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Tinking Turtle Raverly

Stitching, other than Knitting and Crochet

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While Michael and I were in India, my backpack gave up the ghost.  I’d been babying it for a while, as the zipper had some weak spots where the toggle would jump the track.  But I’d been making it work.  While we were shopping one day, Michael was putting our purchases in the backpack, and being rather rough with it.  I told him, “Be careful, the zipper is delicate.”

He said, “I’ve got it.”

A moment later, he yanked and it broke broke.

Try as we might, that zipper pull wasn’t going back on the track.  In desperation, we cut a hole in the fabric to strap it shut with a length of twine, and I struggled not to be mad at him the rest of the day.

When we got home, we had one gift card left from the wedding that we hadn’t used.  We decided this was going to be used to buy me a new backpack.  So I looked for a new backpack.

Now, it must be said.  I’ve had this backpack for eight years.  It’s been with me since the first day of college, and has carried two computers, books, projects, and more things than I can count.  It’s been to Sweden, across the United States, to India, Norway, and I’ve carried it 5 days out of 7 for the last eight years.  I haven’t had a seam split or a strap break or anything. (It’s one of the higher end models by Jansport).  It has a place to put my computer, with ample padding and a shock absorbing insert on the bottom in case I drop it (which I’ve done a lot).  A roomy main pocket, a headphone pocket that is perfect for a pair of in-progress socks, and plenty of other pockets.

When I looked online, nothing fit.  None of the backpacks I could find (even the ones out of my price-range) had adequate padding.  The shoulder straps were wonky.  I wasn’t looking for much, but nothing fit.  After hitting up multiple stores to look at backpacks in person, and searching online more than I cared to admit, it occurred to me that I might be happier if I just replaced the zipper myself.

So I went digging in my stash of zippers (as my grandmother threw nothing away, and this included clipping buttons and zippers out of everything). Miracle upon miracle, I found a jacket zipper that worked (it means that instead of zipping out from the middle, it zips out from the sides) and fit the hole.

Below follows the process of resurrecting the backpack, if you ever are interested in doing the same:

I unpicked the stitches to the zipper on one side.  On the other side (the part with the red zipper flap) the seam also
held the zipper flap, so I just sewed the new zipper flush to the old zipper.  This worked surprisingly well.
A simple running stitch made in super-tiny stitches worked really well.  I used a bright color for my eyes, and because
 when making repairs of this nature, I had no ability to hide the repair, so might as well make it a design feature, right?
New zipper lying flush to old zipper.
Patience is a virtue.  Halfway through I realized that I’d sewn the zipper in with a twist, had to unpick it and re-sew it.
The cats could not stop staring at me the whole time.  Thread, flicking and moving and
oh-so-pounce-able, and they got spritzed every time they tried to go for it.
Zipper nearly finished, working as it should.

I love the Northeast – and soon I’ll be there Teaching at The New England Fiber Festival!

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I was talking with my sister, Rosemary, the other day.  Rosemary and I are six years apart, and in many ways that is no time at all, but when it comes to childhood memories factors in quite a bit.  She had few memories of the years we lived in Leominster, MA, or Vincent, OH.  Since the time she was five or six, we’ve lived in New York, just outside of Albany, and for her, she will always have come from New York.

Either a function of being the oldest, or just having a better memory, I have many more memories of my time living in Massachusetts.  And even after we moved away, I considered myself from there, as each year I’d go to camp in the summer in the Berkshires.  In many ways, my heart still is that of a New England-er, and each year about this time, when I know that the hills of the Berkshires are on fire with the leaves.  Now, Maryland has some decent trees that turn color, but it isn’t the same.  The varieties of apples available are a different breed, and the air just feels different.

Hairpin Lace Scarf we’ll be working on!

I guess everyone has to have something they are crotchety about.

It’s for that reason I’m so excited that, in two short weeks, I’ll be teaching at the New England Fiber Festival.  It is almost like returning home.  I’ll be a stone’s throw away from one of the first LYS’s I was ever exposed to, Webs and Northampton Wool, and a couple of miles away from my grandmother and my cousins.  I’ll be teaching 2 classes: “Hairpin Lace Scarf in a Day” and “Crazy Mixed-Up Slipped Stitches.”

