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Summer is for vacation, right?

Hey, not to state the obvious, but I think I’ll let you in on a little secret.  I haven’t been around much on the inter-webs lately. Socking Shocking, I know.  Heh, I have been doing quite a bit of sock knitting too, but I can’t talk about a lot of it yet, because it’s going to be coming out in a few different places in the next months.  Details when I can talk about them, I promise.

So what’s been happening?  Well, let’s just say this is a bit of a story, so I’m breaking this up into two posts.

Last week Michael and I went on a short vacation in honor of his birthday to Ashland, VA, and then continued on to Richmond, VA and finally to his parents who live outside of Chapel Hill, NC.

The common question I was asked when I told people where we were going was, “Why Ashland?”

Well, if you look at Ashland on a map, it doesn’t seem to have much going for it.  It’s small, the town history is rather brief, as there have been no real major events in the town.  No one famous was born or died there.  No battles were fought, no slave uprisings or protests.  It’s a pretty quiet town.

Well, quiet in one way.  In other ways?  Not so much.  Because CSX has a train line that runs right through mainstreet.

And that meant there were trains.  Michael loves trains.

Michael and I have a list (we actually have many lists) of places we see when going someplace (say his parents) that we would like to stop and see one day.  It can be a restaurant, an antique store, a town, a museum  battlefield, anything really.  Ashland was one of them.  We have passed through Ashland every time we take the train to Michael’s parents.  The reason we take note of it is because Main Street is bisected by the train rails.  So there’s one lane of traffic, the rails, and another lane of traffic.  It seemed like a quirky town, with a general store that’s been operating for 120 odd years, old architecture and a quiet southern feel.

It was lovely.  We spent two nights (three days) in the town.  We visited a coffee shop, used bookstore (I found a few gems) and model train store.  We went to the Iron Horse, which had some of the most delicious food I’ve ever had the honor of encountering.  Seriously.  I’ve been to some good restaurants in DC, restaurants run by chefs from shows on TV, ones that have been written up in magazines.  This place ranked above them.  There was this chocolate pave (I think the word was) that blew my mind.  Also, gnocchi that was savory and rich, but the serving was just enough not not be overwhelming.  The almond encrusted chicken I had struck just the right notes with the mashed potatoes and green beans I had with it.  Seriously good.

The hotel we stayed at, The Henry Clay Inn, overlooks main street.  And it has a southern style porch, two floors.  After lunch, we plunked ourselves out on the porch, and Michael watched trains go by.  Me?  I swatched.  I had originally hoped to get yarns from a few different companies so I could work on some design deadlines that I have due later this month.  (It’s going to be a rather frantic few weeks).  For good or ill, they did not arrive by the time I left, so that meant I brought yarn to dream and plan.  I swatched for a few different design calls, and then, when I was done with that, I got to work on my own stuff!

I’m working on a doily to go on the hutch Michael and I are slowly refinishing.  I’m doing something freehand, which is entirely wonderful.  There’s some things I do in my own work that I sometimes find to hard to describe to people who read my patterns, so when I’m designing for magazines I sometimes follow conventions instead of doing what *I* like to do.  When I’m working my own projects, I’m also free to brainstorm ideas that aren’t firm enough to become a design proposal yet, but I need to work out on a piece.  It’s a quirk of mine that even my swatches have the potential to become part of other projects, or part of samples for teaching lessons.  I like everything to have at least two purposes.

One of the best parts of the trip was just watching Michael geek out over trains.  One of the most lovely things about him is that he brings the mind of a historian and researcher to almost everything he does.  So taking a trip to a train town means I get a guided exposition about train history.  Any question  I could have about trains, Michael can probably answer.  If he doesn’t know the answer to it, he knows where to find it.  I love that about him, because it always makes it incredibly interesting to talk to him about what he’s pasionate about.  This trip, Michael had recorded all scheduled trains that were supposed to go through the town.  Then, he tracked in a journal if they were running on time, late, their engine numbers, and a bunch of other information (so he can report back to his train friends on the Amtrak Forums).

 Since I do the same things with yarn, I guess it’s fair.

