tommckelva - Tumblr blog

[tommckelva]

Hello everyone, the US Senate is conducting a survey to get the opinions of people on issues such as a ceasefire in Palestine, America funding Israel’s weapons, and the TikTok ban. Please share and take the survey, let your voices be heard. (Non Americans can participate )

[tommckelva]

hey, i need to fix up a hole in a (wool/ knit) sweater. the lady at the store i bought the right sort of yarn for it at said i needed to secure/ „catch“ all the stitches/ loose parts so the sweater doesn‘t end up unravelling over time. can you explain how best to do this or do you have any resources for it? i feel very overwhelmed and i don‘t wanna ruin my sweater by doing it wrong

Mending holes in knit fabric

The thing about knitting is that it's basically a collection of loops. If one loop gives in, the rest of the fabric risks unravelling, too. That's why this person mentioned "catching" all the stitches: if you miss one, your sweater might continue unravelling.

(Image source) [ID: a woven fabric (plain weave) versus a knit fabric (stockinette stitch).]

That probably sounds super stressful, but don't worry! There's different ways to fix knitting. Some are easier, and some are harder. Let's take a look.

Swiss darning:

The cleanest and most invisible fix is Swiss darning. This type of mending requires you to thread through the loops of the hole, and use those to knit new stitches. Swiss darning is probably the trickiest way to mend knits mentioned in this post.

If you've got a really small hole, you could also try duplicate stitch which doesn't require threading. This technique can also be used to reinforce worn-out spots in knitting, or even for embroidery.

Check out Patty Lyons' written guides on Swiss darning and duplicate stitch to see how it's done, or these YouTube guides on Swiss darning and duplicate stitch by Heather Storta and Stuart Moores Textiles.

(Image source) [ID: a black and white image showing how to do Swiss darning on a piece of knitting with a hole in it. Threads have been threaded between the loose knit loops, and a tapestry needle is weaving new knit stitches along these threads. Text: "Fig.3."]

(Image source) [ID: example of a hole in a gray piece of knitting that's been mended with the duplicate stitch. Six stitches have been mended with yellow yarn. Text: "Ta Da, a brand new section of knitting with no bulk - Swiss Darning Magic. PattyLyons."]

Woven darning:

If you don't feel like recreating knit stitches, you can also do woven darning on knit fabrics. The technique's the same as you would use for a woven item.

Note that a darned patch like this is not stretchy, unlike its surrounding fabric. You can somewhat remediate this by darning diagonally, but it'll still be less stretchy than actual knit fabric.

(Image source) [ID: close-up on a hole in a swatch of beige knitting that's been patched with a woven darn in light blue, dark blue, red, pink, and yellow yarn.]

(Image source) [ID: vintage instructions on how to darn a hole.]

Knitting over the hole:

You can also knit a patch and sew it across the hole, or pick up stitches around your hole and knit over it. Don't forget to finish off the loose stitches at the edge of the hole on the wrong side. Loop your yarn through them, making sure to catch them all, and secure them.

This YouTube video by VeryPink Knits will show you how to knit across a hole. If you're more of a written tutorial person, take a look at this Berroco article on knit patches.

(Image source) [ID: a gray sweater on which a red knit patch has been added to cover up a hole.]

Crochet:

If you're an avid crocheter, crochet's also an option to fix holes in knits.

(Image source) [ID: close-up on the shoulder of a blue knit sleeveless top with a hood. A hole has been mended with crochet, using red and brown thread. Text: "Cucicucicoo".]

Picking up dropped stitches:

If just one line of stitches was damaged, you could try picking up the dropped stitches with a crochet hook.

Fabric patches:

If you'd rather not knit or crochet anything, you could just sew a patch over the hole. First sew around the hole to stabilise the stitches, then sew a piece of fabric over or under the hole. Sandwich the hole between two pieces of fabric for extra security.

Use stretchy fabric and a stitch that allows for stretch to retain the stretch of the original knit material. If you do use a patch of woven fabric, note that this will effect the material's stretchiness.

(Image source) [ID: close-up on the neckline of a gray knit sweater. A hole has been mended with a green patch of fabric and sashiko stitching in yellow thread.]

(Image source) [ID: close-up on the elbow of a black and white knit sweater. The elbow has been patched with a heart-shaped scrap of red fabric with white polkadots and sewn on with a whipstitch.]

Conclusion:

This list is not exhaustive, but will give you some ideas on how to get started. You can go as visible or invisible as you want with these techniques.

