Virtual Glove Exhibition
November 30, 2008 at 6:40 pm | In Museums and Exhibitions | Leave a CommentThis summer when I visited Bath and its Fashion Museum, I saw a marvellous but small exhibition of 17th century gloves. It’s always nice to go to places and see things in reality, but that’s not always possible, and you can’t show the stuff you’re seeing to your crafty friends all over the world. So imagine my excitement when I run across a post on Ravelry with a link to the online presence of the Worshipful Company of Glovers, who owns the collection the exhibits in Bath were from. Now everybody can see the beautiful work, even if one’s pretty far from Bath, and there are a lot of detail shots that make it possible to see details of the embroidery or knitting.
It’s great to see that more and more museums put all or part of their collections into freely accessible online catalogues, more often than not including high-quality images. Another example that springs to mind is the V&A in London with their extensive online catalogue. Having been to both places recently I’ve been thinking about the relationship between the museums and their online offerings, and I think it’s the combination of being able to see real exhibits on a visit and having the virtual images at my fingertips without having to leave my desk that provides the strength of this kind of offering.
For example, before visiting the V&A this summer I had seen lots of images of needlepoint lace from books and online, including some from the V&A’s online catalogue. I was still blown away when I found the lace section in the textile study room and for the first time in my life saw a piece of antique needlepoint lace. I never had an idea just how tiny those thousands of buttonhole stitches can be, impossible to imagine. Pictures pretty much always misrepresent the size of things, and you just can’t get the dimensionality a lot of lace pieces have. So, in my opinion seeing the real thing cannot be replaced by even the best online offering, there are just too many aspects that can’t be conveyed by images on a screen.
On the other hand, unless you’re living where the museums are, you won’t have the opportunity to see the exhibits as often as you’d like to. This is where online offerings can be really useful. I can browse the catalogue, be it for research or inspiration, anytime I want. You also can get an idea of the things that are presented at a museum when planning your visit, and won’t have to guess.
Another advantage of those catalogues is that usually only a very small part of the collections of a museum can be shown to the public. There’s just not enough space to show everything, and especially with something as fragile as textiles conservation issues have to be taken into account. Many antique textiles can’t be exposed to light for longer periods of time for fear of destruction. So, having images of all those pieces not in the exhibition galleries is much better than if those treasures were only accessible to the curators of the museum and academic researchers.
So, in the light of all of this I cheer on every museum that makes its collections available online for everybody to enjoy, while making plots to return to London as soon as possible and spend a very enjoyable day getting my mind blown away at the V&A.
Knitting Progress — Going to Extremes
November 16, 2008 at 12:58 pm | In Knitting | 2 CommentsI’m a relatively new knitter. While I learnt lots of different needlework techniques more or less easily as a child, knitting always eluded me. I didn’t seem to be able to keep a loose enough tension to make things work, so my few tries always ended in frustration, and I was happy to leave knitting alone.
A few years ago I made another try. While my mum was visiting me helping me to pack for a move, I asked her to show me again, and suddenly knitting was no problem at all! I have no idea what happened, but I’m quite happy to have another chance to master that fascinating craft. While most of the other needlecrafts I do are largely decorative in nature, most knitting patterns are for actual garments and accessories, they’re designed to be worn instead of decorating a wall, which is what I like about knitting.
So, in comparison to some of the other crafts I do, I’m still quite low on the learning curve for knitting, and I find it fascinating to observe the progress I’m making. The first step in learning for me, after getting a grip on the basic techniques, is to work a few projects using patterns. What I try to do though, is to introduce at least one new element with each project, to keep my interest and extend my knowledge.
The two scarfs I have on the needles currently definitely fit that pattern. Waves of Grain is my first foray into the world of knitting lace using lace-weight yarn, and it definitely takes some getting used to. It’s also the first time I’m using beads in a knitted project. At first I was really slow, but things do get better with time and practice, and by now I’m cruising along just fine:
I’m definitely learning how to read my knitting, so I can detect errors early on an usually fix them before bad things have happened.
