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New pattern: Victoria’s Riflebird

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It is with pleasure I’d like to introduce you to the newest addition to the Tinking Turtle lineup, Victoria’s Riflebird.

Some details:

Victoria’s Riflebird Wrap

by Jennifer Raymond

Printed in: Crochet World Magazine, August 2014
Craft: Crochet
Category: Neck / Torso → Shawl / Wrap
Published: June 2014
Suggested yarn: Berroco Weekend DK
Yarn weight: DK / 8 ply (11 wpi)
Hook size: 3.75 mm (F)
Yardage: 1340 yards (1225 m)
Sizes available: 61 inches wide at widest point x 17 inches deep at deepest point
Skill Level: Intermediate

Materials:
Berroco Weekend DK (light) acrylic/cotton yarn (31/2 oz/268 yds/100g per skein): 3 skeins #2904 pebble 1 skein each #2926 clothesline and #2902 vanilla
Size F/5/3.75mm crochet hook or size needed to obtain Gauge
Tapestry needle
Locking stitch markers: 2 of 1 color, 6 of another color
Gauge: 18 rows = 4 inches; 17 sts = 4 inches

Right now the design is only available in print, though that might change.

What I’ve been working On

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Otherwise known as, It’s Too Hot to come up with a real blog post title.

sneak peek – shhhh!

Last week I was working on a crochet top that will be coming out with PieceWork next year.  I’m super excited about it – it’s very rare that I get to work with linen.

The design is a bit of a leap of faith.  I was working with Louet’s Euroflax, which is, by far, one of the smoothest linen’s I’ve worked with.  What I mean by this is that I didn’t find the yarn as harsh on my hands as I’ve found other linen.  Now, that wasn’t to say that that, while working with it, the yarn wasn’t stiff as all get out, but the finished product was worth it.

When I put it in the washing machine and the dryer, it softened up so much, and the drape came out beautiful.

I can’t wait for you guys to see it – though it’s a long way off from publication!

On a slightly different note, Michael and I made pizza the other night, and I think it was the best home-made pizza I’ve had, bar none.  Seriously, it ranks in the top five pizza’s I’ve had in my life.

Part of it was because we used homemade pizza sauce (and the key here, I think, is letting it age in the fridge for a day after you make it).  Part of it was we (accidentally) used whole milk mozzarella cheese.

It had steak and spinach and onion on it, and it was amazing.  I had a piece for breakfast and an piece for lunch, and I have no regrets.  None.

On a final note, I’m getting ready to go to Yosemite the end of this week.  It’s set to be a blast, but I have so much work to get done before we leave.  After we come back, we’re stopping by the farm for the 4th of July, and then I’m launching into a month of teaching a camp.

If you haven’t heard (or you aren’t part of mailing list, which you should be), I’m teaching a camp called String Theory through Montgomery County College.  It’s set to be amazing, and some of the sessions are still open.  The class runs weekly from 1-4.  There’s 4 sessions: the week of July 7th, the week of July 14th, the week of July 21st, and the week of July 28th.  This is a great introduction into some of the needlecrafts, including Knitting, Spinning and Sewing.  I’m Super Thrilled to be offering these through Montgomery County College!

What have you been up to this summer?

Reminder About Upcoming Classes/Workshops/Camps and More!

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I’ve got a bunch of teaching dates coming up this summer and fall, and I wanted to make sure they were on everyone’s radar.