Remember to use a yarn that's similar in weight and fibre as your sweater! If you darn a polyester sweater with real wool, you risk the wool patch felting in the wash, for example.

[tommckelva]

It’s been a while again, but look! I was been busy, there’s more than one drawing this time, wowee.

1. (QPP) A few years ago I was testing out a bunch of colors from my watercolor kit and left it alone because I didn’t really know where to go with it. I’ve finished it so I can give it to my QPP for Christmas, she likes art. I hope she appreciates the stippling of the smoke, it took many hours and my hand and wrist cramped many times.

2. (QPP) This is on the back of another watercolor I’ve posted before of the desert oasis. I lost the portrait I was actually wanting to give her, so I’m giving her this one instead. Her favorite animal is chickens so I did a slightly menacing chicken.

3. (QPP) When I made my lino ink block, she had asked for a print from it, so to spice it up I did it on top of some watercolor.

4. (QPP) This is the same story as number 3, but I spent so long on making this one that the thought of covering it up with my stamp made me sad, so the warlock symbol is on the back.

5. I bought a new watercolor kit so this was it’s test run, I’m not a particular fan of it for some reason. I’ve also been told multiple times it looks like Maleficent.

6. (FCP) My QPP gave this friend of mine the unfortunate acronym of FCP, which stands for Friend Crush Person, because she likes bullying me. This is FCP’s cat.

7. (FCP) This is just a drawing of her.

8. (FCP) …And another drawing of her at Halloween.

[tommckelva]

Hello everyone, it’s been a long while… no clue how long specifically, but a while. I’m going to be playing in my first ever D&D campaign within the coming weeks so to take a break from all the research and reading I’ve been doing, I decided to draw my character, and his sidekick because we have a small party.

I’ve heard that full spell-caster classes aren’t a good choice for beginners, and warlocks even more-so, but I’ve honestly been having fun looking up things, especially all the dramatic telenovela lore stuff I’ve read about the Dukes and Duchesses of the Nine Hells.

Rambling aside, his name is a work in progress because I’m not totally happy with the current one, so say hi to Mr. Alta, my Mephistopheles variant Tiefling Warlock.

P.S. : If anyone has name suggestions I’d like to hear it!

P.P.S. : Shush, I know his horns are wonky, leave him alone.

[tommckelva]

Heard y’all were into this wizard shit

[tommckelva]

This is part of my ongoing Discworld jacket embroidery project. Of course Great A'Tuin has to be on there. And of course it has to be the biggest one of them all.

I'm going to put the finished product in my masterpost, but I'm so proud of the thing that I have to put it in an extra post beforehand. Enjoy!

[tommckelva]

I hate being horny and wanting to post about it but not having any cute quippy Tumblr boy way of saying it so I just sound pathetic. Anyway I'm horny.

[tommckelva]

Frankenstein illustration, Bernie Wrightson. 1983.

[tommckelva]

today we are thinking about the total impossibility of someone falling irrevocably in love with me. yet, AGAIN.

[tommckelva]

i don’t even want love that bad (vibrating with desire)

[tommckelva]

The Outbursts of Everett True was a comic strip that ran in papers from 1905 to 1927, wherein the aforementioned Everett True regularly beat the everliving shit out of rude people as a warning to anyone else who might consider being rude. Men have not only been taking up too much room on public transport for about as long as public transport has existed, but the people around them have been irritated about it for at least a hundred years. The next time someone tries to claim that manspreading is a false phenomenon, please direct them to this strip so that Everett True can correct their misconceptions with an umbrella upside the head.

[tommckelva]

babe what's wrong you've barely touched your vanilla extract

[tommckelva]

Just out of the oven - a new recipe for a herb loaf which smells great, but is too hot to taste just yet.

Patience, patience… :->

The original recipe comes from one of @dduane​ ‘s collection of comb-bound  community cookbooks, being modified for use in Food & Cooking of the Middle Kingdoms.

This is the first time making it, and - Middle Kingdoms again - there are already a few substitutions to move further away from the Italian-influenced original. I’m sure there’ll be other changes before it finally goes onto the website, so treat the following recipe as a First Draft…

Keep reading

[tommckelva]

If the last digit of the notes when you see this is 0, vote option A. If it’s 1 or 2, vote option B. If it’s 3, 4, or 5, vote option C. If it’s 6, 7, 8, or 9, vote option D.

[tommckelva]

this has such a sad ending