WORKING REPORT – MORE FILET
Still plugging away on the dragon:
Thanks to my friend Kathryn Goodwyn (who many of you may know from historical needlework mailing lists as Kathryn Newell) I’ve got a couple of ideas on how to do a surrounding border in filet. Unfortunately several of the methods can’t be backwards engineered at this point, but the core concepts are very strong.
One very promising method she sent to me involves working stepwise at the corners, forming a piece mitered more or less on the diagonal. I played with it a bit last night, and found that my rather squished ratio of height to width for my meshes doesn’t behave nicely with the concept. Plus I’d need to rip back the end bits and start them again. More tinkering is in order because this technique has real potential, but I think I’ll settle for butted strips on the top and bottom.
I have to admit, when I started this piece it seemed like a long slog was ahead. While it has taken longer than I anticipated, I’ve enjoyed the processmore than I thought I would (I was rather product-centered at the outcome). I’m definately thinking of doing more with filet – perhaps combining it with knitting into garments.
General Questions:
I know there are knitting purists out there that recoil in horror at the thought of knitting patterns/mags including crochet, let alone combining the two crafts in the same piece. I’m less parochial in my views. Would you be interested in wearable pieces that combine both? I’m talking delicate and fine gauge stuff, as opposed to some granny-square travesties I’ve seen lately.
With all the blather about quick-to-knit and one weekend pieces, is there interest infiner gauge, greater effort projects? Or is everyone interested in producinghats, scarves,or felted bags that can be finished before the credit card bill carrying the yarn charge arrives? Is thecohort of new and returning knittersthat started with those projects ready to "graduate" to larger efforts?
WORKING REPORT – DRAGON’S RETURN
It seems like I can’t please everyone. Either people write and ask to ask why I’m ignoring knitting, or people write to ask if I’m still working on the crocheted dragon panel. I am – and here are my results to date:
I’m chugging along through the right hand border, still not quite sure how I’m going to manage attaching the top and bottom strip. I have however gotten several notes of encouragement, not the least of which was from my old friend (and crochet expert) Kathryn Goodwyn. I’ll keep plugging along and report what tangled thought processes I encounter along the way.
Ugly Ducks and Eye Candy Avalanche
Other questions have come in about my needlework and my duck confit. A couple of people have asked when I get all of this done. I point out that I’ve got the advantage of being able to dig up stuff I’ve done over many years. You see it all tossed up here now, but much of what I’ve shown isn’t recent production. The red yoke is from the mid-70s. The strip sampler is about 10 years younger than that. The blackwork sampler is from 1983. The putter cover is from the late ’80s. The lobster sweater is three years old now. Eventually I’ll run out of this type of stuff and things to write about it all, but for now I’m still armed and dangerous.
On the duck, we’ve done it several times now. Usually some time in the spring or summer we’ll stumble across a special on fresh ducks. We’ll bring two home and plan our Ugly Duck Dinner. Why Ugly? Because we take the brace of ducks and remove the thighs and legs, leaving ugly, partially hacked carcasses. We heavily salt and pepper the lower extremities and put them in the fridge for a day or two. Meanwhile, we cook the rest of the duck. Depending on the season and what we feel like doing, we either leave the hacked carcasses whole, steam them then roast them tofinish; or we split them, steam them, then barbeque them. The steaming serves two purposes – first, it’s a great way to melt off tons of fat. If you didn’t steam them first, barbequeing would end up as a general invitation for the fire department because all that fat would lead to severe flare-ups and burned meat. Second, it makes the ducks – usually not as tender as chicken – meltingly soft.
Once the fat is steamed off the ducks, we save it for the confit. To do this right, we usually end up using all the fat from the two ducks, plus a bit renderedfrom previous ducks or geese that we’ve stored in clean jars at the back of the fridge. We take the legs and thighs and pat off some of the salt. Then we put a little bit of fat in a cast-iron Dutch oven, and lightly brown them in a single layer, skin side down. After that we completelycover them with the reserved fat, turn down the heat and let them simmer in the barely bubbling fat for about an hour and a half, until they are soft. While they’re still warm, we put the legs and thighs into scalded jars (dried off, off course), then pour in the fat to cover.
