Woman on the edge of her 40's

I got a letter from my mom the other day, and inside there was a photo of three older women and one older man. Before I even read the letter I wondered to myself "Why did she send this picture?," because I didn't recognize anyone in it. And then I looked again and realized that I was staring my own mother in the face and hadn't known it, which was rather shocking. Apparently she thought this might be my reaction, because the first line of her letter was "Who are all these old people, anyway?" In my defense, mom is sporting a new 'do that looks pretty different from her usual hairstyle (Ma - Mox says you're looking good!), and it has been a while since we've seen each other in person. But still. Pretty crazy.

I find that I remind myself of my mom in weird ways now. Last night while reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink (which I stole from my mom last time I was at the house), I fell asleep on the couch in my robe and slippers with a raggedy old blanket and two cats on my chest. This is exactly what my mom would do in the winter. Even worse, it was her 30-year-old couch that I fell asleep on. She had the couch that we grew up with re-covered and sent out to me several years ago when I was couchless, and I still haven't replaced it. Like hers, the arms are in tatters where the cats have sharpened their claws on it. (Not exactly a huge incentive to buy a new couch.)

Then this morning I made stove-top hot chocolate, as I do every morning in the winter. Just like my mom did. (Hey ma - do you still have the yellow ladle with the black handle? That just came back to me.) And retired once again to the couch to read for a few hours before work, under a sea of cats. (And dogs, too - that's my own personal addition, though I am working on getting my mom a dog. She's still not sure, but if you live in the LA area, pop over and look at Kate. She's one of my favorite rescues and she needs a loving - knitting! - home.)

I have looked like I'm in my twenties for at least twenty years - from about puberty until fairly recently. One of the really interesting things about taking photos for the blog is that I occasionally get a glimpse of myself in a whole new light. This morning I realized that, at least in the closer-up photo, I look like a woman in her 30's, which is pretty good, because I'm actually getting closer to my 40's by the day.

Many of you have lived a few more years of life than I have and will consider this old hat (and maybe even just plain silly), but it is weird when in your mind you're still on the edge of 17 and the person you see in the photo is quite a bit older than that. (Old enough, even, to have a 17 year-old of her own.) I remember my parents at my age and I think they looked younger than me. I'm happy, though. I see myself with a gentle, more approving eye than I would have in earlier years. Many things become gray over time - opinions, perspectives, and hair, and I think that is for the good. Even love becomes an accepting shade of gray, and pulls together the things that we thought had fallen apart. I'm doing pretty well, and it will be interesting to see where this body takes me next.*

I meant to talk to you about the Mishka process this morning, but that will have to wait. It is done (!!!), and I am very happy with it. For those who asked, I do plan to publish it independently, although I am not sure exactly when. The pattern is complete and in a nice format, but only in my size. It still needs to be re-sized and tech-edited.

I did end up using the slipped stitch crochet edging along the hem, which smoothed it out just enough. It was too organic in its loose, wavy incarnation to properly mirror the tidier neckline. The edging brought it into more harmony. Anyway, I will leave that for another day. For now enjoy the photos. Thank you all, as always, for your warm encouragement and great advice. Sometimes it takes a village to build a hemline.

*I'm hoping for snow white - my dad is snow white - and if I don't get that naturally I may have my hair stylist hook me up!

Mishka is Finished!

Well, I think it is.

I don't often do the infamous bathroom mirror shot, but this morning it's nippy and I have no desire to take photos of myself in a sleeveless shell in 40 degree weather. In my Chicago days I would have worn shorts on a day like today, but after living on the west coast for several years I've become a big puss! Taking these photos was a fun challenge. I got several good shots of my toiletries. I can highly recommend both lubriderm and secret clinical strength, which is why I featured them here. Ha!

About the finished part. Almost. I'm still vacillating about the lower edge. The stitch pattern makes the bottom edge see-saw a little. I can't decide if I'm okay with that, because the piece drapes well, or if I want to slip stitch the edge. A slip stitch will make that edge stiffer and less resilient, which could be a bad thing. If I do it with a crochet hook a size larger I think it will help with drape, but I'm not sure that will do enough to straighten out the edge? Any thoughts? I also think I'm going to do one more round of blocking, perhaps on a hanger, to open up the lace.

