tutorial Archives - Page 13 of 15

tutorial: making your own yarn display

You probably recognize this: All those beautiful skeins of yarn in a lush variety of materials and colors and no way to enjoy it all because it is all tucked away in the stash. It really is a shame to have to put it all away to protect it against the effects of UV light, odors, dust, pets and vermin. It makes it pretty hard to enjoy the woolly splendor….

Why not make a rotating exhibition of your favorite yarns on your favorite spot in the house? Regular “tossing” of the wool stash also has its advantages. It discourages moths and makes it possible to nip an infestation in the bud. Also, doing this we can enjoy all the yarn, even if we are busy with things other than crochet and knitting.

Therefore, I want to show you in this post how you can make an etagere yourself for superb display of your favorite skeins of yarn.

Materials

3 plates / dishes in varying sizes
2 cups, glasses or ice cream sundaes
A sealant gun with Polymax (DIY store)
Ruler
Bowl with soapsuds
Some paper towels

In this tutorial I use plates and cups I bought at the Hema. However, if you want an etagere with a more vintage or romantic appearance, a thrift store can be a good place to look. Often there is a great variation to get some lovely plates with flowers, gold edges and fine glassware for friendly prices.

I like to use Polymax glue instead of the glue from a regular glue gun. Polymax has the great advantage that you can get the glue loose again if it does not go right the first time. Also, with this kit the glue joints can be smoothed after applying similar to silicone sealant. This makes the result very nice with less effort!

Step by step

1. Start by properly washing your plates and cups. You want to have them really clean and free of dust and greasy spots.

2. Grab the biggest plate and measure accurately where the exact midpoint is. Mark this on the plate with pencil, the markings can be brushed off later easily.

3. Grab a cup and apply your glue on the top edge.

4. Turn the cup and put it upside down on the big plate. Make sure you put it right in the middle. If necessary, use the ruler to measure whether it is indeed in the middle. At this stage you can still push the cup around a little to position it correctly if necessary.

5. Press the cup lightly.

6. Make your wet finger with a little of the soapy water and smooth down the connection between the cup and the plate while continuing to press the cup to the plate. Use paper towels to wipe your fingers.

7. Repeat steps 2 to 6 for the plate in the middle size. Allow the glue to harden at least 2 hours. After 4 hours the Polymax has fully cured, but you can proceed before that time if you’re careful!

8. Now we go on to finish our etagere: Take the smallest plate, turn it over, and measure at the bottom exactly where the middle is.

9. Take the medium-sized plate with attached cup and apply glue to the bottom of the cup.

10. Turn over and position the cup in the center of the smallest plate. Gently press down and smooth the adhesive seam as previously if the shape of your cup permits. In my case that is not possible, but it doesn’t matter much because it will be hard to see anyway.

11. Repeat steps 8 to 10 to join the largest size plate-with-cup on top of the medium sized plate.

12. Let the glue harden now for at least 4 hours. After this you can turn it around: your etagere is ready!

Tip

It is not a disaster if there gets some glue somewhere else on your plate or cup. Polymax dries up as a kind of transparent rubber. Because of this it is possible to simply scratch it off with your nails once dried, if it is in places you do not want it to be.

And here is mine, filled with some colored beauties that would otherwise have been put away in some drawer…

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tutorial: crochet the bullion stitch

Bullion stitch tutorial by La Visch Designs

One of the many special crochet stitches is called the “bullion stitch”. This is a very decorative stitch, which can also be used to crochet flowers, jewelry or beautiful edges to projects.

In this post, I’ will show you how to crochet the bullion stitch. Please note that American crochet terminology is used.

The bullion stitch step by step

For this tutorial, I started with a small swatch in half double crochet (hdc).

1. Wrap the yarn loosely around your hook. How much time depends on how high you want the bullion stitch to be. Here I am making the bullion stitches in a hdc fabric, therefor I am wrapping the yarn seven times around my hook. When making bullion stitches in a double crochet fabric, wrapping 10 times may be better. It really depends on your individual gauge, though.

2. Insert the hook into the next stitch and pull up a loop.

3. Make a yarn over …

4. … and pull the yarn through all the loops on the hook. You will notice that this can be rather difficult when you have wrapped the yarn too tightly around the hook in step 1. This completes your first bullion stitch.

And this is how it looks when you’ve made multiple bullion stitches in between normal (in this case) half double crochet stitches.

Tips

As you may have noticed, it can be tricky to wrap the yarn loose enough around the hook in step 1. It can help to hold a thin knitting needle, crochet hook or yarn needle next to your hook while wrapping the yarn. Wrapping your yarn around both automatically means a looser wrap!

