Confetti and changing thread

[poppy]

I wonder if you could describe the way you deal with changing colours when there are a lot of confetti. I usually use the Pako Organiserwith lots of needles but it is full with my current project threads....I starting another one and keep putting the thread, which I am using through a piece of card even if there is only a quarter of a length left then rethread the needle...etc.
It is time consuming.
Any tips, please?
Thank you

[Serinde]

I love my Pako organiser for big projects! With a lot of confetti in a small space, I generally use a variation of the parking method. It saves time starting and stopping. The back stays vaguely neat, and I don't get in a fankle.

[Mabel Figworthy]

I like "fankle" - is it a Scots word?

Not doing much confetti but some of the needle painting projects I am about to do require several needles on the go, and there you are advised to bring whatever needle you just used to the front in the place where it will be next used - so lots of threaded needles at the front of the work, ready to be picked up again. I am not absolutely sure where they are expected to live, but I assume either stuck in a corner of the fabric or parked on a needle minder.

[Serinde]

Good word, fankle. Yes, it's Scots and means muddled or tangled.

I used to just let my needles hang, but mostly would attach them to the fabric and then wind the excess thread in a figure of 8 around it. No fankles!

[Mabel Figworthy]

Hang at the front or the back? If at the back that's a fankle waiting to happen!

[Podolyanka]

It is "cheaper" (saving on doctors and medications) for me to leave out as empty squares the places for confetti and then to fill them in. I hope you see what I am trying to say.

[Serinde]

Hang at the front or the back? If at the back that's a fankle waiting to happen!

Front. Definitely front.

[Serinde]

It is "cheaper" (saving on doctors and medications) for me to leave out as empty squares the places for confetti and then to fill them in. I hope you see what I am trying to say.

I suspect it's like the dreaded back stitch. You are only putting off the evil day, and you'll have to do them all at once...

[rcperryls]

That is a wonderful question. I tried parking when I first started stitching HAED projects (had never heard of it before) but I get all fankled (Serinde, that is one of the best words I have ever learned. I love words that sound like what they mean - I hope that makes sense). Now that I put all my charts on my iPad in Good Notes, when I run into a lot of confetti I try to map out how I will stitch a section actually numbering the order so that I begin with the least amount of stitches to the most so that the largest amount will cover the smallest. I don't know how else to explain it, but it seems to work. And I also keep each color threaded so that I don't have to continually change threads, my least favorite activity.

Carole

[Serinde]

Carole, one does not get fankled. One get (or something gets) into a fankle. Just so you know. Scots is a language filled with wonderful words.

[wendywombat]

A Fankle!! I'm so looking forward to learning a new language...French has me baffled

[Podolyanka]

Serinde, to begin with, a really professionaly made design does not have confetti worth mentioning, let alone starting to park. I choose to stick to the designers tested by time and my own experience.
Secondly, I dont believe in parking, unless one needs to raise one's blood pressure ASAP. If one is not earning one's daily bread with stitching and there are no crucial deadlines, why to park? To me all the pleasure from stitching ends where parking of 68 needles begins.

[rcperryls]

Carole, one does not get fankled. One get (or something gets) into a fankle. Just so you know. Scots is a language filled with wonderful words.

Thank you. I will remember that. One of the women I worked with was from Scotland and had a wonderful accent. She had been in the South for quite a few years and had picked up a lot of expressions. It was always interesting to hear her say "y'all" with a Scottish accent.

Carole

[poppy]

Thank you for all your very interesting answers, really useful.

"Getting into a fankle" is now an official expression for this Forum, do you agree?
Thank you Seinde
I will use it and always think of you, using it.

[Serinde]

Serinde, to begin with, a really professionaly made design does not have confetti worth mentioning, let alone starting to park. I choose to stick to the designers tested by time and my own experience.
Secondly, I dont believe in parking, unless one needs to raise one's blood pressure ASAP. If one is not earning one's daily bread with stitching and there are no crucial deadlines, why to park? To me all the pleasure from stitching ends where parking of 68 needles begins.

68 needles! No, never more than 4 or 5, but I do understand what you are saying. I have had designs with a certain amount of confetti (the tiger, for example), and it can be tedious to do, but standing away from the design afterwards, I can often see why it was necessary.

[CuriousKitty]

I'm going to be largely unhelpful, but I can't abide parking, and as for any confetti, I do one color as far as I can and only carry 3-4 stitches (3 for 14/16/28/32, 4 for higher...) and I secure and do another color. I have to agree the fun certainly ends when you start parking (for me, parking at all!) and especially if you're parking anything similar in color.

[Serinde]

I agree in general. I don't "park" stitch in the usual way, and I do tend to follow a colour in a section-by-section sort of way. Like Lyudmila, I can't imagine 68 needles dangling and getting in the way! I do find it interesting how we all have our own ways of doing things to get to the same end.

[wendywombat]

I have to say that Parking is for Cars!

I sometimes pass a thread up and out of the way when I can see that a colour will be used again not too far away, but only ever 1 at a time!

I admire the way that stitchers here show photos of their HAED and other involved designs which have loads of dangling different colour threads...but it also makes me shudder! I would end up with all my colours jostling for space and end up in a Fankle!!

[rcperryls]

I have to say that Parking is for Cars!

I sometimes pass a thread up and out of the way when I can see that a colour will be used again not too far away, but only ever 1 at a time!

I admire the way that stitchers here show photos of their HAED and other involved designs which have loads of dangling different colour threads...but it also makes me shudder! I would end up with all my colours jostling for space and end up in a Fankle!!

I agree. I once tried parking 4 colors doing one of the examples\tutorials that are supposed to teach you how to park and within 4 rows I think I had a mess and needed to cut the threads to free my tangled up needles.

How much distance I will allow between two stitches usually depends on the color of the thread, if I can cover the back with other stitches and is the color I need to "park" a loner or will there be more confetti in that same area.

Carole

[poppy]

I came up with a solution, which works for me : A have an off-cut strip of a DMC fabric. I cut a strip of paper to attach to the material strip with pins.
The thread code goes on the paper and the needle sits right underneath. Very rough DIY but it works!