Father's Day Tees

A little while ago I picked up a copy of Lena Corwin's Printing by Hand. It's a great book, full of beautiful and inspiring projects and how-to's for many different types of hand-printing. The most interesting for me are freezer-paper stenciling and block-printing. I block-printed in high school, but never tried freezer paper stenciling until now:

These are father's day gifts for my dad, Moxie, and, of course, Griffin. We call Griffin Little Dude around here, so the theme started with him and radiated out. I think it's pretty darn cute. Moxie pointed out that although he loves the idea of the shirts, worn in isolation, his was a little too flamboyant with the flames and "big dude" combo. Apparently the v-neck didn't help. So I went back to the drawing board and made a crew-neck shirt for him, sans flames. I'm thinking I may need to do the same for the grand dude. He doesn't exactly have a flaming personality, either. The little dude looks adorable in the original version, however, and I have a new obsession. I may end up stenciling everything we own! And the two big flaming T-shirts won't go to waste - they make excellent night shirts. I don't mind a little fire.

Knitting in the Sun: Blog Tour!

As I'm sure all you peeps know, I had the pleasure of being included as a contributor in Kristi Porter's new book, Knitting in the Sun (rav link to see all the patterns). I have a lot more blabbing that I hope to do about the two pieces I contributed, but for the blog tour I thought that I would give someone else a chance to talk a bit, and who better than Kristi? One of the things that I love most about working on a book with someone is the opportunity to see a lot of the pieces in person. There are always things that are special about the projects that can be hard to capture in photographs. So I asked Kristi to pick a few pieces from the book and talk about the special features that you might miss just paging through. Here is what she had to say.

Cover shot featuring Kendra Nitta's Anacapa Wrap.

"You're right when you say that seeing pieces in person is inevitably different from seeing them in print. Not just because you see them flat on the page, but because you don't see them move; you don't see how they behave on a body. I hope that at least some of their vitality comes through in the pictures! Both the photographer and I shared an aesthetic of showing the designs on real women in natural settings. We weren't running around pinning or cinching and telling the models not to move, it was much the reverse, crossing my fingers that he'd get a good picture before a wave crashed and soaked something! So I think the photographs give a pretty authentic glimpse at how the knits really will look.

Coronado. One of my personal favorites.One of the things that delights me most about this collection is how wearable the designs are. Like you could put something on in the morning and wear it all day and not think about it. A lot of things I've knit in the past, I love, but the fit is weird or I end up tugging at it all day, or something about it just takes effort to wear. I'm sure every knitter has these. As the one person who has tried all these things on a dozen times (when they arrived, to try to figure out what other clothes to pair them with, to figure out what model they'd fit best...), and coerced many others to try them on too, I can say that the designs look great on a variety of women of different ages and body types. Obviously, different styles will appeal to different people; not everyone is comfortable in a midriff-baring swimsuit, or even in a sleeveless tank, and that's why I was sure to include knits that were comfortable in warmer weather that still provide plenty of coverage.

Taos. Modeled by Kristi.To speak about a couple of designs specifically as to what isn't shown, my cardigan called Coronado features two symmetrical overlapping fronts with a very broad collar. If it were a pullover, it'd be a big slouchy cowl. In the book, it's shown open and draped and also pinned somewhat asymmetrically. You can also pin it so it's more like a double-breasted middy collar, or even more asymmetrically. Pair those options with a variety of yarn and color choices and it's a tremendously fun, flexible garment. Also, Stefanie Japel's design, Taos, is modeled as a long vest, but it's designed to be worn buttoned up the front or back, either as a tunic, or, if you add some length before the waist shaping it'll make a great little dress. And, although I'm pretty sure it wasn't your intention, it ends up that the top from the Vernazza sleep set has caught on as a fabulous maternity top! (Julia finished the piece very shortly before giving birth and snapped her own photos in her beautifully gravid state!) Even though it's billed as loungewear, I think it's clear that this makes a great top for daytime too, with or without a bun in the oven.

The Vernazza Summer Sleep Set - with and without watermelon attachment.

Of course, in a book, you can't show the same piece on a dozen people, or with a dozen different outfits, or in lots of different colors. I'd love to be able to do that, to show knitters the huge potential of each design. I suppose we'll have to wait for people to cast on and get knitting so we can see what they've come up with on Ravelry for that!"

Next up on the blog tour: Beth Casey of Lorna's Laces

All photographs copyright Wiley Publishing, except photos of the Vernazza Sleep Set, copyright Julia Trice and Kristi Porter.

The Manolo, He Would Approve

It is never too early to learn the love of the fabulous shoe.

Diminishing Ribs Cardigan: Pattern Notes

Alternately entitled: "Last things first." This is actually my third FO for the year, but the first that I've gotten around to blogging. I'm a big lame-o. But at least I'm a knitting and spinning lame-o. For those of you wondering how the plying debacle went, I won't keep you in suspense: Andean plying from a center-pull ball worked! So at some point in the future I will be able to bring you tales of pretty yarn. I've been swatching with the finished handspun for a gift for a friend, and it looks wonderful. I'm very happy with it.

Arty shot of the sleeve detailing.

So now on to the Diminishing Ribs Cardigan (rav link). I love it, too.

I finished knitting Diminishing Ribs while sitting in the doctor's office for several hours about a month ago. I had to get three ultrasounds - one abdominal and two pelvic - so I decided to do it all in one shot and make a morning of it. (No worries on results - just a pesky ovarian cyst.) Sitting in the radiology department ended up being a nice experience. I met three women through my knitting.

The first person I met was a woman wearing a wrist brace. She was knitter for 20 years before her wrist was injured, but will never knit again. She smiled the entire time we sat there together, however, and I felt like she was knitting vicariously. She told me all about the things she made her children when they were little, and the things that she made her grandchildren later. Surprisingly, I wasn't sad sitting there with her. She seemed very happy to have a kindred spirit and just sitting there while I was knitting brought her happiness.

Enjoying a nice day on the porch.The second person was a woman in her 20's who wanted to learn how to knit. She crossed the room to sit next to me and watch, so I got out my DPNs and showed her how to knit. She knit a row before her name was called.

The last - my favorite - was an older Asian woman who spoke very limited English. She was able to say "beautiful," and said it over and over. Then she put her hands out for the sweater. She inspected every inch of it - seams (such that there were - it's a top down construction), woven in ends - and then zeroed in on the self-finishing edge that runs down the front panels. The edge is very simple, but it's effective and a very nice design element. I use it a lot myself, especially along the armscyes of sleeveless shells. She indicated that she wanted me to show her how to do it, so I got out the DPNs again and we sat together making a small swatch with self-finishing edges. (Which makes me wonder why I don't do all my swatches with self-finishing edges, actually.) She had a hard time remembering the sequence at first, so I tried to use just one word for each movement and repeat. She knit about 6 rows and then she was satisfied. She smiled and indicated that she had trouble remembering things now because she was older. Then she drew an "86" on the palm of her hand. It made me realize that some day I will be shuffling around in an 86-year-old body and feeling the same way that I do now. Hopefully I'll be able to remember new knitting techniques. In foreign languages. Her husband came out of radiology looking equally spry (probably 90), and the two of them walked out holding hands. It left me feeling all warm and fuzzy. And it beat the heck out of being stuck watching Dr. Phil for hours with a bunch of strangers. It's all in the sweater now.

Diminishing Ribs Cardigan
Spring 2009 issue of Interweave Knits
designed by Andrea Pomerantz (rav link)
Knit with 7 skeins and about 1 yard of Filatura di Crosa Zara (rav link)
on size US6 (4.0 mm) Addi Turbo circulars and US6 (4.0 mm) clover dpns.
Gauge: Before blocking: 21 sts and 32 rows per four inches in Stst. After blocking 19 sts and 26 rows. (This is why you wash and block your swatch, people!)
Size: 32" chest circumference.

From the front.
Eventually I may add a closure at the waist.The Pattern:
Most of the time if I go to the trouble of knitting myself a sweater I choose a pattern that is challenging in some way, or involves cabling or interesting construction. Diminishing ribs is a very straightforward pattern with nothing particularly outlandish about it. I was drawn to knit it for its clean lines and clever detailing. The way in which the ribs "diminish" (they actually grow, depending on how you look at it) from the waistline to the hem and at the cuffs makes the cardigan flow in an elegant way that is feminine without being floofy. The design is architectural with just a little touch of "girl" to it, which makes it something that I can wear often and enjoy. As I said above, I also really like the self-finishing edges along the fronts. I don't wear many cardigans because all the little buttons that run up the front of them don't suit my personality. There is something just too "spot on" about them. The self-finishing edges remove the need to have the sweater button up. I will probably add some sort of closure at the waistline, but nothing to visible or fancy. Just something to give me the option of pulling the sweater closed when I want to.

I've been asked to share the self-finishing edge instructions and I am happy to comply. In this pattern it is called an I-cord edging, but it is known by other names, and I know it as slipped st edging. I first came across it in an Annie Modesitt pattern and have been happily using it ever since. The technique is simple, and requires only three edge stitches:

RS: k1, sl1 purlwise wyif, k1

WS: sl1 purlwise wyif, k1, sl1 purlwise wyif

Enjoy!

Diminishing ribs was also interesting for me because it's the first top-down sweater that I have finished. Crazy, huh? What can I say? Unlike the grandmother who taught me to knit, I like seams. Go figure. Still, in this case it was fun to knit top down. It made me consider designing something top-down in the future, which I hadn't really considered before.

Modifications: I substituted yarns, but used the same gauge, so no big modification there. The only mod that I made of substance was to omit the second tier of ribbing on the cuffs and go straight to the third. To my eye, this flows a little better, because there just isn't as much room to transition through three ribs on the cuffs as there is on the main body. Either way, though, I think the cuffs turn out nicely. I also lengthened the sweater just a tad. My goal was to use exactly 7 skeins and I came very close to doing that.

From the side and from the back.

Techniques: Nothing too fancy here. If you haven't worked top-down before this is a good pattern to learn on. It is very straightforward and well-written and between the increasing, edging and ribbing there is enough going on to keep you from going mad with all the stockinette (as I assume I would on other top-downs). The self-finishing edge is a nice technique, too. Oh, and it's a great opportunity to learn how to cast on invisibly for ribbing and do a sewn bind-off. Neither is strictly necessary, but both give the piece a very professional look. If you aren't particularly comfortable with the sewn bind-off it may seem like a long haul. Start with a sleeve! I took the advice of someone on ravelry and put the stitches to be bound-off on two needles (alternating front and back) and kitchenered them off. It made things very easy and enjoyable for a gal who loves seams.

Working With Filatura di Crosa Zara (rav link): Takhi Savoy (rav link), the yarn called for in the pattern, is a silk merino blend, whereas as Zara is all merino. Zara has enough drape that the substitution works well. I have a real soft spot for plain old plied merino yarns like Zara because they are so soft, squooshy, and such good workhorses. The stitch definition is great, the yarn is resilient, and it's warm but not suffocating in an air-conditioned environment, which is where I will be wearing Diminishing Ribs. I haven't worked with Takhi Savoy, but I would imagine it is lovely, too, and likely a bit cooler for the summer weather. Either yarn seems like a great choice and there are many other fibers that would work equally well. The main thing to keep in mind is growth and drape. Don't use something so heavy or prone to draping that your cardigan risks sagging out of shape.

Happy Mommy Day

From Me and G. Daddy's making waffles and we're rocking out to 80's music at the top of our lungs and dancing around the kitchen. Flashdance, Come on Ilene, Billy Jean, Men at Work, can you dig it? What are you doing?

I May Be Looking A Bit Pregnant

The photo below was taken last year a few weeks before the Little Dude was born, just before I sent the sample for Vaguely Reminiscent (my working name for this piece) to Kristi Porter for her upcoming book Knitting in the Sun. I'm posting the photo because Knitting in the Sun is available on amazon now, and will be available at bookstores on May 11. The sleep set that I contributed is designed to be a billowy night ensemble for the non-pregnant, but as you can see it works for maternity, too. It was so cute and comfortable on that I had a hard time parting with it.

Signs of the G, about 8 months ago...

I also co-contributed a little sun cloche to the book. The concept and first draft were mine, but when it looked like the Dude might come early, Marnie pinch-hit for me (as always), and did the significant revisions and knit the sample. Marnie has a piece in the book, as do many other talented knitters. Knitting in the Sun is a wonderful book full of knits for the warm weather months, and I am very honored to have been included in it. I can't wait to get my copy!

The Unintentional Spinner

That would be me. I've been reading Judith MacKenzie McCuin's The Intentional Spinner with a fervor - reading and re-reading it in fact, which is impressive attention to give to a single book given my current lack of reading time. I would love to say that I'm going to give you a review of The Intentional Spinner, but as soon as I say that I won't get to it, so I won't say it and we can all just be pleasantly surprised if I do. Fair enough?

The Singles, feigning innocence.

Anyhoo, this book has given me some real "Ah-ha!" moments, so if you are in need of one as an intermediate-ish (beginning intermediate?) spinner, I'd highly recommend it. As far as ah-ha moments go, this book shares a space with the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook and Sew U for me. A real connect-the-dotter.

It would be great to be able to say that I have been practicing all that I have learned from this wonderful book, but so far all my fervor has produced the same type of spinning that I always do, on pretty much the same fiber, with the same preparation. I do want to work on my techniques at some point, but for now the book has simply been inspiration to spin.

So now for the unintentional part. The only way in which I deviated from my normal spinning practices was in the twist I gave my singles. Somehow I managed to spin one S and one Z. I'll give you a moment to contemplate that. One S. One Z. You can't make those play nice together. For all of you non-spinners who are glazing over right now (why are you still reading?) think oil and water, square peg, round hole. I didn't even notice until I attempted to ply them and one became very tight and wiry while the other practically disintegrated before my eyes.

I could have cried. I had been so intent on spinning that I had two bobbins with two ounces of fiber on each. I considered Navajo plying them, but I didn't want long color runs. I was really aiming for barber-pole 2-ply, and the only way one gets that is to ply the singles together. Luckily, I have a great resource in the Spunky Club on Ravelry, and soon after I posted about my spinning woes there were many suggestions about what I should do.

The one that really struck me was Andean plying. Why had I not thought of that? That was a D'oh! moment. I think it didn't occur to me because I've only Andean plied on a spindle, and with each bobbin holding two ounces, that's quite a bracelet. Again, there were several suggestions as to how to tackle that problem, including this nifty idea of "book plying." I am taking the path of least resistance and Andean plying from a center-pull ball.

So far, I have only managed to wind the singles off the bobbins into skeins, and look at them skeptically. There is no reason that Andean plying would not work -- all my spindled yarn is plied this way and I have made some lovely yarn and knit it with success (more on that later - my first FO of the year was a spindle-spun hat for Griffin that I have yet to blog). Still, I feel some trepidation, having managed to forget which way to ply a singles in the space of three months. I'm not sure I can blame it all on sleep deprivation. Cross your fingers for me and hopefully I'll be back soon with tales of pretty yarn.

Happy Easter!

From Little Dude and the Biggest Duck Known to Man.

5 years with the blog, 6 months with Griffin

Edited to add credits and places to find patterns, etc.
Time has gone by so quickly. It's hard to believe that I've been writing this blog for five years now, but it has gotten to the point where the galleries on the sidebar are unwieldy, so it must be true. I've never celebrated a blogiversary before, but I think once you get to five years there is some sort of rule mandating that you do. In addition to it being my blogiversary, it's also Griffin's half-year birthday. That has really gone fast. Below is a little montage of him playing with some of the handmade gifts that I got at his baby shower. These are some of my favorite things, and although not all of them are from bloggy friends, most are. So it is a nice confluence of blog and baby for this post.

Flannel bibs made by my grandmother for me, 37 years ago.

Snail knit by Shannon, Pattern from the talented Hansigurumi
She also does a jackelope, a hermit crab and an owl that I love.

Fabric blocks by Amiee -- red, white and black are perfect.
Very attractive to babies.

Fabric book gifted to me by Jen, from Exlibris -- it's personalized for G

True to form, as soon as I announce that I am doing something, I stop doing it. So instead of doing just a little simple knitting here and there for the G as I was before, I am once again into everything and have started a ziliion projects and left a lot of the half-finished things that I was working on half-finished. I do seem to be zooming through a cardigan for me and a stuffed bird that I am knitting for G, so hopefully there will be FO's to show off soon. I still need to blog the handspun hat I finished for G in January, which is my only FO of the year. I guess this is the year of beginnings rather than finishings. But watch, now that I've said that aloud I'll go crazy and finish everything. One can only hope. Happy Half Birthday to Griffin, Happy Blogiversary to me, and a happy hello to all of you. I hope you are having as much fun as a little baby with a knitted snail.

P.S. Notice that Griffin is *reading* to his snail. That cracks me up.

Free Patterns: G's Seeded Rib Pullover & Homecoming Hat

Some of my favorite pieces from 2008 ended up being things that I knit for publication, so they had to stay hush-hush until their release. One of those is this little set that I made for Griffin -- his Homecoming Hat and Seeded Rib Pullover. I'll write about both more as soon as I get the chance, but for now, you can get a pdf of the hat here on my site, and the sweater will be available on Classic Elite's Web Letter No. 76 tomorrow. (The link will work when the Web Letter goes live.) In the meantime, here are a few shots of G enjoying his hat and sweater with his daddy on the trail on Christmas day.

Our Gentle Giants

Our dogs can definitely be a handful - as anyone who has had to go through the introduction process (before being allowed to enter our house alive) can attest. But they shine in several important respects. From day one they have both been gentle and loving with the baby and with our cats. Just another plug for German Shepherds and for Shepherds from Rescue in particular.

Griffin and Zosia

If you grab Z's face, you are going to get kissed.

Griffin the Conqueror with Ash the Good Sport.

Where the Knitting is Now

Like many others, I usually take advantage of the new year to reflect on my knitting - where it has been in the last year, where I want it to go in the year to come. This year that exercise totally escaped me - I forgot about it until I arrived late at Nonnahs' blog and was inspired by her review of the year gone by. Nonnahs' remark that really struck me was that this was a year where she knit little for herself. I realized that was true for me, too, which is pretty unusual. I make no bones about being a selfish knitter. Usually, half of what I knit every year is for me, and the other half of my knitting is comprised of baby gifts for friends. The complex, larger pieces are almost always for me.

This year was very different. The only thing I knit for myself was Norah Gaughan's Bubble Pullover. It was an excellent choice, and a wonderful way to remember our trip to Italy in stitches. Other than that, I knit nine things for Griffin (one before I knew he was a boy, so now it is beloved, but tucked away as too girly), and designed three things for publication - four if you count the two pieces of a set separately. I also started four designs - one for Griffin, two for me and for self-publication (which I never seem to do) and one for publication with Classic Elite. The Classic Elite piece will be finished this year, as will the piece for Griffin. The other two designs have been marinating since 2007. Hopefully I will finish them this year - I suppose that should be a resolution.

2008: Finished Knits & Knits To Be Completed

I am very much at peace with what I accomplished last year. Little of it was complex, and most of it was small and quick, but it was restful and in anticipation of a time when knitting and life would no longer be about me. Having Griffin has been a surprisingly gentle transition. Moxie would laugh at this, since he witnessed me in tears this morning from prolonged lack of sleep. But overall it has not been the radical life-altering event I thought it might be - in the negative sense. Griffin fits into our lives easily, and I don't think much about the changes in my days or in my knitting. They just seem to come. It's as if I had been reading Yertle the Turtle every night of my life for the last 37 years. Happily. So the knitting has been about him, and I've realized that it most likely will be for quite a time to come.

My knitting has also been much more spontaneous this year - Griffin needs a hat (or three), so I make a hat. Griffin would look adorable in a sweater that matches his hat, so I design the sweater and knit it. Nothing can be too complex, because I usually have to knit in near darkness while he sleeps in the evening, but it's all cute and fulfilling, and seeing him in the things that I've made him makes me so happy it hurts.

I have stopped collecting patterns, too. Somehow with him it is easier just to come up with ways to use what I have. He's little, so I can work with small quantities of yarn in my stash. Something between one and three skeins is always enough. The adult things I've made are almost all for publication, so those are designed by definition. (Everything is for publication this year, which is why you haven't seen it yet.) It's a less complex way of life - using what I have, making things as needed - and it fits this time. At some point I will return to more intricate pieces - cables and lace - but for now there is only the occasional thing that requires real thought amidst rows of stockinette. That's probably why my UFO's are UFO's.

It's interesting, because I've watched so many of you change as you had your children, and sometimes lamented the less frequent posting and knits. But now that I'm here, it seems right. This may end up being as much of a mommy blog as it is a knitting blog, and I may only post twice a month, but I think that these years will be the best.

Our Walk to the Water

This is for my friend John, and for his wife Nikole and daughter Thea.

It may not seem like that much of a coincidence that we spent our weekend at the ocean, too, but it was only Griffin's second trip to the beach. After a summer of extreme pregnancy at the beach (the only place where there was any relief from the heat this year), we've been hibernating up here near the mountains. Griffin's first day at the ocean was in October, when it was cold and windy. This weekend it was perfect. We had one of those days that remains as a snapshot in your head. If my life ever flashes before my eyes, this is a day that I will see.

---

Old Friends

MH was in town with the ravelry crew and finally, finally got to meet Griffin. When I got pregnant I was so excited to have her around to share him with, because she is absolutely the best with children, but Albuquerque called her away and I lost out. It was so awesome to see her and have her make a new little friend.

MH and I have known each other for just over five years now. It's hard to believe that time has gone so fast. Even though she's far away now, I know we'll stay close and still get to share all the wonderful things - like babies. But it was still great to see her in the flesh and re-unite. The only thing better would have been a trip to the button wall at our place (Michael Levine - downtown, yarn and fabric).

MH also had the pleasure of seeing Griffin in the wonderful February baby sweater that she made him, which is absolutely adorable. As a bonus, we got to hang out with Jess and Casey and Kat and Felix. We're getting Jess primed for one of her own. And no, not any time soon, so don't take this as a hint! Still - looks like she'd make a great mom, doesn't it?

I'd be remiss if I didn't put up a shot of Kat's beautiful son, Felix. He brought along a wonderful dog that she knit him and a doghouse that he and his dad made out of a knitting needle box. What a great kid. Jess has some even better photos - Felix and Casey conspiring over an i-phone together. You'll have to bug her to upload them to flickr or something. All in all a wonderful if brief time together.

"He's Not Really An Elf, You know."

Daddy's famous last words. I was working on yet another hat for Griffin, who seems to outgrow them at a breakneck pace, and asked for M's input on whether the top should just be a normal rounded-off shape or pointy, and I got that response. Normally, I would rather dress Griffin as a little bad ass than a cherub, but sometimes you just can't resist.

The hat in question is made of some of my first and favorite handspun yarn - I really was inspired to knit more handspun items for Griffin after that last post. And in deference to Moxie it has a rounded top. The color is feminine enough, according to M, so we'll let that be as it is. But the elf comment stuck with me and all of a sudden I was reminded of the Meathead Hat that I made long ago. I made it at a smaller gauge than called for, and although it was cute it languished in the closet because there was no way it could be worn by an adult. Happily, it can be worn by a Griffin. How cool is it that this wonderful forgotten knit can be reborn as an elf helmet? Between this and Griffin's Alsace le Monstre Hat (the only other one that still really fits him), he draws quite a few smiles when we go for our walks.

Pattern Notes: Griffin's Tomten Jacket

Alternately entitled: "My kid hates wool." I know. Blasphemy. But it's true. Griffin will deign to wear merino, and I would hazard a guess that he would find cashmere acceptable, but mommy's beloved alpaca and all other potentially itchy fleeces are verboten. If I put him in a long sleeved T-shirt he will tolerate his Tomten Jacket for a short period of time, but will eventually scream his head off. I shall have to employ EZ's suggested method of sneaking little bits of wool into piries, slowly increasing the number of motifs containing wool with each fair isle sweater. Sigh.

James Dean goes Elven.

Cold weather does appear to sway him a bit, though, and when I take him for brisk walks outside Griffin will put up with sweaters, coats and hats of slightly itchier wool a bit longer. I just have to work to make him really get use out of his Tomten. At least I know now, though. The next handspun heirloom sweater that I make for him will be 100% merino. Or maybe I'll just put him in cotton hoodies from Tarzhay for the rest of his natural born life, the stinker.

