Showing posts with label Waste Knot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Waste Knot. Show all posts

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Stitch Beautifully An Essential Guide to Needlepoint UPDATED

Meredith Willet, owner of M's Canvashouse, the Meredith Collection, and an esteemed teacher, has released a book!  It is titled Stitch Beautifully An Essential Guide to Needlepoint.  Waste Knot has posted a short summary of the book on their Facebook page.  

I'm going to quote Waste Knot here as many folks don't have a Facebook account--

"New book alert!  Stitch Beautifully: An Essential Guide to Needlepoint by Meredith Willett is a wonderful new book featuring foundational knowledge and techniques for both beginning and experienced stitchers. There are all kinds of tips and tricks, information about when and where to use different kinds of decorative stitches, and a glossary explaining dozens of terms — among other things!"

The Meredith Collection website describes the book as 8 x 10 inches "with a lay flat wire O binding."  It's starting to be available in all the shops, so call up your favorite to order.

Just as a reminder, Meredith has also just published "Needlepoint Quick Guide" which is a good guide for beginners.

UPDATE:  Stitch-Stash says this about the book (I am quoting part of their rave review in a shop e-newsletter)--

"You’ll find chapters covering:

• What is needlepoint

• Foundations for every stitch

• Needles, frames, and tools of the trade

• Threads 101

• Beginning and ending your threads

• Stitch families at a glance

• Decorative and compensating stitches

• How to choose the right stitch

• Beads, baubles, and bling

• Stitch bag essentials

• Tips I wish everyone had told me

…and so much more."


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright March 26, 2026 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

The Woodlawn 2026 Exhibit

Despite the cold and rain, Melita took advantage of a break in the weather to visit the Woodlawn exhibit.  She summarizes what she saw here with an emphasis on counted pieces as that is her thing.

Woodlawn posted the list of award winners on their website.

Many thanks for those of us who can't make it to Alexandria, Virginia this year!  As more folks post about the show, I'll add to this article.

Here is a brief glimpse of the show on Woodlawn Plantation's Instagram.

Woodlawn has posted a video of the 2026 People's Choice award.  It appears to be an embroidery.

Lori won a second place ribbon for this Charley Harper bird beauty.



Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright March 8, 2026 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Sunday, January 18, 2026

How to Change a Stitch's Direction: The Movie

Lori at Waste Knot shows how easily you can make a stitch diagram change direction to fit your design.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright November 20, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Friday, January 2, 2026

Dome Magnifiers and Missed Stitches

KC Needlepoint has a short article about magnifier domes, which are used to check for missed stitches.  The shop carries two sizes.  Over the years I've seen a lot of these in various configurations.  Check with your favorite shop to see what they carry.

Lori at Waste Knot demonstrates how to use the magnifier domes, with tips on other ways to find missed stitches in this Instagram video.

If you don't want to invest in a new tool, try taking a photo or a scan of your piece.  The camera will sometimes reveal things you don't see using your eyes only.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 15, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Friday, July 11, 2025

How to Cut Threads to the Right Length

Lori at Waste Knot* shows you how to cut your threads to the perfect length in this short video.

I'm going to expand on what Lori says a bit.  Lots of folks want to stitch with long lengths.  If that works for you, great, but a longer length will not only rub the thread more and cause wear and loss of sheen, a longer length will often knot itself.  My godmother told me decades ago that the perfect thread length was from of your elbow to the tip of your fingers.  That is around 18 inches for most of us, which works quite well for me unless I need very long lengths for some of those Jean Hilton-type stitches or a darning background where I need to make it to the outside edge before I can end off.  

In other words, 18 inches is a good length but not always.

*Full disclosure:  Waste Knot is my "local" shop.  I highly recommend it!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 17, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Sunday, June 29, 2025

What Is A Frame Weight? The Movie UPDATED

Memories in Stitches on Instagram has a short video about frame weights, showing what they look like and how they are used.

In case the video disappears, a frame weight is a bean bag filled with heavy items (pennies, shot, etc.) that you put on one corner of needlepoint on stretcher bars to weigh it down. 

Why would you do this?  Maybe you are traveling and don't want to pack your needlepoint stand.  Maybe you don't work large projects often and you don't want to invest in an expensive needlepoint stand?  With a frame weight, you can put your stretcher bar project on a table with half sticking out over the edge.  The frame weight holds it secure as you stitch with both hands on the part of the project sticking out away from the table.

Traditionally frame weights were frog shaped like this counted project from Amy Wolfson.

Edie and Ginger created a lot of painted canvases of frogs meant to be made up as frame weights.

When Beanie Babies were a thing, some folks opened up the seam and filled their Beanie Baby with heavy shot and sewed it back up to make a customized frame weight much quicker than needlepointing one. Of course if you have stitched something and don't know what to turn it in to, maybe a frame weight would be a good use of your beautiful stitching.

