White Threads

Embroiderer’s Companion Stitch Dictionary app waitlist

Yesterday I went to a really interesting training day about getting the most out of exhibiting at consumer shows. It was run by Expertise Events, who run the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair that I’ll be exhibiting at in just less than two weeks (Stand L42 – come and visit me and purchase your own copy of “Portuguese Whitework”!). Lots of ideas running through my head, and not very long to implement them… Still, better late than never!

I enjoyed spending the train trip to get there doing more coral knot stitching on Luzine’s left-handed Schwalm project. Its growing, slowly, but it is growing!

The development of The Embroiderer’s Companion Stitch Dictionary app is coming along. My developer is now working on creating a test build of the app.

I’ve created a waitlist for the app, for you to sign up on. You can either use the QR code in this post (if you get White Threads delivered by email the image *might* come through in the email or you might have to visit White Threads on the web to see it properly) or simply go to the waitlist signup page.

(If you’re reading this page on your phone, use the link because you’re going to find it very difficult to use your barcode reader in the phone to read the barcode on the phone’s screen. It is quite difficult to point the phone at itself…!)

You’ll notice the look of the sign up page is very simple. That’s because most people using the QR code are going to be reading it with their mobile phones, and if the code takes them directly to the page to sign up, they’ll be preferring a mobile-friendly page to sign up on.

One day, in an ideal world, it would be lovely to have the whole Vetty Creations site available as a mobile site, for when you’re on the go and just can’t wait to get home to order your next batch of threads! 🙂 Maybe one day…

left-handed knitting

Because I’ve written The stitch dictionary for left-handers, and I sometimes talk about my latest knitting projects, I occasionally get enquiries from people wanting to know if I can recommend a book that teaches knitting left-handed.

I asked my friend Melody Lord who has recently written an excellent book called Knitting Basics, if she could recommend a left-handed knitting text. This was her reply:

Hi Yvette, I don’t know of any books specifically for left-handers. I have been told that some left-handed knitters prefer to knit in the Continental (“picking”) style, where the yarn is held in the left hand, although you still knit from the left needle to the right. This method is illustrated in my book, as well as the English method (“throwing”).

So maybe Continental/picking style will work for lefties?

Unfortunately I knit right-handed! If I DID knit left-handed, I’d be writing a left-handed knitting book faster than you can say “left-handed knitting”! I was taught to knit by a right-hander, and because it is essentially a two handed activity, where both hands are used about equally, knitting right-handed hasn’t been a problem for me.

So I guess my other suggestion to people teaching lefties how to knit is to see if knitting the right-handed way WILL work for them. It may, it may not.

If YOU know of a good left-handed knitting reference book, please share it with us here!

more coral knotting

I devoted a bit of time yesterday morning to doing some more on Luzine’s left-handed Schwalm. When I had started, I had automatically mounted the fabric into my embroidery hoop. But I was finding the coral knot stitch hard going with the fabric provided, in the hoop.

When I do coral knot stitch in Mountmellick embroidery, I often actually stab it, rather than scoop. But for Luzine’s project I am trying very hard to follow HER instructions, and do it HER way, not mine. I figure that I’m going to learn more that way. I’m sure she’s got her reasons for doing things, and while they may not be obvious to me from my current uninformed state, with practice and actual experience with the technique, her reasons might become clear.

So I emailed her to ask her whether I should have it within the hoop for working the coral knot stitch. I had carefully read and re-read the instructions she had supplied, and while it said I needed a hoop for the project, at no point yet had it actually said to use the hoop. I wanted to clarify with her, what I should be doing at that point.

Luzine replied:
“There are a lot of teachers telling, that all stitches have to be worked with embroidery mounted into the hoop. I myself do not like to work some stitches – also the coral knot – mounted. I tested the appearance of my stitches – mounted and not mounted. And I could not find a difference.
So I did not say to absolutely have to use a hoop for all stitches, I also did not say to use no hoop – I left it open. Every embroideress can do it as it is best for her, I think. I only mentioned to use a hoop while working the filling patterns. There it is absolutely necessary.”

