Hello Knitters!

I hope to see you at FiberArts Market, in Oakland, California, July 21-24, 2005, Oakland Marriott City Center, for The Knitters Guild of America, www.tkga.com and Crochet Guild of America, www.crochet.org conferences.  I am a member of both organizations.  You will find all the information for classes and activities at both these websites and also at www.offinger.com, the organizer of this event.  Look for me at the FiberArts Market, I will be demonstrating the use of bead spinners and have examples of my work there.  Ask for a Beadwrangler hug, I have lots to spare and everyone needs a hug.

I will be demonstrating the use of Clover's new hairpin lace tool early on Saturday and Sunday.  One day is for the knitters and one day is for the crocheters.  This is a freebie, including the tool, and I will also be showing you how to weave on this tool.   My friend and tester, Theresa Grandstaff, a knitter and crocheter, will be assisting me both days.  There is a maximum of 20 students for each demonstration.  If you do not sign up in time, drop by my booths.  I will have the tool for purchase and show you how to use it.

I will be donating one of my designer Cascade necklaces for TKGA and one for CGOA for raffle as fundraisers.  The necklace for TKGA is  Solomon's Gold, from my Cascade Series.  Take a look at the multiple bead strands.  You will find an image of the necklace for CGOA, Sahara Sands, on Inside Crochet.

I have been crocheting for several years and it all started with a desire to make little bags with beads on them.  Once I learned to crochet, I realized there was a lot more I could do with my new skills.  Now I can make wearables and a variety of art forms. 

I had the same experience with knitting.  I wanted to make necklaces and bracelets with beads, knitted with On The Surface New Metallics thread.  I taught myself to knit using 0000 steel needles, New Metallics thread and size 6/0 and 8/0 beads with a basic how-to knit book.  I work with thin thread and small beads daily, and learning a basic knit stitch on these needles seemed to work for me.  I am sure most people would prefer beginning with thick yarn and large needles.  New Metallics thread is a firm, 2-ply thread, which holds the shape that is knitted and was easier for me to manipulate  than softer thread.  Once I had learned the basic knit stitch, I wanted to learn more.

I was fortunate to meet the owner of On The Surface products, Mary Libby Neiman, who is an avid knitter and has been helpful with my questions.  The more I knitted with New Metallics, the more ideas started coming to me.  I decided to add crochet to my knitting.  I used the basic base from Mary Libby's bracelets and then crocheted arms, tailfin and added a head, making a mermaid.  I used size 6/0 and 8/0 seed beads for the body and size 15/0 Japanese beads for the arms and embellishment on the tailfin.  I used a couple of donut beads for the head and the attachment to the tailfin.   I made several mermaids and gave them to my friends at the national crochet conferences. 

Take a look at one of my little mermaids.

Mary Libby and I have become friends and I often send her samples using new materials she is developing.  Last year she sent me a gift, a double bracelet.  You can wear the two bracelets as one, or separate them and wear both.  It is a great idea.

I had a thirst for knitting information and began to amass gobs of knit books and my library expanded.  I now have as many knit books as I have crochet.  Some of my crochet books have knitted finishing for the edges, especially ribbing.  Looking through my knit books, there are knitted items needing crochet for finishing.  For this reason, I believe every crocheter should know how to knit and every knitter should know how to crochet.

I have made a variety of samplers and attended a few lace and specialty classes at my local yarn shop.  It always helps to have a little hands-on experience in addition to written instructions.

I knitted a bracelet using specialty yarns and it really looks great.  Once I attend the lace class and made another bracelet using the same instructions, it was not near as attractive.  That is because previously I did not understand how to make some of the stitches such as psso, so I was making them incorrectly.  It just so happens my error made a lovely design.  Going back and trying to replicate the error has been an experience.   I backed my bracelet with ultrasuede so it would not stretch.  Your wrist movement will wear any knitted fiber if you do not have a backing for it.  I added a bead embellished button and fiber loop and it was ready to go.

Take a look, what do you think?  I love the texture of the bracelet and decided not to add any embellishment, just show the beautiful fiber.