July
7th-11th: String Theory Camp at Montgomery County College
12th: Yarn Properties at Woolwinders
14th-18th: String Theory Camp at Montgomery County College
21st-25th: String Theory Camp at Montgomery County College
28th-8/1: String Theory Camp at Montgomery County College
October
5th: Hairpin Lace Workshop at Fall Fiber Festival at Montpelier
16th: Oops, at Rhinebeck
16th: Finish This, at Rhinebeck
17th: Duct Tape Dress Form Extended Workshop, at Rhinebeck
18th: Heels, Heels and More Heels!, at Rhinebeck
19th: Darn Those Knits!, at Rhinebeck
19th: Advanced Repair Techniques, at Rhinebeck
While I love teaching all of my classes, I wanted to highlight a few.
Advanced Repair Techniques is a class I only get to teach at larger venues, which means I don’t get to offer it very often.  If you’ve taken Darn Those Knits, or another one of my mending classes, this is the perfect time to stretch those skills and dive into some truly neat stuff.  I’d love to see some of my Northeast friends and students, so you should check this class out!
I teach my Duct Tape Dress Form class in the DC area, and it always is a great class.  But at Rhinebeck I’m going to be able to teach an Extended Version.  This is going to be one of the few times I get to teach the Duct Tape Dress forms class, and then be able to launch right into ways to use your dress form.  It’s going to be incredibly valuable!
My Oops class is one of the classes where I get students to have some great ah-ha! moments.  Normally I teach the class in two hours, and I’m always feeling like we could have used just a little more time.  This class at Rhinebeck fits the bill.  We’ll get to go into a little more depth on how to fix mistakes, and students will get a little bit more time to “figure stuff out.”  Previous students have said of this class “I took it wanting to learn how to fix mistakes, but it was the little tips and tricks Jennifer threw in throughout the class that made it amazing.”  One of my students, finding the class so valuable, took it a second time after she had some time to digest what she learned the first time.  It really is just that valuable.
Finally, I want to point those of you from the Metro DC area to my String Theory classes, held through Montgomery College.  I got my start teaching knitting and crochet with children, and I’m so happy to return to teaching them again.  I love being able to pass my love of crafting to the next generation.  If you have a child in your life – a son or daughter, niece or nephew, next-door neighbor or student, I hope you point them toward this Camp.  It’s going to be incredibly fun, and many of the sessions are filling up quickly.  Nab a spot while there’s still some left!

Last thing, I promise!  If you’re looking for something to do on a weekend, be sure to check my class calendar.  You know I have one, right?  Take a look here!

Sale on Sweet Strawberries!

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I’m carving out a few minutes of time to write between going to the Farmer’s Market, this morning, and heading to Ashland’s Strawberry Faire, this morning and afternoon.  The festival started at 10, and after Michael finishes making breakfast for our company, we’ll walk the 3 blocks to the festival and immerse ourselves in, what I’m expecting to be, an amazing festival.

I’ve even unpacked my own Strawberries, which I’m planning to wear, Stacy Trock style, in my hair.  If she can do it with Birds, than Strawberries are certainly appropriate!

Made in simple single crochet and chains, this quick and easy to work up pattern works like a dream!

In honor of the Strawberry Festival, for the next two weeks, Sweet Strawberries, on Ravelry, will be on Sale for 50% off!  Just enter the Coupon code Ashland in at checkout, and you’ll get the pattern for $2.50 – what deal!

And if you’re in the Ashland, Virginia area today, I hope to see you at the Faire!

Routine is Returning!

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I’ve been finding it hard to write a blog post that isn’t one long tirade about the state of our house, the number of boxes I’ve unpacked, and how many I’ve yet to go.  I normally try to have a positive outlook on life, but this last week (and indeed, this last month) I’ve found it very hard.

But with the end of my week coming to an end, I’ve happily seemed to find that I’m carving out a routine.  I’ve been able to bike regularly, work productively, and it no longer seems like the world is coming to an end.  Well, as long as I keep the door shut to the upstairs guest bedroom, which still makes me want to weep incoherently.

So posts will be coming in a more regular manner, now.

Watson, in our new rocking chair, in my new workspace

History and the Garden

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(If you’re normally here for the knitting/crochet, I swear, we’ll get back to topic, but right now most of my knitting is still packed away, and what I am working on you can’t see much progress.  The garden’s another story.  Hang in there with me.)

