#used up like 2 full skeins of embroidery floss

[rhysintherain]

Almost done fixing the jeans they cut up at the ER last summer.

All told, it'll be about 36 square inches stitched over. There's a strip of navy blue 11-count aida backing it for structure. Using 2 strands of bright green and 1 strand of dark green for the color

Once this is done, I have a couple hoodies to do: my tsunami warning hoodie that Pixie chewed on is getting blue Wave patterns along the cuffs and hem in a couple places. My red Burton hoodie is getting orange and yellow flames around the worn out cuffs.

[somediyprojects]

Free Palestine designed by Jacob de Graaf of Modern Folk Embroidery.

Today I want to share a pattern with you that uses Tatreez embroidery elements in support of the people of Palestine struggling through one of the most difficult times in their lives. I am aware that this is a highly divisive and contentious issue for a lot of people. Some people might be shocked or hurt by me sharing this design. I do hope on the other hand that by speaking out, others will do the same and will not be afraid of any backlash that might be there.  Sadly, the world has become more and more polarised – you are either this or that, and if you’re pro-this, you must be anti-that. The world is a more complex place and though I might be pro-this, it does not mean that I am anti-something-else. I hope you can see that side of me. We should not be scared to stand up for what is right, and to speak about such things without the fear of polarisation getting the better of us. For now, the text below as it appears in the booklet plus download links for the pattern.. Rotterdam, May 8th 2024 Lately, my great-uncle Jacob de Graaf and his wife Trijntje de Kroon have been on my mind. Three years ago, they were posthumously awarded the Yad Vashem award for bravery displayed during the Second World War by hiding Jewish citizens in their homes and saving them from certain death at the hands of the Nazis. I never got to know them as they passed just before and after my birth, but I admire their bravery in doing what they felt was right at a time when it was not only difficult but potentially life-threatening. They stood up for people they could help. I thought of it again yesterday when I saw a young man (@samih.madhoun on Instagram) playing a borrowed oud and singing songs in the refugee camp in Rafah, lifting the spirits of fellow refugees through his art. As I tearfully watched the video, I got angry at myself for not doing more besides weeping at my phone. For months, I have been shocked into a state of numbness by the genocide playing out on my TV, computer and phone. The annihilation of Palestine by the Israeli army is being broadcast to us live, and for too long, I have been struggling with how to express my fear, my anger, my frustration, and my support for the Palestinian people.We cannot turn a blind eye to what is currently happening. Our political leaders need to take action and speak out against the current genocide. I do not have the bravery of my great-aunt and uncle, but I can design patterns and share them with others—and hopefully inspire folks to speak out, too. My great-uncle did what was right during WWII. Will we do the same for our brothers and sisters in Palestine? ABOUT THE DESIGN This design uses Tatreez motifs found on traditional Palestinian dress. The central motif, called Scissors and Roses (Muqass wa Ward ), comes from Gaza. As the land is torn apart, I split the design into two, placing the question “Are we not their brothers and sisters” between them. On the sides is a rose border found on a dress from Ramallah. The doves at the bottom are found on many Palestinian embroideries. TECHNICAL DETAILS This design uses two colours: Black (2224 crosses) and Red (4226 crosses). It measures 113 crosses in width and 153 crosses in height. It features only full crosses and no specialty stitches. From the second page of the pattern onwards, you will notice a greyed-out area of 3 crosses wide — this indicates an overlap with the previous page to make it easier for you to continue stitching. The graph below gives size- and floss estimates for a wide range of materials. Floss calculations are based on working with 2 strands on 28- to 36-count linen (14- to 16-count aida). Higher counts use a single strand. You are free to stitch with as many strands as you like. The first floss estimate is for black, the 2nd for red. For instance, on 32-count linen, you would require 1.1 skein of black floss (standard 8 metre length skeins such as DMC and Anchor), and 2.1 skein of red floss.

I charted this in black and red, but feel free to choose your own colours. If you stitch on white, you could add some green to the design for instance to reflect the colours of the Palestinian flag. Thank you so much for downloading this free pattern and showing your support for Palestine. If you can, please make a donation to organisations who are actually doing amazing work in physically helping the Palestinian people. Two organisations that I have donated to are unwra.org and pcrf.net – but there are many bigger and smaller initiatives worthy of your support. Click on one of the links below to download your pattern. Feel free to share, print, and redistribute this design. When you do, I would ask not to change the booklet itself. Free Palestine – A4 format Free Palestine – Letter format With love, Jacob de Graaf

[waldenweave]

Wow. It’s been a while.

