Secret Shopper 3 – Unboxing

I had to look back through the blog to see what I have previously said about the Secret Shopper concept. I don’t like being terribly redundant, but I also don’t really remember what I write after a couple of weeks. My brain, she is full of stuff. In case you need a reminder, Secret Shopper is where I ask another knitter (or crocheter, I’m equal opportunity as you will see) to do a little shopping for me. I give them a budget and a couple of rules. Whatever they send me needs to be readily available to others (no yarn that you have to stay up until 2 am and press refresh constantly) and something cool for knitting. Tools, notions, yarn … whatever.

They have it shipped to me (or ship it themselves) and I open the package on video. I have no idea what is in the package and the viewers of the video get to be surprised with me! It’s a win/win and I have been having a lot of fun with the idea. If you think that you might want to be (or have a suggestion of who else might be) a Secret Shopper please let me know! Obviously this is all in preface for the next installment in this series. Over the weekend I received my April package and I opened it yesterday!

This month’s shopper was the fantastic Lindsey Stephens. Lindsey is the crochet and knitwear designer behind Poetry in Yarn and she did an awesome job sending me a surprise. I cannot thank her enough and can’t wait to play with my new knitting stuff!

In looking through the blog I noticed that I totally failed to post Secret Shopper 2 – which was also a grand ole time. If you enjoyed episode 3 make sure to check out episode 2 Secret Shopper 2. I hope you guys enjoy watching these videos as much as I like making them. If you have any input, comments, or requests I would love to hear them. Feel free to comment on a video or here on the blog!

 

 

Carrying Yarn up the Side – Huh?

If you have knit a pattern with two or more colors you have inevitably run into the phrase “carrying the yarn up the side” or “carry the yarn loosely up the side”. When I first stumbled across that instruction I did what any self-taught internet era knitter would do. I googled it. This was many years ago, and I haven’t tried it recently, but back then it turned up surprisingly few results. I ended up talking to other knitters at knit night and eventually was able to figure out what precisely that meant.

Of course now I take it for granted. And it is like many other things in knitting, everyone has their own way of doing it. And like many other things in knitting, as long as you are happy with your results – you do it the way that works for you! But with the publication of The Peephole Stole I have been reminded that not everyone automagically knows how to accomplish this “carrying”.

And you know what? It is darn difficult to describe how to do it using words. Luckily I now have a tool in my teaching arsenal for just such a situation. Yay YouTube!

In the video I show how I carry yarn up the side – focusing on using a slipped stitch selvedge because that is a feature in most of my striped patterns. I also show how I avoid tight edges just in case that is an issue you run into. If you have any questions – please do not hesitate to ask in the comments.

I would like to send out a big thank you to the knitter in the Peephole along that reminded me that this is a technique that can cause some difficulties. I don’t want to call you out by name, but you know who you are. I hope that this is helpful to you. And if any knitter out there has something that they’d like to see – just let me know and I will see if I can figure it out!

 

 

Each to Each – a beaded lace shawl in gradient

Have you heard of a sock blank? It is this really cool concept where the yarn supplier takes an entire skein of sock yarn and pre-knits a long strip of stockinette yarn. This provides a palette where the dyer can then work their magic. From the knitter’s point of view you buy this beautiful strip of art which slowly unravel as you knit directly from the blank. Or you can go ahead and ball the whole thing up and knit from that.

The amazing thing is that, when knit, the colors completely rearrange themselves and you get this beautiful variegated yarn that doesn’t really pool. For this new shawl I worked with the sock blank Sea Garden from Gale’s Art to create a top down crescent shaped shawl. Gale requested lace and beads and I think I fulfilled those requests. I might have gone a bit bonkers with the beads.

But I don’t regret a single bead. It is so sparkly. I may not be a big fan of myself when I am putting them on (who thought this was a good idea is something I mumble to myself), but the end result is so worth it. It isn’t a spectacularly large shawl, I designed it to make the most out of a single skein – more of a shawlette really.

It works as a kerchief!

But it is easily adjustable. There is the main lace motif and then the edging. You can adjust either to suit your desires. Because the color was named Sea Garden I decided to try and evoke a watery feel. The central lace pattern is wavy, which also does double duty in moving the gradient around a bit, and the bottom is meant to look like a fisherman’s net awash with the sparkling drops of the sea. This desire also led to the naming of the shawl. I took a line from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T S Elliott:

Each to Each

Shall I part my hair behind?   Do I dare to eat a peach?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

Book Look – Everyday Lace by Heather Zoppetti

I don’t know if you caught it, but a couple of weeks ago I posted a look at a book (Warm Days, Cool Knits) on my YouTube channel. I really enjoyed sharing a fun book with y’all and have decided I am going to make this a regular thing, as long as I can scare up enough books. As I mentioned in the original post, this is not really a review or a critique … this is a book that I have decided I like enough to share. I don’t feel much like tearing down anyone’s hard work, I’ll leave that to true critics. Think of me as an enthusiast!

