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Yarn Guide
Yarn Guide System with instructor Steve Butler Class 151 What is it? – If you’re a fan of stranded color work like Fair Isle knitting with its symmetrical geometric motifs or Scandinavian knitting with its striking large asymmetrical motifs or even your own dramatic multi-color creative inventions, you know that these techniques can be both extremely rewarding but also pretty tricky. The challenges of organizing and controlling those multiple strands of yarn when doing creative color work can be rather daunting. Those challenges can be serious and will ultimately determine the…
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Extra Credit: Snag Repair Needles
Snag Repair Needles By the Shibaguyz It’s happened to us all… you’re pulling your favorite sweater down from the closet and oops, it catches on a spot on the shelf—SNAG! Or maybe you’re the outdoorsy type and tend to walk a little too close to brambles or blackberry bushes—SNAG! Perhaps you’re like us… just walking through the house and somehow your handmade sweater (crocheted from 7 skeins of $30.00 a skein silk blend in a one-of-a-kind dye lot that you totally adore) magically gets a—SNAG! GAH!! You totally have to…
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Extra Credit: Tunisian Crochet Mug Rug
Tunisian Crochet Mug Rug By the Shibaguyz It should come as no surprise to most of you that we like to play with a lot of different types of crafting. We knit, crochet, quilt, sew, spin… you get the idea. Our general philosophy for our making and art is that all forms of art and craft inform one another; there are transferable skills from each form that support, enhance, and expand the others. When we were asked to create something using the Clover Tunisian Crochet Interchangeable Hook Set, this philosophy came…
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Yarn Guide
Yarn Guide with instructor Steve Butler Class 133 What is it? A particularly enticing knitting technique is called stranded colorwork. Using two or more colors of yarn simultaneously allows us to create amazing designs in knitted fabric. With a full pallet of colors, a wide range of fibers and a limitless assortment of patterns available to us, the creative potential is unlimited. Fair Isle knitting with its beautiful symmetrical geometric motifs in muted colors or Scandinavian knitting with its striking large asymmetrical motifs in bright contrasting colors or even your own dramatic…
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Interchangeable Tunisian Crochet Hooks
Interchangeable Tunisian Crochet Hooks with instructor Steve Butler Class 132 What is it? Remember the old Donnie and Marie song “A Little Bit Country – A Little Bit Rock ‘N Roll”? The message of the song was that something special exists between the confluence these two musical genres that could not be enjoyed by either separately. Kind of like Tunisian crochet which, in addition to being a very cool niche of crochet, is also a very cool niche of knitting. That’s because Tunisian Crochet takes its DNA from both disciplines. It’s a little…
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French Knitter & Wonder Knitter
French Knitter & Wonder Knitter with instructor Steve Butler Class 131 What is it? Think back for a moment. You’ve been on the cutting edge of creative expression for most of your life. Everything from home décor to fashion accessories to all types of craft applications. But when and how did that creative fervor start? For many of us it was with the encouragement of mom or grandma. Sewing, knitting, crochet and crafts. One of the “creative toys” my friends and I enjoyed at the time was a wooden spool that had four rounded metal pegs…
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Shears & Cutters
What is it? Everything we do in sewing starts with cutting larger pieces of fabric into smaller pieces of fabric, before we can reassemble them again into larger pieces of fabric fitting our creative design. Fashion, quilting, heirloom, home décor and crafts, it all starts with the cut. And the more precise the cut, the more precise our finished project will be and by extension, the happier we are with what we’ve accomplished. So what do we use to make these all important cuts? Scissors and rotary cutters of course. Two entirely…
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Swatch Ruler & Pattern Chart Marker Set
Swatch Ruler & Pattern Chart Marker Set with instructor Steve Butler Class 121 What is it? – What is so special about knitting and crochet? Why are we inextricably drawn to them? It’s the opiate of creative expression. It’s almost intoxicating what we can do with yarns, needles and hooks. We can find creative examples all the way from grandma to Dolce & Gabbana. Trending projects in fashion and fashion accessories, home décor and amazing independent pieces abound. A quick trip to a favorite yarn haunt or cruising a favorite site online reveals an unending, even…
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Knitting Must Haves
Knitting Must Haves with instructor Steve Butler Class 120 What is it? – Artists have them, sculptors have them and musicians have them. How about those who knit and crochet? Yes, they have them too. What is it that they all have you’re no doubt wondering. Specialty tools. Uncommon implements of assistance. You know, those relatively simple devices that perform a specific task in virtually any creative endeavor. A quality, purpose specific tool can make any task easier and more precise, freeing up more time for the creative process. It can also remove or even prevent the frustration…
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Hairpin Non-Stick Lace Skinny Scarf
Non-Stick Lace Skinny Scarf Finished length: 128”/ 325 cm Finished width: 2”/ 5 cm What you’ll need: Clover Hairpin Lace Tool, item #3104 D/3.25mm Clover Amour Crochet Hook, item #1042/D Yarn of your choice – we used fingering weight yarn Thread – we used Aurifil 12wt cotton thread Scissors What you’ll need to know: Chain stitch Single crochet Hairpin Lace Tool (see Tool School Extra Credit Video) Stitch Guide Non-Stick Lace: insert hook into next 5 loops, yo and draw up a loop through all 5 loops (2 loops on…