Also, use the right type of crochet hook! As you can see in the picture below, the tip of the green hook sticks out relative to the shaft of the hook. This makes it more difficult to pull a loop of yarn through multiple loops on the hook. With an in-line shaped hook like the bamboo one pictured below, both tip and shaft have the same thickness. This makes this type of crochet hook much better suited for making bullion stitches.

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tutorial: Estonian lace knitting – gathers

In a previous post I told you about nupps, that special textured stitch that originated in Estonia. Another distinguishing Estonian feature in lace knitting, is called a “gather”. These gathers are clearly visible in the photo pictured below.

This photo is from a very interesting website: New lace – Old traditions. On this website the authors focus on modern lace knitting in the Estonian tradition, building on and inspired by the famous Haapsalu shawls. Definitely a must-read for lovers of lace knitting, also due to the many free stitch patterns that can be found there.

What exactly are “gathers”?

Gathers are made by knitting a certain number of stitches together (“gathering” them), after which they are increased. The resulting number of stitches may be the same as the original number, for example, “2-in-2”, “3-in-3”, “5-in-5”, “7-in-7”, etc. It is however also possible to increase to a different number of stitches, the end up with more (or less) stitches. For example “5-in-7” or “3-in-5”. The result consists of small lacy textured buttons in the knitted fabric.

In this post I want to show you how to knit gathers.

Knitting gathers

In this example, I will be making “3 in 3” gathers on a surface of stockinette stitch. I’m using a relatively thick yarn, because it is easier to photograph than lace yarn.

A 3-in-3 gather is made by knitting 3 stitches together, then slipping the newly knitted stitch back to the left hand needle and knitting [ktbl 1, k1, ktbl 1] in the same stitch.

Gathers step by step
1. Knit 3 stitches together.

2. Slip the last knitted stitch back to the left hand needle.

3. Knit 1 stitch through the back loop, but do not slip the original stitch off the needle.

4. Knit one stitch (insert the needle as usual in the front loop), but again do not slip the original stitch off the needle.

5. Knit 1 stitch through the back loop and slip the original stitch off the needle to complete the stitch.

6. This looks something like this:

7. For this example, I knitted three 3-in-3 gathers in the same row:

8. And this is how it looks after I knitted 2 more rows in stockinette as well as another round with three 3-in-3 gathers:

Of course the gathers look very different on a stockinette base and with this thick wool than in lace weight yarn.

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tutorial: Russian bind-off on the purl side

In a previous post I have shown you my favorite method of binding off: The Russian bind-off method. This is a very elegant way to bind-off your knitting project to get a very elastic edge on your piece. This is often important to me, because I knit a lot of lace shawls. Knitted lace usually shows its beauty best when it has been gently washed and blocked out. This is only possible if the edge has plenty of stretch.

But what if you need to cast off from the wrong side of the work? Think of a situation that you don’t have enough yarn to knit another row before binding off. In such a case, it is nice to know that you can also bind-off the Russian way on the wrong or purl side of your work!

In short instructions for a Russian bind-off on the purl side may look like this:
Russian bind-off on the WS: *P2tog, slip stitch from right-hand back to the left-hand needle; repeat from * to end.

The Russian bind-off on the purl side step-by-step

For this tutorial I have prepared a little swatch to bind off:

1. Purl the first 2 stitches together.

2. Slip the new stitch on right hand needle back to the left hand needle.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all stitches have been worked. On the wrong side of the work this will look as follows:

And on the right side of the work the Russian bind-off on the purl side will look like this:

Looking good, right?!

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tutorial: making t-shirt yarn

You are probably familiar with the cute Zpagetti type yarns that are available in so many colors. Really perfect for making crochet baskets and rugs for example. It is however less known that it is very easy to make this kind of yarn yourself! In this post I am going to show you exactly how you can make T-shirt yarn or “tarn” yourself.

The only things needed are a sharp pair of scissors and a pile of old t-shirts. A good reason to get rid of those piles of old clothing cluttering your closet, that aren’t worn anymore anyway. It is not a problem if your shirts have prints, it gives color and character to your t-shirt yarn.

T-shirts without side seams give the best result, because they can be cut in a continuous smooth yarn. A shirt with seam can of course also be used, it only means that the seams will present themselves as thicker pieces in your tarn. Usually this won’t be a problem.

Making t-shirt yarn step by step

1. Cut any markings and care instructions from the shirt and lay it down flat. Make sure the shirt is relatively wrinkle-free, to make it easier to cut straight.

2. Cut with sharp shears the bottom hem and the top part with the sleeves off the shirt.

3. Turn the shirt sideways and cut it from the side into strips about 1 to 2.5 cm (½ to 1 inch) wide. Do not completely cut of the strips, stop cutting when you are about 5 cm (2 inch) from the end.