UPDATE: This short video from The Wool and The Floss shows a frame weight in action.  There's a video from Waste Knot, too.  Now, don't you need one of these?!



Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright March 6, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Monday, March 10, 2025

Thread Exploring at Waste Knot

Lori at Waste Knot* is Instagramming about the various threads the shop carries.  It's a great way to explore various threads that are available for needlepoint, especially if you don't have a shop of your own where you can see thread options in person.

First up, size 3 perle cotton--

Secondly, size 5 perle cotton--

The third thread is Planet Earth's Essentials, a strand of silk/wool perfect for 18 count that comes on 10 yard cards.

Now Lori shows you Vineyard Merino Wool.

Followed by Vineyard Silk.  Both are lovely threads, by the way.

Lori likes Pepper Pot for 18 count but I do find it a little thick for 18 count.  If you have tight tension, you will love it on 18.

Next is Kreinik.  Lori has all the sizes and explains how/where to use them here--

Silk Road Fiber's Straw Silk comes in a huge array of colors.


Planet Earth Silk is a thicker silk for 13 count.  Very pretty colors.

Lori's right, Gloriana's 12 ply silk has the prettiest colors available. 

Lori shows off Silk n Ivory, which isn't the most wearable silk/wool blend, but it's very pretty and perfect for 13 count.

Next up is Soie d'Alger, a French 7 ply silk in beautiful colors.

Lori carries a lot of Impressions, my favorite wool/silk blend.

Boucle is a fun thread for curls, bushes and more.

Next Lori shows off Glisten, a wool with a sparkle filament woven in. It's not as shiny as Silk Lame Braid but gives a very nice subtle gleam.  Lori uses one strand on 18 count.

Floche (from DMC) is the next thread Lori shows off.  It's cotton and comes on big skeins, making it perfect for backgrounds.  It's got a nice subtle sheen to it. 

Lori has tips for when you use Very Velvet and Petite Very Velvet.

Here are the two weights of Very Velvet.

Next up is Silk Lame Petite, one of my favorites.

Silk Lame comes in four sizes now.

Entice is similar to Silk Lame but is rayon for the base thread.

Lori has some good tips for dealing with the kinks in Neon Rays that appear after it's wound around the Rainbow Gallery card.

The next thread Waste Knot carries is Caron's Watercolours, a favorite of counted thread designers.  Lori doesn't mention the drastic color changes you can get between dye lots of these cotton overdyes; it's wise to buy plenty for your project if you are using it in a large area.

With the holidays coming, Lori goes fun with Fuzzy Stuff.

ThreadworX's overdyed cotton floss is a particular favorite of mine.

Bella Lusso wool is quite pretty and easy to stitch with.

Burmilana is another fav.  Great animal fur!

Gentle Arts' Sampler Threads have lovely muted colors.  This is an overdyed cotton floss that is popular with sampler repo stitches because of the faded look you get.  Perfect for animals!

River Silks silk ribbon is lovely to work with, comes in a variety of widths and colors, and is tough as nails!

Another ribbon-like thread is Rainbow Gallery's Sparkle Rays (also available in Petite Sparkle Rays).  You get a bit of sparkle and some pretty pastel colors, plus a really white white.

Like Lori, I think Alpaca 18 is too thick for 18 count but it has some fabulous animal coat colors and might make great hair for people.

Today Lori's talking Flair, aka Barbie's Panty Hose.  This versatile thread is a delight although you might not like how the cut end unravels.  This is why God invented the Thread Zapper, folks.

I like Frosty Rays.  The colors are like sugar coated candy!  Note that Lori only carries the Petite size.

Next is Fyre Werks.  This Rainbow Gallery 1/16 inch ribbon is a quite shiny metallic.  A laying tool will help it stay flat.

Lori goes over overdyed threads carried at Waste Knot:  Gloriana silk, Gentle Arts' Sampler and Shaker  cotton threads, ThreadworX cotton, Tilli Thomas Planet Earth Pepper Pot overdye, and Caron's three ply cotton Watercolours.

Lori now stocks the new Radiance metallic in size 18.

Lori talks very briefly about Au Ver a Soie's metallic, which she stocks in sizes 12 and 16.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 16, 2024 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Coco Frank Visits the Shops

Coco Frank has held several pop up events at various needlepoint shops in 2024.  

In this article she writes about visiting shops as a designer, using Waste Knot (my not-so-local shop) as an example.  I think all the photos were taken in this Arlington, Virginia store, which is certainly worth a visit.  I'm lucky it's a good hour drive one way or I'd be bankrupt!  (Lori does mail order very well, though.)

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 30, 2024 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Monday, September 2, 2024

Two Rums and Croaks, Please

Waste Knot* shows off two versions of the Will Bullas "Rum and Croak" design from CBK.

