Knit Challenge

A toasty treat

2012-01-12T09:17:00.001-08:00

I finished this adorable scarf by a pattern I found on Ravelry, but I forgot to write down the designer's name. Sorry.

I love how easy it was. I like the drape of the fine yarn on larger needles (I used 7's). The only adjustment I made was to make it a bit shorter in length than the pattern called for as I only had one ball of yarn. (If you have been following me, it was the yarn I dyed last spring in a class with Shannon Okey at Hill Country Weavers. So, I couldn't go get some more.) I do think it would be nice longer for draping and layering reasons reasons.

I kind of wanted to keep it for myself--but then thought maybe my son's girlfriend needed to have a diplomatic gesture from me. I do think that it is the kind of thing she would like. So, I'm a bit torn. As it is easy and I have all that yarn inheritance in my closet, maybe I can make her another one, which could be longer too. That way I could keep the one I dyed the yarn for. She might not know why that was so cool anyway...

The other cool thing I did was i bought an inexpensive app which takes photos and converts them into cartoon style drawings. If you take photos of knits it makes very cool abstract compositions. I have included one I took of this scarf. I must say, I have become sort of a nuisance by photographing people and turning them into 'toons.

Christmas presents and a Happy New Year!

2012-01-07T13:23:00.001-08:00

Everyone in the family took the hint from ye olde amazon.com lists so I was the beneficiary of loads of new knitting lit.

Also, a friend recieved all my mom's yarn when she died...and the woman decided knitting wasn't her idiom. So bow I have tons to browse through and a few archeological knitting projects. So, I can hop right in and try out the new knit lit.

Happy new year.

Finished

2011-12-31T00:54:00.001-08:00

We have been traveling to visit family for the holidays. So while Mehron drove, I knit. I was able to work on this second baby sweater and bootie set for a friend who doesn't knit but needed the pieces. And I am done!

The sweater is a modified Cozy Tea Leaves cardi from Madeliene Tosh. When I bought the pattern, I found out that the smallest size was for a two year old, so I did some math to find a new number of stitches to cast on. You may remember I did a yellow version of this sweater about a month ago in Stitch Nation's Bamboo Ewe which is a mice soft blend of wool and bamboo.

The booties were done from the pattern Sartjee's Booties, which I downloaded from Ravelry. I think these two patterns look nice together. I am also happy with the cute heart buttons I found while in Dallas.

While I worked on this set, I was remembering how small the kids used to be. Were they ever little? I know they were, but its almost hard to farhom--they are both so tall now.

I do remember not getting to enjoy their infancy as much as I wanted to because my husband and I were so stressed about making a living. I would have liked to have had the freedom to make sweaters for them when they were little.

They're There!

2011-12-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

I think I have mentioned the Knit for Nutrition Blog. I know I mentioned it to the Library Castoffs, who generously contributed 8 more pairs to my 3 and I mailed them out a while ago.

My three are the non- blue and purple ones. Others were picked up after this lot. Anyway, I just saw a notice on the Knitting for Nutrition website that our booties have arrived. It was sort of nice in a I'm-connected-to-the-world sort of way. Even though 2 more pair turned up--I will get those mailed tomorrow.

The link to the Knitting for Nutrition blog and "bootie counter" is http://knittingfornutrition/2011/12/19/knitting-group-in-texas-sends-9-pair/. There is a nice photo there of the other pairs. What will be more exciting is to see the booties on the babies' feet! The moderator has promised to update us when the moms get the booties. I can't wait!

The Real Distraction in My Life

2011-11-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

Okay....here is the culprit. It jumped off the shelf at Half Price Books and into my hands. It said to me (in a strange sort of garbled way): "Knit me, Heather. Knit me now!"

See that project right there on the cover... you get the idea! A FABULOUS leather chair with a really cool HAND KNIT cushion!

Well, okay...even I could say, yeah I could knit the cushion...but I don't have the chair. Don't have the cash for a chair at the moment. Don't have the time to cull through cunning little vintage stores to go find said chair.

AND THERE IT WAS!

Sitting on the curb. On my way home from the grocery store. A chair that screamed out to me: Love me please!! Oh, baby, do I know how to love you.

So I brought her home. I vacumed out her crevices. I used leather cleaner and cleaned her neglected surfaces. I soothed in leather conditioner and got rid of an undefinable weird smell. Now she is all clean and waiting for her new, improved, hand knit cusion!! Forget Christmas...this project has my name written all over it (right side up...no less).

Thanksgiving? OMG...we have to get ready for Christmas!!

2011-11-21T10:17:00.000-08:00

I have accidentally become complacent. I finished Olivia's Christmas sweater and then got side tracked by other intriguing projects, because I had the idea that I had the Christmas thing in the bag. Other projects like: Baby booties. Spreading good in the world. Getting paid for knitting. Other grander things I haven't had a chance to let you in on.

However, it is approximately 6 weeks to Christmas. I have multiple things I would like to finish. KNITTER'S PANIC!!

Yes, we have discussed how my husband is not a sweater guy...however, I checked out a book from the library

In it, Ann Budd (of Interweave fame), has done a course on knitting socks...along with sock patterns in a variety of gauges. I have knit my second pair this year and I was thinking that this pair would be for my "I- don't-wear-sweaters" husband. Here is evidence of diligent work:

Hmmm, this darned orientation thing is sort of driving me nuts today. It is probably a sign I need to back off and try again later. But another part of me feels that I have neglected my poor blog so I wanted to get a few entries in there so it wouldn't think I didn't love it.

So I need to go ahead and finish the other sock so this can be tucked into M's Christmas stocking.

I also need to finish the hat for Nora (my younger niece.)

Here is where we are now.

Because her sister is getting a sweater...I feel like I need to do a scarf or some mitts to coordinate with this beret--just so it feels even. But I haven't made up my mind yet.

Finally, what do you do when you have deadline knitting, but other alluring projects keep throwing themselves in in front of you shrieking: KNIT ME NOW? I ask you. Right now, I have one more knit for money sweater and that really won't take too long as it is a baby sweater. And I have already figured the math out so it is just a matter of going.

But I want to do a modified pattern to submit to Knitted Bliss's Modification Monday. I have mentioned it to you....I am taking the lace panels from the knit for cancer pattern and using them to make a skirt.

But I will need to make 7 panels of this and then sew them together and add a yoke. I can sort of see wearing this to Christmas parties to show off. I can totally see how to do this and I think it will be cute, it is just with Margaret's exam schedule and Max's college applications I am generally feeling a bit pinched for time.

How do you prioritize your stuff?

Hired Gun!

2011-11-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am knitting a baby sweater for someone -- who is going to pay me. Not a lot, but hey...it's a start and it makes me sort of excited that we could find a happy medium on price.

Here is the sweater (I am blocking at the moment!)

This sweater is based on the Cozy Tea Leaves Sweater from Madeleine Tosh Yarns. I paid for this pattern, but was a little sad to see that the smallest size in the pattern was for a 2 year old, and since this sweater was intended for a new born--I had to do a little math. I suppose all that work with tutoring Margaret in math is coming home to roost, as I was able to do a little Algebra! Poof, it worked. So here is the newborn version of this very sweet sweater. I am currently finishing up a matching set of the Saartje's booties I mentioned in the last post to go with this sweater.
I am also seriously thinking I need this sweater for myself. It is very cozy. I have never knit a top down sweater and was a little relieved that it wasn't as complicated as I was expecting. I am fully intending to get the commissioner of this set to get a photo of the baby in the goods to show y'all later.

Shake Your Bootie!

2011-11-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I worked out some booties for an organization called Knitting for Nutrition. I took the idea to the Library Castoffs... and there some people were doing some versions up. I am going to send all our work to the proper address in a couple of weeks.

But, I didn't stop there. Intrigued by the idea that I could get a "project" done so quickly, I tried a variation on the pattern included on the Knitting for Nutrition site.

Okay, (sorry about photo orientation. I have tried several things to fix this and none are working. So, I am choosing to go on.) So after doing several pairs from the same, rather easy, pattern--I am a bit bored and have branched out a bit.

I found this pattern on Ravelry.com. (It is free.) Search Saartje's Bootees (May 22, 2007) ADORABLE! and EASY. These booties are also in garter stitch, and very similar in construcion to the ones above...but I must say I like the little straps better.

Here is my first try on this pattern.

I have tried these on an actual baby, and they look adorable on. They are also soft and fit well to the baby's foot. I am now making another pair to go with a baby sweater some one is paying me to knit!!!! But hold your horses...that will be another post.

Good Morning!

2011-11-17T06:43:00.001-08:00

For a really cheerful, really cool jelly bean art video -- check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/v/IOu0DuxFAT0?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param

I have been knitting, and will update soon.....In the meantime, get some coffee and watch something creative....

Christmas present for oldest niece -- Finished!

2011-10-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, I finished it--well except for the fact that it needs to be blocked, pressed and wrapped.

I wonder if she will like it. Sometimes you think something looks good in a magazine, and then when it gets made it doesn't meet your expectations. Hmmm. I do think it will fit, and I do know that this color of teal looks divine with her peaches and cream complexion.....

At least that is one Christmas present done for now.

Now on to her sister.....

My favorite knit blog--Knitted Bliss

2011-10-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

Knitted Bliss is one of the blogs I follow. I have mentioned her to y'all before as she is the one who found and featured that "grey swan dress" where the designer had taken a shawl and a tank pattern and knit them together into a fabulous dress. Knitted Bliss is a dependable source for looking at good knit design and I think her discipline of having "Modification Mondays" is brilliant. It allows me to predict when to look over her new material and regularly delivers in terms of ideas of ways to interpret pattern design.

In homage to Julie, I am going to try a modification now.

Remember the lace scarf knit in the Pacific sands of Mexico this August?

Yes, yes...that's the one. Well I still love the pointed edge and was thinking if I did enough panels, I could sew them together to make a skirt...So I have bought some charcoal colored cotton...and have started:

So, panel one is done and I figure from the gauge that I will need about 7 panels for a skirt for me. I am planning a yoked waist, but will have to figure that out once I get to that part....for now am just working on the panels and thinking about what kind of top would look good with such a skirt?

Knitting for Charity II--The booties

2011-10-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, my friend Janie got this link: http://knittingfornutrician.com/. The deal is this Peace Corps worker is trying to do classes for nutrician in this African village. However, the moms feel like they are doing a pretty good job already. (but they really do need some help). So this girl came up with the notion that if she had hand knit booties to lure the African ladies in, they come for the booties, stay for the lesson on nutrician, and things will get better. Go to the link for a better version of the story...and the really cute website design. (How did she do that?)

There is a quick and easy pattern on the website, that I tried on Saturday...and it was "as advertised, quick and easy." Also, it was pretty cute. Here is the pattern I printed out and the booties I tried (with Cathy's yarn...) Pretty sweet. Anyway, I put it up as a potential project for the Library Castoffs, and it looks like people are game. (Especially as there is a ton of left over yarn from the afghan.)

So, why the charity knitting? Well, my job search isn't going well so far, so I might as well be doing something useful. (and cute.)

Knitting for charity I--The Afghan

2011-10-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

I have been meeting with a group of really cool librarians at the University of Texas every Thursday. The knitting demographic is mixed (some experienced, some starting off) but it is a congenial group and I needed to get out and knit with others of my kind.

When I first met them, they were working on a afghan for the Hearts of Texas. This afghan is now done, and my cohorts are now selling raffle tickets for the chance to own this "really, really cool" afghan.

Here are some photos Margie took while we were putting the thing together:

I am am the one in the grey sweater with my head down.

My square is yellow and is on the top row of this photo, though you cannot really see the detail of my cable pattern I practiced while finishing the square. You can go to the Library Castoffs on Blog spot to see posts the illustrate the finished blanket. It turned out well and those crafty librarians have already earned $103 in raffle ticket sales--yeah!!!

Procrastination

2011-10-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

I should be working on neices' Christmas presents or writing out the pattern for my sweater so I can post to Ravelry...but am procrastinating instead.

So here is funny knitting video 1:
http://youtu.be/3k6PS-_qSfE

Here is Funny Knitting Video 2:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/6xUAgFDopJ0

Enjoy!

looks simple...but its not

2011-10-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

My neice had picked a sweater pattern from VogueKnitting as a potential Christmas present (and she doesn't read my blog so I am really not too worried about letting any cats out of any bags.) It is for the most part stockinette with just a little shaping. Yes, the problem with the back is that it was so easy that I found myself falling asleep WHILE working on it. Yes, I was robo-knitting.

VogueKnitting Spring/summer 2011 p. 47.

But on the front is the focal point of this pattern, and though the whole design is lovely, the most stuff is going on just as you start the "V" in front. You are still decreasing on the sides for the shaping. You are decreasing on the inside "v" sections. You are changing colors.

It was so hard to keep track of what I was doing on any given row, I finally had to write everything out on a peice of paper and check sections off one at a time so I could track where I was. After I got past establishing that "v" shape and the stripe/color change, everything was a lot more straight forward, and actually knit up very quickly.

But haven't you found this to be the case in life as well. Something looks easy (or do-able) and then once you get into the project it is way more complex...and you have to fight not to be a little lost? I don't care how many lists I make, or how well I am using my planner or phone calandar, I am feeling right now like I am forgetting something, not getting something important done, not prioritizing well. It is unsettling. It is hard to enjoy the process/journey....and I think I am supposed to be enjoying it. But I always feel a little -- I don't know -- overwhelmed, stressed, confused, frustrated?

That is why I am going to mention this blog: clutterpunk, by Gina. This knitter/crafter/blogger is better at being okay with the unbalance of motherhood and she is funny reading. She hasn't posted in a while, but her entries are all entertaining and her spirit is in the right place...Check it out.

Updates and new treasures!

2011-09-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

I started a new VOGUEknitting sweater that will end up a Christmas present for my oldest niece. It is satisfying that it is knitting up very quickly on 10 needles, and luckily she did not pick out anything that was too difficult. The only thing I have been monitoring is the gauge as it is a bit off so there is a lot of measuring to ensure the pieces match the diagram. It would be horrible if the finished product did not fit.

VOGUEknitting (spring/summer 2011) p.47. Knit in size 39. Yarn: Cascade Yarns: Ultrapima

So, I haven't knit much on the hat I started recently (for her sister). But it is half done and the good thing is I will be ready for Christmas in that each item is about 40% finished already and we are still in September. So it is realistic that all the items will be done on time.

Vintage Modern Knits by Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn (2011): Bramble Beret, p. 23. Yarn: NaturallyCaron.com, SPA (a bamboo blend)

Moving right along:

The TREASURE for today is a knitted dress that was featured on KnittedBliss. The dress is called "Grey Swan Dress" from a Ravelry user: Jofaliina. Okay, my bias is pretty much AGAINST any knitted dress because it is so difficult to make the shaping come out right and make it FLATTERING to boot. Mostly I don't think these items could be successfully worn by anyone larger than Twiggie!

However, when I saw this dress

it was a REVELATION!!!!!!! The clouds parted and the sun shown down like a miracle of God. Here is the brilliance of this dress (beyond it's prettiness). Jofaliina had gracefully combined a circular lace shawl and a tank pattern to create a single exquisite dress. Hense, it was featured on KnittedBliss's "Modification Monday."

