Free knitting projects using Kreinik Reflective Yarn

 Free knitting projects using Kreinik Reflective Yarn

Designed by Lisa M. Barnes, LMB Designs

Oh the weather outside is frightful, at least throughout most of the US, where a cold front is keeping temperatures below freezing. What we all need is a good, warm knitted hat. This one features Kreinik's Reflective Yarn, making it visible at night when caught in car headlights or camera flash (oh the paparazzi!).

The designer, Lisa Barnes, had a little fun with placement of the reflective accents. By day, this hat and matching wristers appear to be a harmless fair isle pattern. But by night, glowing eyes appear, as if by magic! Well, ok, it's the Reflective Yarn worked into the pattern, but how cool is that twist-on-the-usual.

Have fun knitting these warm and cozy projects!

Download the PDF with the materials list and pattern instructions.

PATTERN NOTES

This hat is worked in the round from the brim to the crown, using double-pointed needles, two circular needles, or one long circular needle (for the “magic loop” method). The reflective “eyes” are created using duplicate stitch.

ABOUT THE DESIGNER

Lisa founded LMB Designs to design knitwear for people and pets. Her creations have included felted purses, wire jewelry, and shrugs and wraps. Her pet designs have included a formal gown for a German Shepherd and a tuxedo for a Chihuahua. www.LMBDesigns.com.

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Kreinik Q&A: Japan Threads

5 things to know about this beautiful thread

"I have Kreinik Japan recommended to me for a card weaving project. However, I don't understand how the numbers work; I know it has to do with thread weight, but I don't know if smaller numbers are heavier or lighter. Any instruction you can give me would be helpful." — emailed question

You may have the same question as this stitcher — what do Japan thread numbers mean? Does a larger number mean heavier thread? We answer these questions and more here, in 5 Things To Know About Kreinik Japan Threads. 

1. Basic Kreinik Japan Threads come in three sizes: 

• Japan #1
• Japan #5
• Japan #7
• Smooth, bright, and shiny, they give the look of stitching with real metals. 
• Japan #1 comes on spools. Japan #5 and #7 are available on spools or skeins.

2. The smaller the number, the thinner the thread:

• Kreinik Japan #1 is super fine, very thin, the thinnest.
• Kreinik Japan #5 is slightly thicker. 
• Kreinik Japan #7 is thicker than #5.

3. Stitch with one, couch the others:

• Japan #1 is a passing thread; stitch through fabric as you would a sewing thread. 
• Japan #5 and #7 are gimps, or wrapped threads, and therefore couched onto the surface rather than sewn in and out of fabric. The metallic foil is wrapped around a core fiber, so if you stitch and and out with Japan #5 and #7, the wrapping may separate or come off.
• Japan #5 and #7 can be couched singly or multiple strands at a time for unique effects. Couch with a matching color of Japan #1, or a contrasting color of metallic or silk thread depending on the look you want to achieve.

4. Kreinik also makes Japan Threads in Braids and Ribbons:

• This gives stitchers/weavers/fiber-artists more Japan Thread textures (ie, creative options). A Japan Thread in Kreinik Tapestry #12 Braid, for instance, looks like a checked or serpentine metal thread. 
• They are thicker, stiffer, and more texturized than the basic Japan Threads.
• Popular in needlepoint, counted thread, crazy quilting, temari, crochet, and surface embroidery techniques. 
• Look for a "J" after the color number, as in 002J or 001J.
• The smaller the Braid number, the smaller the thread. Kreinik Very Fine #4 Braid is the thinnest Braid, for example, and Fine #8 Braid is twice as thick as #4 Braid.

5. Kreinik Japan Threads are easier to care for than their historical counterparts:

• This generation of Japan Thread is synthetic and thus less expensive and more readily available than real metal threads.
• They have a percentage of real metal, but are non-tarnishing. 
• You can dry clean needlework made with Kreinik Japan Threads.

Side note on couching Japan Threads: A squared-off spool known as a Koma is often used to hold the thicker Japan Threads or other couching threads as you stitch. The Koma won't roll off like round spools, and you can unwind thread as you couch. See our blog "Need Another Pair of Hands?" for more details (and a good couching illustration): http://kreinikthread.blogspot.com/2012/05/need-another-pair-of-hands.html

In case you missed it, check out an earlier blog about using Japan Threads with ideas from other stitchers: http://kreinikthread.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-is-japan-thread.html

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Reflections on a Reflective Thread

There's a new kid in town. Kreinik recently introduced Reflective Yarn to the knitting community and the buzz is spreading. It is the #2 top seller on www.kreinik.com, where it was used in three Christmas and winter-themed projects in December. The fiber will be featured in the Spring 2013 issue of Creative Knitting magazine (on sale February 2013); also see this link http://www.creativeknittingmagazine.com/printer.php?mode=article&article_id=2882. Designer Karen Ratto-Whooley is debuting a knitted hat pattern at the February 2013 TNNA Long Beach trade show (so look for it in stores shortly after). It has been tweeted, retweeted, blogged, Flickr'd, and Facebooked. Not a bad start for a little novelty yarn. 