And I am quite enthusiastic about this next book: Everyday Lace by Heather Zoppetti.

I pretty much said it all in the video, but if you are looking for a way to incorporate lace into your everyday wear then this is the book for you. And something really quite different about this? There aren’t any shawls in this book. Not a one.

Heather was kind enough to send me this book to look at, and when I got the package there were two copies! So I am going to use the extra copy (with permission) as a prize in the Knit-a-long for The Peephole Stole! If you would like a chance to win this book please come and join us in my Ravelry group where we will be -a longing until mid-June!

The Peephole Stole – a study in gradient

Among all of the silly tests that one can take online, have you seen the ones that purport to test how good you are at discerning colors? The “Eye Test” ones? There are many but one day one scrolled by on the Book of Faces and it just kind of shook something loose. It was long and skinny and had thin vertical stripes of varying shades of whatever color it was in. I believe you were supposed to click and drag them until they were in the “correct” order.

But instead I saw it and I saw a stole. The first thing I did was pull up the page of Miss Babs gradient sets and look for color inspiration. Because yarn is the first thing you think of always, correct? Then, as I cannot sketch to save my life, I pulled up a drawing program and started monkeying around.

This was the best I could do to come close to matching the color set Carmen (which I fell in love with) and allowed me to decide if I thought the idea might work or if I was crazy (turns out both). Luckily this brainstorm hit me the week before SAFF and I would be able to speak to the woman herself! At the event I tried to explain my idea about working the colors out of “traditional” order and I showed her the above jpg on my phone. Then I babbled about working on the bias and adding a simple lace motif. In another stroke of luck she was able to see at least part of my vision and we were on our way!

Classic “wingspan” shot is mandatory.

Today is the culmination of that day in October. And I am totally surprised how close to my original vision it has turned out to be. After a ton of swatching I developed a simple Mosaic Lace motif (slipped stitches & lace) so that the pattern would be a relaxing knit. My tester even said it was TV knitting!

We ended up going with Carmen for the sample because I just kept coming back to it. What can I say, I love pink & purple. I am anxiously waiting to see what other knitters choose for their colors and how it comes out. I deliberately went with one where I would end up with really low contrast – almost invisible stripes. But a set with more contrast-y colors is going to look very different (and I anticipate cool).

The photo shoot went wonderfully and if you click through to the pattern’s Ravelry page you will see many more photos. I also shot a video pattern tour where I fiddle with the  shawl; show off its drape and talk a bit about the features and construction of the piece. Please check it out!

Do you have a gradient set in mind for making this? Let me know in the comments what colors speak to you!

Book Look – Warm Days, Cool Knits

In the list I have come up with of “things that I think could work better as a video” sharing books floated up to the top. I love a good book, and a good knitting book is no exception. I have been thinking about the idea of doing reviews, but the idea of reviewing and the assumed critique that comes with it makes me … uncomfortable.

I was raised in the if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all tradition and I cannot see a good reason for diverging from that philosophy. So my plan is to share books that I like! This first book is right up my alley because it was written by someone who lives in the South to address the issue of knitting in the South.

Which is not to say that there shouldn’t be something in here for almost every knitter. The pieces in the book that I consider appropriate for Winter would work great for Spring or Summer for someone in a colder climate. It’s a win/win situation. If you want to check out photos of the projects that you can see better you should click through to the Ravelry page for the book.

I’d love to hear some feedback on what you think of this format, either here or on the YouTube page. If nothing else, I hope it was a wee bit entertaining!

Secret Shopper Unboxing

Hmm, I hadn’t realized that I had missed blogging last week – things have been absolutely a whirlwind. If you have subscribed to my YouTube channel you will know that I have posed several videos since last we chatted. I am not going to put them all here but I will link them.

I added a tutorial on how to do the Cross Stitch Mock Cable featured in my Cross stitch Mock Cable Hat. And then we had a wee chat about how much I love Knitting Bags. Finally, for my release of a new pattern Corundum Ridge I uploaded a pattern tour (this pattern will get its own blog post later this week).

All of this is leading up to the video I posted today, which is another Unboxing video. I had a load of fun doing the first unboxing of my gradient yarn & beads and I want to keep doing this style of video. But I needed a twist.