Modular Tomten Jacket
The Opinionated Knitter
designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Knit with 2 skeins of my handspun yarn - one a medium brown alpaca two-ply and the other a merino two-ply spun from Spunky Eclectic "Burning Bush" roving (about 350 yards total)
on size US2 (2.75 mm) Addi Turbo circulars and US2 (2.75 mm) clover dpns.
Gauge: ? sts and ? rows per inch over garter stitch. (I'll fill this in later if I remember!)
Size: 19" chest circumference.

Take that, Legolas!The Pattern:
I think I'm something like the 850th person on ravelry to knit the Tomten Jacket, so there is probably little I can say about it that has not already been said. It's one of those wonderful designs that is simple enough for an advanced beginner to complete, yet looks wonderfully sophisticated when finished. The jacket is susceptible to many permutations and modifications, with different closures, edging treatments, pockets, hoods, etc. possible with little extra effort. Most additions can be made as an afterthought. Sizing is also seemingly infinitely adjustable, and the different possibilities for yarn combinations make the jacket a nice choice for handspun. I can see why one might be tempted into making it multiple times in slightly different ways. This could easily become one of those "go-to" baby patterns for me - always dependable, always beautiful. It's just as great as everyone says it is - try it! (Oh, and although I am sure most of you have seen it already, Jared's version is a great reminder that this jacket looks smashing in an adult version, too.)


The Elven King with his daddy.

Modifications: None! I did follow Meg Swanson's advice, though and leave the armscye stitches live for seamless joining.

Techniques: The most difficult part of this sweater is the I-cord edging (and that is not difficult, either, just follow EZ's directions). It's a perfect beginner sweater - garter stitch and easy seams.

Working With My Very Own Handspun: This was the biggest treat I could imagine. I've spun quite a few skeinlettes of my own yarn and tried multiple times to knit with it, without success. Handspun is very particular about what it wants to be. Or at least mine is. To use it well, you have to be versed in the combining of small amounts of wool in various colors into a grand, harmonious whole. And usually a somewhat folksy whole. You have to walk that line between folk art and fashion, which is not my personal strength. The Tomten Jacket is like a wonderful "cheat." It's a tried and true way to get lovely results and a great way to pull yourself out of a handspun rut.

The Elven King on his "throne."Every time I look at Griffin's Tomten I am inspired to spin more, and eventually, in some hour when I am not reading Dr. Suess (for the 100th time) or wiping spit-up off of god-knows-what with my sleeve, I will spin again. And most likely make another Tomten Jacket.

My merino handspun made of Spunky Eclectic "Burning Bush" turned out beautifully. It was squishy, springy, even and seemingly perfect. My alpaca handspun was less so - too tightly spun and inconsistent. They were slightly different gauges, so although I knit on US2's to accommodate the alpaca, the merino would have been well-suited to a US3 needle. If your handspun has these issues, don't despair. The I-cord edging can hide a multitude of sins caused by using a too-fine, overspun yarn. It will work. Just have faith. I did, and it paid off.

I will walk when I am ready.
For now I am exercising my royal prerogative to be carried.
Onward, Mommy!

[Read all entries on the "Possibly" Tomten Jacket.]

He's a Knitter!

Leave me alone lady - I'm biddy! (busy)

Just one more row?

Free Pattern: El Hatto Negro & Il Hatto Picollo pdf

Click the photo to download the pattern.This is a revised pdf version of my 2005 El Hatto Negro design, offered in six sizes from infant to man-sized. If you find any mistakes or unclear instructions, please let me know. I cannot provide extensive support for my free patterns or give instructions on the basic techniques that are required to execute them due to time constraints, but I am happy to clarify anything that may be confusing in the pattern. I hope that you enjoy the pattern and can get many a warm, well-loved hat out of it!

Victory Watchcap (Il Hatto Picollo)

The knit that gets the most wear in our house is M's black watchcap (El Hatto Negro), so it seemed only fitting to make a matching cap for Griffin, especially when Grandee (his maternal grandmother) sent him some fabulous black yarn for Halloween.

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"Let's go and knock over a liquor store!"
The hat is called Il Hatto Picollo to go with Moxie's El Hatto Negro, but at least for today I'm calling it the victory watchcap. I finished it last night as we watched the election results roll in, with Griffin sleeping on my lap. It was such an amazing night, and definitely one of the most important historical events I will ever witness. I am so glad that our baby was here to share the moment with us. I am full of hope for our country and proud to have a president that I can believe in again. The most striking thing to me is that both candidates are so clearly devoted to our country and to working together to get us back on track. Obama's speech was the best that I have ever heard, but I was also incredibly moved by McCain's concession. I believe he will play a key role in the years to come, and his grace and graciousness were impressive. So congratulations to us all, Republicans, Democrats and Independents. We can look forward to working together to make this country all that it can be for ourselves and for our children.

Knits in Action: Baby Bells

I love modeled shots, and I am always searching them out on ravelry and in blogs to get an idea of how a knit is going to look in real life. I especially love shots of kids and babies, because although we all seem to love to make cute little baby things, they don't get photographed as often, and I end up wondering how they fit (and when!) and whether they get used regularly or are just for special occasions.

These are Griffin's baby bell bottoms, a free pattern by Alison Hansel, and they are going to get some real use for as long as I can pull them over his behind. At about 3.5 weeks old and 8.5 pounds, 22.5 inches he was swimming in them, but now at 7 weeks and over 10 pounds and about 25 inches they look just right. I'm hoping I can put him in them for a few more pounds! I don't know much about average growth for infants, but to me Griffin is pretty thin and long, so these would probably fit a baby that weighed less but appeared chubbier a little earlier. For those who need the info, these are a tad smaller than the smallest size in the pattern, to accommodate the yardage that I had and my gauge. The sizing in the pattern seems on target - at least for this little guy! I will definitely be making more - probably in the 6 month size so that we can both enjoy them a little longer.

Okay, I just looked at the growth charts and Griffin is very long and thin - so definitely size up if you are knitting for one of those adorably chubby little babies!

Firsts

Almost seven weeks have passed now, with many "firsts":

Smiles

Baths


Naps with the Tuna

Fall Days at the Beach

It's a good life.

Angry Baby Models Knitwear

It all started innocently enough with my desire to see which of the wee wonderful knit items that Griffin has accrued fit him. I had actually been quite worried that he would be too big for many things - especially the things I knit. But as it turns out, everything - with the exception of his Saartje's Booties from Aunt Jennie - is a little big, so he will get to wear all these wonderful handmade clothes. The booties are just right and he's napping in them now.

At this point we are still happily sleeping. Perhaps because our hat is so fierce.

Griffin tolerated the baby bell bottoms that I made him and Marnie's Alsace le Monsteur hat, but as I moved on to his homecoming hat (way too big when he was coming home), he began to get a bit peeved.

Griffin shows a lack of appreciation for mommy's handiwork.

He found the handspun Tomten Jacket that I so painstakingly made for him absolutely infuriating. As I snapped away with the camera I imagined him yelling at me with the voice of Stewie from Family Guy: "This is an indignity! I will not stand for it! I am going to kill Lois!"

Is it wrong that I find this hysterically funny?
He reminds me of a protester from the 60's donning a Nehru jacket.
Get this thing off of me! Now!

Happily, Griffin returned to his normal peaceful self as soon as I put him in MH's February Baby Sweater and Jennie's Saartje's booties. Perhaps it is best if I have other people knit for him....

Thank god I have been relieved of that itchy alpaca thing. Much better.

Stop the Government's Proposed Bailout of Irresponsible Financial Institutions!

The federal government, in what will be its most far-reaching attempt yet to contain the financial crisis, is poised to establish a program to let banks get rid of mortgage-related assets that have been hard to value and harder to trade. The plan will cost a minimum of $700 billion and place a burden of $2000 on every taxpayer in the country. The proposed legislation requires absolutely nothing of the companies that will be bailed out and gives no incentives for them to modify the irresponsible behavior that got this country into the current crisis in the first place. There will be no conditions or regulations placed on the bailed-out institutions and the federal government will have no future stake in them to ensure that their reckless practices are curtailed. In essence, these financial institutions will be free to recreate the conditions which caused the present fiasco with impunity while the federal government takes on billions of dollars of high-risk debt at a time when the deficit is already colossal. The legislation is being pushed through at an alarming rate - days - without sufficient thought or discussion of the possibly disastrous consequences to the economy and stability of this country. It could be acted on as early as this week, despite being introduced for the first time last Friday.

If you agree that this issue requires more thorough consideration, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CONTACT THE FIVE SENATORS LISTED ON STOP THE HOUSING BAILOUT. You will find their names and fax numbers listed in the left-hand column of the website, along with a link to send two faxes for free. For your convenience there is also a pdf that you can download to use for the content of the fax.

Griffin's Tomten

In the last few days I've been lucky enough to catch just a little down time when a certain someone zonks out after breastfeeding to do a tiny bit of knitting on that certain someone's Tomten Jacket. I was getting a little sluggish on this one, because before Griffin was born I had my doubts that he would be able to wear it. It looked pretty small, and at this time of year in LA even if he could wear it in his first few weeks it would really only be practical to use it at night.

I had the jacket within reach during a feeding, so I started knitting it again. Griff fell so soundly asleep afterward that I was able to put the sleeve that was tentatively ready over his little arm for fit.



It looks pretty cute and there should be enough room in it for him to grow and still wear it. If we have an early fall with actual fall-like temperatures it could even get decent use. He looks so cute in it that I've been motivated to work on it. The going is somewhat slow still, because I can really only steal little bits of time to work on it. (I'm typing this post one-handed!)


M was out during the fashion show, but I was able to snap a few shots with my cell phone. Technology really blows me away sometimes - not bad!

Moments with Moxie and Griffin

Let me start out by saying that although he is um, candid, and I often lovingly say that I married the hot version of Larry David, Mox is the best husband in the world and an awesome daddy. He held me in his lap while I went through contractions, he was the only thing that gave me the strength to push Griffin out into the world, and he changed every diaper that Griff dirtied in the first four or so days, and still changes most of them. He dotes on us both, wraps a mean swaddle, and is constantly saying how beautiful we are and how proud he is of us. He is everything to me and to Griff. As you know however, he is Moxie, and I just had to share a few choice utterances from the last few days. I wish I could share photos of him, too, but that is strictly verboten. Needless to say, he's gorgeous, and I'm glad I took the time to relentlessly hunt him down and make him mine.

Notice that Griff and Ash are lying together on a puppy pad.

So, without further ado, some moments with Moxie:

During contractions:
"Is it okay that I'm laughing at you?"

About the hospital staff:
"Apparently there is an issue with the indoor voice here."

Changing his baby's first diaper:
"Is he supposed to have tar in there?"

To our son, after placing him on the bed next to the body pillow:
"Here, pretend this is someone you know."

To be fair, my contractions were pretty funny, as I did most of my laboring on the floor in various yoga-like positions, many not so dignified. When my doctor came in, I was sprawled in a new-fangled version of a runner's stretch, and he laughed, too. Here's one of my favorite labor photos:

I'm pretty sure this speaks for itself.

The Baby Is Here!

Griffin Samuel
Born on his due date, September 9, 2008
6 pounds, 14 ounces, 19 inches long
Happy, Healthy and Gorgeous

Changing Cables Midstream

The days since I last posted have been much better. Heat and fatigue can bring out the worst in me, and I think I allowed myself to get a little too sedentary for my own good Monday night and Tuesday, which made for a grouchy Hoolia. Sometimes you just have to kick yourself into gear regardless of how you feel. Although the saying is a bit annoying there is a lot of truth in the phrase "sometimes you gotta fake it to make it." I've clawed my way through a lot of the tougher points in my life using the fake it method, and I'm always surprised at how well it works. My pregnancy, even in the end stages, has been pretty easy, so I probably should have pushed myself a little harder to fake it on Tuesday. I think it is just a little challenging to balance being active and good-natured with staying well-rested in case it happens to be the "big day." It's also a little challenging not knowing when the "big day" will strike. But I know many of you know this, and have even done it multiple times - it's just the nature of the beast.

A medley of UFO's

OBL Shell, neckless once more.I think my particular frustration with knitting has been born of the fact that I am at a "difficult" point in all of my projects. The cabled shell is stumping me in part due to the neckline, but I've also been considering making it longer. If I don't do anything too ornate with the neckline I can easily add a few inches to the body - easily except that I will most likely have to rip the entire thing to do so. I think my method is going to have to involve knitting the neckline on the shell as is, delivering a baby so that I can try the shell on again for length and get a better approximation, and then possibly ripping and re-knitting the entire piece. It's not as bad as it sounds. The whole thing is on US 11 needles, so it zips along. I just feel a little stalled in the process right now.

Handspun Tomten.As for my other two WIPs, the Tomten Jacket is well on its way, but I made the mistake of returning to it without re-checking the instructions and just working the last sleeve from memory. Can't believe I did that with pregnancy brain! I need to rip the sleeve and do it again. Not a big deal, probably the easiest of the fixes around here - just have to do it.

Pensees en mass.The Pensee Blanket, fabulous thing that it is, is at the point where I need to make some design decisions. Originally I planned to make the pansies themselves the bulk of the blanket, but now I'm thinking that it would be nice to incorporate some knitting in my crochet project and use the pansies to connect some fun, stripey squares, or maybe to border one large, stripey square. I want to avoid having it look too busy and to do that with all those crazy permutations of pansies, I need to focus on giving the stripes a feel of continuity and place things in such a way that it doesn't look like there are patterns flying in every direction. It's actually sounding like more fun now as I write about it, so maybe I'll dabble with that, too. A little time spent sketching it out may not be the worst idea. But you get the picture - it, too, requires work.

Jubilee Cables. Happy!So, instead of making myself "work" I changed direction a bit yesterday and returned to another design that I had to shelve last winter. My working name for this one is Halcyon Days, because the cable at its base is called Jubilee, and Jubilee is a song by Mary Chapin Carpenter with the line "When we look back and say these were Halcyon Days, we're talking 'bout Jubilee." I have very strong word/song associations, so it works for me. (One Big Love is an Emmy Lou Harris tune and cables are my one big love - you can play name that tune with a lot of my working names for things.) Although Halcyon is a personal design and requires some planning and forethought, it's one that has been brewing for a while, so a lot of the details have already been worked out. I also have an abundance of yarn to work with, so I can make changes willy-nilly, which is pretty unusual for me. Normally I design in such a way that the piece uses up every available inch of yarn. I considered doing that here, but with 17 skeins of Rowan's wool cotton at my disposal I can easily design two pieces and use up every available inch of yarn - no need to make a robe! The Jubilee cables have provided a nice foil for all the UFO's circling around here - hopefully they can keep this pregnant brain clear for at least a little bit!

So, Knitting....

For a while there I was on a roll with crafting projects. I finished up two pieces for a friend's book that will be published next spring, which was really rewarding and relieving. I had a huge fear of having way too much knitting for publication on the sticks and too little time to do it all with the baby threatening to show up five and a half weeks early. Yikes. But, because I was good and turned down some work that I really, really wanted to do, delegated out sample knitting to a pinch-knitting friend, and got my butt into high gear on finishing the pieces due around now, I found myself 37 weeks along with a baby stubbornly hanging in, and complete freedom to do whatever I wanted. How often does that happen?

Photographic proof that I was a happy person just yesterday.
Out waddling with Ash and Zosh.

At first this was a great situation. I was free! I had energy! I ripped things that would never be finished and washed the yarn. I finished other things. I knit another curly purly soaker for the kid. I sewed pillows out of this wonderful Japanese fabric that I bought with Marnie ages ago at the Santa Monica Fiber Fest (And Moxie, who likes nothing, actually likes them and wants more.) I took a few days off of crafting and relaxed with friends at the beach and the pool, which was wonderful, too.

And then I kind of crashed. It's really only been about 24 hours of crashing, but when you have a baby coming at any time, that seems like a lot of time to waste. Since then I've been scattered, sulky, irritable and downright bitchy. It reminds me of the hottest part of summer when I would whine to my mom "What is there to do?" knowing full well that I would shoot down every idea she had, and grumpily at that. (Now that's something to look forward to with children. Not.)

Anyway, my hope is to blog through it a little and then go back to the piece I've stalled out on. I can't blog too long, because I'll get sick of that, too, but I'm giving it a try before I relegate myself to the porch for the nice portion of the day - the morning portion, which is not stinking hot like the afternoon portion. I shouldn't complain - at least it's cool here in the morning and evenings. But I'm gonna anyway. I'm 39 weeks pregnant and freaking vicious. Screw it.

The first of a few crappy mirror shots.
Hopefully you can get some idea
of what this looks like!Okey dokey. So I returned to One Big Love, which we'll call OBL, the yummy cabled cashmere shell that I started last year, but shelved at Christmas to work on gifts for Ma and Pa Kettle. It's really pretty, and for a minute there I hummed along on it. I was able to decipher my "pattern notes" such as they were and work out the armscye shaping for the front to work with the back. (I really should write those out neatly but we know I won't!) With the shell part completed, I was pretty pleased. It's a little challenging to envision how a rather slim shell is going to look when you pull it down over a gargantuan belly, but when I compare it to other things in my closet that are about the same length it looks right. At this point even my "long" tanks don't cover the vast expanse of tum I have going here. Thank god for the $20 Tarzhay mumu - that's all I have to say.

It looks better in photos. It's kind of
hard to post unattractive pictures on purpose.Alright, so the shell part was great, but then I decided to go and get all fancy on the collar portion and reverse the cable (still a good idea I think), and then pick up stitches sideways along the cable portion of the neck and knit around to the beginning of the cable portion, decreasing as I went for an asymmetrical look. Not such a good idea. Now in a fine-gauge drapey yarn this could be a fun little device to use sometime, but I lost track of a couple of important factors when employing it here. Actually worse - I stubbornly ignored them. I can't believe that after so many years of knitting I still do that sometimes. Actually worse - I can believe it and I am certain I will do it again. How's that for pig-headed? So, the things I ignored: 1) thick cashmere wool blends have lots of loft but not a lot of drape, which combined with knitting that runs horizontally means a stiffer collar; 2) horizontal knitting will not nicely pull in a wide neckline the way that vertical knitting will and this one is too wide for my tastes; and 3) although this kind of collar might not look bad on someone else, it looks like shit on me - too frou-frou in some way - better to keep it simple, stupid. So I'm faced with a little ripping. This wouldn't be a big deal if I felt that I knew exactly where I was going next and felt sure that it would work out as planned. But, of course, I don't.

Here are my ideas:

Option one, a very likely candidate, is to cast on stitches all around the front neck and work a really pretty braid that I used in the design I finished for spring that should serve as a nice turning ridge. I was going to employ this braid the last time, but I couldn't recall how I did it and didn't feel like getting off the couch to look at the pattern. To be fair to myself, getting off the couch is not what it was even a month ago and I have to do it all too often to pee these days, so that bit of laziness can probably be excused. This time I will be sure to print out my own instructions before retiring to said couch. After the braid I will re-work the cable as it is now, but also work sections of stockinette on either side with short rows, so that the front neck spills over in the center and gets shallower at the shoulders like a cowl.

From the side.Option two, also likely, is to pick up stitches the whole way around the neck line and work a button band along the side of the cable and along the section of stockinette right next to it, again allowing the cable to spill over and employing the braid as a turning ridge. The button band would be purely decorative as the cable isn't reversible. I like this one, too.
Option three, work a plain old stockinette cowl and jettison the cable completely on the neck - I already have enough cable going on in this piece, perhaps.

Option four is to work a ribbed hem that brings in the neckline a little but not too much - a little on the boatneck side, but not so much as to become a bra strap hazard. Not sure if I'd do a one by one rib hem or try to mimic the bottom hemline a bit. I think the first is more effective, but the second would be more harmonious. Either way it would roll over the top edge as a hem with facing rather than have a cast-off edge - a little smoothness to the line.

What the @$##%!!%#% should I do with the OBL neckline?

Option 1: Front cowl with cable.Option 2: Full cowl with cable and button band.Option 3: Stockinette cowl, no buttons.Option 4: Ribbed "boatneck-ish" hem.None of the above, read my brilliant answer below.None of the above, but I'm in a foul mood, too. I've got nothing for you.

pollcode.com free polls

I wish I was as talented as Miss Marnie, who would quickly dash off illustrations of each option for you. If for some reason I decide to sketch them out first (I might, drawing could improve my mood) I'll add them to the post. Otherwise you'll need a bit of imagination. If you have any thoughts, please feel free to comment. I won't bite your head off. Promise. My readers have had some great ideas when I've asked in the past, so maybe you can inspire me with a fresh perspective, or just convince me that one of these options is clearly the one to choose. I think just working through it will make me less vicious, though it's unlikely to make me less pregnant.

Still Pregnant: MindofWinter Swimsuit Edition

I'm guessing the folks at Sports Illustrated won't be tracking me down anytime soon. :) Now I am truly starting to look like the blog banner. It's hard to believe that there was a time that I couldn't wait to look this pregnant. Now that I do, I'm totally fine with the look of pregnancy, but realize that women don't want to look like this because when you look this pregnant you feel this pregnant! And having a 20 lb. bag of baby and water attached to your internal organs pushing them around into novel configurations has its ups and downs. Overall, though, I can't complain. No major complications and except for the initial morning sickness my symptoms have been mercifully few in comparison to those of many women for whom I have ever-increasing respect.

This weekend at the pool and the weekend before on the deck with the Mox.
Right image blurred to protect the identity of the Moxie.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who left such supportive comments and shared your own experiences. Ultimately, I think the little scares my ob/gyn gave me in the past few weeks have done more good than harm. The bun is still in the oven and we are much more prepared to have a baby than we were before. I've bitten the bullet and managed to gain the requisite 2.5 lbs ordered in the past week (It was tough, but someone had to do all that eating! Ha!) And I am now among the women who can say that it is possible to walk around dilated and effaced for a few weeks without having a baby on the spot. As of today's check-up I am now 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced and the doctor thinks this may indicate that I'll have a fast labor. Let's hope. For now, I'm looking at it as a freebie (the "work" done already won't have to be done during labor) and hoping that the baby will give me one more week and another centimeter. But even if he doesn't it will be fine. I'm not so freaked out any more. I knew this had to happen, right?

I've had a chance to knit a little, too, so if I get that extra week of pregnancy I'll actually blog some knits for you. Wouldn't that be nice?

Dilated 2 cm, Station 0, Effaced 80%

I only had that first piece of info last week - glad I didn't know about the station and effacement! Has anyone else walked around for weeks like this? I've made it a week so far, but need to go a little longer. I lost a little weight last week, and I want to get it back and onto that baby before he comes out. Comment mommies! Tell me he can hold out a little longer!!!!

Edited to add: Thanks ladies - I know it's okay for me to lose weight at the end in theory - I should have been more specific! The baby, who has always measured big is now measuring small. So the weight gain is doctor's orders, not just my jitters. I've been relatively small the whole time, and my doctor has not been concerned before, so I'm taking him seriously about the weight thing!!!!

Time to Roll Out the Puppy Pad!

Yesterday, still 4.5 weeks shy of my due date, we found out that I am 2 cm dilated. My doctor who had confidently told me that I probably would last at least another 2-3 weeks a moment earlier, all too casually announced that he wouldn't be surprised if I gave birth next week. Well, he might not be surprised, but I sure as hell was. First of all, the cervical exam was a bit of a surprise - I thought I was just getting a culture until he decided to check everything out without warning. Don't get me wrong, I love my doctor and have all the trust in the world in his capabilities, but he is not always good at telling me when I am about to experience a not-so-tender moment. Back at week 17 I was pretty sure that he was trying to give me an amnio with the pen he used to mark the spot for the needle. Perhaps he could try a nice soft marker instead of just picking up the Bic lying on the counter, eh?

Not the most artful photo, but you can see that I definitely look pregnant.
Taken a little over a week ago, peeps, and I've gained almost an inch of circumference since.

Let it never be said that Moxie doesn't know exactly what a gal needs and when she needs it. Upon my arrival home (after a last-minute run to Von's to pick up toiletries, tucks and the biggest maxi pads known to woman - ugh), I was greeted with the words every very pregnant woman wants to hear: "I'll go down to the garage and get the puppy pad." When our sweet Caia was getting elderly, we bought a puppy pad for her to ensure that everything stayed dry and comfy if an accident should occur. Ever solicitous of my deepest needs (read ever protective of his precious memory foam mattress), Moxie immediately went to work, carefully determining the outer parameters of where I might sleep in the event that something icky takes place in the night. (Apparently the terms "broken water bag," "mucus plug" and "bloody show" have caused him some concern - who knew?) Afterwards he appeared triumphant, as if now we were ready - everything was in place. Perhaps we should consider installing the car seat? Anyhoo, we're almost as ready as we can be in the event of an an event (the car seat goes in today).