What is it?

Kreinik Reflective Yarn is a carry-along fiber with light-reflecting properties. It's part polyester and part glass beads (which gives it a sort of mesmerizing, holographic effect in addition to making it reflective). In knitting, it is meant to be a carry-along fiber. As a matte-gray color, it blends neutrally into other yarns. However, with a camera flash or car light, the project/design becomes luminously lit. Use it for adding reflective stripes or patterns to dog sweaters, purses, hats, scarves, wrist bands, headbands, and other garments. 

Being thread-centric here at Kreinik, we liked the fiber for the special effect properties, and the fact that it complements so many other threads and yarns. Needleworkers have been combining materials to create unique, custom looks for centuries, so this is just a new high-tech fiber for our generation.

Where can you use a Reflective Yarn? 

So far it has worked beautifully in crochet, knitting and cross stitch. Take a look and download these free projects:

• Festive Fir Ornament

• Reflective Tree Ornament

• Knitted Hat and Wristers

This week we are playing with it in needlepoint. Based on early test stitching (stitches recommended by our fans on www.Facebook.com/Kreinik.Manufacturing.Company), we think there are many possibilities.

For example, we used it in the cross-stitch area of Criss-Cross Hungarian (using Silk Serica and Reflective Yarn). It offered a pretty, subtle look. It would be good for night sky backgrounds on needlepoint canvases.

Then we combined it with one strand of black Silk Mori for French Knots. It looked pretty good. Using it alone in French Knots, there was a bit of fraying along the strand. Stick with using it as a carry-along and you shouldn't have a problem with abrasion from so many twists and turns of a French Knot section. It is not as strong as our Braids, so use it in stitches that don't require a lot of tension.

Algerian eyelets and Smyrna crosses? Very cool! Use it as a carry-along fiber with Kreinik Very Fine #4 Braid on 18-mesh canvas, or with any of the larger Kreinik Braids on the bigger needlepoint canvases. It works beautifully in combination stitches - try the filament Silk Serica on the bottom with Reflective Yarn as top stitches. The luminosity of the Reflective Yarn goes perfectly with the natural luminescence of filament silk. See our swatch for our doodles.

The Kreinik Reflective Yarn is about the size of our Very Fine #4 Braid, so use that as a guide in determining your coverage needs. Be careful carrying the thread in the back of your work - the backside of your stitches may illuminate through the open canvas.

A 25-yard spool will go a long way, so it's perfect for wearable needlepoint projects and accessories. See the list of suggestions below to get started. Use it in designs that are going to see light reflection, like dog collars worn at night, and shoes.

Ideas for using Reflective Yarn in needlepoint:

• dog collars

• belts

• shoes

• handbags

• purse-style wallets

• ornaments

• jewelry

In needlepoint, specialty threads are all about adding color and "special effects" to make designs exciting and life-like. For example:  glow-in-the-dark, holographic, fuzzy, metallic threads all add dimensional dynamics to designs. In the same way, this Reflective Yarn is perfect for creating realism and, well, a "special effect" in particular motifs. Here are some ideas for using it in particular design themes.

Use Reflective Yarn in designs of:

• cat's whiskers

• eyeglasses

• drinking glass

• street lamps

• car, train, bus etc headlights

• joggers

• bicycles

• football players (helmets)

• windows

• celestial themes

We will keep stitching and playing, and hope you will enjoy this fun new novelty yarn in your own creations too. Email us or share photos on our Twitter or Facebook pages.

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A Biscornu for You

As we approach a busy holiday week, part of a busy holiday month, we want to say thank you to every stitcher, crafter, designer, teacher, retailer, manufacturer, distributor and more — all of the wonderful people we have met and worked with this year. You inspire us with your ideas and creations, and we love making threads for you.

The Kreinik thread factory will be closed from December 22 to January 1 so that our family and staff can enjoy time with their friends and family. We will reopen January 2. In the meantime, enjoy this free Angel Biscornu patter, courtesy of the design team at Praiseworthy Stitches (http://www.praiseworthystitches.com). We haven't had time to stitch the model yet - perhaps we can get a little stitching done during our holiday break. 

Enjoy!

