Stringativity

New Dimensional Tuck How to Video!

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Mon, 05 Feb 2018 19:36:00 +0000

There are four primary stitches used to create most of the stitch patterns found in Dimensional Tuck Knitting . Below is a video showing you how to do the most basic of those stitches, Right Tuck Together (RTT) and Left Tuck Together (LTT)

Happy Dimensional Tuck Knitting!!!

Feel free to ask questions in the comments or email me!

Yarn Thing with Marly Bird and Me with Dimensional Tucks

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 18:27:00 +0000

Whoa, I would have never in my wildest imagination (and my thoughts can get pretty wild) would have thought I, me, Tracy Purtscher would be interviewed on The Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird.

OMGOMGOMGOMG

So much fun! Have a listen:

Only 27 days until Dimensional Tuck Knitting is released! Go here to get in on the pre-order savings!

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 20:25:00 +0000

The Birth of Dimensional Tuck Knitting

The concept of Dimensional Tuck Knitting began with a sewing pattern from a thrift store purchased in January of 2013 and the knitted welts shoulder shaping of a garment I designed in July of 2013.

McCall’s pattern # 2467 for pleated pillows plus the welted shoulder shaping I used for Claudette equals Dimensional Tuck Knitting.

I’ve always thought of knitting as a fabric that can bend and fold, at my command so why (I often asked myself) should my knitting be limited to the typical horizontal or vertical welts? Understanding the hand sewing method used in the McCall’s pattern where a piece of yardage was pleated in so many directions began my needle play.

My first two swatches attempting to combine the hand sewing technique of the McCall’s pleated pillows to my knitting were a thrilling success and Dimensional Tuck Knitting was born. Every which way pleats in a knitted fabric, no sewing required!

Next time we meet you’ll get a glimpse of the crazy that went on in my house during the development stage!

You can pre-order Dimensional Tuck Knitting here.

And you can join my mailing list through the page listed in the header!

What is Dimensional Tuck Knitting?

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Fri, 26 May 2017 18:15:00 +0000

In posts to come you can peek behind the scenes of what it is like to imagine, develop, and write a technique based stitch dictionary for a brand-new technique. But first, today, I’ll just tell you what Dimensional Tuck Knitting is.

Dimensional Tuck Knitting is method of fabric manipulation for the hand knitter.

Oh my, fabric manipulation, what a sexy term!

Dimensional Tucks bend/fold/pleat the knit fabric creating a deep surface texture that maintain the pliable squishiness a knitter expects and loves. Some of the stitch patterns look very similar to traditional cables but others have voluptuous shapes rarely seen in the knit world.

Let’s be honest, knitting in general is a rather two-dimensional endeavor. Like taking pen/pencil/paint to paper you can add a little depth and texture by mixing up knits, purls, or throwing in a dash of color. The result, albeit beautiful, still somewhat flat. Add bobbles or cables and you’re on your way to adding some real measurable depth. Use Dimensional Tuck stitch patterns and now you’re talking real depth.

A preview of my book created by my publisher Sixth & Spring:
Dimensional Tuck Knitting An Innovative Technique For Creating Surface Texture

And this is where you can pre-order Dimensional Tuck Knitting!!

Join my email list with the page about of the form below.

Dimensional Tuck Knitting An Innovative Technique For Creating Surface Design

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Tue, 23 May 2017 15:15:00 +0000

Sixth & Spring has published my book!!!
A preview of my book "Dimensional Tuck Knitting" is ready for your viewing pleasure!

Release date is September 5, 2017 but you can pre-order it here.

Dimensional Tuck Knitting is a super simple technique for the hand knitter that easily creates a pliable, squishy, knitted fabric with great depth and dimension. With over 85 stitch patterns and 10 project patterns, I’m confident you will find something that speaks to your tastes.

Don’t miss any of the sneak peeks and fiber adventures I have coming.

Challenge One: Knit Your Life

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:00:00 +0000

OR

Crash and Burn

OR

What the Hell Was I Thinking

Take your pick or come up with a title of your own, just about anything which has an air of derisiveness would be perfect.

To save some time and get this post rolling below are the videos announcing the first Challenge and my progress video, we will discuss after viewing.

And so there you go. Obviously I missed the mark. I took a huge bite of the autobiographical apple and pretty much missed the underlying purpose of the challenge. The purpose being an end product which someone else would want to knit. I basically dismissed that part, not entirely, but enough. I still stand behind this design as far as it being a easy top down raglan, with an interesting detail technique. Do I stand behind the color choice? Not in a million years. I was thinking at the time, (oh how erroneously) that it was design for the sake of design and a statement piece, not an end product. Seriously, who in their right mind would knit this IN THESE COLORS?!?!?! (says the woman who wears pretty much nothing but black) But to my way of thinking at the time, color is such an easy thing to change, it is the easiest thing to change in a garment whose design is NOT color based so I went bold for the 'wow' factor our challenge guidelines had told us to go for. I pushed beyond my own sensibility to use colors most people associate with joy to represent the joy I have in my life. It's as simple as that. Oy.

note to self: never compromise your sensibilities, design for you and not for some poorly thought out notion of what you think someone else wants.

I used the drop stitch to symbolize the mishaps, tragedies, trials and tribulations that life throws at a person. And then I used the (eye searingly bright) rainbow hues to mend those travesties into something new but which became a part of the new but different whole; the same kind of thing of what happens to a person when they find the strength to go forward in life. To achieve this new but different whole after dropping the stitches I mended the "wound" using the resulting horizontal threads. This is something I really enjoy doing, but perhaps not for everyone. I suspect most people after knitting a tunic length garment would much prefer to be done with it after the ends have been woven in and the garment has been blocked. That is not the case here, the weaving takes a fair amount of time more, thus another reason this design crashed and burned, and rightfully so. :) Thankfully for my sake there were no eliminations during the challenges, cuz surely I would have been gone after this fiasco!!!!

second note to self: get a grip, you're in a design contest sponsored by a yarn distributor, they want to sell yarn and have patterns NORMAL people want to knit.

So there you have it, right out of the gate on the very first challenge I failed. Miserably and completely. Meh. It didn't bother me much I had begun with the belief that merely being chosen as one of the 12 was winning enough, regardless of how the rest of the contest unfolded. I along with my fellow contestants, had already won the biggest prize. But being so decidedly at the bottom of the heap (with my fully in agreement self-judgement) I was able to watch and see my fellow contestants without any emotional baggage and that's when it hit me full force and haunted me for quite sometime. It was the notion which niggled at my thoughts from the very first day after I had sent in my application.

Why was I doing this? Because I like to design things.

Ok fine good answer, next question:

Do I want a career designing knitwear?

Do I have any desire to write and sell knitting patterns?

Have I ever had any desire to write and sell knitwear patterns?

NO!
NO!
NO!

BUT most, if not all, of these people did! As too, I'm fairly confident, did the others who had sent in applications but were not chosen as one of the twelve. Damn. I was in this contest with no desire to parlay it into anything else. I did not and would not have a career kickstarted nor did I already have a career which would benefit from the exposure. Taking a spot as one of the contestants without having any future plans meant I was possibly stealing someone else's dreams. It hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. There were no more "niggling" thoughts in the back of my brain, this was full on, and the guilt was almost more than I could handle. It went against every fiber of my being. I had believed all my life that my one true sole purpose was to help and facilitate others to obtain their dreams. Its the one and only reason I became a school teacher. And now I found myself in the very real position of being the impenetrable road block in someone's journey.

Somehow I was going to have to get around this and make it right. I didn't know how I'd do it, cuz that guilty plaid elephant was enormous, but I'd begin with paying heed to the aforementioned notes to myself, design to the best of my ability with my voice in my way AND pay attention to what a normal person might want to knit. That second one was going to be the most difficult. And thus began the switch in my thinking from this was something silly and fun to do, to this was something that meant something to people and I would respect their feelings by taking this contest more seriously and do my best. Well, do my best and have fun doing it. ;) One thing which would remain the same though, I refused to view any of the challenges as anything more than self challenges. I refused to look at this weird thing I had gotten myself in too as a competition which pitted me against anyone else. As I stated before, I truly believed just being chosen had been the biggest prize and we had all won. The challenges which would follow? Those would be challenges against myself, alone, not against them.