The resulting jars of duck and fat then sit in the back of the fridge (or freezer) until mid-winter. Some time in the cold months we get a yen for cassoulet, which is nothing more than a fancy version of beans and hot dogs. In our case it’s small white beans, tasty smoked sausage, and some of our preserved duck. Add friends, a crusty crumb topping, some crunchy bread, and several bottles of wine and I guarantee you’ll find the effort well worth the trouble. This year we’ll be toasting to Julia, without whom we would never have attempted such nonsense, nor have learned how much fun it can all be.
ANOTHER HELPING OF DRAGON
A quick post today as I dash from errand to errand. More progress:
I’ve finished the border panel on the left, and am starting its companion on the right. I’m still nooding out the logistics of attaching the top and bottom borders. I’m still favoring the crochet-on-as-you-go method, but I admit it would have been easier hadI not decided early on to leave a two open mesh divide between all pattern elements. I’ve got my two empty rows top and bottom. Now to do the attach-as-I-go top and bottom strips, I’ll have to do my slip stitch on a filled rather than empty mesh. That may turn out to be a bit more noticeable. Tinkering is called for…
And in response to still more requests – tune in tomorrow to see what the back of the red embroidery looks like. Off to get my car (belatedly) inspected.
FILET OF DRAGON – MORE QUESTIONS
More questions from my inbox:
Can you use the same type ofchartedpattern for knitting?
Why not? It’s a plain graph. You can use anycharted pattern for knitting, darned net, embroidery, colorwork or filet crochet so long as you understand the proportions of the units your chosen craft employs. Even though the original was graphed in square units, my units are rectangles. As a result, my piece is a bit squashed left to right because my units are wider than they are tall, and I worked across the piece’s short dimension. Had I worked the long way across, my dragon and George would have been squashed top to bottom instead.
By carefully choosing the direction of one’s work one can either minimize the effect of non-square units, or employ it as a design feature. Here’s a cross-stitch embroidery I did on white muslin. The original graph was square. The muslin’s weave wasn’t. The flower units end up being squashed top to bottom, but that turned into a design feature.
There are some ways around the problem if you want to work a square graph on a non-square medium but want to preserve the original height:width ratio. Depending on their gauge, some knitters replicate every third or fourth row when working from a square unit chart. This practice is built on the premise that knitting stitches are usually wider than they are tall (more rows than stitches per inch). Others use drafting software with layering capabilities, importing the original chart, then overlaying a custom grid built to their stitch height:width ratio, finally knitting or crocheting off the new gridding. Finally, some people manipulate their craft to produce units that are more square. For example, I’ve seen some knitters take graphs and translate each box unit into a unit of 2 stitches x 3 rows. While that "blows up" the design, making it a much larger piece than would working one stitch per one charted square, it usually does produce a result that is more visually true to the original.
Me? I don’t bother regraphing. I play with the ratios and pattern placement instead. For example, the Knot A Hat headband on wiseNeedle is worked from a square unit graph (available as a *.pdf via link on the pattern page).
My knitted version is elongated along the length because my stitches are like most stockinette – wider than they are tall. But I don’t care. I think the design’s stretch isn’t out of place and until I pointed it out, you probably wouldn’t have noticed.
How did you get your mesh to look so even?
The same way you get to Carnagie Hall – practice, practice, practice. [grin] Seriously, in crochet just like inknitting one gets used to the hand motions of making a stitch, and providing the optimal tension on the thread becomes second nature. I find if I concentrate on keeping things even, they go all to hell, but if I relax and just do the work – my stitches are all the same size. Some crochet beginnersstrangle the hook, pulling the loops way too tight and making the formation of stitches more difficult than it should be. Others make their stitches waaaay up the needle’s shaft where the shank gets wider to accommodate gripping. Those folks often end up with loose, irregularstitches as their too-big loops are distorted by the actions of making a stitch. Again, not to be a smart-ass – but practice and patience are key.
