BLOG: Other Crafts

My Week at Puppet Fantasy Camp

June 14, 2018

I just got back from the best vacation ever.

My husband and I went to the Beyond the Sock Puppetry Workshop where we spent a week learning how to make – and perform – hand and rod puppets.

So! Much! Fun!

Here we are with our instructors (and our finished puppets).

From left to right that’s Peter Linz, Noel MacNeal (both puppeteers for Sesame Street and lots of other shows/movies) and Pasha Romanowski (puppet-builder and pattern-designer extraordinaire).

What an incredible week! We spent every morning working on our puppets, and every afternoon learning how to perform them.

I’ll start with the making – the part that was definitely my happy place. 🙂

Everyone worked from the same pattern – which was a great way to learn. This year it was a cute cat. 🙂

Previous years have been rats, monkeys, chickens, penguins, and pirates.

Even though we all worked from the same pattern, we all used different materials and ended up with wildly different puppets. And we didn’t get to choose our materials – we got mystery boxes like on Master Chef.

I got this really thick, lush, grey fur.

And the fur my husband got may look familiar to some of you!

I used it for one of these monsters and in this tutorial showing how to cut fur. It’s one of my favorites!

We built a foam structure, staring with the mouthplate and basically building out from there.

After the foam structure was finished, we sewed all the fur and everything into a skin and slipped it over the foam – a very tight fit!

Then it was time to add eyes and accessories and all that and I forgot to take pictures because I was totally engrossed. 😉

But take a look at some of the finished puppets!

Here are mine and Alan’s.

I love his bowler hat and mustache!

Mine has a little gemstone stud in her nose and she was supposed to get purple feather streaks in her hair, but I ran out of time. I’ll add them later. 🙂

Here are some others. . .

Aren’t they awesome?

Now – the performing.

This was the part that was WAAAY out of my comfort zone – but I still loved it!

We were learning how to puppeteer on TV – not live – and that’s a very different thing. You have to make sure your puppet is standing up straight (a constant problem for me) and moving/looking in the right direction. For those of you who have watched my “welcome to the new month” videos where I show the new Ami Club pattern – you know I’m very directionally challenged when it comes to recording! 🙂

In that shot above, we’re trying to make all our puppets look in the same direction – which is surprisingly hard!

And in this one, you can see what we look like performing, and on the monitor.

We were trying to get our group of three centered on the screen, filling the screen, not showing our rods, and all looking at the camera. 🙂

And then they had us acting and lip synching and doing improv on top of all the puppeteering! So many things to remember!

We did a bunch of performances on the last night, including a big song and dance number that had over twenty of us packed into that space below our puppets. Crazy!

Really – it was a totally incredible week and we want to go back next year.

If any of you are interested in making puppets, Pasha has a terrific website with video tutorials and sells really well-designed patterns. It’s called Project Puppet and I can’t wait to make my next one!

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Variegated Yarns: swatches in knitting, crocheting and weaving

April 25, 2017

It’s always so mysterious how a pretty little skein will work up, isn’t it? Especially with variegated yarn!

I dyed up a little (well, BIG) skein and made swatches in knitting, crocheting and weaving! And they’re SO different!

Here’s the skein I dyed (if you want to try it, check my tutorial on how to dye yarn with Wilton Icing Dye):

Knitted Swatch

Here’s my knitted swatch!

The factor that’s relevant in how variegated yarn will work up is how long each color repeat is and how much yarn each stitch uses. Although skeins vary, most are about 3-4 feet in circumference, and a variegated yarn will break this length up into a few colors. So, most color repeats are a few to several inches.

Here’s how to calculate how much yarn each stitch uses.

You can see here that each color lasts several stitches before switching to a new color.

Crocheting

Crochet stitches, in general, use more yarn than knitting stitches, so a color repeat will last over a fewer number of stitches.

Here’s my crochet swatch

This swatch is done in single crochet, and most of the colors last for a few stitches before changing (as compared to several with knitting). This results in a ‘splotchier’ looking fabric.

You might be interested in reading about the latest craze of Planned Pooling.

Weaving

Totally different from knitting and crochet, because there isn’t a ‘stitch’, the color repeat goes for as long as it actually goes on the yarn. In most cases, a color lasted for an entire row on my scarf.

Also, weaving uses two directions of yarn, the warp and the weft.This results in a really lovely plaid-like fabric. Here’s my swatch:

All together now!

They’re all so different, right?

It just goes to show that when you find that dream variegated skein, you still have choices to make! You’ll want to select a project (and craft) that will result in the colors working up the way you want!

Best,
Stacey

Norah Gaughan’s Knitted Cable Sourcebook: Review

February 14, 2017

This book. Norah Gaughan’s Knitted Cable Sourcebook. Drool.

I saw it. And I bought it.

I don’t buy a lot of craft books. (Seriously, all of my books fit on one shelf!)

