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Finishing Objects

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In other news, I’ve actually managed to knit some things that aren’t designs.  It’s a miracle!

I thought I’d share.

A few weeks ago I promised my brother, Matthew, a pair of fingerless running gloves.  I’m sending them to Matt tomorrow, with a little note.

The letter reads,

“Dear Matt, Congrats!  You have a pair of Tinking Turtle originals A Few Facts:

  • The fiber was named R’lyeh, by a dyer named Cloudlover. (R’lyeh is from a horror story).
  • The yarn was spun by me over about 15 hours.
  • 1 stitch takes me .0275 minutes.
  • Each glove has 2660 stitches.
  • Including finishing, each glove took me 2 hrs 10 minutes.
  • Total time: 19 hrs 20 minutes.
  • Total worth: approx $483*
  • Wash in lukewarm water, not in a washing machine. Do not Agitate.
Love, Jen”
I’m hoping it will motivate him to take care of them.  
*I calculated the worth at $25 an hour.  I did not take in the cost of the fiber.  I should have probably valued them closer to $30, which is normally what I make for difficult finishing work or teaching, but I gave him the “family discount.”

I have mixed feelings about the fingerless gloves.  I really like them; I’m thinking about making a pair for myself.  Part of the problem is this yarn has been one of my favorites for a long time.  I was saving it for something special.  When I was looking for yarn to make the gloves, I kept coming back to the color, because it’s masculine without being a boring color, and they’ve got a little bit of interest to them.

I just kinda want them for myself.  So I’m going to send them off before I keep them.

I also managed to finish two sets of socks this week.  Now, before you think I knit an entire set of socks in a week, let me explain.  About 2.5 years ago, I got to play with my friend’s antique sock knitting machine.  It was a little sensitive, and would only let us do tubes that day.  So, I made a bunch of tubes that I’ve been using for teaching.  BUT!  Two of them I managed to make into tubes that I wanted to turn into socks.  I finally got around to it.  For all the sets, I only knit the ribbing, the toe, and the heel. Still a bunch of knitting, and I was also cutting into the sock to do afterthought heels and toes, but not quite so terrible.
If you’re observant, you’ll notice that the second pair is a set of fraternal triplets.  The middle one wills tay a teaching sock, while the top and bottom become wearable socks.  For some reason as I was working these, the tube went from tight to loose, and the first sock had different pooling from the other two.
What have you been working on lately?

Halloween!

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I’m not quite sure where the last week has went, as I’ve been preparing for the Indie Design A Long and finishing up a couple of patterns.

I was so excited for Halloween – it’s one of my favorite holidays, not the least because it happens during the height of Fall.  I also love that it’s the holiday where you can play pretend; or eve
n try on different types of people you want to be.  Oftentimes when I was a teenager, Halloween was the time to let my dreams out to play.

This year I was so excited.  We live in suburbia, and I was convinced that we’d get lots of trick or treaters. Last week I decorated the house, making a rather epic run to Walmart, which was pretty impressive considering that I left stuff for others to buy.  I got pumpkin bags that you fill with leaves (real grownups have those – my parents never got them as we always lived up against a wooded area, so leaves got composted).

We got 12 trick or treaters.  It was a disappointment.

Still, I thought I’d share with you some pictures of my decorations.

The house, decorated, with the pumpkin bags in front.
In the dark the house looks much scarier!
My black cat costume matches the cat on our door!
I carved my pumpkin to be my logo.
Putting my dress forms to good use.
My other dress form. I made the heads!
I stuck a flashing light inside, so when it got dark it glowed!
Another picture of my turtle, because I worked very hard on it!

The Most Incredible Amazing Ballwinder Ever

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Back about a month or so ago I was teaching at SVFF, and I realized I’d left my ball winder at home.  I went to the organizers, and one of them arranged to have her balwinder at the festival the next day for me to use for my class.  (As an aside, the staff at SVFF were amazing.  If I lived closer, I’m want to become friends with all of them.  You know when you just meet someone and you immediately sense that they’d be a really great friend?  That was nearly the entire staff of SVFF.)

The next day when the ball winder came, I was in awe.  Serious, envious awe.  I’d never seen a ball winder like it, and I’ve seen more than a few.  It wasn’t a Royal or a Knitpicks  or a Boye Electric Winder – those are all plastic, and wear out fairly quickly.   It wasn’t one of the wooden ones: neither a Strauch nor one of Nancy’s Knit Knacks commercial heavy duty ball winder.  Both of the wooden ones I’ve used at several different stores: both the motorized ones and the hand turning ones.

