And the releases keep coming! I’m proud to announce I have an article in the Interweave Knits Fall 2018 issue on repairing and reweaving cables in knitwear.
My piece appears on page 64. You can also find a copy of the article on the Interweave Knitting Page.
The article offers tips and tricks to repairing cables. I’ve added in some expert tips about where I source my yarn. I think the editorial staff at Intwerave did a great job laying out the article and making it the best it can be!
I’m proud to announce the release of my class All About Yarn with Interweave. This class has been a long time in coming! It’s a version of one of my most popular topics to talk about: why yarns act the way they do. I’ve been working to get this information to a wider audience, and I feel that this fits that niche. Let me tell you a little bit more about the class:
Ever find what you think is the perfect yarn for the perfect project, only to find that they are not perfect together at all? Ever fret over substituting one yarn for another? Join Jennifer Raymond and discover why a yarn that is luscious for lace can be a fail when it comes to cables. Look at your stash with fresh eyes, and visit your LYS knowing how to choose and use the right yarn for whatever you want to make. Prepare to learn All About Yarn.
In this Online Workshop you’ll:
Lesson Outline:
Skill Level: Beginner on up. Though aimed at knitters, this workshop is also appropriate for crocheters or any maker interested in yarn.
Materials required: None! Though you may find it helpful to rummage through your yarn stash while watching.
About the Instructor:
Jennifer Raymond is a knitter, crocheter, and spinner based in Ashland, Virginia, with more than 20 years of stitching experience. A teacher and designer, she also has a business repairing and restoring heirloom knit and crochet pieces.
I’ve been working and plugging away at a number of repair projects, and while I’ve been posting them to Instagram, I thought I’d highlight a few here. We’ve got one crochet piece and one knit piece.
The knit piece features a stocking that was hung over the fireplace with care – but was hung a little too close to the flames!
a christmas stocking with a hole burned through it
Not only did the warmth of the fire burn through the stocking, but it melted one of the stocking stuffers to the fabric, causing the bottle to leak all over the fibers. It was a mess!
A side note: this is a really good reason to use wool when making anything that will get anywhere near heat – wool does not melt or burn like acrylic or cotton.
repaired christmas stocking ready to go back to its owners
This stocking needed an overhaul – I pulled things out at the ankle and re-knit the foot. I’m pretty pleases with the color matching – not perfect, but pretty close!
The other project I wrapped up was a crochet afghan that had developed a hole. It was a nice diversion, since the last few repairs I’ve done of crochet afghans have been plain single crochet.
The first step was isolating the crochet stitches that were in danger of unraveling. Because this pattern is a gathered stitch, things are a little more tricky – there isn’t a one-to-one ratio of stitches.
Then there’s the process of re-crocheting the area. I had a choice here: I didn’t have any of the blanket yarn I could harvest, so I could either use a closely matching yarn (which is tough to find with cream colored things), or I could crochet the piece in a slightly tighter gauge so I would have enough yarn to do the repairs (and weave in ends).
This is a strategy that works well over a small area – in this case, this one pinwheel (marked by the teal thread). Over larger areas this would cause the area to pucker.
And that is most of what I’ve been working on! What projects have you gotten off the needles/hook?
I’ve been considering doing the Master Knitter program for a while now. Rather halfheartedly, because I wasn’t really sure where I would find the time, and I wasn’t sure of the benefit the designation would give me. However, after Unwind, Mr. Turtle decided it was time to give me the push and sign me up for the Master Hand Knitter program. Then I’d be committed. The theory being, is that even at 30 years of age (with a child now!) I’m often still perceived as being younger and thus less experienced. (Ageism, anyone?) The Master Hand Knitter certification would be a way for me to have outside validation that I know my stuff – and hopefully open more doors for teaching and other opportunities.
So I’ve been working on the swatches and reports for the first level, and it’s an interesting process. Let me be clear before I write the next part: I have the utmost respect for the TKGA Master Hand Knitter Program.
Saying that, I’m finding doing the swatches and the work utterly boring and frustrating and counter-intuitive to my personality. Hint: I’m not that great a rule-following, and I tend to think I know better than the directions.
Part of this may improve with time as I get to the more difficult levels. But part of me wishes that there was a way to “test out” of the lower levels – these swatches of garter stitch, stockinette, and basic lace are driving me BONKERS. I understand that you need to follow the directions exactly – so that they can tell that you can follow directions, so that you can demonstrate that you can do various skills like yarn-overs and decreases without twisting stitches.
The whole thing is terribly tedious.
Then, I need to write reports about various techniques, citing sources and answering questions. I need to be able to write directions on how to do the various skills to demonstrate that I can explain things clearly.