For those of you whose concern goes further than the puppy pad, don't worry, the baby is far enough along that he should be fine. And apparently tons of women walk around slightly dilated for weeks, so this could all be a false alarm. I'm just panicked because I need to wrap up things at work and somehow mentally prepare myself to relax for labor (is that even possible?!), but the little demon responsible for all this hubbub should be healthy and happy. And when he arrives home he will be greeted with a puppy pad to call his own. Maybe even two!

Bubble Pullover: Pattern Notes

We finally got one of those SoCal mornings that was truly chilly - well, as chilly as a Los Angeles summer morning can be - so I decided that it was a good time to pull out the Bubble Pullover and write up some pattern notes. It's a great knit, and it would be a shame if it got lost in the shuffle of pregnancy and life in general. Plus, I find that once again several weeks have rolled by without a post, and considering how upside down things are about to become, it's now or in many months hence for the blog. Have you looked over at that baby counter? I have seven weeks to go. And that's if he stays in until 40 weeks (please kid, stay in there 40 weeks!) God, it feels like I have been pregnant forever and yet simultaneously time has flown. Completely amazing.

Enjoying a tender moment with my basketball.

Anyhoo, back to the Bubble Pullover. At the moment I look somewhere between totally ridiculous and kind of cute wearing it - it basically creates a nice clear target on my baby belly and boobs. But I made my friend Laura try it on when she was out here last weekend and on a body that is similar to mine normally it works really well. By the time that I'm wearing it I think that enough of the tummy will be gone that it will be a favorite on colder days. It's wonderfully comfy and cozy when worn.

Bubble Pullover
Knitting Nature
designed by Norah Gaughan
Knit with 5.75 skeins (1254 yards total) of Misty International Hand Dyed Worsted (100% alpaca) in colorway EZ14 "Spring Touch"
on size US6 (4.0 mm) and US7 (4.5 mm) Addi Turbo circulars.
Gauge: ? sts and ? rows per inch over stockinette stitch. (I'll fill this in later if I remember!)
Size: 38" at bust when blocked.

From the back -- closer to
how it will look when I am
flat-chested and flat-bellied again.The Pattern: I've been following Norah Gaughan's work for over a decade now - she's one of my all-time favorite designers - yet somehow I have never gotten around to making one of her patterns until now. There was a time when I thought I would systematically go through some of my favorite people and do a few designs from each of their collections, but now I know better. Nothing systematic is ever going to happen in that department - I'm just too fickle to impose that kind of structure on my fun time. I've made one design by Veronik Avery (three times), one by Teva Durham, one by Sarah Hatton, one by Annie Modesitt, and I'm working on an EZ pattern. So really, if I just get around to a Marie Wallin design someday I will have at least one of each - that's something, right?

I've always thought that completing a few things by those women would be a sort of Tour of the Masters, and it really has been. Norah Gaughan, as most know, is a master of unique construction, and as an on again off again designer myself, I've found it very interesting to follow her footsteps through a pattern - either by just reading through the instructions or by actually knitting in this case. She has a real talent for doing something in a unique way and yet simplifying and streamlining at the same time, so that you can do something new and wonderful without it being a huge pain in the ass. It makes her edgy designs accessible to knitters from a wide range of skill levels, which is a very nice plus. Except for a few different techniques (like picking up stitches using the working yarn and the tail end of your cast-on alternately - so clever) most of what goes on in the Bubble Pullover is pretty straightforward and should be familiar to an advanced beginner.

Dude. If you can't hit this you couldn't
hit the broad side of a barn!You basically start with a single pentagon and build from there, connecting pentagon after pentagon until you have eight pentagons total which are connected into a tube. From there you simply pick up and knit the bottom ribbing down from one side of the pentagon tube and the collar from the other end of the tube. Add fabulous buttons (I got mine at Imagiknit when hanging out and podcasting with Nicole of Stash and Burn), and voila, you have a great sweater. I thought that I would be bored by the repetition of the pentagons, but watching them come together is pretty addictive, so it wasn't a problem. I knit the bulk of this sweater in Italy, so it is infused with our wonderfully romantic honeymoon (babymoon?) as well, which makes it extra-special.

Modifications: I re-gauged this baby to work with the wonderful Misti Alpaca yarn that I bought for it, but other than that I didn't make any modifications that spring to mind. Re-gauging is much easier than you would imagine if you understand the construction. I actually found it easier to deal with than most patterns for re-gauging. (Don't ask me what I did, though - I didn't write down the numbers and I don't remember! There was a lot of winging it involved.)

Showing is no longer a concern.Techniques: This list is going to sound more difficult to a beginner than it is. If you don't know how to do everything already, don't let that stop you - just get a book or look on-line and teach yourself the things you don't know yet. They should come to you and be a good foundation for any sweater: knitting in the round, picking up stitches, working on double-pointed needles, making button holes with yarnovers (explained in pattern) and my new favorite picking up stitches alternating the tail from a cast-on edge and the working yarn. This last technique is one that I haven't seen before, but it is really useful and pleasing. It won't be hard to get down once you have yarn in hand and just try it. This is one of those techniques like Annie Modesitt's slipped stitch edging that I will definitely file away for future use.

Impressions of Misti International's Hand Dyed Worsted:
I know that you must think that I haven't met a yarn I didn't like ever because I am always raving about my project yarns. The reason is that for the most part I know how to pick a yarn that I like without actually knitting it first. I've met many yarns that I loathed, but most of those were encountered early on in my knitting life, well before I worked at a yarn shop or cranked out the volume of knitting that I have in the last few years. Rest assured that when I go on and on about a yarn it is genuine and not without discernment. Not all of the yarns I love are easy yarns - I adore linen, which is hard on the hands in its pure form, and I have happily knit with yarns that others would find splitty, slippery, or difficult. If that is the case, I will tell you the whole story here.

Folded to show off the gorgeous buttons; Bubblicious laid flat.

With that introduction, Hand Dyed Worsted is not only a wonderful yarn, it is an easy yarn. Personally, the alpaca is up there with the merino sheep for beautiful fiber. The two are tied for my favorite. I know that not all knitters feel this way about alpaca, but if you aren't allergic to it and want to go out on a limb and give it a try, this is a good yarn to choose. Hand Dyed Worsted is one if the softest Alpaca yarns I've used yet. Touch it to your cheek (your hands aren't as sensitive and won't pick up any underlying itchiness) and see if it passes the comfort test. You may be surprised. The colors of this yarn are beautiful, and come in semi-solid varieagateds - I could own several colorways if I weren't already over-run with stash. It is a pricey yarn, but not as pricey as it seems at first glance, because it is sold in 100 gram skeins, so you get twice as much yarn as you would in an average skein of yarn. The sad news is that it is discontinued, so like a fine wine it will be hard to find in the future. It is recently discontinued, however, so your chances of picking some up are still pretty good. It's well worth a little hunt, and maybe if enough of us hunt Misti will consider bringing it back. If not, check out their offerings. Misti is a great company and I really enjoy all of their alpacas.

Possible substitute yarns:
A ton. See what other people have used - Ravel it! Some of my favorites: Olga's in Malabrigo, Jatta's in Araucania (with handmade buttons) and Knittingdropout's in Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran.

[Read all entries on the Bubble Pullover.]

Showered with Knitted (& Sewn!) Love

Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
First Row: February Baby Sweater (Mary Heather); Footie Washcloth (Amiee); Alsace Le Monsteur Hat (Marnie)
Second Row: Garden Mobile (Mary Heather); Psychadelic Blankie (Kat);
Third Row: Saartje's Booties & Jacket (Jennie); Sleep Sac (Mary Heather); Reversible Bibs (Amiee)
Fourth Row: Townes takes possession of MH's Mobile; Burbcloths (Lori)
Fifth Row: Alsace Le Monsteur (Marnie); Soaker & Garden Snail (Shannon); Fabric Play Blocks (Amiee)
Last Row: Jungle Quilt (Ellen); Handspun Kimono Vest (Lori).

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I hate to admit it, but in my impregnated and over-worked state, it is pretty much all that I can do to gather, re-size, watermark, link and code these photos. Perhaps it is time to stop coding absolutely everything by hand and look into automating it by baby time! I think that this bounty of handmade love pretty much says it all (though there is also quite a bit of incredible store-bought love that accompanied it as well). Eventually, I would love to put up a gallery of all the hand knit, crocheted and sewn items that this baby accrues, both from myself and from friends. It's such a wonderful part of the history of a new little life. Whether this - and all the other things I have planned - will ever get off the ground is questionable, but the blog post is a start.

I cannot begin to tell you how overwhelming it has been to have so much support from my crafting friends, both known to me and in some cases, unknown. The gift of a handmade item is an amazing thing, and I will be comforted and feel loved every time either I or the baby uses these amazing treasures. The thought that he will be surrounded by soft, unique toys and clothes that carry the spirits of their makers rather than the usual battery-operated plastic makes me feel like we will be starting him off on the right path. Hopefully I can gather strength from all of you in those first sleepless months. I am also truly grateful for all who have commented on delivery and baby care. I haven't even corresponded with many of you, and yet you have taken the time to leave heartfelt and helpful advice in a time when it is much needed. I love that about blogging - it means that you are always surrounded by friends, whether you are fully aware of it or not. I hope that no matter how busy family, craft and work make my life that I will remember to take the same time and care for you and that we teach this baby the same generosity of spirit through our example and yours.

Okay, I think I'm making myself a little verklempt - must be those hormones - but you get the picture:

Thank you, THANK YOU, Thank you.

Pattern Notes: Baby Bell Bottoms

I have gotten so freaking lazy about the blog and pattern notes in particular, that it is a little embarrassing. I've been even worse about visiting my pals' blogs and commenting, and I realize that staying in touch with all of you means catching up a bit here and making my rounds, both of which I want to do and have missed doing. It seems like summer is often the slow bloggy season for me, and this one has been especially slow with work, our trip to Italy, and most of all the impending baby. In a lot of ways I like that count down widget on my blog, but I have to confess that at other times it freaks the hell out of me! It's funny how predictable the phases of pregnancy are. First trimester is excitement, disbelief, and constant battling with morning sickness combined with an obsession to eat healthily and get the most out of every little calorie you can keep down. Second trimester is the honeymoon phase - which was well-timed for our honeymoon in Italy - you feel incredibly strong and sexy despite the fact that you are beginning to look like you swallowed a basketball - romance is in the air and you are one with the universe, mother earth as it were. Then comes the third trimester, and like clockwork, the panic of actually having to deliver the basketball sets in. Two weeks into my third trimester now, I look down and simultaneously think how great it is that the baby is growing so well and how much I hope that he grows only to the requisite 7 to 7.5 pounds because I can't even fathom getting him out of me now, when he probably weighs in at 3 pounds! I'm experiencing utter disbelief that this is actually going to work as intended, and words like "tear" and "contraction" cause me to immediately cross my legs and go into denial. I've been second-guessing the whole earth mama no drugs natural birth that I've been contemplating (I hesitate to say "planning," both because I am open-minded in terms of the epidural and because I know full well that babies do not allow you to "plan" anything!) I want to do it if I can, and I think that I can manage for the birth itself, but the thought of having an episiotomy without drugs scares the shit out of me. My doctor does all that he can to avoid them, but there's that no planning thing that comes into play, so I fear that I can't count on not having one.

It's a boy! And these are his pants!

Anyhoo, I'm beginning the parade of finished but unblogged objects with a real favorite of mine - Alison Hansel's Baby Bell Bottoms. These are the second pair of baby bells that I've made, and the second pair that have gone undeservedly without pattern notes. They are an absolutely great and fast knit. Both times that I made them I was in a bit of a knitting funk, and both times they were the "go to" knit that pulled me out of the funk. Last time I made a pair for my friend Jen's impending baby Graham, and this pair is for our little baby boy. Oh yeah - did I say we're having a boy? We're having a boy! Kay was right on the mark. No pansy binky for us - I'm crocheting a 100% "pensie" binky!

Baby Bell Bottoms
Free Pattern
designed by Alison Hansel
Jen's pair knit with 1.8 skeins (188 yards total) of Artyarns Supermerino (100% superwash merino) in colorway 101;
Our pair knit with 1.2 skeins (125 yards) of the same, with .25 skeins (31 yards total) Rowan's Wool Cotton (50% Merino Wool/50% Cotton) in (956) "Coffee Rich" used for the cuffs and waist.
Both on size US3 circulars - Addi Turbos (3.25 mm) and Inox (3.00 mm).
Gauge: 5.75 sts and 8 rows per inch over stockinette stitch.
Size: Jen's are size 6 months; mine are newborn size (not nearly as practical, but I wanted to use the yarn!)

Jen's baby's bells.The Pattern:
I love this pattern, and I already have plans to make it again. It's very easy but turns out an incredibly cute pair of pants. I like the idea of knitting baby pants, because they are slightly different from the usual knitted baby gifts - blankets, booties and sweaters. (Which I also love, don't get me wrong! Variety is nice, though.) The pattern is so straightforward that there isn't much to say - just that I highly recommend it. Go forth and knit a pair!
Techniques:
advanced beginner techniques - cast on, knit, purl, minimal shaping, working in the round, binding off, whip stitching, and braiding cord.

Modifications:
The only mods I made were to use a different yarn, work on two circulars for the body, use a different seaming technique for the cord casing, and substitute I-cord for braided cord.

In regard to the two-circular knitting: Try as I might, socks have never "soared" for me on circular needles. This has always been a sad thing, because I really like Cat Bordhi, and I would love to be all new-fangled in my sock-knitting. Not so shockingly, I am quite the traditionalist and do just fine knitting socks with four DPNs. (Not five - that bugs me, too!) My motto has been much closer to "Socks suck on circular needles!" Baby bell bottoms, however, are a completely different story. They are worked in the round after the legs are joined, and when I got to that point I realized that if I did have a pair of 16" size 3 circs I sure as heck did not know where they were. I was able to find two 24" size 3's however, and those did the trick quite nicely. Because one pair was inox and the other addis there was a .25 mm difference in the 3's, so in addition to having the chance to employ the two-circular method I was also able to verify Elizabeth Zimmerman's theory that it matters not a whit if one of your needles is of a slightly different size. Always good to know. Of course, you don't have to test out either of these methods to make the baby bells, it's just all by way of chattiness that I'm discussing them here.

For the casing, I left the edge stitches live rather than binding them off and sewed down the stitches. It's more trouble for the beginner, but this is the only type of seaming I use on casings because it eliminates some of the bulk. Just a matter of preference.

Folded up until D-day.Finishing:
Very little. Mattress stitch for the legs and sewing live stitches for the casings.

Impressions of Artyarns Supermerino:
For a girl with a lot of yarn I have an incredible propensity to use the same yarns over and over again. When I find something I love, I stick with it. And when I have used some of my stash of a particular yarn I have an almost obsessive need to use every bit that I have left, as is definitely the case with wool cotton below. I had three skeins of Artyarns Supermerino, so I used all of it, calculating that I would have enough to make newborn sized pants with the remainder if I used a contrasting color for the cuffs and hem. My baby's bells took care of two remnants at once, which was very satisfying.

Every time I use Supermerino it comes through for me. It's a great "rut" yarn and comes in fun variegated colors. Prior to this I used every bit of my stashed Supermerino in colorway 111 to make a Chevron Scarf. I loved it then, too.

Impressions of Rowan's Wool Cotton:
This is my go-to yarn. I use it more than any other, and especially for baby things. It is soft, classy, classic, has great stitch definition, and is machine washable. Plus it comes in a lovely array of adult colors. I'm not really a pastel girl, so this is a good choice for me.

Possible substitute yarns:
A ton. See what other people have used - Ravel it!

[Read all entries on the Baby Bell Bottoms.]

First Handknit Gift for Baby

I got an amazingly wonderful package in the mail today - all the way from France! MJ showered us with adorable socks, long-sleeved onesies, a Phildar knit and crochet book of toys, a lovely watercolor, and the crowning jewel, a gorgeous handknit sweater! I am so lucky to have such a generous, talented friend. Thank you MJ!

A little bit of France for us....

I have two FO's for the baby myself, which I have been terribly remiss in not sharing (soon, I promise!) and one handspun Tomten Jacket on the needles that is well on its way. But there is something truly wonderful about handknit gifts. I love giving handknits, but I am still shocked at how wonderfully touching it is to receive one myself. This is going to be one stylish baby.

Edited to add: You can find the ingenious free Drops pattern for this sweater here.

Salve Bellas! Photos from Italia

Clockwise from top left: Us on the terrace in Vernazza; Horse by the Spanish Steps with a crocheted head dress; M basking in the sun in Vernazza harbor; Vernazza from above; Me & Mishka at Trevi Fountain; Me in Venice; the Colosseum; Us in the Bardini Gardens of Florence; M at Trevi Fountain; Florence's Duomo; My baby belly at Trasimeno lake in Umbria; Vernazza Harbor; Stoic Cats in the Bardini Gardens.
Most photos are clickable, but the ones of Moxie aren't.

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We're back! Both tired and happy. It was a wonderful romantic trip and a great way to steal some time for ourselves before the little bundle of joy hijacks our lives. Many knits were worn, and some were photographed. The little snippet of pink in the first photo is the River Stole, Mishka made it to the Trevi Fountain and Rome, the Daktari Skirt strolled through Florence, and several sweaters kept me warm in chilly Venice.

I had originally hoped to finish the Bubble Pullover prior to our trip, thinking that at least Venice would be sweater-worthy. When that didn't happen, I realized knitting memories are created on trips even more than before, and that I would probably enjoy making the Bubble Pullover in Italy more than I would enjoy rushing through it to wear it there. I'm still not quite done. I have about five and a half inches of collar left to knit, two sleeves to seam together and buttons to sew on. I'm going to savor the process and finish when I do. I won't be able to actually wear this big alpaca sweater until late fall, regardless. It has been a lovely journey as well - my first Norah Gaughan pattern after years of admiring her work. And the Misty Alpaca yarn is heaven. I'll try to get some decent progress shots so that you can enjoy it, too.

The Bubble Pullover may well be the only knit just for me this year (gasp!). I have several projects for publication that I'm working on this summer and I'm going to sneak in some baby knits where I can before D-day. I have a feeling that the end of the year will get swallowed up by a screaming, pooping, boob-wrecking baby who has already stolen my heart.

Knits for an Italian Honeymoon

Well, a pregnant Italian honeymoon. If you've known me since the early days of blogging, you know that our honeymoon was supposed to happen four years ago in Italy. Time and money have gotten in the way, but as soon as I got knocked up I was determined to go to Italy this spring, even if it meant waddling through Rome! Happily, I am not nearly as large as I envisioned at this point, so if the kid can manage not to balloon me out for another month, it should be a pretty easy trip, pregnancy-wise. In preparation for the trip I've been going through my closet to find things that fit with room to spare, because I have a feeling that all that wonderful Italian food will aid in the expansion campaign. Happily, I have much more than I thought because, wonderful things that they are, knits stretch! I'm so glad I tried things on rather than assuming I didn't have anything. The shopping can be confined to Italian shopping - the best kind.

Knits In Action!
Top to Bottom, Left to Right: River, Birch, After Dark Nightie, Pia (top) & Daktari (skirt), Japanese Motif Skirt (Marnie), Nautical, Deciduous (Marnie), After Dark Nightie ('cause it shows off the bump)

Now I realize that it's no big shocker that the shawls fit, but it is nice to have them to accessorize the cute little empire waist dresses that have over-run my closet. (This one is from J-Crew, and may technically be a beach cover-up. Ask me if I care.) I have a little snippet of lingerie that I've been stuffing myself into, but it's short, so the belly makes it looks ever more ridiculous. The after dark nightie is much more forgiving. The skirts were a bit of a surprise. Marnie lent me the Japanese motif skirt when I visited her in March, and lamented the 40 inch waistline - how fortuitous was that? Fabulous and tons of room. The Daktari skirt still has a lot of play, too. The tops were probably the biggest surprise. Pia is still a little big on me without a blouse underneath it - a testament to how off the sizing was in the first place - and nautical fits perfectly with the aid of that fabulous invention, the yoga skirt. (Seriously back-ordered, but worth the wait if it appeals to you. I have two!) Deciduous is probably pushing it, but with a bella band I could probably manage that, too. Absolutely nothing I'm wearing is maternity. (And I'm showing more than in these pictures - my waist is 7" greater in circumference than it was when this all started.) Between yoga-wear and those adorable waistless dresses everyone is wearing, I've only gone to maternity for things like jeans and shorts. Normally I can't get anywhere near one of those empire waist dresses that pouf out below the bust because they make me look pregnant. Now that I am pregnant, they rock. Comfy, too.

The next time you see these knits of yesteryear they'll be in front of Italian architecture. Yay!

Definitely Tomten

Merino "Burning Bush" 2-Ply and Baby Alpaca 2-Ply. Baby bliss!

Work has kept me extremely busy, and when I'm typing away at my keyboard so much, one of the last things I want to do in my free time is type away at my keyboard (or read anything). When I have had a free moment, I have either crocheted a pansy or spun, spun, spun. As a result, the handspun that I talked about in this post is finally all spun up, and some of it is even knit up. No time for any more designing than I already have going on here, so it's definitely Tomten. Plus EZ's designs are all somehow perfect for handspun, don'tcha think?

Handspun and the bottom half of the Tomten Jacket.
Babies seem just impossibly small!

The Amazing Disappearing Belly

Okay, you guys are probably going to be sick to death of my pregnancy soon, but this is just too funny. I really am at a stage where the tum is nearly invisible from the front but very visible in profile. M took some photos of me this weekend, including several in front of the mirror in the girls' room. He literally made me stop on my way out on Saturday and said, "Wait til you see these, they'll blow you away." He was right - too funny!

One of me has a belly, the other does not!

I am no longer a victim of belly envy, either. This "disappearing belly" is unlikely to last long, and just between last weekend and the weekend before I have totally pooched out. The growth spurts definitely happen in waves. I can already tell that full bellyville will mean discomfort and trouble sleeping (gasp! this is my favorite activity right now!), so I'm fine as is. Next time back to our regularly scheduled knitting/crocheting/spinning - promise!

The Progress of Pansies

Sometimes I wonder if Miss Marnie thinks that I can keep up my enthusiasm for crochet in her absence. I have to admit that it is very fun when she is around, because I have someone who can instantly show me how to fix all the things that I screw up. But it is definitely spring here (some might say summer in the desert given the temperatures that we've had the past few days), and all the little seedlings in my container garden have popped their heads up while the more established perennials are in full bloom. So, it's time to pull out the hook again and make some pansies...

The entire "collection" of twelveThis does not promise to be a quick project, crochet or not, and doubtless by the time I have crocheted enough of these little flowers to pull together a binky (a binky, mind you, not a full-fledged blankie) I will probably never want to see another pansy again. But my plan is simply to continue at a slow, steady pace, and finish after I'm done making the baby if I have to. I figure these are a good pick up project, since the pansy shape is easy to memorize, so I will just keep materials on hand to pick them up here and there.

Marnie convinced me (by example, not by persuasion) that the "best" method for working this binky would be to work all the flowers first and then link them together afterwards in the manner most pleasing to me. Although I fear it, this does give me a lot of latitude with the final design. I can go square, oblong, or amoeboid at will and play around with the border a bit. So for now I'm simply creating the pansies one at a time and trying to arrange them in a pleasing manner.

With five colors to work with, I have what I think amounts to 55 different color arrangements for the pansies. Being the crazy gal that I am, I'm going to make a point of doing each and every one at least once, though. I have noticed that there are definitely color combos that work better for me aesthetically. Working under the Mason-Dixon theory of brights and dulls, it is quickly apparent that the dulls do, in fact, make the brights pop, and that leaving the brights together works pretty well, too, but when you get dull on dull - basically putting the lavender and olive together - not so much. Maybe those with subtler expectations will like those flowers better, but I do have to admit to loving the "pop."

I was pretty deliberate in my color choices on this one. I would have loved to pick up some reds, pinks and oranges (still would - wouldn't that be lovely?) but those colors scream "girl!" to me and as much as I would have liked to crochet this for a girl, this was definitely my baby's binky and I didn't know the baby's gender when I made the color choices. So... these are the most gender-neutral pansies I could muster. The brown and the olive ground it all, and the yellow, purple and blue keep it pretty. It has the subtle sophistication that I was going for in a pansy blanket, but I still can't help thinking wistfully of those oranges, reds and pinks....

Are these pansies for a girl?
Or pansies for a boy?
Any guesses on the baby's gender?
Those of you who know, keep hush!