Filet looks nifty. I didn’t know crochet did more than granny square blankets. What other types are there? Where can I learn more?
There are all sorts of crochet books out there. Not as many as there are knitting books, it’s true, but there are quite a few. Some are pattern collections, some are technique instruction books, and some are toss-the-rules and be creative sources of general inspiration and encouragement. Crochet history however is harder to come by.
The best source of info on crochet history and styles I’ve got is Lis Paludan’s Crochet: History and Technique. It’s a fair size tome that details not only crochet’s murky historical beginnings, also covers how the craft developed over time. It gives copious illustrations of various styles, mostly fromengravings and other period sources,and even has a nifty how-to section in the back. Unfortunately it appears to be in rather limited supply, although I still see copies at the original retail price on bookstore and needlework specialty store shelves. It’s also pretty well represented on library shelves. [Reminder to self: Add rider to homeowner’s insurance to cover out of print needlework book collection!]
WORKING REPORT – EVEN MORE DRAGON
Progress continues. Here’s the latest:
I’ve included the tape measure because a couple of people who have seen the thing in person thought it was much larger, and were surprised by how small the individual meshes were. It’s not exactly teeny, but at around 8×6 meshes per inch, it’s not exatly honking huge, either.
You can see the edge frame, now well developed along the left. In the original (and in my book) it appears as a single-wide. Here I’ve mirrored it along the long side. There will be another block of the same at the right edge,but the top and bottom (right now) look like they’re going to be single-wide. I have to say I like the piece, and I’m quite pleased. It will be killer on the door.
Inhouse-related news, String Central is mostly put back together. We’ve completed the network wiring on the basement and first floor, and I’ve been able to unpack and set up my base station machine and comfy chair. Goodbye laptop! Goodbye typing on top of the oil tank! Slowly but surely I’m making a dent in the Continental Divide of boxes that separates room from room. Yesterday’s find was the long-lost lid to my spaghetti pot. At this point I’m truly thankful for similar small points of progress.
Other questions that have come in via eMail:
How is crochet to do for long periods compared to knitting?
I find crochet slightly more tiring. The way I hold my hook and thread involves a good deal of wrist rotation to form stitches. By contrast, my knitting requires almost no wrist movement. Also at the small gauge I’m working, my overripe eyes need a fair bit of light, otherwise I end up squinting and workng by feel. Stab. Ouch. Got it? Nope. Re-stab. Ouch. Got it! Grab loop, loop, loop. Repeat. That’s hard on both the eyes and fingertips. As a result, I can knit happily with no ill effects for long stretches of time, but I can only crochet for a couple of hours before eyes, fingers, and wrists all demand stopping for a glass of wine.
What thread and hook size are you using again?
I’m using Coats & Clark Royale, size 30; and a recently made Bates US #10/1.5mm. I posted a short discussion of hook sizes several digests back. So far I’ve used 1.8 balls, but don’t anticipate using more than three total.
Where did you buy the pattern for your curtain/please send me the pattern.
If you’ve been reading along, you’ll know there is no pattern. I’m feeling this one out as I go along. As for sending out the graph for the dragon or the edgings I’ve used, I might consider posting one or more of them on wiseNeedle some time in the future, but other than that, I am not sending any of them out. If you’ve got access to my book on embroidery, all three are in there. If you’ve got access to other needlework resources, including microfilm and other repro collections of early pattern books, here are the citations:
- Dragon panel – Siebmacher, Johann. Schon Neues Modelbuch von allerly lustigen Modeln naczunehen Zuqurcken un Zusticke. Nurnburg, 1597(?), 1602/3/4. (Plate 30:1 in my book)
- Acorn, Leaf, and Flower Meandering Repeat – Pagano, Matteo. Honesto Essemplo del Vertuoso desiderio che hanno le donne di nobil ingegno, cira lo imparare i punti tagliati a fogliami. Venice, 1550. (Plate 27:3 in my book).
