You're getting veeery sleeeepyyyy...

This spiral block is one of the crochet designs I'm using for a block swap I'm involved in. The other swappers liked the design so well, they asked if I had a pattern I could share with them. I don't, really, though if you can crochet a flat circle, I can tell you generally how I did it. Again, this isn't a pattern, so much as a guideline, and you do have to have at least a little experience with crochet to do this.

Start with a large slip knot, either color, doesn't matter. Into the loop of the slip knot, sc, hdc, 4dc. Pull your working loop large, and drop it off the hook. Attach the second color after the last dc (I just made a small slip knot, like you would start a chain with, and brought it through the loop from the back, then started working around the loop.). Repeat the same sc, hdc, 4dc in the loop. Pull the loop tight.

Now, still with the second color, work 2dc in each stitch of the first color. Enlarge and drop the loop, pick up the first color, pull the loop back down to working size, and work 2dc into 6 stitches of color 2.

So, at this point, you should have a center with 6 stitches of each color, and the first round of the spiral with 12 stitches of each color, with the colors ending on opposite sides of the spiral. From here, you just work flat, taking one color to the end of the other, and count the stitches you make, then take the other color to the opposite side of the spiral, making the same number of stitches in the same increase pattern.

When the spiral is almost as large as you want it, measure it across the ends of the spiral arms (we'll call this the X axis) and perpendicular to that (the Y axis). You will find that it's slightly larger across the X axis. Mine was about a half inch difference, much less than the height of 2 rows of dc. (Remember that what you do with one color you also do with the other, so each round increases the size by 2 rows.) What you have to do is work until you're about 6 stitches away from the narrowest point. Then work 4 hdc, 4 sc (this is going across the narrowest point), then 4 slp st, and stop, but don't break off yet. Repeat for the other color, also not breaking off yet. (Unless you're not making a block. This would be a nice design to make in a heavy natural fibre for trivets and coasters.)

As for turning a round spiral into a block, this is actually the hardest part to figure out. Count the stitches around your motif. Divide that by 4. Now take a good look at the edge of the piece, and decide how many stitches could reasonably be considered straight enough to be part of the edge of the block (we'll call this number N). Subtract N from your previous number. This is how many stitches need to be enclosed in a corner.

Decide how many sections of mesh you want to work into this area. A number that divides evenly, or within one stitch of even, is good. I made three sections worked over about 18 stitches total, each section worked over 6 stitches.

It gets a little confusing here. If you read slowly and work along with the instructions, I think you'll be okay.

From the end of one spiral arm, chain 1 or 2 more than the number of stitches that the first section is worked over, preferably an odd number of chains. (I chained 7) Join to the spiral at the appropriate place (6th stitch, for me), then repeat this until the last section. On the last section, chain half as many, then work a tall stitch to match the height of the chain (I worked a treble stitch), placing this stitch in the last stitch of the spiral to which the corner is attached.

Turn the work, chain a section of mesh, join to the middle of the next chain loop, continue to the last section, and work the last section as before, with the tall last stitch. You'll work 1 fewer sections of mesh than the previous row. Continue like this until you make a single last mesh section in the corner. Bind off.

Remember "N"? Count N around the spiral from the end of the mesh, join, and make another mesh corner. Then pick up the yarn from the other spiral arm and do it all again.

That's it. Please ask any questions in the comments here, so that others may learn from the answers as well. I'd love to see your interpretations of this pattern!

[Credit where it's due: Photo by S. Kelley]

Color Me Happy

Every crafter is a visual artist, and, as such, works with color. You probably learned in grade school that red, blue, and yellow are the primary colors (of pigment, not light, but that's not the issue here), and that combinations of any two of those make the secondary colors, orange, green, and purple. You might have learned about complementary colors, colors opposite each other on the color wheel. And of course you know that black and white go with everything.

But what do you do when you're tired of primaries and secondaries, monochrome and two-tone, black and white? Unless you followed an art track in college, you probably don't know much more about color theory. What happens when you open your bead box, your yarn stash, your fabric closet, and don't know where to start?

