How to sew on a button without the spacer sandwich

A spacer sandwich?  What?

one kind of spacer sandwich

Actually, this post is not about UFO's on a bun, it's about a different kind of spacer sandwich--it's about a little trick to make sewing on buttons easier.  How it came about is that recently, I had to sew 9 buttons onto a sweater-coat.  Naturally, only on the very last one did today's neat trick decide to reveal itself.

The problem arises because non-shanked buttons (the kinds with holes in the top) still need to have a shank (shank = little stem on button back).  The shank raises the button high enough so that you can work the button into and out of the button hole without the button compressing the fabric.  Naturally, the thicker the fabric, the longer must be the shank.  

shanked and unshanked

Shanked buttons are offered in different shank heights, but unshanked buttons are more generally versatile--making the shank yourself out of thread allows you to custom-control the shank height, and so use the same button on a thin fabric or on a thick one.

The usual method for making a thread shank on an unshanked button involves inserting a spacer of the desired height (a matchstick or toothpick is common) between the button and the fabric, then sewing the button on over the spacer.  At the end, the spacer is removed. The needle is then poked into the space between the button and the fabric, and the loose sewing loops are wrapped tightly with thread to make the shank.  Finally, the end of the thread is "buried" in the thickness of the underlying fabric, taking one or two 180 degree bends on the way to stop it from pulling out.  The end result of all the sandwiching and sewing and wrapping and burying is a thread shank.

a thread shank being wrapped

Until today's trick revealed itself to me, I dutifully sewed on buttons by making each into a button-spacer-sandwich: the button on top, the matchstick in the middle, and the knitting on the bottom.  Naturally, until several stitches were made and this slippery sandwich snugged down, the spacer wanted to shoot out, fall down or generally wiggle around, taking the button with it and requiring the whole works to be carefully repositioned before sewing could re-commence.  Annoying.

a spacer sandwich about to be sewn

So, on button number nine, when patience was wearing out and sailor words were about to fly, it occurred to me to tack the spacer down FIRST! with a couple of stitches! and THEN sew the button on over the spacer.

tack the spacer down first with a stitch or two, 
and say goodbye to the wiggly sandwich

 Whew.

Our Friend Fredda

I was incredibly fortunate to have gotten to meet and know an amazing woman...and she was amazing well before she survived breast cancer.



This is a picture of Fredda and Marilyn at Rhinebeck...unfortunately Fredda's got surgery planned soon, so won't be at Rhinebeck this year.

Fredda's Race Has Been Longer Than Some
Over the years, Fredda has always contributed generously to the Race for the Cure in honor/memory of friends who have had breast cancer, but this one’s for her!

The past year or so has been very challenging for her; two lumpectomies, a mastectomy, chemo and radiation. She now has a cute haircut and as noted above, is scheduled for surgery.



I couldn't be more pleased to say I know someone that made it through this with such grace and dignity as Fredda.

If you've ever considered donating to this event, please know that Fredda is highly deserving to be your reason for doing so.

I know things are tough these days, so special thanks to all who can donate.

Current Knitting
I just flew to Chicago and completed three more repeats on the Mini Mochi scarf.

I'll post a picture in the next blog entry.

Dirty Little Secrets

Today, I'd like to play "truth or dare" for the readers, but truth is the only option. Specifically, I'd like to know what are some of your guilty pleasures.

QueerJoe's Guilty Pleasures
Being such a snob about so many things, including food, and travel and movies and people, I have a small list of things that I love, but I'm not proud about loving them.

1. I love a bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread with plain yellow mustard...the cheaper the bologna, the better.
2. Dirty Dancing is one of my most shameful and beloved movies.
3. I could spend hours reading an issue of People Magazine
4. For about a year, I used to love browsing through the local dollar stores, and I would often spend over $20 in a visit.
5. I have become an expert in both Freecell and Solitaire, two of the games delivered with most MS Windows computers.
6. If I eat just one Hostess Donette (the powdered sugar ones...not the chocolate covered ones), I have to finish the whole box.

So, what are some of your shameful pleasures?

Current Knitting
Since my last post on Wednesday, I have had little desire to knit or crochet anything. I have done some work on the Trekking sock.



You'll see I finished the first sock, and I've started on the second one. I've mentioned that I have combined three components of different socks into this pair of socks. The toe is a standard toe-up using a figure eight faux-cast-on, like Judy Gibson describes. I know there are other as good or better cast-ons, but I'm comfortable with this one. I cast on a total of 24 stitches, and then increase every other round until I have 64 stitches on the needles.