4. Continue until the entire shirt has been cut into strips.

5. Lay the shirt down as pictured below, so that the uncut part lies in the middle. Cut this piece diagonally as indicated by the black lines in the picture. This makes sure that the shirt is cut in a large spiral rather than in small loops.

6. This looks like this:

7. The last step is is the magical part: Grab the strip and firmly stretch it out over every centimeter / inch. This stretches out the fabric and makes it roll into the familiar t-shirt yarn.

8. Roll your tarn in a ball and it is ready for use!

I think I will be making a small storage basket with my ball of tarn. A size 12 mm hook is just the right size for my homemade t-shirt yarn!

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tutorial: crochet fringe

Making crochet fringe - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

It can be fun to decorate the edges of a scarf or shawl with fringe. The traditional way to make fringe consists of cutting yarn into equal lengths, bundle these and tie them to the edge of your work. I personally think the result can be very pretty, but rather a hassle to get it that way.

The fact is that I always have trouble to get all the pieces of wool to the same length. And when tying the yarn bundles together, everything shifts, making it very difficult to get an even result. In this post, I will show you an alternative way to attach lovely crochet fringe to a project.

You can directly crochet this fringe onto a scarf or shawl. This can of course also be a store-bought knit or crochet item. Also, you can follow this tutorial to make a fringe attached to a crocheted chain to sew on the item of choice as well. In this example, we will do the latter. These instructions are written in American English crochet terminology.

Crochet fringe step by step

1. As indicated, in this example, I will show you how to make a “loose” fringe attached to a crochet chain. To start, make a chain of the desired length.

2. Insert your hook into that point of the item where you want to make the fringe. If this fringe is based on a loose chain, I think it looks best to insert the hook in the “bump” at the back of the chain stitch. Of course, you can insert the hook in the other parts of the stitch, but it will look slightly different.

3. Next, pull up a loop and pull it through the loop already on your hook. Pull the loop out to the desired length. Here I have used a ruler, to make sure all fringes will be the same length.

4. Then turn the hook around, it does not matter if you do this clockwise or counterclockwise. Just make sure you remain consistent with the direction of your entire project. Continue turning until the loop wants to fold back onto itself. In this example, that happened at about 25 twists. Make sure you make about the same number of twists for every fringe in your project to keep them looking alike.

5. Next, fold back the loop onto itself. I often use my finger to ensure that the loop folds in the right spot.

6. This will look something like this:

7. Finish your first fringe by securing it with a slip stitch in the same stitch you started it in.

8. Repeat steps 2 to 7 until the complete edge or chain is worked. The result will look something like this:

Enjoy embellishing your projects with this lovely crochet fringe!

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tutorial: picot cast-on

Working a picot cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Casting on your knitting project using either the thumb or backward loop method, knitting-on, the long-tail cast-on or a similar method is of course perfectly fine. But sometimes using a cast-on that is just a little more decorative can be so much more fun. In this post I want to show you how to work a picot cast-on. There are various ways to do a picot CO, all giving slightly different results, this is just one possible variation.

In this example, I am using needles size 4 mm (US 6) and a generic worsted weight acrylic yarn.

Picot cast-on step by step

1. Cast-on 3 stitches with any preferred method, in this example I have used the cable cast-on. However, the long-tail or thumb method, or another method can also be used.

2. Insert the left needle into the second stitch on the right needle and pass this stitch over the first stitch.

3. Insert the left needle again in the second stitch on the right needle and pass it over the first stitch. From the initial 3 stitches you had CO, there is now only 1 left and 1 picot has been completed.

4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 as often as desired for your project. The result will look something like this:

5. You can then continue to knit in any pattern desired. In this example, I knitted a few rows in stockinette stitch, this will however not always be the best choice because of rolling of the fabric.

The result with a few more rows in stockinnete picot CO

What you need to consider with this casting-on method, is that you are actually casting-on three times the number of stitches that you will eventually need. This means that also three times the usual amount of yarn is needed. Good to know if you like to use the long-tail cast-on!

Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.

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tutorial: seed stitch crochet

In this post I will show you how to crochet the “seed stitch”. In this stitch single crochet stitches are alternated with double crochet stitches (US crochet terminology!). This gives a really lovely and dense fabric, very suitable for projects like scarves, blankets and bags. Let me show you step by step how it is done.

Seed stitch step by step

1. Start with a loose chain, when working flat back and forth it doesn’t really matter if you start with an even or odd number of chain stitches. If you will however be working in the round, start with a multiple of 2 + 1 turning chain. In this example, I started with a chain of 12.

