On Becoming a...Yarn Company?

The Starpath Scarf, one of 
several Lotus yarn patterns!

Developing yarns to add to my DesigningVashti.com site is having a powerful affect on me as a crochet designer. This blog has been about the designing journey since 2005, so I thought I’d blog a series of journal-like posts about my yarn-designing adventure here.

Scroll to the end of this post for a clickable list of all posts in this series.

For the first time ever, I can design with a yarn that I already know I love, that I understand intimately, and over which I have complete control. I don't have to worry that someone will suddenly discontinue it. This has happened a lot. Doris and I have talked about this a lot.

Lotus Yarn in "White Blaze"

Freelance designers do not get paid for all the time it takes to get to know a yarn, yet this is one reason that creating design proposals, especially for yarn companies, is so time consuming. (For magazines, this task is delayed until you find out which yarn gets assigned to your design proposal.)

Big ol' cones of rosy Lotus colors

Over the past few months I’ve been developing a new yarn, and I mean new: not offered elsewhere. The first is called Lotus, and it's nearly ready for purchase! It's a z-twisted sport weight blend of cotton and rayon. The yarn labels are currently being printed, and the last of the first fourteen colors is being dyed right now now available!  

My Tunisian Wicker Stitch in "Satin Grey" Lotus

DesigningVashti Lotus Yarn in "Crystal Blue"

I’m going directly to yarn mills with some ideas for yarns that are not already available. I’ve been an avid yarn user (consumer, swatcher, stasher) for years. It's fascinating how fibers, plying, twist, dyeing, etc. add to my love of crochet and pattern designing! I pay attention to differences between yarns, and so by now it's easy for me to envision my own ideal yarns.

Yarn mill folks seem to appreciate that I study yarns and have some ideas to try. This is a great relief to me! I was afraid I’d get blank looks, or “Well, that’ll cost you!” responses. Instead, they seem more relieved and curious.

Brushed Shells in color "Peachy Sheen"

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. 

Today, what brings me to my blog is that I’m in a design slump! Not a crochet slump, just a design slump (it happens every time I return from teaching a lot of classes at a national conference.) 

Being surrounded by my Lotus yarn in rainbow colors makes this slump a fun experience.

(By the way, I never know how the colors are going to show up on different computer screens, so I try different kinds of lighting and add various photos everywhere.)

This year, shipments of my new yarn were arriving from the mill while I was preparing to teach. Now that I'm home from teaching, I feel like a mother with her newborn baby. I spend every day trying out new stitch patterns with different colors of Lotus. I take photos of Lotus at different angles and times of day. I've dug out early designs for which I used favorite stitch patterns. I'm going through my old books and trying stitches that have always intrigued me. 

It turns out that designing a YARN and making it a reality is like having a baby, in several ways: the months of anticipation, choosing a name, and the "labor." I even had to prepare a new room for its arrival. 

Zenobia Palm Stitch in color "Pearly Pearl"

I love that my early years as a freelance designer have taught me that the best thing I could be doing right now is swatching up different crochet stitches with Lotus! 

Crocheting with a yarn is like getting to know a new person. Each has a distinct temperament, unique strengths & weaknesses, and preferences. The better one knows a yarn, the better a design will work for it. 

As a crochet designer with my own yarn company, I don’t have to go on blind dates with yarns I may never design with again. Lotus is family!

-:-------:-

Other posts in this series (in chronological order):

• "Creating Color Cards for a New Yarn."
• "How Lotus Got Its Name"
• "Birth of a Yarn Company, About Five Months In"
• "How (Not) to Sell Yarn at a Crochet Conference"
• "My Lotus Yarn in Magazines: What It's Like!"
• "DesigningVashti Lotus Yarns at the 12 Year Mark"
• "DesigningVashti Lotus Yarn: in the Magazines (a Gallery)"
• "Crochet Yarn Put Up, Part I of II"

Crochet Flowers and Hearts Make Great Test Shapes!

