Tutorial ~ Nostepinnes: How to Wind a Center Pull Yarn Ball and Yarn Parking

The Nostepinne

I like all kinds of creative avenues!  Yarn fun, like, Spinning, Dyeing Wool, Knitting, and Crochet are part my adventures. Woodworking also is in there, and my woodworking creations lend many hands to tools.

I thought that people might like to see how I use my tools with yarn.

A Nostepinne is useful for winding a center pull ball, especially when the yarn/thread is thin or the total amount of yarn is not enough to make a ‘jumbo’ ball. However, even an abundance of yarn can be hand wound, if necessary, and with a Nostepinne, the job is much easier than using no ‘core’ or center to keep the middle section open for the ‘pull center’ to freely flow from the yarn ball.

Here I am using my ‘mini Nostie’ to wind a mini handpainted yarn skein for a mini sock.

Hold the Nostie, working end out.

Hold the end with thumb, this will be the center pull start so do NOT lose this strand. It is important to keep hold on this end. I have lots of slack beyond my thumb, to ensure that this end does not get lost.

Wrap around the end of the Nostie for an inch or two. This is a mini Nostie making a mini ball, so I wound it just about an inch.

To start the crosswise winding, wrap the yarn up to the top right of the straight wraps, bring the yarn around the Nostie and back to the lower left of the straight wrap. This makes a diagonal line across the straight wrap.

Continue to wrap the diagonals, while turning the Nostepinne around so the the next diagonal sits on the top of the previous diagonal.

Continue those diagonal wraps as the Nostepinne turns to let the next wrap rest above the previous one.

Voila! The ball is done. All the yarn is wrapped. There is the ‘center pull ball’. However, the ‘pullable’ side is facing the handle, and I want it to face off the ‘end’ of the Nostepinne. So, I slip it off the end and turn the ball around, then slide it back onto the point of the Nostepinne.

Here it is, turned around so that the ‘pullable’ side is facing the end of the Nostie, ready for that side to get on the needles or hook.

Here is the center pull ball, parked, ready to use!

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I also use my Nostepinnes to “park” my yarn.  ;)

I’m knitting a pair of Kilt Hose for my son. I’ve got 2 socks on 2 circulars, the ball of wool is a natural color, and I’m working it from both ends of the ball. The ball is parked on the Nostie the center pull yarn is attached to one sock, the other yarn that unwinds from the exterior of the ball, is attached to the other sock. When it is time to ‘flip’ the needles, I simply ‘flip’ the Nostie…the yarn never tangles.

Here, I have set up 2 balls of yarn, each on its own Nostie. I am currently working a swatch on the one shown here. To work 2 socks from 2 different balls of yarn, park each ball on their own Nostie. The center pull is attached to the knitting work.

Here, I have a commercial yarn ‘parked’ on a Nostie. (Yes, I sometimes have commercial yarn to work with)
I was swatching with the needles, so I had them detached already from the work, but you can see that the pull center is coming off the working end of the Nostie, going to the needles and the project.

With all of these, when I need to clean up or put any of this away, I simply lift the Nosties and the project and place them all in a project bag. The yarn never tangles or collapses in on itself. The projects are kept neat and simple.
My hubby and I have so much fun making the Nostepinnes. We have our one of a kind handturned Nostepinnes in my ArtFire store. www.curiosities808.artfire.com

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun! –

smiles,
alicia in Hawaii

Tutorial-Embroidery Tools–The Sulky Hot Iron Transfer Pen–Creating Iron On Transfers-Tarot Card Purse Panel

Here is another tutorial about creating Iron On Transfers. This is how I have created hot iron transfers with the Sulky Hot Iron Transfer Pen.

1. Have a pattern image. Copy the image onto plain printing paper. You can even enlarge or reduce the image size!

For this project, I want to create an embroidery panel for a purse using a  card that my husband created. He made a deck for me a few years back and this card is one of my favorites. It shows both of us and our little Jack Russell Terrier, Mr. MacKenzie.

I copied the card image with my computer printer. For this one, I even ENLARGED the original image to get the size that I want for the purse panel.

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2. Get a hot iron transfer pen…and an iron.

This is a brown Sulky hot iron transfer pen. I used to buy mine at Joggles.com, but they no longer carry them. If you know of a good place to buy this pen online, please share your source with me.

The iron will come into play later.

