Socks: New kind of heel, and new kind of needles

A few months ago, Marly Bird had Deborah Norville on the Yarn Thing Podcast. THE Deborah Norville. Don't believe me, CLICK HERE to listen. That wasn't the first time, but to get on with my story.

So. Ms. Norville shared all about her Serenity Sock Yarn, made by Premier Yarns. It's a surprisingly higher quality sock yarn, of 50% merino, 25% bamboo and 25% nylon, found generally in the bigger box stores of the craft variety. I happen to find it at a little out of the way store about 2.5 hours from home that I can visit when on adventure to Portland... Knitkabob, in Union, Oregon, population 250 or so. When I found this yarn in the shop there, I selected two pairs of socks worth and brought them home.

I took one pairs worth with me to STITCHES East to look for sock needles, those size 0 and 1 that I'm having a hard time finding. I had a hard time finding them there, too, ended up with Kollage Squares. It took a while to get use to them, not so much because they are square (maybe at that size, my fingers don't register the unique shape much) but the points I would consider lethal.

I would not recommend these to someone with animals or small children that tend want to cuddle while you knit, DO NOT LEAVE THEM OUT, and I would think twice about using them while riding in the car. Now that I'm almost done with the pair, I poked myself really good when I set them down beside me in the dark. Otherwise, I appreciate the preciseness of the points when working with finer sock yarn, greatly reduced the number of dropped stitches or partially knit stitches that had to be fixed when they were found several rows later.

I started the socks on the plane ride home. It was darker than this on the plane, the light in my seat wasn't working during the first leg of the trip and when the guy across the aisle put out his light I had to put them away. On the second leg, I considered poking the kid in the seat in front of me, who whapped me in the face with the zipper of his hoodie about three times.

These are a vanilla sock pattern, memorized. I don't always start at the toe, but generally just carry them along whenever I need a little project in my pocket or purse. The skeins aligned themselves to match this closely. It took very little effort to make the stripes match. If that is Premier Yarns product standard, another point for them.

The thing I did differently on this pair was an afterthought heel. I have read about them in magazines and other blogs and heard about them on several podcasts. (In fact, today I listened to Susan B. Anderson, describe doing a different type of afterthought heel for the simple joy of having uninterrupted flow of the color changes, with the self-stripping variety of sock yarn.)

From what I understand the principles of an afterthought heel are: knit a tube sock, decide where the heel goes, either lifeline or pick up the stitches the row above and the row below the one row selected for the placement, snip one stitch in the middle and carefully pick out those stitches. I generally work a short-row heel, so that working the heel itself seemed very doable.

I really like this method, but I think the next time I do this heel the sock will be from top-down, as then the heel and the toe will exactly match.

A little kitchener stitching and the heel is done.

I have one picture left to post, of the finished pair, which are very nearly done, except for kitchenering the second heel, weaving all the ends and blocking.

I am posting this and working on another post to cover my sadness at not being at STITCHES South this weekend, taking place in Nashville, Tennessee. I have been following the pictures and comments as much as possible, I know I'm missing out.

Happy Knitting, everyone!

(Earlier posts about socks: from 2011)

#STITCHESWest photo recap

I spend most of my time in the Market place during Stitches. Most of these pictures are from my recent acquisition of an iPad. There were just a couple of pictures on my cell phone I can't post here.

Judy is my booth buddy. I probably spend the most time at the Stitches Events with her. She has always treated me kindly, never made me feel small and laughs at my silly jokes. She makes the days go by joyfully.

Here she is wearing the Chelsea's Cowl, one of a set of four that were modeled in the Student Fashion Show by FOUR of the ladies I work with.

Some how, the magic ladies of A Darn Good Yarn got a fun cut-out image of Benjamin Levisay. They had a contest for the most fun selfies posted with him. I miss the time I spent with Benjamin on the Fiber Hooligan podcast. I miss his laugh, most.

Marly Bird and Stephen West. Marly is tall, I think Stephen must have been wearing stilts!

Kismet Andrews of Bar-maids and Marly Bird, the first opportunity they had to meet in person was on the market floor. Bar-maids is a new sponsor of the Yarn Thing Podcast with Marly Bird. 

Wilhelmine Peers designed the piece on the cover of the most recent issue of Knitter's Magazine.