Back-loop Slip Stitch Heart & Front Loop Slip Stitch Heart
Update: Slip Stitch Heart pattern at my new blog!

I'm testing shaping methods for my upcoming Slip Stitch Crochet Shapes FX class. 

A sweet surprise is that heart shapes, roses, and other flowers are especially useful ways to try out shaping methods!

Different Slip Stitches in a Variety of Rose Petal Shapes

Not only are hearts and flowers distinctively shaped, they can also be: 

• Scaled up or down to the swatch size I prefer,
• A two-dimensional rendition, or as 3-D sculpted as I wish,
• Recycled later into appliqués, jewelry, patch pockets, pincushions, coasters, etc.
• Practice for sleeve cap shaping and other useful applications.

I've also been curious about how different kinds of slip stitches respond to the shaping methods. Below are hearts in four different slip stitch patterns.

Four Kinds of Slip Stitches, Crocheted Diagonally and Vertically

The heart in the lower left corner is the oddest-looking one, and retains a slight curl even after blocking. I'd need to tweak the starting row of this one also. Some of them have a strong natural curl or textural grain. 

This same inverse slip stitch type - which doesn't work so well for heart shapes - is perfect for the special kind of curling that a rose petal does! 

In this blog post I'm using newer photos taken after I sent out the most recent Crochet Inspirations Newsletter issue #53. It includes a free crochet pattern for a simple slip-stitch-strip rose. See photo of wee cashmere roses below!

These rose petals have a natural
curve, thanks to slip stitches.

Socks, hats, mittens, and bags as shapes for testing are certainly useful. They're also more time-consuming. So, I start with a heart or a flower swatch that shows promise, and then I try applying the shaping method to a sock heel, or toe, for example.

Miniature Cashmere Roses

Right now I'm looking for the best class projects and swatches for students to experience. After that, I'll be able to turn some of the new designs for socks, hats and mittens into crochet patterns for my site. Flowers designs too.

New Spring and Summer Crochet Patterns

Lots going on so I'm popping by to show you:

A. The view of red bananas and jumbo frangipani from the window of my sunny crochet studio:

At left in the background is Frangipani.
Omg it smells like vanilla cream pastry with jasmine candies!
See the stalk of new bananas in the foreground to the right,
just above the giant red banana flower? (That's a banana leaf
in the upper left corner, and a small mango
behind the tip of the banana flower)

Fish Lips Lace in the process of
becoming a pullover shrug. 

Fish Lips: The Scarf

B. Here's a heads up about my new crochet designs coming out in about a week! 

On the indie front, ol' DesigningVashti-Vashti is finalizing the oddly compelling Fish Lips Lace Shrug pattern pdf.

C. I'm also working on a pdf for the peculiarly pleasing Bare Bones Game Scarf Technique. It's subterraneously related to Fish Lips. Update! It became the Crochet to the Color Playbook!

Look at how a hand dyed yarn rises to the Bare Bones challenge, below! It's a custom colorway created by Lorna's Laces for my local yarn shop.

The Bare Bones Game

Ennis Tunisian Filet Shawl

D. Lots of Vashti in the summer issue of Interweave Crochet magazine! I can blog about it now that previews are up.

Magazine copies are officially available on newsstands on June 17, but I think they get mailed out to subscribers before then; also, you can instantly download the digital edition.

Sister Act seamed as a cutaway shrug

First, Ennis: it's a triangular Tunisian filet lace shawl in summery SWTC Bamboo yarn. 

Then, love knots galore! Sister Act is a shawl that easily converts to a bolero-style shrug. I used a vintage love knot pattern for it. See it in lustrous white: earlier Sister Act prototype called "Palestrina Convertible."

-: Electra Wrap :-

Electra Wrap is a gossamer quilt of love knot stars! Yes! I've uploaded some of the photos to Electra's Flickr set so far. Here's Electra Wrap Ravelry page.

