Learn to use stacked decreases

If you've learned how to work a stacked decrease in my first article and possibly tried making an oak leaf, you're ready to come up with your own patterns that use this unique stitch. This article is going to focus on how to adjust the height of your stacks  and go over some of the math. Don't worry, it's not too hard.

Learn to knit stacked decreases

Some knitters have been asking about stacked decreases lately. In response, I've put together this article, a video tutorial, and a free pattern that uses this technique in a few ways.  Since publishing my Petal Cowl and Fox Paws patterns, there have been many emails from knitters asking whether they're interpreting the pattern right or wondering how I took these stitches and put them together into a pattern.

I'll go over the basics of how to do the decrease here, then, in the next article, we'll move on to some design tips.

Knit Tips: Weaving in ends as you knit

I love knitting stripes and using different colors in my knitting, but I HATE sewing in ends. To avoid all that extra finishing work, just these simple directions.

Guest Post: How to Shoot the Moon

These days we hear the term "Super Moon" all over the place. What does this mean? To me it is a great opportunity to get a good photograph of the moon. Scientifically in astronomy it is called a perigean full moon,that is, a full moon closely coinciding with perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth in its orbit. The Moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side ("perigee") about 50,000 km closer than the other ("apogee").  Full Moons that occur on the perigee side of the Moon's orbit seem extra big and bright. On August 10th it becomes full during the same hour as perigee— making it an extra-super Moon.

Everyone wants to capture this photographic experience for themselves. Unfortunately, photographers are often disappointed because the pictures capture only a bright white dot on a black sky and no detail in the moon.
 

I will break down step by step how I get good results. If you have a DSLR camera this information may be basic but I want to make sure I share all of the important information for all levels of learning.

Making friendship bracelets with swarovski elements

Since it's summer again, I've started making some friendship bracelet videos again. The latest one has some extra bling added in the form of a Swarovski crystal cup chain.

dyeing rope for crafting

In the spring and summer, I try to put down my knitting for a while and work on a few warm weather projects. Rope is one of my favorite materials because it is cheap and readily available at the hardware store, even in bright colors.

clothesline dyed with blue food coloring and neon yellow acid dye

Makeover / How to add social media buttons to your blog

If you stop by every once in a while , you may have noticed that I've added a bit of color to the site just to brighten things up. For some reason I'm in a cyan tangerine mood these days. It seems to fit things better than grey and rust.

You might also see a few changes to the sidebar... there's a new thing that people are doing on their blogs: putting little coordinated sets of images that link to their social media sites. Adding these icons totally cleaned up my sidebar and decluttered, I recommend it highly. 

Friendship Bracelets Made Simple - Part 1, the Chinese Ladder

Friendship bracelets are a super fun activity for kids and adults, but if you never learned the basics, It's hard to follow many of the tutorials and videos that you can find online

GRIDS

A few weeks ago, I picked up a few sheets of plastic canvas at the store because I had seen a runway show that used it as jewelry. I never remembered the show, but thought that it might be fun to play around with as a material. Using the plastic alone is kind of the opposite look of kitschy needlepoint, those bracelets will be posted next week and begin the same way, so keep reading even if you aren't into grids.

Double Box, Tornado, and more Lanyards - Classic Camp Crafts

Once you master the box stitch, you may want to multiply it by adding more colors to make a bigger lanyard. The same thing also works for the barrel stitch.

You may remember from the cobra stitch tutorial that you will need  plain gimp ,  neon, glow, clear, double sided or tie dye, and you can get a better color selection  online .


I also used some deerskin lacing and 3mm curb chain this time.

Remember you can make these as wide as you want, though the below is not recommended...

And now here's how to add the twist:

You can see what it looks like with more strings.

And a little bonus at the end showing you how to make my favorite stitch, the super box, or box ². It has a really nice feel to it even though it is made of the cheap plastic.

So take a look, and leave some comments if you have questions. The video thing is still new, so be nice.