A knit with a view

The second (and final!) piece of Mishka lies blocking on the kitchen table. I usually block my knits on the side porch, but today it's chilly and blustery (50's!), so I had to move Mishka inside to dry. I'm spoiled, because in the summer even a wool sweater will dry in a day. Now the situation has changed, and I may be looking at two days. The sooner the better!

This is one spoiled knit, perched in the window enjoying the scenery.

All I have left is a simple neck treatment, side seams and ties for the shoulders. Thank goodness! This is a really pretty knit, I'm happy with my design concept, and I know that I will get a lot of wear out of it, but sheesh have I been dragging my feet on this one. This is the kind of top that I would whip through in a week and a half if the pattern were written, but having to write instructions as I go really breaks my stride for some reason. Happily, that portion of the designing is done. I've finished the whole pattern in my size, so all that remains is re-sizing.

It's almost as good as watching paint dry.

My reward for finishing Mishka is that I get to cast on for a whole bunch of new knits. Many of them are my own designs that I've been swatching for a while, and one is this fun pattern from Knitting Nature, which my best friend and I are knitting together. (Last year we both made the Marseilles Pullover.) We planned cast on day for December first - and so it is.

Mishka Progress

It feels like it's been so long since I spent a morning propped up on my pillows, talking to the blog about knitting. Since the last time, I've been slowly plugging away on Mishka - just a row here and a row there - finally over the weekend, I was able to finish and block the first piece.

I always build my designs around a yarn. When I first see a yarn I usually have a fairly clear conception of what I want it to be, at least in the sense that I know if it will be a tank or a cowl-neck sweater or some knee socks. I usually cannot "see" anything other than the type of piece that I first envision for a yarn until it has been made into that initial vision. Later, I can use that starting concept as a building block and move off into other directions, but at first it just has to be what it is in my head. I buy approximately the amount of yarn that I think I will need to create that vision. If I were smart I would buy that amount plus one skein, but usually I cannot manage to make myself do that. I abhor leftovers, and can go to fairly extreme lengths to make sure that I buy exactly the right amount of yarn and not a bit more.

Flipped to the wrong side to show the shoulder casing.
Worked in Artfibers' Liana.This was how it went when designing Mishka. I bought the yarn for the piece about two years ago, and envisioned it as a sleeveless shell. As I worked on it, it morphed from sleeveless shell into a draping, flowing top, with shoulder and hem ties woven through casings. The body is worked without shaping, with about four inches of ease built into the width, so that it will blouse and drape. The armscyes are shorter than on a sweater so that undergarments will stay hidden, yet a bit looser than on a fitted tank so that the flow won't be interrupted.

I was very lucky to find that Premiere yarn goes a bit further than expected. I bought exactly what I thought I would need for a fitted shell - five skeins - but with a little ingenuity and advanced planning, I have been able to stretch that amount to work for a blousy top. I worked a slip-stitch edging that I borrowed from one of Annie Modesitt's designs along the armscyes so that they are self-finishing, and also employed a little trick I picked up years ago to avoid the stair-step effect of an armscye bind-off (it also works for necklines and shoulders) to accomplish the same. I worked the reverse side of the shoulder casings in a coordinating yarn that is lighter and of a substantially smaller gauge so as to use less Premiere, but also to make it less obvious that there is a casing present at all. As a consequence, I think I managed to get enough extra fabric in the piece to make it blouse effectively. In addition to giving it four inches of ease, I made it twenty-three and a half inches in length from the shoulder, which should give it a total length of at least twenty-four inches with the ties at the top. Standard length for me on a fitted shell would be somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty inches, twenty-four should provide plenty of blousing space.

Self-finishing armscyes using Annie's clever slipped edging.I still haven't decided how to handle the hemline of the piece. I could seam the sides all the way down to the hem and just let it as is, swinging free. Or I could leave it unseamed for the last three and a half to four inches and run a casing along the bottom edge where I can weave ties through so that it gathers in and sits gently on the hip. I think I prefer the second option, but it will all depend on the length when worn. I may be just short enough on fabric that the effect wouldn't quite work without an additional half-inch to gather and blouse.

I'll just have to see when I get there. There is always a little interplay of idea and chance, no matter what the initial concept. Even if it turns out very close to the way I envisioned, there will doubtless be some element of surprise. I think this is my favorite part of designing - reaching the point when I feel certain that what I have done so far will work and that I will enjoy it, but still having some improvisation left on the horizon - a little bit of uncertainty that makes it all exciting.