The next bunch of pictures are from the Pajama Party. This event has a great turn-out, as it starts at 10pm, AFTER the fashion show and banquet. They are a bunch of troopers, but also know fun!

Pam Haschke posed with Sharks fans, in her Shark hat. Pam is president of Halos of Hope, little more about that later...

 

Lindsey Martin, of Erin Lane Bags, is also a brand-new sponsor of the Yarn Thing podcast. The two of them together have moves and a huge spirit of fun, you'll only see at the party, so don't miss out on the opportunity when you have it! 

There's always cool prizes to be one at the Pajama Party!

Me and Marly. 

We were ALL singing 'YMCA', because THAT'S how we Pajama Party. 

COSTUME CONTEST!: 

Star Trek! 

Thing 1 and Thing 2, read a knitting poem in the style of Dr. Suess to Judge Stephen West:
Would you knit in a car? Would you knit in a bar? Why, yes, Sam I am.

Stephen's fan, came with a fan.

Stephen sang the Batman theme song, 'Nananananannanananana BATMAN!'

The winner of the contest wore knitted pantaloons.

Second runner up, wore Minnie Mouse ears and a Stephen West design shawl.

Footwear contest, judged by Lorna Misner. She had her work cut out for her.

The market is OPEN!

Anne Berk and I had coffee before the festivities began one morning.
She's way too perky or I haven't had enough coffee yet!

Gwen Bortner author of Entree to Entrelac

Betsy Hershberg, author of Besty's Beads was named Halos of Hope, Woman of the Year.

Kyle Kunnecke (aka Kyle William) I think has become a knitsib
(to borrow the term from Brenda Dayne), this was the first time we met. 

Patty proudly had to show her prizes to me! Marly Bird's pattern of
Outlander inspiration and the Bijou Basin Ranch Yarn to go with!

She knit the scarf from the recent Knitter's Magazine, which I think was an beautiful version!

Deborah Jarchow teaches WEAVING! 

Ginger Luters is also an author, of Module Magic

I think this is my favorite picture of the whole event. Anna Zilboorg is AMAZING, and as much as I overuse that word, there is no other to discribe her. I got to spend PRECIOUS time with her, she was in the booth for a book signing and (maybe because we'd sold out of her Splendid Apparel book two days before) no body showed up. So, I was blessed to VISIT with her and her daughter. She's a cheerful soul and seeing that smile make her giggle replay in my head. What a gift!

Adam Hurst writes and plays beautiful music in the Portland airport (where I've met him now, twice) to soothe the savage traveler. He's using his gypsy cello today, notice the carved head where the typical scroll would be. http://www.worldcello.com/

I met Portlandia in the airport. In this form, she is part of a giant wood carved cuckoo clock that was commissioned by the visitors bureau to tour the Pacific Northwest. I wondered if Portlandia and Medusa would get along but she declined my fries on the grounds that they would ruin her Amazonian figure, It was not for me to argue with her. Besides, Generally, she's a difficult woman to chat with, as she has been cast in bronze and resides on a building where she's best seen in winter when the trees below her can't interfere in the chat. 

The skirt is part of my stash enhancements, from Darn Good Yarn who traveled to California from the EAST coast. There's lots more, but the other photos won't load.

Knotty Girls KnitCast

Just to keep you updated, I was invited by Laura & Jen of the Knotty Girls KnitCast to appear and be interviewed on their podcast.

They were very kind to invite me, it was a genuine thrill for me as I have been listening to their program ever since they began, as you will probably figure out from listening.

Here is the link, I do recommend their podcast as it's FUN, full of knitting and yarn, of course, but movies, tv shows and other geeky stuff. If, for some reason I can't begin to imagine, you're not interested in all the other and only in hearing me, (SERIOUSLY? Have you not had enough?) you could skip ahead to minute 30, and we talk about all kinds of stuff I love for about 30 minutes.

One thing that was mentioned, that I would point out to you, is a GROUP on Facebook, where I try to share all kinds of fun things, comics or cool things from different companies, called PURSUIT OF HAPPY KNITS. (Deliberately all caps, because the happier I am, the louder I get.) Please consider yourself invited to ask to be included.

The Power of Knitting

Before I really begin, let me just say, Knitting is my craft of choice. What I'm trying to say here, I hope applies to all craft: Crochet, Spinning, Dye process, and beyond into woodworking, etc. It may not sound like it because I'm speaking of my own experience and with my own comfort levels.

