Sunday, February 08, 2009

Bless be Ve, Vili, and mighty Odin

OK paying tribute to the Norse gods of creation might be a little over the top, but I've been smitten by Viking Knitting.

Susieb a Ravelry and Friday Lunch and Knit bud came over yesterday and we played with wire all day. I had done this before but never ever pulled a piece through a drawplate (that's where the real magic is). Susie brought one with her that her dear hubby had made. One pull through the drawplate and life as I know it changed. I have a new love.

Remember that little piece I showed you the other day? Here it is, after I pulled it through a drawplate, with two other pieces (made yesterday) waiting to be pulled through a drawplate.


I kinda killed it. It's OK but I did two things that any impatient novice would do. First I used a knitting needle gauge as a drawplate, and secondly I pulled it too small. Having used a thin metal knitting needle gauge plus pulling it too small equals breaks in the chain.....sigh Oh well, live and learn huh. It was only a 4 stitch piece.

The short brass piece in the picture is 6 stitches done on a vise with an allen wrench. I was fine with doing it that way until Susieb suggested working it on a dowel. She grabbed one of my big wooden crochet hooks and was thrilled with the ease of it, waaaay less fiddly than the vise method. Thus the blue piece in the picture is 6 stitches on wooden crochet hook (minus the hook part I broke off) :o)

Below is a close up of the 6 stitch 24 gauge brass pulled through a drawplate.


And here is the 24 gauge colored copper pulled.

All three together....I'm loving this!

So much so I even made my own drawplate today. :o)


It is a scrape of my oak flooring. lol



















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