Meeting Highlights: Hairpin Lace

We had a good turnout for our July meeting despite the heat and the slight change of venue.

First the chapter business.

There are seven spaces left for the September retreat.  There is still time to reserve your spot.  The early deadline was to ensure that we had enough interest to book the venue, and we made our minimum registration.  The retreat will take the place of our Fifth Saturday meeting.  If you can’t spend the weekend, you can still spend the day.

Our September meeting will focus on expanding membership and participation in our guild.  We’ll have treats, door prizes, and some fun activities.  Plus, there will be a presentation on using the Internet to expand your crochet skills.  If you have any friends who crochet (or know someone who’d like to learn how), plan on inviting them to join us for this special meeting.

Gail attended the CGOA conference in New Hampshire.  She took along samples of our business cards, brochures and other materials for the chapter get-together.  Gail said the Lion Brand rep was impressed with our stuff, which we were all glad to hear.  Gail showed off swatches from all the classes she attended, the most interesting being a two-color illusion technique; from one angle, you just see stripes, but tilt the fabric and an image appears.  The best news of all was that once again, she won the chapter challenge and a monetary prize.  Congratulations, Gail!

Maxine taught us the basics of hairpin lace.  The most difficult part is getting the first loop on the left leg of the hairpin loom and setting the slip knot in the center.  Most books and tutorials today call for starting with a single loop, but decades ago, the braid was started with loops around both legs of the loom.  Some hints for working with hairpin lace:

• Use a hook several sizes smaller than the yarn calls for.
• Always turn your loom in the same direction.
• If working a long strip and you need to remove loops from the loom, use guidelines to keep the loops from twisting.
• If your stitches tend to waiver down the braid, use your thumbnail to push your stitches in the proper direction; this will tidy them up and straighten the stitches.
• For some good tips and excellent tutorials, check out http://www.stitchdiva.com/.

Our next meeting will be August 11th, when Jodi will take us through the basics of crocheting with wire.

Project Gallery July 2012

Hilary is working on another shawl  This one is made from a painted super wash yarn from All for the Love of Yarn.  The wool comes from the Leicester breed of sheep, which produce a long and lustrous fiber.  If you are a spinner, you love fleece from the Leicester.

What the heck is this?

It’s a sandal, crocheted by Joan from an Interweave Crochet pattern.  She used hemp and the sole of a flip-flop to make the sandals.  As you can see by the second photo, it’s a Roman style that laces up the leg.  Since the size turned out wrong for Joan’s granddaughter, Jodi is the proud possessor of these snappy shoes.

Speaking of Jodi, she brought an afghan square crocheted by her mother some twenty years ago.  The square is in a traditional quilt square pattern called Sunbonnet Sue.

Jodi also showed off this lovely felted purse.  She crocheted open spaces that she stuffed with plastic wrap during the felting process.  After felting, instead of a decorative ribbon, Jodi filled the spaces with a decorative scarf.  She crocheted a loop closure that nearly felted shut.  A special coordinating button completed the look.  Jodi also showed off a matching bracelet crocheted from wire and lapis chips, but yours truly did not get a good photo of the bracelet.  Jodi will be teaching us how to crochet with wire at our August meeting.

Gail made these cute slippers for Carmelle.  The yarn has a little bit of sparkle in it.  A coordinating novelty yarn was used for a fancy trim.

Carol made this Julie-Maxine shawl—so named for Julie, who found the novelty yarns at Savers, and Maxine, who usually uses these colors and beads.  The stitch pattern was inspired by a shawl Gail shared with us last month.  If just allowed to hang lengthwise, the rows collapse on each other (left side of photo), but will open up when draped around the body (right side of photo).  Each row is a different yarn, which makes the fringe.  As someone noted, the fringe constitutes a lethal weapon—beware when tossing the end of the shawl over the shoulder.  It was an awful lot of work for a little bling—something Carol will NEVER do again.

Jody crocheted this cute little car for her son.  She did an adaptation of a the purchased pattern Rambunctious Race Car.  As with anything small, the details make a huge difference in the outcome.  Jody used antique buttons from her grandmother's button collection that likely came from her great-grandmother's button collection, which included buttons from her great-great-grandmother.  And what did Jody do with these vintage treasures?  Why, she made them into terrific hubcaps.

Jody's cat Beauford contributed fur for these finger puppets.  She followed the basic instructions in "Crafting with Cat Hair" by Kaori Tautaya.

This is a work in progress.  Maxine was sampling different types of yarn for use with hairpin lace and tried this novelty ribbon yarn.    You can't quite tell by this picture, but this is a series of hairpin lace braids laced together to make a small purse.  We're all interested to see how this one turns out.

Saved the best for last.  Ever wonder what sort of person owns an art car?  How about yarn bombers—know any?  Remember those “leather” coverings that were popular on sporty cars maybe a decade ago?  What were they called, nose bras, car bras?  Well, here’s something you don’t see every day—a spare tire snood (don’t you just love the name?).  June crocheted it for her car.  Is this cool or what?  We are all so envious.  The “yarn” is a hardware store nylon roping product.  Way to go, June!

Hairpin Lace: July 14 Meeting Preview

We hope you can join us Satuday July 14 from 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM at Prospect Park United Methodist Church.

NOTE: Due to a schedule conflict, we'll actually hold the meeting at the parish house that is just next-door to the church  - as you face the church, it's on the left and the entrance is next to the ramp that leads to our normal meeting area.

This meeting will be an introduction to hairpin lace, a crochet technique from the 1800s that is being revised by today's designers to create lovely garments and accessories. Maxine will lead us through making a simple hairpin lace project, a flower motif that can be used as a pin or joined with other motifs to make a scarf. She'll also bring hairpin lace sample projects, patterns, and swatches to give you other ideas for using this technique.

If you've hesitated to try hairpin because you don't own or can't find a hairpin loom, we've got you covered. There will plenty of extra looms on hand - and if you get really "hooked" on the technique, you can make your own.

To make this flower pin, you'll need to bring the following materials:

• Lightweight worsted or DK weight yarn in one or two colors. The flower pictured here was made with Cascade Ultra Pima yarn.
• Two hooks: one the normal size you'd use for your yarn and one two or three sizes smaller. For the sample, the two hooks used were H8 (5.00mm) and F5 (3.75mm).
• A tapestry needle
• A hairpin lace loom if you have one. Otherwise, you can use one of the looms that will be available at the meeting.

This class is suitable for advanced beginner and higher - you need to be able to make single crochet stitches and know how to use a a tapestry needle to weave in yarn ends.

If you do want to purchase a loom, the picture here shows two common brands, Clover to the left and Boye to the right. Try your local JoAnn's or Michael's for the Boye brand - it's sometimes packaged as a kit with the loom and a hook. Check with an LYS for the Clover brand.

As a final note, remember that this is road construction season, so check ahead to plan your best route to our meeting place.  The Metropolitan Council updates light rail construction goals weekly plus the Minnesota Department of Transportation maintains a list of current road construction projects as well as a site with current driving conditions for travelers.

We hope to see you soon!