Entry tags:
Oh so that's how that works
In the last couple of days, I've figured out two crafting techniques that have been bothering me for a while. And I'm quite pleased with it, because it will make doing both crafts like, a billion times easier.
The first one was such a duh moment, too. Changing colour when crocheting has been the bane of my existence for years. Whenever I'd ask someone, they give the most unhelpful advice ever. "you just kind of weave it in," or similar. Not only do you not weave it in, but you actually do something I've known how to do for years. It's also something I've used when changing colours in a different situation, but always when I repeat the colour change on the same row. For some reason, it just never occurred to me that you could cut the yarn short and bury it it without having the ends poke out. This also solves the same problem I have with knitting. Because I do the same thing when I do complex designs, and there we go. I'm such a dunce oh well.
I'm blaming this on having never until recently had a visual aid for it. I learn best by doing and seeing examples. Written descriptions might as well be in Japanese for all the help they give me.
The other one I finally worked out is parking thread with cross stitch. This one is not actually the fault of the person who first put me onto the idea, because I don't think she really understood it either. And the one time I did try it, it just became a horrible mess of thread that I couldn't tell which colour it was, because it was ten different shades of blue. But I finally found some videos last night of people doing it, and wow yep, that makes so much sense. It seems that this is not a technique that is best used with a running stitch. You gotta do each X individually, and then work in blocks, instead of by colour. Which is how I've always done it, and it's always a mess. I'm trying it out on a new project to get the hang of it, and then I'm going to try to salvage the one I've been working on, but I may not be able to. It's already a huge mess. We'll see.
The first one was such a duh moment, too. Changing colour when crocheting has been the bane of my existence for years. Whenever I'd ask someone, they give the most unhelpful advice ever. "you just kind of weave it in," or similar. Not only do you not weave it in, but you actually do something I've known how to do for years. It's also something I've used when changing colours in a different situation, but always when I repeat the colour change on the same row. For some reason, it just never occurred to me that you could cut the yarn short and bury it it without having the ends poke out. This also solves the same problem I have with knitting. Because I do the same thing when I do complex designs, and there we go. I'm such a dunce oh well.
I'm blaming this on having never until recently had a visual aid for it. I learn best by doing and seeing examples. Written descriptions might as well be in Japanese for all the help they give me.
The other one I finally worked out is parking thread with cross stitch. This one is not actually the fault of the person who first put me onto the idea, because I don't think she really understood it either. And the one time I did try it, it just became a horrible mess of thread that I couldn't tell which colour it was, because it was ten different shades of blue. But I finally found some videos last night of people doing it, and wow yep, that makes so much sense. It seems that this is not a technique that is best used with a running stitch. You gotta do each X individually, and then work in blocks, instead of by colour. Which is how I've always done it, and it's always a mess. I'm trying it out on a new project to get the hang of it, and then I'm going to try to salvage the one I've been working on, but I may not be able to. It's already a huge mess. We'll see.