Inspirations and Influences: Sunburst Shawl

You ever have a situation where you can trace exactly when a thought entered your head?  I can remember the exact moment that the idea for the Sunburst Shawl entered my head.  It was over a discussion of Fibonacci numbers and crochet, and I misspoke.  I meant to ask if it was possible to do a crochet technique in the round, and instead I said broomstick.

My friend replied she had never seen it done before, and I realized and corrected my mispeak, but the idea was then in my head.  WAS it possible?

But really, in some ways, I think the inspiration for the Sunburst Shawl goes back even further.

The Sunburst Shawl owes much of its inspiration to knitting.  Gasp!  It’s shocking, I know.

One of my favorite things to do is knit socks with the magic loop.  I’ve never been a big fan of knitting on straights, and while I like working on two circulars and did that for about a year, I started wanting my needles to have more than just one purpose.  I got into the magic loop because with a longer needle you can do big projects, but you can also use the magic loop to do small projects in knitting.

At the same time I’d also gotten interested in historical patterns, and both broomstick and hairpin lace.  Both techniques seemed like a great way to make quick crochet patterns with stunning results.  The only problem was that most people who were using these techniques were doing things similar to Doris Chan’s exploded lace.  They were working the techniques in worsted weight yarn.

I was interested in doing the work in something closer to lace-weight.  While lace is still far off from some of the weight yarn historical patterns were made in (especially with crochet) I thought it would highlight the open-ness of the broomstick stitches in a way that a thicker yarn would not.

This, combined with  the conversation I mentioned earlier in The Yarn Spot cemented the idea in my head.  It took a few months more of peculating, and a design call that spoke to me, to have everything align correctly.

I’d like to do more with the broomstick crochet in the round, both because I happen to like round things, and also because I think it’s wonderful to be able to take advantage of technologies that weren’t available before.

Besides, I like to do things that nobody else has thought to do yet.

Stories from Sunburst

Most of the work I did on making the Sunburst sample was while I was on a cruise with my grandmother back in October.  My paternal Grandmother loves traveling on cruises, but isn’t quite able to do it on her own.  So she gets her grandchildren to come with her, and we have a grand old time.  Grandma and I had decided on a cruise through the Panama Canal, from Florida to California.

Sunburst was the perfect project to do on a cruise.  Easily memorize-able, and with simple motifs, it was light enough to be on my lap as we sat outside and watched the water go by.

On one of the first nights we went to see a comedy show after dinner, and because we were nearly late getting there, the only seats were in the front.  Naturally we got singled out by the comedian, who saw that I was crocheting while he was performing.  After asking after us and what I was doing, he ragged on us a little before moving on.  From then on everyone one board the cruise knew me as “the young girl that knits/crochets.”  (It doesn’t help that I was dressed in vacation clothes, which make me look like I’m a teenager.)

It was a wonderful thing, actually, to be singled out, because it brought crafters out of the woodwork on the cruise.  So many knitters and crocheters made an effort to find me during the cruise, and we’d talk shop, knit or crochet, and admire each other’s projects.

Since Sunburst requires a set of circular knitting needles in addition to my hook, I took to sticking the circular knitting needle into my ponytail when I wasn’t using it.  It was the perfect place for it, because I wouldn’t forget to pick it up when I went to go somewhere else with my grandmother.  However, it did have the habit of making me look quite strange, with two pieces of wood connected by a plastic strand making a halo over my head.  Grandma liked to give me a hard time, teasing me about my “halo” or laughing when I got the needles caught on something because I forgot they were up there.

By the end of the cruise many of the people had watched the shawl form over the two weeks while I was there.  Many couldn’t quite imagine what it would look like when all the ends were woven in and it was blocked.

So, for any of you Holland America Cruisers out there who were aboard the Statendam with me, here’s the finished product.  I told you it would look better when it was done.

Breezy Spinning

About three weeks ago, many people will remember that a rather crazy Derecho swept through the middle of the East Coast, and Michael and I were not excepted.  We lost power from Friday night until the next Tuesday Night, and consider ourselves lucky that it was only that long – many people in our area lost power for longer.

