New Loom Knitting Videos: Double Knit Stockinette Stitch Bindoffs/Castoffs

I haven't done one of these in a couple years, but multiple questions have been raised by people, so I thought it was time to do some explaining. They're very simple, conversational videos about the two styles of stitch bind-offs I like to do. I also refer to http://www.knittingboard.com - they have great videos and demonstrate yet another technique to use. The choices are endless!

Single Sided Bind-Off



What I call the Box Bindoff

Dumpster Diving

I used to have an interest in this topic as a super eco-friendly person. I had actually forgot about it until I saw a video on WalletPop (with my fave columnist Bargain Babe).

Allison Burtch has a great blog of what is actually being thrown away each night from grocery stores in her area. I have to say, I'm in agreement with her - that has to stop. Why on earth can there not be a "Good Samaritan" law to protect retailers from lawsuits from giving away their food? Expiration dates are set as a precaution - there's tons of food out there that you can eat way beyond the expiration date. Sometimes they're set as a marketing gimmick, too - if I convince you that your food is bad by X date, I'll get you to buy more of it at X date + one day.

Check out this find from one night in a dumpster!

Anthropologie: Green, Crafty, Cool!

Just awesome. For those of you who don't realize quite how to do them, Happiness Is... has some great closeups and the official tutorial.

The City Cradle gives a more detailed tutorial and shows how they redid the craft. I so cannot wait to try this myself! I must have fifteen photos or so saved of the display.

Anthropologie is great - its nice to see that someone still values the true selling power of a good quality window display. So often I see clothes jumbled into something "arty" with no theme at the local stores, and it makes me sad, having seen the wonderful displays of Dayton's in Minneapolis, Barney's in New York, and countless windows in Italy (especially Venice). Stores so often forget that it is the power of the visual that catches their attention, and brings them in a door...I know I'll be heading to the Chicago store to see what their windows look like!

Followup to the Daniel Graves Dilemma

So I've been trading correspondence across multiple mediums about this issue. The main question has been:

"What exactly do you know about the other "Daniel Graves" in the area? There has to be more than 3!"

Well, that's absolutely right - there definitely is more than 3, however, I look at 3 as being the main contenders. Here's what I know about the "other" Daniel Graveses.

Daniel Graves and Polly Allen - (no) - kids were born at the same time as mine in New Hampshire

Daniel Graves and Mary Buxton / Caroline Wellington - (no) - kids born much later (1849) in North Reading, Massachusetts

Daniel Graves (born in Ira, Rutland, VT) and Almira Loomis Rogers - (no) - is in Marengo, IL by 1850.

Daniel Graves and Harriet, son of Abraham Graves - (no) - settles in Rochester but is well-documented enough there with only two kids with nowhere near the names I have. The family is quite prestigious and a painting of Daniel is at the local historical society.

Daniel Graves and Hellen Hyde (in Gouverneur in 1870) - also no, they’re well-documented in the town newspapers as being much younger

Daniel Graves and Ann - no - In 1851, Daniel and Ann are in Salisbury, Westmorland County, New Brunswick with children Adaline Graves 19, Valantine Graves 30, Oliver Graves 25, Xenophon Graves 13, Burlin Graves 10 at ages Daniel Graves 58 and Ann Graves 52. I feel they are an unlikely candidate and with names like those, they would not likely be part of this family, since they were apt to repeat family names frequently (Daniel, James, Lewis, Enoch, Hezekiah, Hazleton, Sheldon, Hawley).

Daniel Graves and Rebecca - hmm - In 1851/2, Daniel Graves, b. 1813 in Vermont is listed in the Malahide, Elgin County, Ontario census with wife Rebecca, daughter Nancy and son James. In 1861, the family is listed in Middlesex, Ontario. In 1871, Daniel is listed as a widow in Mosa, Middlesex West, Ontario. In 1881 he is also listed as a widow in Newbury, Middlesex West, Ontario.

This family troubles me some as I do have two kids who are born in Middlesex. Could they wrongly be attributed to the family I have when they should belong to this family? I don't think so. However, I need to do more research on this family as I believe they could be related to my family of people. Why? The names bring to mind two pieces of information: 1. The mysterious Rebecca listed on my family sheet. She's also listed as "marrying Lakeson" which I have never been able to find. 2. The names, excepting Nancy, are all heavy repeats in my own family. Could this be a child of my Daniel Graves' siblings?

