Remembering Elderberries…

As you can well imagine, each time we create a project, we want to make something that is beautiful.  It is amazing how our pieces so often trigger a memory or remind of something in the present.

Our latest pattern, Elderberry Hill, is reminiscent of those days, back in our youth, when our mother hauled us ( yes, we were reluctant!) all over the countryside berry picking.  Growing up on a farm, our mother learned the fine art of canning and freezing fruit and vegetables.  She felt it was important that we had these skills, also.  To kids living in town, it seemed like a frivolous way to soak up valuable weekend hours.  Let’s be frank….those items could be purchased at Grand Union and didn’t involve hours collecting berries.

 

Berry picking is hard work.  Berries ripen in the summer and early Fall.  It is usually hot and there are bugs.  I was a “good berry picker” (my Mom would always say :)).  My sister, on the other hand, was terrible.  Mom would set Pam a goal of getting the bottom of her pan covered (which would take FOREVER!).  She even gave her the smallest pot!  I would have to listen to her endless complaints….”I’m hot….I’m thirsty….I’m bored….”  Nowadays we take bottled drinks with us everywhere.  Back then, it was not as common, so it was a mistake to eat as you picked.  One reason….it makes you thirsty, very thirsty.  Second reason, it prevents you reaching your picking goal.

Despite these complaints, I really loved the jams and jellies we made.  To this day, I cannot find any that taste as good as when we make them ourselves.

Elderberries grew on the side hill of Round Top.  We would have to park along the highway and hike up the hill to pick them.  Our Elderberry Hill Shawl is a pleasant reminder of the days spent with our Mom, learning skills that we didn’t truly appreciate until we were much older.  Bobbie is modeling our shawl near the old train station.  This pattern can be found on Ravelry with the link below:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/elderberry-hill

If you can produce or make your own jellies, I’d love to hear about your experience!  Please comment below!

Until next time….

-Penny 🙂

 

In the Glen…

One of our favorite places to go hiking is Waverly Glen.  It is really a hidden gem.   Normally a recreational park is not located so close to town and it is only 5 minutes from where we live.  There is a beautiful waterfall, that as a child, I could remember sitting at the bottom of on mossy stones feeling the spray from the water.

It’s this scenic place that inspired our Glen Hollow Cowl.  Glen Hollow Cowl is the  4th piece in our Woodland Collection.  It is perfect for keeping warm!

Our pattern is available on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/glen-hollow-cowl

 

Check it out and let me know what you think!

-Penny  🙂

This is a shot of Waverly Glen’s waterfall.

UFO’s

 

Now, I realize that the title conjures up images of spaceships, but to knitters and crocheters, UFO’s are the dreaded, unfinished objects.  Pam and I try to avoid this problem, but we are easily bored.  So one should not be surprised that there are several patterns in various stages of development, as well as a number of items being test knitted.  Ensuring these projects reach completion is the goal.

Although conquering UFO’s may not be an exploration into new frontiers,  it is a task in time saving.  No one can re-capture the hours devoted to an abandoned piece.   And the solution isn’t as simple as limiting the number of projects started or budgeting time to each work in progress.  I feel Pam is much like the typical knitter, there is ALWAYS something on her needles.  It is almost an offense to her to have empty needles.  Yet, despite best intentions, UFO’s are sometimes unavoidable.  For instance, Pam has started a scarf with nupps.  She was making this as a surprise for a dear lady who reminds her a lot of our mother.  This lady’s favorite color is black.  She is modest and generally dresses is skirts, blouses, coats and hats in black.  I’m not saying she doesn’t wear any other colors (we do have a running joke that she is a female Johnny Cash), but it is obvious that she is most comfortable wearing black.

So why is this project shelved?  Well it is a combination of things.  One is the yarn.  Although it is a lovely, soft merino yarn in lace weight…the color is the blackest of blacks.  It is so dark, it is hard for her to see the stitches.  As a chart knitter, she likes to watch the pattern emerge and with this black yarn she finds it difficult to see the pattern.  (Also having over 40 year old  eyes……)  The second problem, and possibly the more important reason, is that the lady reminds Pam of Mom.  Even though it has been over 21 years since our mother passed, it is still difficult for all of us having her gone.  Every time she has worked on the scarf, she feels sad.  She knows it may not make sense, but it doesn’t change the fact she makes the connection.  So, despite the best intentions, the partially made scarf lays in a bag.  It will no doubt get frogged back at some point, but for now it is an unfinished object.