The heel is something I found on the Socknitter's List. Colin of Colinknits.blogspot.com, has invented a heel he calls the Andersson heel (I assume that's his last name). It requires no picking up of stitches, and it's relatively simple to do, once you understand his instructions. He's written a description of it twice, but I think it would have been easier to just write a pattern, and have folks adapt it based on all the questions he seems to be getting about it.



But despite all that, it's a comfortable heel, and easy to execute.

Finally, the upper part of the sock is from The Knitting Man(ual). It's not a pleasure to do this stitch, especially if you knit tightly, like I do, but it looks great for a man's sock. I extended the pattern on the front of the sock a little lower than the back, and I'm very pleased with the result.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Marilyn writes, "By the way, the sock yarn is Trekking. Just in case you lost the band, which I always do."

She is exactly right...I just didn't have the band with me when I posted last. It's color number 69 (my favorite number).

Karen writes, "Could you maybe describe how you keep all of your knitting supplies organized? Especially needles. I have a small space and am constantly searching for the size I need."

As Thaddeus will gladly tell you, I don't really keep anything organized, or at least not very neatly. I took a picture of my main knitting area, which is the chair where I watch television, exactly as it looks most of the time.



It's an old wooden tool shelf that works wonderfully for the purpose of knitting. On the bottom shelf, you can see some of my cones of yarn (I have dozens more in a closet upstairs). The top shelf is partitioned off, and I keep my stitch markers, crochet hooks, needle gauge, current knitting book(s) and all my so-called straight needles) On the right side of the top shelf, are a bunch of holes that I can just put my straight needles through without them falling through. The handle for the tool shelf extends out on the left and right of the shelf, and I hang my cable needles on the protrusions. The cat knocks the cable needles down every once in a while.

Some ideas just make you say "WOW"

Sometimes you come across something something which opens your knitting mind in directions never considered before. I have been accumulating these WOW's for some time, and want to share them with you:

Ravelry

Many, perhaps most knitters already know about Ravelry, the knitting community website. Yet, if conversations with random knitters in airports and waiting rooms are any indication, Ravelry remains unknown to a surprising number. So, if you don't yet know, Ravelry is a black hole into which you will fall with your knitting, never to emerge. Need 3 ways to bind off at 3 AM? A new way of keeping track of your stash and needles? Are you seeking just more ball of a discontinued yarn? Ravelry is all that, and more. The brainstorm of Jessica Forbes and Casey Forbes who administer and run the site with grace and humor, Ravelry is a game-changer: what has up to now been essentially lone pursuit is now a social one and knitting information previously restricted by area, custom or expertise is now in the public domain, archived and searchable by all. Sign up HERE. PS:  As Angie points out in the comments, Ravelry is a site for crocheters, too. (Not to mention that spinners seem to have gotten in on the act when no one was looking!)

Use every inch of that
expensive, fancy yarn sock

Ravelry is great because of the neat people you "meet" and the great tips they post. Here is an example of a really splendid tip from an expert knitter on Ravelry, who goes by the Raverly-name of "Potteryfreak." Potteryfreak (real name Cheri) posted as follows:

You could do something wonderfully cool to make sure you get the maximum bang for your [expensive sock yarn] buck, if you are making a plain sock: Start with a ribbed cuff in contrasting yarn. Switch to your main yarn and knit one long sock-leg tube until you run out of yarn, then end it with a second cuff out of your contrasting yarn. Measure it and insert two lifelines a row or two apart at the center of your tube. Snip one stitch and unravel the row so that now you will have two equal-length tubes of sock. With your contrasting yarn, make your toes down from the live stitches on your lifelines and your afterthought heels in the appropriate spot.

Cheri was careful to note that the idea was not original with her, and that she wished she could remember where she'd read it so as to give credit where is is due. A great tip nonetheless, and thanks Cheri, for permission to re-print your post. (PS: Cheri has an online shop here.)

"Cable reassignment surgery"

The problem: the Boye interchangeable needles have many excellent qualities, but flexible cables are not among them. The solution: as a result of a brainstorm, Fleegle got her old Boye needlemaster tips drilled out by a gunsmith to accept the far more flexible Knitpicks cables. Fleegle is a brilliant genius. Read more about it HERE.

Addendum, November 24, 2010:  Here is another "wow" way to make cables for a Boye interchangeable needle set.  This new method is ALL do-it-yourself!!

Home made yarn swifts

Two low-cost home-made yarn swifts that will have you slapping your head--wonderful Rube Goldberg devices of the first order. Webecca is a brilliant genius. Click HERE and HERE.

