Tools of The Trade

 

My one must-have tool is the head contraption product, Mag Eyes, which provides enough magnification (along with my 1.75 magnifying drug store glasses) for me to see teensy tiny stitches:

        

Another necessity for me is on the table to my right—a good Ott Lite type of lamp with a daylight bulb in it. That gives me the ability to note correct colors in my threads and on the textiles I’m working on. I also have a floor lamp Ott Lite in my workroom, right beside my work table.

I look so serious, but I’m really not! When I’m working, though, that’s pretty deep concentration.

I try not to wear my Mag Eyes out in public, but there have been times (like at the drive-in before the movie started) when I couldn’t help it, I had to be doing something with my hands, so out came the funny-looking headgear and my personal cross-stitch project. It was tote-able, and people who know me well know I have to always have some sort of stitching in what I call my “fun bag” in order to keep from being bored. There is nothing worse than standing in a queue or sitting in a car and not being able to distract with something interesting.

There are many other things I use on a regular basis for my needlework and needlework repairs, but for now I’ll just leave it at these two main products. More to come!

On my work table right now is Bob from Colorado Springs’ crocheted bedspread. Here is my work so far, which I’ve really just begun. On the area below, I’m reworking the treble crochets in the openwork that had come unraveled:

                   

Here is what I have just completed for myself. It’s a Quaker sampler pattern (“Thinking Quaker”) and the chart was generously shared online for free. I made a few small changes, mainly the little sewing machine on the upper left. That was an embroidery hoop with fabric in the original pattern, but I’d seen these little machines done in cr0ss-stitch and wanted to use it. Also added my name and the date, which stands out a little and I’m thinking about making it one stitch smaller and the same size as my name. I was considering installing this sampler

Technorati Tags: crochet,crochet repair,quaker sampler,thinking quaker sampler,free pattern

  in the middle of a small, glass-topped Sudberry House tray (below—and you can see that one side is off, as well as the glass and screws are sitting at bottom left of tray) but decided to put another “to be done” project in it, a “Home of a Needleworker” sampler that would fill the entire space better: