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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!

Blocking: Quick and Dirty No-Fail Method

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Blocking is one of the things which simply transforms knits.  When people tell me they don’t like the finished result of their work, my first response is always, “Did you block it?”  Simply said, blocking can really, really make your projects shine.

So I’ve got a tutorial for you! Here’s how I block.

You will need:

  • The piece you wish to block
  • some towels
  • some water (cool, but not cold)
  • a place where the piece can dry, undisturbed
  • optional: pins
  • optional: something like Soak or Eculean if you wish for it to smell nice.  Or essential oils work too.
  • optional: things like blocking wires, pins, or in my case, a rubber band.  You’ll see.
  • optional: cats to watch what you’re doing (joking)
First, submerge your pieces in the water until they are completely wet.  Plant-based fibers will suck up the water right away.  Wool based fibers you might have to help a little.  I’m impatient – I squeeze the piece gently to get all the air out, because wool likes to trap air in its fibers.  Keep squeezing until no bubbles come out of your piece.  Or, you can just walk away and come back in an hour.  Both work.

Now, gently squeeze the water out of your piece.  Don’t wring, just squeeze.
The next part’s my favorite part.  Lay the pieces out on a towel.
Then, start jelly-rolling them in the towel.
Keep rolling.
Until it looks like this.
Now, this is the highly technical part.  I tell my students in class this, and they all laugh at me.
In your bare feet (don’t do it in socks – your socks may get wet!), step on the towel.  Stand on it.  Then shift around and do it again.  You want to press ALL THE WATER OUT.
Sometimes, when I’m doing something really big, I need two or three iterations of this step – because the first towel gets SOAKED.  This case, because I was blocking a swatch and a hat, I only needed one.
When you take your pieces out, they should be damp, but not wet.
Now what happens?  Well, you have some choices.
If the piece is something flat like my swatch, all you need to do is lay it out and pat it into shape.  No need to stretch or contort the piece!
For my hat, I needed some assistance.  I needed something larger than a head, because I wanted to block this piece open and stretch things out.  I wanted the final hat to have drape and slouch.  FYI: I did the same thing with my Triple H!
So I found a bowl that stretched the hat out, but left the ribbing at rest (because I didn’t want to block the ribbing out, I still wanted the ribbon stretchy).
Here’s the hat stretched out over the bowl.
Still, the hat kept shifting out of place, so I figured I needed to take one step further.  I pulled the ribbing in, and held it in place with a rubber band.  Perfect!
Then I left it to dry.
For something like the Sylva Shawl, I needed to take a bit more extreme measure.  This shawl needed the lace to open up quite a bit, and I wanted to give the shawl a particular drape and swish.
So I used pins and blocking wires.
Blocking wires are great because you can bend them a little for a curved shawl like this.  See how I threaded the blocking wire through the shawl?  The pins are just holding the blocking wire in place.
This thing was big enough I didn’t have anything big enough to block it on.  So I pinned directly into the mattress.  Shhhh!  Don’t tell Mr. Turtle!
Sylva Shawl, all blocked out.

Review: Sock Architecture by Laura Neel

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I tweeted just when Sock Architecture came out that I was really excited about the book – just based on the glimpse of the pictures I saw on Ravelry, this book was for me.

Sock Architecture is a book that focuses on the knit socks – no adornments, just the facts.  The photography reflects this dedication: the socks, heels and other techniques are photographed against a plain white background, absent of more artistic styling.  It reads more like a textbook and less like an art book.  The pages lack a glossy texture and Neel doesn’t shy away from the math.

I’m not complaining – this is the book I’ve been waiting for.

It embraces the math (no surprise, Neel’s blog is titled Math4Knitters), and talks about socks the way I think about them – in ratios and proportions.  It doesn’t dumb down the fact that knitting is a thinking person’s hobby; that there has to be a part of each knitter that can see, can think, a project into existence.