As part of getting the gardens ready, we got permission from the owners of the house to revive what looks like a kitchen garden plot in the backyard.  Since the soil was fairly compacted, and it looked like the garden hadn’t been used in many years, we decided to turn the soil.  By hand, since we don’t have a tiller, but do have young backs and plenty of tools.

The garden, before we touched it.

So we’ve carefully defined the edges of the garden, and straightened things out.  I raked out all the leaves (which made our compost pile very happy), and tore strips of rags to make sure our edges were straight.  The garden will be 12′ by 24,’ not huge, but not too small either.

Nearly half tilled, and looking a lot happier already.  I mean, happy as a garden can get without plants.

Each evening, when we get a spare moment, we spend a half an hour to 45 minutes working on turning the soil.  It’s clear that this garden hasn’t been tilled in a while, or if it was, only the top 2″ of the soil.  Because, as we are digging we are encountering some very mature root systems, (from trees in our neighbor’s yard), lots of rocks, and pottery shards.

Well, not only pottery shards.  To date, we’ve found 2 marbles, pieces of a broken teacup, pieces from at least 3 different bottles, leather, rusted iron, a very rusted spoon or trowel, chain, tentpoles or stakes, 2 medicine bottles (unbroken) a crockery shards.  Michael, being the historian that he is, has been having fun collecting pieces and matching them together.  I laid claim to the marbles.

It’s taken some hacking away to get rid of the roots we don’t want, and plenty of sweat even though we’re half done.  Personally, if I were to do a garden, I’d do raised beds, and I’d make it much narrower, with rows so I could walk in between the plants.  But this is what was there, and this will be what we’ll use.

A little more about my garden plans.

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Last Sunday I got some time to get the plants that my friends Lois, Catherine, and others had given me into the ground.  I should say I made some time, because as I explained to Michael, I wasn’t going to be able to sit and relax until I had gotten my hands into the soil, and made my imprint on the gardens.

The garden, needing some love.
The back garden, pictured above, was where I focused my efforts, as I’d be spending the most time looking at it.  We’re using the back door as our main door, so I look at it each time I go in and out of the house, and during any time I spend on the porch.  I needed to fix things there, pronto.
The first thing was clearing out all the dead leaves, branches, and growth from last year.  There was a hard winter this last year, so many things that would have weathered pretty well had died back to the root system.  Snip, snip, snip went my garden shears, and the bush was thinned out (I know what it is, I just can’t remember the name – the plant which, if you get it in the store, will boom purple/blue when exposed to nickel?copper?, but is normally pink clusters of little flowers).
Bush thing whose name I *should* know.
The graslike mounds there are a plant I’m again, familar with, but have no clue of the name.  Clearly I need to look these things up.  Anyone have a clue?  In the fall these plants have a dark purple/black berry which is pretty, I suppose.  Still, the line of these, slightly overgrown and in places quite crowded, was driving my crazy.
I dug up nearly half of them from this garden, and transplanted them to other places.  A few others got split and transplanted also.  One of them got shifted over 6 inches, because the placement was *just* off.
Now, in between each of these, is some of the plants I was loaned.  Lois gave me several irises and some type of orchid thing, which went in the corner, what I’ve come to think of as my display spot.
Siberian irises, orchid, and other lovely things.
Several of the lilies that Catherine gave me (just out of frame, I forgot to get a picture of them), went right next to the steps.  Around the back of the porch, I put little groupings of plants in between the shifted grasses.
The grass things given some room to spread, and the “little groupings” of plants between them.
On the sound advice of several people, I’ve been told that things look better grouped together, so I tried to keep the plants that I’d been given in the same area, with the exception of the Coper Iris that just had to show off it’s attitude.  You can see in the corner the bush looking much happier now that it’s dead growth is pruned back.
The bush, (again, whose name I can’t remember), I know has a tendency to put out roots if you take a cutting.  I’m thinking later in the season, when it gets a bit more growth, I’m going to take some cuttings and put them against the outside of the gate, or perhaps on the side of the house.  My pay it forward to future occupants.
I got several Lilies of the Valley which I planted in what I’m planning on making a shade garden, under some bushes in the back.  I’m planning, when I head to the farm soon, to dig up some more of them and put them in the back too.  Perhaps in a year or so, they’ll have spread into a nice bed of them – something that is low maintence, pretty, and much nicer than the vines that were taking the bushes over.
There’s a bare patch of ground where it looks like the driveway once extended all the way to the back of the yard, previous to the fence being put in.  It’s quite rocky and compacted, and the grass doesn’t take there.  I’m hoping the grass/bush things, which I know to be quite hearty, will do well in the corner.  I’m thinking that I might try and make this area more of a rock garden, putting some plants that are hearty and okay with nutrient-poor soil there.  We’ll see.  At least they brighten up the corner, and give the other plants some room to grow.  If it doesn’t work out, then no harm, no foul.
Potential rock garden.

