is the state flower of the place where we all met) surrounding a central text passage followed by their names and the date. i may add some other embellishments, i haven't decided yet. i have graph paper, but i'm a little worried about my design skills and ability to make the final product look proportional and good. right now i'm thinking it'll fit in a 12-inch hoop on 18 aida, but i'm not sure. also, the text passage isn't in an english script so there aren't font patterns online, but i thiiiiink it won't be too hard to wing it?
Shawl(ette) complete Spoiler in the pic it wasnt actually done, but all that had to be done was binding off thr last 20 stitches or so. i had to switch to a different lilac purple yarn in a slightly thicker weight which stands out, but i can always do a single crochet border around the rest of the border so it looks intentional
I contemplated making my own cross-stitch design a whole back, though I never did it, but I think I found some programs that would take a graphic and turn it into cross-stitch sized squares. You might look for something like that. Failing that, what I would try is making my design onscreen, blowing it up real big (a section at a time), overlaying it with a grid of small squares of a size to match a single stitch, and then filling the squares with the color that best matches what is in that square of the design. It'll probably take longer than the actual stitching.
oh ive been doing a crapton of embroidery lately, ill set a reminder to post some pics for when i get home
This is basically what I would do before I learned about the programs that actually work well. I found it really relaxing and it gave me more control to define where the color boundaries are. I have a grid paper section that I transparently paste over the picture I want, then zoom in and get to color editing. Fun fact, the eraser in MS paint at the biggest is pretty much the same size, so you can just change the secondary color and use that instead of trying to fuss with the paint brush...
I’ve actually just been using physical graph paper, and I’ve also got paper patterns (the type that you get in old magazines) for the floral borders. I’m more nervous about, like, making sure that everything fits together correctly? If that makes sense. Like making sure that everything is proportional. I think I’m just going to write out the script part—it’s written in a language for which there aren’t ASCII characters, so I feel like trying to do it digitally would just end up being more work than it’s worth? I’m not sure though.
You could also use backstitch for the script instead of cross stitch. That should give you a bit more freedom in getting all the curves right
I couldnt find any non-terrible pencil cases at walmart yesterday (thats what i get for waiting until the very last weekend before school starts), but they had some cute fabric and im always down to spend an hour at my sewing machine. Spoiler: Lorg piccus
ok so I'm making a lace wall hanging for a friend who's Really invested in japanese culture but has been fairly good about it (as in I can be like "ok dude you're being appropriative/a little racist/a major dumbass" and he'll be like SHIT SORRY PLEASE CORRECT ME ON IT) and I do not know what lace patterns would fit japan thematically does anyone have suggestions or recommendations? EDIT: I found one!! fake edit: on further reflection I probably should've asked my grandma, her parents were first gen immigrants and she was v into crochet so she might've inherited a couple.......damn, next time
this pattern is hecking me up and I have no idea how to like make it easier for me to understand?? https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lumikukka I've considered transferring it to my own symbol code atm it's looking like I might just...write it out by hand? does anyone have any suggestions for that?
So I was worried about posting detailed info about my project because of potentially identifying information, but fuck it, i'm probably just being paranoid ANYWAY so after struggling with graph paper for a while I decided to use stitch fiddle instead, which has made things waaaay cleaner and faster. Highly recommended. I'm doing a few lines of a sumerian inanna bal-bal-e. I'm sticking to fairly archaic but schematized signs, and I think it'll turn out okay? If it ends up looking like a trash fire I'll scrap it and move to doing the signs in back stitch instead. but I've finished making a pattern for the first line, and it looks pretty good so far (not totally happy with the winkelhaken, but i think it's close enough). This is what I have so far: Spoiler: image that gur3 sign was a BITCH to figure out let me tell you it is supposed to say ul gur3-ru-mu I'm not totally happy with the wedge heads of the smaller wedges, but they may look better when actually stitched. Any feedback would be very much appreciated.
