I love YouTube. I watch it most nights before bed, falling down endless rabbit holes of arts/crafts, virtual museum tours, cat videos, and several live cam regulars. I have a barn full of sheep who have put me to sleep several nights. On one of my nightly romps through the world of yarn manipulation I found something called Nalbinding. What is this you ask...It is Viking Knitting, a form of knot making, the precursor to modern crochet and knitting as we know it. I could try to explain it, actually I did try but it was a convoluted mess, so you would be better off to Google it. I am always up for a new challenge, artfully speaking, and knowing I had a wooden needle from my rug making moment, I was ready to give it a go. After a couple of somewhat uneventful tries, I decided that my rug needle (which would never be used for a rug application again) was too wide for this purpose so off to the workshop I went for modification. With a bit of sanding a better shape was produced, but I ended up using a plastic darning needle instead. (I have since watch a video on how to make my own wooden needle and will try this if I continue with Nalbinding) A few more attempts showed some improvement, so I went to my ends stash and grabbed some chunky weight yarn knowing this would cover a multitude of sins. Having seen ALL the videos and the end products being round...mittens, cowls, slippers, purses, it never occurred to me that Nalbinding was not used for flat items and this was confirmed the more I looked into it. To go along with this, there are no real patterns because your actual thumb is the gauge and each thumb is different so you get only general directions. With a bit of resilience and a some crochet know how, I was able to create a flat piece which wraps around the neck and is held together with a handmade copper clasp. Now that we are into Spring, I will have a new beauty to wear in the Fall.
Art/Craft books are one of my addictions and I have been feeding it for many years. Some I have used as reference but mostly I have just looked at the lovely photographs and dreamed of when I would take the time to actually study them, taking notes and applying the information. With our home business being client based, we travel to homes and businesses, we have quickly been affected by the current state of things. Our city's major hospital, assisted livings and some small businesses have asked us to refrain from coming by at this crucial time. Having this extra time available may just give me the opportunity to enjoy these in a more in depth manner. Or I will clean the closets throughout the house. We have lived in our home for 27 years and I am sure that at least one could benefit from a deep clean.
Last night on YouTube I came across Krokning, Again, what is that!?! It is the Swedish word for Tunisian Crochet, something I have never done. Grabbing a yummy roll of thin yarn and a crochet hook, I was able to get the rhythm of the stitches even though the style of hook was incorrect. For this kind of work you need a long straight needle, like ones used for knitting except with a hook on one end. This I do not have, so I am going to take a shot at making one out of a dowel. I may even have a book in my stash that could help with this.
I am off to continue reading Creative Illustration Workshop for Mixed Media Artist. This one I bought just for the art work, I normally do not work in 2-d. It is whimsical and has a freedom to it, and the text shares her creative process and techniques used.
Check in with those you love and be sure to give yourself some love too.
Hilari
