by Solveig Ward , RFL Electronics Inc., USA
Art, Sport & Entertainment
hobby
94
Craft,
Crafts
and More Crafts
It is amazing how many
protection and control
experts share the same
professional interests and
have such different hobbies
that help them express their
creative nature. Solveig
Ward tells us about her
hobbies.
1 1960’s sewing pattern
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2
Solveig,
at her house in West Milford, NJ, USA
My hobby may be unique in the
Protective Relay Community but
that’s mainly due to the fact that
there are not a lot of us women
there. That said, I’m a little more
fanatic about it than most women
and have been so for many years.
I do crafts. In many shapes and
forms: Knitting, crochet, needlepoint, sewing.
The more time -consuming
and the more difficult, the better.
“Easy” is boring.
How it started...
As many of us with hobbies
do, I started when I was at a young
age, then for a completely different reason than today. In my early
teens, I found it was easier to get
my mother to buy material for
clothes than to be allowed to buy
them ready made. At that time, it
was more economical to make your
own. I had it down to a science to
sew a pair of pants in less than three
hours from start to finish. Or, knit a
sweater over a weekend. Of course,
I had access to help at home as my
mother had worked as a commercial seamstress and custom made
clothes for people that did not fit
into standard sizes.
My first attempts to clothes
making would use ready-made patterns. I did eventually play around
with making my own patterns and
designs but often ended up with an
unsatisfactory end result after putting in a lot of hours of work, and
settled down to limit my creativity
to the selection of materials.
I soon got bored with simple
things and moved on to more and
more advanced projects. I cannot
even count the number of dresses,
suits, pants, skirts, sweaters, mittens, scarves, socks, etc. this has
resulted in over the years. I also
made baby clothes and projects
for my house as needed; curtains,
drapes, upholstery, cushions. I even
weaved a rug or two.
All that came to a stop when
I moved to the United States in
1992. I had less time as my boys got
older and were involved in sports
95
and other outside school activities. And, there was no longer any
economic incentive of doing things
yourself. It was much cheaper to
buy ready-made.
However, the need to create
things was still there. I transitioned
to basically “useless” projects
where I had no need for the end
product. Doilies and needlepoint
pillows are examples. These were
mainly done in front of the TV as
I need something in my hands to
keep them occupied.
Among my most time consuming crafts projects is needlepoint
pillows. I never added up the number of hours it takes me to make
one, but I would guess around a
hundred or perhaps even two hundred. Small, small stitches cover
the entire surface. Of course, it is all
made by hand. I find it very therapeutic to keep my hands occupied
and let my mind wander where it
wants to go (Figures 4b & 5).
I only have a couple of these pillows still in my house. I always give
them away when they are finished.
The one in front is in needlepoint,
to the left in cross stitch and in the
back embroidery (Figure 5).
Another time consuming project is to make doilies (Figure 8). I
give these away as well as it is not
my decorating style to have them
in my house. The doilies are crocheted, using a thin thread. They
are sometimes my own design but
often from a ready-made pattern
I like. To follow a pattern is a good
way to get introduced to different
techniques that I previously didn’t
know.
Embroidery
Embroidery is a free form where
different techniques are used for
the stitches. The stitches never
cover the entire surface. Embroidery items are always my own design while I tend to use ready-made
patterns for needlepoint and cross
3 A quick project with enjoyable results, but
with less satisfaction
I do crafts.
The more timeconsuming and the
more difficult, the
better.
“Easy” is boring.
stitch. I have transferred my own
pictures into needlepoint but it’s a
complex procedure that I have not
fully mastered yet (Figures 4c & 5).
Now, I have to point out that to
follow a pattern doesn’t necessarily
make it any easier. A crochet pattern can be given as a “road-map”
and you have to figure out what all
the symbols mean and how they
translate into crochet stitches. See
Figure 9.
Another pattern might provide
you with a written instruction.
It is a language in its own. It’s not
enough to just decode the abbreviations; you also need to know
how to execute the stitch it calls
for. I recently had to re-learn all
this when I picked up a book with
doily patterns in English. Needless
to say, it was very different from
the Swedish “crochet-language” I
learned years ago. The “language”
also differs from pattern to pattern.
See pattern instructions.
On occasion, I make a quick
project. The shawl displayed in
figure 3, was made in less than ten
hours as I had a dead line to send it
to my mother-in-law for Mother’s
Day. While the result was pretty,
the satisfaction from these shorter
projects is much less than with a
time consuming item.