Our picnic 

If you remember, it has also been hot, and let me say, the Metro DC is humid hot.  The first day Michael and I surveyed the damage, and hung out at a friend’s basement.  They didn’t have power, but at least it was cool.  The second day, tired of being cooped up indoors, we walked down the street to Sligo Creek, which runs nearby us.  Armed with books, knitting and and all the foodstuffs that we were worried would spoil, we headed down to the creek.  There, in the shade in the creek-bed (which, might I remind you, creeks are the lowest points in the area and thus are oftentimes much cooler) with our feet in the water went spent the afternoon and evening on a rock.  It was lovely, and while not what we had planned to do with our weekend, an nice treat.

The creek also did a good job keeping our lemonade cool, which we submerged in the running water.

By that time we were lucky enough to have a friend call us who had power, and offered to let us use her freezer for anything that would spoil.  We went and did that.

And then we went back to our 8th floor apartment.  Which was not as nearly pleasant as the creekbed.  I remarked to Michael that it wouldn’t be nearly so bad if I had a fan.  Instead, I was sitting and sweating and spinning.  I couldn’t knit or crochet because well – my gauge changes when my hands sweat.

So what did Michael, the most wonderful man in the world do?

I with modded spinning wheel/fan

He disassembled a fan, melted a hole in it, hooked it up to my orifice, and rigged it so that as I treadled, I spun.

Not a bad weekend, all things considered.

Sunburst Shawl on Tangled Magazine

I am proud to announce the publication of Sunburst Shawl on Tangled online Magazine.  I was so excited I just couldn’t wait until tomorrow to let everyone know.

Sunburst Shawl
by Jennifer Crowley

Price:

$5.00
Materials:
Yarn: Western Sky Knits Aspen Sock (100% Superwash Merino; 400 yards [365 m] /3.5oz [100 gm]; CYCA 2): Misty Moor, 2 (3, 4) skeins.
Hook: C/2 (2.75mm)
Adjust hook size to obtain correct gauge.
Needles: US size 17 (12 mm) 40 or 47” circular knitting needle.

Notions: Tapestry needle; seed beads that fit your chosen yarn doubled through it (98 beads for small, 110 beads for medium, 130 beads for large); dental floss threader or small crochet hook that fits through beads.

Craft:
Crochet
Difficulty: expertGauge: One motif = 3.25” diameter blocked.
Available Sizes:
small, medium, large
Measurements:
small = 45” x 18”
medium = 52” x 21”
large = 58” x 24”
Photos by Brittany Tyler

Really? USOC has stepped in it.

I try for the most part to not get involved in much of the internet flare-ups that happen.  There are many things on the internet to get mad about, and most of them I don’t feel are worth my time.

But the USOC’s antics got me really angry yesterday.  For those of you who have been living under a log (or perhaps are just not paying attention to GawkerAbout.comNPR or dozzens of other news sites of various sizes – #Ravelympics was even trending on Twitter), the USOC sent a cease and desist letter to Ravelry, a knitting and crochet online community.  They were defending their copyright and intellectual rights, which while I don’t necessarily agree with how they approached it, I understand is important.  As a designer and writer myself, copyright issues are near and dear to my heart.  I have no problem with them doing that.  What I do have a problem with is the tone they have taken in the letter, which comes across as condecending and RUDE.

Then, today, when they realized that they may have gotten oh, about 2 million plus people very angry (seriously, go check out the USOC’s Facebook page) they issued an apology, which wasn’t really a good apology.  They say “The letter sent to the organizers of the Ravelympics was a standard-form cease and desist letter that explained why we need to protect our trademarks in legal terms. Rest assured, as an organization that has many passionate knitters, we never intended to make this a personal attack on the knitting community or to suggest that knitters are not supportive of Team USA.”

WAIT.

IF you didn’t mean to make a personal attack on us, why they heck did you say that “We believe using the name “Ravelympics” for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games.  In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.”

FIRST OF ALL, anything I do doesn’t lessen the amount of work someone else does to accomplish anything.  SECOND, the tone of that statement implies that you value sports and athletics more than fiberworks and the arts, which is really asinine of you.  I think sports are pretty stupid sometimes, but I don’t go around publicly dissing someone else’s passion.  That is unkind.

FINALLY, you could have worded your apology better.  I get that the cease and desist letter was written as one business to another, and you probably didn’t expect it to be posted online, and for people to get angry.  But the apology was public and more directed to the upset knitters/crocheters.  Next time, try to talk to a few knitters/crocheters before you write the apology… asking someone to craft for you is normally thought of as an extremely personal thing in much of the crafting world, and a lot of people aren’t thinking your worthy right now.

