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Visiting Atlantic Beach

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I wrote this post once already, hit save, went to do something else, then went back to edit it and it was gone.  I did everything right and I’m still having to rewrite it.  *Grumbles*

I’m catching up on things that happened while I was super busy and couldn’t keep up with everything.  One of the things I wanted to share was a trip Michael and I took with his parents to Atlantic Beach.  It’s become a tradition for them to visit the beach in the off season – when the rates are cheap, the beaches are empty, and you can have the ocean all to yourself.  I have to admit I probably like the beach better this way.  I don’t mind the cold, particularly.  In fact, when you are bundled up there isn’t really a chance of getting sunburned, which is what I’ve done every time I’ve went to a beach in the summer.

Unfortunately for me it was a working vacation – I had a number of designs due at the end of January and beginning of February and I couldn’t just not work on them.  But I only did the essentials – so no email or answering the phone.

The unit where we stayed had a GIANT easychair, which I took possession of early in the weekend, and worked on most of my crochet/knitting there.  It was an amazing chair.

The lovely lovely easy chair, where most of my knitting or crocheting took place.
beach vegetation against sunset
Me, watching sunset (Michael can’t seem to get a horizon line straight)
Michael, looking picturesque.
more vegetation
And all along, I stitched away.

I shrunk my socks in the wash – now what?

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I’ve been winding down from a mad sprint that began shortly after Thanksgiving and wrapped up this past week.  It’s been several months of multiple deadlines every week, and staying on top of all the personal and professional obligations has been difficult, to say in the least.

For the first time in what feels like forever Mr. Turtle and I got chores done on Saturday instead of Sunday. It’s our habit to do grocery shopping and laundry on the weekend, and over the last few months laundry has been done on Monday or Tuesday night (or even there’s been weeks skipped), and grocery shopping late on Sunday when we get home.  While it seems like a small thing, being able to get our chores done not at the last minute has been wonderful – once the chores are done I can relax into the weekend.

Since laundry had been skipped last week, there was a plethora of hand-knit socks that needed to get washed.  I like knitting my socks in superwash wool – they go into the washer with the rest of the clothes (cold or warm cycle) and then get pulled out to hang dry.  The rest of the clothes go in the dryer.

My highly technical way of drying socks – over the edge of the sock drawer.

Well, we missed a sock… which made it into the dryer.

Now, this is no great tragedy – I’ve had socks go into the dryer before, but I don’t particularly like it because in the dryer my row gauge shrinks. (I’m not sure why – perhaps because when they are hang drying the weight of the socks keeps the row gauge stretched out?)  Still, it was an interesting comparison between the line dry sock and the hand-dry sock.

Line dry sock left, dryer sock right.

This is a quick snapshot from the ipad – not particularly well exposed, but you can see the difference between the line dried sock (on the left) and the dryer sock (on the right).  The dryer sock is a good inch and a half shorter, and while the ribbing is pleasantly snug, the heel is nearly too small and if I put the sock on… my toes would be quite squished.

Luckily there’s an easy way of fixing the situation.  Now, let me make it clear – the sock on the right did not felt.  It just shrunk a bit – and got blocked in a particularly enthusiastic way.

So I dunked both of the socks in the sink filled with water, blotted them dry with a towel, and then hung them damp on my sock blockers – by tomorrow afternoon latest, they’ll be as good at new.

My socks, looking particularly nice on my sock blockers.

Technology and Organization: How to stay on top of your files.

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This is the next edition of a semi-regular series From the Business Desk I am writing to look at some of the important factors in running a Small Fiber Arts Business.  This month’s feature revolves around using some technology solutions to manage the data and documents your business creates.
In today’s technological age, more and more business documents are being created, transmitted, and stored solely in an electronic format.  Gone are the days of massive file rooms and large physical filing cabinets full of records; for small businesses in particular, digital storage is a booming need.  Being able to store and organize documents smartly is a crucial aspect of any business operation, and the time and effort saved through organization can make a real difference for a business of one or two employees.  This is especially true for fiber arts design shops, where the products, patterns, and media being created comprise the bulk of the value for the business.
For the small business today, there are a wealth of resources available, ranging from free to very cost effective.  These resources are able to store documents in a manner where they can be easily accessible to the business, yet secure and organized to protect the data.  Cloud storage, available through Google, Apple, or Dropbox, to name but a few, can initially be used for free.  This online storage can be accessed anywhere that you have an internet connection.
More locally is the emerging concept of a Personal Cloud.  A personal cloud is a hybrid setup of storage; a cross between an internet based Cloud Storage service and a personal hard drive attached to a computer.  Also known technically as Network Attached Storage (NAS), this technology solution allows you to create, save, and share documents locally within your own business or home network.  
Tinking Turtle’s Personal Cloud looks like any Windows file structure, and
is organized and accessible across multiple computers.