Create-Along: Back At It!

Several months ago, Marnie and I kicked off the Create-Along, a knitalong where newbies and old hands can design together and discuss their process. If you haven't checked it out - do! - there are some amazing posts over there, and at least two really beautiful FO's so far. We're running through September 15, so if you have a hankering to design and could use some support, please join us. It's a great deal of fun.

Mishka (named after Mames' beautiful GSD), lounging next to the meager notes I have taken.

I kicked off the Create-Along with a bang, swatching up a beautiful Barbara Walker lace pattern that I intended to use for a very simple shell. I was going to do a boatneck sheath style and run a single panel of lace down the left side. At the time I was very enthused about it, but the weeks wore on and it just never got knit.

I finally realized that the reason the shell wasn't happening, was that it wasn't happening in my head - I was truly bored with my own conception. I think the original idea was a good one, very classic, and something that I would get a lot of use from. But it just didn't grab me. I had been flipping through fashion magazines and pouring over runway knits, and I wanted something more current. Not trendy, necessarily, as I like clothing to stand the test of time, but more in the moment that what I had originally conceived. (I will probably design the sheath eventually, as well, when it is more what I am looking for.)

Marnie and I talked about my ideas pretty extensively one night, and discussed how we felt obligated to stick with the designs that we presented to the knitters in the CAL. She had been struggling with her design, Lily, as well, yet felt that for some reason she needed to stick with the conception she had started with. I realized about half-way through the conversation how silly we were. Why would we do this for the CALers, of all people? The whole point of the CAL was to show process, and almost nothing is more part of the process than scrapping design ideas, re-working and ripping! If you are afraid to do that, you are often left with a piece that you don't like, and which does not really represent your full creative process and personal perspective.

That is a long way of saying that I decided to scrap the original idea, and instead work out a new plan. Here it is: I am going to make a loosely-fitting hip-length top that will have hemmed casings at the top which I will run corded ties through to close. The motif will repeat with sections of large "rib" in between on both the front and the back. I would also like to do casings about three inches from the bottom edge with corded ties to create a blousing effect, but that is going to depend on whether I have enough yarn to manage it. I may have to re-work a bit to accommodate the minimal yardage I have going on here.

I was going to sketch it out for you, but I didn't do that yet in my *real* design process, so it's kind of silly to pretend that I did it for the CAL or the blog! I will probably sketch it soon, and I'll include the sketch here when I do. The thing that I have done already is a rough yardage estimation. I find that really useful, so I'll try to share a post on it soon. In the meantime, I will back at it and knitting away on Mishka - yay! It's about time.

Modifications: A Designer's First Step

Debut of the Daktari Dress - with a curtsy!Right after I kicked off the createalong, I realized that before I can play with my design in earnest, I really need to get the current WIPs off my plate. Except for the Marseilles Pullover, they are all gifts and will need to be gifted soon. The Marseilles Pullover itself is best suited to cool weather, and since LA has such a short chilly season, I need to finish it if I am going to get any wear out of it this year. So while I am finishing what I started, I thought I would participate in the CAL by doing some posts on the creative process in general.

This post covers the basic starting point for most designs - modifications - and borrows photos and an example from one of our very talented CALer's, Samantha. Sam started making a version of the Daktari Skirt (Lacy Skirt with Bows) for herself, but quickly realized that a single panel of the skirt could be modified to make a dress for her daughter. The pattern is the same as the original, except that only a single panel is used and there are garter stitch straps added at the top. These are simple modifications, but brilliant - what a lovely transformation.

I was completely taken by Sam's dress idea. When I was Sam's daughter's age my grandmother had a very similar ingenious idea. She took some of her old slips, smocked them at the top to gather the fabric in, and sewed on satin ribbons for ties. I had several of these slip dresses that I wore as nighties and used to play dress-up. I still remember all the details of those little dresses - that is how much I loved them. (I know that my mother, who reads this blog, has a photo of me in one - maybe you'll send me a copy, ma? I don't know if she still has any of the nighties.)