Just think of what this implies....another way of jiggering design to come up with wearable and flattering designs. Something that is DEFINITELY worth the time and effort and material to create. This dress will not end up at Goodwill EVER. In fact the only reason I haven't dropped everything to start knitting is that the tank pattern is in French, and I was daunted enough by the lace pattern, not to mention translating technical "knit-ese" from French. I think I may have to buck up and buy the patterns, and give it a try--even though I don't really have a REASON to wear it. Hell, I may just wear it to the grocery story humming "I Feel Pretty" as I pick produce and granola bars for my kids.

Now, I will be looking at patterns, not just in their own rights, but to see if there is a part of a pattern that could be co opted to work in another context.....the possibilities are endless!! JOY AND RAPTURE!!!

A different Way to Approach the Work

2011-09-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

First I will let you know that things have been hectic here on a number of different levels. But rather than itemize those things...and bore you silly...I am taking another tack.

This is a blog about knitting after all. You are NOT my therapists, dear readers.

First, kudos to Rachael of averagejanecrafter.blogspot.com. Well, her crafting is really way nicer than average in my opinion. The other thing I like about her blog is that she is really peppy and uplifting and I need that where ever I can get that. Today I read her post of August 23, where she is talking about the DREAMY Gene Kelly! Go to her blog NOW!!!

Look at the clip of Gene dancing by himself in a closed stage. http://youtu.be/Vw-qlHuktJs It is amazing and no one, not even ME, can stay depressed under those circumstances. He is everything that is right about being creative: making a lot with a little, utilizing great down time, enjoying what he is doing (or at least he makes a really good impression of having a great time, and frankly I don't think you can fake that kind of optimism.) (Also I would love to have a pair of those two tone loafers he dances in...those are so cool.)

While we are on the subject of friends, a good friend Julie was telling me about blog carousels and about blog roundups. I have to check in on the carosels, as I need to make sure I understand the pattern. But the blog roundups allow you a time every week to feature your favorite blogs. It is a way to spread other people's work around and create good karma. I think I will do it.

There is another reason I am feeling up. I posted the sweater I designed up on Ravelry.com and someone has already "hearted" it. This may seem like a small thing...but I ask you...what is a peice of newspaper? And what did our friend Gene manage to do with it? A little bit of encouragement goes a long way guys!

Food for thought, friends...food for thought. Watch out, I may feature you next.....

Transitions

2011-08-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Whew!

We just got back from Mexico where we visited Mehron's brother and daughter. It was interesting as a physical transition (us in Texas - dry and crunchy - worst drought in 50 years -- them outside of Puerta Vallarta -- green, humid and lush -- nothing drying out EVER!). It was interesting in a familial sense. Ali lives a different pace than we do and there was adjusting as we manuvered the logistics of living together in a small space. It was interesting being caught in between Spanish and English. I think I am learning more as I can now read most of the signs and postings--including this "Prayer of a Busdriver" that was posted on the front of a bus we took into town one evening.

View of the Pacific from outside Ali's trailer.

Even more tricky was the transition between breathing above water and below water that we experienced in scuba diving in Los Arcos outside of Puerta Vallarta. I think for me the most terrifying part was that time on the surface of the water when you have just gotten all your gear on and are waiting to go down. Once you're down, I suppose you have adjusted and are distracted by all the sea life and animals...and you just don't think about it as much. But on top of the water...you just imagine all the things that could go wrong. And I had to personally keep telling myself to breath and focus to keep myself from hyper ventilating.

Dive Master Frank helping me down while I am trying to manage the pressure on my ears.

Margaret started high school yesterday.

After we got home we whisked our baby to a new school and a new venture. This is not an easy transition. She will be out of balance for a while. Around 11 last night, she was was terrified at not having finished doing all her homework. She was appalled that it was the first day and she was already behind. The year loomed ahead of her as this impenetrable wall she will never be able to scale.

Margaret at the Eco Park Outside of Puerta Vallarta that it is not too unlike her plunge into High School

It turned out she had done most of it. Some of the teachers had also handed out homework for a few days ahead, so she had finished the stuff that was due today. It was dealing with that momentary terror that has me very worried on her behalf as she adjusts to this new place.

Transitions in knitting can be troublesome as well. I just knit up (while on vacation) a lace scarf. (Pattern: Classic Elite Yarns, Breast Cancer Awareness Scarf)

As it's lace and had symetrical finishes on both ends, you knitted two identical peices and then sewed them together (seam being along the neck). I have blocked it a bit so you can see the lace pattern, but I am not sure how I like the "transition" between the two peices.

Maybe this transition is just a bit like all the others going on for the family just now. Together...but wobbly just the same.

New resolution: Now as the children are going back to school, and we won't be traveling as much, blog more regularly (with maybe shorter entries to make this possible.) Also, Breathe through the transitions. We will get to the next part.

Testing, 1, 2, 3

2011-08-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

I have an iphone and am practicing posting from a remote location-in this instance I am at a Starbucks waiting for Margaret's tutoring to be done. Next I will try to post with a photo.

Fin

2011-08-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

IT'S DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (except for the buttons...which ones should I choose?)

All good fun and games...

2011-07-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

Okay! It is still over 100 degrees outside and my front yard has cracks in it everything is soooo dry. But my son sent me this clip and it is very funny, so I am sending it your way in case you need something to laugh at as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNHR35ECaKc

My friend is visiting family in Canada, and visited a really cool urban art "alley" and garden. Check out :http://miraclesandmadnessinanaustingarden.blogspot.com/ . Look at the post about Graffiti Alley. It is pretty amazing.

I finished one more school dress...

This one is a fine cotton seer sucker that was made into the "Lisette" pattern by Simplicity. I think I need this dress for my self...Everyone needs a cool dress that doesn't need to be ironed....

And the edging for my sweater design is about 75% done.

I am thinking I am going to have to block the lace edging to open up the holes a bit more. There is a double diamond figure in the lace that I thin goes well with the lace I incorporated into the cardi front. Maybe this can be done by tomorrow?

And I swam almost a mile at our local pool today. I gotta say it really helps clear the "greeblies" out and boy oh, boy do I have a lot of "greeblies."

Stay cool.

Three, Three...Three Posts in One

2011-07-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

Two Trips to Dallas. Bad Migraine weekend. Interviewed a ton of people to be our new office manager. Home DSL terribly messed up -- not connected to the world for about two weeks. While The Universe conspired to keep me from blogging, I never shirked on my knitting, so now that everything is back up (on line),there is progress.

Post One: A Sewing Side Track...it's Margaret's fault.

Going into our local fabric store to get buttons, we bumped into a FABULOUS pattern sale! I hadn't realized (as I hadn't sewn in a while) that patterns were as expensive as they were. But when I saw that all the Simplicity and McCall's patterns were on sale for $2 a piece, I gave my daughter (Margaret) carte blanch to pick out her school clothes.

She picked out some surprisingly adorable patterns. I say this because her hobby this summer has been to dress as much like a deranged Jazzercize instructor as possible...mostly to drive me crazy...and she has come dangerously close to succeeding. At any rate, she picked out a Simplicity sub line called Lisette, that is adorable. So we have two of those. And she picked out two dresses from a designer named Cynthia Rowley.

The problem is that our local fabric store carries great upholstery and quilting fabric but are a little low on non fleece stuff. So when in Dallas, we stopped by this great shop called CityCraft (http://citycraftonline.com/) and stocked up on some adorable prints. I have to say I was impressed.

Three of the finished pieces are as follows (please don't look at her grumpy face, as I interrupted her to get blog photos--she really does love them)

Cynthia Rowley Sundress with fab dart system on bodice. Cute bike fabric from City Craft in Dallas, which makes this eminently wearable for a Texas autumn. She will need a shrug for school....

I figured out how to do that funky zipper detail you see on a ton of "currant" dresses these days. It took me a while, but "by George, I've got it!"

Honestly, if you did this same pattern with raw silk and a long skirt it would make a pretty wedding dress... (or other kind of formal) One might say that the bikes are a bit busy, but really the whole effect on her is just right for her funky personality.

Lisette dress by Simplicity. Note origami folding on front bodice. Again...fabric was from City Craft. Groovy print on heavy fabric...Very nice. It looks nice on her, too.

Here's the Lisette dress with the Vogue sweater.

Here is another Lisette Pattern. The print is of blenders...which I think is too funny and too cute and perfect for her. It looks pretty with the black dotted Swiss. She is trying to talk me into hemming it shorter...I don't know...but maybe.

Lesson Learned: I still know how to sew and it is a nice skill to pass on to my daughter. (She is working on one of the 6 dress patterns herself.) Also, I can use dress patterns as starting points for knit patterns...just gotta use those gauges....

Post Two: Finishing a project Trumps Heat

I have finished the Vogue Knitting Sweater for Margaret. Here are the photos of that project.

Lesson Learned: I love knitting in the round on circular needles. It is just easier to hold the needles at the right angles for faster knitting. Though I am doing gauges...there is something off as this was a little smaller than I expected even though I checked the gauge swatch before starting and it was the same as the printed pattern.

Post Three: Progress on my "first" Design.

I am on the home stretch of the first sweater I am writing the pattern for.

It started off with the hand painted yarn from Madeleine Tosh.

I have all the major pieces ready to sew together and am working on the lace on the bottom. As you may remember I had a bad Sunday where I bumped into a problem with a Debbie Bliss lace pattern. I used another pattern from the same book and now am of the opinion that there must have been a mistake in the instructions.

Back with darts.

Two sleeves and two cardie fronts.

Front lace detail.

Beginning of new lace edging. I am further along now after having watched the Japanese women beat the American women in the women's World cup. It definitely needs to be blocked.

I really am quite pleased with this and am planning to show it to my friend at Hill Country Weavers for some professional feedback. I also opened up the most recent copy of Vogue Knitting and there was a blurb of the woman who is running Madeline Tosh. She is the great granddaughter of the original Madeline Tosh and is also an art historian who lives here in Texas. It feels like kismet...so I will compose an email and send her some pics...maybe I could do some work for her. (After all, we have stuff in common, we both live in Texas, we both have Art History degrees...)

Lesson Learned: Don't get frustrated when you get stuck on a tricky part...just go to another part of the project and work on that a while. Come back to it later. Also, don't stop. It is amazing what you can accomplish while you are waiting for kids to finish tutoring.

Summer Blahs!

2011-06-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Sigh. The heat is so bad that you catch your breath when you walk out the door. It was 105 degrees Farenheit yesterday. There is also wind. Hot wind. Very hot wind. And it just blows against you so you can't even open up your eyes as you stumble out to the parking lot where the interior of your car has got to be at least 200. And the steering wheel is going to burn your hands as you hover over the car seat which is too hot to sit on without burning the backs of your legs.

Life is as hot as the weather...and it is June...so I just have 4 or so more months of this. UGGGHHH! Kids are in summer school, but the schedule is wacky. I always have less time than I think I have to get things done before it is time to go pick someone up. Last week there were some office and household projects that needed attention, and those really cut into my knitting time.

Sorry to be so blue.

Though I have neglected the blogging last week, I have worked on two projects. One is following a Vogue Knitting Pattern. The other is something I am trying to design myself. I have earlier versions of these on other blog posts.

The first is the summer sweater from the Madeline Tosh hand painted yarn. I am very happy with how it is turning out so far, though I have torn out and remeasured way more times than I thought I would. I did a guage sample swatch and it seemed to be off. Maybe I didn't make it big enough...

Above and to the right are of the front left of the cardigan. The shape is created by a dart on the front, which decreases the measurement around the waiste. The other is a detail of the lace along the front edge of the sweater.

Generally, I am happy with the measurements. The main problem I see is the rate of decreasing on the internal edge at the top and the bottom. I worked out several schemes after referring to several knitting guides, but I wish it was easier to readjust the incline of the edge without have to reknit everything.

Here is a detail of the back and the sleeve.

My thoughts are the general measurements and shaping are great. I even liked the eyelet edgeing on the sleeve, and am happy with the decreases for the cap shaping.

I got stuck on the lace edging that I had chosen out of a Debbie Bliss stitch dictionary. I intend to use lace edging rather than a binding. I followed the instructions for the lace, but what resulted was nothing at all like the picture. I don't even have photos as I kept swatching from the same piece of yarn. Last Sunday I spent the whole day knitting and pulling out. It was so frustrating that I finally had to put it down. I have another friend who is trying it. She is from New Zealand, and I was thinking that as we all knit a little differently, she could help me figure out what it is in terms of reading the pattern that I am doing wrong.

To keep moving forward, I picked up the sweater I am working on for Margaret. I am almost at the place in the pattern where you attach the arms and the sweater body together and start forming a yoke. Following instructions after having to figure every line out is pretty relaxing, and so far this sweater is pretty easy and fast. The needles are big and the yarn is chunky so it seems easier.

On the left is a section of the sweater body. On the right is a sleeve and a half. It is nice that one thing in my life is moving along....We all need that!

Something cute

2011-06-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Finished the Cecily G. MacDonald shawl...It turns out that it was a knit down sweater after all...so when you knit the lace at what feels like the top....when you cast off, the top becomes the bottom. It is sort of like knitting origami.

Started the mom sweater after doing 5 million and six swatches on little needles. Can you see the dual darts coming along in the back?

Margaret's school sweater from Vogue knitting is also coming along. She is very excited.

Something cute for you to look at..
http://youtu.be/G2K1VI6sLdY

Asking For Help

2011-05-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went to my favorite knitting haunt, Hill Country Weavers...Really...I am turning into a knitting groupie. Margaret has called me a knitting nerd, and I have called her an impertinent hussie.

The purpose of my visit was to check in with Suzanne Middleton (owner) to see if she could give me any advice. I was willing to do an internship with her to learn more about yarn and design. I really appreciated her gracious attention and time.

Instead of letting me get embroiled in a time intensive intern relationship, she had some very basic and sensible advice for me. The basic gist of it was:

a) Focus: what is your passion in knitting? Sweaters/maybe designing? I tend to get a little spread out because there is so much that is wonderful out there in knitting-land. I feel like a kid in a candy shop. But if I had to do one thing...right now, it is designing.

b) Don't get too spread out with projects. (corollary to a) Don't worry about the yarn right now. There is tons of good yarn out there. Later, the yarn project may come up again....but for right now work on your passion in your house.

c) Get seen. And she was open to me bringing samples by and she would give me feedback. She also suggested joining some designer groups on Ravelry as a place to show finished projects.

d) Don't waste time looking for a magic bullet activity. There is no formulaic way to do this. Work on it project by project and see what emerges. This sounded suspiciously like Anne Lamott's book Bird By Bird (about writing).

She also suggested a great list of web places to check out: Deep South, West End, Church Mouse, Norigon and Quince & Co. I still need to look these resources up. I thought I would do that right after I finished catching up on Blogging.

For you gentle reader, you should be aware that though this was a simple interview, I was really sweating the whole time I was talking to her. Maybe I was nervous that she would tell me that my project was ridiculous or that my knitting was not advanced enough for what I was proposing to do. She did not do that. I think, my fears notwithstanding, most people are not as discouraging as I am afraid they are going to be. Mostly people like to help and are perhaps happy that you think their opinion matters.

