Heather
Heather is a Canadian with a passion for making things, and a desire to share those things with the world. (Whether the world wants her to or not.) Main mediums include knitting, sewing, polymer clay sculpture, baking, cooking, sketching, and probably things she hasn't tried yet.
Ten-Minute Dishcloth
This is a pattern I came up with out of necessity. What do you do when all the dishcloths are dirty or have wandered away, the washing machine is full, the dryer is broken, and you just want to clean something? Well in my case, you make a dishcloth. OK that, plus I have a lot of worsted weight cotton I want to use up. For me a dishcloth has to have some specific requirements: It has to hang over my tap or sink nicely, without dangling too much. Too big and it hangs all in the way of the handle, too small and it falls off into the sink.…
Three Colour, Single Row Height DBJ on the Brother and Superba – Part 2
Well if you read Part 1, you will know that I had found a method for knitting single row height double-bed jacquard, on the Superba, via a couple of different methods, but not the “offset” method that would, a) keep all the colour changes on the same side of the bed, ultimately allowing for, b) use of a colour changer. Now I must take you back to a conversation I had via email with the makers of Superbaknit back in 2018. At that time, I had been using the “Skip stitch” function to knit DBJ, and noticed that it was limited to three colours. I wanted to use four with…
Three Colour, Single Row Height DBJ on the Brother and Superba – Part 1
Recently I started exploring double-bed jacquard (DBJ) on the Brother 940 in more detail. I had only played with it a couple of times to knit a couple of the two-colour patterns from Stitchworld, as a test when I first got the machine. Recently while flipping through Stitchworld, I noticed a couple of beautiful three-colour patterns that are in there, and thought I would give them a try. Unfortunately there isn’t much information in the manual about how to knit in three colours, but I assumed I could figure it out – not much different than two colours after all – so I tried to knit #390 and was unsuccessful.…
Craft Boredom Cycles and The Very Long Year
This is a less informational/more personal post than I normally put here, so if you’re not in the mood for a ramble, you may want to skip it. I just wanted to share something that I have noticed about myself. I have seen several people mentioning it lately, so I don’t think it’s limited to just me. Crafting Boredom. Do you ever get afflicted? By this I mean, do you ever look at your heap of supplies for this hobby you have, that you LOVE, and just…don’t wanna? It’s happened to me before, many times. The first time it was hand knitting/crochet. I had a lot of yarn, all kinds…
Buttonholes, and More Buttonholes
I don’t know why, but I love to make buttonholes. I think it’s because I was afraid of them for so long, and never used them. I would use grommets, snaps – anything to avoid making buttonholes on garments, but since I got over that fear, all I want to do is make buttonholes. And I have discovered that this is something certain machines do much better than others. My modern Kenmore has the built-in automatic style – with the big long foot that you place the button into to control the size, and then it automatically makes the buttonhole you choose from it’s several built-in styles. It works fine,…
Kenmore 158.18022 Vintage Sewing Machine
Well well well, if it isn’t the post I started some time ago and then forgot about. Honestly, this past year (can you believe it’s coming up on a year of this?) has been so weird that I just can’t concentrate on anything. But, better late than never, right? You may have seen my post a few months back about the Viking 714 vintage machine that I picked up in the summer. I have since sold it on. At the time, I thought that would be the main vintage machine that I would use for things where I didn’t want to use my modern Kenmore (a 385.19110 computerized machine.) It…
RetroBrite – Again!
You aren’t experiencing déjà vu, I have actually blogged about this very topic before. But I needed to do some of the pieces on my new Brother machines, and since I always get a lot of questions about the process, figured I might as well make a video. It still works amazingly well. Case in point: It’s a simple, inexpensive process that yields quick, dramatic results, and takes years off your knitting machines. (I should sell face cream.) If you are curious about the process, check out my YouTube video here: Check it out, and let me know if you try it, I’d love to see your before and afters!
New Toy: The Bellinky Linker
Have you heard of a linker/linking machine? Some of the hardcore knitters probably have, and probably use one. Maybe you’ve seen the Hague style – a big cylinder type thing with spikes all around the outside? Looks like a torture device or something for making sausage? Anyway, linkers are machines that are used for linking or seaming together pieces of knitting with a chain stitch instead of hand sewing. There are different things referred to as linkers – some which operate on the knitting machine and move along the bed, linking together open stitches, like the SC-3 carriage for Silver Reed type machines, or the Hague cylinder style linker (although…
So I picked up two Brothers the other day…
Look at that capital B doing a LOT of heavy lifting. If you follow my Instagram you already know I am talking about knitting machines and not anything more salacious. A Brother KH940 standard gauge and a Brother KH260 chunky/bulky gauge machine both came to live with me recently. I wasn’t looking for more machines, but the ad came up for me on F*ce*ook Marketplace, and with a price so good I initially thought it was a scam, or the machines were smashed to pieces. Not a scam, just a really, really good deal, and it HAD to be mine. I received: The Brother 260 main bed, including all parts,…
Viking 714 Vintage Sewing Machine
Well well, it has been A WHILE since I last posted here. I haven’t stopped crafting, but what with the pandemic and all the insanity it has brought, along with everything else, it feels like I blinked in January and ended up in June. What has kept me so busy? Trying to help the kids do their online learning (and keep them from punching each other), sewing 300 masks, piecework sewing, trying to bake my way sane, knitting a few things when I had time, and then of course the warm weather brought with it the need for garden cleanup, pool opening, and OK, occasionally sitting by the pool with…