Color Scheme Designer to the rescue! Created by Petr Stanicek as an aid to web site designers, CSD is an elegant, easy to use guide to color.

Above the color wheel on the left, there are buttons for selecting for six different color arrangements (monomchrome, complementary, triad, etc.). Once you've chosen that, you can pull the dots on the wheel around to select your main color, and the colors that fall within the range of your chosen arrangement. On the left are four blocks in a row that show the main colors of your selection, above a larger block showing some different shades of your palette. Below the wheel are tabs that allow you to play with brightness, saturation, and contrast. If you do happen to be designing for a website, or need a color for your digital art, you can get a list of the colors with their hexadecimal codes. There are even controls for viewing the colors as people with different kinds of color blindness see them. I could write a how-to guide for this application, but really, the best thing is just to go play with it. Try everything on the page, just to see what it does.

If Color Scheme Designer can't break you out of your color block blues, I don't know what can!

P.S. Idle fun for sports fans: set the color wheel to "complement," then pull the dots around and see how many team colors you can find. ;)

Happy New Year!

I know, I'm almost a month late to be offering such greetings. If you look back through my posts of the past year, you'll see that you might consider yourself lucky to be reading anything from me at all, given how infrequently I've posted in that time.

I'm not usually one to go for the whole New Year Resolution thing, but I've decided to make just one this year. You're all witnesses, and I expect you to call me on it if I fail. Here goes:

I, Carin Huber, Mad Craftwoman Extraordinaire, hereby resolve for the year 2010 of the Common Era, to make at least one post during each month of substance, where "of substance" means not relating strictly to my craft woes or published works (though those posts will continue to appear as well), but shall impart useful knowledge, whether it be a tutorial of my own making, or discussion of others' works or events, or of trends in craft. Making two such posts in one month will not excuse me from making another one in the following month. Posts intended to fulfill this resolution will carry the label "resolution," along with any other applicable labels.

Okay, there it is. I'm counting on you to poke me with a stick if a month comes and goes without a substantive post here from me. And, no, this post doesn't count as "substantive." That one's coming next. :)

The Samhain '09 Issue of the AntiCraft is Up

And it's all about me me me! Seriously, in just this issue I have four projects and a review. It wasn't planned, I just kept having ideas, and failed to realize how much I was trying to do at one time. I managed to get it all done anyway.

Flask Jacket: A sewn fabric cover for a hip flask. "Dress up a plain hip flask for a night at the cemetery, cover the claw marks left on it from the last full moon, or just remind yourself which flask has the whiskey and which has the O-negative."









Restraint: "It's what you apply to your slave's wrist or ankle.

It's what you ask of a dirty old man in a forum full of crafty girls. (He knows who he is.)

It's what you show when your servant spills the wine again. Unless you don't."

A carrying harness for a wine bottle made from thrifted belts.



Hoist By Your Own Picard: A cordial. "Tea. Earl Grey. Hard."












Terpon's Cup: A spiced honeydew melon cordial. "I'd like to think Terpon might have made libation of such a drink as this in honor of noble Aphrodite."











Review: Xela's Disposable Flasks. Perfect for sharing your home made, um...infusions with distant friends.











Whew! That's a lot of crafting and writing. I think I'll take a break on the next issue, Imbolc '10. But don't worry; I'll let you know when it comes out. Maybe you'd like to contribute, to take up some of my slack? The theme for that one is food. After all, it's best to eat something, if you're going to drink.

How to Grade Seam Allowances

Here I am, again, after 3 months away, to fill another tutorial need. If you want something done right...

When you're sewing thick fabrics, or several layers, or just sewing a small enough project that every detail matters, you may want to grade your seams. It's simple to do.

On a garment with a lining or facing, when all the layers of a seam allowance are cut to the same width, they can leave a bulky lump along the edge of the garment. I've sewn together three random fabric remnants to illustrate:



I've run the iron along the edge of the seam allowance to make it show up better for the picture. You can see how thick the edge is, and how sudden the transition is from the seam allowance to the main expanse of fabric.




To ease the transition from seam allowance to main expanse, trim each layer of the seam allowance to a different width. This photo shows the innermost layer trimmed to about an eighth of an inch from the stitching.