The second scarf I’m knitting goes to the other extreme yarn-wise: Versatility is knit on 6 mm needles with the yarn doubled up. I just love the strong texture I’m getting between the lace, the bobbles, and the braid at the center. And it definitely knits up faster than Waves of Grain, so I’m using is as a relaxation project when I get tired from knitting fine lace. The pattern is fun and doesn’t get boring, and as an added bonus I was able to knit the pattern from memory and looking at the previous rows before I even finished the first pattern repeat, which is another advantage of slowly learning to read my own knitting.
And the best thing? I realised that with those two scarfs I’mprobably going to jump on the next step of the learning curve: knowing enough to do my own modifications and designs. There are already ideas floating around my head. Maybe a pair of mittens to go with versatility? Since this is knit with the doubled up yarn, taking just one strand of the same should be fine for mittens, and the center braid could be used as is for the back of the hand. But I’ll probably come up with a few more ideas before I’m finished with either project, so let’s see what happens!
Tatted Necklace
November 9, 2008 at 4:06 pm | In Lace | Leave a CommentTags: Jewellery, Tatting
Having the tatted earrings come out nicely, I had how to extend the idea to a matching necklace. So, after picking up a few more of the big beads and a steel wire necklace from the craft shop, I started playing with the pattern. Here’s the result:
I put beads on every ring in the pattern again, and added the big beads in the middle on the steel wire. The tatted ornament is attached using picots in the right places, two next to each other. I put one of the smaller beads between each pair of picots on the wire. The pattern is not perfect, as it’s not easily lying flat, but it works, and I now have a documented starting point to play with.
The ornament is made with one shuttle and attached ball of yarn. You need 13 beads for the picots in the ornaments. Those need to go on the thread before winding it on the shuttle. While winding, distribute the beads on the shuttle, so they’re safely buried in there. This can be a bit tricky because it’s hard to estimate when you’ll need each bead, but for me it worked with just an additional bit of unwinding and rewinding.
In the instructions, the numbers mean double knots, “-” a picot, “+” attach to picot, “B” a picot with a bead. Be careful to put one bead on each ring before starting it.
Ring: 6-3 B 3-6 Chain: 4-2-4-2 Ring: 6+4 B 4-6 Chain: 2 Ring: 6+5 B 5-6 Chain: 2 Ring: 6+4 B 4-6 Chain: 2+4-2-6 Ring: 6+4 B 4-6 Chain: 8-2 Ring: 6+4 B 4-6 Chain: 2 Ring: 6+5 B 5-6 Chain: 2 Ring: 6+4 B 4-6 Chain: 2+8 Ring: 6+4 B 4-6 Chain: 6-2-4-2 Ring: 6+4 B 4-6 Chain: 2 Ring: 6+5 B 5-6 Chain: 2 Ring: 6+4 B 4-6 Chain: 2+4-2-4 Ring: 6-3 B 3-6
And here’s the completed necklace together with the earrings:
This was really fun, but if I want to continue playing with jewellery, I guess I’ll have to acquire an additional set of tools!
It’s all in the presentation
November 2, 2008 at 2:49 pm | In Other Crafts | Leave a CommentTags: Origami
So, after making some nice earrings, where do you put them? They definitely don’t come with a nice jewellery box from the store! 
One possibility is to make a box for them to live in, also very nice if you want to give a pair away as a present. Origami to the rescue. There are literally dozens of different patterns for origami boxes out there, but I wanted one with an integrated lid, so I ended up with this one.
To make sure the earrings wouldn’t rattle around in the box, I cut a piece of felt the size of the bottom of the box, stitched a couple of buttonhole bars on it, and attached the earrings:
The felt fits snugly on the bottom of the box:
And this is what the closed box looks like:
It’s not perfect, since this is the first time I made that pattern, and I haven’t been making any origami for a while, but you certainly get the idea. Using really nice paper would make that a really classy box for a nice present, all handmade. 
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