The three-piece beaded love knot ensemble of Dragonfly, Seagrapes, and Sambuca Cords have a special purpose. They illustrate three valuable ways to crochet beads into love knots as you go. 

These three jewelry patterns accompany the love knot article I wrote for the issue: "Beyond the Basics: Crochet Amore." When you see that article, you'll see why I love to teach love knot classes, AND why I love to use love knots when demonstrating all the ways to add beads to any crochet stitches!

The Amores: Dragonfly, Seagrapes, Sambuca Cords

Want to see a close up of the frangipani flowers? I posted one of my early morning pics in my NEW RAVELRY GROUP. It's in honor of birthday girl cleverbritches, who founded the group just a few weeks ago. I hope you will join and say hello (or Happy Birthday) if you visit.

About That Rivuline Shawl Tunisian Crochet Stitch Pattern

Rivuline Shawl by Vashti Braha.
I used an H-8 (5 mm) Tunisian crochet hook
with Manos del Uruguay Serena
(sport weight alpaca-cotton blend).

I can finally SPILL the DEETS on the RIVULINE! They concern two main things: a progressively trippy stitch pattern, and the nearly ONE HUNDRED photos I took of it. (The first photo at left is from the book. You should see how different it looks in some of my pre-publication photos below. Also a few of my GAZILLION swatch variations.) 

I received a copy this week of Dora Ohrenstein's latest book, The New Tunisian Crochet: Contemporary Designs from Time-Honored Traditions. The Rivuline Shawl is a new crochet pattern that I designed for the book.

To me now -- 2 years later! -- the Rivuline Shawl is a tactile record of my mind slowly being blown. That's why I have to show you my own secret pics. 

It turns out that Rivuline came packed with eurekas for my pre-Tunisian-freeforming brain. That swaggy border is 100% Tunisian crochet too. Until Rivuline, I didn't know Tunisian crochet could do that!

I like the stitch texture and color tone quality
of this photo. You can see the birth of Petals
in this early Rivuline swatch!

It started with a stitch pattern idea that grabbed a hold of me back when Dora visited me in December, 2010. Dora's visit turned out to be a big ol' Tunisian crochet PARTY. 

She brought wondrous goodies: a Japanese collection of Tunisian crochet stitch patterns with the best collection of stitch symbols and diagrams I've ever seen; and a big stack of Duplet magazine back issues (half of which have cool Tunisian stuff in them).

Petals Cowl/Ring Scarf:
Cashmere and silk 'offset Rivuline' and a beaded seam.

Witness the "Tunisian and Regular Crochet Visit a Hall of Mirrors!" newsletter issue that welled up a few months later. 

A Rivuline stitch variation
and alternate yarn test.

That newsletter topic is really about Rivuline, but I couldn't say so. Instead I show Petals, its offset beaded cowl version. A few months later, Rivuline caused one of my all-time favorite designs to happen: the Tunisian Filet Aero.

Part of the reason I took so many photos is that I had trouble objectively evaluating them. 
Looking back, I now know why: the stitch experiment was a groundbreaking experience for me of Tunisian crochet. (At the same time, I was finding out how different fibers in pink tones are affected by any little change in light source and angle.) 

Swatching for early Rivulines in cotton, milk fiber,
silk, mohair, merino,  Icelandic lace wt wool...

Notice how the textures of the stitch pattern looks so different in the photos. So does the yarn color. (I remember this driving me crazy! And the emails to Dora: "Does _ or _ come across in this photo? How about this one?") 

For many more photos, also see the Petals photo album.

I eventually got a hold of a copy of the Japanese book Dora showed me. That inspired issue #10, "Tunisian Crochet: Breaking Out of Ruts" of my Crochet Inspirations Newsletter.

Book cover of 
The New Tunisian Crochet

By the way, Rivuline may look like traditional rectangular stole construction, design-wise. In reality, the border is a gradual variation of its stitch pattern. This way, a crocheter who's new to this way doing Tunisian crochet has a chance to get used to it before the variations of it begin. 