I don't know how many of these little suckers I will have to make to get the binky to a respectable size, but I'm thinking I will just go until I only have a third of a skein of each color left (other than brown - there's lots of brown). Maybe I should have a little contest to see who guesses the final number right. Any advice on the proper dimensions of a Linus binky? I'm all ears, or perhaps all pansies.

Edited to add: For those who have asked, here is a link to the Japanese motif dictionary that contains the pansy pattern.

Belly Shots Anyone?

Not exactly like your college days, huh?* I'm guessing there will be many a perverted googler seriously disappointed by these shots, but I'm finally showing, so I just have to show you:

Can you see it?

How about now?

I'm at 5 months on Tuesday - yay! - and even now I don't really show unless I'm wearing something fitted or maternity clothes. I'm having some serious belly envy, but I'm sure that I'll catch up soon. For now, the important thing is that the baby's growth is on target and the amniocentesis came back negative for the birth defects, which is a huge relief. I have a little FO to share as well, but my blogging has been so sporadic that I decided to save that for another post. I hope everyone out in blogland is doing well - I've really missed posting and reading you. Time flies when you are making life. **smile**

*I don't know what you gals did in college, but I have never done belly shots before these. I spent my college days running and knitting and going to bed at 10:30 for fun. Pretty much the same life I have now!

Best Friend Makes NPR Morning Edition

One of my oldest, dearest friends has long been upset about the housing bubble. The proposed bailouts put him over the edge, so he decided to stop fuming and do something about it by rallying housing bubble bloggers together and starting a grassroots movement to give media attention to the issue. Today, some of that hard work paid off when he and two others were interviewed for a segment on NPR's Morning Edition. I cannot tell you how proud I am of the work that he has done. There is a lot more to do, but even getting the media to focus on the fact that there is more than one side to this issue is a big deal.

Go to the website! Listen to the interview!
Support the cause! Take a button!

I have sympathy for the individual homeowners who were duped into buying houses by banks who knew better. As someone in her late 30's who has worked hard and saved money and still not been able to buy a house, I understand how tempting it is to trust a bank when it tells you that you really can afford your dream home. They're professionals, right?

Unfortunately, the innocent uninformed purchasers make up a very small portion of those who will be bailed out. The lion's share will go to brokers, bankers, developers, speculators and opportunists. Even worse, with housing prices artificially propped up, many people who have saved diligently will be priced out of the housing market (because salaries are definitely not inflated!) and pay taxes for that privilege. This will affect people in a very wide swath of the economic spectrum. The very rich will still benefit, but even people in the upper-middle class will be unable to afford houses. Minorities, who are disproportionately under-represented among homeowners, will now have an even more difficult time purchasing a home. The gap between haves and have-nots will once again be widened, and for what purpose? So that wealthy people who have been dishonest and taken advantage of the system can continue to be wealthy and take advantage of the system at the expense of responsible, hard-working people who actually saved money to buy homes they could afford. Is this really what we want to do? There has to be a better way!

Clearly, this is an issue that is as near and dear to my heart as it is my friend's. You may disagree with our views, but shouldn't we at least have a voice in the media -- and more importantly with our representatives in the government? Isn't there a way that we can have a dialog that will result in help to the innocent and responsible citizens of this country without giving an unnecessarily huge windfall to those who took advantage of them in the first place? Even if this isn't your goal (or if you think that a bailout can accomplish this), I hope you will take a look at my friend's website, and his links to articles and bloggers who can give you a fuller picture of this side of the issue. If you are in favor, please grab a button. The more attention the issue gets, the more likely it is that the mainstream media and politicians will take notice and consider the issue.

Okay, peace out. No flames, please, but otherwise comment as you will. I am happy to hear from everyone.

Adventures in Spinning: She Learns to Sample

I have really missed writing to you guys. It feels like time is moving so fast with this baby, and work is so busy that everything is just passing me by. There is so much that I want to document - in both my knitting and pregnant life - and somehow the opportunity eludes me. There are times when I don't write because I don't feel like it - usually I get tired of hearing my own voice and just need to go away to have something new to say - but this has been an involuntary hiatus. If I could I would stop time and just sit here and fill pages.

Cherry and Burning Bush singles - note the lightness in the singles to the far right which came from the "inside" of the roving.

When work is done I am usually tired enough that I can't do anything that requires math, deep thought, or being at the computer. (I have pregnancy brain so badly already that I went into the bathroom at the obygyn's office to give a sample - not because I had to go but because they needed a sample - and just completely forgot to pee in the cup. It wasn't until I got all the way back and the nurse asked about the sample that I realized I had forgotten. D'oh!) This lack of brainpower has translated into time spent spinning and knitting very simple things.

The spinning has been fantastic (the knitting has also been quite satisfying). I have some gorgeous merino/silk (80/20) roving from Spunky Eclectic in the Burning Bush colorway, that I decided I wanted to spin to make something for the baby. Surfing around on ravelry, I found this beautiful Baby Surprise Jacket done in 2-ply Burning Bush handspun, and fell positively in love. I decided that I would spin my roving up into a 2-ply for a Tomten Jacket. (Also an EZ design and kind of similar).

Gorgeous rich alpaca singles - slippery after working with merino silk!

The only issue was that I only had 4 ounces of Burning Bush and I wasn't sure how far that would go. (I really need to start documenting my handspun so that I have a good idea of how much yardage I can expect to get out of a given amount of roving.) To make it go further, I decided that instead of plying it all on itself, I would do one 2-ply of Burning Bush and one 2-ply of Burning Bush and Chameleon Colorworks Cherry or maybe just ply all of the Burning Bush singles with some medium brown alpaca that I have 4 ounces of and make it go really far.

The Burning Bush roving.I should back up and tell you that when it comes to roving, I pretty much do things the exact same way every time, except that sometimes I will spin a singles instead of a 2-ply, and I also vary the weight. I know, so creative! Anyhoo, although I have read all about different ways to use the same roving and combine rovings, for some reason I just have very little patience for spinning a little, plying it, and seeing if I like what I get. Finally it hit me that my method of spinning was a lot like making a sweater without a swatch. When I taught beginning knitting I would always do my best to make swatching fun - both because it is so essential to gauge and because it is such a great way to get your creative juices flowing. I have always made a point of saying that if you don't swatch, your entire sweater becomes your swatch. It's the same with spinning - if you just pick a method and go until you are out of roving, what you've got is what you've got - your sample is your yarn. Sometimes that is great and a wonderful way to just let go. Other times, not so much.

So, after a very cool ravelry discussion on the zillion different things that I could do with these Burning Bush singles, I decided to take some sage advice and actually sample. I am so glad that I did. I knew that both the brown and the red would dominate the Burning Bush colors, but I really had no idea how much. In this case, I really like the bright crazy colors of the roving, so there is no real incentive to mute them with a solid, but in so many other instances, this would be a great tool to have in my back pocket. In one little session of sampling I learned a ton about how to mute or preserve bright color. I also completely changed direction and decided that for this project I would mute the color and use the brown. I really like the red as well, so I may order a few more ounces of Burning Bush to ply with the cherry for some other baby project.

The swatches - brown alpaca and burning bush for now; swirled with cherry for later.

I'm also glad that I followed the sampling sequence that I have. To make sampling fun, I spun up most of the singles for the Burning Bush and Cherry rovings first, and also spun up quite a bit of the alpaca as well. I knew that I would be happy with all of these singles at the same weight even if I didn't end up plying them together, and I also knew that I would have more fun if I didn't have to work through all of the singles after sampling. (Again, impatience.) This would not work when sampling different weights, of course, but since I knew I wanted to end up with fingering to light DK weight, it was a great method for my purposes. My method worked out especially well, because the Burning Bush varies quite a bit in intensity, getting much lighter near the "inside" of the roving. When I actually get to the knitting phase, I will counteract that a bit by switching between skeins to get a striping effect.

The sampling part was awesome. I wish I had some shots of the 10 yards or so that I spun so that you could see how different the yarn looks skeined as opposed to knitted. I have plenty more to spin, so I'll be sure to do that later for those of you who are as geeky and new to spinning as I am. I really love both the alpaca and cherry version. Now the only problem is the project. I love the Tomten Jacket and do want to make it eventually (Baby Surprise Jacket, too), but I think for such a special handspun I need to come up with something of my own. We'll see.....

Take Me To Your Leader

All inferior non-alpaca life forms should surrender now....

This is really the beginning of Norah Gaughan's lovely Bubble Pullover, which I have no doubt will be awesome, but at the moment it looks for all the world like a big green alien to me. Well, at least when it doesn't look like an extremely ample (yet green) bosom. You'll have to forgive me on that one, but once you finally have boobies, they get in your head. (One of the great joys of pregnancy - breasts! - who knew these things were so great?)

Seriously, though, back to the knitting. One of my favorite things about ravelry, and flickr, too, is that you can scope out a project ahead of time to see which colorways appeal the most to you. When I made the endpaper mitts I scrolled through tons of ravelry FO's to decide how I wanted to handle the colorway I had chosen. It may not sound complex, but with two colors, there are at least four different variations, and the way that you choose a dominant color really affects the final look of your fingerless gloves. Similarly, with the Bubble Pullover, there were certain FO's that really stood out for me, and invariably those were the ones which employed either heathered or mono-variegated yarn. I ended up not having anything in the stash that really did it for me for this project, so I put the design aside for a while, but then I stumbled on some lovely hand-painted Misty Alpaca (sadly, I believe it is discontinued) and voila! started anew.

A pretty, less extraterrestrial photo of the bubble.

I was a little afraid that the pentagons might bore me to tears, but so far, so good. I'm now on my fourth and still interested. My other fear about this pattern is that it would be difficult to re-gauge (and if you know me, you know that I end up re-gauging everything I knit - this is no exception). In fact, this is probably one of the easier re-gauging jobs I've done. As everyone says, the construction of this sweater is unique. It is not, however, complicated. I don't have any trouble envisioning how it will fit or if it will work. In fact, there is a little part of me that wonders if this will not become the third major route to constructing a sweater - top-down, bottom-up, and pentagonal! No wonder Ms. Norah is so entranced by these shapes - they really can go the distance.

I'm going to stop here, lest I write the pattern notes before completing the pattern. But I do highly recommend this sweater (or one of Norah's other many pentagonal creations) as a good time. I'm making my way slowly through this one (there are baby things to be made as well), but I know I will be so happy to wear it when it is done (well, in LA, several months after it is done). It should serve my not-quite-back-to itself belly quite well next winter. A bubble for a bubble.

Everything's Coming Up Pansies

Well, not everything, but the crochet sure is. I spent a recent weekend in Portland with Marnie, and naturally was once again inspired to crochet. Ms. Marnie is one kick-ass crocheter. It was a fun, whorlwind of a time, as our weekend crafting visits always are, with plenty of things to be inspired by: the excellent Japanese bookstore, a new bright red motorcycle for Leo, and a great trek out to Abundant Yarn for Larissa's debut of Knitalong, her very first book.

To me they look like little pansy balloons, flying away..."

I'm really not sure where to start. Abundant Yarn is just that - abundant! It's an amazing store, and definitely tops my list of all-time favorite LYS's. The selection is fabulous with tons of yarn in each colorway, and the aisles go on forever. Abundant Yarn dyes its own line of yarns which are especially pretty, and they carry many of my favorite lines of yarn along with some lines that were previously unknown to me (or at least untouched!). They also have a lovely cafe and seating area, so it is a very easy place to gather and knit, or gather and watch a friend debut her book! The store catered the event (quite nicely and also abundantly) and there was a huge turnout. I haven't read Knitalong cover to cover yet, but what I have read I have really enjoyed. It's a book that has a great deal of written substance in addition to cute patterns (many by Larissa, like the fast and famous Meathead, and several by Adrian Bizilla - who wouldn't be drawn by that?). For me the writing is what is so great about it. It is definitely a book for our community and our knitting "generation" (and by that I mean the internet knitting generation of the 2000's, including knitters from all age groups). It memorializes our time in a wonderful way, and I am really looking forward to immersing myself in it. It's always great to see Larissa. We didn't try to monopolize her this time around, since she had so many other guests to attend to, but we did catch our first glimpses of Sebastian darting through the yarn in his handknit hat. What a cutie.

Other than that, the weekend was very quick and spent predominantly on the sofa in front of one of Leo's legendary fires, crafting away. I utilized every spare moment of my Marnie time to get versed in the language of crochet charts (I love charts - the universal language!), and produced a pansy and a cute little chain. I think that except for when I encounter the occasional exceptionally difficult manuever I should be alright crocheting solo for a bit. My plan is to make many of these little pansy motifs and string them together in a blanket-like fashion to make a binky for the baby. Nothing very big, as I would surely go mad from over-pansying, just something to hold on to, drag around and enjoy. I love the brightness of the cornflower and lavender colors, but to give the blanket a little sophistication I added in several duller shades as well. The dulls seem to help ground everything, but the brights sure are fun to play with.

Eat for two, breathe for two, knit for two now...

If the title of this post is too subtle for you and you're stuck in some news aggregator, click on over and view my less-than-subtle new and enhanced banner photo. Conceived by yours truly, but brought to life by the artistic hands of Miss Marnie.

This little stinkpot started off auspiciously enough - conceived on our "insurance wedding" anniversary and chemically detected for the first time on New Year's Eve. Since then, however, s/he has seen fit to wreck absolute havoc on her host body, subjecting me to "morning sickness" (that euphemism for 24 hour a day nausea - morning sickness - what a lie!), heartburn, and other various and sundry heretofore unknown ailments, which I will kindly spare you the details of. Suffice to say, that if the mother's illness is as good an indication of the child's good health as is generally reported, this kid is superhuman. (Second, of course, to Cara's baby, who is on a whole other plane!) It's enough to drive me to cross stitch a whole bevy of "babies suck" pillows and fill the house with them.

Happily, with one foot into the second trimester, I am feeling miraculously better - still exhausted, still wrought with food aversions, still moody as hell - but so much better. It's like I'm a new person. Or at least half the old person that I used to be! Strange, huh?

Anyhoo, there will be lots more knitting (at least for six months...), but much of it may end up being the tiny, machine-washable variety. I would promise to spare you the details of this journey in favor of high-quality knitting content, but I know better. The best I can do is promise equal time to crafting and life-creating for the next little while.

That Japanese Swedish Aesthetic

So here's the pretty cross stitch:

Maybe it's just me, but that looks like a snowflake from a wonderful Nordic sweater.

The motif is from a Japanese book called "Stitchworld" that I picked up in Portland when I visited Marnie last May. She has the fortune (misfortune?) of living near a Kinokuniya bookstore. If I want to hit the Kinokuniya here I have to be willing to brave the parking situation. I'm lazy that way, and so able to save a lot of money. Japanese craft books are positively addictive. The original motif is stitched in linen on the lovely tea cozy and napkin pictured below. Since my cross stitch experience is limited to "Babies Suck," I thought it might be prudent to practice on Aida cloth before butchering expensive linen. I was also unable to determine the thread-count on the linen used in the book, so I was concerned that the design might be distorted on the 28-count linen that I have. It is, and I have to say that I do prefer the original, but this version is rather pretty, too. And it could probably be modified a bit to elongate it and give it a more organic feel.

Makes you want to cross stitch doesn't it? I'm ready to embroider the entire house.
Moxie will love this.

Cross stitch is a pastime that I sorely underestimated. There is skill and intellect involved beyond what I imagined. I am finally getting to the point where I can see why I should cross all my stitches in the same direction (there is a spot where I didn't - it glares at me!), and I am learning a little of the game you have to play to stitch from one area to another neatly. It's fun to try to maximize the areas of hatching and back-hatching (my terms) and to figure out how to move from stitch to stitch within an area without having to skip a single space. It's a spatial puzzle, really, and I think it's got to be satisfying once you realize you've really got it. I have a way to go.

A sampling of projects from the book.

This little book has opened up an entirely new domestic world for me. It contains hardanger embroidery, which I had never heard of. (You can find hardanger 101 here.) I had seen it before, but it never really clicked with me that real people could make linen look like that. It's definitely on my list. It's a great deal of fun, but let me warn you - if you get this book it can be hard to step away from the thread. ISBN 4-579-11018-8 (The book is NOT in English but the photos and diagrams are excellent.)

Judy's Grandmother's Baby Sweater: Pattern Notes

So here it is the end of February and I am just trotting out the first FO of 2008. If you had asked me in December what my first FO's of the year would be, I would not have guessed this! I have three to four designs in the works (depending on whether I decide to back-burner one of them or not) and one is very near completion. But I just have not had it in me to do math lately, so I thought I'd make one of the many baby things that I have planned for the spring and get a jump start on things. Voila!

A little sugar, a little sarcasm. Perfect.

Before I dive into the baby sweater pattern notes, however, I just have to put in another plug for Julie Jackson's Subversive Cross Stitch Book. Very few things could have driven me into the arms of cross stitch. It was just never a craft that I had as much interest in before. Howsomever, between this wonderfully saccharine book and the incredible single-color (almost Swedish) designs in the Japanese craft books I have, well, I just had to go there. And I'm so glad I did. Cross stitch can be a really fun diversion, and used sparingly on a beautiful linen backdrop I find it charming. I would definitely recommend Julie's book. Even if you never stitch a thing, the laughs alone are worth it. I will definitely be making another. (To Moxie's great chagrin - he still doesn't get it. Boys.)

Judy's Grandma's Baby Sweater
Greetings From Knit Cafe
designed by Judy Spector's Grandma
Knit with three and a half skeins (123 yards/skein) each of Rowan's Wool Cotton (50% Merino Wool/50% Cotton) in (955) "Ship Shape," on size US4 Addi Turbo Circulars and Clover Bamboo DPNs.
Gauge: 5.75 sts and 10 rows per inch over garter stitch.
Size: 6 months

The designated front.The Pattern:
Extremely well thought-out. If there is an edge on this puppy that can be self-finishing, it is. The construction is interesting, too. You work the sweater from side-to-side, starting and ending with the ties, and leaving live stitches and a bound of edge to pick up for each sleeve later. The sleeves are picked up and knit down to the cuffs, and then seamed along the top edge to finish.

If you've read my previous entries on this (the one on the Observatory), you'll know that there was a point where the sweater became a little tedious for me. The honeycomb stitch can be a little aggravating, because the action happens on the right side while you are knitting the wrong side. The wrong side, for its part, is not easy to read. If you get off by a stitch (which I did four times), you screw up the row. Normally, I am a stickler for fixing errors, but I was in the dead zone when I got off track and simply did not care enough. I kind of wish that I had cared a bit more now, but only a knitter is likely to notice. A six month old baby definitely won't! the honeycomb stitch is worth some effort, though, because it is very, very pretty.

My journey with this knit was not unlike my journey with every single scarf I've made. Somewhere in the second skein I was bored out of my mind, but by the time I got to the third I was into it again. The sleeves zipped by. Highly recommended, especially for those of you who enjoy repeating patterns. I've been in a knitting slump, so I spent three weeks with this sweater, but someone on a roll could pop it out in a concentrated weekend, and definitely over a week of bad TV and re-runs.

"Front" and "back" side by side. Really, it's fully reversible.

Techniques:
Intermediate techniques - cable cast-on, elastic bind-off, slipping and stranding stitches, knitting through the back loop, and picking up along edges.

Detail of the flap.Modifications:
The only mods I made were to use a different yarn, and a different seaming technique for the sleeves. The original yarn is Classic Elite Premiere, which I used for Mishka (same color, too). It has more of a drape to it, which is also very nice. I subbed because I was knitting from stash, but either is lovely. As for the sleeves, I just didn't feel like reading directions. I did a single crochet up one sleeve, across the front neck, and down the other sleeve. I'm sure that whatever the pattern does is fine, too.

Finishing:
Very little. For the most part this is self-finishing. I used the single crochet method to seam and neaten the front neck, as noted above. I didn't block this one and didn't even think to. I don't always block textured knits and the wool cotton is soft without washing. Blocking will add a little drape if you are looking for that effect.

The parting shot.Impressions of Rowan's Wool Cotton:
This is my go-to yarn. I use it more than any other, and especially for baby things. It is soft, classy, classic, has great stitch definition, and is machine washable. Plus it comes in a lovely array of adult colors. I'm not really a pastel girl, so this is a good choice for me.

Possible substitute yarns:
For this particular project, there are a lot of good substitute yarns. The original Premiere is a great choice, but you could use something like Tahki Cotton Classic or Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece. Almost any fiber will do, because the shape is simple and the pattern lends itself to being sproingy or draping a bit. I could see it in a nice bamboo or linen.

[Read all entries on Judy's Grandmother's Baby Sweater.]

It's a Hoolia Wheel! Crochet and Creativity

I've had a bit of monkey mind lately (just what it sounds like, but here's a link), probably induced by cabin fever. Whenever monkey mind strikes, I feel the need to experiment a little, with no particular goal in mind. Sometimes I am able to do this with knitting (and that 's a great thing), but my knitting is pretty structured, so in the last year or so I've turned to crafts that are newer to me to blow off a little creative steam. These are things I'm not nearly as systematic about - spinning, cross stitch, crochet - and so I feel a lot freer to just do without any planning ahead, and see what happens.

The Hoolia Wheel.I am very inexperienced in crochet. Whenever I have Miss Marnie around for a few days I can make what would seem to be great progress, but as soon as I am without a guide, I tend to get lost. I have a hard time remembering how many times to wrap what and how to get from one spot in a motif to another elegantly. I have an easy enough time understanding the charts in Japanese craft books, but I'm not sure exactly where to start and there are techniques and conventions that I just don't "get" yet. I cannot read "written out" crochet patterns to save my life!

Yesterday, inspired by this beautiful washcloth, I decided that I would attempt yet another crochet motif. The only motif that I have ever completed without getting lost halfway through is the granny square. An accomplishment? Yes! Cute? Yes! But I kinda need to move on from there. So I looked through my crochet stitch dictionary and found several "intermediate" motifs that I liked. (Apparently there is no such thing as a "beginner" motif - even the granny square is "intermediate". Seems unfair.) The problem was that all the directions were written out, and I could not for the life of me figure out what to do once I got to the second round of anything. So, back to square one. I decided that since there were illustrations of the single crochet, half-double crochet, double crochet and triple crochet, I would work through those systematically, and learn to use them in rows and rounds. I did that, and I think I understand the stitches better, though to be honest, I have to go back and re-read how many times to wrap the yarn around the needle, etc. again before making a particular stitch to remind myself that I do know how to do it.

I got bored with these exercises, and I really, really wanted to make a motif. Reading the written out directions I just could not get it, though. So I decided that I would just make one up instead. I know the stitches (or can look them up! Einstein said that you should never bother to memorize anything you can look up...), I can work in rounds, and I understand the basic principles of increasing from knitting. I can do this, right?

I did! Voila! The Hoolia Wheel! Can I just say that I love it? Now, I know that I have surely just re-invented the wheel (pun intended) because what I did was so simple that I am sure someone (and perhaps many someones?) have crocheted it before. But. It's new to me, I did not learn it from a book, and so somehow it is more mine than many other complicated things I've done. It's just freaking glorious.

Okay, so here's the creativity part of the title. I had a boyfriend right after college who was wonderful at drawing. He did a self-portrait that I will never forget, both because it was so well-rendered and so introspective - he was really able to capture an aspect of himself that would be identifiable to anyone who knew him. But he would never call himself an artist. Only a draftsman. He explained that a draftsman was someone who was trained in the technical execution of drawing, but that an artist was someone who created organically without having to know the rules, working from within himself rather than from within the context of "art." I question whether he was right about himself, but I think there was a lot in the definition that he gave me.

Again. 'Cause I like it.Almost every knitting friend whose designs I admire has told me that she started designing because she found it to be too much trouble to work from a pattern. I realize that in my early knitting days this was the case for me, too, because although I did have access to Vogue Knitting, for the most part there weren't a wide array of commercial designs that appealed to my 20-something sensibilities. I heavily modified a lot of things - a Filatura di Crosa tank became a mini-dress! - and designed some of the more complicated pieces I've done. Not because I was trying to design (I certainly was not resizing!), but because it was really the only way to make things I liked. They had to come from my head. I wasn't limited in the techniques I used, because I didn't have a knitting community to help me gauge what was difficult. I just had June Hemmons Hiatt as a guide, and well, she did everything.