Knitting Roots

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Over this last weekend, after we have moved the last of the stuff out of our apartment, after we’d said goodbye to our apartment complex, after we’d driven 2 hours with the mattresses strapped to the top of the car, after we’d moved everything into our apartment, I walked our new property.

It’s a tradition, you see.  Many evenings in the spring, summer and fall, after my father came home from work, my parents would walk the garden, talking about what they planned to do, what my mother had worked on over the day, or just observing what had bloomed and grown.  I’ve inherited (or have been taught) a love of gardening.

Gardening, to me, is a lot like knitting or crochet.  There’s an initial rush for both – for stitching it can be buying the yarn, picking out the project, casting on those first stitches.  The potential streams in front of you, waiting to be fulfilled.  Gardening is similar – the planning, the dreaming, the buying of plants and thinking of what’s to come.

Stitching and gardening also have that initial sense of great progress, as the stitches stack up on one another, or as the sprouts shoot out of the ground.  But then, in the middle, there’s the long haul – where nothing much seems to be happening, even as you know that you’ve been knitting forever or as you water each day.

After slogging through for who knows how long, the end, all of a sudden, is in sight.  Fruit or flowers start appearing on plants.  The bindoff draws near.  Suddenly, all the progress and effort becomes worth it.

There’s probably a reason I have hobbies that have a long payoff, and I’m not quite sure what it is.

Safely into the New Home

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Our new (rental) house, from the front.

As you might have been aware, the last three weeks have been a gradual transition, moving from busy Silver Spring, MD to the slower pace of Ashland, VA.  I’m just getting settled into the new home, my desk set up (roughly) in the new space.  I sit from the spareness of my makeshift desk, Watson in my lap, as I try to figure out what I need to get done.  I went to find a pen to make a list and it took 15 minutes.  Finding the paper to write on took 10 more.  It’s going to be a couple of pretty rough weeks for the business.

It seems the answer to every question is, “It’s packed, somewhere.”

But I can see, out of the shape of chaos, how things will be when they are done.  Just like knowing that tangled yarn will, eventually, become an orderly ball, I know that somewhere, there are the threads of a routine and habit.  I know that the boxes will vanish.  We’ll get more shelving, so I can see my yarn.  There will be a real desk instead of a temporary setup.  It will come.

Right now, I’m enjoying the bright light shining into my workspace, and a list of things that will get done and checked off.  I like that I’m no longer living in a bare-bones apartment.  I’m comforted by the familiarity of my things and my furniture, my cats and my tea.  It will be all right.

Pardon our Interruption

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As we mentioned last week, Tinking Turtle is in the midst of some pretty major changes.  We are moving the business as well as moving to a new website.  As such, postings and information may be a bit sparse over the next several weeks, but rest assured, we haven’t gone anywhere!  You can refer to our previous post linked above for any FAQs, leave us a comment here, message us on Ravelry (JenniferRaymond), or email us at tinkingturtle@gmail.com!

We’ll keep this post on top during our move.  We’ll post as we are able below, but be sure to get out there and enjoy Spring!

Best,

The Tinking Turtle team.

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