Another invisible design feature is that the foundation chain is disguised as a Tunisian Purl Stitch row. This was another discovery for me, which I then used for the seam of the Petals loop scarf/cowl, with beads for fun.

My Crochet Pattern Companion Blog: What Happened!

Here's a happier topic:
Kisses from young alpacas are buttery-soft. An amazing memory
from October 2012 when I led a crochet retreat in Illinois.

UPDATE: the CPC blog is fixed! Google confirmed that it's clean. It's loading faster too. It was a sidebar widget that affected several blogs. 

-:-----:-

Just after New Year's Day 2013, a bad thing happened to a good blog. NOT the blog you're reading right now and NOT my Crochet Inspirations Newsletter. It's one of my other crochet blogs. A skilled malicious person haacked* into the Crochet Pattern Companion blog. 

*Take out the extra "a" in haacked. I'm using this spelling to avoid suggesting to bots that it happened to this blog. It also entertains me how close it is to the Dutch word for crochet, Haak. (Little things like this lift my spirits. So does the photo of sweet alpaca kisses.)

The heck!? This haak got haacked: "Which
Foundation Stitch?" See it in Flickr.

Turns out it's a blessing in disguise for all of us! Mean people don't get to win in my crochet universe. So, new free crochet patterns (more on this below). 

It's possible that this was a random (and skillful) drive-by shooting at a...crochet blog...that's about...nuts 'n bolts stuff. Um, really? Of all blogs? I've got an older crochet blog about crochet for boys (and gamers) that attracts a constant stream of spaam. It's easy to keep that blog clean, though, because the garden-variety attaacks are truly meaningless and sloppy--NOT skillful. 

The crochet tutorial posts at the CPC blog were going viral in Pinterest. Pinterest is a hot site right now for both haakers (see all my crochet pin boards!) and...haackers. Pinterest was sending lots of people to CPC. I heard from them the minute the blog got hijaacked.

See the newsletter issue:
"Favorite Tweaks for Tall Stitch Row Edges"
Photos for this popular CPC blog post: "Try a Linked Stitch
to Close the Gap Between a Turning Chain
and Double Crochet."

Isn't it supposed to be awesome if your blog posts go viral? If they become a target of mean people, I guess it's flattering, but it sure turns the success into a mixed blessing. I can decode a crochet pattern, NOT computer code. It's bewildering. 

I can turn blog posts into lovely free downloadable pattern PDFs, and how-to crochet e-booklets, and store them in safer places. 

While I'm busy converting CPC posts to PDFs, you can visit some Flickr crochet tutorial albums that I used as back ups for some of the blog posts:

Slip stitch short rows, NEW free pdf version: https://designingvashti.com/product/slip-slope-crochet-scarf-slip-stitch-short-rows/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vashtirama/sets/72157627962438494/detail/
You might like the newsletter issue about this tutorial, "Short Row Startle."

Which Foundation Stitch?:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vashtirama/sets/72157626586736003/detail/

Linked turning chain alternative (for dc etc):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vashtirama/sets/72157627426553016/detail/

Hurricane Sandy Relief, Crochet Style

Please help my designer pal Amie Hirtes of Nexstitch help rebuild her Jersey shore communities by donating to the causes she blogged about here and here, and by BUYING HER LOVELY CROCHET PATTERNS. Amie publishes first-rate indie crochet patterns, so these patterns are collectibles (as well as easy to use). She's donating 100% of pattern purchases to the Union Beach Memorial School’s Amazon Wishlist until November 30.

Her blog post "Jersey Strong" had me in tears. I know only some of what it's like to see my community ravaged by a hurricane. You feel like a refugee in your own country, and it's easy in weak moments to feel forgotten. Every waking moment goes by so slowly. But what Amie is going through in the wake of Hurricane Sandy is much worse. The images she is posting remind me of the devastation caused by monster hurricane Katrina, and Andrew before that. Andrew landed just south of where I was living at the time in Hollywood, FL and the destructive force I witnessed still haunts me.