Things got really busy with doctor’s appointments and general exhaustion. I am better now! I had a lumpectomy on November 14th and radiation therapy for the entire month of January – my last day of radiation was also W. A. Mozart’s birthday, so there was a lot to celebrate. It wasn’t until about two weeks or so ago that I realized exactly how tired I had been because all of a sudden I wasn’t that tired. I still am tired, and my joints are creaky, but that’s the tamoxifen. But hey, as far as I know I do not have cancer, and that’s a win.

I’ve tried to keep up with practicing and making things, but tendonitis struck again. I’ve had it since about this past September in my left elbow, and I did not do what I was supposed to do (rest, heat, NSAIDs), but kept practicing both cello and gamba. The result was that I stopped cello the end of October until mid January, and I stopped gamba in the first half of December until the very end of January. I couldn’t button my sweater or braid my hair anymore, and I still can’t believe I let it get that bad. It’s sooo much better now, but it’s still there, so I’m being careful and doing what I need to do to make it better.

This also meant that all that hand work I was doing wasn’t possible anymore. Spinning for any huge length of time made it worse. Knitting has been right out for months and months. Combing wool was only possible in about 3 minute chunks. And then my friend Lee started a make-a-thing-daily project and invited everyone to join in. Her process of choice this time was embroidery.

Well!

I have been itching to embroider for some time, and Lee’s rules seemed simple enough: gather all your materials ahead of time, set the bar so low you can roll over it (quick and dirty, Kate, quick. and. dirty.), and do not fret about what you are making. Quantity over quality. Okay, okay, so I naturally fret over quality. Always. But I also recognize this is a thing that I need to maybe let go of now and then. So. A daily thing for February. The Short Month! Yes, I thought, I can do this.

I found all my embroidery floss and hoops and needles. And I began.

Week 1. These are Very Small, which keeps to the quick-and-dirty principle.

I had no patterns – so I just doodled. And doodled. Some I like, some not so much. But I did start to look at embroidery online and got to thinking about flowers.

Week 2, plus one. Moar doodles!

I re-learned how to do French knots, I learned the bullion stitch, and I learned that some of the yarns I spin are perfectly suitable for embroidering with. The purple flower (there’s a bit of charcoal on that one from the frame – the frames were laser cut, and so had carbon on the edges) is a silk/merino blend I spun up, as well as the purple in the octagonal frame. The grey sheep/mouse (it was supposed to be a sheep, but didn’t quite work) is a bit of Gotland I’d spun.

Week 3, plus a bit? Feeesh, flowers, and…more flowers?

I am really enamored of French knots. And embroidered flowers. And in rayon floss! I really wanted silk yarn (because who wouldn’t?), but all I could get quickly and on the cheap was rayon, so I settled (for now). The tree I’m especially happy with – that one is all in cotton floss, but from three colors I kept pulling out and staring hard at. I’d been looking at pictures online of tiny, gorgeous embroidered flowering trees made from satin stitches and French knots. Eventually, I knew I’d get to it. And I did. And I’m happy with it. And I think this particular tree with this particular color scheme will inspire Something Else (stay tuned?). The dandelion was a doodle to see if I could do it. I have a skein of variegated yellow cotton and I thought, “O, that reminds me of dandelions.”

I’m telling you, I have so much appreciation for those professional embroiderers who can create depth with needle and thread just through the use of color and stitch direction.

Late in the game, I ran out of white linen, so reached for a scrap of blue. But you know, it just wasn’t working. I love this shade, but I just wasn’t happy with how the colors of the floss were working with it.

Well. In any case, you’ll notice that there are fewer than 29 embroideries. I framed the last batch (Week 3 and a bit) yesterday, and while trying to start another wee embroidery to catch up on the last day of the month, I realized that the tendonitis really did not like it. I practiced a ridiculous amount of cello yesterday (yay, Vivaldi [except I can’t play it yet]), but the thing that made the tendonitis really painful was holding the embroidery hoop. Argh. The embroidery can wait. There will be other months, and an almost endless supply of floss and handspun yarn.

This is not to say that I did not make nothing prior to February. Spinning did aggravate the tendonitis, but as long as I did it in small chunks and took care, I spun. The spinning also helped with the mental stuff going on – a repetitive task that I don’t have to think overly much about and at the end, I get soft, squishy yarn. That I can squish.

I’ll try to go in order.

  This was a bit of dyed Leicester Longwool and I got from a destash pile at one of the spinning guild meetings that I spun up in late December. I’m pretty happy with it. It was very easy and very mindless to spin, and there was a lot of it. I believe this is 8 ounces – each skein is 4 ounces. The only thing about this project was that the dye still hasn’t finished washing out, and I washed that skein about four times. I had used some cotton weaving yarn as ties on the skeins, and those picked up some of the dye, which leads me to believe the dyer used fiber reactive dyes rather than an acid dye. Which is aggravating. It would explain the lack of luster one would expect in this breed of wool. So, I’ll have to be careful when washing whatever project I use this for. (I’ll likely get a dye magnet or another fresher bottle of Synthropol to remove the rest of the excess dye.)

