Craft Leftovers Monthly will be on sale from Sunday Evening, November 9th, 2008 - Wednesday, November 12th and all subscriptions will be sent out Monday, November 17th.

And it will be in the etsy shop! That’s right, I’m moving it back to etsy! I guess the same reason why I moved the whole shop there :) I just miss my etsy community. And I’m going to go back to just offering a limited amount of new subscriptions each month. I’ve found that it really goes from “fun” to “frenzy” if I’m sending out more than 35 each month. So only 15 new subscriptions will be available for the holiday issue.
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For quite some time I’ve been curious to know, “what’s the best way to transfer designs from paper to fabric for embroidery?” And “what’s the easiest way to that doesn’t use iron on transfers?” These are pretty simple questions I’m sure, but as a novice embroidery, the answers have defied me. I’ve looked up a lot of techniques before, but never really tried that many of them to know for myself how they work.

Well, today that ends. I spent the whole morning looking up and transferring different designs to see how it worked out. Continue reading →

I’ve had the desire to learn how to crochet amigurumi for quite some time. I keep imagining all the cut little softies to be made and had and how great it would be for little scraps and just so cute. So cute all the time.

I have picked up and put down Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts Amigurumi several times now and two weeks ago, I did something I haven’t done in awhile. I bought a new book. It was impulsive I have to admit, but it was on sale and under $10. And I love it! I’m already finished up with my first bear head.
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Knitting Machines have interested me ever since learning to knit. The speed, the ease, the speed. Is it really easy though? And is it really actually fast? Well both of those things depend on two things. What you are making and what machine you are making it on. Jason in particular has been really curious about them, actually more than me now that I think about it. We have been talking about getting one off and on for me for a long time and today I was very tempted to buy a “The Ultimate Knitting Machine! by Bond America!” knitting machine while at Joann’s. I had my 40% off coupon. I had the money. But what if I got it home and it was less than “ULTIMATE!!!!!” And also, what if I could just get one used on ebay (which I would prefer anyway). I decided to do some research, see how it works, what you can make with it, what people say about it, and see what else was out there.

(This great knit design is part of the Machine Knitters Flickr Group and was posted by staceyjoy.)

My first stop was YouTube. I thought maybe I could see this baby in action. Well could I ever! The whole video that comes with the Ultimate Knitting Machine had been parsed up and added to YouTube as a series of Lessons, here is the intro. Granted the sweaters she is making are pretty “interesting”, but I got a good idea of what is involved. It seems to work well enough, just absolutely no bells and whistles. None at all. Pretty much if you want to do anything but stockinette stitch it comes by way of manual manipulation. Which isn’t really bad, it just is what it is. Like if you want to do a two by two rib, well, just watch this and you will see. Still faster than hand knitting though.

Then I came across this video which was pretty funny I thought and also gave the info that the UKM was really finicky, prone to jamming up, and dropping stitches. Hmm. Well, it looks like it still wasn’t bad, just touchy. Most likely just need to learn how to use it and weight it to avoid issues like that. Maybe it’s just not completely mindless knitting.

Here is another look at the Singer knitting machine. It goes into detail about using it, what’s all included and etc.

There are all sorts of knitting machines, the Bond and the Singer are just two of about 5+ main ones that seem to be in common use. Brother makes one similar to the singer and then of course these are just the more “hobby” ones. There are ones that use punch cards to create more complicated stitch patterns with ease. Fully computerized ones that you can just program and let fly.

A lot of people use knitting machines for sweaters, scarves, hats, but also socks (check out this sock knitting machine in action) as well as sculptural pieces. Which is actually why I’ve had knitting machines on the brain.

This artist formed the knit fabric into an origami crane and cast it in bronze. Very interesting indeed. That’s the same method I used to make crocheted silver sterling rings. Lost wax casting I believe.

Speaking of artists who knit, the person who got me thinking about knitting as an art medium in the first place was Lisa Anne Auerbach. Which I’m sure would have happened all on its own eventually, but seeing her work and reading about how she just got things moving a little faster. She does these amazing sweater/skirt sets as well as knit panel pieces. Like this:

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my next project in the studio and I have a few ideas and they are in one way or another involving knitting.

