wedding Archives - Tinking Turtle

The Largest Textile I’ve Blocked to Date: A Knit Lace Chuppah

February 27, 2020 by Jennifer Raymond

A while back I was contacted by a young woman getting ready for her wedding. She had a rather unusal request: she needed a lace knit chuppah for her wedding blocked. Part of a traditional Jewish wedding is the chuppah: a canopy under which the couple stands during the wedding cerenony. The chuppah has a lot of symbolism. Some chuppahs can be very plain, but many of them are passed through the family, and are elaborate family herilooms made of lace and embroidery are not uncommon.

When I first spoke to the young lady, she admitted that she had gotten in touch with a few other finishers, and none of them could take on an item so large. She estimated that the finished piece would be about 10 by 10 feet. I have to admit, I went through the house with a measuring tape, measuring each room in my house to see if I could fit something so large. Luckily, our kitchen with all the furniture out would work. It was 14×14 feet – which would give me just enough room to be able to walk around it when the piece was laid out.

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Other Stitchings – Embroidery

January 9, 2014 by Jennifer Raymond

As I mentioned before, Michael and I spent New Year’s up at the Farm. We invited a few friends, including the friend I’ve had the longest, my best-friend Becca. She was one of the bridesmaids at out wedding, and I’ve known her since I was 9 years old.

Becca and I riding in the back of the Jeep

Becca is amazing. She’s smart, articulate, and willing to challenge people and make the them think. So when I was trying to think of a bridesmaid gift for her, I wanted something was representative of our history, and something that was hand-crafted. Something that showed thought and intention as well as love. (As I’ve said before, there are few people who are knit/crochet-worthy for me, and fewer still who I’m willing to do other crafts for.)

I decided I was going to do some embroidery for her, of our old camp logo. Chimney Corners Camp and Becket Camp are a sister and brother camp in the Berkshires, and the camp where both Becca and I grew up. The camps both have lovely logos now, but the past logo was of a lake-scene, three paper-white-birches, a sailboat and pine trees. In a very simple sense, it was actually a scene you might see in part of camp, while hiking around the lake.

There are many older staff members who are very attached to the old logo (some even have tattoos of it!), so I knew it would be the perfect thing to embroider.

Originally I only planned to do the outlines of all the different elements, and then color the rest in with crayon and iron it. This method is how I normally do embroidery, as I have strong negative feelings toward working fill stitches. So I did that on the pillow, even ironed on the color so it looked nice, and then decided that the pillow really called for everything to be filled in with stitches… everything except the paper birches, which would remain the white of the pillow.

Well, I was working up to the Nth hour, and had to wrap the gift just before we left for the wedding. I told myself I’d get a picture of the pillow once Becca opened it… and promptly forgot.

But Becca is amazing, so she brought it to the farm for me to take a picture.

And in the joy of seeing friends, I forgot all about taking a picture of the pillow until she was leaving. She was patient enough to remind me as she packed herself out of the farm just as the daylight was making its way over the field.

Chimney Corners Camp Old Logo

Isn’t it pretty?

I’m Married – I’m now Jennifer Raymond

May 3, 2013 by Jennifer Raymond

I’m getting back into the swing of things, two weeks after getting married. I’ve started the process of changing my name, from Jennifer Thomasin Crowley to Jennifer Thomasin Crowley Raymond. No hyphen, just two middle names. That means for a while it’s going to be a little rough, as all my worksheets, information, etc. change over from Jennifer Crowley to Jennifer Raymond. So if you see anywhere on the website that I’ve missed, let me know.

I’m still waiting on the pictures from the photographer, but I thought I’d give you a bit of a sneak peek:

It started raining halfway through the rehearsal the night before.

Wedding Bells

April 19, 2013 by Jennifer Raymond

My wedding dress, hanging in my room,
hidden from Michael under a sheet.

Tomorrow morning I’m off to Chestnut Hill Bed and Breakfast in Orange, VA. It’s where Michael and I are having our wedding. We’ll be driving up with my sister Rosemary, who has been visiting and helping me prepare.

Right now I’m taking a quick break from packing. There’s a huge pile of stuff ready to be taken out to the car – everything from attendants gifts, to makeup and shoes and dozens of other details. The last things that will go in the car tomorrow will be the wedding dress, laid carefully over everything else.

While I’m gone I have some friends who have graciously agreed to guest post on my blog. Please welcome them in the upcoming days!

And when I come back you’ll see a few small changes around here, as I slowly make sure all the “Jennifer Crowley” references become “Jennifer Raymond.”

Wish me luck!

Yarn Bowl and Ripping

January 22, 2013 by Jennifer Raymond

This MLK weekend Michael and I went home to his parents. The trip was threefold: we wanted to exchange Christmas gifts with his family, Michael needed to do some work for his father’s company, and I needed to meet with the wedding photographer for wedding photos. It was going to be a really packed weekend.