And the whole time I feel like this work is pulling me away from things I would rather do with my leisure or work time. I’m trying to keep my eye on the prize – that big shiny pin and the proof that I’m able to do this work. But… I’m finding it hard. Part of it is I’m not entirely convinced that the time I spend on the Master Hand Knitter Certification will actually have any affect on my marketability. And part of it is I feel like my accomplishments should be able to speak for themselves, instead of doing what feels like busywork.
But! Continuing education is a good thing. And who knows, maybe I’ll get my ego checked a little bit, and find things that I need to improve on.
Anyone else looked at or done the Master Hand Knitters Program? What were your thoughts?
I had a client get in touch with me a couple of weeks ago. In my client’s words the situation was this:
I got your name from the local yarn store. I have a blanket my wife made for my daughter. My daughter’s dog put a hole in it (see photos) and now I need a repair to restore peace and civility to my family. Is this something you could do (I hope)?
Clearly I had to help!
The hole was oriented across two of the different colors in the blanket, spanning 5-6 rows, depending on how you want to count it. On a big plus, the person who crocheted the blanket had kept all the yarn that was leftover, giving me plenty to work with when making the repairs – a true luxury! I was able to dive into the repairs right away.
In most cases it’s better to make the hole bigger to make the repair, as long as you have a good amount of yarn to work with. This way you aren’t working into damaged yarn, and you have enough of the ends to weave in. Here, I’ve already worked the first row of the repair. I like to pin my ends out of the way using locking stitch markers. Because this was worked in rows and turned, I flip the entire blanket each time I repair a row, to work it in the direction of the repairs. Re-crocheting each row isn’t the tricky part. The tricky part is the last row when you have to connect the old rows with the new. You’ll see I’m using stitch markers to hold the base of each of the half-double crochets that have been worked.
After working a couple of rows normally, it’s time to close up the hole and reconnect the old stitches to the new. This takes some real patience, as each row you need to crochet a stitch, then take a needle and sew together the newly created stitch through the one above it. I’m finding that the final row sometimes takes as much time as the entire rest of the repair, depending on how big the hole is!
Getting to the end with all the tools I use in play. A smaller crochet hook for maneuvering things right where I want them, and the larger crochet hook so I can match gauge.
At this point Mr. Turtle wanders through and asks what I’m doing. “I’m restoring peace and civility to a client’s home,” was my response.
Finally finished weaving things together! I was so pleased with how the repairs came out!
Now it’s time to finish weaving in the ends and this piece can go back to its owner.
Nearly a year ago, in preparation for Little Turtle’s arrival, I made a dress. Based off of my Rosemary and Bay pattern, this version was for my own child,much anticipated at that point. I made the dress with a Shamrock and a bit of a St. Patrick’s day flair, since part of my family is Boston Irish, and I love the green shamrock motif. It seemed lucky to make a dress for my future daughter with a shamrock on it. Last week I got to put her in it, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the fit.
First of all, it’s taken me nearly 10 months to realize if I kept the sticker on the paper, I could get Rebecca to hold it in a way that looks like she is holding up a sign… doh!
But let me get back to the dress!
I’ve written about this dress before, HERE. But I didn’t share the details. The greenish yarn is from Mountain Colors, and is their Twizzle. I’d originally gotten enough to make myself a vest, but then decided instead to use it to make a slouchy hat (which Michael then washed and accidentally felted so…). This is made from some of the scraps. The yoke, hem and waistband area ll made in Mountain Colors Twizzle. The body is knit in cream, and is from Willow. It’s Willow Yarns Attire Light. This yarn had some faults in it, so there were more ends to weave in than usual.
When I made the dress, I accidentally reversed the directions halfway through, so the “seam” is smack dab in the middle of the dress, underneath the shamrock. I’m not too pleased with it, but I’m not going to rip it all out so… I doubt anyone really notices when it is on Rebecca.
Golly, we’ve got a lot going on at the Turtle-Wrangling Ranch! It must be spring, as my class schedule is picking up as I teach at Fiber Festivals and local venues. Check out some of the highlights:
Dances With Wool is located southwest of Richmond, VA in Midlothian. I’ve got a bunch of classes I’ll be teaching there in the next few weeks:
Fibre Space is one of my all-time favorite stores to teach in (partially because I love all the places to eat lunch in Alexandria… shhh!).
Next weekend I’ll be in North Carolina for the Carolina Fiber Fest. This’ll be my second time teaching at this fiber festival, and it’s at a new location! I’ll be teaching:
Lately I’ve been able to dig my teeth into some interesting projects like the hobbyhorse blanket I repaired a couple of weeks ago. Today I wanted to share with you another project I’m working on. I was approached by a client interested in having six sweaters turned into pillows. A dear friend of hers had passed away, and she wanted to take her friend’s distinctive sweaters and turn them into pieces she could treasure.
