MENU
Tinking Turtle Raverly Profile

Tinking Turtle

Four Pillars

Tinking Turtle Raverly

The Restorative Properties of a Vacation

by

The first week of summer camp raced by, and last night I took a break with some friends to teach them how to work on socks.  We had wine, brownies, good food and better conversation.

After a breakneck week I’m taking a day to just breathe.  In addition to the camp I was kept hopping by a variety of design submissions that I’m getting ready to send off.  Right before I left for Yosemite, two weeks ago, I was feeling burned out.  I was missing sending out design subs because I just couldn’t bring myself to come up with anything that was of any merit.  I was getting a little worried about how design subs, which are one of my favorite things to work on, were becoming a task.

Me, working on the drawing.

While I was in Yosemite I didn’t pick up my knitting once.  As I climbed on the train for a three-day ride home, I felt sure I could get the urge to knit.  And then… I didn’t knit or crochet once.  I read and napped.  I took multiple naps in a day, and then slept through the night – something I’ve only done when I’m sick.

I did do other crafty stuff – including a drawing that I spent several hours on.  I don’t normally pull on my art classes from Highschool very often, but I got the urge to do a perspective drawing of the train we were on, based off of a picture I took (above).  I made it for our most wonderful train hostess, who was amazing in the face of a late train and grumpy passengers.

It was nice to do something creative that wasn’t creative in the same way as my knitting.  I based the lettering off of a coloring sheet the hostess was giving the kids.  But I didn’t like the cartoony type of train they included, so I decided to do something stylized, a bit simpler, but more accurate to the train we were actually on.

Train picture.  Note the texture to the gravel in the tracks.  And the logo both on the front and side of the train.

Almost right after our Train/Yosemite trip, we headed to the farm.  I took with me Barbara Walker’s set of stitch dictionaries, which I had bought as a treat to myself and then hadn’t read at all.  At the farm I finally picked but my knitting and crochet tools, and I began to swatch from the books.  And finally, after a near unheard of two-week hiatus, I began knitting again.  More importantly, I began sketching and coming up with ideas.

Just before we left for the farm I printed out all the design calls I knew were coming up in the next four weeks, and I brought them with me to the farm.  And on the sheets of paper, I began sketching and generating ideas for the design calls.

I was so relieved.

It turns out I just needed some rest.  In a very real way, I needed a vacation from my job… which meant, in a strange way, I needed a vacation from my hobby.

Now, my batteries are charged and I’ve got a bunch of things I’m sending out, along with a bunch of things that I’m working on my own.

Another Helpful Tip for Swatching: Steeking Round Swatches for Photography

by

Look closely at the edges of this swatch.  Notice anything interesting?

Yes, the edges are cut.  And the sides are steeked with my sewing machine.  This is a trick I use when I need to make a swatch in the round, because I don’t like running strands of yarn behind the swatch.  Instead, I work the swatch in the round and then cut it in half, block it and then photograph it for my design submission.

Then, when I’m putting the design submission together, I crop the ugly edges out, leaving just the beautiful picture to show the design idea.  You can also do this for when you are measuring a gauge swatch for in the round.

How do you save time when you are working up a design swatch for a submission?

Knitting and Crocheting through Hurricane Sandy (Frankenstorm)

by

my hair got in the way when I was working,
 hence the hairbrush

We interrupt the normally scheduled program to say that there’s a storm outside.  Those on the East Coast have probably noticed.  Even if you aren’t on the east coast, you’ve probably heard about it.  If you live in the US and haven’t heard about Hurricane Sandy… well, I’m in awe of you.  I thought I was the most disconnected person from the news, and even I heard about it a few days ago.

Anyhoo, Michael and I have holed up in the apartment with the cats.  We have plenty of everything, and are now just hoping the power doesn’t go out long enough that the stuff in our freezer thaws.

 I also stayed home from work, which feels much like a snow day did when I was a child: I get an extra day to catch up before I have to go back to real life.  I’ve been using the time to work on design submissions (mostly for Knitpicks, though also for Sockupied), blog posts, and various other things that normally don’t get done until the last moment.

swatches for propopsals –
tiny so I don’t give away too much.

This hurricane reminds me much of a Nor’Easter we had when I was 8? 7? 6?  Somewhere around there.  We had planted a new tree in the front yard at the end of Summer – not the best time to plant, but trees go on sale then, so cheaper.  The wind and snow was blowing such that the snow was going sideways, and we took bets throughout the two days we were holed up as to when the small tree would give up the ghost and go down.

The tree actually did stay up (and as far as I know it’s still beside the house.  But I feel like Michael and I are making bets as to how long the power is going to stay on.  Will it stay on until this evening so when we are done working we can watch M*A*S*H?  Or will it futz out sometime during the night?

It makes me really happy that my hobbies are not technology based.  Technology makes things easier, but it’s not impossible to get by without them.

What are you doing to while away the storm?  Were you able to work from home?  Are you watching from the West Coast?  Let me know.