There were some great highlights to the weekend: I had a lot of fun with Michael’s mother and Michael’s family friend and neighbor (Sue). We met with the photographer to do studio shots, and then went to the church that Michael’s parents help build for some “location” shots. It was great. We also worked on a surprise that I can’t talk about much more, because Michael might see. We also did some great wedding planning with Michael’s parents, Sue and her husband Larry. It was lovely.

There were also some real lows to the weekend. I had a lot of nervousness about making sure my dress was ready and getting ready for the photos. Doing hair and makeup is not my strong suit, and in previous occasions I’ve always had the luxury of having a room-mate, my mother or my sister available to help me. (Or basically do it for me.) I can style my hair, but nothing fancy. I really spent a lot of time stressing about all those details before the photo-shoot and it culminated in a bit of an emotional meltdown the morning of taking photos. I ended up crying, which only distressed me more (because my eyes are getting red and face blotchy). Michael managed to talk me down, and I was able to turn it around, but it was quite a bit of a low point.

Also, on the train ride home I managed to realize that my math was REALLY off for the sock design I’m working on right now. It involves slipped stitch cables, which really draws the fabric in tight. After getting a few inches into the ankle, I gave the sock a REALLY hard look, and decided I had to put the stitches for the afterthought heel on a holder so I could try on the sock. The sock didn’t even get over my heel.

So… Rip rip rip went the entire weekend’s work.

Not a great feeling.

I came home really sulking about the need to rip. Michael and I began unpacking, and that’s when my mood began to lift. One of the things to come out of our suitcase was two Christmas gifts. One, the yarn bowl that you see at the beginning of the post. Sue gave it to me, and it was a lovely gift. A yarn bowl is something I’ve been wanting (we’ve had them at The Yarn Spot), but couldn’t justify buying for myself. The one Sue gave me is lovely – SO my colors.

The second gift? It involves a story. Michael’s family is big on doing slideshows when they get together to share what has been happening in each others lives. I love the tradition, both because I get to show off my photography, and because I like sharing our adventures. When Michael and I went to Assanteague I took a picture as we watched the sunrise. When we showed it to Michael’s parents it apparently left an impression. For Christmas they had it printed and framed for me. It meant a lot – that they would treat my photography as something worthy of being framed and shown off.

So I guess you gotta take the highs with the lows – and hold the highs in your mind and let the lows go. Meanwhile, I’ll be knitting.

Engagement photos

November 21, 2011 by Jennifer Raymond

Last weekend after I ran Rosemary home after her visit (YEY sister visiting, but boo her leaving) I got together will Ellie and Rob, possibly my best friends from around the area.

On a side note, proving that the world is truly a small place, I met Ellie at the Yarn Spot about a year ago. After talking to her for about an hour, I pulled a “friend pick-up” maneuver, got her number, and told her we needed to hang out. You know how you sometimes meet people and you just know you’ll get along? She was one of them. Later we found out that we were born in the same small hospital in Vermont, and most likely was in the same playgroup when we were two.

We ventured out onto Sligo Creek, to the same park where I had my birthday. We were on a mission. You see, we needed some engagement and save the date photos for Ellie and Rob. We were going to do some traditional ones, and then we were going to do some fun ones, involving dinosaurs.

Now, I try to work on my photography all the time, taking pictures mostly outside of my two favorite little girls (Anna Elliot‘s little girls, Bella and Vivi). I’ve gotten pretty decent, and I try to work on this a lot because photography is a really important part of blogging, and selling patterns when you are doing it online or in magazines. Hey, and it can’t hurt.

So I thought I’d share some of the pictures from our shoot, and give you a glimpse of two of the best people in the world to have as friends.

Cookies and engagement rings make the best combination, I think.

I was using Ellie and her dog, JoJo to take some test shots. They turned out remarkably well.

Interestingly, it takes a longer time for adults to relax in front of a camera than children. It took Rob accidentally shoving a cookie in Ellie’s mouth to make them stiff.

Hey, I got to also play around and take some more artistic shots. It was a win-win.

Rob threatening the to-be-photoshopped in dinosaur.

Running from a dinosaur. Not a t-rex, but perhaps some other type of theropod. I was informed that the dinosaur we see most often portrayed as a T-rex is often another type of theropd. I’m sure I’m spelling theropod wrong.

Another lesson learned, if I change my settings, change them back. But not before this happy accidental shot happens.

Ahhhhh! Theropod!

		Things learned from this photoshoot: Happy accidents happen. Get people to do silly things. Get people to relax. Adults may perhaps he harder than children to work with. Ellie and Rob are really cute together.
Cuteness.

Good News!

November 8, 2011 by Jennifer Raymond

I’m excited to announce that Michael, my boyfriend, is now my fiance (that’s the fifth time I’ve introduced him as such, and while it’s rather silly, I’m going with it).

He proposed at Camp Chimney Corners (it’s in the Berkshires of MA) while we were walking around Smith Pond. It was very romantic.

I’m pretty razzed about it, but I’ll try not to talk about it too much.

In other news, I’m in the process of submitting a few new designs to magazines. I’ll let you know when I can tell you more, and there’s some sneak peaks forthcoming!

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