Athens Ohio Fiber Faire is this weekend

If you live near or will be traveling through Athens, Ohio this coming weekend, stop by the Athens Area Fiber Faire to pick up either gorgeous finished handmade items or the raw materials to make your own designs. Kreinik will be there, showing shimmery metallic threads and luscious silk fibers.

The event will feature classes in spinning, felting and knitting, but there will be plenty of activities and vendors around all kinds of techniques. Fiber fairs like these are new hot-spots for picking up supplies, meeting fellow fiber enthusiasts, and making connections with makers and shops. If you've never used Kreinik threads, this is a great way to feel the fibers first-hand and talk with Kreinik staff. Janice and Rebecca will be there on Saturday, and Doug Kreinik will be there on Sunday.

With the weather just about perfect this time of year, it will be a fun day for all ages. You can shop for supplies or pick up gifts for the holidays while your kids help form a giant pom pom or help stitch a community quilt.

The event is Saturday and Sunday, October 4 and 5, 2014, at ARTS/West, 132 W. State Street in Athens, Ohio. For more information, visit the Athens Area Fiber Faire on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/athensareafiberfaire) or Ravelry.com, or email faire organizers at athensareafiberfaire@gmail.com.

Hope to see you there!

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New Halloween String Art Kit

Have you tried string art lately? No need to get out the hammer, nails, wood plank, and sailboat outlines. You just need to pick up one of the new String Art on Canvas kits from Kreinik. They're smaller, easier, portable, and use metallic and glow-in-the-dark threads. No, this isn't your 1970s string art—it's modern materials in a retro technique, it's making your own decal or patch you can put anywhere, and it's a kit you can use to teach kids how to stitch.

New for the season is the Halloween kit, with outlines for witch's hat, bat, pumpkin, cat, haunted house and spider. The kit includes everything you need: thread(string), needle, canvas, outline, and a reusable embroidery hoop. Did we mention that the string glows in the dark? Halloween bats, witches, spiders and pumpkins have to glow in the dark, we're pretty sure it's in the holiday rule book.

You can stitch a design in less than two hours, while you're watching sports or tv, sitting in a waiting room, waiting in the car… When you're done, attach it to anything for a fun, insta-patch.

Want to see more? Visit our website for the complete collection of String Art on Canvas kits, or ask your local needlework store for them. If you don't have time to stitch, these are the perfect projects to get kids stitching, to get them using a needle and thread. Kids and teens love quick, easy, free-form embroidery, and here it is, in a cute little package: Kreinik String Art on Canvas kits.

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Make It Easier To See Your Stitching

Reviewing the Beam N Read®

It's no secret that, ahem, some of us have aging eyes. We may need to stitch on larger counts of fabric or canvas, or give up stitching altogether. And for the younger stitchers, it's not always easy stitching by the light of Netflix or in dimly lit rooms. You may have to limit what you can stitch to what's most visible. Well, here's a possible solution to these problems: the Beam N Read® from ASF Lighttware Solutions.

We met Bob from ASF at a needlework tradeshow as we were demonstrating stitching on silk gauze. "I have something to make that easier," he said—and we were interested, especially since Kreinik silk gauze comes in canvas counts as high as 90 holes per inch. As he showed us the Beam N Read, other vendors, needlework designers and shop owners passed by and said, "Oh I love that!" Those who had used the Beam N Read were 100% positive in their reviews.

We got one to try in a few stitching scenarios: stitching on black fabric, working on 40-count silk gauze, needlepointing in a hotel room, crocheting while watching Game of Thrones. The results, plain and simple: it worked. It really helped, and it wasn't cumbersome or in the way. It's good for reading too, so you can use it for more than stitching.

There are several Beam N Read® devices you can purchase, but the model we tested is the BNR LED 6-3. Hang it around your neck and adjust the strap to a comfortable length. With a choice of "bright" (3 LEDs) or "brighter" (6 LEDs), you have some control over the illumination. Set the switch to the desired light, then flip up the end to turn it on. There are three possible angles, so you can experiment or change the angle as you sit, move, or stitch.

The version we tested has two clip-on filters: red "for maintaining night vision" and orange "for softer light." We didn't test the filters, but they seem like a good idea, at least nice options to have. A Beam N Read® fan told us the filters are more relaxing to the eyes if reading or stitching in bed. "If you sew or read in bed at night, try the filters for a few days and then try no filter. You will be surprised at how much more relaxing the filtered light is when working or reading in bed. My wife reads in bed using the orange filter. I read in bed using the red filter as I find it even more relaxing," he said. The package also has a clip-on magnifier, which will help if you are stitching on silk gauze.