Ok enough of that, pretty sure I've waxed philosophical way too much and dove into the depths of what I was thinking way deeper than anyone cares to go so how about photos of "Totality" the crash and burn design from Challenge One: Knit Your Life. Laughing and giggling ARE allowed and frankly encouraged. If I've made you smile today then all is not for naught.

Now how about a very good design?

The Challenge One Winner by Talitha Kuomi

Nigamo

Tal is one of the very BEST things that happened to me during the contest. Hugs my friend!

(Unfortunately Nigamo is not available at this time but will be soon.)

Please follow any of the links below to get to know Tal if you don't know her by now! I can't imagine you won't find a must-knit-now pattern in her catalog.

ravelry: talithakuomi http://www.ravelry.com/designers/talitha-kuomi

website: http://www.talithakuomi.com

twitter: @talithakuomi https://twitter.com/talithakuomi

instagram: talithakuomi

fb: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Talitha-Kuomi-Design/246797428704625?ref=hl

pinterest: talithakuomi https://www.pinterest.com/talithakuomi/

The judging videos for Challenge One can be found here and here.

Up next: Challenge Two: Color Inside the Box or Inspiration? What is That????

Meet the Contestants

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 20:26:00 +0000

I was in the beginning stages of realizing what madness I had willing and without much thought, jumped into with both feet..............

Saturday April 6th 2013, at the Vogue Knitting Event in Seattle, the 12 contestants for The Fiber Factor were announced and I was one of them. That evening an email was sent informing the 12 of us we had been chosen as the contestants. We were also told to watch for a box of goodies which would arrive on Monday the 8th, the same day the first challenge was to be announced.

Wow.

And at the time I WAS excited. This really was a pretty cool thing to be chosen for and involved in! And YIKES it was going to start on Monday!!!

The email also gave us some info on what the challenge was. Yes, we did get a sneak peek at the first challenge being put to us before you guys did. ;) Also included in the announcement email, was the video schedule. Now lets take a look at this a minute. This was the point where it all got very very real.

April 6th approximately 9:30pm CST :
-We have a challenge outlined before us.

April 8th:
-The challenge will be announced publicly
-A bag of "goodies" will arrive.

April 10th by 10:00am:
-Yarn order must be emailed with our preference of which addi click set we would like.

April 11th:
-Yarn order will arrive

April15th:
-Introduction video due

April 22nd:
-Second video due, topic: My thoughts on the challenge. What and why yarn did I use? What was my inspiration? What is the design?

May 1st:
-Third video due, topic: Presenting and explaining the final piece to the judges, discuss the inspiration, techniques, and how the piece meets the challenge.

Oh my!

Let's examine this timeframe/predicament I had put myself in:

Saturday 9:30pm - Wednesday 10:30am = 85 hours

85 hours to design something in accord with the challenge description, choose the proper yarn and order said yarn. hmmmm it could be done under normal circumstances, on a good day, no problem, but these didn't feel like normal circumstances.

The list of yarns, there were 13 of them, were yarns I was NOT familiar with. They were wool, mohair, alpaca, silk, linen, cotton yarns and blends, in weights from lace to super bulky. A couple of them weren't even on the market yet, if I remember correctly!!! No, this didn't feel like normal circumstances.

I wondered who the other crazy/adventurous people who had found themselves facing the same set of circumstances as I were. My curiosity was piqued to say the least.

Technically the individual introduction videos linked below were not available at this point. I only knew these people by name from the flurry of emails which went back and forth between us, the contestants, and "Chuck", some guy from Skacel I didn't know nor had ever heard of.

BUT

I did get a snippet glimpse of them on the Meet the Contestants video!

Shortly thereafter during the course of Challenge One the individual introduction videos were released. I'm stepping away from the historic timeline of The Fiber Factor for the sake of continuity and will address all things Challenge One in the next post but today is Meet the Contestants day. Today we "meet" or reacquaint ourselves with the other brave souls who had walk, soared, stumbled, and sometimes scraped their knees as I had during that journey. We are a unique bunch. No one has lived to tell the tale as we can, nor it seems, will anyone be able to do so in the future. sigh.

I guess it is only fitting since this is my blog, the first Introduction video I load here is my own. Remember that guy Chuck I mentioned earlier? From that point on he became my guardian angel so to speak. For each video due I sent him multiple snippets of raw video and he did his magic. My "official" introduction video below is a melding of snippets from my original application video which you saw in a previous post and the multitude of raw snippets I sent him for the introduction video. Behold the magic of Chuck!

Funny, he didn't include any part of this snippet it kinda captures the level of crazy I was in at the time. ;)

Chuck and I didn't know each other very well at the time. Ha, "very well?!?" we didn't know each other at all! But over the course of the game, we became true friends, and I am so very glad he is in my life. ::smooches::

And now onward to the real videos. First up is a link to the entire playlist of the individual videos, this link will introduce you to each contestant, one right after the other without the need for multiple link clicking. Below that link are the individual links to each contestants meet and greet video and a little bit of contact info they have given me.

Meet Contestant Full Play List

Meet Talitha Kuomi!

ravelry: talithakuomi http://www.ravelry.com/designers/talitha-kuomi

website: http://www.talithakuomi.com

twitter: @talithakuomi https://twitter.com/talithakuomi

instagram: talithakuomi

fb: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Talitha-Kuomi-Design/246797428704625?ref=hl

pinterest: talithakuomi https://www.pinterest.com/talithakuomi/

Meet Jodie Gordon Lucas!

ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/jodie-gordon-lucas
website: www.QueenieKnits.com

Meet John Ravet!

ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/john-ravet

Meet Lauren Riker!

Ravelry: girlyknits http://www.ravelry.com/designers/lauren-riker

Website: www.girlyknits.com

Blog: www.knittingisawesome.com

Twitter: girlyknits

Instagram: girlyknits

Facebook: facebook.com/girlyknits

Meet Terri Rosenthal!

ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/terri-rosenthal

website: http://www.carasan.com/

Meet Steve May!

ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/steve-may

facebook: Steve May

Meet Katie Rempe!

ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/katie-rempe

website: http://www.katertaterknits.com

Meet Rachel Henry!

ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/rachel-henry

website: http://www.remilyknits.com

Meet Meghan Navoy!

ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/meghan-navoy

Meet Natalie Larson!

ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/natalie-larson

Meet Jennette Cross!

ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/jennette-cross

Up next: Challenge One or Crash and Burn, What Was I Thinking!?!

Whoa, What Have I Done?

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 18:58:00 +0000

March 21, 2013 at 4:42 I received an email which said in part:

"You are now officially entered, and you are being considered to be a contestant in The Fiber Factor!"

YIKES!!!!

The announcement of the chosen 12 would be made on Saturday April 6th, 2013 at 7:30ish at the Vogue Knitting Live Gala Dinner in Seattle. The first Challenge would be announced Monday April 8th.

Hmmmm a little over two weeks for me to contemplate the consequences of my actions and this is what I figured. What had started as something silly to do for laughs, could maybe become a reality and quite frankly I didn't think I wanted to do it. The full impact of what I had just done had finally hit me.

First off let me give you a bit of a insight on the kind of person I am, or at least was, or am still, but an obviously modified version thereof. ;) Whatever descriptor you want to use, I am a hermit, an introvert, a very private person. The things I create are from me, of me and for me. Notice the word "me" in that last sentence, and how frequently it occurs?!? Most of my family, including my husband, rarely, if ever, actually see the things I'm working on. My work is done in my own private world into which I rarely allow anyone to enter.

Um yeah.....I didn't think this thing through now did I?

Oops.

Damn.

I would have to show people my work! I would have to make videos of myself! I would have to talk to people! I would have to do my work on someone else's timeline and not let the wind blow me in whatever direction I felt like on any given day! It had been years since I had a job and while I had throughly enjoy being in the workforce at one point in my life, I gladly stepped away from it when Joe made it possible for me to do so. And now this. I had possibly put myself in a situation which was completely and totally the antithesis of who I was.

Whoa.

What.

Have.

I.

Done.

I really, really REALLY did NOT think this through!!

And as the tv ads say: But wait there's more!