But I bought this one and love it. And I added my old cable stitch dictionary to my ‘Spring Cleaning’ pile. Because I don’t need it any more.

(does this inside cover give you an idea of all of the amazingness inside?)

I had read a lot of amazing reviews about this book, but I’m a bit of a skeptic. I thought, ‘oh, they’re probably just saying nice stuff because Norah Gaughan is really famous’. (geesh, that makes me sound really awful, doesn’t it? It’s just that in my job, I see a lot of books.) And the cable on the cover is nice, but it didn’t make me pass out from the amazingness.

But once my book arrived I discovered that my skepticism was unwarranted. It actually IS really amazing.

The introduction isn’t very long, but it’s packed with pretty juicy information. The topics covered include:

Using a double point needle as a cable needle
Left vs. Right slants
How to slip stitches onto a needle & how to work the held stitches
Cable terminology
How to read cable charts
Tips for keeping your place on a chart
A full explanation of Norah’s own Stockinette Stitch Equivalent System (SSE), so you can swap different cable stitches into different patterns
How to fix a mistake in a cable
How to count cabled rows

I read the introduction and felt like, ‘Wow. That has everything I need to know.’

The cable designs (many not previously published) are just stunning. Look at this one.

What?!?

Very few are this complicated… most of the stitch patterns are two notches above ‘simple’, but stunningly beautiful and hovering significantly below ‘crazily complex’. Which is exactly what you want in a stitch dictionary.

I fell in love with the Seed Rib Half Drop (#84 in the book) and cast on for a scarf immediately.

Isn’t it gorgeous? (The cable pattern, I mean… not my knitting!) It was so enjoyable to knit… I felt like each cable was a little piece of knitter’s candy. I just kept wanting to get to the next one!

The book also contains 15 projects, which are all quite lovely and creative projects using cables, in addition to the more than 150 stitch patterns in the book.

Whoa. This book is just plain fabulous. Treat yourself.

Those links are affiliate links. That means I earn a tiny commission if you buy after clicking through. 🙂

How to Read a Bead Crochet Pattern

May 18, 2015

I love bead crochet!

I learned loads of techniques from the book Bead Crochet Jewelry, and I highly recommend it as a starting place for learning!

But what if you want to do more? Today I’m going to show you how to read bead crochet patterns, of the type you’ll find on Pinterest and online!

Finding a Bead Crochet Pattern

Much of the bead crocheting comes out of Eastern Europe, so it’s a good thing that patterns don’t use a lot of words! If you search Pinterest for ‘bead crochet pattern’, you’ll find oodles! You can also search Etsy and you’ll discover a number of patterns.

They vary greatly in complexity and size, but don’t worry… I’ll talk about all of that!

Today, I’ll be using this pattern by Snow Mirna that I found on Pinterest. It’s the pattern I used to make this ombre chevron necklace:

The Anatomy of a Bead Crochet Pattern

If you’re familiar with regular crochet patterns, you’ll find a bead crochet pattern very short! They’re about a half of a page and look like this:

There are essentially 4 parts:

A description of the pattern (top right)
A list of the materials you will need (middle right)
A sequence instructing how to place the beads on the string (bottom right)
A view of how the pattern will look when crocheted (left)

I’ll explain each of these sections in turn!

How to select a pattern

All of the information you need about selecting a pattern is in the upper right hand corner:

One of the most important dimensions is the circumference. This tells you how many beads need to be in the circumference to get the required pattern. You’ll see that this pattern has 6. I personally like patterns with 4 or 6 beads. The larger the circumference, the larger thickness your finished piece will be. A larger circumference will give you more pattern options, but will produce that a thicker piece that may be difficult to find notions and findings for.

Purchasing Materials

Now, have a look at the middle right:

This tells you not only how many beads you need, but how many you need of each color.

This particular pattern uses equal amounts of beads, but other patterns will vary.

You often purchase beads by the gram.

Stringing beads

The hardest part of following a pattern is stringing the beads in order!

Begin at the top left, and work your way down, stringing the number of specified beads for each color. You’ll see that this chart mostly instructs you to string one or two beads of each color, but that too, can vary.

You will repeat this chart according to how long you want your finished piece to be!

Then, crochet!

Once your beads are strung, the crocheting is the same no matter which pattern you’ve chosen to follow. The chart on the left will show you what your finished piece will look like:

The leftmost view is what the piece would look like flat, and the one on the right (which is optional) gives an idea of how the piece will look in the round.

Ready to try?

With such a variety of patterns, these simple tips will open up a whole new world of bead crochet to you!

Have fun!

Finished Rainbow Bead Crochet Necklace

April 9, 2015

I’ve been working on this project for a while: I started it in December, but got derailed until I found this nifty bead spinner to help me get that long strand done… and here it is!

You can see how long that black strand is around the back. That’s a lot of beads!