No, this thing was hefty, made out of cast iron or aluminum, and geared in a way I’d never seen before. This thing looked like it could be thrown against a wall and still be OK.  I fell instantly in love – and as soon as I got home I ordered myself one.

The ball winder, made by Stanwood Needlecraft (who I’ve never heard about), is absolutely lovely.  Priced lower than the wooden ones, I’d say it’s comparable in durability, and can wind up to 10 oz of yarn with no problem – more than double what most of the plastic models can handle.  I’ve barely gotten to use the ball winder since I’ve gotten it, since each time I go to wind a ball of yarn, Mr. Turtle pulls it out of my hands and winds it for me – apparently the smooth running of the gears makes him happy.

It works differently than other ball winders – the little arm you see rising out from under the ball winder goes in one direction while the white center part runs in the other direction – creating a ball that winds very quickly and smoothly.  Balls are much more regular, and perhaps even more densely wound – meaning they hold their shape better even when you’ve pulled the center out.

The gearing is wonderful: very precise and I don’t see it wearing out anytime soon, since all the parts are metal.  The only detractor is the running can be rather loud if you go all out and are really cranking away – but slow it down and it gets quiet again.

So where can you get this ball winder?  It’s cheapest on the website, but also can be found on Amazon.  Seriously.  I’m in love with it.
 

PS: I was not compensated in any way shape or form for reviewing this ball winder.  I just love it.

Yarn Review: Himalayan Trail from Bijou Basin

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A couple of months ago I heard through the grapevine that Bijou Basin was doing a yarn color line based off of the book/show Outlander.  Normally Bijou works in natural colors, so I perked up at this news.  Now, I’ve spoken before about my love for the books, and while I have mixed feelings about the show, I’ve decided I’m in love with Bijou Basin’s yarn.

Fingerless Gloves worked in Himalayan Trail
Full disclosure, I was sent the yarn by Stefanie Goodwin-Ritter, of Stitchcraft Marketing.  They help coordinate online and promotional things with Bijou Spun.  I also spent a good 45 minutes talking to Carl (one of the owners of Bijou) at Rhinebeck, and was thoroughly charmed.
I decided to request two often problematic colors: a strong red and a strong yellow.  If there was any problem with dye bleed, I wanted to know about it.  I’m happy to report that I needn’t have worried.  The yarn is completely colorfast, and the colors are strong and vibrant.
Let me share with you what this yarn is and isn’t.  I was sent Bijou’s Himalayan Trail, which comes in a skein of 2 oz and 200 yards.  It’s 75% Yak Down and 25% Super Fine Merino.  It’s a 2 ply yarn, rather loose/medium spun (it’s not quite totally loosely spun, it it isn’t quite medium either), and hovers around a sportweight yarn.  The price seems to hover around $25.
Normally I’d be wary about two ply yarns not spun tightly; in my experience they tend to be rather prone to splitting.  Perhaps because of the down’s fuzziness, or the general properties of the yarn, I found the two strands liked to “cling” to each other.  That meant that they were a lot less prone to splitting than I expected.
Stitch definition is pretty good – again, something about the yarn seems to mean it deviates from the norm.  Part of this is because even though the yarn is a little “fuzzy,” the fuzzies are not overwhelming.
The yarn’s got a springy and lofty feel, and it comes across as sturdy and on the softer side.  The loft is amazing.  As soon as I got this yarn I knew it was destined for things that were warm and snuggly: garter stitch, brioche and ribbing all came to mind.  Stockinette doesn’t do the yarn justice.  Cables and colorwork are good options too.
Now, a couple of things to be aware of.  These are not quite detractors, but they are things to take into consideration.
When I made my pair of fingerless gloves, I did deliberately choose to seam them together.  I wanted to see how the yarn stood up to the stresses of seaming – as I had a sneaking suspicion that this yarn wouldn’t be the best.  My seams were about 3-4″ long, and while the yarn did hold up, it looked pretty worse for wear when I was done.  If I was seaming up a sweater or other garment, I’d probably choose to do the seaming in another yarn.  The Yak Down, being a shorter staple length, means that I’d probably break the yarn if I was working a long seam.  In fact, I can easily break the yarn in my hands, without even pulling that hard.  That isn’t surprising.  Yak Down is a very short staple length, and I’m sure the Merino is doing the bulk of the work holding the yarn together.
Also, I think it’d do well to one or two unravelings, but if you were working a project and you knew you might be ripping back a lot… this wouldn’t be the project to use this yarn.  I’d also be careful about which way you pull the yarn from the yarn cake: if you were going in the wrong direction, I could see you removing some of the twist from the yarn and that could be frustrating.  Still, I have that problem with a lot of other yarns, so it’s more something to be aware of.