I also have trouble asking for help in general. But I think this simple interview may have helped me work on that little piece of myself.

Homework for you: go find a "expert" and practice asking for help. A little sweat never hurt anyone.

Looking forward: I shall follow up on last week's Monday list and will have some lace swatches to upload and perhaps I can get some sampling done as well.

Knit on!!

Fun with the Library Castoffs

2011-05-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

Thursday, I slid in for a quick visit with Marjie's Knitting Group: The Library Castoffs!

It was a good call on my part because David had a great resource, The Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches. This book has a ton of lace patterns, not intimidating in terms of complexity, but pretty to see. This particular resource helped to unblock my ideas for the mom sweater. I came home from the meeting and drew up 4 drawings for sweaters I would like to try and started swatching immediately (only to be interrupted by kid school pick up---ARRGGHH).

I spent time on Friday and Saturday swatching (I can put up some photos tomorrow)...and was having some trouble with the cotton yarn I had on hand. I picked this cotton as a logical choice for Texas weather, but the samples seemed to grow once I did a gauge and tried multiple starts to the actual sweater. I am now thinking a linen cotton blend might be a better choice, or something that might have a bit of something in it to help with elasticity.

So two things you can try for your project are

1) Get linked into a local group that is active in your chosen activity. There is something inspiring about being around others who are excited about what they are doing.

2) Look at their resources. I have a lot of knitting books, but seeing something different (coupled with my field trip with Suzanne) really seemed to spark the ideas. Potential projects seemed do-able and exciting at the same time.

At any rate this was a great way to cap off such an inspiring week. I can't wait to get my fingers into all of this (and this week will have a lot of family activity with Margaret's graduation and we have some upcoming house guests--and though I am cool with all of this--it will be hard to knit in the midst of this sort of activity...)

Balance, Balance, Balance....it will be fine.

Something Funny For You

2011-05-18T15:32:00.003-07:00

I found this great spoof of Nashville singing from the 1970s (to go with all that funky shag I saw this morning.)

Watch have a laugh on me. But don't analyze anything too closely...tee hee.

http://youtu.be/dUOgqefnt_I

4 Ways to Turn Waiting for a Car into Inspiration

2011-05-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

Karma pays back.

Today I helped my friend, Suzanne, with transportation because her car was out of action. I was rewarded by visual stimulation and loads of inspiration because we used the opportunity to do some window shopping while we were waiting for the work to be done. After my malaise yesterday, this was a welcome shot in the arm, especially in terms of color, texture and scale.

The first place we hit after dropping her car off was Collectic--a fun, boutique furniture store. http://www.collectichome.com/ It was like walking into a candy store!!!!!

Yes, I will have one of each, please.

I totally hated shag in the 1970s but I love the play with scale of these samples. The samples felt good, too.

Okay, this wins the prize for cutest thing made out of recycled goods. This sweetie reminds me of our ShihTzu, Tulip. A good name for this peice is News Hound (it is created out of newspapers.)

How is it possible to keep your hands off this pillow made out of recycled bow ties. Very colorful, very textural.

Chair was made out of SEATBELTS. Purple ones no less.

Then, the next part of running around was a search for a phone cover that I had seen on the blog: Plain Jane Crafter. She showed a case cover created by Yarn Artist: Magda Sayeg. I thought I remembered her saying that she had gotten it at Uncommon. Here in Austin there is a story called Uncommon objects, so we headed over to South Congress...disappointed in that they did not carry said case. They did have a ton of other cool (used) treasures to explore.
http://www.uncommonobjects.com/

Here is an illustration of the covers. I thought since I am not really a jewelry person that I could splurge on a "knitted" phone cover, especially since I drop my phone ALL THE TIME. Little did I suspect that these covers ONLY work on IPHONES--not on your husband's hand-me-down blackberrys.

You can get these at the following website http://www.getuncommon.com/ or you can get them at a really cool Artsy bookstore called Domy Book (on East Cezar Chavez...we checked it out. They had it, but that is where we figured out that it didn't work on my phone.) We saw tons of cool stuff, but I did not end up with a useful phone cover. Later, I suppose.

In spite of my disappointment about said phone cover, I found a flyer for the 2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair in Austin (May 21-22). We went last year and had A BLAST!! So we will be going this year, too. If you are in town, Heather says check it out. It's free! It too is inspiring!

Now, finally, I located the website and blog for Magda Sayeg....at http://www.magdasayeg.com/home.html. Heather Says check it out also...it will bend your brain about what can be done with knitting. I am a HUGE fan.

Monday List

2011-05-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I was so busy mapping and blogging I forgot to make my Monday list.
a. Begin the sweater I started designing for Margaret. I need to cast on and get the bottom band going. Catagory: designing/Patterns

b. Work on the Alpaca I bought in March to see how much you can knit out of a "spool of yarn". Category: yarn dye. Need notes to use in conversation with Sherman.

c. Follow up with Sustainable Fibers: make appointment for working roving I purchased into yarn. Category: Yarn dye

d. Follow up with Jeremy: about his friends with fiber east of Manor. Category: Yarn dye.

e. Administrative/Learning task: Evaluate 3 blogs I like, then evaluate 3 posts I have made. Make notes about ways to improve my blog writing/formating.

Okay, I have done all this organizing, so I need to get back to the knit part. I am a knit blog afterall.

This weekend I started working up some Alpaca that I bought from a rancher (Sherman) on the way to our lake house in March. He sold yarn in strange amounts on spools, so I just bought some. But the trick is that I look at patterns to work it out in and have to guess if I have enough.

I started this lovely lace shawl from Cecily Glowik MacDonald because it looked like I had enough to finish the project.

However, I am struggling with the pattern. In the instructions, it seems that the triangle for the shawl part is described separately from the lace edging. There are no notes in the finishing about how to connect the lace and the triangle base. I guess I was sort of expecting something like "after you have done the main part of the shawl, pick up stitches along the edge and start the lace pattern" or "create the lace yardage you need and then sew on." But there is nothing.

I just went back and looks and maybe I misinterpreted the Row 2 instruction. If I was in a room with someone I would ask, and then go forward. My problem is this one little section and I need a life line. I have checked both Classic Elite Errata and Ravelry...and so far I can't find anyone who has done this one before.

I am frustrated. Argghh! I am this close to pullling it out and starting something else out of it.

Next Steps

2011-05-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

Whenever a new "thing"comes into my life, I am immediately inundated with whizzing ideas. I have to Stop. Slow Down. Take Stock. I want the idea I am working on to work:. No, I NEED the idea I am working on this time to work. You need your idea to work this time too. I am hearing you. My exercise in charting could help you as well.

My chart had all the things on it that I would want for a yarn/knitting business in an ideal world. I want to do something with yarn production, to have patterns, to get brave enough to make magazine submissions or even maybe prepare a collection of my own stuff. I even have an idea for a knitting novel. I know, I know...I'm spread out and sort of vague in a couple of categories.

The point is I am trying on stuff in all these areas. I may come to the conclusion that my pattern ideas will be a bust. But that's all right at this point--I'm just getting the thoughts on paper.

My map is to help me:

a) figure out if I have a direction or have been chasing my tail, and

b) to figure out what to do on Monday.

And I know you guys have a Monday you need to contend with as well. And your Monday is probably pretty crazy so you want Your Stuff to be easy to finish so that you can get it done and move forward on your project and still keep all the other family balls in the air as well.

(Cathy, you do need to contact a few coffee houses to set up some more exhibits for your photos. I will help you.)

The rest of you, check out her gardening blog: http://miraclesandmadnessinanaustingarden.blogspot.com

I started out with my notebook and a pen because I work better that way. I used a sketch of a possible Web Page with links because it seemed a practical way to categorize the things I have done so far.

Then I put together a chart on the computer so that I can more easily make changes as the ideas evolve.

In my example based on a web page sketch I have: yarn, patterns, publications, events and Knit Chick Lit. I sort of sketched out definitions of each of these buttons and listed my activities since January under these various headings. What I have found out is that I am not guilty navel gazing!!!! I am beginning to see some form to all the stuff I have tried.

The other sensible lists I included are: what I need to do next and ideas or tasks that were sort of holding me up in some way (where I have to look for some sort of outside help). One of the ideas that I feel stuck with is negotiating a fleece price with a local producer. I have talked with him, but did not feel the conversation really got us where we needed to go. I may need help here.

You are all smart and creative and your charts will be as creative and unique as you are--and definitely more specific to your projects. Just get the idea of tracking what you want, what you have done so far, what you need to do, and possible road blocks. I only include the photo evidence that I am doing my own homework and reiterate the idea that WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER.

If you can't answer some of the questions (like you don't specifically know what you want yet...)
use this time to think about it. Talk to your friends or someone you worked well with. Sometimes a chat and a cup of coffee can go miles to helping clarify things. Starbucks sells more than beverages...they sell opportunity to work nebulous ideas into something clear and do-able.

To reward you for your work, here's a link to a funny video (and because I love knitting ... guess what the topic is)... Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6ZjMWLqJvM

On a purely knitting note: If any of you have worked on Cecily Glowik MacDonald's Soft Linen Shawl and finished it...let me know. I am confused about the instructions on her Classic Elite Yarns Pattern. I will check Ravelry as well...just wondering in case any of y'all have messed with this too...

New and Improved! Jazzy post just for you as you too take your first steps!

2011-05-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

This is what I saw out the front window this morning.

I'm not going to use my adjectives for this because you can see for yourself what it is and probably have many more cool words to apply to this photo than I.

And they're off!

I'm off!

There is peace in the universe!

Like you, I am working in a real world and stuff that happens effects my emotions and efforts for the day. This semester has been sort of rocky for me and my 13 year old. The roller coaster ride has crawled up the hill of "you're the best mom ever" to cliff hanging drops seconds later of "you don't understand me and you're so mean."

And then came the moped.

And who said there's no such thing as love at first sight?

Mehron wanted to get it for days he didn't have to travel or pick up clients because it doesn't use as much gas as his car. There is a certain elegance in economy. Yeah, I can get behind that. What I did not see coming was that Margaret has been up, dressed, out the door early and ready to go because she and Dad go to school together now. My mornings have been smooth (all the better to blog you my pretties). Mehron is saving money. Margaret has not slept until the very last minute to have sulky-sit-on-the-couch that should be a sprint out the door to make it to school on time. That's what we call a Win, Win, Win situation.

Here are a few finished projects to think about:

The All Day Beret, Designed by Debbie Stoller, StitchNationYarns.com (pattern is free.) Yarn: Bamboo Ewe. I am bemused as Margaret keeps asking for hats. They are not my thing (especially if it is hot out.) But for her...I don't have a problem with a quick "sample project."

Next was a sweater re-purposing:

Old sweater from Savers:

Sweater cut down and made into funky skirt:

Waiste band with crochet border. This is (how do they say it in Monty Python?) not my idiom. I felt that the process took way to long for the effect. Also, though I pressed the seams, Margaret wouldn't let me fuss with smoothing things out...so the photo is lumpier than I would have liked.

This experiment is a perfect segue for our new blog homework this evening (Did I mention we are now going interactive? Get off the couch. It is good for your character.): http://craftfail.com/ Check it out.

Why, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you. When you see all the hard work of oceans of bloggers diligently putting up their best work for our edification and consideration, it sort of implies that it is bad to fail. It's natural to want to show one's best--I'm guilty of this myself...but perhaps not realistic that it will happen all the time. This premise works to increase our frustration when the process is not going our way (see photo above) Frustration is a truly counterproductive emotion. It really keeps you from being open to the good stuff. To truly push the bounds of creativity, we must be willing to get down and dirty, push boundaries, make mistakes.

Think about how FROM THE ASHES OF DISASTER GROW THE ROSES OF SUCCESS (Chitty! Chitty! Bang! Bang!)

Besides the blog is really funny. I love being amused. You will love being amused. I instantly empathize with all the people who have uploaded their own CraftFails. These souls are my new best friends. I may very well add our lumpy, re-purposed sweater skirt.... So, improving homework tonight is for us all is to consider our imperfections, the imperfections of our practice in a positive and humorous light to keep our spirits up.

The pay off will be three-fold:

a. We become one with the limitations of our ability,
b. We will be amused at the psycho mint milano sheep and the black rainbow painting, and our humour will help us deal with those limitations,
c. We will relax about the process. And gentle grasshopper...it is all about the process.

Extra Credit:

Okay you goodie-two-shoe, Girl-Scouts. I know you are out there. You got your homework done and are so excited about my new editorial direction and your successful completion of your homework, you still have a touch of energy. Good for you. I want you to visit a friend of mine from my Dance Class at Austin Ballet. Her name is Laura Bond Williams. She has her own family AND her own marketing company (which makes her a go-getting, Girl Scout type as well...you will get along.) Her blog is about dancing and how this has created a sort of emotional opening for her as she stretches to express herself. It is good to get out of our comfort zone from time to time...and did I tell you dancing (and I can do it perfectly in my head) is definitely out of my comfort zone. BUT I LOVE IT! Heather says: Check it out. http://bornagaindancer.blogspot.com/

NEW AND IMPROVED KNIT CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!!

2011-05-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

From here on out we are all about self actualization AND knitting.

Frustrated at the amount of work I have put into this challenge and the fact that my readership is so limited (I LOVE you Marjie, Cathy and Lucy), I googled to get ideas on improving my blog. There were a number of posts full of suggestions that would have made my college English Teacher, Dr. Elders, very happy. Though I think I am bright and articulate, my blog is full of blogging cardinal sins. My text blocks are “huge tracts of land.” I ramble. My project is unclear or changes frequently. I use big words. I use fluff words like rather or very that do not contribute to meaning. Fine, these are all fixable things. I can do this.

But there was one suggestion made that for me was like a spiritual awakening. And the light came down from the heavens. And it was good. Ready for it…

Your blog should solve a problem. Your blog will get more visits if it helps the reader by giving them something they need. (http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/04/13/10-ways-to-improve-blog-traffic-in-30-minutes-or-less/) Thanks Mr. Rowse—blogging guru extraordinaire.

Get out your sunglasses, folks.

To date, my blog has been about me, my feelings of anxiety, my need to express myself, my knitting—tracking my challenge, my progress. Boring. For you guys at least. I wouldn’t stop and read it either.

I think many of the blogs I’ve read, especially crafting ones are committing the same sorts of problems. It takes so much energy to get your “craft” done and then get a post up before dinner (or before the kids need help with their homework) that your idea of editing is less about structure, direction or reflection and is more just to run a quick spell check and make sure those photos uploaded right.

I am not saying that craft bloggers don’t have it going on. We are, as a breed, thoughtful, liberal, loving, attentive, creative, funny…the list goes on. But in my brief survey of good craft blogs last night, I was seeing that the ones I really liked were mostly photo essays, not real blog posts. In terms of filling the role of providing examples to scan….then we as a group are doing well. We groove on getting the nitty gritty of technique out there so someone else can try it too. But if our job is to make the connection of what we learn while we are crafting—both about ourselves and about the process…then we can do better. And that connection is what will help readers make their own. And lead to happier readers. (And hopefully by extension, readers who will come back and make our traffic stats higher.)