I got started slow this summer on the camp crafts, but expect more  vidyos next year, and definitely let me know what you want to see or anything you remember from your camp days.

Box and Barrel Lanyards, Classic Camp Crafts

Now, this is the  real classic  lanyard knot, used by sailors to boyscouts.  One of the first things you learn to make as a camper, or at least one of the first things I learned with gimp: the box stitch. 

You may remember from the cobra stitch tutorial that you will need  plain gimp ,  neon, glow, clear, double sided or tie dye, and you can get a better color selection  online .

Still loving that neon paracord though. it is good for everything.

Classic Camp Crafts - Lanyards: the Cobra Stitch

Did you go to camp? I did, and while I was there, I used to spend as much time on the Arts&Crafts shack as possible. We made all sorts of things that were very often useless and ugly, but we also got to do the cool stuff like tie dye, clay pottery, and friendship bracelets. 

Lanyards were not on the list of cool or useful things  that you could make, but they were my favorite.

I made these 2 videos for all the ex campers out there who want to get nostalgic. It's also a great way for parents of kids that do not go to camp to share in the fun.

DIY ombre jeans (or jeggings)

Spring and summer are a great time to wear white jeans. They flatter very few people's bodies, are impossible to keep clean, and often become semi-transparent in the sunlight. In real life, I'd never wear white jeans.

When my sister gave me these unworn (she didn't like them for above reasons) uniqlo jeggings, I really wanted to keep them so some changes had to be made. By dip dying the top part of white jeans, you can avoid visible underwear, grass stains, and a color that makes your hips and butt look bigger - at least a little. There are tons of dye tutorials around for cotton jeans, but I couldn't find anything to help with these semi synthetic pants. I've tutorialized this slightly more complex process for others that want to dye their polyester pants as well.

Spinning Color Dash Yarn

One of my first realizations about spinning was that it gives you total control to make any type of yarn you can think of.

For a really long time, one of my goals has been to find a kind of variegated yarn that only has a few dashes of bright color and will never pool. I also do not like hand painted yarns as much as those with fibers spun after dying.

Guest Post: photographing sparklers

July 4th is coming soon and so is the season of picnics, barbeques, swimming and fireworks. Our stores here in CT have all kinds of summer items from picnic supplies to pool toys and a good variety of legal fireworks and sparklers. Last year, I asked my mother, a professional photographer, if she could photograph light drawing with sparklers. We got some really great shots of the glittery light as I scribbled words and shapes in the night air. It was so much fun that we bought more sparklers this year. I asked her if she would share her camera settings and give a few tips on how to take these awesome pictures and she agreed.

How to photograph sparklers at night

One of the first things that I experimented with when I was learning about photography as a kid was lights at night. It’s fun and is a good way to learn about your camera. Sparklers are another way of doing this. When you open the lens for long enough you can capture movement with a camera. That long exposure allows you to draw pictures with the sparklers and to create unique photos of your festivities.

You will need:

Sparklers - here are the two different kinds of sparklers that we bought. The little boxes are fun but the sparkler light does not last very long. The big box marked "neon" is very bright and easier to photograph due to the long burn time, but does not burn neon.
Pay attention to your state and national laws.

You need to have a camera with a Manual setting so that you can follow these instructions. This is marked as M on your camera and can be found on most SLR cameras; many point and shoot cameras, and some camera phones. This will be explained in more depth below.
You can't photograph and light the sparkler, so it is helpful to have a few people working on this and no kids on this one.

You will also need:

Tripod
Masking Tape - optional
Lighter
Piece of tin foil or a non-flammable tin for used sparklers
Flashlight

Setup

Find a safe place to photograph while it is still light out, a driveway or a sidewalk is a good place. Make sure that the background will be dark with as few distracting lights as possible. These lights will show up in your photographs and are hard to remove in Photoshop. Choose where your camera will be set up. Look thru the camera and have another person use masking tape to mark the center and edges of what's visible. This will be helpful if you want to set up more complex shots with writing or broad gestures. When it is dark, you will be able to go to your designated spots and things will run smoother than if you were running around aimlessly.