Three charting sites

Shut down your spreadsheet, put down your graph paper, retire your pencil. Instead, check out these three free charting sites
1. Chart-a-rama: Into the "form" box, you type a pattern written in standard knitting shorthand, formatted according to some easy-to-understand rules. Click "make the chart," and Chart-a-rama will automatically generate a perfectly-formatted knitting chart. This would be very handy if you prefer to work from charts, but only have a older-type knitting pattern written out in knitting shorthand instructions.
2. Knitting Chart maker by Jacquie: If you prefer to type in your chart symbols directly, this site has loads of symbols and is easy-to-use.
3. Microrevolt's Knitpro application makes a color chart directly from an image. Want to knit your dog's face onto the back of a sweater? Knit a message on your socks? Knit giant flowers onto your afghan? This app will create the chart for you, and it's pre-set at the correct knitting ratio of stitches to rows.

Needle gauge

I use a micrometer to size needles. It is accurate but delicate, so it never leaves the house. My needle gauges are allowed out of the house, but are flimsy and are now bent and banged up from their adventures. To the rescue came Agres, another Ravelry member, who noted in a post that "drill gauges are cheap and tough." A trip to a local hardware store confirmed that: for a few bucks, I landed a sturdy metal drill gauge with the sizes actually engraved into the metal, so they'll never rub off. With a conversion chart, or two my drill gauge sizes all. Perfect for road trips.

Surprisingly stretchy bind off

Last, but not least, here is a link to a new sort of  bind off--Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off. The raves are flying for this one! Try it yourself and see what you think.

Thanks to all these great knitters who've illuminated the community of knitters with their generous sharing of time, talent and ideas.

--TK

A Moral Dilemma

You find yourself living in a new area, and by chance, you find a new hairdresser that does an incredible job and charges virtually nothing for her appointments. Do you tell your friends?

Recommendations
Sometimes making a recommendation is easy. "Go to this yarn store", or "buy this yarn", or "purchase this book", or "check out this new web site". None of these resources are likely to run out because of a recommendation, even if made to thousands of people.

However, recommend your favorite restaurant or give a tip on how to find the best parking in a popular area, or tell friends about your inexpensive beautician, and you risk making them less exclusive, and possibly less available, and sometimes even more expensive. Especially when you have a blog that gets read by about 500 people a day.

One example of this, was a local orchard that sold incredible cider and fruit that they grew on their property. When we first started going there, you'd pull up a rutted driveway and park on the grass right in front of the shack that they used to sell their stuff. It was dark and dingy and had a swinging bare lightbulb above a rustic wooden shelf. They used a calculator and a cigar box as their cash register.

Fast forward five years, and all the New York tourists that come to this area on the weekends have heard about Solebury Orchards, and it's impossible to park and get checked out at this place anymore, and often the best fruit or cider is sold out quickly. I keep thinking the next time I go there, they'll have bar code scanning to speed up the process of checking out.

Current Knitting
I finished one whole 28-row repeat of the edge stitch pattern on the Celestine Shawl.



The combination of limited knitting time and a new stitch pattern to get used to has slowed down my progress a little on this design.

Current Spinning
I've made slow and steady progress on the multi-colored Merino from Ashland Bay that I purchased at Twist a while ago.



I'm almost finished with the first bobbin of three, so I can triple-ply the singles. I still have a long way to go.

New Magazine
I've always been a fan of Spin-Off Magazine. It never tries to be a glossy national magazine, which I appreciated. Oftentimes, I wish the Xmen and Interweave would be a little bit more, well...homespun, since usually their designs are often at best, folksy.



This issue has an intriguing article on a simple weaving technique for which the sample project is an interesting looking woven bag. There is also a very well-written article on using machine knitting fabric for dyeing yarn. Excellent idea.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Regarding the flea market find of crochet hooks, Katrina writes, "And the hooks look so shiny! Did you have to clean them up or were they like that when you got them?

They looked great when I got them. The prior owner used a cylindrical glass jar, like something spices might have come in, to store the needles.

Glad I'm Not Episcopalian

Yes, it's great that they have gotten rid of a hate-mongering bishop.



But What Now?
Now the church will have to contend with all the other hateful pricks in their ranks that want to be divisive because they can't stand the thought of a pious gay man.

How is it that they can't see their own hypocrisy? Or is it political posturing for power in their church? Well, I guess that's still hypocrisy.

Kinda makes me hope the rapture comes sooner rather than later.

Current Knitting
Believe it or not, I finished the final rectangle for my niece's afghan.



Now I just have to sew up all the pieces and weave in all the ends. I'll probably knit some kind of border as well...mostly to give the edges a cleaner look...some of them look a little raw.