So what I came up with (with help from my friend Heather Zoppetti) is the idea of doing a Secret Shopper. What happens is that I have a friend shop for a knitting related product that they think is awesome and have it secretly shipped directly to me. And then you get to see the surprise at the same time that I do!

I don’t want to spoil the surprise before you watch the video – but I am beyond pleased with my first shipment. What do you think?

I will have to recruit additional shoppers for future months, I am going to try and do one of these every month (I would do it more frequently but that would get pretty expensive). If you have any ideas of who you would like to see shop for me (within reason) I would love to hear them.

Unboxing video blog – Gradient yarn and Beads

I have always wanted to be a better blogger, but somehow I have a difficult time thinking of things that I feel are worthy to be committed to writing. Imagine my surprise to learn that I have no such mental block about talking (this will come as a surprise to precisely no one who knows me). With the new video format I have been playing with I am having a much easier time keeping up consistent communication. And there are so many advantages of being able to show you things as opposed to trying to describe them.

Take this new video. I am working on another collaboration with The Unique Sheep and Earthfaire (the same team that helped me cooked up BitterBlue) and I just received the box brimming with lovely yarn and beads. With my webcam I was able to do what is called an “Unboxing” video, so you can watch me pull the goodies out of the box and get the same awesome surprises that I do.

I mention in the video that the inspiration for these color ways came from my Pinterest board (I think I mentioned it) if you are interested in seeing said board you can check out Color Combos for Color Work. Two of the three combos came from my inspiration stash one is here and the other (which is actually from a different board) is here. I am linking them instead of embedding the photos because I do not want in infringe on the artists copyrights. So click away!

This talking-to-the-camera format is kind of unsettling for me, I have always been camera shy. But I am gonna try and keep it up. Please let me know if you like this approach and if you have any requests for something you would like to see/hear from me I am all ears!

Cabling without a Cable Needle

I love wee cables. Something about the texture and sinuous nature of only a couple of stitches wrapping around each other just makes me happy. Possibly it is just part and parcel of a general attraction for cute little things, but whatever – I own it.

The cables on the edge of In Uffish Thought are a perfect example.

What I don’t like is doing lots of small-ish cables using a cable needle. All that picking it up and putting it down? I end up with it in my teeth, or jammed into my hair, or stuffed in my cleavage … you know how it is. So I don’t. Use a cable needle that is. I cable without a cable needle, seems like an obvious solution, eh?

And you know what? It isn’t hard or scary and it is the subject of my latest video. If you would like to learn how to do it yourself (or just see if how I do it is different from how you do it) check it out!

If you have a technique that you would like to see me demonstrate, please drop it in the comments of the video or this here bloggie blog.

Pattern Video Tour – In Uffish Thought

There has been brainstorming going on at Casa Benson with regards to what I can do with the video format. Tutorials are great, and I will continue to do them, but what else can I do? The video format offers me the ability to convey information differently than in either written words or still photographs so I really want to take advantage of its strengths.

I have a list of ideas that I keep adding to as they come to me. Some of them will take the acquisition of more technology and/or skills, but some of them can be accomplished with what I have on hand. Yesterday I filmed my first attempt at what I am calling a Pattern Tour. Which might make you do the head tilt, huh?

For every pattern I do a photo shoot and upload still photos to the Ravelry page (and here) and I try my very best to communicate all of the things that a knitter needs to know about a pattern. But things slip through the cracks. There are subtle elements that don’t quite come through. So I figured that I could shoot a video with me showing off the finished piece and babbling a bit about what you might have missed in the photos.

For my first swing at this format I decided to use In Uffish Thought. It is a fun, easy pattern with some subtle details that I think are not adequately conveyed by the photographs. Hopefully the video will show you more about the piece and maybe it will be a good fit for a yarn that you have been wanting to knit up. I tried to keep it short. Based on what YouTube tells me is the average viewing length of the previous videos – I need to keep them at 2:30 or less. Which makes sense, everyone is busy in this world!

My plan is to make this style video for all of my new releases (to add to the laundry list of other things I have to prep for a new pattern – why do I do these things to myself?), but I also want to go through my back catalog. If you have any of my already published patterns that you would like to receive this treatment, please do not hesitate to nominate them in the comments. It would be awesome to be able to prioritize my efforts.

Any feedback on this concept is also welcome. Was there something I did that didn’t work for you? Is there something you wish I did that would be great to add in the future? This is an evolving concept so I can try new stuff in subsequent videos.