Yesterday I took it out of the hoop, and started working coral knot again. And OH how much easier it was and how much more happy was I! It went so much quicker. The thread didn’t turn blue as it had previously. And I think my stitching looks nicer.

Happy day. 🙂 (Thanks Luzine!)

Embroidery in Brazil questions

Today I have some questions for my Brazilian readers, of whom I believe there are a few. I am ashamed to admit that I know very little about the state of the embroidery world in Brazil. And so, I’d like to know more!

Is embroidery done much in Brazil? Apart from the style of embroidery known to me as Brazilian embroidery – I’m thinking it probably has a different name within Brazil – are there other traditional styles in Brazil?

Do you have many Brazilian embroidery magazines? Are there publishers of craft books in Brazil? Do they generate their own publications, or are they mostly translations of other-language books from elsewhere in the world?

South America is on my personal to-do list for travel, but my husband has his own personal list where South America comes a little lower down. So I don’t think we’ll be getting there any time soon, however much I’d like to! (Of course, the Olympics are in Brazil in 2016, but our Olympically-aspiring gymnast will be too young to qualify for those Olympics!)

You are welcome to reply in Portuguese, if that is easier for you. While I don’t speak Portuguese, other than the basics such as obrigada and olá, I can use online translation tools to help me understand the gist of what you are saying.

Obrigada!

knitting and gymnastics

If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you’ll know that my daughter, Rainbow Girl, loves gymnastics and has a goal to one day represent Australia in gymnastics. To that end, she does a lot of training, and loves every minute of it. As her mother, I want to support her in reaching for her dreams, as strange as it is for her to have such a fiercely held goal (at age 8), and as strange as it is for two parents who are not particularly sporty (or in the case of my husband, not sporty at all!).

Over this last week, the Australian National Gymnastics Championships have been on here in Sydney. Some time back we told her coach that she would not be attending training on Friday night, as she we were all going to watch the Australian senior international gymnasts competing against Japan, who had sent a team to the championships. As it turned out (and as we suspected it might) training was cancelled for the night so that the rest of the squad and the coach could also attend. As it was one of the Olympic trials, Australia’s top gymnasts were going to be on show, putting in their best performances in the hope of Olympic selection!

We had also won some free tickets to another general admission session (not a premium session as the Friday night one was) so Rainbow Girl and I went earlier in the afternoon and watched some of the other top level elite gymnastics.

I took my knitting with me, so that my fingers would have something to do while I watched. The afternoon session was not particularly well attended, so the choice of seats was very good. We settled ourselves in the second row from the front of the balcony, next to some stairs.

At one point, my knitting ball got away from me and rolled down the stairs. I had visions of it rolling off the edge of the balcony, disappearing down to the competition floor below. Thankfully it came to a stop just about two stairs away from the edge! I would have been so embarrassed!

We had a wonderful afternoon and evening. I have never been to a gymnastics meet before, and it was certainly different to watching it on TV or on the internet. You could really see the power of the gymnasts, and my goodness, those leotards sparkled under the lights! I also enjoyed the fact that you could see the personalities of the girls when they were not competing. Some were very nervous, some looked really disappointed with their performances, and some were incredibly thrilled to be there, doing what they love doing!

I made good progress on my jumper (sweater/pullover) during the afternoon session, bringing it to a point where too much concentration was going to be required to continue at a gymnastics meet, so I put it away. During the evening session, I knitted the tension swatch for The Reader’s shrug a couple of times, finally arriving at the right tension.

After a quiet weekend at home, all of it unwell, and some of it with a fever, I have nearly completed my jumper, and hopefully will before the day’s activities really get underway. That way I can wear it today!

Schwalm and No12 broder cotton

The other day I wondered if the coral knot stitches on the Schwalm embroidery that I am working perhaps would have been done with coton a broder No 12 – if it still existed! I asked Luzine Happel, the designer of the project, about this and this was her reply:

“It was not used for Schwalm. Mostly No. 20 used is for the Coral Knots. This seemed too thin for me for the coarse linen and so I took No. 16.