I’ve worked a few times with commercial made sweaters; although more often I’m taking them apart for teaching purposes or using them to practice techniques I’d like to teach. While this isn’t a tutorial per-se, it’s an outline of my process and some tips and tricks I’ve discovered after working on other smaller projects similar to this.
Stabilizer ironed onto the back of the sweater pieces
My first step was taking the sweaters apart. All but one was chain-stitched together, which made disassembling them pretty easy once I got the hidden stitching undone. The last one was sewn together, which was a bit more of a pain to take apart. At least it was done in mattress stitch!
Next I ironed on stabilizer. The stabilizer gave the knit fabric more woven qualities, which was needed for several reasons:
On the very last piece of sweater I was just shy of covering the entire sweater. Since I would be trimming most of the edges away, I pieced together a few extra scraps of stabilizer I had to finish it off (you can see this above).
Figuring out the size of the pillow, and making sure all the lines are straight
After the stabilizer was on, I began to look at each sweater, determining the notable features of the sweater – what made it distinct? How could I choose a shape that complimented the look of the piece? Would the pillow look better as a square or rectangular pillow?
Cutting the pieces using a quilter’s template and a fresh blade on my roller cutter
This tall ice-skating Santa would have gotten cut off as a square pillow. I also loved the beading on the edge of this sweater and the beaded snowflakes. I had to fudge cutting this pillow out to make sure that I caught all the elements that made it interesting.
I cut pieces to preserve the button bands, then had to make sure the button bands were in the center of the pillow
I thought it was important to keep the qualities of the sweater above that made it interesting – button bands and ribbing at the edge. This pillow had a really thick button band that was nearly impossible to sew through, needing a lot of hand stitching.
After cutting out all the pieces and making sure I’d gotten them to the correct size, it was time to pin them together. For most of the pillows I was able to use my sewing machine to sew at least three of the sides. For two of them I was also able to machine sew part of a fourth side, saving on a lot of time.
A stack of sewn pillows, awaiting stuffing
The top pillow above, with the blues and greens, ended up being a favorite. I love the buttons on the button band!
Mattress stitch is almost always a perfect solution to having two fabrics come together invisibly
Next I began hand-sewing the final edge of the pillows. I used #10 crochet thread instead of normal sewing thread. This was becasue I was having to yank at the pillows to get them to look the way I wanted them. This was doubly true when sewing through the button bands, and getting three layers of very thick knit fabric to come together. Even still, sometimes I wasn’t careful and had the thread break. Not fun!
Mattress stitch (aka ladder stitch) was my stitch of choice.
Pillow made out of old sweater, button band showing
The pillows are coming together now! I wasn’t always able to get the ribbing to come together evenly on the bottom. It’s a nitpicky detail, and probably something only I could notice. It couldn’t always be helped though. I love here how I could keep the button band unsewn, so it looks like the button band on a normal sweater, with that dimensionality! The thick stabilizer unerneath will prevent stuffing from escaping.
Some close shots of the lovely beadwork on the bottom of the Santa sweater. I just had to keep a detail like this. I’m already wondering how to replicate this in a handknit design.
This has been a fun project and a unique way to honor a passed friend. In the next few days I’ll wrap up with the final touches – removing lint, straightening edges and getting ready to send these pieces back to my client.
Today I resume notes on my recent repair, a lace hobbyhorse blanket. This is the second of the series detailing my thoughts as I worked through this reweaving and repair project. You can see the first part here.
Base of the hobby horse, stitches on locking stitch marker.
When I last left off I’d gotten the piece reworked up to the lacework, and fixed a couple of runs that were below the hobbyhorse. I’m ready to start working my way up the lace horse.
To review, this is what a whole hobbyhorse looks like (below). You’ll see I’m using stitch markers to visually mark my place – the green stitch marker represented the first line of stitches in a column that were whole and unraveled.
Reference hobbyhorse
I got my stitches on a pair of needles and began “knitting” my way up the rows, following and mimicking the other lace horse. I used a trick I often use with children and beginning knitters – the knitting needles are two different colors so I could easily remember which were right side rows and which were “wrong side” rows. By that I mean the rows I was working with the lace (which would have been the right side of the pattern) and the rows I was just plain knitting (which would have been the wrong side, or the purl side).
Double pointed needles made it easy to not have to slip the stitches back and forth.