I know who you are. You had the backbone to choose to stay home with your kids. You may have done really well in school (I actually outperformed my husband in school—yet he is the one making the money while I have supported him by running his office). You may have had a job before the kids were here. But you had trouble making the jump back into the working world once those kids were old enough for you to take something on. Maybe there was something practical in that jump that made it hard not to go: child care was going to cost more than I'll make by going back, so why go through the whole rigmarole?

I really believe, to the bottom of my toes, that we all need to take something else on. Not just for our sakes, but for our husbands’ and children’s sakes. I feel it in my bones. I read it in your blogs. I see the longing in your lovely soulful posts…(And yes, I am going to be better about leaving comments when I visit you. I may even mention you in this NEW, IMPROVED BLOG.) You want it. I want it. And Oprah Winfrey knows we each have the power to make the world a better place—there’s so much to do—so let’s get cracking.

So I hereby formally say that the original purpose of this here KnitChallenge blog is over. (No need to read a bunch of archived posts, I was knitting my way through a knit book my mom gave me when I was 21 in a year a la Julie and Julia.) However, I, Heather Azarmehr, being of pretty sound mind and pretty sound body formally take upon myself the challenge of finding a vocation that makes money and likewise takes advantage of my skills and passions. I will hereby use this blog to track my progress on setting that vocation up. By doing so, youwill have a place to get ideas to help you with your project/vocation whether that is sewing, gardening, making cute toys, writing novels, setting up the next great nonprofit…whatever it is I will support you and make sure you are doing something positive on it everyday.

And because I didn’t include any cute photos today, I am going to leave you with a blog I found yesterday that made my heart swell and my eyes tear up.

Blog is: http://afancifultwist.typepad.com/

The story is about some lilies that lived in a forgotten pot for 14 years and then bloomed—OUT OF NO WHERE. Think of yourselves as those lilies. GO CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS—THEY ARE AMAZING. YOU ARE AMAZING. WE ARE AMAZING. We are just going to mix the dirt around our toes a bit so we can see our lovely blooms. I can’t wait!

Lace it up! and other unrelated thoughts

2011-05-11T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! In terms of knitting today, I will share with you my recent experiments with easy lace knitting. I have not really gotten into lace before because it seems very esoteric...but lately, there seem to be some lovely patterns and in an ever increasing effort to improve the skill set--I just sat down, read the instructions and tried.

Here was the first option, a beret from Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation (I tried her cardi earlier this spring...and find her patterns accessible.) I am including the pattern photo for reference, it is free on Ravelry if someone likes this. Margaret picked the pattern because she wants the hat.

Overall I am happy with the new No.5s that I am using to knit this in the round. I really think my hand position is better. In terms of the pattern, you can definitely see it coming along.

Here you can see I got distracted. There is a row in the middle where I seemed to miss the alternate line of the directions. (I got up to switch the laundry and make some dinner.) I think for Margaret, this error was not so bad so I don't need to pull out and redo. I am getting the feel for yarn overs.

Another pattern I decided to sample was from the new Vogue Knitting (Spring/summer 2011). I have the photo reference and my sample here. This one I just did up this morning. The other thing I am noticing is that stuff knits up way faster than with the 5s and 10s than they did with the 1's and 2's I was using on those small mitts.

This sweater is a very pretty design. It is sleek and lacy and seems like something I could wear realistically here in Texas to church or to the office. The pattern took me a couple of shots as there was a slip, slip, knit, passover the two slips over the knit stitch thing that took me some coffee and three tries to figure it out. I think I got it.

And though I had a scrap yarn to just try the stitch, I will have to invest in enough yarn to finish the sweater, as I don't have enough. This may be a project for later, but I will keep the swatch in my file...and it was cool to try something new

I have not forgotten the design project, but I did feel the need to let it percolate a bit. I can start it as soon as I finish the beret, as I need that set of circular needles to cast on the bottom part of Margaret's sweater. I forgot that in the little spurt of lace experimentation. I think I may be able to get it done tonight and cast on my design tomorrow.

Also, in an effort to fund this passion of mine, I was trying to see if I could recycle cute/used knits into other items to sell on Etsy.com. Everything I have done on this idea has been "research and development." I have looked at ideas on line and in books, and have been cutting things up to see what would work. While I generally like the designs I have produced, they take more time to produce than I expected. I was thinking if this was to work, I needed something I could make stock of and list, so I could manage my time better for the knitting, blogging, design work. However, this coffee cozy (because I crocheted and beaded it) is not that practical though it is very sweet to look at. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Original JCrew cashmere sweater purchased from Savers.

You've probably seen the journal covers with applique and embroidery.

Here is the coffee cozy, crocheted and beaded up. My cup doesn't have a handle, so I may have to work out some prototypes that work better on standard cups.

And now for something totally different, and not related to knitting at all. But it was something on my mind nonetheless. Now how to broach this. While I have been working, I have of course, been listening to the news. I think the big thing lately has been that Osama Bin Laden is no longer alive. Of course, this, in many ways, has ended a certain strand of activity that has been vexatious to us all. His mode of problem solving was not one I would want to emulate because he focused on the negative and encouraged his followers to do likewise. He was dangerous to many people and needed to be stopped.

I do remember hearing on the news yesterday that his wives and some of his children have been taken into custody for questioning. And something hit a nerve, I guess. Maybe it was because I had a friend whose husband just passed away and I was witness to the grief and panic resulting in that event. I started imagining what it would be like if you were in your home, a swat team came in in the middle of the night and killed your husband (for whatever reason), and then whisked you and your family off to some nondescript and probably uncomfortable place for "questioning." You would not feel safe. You would be upset at your husband's death, you would be worried about what was to become of you and your kids. You might be uncomfortable and a little bored between stints of getting questioned. Maybe the food would make your stomach hurt.

Mr. Bin Laden had several wives, and one of them is not much older than my daughter when they married. I really am finding it hard to imagine what it would be like to live in place where I shared wife-hood with other people, but it has been done and I am willing to accept that there may be some valid sociological reasons for this particular religious practice--though it is not my own. But I find myself fretting for what kind of situation this youngest woman in particular may find herself in. She did not have power (as far as I could see) in choosing her husband or her life. She does not have power (as far as I can see) with the people who have her now, questioning her to get information to keep the rest of us safe.

What are her emotions? Did she love Mr. Ben Laden? Or did she just accept him? Was she afraid of him or was there some genuine affection there? I often feel that some of our most quotiedienne feelings let us practice for higher spiritual purpose. So, yes, for me this would be an issue that would bear on my sentiments here. Would she be frightened of the American service men? Relieved? Angry? Bewildered? Worried? And all of this so tightly bound in with events that have touched all our lives.

If the children are very young, is there a place where they are where they can play while their parents are being questioned? Is someone making some effort to comfort them in this really scary time for them. Afterall, they just lost a dad as well. This alone is a devastating event--I imagine whatever the time, whatever the place, whatever the circomstances. Your sense of worth, who you are, what you can do in the world are all strongly dictated by your dad. If he is not there, then the project of getting to a place where you have an idea seems so much more difficult.

Also, what will become of them once they are no longer "detainees"? What kind of life can you make for yourself after such an affair? It is not even that you have to straighten out paperwork, but really...what can possibley be the next step for her or them? And there will have to be a next step. Does this kind of treatment pretty much ensure that she will be angry (with her husband's followers) at the "West" for the rest of her life -- at how callously they had been treated? How can people come up with positive solutions when they feel that everything is stacked against their favor? It is not like they heard Oprah tellling them that they can all make positive change in their lives? There is not an intellectual context for those kinds of ideas...or at least I have a hard time imagining it to be so.

I hope she knows that someone is thinking of her and her sister wives and that we are concerned if a little confused. How I want to extend the hand of friendship here with a little care package, but am sure if I looked into that it would not be feesible. No matter how "pie in the sky" my concern may be to any of you, especially those of you who are married to service people who have been fighting on our behalf, know that it is not that I do not deeply appreciate your loved one's (or your) sacrifices on my behalf, but rather that I see complexity in this world that I am finding hard to process.

Knit Unto Others...Knot?

2011-05-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is hard to track where I actually pick bits and peices up from. My technique of making notes on post-its as beginnings for blog entries is A. Little. Vague. However, here is some interesting food for thought--so thank you out there in blog land for whoever mentioned this. I have forgotton your name though remembered your words. To knit for a significant other or not--that is the question.

To wit, when Mehron and I began dating, I was inspired to knit him a sweater. Several things made this seem like a good idea. First, I really liked Mehron and wanted to commicate that affection to him. Also, my Mom had bought some yarn in Italy on her honeymoon with my dad with the idea of making him a sweater. It never got made, so here was this lovely Italian yarn sitting around the house even bought for romantic reasons (afterall, my mom and dad were still married), and I had a pretty cute boyfriend at the time...why not pick up those needles and get started?

I finished that sweater for him, as well as one other (that was sort of geometric take on fair isle knitting). I think for beginner efforst these sweaters were pretty good and not too embarassing. I was proud that I had made something substantial for him. Substantial was what I felt for him.

However, I did experience the pang of disappointment that neither garment was worn much beyond the first try on.

This blog I read suggested that when you knit for a significant other, it sometimes communicates something much different and darker to your recipient than what you originally intended. The receipt of a handmade sweater could indeed communicate "I am ready to set up house" when all the other intended was a couple of dates and nice evenings. The actual sweater can be see as a sort of passive/agressive bond. Yarn literally tying the poor guy down. In this situation, a knitted message would be offputting.

Yet, we've been together for 21 years, so he was obviously not scared away--by the sweaters at any event.

On the other hand, Mehron didn't "get" the effort and expression it obviously had for me. I don't even think that we have those sweaters any more--they were handed off to the Goodwill pile long ago. His watery explanations to me were vague and having to do with it is hot in Texas and he didn't need this many sweaters. I think in the case of the color change example, there may have been a bit of issue with the fit. It may have felt a little tight as I was still working on tension, then. Maybe what he was giving away was not so much the actual sweater but the feeling that perhaps I was trying to control his emotions with the work--you must love me because I did this great thing for you? I couldn't get too worked up about it as I believe he gave some sweaters his Mother had made from him away as well. The poor guy is just not into sweaters and yet there is this group of women who surround him -- want him all bundled up, safe, and loved. And the guy is the epitome of Mr. Adventure. He just doesn't want to be bundled up and safe. It makes him feel clausrophobic and antsy.

One of the things about being a grown up that surprizes me the most is how very clear Ideas in my head do not always match up with what Happens in the arena of life. This is just one example of how this occurs for me. Especially because the ideas in my head are sometimes so wonderful and exciting. The crazy thing is that it takes me a while to reconcile that that disconnect is okay. You just can't get your panties in a wad about it...just recognize it for what it is and move on with the positive.

As we have been married for so many years I think he knows by now that I love him and will keep him around, but even now when I see something delicious to make for him...I find myself holding back so as not to get my feelings hurt. After all, though I love the activity of knitting, there is an investment of time, energy and sometimes even a bit of money involved...who wants to invest it if the energy is not understood or appreciated?

The good thing about all this is that we did have a daughter. I love to see her reactions to looking at patterns and yarn and getting excited when stuff is finished. I love that she comes in with photos and ideas and asks me what I think. It really seems to validate my appreciation for the craft and wanting to get better--both as a knitter and a person. Maybe that makes up for all my misplaced affection after all. What do you think?

Cutie Pie Mitts finished in a night of sleeplessness

2011-05-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

Last night I took my medication in the wrong order so I woke up at 3 am and couldn't go back to sleep. So instead of fretting, I came on downstairs for some water and midnight knitting and was able to finish the Abigail Handmits from the new Vintage Modern Knits (Osborn & Kelly) I bought last month. I just finished steam blocking and here is a photo fresh off the presses! I am happy with the way these turned out.

Starting from scratch in a new month

2011-05-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's been a while...but the synapses have been popping and things have been happening, so I decided to let what needed to happen ... happen. Bear with me while I map out where I have been.

First, my two cutie pie projects....First is a trial from a book that I got for Margaret this Christmas about recycling sweaters into other items. So here I was working on some samples of journal covers. This sweater was a cashmere JCrew sweater that is very soft. I got the sweater from Savers down the street. I will use the sleeves for coffee cosies...but that will be later. My favorite version is the applique flowers with the small amount of embroidery. Note for next time...is use real embroidery floss rather than yarn...it will look more finished.

Last time you guys saw these puppies, there was only one and it was just started. However, watching the Royal Wedding of Catherine Middleton and William get married in England allowed me to get alot done. So now am in the exciting "I'm almost done" phase....my favorite. One the first one things I noticed that my tension is much tighter on the bottom (or cuff) where as on the top part that has the thumb hole I was keeping the knitting much looser as I went on. I don't know if the change in tension can be worked out in the blocking phase. Let's hope so, because these are turning out really well otherwise.

Since January I have been really trying hard to up my knitting skill level. The purpose of this is to be able to be more flexible in terms of what I can design. I have tried: a sock with a turned heal, peices of lace, and fair isle and intarsi color change projects into my repetoire. I am feeling game to try to write a pattern from scratch, to see if I can do this afterall. (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.) Afterwards, I may offer these two examples on line for free. I guess this is the knitting version of throwing up spaghetti on the wall to see if it sticks.

I started out getting in touch with what my intuition was telling me. I cut photos out of a magazine and put them on the floor to see if I could "see" what was going visually in my head. This is what it looked like all right.

What I noticed was the following:
* Bright color pallette with clean colors. Shocks of oranges and fuscia, lavendar and purple.
* Mother and daughter motifs
*Creative, imaginative

I am thinking the mother daughter theme might be pointing to a set of sweater patterns. Margaret is 13 so these cannot be matchy/matchy, but sweaters for me and her could coordinate. The sweaters cannot be the same shape as we are different shapes and sizes. I have an idea that mine would be a fitted longish cardigan, but Margaret wants more of a tee-idea. The same bright colors could be in each, and helping them coordinate with each other. I'll start with the one for for Margaret.

So I started out with graph paper trying to come up with a colorful, jaunty pattern I could start knitting swatches from. What I came up with was this. The problem here was that I seemed to be getting too complicated all at once. I was changing colors (with a stranded or fair isle method). I also had this idea that I should switch from pattern (seed stitch) with some stripes and stockinette with other stripes. I am not happy with the swatches. I think the change in texture and the holes from the color changes are creating a bunchy quality that is not working. Also, Cathy pointed out that if you stranded a cotton sweater here in Texas, it would feel like you had two sweaters on and be too hot. Her opinion was to try Intarsia.

So I pulled out and looked up Debbi Bliss and checked out her section on Intarsia color techniques. I also looked up Cathy's Kaffee book which sported a helpful technique section that discussed frequent color changes and how to weave up the tails of the color changes so you don't have to go in and weave all those tails back in when the sweater was finished. So I created a swatch that let me try all the stuff that I was reading about and got a swatch that looked like this:

I liked how the swatch is a lot less lumpy and tended to (even unblocked) lay flatter. So I decided to simplify the first graph and also simplify the first draft further by not alternating stripes of stockinette and seed stitch...just stick to stockinette for the overall stitch.