The only one I keep coming back to is:
“Daniel Graves (44) may have been born about 1770 (probably 1765-1775), probably in Kensington or Andover, NH. He married ‑‑‑‑‑‑, and lived in Barton, Vt. (R‑200)
Children - Graves
123. Daniel Graves
124. William Graves
125. John Graves
126. daughter”

Not the father, the son. The GFA has absolutely no data on those kids and so far, I haven’t been able to prove one way or another. All I’m pretty sure is that its not the Capt. Daniel Graves from Barton as his line is well proved not to be the case.

According to the Brown Cemetery transcriptions from Barton, Daniel Graves (44) was born about 1775, and married Jane. They are both buried in Brown Cemetery.

At the same time, it gives more information from a Town report on that website:

"the Children of Daniel Graves and his wife Jenny"
Births:
Daniel Graves Junr., born in Andover, NH, Nov 8th, 1802.
William Graves, born Sept 14th, 1811
John Graves, born April 4, 1815
Recorded 22d April 1826 attest: John Kimball, Town Clerk

Deaths:
Daniel Graves died 25 January 1836, Aged 61 years
Jane Graves died 6th October 1844, aged 63 years
Daniel Graves Jr., died at Northfield, VT March 25th, 1879
William Graves died 1st December 1882

In the 1870 census, Daniel is listed in the household of his brother John Graves as 68 years old and a jeweler, no spouse listed.

In the 1860 census, Daniel is listed in the household of Ebenezer Wilson, a carpenter and joiner, as 49 years old and a harnessmaker.

In 1850, I have not been able to locate this Daniel Graves. Could he have been in Canada during this time?

The Daniel Graves Dilemma

I've cross posted this in one group on Ravelry, the Knitting Genealogists, as well as here. I'll add a little more detail here to help out.

Okay, so I decided to start a topic as I’ve alluded to this situation enough and you guys give pretty good advice ;-)

Here’s what I know:

Daniel Graves was born in 1794 (according to the 1850 census) in New York, or in Vermont (if you ask his kids on their data forms).

He married Mary “Polly” Ferguson in 1813 in Bennington, Bennington Co, Vermont. A Ferguson researcher and I are determining and so far proving that she is originally from Bennington, a descendant of the relatives of the Hezekiah Ferguson family.

Between 1813 and 1815, they somehow manage to get to New York, where their first child is born. I don’t know this for sure, since its info from census/death certs, but its what I have to go on.

After having some more kids in NY (again, census info, biography info, death certs info), they show up in Middlesex County Ontario for the birth of 2 kids, and they’re back in New York by 1830, and have their last four kids concluding in 1838.

In 1850, I have a for sure census entry in Gouverneur, New York. (One of their kids is named Hazelton and another is nicknamed Hawley. Needless to say, its a bit unusual and makes them a little easier to find).

Then they vanish again. Nothing. I have two more kids assigned to them based off of family information, but no years for their birth and I haven’t been able to find them yet.

The problem is, there are three Daniel Graves in roughly the same area with roughly the same age range. One is in Vermont, still another one in Walpole, NH, one is in Middlesex Co, Ontario, and there’s another one that even shows up in Gouverneur about ten years later (luckily, not the same age so I could spot him).

These guys are driving me batty! I have no idea where else to look to find anything about him. The Graves Family Association has no idea other than he might be the Captain Daniel Graves that lived in Barton, VT for a time, since they don’t know the Captain’s wife’s name, there’s no telling. So I’m stuck. I’ve gone over this and over it, and I don’t know where their information could be hiding.

I have to be missing something here, it just doesn’t seem to make sense to me.

Children:
Pittman Graves
Son
b. ?

Rebecca Graves
Daughter
b. ?
New York

John Graves
Son
b. 29 Jan 1815 (also postulated to be 1826)
New York, United States
d. 7 Aug 1866
Bridgehampton, Sanilac, Michigan, United States

Hezekiah Graves (m. Harriet Hart)
Son
b. 29 Nov 1818
New York, United States
d. 22 Sep 1892
Bridgehampton, Sanilac, Michigan, United States

Enoch Graves (m. Rachel Sipes)
Son
b. 2 March 1826
New York
d. 22 May 1904
Oxford, Oakland, Michigan, USA

Sheldon Hall "Hawley" Graves (m. Hannah Jeffrey) - this nickname is carried down so it is confirmed.
Son
b. 26 Aug 1828
Delaware, Middlesex Bay County, Ontario, Canada
d. 1 Jul 1895
Sanilac, Sanilac, Michigan, United States

Hazelton Graves (m. Lovila Green)
Son
b. 17 Apr 1830
Ontario, Canada
d. 18 Dec 1907
Bridgehampton, Sanilac, Michigan, United States

Elizabeth Ann Graves (m. David Daniel Ingerson)
Daughter
b. 8 April 1831
New York
d. 4 September 1903
Bridgehampton, Sanilac, Michigan, United States

Justus "Jess" Graves
Son
b. 1837
New York

Lewis Graves
Son
b. 1838
New York, United States

Snakes, Tacos, and Crafting

I haven't posted here for about a month, so I wanted to assure everyone that I am

a)still alive
b)still crafting
c)still interested in blogging.