I've been knitting a stinkingly-good long time. I picked it up when I was a teen-ager, being a bit rebellious of my mom who crocheted. Not that I blame her, she was a single mom of 5 kids, I'm not sure I could have left my knitting alone in such a tornado either, where the simple act of pulling out a needle to use in a decent sword-fight would be devastating. (Pulling out a crochet hook would only undo a few stitches at most.)

I had not been afraid at all of yarn. All through our childhood, Mom would find an unfinished projects or sweaters with 'problems' in the neighborhood thrift store, garbage bags of knotted messes, and bring them home to for us to untangle. Great for problem/puzzle solving. She had in her stash a pair of brilliant kelly green plastic knitting needles and a book on how to knit, and one spring break, after I'd binged until sick of her romances, I went my own way with those pretty needles, that book and a ball of yarn and taught myself to knit.

I think at that stage, my knitting was for productivity. There were always new babies being born around us, we sewed clothes, made blankets and afghans. The feeling of accomplishment to someone not adult yet, can be HUGE.

I continued to knit, sometimes crochet, without stopping into my adult years. It had changed for me though, it had become my one skill that could possibly keep my family warm, a stitch at a time, was precious. To protect and comfort my family was an unceasing chore, as was laundry, dishes, vacuuming. But it was the thing that ONLY I could do. My superpower, to change the world one stitch at a time. Even if it was only MY WORLD!


Later, it became necessary to perfect my skills. My gifts of craft went generally unappreciated because they were viewed as homemade. I could estimate that by this time, I had achieved talent according to the theory of 10,000 hours or very  near it. So, I read everything I could get my hands on at the library or borrow from friends to make better seams, avoid seams, perfect cast-on and bind-offs. I had entered my product in the local county fairs, just to gain information. Still because of the area I was in there wasn't the availability for anything better, I was using acrylic. I had no idea that you could order things by mail, but probably couldn't have done that either, because I had wouldn't have known what I was doing. Or could have afforded it. I was still knitting for everyone else until just a few years ago. I found myself alone and finally began to knit for myself. (In some circles, this is disgustingly called 'Selfish Knitting' and really undeservedly so.)

Almost 40 years later, I find that my knitting fulfills other needs.

The Craft Yarn Council has shared articles on the Health Benefits of knitting, which range from physcial (keeping potential arthritis at bay) to psychological (being focused on something other than self, etc).

Heather Ordover, of one of my favorite podcasts, Craftlit, published a wonderful treatise on Cognitive Anchoring, which demonstrates how knitting improves your Mental Retention of potentially tedious information being heard. You really should try that one on your boss for the next meeting to come along! (I also think you should be free to knit during religious services. After all, another title for God is Creator, who else would understand that satisfying work of your hands and know best how to spiritually feed you?) I can attest to this working as I have always knit during television watching or at the movies, and retain infinite details that I will recall later, to which my husband will say, 'you are a plethora of useless knowledge...' in a loving way.

Then there is the Charity aspect. Nothing new, as socks and hats were knitted in a communal group during wartime as a way to support soldiers. It is beneficial to prison inmates. This article showed them working on hats for Shaken Baby Syndrome. Another recent news items shows a picture of purple hats that were crafted to bring attention to and assist in raising money for Shaken Baby Syndrome. (I admit, what got my attention was the sea of purple hats.)

Halos of Hope is an organization that collects and sends about 2,700 hats a month to cancer centers all over the US. I personally have knitted hats for Halos of Hope, dog blankets and sweaters for the local Humane Society, blankets for the Linus Blanket Project and Warm-Up America.

One of my favorite programs that I feel the little that I've done is not enough: Foster Care 2 Success is a program to support kids who've aged out of the foster care program and gone on to higher education. The Red Scarf Project sends the kids a package at Valentine's Day that includes among other things a hand-knitted red scarf. I have set aside some wool just for that, but have been too tied up with other things at the moment to get to it...

