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June 28, 2016

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Scarab Shawl Revisited Again

It is an unfortunate fact of life that yarns get discontinued. I don’t blame the yarnies, they have to do what their customers want. But it can create some issues. When I re-knit the Scarab Shawl for independent publication (it was originally published in Knit Now) I was lucky enough to receive yarn from one of my favorite dyers Miss Babs. The alpaca/silk blend that we decided to pair with the pattern brought a whole new look to the shawl and I adore it. I sometimes take it out and pet it. But alas, all good things must pass

But let us not look upon it as a loss, but as an opportunity! An opportunity to see Scarab knit in an entirely different yarn! This time the crack team at Anzula just happened to be introducing a brand new Sport weight MCN called Ava. And you know, the difference between DK & Sport weight is in the “close enough” category considering the non-fitted nature of this shawl. It was a bit of a gamble, but one that paid off.

Scarab Shawl - a lace shawl by Barbara Benson in Anzula Ava

I still love this delicate lace.

Look how beautifully the yarn paired with the pattern. This color is called Misfit and I am totally in love with it. I kinda don’t want to mail the sample back to California but it needs to be reunited with its owner. It was such a pleasure to do a photo shoot with this shawl and my model Fatimah is just the picture of beauty isn’t she?

Scarab Shawl, a knitted shawl from Barbara Benson in Anzula Ava

We do have about as much fun as it looks.

Really, I don’t need to say much, the pictures speak for themselves.

But of course, before it departs on its journey I decided to make a pattern tour video.

In the video you will see the two shawls side by side. There are subtle differences in how the yarn behaved but both are beautiful. I think that you should knit two!

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Barbara

Posted on

May 12, 2016

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Til There Was You

The design of this shawl was driven almost entirely by the yarn. I had come up with a shaping idea, but other than that I had little to no ideas of what the details would be. It was me and the yarn and a bunch of swatching for quite some time. What precisely did this yarn like? What did it do well? And I found that it really loved cables. The chunky weight gave the cables great presence even with a 2/2 cross and the softness and bloom filled the cables in to create a wonderful field of texture in the basket weave pattern. You may recognize the Stitch Sprouts Crater Lake from a previous pattern release. This one has actually been in the works since before that one, but patterns will do what they will. Some cooperate, some take more nurturing.

Ever since In Uffish Thought I have been enamored of the idea of using a cabled selvedge to prevent rolling because it just looks so cool. For this the challenge was making the cable run seamlessly along the top edge when the construction was top down. The solution to that is Judy’s Magic Cast on, only worked flat. I didn’t want the texture of the cables to overwhelm the shawl so I kept the body simple. This also had the bonus of highlighting the lines of lace that make up the functional increases of this shawl. This wedge increasing eventually transitions into a pi-shawl increase to provide a blank slate (without increases) for the basket-weave trim.

Til There Was You - An elegant white shawl with bulky yarn and cables from Barbara Benson.

A 10.5 needle produces beautiful drape,

You can easily size the shawl up and down by increasing or decreasing the number of repeats you work of the stockinette body. The rule of thumb to remember is that the trim will take about 50% of your yarn. As written the body takes about 150 grams of yarn and then the trim takes 150 grams. If you want to knit the body for 200 grams then you will need at least 200 grams for the trim. Does that make sense? And of course – since you are changing things on the fly, you might want to have an extra skein, just in case. 😉

I love the weight of the trim.

If you would like to check out the video tour of this pattern here it is!

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March 17, 2016

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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!

The Peephole Stole by Barbara Benson. A knitting pattern for gradient yarn.

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!

The Peepholle Stole by Barbara Benson. A knitting pattern for gradient yarn sets.

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!