Swatch worked in brioche.
I’ve been wearing my fingerless gloves for nearly a week and a half.  Pilling or shedding hasn’t been a problem.  I wouldn’t choose this yarn for something that was meant for rugged wear: neither socks nor shoveling mittens would be a good choice.  But things like hats, cowls, sweaters worn close to the skin, fingerless mitts, and shawls would be great choices.  Still, I think those detractors are a fair tradeoff, considering the other pluses.
An I will say this much, I’ve worked a couple of different design proposals in this yarn in the last couple of days, which means I like it enough to work with it!  And I’m picky!

Rhinebeck Recap, and Olana

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My classroom and schedule.

As I’m writing this, wind and rain are blowing off the maple leaves in our side-yard, before they even get the chance to change full color.  It somehow seems a little appropriate.

Rhinebeck was everything it was made out to be and more.  I taught for 4 grueling and rewarding days, connecting with students and meeting other teachers.  It was wonderful and exhausting and exhilarating and I loved it.  I’m also glad to be home.

I was staying with my parents about an hour north of the town of Rhinebeck, and each morning I woke before the sun had risen (not quite the task it would be in the summer), loaded up the car with teaching supplies, and drove a glorious and visually-rewarding drive along the Hudson River.  The sun would rise as I drove, and I would watch the colors of the trees light up in the morning sun.  I’d anticipate the drive over the Rip Van Winkle bridge, and then would wind my way along Rt. 9, passing dozens of apple-orchards and pumpkin fields.

I’d arrive at the fairgrounds just as they were opening, find a parking place, and each day I’d hurry to my classroom to set up.  In the evening, with the adrenaline still pumping from teaching, I’d make my way back home as the sun would set, and watch the pinks and oranges and golds of the sunset reflected in the trees and marsh-grasses and purple hills.  Then I’d promptly get home, eat, prep for the next day, and go to bed early.

Working on duplicate stitch for Darn Those Knits!

On Sunday, that schedule changed a little, as my mother came with me.  I was fortunate to have an hour and a half lunch break between my first and second class.  I hastily downed my sandwich, then spent a whirlwind hour having my mother (who neither knits or crochets), show me her highlights to the fair.  I loved seeing the fair through her eyes.

She also managed to get some pictures of me actually teaching, for which I was grateful, or I would have had no proof that I was at the fair otherwise.

Rhinebeck is hard to capture in words.  On Saturday during my lunch break I tried to explore a little bit on my own, and quickly became overwhelmed by the crowds and the fact that I couldn’t get anywhere without shuffling.  I finally found a bench behind a building, and sat down with one other knitter, who was waiting for her friend to finish buying things from a vendor.  We admired the trees, talked a little, and I managed to get my head back on my shoulders soon enough to dive back into teaching.

Classes, for the most part, went smoothly.  As always, I walked away with things I’ll plan on improving, and I probably learned just as much from my students!  Some comments people made really brought home where my skill set lies, and I have some great ideas for future workshops.

Because Rhinebeck was so big, I’m going to finish this with a pictorial journal of the weekend.

Footwear is very important when teaching.  No fancy shoes for me –
My Keens served me well. Although I think they’ve finally bit the dust.
A “Frakensock” made by one of my students in the Heels, Heels and More Heels class.
The Iconic row of maples at Rhinebeck.  The Colors!
It was so crowded, and there was knitwear everywhere.
Fleeces at the fleece sale.  I wanted one so badly.
This shawl was the colors of the trees, and it made me so happy.
This sweater was one I did not knit.
But it was warm, and I inherited it from my grandmother.
It seemed appropriate.
The view from Olana (where many Hudson Valley Painters worked). My mother and I stopped as we were heading home.
The sun was setting.
Olana
The colors made your heart sing.

Rhinebeck!

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Teaching!

I will be at Rhinebeck, teaching from October 16th to October 19th.  I’ll be traveling on the Wednesday before and the Monday after.  That means from October 15th until October 20th, I’ll be super busy and won’t be answering my email or phone consistently.

Blog posts will also be intermittent.

If you’d like to take a class, you can see the classes I’m offering here.  If you’ll be at the fiber festival and want to say hello, drop me a note.  I’ll have limited time around lunch and would love to share a quick hello!