I don't know how my knitting story will end. I plan to knit till I can't, I will take my knitting with me everywhere. Literally walk around with it, except when walking the dogs. There's not a lot of purses or bags that work that way, that's my current desire. I do know that my knitting has acquired a communal note that is new and refreshing to me and fraught with drama. Technology has had some really wonderful benefits, as in finding materials, patterns, creative ideas which has had me wondering if I need an electronic tablet most of the day long. At the same time, tech has made a venue for those who don't have any other way to vent their frustrations to become quite nasty. Which seems to continue to perpetuate the ugly stereotype of 'knitting grumpy grannies'.

That may be the image of me after all this time but certainly NOT where I hope to end up. It is my goal to keep sharing what is sweet and good. To that end, I do have a Facebook Group called "Pursuit of Happy Knits" that I hope does this for me. Please consider yourself invited. If being happy is your thing, that is.

To close, here's a great video: Jimmy Kimmel has a conversation with a fellow knitting in his audience. I understand his name is Brad. Brad, if you're out there and see this, You Rock! You may be a soul cousin of mine.

Story of The Wanderer (my pattern)

So, after my Cloche pattern, I seemed to be on a bit of a streak.

I've seen it before. Sometimes Designers will create a totally new and wonderful idea and by the time they've worked it up and written the pattern, they will have a thought that becomes a variation of the first. It may happen several times before the Designer moves on to a new idea.

I don't consider myself a Designer. I like how Paula Emmons-Fuessle (Prairie Piper of the Knitting Pipeline Podcast) puts it, when she says she's not a designer either, but thought up a creative and interesting idea and wrote it down to share with others. Designers tend to create a new design every day, appear in all the magazines and every time they have a new idea it becomes the NEXT BIG THING.  Yeah, I think Paula and I are the same kind of people.

Now, back to the streak: After I created the Cloche, my dear sister-in-law who was fighting the fight against cancer, thought having a hat would be a good idea, but thought if it had a brim, that might work better for her. She lives in a rainy location, her thought was that a brim would keep the rain from splattering her glasses.

My earlier project, based on
Anne Modesitt's
pattern but with a few slight
modifications.

I have wired a brim before. I knitted one of Anne Modesitt's patterns into a beautiful brimmed hat for my step-daughter's wedding a a couple of years ago (garden wedding, garden hat) and the yarn shop owner where I attended knit night ordered millinery wire and shared a bit of it with me. That little element was the trickiest part because she ordered it, then waited weeks (maybe just days, but hard to be patient when you're waiting for that crucial element) for it to arrive. Then to carefully crochet the wire in place...

When I thought about wiring the hat I'd just completed, it seemed like it would be very easy, as I had finished the hat with an i-chord ~ a built-in channel for a wire! However, I didn't have any millinery wire. What to do?

I had knit a Celtic braid once, and now considered that if I were a traveler, as I often dream, and could go to a country of wool, like say, Scotland, Ireland or the UK, perhaps, a hat with that braid might lead me to feel at home. Like the Cloche with a band that circles the head, I used the Celtic braid to circle the head this time. It's width would leave a need for a smaller crown and the brim could compliment it simply as well. A few more simple 'channels' for utility and decoration and my new 'idea' was complete.

And now, for a slight secret: I didn't have any of that brim wire that I had used before, also did not recall the name of the company it was ordered from, even though it was only the next state over. When I mentioned my dilemma to my husband, he went out to his handy-man supplies and came back with trimmer wire. That's right, the plastic cord used in weed-eaters. I threaded it through the brim channel (not i-chord this time) with a teeny bit of duct-tape to keep it's shape. NOTE: I tried a couple of things, like melting the two ends to each other, to no avail. The brim wire and the duct tape work remarkable well, and with the hat worked up in a heavy worsted or bulky weight yarn, is not at all visible through the stockinette no matter what color the cord or the knitted fabric. 

The hat is a couple of years old and this is still true, the brim wire has held it's shape and doesn't show through the knitting.

Small note: The written pattern doesn't give gauge but there is a spot in the instructions where the knitter is asked to stop and measure for gauge. The pattern also gives incorrect stitch count when picking up for brim. That is all the errata or other problems people seem to have had with creating it for themselves.

The Wanderer is available in my Ravelry store. Thank for reading my little story about it's creation. Happy Knitting!

All about that Cloche (Oregon City Arch Cloche)

This is the story of my design, The Oregon City Arch Cloche.