The next swatch features that intarsia method, smoothes out the alternating seed stitch, but I am still trying to create depth with color by having a single large polka dot cover the smaller blue ones--changing the colors where they overlap. But the pattern was so small that the overlap colors still do not smooth out. So my swatch now looks like this:

Note too that I was playing around with the binding by using an I-cord at the bottom...a plan I now eschew as it is very tight and not stretchy. Though I am a fan of the i-cord...I can certainly see when it's not working.

In this intarsia sample I learned:
*Here I was twisting yarns betwwen color changes and there are no holes. So I will continue this practice.
*The fabric continues to lay flater than the other two swatches. It is certainly less lumply.
*I may be needing to simplify with the graphic motif here...and not do a color change over the overlapping polka dots...

In terms of overall sweater shape, I had in mind for Margaret a cropped, drop shoulder sweater as she has one I made in the 1990s and I think it looks good on her. But she opted for a shape that was more reminisent of 1980s. I have included my sketch, but it is light...

I have on the original sketch both her measurements, as well as some guage info. I am trying to use up some of this "I Love This Cotton" yarn from Hobby Lobby, and it seems to do pretty well on needle numbers 5 and 6. So everything is guaged from that. I also picked up som circular needles as I think this will make the transition from the graphic pattern of the bottom and the solid section at the top a little more seamless.

Since the girl wants this blousier thing that has a wider binding at the bottom. I did up a K1 P1 binding that changes color every 20 stitches. Here is a swatch for that...And maybe the purple makes up for the fact that I have opted out for the large overlapping polka dot.

And the new chart is ready with corrections so that the 20 stitch repeat will work with the 240 stitches I figured I have to cast on.

So today, Mother's Day afterall, I am starting on casting on the binding with Number 5's. I have written out the beginning of the pattern...but won't bore you with that now.

Happy Mother's Day, y'all!

Finishing up this batch

2011-04-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

I love finishing things because it gives me sense of moving forward and accomplishment. This morning it was a couple of things. I got the buttons on the Classic Elite "Provence" pattern I knit up for Allison's baby. Now it is ready for the "Shower Care Package" we will be mailing from the office. I feel pretty safe that she is not reading this so I have no fear that I have let the cat out of the bag. I love, love, love those sheep buttons. They were the last thing I saw in the fabric shop last night, and they are absolutely perfect for this baby sweater. My 16 year old son looked at all this (and I think most days he thinks I am crazy) and mentioned that his Spanish Teacher was expecting any moment...and that maybe she needed one too. Okay, I am not sure that I am THAT excited about it.

Here is the square for the Cast Offs. This group of knitting librarians is creating a charity blanket as part of a fund raiser. I started my contribution as a way of sampling the cable for a sweater Margaret requested. It was too small, so I added the seed stitch frame...and it turned out pretty cool.

Margaret has been wearing this hat unfinished for about two weeks. This drives me crazy, though she does not appear to be too fazed by it. I finally finished and added the Pom Poms to the Happy Flap Hat by Spud and Chloe. I am happy to make this for my daughter, but I have to say, I am not a big fan of pom poms in general. I hope that opinion is not too evident in the hat.

Finally, I took a class this weekend. The visiting craftsperson was Ann Hanson. She does alot of lacework. I took the yarn I dyed with Shannon Okey and was working on it. In class I was so nervous, I did not do very well. When I came home and could look at the chart with a post-it...I did much better and now have the hang of it. I think it did help with the basic concepts of knitting lace. I was especially interested in the provisional cast on. I think that technique has many applications that I look forward to trying.

Twixt Life and Death

2011-04-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a very surreal week. A close friend lost her husband unexpectedly to a massive heart attack. We were all taken by surprize. He was not particularly old. They had a 15 year old daughter who is still in high school. I had coffee with her the morning it happened. We discussed things like summer vacation plans. When I called my sister the next day, the news was that he had the heart attack.

Apparently, she left here, went home, checked in with him -- and then was called twenty minutes later with the news.

Twenty minutes and life is so different. Plans for vacation change for plans for survival. She will survive...but what a seismic shift to happen so quickly. I think everyone involved sort of still can't believe it has happened. We all sort of keep expecting him to walk through the door and ask us what is the matter with us.

I have reminded friends to check on their wills, make sure that you don't have to deal with some of the unnecessary trama my friend experienced. When you are devastated by loss--it is not the time to look for birth certificates, papers of any sort--really.

On the other hand, another dear friend will be having a baby (probably this week). A long expected joy will come in a matter of days. And yet, even if you are super prepared, you don't really know what to expect. What you actually get is sometimes pretty different from what is discussed in parent preparation books. We will celebrate, none the less. I have one more cardigan front to finish, and I should be able to finish it by this weekend so we can post it to her. The baby should be the right size for it when it is cool enough to wear it. I smile to think of my little sweater making the wee one cosy on a fine, autumn, London morning buggy ride through Hyde Park.

When Max was first born, I was so happy and so exhausted all at the same time. I remember telling my mom I couldn't wait for things to get back to normal. She sort of laughed at me and commented that things will never be "normal" again. Boy wasn't that the truth.

It puts the silly Challenge ino perspective. Why rush around putting artificial edges on things? The good thing it did was get me motivated to not only knit, but to finish things, learn new things, meet new people. All of that is more what living is about. So, perhaps it has served it's purpose, even if unfinished. I plan to keep going and see where I am by the end of the year anyway.

So, on the project front, the following are the photos I promised last week:

Baby sweater: I love this format. The scale is great because you can practice and finish and it doesn't take you 6 months to finish. The sweater is a Clasic Elite Yarn pattern called Provence Baby Cardigan. (Not to be counted for challenge.) I may try again in the suggested cotton.

Charity Afghan Square: I got to practice with a more complicated cable than I have tried before. Tool of Choice, the lowly post-it....it helps me keep my place on the chart--even when I have to go do something like pick up my kids or make dinner. Even though I did a swatch, this is not 8" square--so I will have to figure out some kind of a border to make it come out to the full 8". I love the intertwining cables. I excerpted this from the Modern Vintage Knitting Book I bought, edited by Kelly and Osborn. (Not counted for challenge)

Here is how the i-cord edging is coming along on the Scarf I riffed from the More Knitting in Vogue Book. I think the photo on the right shows the last of the unedged bit. The i-cord does hold it down and finish it off nicely. This could be counted as the fair isle motif was lifted from a fitted sweater. The reason it has taken so long is because Margaret was determining the length and her preferences are more in line with Dr. Who. It is very long. It is also going to take some time to weave all the color change tails into the edging. I have a lot to block...and that may be a week end project where I do a whole bunch of blocking all at once. Especially, the baby sweater as I want that mailed by Monday at the latest. Ah, the husband is wanting company while walking the dog. So, I will try not to waste opportunities to be with him (even though I would love to get that side panel started...) Sleep well.

Weekend Rush

2011-04-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

I will make a longer post on Monday. I have managed to knit, but not to write so much, though I have a lot to say.

I am starting an emergency baby sweater for a friend who is due any day now. I have chosen the Classic Elite Yarns: Provence Baby Cardigan. I think I saw it knit up at the knit shop and it looks doable and adorable.

I started and am almost done with a square for Marjie's Charity blanket. I chose an interesting double cable to sample -- so two birds with one stone: sample a new stitch + have a contribution to a charity project. Yeah!! for multitasking efforts.

I also went on a weird shopping spree at the vintage clothing store down the street because I saw some ideas or re-purposing cute but old sweaters in a book and am in the mood to experiment. So am unraveling one sweater to knit up with more updated shape. I have some other sweaters that I will try cutting up and resewing with applique and embroidery.

I am finishing the purple and green scarf with an i-cord edging. This is turning out pretty well, but I had to try a couple of colors to see which way I liked it.

I have a few new followers, and one is in China. How exotic is that? I need to compose her a letter. Her blog (which is also nice to follow) is Lucy's Knitting Adventure. She has a cute boy named Alan that she knits for. Her entries are cute, but also thoughtful. I always wanted a pen pal when I was a little girl, but could never figure out how to get one...and here I have the opportunity to make friends with someone across the world. I suppose it is an understatement to say that the Internet can be an impressive tool with lovely opportunities to be found.

I will have photos on Monday, and perhaps some book references on historical knitting.

Spring.

2011-03-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

I don't get how such a lucsious bloom can have a name like ranunculus (which seems like ridiculous and redundant had a fender bender). Yet the petals look like what many brides aspire for in their dresses.

We have cleaned all the dead stuff off the deck. It is now actually nice to sit out there (except for that dratted live oak pollen.)

Freshly organized work space. Yes, I spent $14 at Goodwill on different glass containers, but a) I can see stuff, b) I have been dying to try this idea since I saw it in Real Simple (I think), and c) I think it looks pretty with all the yarn colors.

On a day when the flowers are blooming, everything seems possible. I organized my desk and knitting space, visited Marjie's knitting group, worked on a new project that seems to be working out well so far from Vintage Modern Knits by Courtney Kelly and Kate Gagnan Osborn (Interweave). I also talked to the Sharon at Sustainable Fibers in Elgin. I now have two field trips to make: Sustainable Fibers (to learn about the creation of different yarns) and a visit to theWeavers and Spinners Guild (to learn about llama, rabbit, and alpaca fibers from a spinner's point of view.)

I love the patterning of these fingerless gloves. I also have to say, I really like double pointed needles and knitting in the round. It looks intimidating, but it is really convenient, once you get the hang of it. I think I have generally better hand position with them than I do with the longer straight needles.

Also, I did up some samples of the alpaca I bought over spring break on different needle sizes and with different stitches. ( Note to self: it may be a good idea to get a binder and keep the samples in it with notes on yarn, needle size and stitch.) I am looking for inspiration for what to do with something that is so soft, so warm and so dear...and as I don't have a pattern that specifically called for it, I will have to guestimate what kind of object I can make out of it without the danger of running out. I need to remind Sherman that even though he had the mill clean the fleeses, he should have them pre-cleaned before heading over to the mill. I am finding bits of this and that (VM) in the yarn as I am sampling out the work.

Satisfactory?

2011-03-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the Happy Flappy Hat is going together pretty well here. I did have to take a couple of stripes off to redo, as the pattern for the "waffle" stitch wasn't lining up according to my notions. But by this point in the game, I figure I'm doing okay because: a) I remembered to measure Margaret's head before I started and so was able to modify the flap size and add some stitches to the head circomferance so it would not be too small when I was finished and b) I had successfully gotten to the "ridge" stitch and was decreasing to make the head top--so far it looked right.

Okay, here I think I'm excited because I have finished the top and it sort of looks like a hat. However, pattern calls for a crocheted border on the bottom. At first, I am happy as I think it will even out the knitted cast on edge, but now I think it looks too "ruffled." Now am considering blocking with steam iron to sort of iron to irregularities out. Good news is that it fits Margaret's head, so I think I did the pattern adjustments okay.

Here is the top view of the hat. I am okay with the striping ridge stitch and the i-cord strand that will have a pom pom on it tomorrow. But I do not like the way the crocheted edging looks from the inside. I am not sure typing "crochet edging" on ehow.com will help me with this problem. The last time I crocheted, I was seven...and I must admit I have sort of a bias against it. (I lived through the granny square phase and don't really feel like I need to revisit this particular trend again. Though I did see a cute girl carry off a granny square sweater with super high platforms and I must admit that it worked in her case.)

Florida or South America? Will blocking help this poor ear flap?

I don't know if I like it, which means that no matter how quickly this knit up and how much Margaret likes it, I am still a bit wishy washy about my work here. All I seem to see are the flaws. And this seems to echo in my larger life as well. I do a lot of work, and then am not happy with the results. I read the blog of a friend from dance class and her mantra right now is "just start now" and though I have started...I am not sure what kind of minor adjustment will let me be happy here, or will I need to tear out and redo?

I suppose I need to get back to the original challenge. Maybe I was getting a bit ahead of myself here. I am more and more aware of my impatience these days. I need to slow down and enjoy the ride more. Maybe the discipline of the challenge will help me be less impulsive and perhaps be happier with the results.

Musing

2011-03-24T23:15:00.001-07:00

Here is one of Margaret's photos. With so many great plant photos by Cathy and now this from my daughter...I am thinking that this should be inspiration for a knitted something? But what...How? Just color? shape? A delicate texture? Fingering weight? Hmmmmm... I need to go look at my stitch dictionaries.

New Friends: The Library Castoffs

2011-03-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

Well, my efforts at reaching out into the real world knitting community continued today. My friend, Marjie, invited me to join the knitting group at her work. (Thanks, Marjie!!) I finally got there after two weeks of distractions, and the effort was well worth it. Everyone was nice and welcoming. Only problem....I wasn't ready to leave when they all had to get back to work. Drat that need to make a living.....

They are working collectively on an afghan for charity so, I will get a skein of Bernat satin and join in the fun. I even get to pick the stitch I want to use, (as long as it is an 8" X 8" square). HMMMMM the possibilities abound. Yet another distraction from the "challenge". I am looking forward to next Thursday already.

Also, Margaret and I went to Hill Country Weavers on Monday, and I let her choose a small pattern that I can make for her. She chose the Happy Flappy Hat by Spud & Chloe. This happy pattern fits her personality so well (even though it is sized for someone much smaller.) I made some minor adjustments, and I will take a picture of the work when it gets further along. I know, I know...you are all out there burning with curiosity...but be patient. (all two of you).

Then we went out for cupcakes. Here is Chica in the Hey Cupcake trailer across the street from our favorite yarn haunt. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon...(even if we did have to come home and do homework after it was over.) She had red velvet with cream cheese frosting and I had the "Michael Jackson" which is chocolate with cream cheese frosting. Don't know what is more appropriate the whiteness of the color or the cheesie-ness factor? Hmmm again.

And finally, here is a springy book which matches the weather outside--a lovely thing to see:

Knitted Flowers
By Nicky Epstein
Publisher: sixth&spring books
http://www.sixthandspringbooks.com/
ISBN: 1-933027-93-2

What better way to celebrate spring than with this beautiful book by Nicky Epstein. Knitted Flowers will show you how to make all types of delicate knit flowers. You'll enjoy placing them on afghans, scarves, purses - or even in your hair.

See the full book review here.

If you go to AllFreeKnitting.com then you can sign up for a chance to win this. The pictures alone should be worth the effort.

Okay, so much for crass commercialism here...even if it is pretty and spring-y.

Our Own little Yarn Bomb! on Kassarine Pass

2011-03-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

Inspired by this....

My baby is doing this...

It is so nice to have someone to knit with in the house. I am very proud of how far she's gotten. Will post when we actually finish and get it installed in our front yard. I am sure our more conservative neighbors will be scratching their heads...

Ready for a new step...the challenge goes on

2011-03-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

Finished (not to be counted for challenge): 1 Debbie Stoller Cardi pattern in Stitch Nation: Bamboo Ewe by Red Heart Yarns. (Bamboo/wool blend) Color: Lipstick.

I really like the way this looks on and am pleased to have finally knit something for myself. I love, love, love the buttons I found at Hill Country Weavers. I also liked how the front knit up. The binding was pretty and easy...what a great combo.