I’m about halfway through my second re-read of the book, and I thought I’d make a list of my favorite parts thus far:

  • The history part of the book is short, but informative.  I now have several places where I’m going to go to do my own research.  If you have an electronic copy of the book, the links to the pieces she’s talking about are great.
  • The mini-heels, demonstrating how each heel fits on the same model.  So great for a couple of reasons: acknowledges that not every heel is for every foot, and that you can substitute out one heel for another.
  • The attention to detail given to the different types of heel, toe, and sock construction.
  • The loving discussion of gussets, why they’re helpful, and why you nearly always want one.
  • Several-fool proof ways of measuring feet.
Now, lest the math scare you away, the whole back of the book is filled with normal, written patterns, and many of them are very, very lovely.  My favorite is the Uncommon Dragon.
I think, if you’re a dedicated sock knitter, or a sock designer, you are doing yourself a disservice to not have this book.
You can buy the book here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/sock-architecture. I bought both the e-book and the physical book.  I have no regrets.

A quickie Contest: Stripes Three Ways

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So, trying to print off the pattern for my class on Sunday, my printer was freaking out.  After

troubleshooting for much longer than Mr. Turtle should have, we printed out some copies of the pattern that are… a little wonky.  Nothing to make them unreadable, but enough that I wouldn’t feel comfortable handing them out in class, and they’re nice enough I felt bad just throwing them away… dead trees!

So, our crazy printer is your gain.  I’ve got a quick little contest for you that’ll just run the week.  They’ll be 5 winners, and they’ll each get 2 copies of Stripes Three Ways – one for themselves and one for a friend.  The only thing I ask is that you share your extra copy with someone who will appreciate it, and when you do knit the pattern up, you show off your finished projects on Ravelry, so I can live vicariously through you!

The contest is through Rafflecopter, below.

Share with your friends!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Outlander and Handknits Appreciation Post

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I’ve made no secret about the fact that I love Outlander, and the other novels by Diana Gabaldon.  And I’ve been watching the Starz TV show of the same name since it’s come out.

One of the things I love about the show?

All the handknits.

Let me show you the my favorites:

Garter Stitch Wrap
Posted by the Diana Gabaldon, of the filming: Claire’s Shawl!

Bulky neckwarmer
Claire has a sleeved Shawl in Garter Stitch.

Jamie has a pair of fingerless mitts – hard to see.
Mrs. Fitz with fingerless gloves.

I have some thoughts about the show’s pieces, which I’m planning on sharing tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

5 Quick Routines that make my Knitting and Crochet Easier

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This summer has been crazy for Tinking Turtle – I’ve been traveling both domestically and abroad. (I’ll be sharing more about the cruise on my next post!)  Finally, though, I’m home for a while, and I’m beginning to settle into a routine.

It’s got me thinking about the routines I have – specifically, for my knitting and crochet.  These are things I’ve developed over time as a designer and as a stitcher to stay organized – or to make sure I don’t forget something important!  I thought I’d share some of these systems I’ve developed over time, in case they might help someone else!

  1. When I go to knit a pattern out of a book or magazine, I always make a photocopy.  They’re always single-sided (so I can take notes on the back) unless they’re really long.  This way, I can make changes in the margins or loose the pattern (and I don’t loose the original).
  2. If I know I’m going to put a project down for a while, I take the needles out of it, and attach a marker that lets me know what size needle I was using.  I use this set from Knitpicks, but there’s also another variation here.  You could also make them using wire and beads with numbers on them.
  3. I’ve bought a whole bunch of measuring tapes and miniature scissors, and I just keep a pair in each knitting bag – so I don’t have to transfer them out.
  4. I have 4 rare earth magnets (kinda like these), which are super-powerful.  I have them in a set of altoid containers, and I use them to store my sewing needles and darning needles.  That way if I’m in a rush I can just put the needle on the top of the container, and because of the magnet, it sticks.
  5. I always keep a handful of locking stitch markers in each of my knitting bags.  You never know when you, or a friend, might need a stitch marker.  They’re also really great for catching a dropped stitch that you can’t fix right away.
What routines do you have that make your life easier?

