All posts by Jackie E-S

Jackie E-S is the owner of HeartStrings FiberArts, a showcase for her growing roster of original pattern designs. As a certified master knitter and teacher, Jackie continues to share her love of knitting and knowledge through design and publication of skill-building pattern instructions, and conducting workshops, programs and demonstrations. Her interest in the fiber arts extends beyond knitting and spinning to include weaving, dyeing and all needle arts. She also enjoys contract bridge and music.
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Wool Therapy yarn hug

I love to see what other people do with my HeartStrings patterns and to hear the stories behind their making. I was particularly touched by this one …

This was Kelly’s first Faroese shawl and I am delighted she picked one of my HeartStrings patterns to knit – the All-Over Faroese Lace Shawl. She actually had started making it for herself in yarn dyed using the Gradiance technique she has developed for The Unique Sheep. Just as she was finishing the shawl, her mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She wrote on her Ravelry project page for Wool Therapy that she felt the shawl was meant to be her mother-in-law’s all along. The colors were perfect for her and she will now have a warm yarn “hug” to wear as she faces treatments to cure her cancer.

In talking to Kelly since then to get permission to feature her story and pictures, I expressed my sorrow in a family member being diagnosed with cancer and let her know what a wonderful hug she had made for her mother-in-law (even though she did not know it at the time). She said that luckily the tumor is small, so hopefully her treatment will not be too harsh and she will recover quickly. Let’s all wish and pray that is the case.

Isn’t the story heart-warming and the color transitions in the shawl are just stunning?! If you like this effect in yarn specially dyed for color transitions, you will want to check out the Gradiance Collection colorways offered at The Unique Sheep.

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The Designing Day

A fashion twist with Kreinik Metallic

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At the TNNA Show last June, Kreinik’s Creative Director Dena Lenham introduced me to their new Metallic Fashion Twist Thread. It’s a strong thread that is primarily intended for use in embroidery sewing machines. This unique thread is made of 100% polyester with a liminate of silver. The softness of the thread (so many metallics can be slightly scratchy), the great sparkle, plus anti-mocrobial properties (thereby resistant to fungus) immediately caught my interest. I told Dena, that yes, I thought I could definitely do something with this in the knitting realm.

The colors shown here are Camel (left) and Fuchsia (right) – there are a range of 10 other nice colors offered as well. The thread comes with a handy mesh ‘tamer’ to keep the thread from unwinding by itself when not in use. These aare the 1000 meter cones, and they also have larger 300 meter cones available. With such great yardage, most knitting projects using this thread as a carry-along will likely need only a single smaller cone.
Kreinik Matallic Fashion Twist Thread

Fast forward to today when I tried my new Flip digital camcorder for the first time. I picked up the Glitz and Beads sock that I am working on using some Kreinik Metaillic fashion twist thread and just dove into showing and talking about it.

This video was entirely off the cuff (sock that is, lol) and I definitely need to work on better focus. I was trying to do this all by myself, so wrapping my arms around the camera at the same time as seeing what I was shooting, plus trying to talk, was maybe too involved for a first try, lol. I think it turned out pretty well for a first try, though. Being entirely un-rehearsed, I hadn’t even really thought of what I was going to say. I just started into it, and things went from there. I bet that’s apparent from how many times you’ll hear me say ‘nice’ in this video. Did you count them?

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Musings

Instant Face Paint

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Yay! We finally have gotten some cooler and less humid weather here in the New Orleans area. Yesterday we went downtown to Lafayette Square to enjoy the music and food at the 4th annual Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival, and especially to see slide guitarist extrodinaire Sonny Landreth whom we always enjoy. I also especially enjoyed two new-to-me music artists: Luther Kent and Brother Tyrone. By that time, the sun was going down and getting colder. Not having worn more than T-shirts, we missed Buddy Guy who was performing in the last time slot of the evening.

instant-face-paint.jpg And here’s my big purchase at the artists’ market at the festival — a hand-painted leather mask. I call it “instant face paint”. The leather is so soft and supple; hardly noticeable in the wearing, and the colors so brilliant that I instantly thought of face paint (except without the mess, lol). What fun!

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Musings

Electricity – Where art thou?

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Shipments for the new pattern release were really zipping along until the power went out yesterday! Double darn-it; it really reminds me/us of just how dependent we are on those little electrons! Sorry for delays to the shops. Things are back on course and the orders are on their way now.

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The Designing Day

3 new HeartStrings patterns for Tilli Tomas Symphony

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My new patterns showcasing Symphony Kid Lace with Beads & Glitter will be arriving in stores this week! This has been a very satisfying set of projects to design with this lovely yarn, and Tracy at Tilli Tomas is such a delight to work with.

new HeartStrings knitting designs in the new Tilli Tomas Symphony Kid Lace yarn

Lace and Cables Scarf (left) uses just one skein. This is a nicely reversible scarf in a beautiful organically flowing design. An easy trellis lace stitch combines with interwoven lattice of textured knit-purl spot cables that appear to be floating. Of course, if you want to plurge on more yarn, you can easily upsize to a stole.

Lace Starlight Stole uses just 2 skeins. It is knitted in an interesting and lovely dropped stitch lace pattern. The radiating strands of yarn remind us of rays of starlight. If you are familiar with hairpin lace, you might have thought this stole was crocheted. But actually it is knitted!

Put on the Glitz Shrug is the 3-skein project (right). This lusciously flowing shrug in delicate cabled lace speaks for itself. It is knitted cuff to cuff with no seams to sew.

So what is your favorite?

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