Knots and Needles

Knots and Needles

This time I've been doing a lot of practice, trying to learn some needlelace. Punchetto is the name of one style. It comes from Valsesia, in about the sixteenth century. “The word (puncetto) comes from a Piedmont word which in dialect, means “stitch”. It is also called “Valsesian”, quoted from The Anchor Manuel of Needlework, page 258, chapter XXI.

        I was surprised when I found out there are many countries that do forms of this lace. It has many different names,with slight variations in how the knot is placed.

Punchetto is made with closely spaced knots in geometric designs. Another form of this lace is called Oya (Turkish needle lace) which is done as a border on scarves, mostly in flower motifs. Here is a link that shows some examples and tells how it is made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcyfqchtW8U&feature=related

This punchetto lace is easy to learn but hard to get even in your stitches. I have tried some different kinds of thread and cord, and so far I like cotton the best. The cotton thread holds knots well and is easier to control. I can tell learning this will take more work. The possibilities are pretty much endless. It's a relaxing thing to do and very portable. I've found it is a good way to use up little bits of string. I do think this is a skill I want to improve on.

The supplies for this are cheap and there is not a lot of investment to learn. All you need is a needle and thread. I'm planning on taking this on my vacation. I will share what I accomplish when I return. We are taking the train and will have a lot of time just sitting, so it will give me ample opportunity to practice. I wonder as I make things, “Will I ever get to the perfection stage of things?” I've seen other work that looks like they have. I guess I am not very patient with myself. Maybe that's what this work is all about, teaching patience. We can all use more of that.

I am working on skills I have, and I like to combine them into new ways of using them. I think I'm pretty good at that, I just need to work on the patience part. I want results faster than I can achieve them.

As I was gathering up the items I want to share today, I found I accomplished more than I thought I had. I have 12 items to show.

1. Needle lace purse
2. Needle lace bookmark
3. Green needle lace necklace
4. Free-form needle lace bracelet
5. Stone flower needle lace bracelet
6. Needle lace flower necklace
7. Needle lace bracelet with a bead center
8. Macrame and beaded necklace
9. Wrapped seed and bead necklace
10. Red white and blue wrapped bracelet/necklace
11. Candy corn wrapped bracelet
12. Crocheted Turkish love knot necklace.

First on the list is the little purse I created with needle lace and lined with some of the hand marbled cloth I made a while back. This evolved as I went along. I made the blue and white part first, then I went around that to finish. I also did a bit of crochet with the needle lace. I added beads and some snaps to the front and the hidden pocket inside. It seems to have some quirky parts, but it gave me an idea of what could be done with scraps of thread. I hope someone will find it useful. 

 

 

          Second was a blue, white, and pink bookmark. It turned out soft and homey; nice to put in a book and read and relax.

 

Third is a green, variegated needle lace necklace. This was a bit of a challenge.

 The stones I added had to have reinforcement, they were too heavy for the lace. I ended up using what we used to call gimp. I have a spool of it that is clear with glitter. It blends in and adds a bit of sparkle. This example shows the versatility of this lace. I think if I had used a heavy weight cord it would have held up better. I like the feel of this thread. It is soft and feels nice to wear.

 

Fourth, Just a sort of string doodle bracelet, made with some nice stones and beads, a bit of this and that.

   

    Fifth is another bracelet made with the same cord and needle lace. This works up kind of stretchy. It would make a nice belt, I think, but it would take a lot longer to make.

Sixth, This necklace came about with a little beaded marble I made quite awhile ago and didn't have definite plans for it at the time.

  It's been waiting around for the rest of the idea to take shape. As I looked at it again with the added exposure to the Turkish lace, it seemed to suggest that it needed to be made into a flower. I guess I planted a seed of an idea and this is what  grew.

 

 

 

       Seventh, this little bracelet is made with two techniques, needle lace and the wrap technique.

I learned this technique from a video on YouTube while looking for needle lace videos. This is the last of the green thread scrap I had. (I think it was nice of it to be just enough to finish.) 