Guess who got the "shy" gene...I am sure that many of you have made some sort of modification like this. We all do a little bit of tweaking to change a pattern to suit our needs, even if it is something as seemingly simple as lengthening the sleeves of a sweater or adding short rows to the bust. Don't underestimate the power of these tweaks. They aren't just useful for the project you just finished - they can also be a springboard for the next project.

Having finished her daughter's dress, Sam can now go on to make other dresses using the first one as a template. She has the measurements from the Daktari dress to use as a baseline, so for the next dress she can use the same basic shape and change the patterning. Or she could go one step further and tweak the shape a little, too. What would the dress look like with a fitted bodice? What if she changed the length a little? A completely new and different dress can be designed using what Sam has already figured out here, and with a few little changes she will have stepped from modification to design.

The same is true of little sweater modifications. I try to keep track of little details that I add to commercial patterns, and I also follow which measurements will tend to work best for me in different circumstances. I've learned over time that a bodice twenty inches in length is my "standard," and will fit in such a way to keep my midriff covered (No muffin-top to be seen here people! ). A twenty-two inch bodice will cover the waistband of my trousers and give a nice elongated look to an outfit (which is why I plan for Mishka to be about twenty-two inches in length). Twenty-five inches will give me a tunic or coat length. Knowledge of these measurements gives me a good starting point for design. I am fairly standard-sized, so I can take my measurements and simply add to them proportionally (more on that later) to get the other standardized sizes in a range, but if you aren't standard-sized you can simply figure out how differently your measurements run from the standards proportionally and then make those adjustments across the board for all sizes in a pattern. The opposite approach works as well. If you are working from a commercial pattern and know that you need to take in two inches at the waist as compared to the usual standard size you can work out that modification before you start knitting so that the piece will fit you in a flattering way.

These are just little things to think of as you design. Don't undervalue your experiences as you go along - use them for the next step. Just look at that dress!

A stroll on the ocean in Guam. With a backyard like this, would you miss wool?

Create-Along: Why the #$%!@?! Yarn Restrictions?

I probably should have written about this in my initial CAL post, but the fact is that I am so annoyingly verbose when it comes to things like this that if I had, no one would have ever gotten around to reading the explanation. Instead, I'm giving the topic it's own post, so I can be as wordy as I please. Feel free to skip this if you are not creating-along!

The madness does have purpose, and it was a choice on my part, which I stand by even though I have about seven designs that I'm playing around with now and only one of them is in one of the create-along yarns.

Purpose the First:* One of my favorite recent knitting books is Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature. Gaughan talks extensively in the book about how she is more creative when she has a limitation, and in each of the six parts she introduces the pieces, both individually and as a group, by writing about each limitation - a shape found commonly in nature. This device wasn't invented by Gaughan. If you ever took a high school art or writing class you were probably asked to do the same thing: "Here is a theme that everyone has to work with, see what you can do with it."

I think most of us creative types chafe at these restrictions initially, but it is absolutely fascinating to see what different people do with the same limitation. It really forces you to start to think outside of the box and it gives an insight as to the perspectives and visions of others. I actually find that the first time I work with a theme it is difficult, but that during the process I come up with all kinds of ideas for working with the theme in the future. Sometimes we have to create that first idea in order to be able to move past it. A yarn limitation gives everyone a starting point (and in this case a choice of five starting points), but it's much less restrictive than suggesting that we all attempt to design around the concept of phyllotaxis. Agreed?

Purpose the Second: Yarn is a big part of design, and the way that a particular yarn behaves can make or break a piece. One of the hardest things to figure out as a new knitter or a new designer is how a particular yarn is going to affect the final garment. The second scarf that I ever made was an eyelet pattern in thick, chunky wool. Now if you are intending to break the rules and use big needles to make an over-sized modern scarf that is one thing, but I was fully expecting a lacy, drapey piece that conveyed elegance. My tweedy wool scarf with occasional holes did not achieve that goal. With many people using the same yarn, there can be significant discussion about its characteristics, and we can all learn more about the limits of certain fabrics. The particular yarns we chose are all yarns that Marnie and I have worked with before and have on hand. I chose the Premiere and Cotton Classic, she picked the Calmer and Denim, and we threw in the Kidsilk Haze because it's something we both have that can work in spring weather. Although I know it's ass cold in most parts this time of year, most of us will finish our projects in spring or summer, so it made sense to work with a warm-weather array of fibers.