A handy tutorial on Duplicate Stitch

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Note: I’m on vacation this week!  Some of these posts were originally done for Jordana Paige’s blog, but the rights have reverted back to me so I’m free to publish them myself.  The original post has been edited for clarity.
I was recently reminded of duplicate stitch when I was
working on a pair of color-work socks (I can now reveal: these were a stitch on the bottom of my Octopodes Socks!). I realized that I’d managed to knit the
wrong color in a part of the pattern.  I
practically cried.  I was nearly done
with the sock, and I certainly didn’t want to pull back to nearly the middle to
fix the mistake.  But the mistake was
also terribly noticeable–in fact, I was surprised I hadn’t noticed it before
then.
 After taking a few
deep breaths, and saying a few choice words, I gave some different solutions thought.  I settled on duplicate stitch.  What I ended up doing was covering the
original stitches with stitches in the right color, so it looked like I’d worked the correct color the whole time. 
The area was marginally thicker, but not very noticeable.  I was pleased with the result.
 Duplicate stitch is
most often used to add color to knitting when you don’t want to do complicated
color work, like intarsia or stranded knitting (though duplicate stitch can
also be used in conjunction with them, so you aren’t holding too many
colors).  It can be used to fix mistakes,
as I did, or it can be used to embellish or embroider a knit fabric–perhaps a
sweater that you want to mod.  I’ve been
thinking about doing something to do with scrollwork, vines or some sort of
black and white illustration on an old sweater I have to liven it up.
The duplicate stitch
is basically done by tracing the knit stitches. 
Today we’ll just be focusing on stockinette, though it can be done, with
mixed results, on garter or reverse stockinette.  You’ll need a contrasting color yarn and a
blunt-tip needle. 
Let’s first take a
careful look at the knit stitches in stockinette.  See how they look like zigzags stacked on top
of each other?  I like to think of them
as an army of “V”s standing shoulder to shoulder.  Each “V” is an individual knit stitch.
Thread your needle and insert it in the base of the V where
you want to start your design.  I find it
easiest to work from the bottom left and work up and to the right, though your
mileage may vary.
Now, insert your needle down through the top of one side of
the “V” and up through the other side, like so.
Pull through.
Finally, insert your needle into the base of the “V” again,
where you first came up through the fabric. If you need to, adjust the tension
of the yarn so it matches the tightness, or gauge, of the rest of the fabric.
For the second stitch, repeat the same steps for the “V”
directly above the first.  Repeat as many
times as needed.
Now, you may have need at some point to move over to the
next column of stitches. Simply do the same steps for the “V” Directly next to,
or diagonal to, the one you last worked.
If you need to, you can skip a column or two of stitches to
get to the next place you want to embroider. 
Just remember to leave enough extra yarn so the knit fabric can
stretch.  I recommend that you try to
avoid skipping columns if possible.

When you are finished, weave in your ends.  The back of your knit won’t look quite as
nice as the front, but it still should be tidy.
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Inspirations and Influences: Time Traveler

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Photocredit: Sockupied

I’ve got a new pattern that released this last week, and you might have caught a glimpse of it as I hinted at it’s existence.  Time Traveler is a pattern based off of my love of historical knitting and crochet patterns, and I couldn’t be happier to have it released into the general public.  Let me tell you, for all the sock’s simplicity, it took me forever to figure out how to get the lace to wrap around the ankle without breaking the stitch pattern anywhere.  Absolute ages.  But it all works now: and I’ve done all the hard thinking for you!

Let me let you in on a little secret: every once and a while I like to pay homage to my favorite authors with my patterns.  One Salt Sea is a homage to Seanan McGuire’s book by the same name (which in turn is a homage to Shakespeare, but I digress).  Time Traveler is a tip of the hat to Diana Gabaldon, whose Outlander series features a time traveling heroine.  I have a few other patterns whose design sub names followed that name-scheme, but many of the names don’t make it to publication.  I have to admit, when I named Time Traveler nearly a year and a half ago, I didn’t know that the Outlander Series would be in the process of being made into a TV series.

Photocredit: Sockupied

There’s so much I love about how these socks turned out: the picot hem, which I love (and would like to use more!), the way the lace seamlessly travels into the rest of the sock (which, dear readers, you don’t know how hard that was!), and the deep plummy color of the yarn.  I love the way the heels are worked, the way the toe expansion forms – quite simply, I adore the socks so much.  The Hazel Knits yarn is a really good choice for this pattern: you need a sturdier sock yarn in order for the lace to block out and show well.  Something that is softer (but more fuzzy) doesn’t quite show how the increases and decreases interplay to make the lace what it is.

Later in the week I’ll be talking about historical patterns, and a little bit about the not-so-easy process of reading them and mining them for ideas.

Until then, enjoy!

Photocredit: Sockupied

The Restorative Properties of a Vacation

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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.

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.

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