Gifted
It's nice to be out of the closet as a knitter...folks sometimes give you things.



A client/co-worker was cleaning out her mom's things and thought I might like this copy of America's Knitting Book. It's actually very nice, and I definitely didn't own a copy.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Anonymous asks, "I've been watching your afghan come together. What will be the dimensions of the finished 20-square project?"

Not really sure until I block it all out. Actually, the pieces aren't square. I did light blocking of all the rectangles to get them all to about the same size and they're around 12"x10" which would make the final afghan about 48"x50" (without border).

A new method for left-leaning decreases: SYTK (slip, yank, twist, knit)--part 3 of the series "right and left decreases"

includes 10 illustrations


Here is a new method for left-leaning decreases, a method I call SYTK. SYTK stands for "slip, yank, twist, knit." Of all the variations on left-leaning decreases I've experimented with over the years, I think this one lies closest to the intersection of good looks and ease of creation. Some alternatives may look as good, but they are more complicated to make, some alternatives may be as easy to make, but don't look as good. The advantages of the SYTK are these:

• it can be worked from the front (a major advantage, to me, at any rate)
• it requires no re-ordering of stitches (the stitches are never taken off the needles and reversed in position--a procedure which, although it leads to good results, I find annoying and time consuming).
• it gives a nearly perfect match for k2tog
  

Below are the how-to illustrations. Do not be discouraged that there seem to be so many steps--the whole business takes only a few seconds. The point of having so many illustrations is to leave no doubt about how to do a SYTK--every little part has its own picture, and that'll avoid confusion, I believe. At the end is a photo comparing SYTK with k2tog. The post finishes with a tip on perfecting the SYTK in grabby wool.

THE SYTK, illustrated

Step 1 (below) Slip the first (red) stitch from the left needle to the right needle. Slip the stitch KNITWISE (left arm forward) as shown. This is the SLIP part of the SYTK maneuver--the part represented by the first letter "S."
Step 2 (below) Leaving the red stitch on the right needle, insert the tip of the right needle into the next stitch (green) on the left needle. Be sure the tip of the right needle is inserted under the right arm of the green stitch, as shown. Now comes the fun part: making sure that you have enough of each needle inserted to anchor the stitch completely, perform the "Y" part of the SYTK--the YANK! Pull the right arm of the green stitch towards you with the right needle at the same time as you pull the left arm of the green stitch away from you with the left needle, thus opening up the stitch as much as possible. You don't want to bend your needle or stretch the actual fibers of the stitch, but you certainly want to YANK enough to pull all the slack yarn from both surrounding stitches into the green stitch.
Step 3a (below) Begin the TWIST ("T") part of the SYTK decrease by removing the right needle tip, thus returning the now-enlarged green stitch to the tip of the left needle.
Step 3b (below) Using the tip of the right needle, TWIST the green stitch, and return it to the tip of the left needle, as shown. Check to be sure that the formerly right arm lies ON TOP, as illustrated by the little PURPLE ARROW. If the stitch is twisted the wrong way, take it off and re-twist it so that it lays as shown--this is fairly important to the final appearance.
Step 3c (below) Return the much-enlarged, now-twisted green stitch to the tip of the left needle.
Step 3d (below) Slip the red stitch onto the tip of the left needle, taking care that it remains LEFT ARM FORWARD. This ends the "Twist" portion of SYTK, the "T."
Step 4 (below) Insert the right needle into the BACK ARMS of the red and green stitches, as shown, and twitch the standing yarn over the right needle, in position to knit a stitch.
FINISHED SYTK (below) Draw the standing yarn through the red and the green stitches to make a new stitch (blue). This is the final, the KNIT step of SYTK--the "K."
You should now have a rather nice left-leaning decrease looking at you from your right needle. The reason this works is because it mimics the situation you get with a k2tog. Recall from the first post of this series that a k2tog is performed in such a manner as to squeeze the hidden second stitch AND ALL ITS EXCESS YARN behind the first stitch. Recall from the second post of the series that both ssk and psso leave the first stitch on the surface of the fabric, together with all the excess yarn it has accumulated from being manipulated. By adding a YANK step to SYTK, the excess yarn from the surface stitch is all transferred to the hidden second stitch, and by adding a TWIST step, that excess yarn is prevented from slipping out again. Further, the twist step aligns the only visible part of the second stitch (the arm which started off as the right arm, but was twisted forward to become the left arm) to lie in the same direction as the top stitch. In other words, the TWIST step makes the only visible portion of the second (green) stitch follow the left-leaning orientation of the top (red) stitch. Here is the photographic evidence:

A final note: In grabby yarn, the top (red) stitch may not be completely re-oriented by the slip maneuvers you have performed on it in steps 1 and 3d. This lack of orientation reveals itself in a proportionately shorter right arm, and a proportionately longer left arm, and disturbs the appearance of the left decrease column. Therefore, in a grabby yarn you may wish to add one further step.