Pam feels sometimes we have to forgive ourselves our abandoned projects and embrace that perhaps that yarn will be better suited in a future project.  Have a ceremony and bid it a fond farewell…..  So in a galaxy near northeastern Pennsylvania, there will probably still be an occasional UFO sighting in the future.

 

-Penny  🙂

Turn Back Time

 

Sometimes I wish I could turn back time and appreciate things of my youth with a “middle age” perspective.   Growing up, my Aunt Erva’s house was filled with many home decor items she crocheted.  Afghans, pillow covers, bookmarks, and doilies graced couches, tables, and chairs.  To my young eye, these pieces seemed kitschy and really dated.

It is really ironic that I have become my Aunt Erva in many ways.  I may not be crocheting Barbie bed dolls, but I currently have several crocheted rugs in progress and spent my summer making lap blankets for the winter season.

There are two things my aunt made me that I wish I still had.  One was a violet pattern doily she gave me with a shamrock plant for my birthday.  It was so lacy and colorful!

The second item was a Christmas gift,  a set of pillowcases she embroidered and crocheted lace on.   In needlework, she had written out my name in cursive and the edge was a delicate floral pattern.

I guess the real gift is that, although it took many years, I now have a real appreciation for the love and labor it takes to create such things.  Who knows, maybe like my Aunt Erva (who like me, did not have children of her own to spoil), I will make things for my future grandnieces and grandnephews to enjoy!

If there is a knitted, crocheted, or sewn keepsake that you remember fondly, I would love to hear about it!

-Penny  🙂

Acid Dye

Generally, when I dye yarn for one of our projects, I use acid dye.  Acid dyes are versatile and start out in powder form.  Much like Kool-Aid dyeing, you mix standard solutions in water.  One of the reasons I like acid dyeing is that it is permanent.  It doesn’t fade, even after repeated washings.  I get my dyes from Dharma Trading Co.  There are 82 colors to choose from and you can buy in small quantities, in bulk, or in kits.

The process I use to dye yarn is called  immersion dyeing.  By using the immersion method, you get a fairly uniform single color all over your fiber by soaking or dipping it in water in a big pot.  If you are dyeing multiple skeins, you will want to use a large pot and measure out your dye.  Personally, I like dyeing one or two skeins at a time and customizing the color for a particular project.

The first thing I do is take a pot and fill it 2/3 of the way with water.   I love to use my large candy making saucepan.  To the water, I add a liberal splash of white vinegar.  The acidity from the vinegar, along with heat, helps the dye penetrate the yarn fiber.  You bring the water almost to a boil and keep it simmering.  I add the dye to the water/vinegar solution in 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon increments.   I am prone to making my own color combos.  A skein I recently dyed had too much of a orange tone after my first dyeing, so I added a burgundy dye to the pot and re-dipped the skein.  It ended up a lovely wine color with a slight burnt orange undertone.  So, as you can see,  if you don’t like the results you simply add another layer of color until you get something you like. Please note, you need to start with lighter/ brighter colors and work your way to the darker ones, slowly.  You can even overdye a yarn that you are less satisfied with the color, but the best success is when you use yarns that are white or a natural color.

The normal process takes around a 1/2 hour.  Once the dye solution is simmering, you take your hanked skein of yarn and submerge it in the dye solution.  Your yarn can be clean fleece or prepared roving, but it needs to be a protein fiber (which is an animal fiber such as wool, mohair, angora….).  Many people pre-soak their yarn overnight to ensure that the yarn is clean and de-greased.  The yarn is then put into the dye water and “cooks”.  The process can take up to 15 minutes.  I keep assessing the color of the water, monitoring dye absorption.  If the water gets clear and I think the yarn needs to be darker or I want to change the shade, I pull the yarn and add more dye and re-dip.  You need to resist the urge to stir or agitate the yarn to prevent felting the yarn.

It is helpful to wear rubber gloves while dyeing ( a step I constantly forget to do…).  Once you’ve dyed your yarn, you need to rinse it until the water runs clear.  I add Euclan or a conditioner to the yarn before setting it out to dry.