- Framed Twist and Flower Border or All-Over Repeat – Troveon, Jean. Patrons de diverse manieres inventez tressubtilement Duysans a brodeurs et lingieres et a ceulx lequelz vrayment veullent par bon entendement User Dantique et Roboesque frize et moderne proprement en comprenant aussi Moresque. Lyons, 1533. (Plate 28:4 in my book).
Of course, looking these up in a research library will entail actual work. It’s been my experience that people who idly ask for free patterns are rarely disposed to bestirring themselves to expend the effort. However if there is sufficient interest, I’ll considerpublishing my graphs on-line.
THE DRAGON’S VALUES
Elissa wrote to me to ask how I could tell what graphed patterns might go together well as I was looking for more borders to eke out the edges of the dragon panel. I am not quite sure I can answer, in part because I’m not quite sure I’ve made successful picks yet. I do a fair bit of this type of composing in the course of stitching up monochrome embroideries. The best way I can discuss this is to show a blackwork sampler I did a while ago:
I stitched this upwhile I was working on my book of embroidery patterns. Some of the patterns on this piece made it into the book, others didn’t. The ones I left out were ones that turned out to be too late in origin for inclusion in the book, or whose documentation and provenanceweren’t complete or accurate as the rest.
You can see several things on this mostly-blackwork piece. First, even though I was working exclusively in double running stitch (aka Spanish Stitch, Holbein Stitch) and cross stitch, there is a tremendous variation in density and the depth of tonal values among the various patterns. There is also variation in the delicacy of line, even comparing the airy double running stitch patterns. The highly geometric bit in a similar style to Jane Seymour’s cuffs (center top) presents a very different look than the curled plume-like leaves in the bottommost left.
Now this piece is far from entirely successful for several reasons, design by accretion being the leading one. Like my dragon curtain it was done "bungee jump" style. I took my ground cloth and just began stitching, picking my patterns one by one as I finished the last. The first bit I did was the sorrel leaf stripin the upper left (looks like clovers). I worked more or less across and then down from there, leaving the center blank until I hit upon something to put there. That happened to be my father’s favorite saying, and a large yale, but I certainly didn’t plan on them being there when I started. (A yaleis a heraldic goat with skewed horns, although someheraldicspecialistswill debate whether this is a goat or a yale.) The last bit to be filled in was the small rectangular area just below the yale, which I patched in with several smaller scale fillings commonly used in inhabited blackwork, finishing up with my sig strip at the center bottom (KBS ’83). I used a couple of these in my blackwork underskirt and Forever Coif, too.
Had I actually sat down and planned the piece, I would have better balanced the placement of light and dark areas, and the apportionment of delicate curved lines with harsher block geometrics would have been more pleasing. Those sorrel leaves for example are way out of place. They’re too light and too leggy sitting as they are on top of the darker knot strip. The large double star motif beneath the yale’s back hoof is also out of place. While it balances nicely with the English acorns on top of "Worth Doing" and the star and fleur de lyse at the center right edge, in combo with the Chinese peonies just above it theheavyvisual densityweighs down thecomposition along the left edge.
All this is a long way to go to answer Elissa’s question. In a piece as small as the dragon curtain, with a limited number of patterns, I wanted to call attention first to the center panel. To that end, I framed it with a strip repeat lighter in value than the average tone of the dragon and knight unit. I tried not to "fight" with the center panel, picking a repeat that was rather delicate in line rather than a heavier one to avoid the the overpowering effect demonstrated on my Anything sampler. However, once that frame was completed and I wanted to add more width, I decided to usestrips of aheavier, more geometric border around the whole piece. With luck, now that the lighter inner area has been established (sort of like matting a painting), the denser second border will serve the same purpose as a dark carved wood frame on a painting – defining the inner space inside the frame and accenting the center, by contrasting with both the mat and the piece’s focus.
ANOTHER HELPING OF FILET OF DRAGON
More progress. Here’s the beginnings of the second border strip on the left:
It’s denser and less delicate than the central motif or inner frame. With luck the contrast should work out. What you’re seeing is a bit more than half of theoriginalmotif. Remember that I’m doubling the width, so this works out to a bit more than a quarter of the final as I will be working it. Note the upside down curlique along the edge. When I mirror the strip longitudinally that curlique will be right-side up down the center, and will merge its left and right halves to become a sort of fleur de lys.