 

Eighth, This necklace came about from an unfinished piece I was looking for something else and came across it. It was made with thread that was too floppy, just like the green necklace I told you about earlier. I took this one apart and used heavier cord. It holds up much better. It's nice to finish up odds and ends. 

 

 

Ninth, This necklace is made using the wrap technique with alternating seeds and seed beads. The pendant part is made of a very unique stone pendant with some stone hearts added. 

 

Tenth, This bracelet/necklace is made with the wrapped technique also. It is held together with part of an old button with some tatting around to look a bit like a flower.  

Eleventh, I call this one candy corn. The colors remind me of that. It also reminds me of fall, which is not too far away. This is the first attempt at doing the wrap technique. This is a fun idea. I think I have some more ideas on how to use it with more things added to it. 

 

 

The Twelfth A necklace made with a crochet stitch I have never done before called Turkish love knot.

 

 

 I also learned it from Youtube. A fun place to learn new things. I'm thankful for those who share.

So that is about it for this time. Have a nice rest of the summer! I'll be back in September. Relax and enjoy!

It's a Toss up: Heads or Tails, Rescue and Reuse

It's a Toss up: Heads or Tails,

Rescue and Reuse

 I found a neglected windowseat/toy box at Deseret

Industries. It was in the ”as is” department. Someone had piled some other things in it. It looked quite forlorn and forgotten. It had a price tag on it, only $3.00 . The lid was missing and stickers someone had stuck all over it. I suspect it came out of a kid's room. Something was scrawled across the front in possibly crayon . Notwithstanding all it's flaws, it had good wood and was sturdy and the lid hinge was intact . I had a sold tag put on it, and then went and looked for something to make a seat cushion. I found the perfect piece of foam and stuck that in the cart. I bought all my treasures and took them home. I planned on going to the hardware store and buying a board for the top, but I thought maybe I should go back to Deseret Industries and look again for a suitable board for the top. Then if I didn't find one cheaper we could go to the the hardware store. We needed to go there anyway for the paint. Off we went and found just right thing for it-- a board that had come off of a computer desk had been taken apart and stacked with some doors and other things. We pulled it out and measured it and it was perfect. So that was taken care of. I also wanted to replace a cart that was broken. I found a large chest of drawers with a white finish that was in good shape, it just had some goofy handles. We could change those. 

We had that marked sold. Before all that, Brad had picked out a recliner. His was worn out. With holes in the arms and a bit broken. It hurt my back when I sat in it. Brad said it hurt his too, so we did great. I also found a nice wooden corner-shelf, and a strange wire shelf. We are trying to organize a bit and get rid of the clutter. We paid for the items and went off to the hardware store, for the paint. I took some samples. from the fabric I used to recover my chair. I talked about that in an earlier post. Also some striped cloth I bought at the same time as the cloth for the chair. We wanted to find paint we liked that would match one of the colors in the samples of cloth. Technology has advanced since I last bought paint. They have this nifty piece of equipment that you stick a swatch of the cloth into it and the computer makes a formula to make the paint to match. We settled on a color that was in one of the stripes of the cloth we planned to use to make the cover for the cushion that will go on the seat. We also picked up screws for the hinge and some tack like things to put on the bottom. Brad picked up some frog tape that we had seen advertised. It wouldn’t let the paint bleed under, so we could tape the hinge to keep it free of paint. Off we went, ready for our overhaul of the window seat. We planned to paint it on Saturday. I had a meeting to go to on Saturday morning. While I was there Brad cut the board for the seat. It fit great. In the late afternoon we went out to the parking lot to paint it. Brad sanded it a bit, then he started to paint it. It looked great.