At some point, I realized I needed to start making progress on the Shetland fleeces. Because I have way too many fleeces and need to get through them! Especially if I want to buy more fleeces to make into more fabulous yarn to weave fabulous cloth. I’d been spinning samples for a bit (pretty sure this was January), and this one was one I was reasonably happy with. It’s got a bit more twist than I think the Shetland really wants, but I would absolutely weave with it. And let me tell you, Shetland is a joy to spin. It almost spins itself, it’s so very soft, and it’s so very lustrous. Can you see the shine?!

FLUFFFFFFY SHETLAND!

I tried another sample of the Shetland, this time with slightly less twist, and look at the difference! It’s much puffier than the stuff in the previous photo, and it’s so, so squishy. I loves it, I do. I want so much to weave with this, but I’ve had two people (experts in weaving and spinning, actually) tell me that this yarn is Really Suitable for Knitting. Sigh. I mean, it’s a sample. I can’t quite knit yet (tendonitis), but I might be able to weave it into a sample. Maybe. A tiny one.

Honestly, I love that yarn. I have never loved yarn I’ve spun so much as I love this one.

At some point in January, I decided to try out R.H. Lindsay Wool Merchants. I follow them on social media, and some of their pictures of wool are just so delicious. They sell wholesale, but they’ll also sell by the pound to whoever wants it. And I did. They’d posted a picture of super bouncy Dorset/Polypay roving from New England sheep. For $8.50/lb. I ordered two pounds. (The shipping was nearly that much, so I did briefly consider getting three pounds – I have no where to put it!) It came lickity-split and I pulled some of that off to spin:

Super springy! Super bouncy!

Yep. That’s pretty springy and bouncy! I gotta say, I really like this. You can’t beat the price, even with the shipping, and the roving is not carbonized. There were bits of VM in there, which I very happily picked out.

And then!

Look at that luster! Look at the color! Ooooh! Aaaaah!

I’m putting in a full size photo of the Gotland. I mean, how could I not?

This was my first attempt at spinning it. It’s not easy to spin. This is from commercially prepared roving that had sat in storage for some time, so was compressed some. There’s no crimp, there’s no wave. It’s a bit like spinning mohair, except it’s a bit less slippery. Getting the right amount of twist was a challenge, but I am pretty happy with this. It’s a two ply and if I can, I’ll weave a tiny sample out of this and full it to see what happens. But, on the other hand, I have more roving, and really what I should do is spin up the rest of it, and weave that into a sample, but cut the sample into three pieces, and go to town with experimental fulling. “Why all the trouble?” I hear you ask. The answer is that I want so much to sew myself a grey wool coat, and, believe it or not, I cannot find the right grey wool. It’s either not the right color, not the right weight, or some combination of wool and synthetic fibers. Or some combination of those three. And it pisses me off. So, I’ll just weave my own cloth, and spin the yarn if I have to. Dammit.

I know this is a huge project. I’d like to get it done in the next three years (before I’m 50).

Here’s another snap of that yarn:

I guess all that practicing spinning really paid off. I seem to be improving!

And then!

My friend Rachel (over at Spotted Sheep Studio) found some Gammelnorsk fleeces. I bet you had no idea there was a breed called Gammelnorsk, did you? Well. There is. And it’s rare. And she found a person in Norway who raises this breed, and got to buy a bag of fleeces from her. And Rachel and I stool around in the Webs parking lot after a spinning meeting opening the bag and smelling the delightful fumes of Norwegian barnyard and lanolin. And, of course, fondling the Gammelnorsk fleeces. The colors are amazing.

This breed is a dual coated breed, which means it has hair and a downy undercoat (tog and thel, respectively). I do not know much more than this, but Rachel is a fount of knowledge and will impart all her wisdom if I ask – also I’m going to be helping to prepare these fleeces for spinning, and then spinning. So I’ll have to know.

And the very last picture I have to show you is a bit of yarn I spun up yesterday. I have been learning about spinning and preparing the fibers via some Interweave videos. And so I tried coming the alpaca batts I have, because who doesn’t want alpaca top? Well. The batts are made from garbage alpaca. Or they were carded into oblivion, I’m not sure. In any case, the batts are only suitable for felting. The fibers are way too short for even spinning yarn. I even tried to card it and spin it. So aggravating. So, then I decided to turn my attention to a red Spelsau batt that Rachel’s husband brought back from a recent trip to Norway for me (and Rachel too, you should have seen her haul!). I tried combing a bit, and I got some top off it, but I think this batt is really suitable for carding. However, the color is AMAZING. Behold:

And lo! The Perfect Red!