 I recently discovered Margaret Hubert and Prudence Mapstone's work at the last few conferences I attended.  Now I am ready to combine knitting with crochet for freeform fun.  Both these fiber artist's combine knitting with crochet to create the most scrumptious wearables you have ever seen.  Prudence authored Freeform:  Serendipitous Design Techniques for Knitting & Crochet, Margaret Hubert has a video out and Jenny Dowde has authored Freeform Knitting and Crochet, all excellent sources of information.  These techniques have been around for years and taught at some of the weaver's conferences, however, I did not know how to knit when I attended those events.

A few days ago I pulled out some of my hand spun silk and crocheted a hat base in a couple of hours.  Then I added a knitted ribbing to the edge.  It was my first experience with ribbing.  I quickly found making the ribbing addictive, I did not want to stop.  The rhythm of the stitch movement is very soothing.   I often work by the seat of my pants with no pattern and I did not even check my gauge.  Fortunately, when I finished the ribbing, it fit my head.  I also did a little embellishment to my hat.  The ribbing is not perfect by any means, but it was a big accomplishment for me.  I check gauge when I am working towards a specific project such as the Lace Watch Cap designed by Bad Cat Designs which I purchased from http://www.patternworks.com.   I do wish as they had included what a medium women's hat size was, which I found out from a friend is 21," since that size is what they base the pattern on. 

Everyone has a preference for either knitting or crochet.  I find crochet much faster, I can make a variety of items in a few hours compared to knitting which takes much longer to make the same type item.  Crochet is perfect for making jewelry and small items worked in the round.  Crochet takes about one third more yardage than the same item made when knitting.  Knitted items have a completely different appearance and surface texture compared to crochet.  The knitted patterns have an exotic appearance you can not duplicate with crochet unless you use Tunisian crochet or some of the other adaptations to crochet that looks like knitting.  Both crafts are desirable for experimental work and for finishing.  I keep needles and hooks on my work table and make my choices depending on the project.

Spinners Corner

I learned to spin before I learned to knit.  Spinning is a real joy.  I use high whorl drop spindles and Bosworth spindles are my favorites.  I attended a class at my local yarn store and I made lots of big gobs of mess.  I never give up.  I continued to practice and now I consider myself an advanced beginner.  Spinning is fun and I decided not to worry about how perfect my yarn is.  I do realize I am getting better because my yarn is more uniform.  The only problem is the lovely designer yarn I was making, lots of bumps and lumps, is now more difficult to make.  I have to make the bumps on purpose rather than with ease.  

Here is an image of my hat my handspun silk, using both crochet and knit stitches.

Spin-Off is my favorite magazine and absolutely a must for spinners.  Interweave's how-to books for spinners have been very helpful.  Spinning Designer Yarns by Diane Varney sets with my roving as a reference book.  Spin It, Making Yarn from Scratch by Lee Raven and A Handspindle Treasury not only have great instructions, they also include patterns to use once you know how to spin.

I made my own interpretation of  the Knitted Turquoise Tornado Baby Cap by Dustin Wedekind, however, it does not look anything like it.  I did not make my knitted piece long enough so I stitched the edges together with the end set up above the main section and then crocheted up to the crown.  I used some fancy yarn, aqua colors, to work around the knit section and separate it from the crochet.  A few glass beads seems to finish the hat.  The yarn includes a ribbon and my hand spun silk. 

Both my hats are very comfortable, one of a kind and  I am very pleased with them.

I also made a cuff distaff but it does not look like the example in A Handspindle Treasury.  It was my first knit project and looks kind of pitiful.  It does work and we have to begin somewhere.  I am keeping my first distaff to remind me of where I started. 

My spinning is slowly progressing and here is  a ball of my handspun silk blend, plied with silk and rayon yarns.

I hope you will visit beadknit.com again.  Be sure and check my www.beadcrochet.com and www.beadwrangler.com.  Beadwrangler.com is a bead and fiber information website, full of free workshops, storytelling, samplers and lots more.  My beadcrochet.com is all about bead crochet and includes free lessons.  

Until next time,
Needle It!
Lydia, The Beadwrangler