Per the illustration below, after the decrease has been finished, insert the tip of the left needle under the right arm of the already-knitted top (red) stitch. GENTLY adjust the red stitch to lengthen the right arm while simultaneously shortening the left arm, and you will see that the stitch orientation improves. Be MILD in your adjustment--you only want to redistribute yarn in from the left arm of the top stitch to the right arm of the same stitch. You don't want to tug so hard that you undo all your previous effort--you don't want to drag slack back from the second (green) stitch and dump it back into the top (red) stitch.
Dear readers--have fun with this, and I hope you like it as well as I do!

--TECHknitter (You have been reading TECHknitting on "SYTK (slip, yank, twist, knit), a new method for left-leaning decreases.")

If I Were King

Carol S. assigned me a topic for today's blog.

"What would you do, Joe, if you were in charge of Stitches 2006, to make it worth attending?"

Focus On The Solution
First of all, I think that the lackluster showing at Stitches East is because of three distinct factors:

1. Overall shitty attitude of the XRX staff to their customer base,
2. Stale format and growing disinterest of both customers and vendors in the event, and
3. Premium prices in the Stitches Market competing against internet sales

To correct the event, I would have to deal with all three issues in very serious ways.

The first issue, in my mind, is the most severe. Fixing this would require a complete re-vamping of both Knitters Magazine and the KnitU list. Changes to Knitters Magazine would require radical changes such as demanding a higher level of sophistication from designers, cultivating and encouraging new designers and negotiating more aggressively with yarn vendors to allow designers to better showcase their yarns.

For KnitU, mainly it would require the List-Owner(s) to be open for frank feedback from listers. And to be responsive to the comments, both on the list and in the magazine. I can't imagine why any of the publishers wouldn't also try to work with Knit-bloggers to garner community goodwill and to help them assess how they're doing.

Marilyn notes a number of areas that would help with the second issue. I love her ideas about bringing back some of the better instructors, even though I've never taken a knitting class at Stitches, and doubt I would. I really only went for the market. Incentives for vendors would also be a critical component to assisting XRX make the event spectacular. Some of the most successful booths at Stitches in past years were put on by yarn vendors in the name of a specific store that distributed their products. Unicorn Books/Lana Grossa/Jamieson Shetland did the booth for Simply Knit in their last year at Stitches and it was beautiful and highly successful for both companies involved. When was the last year that Rowan even had a presence at Stitches? I would love to see more cooperative booths where the yarn manufacturers could join forces with a yarn store to fully market their product lines.

I would also like to see a "Reality" event staged throughout the year prior to Stitches. Have auditions for "Diva Designer" at Stitches 2006 and have monthly contests featured in the magazine and on KnitU for participants. Have snotty judges (like me and Marilyn) and nice judges like Stephanie argue about who should remain in the contest and who to kick out. Then have the finale vote at Stitches 2007 where all attendees can have the final say in who is the winner.

If not that, then some other kind of attraction that would excite a very bored customer base.

Change things up each year. Give out an annual conference freebie, like a Chibi or blocking wires or some other promotional item that would help advertise a yarn company. Have a specific conference theme each year, such as "A Call To New Knitters", or "Colors, Textures and Design", or "Stash Busters". Have newbie orientations or workshops running all through the event so we can bring potential converts. Partner with vendors to help promote the event. They used to give a free single booth to the vendor that got the most customers to bring in a postcard. Simply Knit used to win it every year just by sending out a mailing to their customers. Expand that in ways that will encourage vendors to generate excitement around the event.

Finally, encourage or incent vendors to have "Stitches-Only Sales Events". With the prevalence of the internet for buying yarn, why would anyone possibly buy yarn or books or tools at premium prices when they could go home and place an on-line order?

Current Knitting
I made no discernible progress on the Vineyard Throw. The "spurt" has turned to a "dribble". Well, I did knit some. I'm now at row 72 of 104.

Other Weekend Fiber Activity
Okay, you know a got some knitting done. You know I got some quilting done. But I also put in some time working on my "nose crust" merino spinning.



You might be able to see how very little is left in the ball of roving. I spun like a madman this past weekend knowing that I only have one more color of this merino to spin after "nose crust".