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January 22, 2016

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Luidia and the Sandpiper Stitch

My first new pattern of the year is a two color slouchy hat that ended up being named Luidia. Luidia is the genus of starfish in which you find the species Luidia ciliaris, the only starfish with seven arms. I thought that the top of this hat evoked thoughts of starfish or urchins, well you can judge for yourself:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/luidia

Isn’t it cool? This hat was a collaboration between myself and the awesome Lindsay who is the owner/dyer of The Fiber Seed, a small yarn company based out of Tampa, FL. A really cool thing about them, other than the fact that they dye beautiful yarn, is that their yarns are all American. American wool spun in American mills dyed with American dyes with low environmental impact. How cool is that?

But truly, all of that is just icing on the cake because the colors are so fabulous and the yarn is all sproingy … I love sproingy yarn.

See, slouchy

I wanted to keep this piece on the simple side and ended up developing a fun new stitch. I started playing with the classic lifted stitch pattern called the Gull stitch, but of course I had to figure out a way to mash it up with slipped stitches. Poof, a new stitch. I decided to call it the Sandpiper stitch (LOL, Sandpiper = seabird = Gull, I crack myself up) because the slipped stitch looked like a little leg. I always love watching the little sandpipers standing on one leg on the beach. In total the hat used about half of each skein of yarn, so I have leftovers. I am considering designing a short pair of finger-less mitts to complement the hat. Anybody think that is a good idea?

The view from a different angle

The stitch is not hard, but it involves a maneuver that is non-standard (imagine that?) so I was able to use my new found video skillz to make a little tutorial on how to work the two slightly tricky elements of the stitch. I also learned from my last two videos and think we are well on on way to getting it under control. I improved the lighting set up with fancy new bulbs and changed the background from gray to white. Keep watching for a wee bit after the stitch demo is over, there is a little surprise with a swatch of a different color.

The next step in video land will be really nailing down the sound and then I think we will have it. I would love to hear any feedback you have on the videos. What might you like to see? Is there anything I am doing well or not so good? I have many ideas bubbling up and I think it is a really complementary form to help me communicate better about knitting. It really is such a visual thing and since I cannot come to each of y’alls house to show you stuff, I guess this is the next best thing.

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September 17, 2015

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Ves, a shawl inspired

I am going to go out on a limb and say that most knitters (who would be reading this blog) are familiar with the concept of a “yarn club”. You know, when a great indie dyer gives knitters the opportunity to “subscribe” to a series of exclusive yarn colors that are delivered over the course of many months? That kind of club. Frequently the yarn arrives with a pattern designed specifically with & for that special yarn.

Going on the assumption that there is already some familiarity with this concept, I now ask you if you have ever heard of the Miss Babs Knitting Tour version of this concept? The lucky knitters that join this club are “armchair travelers” and they receive 4 shipments in the year. During the planning stage the wonderful people at Miss Babs (including the namesake) select four destinations and provide them to the featured designers so that they can draw from them for inspiration.

This time last year I was tickled beyond words to receive an invitation from Miss Babs to participate in the 2015 tour. My shipment ended up being the first (March). It took great restraint, but I didn’t blog about it because, along with the exclusivity of the yarn, the pattern was unavailable to the general public for 6 months after the “travelers” received their packages.

Guess what? Six months is up!

Ves, a two color Mosaic Lace Shawl by Barbara Benson Get your own copy of Ves!

The inspiration destination for my leg of the tour was Sri Lanka! Like any dedicated artist, once I learned that I immediately booked a flight to Sri Lanka to do research!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I wish. I totally Googled it.

And if you are looking to see piles and piles of beautiful art, landscape, and architecture I recommend you do the same. There were many things that caught my attention, but in the end I drew my ideas from traditional Sri Lankan dance. Specifically, the costumes of Kandyan dancers which are referred to as Ves. If you want to see some of the pictures that grabbed my attention here is a link to a Google image search. The intricately embossed metal pieces led me to creating an intricate and deeply textured lace pattern that evoked the shape of the points of the headdresses.

The technique used in this shawl is Mosaic Lace like Golden Lion Throne and Love Child, with a complexity falling somewhere between the two. Close to 50 Armchair Travelers finished the shawl within the allotted -a long period so if you want to see finished shawls you can check out the Ves project page. The two sets of colors that Miss Babs made for the shawl are gorgeous, but I cannot wait to see what colors other knitters match up!