Another demon was gnawing at me. I had even stated in my application I had never been interested in a job/career in the knitting industry. And yet here I was applying for a contest which could in fact throw me into such a thing. Sure, if any opportunity did arise from participating in the contest, I didn't have to accept it. I could just crawl back into my cave and forget the whole thing ever happened. But, and that is a big, huge, ginormous BUT, wasn't that the purpose of the contest? One of the stated reasons for the contest was to find the next new knitwear designer! That is when the guilt crept in. What if I was, chosen to be one of the 12?!? What if because I was chosen some gifted designer missed their shot at being noticed? I have to confess, I came very close to withdrawing my application. I spoke to a lot of people about my guilty feelings. I had looked at the contest as just a game I'd be playing against myself, for once I'd let someone else provide the springboard to get me started on a new project. That's what the contest meant to me, nothing more, but to others? It could be their first dip into the pool in which they wanted to swim. It could be their first big break. It could be the one more thing to push their design popularity from ok into something big and exciting. If I was chosen as one of the twelve I might be stealing someones dreams! How could I do that?!? The guilt ran bitter and deep.

Obviously my heart and head were not in a good place to embark on such an unknown adventure, but I would go with the flow and see where it led. Gillian and Joe had made such huge efforts to get me this far, I guess I should at least respect their faith in me and see this thing through. Besides, how much of a chance did I have? There are untold numbers of very talented designers out there I only needed twelve who had submitted applications the judges liked better than mine. Not a problem. I figured everything I submitted in my application was good but surely there would be others which would be much better. And then I thought about the typical reality show personnel. OMG! I might have a chance to be one the chosen! Boil it all down to the basics and I was screwed. I was probably going to be considered a forerunner for the typical reality show persona of the 'crazy old lady!'

Whoa, what have I done?

Next up: Meet The Contestants!

Hey This Sounds Like Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 16:04:00 +0000

Yup. Those were the words I said that fateful day on February 6, 2013.

I had just started my evening Facebook perusal when I saw post by Franklin Habit announcing that he had secured a gig as a guest judge in an upcoming knitting contest called The Fiber Factor. I followed the link in his post and there it was. The thing most knitters who also happen to be Project Runway fans had been dreaming about since season one, a design competition for knitting!!!

OMGOMGOMG could this be true?!?

Further reading, a viewing of the promotional video , and a quick read through the application and official rules told me yes it was true!

OMGOMGOMG

I immediately told Joe about it and his only response was, "Sounds like something you'd want to do" Joe is the king of understatement. I downloaded the forms and rules, read them again, thought about what I'd like to do and went to bed. The next morning before he left for work Joe asked two questions, what was the application deadline and if I thought I could do a video. The first question was easy, the deadline was March 24, the second was bit tricky to answer. Could I do a video? A question that had a two-part answer. I didn't have the skill or know-how and our laptop was in fact on its last leg but I guess I could learn and finally get that new laptop. On the other hand, could I actually DO a video. hmmmm. My home is called The Hermitage, because quite frankly, I don't get out much, but I had done some public speaking in the past, I had been a school teacher in another life, could I do a video?

Yes.

Maybe.

Probably.

I don't know.

Such a simple question with so many answers.

I spent the day wondering if and how I could do a video as I gathered all my finished and not-so finished designs. It was a fretful but exhilarating day. (Shhhhh don't tell anyone but, I even found a few designs I had completely forgot about, I really ought to organize my stuff!) When Joe, man of few words, returned home from work he said one thing. "Call Gillian and do this thing." Ahh Joe always my cheerleader and facilitator even if he didn't quite know exactly what it was he was agreeing to, but at that point neither did I. Did anyone?

In a phone call to Gillian, our youngest, who knows her way around computers and cameras, I said those words again, "Hey this sounds like fun!" she wholeheartedly agreed, and that was all it took to get this ball rolling. ----- Apparently we Graweys sometimes have a skewed sense of what would be fun to do, this was going to involve a whole LOT of work! ----- I would have everything ready to go for a photographic session of the designs and the shooting of the video by the first weekend in March. Gillian would fly in late on the 28th of February and back out on Sunday the 3rd. She would take the raw footage cut and splice and make her mother look....presentable?......capable?.....not crazy? Well, two out of three ain't bad. ;)

The swiftness with which the next 3 weeks from February 7th to March 1st past was surreal. In that time I was soaking, steaming and blocking designs, finishing designs and creating designs to submit for the application. Yes, I said "and creating designs", two of them, dreamed up and knitted from start to finish in that same three week period. I was also writing and re-writing my responses on the application form and storyboarding my video. Doing all this cuz it's fun right? Well, yeah, it was fun cuz I do enjoy doing that type of thing. Plus, consider the biggest ever added bonus, I was going to have a girls weekend with my daughter from LA and my niece from Chicago being silly and doing silly things!!!!

Below you'll see the three designs I submitted as a required part of my application. The beautiful models in these garments are my daughter Gillian and my almost daughter, my niece Erin. I've also uploaded the original full length application video I sent in and some snippets from my application. Just for giggles sake, how would YOU answer these application questions? Hey, you never know when something fun might come around and you'll be asked to answer similar questions! And keep in mind, I was/am just like many of you. I was and am someone who just plays all day.

I hope you enjoy the video in all its silliness. From the very beginning I never even considered the possibility of actually being one of the contestants, just sending in an application sounded like something that would be fun to do so I did it. At the time I never really thought things through and considered what could happen. I just focused on the now and how much fun it would be to have Gillian home for the weekend and how silly we could get while shooting a video together. I have to admit, I'm super glad I didn't think it all through, I'm not sure I would have done it if I had and that would have been my loss for soooooo many different reasons.

Next up: Whoa, What Have I Done?

Please describe your design philosophy or point of view:

I am driven by knitting not only as a thing of beauty, but as a medium which can have
structure with purpose and function. Fueled by the questions, "What if' "Why not" and
"Why" I strive to explore the inherent pliable nature of the knitted fabric in my designs.
The fact that a knitted fabric can so easily be commanded and manipulated to bend, curve,
fold, turn, and grow from a plain smooth flat 2-dimensional surface into a deeply textured,
multi-colored 3-dimensional space feeds my soul and thrills me.

PIease describe your goals as a designer:

My goal as a designer is to make people think or, at the very least, consider the possibilities.
Knitting is a medium and a skill that can easily be exploited. Whether that exploitation
takes the form of exploding the conventional ideals of garment structure, merely finds
another way to manipulate the stitches or pushes the envelope of fashion, knitting has no
boundaries.

What are your strengths and your weaknesses as a designer?

My strengths are simple; I am fearless with my needles and confident in my skills and
imagination. I also stay abreast of the current fashion trends.

One of my weaknesses as a designer could be remedied; I have very little experience with
size gradation when writing a pattern.
My other weakness is the major force holding me back, I have never been interested in the business side of design.

What are the things you are most passionate about in life?

I would assume like many others my biggest passion is my family, my husband, children,
grandchildren and very large very close extended family.

Some of my other passions in no particular order are:

Color: around me but not necessarily ON me. Friends call my home "the Dr. Seuss House"
because of the riotous use of color throughout.

Thrifting/Repurposing/Recreating/Reusing: I get a real kick out of rejuvenating things like
clothing and furniture.

Learning: I feed my brain constantly. My day is not complete unless I've learned something
new.

What else should we know about you?

Knitting isn't my only skill. To name just few of the other crafts/skills which occupy my
time, sewing, crochet, spinning, dyeing, needle lace, felting (wet and needle), weaving,
beading, embroidery, wirework, leather work, tambour, rug making, book binding, jewelry
making [particularly inspired by Arline Fisch Textiles in Metal] To be honest there isn't
much I haven't attempted I've been playing all my life but I promise to keep everything for
this contest knitted unless you tell me otherwise.
In a nutshell I just like to build and create with my hands. I adore functional and
purposeful work whether it's delicate piece of lace or the restoration of my house from the
bare studs up. And I equally adore fanciful perhaps not extremely functional work like
creating spinning wheels or "spinning machines" from discarded found objects like the antique brass chandelier soon to be a spinning wheel as seen in my video.

That Thing I Did That One Time

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 14:21:00 +0000

Let's begin with the premise that we as humans are the sum and total of our experiences. Each and everyday and each and every thing, we experience molds and shapes us into the people we become. That learning, molding, and shaping, does not cease when we reach a certain age, it is a continual growth which carries on throughout our entire life with each person we meet, each book we read, and quite frankly every experience we endure.

I have done many, many things in my life, but none compare to That Thing I Did That One Time. That Thing of which I speak was the proverbial once-in-a-lifetime-experience. It was an experience I shared with a very limited number of people while a far greater number of people watched and judged. That Thing I Did That One Time had a name, they called it The Fiber Factor.