If you’ve tried this technique, have you found any helpful hints?  I’d love to hear about your dyeing adventures!

-Penny 🙂

 

 

English vs Continental

If you are a new knitter, the question of knitting technique may come up.  Or perhaps, you learned to knit one method and wonder if the other is better for you. Depending on what you read or who you talk to, there are many schools of thought on what process is faster….or more efficient…. or easier.

English knitting, which is also called American knitting, is popular in England and many areas of Europe. It involves holding the yarn in your right hand and “throwing” it over the needle to form the stitch, thus it is referred to as the “throwing” method.

Continental knitting, also known as German knitting, is popular in northern and eastern Europe.  This method holds the yarn in the left hand and a utilizes a slight movement of the left index finger to help the needle pick up the yarn and form a new stitch.  It is referred to as the “picking” method.

My sister knits a hybrid of several methods.  She likes to knit a modified Continental.  Yet when purling, she either does the English style or the Norwegian style.  Although it can be interesting to explore different techniques and see if they improve or enhance your knitting, ultimately the most satisfying part of knitting is creating things for you, your family, or friends to enjoy!

So what method do you use?  I love to hear about what works best for you!

-Penny   🙂

Diamonds

Right after my sister finished our Elfin Whimsy, my mind started to think what patterns could be utilized in the shape.  That’s when I visualized diamonds.  That brainstorming was the inspiration behind our newest pattern in the Woodland Series called Elfin Harlequin.

It is reversible and can be knitted with one skein of yarn.  It is an easy knit and is a perfect project for stashbusting.

Here is a closer picture of the pattern:

I really love patterns that be worn on either side.  I love to hear how you think it came out!

-Penny  🙂

The pattern can be found on Ravelry at:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/elfin-harlequin

Birch Tree Inspiration

Our newest pattern design was inspired by the birch tree in my side yard.

Many years ago (way back in my teen years), our mother fell in love with the white birches she would see on our weekend trips to Vermont.  Back country roads were lined with a gallery of peeling white bark and yellow leaves.

Our Birchwood Stole has a leaf motif along the bottom edge.  My sister test knitted the piece in both our Snowflake lace weight yarn and our Peony lace weight yarn (pictured below).

   

I really love how the motif cascades down.  Please let me know what you think!

 

-Penny   🙂

The pattern can be found on Ravelry at the link below:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/birchwood-stole

To Block or Not to Block

To block or not to block….that is the question……

I hate blocking. Don’t get me wrong, I love how a project looks once it is blocked, but the process to get it there is soooooooooooooooooooo fiddly.  Is fiddly a word?  Well it is in our family.  Any task that is painstaking or mundane gets described as “fiddly”.

My sister says that blocking is like ironing a project.  I agree that it smooths it out and helps define the piece’s shape.  But sticking 8 million straight pins into foam blocks, all the while stretching the yarn into the dimensions, seem to take forever.  And I have the “readjust” problem.  I get my pins in, then I have to move them this way or that way more.  It is an never ending task.

I advocate for a miracle spray that will instantly whip into shape all scarves, wraps, cowls, and hats!  But until one is developed……

 

So, do you block or not?  I’d love to hear about if you have any time saving techniques!

-Penny  🙂

Designing Some Charm

Enjoying the success of launching our first pattern on Ravelry, we decided to add another of our designs.  Our Elfin Charm is a shawlette made with our hand dyed Kentucky Bluegrass fingering yarn.  It has a modified crescent shape and anchored on one shoulder with a button.  There is an eyelet insertion that adds a lovely visual pattern to the piece and functions as a button fastener.

As you can see, Elfin Charm can be a pretty accessory to wear with any style of jacket or as a colorful accent to sweaters or turtlenecks.  It is a perfect pattern for variegated yarn.

I really love pieces that add a nice accent to what I’m wearing.  Isn’t it fun pizzazz-ing our wardrobe with a little knitting?  My mother use to say “it’s all about the accessories”!  What’s your current favorite knitted or crocheted accessory?  I’d love to hear what you are enjoying!

-Penny  🙂

 

Our pattern can be found on Ravelry at the link below:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/elfin-charm