So, if exotic travel isn’t in your budget … at least you can do some exotic knitting from the comfort of your own home. And you get a great souvenir! 😉

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March 30, 2015

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Reversible Cable Moebius Cowl

I have been cheating. I admit it. I should tattle on myself to the teacher but I haven’t.

Each year as the holiday approaches I come to the realization that I need to get knitting on something for my son’s teacher. But I cheat, or double dip if you will. If I am going to be spending time knitting on a gift I might as well get a new pattern out of it, right? So when I say that this new pattern is good for gift knitting, I really mean it because it was designed and knit as a gift!

When it is cold and you are out corralling about a million second graders on the playground do you need to be fiddling with the ends of a scarf? I am gonna go with no on that one. So a cowl it was to be. For naming ease I used the recipient’s last name. So meet McClanahan.

McClanahan, a reversible cable Moebius cowl in worsted, aran, and chunky weights. By Barbara Benson.

I may have mentioned that I am in the throes of a minor obsession with Moebius construction, this is the pattern that started the whole thing. But because of timing and stuff it is only now getting released. After I finished knitting the prototype I decided I wanted to work it up in multiple different weights of yarn – to give the pattern more bang for the buck. Thinking about what yarn to use I remembered how much I enjoyed working with Dream in Color Classy for Cables are Cool and I thought I would see what the color geniuses over there might have in stock in the chunky / aran yarn weight range.

Reversible cable Moebius cowl by Barbara Benson, three yarn weights in Dream in Color.

Mammoth in Rio Verde Blue

It must have been in the stars because their response was that they were in the finishing stages of introducing both a new Chunky and a new Aran weight yarn. Get OUT of here! So I got my grubby little mitts on Mammoth and Canyon and rounded out the plan with their lovely worsted weight single Calm. I asked them to pick out some awesome colors that would go well together because I had this vision of a photograph with a squooshy pile of cables. And they did not disappoint.

The Yellow/Green is Calm in Prickly Pear.

Back to the pattern (I can talk about yarn all day), since you always see both sides of a Moebius I went with reversible cables. Essentially the whole thing is ribbed. The cast on is seriously the most complicated part of the whole pattern. Once the stitches are on you have some knits & purls and a cable once every couple of rows. As my son would say “Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.” I think that one came from last year’s teacher (For her I designed I Can’t Control my Fingers).

I have provided the cast on and instructions for all three weights and the circumference of the respective cowls are inversely proportional to the weight of the yarn. And what I mean by that is the chunkier the yarn the closer to the neck the cowl will sit. The worsted weight (skinniest yarn) has the largest circumference. I tailored it to fit the yardage. If you wanted a looser cowl you could use the cast on for one of the other sizes, but then you would need additional yarn. Which, two skeins isn’t that bad is it?

A reversible cabled cowl worked in Moebius by Barbara Benson in Dream in Color aran weight yarn.

This is Canyon in Goblin Valley

To finish up the pattern I had some awesome test knitters take a whack at knitting it up and I tried something different. Usually I have a “secret” place to do the testing, but this time I decided to do it in “public”. If you are a Ravelry member and want to see the growing pains in all of their glory check out the testing thread. You can see what the testers thought of the pattern and how they helped me to whip it into shape. Once they were done it took a turn with my awesome Tech Editor and now it is available for you.

I would love to hear what you think in the comments.

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February 17, 2015

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Malabrigo Quickie – Reciprocity Cowl

Reciprocity – the quality or state of being reciprocal: mutual dependence, action, or influence.

Reciprocal – shared, felt, or shown by both sides

Malabrigo (or as I refer to it; mmmmmmMalabrigo) has this wonderful program where they accept proposals from independent designers for projects that focus on utilizing one or two skeins of their yarn to produce a quick and fun pattern for knitters. They supply the yarn, you supply the pattern, both parties promote the pattern and everybody wins!