Many of you reading this are probably somewhat familiar with The Fiber Factor. Perhaps you were one of those faithful followers who counted the days until the next progress video was uploaded, or one of the many who would binge watch the videos over the weekend, or maybe you have never even heard of The Fiber Factor and you just stumbled across this blog because you wanted to read the post about President Obama holding my knitting or how to dye wool with jello. Regardless of why you are here I hope you will continue to stop by. Over the course of the next several weeks I will be posting a series of blog posts which are a retrospective of my Fiber Factor experiences, an insider's view of sorts of what was, and always will be, a truly unique experience.

Yes, I can hear you asking 'But why now? Why are you now talking about a thing that was over, done, and kaput in January of 2013?' To answer your query quite bluntly and succinctly, cuz I can, I want to, and July 18th is fast approaching!

Because I can, as in I am able to at this point. It is no longer an emotional thing for me. Throughout the contest the tsunami of emotions was exhausting, not to mention the physical exhaustion which was also ever present. I've often characterized The Fiber Factor as the most grueling bit of fun I've ever had. For all the bumps, and bruises sustained by participating in The Fiber Factor the over riding emotion which by far trumps all else is gratitude. I wouldn't be who I am or where I am without having done That Thing I Did That One Time.

Because I want to, as in I find insider retrospectives quite interesting. I, as most people who work, dabble, or play in the creative realm are often asked, questions like, 'how do you come up with these designs/ideas?' or 'where do you get your inspiration?' or "how the hell does your brain work?!?' Hopefully this series of blog posts will answer some of these questions. btw spoiler alert: Sorry, I'm not quiet sure how my brain works either. ;)

I hope you will enjoy the posts to come about the what and whys I did what I did.

Next up: Hey This Sounds like Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 21:05:00 +0000

We Won!

Yes, thanks to you, my fibery friends and family, I DID win the Vogue Knitting / Fiber Factor design competition. I am honored and deeply, deeply touched by all your support and obviously all your votes. ;) The competition was stiff, as you all well know, having seen the other designs my fellow Fiber Factor Finalists submitted. I am forever grateful to Vogue Knitting and The Fiber Factor for this never once dreamed of, nor even considered, opportunity of having a design of mine published in Vogue Knitting. I'm still rather gobsmacked, and overwhelmed, and tongue-tied as my feeble fumbling around here blantantly depicts. ;)

And I am exhausted. It's been a VERY hectic weekend. I was not able to be in NYC this weekend there were even bigger things happening here at home. What on Earth could be bigger than competing in a Vogue Knitting contest and having your garment walk the runway at VKLive NYC you might ask? It all boils down to priorities, and regardless of what is going on in the outside world, family will always come first. This weekend Gillian flew in for her Midwest bridal shower. It'd be a just a tad bit weird, awkward, and absolutely wrong, if the mother of the bride left for NYC the same day the bride to be arrived from LA. Don't you agree? Having Gillian home for a few days was heaven, and the shower was FUN FUN FUN in a most (in)appropriate and fitting Grawey Family irreverent way. I'll go into detail with some pictures in a day or two (or three) suffice to say we had our own runway and the Grawey family knows how to strut their stuff.

I'm looking at my desk calendar, and I just can't wrap my head around all the things which need to be done, all the looming deadlines, and all the STUFF I've got going on. And to think only two years ago on February 6th I thought it would be fun to send in an application for a brand new thing called The Fiber Factor. I still can't believe little old me from my hermitage in the middle no where has been so fortunate, having so many opportunities and doors flung widely open. WOW

The Official Rules and Application for Season 2 of The Fiber Factor are now available. I haven't read them myself yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Maaaaaayyyybbbeeee there might be some critiquing of my own going on when the new season gets up and running. ;)

Talk to you soon my wonderful fibery people!!!!

Vogue Knitting and The Fiber Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 18:28:00 +0000

I know, the blog isn't spiffy and whipped into shape yet. I'll get to that soon, but today I feel a tiny bit of explanation is order for why this blog has been so dormant, why am I resurrecting it plus I have some exciting news that just can't wait.

Two things, or rather, two entities. Vogue Knitting Magazine and The Fiber Factor are primarily the reasons.

I'm pretty sure most people reading this will know who and what Vogue Knitting is so there isn't much need to explain that. Some though may not know who or what The Fiber Factor was and is. The Fiber Factor was (and is) an online knit design competition fashioned after Project Runway. I say was and is when referring to The Fiber Factor because season one is done, and season two will be starting very soon. (apply for season two in January). The reason I mention The Fiber Factor here is because I was one of the 12 designers chosen to compete in season one. I won 3 out of 6 of the regular season challenges and moved on to the finals for the 7th challenge. It was a very fun, very grueling experience I will speak much of in the future, but for now I'm merely mentioning it because of what is happening right now at this very point in time.

Because of The Fiber Factor, I have a new design in the Winter 2014-2015 issue of Vogue Knitting!!!! I know right!?!?!?! EEK!!!!! Trisha Malcolm the editor in chief of Vogue Knitting and Karin Skacel CEO of Skacel Collection got together and Vogue presented the four finalists of The Fiber Factor season one, another challenge. Early this summer Vogue challenged my fellow finalists and I to design a Chanel inspired piece and once again we, the finalists, are in a head to head, toe to toe competition. The twist this time is the panel of judges is YOU! Anyone and everyone can have their say and vote for the design of their choice.

You can vote NOW, after viewing the issue preview, wait until you have your copy of the magazine in hand, or wait until the 360 look video comes out BUT, you have to vote by midnight EST January 15th. The winner will be announced during the runway show at Vogue Knitting Live in NYC January 17th!!!

I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, but an all expense paid trip to NYC or LA would be kinda cool, I'm not gonna lie. ;)

Included on the webpage where you can vote for the design you like, you can also view a video of myself and fellow Fiber Factor peeps. Ahhhh yes, the videos, remember in the last post where I said I had made a fool of myself a few times? Um, yeah, the videos are pretty much what I was referring to. All my Fiber Factor videos, all the videos I made for The Fiber Factor KAL I did this summer for one of my winner designs, Bravura, and now a video for Vogue Knitting briefly explaining my design process are now on youtube forevermore. Let's just say the videos are not my forte. ;)

So here you go, follow this link and vote for the design you like. Cast Your Vote

Oh, not to sway your decision in anyway but, this is my design:

Talk to you soon, and thank you for voting.

Let's try this...again.

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 19:47:00 +0000

Greetings from far far away! You might notice a little change here at the blog. I'm trying. Its been a long time since I even looked at this blog. I'm going to have to re-learn everything. Ugh. But I have lots and lots of things to share, lots and lots to show you, lots and lots to teach you, and, well, frankly, I just feel like talking again.

The past couple of years have been a whirlwind of change and adventure.

I made a fool of myself. Again. A few times. No big surprise there, but this time in a much more public manner than usual, perhaps you saw it. No worries, its still out there in the ether for now and for always. I also did a few things I'm very proud of and I have plans for the future I had never even considered before. The kids have gotten older, the grandkids have gotten older, and regrettably I have gotten older. BUT I wanna talk about it. So over the next couple of weeks I will get this blog all snarky and fresh, and begin telling you about everything.

Talk to you soonish.

Re-Fashionista

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 14:32:00 +0000

Fabric-wise it was love at first sight, a funky twill weave cotton with bias stripes of a tabby weave with a thread end fringe.

At second look it was a sad no waist band, loooong gored skirt about 5 sizes (if you can believe mfg sizing) too big. IMHO a fabulous fabric worked up in a poor design, surely I could do something about that right? So I bought it for a $1.98.

Such a simple fix. I removed one full gore from each side, sewed the right side seam up leaving a proper armhole length open and added a side zipper on the left side.The next step was to sew on the bias tape and tack the top of the armhole at the shoulder creating a boat neck.

Done. Easy. I love it.

A Bad Penny???

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:09:00 +0000

Yes, I'm back again, let's see if this time it sticks shall we?

A few things to jump start this second (?) third (?) resurrection of my blog...

Stuff that has been keeping me busy lately:

Felting, wet and needle

Stitching/sewing hand and machine:

And knitting and spinning:

Of course the typical "normal" knitting is happening as well, sweaters, socks, you know the drill. :)

The family is healthy, happy, and well, and growing by leaps and bounds. No, there aren't any "new" grandkids, but the youngest, who was just a wee little thing the last time I seriously blog is soon to be 3 years old! My oh my where does the time go?