I feel that our knowledge of these fibers is important for several reasons. First, we have yarn available to design something in each of the yarn selections during the course of the create-along. This will keep us active in the blogging process and in the process of helping other -alongers. We're also sure to have an example of at least one project made in each yarn. As we design there will inevitably be tips we remember that are yarn-specific. Working with each one keeps us present in the process. Second, we already know what these yarns are capable of, and can help guide create-alongers in their process if they are struggling with the materials. Third, and this is important to me, we know these yarns will wear well over all and that the quality of the create-along projects will not be compromised if you use them. It would devastate me if someone designed something for the first time and it looked terrible after only a few wearings. Although some of these yarns are more resilient than others, they are all reliable and you should be able to get significant use out of them.

Purpose the Third: Whenever you design a piece, you will come up against some type of limitation, and usually you will have several. It may be what yarn you have in your stash, the amount of yarn in a certain dyelot, or a specific color or set of colors. If you go on to design for publication, or if you have already designed for publication, you will find/have found that even more limitations are placed on you. In fact, unless you design for a specific yarn company or yarn in particular it will be pretty common for the publishers to look at your design concept and pick yarn and colors for you. Boy, oh boy, is that fun! (I'm not a fan of this convention, as you can see.)

Given this nearly universal propensity for limitations on design, I thought we could use it as a unifying principle. I think knitalongs work best when there is a common theme. I didn't want to go with choosing a specific type of project to design, because I wanted to attract knitters from a variety of skill levels in both design and knitting. I'm hoping that through this process we can take some of the mystery out of design and make it more accessible to everyone. Not all knitters will be interested, but I'd love it if those who are interested would be less intimidated. I feel that if you can start out with more simplistic shaping more people will join. I also think that the common theme of a few yarns can be cohesively repeated. If this is a success, we can do it again with fall yarns, and attract a different set of knitters.

*I've been reading too much Thomas Hardy. This is how he labels the parts of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Anyone remember that book from school?

Photos, from top to bottom: River in Kidsilk Haze; Citrus Moon in Pima Tencel (same fiber content as Premiere); Thelma in Rowan Denim; Birch in Kidsilk Haze; Tea Set in Cotton Classic; and Marnie's Deciduous in Calmer.

Create-Along: Where I Start

Yarn speaks to me. When I see a beautiful fiber that I want, my little gears start clicking and I begin to think about what that yarn is most suited to become. I just have a general concept at this point, usually along the lines of a silhouette. When I first touched Classic Elite Premiere, which is a 50/50 tencel/pima cotton blend, it was so silky and smooth that I immediately felt it needed to be made into something with long, elegant lines and drape, and I decided on a shell that I could wear to work or out to dinner, but that could also be dressed down with some dark denim jeans. I bought 5 skeins in a light buttery color. (The camera I used does not properly capture the color - my kingdom for my Exilim, which is still in the repair shop!) I felt that the shell should be fitted and just barely clinging, but not tight, and I wanted a lace pattern that I could insert in an elegant vertical line, off-center.

With these general thoughts in mind, I went on to my common second step - browsing through my stitch dictionaries. Stitch dictionaries are wonderful, because each time I open one with a specific project in mind, I see something new. Stitch patterns that may not speak to me in one fiber work brilliantly in another. Just changing the yarn that I start with can give me wildly different results, which is fascinating to me - inspirational and fun. I started with Barbara Walker and almost immediately found what I felt would be the "right" lace. Then I went on to my usual third step - swatching.

If you don't own a stitch dictionary and want one, the 365 Knitting Stitches Calendar is an excellent and really economical way to go. Public libraries also often have several that you can browse through, and the libraries are licensed to allow you to make limited copies of pages for personal use. Alternately, you can browse through books or magazines of patterns that you like and take stitch patterns from those. My first scarf incorporated a cable that I saw on a sweater in Vogue.

Sometimes when I begin to swatch I hit the right stitch pattern or combination of patterns right away, and this was one of those times. As soon as I had a repeat finished, I knew that this was the lace I wanted to use, so I continued it for another repeat to make a very large swatch. I think the final dimensions are about five by seven inches. Other times I need to go through several different patterns to find the one(s) that will work. I will often do this on one large continual swatch with the patterns separated by a few rows of stockinette with a garter-ridge line as a boundary between designs, as pictured in the swatch in my last create-along post. It really just depends on how long it takes me to hit upon a pattern that I'm sure of. Regardless, I always make a larger swatch with a representative percentage of the patterns I plan to use, so that I can see how they work together.