Tinking Turtle has recently set up our own Personal Cloud system to store all of our business data including design information, contracts, and other important documents, in one simple, easy to access location that any computer on our business network can connect to.  This allows us to categorize and file designs and other business documents in an organized, hierarchical manner, while still preserving the ability to share these among members of the business.

Personal Cloud providers such as Western Digital or Seagate now offer affordible data storage solutions with a wide range of features, including automatic backups, audio and video streaming services, and even the ability to access documents anywhere across the internet.  This functionality offers small businesses a key competitive advantage, as by being organized with your company data, you are better able to use your available resources.

Triple H = Helix Herringbone Hat

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Caught in the throes of winter, I’ve managed to convince myself that spring is eminent.  This has nothing to do with reality, and everything to do with the fact I’m tired of winter – it needs to end. Thus, I’ve decided that warmer weather is coming my way.  It’s as if I’ve decided that I can will away winter, just by saying it so.

The colors for this hat were in that vein – chosen entirely because they were bright and counter to the dreary cold of winter.  The hat is Helix Herringbone Hat, and I’m teaching the pattern in a class at Fibre Space next weekend along with a class on Finishing.

What I love about this hat is the details: the herringbone stitch running in a corkscrew around the hat, making the stripes.  The perfect level of slouchy-ness.  The way the blue picks up my eyes.  The wonderful, wonderful drape of Neighborhood Fiber Company’s Rustic Fingering.

I couldn’t resist taking some detail shots of the stitches as it was blocking.  There’s a bowl in my kitchen that is the perfect size for slouchy hats.  I put the hat around the bowl, but leave the brim hanging over the edge, so it doesn’t get stretched out.  The hat ends up with the optimum slouch, while still having the brim be snug enough to keep the hat on.
I modified the hat just a little – decreasing to 12 sts instead of 6 so the stitches at the top make a more distinct star-burst pattern.  I also played around with the decreases just a tad to make the hat come to a bit less than a peak.
I also worked less rounds of the Herringbone stitch – I wanted the stripes concentrated toward the brim with less working themselves up to the crown.  I just ended up working the difference in the lack of stripes with normal rows of stockinette.
I look forward to seeing you at Fibre Space’s class this next Sunday!  Register today.  Bring your needles and your yarn… we’re going to go to town!

Feline Friday.. on Sunday.

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Mr. Turtle and I had been planning on going to the farm for a short weekend, but with the inclement weather on Thursday and Friday, decided against making the trip.  I have to say I’m relieved… it meant we had a much needed weekend resting at home with very few things that needed to be done, aside from the normal chores.  It also means we have been marathoning the second season of House of Cards.  The show, which I didn’t think I would like, has drawn me in – with characters that are morally ambiguous and endlessly fascinating.

It also meant that the kitties could spend a whole bunch of quality time snuggled up with us.

I love that these two are snuggled up, practically mirror images of each other.

I also love catching the cats yawning.
Cats yawns go from “cute cute cute” to “oh my.” to “I’m going to eat your head!”
And It happens very very quickly.

Grief and Legacy

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Last weekend Michael and I made the trip to North Carolina for his grandmother’s funeral.  It was a difficult affair for everyone.  I’d only met his grandmother once in the nearly seven years I’ve known him; which is speaking considering how much time I’ve spent with his other grandmother (nicknamed Oma) and the rest of his family.

Grandma Wilkerson was a difficult woman to be with in the later years of her life.  Bitter over the death of her husband and limited in her willingness to travel, she often made it difficult for people to be around her and reach out.  Michael’s family tended to deal with the situation with a dark humor, and it always made me sad because of the good relationship I have with both of my grandmothers.  It was only at the funeral that I learned of the good things she had done with her life – her involvement in church, the civil rights movement in her community and her organization of programs for the homeless and malnourished.