Found in Russia
Thank you to Kate from Somerset in the UK and to Lisa (blogdogblog) Young, both who sent me to the Russian website I was searching for (best viewed with your sound off). The English translation is probably machine-generated, but the mitten designs speak for themselves (click on the Knitting link in that site’s left margin).
One thing I remember that’s not there anymore (and I may be conflating two different Russian websites) was a series of traditional counted patterns for cross stitch and pattern darning, done in black and red. While the bulk of this site is a commercial one dedicated to cross stitch, machine and punch-needle embroidery, the site I remember offered these traditional motifs free for the download.
A feature of this site that’s worth visiting though is the recipe section. Click on the "I invite you to dinner" link and be prepared, both for foods enticing (anda fewa bit suspect), and for the trip into a world of amusing translations. While I won’t be making "Pancakes with Liver" any time soon, "Meat in Pots"and Beshbarmak bothlook good. Think puzzle/creative though to decode the translations. For example, "laurel sheet" = bay leaf.
WORKING REPORT – FILET OF DRAGON
Back on line after a hectic day yesterday, I report my progress to date:
I’ve finished the panels right and left, and have come to an embarrasing moment. It’s STILL not wide enough. I mis-measured the window opening. I need to add about four more inches left and right, plus about an inch top and bottom (I knew about the inch top and bottom). You can see the beginnings of the frame or additional width at the leftmost edge.
Now for an exercise in logic. I can’t just continue by crocheting a solid band all the way around the edge, then working the filet mesh out from there. The proportions of the individual blocks are not square. They’re sort of squat – wider than they are tall (remember I worked side to side). If I were to proceed in the perpendicular direction for the top and bottom, I’d end up with ruffles because I’d be trying to stack the wide edge of the new blocks aong the narrow edge of the old ones.
I’ve gone through all my filet references, plus what I’ve been able to find on-line an din the library. So far while many cover adding on open or filled meshes to make non-rectangular edges, describe adding filetaround four edges ofother stuff as an edging (think handkerchiefs), or briefly discuss adding a plain rim of DCs to frame the piece as a whole, none mention adding filet as an edging onto OTHER non-square filet.
So. What’s to do? Right now I’m in hard think mode. I’ve got a couple of strategies:
- Add my left/right width, but do so without allowing for a framing motif (make the left/right additions equal to the entire width I’m short). Work the top and bottom as two narrow vertical strips attached to the body of the piece by sideways doubles, in effect, fudging a row of mesh.
- Add left/right width, minus width of frame. Figure out a frame on the exact count of the piece, working the top and bottom as strips, above.
- Find even smaller hooks and experiment until I find one that gives me the right width stitch, then experiment with doubles, half-trebles and trebles to see if I can approximate the proportions of the body mesh. This last option brings further complications. How do I handle the corners if I travel around the entire piece, row by row? I experimented a bit with mitered corners using a diagonal bar. It looked sloppy. Stair steps? Hmmm.
So far it looks like #1 or #2 will be the way to go. Advice from Filet Experts is eagerly sought.
FILET OF DRAGON AND BASEMENT SPACE
Not much inspiration yet on the basement spare room. Aside from a general cleaning that can’t happen until the electricians are done with the wires in the ceiling, and the ceiling tiles can go back up, all progress on that project is mental. A chair, a place to put the sewing machine up, and more storage are all great ideas. It’s a bit damp in the basement, so I’m leaning to well-ventilated storage options. I noticed Target has some open wire mesh cubes on special this week.
On Filet of Dragon, here’s the latest progress shot:
Going back and working in the other direction from my cast-on row has created a bit of a fold. You can see it at the left hand edge of the tree behind the knight. It won’t be so evident when the piece is blocked out and stretched on the curtain rods. Other than that – I’m quite pleased with the way my experiment in filet is turning out. Thread consumption to date is in between 1.3 and 1.5 balls of the Coats & Clark Royale 30-weight. At around $3.00 per ball and $1.25 for the crochet hook, this is also turning out to be one of the least expensive projects I’ve done.