Traveling to Rhinebeck

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Today I gathered up my belongings and, while it was still dark, walked the three blocks to the train station, dragging my two suitcases behind me.  The larger one has my teaching supplies.  The smaller – more teaching supplies and clothes.

This morning I was on the train from Ashland to NYC, now I’m on the second leg of my journey, from NYC to Albany.  This train ride remains one of my favorites.  I’d rank it up there with the train ride Michael and I took going across the Rocky mountains.  For anyone who has ever taken the Empire Builder, they know that heading north, you get seats to the left of the train.  Heading south, you get seats to the right.  Why?  Because of the views over the Hudson.

Each time I take the train it’s different.  Today there are dramatic clouds – shades of dark and light grey, with occasional glimpses of blue.  The river is the color of Buckingham Slate – dark and reflective.  River grasses billow in the breeze, their heavy heads full of seed.  An dominating everything is the color of the trees: the bright orangey red of sugar maple, the yellows of beech, the reddish browns of oak, and the occasional bright flash of red dogwood and butter yellow willow.

My heart sings with the colors of fall.

It seems like Rhinebeck is the culmination of a knitting year: the time when we get to show off a year’s worth of the fruits of our labor.  I have to admit I’m thinking the weather is going to be perfect… a little on the cold side on Sunday, but that’s what wearing your knitwear is for.

Catching Up: Fishing Failures, New Pattern, and Rhinebeck!

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Yesterday, I managed to crank out the rough draft to two different patterns: a pair of gloves and a crochet shawl.  I worked for nearly 6 hours straight, with only a small break for lunch.  It was intense, deep thinking, and I haven’t managed to get in that good of workflow in months.  I take it as a sign that things are finally returning back to normal.

This morning, I woke up super early to try and go fishing, again.  About a month ago, my husband took me fishing and I caught 2 fish.  Since then, I’ve been fishing 3 other times, only to catch nothing.  Nothing.  Many times, my bait would be in the water and a fish would be jumping not three feet away.  Clearly I’m doing something wrong, but I can’t seem to figure out the right combination of bait and line setup.  Today, armed with new bait and a week’s worth of reading on the art of fishing, I thought I was ready to catch something, anything.  I would have been happy even if I just got a nibble, to tell me I was going in the right direction.

Instead, the fish were more active than ever, jumping out of the water and showing off, and I just managed to jab myself twice with the hook, and get my line tangled in everything.

While I am quite stubborn, and I’m not giving up yet… I came home much discouraged.

I have a pattern out today!  Stripes Three Ways should be familiar to some of you… it’s a teaching

pattern that I’m finally making available to everyone!  Newly tech-edited and test knit, it’s a lovely fall cowl that comes in 3 different sizes, and a variety of combinations.  It has a special twist – each time you make it, a roll of the dice determines how the pattern is going to work.  I’ll have an official post coming out in a couple of days, but I couldn’t wait to share!

If you’ve made the pattern before in one of my classes, I’d love to have you put your finished project (or even unfinished project) up on Ravelry.  It brings me such joy to see people’s work on my patterns!

Speaking of new patterns… you know the ones I was talking about before?  They’re part of a bunch of patterns that I create and am just getting to write up to release.  The plan is to have them out before the Indie Designer Giftalong starts in just over a month.  This is a big event where a whole bunch of Independent Designers band together to put all their patterns on sale before the Holidays.  It’s a great event, and I’ll be sharing more information with you as it becomes available.

Rhinebeck is coming in less than a week!  So, don’t expect much posting next week.  Still, I’m going to try and get some pictures and rock the event with my own knitwear.

Hairpin Crochet Brainstorming, Fiber Festival Recap, News

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I’ve got a cat on my lap and cannot move.  He is warm and purring up a storm.  This is one of the reasons I love the Fall –  my not-so-cuddly-cat (Peake) turns into a snugglebug come cold weather.  And unlike Watson, who will sit on your lap but demand you pet him the whole time until it gets REALLY annoying, Peake will just fall asleep on your lap, purr, and share his warmth.

I made a mistake on my last post – which wasn’t supposed to go live until later this month.  Three Square won’t be available until October 15th.  Sorry.  I’m going to leave the post up (because I imagine it’d be more confusing if I withdrew it and then put it back up), but if you’d like to be notified when it will be available, you can signup for the email newsletter here, and I’ll send out an email when the Knitting Boutique has it ready.

