Organization - Knitting Journal

Continuing on with my organizing, the latest craft I have organized is my knitting.  I would describe myself as a beginning knitter but I have more than a few knitters in my family.  Because of them, I have inherited quite the needle and yarn stashes.  I decided to make up a knitting journal along the lines of my embroidery and sewing journals.

This journal has pages for everything knitting related.  I included pages to record all the yarn I have with an area to attach a sample of the yarn and of course all the yarn details:

Same with needles.  I have mostly single pointed needles in my collection, but I included a page for double pointed needles and a page for circular needles.  I am really happy to have all my sizes organized and to know which sizes I still want to add to my collection.
 

I also added an editable feature.  I can type whatever category title I want on this page to customize the binder:

Same with these binder tabs.  It is really easy to type in whatever titles or words I want and print them.  If the categories change, I can type in new categories and print:

I am recording my various knitting projects.  So many details to remember:

I have listed this knitting journal in my Etsy shop.  I made these in pink, blue, lavender and black.

 

Progress Report - La Cucina Stitching - part one

I have an update on my La Cucina stitching project.  You may remember I was satin stitching the lettering with perle cotton floss?

Well, I wasn't really thrilled with the uneven, patchy look of the "C" so when I started on the "u" I used a back stitch for the outline and to fill in the letter.  I am much happier with the even-edged chunky look.  I think the small "c" looks great too so that is the stitch I am going to use for all the lettering:

The satin stitching does look really good on the decorative border, especially in this dark yellow floss.  This is DMC #742:

I love yellow and especially yellow roses!  I wanted to share a picture of these beautiful roses.  These are some blooms from my garden, the yellow and pink/yellow are the Peace tea rose, the red bud is from the Chrysler Imperial tea rose.  They are both really easy to grow.  I see plenty of new buds so more pictures to follow!

100 Stitches - Star Eyelet Stitch

This is the Star Eyelet Stitch, the latest stitch I have learned from 100 Stitches.  Isn't it beautiful?  Notice the open center? 

I stitched this on medium weave linen fabric because the weave is loose enough that I can count the threads.  According to the instructions, this stitch is worked in a square over eight threads horizontally and eight threads vertically.  The floss I chose is this gorgeous color variations perle cotton.  This is DMC #4190:

The first step I did was to count eight threads each way and put a mark on each end.  The  point of this stitch {from the drawn fabric embroidery section} is to do eight straight stitches, with each stitch going through the same hole in the center of the square.  I made a mark in the center and since there are eight stitches, I put a mark half-way between each line.  I made these marks with my water soluble transfer pen.

I first came up through the fabric on the upper left corner.

Then I went back into the fabric at the center hole mark:
 

That is the first stitch.   

Then I came up through the fabric in the upper center mark

Then back into the fabric in the center hole mark.   Pull through and that makes the second stitch.

I just continued making straight stitches from each mark and then through the center hole.  I had to pull pretty firmly to start "drawing" the fabric to make the nice open center hole:

Here it is completed:

Then I washed out the pen marks:

The underside looks really neat and tidy:

This is an easy stitch to do and it is so beautiful! 

This is stitch #89 and is in the Drawn Fabric Embroidery category of 100 Stitches.

A WIP From A New Pattern!

This stitching project is from my new pattern packet, La Cucina Italiana.  I am stitching this with some beautiful perle cotton floss:

I am so pleased with all the motifs in this pattern set!   I can think of so many projects to use them on.    I am definitely going to make kitchen towels and stitch all the days of the week in Italian:

Maybe I should do them in the colors of the Italian flag...

I also really like this color combination:

Here is a picture of the pattern packet.  This is listed in my Etsy shop: 

Progress Report - Space Stitching - part 4

I have some progress to report on my space stitching project.  --If you would like to review my progress so far, you can check out these posts: {part one}  {part two}  {part three}. --  I am going to be making a pillow.  For one side of the pillow I am using this rocket picture that I embroidered.  For the other side of the pillow, I have decided to stitch this little spaceman:

I wanted to add this shooting star to the spaceman picture, so I just cut it out and taped it in place before I started transferring this to my fabric:

I transferred the pattern using a water soluble marker.  It is very easy to see the pattern through this white fabric!

I think it really helps to keep another copy of the pattern to refer to while I am transferring.

There - all transferred!

Now to put it into the hoop - I am using my big 10" hoop:

Now my next step is going to be selecting floss colors.  I am so enjoying my new organized lifestyle!  I am recording all the pertinent information for this new project:

And since I did the same for the rocket stitching, I can see which colors I used so that I will be able to use the same on the spaceman:

Remember this border?  I have figured out the perfect use for it on this pillow - I will be posting about that soon!

100 Stitches - Pin Stitch

The Pin Stitch. This is the first stitch I have learned from a new category in 100 Stitches. The Drawn Fabric category. According to 100 Stitches, the stitches in this category all draw in the fabric to achieve an open effect. The stitching is not the main attraction, the open pattern that is formed by drawing together the threads of the fabric is.  The instructions in 100 Stitches were shown on a hem edge so that is what I did:

For my learning demonstration, I folded under a hem edge on this medium weave linen. 

For my floss, I am using two strands of a contrasting color, this is the beautiful pink #956 from DMC.

  

My first step is to come up through the fabric right through the folded over hem. 

Pull all the way through, this will hide the knot:

Next, take a small stitch right next to the folded edge.  Go into the fabric (hole a) and come back out of the fabric (hole b):

Pull all the way through:

Next, bring the needle back around and go into and out of the exact same holes (a and b) :

Pull through: 

Bring the needle back around and do it again:

and once more go into the first hole (hole a), but this time exit back into the folded over hem edge:

Pull all the way through.  **To start the next stitch, go back into the fabric in the same hole - this is hole b from the first stitch and is now the new hole a.  That starts the next stitch:

Going through the same two holes more than once really widens the holes and creates the effect of the pin stitch.  I found I really needed to pull the thread tight to draw the fabric threads together.  This is the front of the hem - can you see the holes created by the stitching?  

This is an easy to do stitch, very relaxing and you don't need to use an embroidery hoop!
This is stitch # 95 and is in the Drawn Fabric Embroidery section of 100 Stitches.

**Edited - I updated my original posting of learning the pin stitch after receiving some extremely helpful information and tips from Martha at Southern Matriarch blog.  She has an excellent tutorial you should definitely check out - here is the link.