Now the for meat of the story. I had been in quite a lot of pain for a few days . My hip was out. I woke up in the morning a few days before and could hardly walk. My body has a strange thing that happens sometimes;My joints slip out of their the sockets. It is quite painful, so I used my walker to go out to the parking lot and sat and watched Brad paint. I thought maybe we could eat out there while were waiting for the paint to dry. I went upstairs to get dinner and bring it down on my trusty walker, while Brad finished up. I got everything together and took it down on the seat. We dished up the salad and I took the tray and went to sit down. I made the mistake of not holding onto the walker, and it went out from under me and I went down. It raced backward across the parking lot. I had enough foresight to tuck my head forward to avoid hitting the pavement with my head, while trying to not upset the tray. It all happened so fast, as falls sometimes do. I guess I jerked the tray on the way down and catapulted the salad dressing bottle into my chin. My salad bowl flew over my head and landed bottom down and just tossed a bit of salad out. It was a stoneware bowl it did not break. The salad dressing bottle went rolling across the parking lot after doing the damage to my chin. It also did not break. After I landed, I remember feeling a sigh of relief and gently laid my head back and took a quick inventory of my condition. My chin hurt and I lost hearing in the ear on the same side as were I took the hit to the chin. So Brad helped me up . This is the most wonderful part. My hip was back in place and I could walk without pain. Yahoo! That was the toss up, heads or tails. I had just traded injuries, from my tail to my head. The head was a lot less painful. Looking back things would have been a lot worse if the bottle or bowl had broken. it could have hit in a worse place on my face, but it gave us a good laugh, after a long hot job. We sat down and ate our dinner and went inside. Brad thinks an angel kicked the walker! I think I was helped to land softly and for the most part be safe and feel a lot better. What are the chances of that happening? It would have been nice to have a video of the whole fall so we could play it back to see how it all worked out.

It is strange to have a fall be advantageous, buy don't try this at home. 

 

That Monday I made a cushion for the seat and covered a bolster like pillow to match. Then I took the two end pieces from the seat and glued them together and took the legs from the chest of drawers, and made a nice foot stool also adding a piece of foam left over from making the cushion. Brad tacked the cloth over the stool and I made a sort of skirt like thing, to cover the legs, which are metal and kind of ugly. It's nice that now we can relax and enjoy the fruit of our labors. 

I also finished the bag I talked about in my last post. I did a trim on the bottom and it sent me off on another adventure when I discovered it was a form of lace called Punchetto.

 I will tell you about that next time.

 

I also made a part of a necklace. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to finish the neck part.

It's made with a large focal stone bead in pinks and black and gray. With some pink jade and other assorted beads.

 

I also made a nice earthy necklace with silver beads and chain with a couple of eye beads and tan colored cord and some needle woven lace. 

 

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR VISIT.

SEE YA!

The Tortoise and The Hare

                    The Tortoise and The Hare

            " The greatest things ever done on the Earth have been done little by little"

                                               William Jennings Bryan

This time I have just been plodding along.

I started several projects fast but hit a bit of a funk.

The month of may was full to the brim with life-

 altering events in the lives of many people close to Us,

 First, and taking up the most space in my head and

 heart , has been my sister. She had been struggling

 to take in enough air, and thought she was just a 

little sick, and would wait it out. Well, she tried that

 and things didn't get better, so she called her 

daughter and asked her to take her to the doctor to get 

the situation checked out well, it turns out that it was 

her heart, not her lungs as she had expected. One of 

the valves was failing. As always, the doctor did 

many tests. They got second opinions and decided to 

operate and replace the valve. She went in for surgery 

and things went well. She is now at her daughter's 

recovering. Life has taken a sharp turn for her. I 

suspect it will never be quite the same. It caused me 

some reflection. She was living in her own home and 

raising her grandson herself. Because of the 

downturn in the economy, she was not earning 

enough to support herself and her grandson, so she 

was in the process of going back to school in a new 

direction. Then this new curve in the road came,

 

School was put on hold, she has also lost many of her 

freedoms. Her daughter and her husband have taken 

the reins so to speak. She is now going to live in a 

new little house on their property. Her grandson has 

since graduated and moved on to new horizons . At 

the moment, she is in recovery mode. I guess time will 

tell what is ahead.

 

It's caused me to think quite a bit. Life sure can take 

turns that are not anticipated.

 

In the same month I had a friend lose her battle with 

cancer.

She has now gone on to her new horizons. There were 

some real shake ups in her Family. First she died, 

then her granddaughter lost her first baby the same 

day. To add to the mix, the granddaughter's father 

killed himself the day after the funeral.