I should be able to finish spinning this lovely fiber by the weekend, and perhaps even start the last color.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Liz asks, "So, do you get to meet Kaffe and show him your quilt personally?"

I think so. He's really quite a nice man with extraordinary talent in color and pattern design. The few times I've had an opportunity to meet him, he was extremely gracious and personable. I wouldn't expect anything less from a friend of Liza's. I wouldn't think swooning would be appropriate.

Concerning the striped binding fabric, Mary asks, "Have you considered cutting the fabric on the bias?"

Yes, that is how I will cut the fabric before sending it off for finishing. My understanding is that cutting it on the bias allows for a more stretchy and flexible fabric, which makes it easier to shape around the corners of the quilt.

Pancakes

This is one of my favorite foods...as buttery and syrupy as I can get them.

Best Pancake Restaurant
Have any of you heard of "The Original Pancake House?"

This is relatively small chain of restaurants that make BY FAR the best pancakes on the planet. Their other food is pretty awesome as well.

I was working in Tyson's Corner, VA a number of years ago, and a co-worker got all giddy when he realized there was an OPH within a five mile radius (in Falls Church). I had never heard of this chain before, and we ended up going there for an early breakfast at least once a week after we discovered it was there.

Don't get me wrong, I will gladly stuff my face at an "International House of Pancakes" or at the local diner, but nothing is more satisfying than finding myself in a town with an Original Pancake House...if you have one near you, you MUST try it.

Current Knitting
I volunteered to test-crochet a hat for a friend (Hi Andy!) this past weekend, and it took up quite a bit of my crafting time. At one point, I'll probably be able to post a picture of the hat, but it's not even quite finished at the moment and the pattern is still being modified.

I did however get some work done on the Expedition Pullover this past weekend.



I'm now in the process of working the back of the sweater only and it's still a delightful sweater to knit. The patterning is a bit hard to see since I took the picture last night with a flash.



This is going to be quite a large sweater when it's finished...hopefully Thaddeus won't be swimming in it.

The Tao of QueerJoe

It never ceases to amaze me how I always end up being exactly where I need to be in life.

Living With Beauty
Whenever I assess my life, I am always very grateful for all that I have and my life circumstances. I live in a very bohemian, artsy town that is filled with tons of intelligent and creative folks. I have many friends who are involved in the arts and even more friends who are associated with knitting and fiber crafts.

I didn't plan it consciously, but I seem to have ended up exactly where I want to be in life.

Current Knitting
I've made very little progress on the Celestine Shawl. I'm working on a new lace stitch pattern, and it's a lot slower than the stitch patterns I used on the main body. Hopefully, I'll have finished at least one repeat of the edge pattern by the time I post next.

Flea Market Find
I can't tell you how excited I am about what I found at the flea market today.



Among a bunch of cheap junk, was a small jar containing some of the smallest crochet needles I've ever seen. The smallest is a number 13. I also never knew that some of the Bates crochet hooks came with metal covers for the tips. That's what's at the top of the picture. All of these metal hooks for $1. I couldn't believe my luck.

QueerJoe Reading
I just finished my favorite book so far this year. This is not a book I'd recommend for everyone, but I think Franklin would absolutely love this book (so I think I'll send him my copy...if he's at all interested). The book is The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst.



The style of writing combined with the storyline is just brilliant. I thought there was some flaws in the plot, but I still want to read
other books by Alan Hollinghurst.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Reader Knit r up asks, "Do you actually finish what you start?"

I probably finish about 90% of what I start. If I decide I don't want to finish something, I'll typically pull it apart and put the yarn back in my stash. Like I always say, knitting doesn't take patience (like most folks think), it takes persistence and perseverance.

Quilt Guru, Liza says about the new Kaffe Kaleidoscope, "Thanks for mentioning our new book. I think it is the best one yet."

If you knew Liza, you'd be surprised that she wrote this. She is usually very self-critical, but I have to agree, the artistry in this new book is extraordinary, and like all Kaffe's publications, very inspirational.

Leticia writes, "I am a Thaddeus fan. Would it be possible to put a picture of him once in a while. He is adorable for letting you knit with passion, so is my hubby."

There are a lot of huge Thaddeus fans out there, and you're right, he is incredibly supportive of my fiber obsession. I will try to get more pictures of him posted.

The Demise of XRX

Knitters magazine sucks (they even tried putting a gay man in charge and it still sucks), Stitches sucks and KnitU sucks.

Pathetic Disregard
I personally believe that the XRX organization has gone so downhill over the last few years because they have completely disregarded their customer base and focused solely on their vendors and advertisers.