Almost two years ago, I was asked to design (as I had done before) a couple pieces for two of the Rose City Yarn Crawl participating shops. These two shops were on either side of one of the bridge that was celebrating it's 100th anniversary that year. Wynona Studios was on the Oregon City side (Eastside and does not exist anymore except in cherished memory) and Wool N Wares on the Willamette Falls (West) side, also considered West Linn.

First of all, something that you may not know, Rose City is one of many nicknames for Portland, Oregon. Ah, you say, now I get it, ROSE CITY Yarn Crawl... One of the other nicknames is Bridgetown. The Oregon City Bridge is not in Portland, or even the same county, but it's still included in the list of bridges in the area.

When it was originally built, to celebrate it's completion, a young man walked across from one side and his bride walked to meet him in the middle and there they were married. How fun, huh?

So these two shops thought it might be cool to celebrate the anniversary of bridge by remembering the wedding with projects that commemorate that time period and fashion. Also, I wanted the two items to kind of go together. JJ at Wynona Studios gave me a fingering weight yarn and we decided to make fingerless mitts, lacey with nupps for a bridal, Edwardian-period feel. We named them Blushing Bride Fingerless Mitts. They are created with a braided wrist band (a three-fold braid is symbolic of marriage and, for me, girlhood) the mitt picked up and knit from one edge, finished with a picot edge, with an optional lace cuff picked up from the other edge.

The Cloche that this post is about, uses that same braided band so that they can go together, but it's knit of worsted weight yarn and continues to be very not-at-all like the mitts.

The word "CLOCHE" by definition (French meaning Bell) is a close-fitting BELL-SHAPED ladies hat. I did not create it to be felted, but I would like to see someone knit one over-sized to felted. Hopefully the stitch textures wouldn't be completely lost, by over-felting.   I began this again with a HAT BAND of the braid I mentioned, a little smaller than head size, hoping to help it stay on the head. To achieve the bell-shaped crown, stitches picked up (again similar to the mitts) the decreases start slow and pick up speed to the end. The brim, I thought should flare but only just a bit, so the stitches are picked up with only a few increases in number. and worked for just a short time till the brim and then for the neat finished edge, bound off with an i-chord. That final touch seems to me to make it also look tailored, but that may be my own pride.

Now, why am I telling you this story?  This little hat has been the most popular pattern in my designs sold on Ravelry. I love the texture, the shape, in my opinion it looks best in purple, but the one that appears in the pattern for the Yarn Crawl was done in a nice medium blue Cascade 220, still nice.

Some have not had an easy time of it, it's not an easy knit pattern, the pick-up and knit is intimidating for some as are cables. Many have not done the brim, have just created it as a beanie. Which is nice, too. I like the texture, but some have mistaken it for crochet and passed it by for that reason. I've discovered, as much as that would make me feel wonderful, I can't make everyone happy. I still love this little hat.

SO, because I love it so much and want to see more people knit it up with THEIR favorite worsted weight and PLEASE post it in Ravelry so I can see it and go back and admire yours over and over again, BECAUSE I WILL! I am offering it at half off through the end of 2014. Please click the link for the Oregon City Arch Cloche above, use code Blog2014

STITCHES East 2014 ~ Hartford, Connecticut

I was fortunate to be asked back to assist the XRX team at Stitches East, which held in Hartford, Connecticut.

The weather there for the most part was decent. This was the view outside the hotel window.

Cake the Elephant is somewhat of a celebrity.
He has his own Facebook page! I enjoyed
coffee with him a couple of mornings at
the registration desk.

Benjamin Levisay, CEO of XRX
publications, which hosts the
Stitches Events, is also host of
the Fiber Hooligan Podcast. He
allows me to assist with a group in
Ravelry, a page in Facebook
and Twitter. Also the final portion
of each podcast called.
  State of the Hooligan.
Here Cake gives us tips for
upcoming episodes!

This was actually taken at Stitches Midwest in Chicago.
I felt that I got to spend a little bit more time with
the dashing Franklin Habit at Stitches East (short of
sitting alongside and knitting with him, as is my dream)
so I'm including him here. He presented his 'Weldon's
Practical Magic' to the Hartford audience, which I felt
was thoroughly enjoyed by all. 

Jane Slicer-Smith, author of
Swing Swagger Drape,
published by XRX, traveled
to Harford from Australia.