After a few years, I discovered Rowan Magazine, and I fell in love with patterns. I found more and more designers I really loved in Vogue soon after that (can we say Norah Gaughan?), and by the time Melanie Fallick's Knitting in America was released I was a goner. I was such a pattern junkie (still am!), and I gained a lot from that transition, but I lost something, too. Somehow having so much available to me caused me to stop creating things myself. There were good aspects to this - I could learn a lot by following someone else's footsteps and enjoy a way of thinking other than my own. But the more I learned, the more "rules" my structured little mind created. I became more proficient over time (and to toot my own horn I think I became a very good knitting teacher), but I also really boxed myself in. "Designing" and "knitting" became separate things.

My design "technique" now mostly comprises piecing together known elements in new ways. There is nothing wrong with this, and I think it can be helpful to think of design in this way, because for many of us, this is exactly what it is. You see a neckline that you like and think, "Now how could I incorporate that into something lacy and delicate?" and you play around and find a way to mesh things that you'd like to see together. There is creativity there, but for me it's much more at the "draftsman" (craftswoman?) level of creativity - nicely done technical execution with the "flair" originating in the combination of elements.

When I think of artistry, I think of designers like Mary Walker Phillips, Norah Gaughan, Teva Durham, Annie Modesitt, and Debbie New. You may not love, or even like, everything that these women create, but their designs often reach heights that other beautifully rendered but contextualized, structured pieces will never attain. There is something undeniably special about them. These are not the workhorses of your closet that will get everyday use - they are the statement pieces that uniquely define us.

I think that the artistry of these designers comes from transcending the rules of knitting and looking beyond the techniques that are known and on into those places in their own minds which still just contain possibility. For my own little mind, the easiest way to do this is to not know the rules. Structure is so much a part of how I learn that if I have it in place, it is nearly impossible to leave behind. I have to push myself to mess around and do "creativity exercises" if I want to come anywhere close to pushing an envelope. I work to be artistic, and often that takes so much work (almost always, actually) that I revert to being a sound craftswoman - it's my natural mode. Now again, I am not poo-pooing myself or saying that I don't enjoy that kind of creativity, because quite honestly I do, and if I never engaged in it there would be fewer of those great staples in my closet that I rely on. But. There is a real thrill when you do something that is totally out of the blue - really just out of your head - and look at it and think "That is good."

Making the Hoolia Wheel was that way for me. A small thing, really - just a motif - but at the same time a personal revelation. Because of this, I've decided to do two things: First, push myself to do a few more of those "creativity exercises" in knitting, and second, go about crochet an entirely different way. I am not going to seek out the rules, read patterns ravenously, or study it up in the way that I do with everything else. I'm just going to do it and see what happens. It will probably kill me - wish me luck!

Weekend at the Observatory

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Another wintery day in Los Angeles. Griffith Park Observatory.

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I've been itching to write for a while now, but the knitting and spinning have not been terribly interesting, because the Hoolia, she has not been terribly interesting. I've been sick as a dog for several weeks, so the only crafty thing that I've done is plug away on the baby sweater from hell (see it masquerading as a cute, fun project in the entry below), and then only when the nausea let up enough to allow me to knit. Fun! I am probably being a bit harsh on the baby sweater. It's darling, and I will be very pleased with it when the drudgery is over, but I overestimated the thrill of "honeycomb stitch". Honeycomb stitch is just lovely when completed, but it's hard to read as you're knitting it because the bulk of the action happens on the RS while you are working the WS. It's easy to f*ck up and it's about as interesting as seed stitch (but just as pretty, too!). I am only a little ashamed to say that there are at least four places where I screwed up half a row and just left it. I couldn't bring myself to rip out a row of that stuff if the error was not glaring, and my feeling is that the wee recipient, who is likely to barf on it anyway (all hail machine washable wool cotton!) will not notice. One sleeve left to go and I'll photograph it for you, mistakes and all.

Happliy, I was graced with a nausea-free weekend, just when our weather decided to go from a lovely 70 degrees to an even lovelier 80 degrees (for those feeling envy, fear not - we are sure to experience 100 degree weather in May and July-August, with a nice June Gloom sandwiched in the middle - even Angelenos get their due). We took full advantage of both the weather and my wellness for the entire weekend, and enjoyed the great outdoors.

Before the fire, Griffith Park was one of our regular weekend stops, but since then many of the trails have been closed, so we've only gone to volunteer with the recovery effort. The last tree-planting we participated in was in early December, so when we went back this weekend to help out with the planting efforts at Dante's Peak, we were pretty surprised to see that a lot has changed and many trails are now open. I was pretty pooped out from the effort of going to the planting site and back again, but Moxie, who used to run the mountain, decided that he wanted to go back for a run in the afternoon. He got in his exercise while I lazed around on the deck and ploughed away on the aforementioned baby sweater. While there, he also checked out the observatory, which we have not been to since it re-opened, mostly because we aren't big fans of crowds. M was very impressed, and insisted that we get up early on Sunday morning and beat the crowds to the observatory so that we could enjoy the morning there. It was a great idea, because no one in LA seems to be up and about at 8:00 am on a Sunday. I even had a chance to coax my esteemed photographer into doing a Mishka photo shoot....bonus!

Handspun Handknit Braintrust? Bueller? Bueller?

I feel like I'm a little cursed when it comes to knitting up my handspun. I've tried several times and keep having to rip and re-start. It's funny, because I pride myself on being able to pick the right project for a particular yarn, and yet when it comes to my own yarn I'm a bit stumped. Exhibit A: the wonderful party dress handspun:

Gorgeous yarn, crappy swatch.

This definitely falls into the category of "what the hell was I thinking?" Clearly, this stitch pattern has got to go - the vertical welts are totally duking it out with the horizontal stripes. D'oh! So many rookie mistakes all in one project - yikes. I've been calling this one "The One in My Head," but I'm pretty sure it's the one NOT in my head - anywhere! I think my first mistake was spinning the roving into too thick of a yarn. It's totally fun as a skein, but for me the practical value of a brightly-colored, striped, bulky thick and thin yarn is questionable. I would have done much better to spin this as a DK or sport-weight. It is wonderfully squooshy, though, and I really do want to use it, so I'm going to soldier on after a little break. I'm thinking something on the diagonal would be good, and something for a child or baby would be well-advised. Maybe a funky chevron scarf for my niece? Or one of those diagonal scarves that everyone used to make with Kureyon? Or maybe even another so-called scarf? Sadly, I'm having trouble being terribly creative with this one! If you have ideas, puleeeze leave them in the comments. I could use all the help I can get! [Edited to add: I've spun it all and have about 310 yards to work with. You guys have already come up with a ton of good ideas! Keep them coming!!!]

My saving grace: Judy's Grandmother's Baby Sweater.

In general, I've been pretty stumped the last few weeks. I think it's partially because everything on my needles is my own designing and I've reached the point where I really need to either write things down or do some math or both, and my little pea brain just is not up to it. It's a shame, because I was so excited about all these ideas about a month ago, and made some real progress. (Luckily, I did type up the pattern for Mishka during that time period. It still needs to be charted and sized, but the instructions are there rather than somewhere off in the ether.)

Best part? Komari's little face!To break this bad knitting mojo, I decided to start a baby sweater. I have a ton of baby knits to make this year - tis the season! - and it never hurts to start early. Ever since seeing LoriZ's grey Rambling Rose (which she needs to get off her butt and photograph! Edited to add: she did!) I have been dying to knit with my favorite Rowan Wool Cotton - the king of yarns. Lori's sweater doesn't even use wool cotton, but the yarn she's knitting looks like wool cotton and that was enough to set me craving for it. The whole time I watched her knit I was dying to snatch the yarn out of her hands and get in at least a few rows. Instead I had to be patient and start something of my own. The other advantage of the baby sweater is that it is involving and yet contained. I want to get a bit involved, but not overwhelmed, so this is the perfect project. Plus, after going through my grandmother's old knits I was pretty inspired. Everything she did was a little work of art.

I settled on Judy's Grandma's Baby Sweater from the Greetings from Knit Cafe book. I have to say that I have been fortunate to be included in two of my favorite pattern books ever, and GFKC is one of them. (The other is Boho Baby, which is bound to get heavy use this year.) I have wanted to make this baby sweater since I first spied it in Knit Cafe over four years ago. It' simply stunning in person and the unique construction makes it extra special. My love for this pattern is rivaled only by my love for Veronik Avery's Gansey Layette, which I have made three times (and will probably make again this year). I can't believe I didn't knit it earlier. Anyway, I am finally able to engross myself in knitting again, and that is a nice relief. I'm hoping that this little respite will allow me to return to my plans for a few other things on the needles. Some things will undoubtedly get pushed to the back-burner, because I have much more than usual in progress right now, but having tasted the fresh air again, I think I will be able to dive back into at least a few of those stalled projects. Thank goodness!

Love Among the Shepherds

Love takes many forms....

Kissing (my favorite),

Hugging,

Spooning...

And Dancing Cheek to Cheek ("Heaven, I'm in Heaven...")

On Monday morning I awoke to see snow on the near mountains. The far mountains, which are about 45 minutes away and visible on a clear day, often have snow from November to April, but in the near mountains, only about 20 minutes from our house, snow is a rare treat. The elevation is much lower, and between that and the dearth of regular rainfall, snow only tops them once or twice a season at the most. I hike with the dogs most mornings before I start working, but I usually have a nice cup of tea first. On Monday we just went. I wanted to get as good a view as possible, as soon as possible, and for as long as possible.

The San Gabriels

This week was my birthday. For a good 15 years or so, growing up and then in my Chicago years, it snowed without fail on my birthday every year. For those of us born near the holiday season, birthdays are a little more low key. Snow is the perfect gift.

Snow from the rooftops in Pasadena

So off we went. It was a perfect morning. Quiet, clear, beautiful. When people say they don't like LA, I always tell them that they just haven't found theirs yet. There is an LA for everyone. I love ours. The trail is just beautiful. Used by few, with views of the mountains on one side and views of downtown LA and the ocean on the other. On Monday, it took all of my resolve not to go all the way up Angeles Crest Highway into the San Gabriels. But work called, so we drove back down from the trail and I treated myself to taking a few photos from the rooftops in Pasadena before settling in for the rest of my day.

Happily, mommy-love is gentler than pupper-love.

Self-portrait of my mid-thirties, with Asher.

Wash Day: My Knitting Heritage

A while ago, I asked my mom to send me some of the handknits that my grandmother made for my brother and I when we were little. My mom sent a smocked coat, two cardigans and three hats. All of the items had seen fresher days after spending thirty-some years tucked away in a drawer, but they were lovely nonetheless.

Smock coat for a granddaughter long grown.

This weekend I was inspired to wash the smock coat and a little garter stitch hat with Scottie dog buttons on it. The little hat was worked flat, seamed, and then pulled into a crown at the top with a delicate drawstring. I realized that the best way to wash it would be to untie the drawstring and flatten the hat, so that the wool wash could get into all the nooks and crannies. I did so very carefully, but it was still a bit bitter sweet. I am sure that the last hands to tie this little string were my grandmother's, over 30 years ago. It was a strange, forbidden-feeling sensation to undo something that she had done. Especially knowing what a perfectionist she was. I persevered only because I knew that it was the only way to fully clean, and thus preserve, her work.

Little Scottie dog hat, close and far.

It has been really interesting to have my grandmother's knitting, so long out of my sight, here in my hands. There were things that I knew already. My grandmother detested setting sleeves and always knit raglan sweaters to avoid seaming the sleeves to the main body of the sweater. She knit with brightly-colored aluminum needles kept in a red plaid tin, which she carried everywhere. She liked texture, and often knit cables into her pieces. She often made those cables into bunnies and owls. (One of the cardigans my mother sent has those owls on it.) The bunnies had little pompoms for tails. She knit a lot of cardigans, and most of the pieces that I remember were in a single, solid color. I never saw her knit lace. I never saw her use circular or double-pointed needles. (Which could explain the flat construction of the Scottie dog hat.) Oh, yes - she liked Scottie dogs. All the women in the family seemed to have a predilection for little Scottie dogs in the 1970's. I'm not sure if that was in vogue, or if it was inspired by my cousin Scott - often called Scottie in his youth. (As an adult he goes by Scooter - go figure. *smile*).

The raglan sleeves my grandmother loved.But there were other things I didn't know. I thought that she knit almost exclusively with wool-like acrylic. All the knits my mother sent are 100% cotton (which is probably why my mother, fiber-snob that she is, saved them). And the perfectionist - the grandmother who was never wrong - knit with uneven tension. I feel a little blasphemous even writing that. But it's true. Now to be fair to her, these knits are cotton, so they show everything. But still. The unevenness didn't come out with blocking, either. It was endearing to me that the woman who taught me to knit, and who was so very strict about how it should be done knit so much less evenly than I do. She even misplaced a few yoke decreases!

I think one of the worst things about losing someone you love is that there are all these questions - silly, mundane things - that you want to be able to ask them about themselves. And, of course, there is the corresponding pain of not being able to share things about your life with them. My grandmother never knew that I became an avid knitter - as passionate a knitter as she was. Although she taught me to knit at six, I completed one small potholderish-looking garter square, and then did not pick it up again until my late teens, when she was already afflicted by Alzheimer's and no longer accessible to her family in the same way. And I never got to talk to her about millions of knittish things - how she knit those bunnies, if she worked from patterns or designed. Was she influenced by Barbra Walker and Elizabeth Zimmerman? Did her mother (also Julia) knit? Many of these questions will go forever unresolved. The one thing I do know is something that she probably would never have told me in real life - she made mistakes. And somehow that brings her more to life than almost anything else I could learn.

The whole shebang, drying alongside a few swatches.

The last time I saw my grandmother was when I stopped to see her on my way back home from Chicago for the holidays sometime during college. She was in a nursing home by then, and had few lucid days. I went to see her with my Aunt Pinky (Scooter's mom - again, go figure!), and we found her in the midst of a "good day". Although she was unable to speak due to a recent stroke, she clearly recognized Pinky as her daughter. I honestly don't know if she recognized me or not. I was still transitioning from child to woman at that point, so it is likely that she did not. But her eyes teared up and she reached for me. We hugged, and as I pulled back she held onto my sweater. It was not a sweater that I had knit, but it was clearly handmade of a chucky, colorful yarn. The link was unmistakable.

2007: My Knitting Year in Review

It always surprises me that it can be so difficult and take so much time to learn what I like and what I do not, and to learn how to spend my time in the way that really makes me the happiest. With knitting, I feel like I was very capable of doing this for many years before blogging, but that after I discovered internet knitting I often followed a circuitous path. It is really interesting to me that the existence of peers has such an effect - positive and negative - on what I do. Both watching and being watched have impacted me in surprising ways.

I have spent a lot of time in the last year or so thinking about how I spend my time - knitting and otherwise - and if spending my time in the way that I do is fulfilling to me. We are only given so many days and so many hours. I want to use them in ways that will make me happy.

2007: My Happiest Knitting Year Yet.

This culling of activities is an exercise that reminds me of the time I spent making a budget right after law school. I went through college and many lean years afterwards living on plastic and a prayer, so when I found myself with an actual salary (and real-world law school debts that put my college loans to shame), I decided that I needed to take some action and get my financial house in order. I read a lot of articles on how to best go about doing this, and they all suggested going through a year of bank statements and determining how you spend your money. The ways in which we spend our money are often surprisingly unknown to us. Mine were shockingly unknown to me.

I quickly realized that while I had gotten a lot better at staying away from clothing boutiques and spending a reasonable amount of money on skirts and shoes, I was blowing through cash at TAR-zhay! I am pretty sure that I was spending at Target because those purchases seemed both economical and necessary, based entirely on where they were bought. Somehow, spending at Target didn't seem like spending, because Target is for things like toilet paper and cleaning products - which we need. The thing is, I was walking out of there with twenty pairs of tube socks and three shades of toe nail polish that weren't entirely necessary. I realized that if I gave myself a Target spending limit, focusing on actual household necessities, I could reallocate that extra money to higher goals like savings, and the little splurges that I really wanted, like the boutique shoes I had been steering clear of.

With a large dose of discipline to accompany it, that spending self-awareness has paid off. Five years later I am free of credit card debt, with my private school loans substantially paid down, a nice savings account and 401K, and a closet with a reasonable number of well-chosen shoes. I have had to make some choices to get to this point. I've been driving the same beat up pickup truck since 1996, I eat out infrequently (especially compared to most Angelinos), I scour the sale racks (quality brands, low prices), and you cannot shove me into a taxi cab, because I believe that it is a ridiculous way to spend money. My indulgences are yarn, groceries, and books - likely in that order. And that is absolutely fine, because that is how I want to spend my money.

Budgeting this way is not all about sacrifices, because just like dieting, it is impossible to come up with a successful plan if it is not a plan for life. And life should have carrots as well as sticks. My budget has been about my reality. I like cute shoes. I like having three colors of toe nail polish from Target, as well, but that's not nearly as high on my list. So the answer is to reign in the Target spending, put those dollars aside, and after they accumulate, go out and buy a few pairs of fantastic shoes each year. It's not really about avoiding spending, as much as it is about avoiding spending on things that only bring me a modest amount of pleasure so that I can spend on things that I truly want.

It's also about choosing well. I am sure that there are women out there who actually have 10 pairs of shoes in rotation each fashion season and enjoy that. Those women should invest in those shoes if they can afford to. Personally, I have about 2-3 pairs of shoes for the warm months and 2-3 pairs for the cold months, and I wear them into the ground. That is the way that I wear shoes whether I have 40 pairs to choose from or 4. The rest of the shoes in my closet may be beautiful, but for me they are poor choices, because they will never see the light of day.

Over four years of blogging, I have spent a lot of time knitting, writing about knitting, photographing knitting, thinking about knitting, and coding for the purpose of knitting. I have taken several long breaks, and I have seriously considered quitting the blogging scene altogether. This year, I came extremely close to signing off, but as I thought about it, I realized that for me, this blog is a lot like the cute shoes. I enjoy it a great deal - I love the thinking and the writing and the coding, and most of all the friend-making - I just don't need to spread myself thin with it. For me, blogging too much is like having 10 pairs of winter shoes in my closet. The shoes may be pretty, but they go to waste, and I can find myself unable to find the funds for toilet paper! The balance that I have been slowly striking over the years is working for me. I blog regularly, but not frequently, and when I need a break, I take it. I blog for pleasure and not out of obligation. My pace changes as my life changes. Most importantly for me, I spend more time knitting than blogging.

Choosing projects is much the same. I've found that the more that I have in an "active state" on my needles the less happy I am. Having a lot of WIPs makes me put pressure on myself and doesn't give me a lot of room to follow either knitting or designing bliss. For the last few years I have generally had no more than three WIPs at a time, and that has really added to my knitting fulfillment. To counterbalance that discipline in the active knits arena, I have allowed myself to swatch for whatever I please, and I often have many "live swatches" (swatches that may actually become something) hanging around at any given time. This allows me to explore all my knitting daydreams and provides a great starting ground for design ideas without scattering my energy or resources. It also helps me to see the potential of the yarn that is already in my stash. I have nothing against buying new yarn (and I have a stash to prove it), but I really enjoy using what I already have, and I love using things that have been in my stash for a long time in really pleasing ways.

I think I have become much more in touch with what kind of knitter I am. Kathy shocked (and freed!) herself this year by proclaiming that she is an accessory knitter. I have realized over time that I am happiest as a garment knitter. I do like the occasional "meaty accessory," and I am always good for a cute little baby gift, but on the whole I prefer to make things that I can really get lost in for a month or so. The occasional short story is fantastic and palette-cleansing, but give me an epic novel and I will be truly happy.

At the close of any other blogging year I could give you a list of favorites - winners, losers, what I would make again or wear forever, what I would not. This year is different. There will, of course, be some items that have more staying power than others, but this year was by far my favorite knitting year ever. I made enough items to keep me engaged, but not so many as to overwhelm. There are gifts, designs of my own, patterns written by friends, several pieces that incorporate some very old stash yarn, and a few that employed techniques that I hadn't used in ages. Most of all, each and every piece, for its own unique reasons, has real substance for me. This year my resolution is simply to enjoy doing more of the same.

I hope that your knitting for 2007 has been equally fulfilling, and I can't wait to see what all of us do in 2008. Happy New Year and Happy Knitting!

Spunky Club December 07: Party Dress

Makes you want to dive in, doesn't it?I seem to go through phases where I spin, spin, spin, and then my wheel languishes for months on end. After having my crew over for spinning recently, I was inspired to kick-start my own wheel time. I started spinning a little over two years ago using Amy Boogie's Spunky Eclectic Fibers, and I have never been disappointed in anything that I've gotten from her. More than half of my spindle collection, my niddy-nosty, and much of my past spinning fiber is from Amy, so I decided that it would be fun to keep up the collection and join the fiber club. Amy sends out 2-4 ounces of "mystery" fiber each month to fiber club members, and that sounded like just enough to keep my toe in the spinning waters without the possibility of becoming overwhelmed. Plus I love the idea of being exposed to new fibers (or old favorites) in new colorways. Surprises can really get the creative juices flowing. For December, Amy sent out 4 ounces of brightly colored Corriedale roving called "Party Girl." It looks positively edible to me.

The Superskein lives!!!

Although I love spinning bright colors, I don't usually end up wearing bright colors in combination. A single bright color? Sure! But three is a bit much for my earth tone wardrobe. So I decided to spin up a bobbin of party dress and a bobbin of white merino superwash that I found at my local spinning shop, Stick & Stone Fiberarts, and ply them together. Perfect. The colors come through bright and clear, but are muted just enough by the white, spongy merino to coordinate with other things in my closet. Honestly, the party dress roving is so pretty that if I couldn't use it for myself I would knit it into something for one of the numerous children in my life, but post-Christmas I am a little gifted out, so it is nice that I can selfishly dedicate the roving to myself!

Birth of a Superskein, Swatch of a Superskein...

I love the results. I got so engrossed in spinning party girl that I just couldn't stop. The resulting skein is - as you can see - HUGE. It swatched quite nicely, too. I am not sure if I will knit it into something using the 2 by 3 broken rib in the swatch or something else, but I am definitely inspired to start contemplating what this yarn could be. I've only spun about half of the roving I have and already have 180 yards of aran-weight yarn. It feels like there is real potential to get a substantial finished object out of the party dress roving. So far this fiber club thing seems like a great plan!

[See what the spunky club has been doing with this fiber.]

Last Minute Giftie

I used to be pretty good about offering the occasional freebie pattern - especially at Christmas. The last few years the freebies have been harder to fit in, mostly because it takes time to write out patterns in intelligible terms. By the time I have time, I'm already on to something else. When Ann showed such a keen interest in obtaining my dad's vest pattern for her knitting circle, I decided it would be a nice opportunity to slip in a little freebie before 2007 comes to a close. So while Moxie was cheering on the Patriots, I was happily pattern drafting. Voila!

The vest is written for a 44" shirt size, with tips for re-sizing. It's a quickie, so please read over the pattern carefully for errors before proceeding. If you spot an error, please let me know. We'll revise as we go along. Happy New Year! xox, J

What the Elves Made this Year

One vest for dad, one apron for mom, coming up!

Hoolia Claus did not go unassisted. Townes helped to make sure that the vest was folded completely flat for packing by putting in some dedicated napping hours on top of it, and the dogs assisted with moral support while I sewed by lounging lovingly on the bed. I could not have done it without them. I hope that your holiday crafting was just as merry and well-supported. There's nothing quite like having a good crew to get you through!

Orange Camo Christmas

At 4:57 p.m. on Saturday I ran gasping into the Fedex Kinko's and mailed off the last of my handmade gifts. The guys at the counter laughed at me, but assured me that my box would get put on the truck - although it would be the very last one. The recipients of said gifts, Ma and Pa T., are avid readers of this blog (well, at least Ma T. is, I'm not sure that Pa T. could survive the excitement of reading about knitting), so that is enough said until Santa has safely made his way to their house tonight and the gifts have been opened.

Bird's nests. A camouflage Christmas bouquet.

Singles on the bobbin.Although it is fun to read about all you crazy knittin' folk running your fingers into the ground until all hours of the night (and early morning), I don't enjoy doing it myself. God forbid that I miss the big deadline, because a gift unmade at Christmas is a loathesome thing - I could never get myself to return to knitting it for the incredible resentment of the obligation. I have been smart enough to limit the handmade gifts to two per year, which keeps the level of insanity at a dull roar, but after the outright panic that I inflicted on myself this year, I've decided to go to an even lower-key system next year. I'm doing no handmade gifts, and will instead spend the season knitting Christmas gifts and ornaments for someday. That way I can enjoy seasonal knitting, look forward to giving handmade gifts sometime in the future, and be stress-free.