Here's a photo from 2007 of Amie and me crocheting at 2 am in the Crochet Lounge, which was sponsored by the Tahki Stacy Charles yarn company during the Chain Link conference in Manchester, NH:

Crochet in Reno: The CGOA Conference Sep. 12-16 2012

On the way to Reno from Lake Tahoe

I've blogged about several crochet conferences since starting this blog many years ago, so by now it feels like a ritual. It was a special conference and here are some highlights:

• Highlight of teaching crochet in Reno: a surprise caramel mocha courtesy of new pal Laurinda Reddig!
• Highlight of teaching Tunisian crochet: 3 BEGINNERS were able to keep up in an ADVANCED skill level class!
• Another highlight of teaching at Chain Link conference: giving Superfine Jelly Yarn® to my jewelry crochet students
• ...walking to Walmart in the Nevada sun with Doris Chan to get last minute crochet class supplies

Doris Chan in her new crochet
Star Trek dress
CGOA Crochet Design Booth

• 
  ...and seeing my pretty logo displayed in the CGOA teachers booth that Doris Chan created.
• Highlight of the Knit and Crochet Show market: The popular Crochet Liberation Front market booth, and seeing Fearless Leader Laurie after so long.
• I bought reflective crochet-along filament. Can you say...jewelry?

• 

  At Lake Tahoe with Linda Dean (center),
  Margaret Hubert (right)

• 
  
• Highlight of Reno's Grand Sierra Resort: so much free bottled water with electrolytes (especially in classrooms).

• 

  On our way back from Lake Tahoe, had to
  stop for more pics!

• 
  
• Tip from Reno resident via Jenny King: Salty food is your friend in Reno -- helps you deal with the altitude and dryness. IT ACTUALLY WORKED for me.
• Turns out we were just getting warmed up! Dance Party  pic.twitter.com/TExSr7Sn
• ...sharing Mai tai drinks—the real and the fake—with Tammy Hildebrand and Linda Dean 
• ...discussing brands of crochet threads with Kathryn White and Kathie Earle. Yay threadies!
• ...seeing crochet free former and moderator Jorel again. We bonded in Stitchdiva Jen Hansen's broomstick lace class years ago.
• ...a fresh ginger martini and Netflix advice with Myra Wood  :)
• ...comparing with Darla Fanton shades and amounts of the Newton's tencel-linen blend yarn that we both bought
• ...discussing with Barbara Hynes and Mirtooli how  Jelly Yarn® is trippy bec one can see a stitch's *innards*
• ...meeting crochet free formers Fermin and Mirtooli and getting swept along into the grand free form group dinner.

• 

  Free formers rocked the fashion show banquet

• 
  
• ...coming home with a special copy of Laurinda Reddig's new Rowan's Learn to Crochet Sampler Afghan book.
• ...seeing GoCrochet Ellen Gormley and her new Bruges lace crochet designs SHINE on the runway. Go Ellen!

• 

  Photo ©Ellen Gormley 2012; L to R: Ellen, Jenny King,
  Vashti, at dance party

• 
  
• ...introducing two queens to each other: Crochet Liberation Front's Fearless Leader Laurie Wheeler and CGOA president Amy Shelton of Crochetville
•  I loved the abundant fresh fruit and coffee in the crochet lounge daily! BIG THANKS to Red Heart Yarns and Kathleen Sams.

If you're in Twitter, an easy way to see what others have tweeted about the conference is to search the hashtag #chainlink2012 or #knitandcrochetshow.

-:---+---:-

The June Chain Link conference was held in Manchester, New Hampshire this year. 

Coming up in 2013, I have the months and cities handy for the summer and fall conferences: Indianapolis, Indiana in July, and Charlotte, North Carolina in early October. I'm already planning to attend the Charlotte conference.

