MENU
Tinking Turtle Raverly Profile

Tinking Turtle

Four Pillars

Tinking Turtle Raverly

How to pack Hand-Knits and Hand-Crochet projects for a Trip

by

This Christmas and New Years was spent at Michael’s family property, called “The Farm.”  It’s a property about 45 minutes out of Charlottesville, VA, in the middle of practically nowhere.  We were going to be there for ten days, so I knew I needed to pack strategically.  You see, when at the Farm, there is no internet access, and no cell service.  Reading material is limited to whatever someone else has left there.  It’s a lovely place to spend holidays, because while there, it’s necessary to unplug and relax.  The drawback?  There isn’t really much to do, besides split wood and eat fruitcake.  I knew I needed to strategize.

I needed to pack in a serious way – foresight and planning was needed.  The last thing I wanted to do was finish working on a project and have nothing to start.  The farm’s also rather drafty, so in addition to works in progress, I also needed some serious socks, hats and blankets.  I packed nearly all of my hand-knitted socks, two of my favorite hats, a lap afghan (which also needed repairing) and a suitcase full of yarn.  I also packed about a half-dozen knitting and crochet books and a couple of magazines, in case my hands got tired.  Then, as a precaution, I also went on Webs and ordered some yarn I’d been meaning to pick up, to arrive at the farm.  Just in case, by some mysterious event, I managed to finish everything else I had to work on.

This was a great plan.  Over the next few days, I’m planning to share how my packing played out.  So for the first story, the importance of staying warm while jeep cruising:

There are certain rituals that are observed at the farm.  In the evening, one must pile into the antique jeep and take a tour of the property, surveying the field, stream and woods that make up the acreage. Even Michael’s 94 year old grandmother (with 2 hip replacements) manages to partake of the jeep ride.

Mr. Turtle and his grandmother, known as Oma.
Michael and his grandmother, known as Oma.
I learned how to drive a manual on the jeep, a couple of years ago.  While I normally sit back and enjoy the ride from the back, on one of the days when Michael wasn’t feeling well, I decided it was my turn to drive.
The jeep needs force and concentration, when you are getting her started.
Since it was more than a little brisk (though nothing like this week), I decided to augment my long underwear and 2 pairs of socks and hand-knitted hat with my lap blanket (which, incidentally, being more square than a traditional blanket, was the perfect length to keep me warm while still being able to drive).
Thus, the importance of hand-knits when packing.

Stitching Travelogue: The Poconos

by

Michael and I headed up to PA two weekends ago to visit with my parents before Christmas.  Among other things, I decided to drag my family to the nearest Local Yarn Store, mostly out of curiosity.  Mountain Knits & Pearls has one of the best knitting store names I’ve ever come across (and a practically perfect sign to go with it).  They’re located in East Stroudsburg, PA.

I had a hard time getting a good picture of the store without walking into the street, because I brought the wrong camera lens with me.  But the store was easy to find and parking was plentiful (though that might have been for the impending snowstorm).

Inside the store was a welcoming sight of lots of yarn in beautiful wooden shelves.  The walls, a light green color, went well with the overall look.  Light was plentiful and a good bit of it was natural (a priority for me, so I can see if colors are true).

Perhaps the most delightful thing, for Michael at least, was the front window display, which had a toy train running around the tree.

One of the best parts of the store, at least for me, was their bead selection.  You see, Knits and Pearls isn’t just a play on words.  The store carries beads.  Beautiful, beautiful beads.  I had to practically hold myself back – as it’s always so hard for me to find beads in the same place where I’m selecting my yarns.  I do love to put beads on my knitting.

My father, being more than patient.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must say I might have been a little biased in my evaluation of the store.  You see, they were carrying the most recent issue of Interweave Crochet Accessories, which has my Plaited Hat pattern.  It made me really happy to be able to show a copy to my father, who hadn’t seen the pattern yet.

Still, I’d say that Knits and Pearls had a great selection of magazines.  If you are in the area, you should definitely check them out.

What to do if your Family Heirloom is Falling Apart

by

working on repairs

As you are putting away your holiday decorations, you notice it: a hole, a tear, a rip or an unraveled bit of yarn.  Somewhere along the way this holiday season your childhood Christmas stocking, or that bit of lace your grandmother made, or other family heirloom has gotten a little beat up.

What do you do?

I’ve written before about checking your knit or crochet items to make sure they are staying well-cared-for, but what happens when the damage is already done?  What do you do?