Click here for the PDF with the chart

Click here for the PDF of the biscornu finishing instructions

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Designer Profile: Meg Chobanian

One of the benefits of being a thread maker is that we get to meet creative people every day. To see what a designer, teacher, stitcher, or retailer creates out of our thread and their chosen medium…well, it excites, inspires and motivates us here at the Kreinik thread factory. 

We recently met fiber artist Meg Chobanian through a mutual friend, Pamela Armas. Pamela is an amazing, creative person herself, running a doll pattern and fabric business, Treasures of the Gypsy. The Gypsy Doll Challenge is a main, annual exhibit at International Quilt Market, and we have been a sponsor for many years. We love working with Pamela's doll artists and exhibit many of their creations in our booths. When Pamela put us in contact with Meg Chobanian, we immediately wanted to tell you about this unique fiber artist.

First, take a look at the photo galleries on the web site: http://qexpeditions.com/photo_gallery.htm where you will see playful imagination combining color with dimension. One of Meg's themes is to create designs that speak to some childlike part of each viewer, and you can see that wonder and delight in many of her creations.

“I began making doll clothes as soon as I could cut fabric and hold a needle," Meg says. Her grandmother was a turn-of-the-century couturier and her mother was an expert dressmaker. Clearly, she was bound for a creative, textile life.

"I was off and running when I found my first book about quilting. And that has led to art quilts, surface design experiments, teaching, designing and a thread oriented way of life," she adds. Currently she is focusing on using fabric and fibers to create tactile art "somewhere between painting and sculpture." That sounds exciting, and we can't wait to see what Meg creates next. 

Meg distributes her line of patterns through her web site, www.qexpeditions.com, and one of her Internet shops. She also teaches. “I get inspiration from teaching," Meg notes. "It’s rewarding to start a new quilter with the basics and see them so thrilled and caught up in this thing I can share with them.”

We are excited to show photos of these unique dimensional ornaments Meg created for our exhibit at Fall International Quilt Market. They feature Kreinik Iron-on Threads and fabric as a sculptural ornament, rather than a flat, pieced piece. Imagine the creations twirling on your Christmas tree, twinkling in reflection of the holiday lights, fun, playful, child-like. You can almost sense a blend of ages: a child's wonderment with a fiber artist's craftsmanship. 

“I believe there is an almost mystical quality in things created by hand.," Meg says in her Artist's Bio.  "A part of the maker’s spirit must remain in something that takes so many hours of work.  I want each one of my pieces to become someone’s heirloom, to continue the thread of creativity through the generations.  Art is food for the soul of humanity and from the soul of humanity.  Given scraps or hardship we can all still create beauty and goodness with what we have, and each of us can enrich our own corner of the infinite universe by the simple things we can share.”

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Conductive Thread Tips

Thread you may already have at home can make plain gloves technology ready

After 40 years of making threads, we are still learning. Just a few weeks ago, we were so excited about a new specialty item we could bring to you, Conductive Fingertip Yarn. We posted a project online, wrote a blog, shared it on Facebook and Twitter, and started using it ourselves, excitedly making our own gloves conductive. Then a smart stitcher showed us that our normal line of Kreinik Metallic Threads can actually be conductive. No need for a specialty thread - just look in your stash! No need for a drab gray fiber - pick coordinating colors! 

We started testing, and it's true. You can make gloves conductive by adding a "pad" of stitches on the fingertips using Kreinik Metallic Threads. So far in our testing, there are some colors that don't work. However, a bunch of them DO work. Now we are addicted to making gloves conductive using MATCHING thread. With 300+ colors of Kreinik Braids, there is a color to match or complement every glove design. You can be technology ready and fashionable.

Kreinik thread colors that work:

025

024L

018

001L

4205

002

001V

015L

202HL

005L

003

003L

003HL

061

031L

001J

In our testing, the holographic colors worked really well (these carry an "L" after the color number). The pearls and gourmet colors didn't work. We suggest you do some testing with your desired color first, before stitching your project. We like the Fine #8 Braid or Tapestry #12 Braid size for stitching on gloves. 

If you are crocheting/knitting gloves, we suggest overstitching the finger area to create a pad of solid surface. That connects well with the smartphone/tablet surface. If you want to use the metallic as a carry-along, work a double strand into the fingertip area, and make sure the thread appears in as much of a dense, solid surface as possible.

Here's how we made this pair of $1 gloves conductive using Kreinik Metallic Threads:

1. Insert a "darner" or object like a Sharpie pen into the finger to create a sturdy filler.

2. Using Fine #8 Braid and a #24 Tapestry needle, or Tapestry #12 Braid and a #22 Tapestry needle, knot one end of the thread. Put your needle at a starting point, and pull the knot through to the inside (you may need to wiggle the glove fibers a little bit to get the knot to the inside). Begin stitching a pad of straight stitches on the fingertip area. Use satin stitch or straight stitch. 