KnitU refuses to even post, nevermind acknowledge negative comments. Knitters Magazine persists in helping yarn manufacturers market to a very ephemeral generation of trendy knitters while completely ignoring their core customer base. And now vendor participation at Stitches seems to be on a significant downward trend.

All-in-all, it appears that the Xenakis family should take a harsh look at their inflexible policies and try to salvage what they can.

Current Quilting
In addition to getting some knitting done this past weekend, I also made some additional progress on the quilt. I got to browse the fabrics again at Liza's, looking for backing and binding fabrics.

Here's what I selected.



The backing is the fabric in the upper left and the binding will be the striped fabric in the upper right. Since the binding will only show up with less than an inch of fabric, I tried to simulate what both the front and the back will look like when it's done.





Neither picture is a very good representation, but it helped me to decide on the fabrics I would use.

Quilting Celebrities
Liza, being a quilting celebrity in her own right, knows a lot of other celebrities as well. Of course she knows Kaffe, but also dozens of other folks.

It turns out I got to meet the designer of the two Lone Star quilts in the most recent Kaffe book, Museum Quilts, Claudia Chaback. She is funny and smart, and amazingly creative. She helped me pick out the fabrics I will use to finish my quilt. She teaches in Berkley Heights, NJ, so I may see about taking one of her classes.

The other celebrity of note, is Kaffe himself. Liza would like to show him my quilt when he's in town the second week of October, so I will be holding off sending my quilt for finishing until he's seen it.

Current Knitting
I'm continuing to progress in spurts on this project. I'm up to row 65 of 104 on the last row of color blocks.

It's nice to be on the final stretch. Even though I've loved working on this project, I'm getting itchy to work on something else for a while.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Cynthia says, "The last Pope at least believed in tolerence and peace and he openly spoke out against hate speech and actions against homosexuals."

Actually, not so much. The pontiff frequently condemned homosexual activity, and the Vatican launched a global campaign against same-sex marriage. In addition, the pope's condemnation of contraceptives was an affront to HIV-prevention advocates worldwide.
There were also some pretty hateful letters about homosexuality that came out of the Vatican during his reign. I'm not familiar with any comments he directly made concerning homosexuality, although the BBC reports that it was the late Pope's order for the "Apostolic Visitation" to U.S. seminaries looking for signs of homosexuality. The current Pope is just completing the order.

Let's not make a saint of John Paul II just yet.

Concerning Stitches East next year, Cynthia states, "Next year, Baltimore Inner Harbor. Again, expensive and scary area--what are they thinking."

Sorry to disagree again, but Baltimore Inner Harbor is actually not at all scary. My last assignment was down there and it is actually quite a nice place, and the hotels are nice too. It wouldn't entice me back to Stitches, but it's not scary

Working in too-short ends: a classic dressmaker's trick, handy for knitters

Is there a knitter anywhere who has not had to work in a too-short end? The fix often smells faintly of desperation such as a dot of glue, or spells a lot of hard work, such as undoing the knitting to lengthen the end. Here is a classic dressmaking technique which may save the day next time you're faced with an end too short to work in by conventional means.

In illustration 1, there are two ends waiting to be worked in: one green and one pink. The green end is long enough to work in by the ordinary "skimming in" method, so first we'll see how that works. Then we'll look at the variation on this method which is a clever dressmaker's trick to work in the very short pink end.


Illustration 2 shows threading the green end through the eye of the needle.


Illustration 3: Pierce the needle through one or two plies of each underlying stitch, as shown.


Illustration 4: Draw the needle up all the way, which draws the end through the piercings you have made. Once the yarn is all drawn through, remove the needle from the yarn end by working the end out of the needle's eye. This leaves the yarn "skimmed in" to the back of the work. (For more information about the skimming-in method, click here.)

With the too-short end, this simple technique will not work, because the end to be worked in is shorter than the sewing needle. So, as shown in Illustration 5, if the yarn cannot be brought to the needle, the needle must be brought to the yarn. This is done by using the unthreaded needle to pierce through one or two plies of several stitches, as shown.


Illustration 6: Stop the needle when the eye is just opposite the too-short end. Without moving the needle, use some form of sewing ingenuity or employ some tiny tools such as a tiny crochet hook, or a needle-threading hook, or a wire threader for hand sewing to draw the too-short end through the eye of the needle.


Once the needle is threaded, draw up the needle, and keep drawing it up. As the needle travels through the fabric, the too-short end be drawn out of the eye, and will come off in the fabric.In other words, the needle will come out naked, but along the way, the too-short end will have been worked in to its fullest possible length, and illustration 7 shows the finished result.

