Episode 148 A Button Question

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This episode is sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business and Quince & Co.

Knitting Pipeline Ravelry Group

Pipeliner Notes

Button Question from Nanranda

At Stitches Bronwyn, Thea and I were discussing methods to washing sweaters with buttons. I have knit an Amherst sweater using Malabrigo Rios yarn. The two silver buttons are heavy so I remove them when I wash the sweater. This is just usually once a season, so I don’t mind this process. Since the yarn is superwash it grows in the wash so it needs some time in the dryer to bring it back into shape. I am afraid if I leave the buttons on, they may pull and distort the yarn while it is being washed and dried.
Which brings me to my question…I am making the Calligraphy cardigan using Madelinetosh DK (super wash) which has 8 one inch buttons. I have been looking for buttons with the thought I will need to wash and dry this sweater. Any suggestions? I don’t look forward to removing all 8 buttons (and sewing them back on) every time I wash the sweater. How do you handle washing sweaters with buttons on them? What are good button options to use with superwash yarns? There are so many cute buttons but most of them I would only put on hand wash items. Anyway, if you have any suggestions, just let me know. Thanks!
Nancy

I would probably hand wash the sweaters with buttons that need special care.  I think that if you took the buttons off each time you wash the sweater, even if it is only once in a season you could damage the knitting in those areas.  Pewter buttons sometimes come with little devices that slide over the eye hole on the back of the button.  I always assumed these were just for holding the button on the button card but then someone told me it is for securing the button to the sweater and then removing it easily for washing.  I’ve never done that.  I’ve just always washed my sweaters by hand or semi-by-hand in the washer.

Let’s hear what Pipeliners have to say about this topic and I will report back in the next episode or two.

Events and Announcements

Maine Retreat

Cornerstone Inn/Washington IL Fall Color Retreat

Cornerstone Inn Bed and Breakfast/111 Washington Square, Washington IL 61571

Brown Bag Swap for Cornerstone Inn Retreat

One skein of fingering weight/sock yarn (or around 350-400 yd) in a brown bag.  Should be in the hank, not used and let’s also say fairly fresh.  If it has been marinating in your stash for more than a few years and is a little dusty, choose something a little newer.  Something you would love to get yourself.

If the Maine Retreat people want to do the same then we can arrange that as well.

Spring Retreat will be March 14-15 with optional yarn crawl fun day on March 13.  Feel free to make overnight reservations if you like in case we need more rooms at Sleep Inn.

To book Sleep Inn call 309.922.1343

Knitting Pipeline Retreats Group!

Nature Notes

Hi Paula
Thank you for another very enjoyable podcast. Your story about the acorns reminded me that a couple of weeks ago, a friend and I were sitting and knitting on her back deck in New York State, and became aware of the sounds of large hickory nuts hitting the ground. We realized that their impacts sounded too frequent to be part of the natural process. In peaking through the leaves, we saw that a very smart squirrel was freeing the nuts from the branches and letting them fall to the ground. That way, it could just gather them quickly from the ground at its leisure, instead of going up and down the tree to collect them one by one. Pretty clever.

Thanks again for the podcast
Take care
Irene

Squirrels are fascinating, aren’t they?  We have a little fountain right outside the window where I record the show and the squirrels sometimes come here when I am writing show notes, recording or editing.  I actually see more squirrels here than birds.  They drink and bathe here although we do have a creek that has fresh running water.  One day the squirrel was using the fountain like a bidet which was a little bizarre. 

The floor of the woods is now covered or mostly covered with newly fallen leaves. We walk on yellow and gold there.  There are still lots of green leaves on the trees and we’re telling them to stay on the trees until the Pipeliners come for the retreat in less than two weeks.  Either way it is going to be gorgeous here then.

Today a friend stopped by and as I walked her to her car I saw a monarch on the zinnias out front.  You know I’ve been worried about the monarch population and I’m not alone in that concern.  This is the 3^rd monarch I’ve seen this summer.  I keep thinking how in previous summers monarchs have been so plentiful that we would say, “Just another monarch” as one might say, “Just another Robin or sparrow.” This wasn’t just any passing monarch either.  It looked very fresh and had no wear on the wings or bites from feeding birds.  This was a female monarch.  The way you can tell the males from the females is that the males will have scent glands which appear as a swollen dot, one on each wing. I’m not sure whether all males have these at all times.  Maybe someone knows about that.

