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Four Pillars

Tinking Turtle Raverly

Back Home from the Holidays

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Michael and I staggered in from traveling home on Thursday.  It’s now Sunday, and I finally feel like I’ve recovered from traveling.  While I have much to tell of our adventures while we went home to visit my parents, I thought I would share the sight of what greeted us when we returned home.

Apparently Peake and Watson got bored while we were gone, and we returned to find that they had gotten into one of the boxes where I store my yarn.  Luckily most of the yarn was odds and ends from other projects – so no great loss, but I’m baffled as to how they got in the box – seeing as they had to pull it out of a shelf, take off the top of the box, and then open another box that was inside of it.  *Shakes head* These cats are perhaps smarter than I realized.  Also, I think they have thumbs they are hiding from us.

It was like a scene from a movie will lasers going across the room – the was yarn wrapped around the couch, through and around the Christmas tree, around the dinning room table, through chairs, around the office chairs and the checkered table… let’s just say I’m glad we didn’t have a bigger apartment, as I shudder to think of how much of a mess they could have made in a bigger home.

After contemplating untangling the whole thing, I got out the scissors and cut.  No doubt I could have untangled it all – so long as I wanted to devote the next few days to fixing it.

Luckily, that was the worst of the trouble they got into.  We had the foresight to bring all the houseplants into the bedroom, so they couldn’t knock over any of those, and all the knicknacks were stashed safely away.  There were a few Christmas garlands torn down, a new ornaments that were off the tree, but it was all small fries.

Meanwhile, I’m brainstorming new ways to make sure they don’t get into my boxes of yarn.

Students Report In!

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One of my favorite things about being a knit and crochet designer and teacher is that I get to live vicariously through my students.  Because most of the projects I crochet are original designs, I rarely get to try out the beautiful other patterns other designers produce.

Elizabeth was one of my students a couple of months ago.  She came into The Yarn Spot for some private lessons, and simply took to crochet like water.  Next thing I know she’s taking some of my intermediate classes and showing me pictures like the ones to the side.  In a few short weeks she had made ENTIRE AFGHANS.  Do you know in the many years I’ve been crocheting how many afghans I’ve made?  One.  And I stopped early because I got bored.  It ended up being a lap blanket.

So in order to get in the head of someone so incredibly motivated and excited about her new hobby, I “invited” (really demanded, but she’s accommodating) Elizabeth to answer a few questions about herself.

Look how large this blanket is.
Why did you want to learn to crochet?
Two of my favorite things in my home are a blanket made by my Aunt Connie for me when I was little and a housewarming gift made by one of my best high school friends. Both are chevron crocheted blankets. I have always felt loved cuddling up in them and being able to make those for other people in my life is what made me want to learn to crochet. 
What would you like to learn to do in the future?
I’ve just started making stuffed animals, and I think, at some point, lace might be fun. But really I have no idea 🙂
Quick! Your’re an animal, what are you?
Penguin.
What type of projects are you looking at doing next?
I am working on a stuffed dinosaur and a blanket for my husband. I think, after that, I would like to try a project involving granny squares. 
What words of encouragement would you say to other crocheters or knitters who are just starting out?
Keep at it! It’s fun and relaxing all at the same time, and the feeling of finishing up your first gift is amazing. 

This one is pretty big too – and the stitches came out beautiful and regular.

Thank you Elizabeth for stopping by and showing off your hard work.  Keep at it!

Are you a student that’s taken one of my classes or a private lesson?  Have you ever worked one of my patterns?  I’d love to hear about you and your projects!

Making Pomander Balls and Decorating for the Holidays

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Things are happening around here lately.  On the professional front, I have a a due-date on Dec 21 – I’ve got a week and change to get things done.  Let’s be frank – it’s going to be close.  But I’ve already got a lot of the math done, and one of the sleeves done, so I think I’ll be good on turning this in on time.  It helps that the sample I’m making is only for myself – the company makes their own samples, so I don’t have to have my sample quite done by the time the written pattern is in.  The hard part?  My math has to be spot on.

Michael and I went and got a tree last night.  It’s fat and pretty and now dominates the apartment.  It smells of pine trees.  After we brought home the tree and set it up, Michael took to stringing lights right away, but I had some emails to send.  When I turned around after (well I’m not quite sure how long…) I’d finished, the apartment was a glowing belighted place.  Michael did a good job.