Moebius cowl knit with Malabrigo Silky Merino and Silkpaca by Barbara Benson

The same lovely model as for Sardaukar

This is my second Quickie – the first was Curiosity and I am still super proud of that one. For this cowl I wanted to address the challenge of making the gorgeous variegated colorways look as amazing in the pattern as they do in the skein. My first step towards that goal was to pair a variegated color of Silky Merino (Queguay) with a complementary solid in Silkpaca (Abril). The solid was chosen to pull out one of the colors in the multi and to break things up a bit. The second step was to stick with a simple texture pattern to allow the yarn to really shine through. I worked the texture holding both yarns together for extra softness.

Texture and stockinette alternate

But do I ever leave well enough alone? Do you know me at all? 😉

I wanted to have some stockinette but I didn’t want to continue holding the yarns together, each yarn deserved its own spotlight. So I cooked up a bit of faux double knitting that is super easy to work once you have it set up. While working with the Silkpaca I did not want to stop because it is just so exceptionally soft – so there is a bit more of that in there than the DK. These extra rows cause the Silkpaca panel to bow out a bit and therefore fluff up and rub a bit against your neck. I am sure that you will bear with the sensation.

Reciprocity Moebius cowl in Malabrigo Sikly & Silkpaca by Barbara Benson

Another drape option.

Of course, I haven’t yet addressed the construction. I may be a wee bit obsessed with Moebius right now. A true Moebius has the cast on in the middle of the piece and grows out from there. The top & bottom edges you see there? Both are the cast off. This construction allowed me to create a cowl that is truly reversible and that presents different panels of stockinette at different places. The cast on itself is a bit challenging to wrap your brain around, but I have provided a link to the Cat Bordhi video and fully written out *and illustrated* instructions on how to get it done.

The whole schebang.

All in all this is a fun, quick to knit pattern that should keep you entertained the entire time. The number one thing that I am excited about is seeing what all colors people decide to pair up for their cowls. What colors do you think you would use?

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Posted on

February 9, 2015

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Zagless

Last week I had two patterns come out and I thought I would go ahead and talk about one of them. It was a little bit of a surprise for me because these projects are ones that I worked on last Fall in conjunction with Stitch Sprouts and the dyer Anzula. You see, these two independent fiber companies teamed up to produce a series of booklets to feature Anzula’s yarns (and also Stitch Sprouts designers) Yay!

I had the opportunity to work with two different bases Squishy and Cricket. Both are crazy soft and come in an amazing array of colors. For the fingering weight Squishy I decided to do (surprise) a two color mosaic style shawl.

Zagless - a two color hand knit shawl in Anzula Squishy by Barbara Benson

I know, you are stunned. 😉

As you might have noticed I am a bit enamored of this side to side construction right now. This one is similar to Love Child in its shaping, but with subtle and not so subtle differences. For one, there is no lace at all in this. Truly. A actual solid piece. For me, an event, no? It is knit up on larger-than-average needles for fingering to allow the yarn to shine in its glorious softness and to maintain a lovely drape. But I wanted to keep it solid so that we had a truly functional shawl, one that would actually keep you nice and cozy.

The pattern is an optical illusion and one thing that really surprised me is how much the texture creates an interesting overlay that is almost independent of the color pattern. You can see it most in the zigging portion of the stripe – where the texture of the slipped stitches actually moves in the opposite direction of the color pattern.

You can see the whole side to side.

This oddity is why we chose to keep with colors that were very close in tonal value. If you crank up the contrast on the colors I think the illusion is going to be exaggerated and you are going to get something that truly changes appearance depending on how you look at it. Which could be totally cool, I can’t wait to see what people do. But it would have been a giant PAIN to photograph – so we went more subtle.

Of course, with this kind of project I have to lovingly pack up the sample and send it off to live with another. I miss it and its snuggly aspect. I am afraid that I am going to have to knit one of my own so that I can love it and pet it and hopefully wear it! Of course the question there is what colors I might knit it in for my very own self? I love the colors that the pros picked and would be tempted to do the same. But why do the same thing twice? They carry 98 colors to choose from, you can see a sampling on the Ravelry page here. What colors would you match up?