M's homemade sushi. Heaven.Anyhoo, this is all a long way of saying that on Saturday night I found myself quite happily unoccupied. No work. No obligatory crafting. (That should be a four-letter word, "obligatory crafting.") No cooking. (Moxie kindly went to Little Tokyo and picked up the ingredients for his famous homemade sushi - yum!) So I pulled out the Rose and a tube of merino that Marnie and I picked up in Solvang on our Portland Roadtrip, and began some pre-drafting festivities.

Looks strangely like the sushi, no?Pretty soon I began to realize that the color sequence in the tube was very likely to produce something akin to orange camouflage. But I was curious, so I persisted, and pre-drafted about half of the fiber into nests with four nests for each color. I spun half of the nests going in one direction on the "color wheel" and half on a second bobbin moving in the opposite "color wheel" direction. Each bobbin has two repeats of its individual sequence. Then I plied them together, and found that yes, an orange-olive camouflage-colored yarn was indeed produced by this combo, but I kind of like it. I'm not sure exactly what the heck I can knit with it, but it is pretty unique.

Orange Camo plied on the Rose. Just because.

The best part about the whole thing was that I got back to the (meager) level of spinning expertise that I acquired the last time I was spinning regularly. This is pretty nice, because I've done some "playing around" spinning in the interim that was piss poor, and I wasn't so sure that I would ever get back that feeling of simultaneous relaxation and focus that practiced spinning can provide. Even better, I feel like I am beginning to learn a little more. Some of the lessons that the fiber has to teach are sinking in and I'm beginning to employ some real techniques rather than just hacking my way through. Very exciting. Merry Christmas to me. And Merry Christmas to you, too. I'll see you on the flip side.

Hmmm...What could that be?

Mommy's hat with added ventilation.It tastes like wool. Rather yummy, forbidden wool. It smells like mommy. Do you think it's mommy's hat?

Well, it used to be mommy's hat. Now, not so much. I have quickly learned that Ash loves my knitting. If I so much as leave for even a moment to go to the bathroom without securing it in a place too high for him to "counter surf," I can depend on finding it in his mouth. I am not so sure that he would ventilate it on his own, but with Zosia the destroyer at his side, he can do quite a bit of damage for the purpose of encouraging play.

Surprisingly, I am not that upset. I made this hat in 2003, and it was kind of a silly knit, complete with two pompoms on the top at the end of long I-cord strings. It was definitely fun while it lasted, and I got good use out of it in DC, but in LA it very rarely sees the outdoors. It just isn't practical for this climate, so it ends up neglected in the winter clothing chest, with all the down jackets and snow boots that we used to wear. It's not really my style anymore, either. What I did realize is that it would look great as a thick headband. I love the twisted stitch cables, and with just the slightest bit of re-working (including tightening up that flaring ribbing at the bottom), it will make a beautiful accessory that will get tons of use. In a round about way, Ash actually did me, and the neglected hat, a favor. Most importantly, he gave me a very concise heads up concerning his knitwear-eating activity by chewing on a hat and one swatch that I had made, rather than the absolutely delicious cashmere sweater that I am working on. And I am eternally grateful for that.

Was that the hat of the mommy who loves us, feeds us, hikes with us?
Why yes, I believe it was.

Plus, I kind of feel honored. I know that this will be knitting blasphemy to those among you who are not animal lovers, but I know that Ash chose to play with my knitting precisely because it was mine. He loves me, and he wants to play with my toys, just like he plays with Zosia's. She doesn't care when he tears her plush toys to shreds. She likes it. I think it's Asher's way of saying that he cares, and that he is so, so happy to be here, rather than in a cold cage at the rescue. I just hope that his intestines get through this intact. I'm not sure how digestible wool is, but I fear someone (maybe two someones?) may be pooping pompoms in the near future.

We are so happy, so pretty. How could anyone be mad at us?

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.

Double Trouble

Can you tell which one is Zosia?
Are you sure?

Our little girl had a big weekend. She was a single gal on Friday night, but now it's Sunday evening and she has a live-in boyfriend. M and I have discussed getting a second dog from time to time, but it didn't feel serious. On Saturday he suggested that we go look at dogs, which we do not do unless we're getting one. We went on-line and found "Bear" at the Burbank German Shepherd Rescue. He's Zosia's twin with about 15 more pounds of muscle, but unlike our sassy little girl, he is totally mellow. What a sweetie. It was love at first sight - for us and then for Zosh. We named him "Ash."

The mellowness is incredible. He fits in perfectly, and as I write this all six of us - two dogs, two cats and two humans - are lying on the floor together snoozing and quietly watching football. So nice. I hope your weekends were peaceful as well and full of good food!

Our sweet big boy "Ash" on his first outing with us.

The Shepherd Sheep Herds

It was **unbelieveably** fun.

If you have any kind of herding dog, you must try this. It is so cool to see them in their element, doing what they were born to do. All three of us are addicted.

And, yes, I realize this puts us about one step away from Best in Show. Don't Judge. I know exactly how many hours a week you spend playing with string.

Endpaper Mitts: Pattern Notes

I love my mitts!Good morning, peeps! Another set of pattern notes for you, though hopefully not quite so long as the last, because you have all knit these mitts before me! As you know, I often end up using the self-timer to take my photos, but this weekend I was lucky enough to have the services of stylist and photographer extraordinaire, Mr. Moxie. Saturday was a bright, chilly morning for LA (think about 50 degrees), so we opted to take the Z for a nice stroll through Elysian Park, which has sections that are about as "forested" as LA metro gets. Elysian also has grassy knolls, city views, and palm trees for scenery, but M was feeling the sylvan landscape, so that's what we did. Excellent choice, I think. I am just ecstatic that it is Endpaper weather here. I can stay toasty while typing in my chilly office or while romping with Z in the mornings and evenings. Quite nice.

Endpaper Mitts
Free Pattern
by Eunny Jang
Knit with less than one skein (191 yards/skein) each of Rowan's 4 Ply Soft (100% Merino Wool) in (393) "Linseed" and (397) "Teak", on size US0 and US2 Clover Bamboo DPNs.
Gauge: 8 sts per inch over pattern.
Size: smallest.

Outside & Inside.The Pattern:
Loved it. I did not find any errors, and the instructions were well-written and easy to follow. I will say that despite the fact that tons of people have knit these successfully as a first colorwork project it is still what I would term an "intermediate" project. So, if you are an intermediate knitter, especially one who has worked on dpns (can we say socks?), you should do fine, but if you are less experienced, don't be hard on yourself if you get frustrated. I had not personally done stranded colorwork in years, so I spent some time ripping back and starting over. If you put in a bit of concentration and effort in the first few hours it will pay off. Don't let the early attempts scare you. It gets substantially easier. From start to finish, with blocking, I did these in about a week and a half. Not long at all for some really lovely mitts.

The best part about this project was that I was finally forced to teach myself to knit continental style. I've always been irritated by the fact that I throw and therefore knit comparatively slowly, but every time I start to teach myself continental, I get tired of struggling and revert. In this case, there really wasn't any choice but to pick with the left. by the end I was choosing to knit the single color knit row in continental, because it was both faster and easier. Huzzah! I still have to work on purling continental style. I think I'm a natural combination knitter when I pick, so I'm deciding whether to stick with that or attempt to modify my ways before they get too set.

Endpaper Mitts in the Woods.

Techniques:
Intermediate techniques - tubular cast-on, circular knitting with dpns, stranded colorwork, sewn bind-off.

Modifications:
Very few. I used the first variant of the tubular cast-on in Vogue: The Ultimate Guide, rather than the Italian tubular cast-on, with which I am unfamiliar. The Italian version gave some people a hard time, so if you struggle with it, just use a variant of the tubular cast on that suits you. I used the sewn bind-off for one-by-one ribbing from Vogue to finish the mitts - I'm pretty sure this is the same, or close to, the tubular method/kitchener bind off suggested in the pattern. I'm sure you'll let me know if there is a big difference.

I'll just note here that when working one-by-one rib, these cast-on and cast-off methods are really nice to use. They create a professional finish and are worth the effort. I don't use one-by-one ribbing often, though I like it, but if I do, these are the techniques I employ with it. Highly recommended.

This one is more about Z than the mitts...
Finishing:
The most challenging part of this project for most people will be the final bind off. Sewn bind-offs are like kitchener stitch, and once you get the hang of them they are (almost) fun. The problem is that it usually takes a bit of binding off to get the hang of them. You may want to consider putting the live sts for the first mitt on some waste yarn and coming back to sew them off when you're done with the second as well, to avoid breaking your rhythm. It really depends on whether its more helpful to have something fresh in your mind or to have a task broken up into segments to make it more palatable.

After weaving in the ends, I blocked the mitts by soaking them in cool water with wool wash for a half hour, spinning out the excess water in the washer and laying them flat to dry outside. Although I thought my unblocked colorwork looked pretty decent, blocking made a huge difference in the smoothness of the patternwork and the hand of the yarn. Don't be lazy - block your mitts!

Impressions of Rowan's 4 Ply Soft:
This was my first time using 4 Ply Soft and I really enjoyed it. The yarn did not pill while knitting despite its softness, and I don't think it will pill easily with wear, either. It is soft. That said, the hands are a very sensitive part of the body (especially the wrists!), so even this soft merino is a little itchy when worn. I'm not overly sensitive to wool, so for me they work well, but if you are knitting for someone who is sensitive, consider a cashmere blend. It won't wear quite as well, but that's better than not being worn at all!

I would use this yarn again in a flash. I'm guessing that it would be even softer knit at a larger gauge, and would have a lovely drape for a sweater. The color palette is suitable for mixing, so it's a good choice for fair isle with few colors if you want something softer than Jameison's.

Possible substitute yarns:
For this particular project, any standard sock yarn is probably going to work, though the more resilient the yarn, the better. Colorwork doesn't have much give, so it's nice if your yarn has some give and take. I would probably go with Koigu, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock or Louet Gems Pearl if I were to use a different yarn.

[Read all entries on the Endpaper Mitts.]

Lucetta: Pattern Notes

Sometimes I knit something that turns out so well I can barely believe that I made it. Lucetta is that type of knit. It's not complicated, and it works up quickly, but you get more than a bang for your buck. It's an absolutely gorgeous sweater. I think that part of my enthusiasm probably stems from the fact that I wasn't sure what to expect from the finished project. It's from Rowan Studio, and those pieces are generally pretty fashion-forward, which means that you'll love them today, but it's a toss-up as to how you'll feel tomorrow - maybe "fantastic!" or maybe "what the hell was I thinking?" Happily it's the former. I feel fun and in the moment in it, but I also think it will stand the test of time. (By the way, I think Rowan Studio is great and I highly recommend the first four issues. Just be aware that it can be uber-current.)

Some days you just can't give good face, ya know?

Lucetta
Rowan Studio Issue 4
by Sarah Hatton
Knit with just over 4 skeins (229 yards/skein) of Rowan's Kidsilk Haze (70% Kid Mohair/30% Silk) in "Chill", on size US 7 and US8 Addi Turbo Circulars.
Gauge: 24 sts 21 rows per four inches over pattern.
Size: smallest.

The Pattern:

ERRATA:

Body Row 7 of Eyelet Patt: Last 2 Sts should be P2tog, not P2.

Row 1 of Main Pattern should be K all sts in the **first repeat** of each piece, but after that K the P2togs and ktbl on the yos.

In addition to the errata, there are a few helpful things to take note of:

When taking gauge, use the pattern as set up on the sleeves - the main body only has directions for the main pattern with decreases incorporated. It also leaves you to figure out how to increase in pattern. I started with a sleeve because I was too lazy to do a swatch, which is a good way to go. You, too, can be a lazy bum and swatch with your sleeve. It's something I do a lot of.

Detail of the lace.With those unpleasantries out of the way, let's move on to all the good things about Lucetta. It is very easy to knit, but it wasn't overly boring due to the funky eyelet action going on. Overall, the pattern is well-written and makes sense. It should be pretty easy to do even if you haven't knit much lace or worked with Kidsilk. You will want to have a certain confidence with your seaming and end-weaving abilities, because due to the nature of the yarn your seams are out there for all to see. You don't want them to be bulky and you need to make the eyelets line up. I love seaming (I know - crazy - don't hate me because I seam), so it wasn't an issue, but I can see the seams making some poor unfortunate knitters very unhappy. If your seaming skills are a bit weak, tackle the seaming portion with an experienced friend or under the protective guidance of your LYS.

I have watched Sarah Hatton's designs since Rowan 35 hit the stands, and have really enjoyed them. I always loved Kim Hargreaves, but I think it's been good for her and for Rowan to make a change. I like her designs better now, and I love seeing the new people that Rowan brings in. Sarah Hatton consistently creates really interesting pieces. I think Rowan Studio is a great venue for her talents. She's fresh and has a unique take on designing. I would happily knit something of hers again.

Sexy, sexy eyelets!

Techniques:
This is advanced beginner fare - easy but for the tricky yarn and the seaming mentioned above. It requires some shaping and the use of yarnovers.

Love the blousy, comfy sleeves.Modifications:
I use a long-tail cast-on, so one of my standard modifications is to do an extra row of ribbing on every piece. The long-tail makes one side of the work look "purl-ish" and the other more polished. I like the polished side to face the world. This is so standard for me that I don't think I've mentioned it before, but if you use the long-tail method and don't already do this, you may want to start. Just add one row to the ribbing and treat the first row as a set-up row (WS) and the second as if it were your first RS row. It's nice.

I also omitted the side-shaping on the body. After years of following (and designing) the standard method of decreasing to the waist and then increasing to the bust on the edges of the work, I've jettisoned the practice completely. It always looks like shit. If you need serious shaping, make the decreases and increases as darts about a quarter of the way in from the sides. If you need to maintain side-shaping but the shaping isn't too severe, try starting with the stitch count at the waist and only increasing up to the bust, rather than having shaping below the waist as well. This won't work for everyone, but it covers a lot of body types (steer clear if the piece is a bit clingy/closer-fitting and you have a little pooch, though). In cases where the piece has some ease, I usually just get rid of the shaping altogether. This worked well for Lucetta.

The last thing I did, which is also really standard for me was to pick up stitches fairly evenly around the neckline, ignoring the stitch count except to make sure that in the end it was a multiple of four (so that the ribbing works out properly). Usually this results in picking up more sts than the pattern calls for and I just reduce down to the correct number on the next round. In this case I was 8 sts short, and just made the collar with that number. It looks great. You need not be too attached to numbers when picking up sts. I think it's better to avoid gaps around the neckline. Just a thought.

Other than those little things, I changed nothing. The pattern is great as is.

More sleeves.
Finishing:
I seamed using a modified mattress stitch very close to the edges to minimize bulk. The eyelets were a little confusing to line up, because I had to "zig" from the edge of one to the middle of the other and then "zag" from the middle of the second eyelet to the lower edge. When you do it, it might appear at first as if things will not line up. Go a bit farther before making any judgments. If you are off, you'll know.

I blocked the body by soaking the pieces in cool water with wool wash, spinning out the excess water in the washer and pinning it flat to dry. I was lazier with the sleeves, because I really wanted to wear my sweater. I spritzed them with water while the sweater was on my body and tugged! Kidsilk dries so quickly that this works out fine! You will want to block, though - it's much prettier that way. Don't be alarmed by the way the kidsilk looks wet (rather like a wet dog!). It will come around nicely.

Impressions of Rowan's Kidsilk Haze:
When I first used this stuff it was my enemy - hard to see and easy to f*ck up - like dancing on ice. Years later we have become fast friends. I love its delicacy and loft and I appreciate its ability to add elegance to a piece. If you want to know more about it, read about the two pieces that I made with it previously: the Birch Stole that I made for my wedding (same color) and the more recent River Stole. I still love and wear both.

Possible substitute yarns:
The two best substitutes that I know of for Kidsilk Haze are K1C2's Douceur et Soie and Artfiber's Tsuki. At 515 yards/skein for $16 Tsuki is a steal, and can be ordered on line. Douceur has the same fiber content as Kidsilk, and Tsuki is close, with 10% more silk and less mohair.

[Read all entries on Lucetta.]

What is the sound of one sheep knitting?

That would be "Baaaaaah."

I have not Clapoteed. I do not Jaywalk. I will not Rogue. I have no Fuzzy Feet, and no French Market Bags. I don't Monkey around, my Yoke is Untangled, my Duster doesn't Tilt, and I do not Fetch. I finished my Birch, Chevron Scarf and Lace Leaf Pullover before you people even thought about starting. I started my River as a pioneer (though I finished it, ahem, a bit later).

Apparently, however, I do Endpaper. And I am enjoying it, goddamnit. Enough said. (Bleated?)

Some Little Things

You people are going to start to think I'm obsessed with babies - I've been knitting some big people things, but it's the baby knits that seem to make it here. Just a short post for now to show you these cute little things:

Baby Bell Bottoms, Free Pattern designed by Alison Hansel

A shot of me with the cute little thing who is big brother to the cute little thing that will someday wear these bell bottoms. Seems like yesterday I was making baby things for him. And then finally a little sneak peek of my tiny contribution to my friend Kat Coyle's awesome first! book, which will be out next month:

And no, I didn't make the baby - just the footies!

Huh. I think I just blogged. Who knew?

Manly Cashmere Baby Booties: Pattern Notes

I had originally planned to give my friend Julia something else (I know, scandalous!) with a pair of these manly booties, but my cross-stitching drive failed me and it just didn't happen. So instead, I whipped out a second pair of these manly cashmere booties, which are so well modeled by my friend Ellen's six-week old baby.

Pretty cute baby, no?

Ellen and I had a nice, quiet day together on Saturday, sitting inside with the baby while the temperatures in Phoenix soared into the hundreds, and then spent the afternoon with friends at Julia's shower (no, not third person, another Julia! No babies here yet!) Ironically, I got a lot more cross-stitching done on this trip. I thought that I would be unable to finish my little project because I just didn't have the cross-stitch bug, but now it seems to have me interested. I'm so enamored of this cross-stitch project that I don't know if I'll give it away to the next sarcastically witty friend to become a mom or keep it for myself some day.

As for pattern notes, here are the basics:

Classic Cashmere Booties
Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, by Erica Knight
Knit with about a third of a skein (123 yards/113 meters/skein) of Rowan Wool Cotton (50% Merino/50%Cotton) in Coffee Rich (brown) (956) with accents of Rich (red) (911); the second pair were made in French Navy (navy) (909) with Laurel (green)(960) accents on Clover Bamboo DPNs in size US3 (3.25mm), in a gauge of about 7 sts per inch in Stst.

This is my go-to bootie pattern. I just love it. You can easily whip out an entire bootie in a single unproductive night, and if pressed it's not hard to make an entire pair in a single sitting. The "embroidered" primitive hearts are my own little addition to the pattern. I think they add something special. Last time I made the smallest size on US4's and they came out about the right size to fit a baby at 6 months. I made these on US3's so that they would fit a little earlier - maybe 3 months. They were slightly big on Ellen's little 6-week old, so that seems about right. I think as long as they fit sometime during the right season (which is essential in Arizona - there will be no summer booties!) it's okay. I've knit these before, so for more extensive pattern notes, check out this post. I leave you with this shot of the two pairs hanging out together on the flannel baby blanket that Ellen's mother hand-stitched for her:

[Read all entries on the classic cashmere booties.]

Baby Steps

Sometimes life and knitting fly by, and other times it takes work to slog through either. I'll let you guess what kind of time I'm having. *smile*.

Chocolate-colored bootie in repose on the newly-planted nasturtiums.
As always, check the side-bar for details.

Still, these booties have been rather enjoyable. I have a second done and waiting to be seamed up, and plan to embroider each with a primitive heart (in red), like I did with this pair. If I'm feeling really energetic I may make a second pair in navy with the baby's initials in green. We'll see - the shower is this weekend, so time is a factor....

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.

I've gone over to the dark side....

I think the picture says it all. Back in March, when I visited my girlfriends in Phoenix, I found myself at a "crafternoon" gathering with nothing to work on, because the only thing I brought with me was the Harvey Vest that I was making for Ellen's baby shower. Since she was present, I couldn't very well pull it out for seaming! Instead, Ellen happily gave me a ball of variegated cotton and a crochet hook that she had abandoned and said that I was free to try it if I liked, because she was done with crochet. Unwilling to be without yarn in my hands while surrounded by women knitting and stitching, I decided to try my hand at a single crochet square. I made some mistakes (like not making a loop at the end and consequently decreasing on every row for a few rows!), but overall it was pretty cute. I use it as a coaster on my night stand.
Marnie's pretty square (top right), my wobbly first square (left), my "volcanic" attempt at crocheting a circle (bottom right)

Truth be told, I have been contemplating crochet for a long time, as two of my closest knitting pals, Marnie and Mary Heather, are excellent crocheters and have made some beautiful things. I have long been able to do simple crochet edgings for knits, but I've always said that I just crochet to get by, and have never taken the time to learn more. My little foray into crochet in Phoenix got me curious, so the next time Marnie visited in April, I recruited her to teach me how to make a granny square. By the time she left, I still couldn't read a pattern, but I could look at something she crocheted and mimic it. Then on my trip out to Portland early this month, I immersed myself completely and picked up some crochet pamphlets from Joann's and some wonderful Japanese crochet books. Since then, I've been playing around with crochet when I get the chance and have even started experimenting for a crochet design that I have in mind. It will be a while before I work on that in earnest, but it's been a fun diversion to tinker with.

For those who are curious, the last two weeks have been hellacious at work, which is why all I've managed to produce for you is a picture of me getting dressed in the morning! I have found time to work on Mishka, my Create Along design, though, and have almost finished the first piece. I'll post an update when I next find a chance. I've had no time to make the blog rounds or engage in proper correspondence, so I will just say here that I'm thinking of everyone and hoping you are well. Thanks so much for your sweet and thoughtful comments - I enjoy reading them!

What I'm Wearing Today

No time to pontificate on knitting today, so instead I bring you another "knits in action" photo.

I. Love. This. Skirt.

Boho Baby Is On Its Way

Click here for info on pre-ordering.This is the second print publication in which I have been able to play a (small) role, and I am so excited about it that I can barely contain myself. Baby Baby is authored by my good friend Kat Coyle, who wrote the majority of the patterns in the book as well. Kat designed the Daktari Skirt and berets that I made from the Knit Cafe book, as well as many other beautiful pieces, such as the LaLa Scarf (shown off to great effect by MH's handspun), and, more recently, the Show-Off Skirt (this is Elspeth's lovely version) from Lace Style, the Indigo Ripples Skirt from the Spring IK (Eunny's lovely version), and a Chuppah from Summer IK (I watched Kat knit this thing - it is huge! Huge, I tell you!).

My own projects in the book are tiny, but I love how they came out, and the book is filled with amazing pieces by Marnie, MH, and Edna. It won't actually be released until fall of this year, but if you have a child under five years old or if you knit for one, I can tell you now that you will want this book. The patterns are different and exquisite. I am so proud to have been involved.

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.

Nautical: Pattern Notes

Talk about a stealth knit! I was going through my stash and came upon some Filatura di Crosa Brilla that has been bothering me forever. Sometimes I have something in my stash that I like well enough, but that I have in such weird quantities and color combinations that it really bothers me. Brilla has been a major offender in that way for some time, and I am always trying to come up with creative ways to get rid of it. When I do work with it, I love it. I made my friend Jen a beret from some forest green Brilla for Christmas last year that I just adored. But when it is sitting there, I loathe the stuff, probably because it seems so impossible to utilize fully. I was staring at two skeins of Brilla in platinum and all of a sudden I became hell bent on using it up. I had two skeins of deep navy as well, which seemed like a very good combo, and extremely current, given the nautical turn fashion seems to have taken for the spring. My goal was to use every inch of that Brilla, and for all intents and purposes I did. The result is my favorite summer knit top yet - I love it! Thank goodness I had that Brilla hanging about.

Photos taken in Portland, by the lovely Miss Marnie.

Nautical
MindofWinter Designs
by Yours Truly
Knit with two skeins (120 yards/skein) of Filatura di Crosa Brilla (58% Rayon, 42% Cotton) in Deep Navy (306) and two skeins in Platinum (394), using the Silver Reed LK150, carriage 3, tension 3 for the main body and Susan Bates size US 2 straights for the picot casings. Ties made from Wrights Prestige Ribbon in Organdy Navy, available at JoAnn's.
Gauge: 22.5 sts and 36.5 rows per inch.
Size: 32 bust, 27 waist.