First, make sure that the stressors on the item have been removed.  If the stocking was stuffed full of gifts, remove them.  If the lace tablecloth was hanging off the side of the table, move it to a more supported location.

A recent Christmas Stocking Repair, nearly finished. I was fortunate to be able to closely match the red and the cream.

Then, take a deep breath.  Old knitted and crochet objects have a wonderful thing going for them: the stitches and yarn have been sitting in the same way for a very long time.  They’ve settled and, perhaps in the case of wool, even felted a little bit.  That means unless you are pulling and tugging on the object, the stitches should stay in place and unravel no further.  If the yarn or fibers aren’t too delicate, fold the object up and put it in a bag that protects it from sun and dust.  If it’s plastic, don’t seal the bag: it can trap moisture in with the fibers, which isn’t ideal.

Next, get on the phone or the internet and see if you can find a Local Yarn Store.  If not, see if you can find a local museum or historical society that might deal with textiles.  Often someone will know of someone who might have the skills to repair your object.

Repairs to the edge of a sweater.

Then, think.  Before you talk to someone about repairing your heirloom
determine your goals.  Are you looking to restore it to it’s former glory?  Do you want to just have it fixed so you can continue using it?  What is feasible for caring for your heirloom in the future?

A local knitter, crocheter or stitcher of some great experience might be skilled enough to repair holes and return your heirloom to former use, but they might not have the resources to do a perfect restoration.  On the other hand, they might be more affordable.  Meanwhile, someone affiliated with a museum might have more resources to do a full restoration of your heirloom, but it will probably cost more.

Making a decision about your commitment to keeping the heirloom safe and preventing it from deteriorating further is also important.  If you plan to keep using the heirloom, it’s not feasible to have it under glass.  Sometimes the best ways of preserving textiles is to not use them, which can be problematic if the reason you love a heirloom is because of it’s tradition of use.

Repairs to the arm of a person on a stocking – not all color matches can be perfect.

Personally, I fall on the side of loving and using family heirlooms.  I’m careful about how I handle and store them, but it doesn’t prevent me from using the object.  As someone who creates, I think that useful objects (like furniture, clothing, blankets and many textiles) lose some of their meaning when they are no longer able to be used.  And if the object takes some damage?  Well, I’m fortunate enough to be able to make repairs myself.

November and December Roundup

by

I feel like it has been a sprint to the finish from the first week in November until now, but I can say with pleasure, as of the wee hours of today, I have all my deadlines finished until after the New Year.  The finishing is done, the patterns are mailed off, presents are wrapped, Holiday cards are distributed, and I am officially very tired.

A collection of November and December Pictures

In case you missed it the first time, the most popular posts from the last 2 months:
Tutorial: Mattress Stitch or Ladder Stitch
The Importance of Customer Relationship Management
Crochet Reinforcing for Steeking
Warning Signs Your Family Heirloom is Falling Apart
A Helpful Tool to Set in Sleeves

Over at Jordana Paige’s Blog:
The Low Down of Plies: What to Know when Choosing Yarn
What you need to know to set a Zipper in a Sweater
Tutorial: Re-sizing a Finished Sweater 
Changing the Sleeve Silhouette on a Set in Sweater
Magic Sleeve Recipie

Things I pinned.

May you have a Happy Holiday!

Interview with Sarah Jane, from Sarah Jane Designs

by

As part of the Indie Designers KAL, which is soon coming to a close, various designers have been interviewing each other about their projects and designs.  Sarah Jane is from Australia and makes some of the most innovative and textually interesting hats and accessories I’ve seen.  The way she works her hats in crochet is facinating, and I have to admit I got distracted looking at the construction of her patterns as I was preparing to interview her.  You’ve got to take a  look at her Frostberry Hat, which nearly looks like two different hats depending on the perspective.  Without further ado, Sarah Jane:
How/why did you begin designing? I’m not really sure, I’ve always designed my own stuff and when I
stumbled across Ravelry it just seemed to be a good fit.
What’s your design process like? My design process is pretty organic really, I usually

Frostberry Hat, from one side.

have some  idea of what I’m after ie…a textured hat.
Then I just play around until I come up with something. Although sometimes I
have a stitch pattern I really like and want to use and I work from there, this
was how I came up with my Frostberry Hat pattern. Other times it is a yarn I have that I know I want to
use……. so it really depends on my starting point.

