Monthly Archives: March 2013

Friends of HeartStrings Gallery

Alice Scherp and her Flared Lace Smoke Ring extraordinaire

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I am blessed with the many friends I have met along the way on my fiber arts journey. Today I want to showcase Hon (Alice) Scherp, a native of Alaska and all-around expert spinner and lace knitter. I first “met” Alice on the “Successful Lace Knitting” book collaboration to celebrate the work of Dorothy Reade.

We’ve kept in touch since then, especially as Alice fell in love with making my Flared Lace Smoke Ring pattern in her hand-spun qiviut yarn, lending her own creative touches which I can’t wait to show you.

Alice Scherp qiviut smoke ring

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Spinning

A different take on making lemonade out of lemons

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Have you heard the saying “making lemonade out of lemons”. It means to make a bad situation seem better.

Here’s my take on it when dealing with rough, dry hands that can plague those of us who love to spin and knit with silk.

Even the barest little roughness can snag the silk fiber, making an otherwise pleasant experience into a irritatingly bad situation.

Lemons to the rescue.


Simply grab a lemon and cut it in half. Rub the piece of lemon on your hands, then dry your hands on a paper towel.

The lemon juice will leave your hands feeling silky soft and smooth without any oily residue that oftentimes is left by hand lotions attempting to smooth the skin. Also, of course, your hands will smell lemony fresh!

Keep the piece of lemon handy for rubbing on your hands again as needed. It’s a quick and effective way to turn an unpleasant silk spinning or knitting session into a pleasurable, snag-free one.

Oh … and with the rest of the lemons, you can make lemonade!

p.s. If you don’t have a fresh lemon, bottled lemon juice like ReaLemon works just as well.

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