A crafty bunch

[Jute]

It sounds like we are a craft loving bunch as well as interested in education!

I bake and quilt. I've been picking at learning knitting. I also dye my own fabric.

[Seawood]

I haven't touched anything in ages - all my stuff is gathering dust right now :( When I'm not neck-deep in Coursera I'm swimming or running.

I can crochet and cross-stitch, bind books and make jewellery; tried my hand at papercutting, freehand embroidery and pyrography; not great with a sewing machine (no room to have it out hence no practice) or drawing. I want to learn to spin and paint silk - I have the kits but no space or patience atm.

Baking is a way of life. :)

[Xiri]

I am learning to crochet *grin*. Would love to learn to cook, as well :)

[Seawood]

Crochet is so fast once you get the knack of it - the main trick is sorting your tension out; if you find your work is often a bit small try going up 0.5m on the hook size recommended. Works for me, anyhow.

[Xiri]

Oh, I'm working with thread and have even 3 hooks :"> 1.5 mm is my favorite. I began by doilies and snowflakes, nothing more yet honestly :)

[Seawood]

Blimey, that's ambitious! I have my husband's great-gran's steel hooks - they're so tiny it's crazy - but I have RSI in my wrist from time to time so I have to go easy.

This is the smallest thing I've made:


It was the bouquet for the skeleton bride from Creepy Cute Crochet. :)

[Xiri]

Trust me it's not, steel hooks are default in my culture, it seems :)

That bouquet is tiny... much tinier than my snowflakes or heart! I have yet to give a 1.0 mm a try, and my largest is 1.75 or 2 mm.

[Xiri]

I'm also a bit frustrated by how most of English patterns are written out only, whereas over here most are charted out (well, other legal issues aside... sharing abounds). I did find English tutorials much easier to follow though - yay :)

[Seawood]

:) Steel hooks are quite rare here these days, I think - lacework is seen as pretty hard. You have my admiration if that's where you're starting from! Most folks seem to start with granny squares or amigurumi in horrible acrylics. I like cotton threads or merino yarn (yes, I have expensive taste!) for clothing, though.

Try Japanese projects - they tend to be charted rather than written. Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts!: Lacy Crochet is quite sweet.

[Xiri]

Yup, I dig cotton too :) I prefer lacy stuff anyway, so why not begin with it? It's just the same basic stitches, but formed so that there are holes in between them... filet in particular is easy in principle, but tougher due to counting.

Thanks :)

[Xiri]

Her blog is amazing - I have been stilled on her owl motif for a few months now due to my laziness, but will have to unravel the additions eventually and just finish it.

http://chisako3.exblog.jp/

[Jute]

Oh wow..that's amazing!

[Xiri]

I've discovered her patterns on a certain Russian or so blog they had been shared at, and then found the source... glad to :)

[Xiri]

Does anyone else happen to be on Ravelry too? The trend of joining too many groups just because I'm interesting in learning it some day continues...

[Seawood]

Yep. Don't use it much at the moment, though - seawood, as pretty much everywhere else (I must change it on here...).

[Xiri]

No worries :) You can see my "activity" too.

[Xiri]

I "love" Crochet Concupiscence (can't spell its title for a damn... ) blog, but this article she linked at recently... Well, suffice to say, designers who claim that copyright statement prohibits one from selling finished objects / modifying their designs to make your own drive me nuts, since at least the finished objects part is not right according to the copyright laws themselves, grrr.

[Seawood]

Today I learnt to finger-knit, and taught my nearly-7 as well. She picked it up really quickly, I was so proud. We're making scarves and wrist-warmers. :)

ION I'm working on a Secret Santa for someone in my gaming group. It is a magical flying fire-weasel. Don't ask. :)

[Xiri]

Seawood wrote: "Today I learnt to finger-knit, and taught my nearly-7 as well. She picked it up really quickly, I was so proud. We're making scarves and wrist-warmers. :)

ION I'm working on a Secret Santa for som..."

How cool :)

[Xiri]

By the way, have you ever tried finger crocheting? The way I understand it, it seems pretty easy with thicker yarns for stuff like blankets, scarves, hats...

[Xiri]

Oh, and for other people who crochet...

Crochetvolution is pretty nifty magazine, the recent issue has articles about creativity as a healing practice as well as one about Aoibhe Ni - off-topic, but dang those Irish names can be tough to spell for folks like me - and more :)

[Seawood]

I haven't, but looking for a guide on that was actually my next stop when I get chance. DD has picked up the finger knitting so quickly I want to give her something else to try and hopefully get her inspired. She loves "making things" but I'd like to inch her away from pre-packed sticking and gluing kits that fall apart after a few days towards being able to make something useful that she can be proud of.

[Xiri]

It seems pretty easy, just working the same motions as one would with a hook but with fingers :)

[Jute]

Xiri wrote: "It seems pretty easy, just working the same motions as one would with a hook but with fingers :)"

Are you able to make larger things or only small ones since you wouldn't be able to put as many stitches on your fingers as on a needle?

[Xiri]

This seems big enough to me - in Arabic, I believe, but could be Hebrew too... either way her actions seem very clear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfoSEm...

One of advantages of crochet to me is, that one only works with a single stitch at a time most of the time :)