I just love it! It’s a project from Bead Crochet Jewelry (a book I highly recommend!

I used size 6 beads for the rainbow links, and size 8 beads (slightly smaller) for the black chain around the back. That difference accentuates the rainbow, I think!

It’s a real statement piece, and I’m planning on wearing it while teaching at Stitches South. Am I going to see you there?

Best,
Stacey

How to string seed beads quickly and easily!

March 25, 2015

It’s a new Coffee with Stacey!

I got a really fun new toy: the Darice Bead Spinner*, which promises to speed up the stringing of seed beads.

I string a lot of beads for bead crocheting, so I just had to give it a try!

Watch the video to see me using it in action, as well as a little update about my current bead crochet project!

Why I love the Zoom Loom

The instruction booklet that comes with the Zoom Loom is easy to follow, and I was super excited to weave an adorable little square on my first try!

Isn’t it pretty?

The great features about the loom are:

it is small
the pins on the loom show you exactly where/how to do the weaving
each square requires a precise amount of yarn, meaning you can wind small balls in advance
the instructions are very easy to follow!

But… it’s not a complete substitute for a full loom

I enjoyed making my small square, and The Woolery’s webpage has suggestions for turning these squares into bigger projects.

However, the Zoom Loom isn’t a substitute for a full loom. Some things I noticed:

because the pins are fixed, each ‘weave’ is a fixed space apart. My piece made with sock-weight yarn feels a little flimsy, and I suspect a bulky would not fit.
if you’re looking for a project to throw into your purse, you might be disappointed. Although more portable than a regular loom, you cannot simply stop in the middle of winding the warp and head out.
you are limited to 4″x4″ squares. Although there are project suggestions, every project is composed of small squares.

Get yours!

Sound fun?

Go forth and start weaving!

Tutorial: How to Frame Fabric (quick art!)

September 7, 2013

Happy Saturday!

Today I’m going to show you how to make a quick art-piece by framing fabric!

My favorite fabric

I took a trip to Finland in 2008, and I bought a yard of some amazing fabric from Marimekko.

Although I loved the fabric… it gave me anxiety: what should I do with it? What if I sewed something that didn’t fit?

I finally came up with the perfect solution… frame it!

How to Frame Fabric

You’ll need:

A frame (a lot of tutorials call for a canvas stretching frame… but I just grabbed an old wooden one from the curb!)
Enough fabric to cover your frame (plus a few inches on all sides)
A stapler

Step 1: Wash & iron your fabric

You can skip the ironing if your fabric comes out of the dryer nice and crisp!

Step 2: Place foundation staples

Lay your fabric face down, and place the frame on top.

Now, pull the fabric up and over the sides of the frame and place a staple at the center of each side. Be sure to tug so that the fabric is taut.

Do this for each side.

Step 3: Finish Stapling, and do those corners!

Work your way around the frame, placing staples every couple inches or so.

Do the corners last, and when you get to them, take a little time to tuck the corners and staple them neatly.

Step 4: Enjoy!

That’s it! You now have beautiful fabric art!

Take pride in the beautiful art you made and display your favorite fabric in your home!

Tips for Selecting Locker Hooking Materials

July 13, 2013

It’s Saturday! That means it’s time for me to share what I’m crafting… and some tips!

Today I’ll tell you about locker hooking, and give you some tips for picking your materials.

Locker Hooking

Right now, I’m working on locker hooking a bathroom rug.

You might be asking… what is locker hooking?

Locker hooking uses a crochet hook (or a special ‘locker hook‘, which is a crochet hook with an eye on the end), yarn, fabric strips and rug canvas to make fabric loops that are locked onto the backing with the yarn. It looks like this:

It’s fun! And it’s easy… especially for us crocheters who have the hang of using a hook!

Some tips for selecting your materials

To locker hook, you’ll need yards of fabric, 1″ thick. Check out my post on making yarn from fabric strips for details.

Here is the fabric I gathered:

And here is my fabric ball… all those yarn strips cut and put together:

Getting your fabric ready is almost as time-consuming as doing the actual locker hooking! But if you get into the right mindset, it’s a relaxing process. And it’s a fabulous way to use up cotton fabric!

Here are some of my tips for getting the right locker hooking materials:

Use 100% cotton. Not only does it tear into strips nicely (a big time-saver), but it also means your mat will dry quickly if it gets wet.
Focus more on the colors of the fabric than the design. When you cut the yarn into 1″ strips, you won’t see much of the design.
Aim for a varied palette. This way, if you run out of fabric, you can purchase more and it’ll fit right in!
Make sure your canvas is a few inches (in each direction) larger than you want your finished piece to be, since you will use some up in the border.
Go ahead and spring for a locker hook. They’re pretty inexpensive and will save you a lot of time!

I’ve started the actual locker hooking part… I’ll keep you posted as I go!