Image from www.janeausten.co.uk - How to Make Decorative Frogs Sometimes you want the closure on your project to be the focal point. Think about a project you've seen before that pops just because of that perfect finishing element. It could have been due to a big, beautiful contrasting button. Or a sparkling shawl pin. Or a spectacular beaded embellishment. Yesterday I wrote about how you can use your lucet to make a button that blends seamlessly with your project. But today I'm writing about a closure that commands attention and ties your project together while doing it. One kind of closure with the potential to do that is a frog closure. It's possible to make frog closures with crocheted chain or knitted i-cord. But based on...
Hunting for that perfect button for your project can be frustrating. Sometimes you want a button that is subtle and blends perfectly with the color and texture of your project yarn. But button-buying isn't an easy thing to do online. And spending time driving between stores can take an entire day and yield zero results. And we all know that no matter how many buttons you have, you never seem to have the perfect one for your current project! Enter the handy lucet. With a lucet in your fiber arsenal, you will always have a button that matches the color and fiber of your project. You can easily make a cord out of your project yarn and use it to tie a Chinese Button Knot....
If you are anything like me, you want to try something out before you make a commitment to buy. For example, when I first started crocheting, I went to Michaels and bought a Susan Bates hook for a couple of bucks. I didn’t commit to an entire interchangeable system or invest in a handmade hook. You may be interested in trying the lucet, but you just may not be interested in spending $19 plus shipping to find out it's not your thing. So I started taking a look around my house and searching Pinterest for ideas. How could I make a quick and dirty lucet with materials and tools that most people already have at home? No special skills required. The problem I found with most of the...
I've been playing around with the lucet and some lustrous rayon yarn lately. I'm experimenting with ways of using lucet cording and simple knotting to create jewelry. I'm a total beginner at corded jewelry. I created a 90" lucet cord using Lucci Rayon, my Wool Tree Lucet, and my handy Wool Tree (great for working with cone yarns). If you've never tried lucet cording before, it is super simple - I posted the above YouTube video some time back to demonstrate the basic technique that I've used to create this necklace. I found the You Tube video above and followed the instructions for attaching a pendant with a figure-eight knot, as well as the instructions for the adjustable knot closures. I left a 4" starting and ending tail...
I've been learning to use the lucet. It's a fiber arts tool from the Medieval / Viking era that makes different kinds of cording and it has just a tiny learning curve. After making about two 6" cords, I felt like I'd reasonably mastered my tension: Just 2 evenings in front of the tv and I've added a new skill to my fiber arts repertoire. If you've never used a lucet before, grab one of our gorgeous Wool Tree Lucets and follow along with the "How To" video below: There are a couple of things that I didn't touch on in the video that I think are worth mentioning: Don't choose a nubby or novelty yarn for your first cords. In...
