Monday, May 27, 2019

Shawl Pin


For the past several years I have spent the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend at the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair in Cummington, Massachusetts. This year was no exception. I spent most of my time in the fiber tent demonstrating netting. Before we headed for home, my youngest daughter, who had also been demonstrating netting, suggested we take a look at the booth that was labeled "Shawl Pins." So we did.

Leslie Wind had never seen a net shawl, but within minutes she had created a pin which  prevents my net shawls from sliding off my shoulders. She tried to get me to create one, but my creative juices had all been used up with 6 hours of demonstrating.


Here is the pin with the shawl I wore to church on Sunday. The shawl, made of ribbon yarn, did not slide off my shoulders at all.

Check out her website to see other creative shawl pins and a wide variety of different types of jewelry: http://www.lesliewind.com.


Saturday, May 18, 2019

Tiny Apple Seeds



Back on 10 November 2018, I mentioned creating a tiny doily from a larger one. I started making tiny doilies during an online graphics art class I was taking that semester. The class devoted one week to suggestions, ideas, and practices that encouraged creativity. We had to do some creative projects that week and I created the tiny doily. Once I started thinking about tiny doilies, I could not stop thinking about new and different patterns. At one point I had three come to my mind at about the same time and had to get my daughter to help me record them before I forgot the concepts I was trying to hold in my mind. While I did not make all of them that week, I made some and continued making them through Christmas break. Eventually I ended up with 24 doilies small enough to fit into the acrylic frames. This is the last one.

This is the center of the Plain Star from last week. I used tatting thread and a #2 knitting needle as the mesh stick. If I wanted smaller diamonds, I could use a smaller mesh stick and more rows.

















Instructions

Remember to tie a connecting knot (CK) at the end of each round to form the last loop of that round.


Apple Center

Round 1
mesh stick: #2 knitting needle
Form a grommet with 10 loops, the last one tied by hand with a connecting knot (CK). (10 loops in the round)

Round 2
mesh stick: #2 knitting needle
*Net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in the next loop;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in last loop. (15 loops in the round)

Round 3
mesh stick: #2 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in the next loop, *net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in each loop for 2 loops;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in the last loop. (20 loops in the round)

Round 4
mesh stick: #2 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop for 2 loops, *net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in each loop for 3 loops;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in the last loop. (25 loops in the round)

Round 5
mesh stick: #2 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop for 3 loops, *net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in each loop for 4 loops;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in the last loop. (30 loops in the round)

Round 6
mesh stick: #2 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop for 4 loops; *net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in each loop for 5 loops;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in the last loop. (35 loops in the round)


Round 7
mesh stick: #2 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop. (35 loops in each round)

Saturday, May 11, 2019

Tiny Plain Star



The tiny Plain Star was a smaller version of a Plain Star I created back in 2013. I used a 1/4 inch flat mesh for all rows of the original one. The diameter of the original star was about 5 inches.





The tiny version uses four yards of tatting thread to create the 275 knots. The diameter of the tiny one is 2.25 inches.
































Instructions

Remember to tie a connecting knot (CK) at the end of each round to form the last loop of that round.


Apple Center

Round 1
mesh stick: #3 knitting needle
Form a grommet with 10 loops, the last one tied by hand with a connecting knot (CK). (10 loops in the round)

Round 2
mesh stick:  #0 knitting needle
 *Net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in the next loop;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in last loop. (15 loops in the round)

Round 3
mesh stick:  #0 knitting needle
 Net 1 knot in the next loop, *net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in each loop for 2 loops;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in the last loop. (20 loops in the round)

Round 4
mesh stick:  #0 knitting needle
 Net 1 knot in each loop for 2 loops, *net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in each loop for 3 loops;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in the last loop. (25 loops in the round)

Round 5
mesh stick:  #0 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop for 3 loops, *net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in each loop for 4 loops;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in the last loop. (30 loops in the round)

Round 6
mesh stick:  #0 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop for 4 loops; *net 2 knots in the next loop, net 1 knot in each loop for 5 loops;* repeat from * to * ending with net 2 knots in the last loop. (35 loops in the round)


Round 7
mesh stick: #0 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop. (35 loops in each round)



Pointed Edge

Row 1
mesh sticks:  #0 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop for 6 loops. (6 loops in the row)

Row 2
mesh stick: #0 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop for 4 loops, net the last 2 loops together. (5 loops in the row)

Row 3
mesh stick: #0 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop for 3 loops, net the last 2 loops together. (4 loops in the row)

Row 4
mesh stick: #0 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop for 2 loops, net the last 2 loops together. (3 loops in the row)

Row 5
mesh stick: #0 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in the next loop, net the last 2 loops together. (2 loops in the row)

Row 6
mesh stick: #0 knitting needle
Without a mesh stick, net 2 loops together.  (1 loop in the row)


Additional Points

Row 1
mesh sticks:  #0 knitting needle
Tie the thread from the netting needle to the loop of row 7 next to the right side of the point. Without a mesh stick net 1 more knot into that loop, net 1 knot in each loop for 6 loops; turn the netting.  Untie the first knot tied to the loop of round 7 and cut it short.

Rows 2-6
mesh sticks:  #0 knitting needle
Repeat rows 2-6 of the Lacy Pointed Edge.


Continue repeating the instructions in the Additional Points section until 5 points have been made.



Saturday, May 4, 2019

Tiny Tops


Six and a half years ago, I made some bookmarks with small net circles above a rectangle of netting. I called one of them Tops because the decrease stitch reminded me of a spinning top. This was one tiny doily that did not need changing.






























Instructions

Remember to tie a connecting knot (CK) at the end of each round to form the last loop of that round.


Regular Center

Round 1
mesh stick: 3/8”
Form a grommet with 24 loops, the last one tied by hand with a connecting knot (CK). (24 loops in the round)

Rounds 2-3
mesh stick: #3 knitting needle
Net 1 knot in each loop. (24 loops in each round)


Tops Decrease Stitch

Round 4
mesh stick: 3/8”
Net 1 knot in each loop. (24 loops in each round)

Round 5
mesh stick: 3/8”
Without mesh stick, net together the loop formed by the CK and the loop to the right of the CK.  Now with the mesh stick, * net 2 loops together*; repeat from * to *.  (12 loops in the round)