One problem I had was that in reading the sleeve instructions for the right sleeve, I had trouble and there is a wobble where the right front, sleeve and back come together. It is not so bad when pressed and on me. I just couldn't get a good photo of me in it.

The only other down side to this was that the picot edging on bottom and at base of sleeves did not come out the way I expected them to. The wave that you see in this photo is okay...but not worth the work of hemming the cardigan. The photo of the pattern did not show this to be this wavey, so I am wondering what I did wrong.

Finished (not to be counted as part of challenge): Mermaid Lace Scarf designed by Suzanne Middlebrook of Hill Country Weavers. Yarn: Cotton Bam Boo by Classic Elite Yarns (cotton/bamboo blend) This is another lovely distraction. I loved figuring out the socks, and now something else to figure out. This design was a pretty easy lace pattern. I have seen some lovely wraps I would like to try, but I am thinking I need to work up in my skill set first. So, this was a charming way to start. I am totally confident, and would like for the next lace pattern to be a bit more challanging.

Finished: (to be counted for challenge) Classic, Aran-Style Sweater (Original in 1957). Modified into a scarf. Yarn used: I Love This Cotton, (100% cotton) #252 Purple. I really liked the hand of this, the edging of this, and the buttery softness of the cotton. It is sort of heavy, but of course would feel delicious up against your neck when it was super cold outside. Secret Success: I caught my 16 year old son trying it on at my desk....a Convert? Maybe. But don't tell anyone I caught him looking.

Finished (and to be counted for challenge): Textured Shawl, 1956. Yarn: 100% wool, given to me from my Canadian Friend, without a lable. My adjustments to this were to shorten the pattern substantially and create more of a buttoned coller rather than a wrap. If I was doing it out of that I Love This Cotton, I might have been able to stick it out for the whole pattern which is 90 inches, as it would have felt soft, but I think I got what I needed from sampling the seed stitch and was feeling antsy to move on. I think this could be successful as an accessory in the fall...when you did not want to wear a jacket, but you needed just a little something more for warmth. I also love the button (another Hill Country Weaver find.)

This lovely periwinkle is my first hand dyed effort. I took a class at Hill Country Weavers with Shannon Okey and we learned a clever technique for setting the dye in our dishwashers. I have some notions about color, but you cannot see them here. This remains a pretty experiment and an effort in branching out. It was nice to talk with the other ladies in the class about their projects. And while we are on the subject of branching out, I visited a local alpaca farm on the way to a the family lake house. I bought two pounds (he did not sell by the skein) of pure alpaca to experiment with. The actual alpacas were soft, soft, soft...perhaps even more so than cashmere. Margaret was ready to take the baby alpacas that were in the pin home. They are amazingly scent free (unlike when I saw sheep in person).

This is some roving I bought at the same ranch with the idea of perhaps experimenting with spinning some of the stuff I will knit up later. I went with my Canadian friend to a local mill, and though we went during posted hours, I did not see the reference to them being closed due to vacation until we got out there. Oh, well...a field trip for another day. I do feel like I am getting a better bead on the fiber goings on in my area. I am also feeling more adventurous about picking up more challenging work.

Yarn Bombs and Guerrilla Urban Art, Oh My!

2011-03-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

Oh. My. God. This is soooo cool. Magda Sayeg coordinated this Knitted Wonderland, where 99 trees were covered by tree cozies knit by over a 100 volunteers (I wanna do this next time.) The location, The Blanton Museum at UT, Austin, Tx. A link for more info and colorful pictures http://knittingwithsandrasingh.blogspot.com/2011/03/knitted-wonderland.html. I spent lunch on Saturday musing if it was possible to choose your favorite tree. I don't think it is. And the feel of the place with the knitted covers was totally celebratory...how cool on such a lovely spring day.

And I was just thinking I needed to get out and knit with people...instead of alone in my woolen tower....

I'mmmmm Baaaaaaaack or Just do it!

2011-03-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, I haven't written in a while, and I will pretend that it is not because my own baby sister read my log and said it was her version of Sominex. No, my skin is thicker than that, really....But also, I have just put needle to yarn and have just been knitting away. To the right here is my scarf version of the More Vogue Knitting 1946 Silky Fair Isle Sweater. There will be a repeat of the Fair Isle bit on the other end. I will also add an i-cord on either side to help give the edges a little more shape.

This is a distsraction as it was not a More Vogue Knitting pattern. This pattern (not finished) is from
Debbie Stoller and the patterns she is distributing through Red Heart Yarns. The yarn is an alpaca and bamboo blend, and the knit up hand of the fabric is very nice. The Feather and Fan pattern is both easy, quick knitting and pretty. The cardigan is supposed to be fitted with a scooped neck. I am sewing on the sleeves so I can start on the neck edging tonight.

Feather and Fan pattern.

This is my scarf version of the More Vogue Knitting 1957 Classic Aran-Style Sweater in purple cotton. I am about half through, the only problem with the scarf format is that I get a little antsy once I figure the pattern out. (Hense the distraction of the Debbie Stoller cardi.) I like the way this looks, I just need to put it down and do other things and then pick it up again.

I seem to be having some technical difficulties in terms of uploading some more pictures...so there will be a Part II.

Tradition and Continuity

2011-02-12T14:14:00.000-08:00

I totally enjoyed Manor House and 1900 House. I have always thought that I am very game for this sort of social experiment and have entertained jealousy for those who actually got to participate. However, after watching the hapless participants, I am grateful for the following: hot water that I don't have to carry up to my bathroom, central heat, shampoo and conditioner, the Internet, my laptop, and cell phone.

The thing about this sort of experiment that seems cruel is this: people who were born and lived in 1900 did not have to "acclimate" to their living conditions. Their living conditions were what they were. If someone from 100 years from lived the way as we do today, I am sure that they would chafe as 100 years of inventiveness and development are not their for their comfort. However, we have the sensation of living at the pinnacle of civilization. Putting people who have grown up with showers, central heat and washing machines into a place where these things were not part of the norm is mean spirited. I both love these shows because I have a mania for social history, but also don't like them for that reason.

I was also thinking about dancing as we had a new dance teacher this week. Here is the thing about ballet--and the same applies to knitting. Dance has been around forever, and Ballet in particular has been around since the 1600s (in the French Court). While there was there was a lot of development of the craft in the 1800s, there is still a sense of continuity with those actions from the past. When you dance today....you taking the same steps that others before you have danced for hundreds of years. When you knit a cable stitch or intarsia design, you are knitting the very patterns that people have been knitting for hundreds of years. I think in my own way, I am participating in a sort of social experiment with this challenge. (but as they say..."in the comfort of my own home.")

Aran Style scarf begun Successfully. Blog photos...not so much.

2011-02-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm not sure what the deal is with the photo feature for this dagnabit blog. I can't (and I have attempted several times this morning) get the photos to turn the right way. The significance of this pic is it showed me working out my adaptation of the 1957 Aran sweater. (I'm using the cotton yarn left over from Margaret's Christmas Present, and number 6 USA needles).

This photo shows how the thing actually knit up. I wonder if using a macro setting on my digital camera somehow confuses the Blog photo feature. Perhaps the file is too big. However, I think the detail is good in this shot. It really shows off the "cable scallop" pretty well. I am still happy with this.

This photo really should be above. It shows the original illustration from More Vogue Knitting and my swatch, where I discovered the side cable bit. I suppose I am blending design with pattern following...hmmmmm. Food for thought.

Moving Right Along

2011-02-08T19:37:00.000-08:00

Here we go. It seems better to upload multiple images at one time and then type text rather than the other way around. So today, I'm excited as several things are finished, and two things are on the way.

1. 1950 Socks on p. 147--DONE.

I think it is pretty miraculous that the self striping yarn seemed to create a pretty similar pattern on both socks. Check out the Blue, Orange, Blue across the ball of my foot--on both feet! The down side to this pattern is that the socks don't stay up well and tend to bag a bit around the ankle. But this is my first pair of socks ever, and maybe there is a way to help with elasticity the next time I do this. I also want to see how to shape the toes a bit better.

2. Here is my variation of the Acorn and Eyelet Stitch Sweater of 1949, on p. 104. DONE. As you may remember, I was fussing with a way to finish it in scarf format. But Margaret came in and thought they would make "tight" fingerless gloves, and they sort of turned out well that way. When I am not in Challenge mode, I will be tempted to make this sweater in a cardigan format for myself. I might even changed colors for each horizontal register.

These are very soft and snuggly. However, the cotton fiber is loose and I will watch it for pilling. Margaret has already worn these to school today...and though you might not be able to see it in the photo, I could tell it was getting worn around the pressure points (up by where the fingers and thumb are. Were I to do this as fingerless gloves again, a yarn with a tighter twist would be more successful in terms of durability.

3. And finally, today I started a practice swatch on the 1957 Classic Aran-Style Sweater on p. 143. Elizabeth Zimmerman mentioned that families in Ireland used to have aran "patterns" just for their family, just the way the Scotts have different clan plaids. She said that it allowed people to identify dead sailors who washed up after a storm....what a grisly thought. So much for knitting to be soothing--at least if you were an Irish Fisherman's wife....

On the swatch I did this morning, I accidentally did not center the cables, and one was on the outside edge of the sample. That was a happy accident, as I will do this pattern in scarf format, and now the vertical sides will be treated as a single cable. It creates a sort of pretty self scallop edging. I will do the four rows of purl for the ends, as I worked that up for the acorn and eyelet pattern, and due to the fingerless gloves, did not end up using. How useful. (I'll start tonight and put photos up tomorrow.)

4. I still need to finish the textured shawl (1956, p. 149)--but that is easy enough. In fact, the trick with that moss stitch is not getting bored and adding an additional, pesky stitch in there to ruin the pattern.

And all this will be done watching some PBS reality shows that I ordered for this weekend: Pioneer House, Manor House and 1940s House. For those of you who haven't watched it, they get modern families who are up to the challenge of living life the way it was in those particular times for prolonged periods. M and I watched Pioneer House together and it was fascinating....I mean you couldn't pull away from it. And as this is from Netflix, we won't miss an episode and can watch all the episodes consecutively. It would be nice to finish the two scarfs this weekend, as then I would feel like I was finally making some progress on my own knit challenge. If I am to do 5.5 projects a month, and I can finish the two scarves through this week and weekend, then I am close to being on target. Thank you Cathy....modifying the patterns is a) more interesting, and b) more doable.

And speaking of Cathy, her photographs are to be exhibited in public! Whoo Hooo! Skunks and possoms are gone! Whoo Hoo! Checkbooks are balanced! Whoo Hoo! 3 of the 4 school applications for Margaret are completed! Whoo Hoo! I am still excercising! Whoo Hoo! And I made a very tasty chicken curry from this month's Real Simple! Everyone ate it right up! Whoo Hoo! I found some new blogs to follow--including some very funny and very pretty ones! Whoo Hoo! Very exciting thing happening around here.

Putting Sampling Idea to Use

2011-02-05T09:35:00.000-08:00

I have finished my socks! Success after such a week is all the sweeter.

I am starting on the next project from More Knitting in Vogue. I chose (just on a whim) the Acorn and Eyelet pattern from 1949. The pattern was orignally for a short sleeve sweater, though the 1980's adaptation had a cotton sweater with long sleeves.

I am adapting the pattern once again to my scarf format. I tried the guage for some cotton yarn that I already had, tried it on size 6 needles. Fit is not an issue here (as it would be if this was a sweater), and the sample I knit up last night seemed fine in terms of texture. The guage I am getting is also pretty close to the pattern's guage. However, I was not so crazy about the edge or what would be the end of the scarf. In the sweater this edge would be hidden in the seam.

So, I stitched up a 20 stitch swatch to try another starting point, and I feel the bottom edge is much more satisfactory. Omitting the knit 2, purl 2 binding at the bottom helped. I just used a bit of the garter stitch lines as the beginning instead and the corners will lie a bit straighter. Also, experimented with picking up stitches along the side and echoing that same pattern up the side, and the result is way more finished looking.

My daughter loves the thinner width. (I originally cast on 42, but for the swatch just did 15. She thinks the thinner width is more arty. She also thinks that the original sample would make nice fingerless gloves. So, there you go, a matched set. We may even try changing out colors for each pattern register.

I am struggling with the photo feature today. I apologize for the sizeways pics. Margaret needs my computer for high school application essays at the moment.

Stay warm!

Meditation on Guage

2011-02-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

With the uncharacteristic coldsnap (windchill factor is down to 5 today) and the ongoing battle against the wildlife under our office building which has entailed multiple harrowing trips to the back of the building to clear ivey, find possible burrow holes to fill in with cement and to set up industrial fans to vent bad smell from under building...I have not done much knitting.

On the way to school today, Margaret accused me of a certain style of story telling that I was not crazy to hear about. I AM NOT turning into my parents.

So here goes a funnier way to look at the skunk problem.

Think Westside Story...It's not the Jets and the Sharks...It's the Skunks and the Possums. (Hummmm "Tonight" in your head as you read the following.)
_
Skunks: The skunks are going to have there way To-niiiiight....
Possums: The possums gonna have their way To-Niiiight....
Skunks: Well they began it...
Possums: Well they began it...
Skunks: And we're the ones to stop it once and for all....

Ensuing wildlife gang fight for territory...and Toni Skunk (egged on by Maria Possum and there to stop the gangland fight) accidentally knives 'Nardo Possum and leaves him for dead under the ladies' bathroom....And Critter Ridder sirens scare off the would-be combattants, who scatter into the greenbelt.

The only Knit Challange success I can claim at this point is that I am almost finished with the second sock of the pair I started at the beginning of January. I have not finished the wrap for Viri. Nor have I started anything new. Though I would rather knit than play Bill Murray to my Caddy Shack wildlife -- any day of the week.
I have recieved in the mail a new book of patterns by Ann Budd, editor of Interweave. Ms. Budd is in some ways similar to Elizabeth Zimmerman in that she talks about types of sweater shapes (set in sleeves, raglan sleeves, fair isle yoke, etc.) and neck styles and then gives charts that factor in finished size, gauge, needle size, inches needed, etc.. It is sort of a match and knit sort of book, kind of like those mystery novels where at the end of a chapter, you have two choices, and if you choose one way for the character to go, you go to page 92, and if you pick another you go to page 63. I read in the introduction that if you knit up all the combinations there are about 600 ways to knit a sweater and if you took a cartigan option to the existing sweaters, it bumped the total number of potential sweaters up over 900.

In both Knitting Without Tears and Knitter's Almanac, Elizabeth does not give me patterns in the format I have gotten accustomed to by looking at from current knitting magazines or my Vogue Knitting book. (I'm sorry Elizabeth, but haven't had time to test the "Pithy" instructions yet--and they're still not quite what I'm used to.) Both Elizabeth and Ann though talking about "basic" shapes assume that you have knitting experience, or someone to help you navigate the intimidating charts and instructions. Their true audience, then, would be someone with knitting experience who have interest in designing.