The Yarn Harlot is calling for knitters to stay classy, and dare I say it?  Forgive the USOC. Or at least stay classy.  She brings up some good points about why people shouldn’t be as upset as they are… and they are very good points.  I understand the sentiment – as I said, I feel like there are few things that are worth getting angry over.

BUT.  I can’t help but returning to the tone of the original letter, and I think that Laurie at the Crochet Liberation Front articulates what is bothering me.  There’s an implied assumption that the fiberarts, which are traditionally a female craft (at least in the US in the last couple of decades) (even though there are a lot of very talented males out there) are not valued as much as people who are athletes (who can be male or female, but sports have also in the last couple of decades, been much more associated with men than women – look at the popularity of men’s vs. women’s college basketball – where is the women’s march maddness?).  And it just makes me tired and deeply frustrated because so many of my hobbies are devalued just because they are considered “crafty” or “womanly.” (I face the same problem with Romance Novels, and don’t get me started on that).

I don’t really know how to fix this, except to say that being “classy” doesn’t seem to work.  Being classy – or at least not engaging when someone says something stupid out of ignorance or arrogance or sheer stupidity doesn’t get things changed.  I’ve been talking to a lot of people over the last 24 hours, explaining why I’m angry and why I think these people acted in ignorance, and how to fix it.

I’m going to be writing a real paper letter to you – in fact, it’s half finished.  I’m going to be writing on your facebook page and talking on twitter.  I’m going to talk to people in person.  I’m not going to be disrespectful, but I am going to be assertive.

Maybe next time you might think a bit more before you write a letter.

The Mannings

A couple of my friend and I headed up on Saturday to The Mannings, a hand-weaving, knit, crochet, spinning supply and teaching center.  When I told people around here I’d never been before, most people were pretty shocked, seeing as it’s apparently kinda like Webs is in MA, NY, and the surrounding area.  A place that a certain level of knitter/crocheter/spinner/weaver simply has to go.  And apparently I was overdue.

The only picture I took that turned out nice.
You think I would have taken more, but
I was distracted by all the things going on.

Well, on Saturday the Mannings was having a bit of an event, with free demos and presentations.  So L and T and I headed off, making a promise along the way that if we saw any roadside stands, we would stop, no questions asked.

(A good thing, too, as we bought collectively, at different times, fresh eggs, ice cream, cherries, more cherries, black raspberries – 2 bags worth, chocolate covered cherries and fresh sweet strawberries.  None of the fresh berries made it home, though a limited number of cherries did… mostly because we stuffed ourselves.)

The Mannings was more than I imagined. I’m not sure what I imagined, but it is located on a beautiful property near a river/creek, and on the edge of some lovely fields.  It has shade trees, a porch with rocking chairs (though Michael would only rate it a 5 out of 10, I think) and rooms upon rooms of spinning and weaving and knitting and crochet supplies.  The range and selection they have of weaving cones is more than I could bear.  I think I simply must go back and buy a whole bunch and make crochet doilies and garments and love it to death.  Seriously.  This place was great.  They had a whole room of spinning wheels and another room and a half of looms.  Huge looms.

And green colored cotton, which is hard to find.

I got to watch a sheep being sheared.  L in previous years has been a judge for the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival judging fleeces, so just walking by her and listening to what she looks for in a fleece was simply invaluable.

I saw some gorgeous fleeces, ones that made me rethink my vow not to get another fleece until I’m done with this one.  For now I’m sticking to that vow, mostly because I can’t afford to get another fleece.  But that day will come.

I picked a woman’s brains about German Angora Rabbits (which I began to seriously reconsider, now that we’re looking at getting a pet).  I got to see adorable baby rabbits.

But the best thing of all?  Seeing SO MANY PEOPLE just sitting and spinning and talking.  It was amazing. The last time I saw so many spinning-wheels was when I was in NY about three years ago, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it.  (I kept my eye out for a Columbine Spinning Wheel, but no luck.  The Columbine wheel is one of my favorites, simply because it’s so durable, and so different from everything else you normally see).

