Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day

To celebrate Valentine's Day on the blog, I knit up a couple of Valentine swatches. After all, it is hard to share chocolate in cyberspace, no matter how lovely the photo.

I cast on about 32 stitches and then followed the Fair Isle charts working in the round on double pointed needles. Then I sewed and cut the steeks. After, I embroidered each swatch while enjoying the snowy, rainy, sleety day snug inside our little farmhouse with Julia reading a book by my side. I picked up the stitches around all the edges and did mitered garter and reverse stockinette stitch ridges in different colors.

Before:


After:
This one has duplicate stitch on the swatch and some whip stitch embroidery on the border.


Before:

After:
This one has chain stitch, running stitch (over the chain stitching), and french knots.


I think it's amazing what anyone can do to transform a piece of two color Fair Isle with a bit of embroidery. I hope you try it one day!

Enjoy your day and may it be filled with lots of hearts.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

The embroidery embellishments make an amazing difference! Very inspiring!
Kim

Anonymous said...

I have to tell you that I always use your beautiful, creations and photographs as the background on my computer's desktop (just switched it to your embellished, knitted heart).You are always an inspiration. Happy Valentines Day!*

Bonnie

Mama Urchin said...

Love those. I really do. Thanks for the Valentine's Day treat.

Evelyn said...

What *anyone* can do? No, not just anyone! It takes a real artistic sense to make it look good.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love the hearts! The colors are brightening up a rather dreary day here.

Thank you!

ColorJoy LynnH said...

Thank you for the valentines, it's just wonderful to see the transformation. Color seems the answer to everything these days.

I have a lot of embroidery floss begging for my attention... and a deadline for Saturday. Maybe on Sunday I can reward myself. It has been an awful week and a half, got the worst flu I've had in 20+ years. So making a deadline will be something to definitely celebrate.

Thanks again. There have been years where I did not want to think Valentine but this year is good.

LynnH

Anonymous said...

wow! nice! :)

Wool Enough said...

Thank you for the valentines. They are beautiful. As always, I love to watch the magic you create with color.

Meema said...

Holy cow... I mean sheep... I mean... wow! Thank you for the inspiring valentines! I hope you and The Farmer have a nice evening, even if it is just collapsing in a heap together at the end of a long day.

p.s. Can't wait to meet you in person in St. Paul!

ellen said...

Thanks for the Magic!

KSee said...

thank you for the inspiration

Iris said...

What a difference! Thank you for sharing the "process" and progression with us.

Anonymous said...

That's the great thing about craft: one can sit down with a few scraps and make a cold afternoon heartwarming. That said I'm inspired to make a few French Knots of my own.

Jennifer said...

Wow - that was way better than chocolate. I'm still trying to comprehend the visual effect your additions have on the eye. The before swatches are lovely... but the after swatches are titillating. Thanks for such a delightful Valentine's day gift. I must go try this at home.

jmb_craftypickle said...

Beautiful....great color combos!

Heidi said...

Wow, this post was a real eye opener for some of the possibilities. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Jaw-dropping for me this morning. Blah/regular to fantastic/funky! So inspiring.

Anonymous said...

i've been coming back to this post since the 14th. I'm just amazed that they are the same swatches in the after. so beautiful and colourful and amazing. thank you.

Cindra said...

this entry alone has inspired me to start playing some more with Julia. Off to the LYS to buy some more colors. I have so enjoyed making the Kaleidoscope Cap, but I could make a beautiful little somethin somethin for my granddaughters with these squares.

Cindra said...

I have spent the whole day playing with a heart. I find your work so inspiring and colorful. I hope I can do it justice. Thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

Wow, these are stunning - thank you!

Alison said...

What a fascinating blog - so lovely to see all the snow as we swelter in an Australian summer heatwave. Your knitting is beautiful - my father has worn fairisle sweaters for 60 years. I have some of the old ones that I will felt into a rug, softening the pattern a bit. Thank you for sharing your life. On my blog there are nearly 100 small 'memory paintings', each with a short text, of my small town Scottish childhood =+ my quilts and embroideries.

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