Both Elizabeth and Ann are all about guage. Ann mentioned in her first chapter that sometimes designers will knit up to 15 different guages before they even start on their sweater. Designers have to know the optimum set of needles for a given skein of yarn. They have to answer questions like do you want open fabric, or tightly knit fabric. I suppose that knitting up guages also lets you handle the yarn in different ways before you start investing time in the actual garment. And if what Elizabeth Z. says is right, even in carefully edited knitting patterns, the guage is more of a guide line anyway. (Sort of like the Pirate Code). You are lucky if you come out the way the pattern dictates because each knitter has her own tension (which also affects guage.) So the yarn you find, and how you hold the needles may or may not match up with what was worked on by the pattern writer.

In my other posts I am noticing some parrallels between life and working through a knitting pattern. Today, because of what I have read recently, guage is on my mind. Mom told me what a guage was, but I don't remember a long lecture about all the reasons you needed to do one. When I started following patterns at 18, I was merely intent on figuring out the instructions. Guage seemed like a pretty esoteric part of knitting. Now these two women are saying that if you want to go free style, and express yourself with knitting, this esoteric bit is actually fundamental. I am wondering if that is part of my directionlessness in life in general. Is there a way for doing "guages" for life? And even this challenge seems some what silly as I am not sure I would personally want all these sweaters, and why go through the trouble of time and expense to create a bunch of sweaters noone will ever want to wear. I can just imagine all those lovely sweaters sitting on the shelf feeling sorry for themselves because noone wants to wear them. Cathy's advice is ringing in my ears...the scarf idea is really the way to go. But where is the corresponding peice of advice to fix my life right now? Is this challenge one of the "life guages?" I am concious of learning more about the craft of knitting. There does seem to be something in the discipline of writing about the process.

E.Z. does't seem to fret about life choices. She seems to be quite certain about things and appreciative of all she has from her school house in the woods to her skiing, beer making, painting "Old Man." She is also retired (though probably active because of the writing and knitting accomplished) and also her children were grown up and not looking for colleges and high schools. What is wrong with me? Why am I comparing myself to this person? Maybe because Julie Powell did a great job at finding those great touchpoints with the Julia Child project. I have got to trust the process a little more and let go of the worry.

A Master--and yes, I will use this reference

2011-01-26T07:43:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Zimmerman did come in yesterday! No, silly, I don't mean Zombie E. Z. as she has been in that better world since 1999. However, her book "Knitting Without Tears" was on my doorstep when I got home from picking Margaret up from school. What a great way to come home...especially in light of the ongoing skunk problems at the office.

I, having absolutely NO patience, ripped the package up and started reading as we entered the house. Bad idea. I still had stuff (regular house duties) to tend to...and I was distracted. I did read the first chapter at bed time. Yes, she has some really valuable information about different ways of knitting and holding the needles. There is the German way (where the working finger is on the left) and the European way, as opposed to the American way (which is how I think I do it). Mom's way of teaching me was to get me cast on and say "Go at it!" I would then come to her when I got stuck...so though she got me started, in some ways I was self taught. I suppose all those days looking at knitting porn could also be called studying.

E.Z. also had some great (and simple) advice about better ways to decrease. I will, next chance I have, do some practice swatches. But I can see immediately that her instructions will work...I can't wait to practice the ideas.

That being said, I think that perhaps there is an issue with her title and also the format of the book. Her title seems to imply that this book would be good for a beginner (i.e. "basic techniques and easy to follow instructions") and I believe that her advice, though great, is perhaps not the best for someone who has never knit before. One of my favorite knitting instruction people is Debbie Bliss...whose instructions and multiple photographes is SUPER EASY to read and follow. (I love her patterns and color sense as well.) Also, E.Z. is pretty wordy. I love to read and am apparently crazy and compulsive enough to read through all the instructions to get the gist of what is going on...I am aware that there are multiple learning styles and some people are more visual and others more hands on...and the large text with occassional illustrations could be off putting. So this may be the base reason why there are two different camps in the user reviews on Amazon.

So, there. Have a nice day! Casting off.

Too Many Windows Open

2011-01-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

No...this is not because of the skunk aromatherapy that is going on at our small office building. I did not, just in case you were wondering, choose that particular flavor of aroma. It came via the cold snap and the fact that the building backs up onto a greenbelt...so when it gets cold...small animals get jiggy and burrow up under the back skirting, and sometimes get stuck. As it is a natural habitat, there are sometimes turf wars, so my gentle tenants have been victim to the results of said territorial disagreements under the building.

No, gentle reader, the phrase is an apt one my sister came up with to indicate you have too much going on. It, as you may imagine, stems from how your computer slows down if you have "too many windows open" and the speed is indicative of a time to start closing some windows.

Strangely enough this applies to both my knitting and my work life (such that it is). I have three projects going on simultaneously. There is the second self striping sock. There is the Wool Wrap for niece in New York.
There is also the fingerless gloves for same niece. (Fingerless gloves seem a bit esoteric here in Austin, which probably accounts for my daughter's appreciation of them. However, in New York, everyone seemed to have them as it allows your hands to stay warm while still enabling the ability to text.) Computer does not wish to upload more than 2 photos this morning...perhaps incorrectly sensing that I am blaming my woes on it. I did have a photo of the beginning of gloves...but I digress.

In work, there is the multiple aroma problems (that I have been trying to address with little success)--chief of which is the skunk issue. {news flash...Toni just called and two skunks have been trapped and removed!! Hallelujah...I will go over with Nature's Miracle Skunk Formula at the end of this post.} My poor tenants are sooo unhappy that sometimes they communicate the idea that perhaps I did this on purpose...like counted it out on my fingers--or worse haven't made any effort whatsoever to rectify the situation. And yesterday was such a disaster of a day, that in spite of all my best efforts to fix malodorous problems (is it skunk, is it dead rat, is it plumbing issues?), that the upstairs men's toilet became intractable and backed up just as I was leaving to pick up honorable daughter at school--just for the sake of solidarity with other parts of the building, I have not doubt.

And this does not take into consideration of extra work of getting said honorable daughter applied to various high schools so that we know where she is going next year. Friday was particularly complex and difficult in its own right.

I mean really. Perhaps because of school, projects and work, I have the sensation of spinning my wheels. I am not making progress in any venue. In trying to get sympathy from my husband, he just said sometimes days are like that. ARRRRGGGHHH. Not helpful. Not even remotely sympathetic--though he claims he was. He was merely momentarily delusional. I wish I had a tape.

I reviewed some older posts and realized that Elizabeth Zimmerman had not arrived on my door steps, and I was looking forward to some words of wisdom, especially in my moment of tractionlessness. I went to my trusty Amazon account page and realized that I had only put the items in my cart...I had not ACTUALLY ordered the items. This has been dealt with.

In reading some of the user reviews for the books I ordered I realized there are two very different reactions to Ms.Knitting Guru. One is rather fawning...and the other is wondering what all the hoopla is about. The deal is that though there are some photos, and the books do apparently have patterns, that there are liberal amounts of anecdotes and there is also a fair amount of information that will help you should you want to go on and design something for yourself. There are percentages of decreasing and increasing, how to do things without seams, etc....and I could see how if you were looking for a particular pattern, this may seem beside the point.

Indeed, I do remember wanting my mom to give me specific instructions IN LIFE. Tell me what to do and I will do it...but more often what I got was a sort of muffled general direction...and I am not just talking about knitting...but in other avenues as well. It could well be that she was giving me instructions to design my life when I was looking for a specific pattern. And now I am wondering if I have swung the pendulum too violently and am giving my daughter a pattern (where to go to school, how to study, how to dress, etc.) when all she is looking for is a general design principle. Interesting to ponder and consider.

Challenge Retooled!

2011-01-20T12:58:00.000-08:00

Last night I started project two of the challenge which was the 1956 Textured Shawl from p. 149. Let's face it. I picked it because it was the only pattern in the whole darn book whose needle size was over 6. I needed to knit something chunky, and I needed to knit something that was going to knit up fast. Also, I wanted to use yarn from my small and funky yarn stash and I needed to make a birthday present for our adorable niece living in the very cold New York City. I found some wool that Cathy had given me (from Canada). It is not super soft, but it will be super warm. And if one is wearing this item over a winter coat, perhaps the collar is up and that it is not baby soft won't matter so much. The stitch is a moss stitch (which is pretty easy, you just knit one purl one, and keep this up on the next row.) I think the stitch texture is turning out better than I expected.

Also as I expected, it is knitting up pretty quickly as well. I started last night, and I had to wind the ball from a new skein...so that took some time. However, even though I helped my daughter with some homework, made dinner and worked out this morning...we are already 4 inches along.

I am knitting this scarf for Viridiana (Viri for short). She is 24 and lives in New York. As you know...it is super cold there. I was thinking something warm would be just the ticket. She has a load of scarfs, but I am thinking if you wear them everyday, maybe one more is a good thing, so you can rotate them out as your mood changes. I was also thinking this girl's dad is from Iran, and her Mom is from Mexico and she was born in the U.S. The yarn I am knitting the scarf from came from Canada, made it down to Austin, and is now going to live in New York. So both yarn and girl are well traveled and multicultural.

Cathy came over today. I am very excited because she is going to have a small photography exhibit, and we were chatting about the things that needed to be done for her show. It is not a big show, but it will be a) fun to help with, and b) a good way for her to get her feet wet--so to speak. Her photos are lovely closeups of flowers and other botanical details. What is amazing about her photography is that she has a knack of choosing the way of shooting the details that almost look like the plants have personalities. For example, she chose to snap two flower pods where the stems have wrapped themselves around each other, just like lovers entwined.

While we were talking, she also looked at the new project and observed that perhaps I need to retool the challenge. Especially in light of the tendency for this collection of patterns to use such small needles and sport weight yarn. Maybe, she suggested, I should just make scarves out of each pattern, so I would get the benefit of trying each of the stitches or color patterns, and then I would have a huge set of scarves at the end of the year. Then I could play around more with different needle size and different kinds of yarn, and not worry about the fact that no one might want to wear these items after everything is done. I asked her if you could undo a challenge, and her answer was that you weren't undoing the challenge, you were retooling it for the kind of challenge it was. I am not cooking recipes that were meant to be cooked and eaten...but knitting, which generally takes way longer than cooking (even a Julia Child) recipe.

I think I'll do it. It is good to have sensible friends.

New York is great...Met a new sculptor...I love my home

2011-01-18T09:12:00.000-08:00

New York was very zen...and by that I mean there seemed to be a balance between the good and bad /yen yang things about traveling to the big city in mid winter.

I don't know if it was my mom who first got me hooked on the Big Apple. Our family did make a trip there when I was in third grade. I remembering liking aspects of it: the Met, the Zoo, FAO Schwartz, Godspell on Broadway (in the 1970s), and the Statue of Liberty. I also remember being bewildered by it. The crush of people on the sidewalks, the ladies in the subway with tube tops and platform shoes with roses in the lucite heels, the people who push information in your hand while your walking to your next destination, the dirt and scarey noises in the subway. It is a place which is so easy to have your circuits overloaded.

I had been to New York another time, namely to interview at the Met for a job at the Cloisters (which I didn't get). I was an undergraduate Art History person, and this was probably my most ball-sy effort to get a high profile (no pay) job. I was so heartbroken at not getting the job I reacted by deflating a bit and I probably (and this was an emotional reaction not an intellectual one) blamed New York for my failure. I probably just needed a mentor who would say "Get back on the horse! There are tons of other jobs out there." But my 19 year old self acted sort of like Woody Allen and was like "well if the Met doesn't want me then there must not be much to want....." OOOOOHHHH!! Super pity puppy. I would react differently now.

This trip, as I was saying, also was sort of balanced in terms of the positives and negatives. Negatives were it was SO COLD. Okay, I am not an idiot. I have been watching the weather and I do know that one of the biggest snow storms of all time ever had just hit the Northeast. I know when it snows it is cold. But even though I brought layers, and had mittens, scarf and boots, I still found that I was always off in terms of balancing the "stay warm outside, take off the layers inside" thing. Even when I took layers off inside, I would still get hot, and then when I went outside, that wind would slice right through you and your cheeks would go immediately to perma-freeze. And while I usually share my husband's desire to see the city by walking around, the temerature and stress of all those clothing layers seemed to muffle my desire to be outside looking around. Even when we stopped frequently for coffee and hot chocolate. Also, I had no idea that my daughter and I walked at such different rates (probably because here in Texas we do drive a lot.) I get to New York, and feel the need to sort of power walk through the city and was constantly checking myself so Margaret would not get left behind. Max and I are more evenly paced. But when you travel with a family, keeping up with everyone is sort of the point.

Another sad part was I would have loved to see a Broadway play, any Broadway play...but a) the tickets seemed outrageously expensive (even the discounted ones I tried researching before our trip) and b) we were always so tired at the end of the day from walking around and seeing things and people that I probably couln't have enjoyed any we would have seen. So, perhaps another time. Also, though we walked past 30 Rockefeller Center...we did not tour, nor did I try to get tickets for one of our favorite shows -- Saturday Night Live....Again...if we go to New York in the future, I may try again to do more of these sorts of things.)

On the great side was that after we went with Max to Columbia and NYU to look around, I got to peel off from the group a bit and see an old high school friend to catch up. We ended up at the Whitney (I had never been before) and saw a great EDWARD HOPPER show and I was introduced to a FABULOUS SCULPTOR NAMED CHARLES LEDRAY!!!!! This guy LeDray creates miniature versions of clothes and does different things with them. One section of his work showed how he created little areas that looked like when people in New York sell their stuff on the sidewalk. The miniaturist in me went wild. You could see little belts, necklaces, magazines and clothing. And in some cases he had made tiny cardboard boxes or carpets for the items to be displayed on. Not only did he make the clothing, but he somehow made them have that tired, used, rumpled quality that many vintage things have. Though we saw the arrangements in a gallery, apparently they were originally shown on the street. It never fails to amaze me how small scale items can still pack a large scale punch. (I took a photo of the Museum guide with the photo of "Overcoat" but I don't think I can put on this blog as it would break copy right laws. You can go to the Whitney Museum Facebook page or website and check out the video and photos they have posted.....the video has a visitor in the photo so that you can get an idea of the scale. But it will just be an idea. Like me and the cold, in person its effect is very magnified.)

In other parts of the exhibit, he also made peices of clothing where he altered scale within single peices. The way he juxtaposed peices really made you think. For example there was this finely tailored trench coat (about the size right for an American Girl doll), that he packed with different types of clothing (scaled smaller than a Barbie). The smaller clothes looked like they were raining out of the coat. (And by the way, he fashioned the wooden coat hanger and rack as well.) The clothes coming out of the coat were both feminine and masculine, dresses, shirts, tops, ties...everything. The color, texture, the scale of the prints were one level of my enjoyment. The object itself was just cunning and witty. However, I read some where that the kinds of clothes also helped convey meaning....like we are all made up of not just ourselves at different ages, but by the different people that we meet along the trajectory of our lives. So the different kinds of clothes can sort of suggest that aspect of our lives. So I was thinking about my friend, and how though we haven't seen each other in over 20 years, we were both part of each other's lives and development....and that whole idea was sort of evocative. I didn't have any specific notions, just part of my memory about when we were young and hanging out with friends floating around in my head like smoke that floats around the head of a smoker. There, but without any specific edges.

