Valentine's Day is coming and it's a great time to pick up the lucet. Why?
Frequently when we're beginners at something, the projects that really attract us are beyond our skill level. With Valentine's Day approaching, here's a chance to use your lucet to do a super fast and easy project.
It's thoughtful, supremely giftable and sure to be worn on the day it's given! It's a really easy way to make your special people feel totally special: What's better at showing you care than a handmade heart? And what better project for a beginner with a lucet?
Even if you don't already have a lucet, you can easily make one with things you have around the house. This is such a quick and fun way to explore a new technique and make something useful for gifting.
Megan has a great (and super simple) tutorial on how to turn an 8" lucet cord into a heart. She also provides 5 different ideas for using those hearts to create Valentines and decorations. I couldn't resist giving it a try and experimenting with different yarns from my stash.
I raided my stash for different red yarns and made myself a few hearts. I made four hearts in less than an hour and it was really fun to see how different yarns worked up into very different cords. (I was actually on a conference call while I was making the hearts and it made that meeting so much more rewarding!)
I used the Basic Turn Cord (free tutorial) but I could have easily also used the Basic No Turn Cord. It's just personal preference, the results would be the same.
I used yarns I don't usually use, including a novelty yarn and a thick and thin yarn, and the resulting cords were fun to see. The easiest yarn to use was the plied merino. It was springy and bouncy and the loops felt almost elastic around the lucet horn. But as far as finished results, I thought the thick and thin and novelty yarns were really fun.
Megan has some great ideas for what to do with the hearts. I made pins with mine. Now that I'm finished, I'm thinking these would have been even more impressive with a few beads worked in as well. That's a project for next year!
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The most comprehensive guide to this ancient tool yet published! Do more with the yarn you already have! Learn to use this ancient Viking cording tool to make strong and very sturdy cords that you can use in so many ways. Make your knit and crochet projects even better. Use them to make drawstrings, lacings, buttons and embellishments for your knit and crochet projects. Also make jewelry, designer shoelaces, home improvement hacks and more with these strong cords. Author Jennifer Hansen teaches you 6 fundamental cord types and give you full instructions for 8 fun, easy and useful lucet projects. |