3. When stitching is finished, stitch a little knot and pull the thread to the inside of the glove. Trim off.

We want to emphasize the fun part here: we have so many colors in our Braids, you can match the conductive fiber to your gloves, or coordinate with your favorite knitting and crochet yarns. We are so excited about this new use of Kreinik metallics. We've just fallen in love with our threads all over again. 

P.S. We are also excited about our new Reflective Yarn, which reflects light from camera flashes and headlights The 25 Days of Free Christmas Projects calendar features a knitted hat and wresters project using the yarn. Click here to check it out.

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The beginning is near

Needlework friends quickly become like family. I can't explain it, but perhaps you know it too. There are many common threads that bind us together.  In my 16+ years working with needlework designers through Kreinik, I can honestly say each one stands out as creative, unique, fabulous, and fun, leaving their own stitch on the tapestry of this world. When one such friend from my early days with Kreinik called recently about a new project for 2013, I was instantly excited — because I knew her; I knew it would be creative, fun and fabulous.

Nan Baker of Purrfect Spots is a cross stitch designer who created one of my favorite all-time designs: Cat Burglar (you can find the pattern on her web site www.purrfectspots.com). I am a cat person, so I loved the humor of the design. It also used Kreinik thread and it became one of the best-selling reasons for a stitcher to buy thread. As most creative people do, Nan expanded her talents to designing needlepoint as well. It was always exciting to see the newest Purrfect Spots By Nan design release.

As most needlework designers do, Nan had a non-needlework-related full-time job.  She was an animal advocate, but specifically, an animal disaster specialist. She introduced me to the pet-loss support program Rainbow Bridge, and shared tales of her travels to disaster areas to take care of the displaced animals. Yes, when a hurricane, tornado, fire or flood hits, animals are in trouble too. They are separated from their owners, their fenced yards are suddenly unfenced, they may be hurt, they may not have food or water. As a member of the Disaster Animal Response Team for the Humane Society of America, Nan went to the disaster areas (you know, the ones you hear about on the news), herding horses, arranging shelter, and reuniting pets. Through Nan I saw the news from the animal perspective. 

Nan prepared me, and thousands of others, to make sure our pets are included in each family's household Disaster Plan. She started the CASEY program, Caring For Animals Safely in Emergencies During the Year. Here is a link for info on the CASEY plan; if you have animals, please read it to get your own Disaster Supply Checklist For Pets: www.purrfectspots.com/thecaseyplan.html 

Nan designs quilt patterns now. The exciting 2013 project is a quilt block-of-the-month in a new online publication, The Quilt Pattern Magazine, at www.quiltpatternmagazine.com. Yes, Nan stays true to her passion and features animals. As she has in the past, Nan patterned with artist Will Bullas, this time to do adaptations of his famous polar bears. You will recognize his endearing animals from posters, greeting cards, calendars and children's books. You can see more of his artwork at www.willbullas.com. (I'm asking Santa for Will Bullas prints for Christmas.)

The fabulous design pictured in this blog is Nan's Cool Yule pillow featuring a Will Bullas polar bear. It is just about as fast and easy as it can get: fusible applique, Kreinik Iron-on thread for embellishments. It was published in the November 2012 issue of Quiltpattern Magazine. Run to the site www.quiltpatternmagazine.com and subscribe; you will get a link to the current issue (a beautiful, colorful, project-ful 58 pages of quilt goodness). Right after Christmas, the block-of-the-month featuring the Bullas Bears will start in Quilt Pattern Magazine. I've seen the quilt; it is a design that men, women, kids, teens, and all ages will love. It will be worth your creative time.

One other message from Nan: The Quilt Pattern Magazine has joined with Petfinder.com to help the animal victims of Hurricane Sandy. It's not just money that is needed; the kennels need blankets and quilts to help keep the animals warm in shelters. All the details are here: http://www.quiltpatternmagazine.com/program/KennelQuilt/. Nan told me, "Please help get that word out. For one of my Christmas gifts, my friend made 3 quilts in my honor to send to the shelters. I was thrilled. Best present ever." This is a perfect time (pardon me, "purrfect") to start your next project as an animal disaster relief project. Gather your friends and make blankets together.

Here's a Thanksgiving toast, to the warmth of friendship, needlework, quilts, and helping others, pets included. I'm thankful for new beginnings too. From small beginnings come great things.

By Dena Lenham

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