INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

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When I first learned to stitch, nobody showed me the easy or “proper” way to take a piece of six-strand cotton floss and remove just the two strands I needed. I think I spent more time trying to untangle the rat’s nest my floss regularly turned into than I spent actually stitching. Although untangling Christmas lights can be amusing if you like puzzles, trying to salvage knotted floss is never fun, and when the untangler is an impatient, cranky, and sunburned seven-year-old, the process becomes a headache for everybody within earshot.

Believe it or not, I wasn’t taught the easy or “proper” way to separate floss for another 22 years! That’s when I went to my very first needlework class (at Heart of Cross Stitch in 2000), and the instructor showed us how to separate floss:

First, hold a piece of six-strand floss gently but firmly in one hand (your left hand if you are right-handed, and vice versa) with your fingers near the end of the piece of floss.

Next, grab hold of just one strand with the other (dominant; i.e., your right hand if you are right-handed, and vice versa) hand.

Then, while continuing to hold the rest of the floss with your non-dominant hand, pull that one strand gently but firmly away from yourself. It will slip fairly easily right out of the other five strands.

(I write, “fairly easily,” because, once in a while, the rest of the floss will still tangle up and knot around the strand you are trying to remove … Usually, this tangle can be gently undone, but when it cannot, at least you only have to cut off a small amount of floss to release your strand, instead of wasting a long piece in a tangled mess.)

Repeat until you have the number of strands you want to stitch with, and then recombine them.

All of you expert stitchers know this trick, of course, and you know that the key is to separate one strand of floss at a time.

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If only I’d had a Puffin when I first started stitching! Instead of hopelessly trying to untangle floss through tears, I could have been stitching … Now, thanks to the Puffin, no beginning stitcher ever has to go through this frustration again!

And with a Puffin, you can separate the number of strands you need, instead of doing it one strand at a time. Save time, and stitch more!

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“Puffin” is an affectionate term used to refer to the Puffin Craft Strand Separator (patent pending) from Diane and Cary Zielinsky of Puffin & Company. The Puffin is named in memoriam after Diane and Cary’s beloved cat, as Diane explained so beautifully to me:

The name of the business was selected in memoriam to Puffin, my sweet kitty who was the puffiest and furriest kitty imaginable. We loved her so much we named the business Puffin and Company for her: the rest of the us are the Company.

As we learn on the opening page of their website, Cary Zielinsky is the person responsible for this fantastic invention, with Diane as his inspiration:

Perhaps this situation sounds familiar, wife asks husband to assist in the separation of a single strand from some embroidery floss. Husband holds one end, wife holds the other, but as usual, tangles and frustration ensue.

The loving husband just wants to watch the game, but also wants a happy wife, so he dutifully holds his end. Ah Ha! He says, and voila, a solution that allows his lovely wife to separate strands quickly, easily, and tangle free was borne.

To see the Puffin hard at work, please watch this helpful video starring Diane herself. Basically, the Puffin operates using gravity and the laws of physics … I am prevented from going into more detail by the fact that both gravity and the laws of physics are over my head. Well, actually gravity is beneath my feet, but the good thing is you don’t have to understand how the Puffin works in order to use it successfully.

Each Puffin is also a piece of stunning art work. In fact, you might just find yourself wanting to collect them all!

My perfect Puffin, as you probably guessed, is either sized Rustic Heart with Kitties.

There is bound to be a perfect Puffin for you, too, whether you prefer angels or butterflies; dogs, cats, or both; hearts or moons; doves or dragonflies.

Once you have your Puffin in hand, you’ll enjoy separating floss almost as much as stitching. Cotton floss will separate with the ease of silk, and silk floss will separate like … well, silk. Watch out when you first try your Puffin on silk, though, especially after using it on cotton. The additional slipperiness of silk is like an amusement park for Puffins — wheeeeeeee!

The only difficulty I have encountered while using the Puffin is discouraging the interest it attracts from the cats, especially when it sparkles in the sunlight. Of course, they think everything I bring into the house is for them, so maybe I should just get them their own Puffin?

Pictured above is Coeur de la Dove from Puffin & Company’s Covey of Doves Collection, which currently consists of five gorgeous dove-shaped Puffins.

The Puffin is available from a growing list of retailers, as well as directly from the Puffin & Company website. Find your perfect Puffin!

Enjoy a special gift from Diane to help make your Puffin that much more perfect … Through October 31st, 2008, receive $1.00 off each item ordered (no limit!) by entering the promotion code: INN

… what you have in common with many of China’s Olympic gold medalists?

Jen Funk Weber, of Funk & Weber Designs, is currently hosting a fun contest on her blog, Needle and ThREAD: Stitching for Literacy.

There will be at least two prizes. One will be a copy of Funk & Weber’s newest pattern (as yet a bit of a secret — that’s part of the contest ). The other will be both the pattern and everything you need to stitch it (thanks to generous donations from Zweigart and Gentle Art Sampler Threads!) — a prize worth over $100! Jen has also hinted there may be even more prizes for contestants who put in good efforts in the contest — and as Funk & Weber Designs have always been very, very generous in their support for the Online Needlework Show (make note: the next show begins September 24th!), I’m personally guessing Jen will be sending out more than just two prizes because giving is in her nature.

The goal of the contest is, of course, to have fun. Secondarily, it is to reveal the name and subject of Funk & Weber’s newest design release. The possibility of winning some great products such as that new design is the icing on the cake! (I’ll admit it: I’m hoping to win something, even though I’m not really sure I qualify considering Jen asked me to help advertise the contest, but that’s okay, too, because it’s FUN!).

To get started, here are the posts on Jen’s blog you’ll want to focus on:

Funk & Weber Designs New Puzzle Pattern Contest

New Puzzle Pattern Contest - Day 1

New Puzzle Pattern Contest - Day 2

New Puzzle Pattern Contest - Day 3

New Puzzle Pattern Contest - Day 4

Final contest entries are due by 11:59 p.m. August 6th, Alaska time. (To check your time compared with Alaska’s, I recommend the World Clock.) Good luck!

By the way, Jen also has written a superb (and humorous — the best kind!) blog post about the problems the Orphan Works bill (recently mentioned on INN) will almost certainly create. Please read it, and if you have not already taken appropriate action, I again urge you to do so.

Lastly, and on a personal note, I am much later with this post than I had hoped to be due to the personal emergency of one of my dearest friends — a situation which has worried me terribly and made it very difficult for me to concentrate on much at all for days. For anyone who is inclined, I would appreciate it very much if you could please send good vibes, positive energy, prayers, or whatever you may call it toward the Colorado, USA area such that my friend may find strength in both mind and body, and that he may feel measurably more positive each day. Thank you.