I am SO excited.

If you are from the area, I hope to see you there.  And if you aren’t, share the news with someone you know!  The more the merrier!

The Benefits of Doing Something Yourself

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Picking herbs at an open farm day at our
farm share, Spiral Path Farms.

Michael and I have promised ourselves that this is the last week of apple processing.  Really.  We’d promised ourselves that it was going to be the last 2 weeks ago, but I was tempted by a crate of apples for $25 (it worked out to be less than $1 per lb, which is a great price in these parts!) and have been drying apples for camping and snacking.  Michael on the other hand found a few coworkers who wanted to buy apple butter off of him, and Michael was only too willing to sell jars to them.  So he, also, is replenishing the stock of canned things.  At the end of this, we will have processed more than 150 lbs of apples… quite frankly, it probably was more.  And after we finish the apples?  We’re going to try our hand at cheese and yogurt.

A couple of our friends have questioned our sanity, spending so much time canning and preserving when things are much cheaper and less time-consuming if you buy them at the grocery store.  However, when I talk about canning and such with knitters and crocheters, I receive far less of that attitude.  I think knitters and crocheters “get it” far more than others.  Why?  Because we all see the benefits to doing things ourselves.  So for those of you stumped by the stitchers, canners, or other DIY people out there, here’s a list of reasons why we love taking the time to do it ourselves.

Our apple peeler, slicer and corer.  I love it.
  • You know what is in it.  When you are canning fruits and vegetables, you have control of every little thing you put in the jar.  It can be exactly the way you want it.  The same thing with knitting and crocheting.  You have control over the yarn and it’s contents, the pattern, fit, style and feel of the fabric.  Either way, you can make intentional choices about what goes into the final product.
  • You know where it’s come from.  In the same way you have control over what you create, you have control over the object’s origins.  For food, that means I can choose the freshest, best ingredients.  If I want organic, I can procure organic food.  If you make your own sweater, you can choose what yarn you want, and you can make informed choices about how it is sourced.  Since you are the one making the garment, you know it was made in ethical conditions.  If you want to support the local economy, you can choose yarn that is made entirely in the United States (Like Shepherd’s Wool) or a local dyer (like Dragonfly Fibers, for me).
  • I find a meditative quality to making my own things.  The repetition of stitch stacking upon stitch.  The motion as I crank applesauce through our food mill.  There is a thoughtfulness and deliberateness to doing the same thing over and over, where it acquires more meaning because there’s more thought and deliberation put into each step.  Or maybe it’s just me.  I’ve always liked repetitive tasks.
  • There’s satisfaction in doing something yourself.  On our fridge, we have a magnet that reads, “I eat Local, because I CAN.”  It’s both a reminder and a boast.  We eat local, because we can and preserve.  We also eat local because we are fortunate enough to have access to local produce. Either way, it’s a boast, because when it comes down to it, there’s something really satisfying when you pop open the top to something you canned yourself and you make a meal out it.  I get the same feeling when I knit or crochet.  There’s something incredibly satisfying about having someone compliment something you made and being able to say, “Thank you. I made it.”  The socks that I made myself are warmer, even if it’s only my imagination.  The food that I can myself is tastier, even if it’s just because I remember making it.
What, aside from stitching, do you find satisfaction doing on your own?  Let me know on Twitter, Facebook or in the comments below!

Plaited Hat in Interweave Crochet Accessories

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by Jennifer Raymond

Published in: Interweave Crochet, Accessories 2014
Craft: Crochet
Category: Hat → Beanie, Toque
Published: October 2013
Yarns suggested: South West Trading Company Therapi
Yarn weight: Worsted / 10 ply (9 wpi) Information on yarn weights
Gauge: 15 stitches and 8.5 rows = 4 inches in dc
Hook size: 4.0 mm (G)
Yardage: 440 yards (402 m)
Sizes available: Finished Size 14 (16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)” head circumference to fit child’s XS (S, M, L, XL), adult
(S, M, L, XL). Sample shown in 22″. Hat is meant to be worn with 1–2″ negative ease.