One way to wear the shawl.

The pattern is available in the ebook and soon through your local yarn store that carries Anzula. It is also available as a singleton. The single pattern has instructions in both written & charted formats. The pamphlet had to think about space issues so it is chart only, which really, when you also get 5 awesome patterns from some very talented designers it really isn’t much of a issue, eh?

All photographs courtesy of Stitch Sprouts.

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January 14, 2015

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Completing a House – Sardaukar Cowl

Happy New Year! I hope it is treating you and yours well. Mine started out with a nasty bout of the flu – I have decided to consider it good that I got that out of the way early.

Onward and upward!

For the new year I have decided to revisit an old idea. The impetus behind my designing was pieces inspired by Frank Herbert’s Dune. I began with House Atreides and it yielded 5 crescent shaped shawls Atreides, Mapes, Alia, Lady Jessica, and Caladan. From there I moved to House Corrino with Golden Lion Throne and Irulan.

But Corrino has never felt … finished … to me. It always seemed that there was one more lurking in there, but it was elusive. That was until I went to TNNA and met Mira from Baah! Yarns. I was wearing Golden Lion Throne and she really liked the mosaic motif. But she wanted a cowl. A tall cowl. A cowl that would keep her ears warm. And she had beautiful, beautiful yarn for me to work with. Shasta is a 100% merino super-wash in worsted weight. It is wonderful to knit with and the colors are fabulous.

Yarn in hand, it was time to address the most infamous arm of House Corrino. While this cowl was going to be beautiful, it also needed to be functional. Its ability to do its job could not be sacrificed just to look pretty. And so I ended up tinkering with, manipulating, and expanding the motifs of Golden Lion Throne to create Sardaukar.

Sardaukar: Two color mosaic lace cowl by Barbara Benson

Sardaukar the cowl

I had always known that Sardaukar was going to be a cowl. The costuming from the SciFi mini-series had the troopers in these giant, bulky, black cowls and when you think of it a cowl is a logical and functional accessory. It is protective and elegant, just like the Sardaukar. But I didn’t want to be too literal with the cowl and I had to wait for the inspiration to hit. And I am glad I waited

Flat size is 11 x 19 1/2

The mosaic pattern has been expanded a great deal from what is in GLT, and the lace has been pared down to its bare essentials. Working the mosaic in the round is much easier than working it flat and the same goes for the lace. You don’t have to think about where the yarn is positioned when you slip stitches – it is always on the inside of the cowl. And the only purling that occurs is in the edge ribbing and when you need to purl a YO that is framing a slipped stitch.

As you can see, your neck will be warm.

Now, I did something with this pattern I don’t normally do. The instructions are only available charted. That is because the pattern is one giant chart (I split it up so that it is on several pages). Due to the nature of the mosaic, there are no repeated rows. That makes this much more of a color-work project than lace. But even with that it is no where near as challenging as GLT. If you have been considering GLT but have been intimidated, this might help you get your feet wet.

A bit of detail.

Now that House Corrino is done, the next logical place to go is Harkonnen. And I am going to go there, when I find the inspiration. I have to admit I am stumped a bit for ideas because they are just so … so … evil. There is a part of me that wants to do something named Feyd and riff on his … umm … bathing costume from the movie. But I just don’t know. I am open to suggestions and would love to hear them (and your thoughts on this new piece) in the comments.

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October 7, 2014

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Love Child – a shawl

Here are words that I never thought would ever come out of my mouth: I love Yak!

Yak fiber that is.

Meeting a new fiber is always an exciting experience, but it doesn’t always end well. Luckily this is a love story. This yarn from Gale’s Art is a blend of Merino, Yak and Silk and it is a treat to knit. The name is more descriptive than fanciful, MYS622 – but it tells you what it is, a 60/20/20 blend of the aforementioned fibers. In a way it is similar to the cashmere blends with comparable blends, but the Yak is decidedly different than the cashmere. It is wonderfully soft, but it has a weight to it that cashmere lacks. The yarn also has a … coolness … to it, in the hand it feels almost like it is slightly damp – but it isn’t. Now that could be the high silk content? I am afraid I am not a fiber expert, but what I do know is that it knits wonderfully and has fantastic drape. The yarn itself feels heavy in the ball but the finished shawl is remarkably light weight (yet warm at the same time). Plus, it comes in absolutely glowing deep colors.