This picture illustrates with the red arrows how I marked out the frame of the photograph with white tape.
Set the camera to M (manual mode) which will allow you to better control your exposure. Set the camera on ISO 200 to insure that you will have no noise. The ISO tells the camera what kind of light situation you are in. The brighter the object you want to capture the lower the ISO. ISO 200 is normally a daylight setting but because the sparklers are bright you need this setting to capture the detail of the sparkler. This exposure should also insure that the background will be black.

Ready to go

Wait until the sky is completely dark before you start. Set your lens aperture at f/11 because of the brightness of the subject. Set the shutter speed at 8 seconds. Some cameras only go to 4 seconds and in that case set the aperture at f/8. These settings are a starting point. You may need to make adjustments depending on equipment.

Hint - If your exposure is too dark, increase your exposure time or set your aperture from f/11 to f/8. If your exposure is to bright, decrease your exposure time or change the aperture to f/16.

Put your camera on a tripod.

Some cameras will be able to auto focus on the sparkler and some won’t. I have explained both scenarios below.

Type 1 – autofocus method
When your partner lights the sparkler, aim the lens at the light while they hold it still. Your camera will be able to focus. If your pictures look blurry try Type 2 –manual focus.

Type 2 - manual focus
Turn off the auto focus setting and set on manual. This will vary from camera to camera. On my camera, this setting is located on the camera body near the lens on the left side. Illuminate the sparkler holder with the flashlight and make sure your partner is standing in the same place that they will be when you actually light the sparkler. Now focus the camera on something easier to see, such as their hand. Keep in mind that the sparkler will be extended an arm’s length from where they stand. With the focus set, when the sparkler is lit you’ll be ready to go.

You are now set to take the first picture. We got two or three photographs on each small sparkler, and ten 8 second shots with the large ones.

Now you can assess your images for exposure and sharpness on the viewing screen and tweak your settings as needed.

Troubleshooting:

Below are some examples of some photographs that did not work and may help you troubleshoot if you have some exposure problems. I have listed the technical data to help explain why they did not work.

Image A - ISO 1250, f 4.8, 1/30 of a second. ISO was too high image was overexposed.
Make ISO a smaller number, make the f/stop a larger number or make the shutter speed faster to improve the exposure of the photograph.

Image B - ISO 800, f 5.6, 1/100 of a second. ISO too high shutter speed too fast to show any action. The solution is similar as in A but in order to see action the shutter speed has to be longer.

Image C - ISO 800, f 5.6, 1/100 of a second. ISO too high - overexposed. This is a more extreme example of Image A.

Image D – ISO 200, f5.6, 2 seconds. Poor planning in camera frame. This is where the tape and pre-shoot setup are helpful.

Image E - ISO 200, f5.6, 2 seconds. Out of focus. My camera had trouble with auto focus which is why I used the flashlight on my sparkler holder’s hand to focus to produce better results.

Here are some of our favorites that we took because we could – I can never have too many photographs – and that’s the truth!

About our guest blogger:

Photography has been my lifetime career and passion. You can find some of my work on my website or purchase prints on Etsy.  I also have a blog where I am retelling the love story between my grandparents in real time using my grandfather’s love letters. Each one is posted exactly 100 years after it was originally sent. It is a wonderful look into the world they shared. Check it out!
-Beth Shepherd Peters

Making Neon Rope Baskets

Neons are really hot right now and one of my favorite neon craft supplies is the brightly colored mason line that you can find in the rope aisle of any hardware store. Pair it with plain cotton clothesline, and you have these super fresh baskets. I use mine to hold knitting needles, scissors and my drop spindle.

You might even be able to make these and call it "spring cleaning" because they are a great way to organize things in a presentable way.

