Trees and Men's Fingerless Gloves

The weather has been glorious this year and I have gotten some pictures of the trees in our area.  The bright yellow one is a cottonwood.  I love the feel of the air and the cooler temperatures.  We have even gotten rain this week which is almost always an event in this part of Kansas.  During this time of year, I am always wanting to knit.

When I was working on the Pine Tree and Cones Fingerless Gloves, my husband said he would love a men's pair as it would allow for warmth in the hands but dexterity and feel in the fingers.  I thought, "Why not.  That should be relatively simple."   If I had only known, I am not sure I would have started this project.

I love knitted lace but that wouldn't be something my husband would be interested in.  So I thought maybe some sort of cable design.  That seemed like more of a male design that I could get into.
I started looking through patterns to see if I could find something.  What I found is that just about every cable stitch I would come up with has already been done in fingerless gloves.  So then I thought I will just have to come up with a new cable design.  Silly me.

Also, he can wear his clothes pretty hard so I needed to find some yarn that would wear hard and be much thicker so that he would not snag the glove and break the threads.  So I went to our local yarn shop to look at what I could find that would wash easily and wear well. (I love doing this part of the design process.  I usually have to stop myself from buying out the store)  I thought worsted weight should be heavy enough to handle his hard use.   I found a light worsted weight in tan that should wash easily but was really soft next to the skin.  I also found some rust cotton that would work.  Both colors are good for him.

With the yarn colors and the cable design I set down to draw out different ideas.  I love trees of all seasons and I thought of the gnarly hedge rows around the wheat fields in our area.  In the winter with no leaves, these Osage-orange trees are really fantastic to see.  We appreciate their wood for burning in our fireplace as it burns hot for a long time.

With this in mind I set out to design a cable that would twist and divide into the branches that these trees do.  I have been working on this design for 2 + months and have been tempted to give up on it.  However, I hate to admit defeat and have had to take it out, try something else, take that out, try something else, etc.   I am excited because I think I have finally figured this design out.  I will be introducing this pattern for others to make in 2 or three weeks.

Have you ever had a project that you just refused to give up on? 

Fall and knitting

I love Fall.  It can be so beautiful.  This year it sure is.  Some years in Kansas we have one or two weeks of cool down from the extreme heat and then it is winter.  Naturally the early frosts and ice storms makes all the leaves on the trees drop immediately.  This year we have had almost a full month of cooler weather and the leaves on the trees are stunning, especially the Cottonwood trees.  I think the Cottonwood is the Plains version of the Aspen.  They turn vibrant yellow.  The leaf shape is very similiar but they are larger.  They even quake in the wind which is almost always blowing in Kansas. 

With the cooler temperatures it just makes sense to try to knit.  I have been working on a pair of men's fingerless gloves.  Since it is for men, I decided to make something with cables.  I just about have the pattern figured out.  This has really been a challenge for me and is taking longer than usual to figure out.  I thought I had it and then last night I had to take it all out again to make some changes.  I think they will be really fun when I have got all the kinks worked out.

I love working with wonderful yarns that feel so nice in my hands.  Yarns can really add the touch to a pattern that can make all the difference.  I love my local yarn shop and have to keep from visiting too often or my house would not have anymore room for us and our 3 dogs.  I love to spin moreno and angora rabbit wool together to make some wonderful yarns.  All of these things take room and we live in a very compact house so I am using yarns I already have so that I have room to purchase more.

What are your favorite things about Fall or knitting?

Scarecrows and Autumn

Today is the first day of Fall.  Living in Kansas, I am really ready for it.  The air is clear and crisp.  The leaves are turning colors and the temperatures have dropped to highs in the 80's and lows in the 60's.  It is glorious outside.

All this is coming just when I finally was able to get the testing done on my newest reading character bookmark, the Scarecrow of Oz.  I got interested in these characters because a very good friend of mine was telling me about growing up on the Oz books as a young girl.  The pictures in her books were delightful and so I thought (after doing some research) that I would try to make my own renditions.

The biggest challenge for me to try to come up with a crochet stitch that looks like rope. Then I remembered about twisting crochet thread into rope like pieces.  I love his diploma which he is holding in his hands to prove that he has a brain.

