Archive for the 'video post' Category
More Tshirt Yarn projects and a video how-to
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
So we are well into week 2 of tshirt yarn class, and I’m really making a lot of projects!
Here’s a scarf that I knit, using a length of organic bamboo fabric that I cut into yarn. I overdyed it in tea! The tea stained the scarf in a really interesting way, and toned down the baby pink.
I also dyed this light pink yarn with tea:
Here’s what it looked like fresh out of the dye bath:
It was light pink to begin with, and the tea added those darker tan spots. I can’t wait to see how this knits up!
Here’s a little video on how to use tea or coffee to dye things:
Find more videos like this on UPcycled Tshirt Yarn Class
Posted in tips and tricks, video post, Online classes | 1 Comment »
How to join a new ball of yarn to your project (video post)
Sunday, September 13th, 2009
I’ve been so engrossed in “Fitted Raglan Shawl” class that I totally didn’t blog last week!
I was on such a video blog roll, too!
Well. I’ve got some stuff. I’m working on LOTS of videos for class, and I thought I’d share this one with all of you:
Find more videos like this on Fitted Raglan Shawl Class
We’ve been having some discussions in class about how and when to join new yarns. I was always taught to join at the edge of the knitting, but I think that if you use a splice (like the spit splice that I show you in the video) you can just join new yarn anyplace you run out and need to start a new ball. There are certainly as many ways to join / splice yarns as there are knitters, so if you google, you’ll find LOTS of techniques. These are the two that I use the most.
By the way, that’s Cascade 128 in a beautiful light blue, almost silver gray color. LOVE IT for this shawl. I use a bulkier yarn and bigger needles for the video examples so that everything shows up. I’ll add the directions for this bulkier version of the shawl to the pattern when I finish it.
Posted in tips and tricks, video post | No Comments »
Turn old Tshirts into yarn and FOUR great projects (video tutorial)
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
In the middle of preparing the “Mirth: A Fitted Raglan Shawl” class and pattern, I’ve had another idea for a class. I’m knitting along thinking of great spots to do videos, and then…poof! New Class Idea!
You know we just bought a house, and I’m packing and getting ready to move. I looked in my husband’s closet and found at least 50 Tshirts. Some of them are cool, like the “Black Flag: Loose Nut” Tshirt that I’ve commandeered for today (makes an awesome-looking preggo-belly!) Some, however, are really old and nasty, some are just lame free ones from various companies. I just don’t want to throw them all out! I’ve seen T-shirt yarn on Etsy, so I’m not the first person to think of this, BUT.
I made this video on the weekend:
I’ve decided to offer a class at http://stefaniejapel.ning.com.
Making yarn out of old (or new) Tshirts is such an easy process in and of itself. I decided to show you how to do that for free in an tutorial. I see that there are already a few demos for this on YouTube… so now you’ll have my take on it! 
(The video is also a description of the class that I’m offering.)
In class, we’ll go through how to not only make the yarn, but how to figure out what weight it is (worsted, DK, etc.) and then how to cut to get the weight of yarn you want, as well as how to cut so that you make “special effects” like thick and thin, fringe, etc.
In week 2, you’ll learn how to dye your yarn, using both natural and commercial dyes.
You’ll also get a PDF booklet of four projects so that you can actually USE your yarn! (It would defeat the purpose to just cut up the shirts and then have a bunch of yarn that you don’t know what to do with!) Week 3 of class will focus on tips and tricks for the four projects.
This is a great project to do with kids, as long as they’re old enough to work with sharp scissors.
And, like all of my online classes, you can work at your own pace. The material is available to you for three weeks, but you can go through everything all at once if you want to.
Posted in gift knitting, video post | 4 Comments »
Some background, more info, and Props to my Advocate (video blog post)
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
In this video post, I want to give you guys some background as to where all this new stuff is coming from…and to tell you more about my online knitting classes.
Props to Possibility Advocate!
PS: Virgil taught me how to use ning.com, and Mimish taught me about the amazing invention that is the “Flip” video recorder.