Sockupied Totem

It’s got me thinking about the legacy that a person leaves behind.  Of my great-grandmother I have stories from my mother and grandmother.  I have crochet and knitted items, collections of old crafting books, and some of the sharpest sewing needles I’ve ever had the fortune to come across.  From one of my grandfathers I have the wooden bookcase he made, from the other a house in Massachusetts and a play kitchen (and many other things).

As for myself, I’d like to believe that I am creating my own heirlooms to pass down to my heirs. I have a lot of knit and crochet items, and I’ve only been at this for a few years.  I have some rather strange bronze masks (those will probably last the longest, if they don’t get destroyed for the bronze).  I have my patterns, many of them floating around on the internet.  I think it’s a good start, even as a wonder what things my heirs will treasure and what things they won’t even remember.

My favorite Reference Books

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Michael and I had to travel unexpectedly this last weekend, and I ended up having to take a lot of work with me, as I had several design calls and patterns to finish up.  This meant I ended up packing several parts of my library, for reference.  I’m not sure what took up more space; the yarn, or the books.

I thought I’d share some of the books I took with me.

Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman:

I love this book for the fun colors and variety of orders, and how each of them is shown going around a corner, so I can think about how I’d adapt things for curves.  I love this one for the inspiration.

Crochet Edgings and Trims, edited by Kate Haxell

Another great reference, this simmer volume I use to supplement the previous one.  Between the two of these they’ve got most of the more complicated trims represented.  I occasionally come across something new, but these two make for a solid edgings collection.


Power Cables, by Lily Chin

Again, great for inspiration, though I rarely use anything in it without modifying it myself, it gives me some good thoughts on how to use texture, if the stitch is a cable or not.


The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques by Margaret Radcliffe

I love her use of color, and I love the variety of stitches featured in here, especially the slipped stitch section.  I love just paging through this book when I need to refresh my brain.


The Principles of Knitting, by June Hemmons Hiatt

Whenever I need a different perspective on how to explain something, I go here.  There is truly very few things missing from this book, and I love how it’s laid out.  It’s a tomb to carry (and there’s a kindle version, but I find that I like the paper).  If you don’t own this book and you love learning the why things work, you should get it.

What do you have in your library and love to refer to?  It doesn’t have to be knitting or crochet related!

5 Ways I Manage My Time

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Things have been hopping over here at Chez Turtle lately, with a number of deadlines, both big and small, looming at the end of January.  I’ve got designing deadlines, design proposals, teaching proposals, finishing and everyday tasks vying for my attention.  And the kicker is?  I’m not by nature a very organized person – in fact, I’d venture to say that must of us who enjoy crafting tend toward the more disorganized side of things.  So how do I stay on top of things?

I share a few tips.

  1. Stay accountable – for me, it means that I’m not running my business alone.  Behind the scenes I have Mr. Turtle (my wonderful husband Michael), checking in with me and making sure things get done.  It’s a delicate balance – asking him to keep me accountable doesn’t mean I want him harping on me.  But it does mean I count on him to check in and make sure things get on my task list, big and small.
  2. Keep track of deadlines – I have a calendar to the left of my computer where I write down deadlines, so I can see, visually, when my high volume parts of the month occur.  it might seem obvious to some that it’s a good idea to keep a calendar, but at one point I had all my deadlines on little scraps of paper scattered throughout the apartment.  Naturally, it didn’t work.
  3. Break it down – I have a bunch of lists that hang out in the center of our kitchen table. There’s a monthly personal list, a monthly business list, and a weekly list, for both myself and Mr. Turtle.  The weekly list is then culled for a few things (no more than seven seems to be my sweet spot) that need to get done each day.  I break things down into tiny steps – like knitting 2″ on a shawl I have due, and I check them off as they get done.  I like watching things get crossed off.
  4. Keep it small – Mr. Turtle helps me a lot with this one.  Sometimes I get these grand ideas of what I can accomplish in a day… and he has to remind me that I need to keep things from getting overwhelming!  Small attainable goals will always beat big goals.
  5. Enable yourself to succeed – I realized that there was an item on my list that’d been copied to the new list for several weeks.  Last night I stopped and thought through why I hadn’t gotten the task done… and I realized I didn’t have the tools to get it done.  I needed information I didn’t have.  No wonder why I’d been avoiding it!  So today, instead of that task being on my list, I’ve broken the task down, and just set myself the goal of getting the information I need to finish the task.
How do you manage to keep yourself organized?