With all the wild weather we had this summer including some extreme tornadoes that hit in locations that were not set up for them and the terrible losses in Joplin, MO, and a small town here in KS that same day, this series just seemed appropriate.

Hopefully fall will be so much better weather wise.  I know this scarecrow would not mind hanging out in our fields around where I live right now.   What do you like most about Autumn? 





Making Rope or the Z-twist

I am currently working on a couple of projects at once which means that I am getting a lot done very slowly.  One of the patterns I am working on is a crochet reading character bookmark of the Scarecrow of Oz.  In looking at pictures I see that he is tied together using rope at various points.  I was trying to figure out how to make crochet stitches look like rope.  Then my dear husband reminded me of a pattern I did in my youth that had a rope looking part to it. 

I thought I would do a pictorial tutorial on how to make the appearance of rope.  Spinners will recognize this as the Z-twist.  It can be used with yarn, string, thread or any material of sufficient length.  I have even used this with dried Yucca leaves to make rope just as Native Americans did years ago.  In spinning it is called plying and it involves spinning several bobbins going one direction.  Then to ply the single thread created on each bobbin into a 2 ply or 3 ply yarn, the single thread bobbins are spun together on a separate bobbin going the opposite direction from the way the single threads were spun.  This locks them into place and give the yarn much more strength.

I took a long piece of crochet thread and doubled it.

This can be done with yarn for the same results.  Next step is to twist it tightly.

Now I knot both ends without losing the twist in order to keep the twist in the work.

Now comes the z-twist part.  I double the thread which causes the twists on both threads to want to lock into place.  I kept both threads apart until they were even length and then allowed them to lock together.

I then twist them together a little more if needed and tie both ends to keep these twists in place.

Some of my "rope" needed to be thicker than other ropes on the piece, so I just doubled the thread again.  

Twisted a little more and knotted both ends to hold in place.  Now I have the "rope"  that is needed to make my scarecrow.  I have used this technique with yarn also and it produces the same great results.

I am hoping to have this pattern off to my pattern testers by the end of the week.





Making Patterns

It has been a while but that is summer time for you.  I was asked recently what it took to make a pattern so I thought I would write about it.  It is a really long process but well worth the effort when it come out just the way I want it to.

Obviously, the first step is an idea.  I then do a search for other patterns in knit or crochet that might have the same idea.  It is amazing how many times I think I have thought of something truly unusual and find that someone else has already got the same idea.  Both knitting and crochet have been around long enough that it is really hard to find something that hasn't been done.  I do not want to infringe on someone else's copyright.

O.K.  Now I have an idea for something that I haven't seen before and can't find a pattern for.  First since I make a lot of characters, I look up to see who holds the copyright for those characters.  If no one does, and they are in the public domain I can now continue.  I do an image search for that character and get a lot of different looks.  Again, I do not want to copy one of these images as they are images that other artists have the rights to.  I try to decide what elements the character needs to be recognizable as that character and come up with my own look.

Now the real work begins.  Taking the yarn or thread colors that I need, I start making the character or item.  When I am planning on using really nice yarn, I usually do this part in scrape yarn as I know that I will be taking it out a lot and trying something else and I don't want to ruin my good yarn doing this over and over again.  I have a notebook and I write each stitch down.  I also use the notebook to make drawings of what I would like the piece to come out as.  As I take out different sections, I scribble out what I had originally put down and add the new way of making it to come out the way I want it. 

I use a lot of stitch dictionaries that I have in my collection of crochet and knit patterns.  Another resource I find invaluable to finding stitches is YouTube videos of different stitches.  I have read how to make different stitches but find I can understand it so much easier when I see it.  Here is one of my favorite videos on Kitchener Stitch which is really confusing when it comes to reading how to make this wonderful seamless seam.  Kitchener Stitch Video

It usually takes 2 or 3 weeks to come up with a pattern that I am happy with.  Now I go to my computer and type all those stitches that I  have written in my pattern notebook.  This can be a real challenge to read over all the cross out sections and put them into a document.  I try to format the pattern to way I would find it the easiest for me to read.  I space between each row with the row and number in bold letters so that it is easy for your eye to find the row that is being worked on.

If any section is unusual I try to take a picture of that stitch or section so that the reader can see what I mean.  Here is a picture of a puffed sleeve I make on some of my character bookmarks.  Now I print the document and make a second item using the document that I have created.  If I am using nice yarn this second one is done with the good yarn.  The second and often third time through, I am looking for mistakes that have been typed in.  There are always a lot along the way.

