Sunday, May 13, 2007

RUNNING AROUND THE MOON-- Surface Embellishment, Embroidery 1: the Running Stitch

Dear Knitalong crew, have you enjoyed your shore leave? Ready to heave-ho once again?

By this time, I'm assuming everyone's mostly finished the knitting part of the excursion but no matter where you are, you can go dancing on this deck. Join the party right here: it's embellishment time! This is where the fun truly begins. In this next series, we'll be learning embroidery stitches, playing with ribbons, beads and other surface enhancers, exploring tips and tools to apply to any knitting or crochet project, whether you're part of the knitalong or not. Each time I add a new tip, I'll be moving the previous entry over into the TIP category of my site. Ready?

The first lesson: the running stitch. Here's a simple embroidery technique useful for many knitterly enhancements. I use it primarily for outlining and to provide further definition where needed. For the knitalong crew, we'll be running around those intarsia moons created early on in our voyage. To those coming in from shore or new to the crew, try this on a swatch to practice. You can even use a scrap of loosely-woven fabric. 

Things to remember: though we'll be using embroidery techniques, embroidering on a knitted fabric is different from working on the stretched, framed, fabric. You'll need to stabilize your knitting with your hand as you work, something that takes a little practice. You can either hold your knitting in your lap stretching it gently with the fingers of your left hand while working the stitches with your right (if right-handed) or lay the knitting on a table while holding the work stable as your stitch. Experiment to see what works for you.

All that's needed is a tapestry needle suitable for knitting (such as the one shown in my photo) and yarn. I've chosen a bright contrasting yarn to maximize the 'pop' factor of my otherwise pale moon. If you'd like to explore a more subtle effect, keep to the same color family as your subject. All right, off we go:

The basic aim of running stitch is to make a series of doubled-back stitches to create a rope-like edging. Look at the diagram below. The needle is inserted at A, brought up a short distance away at B but with the needle pointing back towards the first stitch. 

The next stitch is brought up halfway along the length of the previous stitch (see photo above) to create the ropey, running effect. Ready to try running around your moon?

• Cut a length of yarn approximately 17 inches long, threading your needle double-style so that you will be working with a double length of yarn. Knot the ends . In embroidery, knotting the ends is often considered nasty but the back of your knitting is hardly the smooth plain of perfection to which embroiderers aspire. Here, it pays to be knotty.
• Insert your needle on the wrong side of the work at the outside edge of your intarsia circle and bring it up to the surface. Make one stitch. Use my photo as a guide to determine how long your stitch should be. Too wide a stitch will create loopy stitches and too short is plain onerous. Aim for something inbetween. For knitting embroidery, I find a little under half an inch works fine.
• Work up and back along the edge of your subject until you create a relatively even edging. Knitting embroidery is far more forgiving than regular embroidery. Don't worry overly if my stitches aren't perfectly even. Aim for effect not perfection.

Choose this technique with a couple of your moons but not all (I have other things in mind of those).

Next lesson: satin stitch