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3. Trace your design on the reverse side with your hot iron transfer pen.

I flip the printed paper over and use my cutting mat as a solid surface since light can travel through the plastic. You can see here that the design is visible and easily traceable when I hold the mat and the reversed sheet up to the door.

After you have the entire design traced out…go on to #4.

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4. Place the pattern image, hot iron PEN SIDE DOWN onto your fabric. Just decide where you want it to be…and get ready!

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5. Press with hot iron. Set your iron to the cotton setting. (That is the setting that I usually use…unless the fabric is some type that will not survive the heat.)

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6. Leave iron placed on the transfer. Peek under a corner to see if the transfer is done.

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7. The transfer is done.

You’ve created a Hot Iron Transfer for embroidery…or for just about anything!

Let the embroidery begin!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun! –
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii

The Scarlet Letter, Golden “A” embroidery

The embroidery is done on the Scarlet Letter project!

I embroidered krienik gold braid on the red velvet using stem stitch to outline and define the letter “A”.

The complete “A” here, in contrast, to the black side of the mat.

The red side of the mat is red velvet, the reverse is a black velvet-type fabric. The pieces are sewn together, then turned. I hand closed the last seam and topstitched the edges.

A custom piece in it’s final presentation…

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun! –
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii
See my Store! http://Curiosities808.artfire.com

The Scarlet Letter

Well…it is Scarlet…and it is a Letter…lol.

Here’s an embroidery project. And although the thread is not going to make the “A” scarlet, it is going on a scarlet velvet fabric.

First, here is the outside and flipside fabric. Outter bound, red…Inner bound black-ish.

I would like to embroider a Gold thread “A” in the lower corner of the Scarlet fabric. My plan: to get a hot iron transfer design onto the red fabric, then embroider with gold thread.

To get a good sample of my signature “A”, I blocked off a workable size by folding some printing paper and creating some size boundaries. Then, I just wrote in several “A”s and picked one of the samples as my final “A”.

After picking out  the “A” that I want, I got out my trusty Sulky Hot Iron Transfer Pen and some scissors.

To make the iron on transfer, trace the BACKSIDE/WRONGSIDE of the design with the Sulky Iron On Transfer Pen. Be sure to make the line dark so that it will transfer well. I used a brown pen here.

Now, cut apart the design area you need. Be sure that the sulky pen side, the reverse design is FACING the fabric. Here you see the reverse “A”.

Flip it over so that you see the RIGHTside of your design and place it where you want it. Here I have placed the “A” where I want it to be on the Scarlet fabric.

Heat the iron to cotton…apply heat to transfer…

and after a bit of heating and moving the iron to all the places in the design…

voila!

My Scarlet Letter is ready for embroidery! Now, let me get the gold thread ready!!!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun! –
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii
See my Store! http://Curiosities808.artfire.com

Updates: Nostepinnes, Darning Eggs and Knitting/Crochet accessories

Nostepinnes and Darning eggs…

I’ve linked here from my original “other blog”; the blog that I like to “remember” as part of our past in New Orleans, : www.islandgirla.blogspot.com

Since we have followers from there that have scooted over to here, I am updating our link to items we have created using our experience and loss in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina.

When we moved, we were lucky enough to crate our wood specimens and bring them with us. We are still creating items from that stash…and have added many creations with items found here in our new-old home, Hawaii.

We had learned to spin and knit and turn wood while evacuated for a year with the Coast Guard during and after Hurricane Katrina. When we returned to the area, we found a way to selvage some of history and incorporate it into our new found love of wool and spinning. That entire story is on my ‘other blog’, at this link: http://hurricanekatrinaislandgirlablog.blogspot.com/ …

And now, without further ado,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandgirla_woodworks/sets/

Here you will find our photo sets with items still available:

Newest Additions

Knitting Stitch Markers

There are nostepinnes for spinning, knitting, crochet…helpful with “yarn parking” (see my ‘other blog’ for info.) and there are knitting stitch markers. These are items that we created while being displaced and returned to a barren area of the New Orleans area. We still pick up these creations and supplies and regularly add to them. Each time we create something to add to this collection, we travel back through our experiences that changed our lives profoundly.

If you are interested in any items shown, email me at

islandgirl.a@gmail.com

or

curiosities808@gmail.com

or leave a comment here with your email address and I will answer your inquiry.

Enjoy!

smiles,

alicia in Hawaii