Two years ago the companies canceled the No. 20 threads. There was a big scream in the stitcherworld and a lot of teachers approached the companies directly with their protest. And some time later it was available again. We will see, how long.”

Isn’t that interesting that No 12 was not used? I was completely wrong! (I did say that I could be!)

Wonderful news that the direct protests of stitchers and stitching teachers caused the thread companies to reverse their decision about No 20 thread. I hope the threads stay with us for a long time yet.

my starring movie role

Way back in about July last year my sister and I did an embroidery commission for a movie. The trailer for the movie has recently been released, so I think I can now tell you what my starring role was!

Prue and I hand embroidered some handkerchiefs for use as props in The Great Gatsby, which was filmed in Sydney last year. If you’re familiar with the story, then you’ll probably realise that the *daisies* that we had to stitch onto the handkerchiefs are significant for one of the characters. We’re thinking that Carey Mulligan’s makeup will get smeared all over our lovely embroidery as she does a lovely little on-camera weep into the handkerchief! 🙂

Unfortunately there’s no sign of our starring roles in the trailer itself – how could they leave us out?!

In a discussion with friends, one friend wondered whether in the trench scene at 2:04, Leo/Gatsby might in fact be holding said handkerchief as a lovers memento. Close inspection revealed that its probably not, as the handkerchief had scalloped edges and the thing he is holding does not. Oh well…

I guess we’ll have to wait and see the film to find out whether our starring role made the cut. We think it probably should, seeing the props department went way over their allocated handkerchief budget with our two hand embroidered little numbers. I wrote about it in a previous post.

I believe the film comes out around Christmas, and will be in 3D, so you’ll be able to marvel at how 3 dimensional our embroidery is…!

Coral knot stitch – left-handed schwalm

I’ve started work on Luzine Happel’s left-handed Schwalm project. I’ve never worked with a project that has the pattern applied with an iron-on transfer before. I’m surprised at how dark it is, and how much the colour of the transfer transfers to the thread as I stitch. I’m used to my whitework being white! The instructions say that all will be well at the end when it has been soaked and then boiled to billy-o, but in the mean time, its not very white!

My other main thought at this stage is that I have a hunch (and I could be wrong!) that Schwalm embroidery fell prey to the worldwide discontinuation of Coton a broder No 12. (Oh, unhappy day!) Most of the shapes have to be outlined in coral knot stitch. The thread I have been provided for this part of the project is Coton a broder 16.

As I stitch, it just feels a bit thin for the coral knot stitch. My feeling is that if you were going to work a knotted outline, you’d want it to *look* knotty. I suspect that in the past, it would have used No 12 broder cotton, which is a bit thicker than No 16, and therefore would create more pronounced knots. I will ask Luzine about this. I’m intrigued.

I haven’t done much on the project yet, but I’m certainly enjoying it. I’m just doing a little bit each day. That will get it done.

Reviews of Vetty Creations books

I’ve created a new book review page on the Vetty Creations website, specifically for reviews of all my books. On it you can find pretty much all the reviews that I’ve ever found for each of my books.

Each book has all its reviews listed together, so if you’re interested in reading what others think of “Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery: Merezhka Poltavska” you can hit the link for that book, and it will take you to all of its reviews. And if you’re interested in one of the other books, just click on the link for that particular book.

It was quite an encouraging thing to do – reading all the lovely things people have said about my books. I should do it more often! 🙂

Luzine’s left-handed Schwalm

An exciting parcel arrived here late last week, from Luzine Happel. It contained the fabric, thread, needles and thorough instructions for me to test drive Luzine’s left-handed Schwalm embroidery instructions.

This is going to be an interesting project, and I am really looking forward to getting into it. I am thinking that the best way to tackle it is to devote a little time each day to working on it. Otherwise it will get continually pushed aside by my work and other commitments, which I don’t want it to do!

It is a very pretty design. So far I have read through the first part of the instructions (which are extremely thorough!), and now am at the point where I need to put needle and thread to fabric. What fun!

For those who have emailed me to volunteer for my embroidery stitch dictionary app focus group, thank you very much! I am very grateful that you are willing to be involved with this project!