The only thing left for me to do was make a Pomander.  What’s a pomander?  Well, sources argue about its origins, but around the 15th century they were being used as air-fresheners in more fortunate homes.  Made of cloves and oranges (both expensive items) they were a classy way of spicing up the air.  I learned to make them in Sweden when I was abroad, though they pop up all over Europe and the United States.  I can’t vouch for anywhere else (so international readers, pipe up if you know what a pomander is, or if it has a different word).

What you basically do is take whole cloves, and poke them into any hard-skinned citrus fruit like oranges, clementines, mandarins, and more rarely lemons and limes.  They work like an air freshener, infusing the air with orange essential oils and the smell of cloves.

He’s the process of making mine:

What you’ll need: a medium sized orange
(one that looks nice and smells even better), about .75 oz of cloves,
string and a toothpick, small knitting needle or small grade nail.
Tie string around the orange.  I wrapped mine around several times,
securing the string each time I got  to where it crossed.
I had eight lines running around.
Some people like to use ribbon; if you go that route,
add it at the end so the ribbon doesn’t get  stained with orange juice.
Secure with a little glue.
For now, just mark where the ribbon is supposed to go so you don’t put cloves there.

Use the toothpick or other poke tool to poke holes in the
orange where you want the cloves to go. This makes it
easier not to break the cloves.  I like to use a few cloves to
secure the string so they don’t slip around.  Then, trace a design
onto your orange with the cloves.  I just followed the string.
You want to use as many cloves as you have. The more cloves
in the orange, the less likely it is to mold.  Also, the more fragrant.
Hang your pomander.
As it ages it will shrink, and you might have to push the cloves
further in or tighten the string/ribbon.

Have fun!

Writing a Pattern

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scribbling as I thought things through –
when I write notes, I always label  them with name and date,
a holdover from highschool. Blocked here because it’s a secret.

My schedule is changing over the next few weeks, as I leave one part time occupation and move to doing more designing.  The good news: I’m managing to make more money designing.  The scary news: in order to continue to make more money designing, I need to devote more time to it, which means shifting things around.

I don’t always embrace changes, especially changes in my routine.

But the benifit to my new schedule is that I’m fairly certain I can swing devoting ONE WHOLE DAY A WEEK to designing.  Which is great, because I’m the type of person who likes to sink into a project.  In college I was much happier putting aside a weekend and locking myself in the library while I worked on a sculpture, did research or wrote a thesis draft.  I’m not the type of person who can naturally plug away at a project in little chunks.  This isn’t to say that I can’t do it – it just doesn’t come naturally to me.

Well, yesterday I had the whole day to working on one of my projects – a design that will be coming out in July (tentatively).  Now some things like socks the ratios just come naturally to me.  I can make the pattern and the sample at the same time, because I have a very good idea of what I need to do.  But for sweaters, I try to do a rough draft before I start working.

This does a few things: I can’t revise if I don’t have something written down.  Have a rough draft printed out means I can write notes as I go and a thought comes to me on how to explain something.

Having a rough draft also forces me to think through the project from beginning to end.  Are there places where a picture might help explain a technique?  I can do that while I’m working on the sample.

It also forces me to make sure my math is right.

BUT.  Writing a rough draft means I need to think through every step, and do the math for ALL THE SIZES to make sure that what works for the small and medium will also work for the large.  It also means I need to set aside a chunk of time to think through everything – to sink myself into the project and imerse myself.  This isn’t something I can chip away at for a few hours here and a few hours there.  I need, at least a couple hour block.

And I got that yesterday.  The rough draft is written.  I’m ready to get started.  Wish me luck.

*Pokes Head Out*

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I don’t know about anyone else, but the holidays are taking their toll.  It seems like a confluence of tasks for planning the wedding, plus general Christmas preparations has left me with very little brain to spare.

Last weekend I had a class at The Yarn Spot teaching students to crochet stuffed animals.  The class used three of Fresh Stitches patterns: the brontosaurus, the cow, the turkey and the owl.  Out of a class of four, two chose the brontosaurus, one the owl and one the cow.  I brought a half-finished cow to the class so everyone could see the different techniques I was teaching.

I tried to get a picture of the half-finshed cow, but I had a day where I couldn’t seem to take a decent picture.  There was always either a thumb or cat in the picture.  The best I could do was this:

I’ve been working hard in the background on some neat developments.  I hope to be able to announce them before the end of the year – but we’ll see.

Anyhoo, the cow has gotten me on a crochet kick, and I’ve got some cute little stuffed animals planned for various people over Christmas.  I also have a deadline four days before Christmas, so we’ll see how that goes.  *Wince*

How are you preparing for the New Year?

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