There were so many wonderful things in this exhibit, I will bore you if I continue. But I must say, I found the combination of attention to craftsman like detail and the ideas connected to the placement of objects he made incredibly rich and interesting. And yes, I think I would like to copy those ideas and explore them...perhaps in knitting format (to take advantage of the discipline of my blogger project this year.) Maybe I could knit things in miniature...maybe even with small knitting needles....Something about this feels right. I just like the ideas and would like to explore them a little more in depth...and perhaps my own meanings would rise up in the finished projects.

Other parts of the trip that were wonderful were seeing the many friends we have in the city. I never really paid attention to the number of friends we have in the city. So much of our trip was spent reconnecting and visiting with these people and hearing about what is going on for them now. Again, our lives are in some ways fabric made up of all the people we meet and come to know and their experiences as well. Very Charles LeDray....Heather says "Check it out."

My knitting also progressed apace. I finished one sock and began the next. You can get a lot of knitting done on a three hour plane ride. The trick is to just have your needles and yarn with you. I had copied the pattern I was working on so I didn't have the usual stack of books and mag azines that are stacked up on my desk.

HMMMMMM. Garments, sorting out children's clothes as they grow and by season, different clothes needed for different events (funerals, weddings, baptisms, graduations--life moments), Women's work of laundry--domesticity--technology change (washboards to washing machines, lines to dryers) how much of my week is spent in laundry management (getting it down, cleaned, folded and back up in the right place. Am doing it right now after we unpacked from our NYC trip.) Organization of family space, cleaning the closets, a real closet vs. an organized one from Real Simple that is arranged but never used. Knitting and sewing as part of my relationship with my mom....knitting and sewing in miniature....hmmmmm. Food for thought. Boy it is good to be home.....

Levity, Gussets and other transitions

2011-01-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

First of all, this challenge (whether do-able or not) is introducing a lot of new stuff to me right now--not just in terms of knitting (never done a turned heel or a gusset before). I have never written a blog (just a regular journal) and so I had to figure out how to "design it" and upload photos. Also, I found out how to upload multiple photos. Also, the only "blog" I have actually followed is my friend's...so I spent a lot of time Saturday night (when I should have been sleeping) looking around at other people's blogs to see HOW they are doing things. Query: how do you get to the cool blogs without losing many nights of sleep--therefore becoming a total grouch to the rest of the family?

One thing I noticed right off the bat is I totally love the funny ones and skip the more earnest ones. But if I look at my own blog, hey, I certainly fall into the earnest category. Boring. I don't feel boring on the inside, I feel intense and excited. But not boring. So there has to be a way to insert some levity to the situation and not take myself too seriously.

The other blog thing I learned was that there are tons of blogs out there. I am not sure exactly how people who might be interested in what I am doing might find me. I was reading the Blogger.com instructions and I know that if I go to my profile and click on one of my interests, "knitting" in this case, it will pull up other people who are interested in knitting. The problem was that their interests might be knitting, but their blogging was not always about knitting. I had more success googling "knitting in New York" (in honor of upcoming trip) and when I clicked on some of the knitting shops, there were some blogs listed on the shop websites (very helpful). There I learned that there were many wonderful knitters in New York, but that they also tended to be pretty funny as well. I imagined hanging out with these lovely, witty ladies who have finished lots of beautiful projects...and that we would have lots of things in common.

The final observation I will make about this process is that when I was checking out others with my interests I think I have identified an alarming trend. I tended to match up with retired ladies (of a certain age), or with "crafty moms". I don't think I really fall into that demographic (do I?). I also picked up a trend of indie vintage girls, who (though I would like to be like them--I probably am not as cool as they are) are certainly more facile than I am about manipulating the medium than I am. So I still sort of feel like the "ugly duckling". I have not found my niche yet.

In terms of knitting, I am still laboring over the gusset. As Kelly (from the Knit Picks video)stated, the gusset helps us transition from the part of the sock with the most stitches (the circumference around the heel and the ankle) to the instep section (where the number of stitches has gone down again). I feel like the theme of transition is certainly appropriate for me right now where I feel like all my "stitches" are bunched up in a weird and awkward way. That is more like what I am right now. Weird and awkward.

Helpful websites

2011-01-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, first, I finished a present for a friend. This was to be for her Christmas present, but I was going "freestyle" so I ended up taking out the project as I didn't like the way I had put together the pattern. The second time through I used graph paper, and I was happier with the result. I think the bamboo yarn I used feels good (kind of like a cotton silk blend) but the threads separate and get caught easily. I am not sure I will work with it again.

I also worked on the gusset for the sock in my More Vogue Knitting. Again, I turned to the internet for help understanding the instructions. Kelley from Knit Picks (an on line yarn house that has a lot of instructional videos that I found helpful) had very nice instructions on making socks with circular needles, which seems easier than this 1950 pattern I was following. However, the concepts of "turning a heel" and formulating the gusset could still be used even though I was on double pointed needles instead of the circular ones. A link to her calm voice is http://www.knitpicks.com/tutorials/Kelleys_Sock_Class-Gusset_Part_2__D104.htm.

I still may need some hands on help with improving my hand positions to help with speeding things up a bit. If all goes well then I will be finished with the sock by Tuesday. I need to figure out the next project as the family is going to New York for the weekend and I want to have stuff available for the plane ride so I can stay on target while traveling. Note to self: look up the instructions on how to blog from my phone.

Cathy is doing well and we talked today. I was filling her in on the stuff I am learning, not just the knitting stuff, but I spent an inordinate amount of time looking around on the web last night looking at how other people have organized theirs. I felt pretty happy that I had uploaded my photos, but I would like to tweak the design a bit so it looks a little more personalized. Also, I am wondering about the features like monetizing. Some people seem to have a lot of advertizing on theirs. Do they really make money that way?

Cathy was filling me in on her project of finding a job. She has been taking lovely photos of her garden and other plants that she sees while out riding her bike. I think she has got a good eye. She has been making cards for friends, and is now considering having a business with them. We spitballed for a while. She is coming over this week and we were going to do some more brainstorming. I think there are enough boutique-y places around her she could leave her cards that it would be worth the effort.

What a difference a day makes....

2011-01-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

I am sorry that I was so dark yesterday. It seemed that the stars were arrayed against me. But today, things seem a little brighter. My husband and I went went to a spinning class (not the fiber kind) and had breakfast with our kids at a local cafe. Then we went home and we put up the Christmas decorations. Voila, we put up the Christmas clutter and there was the camera sitting on a shelf next to the piano, where it had been since Christmas morning. And that was one of the frustrating things about yesterday, and now it it has resolved itself. Yeah....

The other thing that was bothering me was I couldn't figure out the specific instructions with my socks...to wit...how to "turn a heel." Cathy, my knitting life line, said she would be willing to help me, but she was indisposed yesterday (I hope she is feeling better today). So I did the next best thing and Googled "turning a heel" in knitting a sock and sure enough, there were some hits. A few kindly souls had put some great videos on You Tube and I was able to survey them, reexamine my instructions and move forward. The evidence is on the right. I feel quite triumphant and willing to try again for a prettier attempt.

I have also included the photo that really shows the very cheerful stripes of this striping yarn that really stripes and does not make up in blotches...which I am not so fond of. Margaret's hat that she requested for Christmas is on the left...and she has worn it to school. She is probably my most enthusiastic fan. Everyone needs fans.

I will be using the internet as well as my live friends to get me through this ridiculous challenge. I did check this video out on the fastest knitter in the world. She is indeed quite fast. (200 stitches in a minute and in the Guiness Book of Records). I was thinking maybe I could use some of her techniques to help me out....and I will have to do some serious retooling of my technique. For example, I will need to adjust the position of my hands. I have a wierd way of flicking my right forefinger over the working needle. But according this lady, I am working too hard, need to hold my fingers (loosely) and closer to the edge. I have the feeling that the stitches were going to slip right off the needle. Also, though I tried the new position, every time I looked down, my uncooperative fingers had gone back to the akward way that they had always held the needles. I have a feeling that this sort of thing (like so many others like this) will take me more than one day to feel comfortable with it.

Hopefully I will be a better knitter at the end of this.

Time Management and other Foibles

2011-01-07T07:01:00.000-08:00

Oh. My. God. What have I proposed to do? I suppose this is the normal regret period after having challenged oneself to do something bold. I counted up 66 patterns ranging from pretty easy to very complex. At this rate I am going to have to make about 5 items a month (and one month a bit more). I like to knit, but maybe this can't be done.

I started on the socks, as promised, but have gotten stuck (as anticipated) on the heel. I slipped the stitches for the heel on one of the double pointed needles, and divided the remaining stitches for the instep onto the other two and continued knitting for the twenty rows the pattern called for. I don't see how this strip will connect with the instep part, and I don't get what "turning a heel" is. I need to see someone do this. My life line, Cathy, is having a "procedure" this morning so is out of pocket for consultation. I was thinking I could go ahead and start on something else to keep things going.

There is also the other stuff I have to get done during the day. Excercise, eating, household management, helping the kids with stuff....how am I going to do this? Am I going to drive my husband crazy? Am I going to have to ditch the project to stay married? Is this another way that I am using the family as my excuse not to push myself? Will I turn into an obnoxious "empty nest" mom who drives everyone crazy?

Today I will just keep going with what I have the stuff to keep going with. I will be patient waiting for Cathy. I will think about other life lines...as there might be other times when I need help and she has other stuff to do as well. I might have to venture over to Hill Country Weavers for consultation from time to time....just carefully so I do not succomb to my lavish appetite for yarn while there.

I also failed to think about the monetary cost of this project...I need to buy some yarn (though I am starting with stuff that was in my closet). Maybe the cost could be offset by selling some of the peices online...

And I can't find my camera. I was looking so as to take a picture of the self striping yarn, but it's not anywhere I usually put it. I wonder if the kids have done something with it? I won't be able to ask them until they get home later this afternoon.

I did piddle around on the internet, and found a video of a lady who was speed knitting. I need to look at her again...as I think she held her needles differently than I do...and I think she was doing straight stockinette. I am wondering if she is still as fast if she is adding a cable or following a chart?

So going forward: need a plan for time, need an extra life line or so, need the camera...am knitting on so as not to lose heart.

The Challenge

2011-01-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

I am proposing to knit my way through a book of knitting patterns given to me by my mother when I was 20. The book of knitting patterns is called More Knitting in Vogue: Patterns from the '20s to the '80s to Knit Now for Men and Women. Christina Probert edited it. I propose to knit each pattern at least once by the end of this year, December 31, 2011.

Yes, I am copying Julie Powell's idea of cooking all of Julia Child's recipes from the Art of French Cooking. Although my project will perhaps have less calories, and also because my fingers have been itching for the past two months. Several things have occurred that makes this project make sense right now.

My mom passed away on Christmas Day eight years ago. She was a knitter and we sometimes knit together. My memory is that she always had a project going. She knit way more than I did.  Maybe she was better at blocking out the mental to-do list than I have been. I think this anniversary may account for my intense urge to knit all the time.  Maybe this impulse is yet another way of remembering my mom in our own private mom/daughter way of being together.

On the Christmas she gave me the book, I only knit one sweater from the book. Since then, I mostly just looked at the rest of the pattern pictures longingly. Knitting patterns is sort of like porn for me.

The idea of knitting is seductive. Let's face it, I think about knitting more than I actually knit. I do find it hard to commit to a single pattern, in that there might always be a better one on the next page. Knitting may be like writing, you just need to do it and quit waiting around for the "right" moment.

I love the feel of yarn--I have long since decided never to knit with acrylic again. Though I used it as a beginner, afraid of ruining the more expensive blends. Now I have figured out that holding the better feeling yarn (cotton or silk blends) is more than half of the joy of knitting.  I just got some bamboo yarn recently...and it feels nice too. I also am amazed at the array of textures and colors. It is easy to spend a lot of time looking at yarns. There is a local store called Hill Country Weavers. I have had to run in there and pick up supplies on occasion, but I have always made my errands quick as I could see getting lost in there forever, fingering all of the cozy potential on their shelves.

Part of the seduction of the knitted pattern comes from the potential of the finished project. What will I do in this garment?  Won't I be jaunty as I am doing it? It will be nice to say as people compliment me that I made this myself.

The fantasy bit is particularly alluring as I never felt like I had the time I wanted to knit. There was grad school. There was supporting ourselves when my husband and I just got married and he was in law school. There was raising kids. (Who could pull out stitches, accidentally of course.) A few years before she succumbed to breast cancer...Mother generously subscribed for me a very arty knitting magazine called Interweave and another called Knitters....other things I looked longingly at but never got around to really making anything from.

Until this year. My daughter found the magazine stash that I meticulously have saved in a special box, and clearly marked with post its all the projects she wanted me to make for her. (So I did end up knitting a hat for her Christmas stocking--which she actually wears in public.) Mom knit all the time, but I kept waiting till the time was right...and if I did knit something, there was always that guilty feeling that I should be doing something else "more useful". But really, what is more useful than a sweater? (Okay, I do live in Austin, Texas where over 100 degree summer days go through October on a regular basis. So a sweater's usefulness is a bit questionable...especially considering I have dear friends in Canada who actually do get use out of their sweaters. Though I have since been turned on to Warm Up America, and organization that accepts knitted squares and afghans to be handed out to the needy...so it still can be useful. So there.)

In looking through my daughter's marked selections I re-read an essay on knitting by Peri Klass (a pediatrician and a knitter, Knitter's, Spring 2002, p. 28-29) who said that the undone project was a fantasy for us all in that it let us imagine that the world would be a better place if we could just but finish that next project.  Much of the fantasy comes from imagining what great things we would be doing in the lovely thing that we are knitting. And I surely fantasize enough for us all. I fantasize what it would be like to have a career, and I am like the movie heroine Amalie in that I have all sorts of fancy daydreams of people telling me what a great contribution I have made to the world by ___________. And here my friend, you must fill in the blank because I can't seem to see the direction I need to go in. Should I teach? Should I write? Should I make costumes for period films? Should I quit complaining and tend to the family business and be grateful that we have enough money in this time when so many are in financial straights--even if confirming that the A/C and the toilets are working and listening sympathetically to tenants complaining that our building does not have enough parking are soul killing parts of the job?

I looked into finding a person who like Julia Child was for Julie Powell, a mentor in media format...and there is Elizabeth Zimmerman. She even had shows, like Julia Child, on public TV and she changed knitting for the American public much the way J.C. changed the art of cooking for the American housewife.   She encouraged us to make up our own patterns and knit with circular needles. She was the only knitter to be given a full page obituary in the New York Times with a headline that read: E. Zimmerman is Dead at 89: Revolutionized the Art of Knitting (1999--the year before I got married).

I have ordered some of E.Z.'s books from Amazon, but I think I will stick with the book my mom gave me for my challenge. Partly this is because knitting my way through this book may take me a while and I wanted a project that was a challenge, but also I had a realistic chance of actually achieving. E.Z. may be for another time, though you may get Elizabeth Zimmerman pearls of wisdom throughout the year.

I will start with the pair of socks on page 147 with some self striping yarn by Red Heart. I will be asking my friend Cathy to help me with the heel....I find this perplexing. Query, how do they get the yarn to know how to stripe as opposed to making the blotchy bits that other varigated yarns make? I so prefer the stripes. A photo tomorrow.