The Pattern:
This is the first Hoolia design of the calendar year to actually make the execution phase. I have done a ton of sketching and swatching and am full of ideas, yet somehow I keep getting distracted by really cute patterns or by the need to use up stash now. I really did find myself driven to remove that silver Brilla from my stash for this piece, so I suppose this falls in that category as well. I went to sleep on a Thursday thinking about my plans for Nautical, and then made the main pieces on the machine on the following Friday evening and Saturday morning. I had swatched Brilla earlier on the little knitter, so I had notes and samples of possible gauges. I didn't even bother sampling the stripes, because I decided that in order to use every ounce of the stuff I had I needed to use a fairly even distribution of the two colors and that I wanted the stripes to be fairly fine - voila! - easy enough.

The part that took the longest was the picot casings, which I did by hand. I could have done them on the machine, but I wanted to leave them until I was finished with the main body just in case, so both edges were done afterward and then hand-seamed, which took some man hours.

Detail of the top with organza ties.The coup de grace is the ribbon. Marnie and I made an impromptu stop at the local JoAnn's in Portland, and I got an entire roll of deep navy organza for $2.99. (Since I scored the Brilla on Elann several years ago for about $4 a skein, the entire project cost me all of $20. Pretty nice, eh?) I am not sure how well the photos convey this, but the ribbon makes the top really different and special. It is sleek as a tube top and I will likely wear it without ribbons when I want a rather sexy evening look out of it with some flowing silk pants, but the ribbons really add a little Je ne sais quoi that gives the top a completely unique nautical flavor.

Tooting My Own Horn:
Although this was a relatively simple pattern to draft up and knit, it incorporates two of my favorite features. The first is the use of the ribbons, which is one of my big things in my wardrobe lately - just an easy way to be a little more fun and feminine in approach.

I wove the ribbons through the piece in such a way that they could be removed easily for washing and for the times when I just want an unadorned tube top. I prefer to have a single bow on the left, but the configuration could be easily changed to incorporate two bows, bows at the top, no bows, or to place the bows on the back, which could be really cute. I adore them.

The second is versatility - also a real favorite for me at the moment. I can wear Nautical with about half of my wardrobe. It looks great as a tube top with a simple silver necklace and some flowing black pants for an evening out, but it would also be cute with the organza ties, a denim mini and some navy espadrille wedges for a picnic. Marnie put together the smart ensemble with the khaki jacket (from her wardrobe) over jeans that I'm wearing in some of the photos, and I'm now pretty certain that I can pair Nautical with a suit (khaki, navy, maybe even white) and wear it in a work setting. As someone who prefers to have fewer pieces of clothing that go together in unique ways, the versatility of this little top is a big bonus for me.

Nautical paired with the white linen skirt I wore with Honeymoon, and some cute khaki capris with buttoned hems.

Techniques:
This would be beginner-easy but for the picot edgings which are sewn down. It incorporates stripes, minimal shaping, and easy yarnover picots.

With a jacket, for the professional look.Modifications:
If I knit this again I would make it just a skoosh longer. I only had four skeins of yarn to work with, so I was being uber-cautious with the yardage in the body. I have a little bit of each yarn left, so I may go crazy and add a half inch or so to the bottom edge, but I doubt it. The effort required to take out those picots doesn't seem worth it when I can simply throw on a jacket or add a sash to make Nautical less tarty in feel.

Finishing:
Once again, the most difficult aspect of making this piece is sewing down the picot casings. Even this isn't rocket science if you understand what you're trying to do. I intended to do a tutorial on this for everyone, but I never ended up seaming at a time when it was convenient to snap photos. I make these kinds of picot casings rather regularly, though, so I'm sure I'll have my chance soon.

Brilla blocks really nicely, but as I write this I realize I didn't even bother to block Nautical. It came off the little knitter in good shape and my picots were even, so it really wasn't necessary. I just seamed and went. I do think it will get even softer and have more drape after a wash, though. It's pretty soft and silky right off the needles.

An open jacket shows off the ties.Impressions of Filatura di Crosa Brilla:
I have a lot of Brilla in my stash in varying colors, so I do get tired of looking at it, but whenever I knit it, I love it. It hand knits nicely, and machine knits fairly well, though it is prone to snags and is slippery. The thing to know about Brilla is that it isn't going to stay in place if you have live stitches hanging around. It is hard to frog and get back on the needles, and if one of your stitches gets loose it will make a run of it. Just be aware and tink accordingly. From what I know of it, Brilla wears very well, has a pretty, shiny look, and feels gentle and silky. It's a very good choice for summer knitting, and for knits that you want to give a dressed up look to. I won't be buying more any time soon, as I still have quite a bit to use up, but I will enjoy using it.

Possible substitute yarns:
Anything shiny and silky with a cotton or silk content should do. GGH Mystik, which I used for my Honeymoon Cami, springs to mind, though beginners will find it a bit splitty.

[Read all entries on Nautical.]

Friendship

When I first began blogging, I was very cautious about meeting other bloggers and commenters in person. It took me about eight months to meet with anyone, and almost two years to become completely comfortable with the concept of making in-the-flesh knitting friends from on-line.

Nonnahs, MJ, LoriZ, MH and Yours Truly. Photo taken by LoriZ's extremely photographically gifted husband, Cam.

Oddly enough, the first person I met up with was a commenter. Mary wrote to me when I had just moved to DC. She volunteered to help out with my job search, and I was so touched that a total stranger was interested enough in me through the blog to lend a hand in that way, that I just had to get to know her. DC didn't end up being the right place for me at the time, but I still have fond memories of sock yarn shopping with Mary, our lunches in Chinatown, and her kind and generous efforts to help. I also met up with Froggy several times during that period. The two of us spent hours upon end on those rainy DC days pouring over knitting patterns and yarn in Teaism. Sadly, I have lost touch with both of these wonderful women. They seem to have departed the knit-blogging world or at least relegated themselves to lurkdom. Girls, if you are out there and see this, know that I dearly miss you both.

HP and MJ during the vows.I was still very shy in DC, and regret that there was at least one special person that I did not get to meet up with. I am sure there are even more. But I have made up for that loss of blog-buddy-time since I moved back to LA.

When I came back here almost all of my friends had moved (this is a city of transients if ever there was one), and with M still back in DC for six months my only option was to make friends in any way that I could. I had already cultivated a long-term e-mail friendship with Marnie and met up with her once when we vacationed here, so she was an obvious choice for a *real* friend. (MH has always been a *real* friend, and I met Kat for *real* before I read her blog as well.) From there it just grew.

MJ looking lovely.I began to notice more and more LA knit bloggers who shared my interest and passion for fiber and for other topics as well - environmentalism, cooking, fitness, travel. So I started collecting a larger circle of friends - first by e-mail, then at events, and finally friends "for real." It was a process, often taking at least a year of "auditioning" on the part of each person to determine whether we were a good fit. But with this small band of women I have begun to build up a network of what I believe will be lifetime friends, and we, like so many others in the blogosphere, have been truly acting on that feeling of friendship lately. I feel so lucky to have been a part of so many special events in these women's lives.

I was just a little giddy.A month ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to assist with MJ's wedding. A generous friend of mine performed the ceremony, and M and I served as both witnesses and photographers. It is a very special thing to be involved in a small ceremony like that, and I see MJ and I as forever bonded by it, even if our paths rarely physically cross in the years to come. (I'm sure Frank sees he and MJ as forever bonded by it, but never mind that!) It was a beautiful and perfect day - the kind that brings friendship full circle.

Now that I have made so many blogging friends, and found them all to be as great in person as they are virtually, I've become much more laid back about meet-ups. I trust my instincts, and if I have read someone for a bit and feel comfortable, then we must meet!

Owen on his fourth day in the world.I started seriously corresponding with my most recent blogging friend, Mames, while she was on bed rest during her pregnancy with twins. (Twins!) The hospital where she delivered was just blocks away from where I office on my remote days, so when she suggested we meet there, I didn't think twice. I would love to meet the babies. I met Mames for the first time in the maternity ward, and met Mason and Owen at the same time. It was pretty wonderful. They were so tiny and perfect. (Happy first Mother's Day, Mames!)

Friendships on line really can be lasting and meaningful (I'm writing this from Marnie and Leo's in Portland), so if you are in doubt take a chance, and if you are in town, let me know!

xox, J

P.S. Thanks to all who commented on the fire. I was particularly comforted by those who have seen many fires and assured me that the vegetation will return, along with the coyotes and geckos.

Fire on My Mountain

The hills and observatory from our trail.It is hard to express the depth of sadness I feel at the loss of 600 acres of vegetation in Griffith Park to fire. I discovered Griffith in 1995, while visiting my best friend from college who had moved to LA to work at UCLA. I fell in love with it immediately, and when M and I moved here almost a decade later, one of my goals was to live close enough to the park that we could use it every weekend. We have. Griffith has been a sanctuary for M and I since we first moved here. In fact, I have strong memories of us walking through the park together when M lived here alone and I was still in Phoenix and would come out to visit him on weekends.

Hiking our trail; view of the city.The beauty of the park is the kind that is of such a sweepingly grand scale that it is hard to capture. I don't have a wide-angle lens on my film camera, and none of the digital snapshots I have taken have done it justice. I have some photos of Griffith in a post from way back when I started blogging (scroll down and click the text), and MH took a few pictures when we hiked there, but otherwise there are just a few photos that I can find in my recent archives. Most serve as a backdrop to Zosia, who was also raised in the park.

Zosia big and small.

The view from our deck the other night was both startling and sickening. I can't fathom how I will feel when I see the damage close up. The trail that we hike every weekend appears to have been obliterated by flames. The trees, so precious and few, are gone. I wonder about the coyote who once followed me curiously when I was hiking alone at dusk, and about all the little geckos who flitted around on the sandy canyon walls.

The night of the fire; the view from the living room as we watched the news - see the red flames filling the window above the TV; the day after.

Knitting my bliss

Almost there . . .I think I mentioned earlier that I generally have a plan for the order in which I will make things, and that once something makes it into my queue, it generally gets knit, or if not, it gets ripped and revised. I do a lot of intellectual dreaming when deciding on a project, but once committed to the needles, I am pretty good at sticking to the plan. Lately, that has not been the case. I finally bought Mason Dixon Knitting, and decided I needed a quick washcloth. Then before I could cast on for the washcloth, I found myself knitting a nightie. Thursday night I went to sleep thinking of some silver and navy Filatura di Crosa Brilla that I had in my stash, and by Friday afternoon I was halfway finished with a simple Nautical top that I quickly designed.

Again and again over the last month I have found myself suddenly enchanted with one thing (a little less so with the washcloth - it's no nightie), and just immersing myself in it until it is done. I think in part this is because I try to restrict myself to having three things on the needles, and right now I am bored to death with the other two things I have hanging about.

The picots, a zoom out, and a reverse shot.

Rockin' my 1992 overalls. Good times.I am working on a black cotton stockinette hoodie for M -- the Man Hood -- which I designed and knit the pieces for on the Lil' Knitter over a weekend about two months ago. I've done much of the seaming, but the miles and miles of black cotton are just boring me to death. The Man Hood is such a slog, that I joined the slog blog and found that I still don't have the drive to work on it or write about it. Imagine if I had hand knit the pieces! I'm also working on the Lacey Tuxedo Top from the most recent Rebecca Magazine. The Lacey Tuxedo Top promises to be good once I get it on my needles (I did the bottom portion on the machine - all stockinette, size 2 needles - ugh), but since I haven't bothered to do that yet, it hasn't bothered to become interesting. Go figure.

I should probably take the rest of this week to get the Rebecca top and the Man Hood back on track -- and maybe I will -- but escaping from those two projects seems to have given me a huge burst of creativity. Although it is simple, Nautical is the first design of my own that I have actually executed this year. (I'm not quite finished - it still needs one more picot hem, seaming and some straps, but I'm almost there.) It feels very good to get something from my head into fabric and have it look the way that I want it to. If having two snores on the needles will get me a nightie and an adorable stripey top, perhaps it's alright to allow those two UFO's to marinate for just a bit longer. For right now, I'm knitting my bliss . . . .

Warshrag in Action: Pattern Notes?

I am so channeling my mother in this photo!
I am even washing her 1970's mushroom bowl.
I love the mushroom bowl!I know you guys must be sick of me prancing around the internets in my nightgown, but I can't help it - it's cute! And I just have to share how versatile it is. You really can wear it all classed up with jeans and a sash, or sleep in it and just pull on some shearling booties to do the morning dishes. (So California, so not fabulous. The Manolo, he would cringe.) It is that great.

As you may remember, the whole nightie thing began with an innocent little warshrag. I am not one to follow the trends in the knitting blogosphere, unless I can follow way behind. (In 2010, I will be making STR Jaywalkers.) I just can't do it when everyone else is doing it, because then I'm not sure if it was my idea. But afterwards? Sure! I'll always follow a trend after it's ridden itself out.

Takes a lickin', keeps on tickin.'So I'm knitting warshrags. Just two - enough to happily use up my Lily cotton and jettison the funky sponge that has been living at the edge of my sink.

Ball Band Warshrags
The Folks at Peaches 'n Cream
Mason Dixon Knitting
Lily Sugar 'n Cream Cotton, Colors 1712 (Chartreuse) & 1742 (Turquoise)

As free as I can normally be with the verbage, I can't bring myself to do real pattern notes on a warshrag, so instead I'll just say that I used cheapo Lily cotton from Michael's, and knit it on size 6 needles.

Click for exciting close-up.It was fun and I have a good enough attention span that I can probably finish the second one. I could not bring myself to knit thirty. That takes the kind of focus that can only be cultivated on the East Coast. As Garrison Keillor would say, such fortitude and industriousness can only be the product of harsh weather. I bet Minnesotans know from warshrags.

I am happy report that two skeins of Lily cotton create two coordinating warshrags, plus a smidge of another, which is all I need. They stand up to my dirty dishes, still look good, and seem to dry rather quickly as well. They are most excellent warshrags.

Lookie Kay!

I can wear my nightie with jeans!

After I wrote Kay to let her know that I had finished the after dark nightie she commented that as soon as she saw it over jeans her work would be done. I was loathe to disappoint, but given the snugness of the nightie, I felt it was best to warn Kay that this wasn't a happening proposition. There just didn't seem to be any good way to get both myself and a pair of Levi's under this thing at the same time. Then this morning, while I was working from the home office and wearing the nightie, I caught a little chill that even my shearling booties couldn't shake off. So I figured there was no harm in at least trying to get the nightie over a pair of jeans. If it was ugly, only I would know, and then there were Kay's feelings to consider - I should at least make an attempt. And then a miracle happened - it fit! A few minutes later, with the aid of a strapless bra and a tight-as-hell yoga top for added coverage, I was ready to roll. Then I remembered something the ladies at Marie Claire told me earlier this spring - never go out in your tunic without a belt (or sash). I think they may be right!

I loved this as a nightie, but as a nightie and a tunic I like it even better. I can see all sorts of uses for it - nights out with the girls, romantic evenings with Moxie, maybe I could even wear it as a cover-up at the beach. We're going to be inseparable, this nightie and I.

Hiding in Plain Sight

All my handspun skeinlettes,
with my spindles stored in between.I've been enjoying a new podcast lately -- Stash and Burn -- which my friend LoriZ recommended in one of her great Sunday surf posts.* I've made my way through all of their episodes in the last week, so I hope Nicole and Jenny will keep podcasting regularly so that I can get my fix.

One of the many interesting topics covered in the podcast is how to acclimate your spouse, significant other, flavor of the month, etc. to the vast amounts of yarn that will invade their lives as long as they remain with you. (I suppose a corollary of that is how to keep them around despite these vast amounts of yarn.) One of my favorite suggestions was to hide everything in plain sight, in order to de-sensitize your significant other to yarn by exposure. This is one I have lived by for quite a while. A few years ago, when my stash reached rather unruly proportions with the advent of internet yarn sales, I purchased a Magiker cabinet from Ikea to store all my yarn in. It's been a great solution. The yarn is protected from dust by the cabinet, but with the glass doors I can see much of what I have. My particular unit is half the size of the one in the link - it is tall, thin and deep, so it scoots easily into every living space we have had and yet accommodates a lot of yarn.

My fabric stash,
housed in the closet.Unfortunately, not all of my yarn fits in the Magiker unit, so occasionally, after such major events as that damn Black Sheep Knittery 50% off sale that would not end, I have to do some re-shuffling and organization. My personal stash goals, such that I have any, include eventually having only as much stash as will fit in that cabinet. It's a pretty big space, so that's not exactly an overly ambitious goal - or at least it shouldn't be!

Anyhoo, this week I am completely going through the girls' room (our extra bedroom, so named because it is predominantly used by me, my crafts, and all my girlfriends who craft). My clothes closet is in there, and I have gone through that completely, and am now in the midst of going through the yarn, fiber, fabric, buttons, beads, and ribbon. Oh yeah, and books. Lots of books.

Ribbon and ball bands,
which I'm saving for a special project.I'm photographing my entire stash so that I have a visual catalog (to accompany the all-important excel spreadsheet), but I am also finding better and more visible storage for my "little stashes" - the fiber, fabric, buttons and ribbons. These categories of stash are much smaller than the yarn stash, but they haven't been nearly as ingeniously stored in the past. I think it's important to be able to see what I have so that I can use it. For example, I don't have a lot of ribbon, but I do have several pretty, quality yards. These have come in handy as ties for knitwear on several occasions. I used grossgrain ribbon for the straps on Asana, the same ribbon, years later, worked for Thelma's straps, and then most recently, the After Dark Nightie got ties made of a lovely fine velvet ribbon. Having these items on hand in plain sight makes it that much more likely that I will turn to them when I need a little closure. Ouch. That was such a bad pun I'm guessing some may even have missed it.

Just something to think about. How do you store your stash?

Kitty collection,
napping in plain sight.*As an aside, I love reading "link" posts and I have three friends who do these rather well: Andrea, the grand mistress of links, LoriZ, and MJ. Definitely check them out. You can find some really great resources. For myself, the link posts haven't happened (not sure why), but I do keep a running tab of links I like on my BIG LIST, which you can find below the names of my closest pals in the sidebar under "links". If you haven't already, you may want to check it out. There are some great links - especially in the techniques and resources section.

After Dark Nightie: Pattern Notes

I'm knitting a warshrag. No, really.As I walked out on the porch to do this little photo shoot for you, Moxie glanced at me and asked: "Are you taking pictures of yourself again? The neighbors are going to start wondering." And then, because I was clearly not uncomfortable enough, he added: "Your internet friends get more of a show than I do." It's true. You guys get the After Dark Nightie and Moxie gets sweats. He'll get to enjoy the nightie eventually, but while it's still just off the needles, you get the good stuff!

This was not an easy shoot. I had to strategically place that warshcloth (and my arms!) and be sure to sit down to keep things from getting tarty. I'm not even going to tell you how many full frontal shots I had to take to get one that qualified as "nice". My hat goes off to the model in the MDK book - she was able to pull off hot, classic and wholesome, all the while not revealing a single bit of what the French so delicately refer to as orange peel. Let's just say that it is no accident that most of these are arty "detail" shots rather than the whole shebang! This nightie is wonderful and I love it, but it leaves nothing to the imagination. (By the time it makes it to Mr. Moxie all will be forgiven for this very reason . . . )

After Dark Nightie
Mason Dixon Knitting
Designed by Alison Will Green
Knit with three skeins (270 yards/skein) of Louet Sales Euroflax Originals Sportweight (100% Linen) in Violet (2454), using size US 3 Boye Straights (garter edge, bust lace), US 4 Addi Turbo circulars (vine lace, short row stockinette), and the Silver Reed 150 carriage 4.5, tension 5 (plain stockinette).
Stockinette Gauge: 5 sts per inch. Gauge for the pattern is 20 sts and 32 rows per 4 inches, but my machine-knit stockinette was at a different row gauge, which I adjusted for.
Size: 32 bust, but I modified the length to be 27" (without straps) rather than 23.5". See below.

Detail of the top and velvet ties.The Pattern:
Watch for Alison Will Green. She designed this nightie and the coordinating robe for Mason Dixon Knitting, and she also has a design in the upcoming issue of IK. Alison's designs have a very clean, classic appeal, with nice lines, and run on the Kim Hargreaves-ish side of the spectrum of things that I like. The pattern was well-written and easy to follow. It's also a very quick knit. Using the machine for the stockinette portions, I finished it in a week of very light knitting. If you have more time, you can probably do the whole thing in a week or so by hand. The end product is, in a word, stunning! I've had a great year for knits so far, and this is no exception. It is an heirloom that I will hand down to my daughter (the one I don't yet have) when she is ready to be married and tarty (yet classic).

Shot of the upper lace band.The only possible errata that I spotted was in the lace band at the top of the nightie. There is no schematic, but the listed bust measurement for a size 32 is 32". (D'oh!) The lace sits on the top half of the breast, about a half inch above the nipple-line, so presumably it would need to be 32" in circumference, or 16" in width on each piece. There is no change in stitch count between the stockinette and the lace, so for the measurements to remain consistent, the lace would have to have the same gauge as the stockinette. This simply does not happen in nature to my knowledge. Lace will always have a larger gauge than stockinette, and you have to adjust accordingly. The lace repeat is only 4 sts, so it is very easy to adjust the lace. Simply swatch the lace to get your stitch gauge (it will be bigger than your stockinette gauge), multiply the stitches per inch by the width your piece should be to get the total number of stitches you'll want, subtract that number from the number of stitches on your needles, round to the next increment of 4, and evenly decrease that number of stitches across the purl row before the lace begins. It's easier than it sounds - I promise! I am not sure if the decrease row got omitted from the original pattern (errata), or if Alison's lace gauge was close enough to her stockinette gauge that the difference was negligible, and she simply did not need to decrease (not errata, just variations in personal knitting). Either way, the way to ensure your nightie works is to swatch the lace.

Strapless from the other day.
Sometimes the "candid" shots work best.Ina wrote me a comment about the side-shaping that goes on in this piece, and suggested that it would be better accomplished through darts. While I don't believe this is errata-worthy, I think she is right. The pieces of the nightie decrease in at the waist and then increase back out to accommodate the bust. All increases and decreases take place at the edges of the work. This is the standard method to use for this kind of shaping. I used it when I designed Honeymoon and Clementine. Kim Hargreaves used it for Bond, and many, many other pieces. It works well enough if you have proportions that are exactly standard, but if you are long-waisted, short-waisted, or like me, just a little off in one direction, this kind of shaping can stick out in a funny, less than attractive way. It is only through two decades of knitting that I have finally decided I am done with this sort of shaping. For me, it is going the way of the stepped shoulder - from here on out I'm doing darts to customize the fit of my garments.

For those making the nightie, I would suggest two things for the waist-shaping: First, move the decreases and increases closer to the center of the knitting. I think the best placement should be in line with where you intend to place the straps. For me, this was about 4 inches in, but this will vary widely, especially in those who have more womanly curvage going on than I do. Find a similar dress or top in your closet, measure where the straps are set, and go from there. Second, knit each piece to the point of the top lace, pin the pieces together and check the fit before finishing the top lace portions. This way you'll know if you need to make adjustments before the top lace panels are finished.

Neither of these adjustments require brain surgery smarts, so I would rate this pattern as intermediate and encourage everyone to give it a try if it appeals. The nightie is short and sheer, but we all have a little orange peel, and our husbands, significant others, lovers du jour, etc. are aware of that. The menfolk really just like to enjoy us as nearly nekkid as possible. Take the plunge and enjoy making the lace.

Another of the velvet ties.
Just because.Techniques:
Beginner lace. Beginner in this case does not translate to "easy." If you've never done lace, you will need to be patient, and even if you have you'll probably rip back a few times - I did! The vine lace is the harder of the two laces, as it is a little counter-intuitive. If you think that you are off, you probably are. Get a feel for what each stitch will look like after it is completed, watch the lace as you go and count, count, count! on the reverse side.

Modifications:
I knit this in the original yarn and the original color and I retained the side-shaping (this time!). The biggest modification that I made was in the top lace panel. The first time I knit it on US4's - the same size needle I used for the stockinette. I ended up with a gauge of 4 sts per inch as opposed to 5 sts per inch! (My open-lace gauge varies much more than most.) The piece I was working on was consequently 4 inches bigger than it was supposed to be, giving a total circumference of 40" rather than 32". Clearly a problem.