When we started talking about working on a piece together I absolutely knew I had to do color work. Gale was looking to put together a kit for the upcoming Fall fiber festival season – and I was pleased as punch to be a part of the project.

Love Child, a two color shawl with lace and slipped stitches by Barbara Benson

Hello lovely

Presenting Love Child. The name? Well it is a bit silly (but when am I not?) but it comes from my attempting to describe the idea over the phone. I believe what I said was “It is as if In Uffish Thought and Captive got together and had a two color Love Child.” A few hours later I received a text message ~~cursing~~ politely thanking me for getting the song stuck in her head. And the title stuck as well.

Love Child - a two color lace shawl with slipped stitches, by Barbara Benson

You know me and swoops.

If you have been playing along at home you probably recognize this shape. I have become enamored of it. The side to side construction makes me happy because it allows the knitter to adjust easily to their yardage and desired size of project. It retains the curved neckline of a crescent that allows it to hug the shoulders and wear comfortably, but its hybrid triangular shape makes it deeper down the back and provides more styling options. The slight asymmetry shifts the “point” to one side to eliminate the dreaded “arrow pointing at butt” effect that so many dislike about triangular shawls … all in all I think the shape has a great deal going for it.

Love Child, an asymmetrical shawl worked in two colors with slipped stitches and lace by Barbara Benson

This shape just wears in so many ways

For this version I have eliminated the lower edge “trim” that you find on In Uffish Thought and BitterBlue. It streamlines the shawl and takes it into a more casual and functional piece. It is also the result of a whole pile of math to create shaping that is of an every other row style as opposed to the binding off some stitches style. Both have merits and I thought I would play to see what I could come up with. I wonder what would happen if I did both …. hmmmmmmm?

Love Child, a tow color lace shawl with slipped stitches, by Barbara Benson

Are you ready for fall?

My end result was a shawl that is remarkably easy to knit. I memorized it without really trying and truly enjoyed the knitting process. It has some easy lace and a very repetitive rhythm, there is one fancy stitch for the leading edge increase – but you will soon get the hang of it. It is also easily adjustable (as I said, one of the pluses of this shape) both in size and the possibilities for customization. I chose to have the striping pattern produce regularly spaced bands of color – but one could also muck about with the color changes and create one’s own banding pattern that suits one’s fancy! As is typical, I thought about how I could change up the colors as I was knitting it – but relied on discipline to stay the course.

Love Child, lace combined with two colors and slipped stitches create this knitted shawl by Barbara Benson

Yet another way to wrap.

The photo shoot went beautifully and I had a very hard time narrowing down the shots. I also almost fell into a stream. Fatimah said “Fall with the camera in the air.”, because she totally knows what is important! The shawl itself will be traveling to New York Sheep and Wool (Rhinebeck) with Gale and she will be offering the pattern in a kit with her stunning yarn. If you are going please stop by and say hi! I also believe that she will have the kits at Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF) – which I will be attending! If you are going give me a holler and maybe we could say hi!

I would love to hear your thoughts on shawl shapes in the comments. Likes, dislikes, suggestions? Please speak up!

Edited to answer request in the comments:

I know I say it, everyone blogger says it – but I love comments. Without comments it is kinda like throwing pennies into a wishing well and never finding out if your dream comes true. Unless I receive feedback I don’t know if I am giving y’all the information that you want/need/enjoy. So when I saw the specific request from shoelaceswitcher in the comments I was all like “A schematic?” it had never occurred to me to put that in a blog post. It took a little fiddling to convert the file I have from the pattern into a JPG that I can put on the web – but it wasn’t anything too exciting.

So, here it is! I hope it gives you the info you need.