Rainy Weekend Activity – Darning Socks

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Like most of the East Coast, this past weekend was a rainy drizzly grey one.  I bravely left the apartment for teaching classes, but in the evening I snuggled into the couch with my really ugly slippers, a blanket, tea and one of my two current projects.  I’m working a technique that I’m hoping to turn into a design proposal, so I can’t show pictures of that right now.  The other thing I was working on was repairing a pair of socks.

As the old adage goes, “A stitch in time, saves nine.” I’m trying to avoid a more extensive repair by reinforcing the heel right now.  Not a surprise these have worn out – the yarn is stellar, but I wear these socks for 3 days straight.  They get so comfy and nice.
Eagle-eyed readers will notice that the area I’m repairing has twisted stitches, and I’m reinforcing it without twisting my stitches.  While I could repair every row and twist the thread as I’m working, I was feeling lazy.  The twisted stitches were part of an experiment to see if adding twisted stitches on the sole of the sock would reinforce the sock – and my conclusion is, it doesn’t really matter that much.  The sole would be worn out at this point (going on 4+ years that I’ve been wearing them, I believe) no matter if the stitches were twisted or not.
On another note, it’s a really precious thing to get pictures of me working on a project from this angle.  Whenever I try and get this angle on my own, with a tripod, it ends up looking rather awkward.  If not, it takes me an hour and a half to get a shot I’m happy with (seeing as I don’t have a remote trigger). Yesterday, I was up in the morning, and the light coming in the room was just beautiful, and I was looking at my project wishing I could get a picture of what I’m doing, because I never get a good picture of me darning something.
Then Becca, my best friend who is visiting, wandered out of the guest bedroom looking sleepy, and I co-oped her into taking some photos.  Best friend for the win.  Despite being a Nikon girl, she managed to bear with me while I set the settings on my Canon and handed her the camera.
I also tried to persuade her that it would be a good idea to wake up at 6 am and go for a walk so I could take some project photos on her.  She nixed that one.  Smart girl.

Duct Tape Dress Forms at Woolwinders

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I’ve taught my Duct Tape Dress Forms class a couple of times before.  Actually, I’ve taught it enough times that I’ve lost count.  You’d think after teaching it a bunch of times it’d get predictable – and in some ways you’d be right. I have a much better sense of how the class works as far as timing, and I can predict a little bit better the questions people ask.

BUT, each time I do the class I end up laughing, surprised and delighted by the stories and antics my students get into.  There’s something about being wrapped in ductape, learning about your body and how best to make adjustments for it, that just gets people to open up.  By the end of the class people leave tuckered out and smiling.  I love that.

I’ll leave you with some pictures from the class:

 

4 Quick Exercises to Draw Inspiration From Nature

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Credit: Chimney Corners Camp

I’ve mentioned before that Fall is my favorite season.  The apartment smells like apples for the third week in a row (the applesauce is done, the apple butter and apple pie filling. We’ve moved on to dry apples).  I’ve pulled out my comfy sweatshirts and my slippers.  I’ve moved away from socks (my go-to summer knitting) to a snugly rug for in front of my bathroom.  And every day as I go for a walk or travel to and fro, I stop and look at the leaves to see the color gradually change (I can’t help feel competitive; the camp where I grew up is already in a glory of color).

For me, I see echos of nature wherever I go, and they come to roost in the back of my brain, to slip out weeks or months later when a design call has need.  But sometimes it’s fun to do different things to get yourself inspired about nature.  Below is a list of different exercises I sometimes use when working on a design call.

  1. Capturing lines: go for a walk with a camera or sketchbook.  Get really close to things and
    by PictureWendy

    sketch them.  Use only the most basic lines.  I love looking at butterfly wings, veins in leaves, whorls in seashells or patterns in broccoli.  Could you replicate those patterns or lines with stitches?