This last weekend I was all over teaching.  On Saturday I was teaching at Woolwinders and then speaking at the Kensington Creative Knitter’s Guild.  On Sunday I was at the Montpelier Sheepdog Trials and Fiber Festival, where I was teaching my wonderful Hairpin Lace Class.  To my shame, I got no pictures of the entire weekend.

I love teaching, and I love how I can teach the same class and have it be entirely different each time.  Sometimes I’ll have a class where everyone is REALLY motivated to learn the skill.  The energy is electric as people are concentrating and thinking. Sometimes I’ll have a class where the students will just click.  Life stories will be shared. By the end of the class everyone is good friends, trading contact information, and resolving to see each other again.  Sometimes I’ll have a class that’s really struggling with a concept, and then suddenly the lightbulb goes off for one person, and that person’s understanding will spread, until there’s a turn in the class and everyone suddenly “gets” it.

My last two Hairpin Lace classes have been amazing.  I make no bones about the fact that one of the reasons I teach hairpin lace is because I want to design more lace, and the only way I can do that is if I have a market for it.  In my last two classes I’ve had students walk away really motivated to do more hairpin, which I love.  Two weekends ago at SVFF, I had a student who came back the day after the class to show me the scarf nearly half done she was so excited.

This week at Montpelier, the last half hour of the class turned into a brainstorming session, with students imagining different uses for hairpin lace.  They were brainstorming ways to integrate it with knitting, talking about ways to shape it or connect it, and generally getting fired up about the technique.  It was wonderful.  It was amazing.  And I came home completely motivated and wanting to play with the hairpin lace more.

The center of the scrumble, an 8 pointed star.

Let me show you.

The last few evenings last week, instead of knitting or crocheting for work, I was fooling around with a cone of cotton & rayon thread I’d gotten several years ago.  It’s basically my version of scumbling/sketching, and I was crocheting just for the fun of the action, not to make anything in particular.  Oftentimes when I do this, my brain will disgorge something I didn’t even realize I was thinking about, and it will eventually become some sort of design idea.  But for now, I was just playing.  I decided I was going to try and add a little bit if everything I knew how to do, kinda like a sampler.

So last night I added a “row” of broomstick crochet.  And then I decided I was going to play around with a way of connecting hairpin lace strips to work that I hadn’t seen before.  I did the math, and I need to make a strip of 264 loops (that is, 264 loops on each side), and it’s in thread weight
cotton.  I don’t know what I was thinking (as in, it’s going to take a couple of nights).  BUT!  It’s going to be interesting.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

The 8-pointed star, with a round of broomstick crochet worked.  the hairpin lace loom, with the loops.  Each of the bunches is 50 loops on each side.  Still got another evening’s worth of work before it’s done.

Exciting News: Three Square & The Knitting Boutique

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I’ve got a new pattern that should be hitting the newsstands soon (edit: October 15th).  It’s up on Ravelry, so I thought I’d give it a little introduction.  Three Square is one of two patterns that I’m producing this fall for The Knitting Boutique.

The Knitting Boutique is unique among many LYS’s in that they have their own, store exclusive yarn.  They’ve been written up in a couple different magazines about it. In the last couple of months they rolled out a new yarn, called Anacostia (after the river, which used to be local to me, and still is local to them).  Dianna, the owner, graciously invited me to create patterns in this new yarn line.

Let me tell you how much I love Amacostia.  It comes in a variety of weights.  I used the fingering, and worked it up on size for needles to get about 19 sts every 2 inches.  It’s soft, colorfast, and 100% superwash.  Seriously, its a wonderful yarn.

Three Square is a pattern written for sizes newborn – 24 months.  (And I’m working on getting one for 2T – 10 yrs out too!)  It’s made up of what I like to think of as 3 squares: one for the yoke, one for the body, and the last for the handkerchief skirt.  It’s got a false button placket (that actually fastens with snaps – which if you have small children you know you’ll appreciate), and can be worn with the buttons in the front or the back, depending on your preference.

Three Square isn’t my first baby dress I’ve designed (it’s just the first to be published).  Still, I happen to be more than a little attached to it.  I LOVE square necklines, and they just don’t do well on a busty lady of my shape.  But Children?  Children look amazing in square necklines.

The other thing I love about Three Square is the fact that it’s a sleeveless dress.  As you can see in the pattern photos, you can pair it with a long sleeve and tights for colder weather, but in warmer weather it’d be perfect in short sleeves or even by itself.

So where can you get Three Square?  Right now, it’s only available in print, from The Knitting Boutique.  So head on over to the store, either in person or online!

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