2. Turn and make 1 single crochet in the second stitch from the hook. In this example, I made my stitch in the back of the chain, instead it can of course also be made in one of the other parts of the chain.

3. Make 1 double crochet in the next stitch.

4. Make one single crochet in the next stitch.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the end of the row.

6. In this example, I ended the previous row with a single crochet. The new row will therefore start with 2 turning chains, followed by a double crochet in the first . If your previous row ended with a double crochet, the new row would begin with 1 turning chain, followed by a single crochet in the first stitch.

7. Work 1 single crochet in next stitch, or (if your previous stitch was a single crochet) 1 double crochet.

8. Continue the row by alternating double crochet stitches with single crochet stitches. Please note, that you always crochet a double crochet in the single crochet of the previous row. Similarly, if the stitch of the previous row was a double crochet, you are making a single crochet into it.

9. Repeat steps 6 to 8 until your piece has the desired size.

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tutorial: crochet provisional cast on

A provisional cast on is a way to make it possible to “release” the initially cast on stitches and knit with them in the other direction of the piece. This can be very useful, for example when knitting a completely symmetrical stole. Most cast ons have a different look than the bind off, but when completely avoiding a visible cast on, both ends will have exactly the same bind off look.

I really like the crochet provisional cast on, because it is also very simple and can be undone quickly. Besides the yarn for your project, you will also need a length of (smooth) waste yarn in a contrasting color and a crochet hook.

Crochet provisional cast-on step by step

1. Make slipknot with the waste yarn (pink in the example) and place it around the hook.

2. Get your knitting needle and put it on the piece of yarn as pictured and pull up a loop through the loop on the hook. This is actually pretty similar to crochet a slip stitch around the knitting needle.

3. Wrap the yarn around the knitting needle again and make another slip stitch around the needle.

4. Repeat this until you have made the desired number of stitches (loops) on the knitting needle.

5. Next, crochet a small chain of about five stitches, break the yarn and pull the yarn tail through the last stitch.

Now you can start your knitting project with the good yarn, using the temporary stitches on the needle. In the example after the temporary set-up I started with a small swatch of green.

Undoing the crochet provisional cast-on

The whole idea of a provisional cast on is of course that this is a temporary cast on. In the next couple of steps I will show you how to undo the cast on and free up the stitches for further knitting.

6. The side where you have created the crocheted chain, is the beginning. Loosen the yarn tail again and gently pull out the stitches of the chain.

7. Once a stitch of the project itself is released, catch it with your knitting needle. Note: In this example, I catch the stitches from the wrong side of the work from bottom to top. This releases the stitches in such a manner that their orientation on the needle will be twisted. If you catch the stitches from top to bottom instead, the orientation of the stitches will be as usual.

8. Pull for each stitch the waste yarn a bit more out of the work.

9. The last stitch might look like a weird half kind of stitch. Count your stitches to be sure that you have the correct number.

Now you can continue knitting on this side of the piece! Take care to see whether the stitches are positioned normal or twisted:

Left in this picture is the regular orientation, on the right, there is a twisted stitch on the needle. This is no problem though: Just knit (or purl) the twisted stitch through the back loop to untwist the stitch mount.

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tutorial: binding off when yarn has run out

Of course, you always make sure that you have enough yarn left to bind off your project. I myself like to weigh the amount of yarn each row or round uses when I’m nearing the end of the project (or yarn!). This way I can make sure I have enough left to bind off. Depending on the type of bind off I plan on using, I know I have to reserve about twice or three times the amount of the last row.

However, it won’t hurt to know more about binding off when yarn has run out, in case of emergency. You know, in that very rare situation that you have lost that game of yarn chicken… Mind you, this is really only an option in special cases, because this bind off tends to be quite tight. This lack of elasticity makes it not really suitable for things like neck openings of sweaters. I wouldn’t use it for projects to be blocked out significantly for best results, like lace, either.

Binding off when yarn has run out – step by step

1. In the picture below you can see that there is very little yarn left: Too little to bind off the normal way.

2. Slip the first stitch knit-wise from the left to the right needle.

3. Slip the next stitch from your left needle knit-wise to the right needle.

4. Pass the first slipped stitch on the right needle over the second stitch.

5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 until all stitches have been bound off.

6. As you can see in the picture above, there will be leftover yarn on the right while you have one last loop remaining on the left side. If the work must be joined in the round, you can connect it by pulling the remaining yarn through the last live stitch, securing the end by weaving it in. If the work will remain flat, you need about 10 cm of yarn from the yarn end to secure this last live stitch. Cut this length, pull it through the stitch and weave all the loose ends in.

Not ideal, but a good technique to know in case it is ever needed!

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