I've been working the last few days on this absolutely FABULOUS pattern by Kieran Foley Camino Bubbles Unfortunately for me it's primarily in charted form, BUT that's MY personal problem please do not hesitate to give this pattern a go. Sooooo much bang for the buck! Easily memorized intuitive pattern with such a wonderful end product. Love it! Nearly finished with the one I'm working on right now done in Crazy Zauberball. of course, pix at this point aren't worth it, I'm not dropping my stitches their full length so frankly it looks a little yarn barfy as all lace patterns do at this point, plus it also looks as if there are LOTS of mistakes but I know there isn't, this pattern is just too easy to work for mistakes.

Camino Bubbles could not have come across my radar at a more opportune time. I've been playing a lot with dropped stitches lately. It fits so nicely into my mindset right now. I expect (actually have been drafting) a few riffs of this stitch pattern. Perhaps one of my riffs, or just another Camino Bubbles will be my travel knitting next week. :)

Expect pix from sunny So Cal soon!

Bast Fibers

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Bast fiber

-noun
Any of several strong, woody fibers, as flax, hemp, ramie, or jute, obtained from phloem tissue and used in the manufacture of woven goods and cordage.*
________________________________________________________

I've been wanting to blog about this for a while now, since last summer actually. I spent the better part of last summer researching various bast fibers. I focused primarily on the fibers that could, in theory, be found growing wild in my own backyard and at some point in time, if deemed appropriate, could be planted the spring of 2011.

I was lucky, and found most of what I was after. I was unable to find any flax (bummer I know) but I did find plenty of stinging nettles, milkweed and another, typical to my area, wild fiber plant. ;o)

Yes, you read that right, I said milkweed in that sentence, and I am NOT talking about the fluff from the pods, but the actual bast fibers in the stalk. Frankly I had no idea the common milkweed plant could be a source of spinable bast fibers but all that research I did led me to the studies done by Prof. Yiqi Yang at the University of Nebraska, and lo and behold he was optimistic regarding the extraction and characteristics of fibers from the common milkweed.

Prof. Yang concluded:

Stems of milkweed plants have been used to obtain natural cellulose fibers with better strength and elongation that the milkweed floss fibers. Milkweed stem fibers have high cellulose content but low % crystallinity. The fibers have strength similar to cotton and elongation higher than that of linen fibers. The modulus and moisture regain of the milkweed stem fibers is between that of cotton and linen. Overall, the milkweed stem fibers have properties required for high value textile, composite, and other fi- brous applications. Utilizing the milkweed stems for high quality natural cellulose fibers will add value and make milkweed a more useful fiber plant.**

Sounds promising doesn't. :o)

I did a lot of trial and error experiments in regard to retting the various plants, mostly field retting and a little pond retting, and I tried a few other things I thought might work (I still have a few other tricks up my sleeve to try). Some methods were successful showing promise right away, some not so successful leaving me with some sticky and/or stinky masses of goo, and some methods have yet to be proven. It is some of the yet to be proven experiments that I'm showing today.

These bast fiber stalks have been standing in the Southwest corner of my patio since last summer/fall. Pictured are what one would typically find growing wild here in the Midwest, stinging nettle, common milkweed, and that other bast fiber whose name escapes me. Some of the bundles in the pic were field retted, some were split, bundled and then stood in the corner and some were just bundled and stood in the corner. I also learned from my research that in the Scandinavian countries they often just bundle and stand the stalked out in the elements for the winter. It sounded easy enough so I gave that a try too. The constant freeze thaw cycle with lots of snow/moisture does all the work of releasing the fibers, our winter here this year has been perfect, for that method.

I think I got a good amount of fiber release. The first pic is milkweed the second is nettle. There is still a lot of moisture in all the stalks so I can't do much with any of it, but I did bring in this tiny bit just to play a little.

Tonight I'm going to see what the next step needs to be. I have all the typical implements of fiber ~~destruction~~ extraction and others I think will work better for my experiments and fibers so it's play time. I can't wait any longer it's been a looooong 6 months of wondering if all my efforts last summer hold any promise or were just a fun way to past the time.

I will be gathering fiber plants again this year, and I also intend to plant a plot of flax and one of cotton. I know I'm really pushing the limits of a long enough growing season for cotton, but a friend said she had some good results one summer when she planted cotton along her garage. It can't hurt to try.

I've been considering growing (?) raising (?) some silk worms too. I have the mulberry, why not? I've tried silk worms once before without any success, but I do know what I did wrong. This time there are other factors to consider, namely Ben and Ida. I'm not so sure I'd be able to keep the animals away from a bunch of munching worms. The sound would drive them crazy.

*excerpt from Dictionary.com
**excerpt from Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications
University of Nebraska - Lincoln Year 2009
"Extraction and characterization of natural cellulose fibers from common milkweed stems"
Narendra Reddy Yiqi Yangy

Random is the flow today

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:03:00 +0000

I know I shouldn't do this. Posting on my blog without a single second of forethought is not a good idea, but if I'm ever going to get back into the groove of posting I just have to do it, be that boring and awfully stupid posts or not, so here goes.

Bare with me, my photography skills have gotten even worse, if that was possible, nonetheless I'll favor you with a couple pix cuz I really don't have anything to talk about. lol
A couple of people asked about the sizes of my wheels. I know seeing the individual pix doesn't give a good sense of perspective so here's a group pic so you can get some idea of the range of sizes. Unfortunately my spinning ability on these wheels has flown the coop. Antique wheels can be finicky, and tend to be stubborn in the cold dry doldrums of winter. Everyone is going to get a spa treatment this week. If I can't spin on them the least I can do is pamper with them.

Was I spinning before? Yes, I was. See?The bobbin on the left is from the wheel shown in the far left of the group photo. The bobbin on the right is the tiny wheel in the center. I think it's really interesting how much larger the flyer and bobbin are on the tiny wheel compared to other wheel.

I want another one of these Itty Bitty wheels. It really isn't an antique but I adore her just the same. I like her style. I like her portability. I like the way she spins, but it could be improved a tad. There are a couple right now on ebay exactly like her, but they are in the Netherlands and with an extra $60 for shipping they are going to be priced out of my budget soon. They have been selling lately for around $125- $175 which to me is kinda high for the quality of this wheel. Plus I can't get beyond the fact that I got mine for $20, I know that was prob'ly a major fluke, but still... Why do I want a wheel exactly or very similar to one I already have? I want to steampunk one and add some modifications but I don't want to screw it up so I need an extra in case I do something really stupid. (that is not outside the realm of possibilities ya know) I have been playing around in my workroom with all manner of spinning wheel like pieces and parts. Who knows, maybe I'll have one made from scratch done before I find another Itty Bitty to mess with.

WARNING RANDOMNESS AHEAD

And while I had my camera out...
Dang I wish I could take decent pictures, then I could show you how utterly awesome the platter Bart gave me is. It's waaaaay too beautiful not to be hung on the wall doncha think?

Hmmm anymore strange unconnected thoughts floating around in my head? Why yes there is!

Liam came this weekend to visit grandma and grandpa. The kid slays me. He's 16 mo running all around, loves to climb, and loves, loves, loves, to dance. Any kind of tone or sound he hears, he will stop whatever he's doing and dance. He dances to cell phone ringtones, he dances to the clock chiming the hour, and the alarm on the ovens. He will dance to anything. I was somewhat surprised though on Saturday when he stopped playing and started dancing to the sound of the trash compactor! LOL

Enough already, some randomness is too chaotic even for me.

Socks

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:00:00 +0000

If you're a sock knitter you know there are some pretty fabulous sock patterns out there. I mean really, some of these people design absolute works of beauty. If you can't just take my word for it pick up any of the books by Cookie A or Anna Zilboorg and you'll get a taste of what is out there. And although I greatly admire these socks and the artistry behind them I never knit them.

I'm a barefoot kind of gal and socks to me are merely an article of clothing for which there is a single purpose. It eventually gets too cold to continue running around barefoot so socks keep your feet warm. Then of course there is that thing about doing the same thing twice cuz I do have two feet, and repeat performances around here is NOT the norm.

BUT

Socks are excellent take along projects. The tiny little things slip easily into your purse. And unless you are creating one of the magnificent socks from the above mentioned designers (or countless others) you don't even need a pattern or chart. Socks are nice unobtrusive knitting that can go with you on a moments notice. Thus I always have a sock on my needle(s).