The gorgeous vine lace at the hem. Yummy!Last year I discovered that although one would think that one knitter's lace gauge would vary from their stockinette in the same proportion that another knitter's would, this is not the case. This is something that it appears not many designers realize, so it isn't unusual for gauge to be given in stockinette alone, when you actually need to know stockinette gauge and lace gauge. Hence, the sad demise of the Prairie Tunic. It seems that if the lace involves fewer yarnovers per knit stitch (such as the vine lace), my gauge will stay proportional. But if there are a lot of yarnovers proportionally (the top lace, the Prairie Tunic lace), my gauge will generally grow quite a bit proportionally, such that I need to swatch the lace to make sure all the measurements come out right. Some people will have the same gauge as the designer, so this won't be an issue, but the only way to be sure is to swatch.

There are two ways to fix this issue. One, mentioned above, is to decrease the number of stitches. Another is to go down in needle size. Here, I opted to do both. I could have simply decreased 16 sts to make gauge on US 4's, but I felt that my lace was too open on that size needle, so instead I decreased only 12 sts and went down to US 3's on the lace. Voila!

Vine lace lounging with MDK.Another modification that I made was to the straps. Initially, I intended to use a lucet to make straps out of the Euroflax. I had coveted Becky's lucet for a very, very, very long time (can't find the post, but I think its 2004), so when I found one at the Fiber Factory in Mesa while out in Phoenix last month, I jumped on it. Unfortunately, although making cord with a lucet appears easy enough, I am far from accomplished in the skill (more on that in another post). I decided to keep practicing and instead use some thin velvet ribbon that I bought for Christmas ornaments in DC a few years back. It gives a great tone on tone look - it's perfect!

My final mod was the length - I added 3.5 inches to the lower portion, which was perfect for me. If you have rockin' thighs, knit it at the original length - just don't go out on the front porch in it. Hubby will love it, but you won't be able to bend over to scoop up the Sunday paper!

Finishing:
Easy peasy. I dunked each piece in a nice warm Eucalan bath, spun out the excess water, blocked to dry and sewed two long seams. My tip for seams like this with lace at one or both ends is to seam the stockinette portion first, leaving a long tail to finish up seaming the lace afterward. Stockinette lines up really easily, so you'll stay on target for a long expanse and then pick your way carefully through the lace when you get to it. I did the same thing for the Daktari Skirt.

Impressions of Louet Sales Euroflax Originals Sportweight:
This was my first time using Euroflax or any other linen. (!!!) I am a convert. I completely understand why the girls at MDK love this stuff and use it almost as much as they use Tahki Cotton Classic (another old-time favorite of mine).

And now we return to our previously scheduled warshrag . . .Euroflax will not be for everyone. It has a rough hand while you are knitting, and no resilience, so if you are sensitive working with it will be hard on your wrists. I am more sensitive to changes in needle size than fiber, so it was just fine for me, but I also only handknit the lace panels and the short-row portion, so my exposure was not what most people's will be. I also had a lot of work to do the week I knit the nightie, so my knitting sessions were short and well-dispersed. If you are sensitive beware, and give yourself breaks.

The resulting fabric is wonderful. It's soft enough to wear next to the skin (though again, I am not very sensitive - try a swatch first), and the stitch definition is insane. Euroflax holds its shape beautifully and has an excellent crispness to it.

Price points on the linen are great, too. I initially bought some of this for Marnie and thought it was expensive at $15/skein. What I didn't realize was that Euroflax has incredible yardage - 270 yards per skein! So compared to your average-sized skein, that works out to about $6 per skein, which is pretty darn good. On sale at Black Sheep for 50% off, it was even better. It took about 2.5 skeins to make the nightie in the smallest size, and I'm pretty sure I could make a tunic version (to wear over jeans, Kay!) in just over 2 skeins.

Possible substitute yarns:
Although I am sure there are other linens out there, I am not aware of them. I would imagine that Hemp for Knitting might be a nice substitute, but not having worked with it, I can't be entirely certain. If anyone reads this far and has other suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

[Read all entries on the After Dark Nightie.]

Postcard from Yosemite

Thanks for all the sweet compliments on the After Dark Nightie. It's amazing what clever photography and a wonderful knit can do for your self-esteem. Va voom! To briefly answer some questions (more later in pattern notes): First, the linen is plenty soft to wear, and blocks and drapes beautifully - I plan to sleep in it. Second, straps are definitely necessary if I don't want it at my knees! And third, this would make a great knit for many figures, so don't sell yourselves short - you just need to know your body and how to work to accent your better parts - I do not have the gift of the gams, so I lengthened the nightie by several inches. You can easily make other adjustments to highlight your best features and swath the rest in a lovely linen. But before we get too far into nightie land, here's a little photo postcard of our trip to Yosemite last weekend:

Most photos are clickable, but some of Moxie aren't.

It occurred to me that Yosemite would be a great backdrop for a photo shoot, and I considered taking Bond with me since I owe you pattern notes. But Yosemite is still quite cold this time of year, and it's kind of a waste to take a sweater like Bond, which I get daily use out of in warmer weather, when I could instead pack Kilronin and the Lace Leaf Pullover, which were made for cold and snow. In addition to wearing Kilronin on the hike, I also made use of the opportunity to don my Reversible Cable Scarf, which had previously only been out on unseasonably cold nights here and, of course, on our trip to see the fam in Boston last Christmas. Truly not enough play for such a great scarf. The Lace Leaf Pullover never made it out of my duffel because it poured on Sunday, so we headed back early, but it gets more regular use than poor Kilronin does here, anyway. Kilronin was so warm that for the portions of the hike when we were in the sun it had to come off. It's a heck of a sweater, and easily saw me through my days in Chicago and Iowa with nothing more than a down vest over it.

Our trip was great, and had we not taken our furry friends with us, it might have been perfect. We didn't want to leave Zosh behind for a full weekend, however, and since dogs aren't allowed in many parts of Yosemite, we brought the kitties along to keep her company in our cabin for the times we hiked without her. Poor little Tuna was car sick the whole way, and poor big Moxie suffered for it. She was curled up in his lap when illness struck. Multiple times. It wasn't pretty. It was a little funny, though. (I know. I'm a bad, bad wife.)

Other than that there were hikes, movies in front of the fireplace, good meals and s'mores, so it was a lovely time, if fleeting....

And its not even dark yet...

Ooooo La La! This is the candid shot I took at ye olde crack of dawn this morning. The After Dark Nightie still needs straps, but otherwise she's ready to go - too cool!

MDK's ADK is so hot it can transform the glasses and "morning" face - impressive!

The weekend was great, though not as relaxing as the Moxie and the Hoolia needed it to be. Photo montage soon. Once again, work has got me chasing my tail like a silly pup!

MDK's ADN: Lil' Knitter Rides Again

After Dark Nightie on the hooks.At some point I really want to do a post on the benefits of the knitting machine, and why these handy little guys might appeal to some of you. (It's definitely an "extra," but avid knitters and designers could find it useful.) For now, here's a little intro and a summary of the things I use Marnie's for. If anyone has a similar model and gets more or unique use out of it, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

This particular model - Silver Reed's LK 150 - does both more and less than you might expect it to, and I have to be completely honest and tell you that I know absolutely nothing about any other model (in fact, on one occasion MH brought over a computerized model and I had no idea what to do with it! We'll figure it out some other time!) This machine is a fairly reasonably priced model ($350-$400 ballpark, but shop around, it can be gotten cheaper) that is very manual. It looks like a piano keyboard. You thread the yarn through it like a sewing machine, and then slide a cartridge along the hooks to create the loops. Each row requires that you manually push the cartridge across the hooks, and every manuever other than knitting is done manually. You move different stitches around with the aid of "eye" tools to create decreases, increases and cable crosses before you knit the row, then zip the cartridge across to seal the deal. The wrong side is always facing you, which can make it a bit confusing. Its pretty easy to do, but its also amazingly easy to f*ck up, so you can end up spending a lot of time ripping as well as knitting.

So many good things in this photo.
Do you see them all?I've been able to short cut a lot of the learning process since Marnie taught me (it's her machine). As a consequence I don't bother to muck around with casting on, casting off or short-rowing on this machine - it just doesn't do them in the way that I prefer, so all my cast on and cast-off edges are provisional and done by hand. Similarly, if there is a short-row section, I do that by hand as well (I can't remember if Marnie found a nice way to do that on the machine or not). This particular model will not do ribbed portions, but it will make slip-stitch patterns (again, you move the stitches individually) and it has - get this - a fair isle cartridge! Fair isle on this puppy is no picnic, as you move the stitches manually and have to manipulate all designs from the wrong side, but the results are pretty cool. It is still a bit faster than fair isle by hand, and I can definitely see swatching for color combos in fair isle or slip stitch on the machine, as you could determine which ones you liked relatively rapidly and then go on to hand knit your chosen colorway.

My special, patient helper.I'm not sure I'd often use the fair isle cartridge to make an entire fair isle sweater, because that is something I prefer to do by hand, but I have used Lil' Knitter quite a bit to bang out long stockinette pieces on small needles. For me, that is its best use. If you have fairly even tension, it is not noticeable when you change from hand knitting to machine, surprisingly enough. On my mother-in-law's sweater that I re-created from a favorite of hers last year, I did from the bustline up by hand (It was full of short-rows) and the transition was seamless. I don't think it was my own knitting expertise that made it so - I'm pretty sure that if you've been knitting at an even tension for a little while it won't be noticeable when you transfer from machine to hand.

Another look at the vine lace.Ann and Kay's After Dark Nightie (designed by Alison Green Will) is the perfect example of my favorite way to use machine knitting to get the knit I want fast. I love, love, love working with Euroflax Linen, and if I didn't have about a zillion things going around here and very little time, I would knit every stitch of this by hand. Since that is not the case, however, I'm speeding up the process by using Lil Knitter to zoom through the stockinette portions. In this case, I knit the 5 inches of vine lace (seen at the bottom) by hand over the weekend, and then got up at an insane hour in the morning a few days during the week to place the live stitches on the machine and bang out the stockinette portion.

Sheer and sexy....Once done, I put all of the live stitches on a smaller straight needle, and dunked the entire thing in some Eucalan to rest and re-shape. Machine knitting tends to leave stitches stretched out for a while after the piece is taken off. It usually requires a decent rest and a significant swish and block to get things to look as they will. In this case, the linen has uber-memory for stretch, so I'm guessing it will take even longer.

Anyhoo, I blocked the bottom portion and laid it out to dry yesterday morning. Today I'm going to finish the second bottom lace panel and the second round of stockinette for the front. That way, I will be able to finish the nightie in the car on our way out of town Friday morning. Moxie and I are taking a little trip to celebrate our anniversary, which was last month. . . more on that soon.

Sam's Day

Hollyhocks, kumquats, and red dragon peppers.My little brother Sam, who passed away five years ago, would have been thirty-three today. Twice a year, once on his birthday, and again on the anniversary of his death, I recognize his "days" by doing something commemorative. Sometimes I do more, sometimes less, but I always try to do something creative and new, that will stretch my horizons a little. Sam was a very creative, vibrant person, with a love of living things, and I do my best to honor him with good living.

This year, M and I decided to buy a citrus tree for a container garden that I've been planning. Choosing just one was difficult, and I have to admit that I do have some regrets about leaving the Mexican lime behind (it just seemed so "Sam"!), but in the end we opted for a dwarf kumquat. The fruit is sweet and sour, and the tree is compact enough that it can easily stay potted until we finally buy a house.

Seeds and references.I also picked up some herbs and flowers for a small container-style dye garden. I purchased seeds for the most part, as they germinate easily here and are cheaper, but we bought a small red dragon pepper plant (five times hotter than jalapenos - imagine!) and a few hollyhock plants as well. I'm going to do a little more planning, and then get everything seeded and planted in the next few weeks. It was great fun just to buy the seeds and plants, though. We went to the amazing La Crescenta Nursery in Glendale (sadly no homepage), and were allowed to wander through row upon row of plants with the sweet and strangely mellow Zosia in tow. I wish I had thought to take pictures. It really was a lovely time.

Hello Trouble!As an extra bonus, here is a shot of a wonderful calendar that Andrea sent me, which she made on a letterpress. (Here's a great interview with a very talented book maker who uses a letterpress, if you want to learn more.) Andrea also included a print of her cat Trouble, which I believe she made using a hand-carved stamp. I've been thinking of converting my banner photo into a hand-carved stamp version for a while now (after finding this tutorial on whip-up), but Trouble is giving me that extra little nudge. Carving is something my brother Sam loved as well (though he made woodcuts), so that seems like another good reason to give it a go. I'll have to stop by Blick sometime soon, but first I have to finish up some other items around here (like that rogue cross-stitching I started a few weeks ago). For now, I leave you with Andrea's talents.

P.S. So far my container dye garden is going to be very small - coreopsis, cosmos, hollyhocks and marjoram. I may expand it as I get things planted and arranged, but really it's very much an experiment. If anyone out there has done this and has suggestions, please do leave me a comment!

Stealthed Again: MDK After Dark Nightie

I operate in a fairly ordered universe when it comes to knitting. I allow myself to swatch whatever and whenever I like, but when it comes to projects, I usually think about a piece for a while before I dedicate myself to making it. Generally, I swatch for a piece that I am considering and then let it marinate for a few weeks to see if it still holds the same power for me. If it does, I add it to the queue. I keep the number of projects on the needles at five or less at all times, but I prefer to have just three things going at once, unless one of my projects is a pair of socks. Socks, for some reason, do not require the same mental space that other pieces do. Anyhoo, this is a long way of saying that I don't usually allow the queue to be screwed with unless I am truly struck by inspiration. Generally, if a new knit makes its way in, I've been considering it for at least a few weeks.

I've been stealthed. Thank you, Ms. Kay. Actually my husband thanks you - he could use some variety!

This one really snuck up on me. I feel like a really, really bad blogging friend, but I have to admit that I didn't get around to buying Ann and Kay's book until a few weeks ago when Marnie and I hit the Black Sheep Knittery Sale (it's going on through May 1 - 50% off everything and Kristal has great stuff. This sale may be the end of me! Please go, so I don't go again.) I knew the MDK book was a good read, and I wanted to pick it up at some point, but honestly, unless it's for charity I don't knit a lot of squares (I know, blasphemy!), so it would get pushed back whenever the new Rowan, etc. would come out.

A closer view.When I had a break from work the other week, I finally scheduled an appointment to get my hair done, and I took MDK with me, for the nice long spell under the dryer that I spend waiting for my highlights to "come up." It was heaven. I cannot imagine a nicer afternoon than one spent in the salon having someone shampoo my hair and reading a wonderful knitting book. Even better, as I was reading through, I noticed one choice little non-square item that I might want to make in the future - the nightie. I was also a bit captivated by all the pretty squares, and thought, "What the hell, I'll think about doing the nightie someday, and I'll eek out a warshrag." Everyone loves those warshrags. The smell of our sponge has left something to be desired of late, and a nice new warshrag or two could replace the sponge and eliminate the "off smell" situation. Voila! That kind of stealth knitting is like picking up a sock. You just rotate it in, and don't think twice.

But then Kay left me a nice comment on my China Clouds post, and we got into a little discussion about the nightie. I'm pretty sure that in said discussion I claimed that I was not going to make a nightie, but instead churn out a warshrag. In fact, I'm positive that is what I said. But then Kay wrote something about how she loved that design and was saddened that almost no one had made it, and threw in a compliment about how cute it would look if I wore it over jeans (don't think you fooled me Kay - I know when I've been baited!), and well, I found myself back at the Black Sheep Knittery Sale purchasing a few skeins of Euroflax Linen for a song. Bad, bad Kay! And now I'm knitting a nightie. I may "cheat" and toss it on the machine for the stockinette portion, but all the lace and finishing will be done by hand with love.

Moxie should be quite pleased. If knitting can produce sexy lingerie, I think will gain a whole new respect for the craft....

Reclaiming Siena

Lacey Tuxedo Top.
Click to zoom out.I have the weekend off (yay!) and the weather is gloriously misty and chilly, so I've been devoting myself to cleaning up the loose ends in my knitting so that I can move on to some fun new spring projects that I've been swatching for. I ripped out the faulty seam in Moxie's Man Hood, and then seamed the modified raglans for one full shoulder last night. M is really pressing for me to finish since his birthday was two weeks ago. My disinterest in seaming, cuffing and hooding black cotton stockinette is apparently palpable, and he takes this as a reflection of my life priorities. Clearly, I do not love him enough! Sigh.

Once those modified raglan seams get going, they are rather fun little things, but getting up the interest takes some work. I should probably be seaming rather than blogging, as we speak.

Unraveling the Prairie Tunic.I could not work exclusively on that black swath of stockinette, however. The other project I got started on yesterday was the "silk top with lacey center panel and frilly edges" from the latest Rebecca Magazine (No. 33). (Where do they come up with these fabulously creative names for their projects, anyway?) In order to do that, though, I had to reclaim the yarn from the prairie tunic, which gave me such a hard time with its lace panel last summer. (I hope there is not a pattern here!)

Curly hanks prior to washing.I often leave a project that I intend to abandon whole until I plan to reclaim the yarn, because I feel that there may be information contained in what I've knit already that I will need again. The prairie tunic was no exception, and retaining it did pay off, because the gauge for the two projects was exactly the same, and with the needles still dangling from the prairie tunic it wasn't hard to remember which size I had used.

A view of the front.
Lovely, no?I purchased 5 skeins of Jaeger Siena for the prairie tunic, and had only knit less than two, so I was able to start the knitting phase without having to reclaim any yarn, but since it was the weekend and I had time, I decided to get ahead of things and do the reclaiming, too. Here, in a nutshell, are the steps for yarn reclamation if a knitted object has been sitting around for a bit or if a yarn has particularly strong memory for curl:

1. Frog all the knitting by skeining directly onto a ballwinder.

2. Hank all the skeins on a niddy-noddy (or, in my case, a niddy-nosty (scroll down) - love it!) (If you don't have a ballwinder or a niddy-noddy you may want to collapse these two steps into one by frogging directly into a hank, wrapping the yarn around your knees or the back of a chair.)

3. Fill sink with water (hot if cotton as here, tepid if wool) and a dash of wool wash.

4. Gently immerse the skeins for at least half an hour, a bit longer if wool, less is okay if cotton.

5. Gently squeeze water out of the hanks and place in the washer on the spin cycle to remove water (cotton or wool).

6. Snap hanks and thwack violently against a pole or other hard surface to spank any remaining curl out of them (cotton or wool - really).

7. Place unweighted hanks over hangers to dry outside in the shade.

Curly hanks taking a soak.After doing all of that, I left the two hanks to dry, and set out to knit my "silk top with lacey center panel and frilly edges" which we will now call my Lacey Tuxedo Top. The top is made in 100% silk in the original version, but since I have met my yarn-purchasing quota for a while and still do not seem to have a 100% silk of that weight, I am using Jaeger Siena, a 100% cotton. Jaeger Siena is a lot like Rowan Cotton Glace, so it works up in a crisp fashion rather than having the drape of a silk. I think the silk version would be insanely soft, drapey and luxurious, but I think that a crisper cotton version should work well, too. It will be less dressy - kind of a "playclothes" version of the top, which is what the lifestyle of the Hoolia requires.

Straight hanks,
post-thwacking.The original pattern calls for US 5 needles, but I made gauge in the cotton on US 2's. The pattern starts with 13 cm of stockinette in the round which is a bit daunting, but I cast on and knit a round. It was a long-ass round. So I had another thought - this is what knitting machines are made for! I knit two pieces flat on the machine and let them sit overnight to settle into their true gauge. This morning I measured gauge again to see if I was on in my guess for the correct machine tension (tension 3, carriage 2) and to seam the pieces together. Looks like it! From here on out, I'll knit everything by hand. Voila! I'm on my way to having a Lacy Tuxedo Top! Oh, little knitter, how I love you...

Lunch Break in the Garden

For about a week and a half now, I've worked 15 to 16 hour days with very few breaks. (It's finally over! Yay!) And I've re-learned some things about myself in that time. Most importantly, that I just do not have the stamina for those hours on a sustained basis. I'm definitely not in college anymore. I've also been reminded of how wonderful my life generally is, even when I work 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. Last Saturday, Moxie and Zosh stopped by my office to bring me lunch, and we went out in the garden for about 45 minutes to enjoy it. It was a wonderful break. I'm so lucky to work in the setting that I do, where it's not a problem for your husband and dog to come visit, and to have a wonderful husband and a kooshie puppy to do that visiting. I'm very spoiled.

Be Careful What You Ask For

I still love this after all these years.A few years back when everyone was doing the 100 things, I decided to be cute and do 100 knitted things about me. Here are a few of the things I wrote about my knitting preferences:

22. I covet Rowan 17.

23. If you can get me Rowan 17, I'll give you my first born.

24. Cables are my thing.

25. Intarsia is not my thing, but China Clouds* is an exception.

26. If you can find me a complete China Clouds kit, I'll give you my first born.

27. Unless someone has previously come up with Rowan 17.

All I really meant to do was tell you a little about what I like, just in case someone out there liked the same stuff. Naturally, knitters being knitters, Margene immediately jumped in, asked for my address and gifted me her mint copy of Rowan 17. Just like that. Pretty sweet huh? Over the years, several other kind souls who have spotted that issue on e-bay or find a copy hanging around the house that they have no use for, have written to let me know. (You are a truly wonderful group of people, to even remember that I like that issue, let alone to attempt to procure it for me. ) But until today, there was not a contender for my first born child. It was going to Margene, hands down.

These colors look pretty promising

With one fell swoop, MJ wrecked what was left of my yarn budget. Except for a little Portland excursion that I have coming up, I had purchased my yarn for the year at Black Sheep Knittery's 50% off sale. However, this kit is really a score. It was just too good to pass up. I think that by the rules, Margene still gets my first born, but it's kind of a tough call. We may have to call Solomon in to split the baby.

Happy mommy, happy pup

I'm not the only one who suffers when the hours are long. Ms. Z has not gotten her normal mommy-love time, and perhaps more importantly, all the exercise mommy gives her. So today, as a treat to both of us, we had lunch in the park. I picked up Miss Marnie's favorite beef pho for myself and a nice fresh tennis ball for Z. Happy mommy, happy pup. This weekend it's back to knitting and my createalong project...

Memories...

Okay, I'm being a little dramatic, but since it's 5:30 a.m. and I just get to post, shower and go back to work, I am waxing poetic about the "good old days" when I used to have my weekends. Like, say, last weekend. Here's a little montage from Eaton Canyon, where we did the Marseilles photo shoot on Moxie's birthday.

I think you can guess where I'm going with this

To say that I've been working a lot lately would be the understatement of the year. I've had time to pick up my knitting only once this week (and it wasn't pretty, folks - I sewed the front of Moxie's Man Hood directly to the back when I intended to sew it to the sleeve. We'll deal with that later!) In such times, I find that I begin to build up a bit of aggression that needs a constructive outlet (lest I drive sweet Moxie to divorce). Normally this outlet would be a hike or a run or one of those great sessions with a bunch of other crazy people on a spin bike. However, when you get home after dark when the gym classes have concluded on a Friday night, no such outlet exists.

The Hoolia gets all subversive with her cross stitch.

Instead, I turned to crafting. Let me just say upfront that I am not a cross-stitcher. This is, in fact, the only cross stitching I have ever done in my entire life. Cross stitching is the last thing that I ever thought I'd be caught doing, and when I was in Phoenix a few weeks ago and my friends there were singing its praises, I have to admit that I was listening to their exclamations because I was feeling indulgent and loving toward them, and not because I actually found the topic fascinating.

Then last weekend, when Marnie was in town, we hit a fantastic sale at Black Sheep Knittery - 50% off everything - books, notions, yarns, everything everything. (It runs through this weekend. If you are in the LA area and can spend a little - go! If you are easily tempted and broke - stay far away!) And I saw this book, and for some reason, probably the promise of the word "subversive," began flipping through it. I laughed my butt off in the store, and since it was 50% off, I bought the thing. When I got it home, I feared that perhaps I had made a hasty purchase (I don't like to misallocate the spending of even a paltry $7), but when I flipped through it again, I was not any less giggly than the first time. Okay, let's be honest. I guffawed. I sat in the girls' room and made Marnie listen to each and every one of these cross stitch sayings twice as I laughed hysterically. (Who's being indulgent now?) They really just hit my funny bone, you know. The saccharine sweet teddy bear next to the words "kill me now" just did it for me.

I am not a converted cross stitcher. In the end, I will probably make one or two of these as gifts and then be done with it. It is hard on my weary eyes, and so far only gives me limited pride in return for my hour of diligence. But I am very happy I bought the book. It totally cracks me up! Now I can go back to work...

Pattern Notes: Marseilles Pullover

Marseilles pattern notes at last! I've been done with this sweater for two