 

One of My husbands nieces got married. Someone 

else we know has been put in jail.. My husband and I have celebrated our 33^rd anniversary. There where 

many other things, but, I'm sure you get the picture. 

The projects I've been laboring on took a lot longer than

I had anticipated. I started them quickly like the 

Hare, but have been forced to take things at a slower 

pace. 

 

 

The necklace I will first talk about hit a rock. I was 

going along well and added some triangular stones. 

The first one went on just fine. Then I tried to thread 

the second one and found it had two holes drilled in it 

.Neither of them met in the middle. At first I thought 

the hole was just too small, so I started to use a bead 

reamer to make the hole bigger. The only tool I had 

was the wrong shape. It was conical and not straight. 

As I went along, the hole got larger at the opening 

and small in the middle. To get to the point, it did get 

done, but it took two days by hand. I was just about to

give up, but I kept going. 

 

Here is a poem I found this morning that seems to fit.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

I kept going and was able to finish, Although It took 

way longer than I wanted to spend.

 The situation of 

my sister's recovery is going way slower than she 

would like. I was pleased with the outcome of the 

necklace. Hope someone else does too. This necklace 

started with a buckle, a friend of mine gave me. Her 

belt that had worn out. The buckle could still be 

useful, so she wanted to see what I could do with it. I 

looked at it It seemed to say,” take me apart and 

make me two'. I glued a stone in the center and tied 

various cords on the part of the buckle , transforming 

it into a pendant necklace. I learned if I do not have 

much else, I am creative and I do have persistence. I 

also started a bag and had to set it aside for awhile. I 

think it will be finished for the next blog. The 

interesting thing about it is I did not like it. So I let it

sit for awhile and then went back to it yesterday and 

it did not look so bad. Sometimes we just need to 

stand back in life and take a breath. Get a new 

vantage point and then just go on. 

 

 

I also made a little necklace that was sort of fun. It 

was made of a lone earring and some other pieces 

from a grab bag. It also had a bead I could not get 

ontothe string so I endeavored to make the hole bigger 

on it and it broke. So I had to take it apart and 

rethink it a bit. Then when I finished it, It insisted on 

twisting and not laying flat as I wanted it to do. So I 

had to make some modifications and I think I 

finallygot it. It just required a bit of fiddling . I 

learned twists and turns in a cord and knots can 

make 

the 

balance 

go off. 

 

 

Anyway life is going on, and I 

hope you too will keep 

going on to find the best end you 

can. I hope to see 

you next time.

 

Take life as it comes and keep 

going. You never quite 

know what new horizons are 

ahead. It's all part of the 

 

dance. It's Okay to stop and take some time to get 

refreshed and relax, take a drink and realize we are 

not done yet, just on detour. We will get there, just 

maybe not the way we planned. We are not always in 

charge as most of us would like. If we were,

 

would we learn as much? I think not. So step back 

and look around there is a way through.

Some Old, Some New

Some Old, Some New

I used lots of odds and ends to make up this selection, and they seem to be in a great variety and range of styles. Some of the projects were about getting to know the materials. The projects are a sort of smorgasbord. I was kind of all over the map, so to speak.

The project I am going to tell you about was started so I could learn how I can use this cord I have. This cord is a twisted nylon , soft and silky. The most troublesome aspect is the slippery nature of the cord. That puts limits on what kind of knots you can use. It also has a habit of unwinding and fraying, I had to learn how to seal the ends to keep it from unraveling. This is a chore that is not too pleasant. The up side of the stuff is the color and feel while working with it. It's a nice bronze like tone and kind to your hands as you work with it. I wonder what it was made for? ,possibly tassels or fringe. Another characteristic is that it is stretchy after it is knotted, that can cause trouble . I don't think it takes naturally to knots. I have a bit of a suspicion that this is not nylon but maybe rayon because When I try to melt the ends it does not melt but nylon does. The knots want to undo themselves. I learned you have to make lock knots to hold it in shape. I think the twist and silky nature causes most of the trouble. It is not an easy task, but I like the look and feel of it. I will have to do some more experimenting to learn what it can do. I added some vintage and new beads with Stone focal bead.

I also had trouble getting it to hold onto the clasp because it is slippery.