On the frame – I’ve got to do a bit of measuring. I think I’m still a bit shy left and right, then I need something to set off the central design and that allows me about a half inch top and bottom for curtain rod space, followed by another half-inch to make sure the curtain rods don’t pull out. Options include some simple geometrics, some text either all the way around, or at the left and right edges (I’d work a sig and date into the text), or another still narrower scrolling pattern that spreads out into a wider one at the sides. More think time is needed…
WORKING REPORT – FILET OF DRAGON
Thanks to everyone for their outpouring of support!? I’ll take you who wrote at your words, and continue posting about the dragon.
A couple of people asked how filet crochet differs from other forms of crochet. "Filet" in this case means net. It’s meant to emulate darned net lace. Filet crochet typically uses only a couple of the various crochet stitches – chain and double crochet?(yes, there are exceptions to this,?notably when working a pattern with shaped as opposed to rectangular edges). It marches along row by row, not unlike an old-fashioned line printer, or a the way a stranded pattern builds in colorwork knitting. Other forms of crochet are less "row bound," often incorporate many different length stitches (singles, doubles, trebles, etc.), or grow in more than two dimensions (the heavily embossed Irish crochet styles spring to mind.)? In terms of technical skill in forming stitches, it’s very easy compared to many other forms of crochet, and produces tremendous effect for the level of effort invested. Following the chart is the only hard part. I’ve already described my mantra to help me keep count.
One minor complication?- there are usually no detailed instructions given for filet crochet designs. Patterns at most offer instructions on how to do a filled mesh and an open mesh, give a chart and (if you’re lucky) tell you how many stitches to cast on. Since most (but not all) filet patterns are for home decorative items rather than clothing, it’s unusual for gauge to matter much beyond dictating the final overall size of the piece. Some patterns omit gauge entirely.Others give a range of gauges and final dimensions based on thread and hook size. Vintage patterns can be especially difficult to interpret as both the hook and thread sizes they cite may or may not correspond to modern sizes.
Which brings me to another oddity. For all the complaining we knitters do about lack of standardization in needle sizes, pattern format and yarn descriptors, crocheters face considerably more variation in both their materials and their written directions. There are a few contemporary standards. Size 30 cotton is more or less the same maker to maker, but not always so. Yardage for a given weight does vary enough to make it important enough to buy by crochet threads by yardage and not weight, just as one does for knitting yarn.
Hook sizes however are all over the map. I try to go by metric measurement rather than letter or number size, but I’ve found that even then – and especially in the smaller sizes – there is considerable variation between brand names. For this project I got finer, tighter results and a smaller gauge with a Bates #10 1.15mm hook than I could acheive with a Boye #10 1.10mm hook. One side effect of this sizing problem is that dedicated crocheters collect and hoard hooks of as many different makers as they can find, even more than dedicated knitters squirrel away needles. There are quite a few charts available on line that compare hook sizes both historical and modern, and among makers. Here’s a good one at Norns.
The best on-line how-tos on filet crochet I found were at Hass,?SmartCrochet,?and StitchGuide. The lattermost has some Quicktime video clips illustrating some key points.
Which brings me to today’s report on progress. I’m not posting photos every day because compared to knitting (and allowing for time pressure), my production rate is so slow:
Don’t worry. the foreshortening on the right is an artifact of a sloping futon sofa seat and my inferior skills as a photographer. Still, you can see my corner stars and the repeat of the scrolling bit from the top/bottom border. I’m almost done with the right hand edge.I chose NOT to use the big flower underneath the dragon’s foot because it’s not quite centered in the top and bottom strips. Centering it in the side strips would call attention to that fact. If I don’t like the way it looks when this strip is done, I’ll rip it back and try again.
While I’m working on the left edge, I’ll be?thinking about the final frame. That will incorporate some "long meshes" to make double wide, possibly double high holes through which the thin curtain rod/stretchers will be threaded, top and bottom.
String-Or-Nothing 