BUT

No pattern socks get boring after a while.

BUT

Every new pattern has me adapting it for my narrow, high arch, foot.

THUS

My ~~love/hate~~ need/apathetic relationship with socks has often had me at odds in my knitting world. Until a few months ago.

Once again I turned my attention to the sock knitting goddess known to us mere mortals by the name Cat Bordhi. Her latest book , over a year old now, is "Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters: Book Two in the New Pathways for Sock Knitters Series" has shall we say started me on a new path. (Please don't ask me to say that title out loud. I'm a fairly well educated person but I am also phonetically challenged, and it makes me feel stupid.) Regardless of any petty personal affront I have regarding the title, the sock knitting technique in this book genius. I have found my rhythm and I'm churning out sock at lightening speed.

OK, perhaps not whole socks but I've got a lot of footprints made. :o) This is what I've done since Christmas.

On the lower left are 6 footprints. In the center are 10 socks in progress, and on the right are 2 pair. There are another 2 footprints in the knitting bag in the car and 2 complete pairs in the laundry.

This is what a footprint looks like.

The vertical marking thread tells me how many rounds I've knitted and where I've put my increases. The jog in the vertical marking thread is where my increases begin. The horizontal marking threads is where leg will go after I slip the stitches onto needles and snip and unravel the stitches between. The thread at the very top is a holding thread for the last of my heel stitches that will be closed up after the sock is complete.

I gotta tell ya, if it isn't obvious, making these footprints is addicting. I can zip through a footprint in an evening. Granted I'm using size 3 or 4 needles and while I'm not doubling the sock yarns I also using a carrying along thread or a cobweb weight yarn with it so my stitch count at its greatest is only 48 stitches.

Yes, I like my socks thicker than most people, it helps them fulfill a sock's purpose (its sole purpose snort) of warming my feet and as an added bonus makes my shoes fit my narrow feet better.

Those of you studying the pic might notice the blue gray sock center bottom looks a little bigger. It is, I figured out Joe's footprint too, I was beginning to feel guilty about all my new socks. Yeah, I know, pretty unselfish of me, go figure. lol You might also notice, although I know the pic is pretty crummy, but none of the socks completely match each other. Most of the footprint parts do, sort of, but not many of the leg portions do. I'm playing with new stitch patterns, and stripe counts. So from here on out, I'm pretty sure my socks are going to be mostly fraternal and not identical. Another added bonus to bulking up the sock yarn with a carry along yarn/thread I can usually get three socks out of the typical 400-ish yards of sock yarn. Three socks, fraternal triplets. That's a good thing when you have a family member who likes to eat hand knit socks.

It is just amazing

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:42:00 +0000

I remembered my password. Ok, total disclosure, I didn't remember it, my computer did. :/

It would be silly, foolish, and utterly impossible to explain all the whys and wherefores regarding the comatose state this blog has been in for so very long so I won't. Suffice to say life has gone on as it will and does. Have there been changes in my life? You bet. Will I begin to blog again on regular basis? Um, that remains to be seen (was it ever regular before). Do I think I'll be blogging? Yeah, prob'ly, maybe, I'm pretty sure, I think.

Shall we begin?

Dear Readers, if any of you are still out there, please be assured that the pursuit of all things fibery is alive and well here at the Hermitage. I spend my days much as before, under the spell of all things stringy, lofty, and linear. Knitting is still the priority around here but I have fallen head first and deeply into the world of spinning. Yeah sure I was spinning before, but lately my head has been turned and I've been lusting for and to be honest rescuing antique spinning wheels.

My first rescue was mid-September of 2010. A cute little Saxony wheel I found by chance on Craig's List. I mentioned the little cutie to Joe. His response was something in the order of, 'that's not too far away, let's go get it', so we did. (I know, I know, I have wonderful husband)

I don't know much about this little wheel other than it is typical of the southern Pennsylvania wheels made around the early 1900's. The family history on the wheel tells me it came from Kentucky in 1924.

Those of you with a keen eye will notice that one of the leathers was broken and I had to replace it. Other than that he/she spins like a dream. The picture above is one taken the day I got him/her. Since that day I have replaced the leathers and given him/her a few "spa treatments" (an oil rub down) Sorry I don't have a pic of just how beautiful he/she looks now. Ha! I guess I didn't think this blogging thing through today. :/

The next addition to the Hermitage was 2 weeks later. Yes, yes, I know, I had just bought a wheel, but oh this little cutie (also found on craig's list) was just too cute to let go by. Granted it was in Nashville and I'm not anywhere near Nashville, but I do have a BIL there. So yeah, he got the wheel for me and shipped her to me.

Meet Itty Bitty Betty

Such a teeny tiny cutie! Granted NOT an antique wheel but oh so cute and....extremely portable! There are a couple of us in the Antique Spinning Wheel group on Ravelry that have this exact wheel. The stories we've heard from the sellers make us think this is a wheel that was made in the 60' or 70's for the tourist trade in Germany. The fact that three of these wheels have shown up on the Nashville craig's list makes me think there was a tour to Germany in the 60's/70's and a several of the people on the tour brought one home as a decorator piece. lol

Betty spins well, not fabulous, but well and she fits my needs to a tee. My Friday Lunch knitting group recently expanded to include a Friday Breakfast spinning group and Betty goes without a fuss. Please gloss over the fact, cuz it sounds a little crazy, that on occasion, I can be found in a restaurant in town for upwards to 6 hours on any given Friday.....um....yeah....never mind.

The next new addition to my flock came 2 months later in November. yet another craig's list find up around Chicago where Bart just happened to be for the weekend for a new gallery opening which is carrying his glass----yep a mom brag. So he picked her up and bought her to me.

My Scandinavian Beauty

A pic of the day she came home. Yes, she is in terrible shape, and it is doubtful I'll ever really get to spin much on her but she has potential. Sorry again about no recent photos she looks so much better after her spa treatments, but she's a work in progress and will be for a long time. The only thing I say about this wheel is that she has had a long a loving life. Who ever had her before cared for her well and used her often (I am referring to the people who actually used her and knew her well and not the people who forgot about for the last 50 years). At one point her wheel support bearings were replaced, the material of choice used to repair her was a Finnish coin dated 1922. Another repair to her I'm sure was done lovingly but, perhaps without an eye toward aesthetic, was the replacement leg they gave her.

It's there behind Ben, but notice how delicate the old girl's original legs are compared to....

Um yeah, that would be an axe handle. LOL I love it. Spokes so delicate they are slimmer than a pencil, and a prosthetic limb fashioned from an axe handle. LOL

Had enough of my flock of wheels yet? Well perhaps just one more, I promise, just one more.

I got this one over Holidays.

It's Canadian Production Wheel, the maker was Eugene Benoit. He/she spins like a dream, and is, yet another craig's list find.

I know, it all sounds rather obsessive doesn't it. I now have 5 wheels in my flock (not counting the treadle sewing machine wheel I made), 4 of which are in perfect working order. Most are still in need of some more spa treatments, for their ultimate beauty to shine, thus the reason of no current photos (such poor blog planning tsk tsk) but what the hey, you just got another taste of the crazy that is rampant and the norm here at the Hermitage, what more could you ask for?

And now on to the burning questions.
Why so many wheels?
It's not like I planned on have a flock of wheels, they all just sorta fell into my lap. Granted they all came from craig's list and that sounds a bit like I was actually searching for them but in truth, I was really just kind of curious what was out there and available and wanted to learn about antique wheel (modern wheels leave me kinda cold). All of these wheels cost next to nothing so that wasn't anything to consider. The added bonus of actually having to revive, if not restore them was an appealing task also.

Will there be more wheels?
Maybe, maybe not. I've filled all the niches of my wheel desires for the moment. Sure there are other wheels of different types I'd consider adding to the flock, and if one or more of them fall into my lap then so be it, but I'm not actively looking for wheels. Well, um, at least not any more so than I was before. ;)

Will I ever sell these wheels?
Prob'ly not, but that's not to say I won't ever give them away. I'm not doing this for any reasons other than to learn more about antique wheels, and have fun doing it. I like rescuing these wheels and restoring their dignity. Be honest, haven't you ever gone to an estate sale or a garage sale and bought something you didn't really need just cuz you couldn't bear the thought of it going into the trash? It's the same kind of thing, the wheels just take up more space. :P

What does Joe say about all this?
Not a lot. He thinks they are beautiful, impressed with the restorations, and I'd be willing to bet he's pretty thrilled with the notion that all of these wheels put together don't even amount to a quarter of the $$ a new wheel would cost.