October is the fallen leaf, but it is also a wider horizon more clearly seen. It is the distant hills once more in sight, and the enduring constellations above them once again.

Hal Borland

Needle Notes

Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes. Free Pattern

Prairie Piper’s Project Page

Calls for Malabrigo Sock.  I used Fleur de Fiber Arden MCN in the color Bluegrass that I purchased at Camp KIP in 2012. Size 3 needle or 3.25 mm.

Cat and Mouse by Susan B Anderson from Itty Bitty Toys

Prairie Piper’s Project Page

Knit Picks Stroll Tonal Yellow

Knit Picks Stroll Tonal Thunderhead

Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes

Holden Shawlette Detail

Cat and Mouse Reversible Toy by Susan B Anderson

Cat and Mouse Reversible Toy by Susan B Anderson

The Blethering Room

My new stash plan.   Finish a project and bag up the left over yarn with a suitable project.

Keep these to go bags in a basket with swatch from original project and needle size.

When Bronwyn and Sarah were here we chatted about whether podcasters need to ask permission before saying a person’s name on the air.  I had no one in particular in mind when I asked this question and I certainly wasn’t calling anyone out on that.  If it is their policy for their show, that is fine, we were just discussing whether it was a violation of some kind.

So while we are on the subject let me read this post that I found interesting because she says exactly what I believe on the subject and she says it very well.

With permission from Bower Bird aka Rebekkah on Podcast Junkies board:

I have noticed that many podcasters are afraid to talk about pattern/design details because of copyright. I think this is a misunderstanding of copyright, and I feel like a lot of people are really self-censoring legitimate discussion about what they have knit because they are being way overly cautious.

It is perfectly fine and legal to talk about how a pattern is constructed, interesting techniques you encountered, etc. Even if the pattern costs money. (Free patterns are covered by copyright law, too, but I hear a lot of people talking about free vs. pay-for patterns as if there are different copyright protections.) I think a good example of talking about patterns is the today’s sweater segment that Brenda often used to do in the Cast On podcast. It is perfectly okay to talk about this stuff! You’re not giving away a secret recipe or anything. First of all, copyright refers to the actual written words/charts in the pattern. It’s okay to describe what’s in there, in the same way it’s okay to paraphrase others’ ideas and use brief quotes in academic papers. (As opposed to quoting the entire thing, or passing off someone else’s work as one’s own. Which I have never heard a podcaster even come close to doing!)

I know that not every podcaster is into giving detailed descriptions, or discussing the knitting process in depth. That’s cool, and that’s not what I’m talking about. I just get so frustrated (for myself, and on behalf of the podcasters) when I hear someone stop themselves from what would otherwise be a really interesting conversation about how they made something, and their thoughts on why they did or didn’t like it (and what they learned from it), because they think that talking about that stuff is somehow a violation of copyright. It’s not. Just, you know, don’t read the whole pattern to us and flash the charts on the screen for us to copy down.

Come into The Piping Circle for a Bit

My pipes are broken and have been sent to McCallum Bagpipes for repair. L

Last Friday Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums played with the world famous band Gaelic Storm.  This is the band that was in the movie The Titanic.  They did a great job.

Product Revisit

Circular needles from China Thanks to Dana on Just One More Row for the shout out.  She gave a review of the needles and describes them a lot better than I did.  I have to say that these are quickly becoming my “go to” needles for a lot of projects.  I thought I always needed a sharp tip on my needle but for some yarn and texture patterns that isn’t always the best because with a sharp point you tend to split the yarn more often.  I am really hooked on these needles and still can’t believe the price.

All things on earth point home in old October; sailors to sea, travellers to walls and fences, hunters to field and hollow and the long voice of the hounds, the lover to the love he has forsaken.

Thomas Wolfe

Have a great week, haste ye back, and hold your knitting close.