Blackwork Handwork

I have had a lot of fun keeping my hands busy with little hand sewing projects and Huzzah! my knitting mojo has returned.  I've cast on to knit a pattern I've done before but everything was wrong with the first incarnation of this garment. Wrong size, wrong needles and wrong yarn. This time around I think I have a much better chance of completing something I like.

But first to the projects I've finished!

I love making pincushions and scissor fobs because they are small, easy to carry around and relatively quick to execute. And since I'm always putting my scissors down and forgetting where I put them, these little attached pincushions make them easier to find amongst all the stuff I tend to surrounding myself with mid-craft. Here they are!

 This is a little Biscornu Pincushion I made with the last bit of pale blue aida cloth. I did the design in really dark brown that looks black. I like the clean crisp lines of the blackwork so I enjoyed doing this. The worst part is always whip stitching the two parts together and stuffing it! Even ironing thin interfacing on the back to stabilize the base material doesn't always help.

This one I like because of the nice effect with the sage green blackwork lines with the golden-yellow french knots in the centre of the flowers.  It's not that complex a design and I think that's one of it's appeal. It translated into a really nice scissor fob too.

 And this last one I decided to make a Pin-Keep. I never knew this sort of thing existed until recently and I kind of made up the design myself. Not the blackwork design. Just the actual Pin-Keep itself. No doubt I've done this wrong but it kind of works the way it's supposed to so I thought it worth the experiment.

I'll have to look up to see if I can find a pattern for these. It's a handy little thing and I'm already beginning to be overwhelmed with pincushions. Blackwork is a wonderful form of embroidery that builds a great design filled with clarity and clean lines.  It was also a nice interlude after intensive knitting. So as I take up my knitting again, I put aside my needles and threads, fine weave cloth and embroidery hoops until next time.

Whenever I pick it up again, it's guaranteed to be fun!

See you all later :)
Dx

Blackwork, Redwork...whatever you call it!

I love the impact of fine lines on fabric and blackwork has that sort of impact in spades! Especially when it's centred on a single small motif. So, like the pin cushions I just finished, I have about 5 designs that are either entirely blackwork or use it principally and I'm going to make a collection of scissor fobs using them. And so here is the first offering! It's kind of off-putting calling it blackwork when it's red but I can handle that, even if my kind of aspergers-y brain keeps saying you can't call it that! Dammit! I will tough it out. Shut up Brain! That's what it's called!!...
...Anyway, here's the latest.

See? Isn't it pretty?

One done, onto the next side.

When I started assembling this I used beads again around the edge since it looked so good on the last pin cushion and I used crochet cotton for the tassel and the loop at the top.

And here it is, as it would be used on a pair of scissors (I only had my shear scissors on hand). 

All stuffed nice and tight so I can put needles securely in there and the beads look so nice. Sigh. I am very happy with this if you hadn't noticed. And what ever takes my mind off possibly having ruptured my Achilles tendon is a good thing. Damn body falling apart!

See you all next time. Off to start the next one!