So there you have it, a recent peek at life at the Hermitage. Nothing surprising I'd guess, for those who know me, you gotta admit there's always been and always will be something obsessively going on around here, that's just how I roll and spinning wheels are just the latest flavor.

Talk to ya soon.
Maybe.

Just braggin' again

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:36:00 +0000

that's what moms do.

So very proud of my youngest daughter Gillian. She'll be graduating this May from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) with a double major in Advertising and Graphic Design. Aside from her exceptional grades, she has had at least one, if not two, if not three jobs while carrying her full load of classes while attending SCAD.

One of her three concurrent jobs this past year has been the Art Director for the magazine District Quarterly. In September she received the Farce Award which is a SCAD traveling trophy she will pass on to this year's recipient. You can read the Fall issue here. This issue, which was also the inaugural issue, won 5th place honors in the Magazine Literary category, at the 88th annual Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisers National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas this pass December.

In January, Gillian was a finalist for a SCADDY having her copywriting entry chosen as one of the 100 out of 1500 entries to be on exhibit prior to and following the awards ceremony. A SCADDY, which honors excellence in advertising, is the only college sponsored event of it's type in the nation and is judged by industry professionals.

Gillian has also received a Bronze Student ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation Savannah for the "Flow of Life" spread in the Fall issue of the District Quarterly.

snippet from the AAF website: "With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY Awards are the world's largest and arguably toughest advertising competition. The ADDY Awards represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from around in the world. The American Advertising Federation, a not-for-profit, conducts the ADDY Awards across 200 advertising clubs and 15 districts. It is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry."

No wonder she doesn't call as much as she use to. ;o)

Love you Silly.

Skewed again

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:55:00 +0000

Thought you'd like to see the finished pair.

Pretty sexy for a sock huh.

Very rarely does the foot of a sock fit me so nicely. Granted the leg portion is a tad bit looser than I would like but, that is pretty normal for my scrawny ankles. They still stay up and don't slouch so they get a thumbs up from me. Next time I'll incorporate the sizing modifications the Yarn Diva has been working on. Check it out. There is something there for everyone, higher instep, roomier legs, thinner legs/ankles, and roomier heel back. I'd say that just about covers it. :o)

The details of the pair I made aren't too thrilling. I followed the pattern, pretty much, (I did make the second sock with a broader toe 10 stitches per needle rather than 6) but then I did run into some trouble of my own making. When I first began the journey of this sock I started out using Bernat Sox then I got kinda bored with the color and decided to stripe the socks with a random beige I had sitting around. I think using both yarns and making the stripes was a good call.

Bernat Sox only on the right, Sox and random beige solid striped EOR on the left. I knitted along swiftly working the Sox yarn on the rows that had the stitch manipulations and the random beige on the plain even rows. Added bonus doing it this way, I never had to give a thought as to what row I was on and it certainly made counting rows much simpler for the these old tired eyes. It worked great, that is until I reached the short row pairs on the leg. Ooops. Short row pairs giggle/snort. The eagles eyes among you may have already noticed it in the photos above. See how the stripe pattern changes from a 1x1 color sequence to a 2x2 color sequence? See? On the top of the left sock. When I was working that portion of the sock I was too drugged up and dancing with the devil to care much about a little change in the stripes. I wanted to see this new sock on my foot! I trusted the new to me pattern and soldiered on switching to a 2x2 sequence to easily follow the pattern. Notice by the time I got to the same spot on the right sock I decided to tackle the "problem" of the inherent need for the 2x2 color sequence through the short row pairs. It's not something I'd recommend, doable obviously, but not recommended. It would have been easier if I had been using dpns but on 2 circs it was kinda fiddly. A striped pattern could easily be done, without a single glitch if I had used the 2x2 sequence throughout the entire sock. Live and learn, isn't that why we exist anyway?

Still have plenty of yarn left so I'm casting on for a 2x2 sequence tonight, incorporating the thinner legs/ankles mods the Yarn Diva has suggested. I'm pretty sure Skew is now going to be my always-on-the-needles sock pattern.

I'm Skewed

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:26:00 +0000

but in a good way.

I think.

I have fallen completely and totally in love with the sock pattern Skew
(Rav link here) It has everything going for it in my book. First off I couldn't get my brain twisted around as to how the sock pattern worked, which is a huge plus in my book. Secondly there is something, just a little thing or two, in every other row, with a plain row in between. A fabulous attribute for when you have to rip back, or get your head ready for the next trick on the following row. Thirdly, it looks amazing. And fourthly, it is a genius way to use all those beautiful to look at but not so fab when knitted handpainted or self-striping sock yarns, of which I have lots, but never ever use cuz I'm just not a crazy sock color kind of gal.

The down side of the pattern is that it only comes in one size (not mine, it's too big) and there are some notes available here for making it a larger size (another bummer for me) But seriously, when has that ever stopped me? So far I have started this sock 4 times. Don't be discouraged, I'm not, in fact I am still full speed ahead.

My first attempt seen above in the nine o'clock position was worked on zeroes 9 stitches to the inch. It failed cuz I left out the entire mid-toe section. duh. The second attempt shown above at high noon was also worked on zeros and I thought it was going just peachy. Even worked pass the heel and began the leg portion. Hmmmm the foot is a tad bit too tight, my gauge was too much smaller obviously, highlighting the only other downside this pattern has. That downside being I haven't found a good way (or at what point) to try on the sock in progress to check the fit. Up until I finished the heel I thought the fit was spot on. The sock at three o'clock is done using a slightly heavier yarn and worked on size three needles. I really wanted to start that sock on 2's but could only find one size two needle. I think it is going to be too big, remember, I haven't gleaned a proper way of checking fit while the sock is in progress, I haven't pulled it out just in case. I was getting 27 stitches to 4 inches instead of 31 stitches so it will prob'ly be too big. The latest attempt is at six o'clock. I'm thrilled so far, even though I haven't gotten very far. I think it is going to work.

Oh no, did I just tempt the knitting fairies? Naw, they messed with me enough this week. Case in point, the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics beginning just two days after they have smitten me with this sock pattern. Could they be any crueler? I committed myself to 4 events. Egads.

The Ravelympics:

The Flying Camel Event
438 grams to be spun

276 grams spun 621 yards 2-ply sport-ish wt. Graduated coloration.
162 grams left to spin

The Sock Hockey Event & The Nordic Colorwork Event
Faroese Footlets

As you can see I was just a little bit tensed and slightly stressed when I was teaching myself this two-color knitting. The first one (on the right) is so much smaller than the other. sigh. I'm sure it will block out. um. er. I'm sure it will.

The Short Track Shawls Event
Citron

I chose this one precisely for the mindless-ness of it considering the other events needed a little bit more conscious effort. I've gone a little too mindless, and my stitch count is way off, I messed up the beginning, and I don't think the pattern and yarn are a good match. sigh.

I have yet to even begin my Knitting Olympics entry Drops pattern 116-53.

I think I'm skrewed. Or maybe my thinking is just skewed? I can get all this done right?

Seriously?

LOL

Ethel

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:41:00 +0000

Well now, let's see if I remember how to do this.

I almost feel like I'm beginning to be me again. I gotta tell ya, it hasn't been easy. Worry and stress can really do a number on you and it ain't easy to get back into your "normal" life after it's been topsy turvy for so long. Annie it seems, is firmly on her way to healing. She still has the nurses coming to the house twice a day but only twice this week and next week only once a week. (Annie is now changing her dressing twice a day herself) She still sees the surgeon every two weeks. I'm thinking just another 4 weeks or so and she'll be almost completely healed. I still can't believe how long its been and so very very proud of how well Annie has handled it.

I haven't been out of the Hermitage for, um, a week? week and a half? two weeks? I don't remember. That's a good thing, I'm getting me back, you know, the me that never knows what the date is let alone what day of the week it is. That's a really really good feeling. OTOH it also means I haven't seen Liam for that long as well. :o( That's a bad thing. Annie's been really good about sending pix and flix to my phone almost daily. Unfortunately I don't know how to get those from my phone to my computer but Annie did email the latest flix yesterday. so here it is in all the cell phone video glory such as that is.