One final note and two final links: The sort of needle to use for this job is a sharp pointed needle, and this is because you want to pierce through the underlying yarn. For more info about the two different types of sewing needles, click here. And, just in case you missed the link above for more information about the "skimming in" technique, click here.

--TK

You have been reading TECHknitting on: "working in short ends in knitting"

Weekend Busy-ness

My current client has asked that I be on-site in Albany every other Friday, instead of working from home.

Two Day Weekends
Even though I had to work from home on Fridays, it still gave me the opportunity to knit while I was on conference calls, or spend time with Thaddeus at lunch. One day less for doing those things makes the weekends fly by.

This past weekend was one of those fly-by weekends.

Current Knitting
Despite the abbreviated weekend, I was able to get through more rows on the Vineyard Throw.



Although it might not show very well, I am halfway through the last row of color blocks, or at row 56 for those of you that are counting.

Now that mornings and evenings are starting to cool down some, this lap blanket has proven to be very comfortable while I'm knitting on it.

Knitting Designs
Thank you all for the comments and critiques on the Knitting Vault sweater designs.

Evidently, the sweater in question (Passing Lane Pullover) needs a picture that will accentuate its interesting features, such as the fisherman's rib and double collar in contrasting color. Hopefully tips from Franklin will allow me to re-market this design will a little more interest.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Carol S. noted, "And if you want another good reason to be infuriated at the past (we can only hope they are past) practices of the Catholic Church, check out the lead article in today's Inquirer about the grand jury's report on sexual abuse."

Just so happens, the former pastor the local Catholic church in my hometown was listed in the indictment. I remember a time when he was highly indignant about a lot of "anti-Catholic" issues in our town. Issues ranging from no tax exemption for charging for public parking to being asked to leave the parish.

It's About Fucking Time...

Nice to see there's someone on the Democratic side that still has a backbone.

Thanks Again Mr. Clinton
As the idiots at ABC tried to blame President Clinton for letting Bin Laden go free, and at the same time, our whimpy congress gave away all authority for interpreting the Geneva Convention to the President, It was great to see the former President Clinton was still able to give Fox News a little shit this past weekend, and set the record straight.

While Mr. Clinton was blamed for being "too obsessed" by Bin Laden and his terrorist activities, and Bush did NOTHING for the first eight months of his presidency, now they try to spin it that Clinton was the reason Bin Laden is still free. Ridiculous.

And now, even politicians in congress that I thought had a backbone, have forfeited any right to enforce the rules of the Geneva Convention by writing legislation that basically says, "not my job." While I didn't agree with many of his opinions, at least McCain used to have a spine. Now he's just another lap dog to this moron we have in the White House.

When the next American soldier comes home (or doesn't come home) after being tortured and brutalized because each country's president now has the right to interpret "Common Article Three" of the Geneva Convention, how will they try to blame Clinton for that? This article includes provisions that prohibit "outrages upon personal dignity" and "humiliating and degrading treatment." This new law makes the term "Putting our young men and women in harm's way..." much more serious.

Current Knitting
In addition to getting to see the spark was still in Bill Clinton, I also reached my goal of finishing the main part of the knitting on the Celestine Shawl.



This section is about four feet long, and now all I have is about six inches on each end of the shawl in a third pattern stitch. Is five feet long a good length for a woman's shawl? I could make it longer if I wanted to extend the end sections.

Curmudgeonly Visit
Marilyn and Kathy came over this past Saturday and we all went to lunch (Thaddeus included). Then we made our way over to Twist (Thaddeus excluded) for some fiber shopping.

Here's Kathy and Marilyn shopping frantically.



I bought some Cascade 220 in a slightly heathered, very dark charcoal color.



That's 2200 yards, and I'm not sure what I want to do with it, I just wanted it. Then I bought some more of the multi-colored roving from Ashland Bay that is similar to what I'm currently spinning, except in a brighter colorway.



I was thinking that I'd like to spin the next Ashland Bay Merino somewhat thicker and use Navajo Plying to try and get some decent color variations in the yarn. The current spinning is fine enough where the colors all blend (which is good too).

New Kaffe Quilting Book
I don't know how Kaffe and Liza do it, but they put out book after book completely filled with amazing quilts. The new book is no exception.



Go to Liza's site to order a copy and check out the fabric packs link to see some of the quilts in the book. If you even think you might want one of the fiber packs, you might want to consider ordering it. After only a few days, the book is generating a huge demand for the kits (and honestly, when you see the book, you won't wonder why).

The new book has got me thinking I need to start a new quilting project.