Ever been to the Mannings?  When was the last time you went to a conference/gathering/con of like minded people?  What was it for?  Tell me about it.

Pragmatic Tips to Teach Crochet, Ages 3-6

Knitting is not the only craft that can be taught to young children.  I’ve taught young children to crochet , and I’d thought, in another part of the Tips to Teach series, I’d tell you a bit about it.  Some of these will be repeats, because I think it bears repeating, but some will be a bit different too.

Start with Double Crochet.  Double crochet has more of a rhythm, I think, than single crochet, so I think it’s easier to teach.  The way I talk about double crochet is, “Yarn over, go through the stitch, yarn over, pull through (3 loops on needle left), yarn over, pull through two (loops), yarn over, pull through two (loops).”  If you notice, between each step is a yarn over, so it’s easier for children to know which step is next.

Have them start working into a swatch you’ve done.  One of the most common problems I see when students start is that they make really tight stitches, and it’s hard to insert the hook into the stitches when you go to make the next row.  To forestall this, I make a small sample for my students to work into.  This way they can learn to identify stitches and also see how loose the stitches should be.  And if they are too tight at first?  I flip the swatch over and have them try again on the other side.

Show them both the pencil hold and the knife hold.  This is a big one.  I’ve found that teaching both handholds can often really turn the lightbulb on for a student.  Sometimes, one just feels better than the other, and sometimes the switch to something that feels more natural for the student can be all that you need to have them go from struggling to confident.

On the same vein, mention that there are two type of hooks.  A lot of people I’ve met who have been crocheting for a long time don’t realize that there are different styles of hooks.  While you don’t have to talk a long time about it, make sure your kid knows that there are two different ones, and let them try each.  A lot of people have a clear preference for one over the other.

Show kids what they are working toward.  A lot of kids can be really motivated by seeing what they are working toward.  Show them some of the patterns you can do with just a chain and a double crochet (like the v-stitch) so they know that they don’t have to just do one stitch in one stitch designs.  If the kid you are teaching grasps the concepts you are working on quickly, it can be worth teaching them things like the V-stitch (with counting and skipping spaces) before you teach them a new stitch like single crochet.

Also make note: A lot of the skills that are true for children knitting and similar skills for crochet.  While I talk about these more in this article, let me reiterate:
Make sure they’re interested.  
Keep it Short. 
Have them sit on your lap and hold the sticks with you.  
Show them several times, then have them “teach” you.  
Take turns.  
Focus on the skill, not on the result. 
Give them a small manageable project that finishes quickly. I have several listed HERE

Crafting Spaces

UntitledInspired by a few people who where talking about their knitting nooks and where they work on the Three Irish Girls forum, and also a post or two that I cam across in the last week (which I now can’t find the source… oh well).  I thought I would share some pictures the new place Michael and I have moved into.

By new place, I mean we’ve been here for more than two months, but before now, it hasn’t really quite felt like home, just the place we crashed.  I’m starting to feel proprietary toward the place, which tells me that it’s starting to feel like home.

UntitledSo, my time is divided by two places.  Most of my blogging and pattern writing happens at the computer desk that I share with Michael.  However, since I spend more time there, I have my bookshelf right next to the desk space.  I do have to try my best to keep the desk space clean, because Michael also uses it, but now, after a few years of sharing a desk, he’s become quite tolerant of my mess.

When I’m just working on a project or a sample, swatching or doing other things, I’ll put a show I don’t have to watch on my computer (or put a book on tape on) and work at the couch.  I’ve got an ottoman where things get thrown into when I’m not working on them, so Michael doesn’t sit on them and they don’t get tangled or ruined.

UntitledStuff that needs to be blocked or needs to be spread out is put on the kitchen table.  I can add two leaves to it, and then stick my mats on it to block something big out.

Finally, if I’m just crocheting for fun I’ll settle into the comfy chair, but the comfy chair is only really for work that isn’t under a deadline, because most times when I’m in this chair?  I end up drifting off or falling asleep.  Also, this chair is comfy, but not so much when you are trying to get real work done… it doesn’t provide much back support.
Untitled
 So now that I’ve shared my work space, what does yours look like?  Tell me about it, or post some pictures and link back.  I love to look at where other people work.