Photographing Beaded Crochet Jewelry

Bivector Bangle, wide

I've been floating on a cloud about my beaded slip stitch crochet discoveries. Not only do the little beads settle in to their assigned seats neatly and without fuss, they do so while showing equally on both sides of crochet jewelry. Nary a strand of thread covers them! In person they're like little stained glass candies! (Usually, crocheting with beads causes them to show more on one side of a crochet stitch than the other.)

And so now to convey my discovery in photos...

How to show light through the beads, though?

Hmm.

How to photograph several bangles at different heights with light shining through them? This is a different challenge from photographing a crochet bathmat on a floor, a shawl on a mannequin, or a toy. (see examples below)

After all the crochet photography I've done since going indie about 3 years ago, it occurred to me to blog about this only now. 


Last week I created the "From Crochet Design Idea to Professional Proposal" handout for CGOA's PD Day (Professional Development Day). A designer's photography skills are now much more important than when I first started designing eight years ago.

Better, but I don't want to see only the inside.

I thought it was just me being picky about how my crochet looks in photos vs. in person, yet intimidated by my camera and photography jargon (as if others aren't). I thought I had to accept photography as part of the skill set needed for indie publishing (as if freelance designers for publications don't need it). 

Knowing that Doris has gone through a similar development, I then thought it was just us; but other designers are now blogging about their journey with crochet and knit photography.

Shocking to me is this new development: some editors seem to think the quality of a designer's photo can make or break the impact of a design submission. 

This is one of 15 similar shots. Not bad. The beads look
more lit up like they do in person.

This was not the case back when a sketch was the primary visual aid. The ability to capture a design feature in a photo should never be equated with the ability to design! The two skills are radically different. I'm posting links about this at my website as part of my new crochet class resources archive.

Thirsty Twists Bathmat: I get a lot
of compliments on this photo.

The Bivector Bangles photo shoot reminded me of my earlier travails with the two beaded rows of my Tunisian Petals ring scarf. 


The Case of the Beaded Tunisian Lace Petals

Tunisian Petals is a loop scarf design I released as a Tunisian crochet lace pattern in Spring, 2011. I used beads in only the final two Tunisian Purl rows. The pure cashmere yarn was a delicate shade of petal pink (a bit paler than in the photo above). The only beads that looked right were colorless iridescent size 6/0 seed beads a.k.a. "E-beads".

Tunisian Petals: nice photo but where are the beads? 

Pink is a bit intense, beads are finally iridescent. Stitches look stringy 
because I sharpened the photo too much when editing it. 
Sharpening can really bring out the beads but make stitches look "crispy." 
Too much contrast takes all the softness out of cashmere. Mohair too.

My other goal in adding these beads was to distract the eye from a seam there, and it succeeds! So how to convey this design feature in photos?

The whole effect is exquisite in person. I ended up taking 79 photos in every kind of lighting and arrangement, still unable to capture in a photo what I was seeing in person.

Well, the effect was too subtle for a rookie photographer like me.  Basically, when the stitches look their best, or the yarn color, the beads don't, and vice versa. 

What I've learned since then:

1. I wouldn't try to make one photo capture everything equally well. 
2. I'd make better use of my macro lens to try to get a magical close up of the beaded feature. Perhaps create a montage photo of different views in one.
3. I'd do an alternate swatch in a yarn of different fiber or plying or sheen. I'd use beads with silver- or gold-lined holes for sharper sparkles.



Here's Petals in the cooler colors of our new Lotus yarn.

4. It turns out that photographing beaded crochet clothing is more like photographing crochet jewelry than non-beaded clothing. I've learned that these are different photography skill sets.

Another thing I learned from comparing the Bivector shoot and the Petals shoot is about color. As a photography beginner, I'm better off when I avoid oranges, reds, and some pink yarns, in favor of greens, blues, and neutrals. This is because I often struggle to capture complete stitch definition in the red spectrum. Red beads sure glow, though!