It's so much fun to see the same design stitched and finished two different ways!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 3, 2024 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Lessons with Lori--Learn the Wrapped Back Stitch

The latest stitch demo from Lori of Waste Knot teaches the wrapped back stitch, a stitch that is perfect for lettering and curved lines.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 21, 2024 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Sunday, July 21, 2024

Let's Learn Turkeywork

The Wool and the Floss is talking turkey work these days.  First, there's a video on how to do traditional turkey work. This is done from the bottom of the area you want fuzzy.  Finish a row, cut the thread, move up one row to start over again working left to right, and repeat until the area is done.

The second video shows how to cut the loops and then shape the cut ends.  Don't forget to brush after you cut.  I often find uncut loops show up after I brush.  Somehow they can get hidden and you'll miss them the first time.

Their third video is about using brick stitch style turkeywork to make a larger area furry.

If this doesn't click with you, read Jeni Sandberg's blog on turkeywork stripes.

By the way, if you just want a quick tutorial, Lori at Waste Knot has done one on Facebook.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 19, 2024 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Ripping Out: The Movie

Lori of Waste Knot continues her tutorials on basic needlepoint skills with a video about ripping out stitches.

Lori's using a folding seam ripper from Bohin.  I own one and really like it as you can easily flip the cover over to protect the point. Shop around if your favorite store doesn't carry these as the price varies a lot.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright March 19, 2024 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Saturday, April 6, 2024

Tips on Finding Missed Stitches

Lori from Waste Knot* has posted a video on Instagram with tips on finding missed stitches.  As a shop owner, Lori checks finished items for missed stitches before handing them over to the finisher.  She likes to hold items up to the sunshine to look for an empty spot where a stitch was missed.  She also uses magnifiers to look over finished pieces.  Lori says that most missed stitches are in an area where there's a color change.

Personally, I like to take a photo of a finished piece to study.  The camera sees things I don't, no matter how many times I look over a piece.

Bug Eye magnifiers come in two sizes.  I think there are several manufacturers of these tools but they appear to be the same except perhaps for price.  Some may be heavy glass, others acrylic.  Some are set in a metal collar.


*Waste Knot is my "local" shop.  I just adore it!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright March 2, 2024 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Friday, November 10, 2023

How to Strand Threads: The Movie

The latest Instagram video from Waste Knot has Lori explaining how to strand threads.  Stranding is also called plying, and it's just separating the component parts of a length of thread and then putting them back together so that the thread lays flat better.  Not all threads can be stranded--it's usually just cotton or silk flosses you need to separate and recombine before stitching.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright November 3, 2023 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Lori Tames Overdyed Threads: The Movie

Lori at Waste Knot talks overdyed threads and the various effects you can get from using them in this short but useful video.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright September 23, 2023 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Fixing a Tent Stitch Over Two Intersections

Lori at Waste Knot shows how to fix a common mistake--creating a tent stitch over two intersections instead of one.

She uses two tools:  A Stitcher's Best Friend and Waste Knot Scissors.  You can pick these up from Waste Knot (www.wasteknot.com) or find them elsewhere.  Needlepoint.com has a little video showing how they use the Stitcher's Best Friend on their website.

The Waste Knot scissors (no relationship to the shop Waste Knot) are from Rainbow Gallery and are curved to help cut stitches in ripping out.

Thanks for the demo, Lori!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 28, 2023 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Sunday, July 9, 2023

T-stitch and Its Uses

Lori at Waste Knot talks t-stitch, with a diagram and several great examples of how t-stitch adds a lot to various painted canvases by making a white sky blue, a suitcase tweed, and to make the background recede.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 10, 2023 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Extra Rows Around the Outside Edge?

Lori at Waste Knot (my "local" shop and highly recommended) has a short video about what Waste Knot's finishers prefer when it comes to extra rows around the outside edge of a finished piece.

Basically, for hand sewn pieces, extra rows are not needed but for machine sewn pieces, you will need two extra rows.  But as Lori says, always check with your finisher first.  You may not know if they are planning to use machine sewing or hand sewing on your particular stocking, ornament, box top, etc.  

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 29, 2023 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Attaching Canvas to Scroll Frame: The Movie

Lori of Waste Knot shows how to use masking tape to attach a canvas to the scroll frame of a Lee's table stand.  You can use the same technique to attach your canvas to any scroll frame; it doesn't have to be a Lee's brand.  

Masking tape can leave sticky residue if it is attached a while but you can cut that part of the margins of your canvas off if the tape is there long enough to leave stickiness.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright April 17, 2023 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Friday, May 5, 2023

Taping Canvas Edges: The Movie

Lori at Waste Knot shows how to tape needlepoint canvas edges.

Artist tape an be purchased online at art supply stores.  Note the varying widths.  I think an inch wide would work best.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 4, 2023 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.