I've made some videos of this project because it is a little hard to learn with still images. There are also pictures below showing how to do the stitch.

Video tutorial part 1

Video tutorial part 2

Both of these are playable in HD, and I recommend doing so in order to clearly see what is going on.


You will need:

Cotton clothesline or a similar thick rope in any material, I used this kind.
Neon mason line, I've located it for sale online in neon yellow, neon pink, neon orange, and white.
 or
Cotton butcher's twine
 or
Similar thin rope in any material - but if you can break it with your own strength it is not a good choice
A crochet hook
Scissors
Fire to burn the ends of the mason line

Begin as in the video by making a crocheted magic ring.

Work in a coil attaching the rope with the following stitch

Reach through the previous coil with the hook and create a loop. This should be about an inch from the last stitch.

There should be a loop on the back of you work after you pull the string through.

Put the front loop through this back loop.

Put your bobbin or spool of thread through the front loop.

Now pull tight. You have finished the stitch.

Just as if you were making a coil pot out of clay, the shape of the vessel can be changed depending on how you place the coil. Each of these baskets took about 100 feet of thin rope and 20-30 feet of clothesline.  Finishing instructions are in the video.

It takes some practice to control the shape.

Have fun making your baskets and please leave a comment if you liked the videos, want to see them in the future, or have a suggestion for future videos.

$NEAKER$: Gold Chain Laces

It has been a while since my last post here and some important events have taken place in my life. I moved again, started looking for work, learned to spin (yarn), watched all of Law & Order in chronological order on Netflix, started exercising very minimally, and bought some sneaker wedges.

Get the same shoes here - Olympiaa Wedge Sneaker (Google Affiliate Ad)

Yes, plain black Steve Madden sneaker wedges. They are a bit boring, but they go with everything. They can also be transformed into blinged out, gold chain, swag shoes fit for a rapper.

See what a simple change of laces can do? These are no longer just shoes, they can officially be called $HOE$, or $NEAKER$     And you can go back to black laces any time if you want.


This is how I made my chain laces:

You will need:

A tape measure

2 pairs of flat nose pliers for opening links

1 or 2 types of chain at least as long as your laces, make sure it fits through the holes in your shoes. I got my chain at the local hardware store for about 70-90¢ per foot.

2 9mm split rings, regular jump rings may not be strong enough.

2 lobster clasps, I chose the largest size available at the craft store. Chains do not tie very well, so the clasps are instead of a bow or knot.

One pair of shoes, I looked for some without metal eyelets so the chain fits through the holes.

Remove the original laces.

Open a split ring and connect your clasp to one end of your chain.

Begin lacing the shoe, you will be starting from the top outside leaving enough chain to wrap around your ankle not quite once (8"). I started on the second hole down. Think it through before you start, every pair of shoes is different, so your shoes might turn out a bit different.

Lace all the way down and up again, ending two holes below where you started.  You are now going to join another chain onto this chain. You will need to try the shoe on and see how the laces are fitting before the next step.

Open a link at the end of your second chain, If you have never opened a jump ring before, watch this.

You will be attaching the second chain right here. Notice that at this point, I put the shoe on. You should do that now.

This is how the lace looks with the second chain attached.

Put the chains through the holes.

Pick up the lobster end...

...and wrap it around the back of your ankle. It will cross over in front, go around the inside of your ankle and end up on the lateral (shoespeak for outside) side.

You can now take the two non-lobster chains and clip onto them.

I left some slack on one of the chains to get a layered look. Only one needs to be tight to hold your shoes on.

Clip the extra length that will be left at the end of the lace.
Now just do the same for the other shoe.

I know, it is a lot of steps, but look at the result:

Definitely a unisex look, not the wedge, just the chain.

Or the wedge, why not.

I'm sure the chains would look great with all sorts of shoes, not just sneaker wedges. In fact, there is a pair of Docs just waiting for a silver version of these.