The Beam N Read® is available through needlework stores and online resources. You will need 4 AA batteries, and that stitching project you've always put aside because you can't see it well enough. Now, let your light shine.

Beam N Read® LED6 Deluxe Hands Free Light, ASF Lightware Solutions of Merrick, New York:

• www.readinglight.com
• http://www.pinterest.com/beamnread/
• https://www.facebook.com/BeamNRead

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String Art: The Next Generation

The next generation of stitchers—those under 20—call thread "string" and hold a needle like a touchscreen stylus. They like making things but don't like rules. They value freedom and self expression as daily life presents boredom, school, homework, and growing-up pressures. And they love the new String Art kits from Kreinik.

You remember string art, don't you? Wrapping colorful yarn around nails hammered into wooden boards to create pictures like animals and spirotot shapes. Today's string art style has advanced with modern tastes and trends: it uses metallic threads on different surfaces and in modern patterns.

Kreinikgirl (@Kreinikgirl on Twitter) shows the new way to do string art, with metallic threads on "floating" canvas, in this blog post for the popular stitch-and-embroidery website www.mrxstitch.com. Click here for the article: http://www.mrxstitch.com/string-art-next-generation/

The designs and ideas are available in new and coming-soon kits from Kreinik. Look for the Kreinik String Art On Canvas series. Each kit includes design outlines, thread (the string, some of which glows in the dark), needle, Polysil™ canvas, and reusable embroidery hoop. You even get double-sided tape to attach your string art to anything, such as a notebook, cosmetic bag, sleep mask, or anything your heart desires.

String Art isn't just for the young, mind you. Anyone wanting a quick, low-stress, colorful thread project will love these string art kits. You get self-expression and creativity without charts, order, rules and critique. Anyone who fears doing something "the wrong way" needs to make a Kreinik String Art On Canvas project. There is no wrong way to stitch one. Mental health note: once you learn to let go, you relax, and the creative freedom feels wonderful.

So no matter your age, your mission is to explore the exciting world of String Art On Canvas, to seek out free-form creativity, to boldly stitch on something you may not have tried before. Stitch long and prosper.

• Click here for the article
• Click here for the kits (great gift idea for a youngster in your life)

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Marking pens for needlepoint canvases

We have informative discussions on the Kreinik Facebook page with the community of stitchers sharing tips whenever someone has a question. It's a convenient place to share stitching tips, project ideas, and needlework community news as well as a place for announcements about Kreinik thread. Like our Facebook page to you can visit by clicking here. 

Recently a stitcher who wanted to create her own needlepoint designs asked us: "Is there a pen that can be used on needlepoint canvas that won't bleed?" We posted it on Facebook, and it became one of the most viral topics we've seen in awhile. In case you want to create your own designs, we are posting some of the answers below.

Stitcher-suggested pens for drawing on needlepoint canvases:

• "I use Pigma or Micron for fine lines and Sharpies, usually in pale colors, for thicker ones." - Marjorie H.
• " How about griffon…I hate spell check make that frixion pen made by pilot. They are heat sensitive so even if the bleed with a little heat, the ink will disappear." - Mary L.
• "Zig Markers - been using them for years - Fleur de Paris was the distributor--usually can find them in a good art supply store." - Carolyn T.
• "People before commented that Micron was the best…" - Ann L.
• "I asked this question a couple of months ago and the responses were Identpen, Zig fabric and a couple of others. Of course I have not been able to find any locally. Others also said not sharpie on canvas. It was a huge discussion with many posts to blogs etc. Use the search feature of facebook to find lots of info from that post." - Lisa P.
• "Def Sharpie" - Zarina A.
• "Sharpie fine point." - Judy C.
• "I use an IdentiPen extra fine, just for outlining lightly. Micron is fine too." - Carol G. (Note: Carol is one of the designers of needlepoint canvas company Associated Talents)
• "Sharpie makes a fine-point pen." - Karen C.
• "A fine Micron pen." - Louise H

Thanks for the suggestions, Facebook friends! Janet Perry also talked about marking pens several times on her blog. Check out the articles here http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/marking-pens-needlepoint-naming-names/

and http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/coloring-a-needlepoint-canvas-with-pens/

Stitchers and DIYers are all about personalization these days, stitching specific words, phrases, even texts and Tweets that are meaningful. These finished projects make great gifts since they are so people-specific. The next time you want to create your own needlepoint design on canvas, use these suggestions to outline, then fill in with stitches of colorful Kreinik threads.

Like Kreinik on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Kreinik.Manufacturing.Company

And we are now on Pinterest! Follow our photo/idea posts at http://pinterest.com/kreinik/ If you post photos of your projects stitched with Kreinik, be sure to add "Kreinik" in the comment section so we can find you.

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