New tutorials are always a good thing and this one from fusedglass.org is no different. What’s really nice is that it produced a really lovely piece that doesn’t look like a lot of the typical fused glass pieces out there. So basically what we have here is taking organic materials and introducing them to your fused piece. Nice results ensue. This tutorial first appeared in the Winter 2010 issue of Glass Craftsman magazine and it’s another technique to add images to glass. Using leaves and powdered glass sandwiched between sheet glass the look of natural materials is achieved. I think it’s a really nice look and look forward to giving it a try in one of my pieces if not more. Thanks Paul!
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Knit a Swirly Square in Any Size You Like
This swirly square stitch knitting pattern from Studio Knit is a lot of fun, and it looks kind of complicated without being difficult at all.
The swirly nature of the block comes from regularly placed increases, as the pattern is worked in rounds from the center out. Switching between sections of all knit stitches and all purl stitches (which gives you stockinette and reverse stockinette respectively when worked in the round) adds to the off-kilter flair but makes it really easy to knit.
You can work it in a single color or change colors regularly. This isn’t really a change colors randomly kind of pattern just because it looks better if you work a full repeat in a single color, but you know there are no rules so you can do whatever you want.
You can also make it any size you like, and indeed use any yarn you want. This one is blanket sized and used five colors of worsted weight yarn, but you can use any yarn and corresponding needles (you’ll need double pointed needles and circulars of various lengths, depending on how big you want to make your square).
For a start, why not grab some cotton yarn and stitch up a swirly washcloth? You could still use a couple of colors if you want, jsut for fun.
Once you try that, you’ll probably want to make a bigger version, and you could definitely use more colors than Kristen did (or just one color if you prefer), you just need to make sure you change colors at the beginning of the pattern repeat to keep everything looking good.
If you’re ready to start (and I know I am!) you can grab the free pattern and check out a video to help you get started at Studio Knit.
[Photo: Studio Knit]