AIR Week Seven Thoughts, beaded knitting, lace embroidery and design

This week's musing, while I worked on a tapestry, about what to present for the seventh in the series of nine Artist in Residence sessions on the textile arts was given a jolt today by a tweet about crochet-hook beaded knitting.  Thanks so much, Quinn.  I've been thinking idly for a while about this and hadn't incorporated the idea into any plans.

So in addition to the elements of design and transfer, using Vilene and net, and other ideas, I'm putting in beaded knitting, using samples I use all the time.  

This is the technique where you use a tiny crochet hook to slide the bead onto the knitted stitch, as needed, rather than the counting and planning that the other form of beaded knitting requires.  Much more to the taste of a knitter who likes spontaneity.  That would be me.  

The crochet hook I found in a thrift store box of old sewing items, many of which I passed on to sewers, but the extremely small hooks I kept since they're not easy to find.  The hook is almost hard to see with the naked eye, that small.  There are YouTube videos of this technique, so I won't describe it here, but do try it.

So here are a couple of examples, both are phone purses, which I've made a lot of and given away a lot of, and which are great for a beginning knitter, small enough to finish and useful, too.  Adding the beaded element is fun for the next step.  The one on the right is a lovely calming piece to hold in your hand with beads between your fingers.  This was a discovery after I'd made it, and I'm very pleased with it.

The left one has a strap braided from an old piece of broad gold cording, while the strap on the right one is crocheted. Both go right down the sides of the purses, making them secure.

No pix yet of the Vilene ideas, not yet set up. It's all part of the Art is for Everyone approach!  you can, too, design your own, if you want to.  There will be a  net embroidery work in progress, based on my drawing, and I'll be bringing in other drawings which I have also used as design starters.  I didn't draw them for that purpose, but they lent themselves.

Aside from the AIR 2016 planning, I've made a little freeform tapestry, here seen off the loom, but not quite finished -- a couple of things need to happen before I declare it done. These are all threads I spun and dyed

 The trailing warp yarns are pretty long, and are part of the design of the piece.  I got them by warping right over the back of the (cardboard) loom rather than just up and down the front.Their ends need to be finished in some way so as to give them a bit more weight.  Title suggestions will be welcome for this piece.  It helps me see what other people see when they look.

This tapestry happened while I was thinking about another, completely different one. Art goes that way quite often.  But I'm going to take another run at the one I meant to make.