Steve Malcolm, host of the It
Takes Balls to Knit blog,
traveled to Hartford from
Vancouver, BC. He must
be on his knees here, he's so
much taller than me!

Robin drove in from
Schenectady, NY, is a
faithful listener of
Fiber Hooligans and
Yarn Thing with Marly Bird.
She is the FIRST person to
recognize me, I believe, that
I didn't have to identify myself
to and include a bunch of tactless
name dropping.

Anne Berk, is an awesome
teacher and recently published
author, from our old neighborhood
near Portland, OR. She has
developed a method of
intarsia knitting her husband
calls ANNETARSIA,
which is the name of her book!

This is Brooke Nico, who designed the cardigan I'm wearing. If I ever owned a garment that
was 'lucky' it would be this one. I was wearing it the first time I met Benjamin Levisay and
he recognized it as her design from the (then) recent Knitters K100 magazine. She also has
a new book, featuring her genius lace designs. called Lovely Knitted Lace.

There was an opportunity to meet some of the
authors that XRX has published as soon as the
market opened. Here is Elise Duvekot,
Myra Wood and Betsy Hershberg.

At the other end of the same table is Laura
Bryant and Gwen Bortner.

Marly Bird has allowed me to pester her beyond all reason for over a year
 and has let me monitor her Ravelry Group, Facebook Page and Twitter,
 plus her Newsletter. She says I'm helping but sometimes I gotta wonder....
Pure coincidence that she caught me wearing the new Derby from
Buffalo Wool Co (one of the sponsors of her podcast,
Yarn Thing with Marly Bird) and she was wearing a great hat as well!

I LOVE YARN DAY took place on Friday while Stitches East was happening. This picture of the Convention Center Staff
was published in the local paper.

The Convention staff were so involved in the
fun of Stitches, that this sweetheart wore her
own crochet work to greet folks on the last day
of Stitches East 2014. 

Part of all the fun at each Stitches Event is seeing what
Lily Chin's costume is at the Student Banquet and Fashion
Show. At Stitches East 2014, she came as Marie Antoinette.
Complete with guillotine and mortal neck wounds. The
majority of her gown was machine knit, as there was probably
no way to complete this entire ensemble by hand in the
two months since Stitches Midwest in Chicago.

I went with a shopping list for this event. I had to check my bag
so I left lots of room by bringing completed gifts to giveaway,
then filling it with such goodies as Erin Lane Bags, these two are
special editions. The one on the left is a Kristin Omdahl fabric
introduced at Stitches East 2014 and the right is a Marly Bird
bag, created as a collectible for this event. The skein is Kristin's
Bamboo So Fine in the PURPLE that I had to have more of!

I think this is the majority of the accumlation I brought home. The hat from Buffalo Wool Co, mentioned before, and a skein of yarn to make another hat of my own pattern. Books, bags, my skirt from Darn Good yarn and it's yummy bag, probably a new project bag, and the Namaste BYOB I've craved since hearing them on the Fiber Hooligan podcast.

The last day I was there in Hartford included several hours with nothing better to do than be an obnoxious tourist. Some of the ladies I spend a lot of time working alongside came up with a wonderful plan to see the Mark Twain House, not far away from the hotel. So, two pictures I like best from that:

First, we had to pose with Lego Samuel Clemmons.
I did say 'obnoxious tourist, did I not?

This view of the Samuel Clemmons' home is this, with the atrium. (No one is allowed to photograph in side the house.) The veranda that the family was photographed on many times there on the right. From that location the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe is seen although of a bit of a distance, close enough to borrow a cup of sugar but far enough that the children could be children and not disturb the neighbors. There wasn't really time to see Harriet's home, but we did visit the Interpretive Center, where you could purchase souvenir knitting needles or quilting tools. Imagine that! 

I hope you enjoyed this post of my first excursion to Stitches East and Hartford, Connecticut. There was a quote of Mark Twain's that I saw that seemed absolutely true to me at the moment I saw it while I was there, and I think it will be the perfect conclusion to my little picture story.

'Travel is fatal to prejudice.'

Seeing another area and wondering how people function, live, work, enjoy life is always an eye-opening experience as well as hearing different accents in the way people speak. However, in a fun event like Stitches, where everyone is as giddy as you are about the inspiration they are seeing and learning about, we're not so different after all.