Reknitting and reweaving the foot of the lace knit hobbyhorse
At this point I was to the top of the horse’s foot and began to notice a problem I hadn’t been sure about until that point. I thought there was a jog in the line of decreases and yarnovers to the left, but I wasn’t quite sure. As I began working the pattern up the leg of the horse, it became apparent that a couple of mistakes had been made by the origional knitter when knitting the horse.
Note: you’ll also notice that as I was making these repairs I wasn’t paying attention to gauge too much – both because I could go back and “adjust” areas, and also because this repair had a time budget – it was more important to get the repair to a place where it wouldn’t come unraveled.
Reknitting and reweaving the leg of the lace knit hobbyhorse
There were three apparent mistakes, but two of them affected the repair – circled below. You can see the jog in the line of stitches on the bottom circle, and another jog at the line of stitches in the horse’s neck. The third mistake, the one which may have led to the run in the first place, is right at the top of the dropped stitches. The mysterious part of all of this was the fact that there wasn’t any broken yarn – the run must have resulted in a dropped stitch that couldn’t get fixed.
At this point I was also starting to suspect that there might have been an extra pair of stitches in the original pattern. Looking at the horse I began to wonder if perhaps there was a fourth mistake that was lost when the stitches dropped down? I’d been noticing that even accounting for differences in gauge, the stitches were really loose. This hypothetical fourth mistake would account for an extra row of stitches, and thus the extra yarn hanging out in each row. I started to suspect that the drop might have resulted from the original knitter trying to fix those mistake; and perhaps losing a stitch in the process?
Comparing how the hobbyhorse is supposed to look, vs the horse with the run in it
By now I worked my way back to where the drop happened. I had to strategize how I was going to finish this repair off. I had two different choices I could follow:
1.) Cut the yarn to reweave the affected area and then weave in those ends.
2.) Use additional yarn to sew the gap closed.
I discarded the first option for a couple of reasons: time and cost was a factor for this client. I also wouldn’t have much ends to work with when weaving things back together. Since this is a child’s blanket, I wanted a sturdier option.
Instead, I went with option two. I found some embroidery floss in as close of color as I could get, and cinched in the stitches. I then sewed through the area several times, weaving in the ends afterward.
Getting ready to sew the run and hole in the hobbyhorse closed
To get the stitches looking more even, and to test to make sure everything was locked in tight I decided to go with an unconventional approach for blocking. I wet the blanket, maneuvered the stitches so they looked as even as I could get them in a reasonable amount of time, and threw it in the dryer (since the yarn was dryer safe). This fluffed up the yarn, locked the stitches into place, and helped everything even out.
And there you have it! This piece went off to its owner last week, back into the loving arms of a boy that will have it for years to come.
I’ve set Rebecca’s sweater and sleeves aside until I have the space to give it more thought – hopefully this weekend when we’re going to be at the farm and have the inlaws around. Instead I’ve embarked on another project that I’ve been meaning to get to for a while. I’ve wanted a set of rooting jars to hang up in front of the window. My sister has a model similar to this one from Vermont Nature Creations. I’d intended to purchase one like it for a while, but always seem to have something better to spend my money on. Meanwhile I don’t have anything to root my plants in that my cats can’t get to.
Well, that’s a lie. I have some winebottles held in socks that are hanging from a curtain rod, but they aren’t very sightly.
So this weekend I’ve gotten busy with some crochet.
I started with a magic circle, size three crochet thread and a steel crochet hook (don’t ask me the size) and worked like this:
Round 1: 24 dc.
Round 2: V-stitch in every other stitch, 12 V stitches.
Round 3: 3 double crochets in each V stitch, with a chain in between each grouping.
Round 4, 5 and 6: Let’s rock the granny square pattern!
Round 7: Granny square pattern without the chains in between. This is when i slip the bottle into the crochet piece, and the following rows are worked around the bottle… which is a pain, let me tell you.
Round 8: Only two double crochets in each of the spaces between the groups.
Round 9: a single crochet in each of the spaces between the clusters.
And then finally a chain to hang by: 60 chain stitches for the bottom two hanging, 100 chain stitches for the top one to hang off the railing. Each of these little things takes me about 45 minutes – so they’re quite satisfying!
I decided that it was a good idea to only hang three in a row, since I don’t want them to hang too low… and I was concerned about how much weight a single row of chain stitches could take. I mean, each of the jars doesn’t weigh that much… but I didn’t want to push my luck.
This is the final result – I love the way the sun streams through the stitches. You can see in the background the original prototype of wine bottles in socks. The wine bottles in socks were nixed because the wine bottle with the water in it is quite heavy, and I’m not sure I want those hanging there long term. I suppose I could have crocheted around a wine bottle, but that’s a lot of crocheting.