You like to specialize in accessories. 
What pulls you to that form? I mainly make
accessories at the moment because I am time poor and they don’t take as long as
garments. I am hoping that as the kids grow up and take less of my time I’ll be
able to incorporate more garments into my collection. Also I love hats and am
actually able to wear them from time to time here in Brisbane J
Frostberry Hat from the other side.
Why indie patterns? Why do you publish them,
and why should crafters buy them? Indie patterns
because at the moment it suits me to be able to structure my own time and not
to have too many deadlines other than the ones I impose on myself. I also like
to be able to be involved in the entire process from start to finish, that way
I am responsible for the quality of the finished pattern.
Crafters should buy
indie patterns and support the designers because it means that there will be
more diversity in the market place if small designers are able to continue to
create and support themselves. It also gives crafters access to patterns that
you may not see in the usual range of books/magazines etc due to some of the limitations
faced by publishing in those formats. I personally think that there is room for
everyone in the market.
Do you have a favorite tool or yarn? I may be weird but I love my cheapo aluminium hooks that I bought in
China! As for yarn I love most yarns and can find a use for them all but I am
particularly fond of working with Colourmart Yarns
from the UK.
What’s your favorite thing you’ve designed? So far my favorite is Frostberry Hat

Asperous Hat and Cowl

but I also love Asperous Hat
and Cowl they both have lots of texture which
I love.

What has been the highlight of the GAL for
you? The highlight has been meeting and
working with so many other designers to make this happen. As you can imagine
there are only a few crochet designers here in Australia and I don’t know any
so it is wonderful to be able to meet others through Ravelry.
Quick, you’re an animal, what are you? A cat
What’s one skill in crochet that you are
really proud of? No idea at the moment.
Do you favor inline or fathead hooks? 
Are you a knife holder or a pencil holder, or something different? The hooks I use are inline hooks…although I have used both and don’t
really have a preference. I don’t like hooks with handles though as my
movements are too ‘big’ and the handle tends to pull me up short.
Who taught you to crochet? I was taught a few very basic stitches when I was maybe 4 or 5 by a great
Aunt who was blind….amazingly enough she did the most wonderful crochet work
that I was completely fascinated with and she was patient enough to show me a
couple of things at a family gathering. I only ever met her once or twice
though, the rest was self taught.

What’s something you like to do when you
aren’t stitching? I love to read and bake.

Beginnings: The Origin of Tinking Turtle

by

As we bring 2013 to a close, it’s time to take a look back at the path we’ve taken to get where we are this year.  The holiday season is often a time spent with friends and family, each with their own special traditions and holiday moments.  For my family, one of our favorite traditions is setting up a model train layout in the garage, all decorated up for Christmas, and spend hours driving the trains through our small town.  In this town, it’s important for everything to have a name, from the grocery store named after my younger brother to the boarding house and bakery.  This has been a tradition that Jennifer and I have carried on through the years.

Trains and naming things have found their way into our lives outside of just the holidays.  In September 2011 after settling in Washington, DC we embarked on our first long-distance train journey to the windy city of Chicago.  We travled for several days, including our first overnight on the train.  While in Chicago, we visited Loopy Yarns. Jennifer was just setting out on building the framework for the business that has become Tinking Turtle and, as a stitcher, she couldn’t visit the city without stopping by the store.  During the trip, the topic of discussion kept circling back to Loopy Yarns, the name, and if we had a store, what it would be named.

Over a delicious dinner of Knockwurst, Wiener Schnitzel, and Sauerkraut at The Berghoff, we began to bat around some funny names for the various buildings in our own model train town, with a yarn bent.  Grabbing the closest piece of paper at hand, a class schedule from Loopy Yarns, we recorded all of the names that came to mind.

Given that we were now living in Maryland, the turtle as a mascot came to mind, and then playing off of the alliteration, tinking was a natural fit.  I’ll confess that at that point in time I had no idea what tinking even was, but it sounded cool.  Ye Olde Tinking Turtle was originally going to be a combo yarn store/tavern, perhaps influenced by the German atmosphere, however it was a name that stuck with us.

Tinking Turtle was not the initial name for the company; Jen was contemplating running it under a company named after herself. Unfortunately however, when she was looking to register a trade name and website, there were several other businesses with similar sounding names.  Falling back to what was originally an amusing name for a train town pub, Tinking Turtle has stayed with us, becoming the business that it is today.

Latest Posts

Social Feed

Tinking Turtle Ravelry

Email Signup

Don’t miss a stitch!

Be the first to learn about classes, patterns. upcoming events and more.