Posted in colorwork, knitting

Cast-on Monday – Summer Style

Posted on by Laura Kate

I’m a bit restless with knitting the Vogue sweater. I am about halfway finished with the sleeves and the back. There are long stretches of stockinette stitch yet to do. So to break things up a bit, I’ve cast on a new project using Berroco Remix yarn.

I picked up three skeins of this yarn while in Madison during March. Made from 100% recycled fibers, it is a blend of nylon, cotton, acrylic, silk and linen.

While perusing Ravelry, I spotted this pattern by Anna Schei which will be perfect for my intended use.

Ravelry: Polkastripe pattern by Trekkentar Deg

This vest will be for my granddaughter. She is not quite three and very interested in dressing herself. The sprightly mosaic stitch pattern reminds me of her crazy-happy personality.

One small concern: The pattern is written in Norwegian. Fortunately, the color chart transcends language limitations and it is all I really needed from the original pattern. I will be adapting it to include a button-up front. My little one needs to practice her buttoning skills.

And here is my swatch.

This stitch is pretty fun to work and to admire!

Okay, back to my needles.

Posted in painting

Learning Lessons, Trying Stuff

Posted on by Laura Kate

I’ve chosen the title to this blog because it’s the message I give students who are learning new skills in fiber arts (and other arts, in my case.) This blog is about my latest water color painting lesson and the resulting painting.

First, my inspiration. I have a lovely birdbath in my backyard. Everyday I watch the activity around the birdbath and think about painting it. So I chose it as my subject, for what I intend to be a series of paintings.

This is a morning shot. I am using this photo as a reference for my first painting of the backyard birdbath. In this first stage, I paint the subject.

I have sketched in a male cardinal to provide a focal point for the painting.

Next I used pale yellow and gold washes for the background underpainting. Let me say now that This was my Favorite Point in the process. Everything looks the way I want. The rocks, the pottery, even the background. From here on, it was a struggle.

Next came layer two. I added green to delineate the background and painted the cardinal with a wash of red. My instructor showed me how to paint a reflection in the birdbath and how to paint blades of grass in the middle ground.

Once everything dried, I added shadows to the birdbath, finished the bird, added the foreground, and dropped in a few spots of color to the middle ground. I also used a dark blue to under-paint the background. Here is the finished painting.

There’s a lot I like here, but there is plenty that I don’t.

I did Try Stuff. I Learned Lessons, and now I am ready for a Do-over.

Posted in hand embroidery

Shadow and Texture

Posted on by Laura Kate

In this post I am following up on the next steps for Spring Green.

Here is how the foreground looked after I finished piecing it.

With textile paint, I created shadows and deepened existing shadows.

It’s finally time to begin sewing. To start with, I added a layer of batting. So that the batting doesn’t shift, I hand-basted the two layers together, adding a few safety pins for good measure. Next came the embroidery. Using cotton twist and cotton floss, I outlined the rims of the pots with couching.

The two groups of pots nearest to the viewer got two strands of gold cotton twist couched with four strands of embroidery floss in a cross-stitch pattern. I matched the floss color to the fabric color.

For the flat of pots further from the viewer, I couched only one strand of cord, using three strands of floss and the whip stitch. This will create a bit of perspective.

I’m loving the texture that the thick stitches create. Now that I have finished couching, I will add the backing.

After that, I will throw on a bit of machine quilting, just to anchor the edges and define further the parts of the image. It will give me more time to consider exactly what I will do next.

Posted in hand embroidery

Randomly Practicing Stitches

Posted on by Laura Kate

I am in the process of working out what stitches in which colors will be embroidered on to my Spring Green project. The wacky sampler you see above resulted from my random practice.

Just in case you are curious, here are the names of the stitches.

Clockwise from upper right:

Fly stitch worked in columns, Detached chain stitch, French knot on stalks (yellow flower.) I have no idea what the top left stitch is.

The goofy face on the left: running stitch (black) couch stitch (green yarn) woven back stitch (mouth)

The seedling: Stem is stem stitch, leaves are satin stitch tied with back stitch.

Black line is coral stitch. The seedling is growing from a pot outlined in couched yarn and cross stitched. The leaves are chain stitches and stem stitch. I used paint and fabric marker to add the color.

I think that’s enough for now. Time to get dinner.