If, as here, stockinette is an element of the design, I make a point of putting in a fair amount of it as well, so that I have a good idea of what the gauge will be in both the pattern and in stockinette. I take gauge before blocking, and gauge after blocking, and I make sure to wash and block the swatch as I plan to block the garment. After taking gauge, I weigh the swatch on my kitchen scale to determine how many grams of yarn are needed per square inch, and then I convert that number to yards per square inch. I then put all the information about yarn, needle size, gauge, and swatch weight in a moleskein notebook that I keep for design ideas, so that I can use the numbers later to ensure that I have the amount of yarn I will need to finish my project.

Now that I have my swatch and measurements done, I'm off and running. My next step will be to start sketching....

CreateAlong!

I have always been a pretty crappy knit-alonger. I like the idea of the knit-along in theory. I love the community experience, and I value the knowledge that knitters are able to share when we make something together. It's the practice of the knit-along that gets me. I love to see cool variations of a project, but by the time I get around to knitting myself, I've seen the piece everywhere and lose interest, even if it is wonderful.

A swatch of stitch patterns for one of my designs.

I long to find blogs showcasing new and original pieces, and to find knitters who create projects that I haven't seen before or that put an interesting twist on a well-known theme. I came up with the idea of the create along (CAL) in the hopes that I could have the best of all worlds - the community spirit and shared wisdom and the originality.

The create along was also inspired by my desire to draw more people into designing. I think that a lot of knitters are intimidated by design if they haven't attempted it before. But the fact is you don't have to start by making a fitted sweater with set-in sleeves. If design intimidates you, you can start small. Play with a stitch pattern and see where it leads. You may start with a rectangular wrap or a baby sweater with minimal shaping. Begin inside your comfort zone and then move out as you feel more confident.

Remember that you don't have to re-invent the wheel. A lot of what designers do is to simply combine elements that they see elsewhere and like. They find a stitch pattern that works well with a particular yarn and apply it to a silhouette, adding details - perhaps a notched collar, or bell sleeves. All of these things have been done before, the designer simply has the vision to put them together.

My "studio" at Chez W. last year and the just ducky pillow plans.

Being the geeks that we are, Marnie and I get together and talk about knitwear design ad nauseum. Between the spin-outs, road trips, and slumber parties (aka "business trips to LA"), we have had a lot of opportunity to discuss process together. I am always amazed by the different ways that we choose to attack the same problems, and the ways in which our initial creative processes meet and diverge. I've learned a lot in the course of our knit blab sessions, and I find the process of design an ever-fascinating topic. So fascinating, in fact, that I think it's worth having an entire blog about.

So here's the idea: we'll take five yarns (yarns which Marnie and I happen to have in our stashes - yay! - stash-busting!) and see what our group of Create-Alongers can do with them. The yarns, and our plans to design something original are the common thread, much as the design itself is in the usual knit-along.

Here are the rules:

1. You must use Classic Elite Premiere, Rowan Calmer, Rowan Denim, Tahki Cotton Classic, or Rowan Kidsilk Haze as the main yarn in your design. It is fine to go outside these choices for accents, but one of these yarns should be the main ingredient.

2. Design something original. It can be anything you want - simple, complex, garment, decor, art, whatever.

3. Write about your creative process. This can be your thought process, the actual knitting, mistakes, accidental triumphs, brilliant problem-solving, etc. Feel free to pose questions that others can answer in the comments or give us a little tutorial on a technique or discuss a source of inspiration. As long as it's related to your process (or someone else's), it's fair game. Please keep it to process, though. It's fine to introduce yourself, but please do it in a post with knitting content.

4. Create as many FO's as you like from as many yarns as you want to use on the list.

5. Start now! We'll most likely run from now until September-ish. We'll see how it goes.

Marnie and I will try to get everyone's creative juices flowing early on with posts on our projects and processes. I will be starting with Classic Elite Premiere, and she's kicking it off with Rowan Calmer. To join, e-mail us at create along (at) gmail dot com with the subject line JOIN and we'll send you an invite to the blog, so that you can post.

Go team Premiere!