The Design Process, Part 1, the Concept

by

The other day, I was talking to a customer about a pattern from a magazine.  She had come across a line that was particularly confusing in one part of the pattern, and had come into The Yarn Spot seeking help.  We puzzled over it for a couple of minutes and managed to get the pattern sorted out.

“I wish she had explained it better.  You would think that a designer would have more pride in their work,” I remember her saying.


At the time I let the comment stand, because I could understand her frustration. But as a designer, I felt it would be interesting to talk about patterns and their relationship with designers. The design process encompasses much more than just the pattern in the magazine.  It is entirely possible that the designer explained the pattern better in their original draft, but because of space constraints a magazine editor revised it to be shorter, sacrificing clarity.


Over the next few weeks I’ll be writing about the different aspects of what happens during the design process, and why a pattern might not be as perfect as a designer wanted it to be.  I’ll be discussing the design process by further breaking it down into 5 key phases (though they don’t always come in this order):  the concept, the sample, the pattern, photography, and layout.


Let’s start with The concept.


Approximately 4-9 months before a magazine, booklet, book, or single pattern is scheduled to be published, the publisher sends out a design call.


Depending on the company and the medium, a design call can be many different things.  For a magazine, the editors might have a specific  theme in mind for that issue of the magazine.  For example, Interweave Knits might be doing a spring issue, and they want transitional pieces, pieces that move from winter to spring.  A yarn company might publish booklets to go with their yarn.  Classic Elite Yarn might want something that highlights their Classic Silk yarn.  Someone might want to publish a book all on designs inspired by Sherlock Holmes.  Once a publisher decides on the details of their theme, they put out a press release (most commonly via e-mail or on their website {like here, here or here) talking about the types of designs they want.  

Drawing of Idea

Designers are constantly keeping track of these different design calls.  Not all design calls fit all designers, so most pick and choose which ones they want to work on, and which ones they have the most likely-hood of getting into.


Swatch

Then, designers dream.  They draw pictures, create swatches, do math and layout schematics.  Finally they come up with an idea that they think it will work.  They put together everything they have done – the drawing, swatches, schematics and submit it to the company.


Designers then wait, work on other projects they have under contract and plan other ideas for design calls.  If their proposal is what the editors are looking for, they are notified with an offer to publish their design.  A contract with the publisher is signed, and the publisher (most often) sends them the yarn to create the sample.


But that’s another post.

Keeping Things Moving

by

I’ve been thinking a lot about making the most of my time and getting things done.  It’s not a surprise, since the beginning of Fall is much more about new beginnings than the New Year’s ever is.

the corkboard of doom, looking bare because
 it was just put together after the cats tore it up.

One of my favorite authors, Seanan McGuire, describes herself as a pumpkin girl – a child of autumn as you will (her letters to the great pumpkin are worth reading).  That resonates strongly with me – for there’s a whole lot of potential in the fall – school (the portal of learning) starting, seeds (which will grow into things) dropping, food ripening and being stored for winters, Halloween (where you can be ANYTHING your brain and creativity can come up with) – there’s so much stored energy in the Fall.

So it makes sense that I’d start looking at how I organize myself and my life.  One of the best tools I use right now to organize my designing is a set of two cork-boards.  They work like this: The first cork board has four categories: calls for proposal, pending proposals, submitted proposals and pending contracts. I try to keep at least two items in each of the first three categories, and hopefully at least one in the fourth.

My other board is my project board. It has: not started, in progress, sent, and pending payment. This helps me keep track of what I need to get done. When I find a call for proposal that fits me, it starts on the first board with date and details, and then hopefully moves to the second board, adding more notes to each piece of paper as it goes. At a glance, I can see what’s in the pipeline and when it’s due.
How do you keep track of tasks that need to get done?  Do you have a planner?  Calendar?  Something else?  I’m looking for a way of organizing when my pattern’s rights revert back to myself, and I’d be interested in any suggestions ya’ll have.

Time-Saving Technique When Designing

by

Since knitting and crochet are both time intensive, anything I can do to save time or make my time count double is worth the time it takes for me to come up with a system.  I watch TV and knit, read and crochet.

When I create swatches for design proposals – specifically for socks, I want to save time.  So I do a provisional cast on and cast off, and work the knitting in between as normal.

What this does is twofold – if the design is accepted for a proposal, great.  Sometime later down the road I can pull out the swatch and be well on the way to creating a pair of my own, that won’t have to go back to the magazine when I’m done.

If the design isn’t accepted, then I can take the work I’ve already done, and work off of it to finish the sock and make it into a design that I’ll self publish.  This way the hours I spend working on a swatch serve double duty – and I’m not left with a swatch that I don’t know what to do with or how to store.

Do you have tricks that save you time?  I’d love to hear them, and they don’t have to be just about knitting or crochet.  After all, any minute I save in other places, I can put towards creating designs!

Summer is for vacation, right?

by

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.

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.