Even the poor quality can't mask his adorableness. Am I lyin'? And yes, he is always that happy. :o)

I have been knitting and spinning lately just haven't been taking pix of it so there's no real reason to talk about that now, we'll talk again when I get the pix taken and couple of more things off the needle. Oooo I should mention my plans for the Knitting Olympics and the Ravelympics. I've bit off a huge chunk this year too. I'm pushing myself to do two, yes two, colorwork items, the Faroese Footlets and Drops 116-53, cuz I've never attempted anything like these before, plus I've entered the Flying Camel event and have 438 grams (15.44 oz) of various blues to spin.

Some of the spinning will be done on this.

I call her Ethel.

Yeah I know, not the most portable spinning wheel, and I imagine some, if not all, of you are wondering why. I could say cuz I wanted to see if I could and that would be about 85% true. The other 15% was cuz I did something really really dumb. The last time I used my "real" wheel, (Levi my Babe) I left the drive band in the working position so yesterday when I got it out again the drive band was stretched beyond use. duh. damn. I have recently been spinning with a table top spinner I had made but was itching for some speed. Without a drive band I was kinda out of luck so I set my sights on converting this treadle sewing machine base into a spinning wheel. Tomorrow I'll get a new drive band for Levi (fingers crossed), and tweak Ethel a bit more, after all, I can't spin 438grams of fiber on a table top spinner in 17 days and knit two pairs of colorwork socks/slippers.

Huh, I kinda feel like myself again, setting impossible goals and doing really weird things. What day is today?

Happy Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:15:00 +0000

So where were we? Oh yes, it was the end of July, shortly after I had broke a couple ribs, Gillian and Nick were about to come home for a wedding, and Annie was still pregnant.

Um yeah, a few things have happened since then. Gillian's visit turned into a whirlwind of activity with having no less than four extra people sleeping here which continued to grow in number until the climatic night where there were 14 young adults slumbering under the sheets and blanket fort they had created in the livingroom.

It's the simple pleasures in life that mean the most and create lasting memories, whether it's building a fort in the livingroom, playing Simon Says, Twister, Wiffleball, or Hide and Go Seek after dark, regardless of your age.

Fast forward to the month of September and my ribs are finally mended, and Annie's pregnancy took yet another turn. She was put on modified bedrest, meaning no activity, just sitting. I sure could have used her help during her move out of my sister's house and into the home of her childhood where her brothers live. A little cleaning, sanding, plastering, painting, plumbing, etc help wouldn't have hurt either, not to mention grocery shopping, laundry, and nursery set up. :o) Most days in September and October found me doing one or more of the aforementioned chores each day at the kids house with the hopes that the remodel would be completed before the baby was born.

We almost made it.

Due to all the other complications Annie had with her pregnancy she was to be induced on Monday November 1. We were thrilled when it looked like she was going to be able to carry this baby full term. (Oct 30 was the beginning of her 39th week). Not sure why I thought the end was in sight at that point, apparently it was just wishful thinking.

Midday Thursday Oct 29 , while I was painting, Annie went into labor. As any of you know who have gone through labor yourself, in the beginning it wasn't bad, we (Annie) worked through it until they were coming at 4 minutes intervals and were getting a little intense. Off to the hospital we went, it was now early evening on Thursday. We stayed in the OB triage unit until late night (11:00 pm-ish) and they sent us home. Contractions 3 minutes apart. By 6AM Friday her contractions were 2.5 - 2 min apart and we were still at home. We stayed home until sometime Friday afternoon. (memories are kinda foggy I hadn't slept for more than 30 hours by then) By Saturday early early morning (pre-dawn? dawn?) I was ready to hit the wall, I can only imagine what Annie truly felt. That's when they gave the OK and she got an epidural. She was finally able to catch a catnap here and there, I was more concerned with other issues and couldn't sleep. The baby was showing signs of distress with each contraction and Annie's blood pressure was very unstable. The decision to take the baby by c-section was made at 8:30ish. At this point I'm sure there are plenty of you out there thinking they should have done that sooner, but they couldn't. Annie had been on blood thinning meds throughout the pregnancy because of that blood clot in her chest so any kind of surgery (including the epidural) until the meds were out of her system was too great a risk.

At 9:38 AM October 31, 2009 William "Liam" John was born.

7 lbs. 15 oz, 19.5"....I remember cuz I wrote it on my hand, see below. giggle/snort

How about another picture with some knitterly stuff?

All the babes in the nursery got pumpkin hats for their Halloween Birthdays. :o) I can hear your collective "awwww". Thanx to the stealth knitter who made these hats.

While Liam is a very easy baby, calm and peaceful, healthy eater, good sleeper, and just the most adorable baby ever, (no grandmotherly bias here) the last two months haven't been easy. I really really figured the tough stuff was over. Annie's pregnancy had been a long one, punctuated with lots of problems and difficulties. I had really thought she had had her share and it was going to be smooth sailing from here on out. I thought wrong. After being discharged Mom and babe were healthy and happy. I was staying with Annie to help out where I could and maybe just maybe get some of those last minute house remodel things done too. It didn't work out that way. After a few days Annie was admitted into the hospital due to complications with her c-section incision and a large hematoma beneath the abdominal wall. She was there a week. I was at her house with a nursing newborn who couldn't nurse, cuz of the IV meds his mom was on. I remember one particular night 'round about 3:00AM while I was changing a diaper and Bart came in to see what was going on. He grinned and said something like, 'Gee Mom this is the 5th time around for you' I replied that yes while it was the 5th time I was taking care of a brand new baby all by myself, the other 4 times I didn't have to make up bottles in the wee hours nor was I 50 years old, there IS a reason people my age don't have babies. I'm pretty sure its mostly cuz of that lack of sleep thing.

Liam and I while the kids were down stairs eating dinner, apparently I was tired.

It is now Christmas day. I have been at home sleeping in my own bed since Dec 16, having been staying with Annie and Liam since Oct. 29th. Even though Annie's hospital stay was only a week, she had come home with a drain in one side of her abdomen, and portion of her c-section incision re-opened. A nurse came to the house twice a day to change the dressing, the packing within the incision wound and drain the drain. The extent of baby care Annie was able to do was minimal at best, at times even nursing was too much. A week later the drain was removed. After a few more weeks with her incisional wound continuing to worsen, her care was transferred to a surgeon who immediately re-opened her entire c-section incision. The wound is still open, healing from the inside out. The nurses still come to the house every other day now due to a new type of packing they were able to get for her. It will take several more weeks at best to be healed to the point where Annie is on her feet again, doing anything much more than baby care, but at least she is healing now.

I've tried not to get too graphic in the explanations of what is happening to Annie right now. I hope I have not been guilty of TMI, but I just wanted to let you know what has been going on in and around the Hermitage, and in it's secondary locale, cuz truly the kid's house in town has been nothing more than another hermitage within the city. I've been seeing and doing nothing outside its four walls for a very long time other than taking Annie or Liam to their doc appointments and maybe getting out to grocery shop every now and then.

Hermitage II is also filled with the people I love most so it too is Home even if Joe wasn't there, and it wasn't my bed. Gillian came home earlier than planned for the holidays to help out with Annie and Liam so once again I found myself living in the old homestead with ALL my kids. It's nice to know that I wasn't the only one who had a tough time staying awake during her turn of baby care. :oP

At Home just like before, just me and my kids, before Joe, before they grew into adulthood, cooking meals for 5, doing one or two loads of laundry a day, playing games, and changing diapers. Home, where three simple stomps on the floor means drop everything and come running someone needs help upstairs, where Mom's car is never parked on the street, and where a good nights sleep means you only wake once or twice through the night.

Home IS where the heart is.

Happy Holidays

Legs and Cuffs

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy Purtscher) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Nearly finished and there has been no lessening of my enthusiasm for this project. OK, so that isn't a saying a whole lot considering I only started this on Sunday night, but still..... It has been extremely inspiring and motivating too, my brain is mulling over the next group of socks to be done already.

At this point I'll continue working the legs/cuffs in a k2p2 rib until I run out of each yarn. I'm pretty sure I'll do the EZ sewn bind off.

Unfortunately I won't get much knitting time in today, Gillian and her man Nick are coming home tonight to attend a wedding in the family on Saturday. I've already warned her regarding the chaos in her room/my work room, but I still have to at least clear a path for them. :o)