  2. Unexpected color: I love going to the farmer’s market and finding unexpected color combinations.  Go to the zoo or hop on pinterest.  What colors does nature throw together that are unexpected or stunning?  Try pairing green with practically anything.  Flowers in all colors pair well with green. Try to replicate that in your own colorwork.
  3. Touchable texture: there are so many different textures you can encounter in the great big world!  Find something nubby, bumpy or three-dimensional.  How would you capture that in knit or crochet?  What would you do?
    by klugi
  4. Fractals or repeating patterns: I love going on pinterest and finding cool or interesting patterns.  There are so many repeating patterns in the water, in the air, or represented in flowers.  Could you take that pattern and put it on a hat, shawl or other creation?  What about the radiating lines of a palm leaf – would you capture that in intarsia, stranded knitting, or Irish Crochet? What about the interwoven patterns of exposed roots or rock – is that cablework, knotwork, or something else entirely?
Looking for more ways to get inspired?  Two of my favorite books are The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and the short and sweet Design Sources for Pattern by Jan Messent.

So you want to work for yourself: Now What?

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From the Business Desk

Welcome to the first edition of a semi-regular series that I will be contributing to this site focusing on the business side of running a small fiber arts business.  As introduced in the first post I wrote earlier this week, I officially

 joined the Tinking Turtle team back in August to take on management of the business side of the organization: contract management, accounting and bookkeeping, and strategic/structural planning.  I plan on writing monthly topics discussing some of the trials, tribulations, and learning experiences that have come about in the past three plus years as a small business.

For my first topic, I wanted to open the door with an overview of small business organization, as for many business owners, this is the first consideration after making the plunge and deciding you want to start being your own boss.

The most significant difference that a business owner should understand  among all levels of organization is that there is a trade off between operational flexibility and protection from risk.  As a business owner, this is accomplished by either legally separating your business and yourself into two separate entities, to reduce your individual liability and risk in the event of an issue, or by having you and the business be one and the same to maximize your flexibility and minimize your reporting requirements.

The IRS has a great overview site to discuss how different organizational structures are affected by taxation and reporting requirements.  Additionally, a wonderful resource for the crafty type person to begin to explore what option would be best for you is The Craft Artist’s Legal Guide, presented by NOLO.

Please note that the below information is presented as advice only.  If you are considering any of these specific options, it is highly recommended that you consult with an accountant or attorney to understand any additional legal ramifications of your decision.

The core business structures a small business would be considering fall into three primary groups: Sole Proprietorships, Partnerships, and Corporations of various types.  Sole Proprietorship and Partnerships are considered unincorporated types of business, while the various type of Corporation, explained below, are all incorporated, which means they are legal entities filed within the state of primary operations of the business.

There are no requirements to being operating your business as a Sole Proprietorship at the macro level (certain municipalities may require business licenses, be sure to check with your local licensing board first!); once you start operations, you are operating under this structure.  With the Sole Proprietorship, your only structural requirements are to file additional forms with your income tax on an annual basis.  The drawback of this level of organization is that there is limited protection from risk as a Sole Proprietor, so you personally can be held accountable for the debts and tax liability of your business.

Partnerships are similar to Sole Proprietorship in that they require little formal reporting outside of an annual report to the IRS.  Partnerships are strongly recommended to prepare a formal agreement, to codify some of the responsibilities or distributions, especially if it is not an even split between the applicable parties.  Partnerships additionally do not limit individual liability, and in the event of a dispute, all partners and their assets are considered fair game.

The most formal level of organization for a small business is one of many types of Corporations.  There are three specific types, all of which exist as stand-alone entities, separate from the business owners: the S Corporation (S-Corp), the C Corporation (C-Corp or what is traditionally referred to as a Corporation) and the Limited Liability Corporation (LLC).  The largest difference between these different structures are how corporate taxes are handled; C-Corps are taxed as separate corporate entities with a separate tax governance and structure; S-Corps are what are considered “pass through” entities, where any tax burden is paid by the owners or shareholders.  LLCs are a fairly new entity that are governed by state law, and can be organized in multiple ways, but that’s a topic for another post.  Any of these forms of corporation are established by incorporating with the cognizant state authority, usually the Secretary of State.

No matter which structure you choose for your business, having a plan for how you want to establish yourself is key to being a successful business owner, and turn the craft hobby that you love into a viable profession.

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