I think I should find another way to close it . I have two large cones of it, so I have lots of it to experiment with. I think it's very interesting how the same material can feel so different and act differently just in the way it is put together. 

 

The other cord I have been working with is braided into a tube and has a core thread in the middle to give it added stability. It has a smooth feel and yet holds knots better than the other thread. The braiding helps hold the knots being stretched or compressed. It changes the form. The twisted cord seems to repel knots, at least made of this material.

        Now I will change gears and show you a necklace I made with cotton thread. This is a piece of tatted lace I made some time ago. As I looked at it, I wondered what I could do to it to give it some body and weight. I ended up adding beads made of stone and glass. I think they work together to help each other. The color of pinks and white with the lace make it quite feminine. 

 

This next piece is a sort of flight of fancy, also a bit whimsical, I think. It is made up of stone, wire, metal, bone, wood, and an unknown material, as well as bits of chain and a couple of vintage buttons. The wire was included because I could not get the cord through the hole in the main large square stone. It changed the whole nature of the piece. It was a fun and more like play than the other s. It turned out to be reversible. Not the original plan.

It's a fun piece, I think.

This necklace is made with the slippery stuff and a beautiful round stone bead from my stash. I've added a few vintage glass pearls and an acrylic carved bead. It is what it is. 

 

Next is a piece that started from a strange origin. It has a focal bead that started out its life as part of a foot massager. How did it end up here? It fell apart and I thought the individual pieces had an interesting shape, and the colors were nice together. For some reason, this makes me think of something nautical and the sea and beaches. I added some items from the beach, square shell pieces and ceramic beads with small glass beads in between. The blue and white and tan colors suggest: clean, cool and fresh like a sea breeze. The cord reminds me of rope in miniature, like that used on ships as decorative rope the sailors used to cover stanchions and canvas. I believe that is where macrame' got its start. 

 

This necklace is a sort of patchwork of things, like a sampler. using variegated nylon cord, for the main body of the necklace, with beads of metal, bone glass and stone, I tied onto a long bamboo bead. The pendant is made from a necklace taken apart and put back together. I didn't like the original chain. It has some kinks and bends but fun none-the-less.

This one is a little strange; It looks like something it's not, a small purse. But is only one side of the bag. It came about because of a bit of green chain a friend gave me. Then I remembered I had an old enameled pin waiting in the wings to become some future project, also two jade pendant pieces and a vintage brass button. I tried to learn a pattern from some pictures I had from a book I qwn ,but it does not have directions. It was kind of fun, except I ran out of cord before I wanted , so I modified it a bit. This color scheme reminds me of a pair of earrings I gave to my mom when I was a little child. I don't ever remember mom wearing them and I don't think she liked those colors together, but I seem to.

Let's change gears a bit. This is a bracelet or anklet, depending on the size of the limb it is attached to. This was not intentional, but the patten ended up longer by the time I got to the other half of the design. I made it with a knot I saw done on YouTube; the artist called it a fishbone style. I made it with alabaster beads and nylon cord with a wooden vintage football shaped button to hold it all together. 
 

Next in line is a little bracelet I made with the new cord that is the same as the other cord, but it has the advantage of being small enough to put through the center of some small glass beads with large holes. This piece is made of macrame and tatting. I laced it up with pink ribbon up the middle and tied some little bows. It just looks like it belongs on a little girl. 

 

This piece has an interesting mix of items used to create it.

Bits of chain and vintage glass pearls with the paint coming off . The oddest part is a tag from a old piece of luggage and two end findings from an old necklace and brass spacer beads, with a metal

filigree sort of piece with a rutilated quartz crystal tear drop on the end. 

 

This necklace started with a hook or question mark( however you see it ). It's made of polymer clay, topped with a bone bead. The necklace part is made up of clay , plastic ,wood and metal beads with a few small glass spacer beads. I made a little bracelet to match.

Last of all is a bracelet made with some leftover scraps of string and glass beads. 

 

Well that winds things up for this time. I hope you had some fun with my wondering and discovering what you can do with discarded pieces to give them new life and purpose. Hope to you will drop in again.