And you know what? No dye came out of this when I washed it. None. Not even a little.

I love this red so much I want to roll around in it.

Really, what makes it so gorgeous is that it’s a tan or brown fleece that has been dyed red. The brown deepens the color and brings it over to the orangey side rather than the blue side. I’m thinking about experimenting with dyeing some of that brown Shetland – I have a white fleece too, but man, this red…

  I’m still here. Wow. It's been a while. Things got really busy with doctor's appointments and general exhaustion. I am better now!

[awkwardkrafts-blog]

EXPRESSION FIBER ARTS YARN CLUB MARCH 2017

I haven’t been able to find anyone reviewing or posting the monthly yarn club limited edition skeins from Expression Fiber Arts so I’ve decided to start posting them here.

But first a little introduction… I’m really new to knitting but I’m absolutely in love with this company and I feel like I can relate a lot to the founder, Chandi, and how she took up knitting in her late 20s during a bad time in her life and it really helped her get through it. - I’m 27 and currently not working due to a back injury and suffering from pretty bad depression. I’m certainly a lot better than I was last fall, thanks to antidepressants, rest, the loss of an abusive friend and the acquisition of a very loving and kind boyfriend. Sadly all of that isn’t enough though. I used to be an artist and I’ve always felt like I need to be making things so what better time to be doing it than while I’m virtually trapped at home with nothing to do and running out of tv shows fast? So here I am, I started with “friendship” bracelets that I decided to make friends and such for valentines day, then dabbled a bit in embroidery, then started attempting to knit after a trip to the craft store to get more embroidery floss and I kept looking over my shoulder at the yarn section feeling like maybe I should try that too and after going home and watching some how-to videos on knitting (which included Chandi’s oh-so-very cringably dorky intro to knitting) I gave in to the call, bought some yarn and started up! I read more and started looking for better yarn to try because what I had was cheap and a little hard to work with. I remembered Chandi talking about the yarn she uses in her video so I clicked her link and lo and behold I found the most beautiful yarns I’ve ever seen. So now I have a stash of some fantastic squishies and more coming and I’m finally working on my first full project, which is just a scarf but I decided to make it of my own design and not someone elses, much less something so basic as just a stockinette stitch… we’ll see how that turns out.

ANYWAY the Expression Fiber Arts Yarn Club is sort of like a monthly subscription box sans subscription and you have 4 choices every month from a selection of themed pictures that the yarns will be based off of. This months theme was BIRDS! - Green Honeycreeper - Ruby Throated Hummingbird - Quetzal - Scarlet Macaw

I opted out of the macaw because I wasn’t feeling the rainbow at the time and I now regret it and the Quetzal was already sold out and my heart is still broken over it :( I ordered 2 each of the honeycreeper and the hummingbird and I have to say I’m in love with the honeycreeper. It is gorgeous!!! Just look at how the blues and greens melt into each other. Lovely ♡♡♡ The humming bird is very springy, and while I’m not as head over heals for it as I am the honeycreeper, I still look forward to making something nice with it :)

The yarn used this month for all the colors is a yak silk lace weight and the goodies that came with them are a pack of pastel stitchmarkers (which I really need for that scarf - Thank You Chandi!!!) And a measuring tape, both of which I recieved 4 each of, because I ordered 4 skeins altogether.

There are also recommended patterns each month, one for crochet and one for knitting. Crochet Pattern: Apple Blossom Stole by Kai Rochford nee Mistry http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/apple-blossom-stole Knitting Pattern: Wirbel by Sue Berg http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wirbel

And lastly I recieved a coupon for 2$ off each item in one order

Next Months Theme: FLOWERS! Go check out the inspiration pictures Here: http://www.expressionfiberarts.com/categories/yarn-club.html

I’ll post pictures of the April Yarn Club on May 1st as Chandi requests nobody spoil the surprise for anyone who hasn’t gotten theres yet.

The yarn base for Aprils club colors will be Alpaca Silk DK which should be a good medium weight yarn for beginners (and also feels amazing from that 50% silk) so if you want to learn to knit, order a skein or 2 and watch these beginner videos by Chandi while you wait for your yarn to arrive! Absolute Beginner: https://youtu.be/ONVQCK_-rKc Purling: https://youtu.be/2UJcXclkbvg

(Yes, they are a bit cringey but she’s a really good teacher)