And here you can see the second layer of the seam allowance trimmed to a width between the outer fabric and the inner fabric. See how the edges of each layer are a different width from the seam?

On a lined garment, you can usually trim quite close to the stitching without fear of it raveling enough to come apart at the seam. If you're really worried that the fabric won't hold up, you might try running a bead of Fray Check along the cut edge after you trim the allowance. Make sure the Fray Check dries before you fold the seam closed again - it could mark the garment if it bleeds through to the outside.




Here is the same seam seen from the outside after grading. Notice how much smoother the transition is from edge of the garment to main expanse of fabric. It's best if the widest seam allowance is the one closest to the outside of the garment, for the smoothest finish possible. It's just one trick, of many, for a more professional finish on your home sewn garments.

How to Measure and Cut Needlepoint and Crosstitch Canvas

When I went looking for a link to include in an AntiCraft article about how to measure and cut canvas for counted needlepoint, I found exactly two. They were both by the same person, and they were both Wrong. (Seriously, I'm still spluttering over just how wrong!) None of the sites devoted to needlepoint and cross stitch seem to realize that before you can get to "step 1: bind the edge of the canvas to prevent fraying," you have to figure out where that edge should be.

So, I'll tell you. Isn't that kind of me? ;)

There are many different kinds of canvas that can be used for needlepoint. You can even use plain woven fabric if you're a masochist expert. But, if you're new enough to stitchery that you don't already know how to measure your canvas for your project, you'll most likely be using aida cloth, so that's what I'll talk about here.

Aida cloth comes in many different "counts" or "points," which refers to the size of the weave. A point is the space for one stitch in basic continental or cross stitch; it's where the vertical threads and the horizontal threads intersect. The number of points refers to the number of stitches you can make over one inch. 11 count aida will have 11 stitches in one inch. 16 count will have 16 stitches in an inch, and so on. It's possible the canvas may be a point off here or there, but unless you're planning to stitch a wall-sized tapestry, it probably won't be enough of a difference to matter.

If you have purchased your pattern from a regular pattern company it may tell you how many stitches high and wide the design is. If you can't find this information you'll have to count the stitches yourself. If the design is not a regular shape, be careful to count from the very lowest stitch to the very highest, and from the left-most to the right-most. Write these numbers down.

Now, divide each of these numbers by the count of your fabric. For example, lets say that our pattern is 200 stitches high by 150 stitches wide.

On 11 count aida:
200/11 = approx. 18 inches high
150/11 = approx. 14 inches wide


On 18 count aida:
200/18 = approx. 11 inches high
150/18 = approx. 8.5 inches wide


On 22 count aida:
200/22 = approx. 9 inches high
150/22 = approx. 7 inches wide


You can see that the higher the count of the canvas, the smaller the pattern will be when it's finished.

So, that's how you figure the size of your stitched area, but it's not the size you want to cut your canvas. Once you have your stitched size, you want to add a minimum of 3 inches to each side (adding 6 inches total to each dimension), possibly more, depending on the size of the stitching frame or hoop you'll be using. Using our 200 by 150 stitch example:

On 11 count aids:
18" + 6" = 24" high
14" + 6" = 20" wide


On 18 count aida:
11" + 6" = 17" high
8.5" + 6" = 14.5" wide


On 22 count aida:
9" + 6" = 15" high
7" + 6" = 13" wide


That's the size, at minimum, you cut your canvas. Any less and you'll risk not having enough room at the edges to mount the canvas in a frame or hoop to work the design completely, or to mount or sew the finished design into the display frame or other project for which you've stitched it.

Now you can proceed to "step 1: bind the edge of the canvas to prevent fraying."

Let me know if you need help with that, too. ;)

Just Checking In

I know, I know, I haven't posted anything in over a month. Well, I've been busy leading hoodoo practitioners in making portable altars out of cigar boxes:



learning about "or nue" embroidery:



and working on my project for the next issue of the AntiCraft:



Whoops. Oh well.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know I'm still here, and still crafting my fingers to the bone. Now, if I could just get paid for all this crafting...