So after crunching the numbers, doing the research, looking on ebay, I’ve decided that the Bond (admittedly not “ultimate” like they claim) is a pretty good buy (especially the next time that 40% coupon comes around) and a good place to get started working with knitting machines. (I’ll get a Brother or Singer if I can at a similar price though). If I find in a year that I’ve outgrown it. It seems to hold its value well enough that I could sell it and apply that money to an upgrade.

Do you have a knitting machine? How do you like it? what would you recommend for a newbie? want to trade it for a 4 harness table loom? Just throwing that last one out there, haha.

One this is for sure, a knitting machine reminds me much more of weaving than of knitting. So I think I will get along with it really well.

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Other links to interesting Knitting Machine videos

Handmade Knitting Machine

Knitting Shorties on the Bond

Knitty.com Article on Knitting Machines

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On another note, make sure to go vote today! What you do does matter, so go do something and vote! Jason and I and our friend are going to have a big breakfast, take a snack and step in line tomorrow. We are making a morning of it. Then we are going to watch the election come in after he get’s off work and weather proof the apartment. Good times, good times.

Have a good day and keep it crafty!
Kristin

I just wanted to let you know that I was called in to work early today and it kind of threw the balance of my little crafterdom. So I got home and cleaned, then started cutting and sewing fabric. I’m still sewing. And I think I could get the pattern posted tonight, but the quality would be shoddy. So I’m going to keep sewing, finish everything up so it’s nice, finish writing up the pattern and then take good photos tomorrow, rewrite the pattern (haha) and post it all.

On a similar note, I’ve noticed that I’ve had a hard time getting patterns up on Fridays lately, so I’m going to re-evaluate the schedule and, maybe start posting patterns on Monday. It turns out that I’m mostly working Thursdays and Fridays at Stam, which is when I would normally finish up, shoot, and post the pattern. So a new schedule is in order while I’m holding down this part time job.

See you all soon!

Knitting experiences, especially early on, are scared by all sorts of odd ball issues. During my year and a half (or so) at the Yarn Exchange I came to realize that dropped stitches were the number one culprit of all time. They would stop knitters dead in their tracks. And after teasing out a stitch and pulling things here and there and trying to get it on the needles again so it’s the right way, they would give up. Put it in their ufo pile and wait until we were open again to come get it figured out. I had also seen many knitter struggle to find the one lone crochet hook in their bag and struggle to get that lone stitch up on the needles with the rest of its little stitch buddies. There had to be an easier way. And there is. Continue reading →

Today I set out to make the frame of the laundry hamper. It went pretty smoothly, except it turned out kind of huge! Haha. I think I’ll cut it down a little bit. I’m thinking about making the depth smaller, like 1 foot instead of a 1 1/2′. It just seems really big. I want a second opinion though.

The cloth hanging on the back is destined to be laundry bags. I want to get the size of the frame right before I start cutting and sewing the fabric.
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I have been fortunate enough in my life to receive many things through the generosity of others. My grandma gave me all of her craft supplies getting me started on my life adventure of pattern writing, craft leftovers, fiber arts, and now teaching classes and workshops. Continue reading →

Hey there folks! I just want to post a quick note to let you know that I just finished up the pattern for this weekend, but I need to get a nice finished shot of it. Well, it’s 11:15pm so it’s just not going to happen this evening. It will tomorrow though, so I’ll get the pattern up for your crafting pleasure then. There is one more variable in the mix too. I think that even though it’s super nice as is (of course), but it could be better felted. So I’m going think about it over night and then decide whether or not to run it in the wash (hot then cold) tomorrow morning, put it in front of a fan, and get a shot when I get home from work. So I will be back soon, really soon, and there will be some crafty goodness going on.

See you tomorrow! Keep it Crafty in the meantime!
Kristin

Our bedroom was in order. Now it’s not. What happened? Laundry. Simple as that. We have no place to put anything as far as the laundry goes (from the laundry itself to the detergent bottle lying on the floor next to it). Well, the times are a changing, we need some order. Continue reading →