The recipient does not always
agree with me. My mother-in-law
has several of my pillows and doilies that took many, many hours of
work but she likes this quick shawl
much more.
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hobby
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Knitting, crochet, needlepoint, sewing
Knitting
While my doilies are crocheted,
I always knit sweaters. Knitting results in a thinner material for the
same gauge of yarn. The doilies
are thin due to the very thin thread
used, but that would be extremely
time-consuming for a sweater or a
cardigan (Figure 6).
Knitting is done with two “needles” where the stitches are weaved
together, row by row.
Simple stitches, like [the one
shown in figure 7b], can be made
without even looking at the work
except for the occasional glance. I
often read a book at the same time.
See Figure 7a.
Crochets
Crochet is done with a “hook”
where the stitches are added row
4
a
by row. Crochet is great for making
many different types of stitches,
resulting in unique patterns and
finishes (Figure 7b).
My hobby has been at a rest for a
few months thanks to my new kittens. There is nothing kittens like to
play with as much as strings and all
my crafts projects involve strings.
Of course I cannot deny these adorable furballs anything. If they want
to play with a string, I let them. No
doubt will they lose interest as they
grow older and I can resume my
unfinished projects.
If someone wonders if I make
any money on my crafts The answer is no. Just look at
what these types of items sell for at
for example Ebay. Just a few dollars
for something that takes hours and
Caesar & Baron, my two
Ragdoll cats
hours to make. But to make money has never
been the purpose.
I gladly invest in materials to provide me with
many hours of relaxing, creative work. Looking
at cost per hour, it is a very cheap hobby.
Details from pillows with different techniques used
Cross stitch pillow with
stitches as an “X”
b
Needlepoint pillow where the tiny stitches are diagonal and
cover the entire surface.
5 Example of three types of pillows
As we are so used of
seeing commercially
made items for a very
low price in the stores,
it is hard to imagine
that anyone would go
through the trouble
of spending so much
time making them
themselves.
However, then they
do not understand
the accomplishment
you feel when you put
the last stitch into a
project like this.
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b
Free form embroidery
c
6 Some of my favorite knitted items
by Solveig Ward , RFL Electronics Inc., USA
97
About my cats
I bought two Ragdolls eight
months ago. The Ragdoll is a
relatively new US breed (1960’s)
known for an easygoing and mellow nature. The name comes from
the cat going limp when lifted; it
feels like having a ragdoll in your
arms. The breed was created from a
female Persian and a male Birman,
and later a female Burmese. Now,
only Ragdoll to Ragdoll breeding
takes place. It’s a large breed where
males weigh 16-20 pounds when
fully grown. Ours are already 11
pounds at 8 months of age.
Caesar to the left. He is a flame
point and will have orange face, ears
and tail when he grows up. Baron
on the right. He is a blue point with
mittens; gray face, ears, tail and
front legs with white paws.
It is not an easy task to do any kind of craft, especially knitting when you
have not one, but two playful creatures like my Ragdolls.
7 More craft examples: Knitting and single stitches
Knitting
Single stitches - Crochet
a
Knitting is done with two “needles” where the stitch-
b
es are weaved together, row by row.
Simple stitches require only one needle and are
easier to accomplish.
8 Lace doilies in different shapes and colors
Solveig Ward
received her
M.S.E.E. from the
Royal Institute
of Technology,
Sweden in 1977.
The same year
she joined ABB
Relays. She has
held many positions in Marketing,
Application, and
Product Management. After transferring to ABB in
the US 1992, she
was involved in
numerical distance protection
design, and was
Product Manager for current
differential and
phase comparison
relays.
Solveig holds one
patent and has
presented several
papers. She is a
member of IEEE.
In June 2002
she joined RFL
Electronics Inc. as
Director of Product Marketing.
9 A crochet pattern given as a “road-map”
Pattern instruction:
Rnd 23: (Slip st, work
Beginning Cluster)
in first ch-2 sp, (ch 2,
work Cluster in next
ch-2 sp) 4 times, (2 dc,
ch 2, 2 dc) in next ch-1
sp, * work Cluster in
next ch- 2 sp, (ch 2,
work Cluster in next
ch-2 sp) 4 times, (2 dc,
ch 2, 2 dc) in next ch-1
sp, * around; join with
slip st to top of Beggining Cluster: 216 sts
and 120 ch ch-2 sps.
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