On the second time through I measure the yarn or string that I use to make the piece along with the name of the color.  It am trying to keep my patterns in line with the industry standards as found at this website http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards.html  Here is an example from one of my patterns.

Materials: bedspread weight cotton threads (size 10)

33 yards burgundy (or choice of main bud color)

27 yards dusty rose (or choice of contrasting bud color)

4 yards Kerry green (or choice of stem color)

67 yards White (background color)

Boye Steel Crochet hook size 1 (2.25mm) 

Gauge:  8 hdc = 1 inch (2.5cm), 5 hdc rows = 1 inch (2.5cm)

Skill Level:  Intermediate

Finished Size:  10 inches (25.5cm) round diameter

Stitches and Abbreviations used:  again I use the yarn council's standards abbreviations.

When the pattern is "correct"  I send it off to at least 2 other pattern testers.  These wonderful people will make the pattern for me, looking for corrections and offering suggestions on how to make the pattern easier to understand.  I give them a deadline so that I will get it corrected in a timely matter.

When I receive it back from these wonderful people, I am ready to publish my pattern.  It usually takes close to a about 45 to 60 days to get a pattern ready to be published.  It is a time consuming process but I love sharing my patterns with others.

Is making patterns something you would be interested in doing?  If you have the time and patience I would encourage anyone to try.  I want to see the art of crochet and knitting continuing to grow with new ideas and designs.

 

 

Passionate about Pine Trees

As I mentioned before, I love Pine trees.  I think my love of them came when I was going to college in Flagstaff, Arizona at Northern Arizona University.  It was, at the time, a small mountain town.  Outside my dorm was a small piece of the Ponderosa Pine forest that surrounded the community.  Every morning, weather permitting, I would go out and sit under a Pine tree to have devotions before my day started.  I also brought a handful of sunflower seeds to put on a stump that was not far from the tree I used.

I would lean against this wonderfuly tall tree and smell the sweet smell that this tree puts off.  I would notice the soft carpet of needles that I was sitting on.  I would watch the little ground squirrel, that had come to expect that little handful of seeds, stuff his mouth and run off to return for more.  I would see birds perch on the tree I was sitting under and get a close up view.  If a mountain shower would come, I and the birds would stay dry under that tree.  I was amazed at the beauty that God had created in this little area.

I now live in rural Kansas and I miss those wonderful pine trees.  I decided to make something to commerate that love and came up with the Pine Trees and Cones Scarf.  I also decided to make a fingerless glove to match that scarf. 

I thank the Lord that he gave me this time in the mountains.  When I am really stressed today, I have learned to find a room that is quiet, close my eyes, remember the sights and smells and talk to God about my stresses under the Ponderosa Pines in my mind.

What wonders of nature do you have that helps you know God's love?

May is Here

Spring is in the air in Kansas and tomorrow is May Day.  As a child I made May Baskets, (usually out of construction paper or old wrapping paper) filled them with flowering blooms and gave them to my grandmother who lived near us.  Of course she was thrilled.  When my children came home with May Baskets from school, they put little posies in them and gave them to our elderly next door neighbors.  (Their grandmas lived 500 miles away.)  The neighbors loved them.  What a neat tradition to let the elderly know they are still appreciated.

May basket are very easy to make.  My favorite designer, Elizabeth Ann White, has a free tutorial and pattern for making a very quick and easy may basket.

http://bellacrochet.blogspot.com/2009/04/grannys-may-day-basket.html

This is a very simple pattern and would work up rather quickly.  Her tutorial will guide you right through the process.  Who wouldn't love such a surprising and sweet gift.  It can be filled with flowers, soaps, dried flower arrangements or little treats to be hung on the door knob.  (My kids always rang the doorbell so that the neighbor knew there was a gift just for them)

Ann has so many wonderful patterns on her website.  Having bought from her I can say they are well written with lots of helpful hints and well worth the money.  Check out her wonderful doilies, baby designs, crochet accessories and even some free patterns at: http://bellacrochet.com/

Happy May Day to all and especially to the elderly in our communities.  What would life be like without their patience, wisdom and kindness.  Do you have any plans for surprising  someone tomorrow?