:-D

However, my time isn't always as well planned as it should be and I forget to make the posts that I had wanted to make. However, I am hoping that will change with the advent of planned blogging.

Its a concept I read on another person's blog (yes, I do read many blogs, usually via email since I can always download my email and read it offline). Instead of blogging "when you think about it", you set up a series of blogs in one day, and delay their posting until they meet set intervals. Interesting concept...

Then when you want to blog, you can also post "whenever", but once a month you plan the programming for the next month. That's where the word "genius" comes to mind!

So I'll try that in February. We'll see how it goes :-)

But back to the topic at hand....



Doesn't that look like what a glamorous Sea Snake should look like? Its a wonderful pattern by Nancy Nagle of Nangelli.com called "Delicious Diamond".

If you're interested, its a free Ravelry download, too. I found it to be quite fun to work and really worked to the advantage of the short fur style yarn.



Doesn't that look good? Sarahpark on Ravelry wrote up this nifty recipe which included those AND a pattern for a cast iron skillet pot handle.



Isn't that cute? It kind of reminds me of a fish, but it also makes Shawn happy and keeps his hand cool while cooking. A very fun test crochet project - I highly encourage you to to try it when she releases the pattern!

I've been working on some other things, but I'll save some stuff for this weekend to post.

Chicagoland Craft Collective Meeting - 12/16/09

Wednesday was another great Chicagoland Craft Collective meeting. I learned how to make a really cool papercraft - an ornament that was 3D! Its on my tree now.

As you can see above, there are some very talented people in the Chicagoland Craft Collective that I highly recommend people come and meet. They have talents across the board from fiber crafts to paper crafts to sewing to embroidery to beading and jewelry, and there are professional sellers that are part of the group as well as the head of Craft Critique and talented crafters a plenty!

Next month we are going to do needle felting and I'm super psyched for it! I've had a kit at home and wanted to know more about how to use it, but I was going to wait for the class in April at the Westmont Public Library - so this is a lot sooner!

I'm working on a test crochet for a friend-designer on Ravelry that's turning out really cute. I horribly had to start over due to poor yarn choice on my part, but its starting to come together again. Anyway, will update more when I get the Black Raspberry Hat done - its about darn time I released that pattern! ;-)

Festive Winter Bonnet

Festive Winter Bonnet Front
Originally uploaded by roostercf

My new pattern! This was a fun one. It actually started as an idea for a jacket, and then that didn't work, and it sat in my stash on the needle I left it on for months. I was starting to get out my Holiday things and found that the 2002 Holiday Teddy ornament has this adorable bonnet. Then I got thinking, and...

This is a simple drop stitch pattern that has minimal finishing and would be suitable in any fun, furry and nubby yarn. Lion Brand's Fancy Fur would be a good example, since the yarn that I originally made this in, Yarn Bee Playful, was discontinued. Sirdar Valentino might also be an interesting yarn to try.


Find the Festive Winter Bonnet in my Ravelry Store or here.

The Pavement Neckwarmer

Front

SSPX0146
Originally uploaded by roostercf

Back

SSPX0147
Originally uploaded by roostercf

A quick project, a neckwarmer for the husband. The pattern only has two lines across a five row repeat, and then a switch in direction.

Worsted Weight Yarn (I used a mystery grey wool I had laying around)
Yarn Needle
Size F Crochet Hook

(US Terminology)

Chain 30.
Chain 2 at the beginning of every row.
Extended single crochet across row.
Every five rows (as in, 1,2,3,4,5 then this one), do one row of front post extended single crochet.
Stop when desired width is reached.

Extended Single Crochet down width side of project.
Every five rows of Extended Single Crochet, do one row of alternating front post extended single crochet and back post extended single crochet.

Stop when desired length is reached. Leave a long tail.
Sew together and weave in ends.

Simple, tidy, just enough ornamentation to make me not want to go crazy but simple enough the man still likes it.

Crochet Ruffle Scarves

Crochet Ruffle Scarves
Originally uploaded by roostercf

Testing out the new instablogger for photos from Flickr!