Breaking it Down: Embroidering with Crochet

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Today I’ve got a fun and different tutorial for you.  It’s crochet based, but it’s also based on embroidery.  This is actually a technique that is called tambour, and it’s usually worked with a specialty tool, much like a crochet hook.  But for beginners, or for those who are just interested in the craft, this is a good way to start.
For this tutorial you’ll need some fabric, a very fine crochet hook (I used a size 10 steel hook), embroidery floss, some crayons, a piece of paper, and an iron.  You’ll also need an embroidery frame.

First, you’ll sketch out your design in the crayons.  I prefer crayola crayons, because they seem to have the best color.  Press well and make sure that your color is the depth of color you want.  Coloring in the background means if you don’t embroider everything, the color will show through, which is a neat effect, I think.

Next, iron the design into the fabric.  I use the highest heat setting.  Put the side with the colored design face down with a piece of paper underneath (as some of the wax from the crayons will melt off).

Then, proceed to iron.

See the faint impression of the crayon?  This is why the ironing is important.

Secure your design in an embroidery frame, making sure the fabric is tight.

Take the embroidery floss and the tiny crochet hook.  Insert the crochet hook from the front to the back, and pull a loop of the floss through the fabric.

It might take a bit of wiggling, but it’ll work.

Pull the loop up to the front side.  You now have your working loop.

Now, punch through, grab another loop from the yarn in the back, and pull that through the fabric.  Pull the first loop through the second loop.

Continue, punching the hook through the fabric,

Grabbing a loop and pulling it through the fabric,

… and pulling the new loop through the old loop.

At this point you should be tracing the outside of the design.  The back should look like a straight line, while the front should look like the chains stitch.  Here’s a look at the view from the back, the hook coming through the fabric,

And pulling grabbing the loop,

and pulling it through to the front-side.

Now, you pull the first loop through the second loop.

Here, I’ve traced the outside of the apple, and I’ve finished with this series of stitches.  How do I finish the chain stitches off?  First, I begin pulling the live loop through the fabric.

More…

And more….

Until the floss in the loop is all on the front side.  But now my leftover floss is on the wrong side of the work.  What next?

Now I grab the thread from the other side (the wrong side) and pull it through the fabric once more.

All the way to the back!  Here, I can knot it and weave in the ends!

Tah-Dah!  What do you think?

6 Ways to Increase your Knitting Speed

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Nearly everyone I’ve met has, at one point or another, expressed a desire to speed up their knitting. Here’s a few tricks (some fast, some not) to speed up your knitting.

  1. Knit off the Tips: that is, move your stitches to the tips of your needles.  When we first learned to write when we were children, I know many of us held our pencils in the middle of the pencil, only to have our teachers slide our fingers closer to the point of the pencil.  The closer your fingers are to the action, the less movement you have to do, and the less time each stitch takes.  Beginners often hold their stitches far away from the tips of the needles, afraid the stitches will fall off.  It can quickly become a habit.  Move your stitches and fingers closer to the tips of the needle, and things will gradually speed up.
  2. Watch for unnecessary movements. Sometimes when we first learn to knit we acquire extra movements that aren’t necessary for knitting.  Watch your hands while knitting (and especially purling) to make sure everything you do is necessary to creating a stitch.
  3. Stay relaxed. The more your muscles tense up, the more you are fighting against yourself.  When you are practicing speeding up your knitting, try to keep your wrists, shoulders and arms relaxed.
  4. Keep a finger on the next and following stitches.  You can see here how the pointer fingers of both hands are holding the stitches on the needles.
  5. Learn a different method of knitting.  While most people knit English Style, it is far from the fastest way of knitting.  Try learning continental, Portuguese style, or something similar to the Yarn Harlot’s Cottage Knitting style.
  6. Watch your posture.  The more you hunch over your knitting, the slower you’re going to get.  Practice good posture and keeping your hands low in your lap instead of holding them midair.

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