knit-along little doggie

Moving on up!

2012-01-26T14:06:00.000-05:00

This is the post I've been waiting for. I'm finally announcing that I've got a brand spanking new blog, on my pretty new website! I'll be blogging from Cambria Washington: Knitware and Designs from now on. Come on over!

p.s.- if you follow me through google reader, or any such service, you'll want to update your subscription to the new address: www.cambriawdesigns.com.

Stocking done, prototype almost done, homework not done.

2012-01-21T09:43:00.000-05:00

Last night I finally finished the second of the two Santa stockings that I was commissioned to do in November. I still have a pair of mittens for a little girl, and one more stocking kit to do for a new mom, but after that my time is my own, to knit as I please...until the next project comes along :) So it's back to the Apogee prototype, and then on to my husband's sweater. Did I mention that he's agreed to wear a neck warmer?? I'm making him one ASAP. It's taken me years to wear him down, but I'm gonna make him look like the husband of a knitter if it's the last thing I do.

School is back in full swing, which means more papers, and stupid amounts of reading every week, and lectures with overly opinionated professors, for the next four weeks. Then I only have four more classes total so that should be about 20 weeks of school left. I could possibly be done with classes by the fall! But my degree plan says that I graduate in March of 2013...which I think means that we'll all cross the stage together in March but I'll be finished with classes before that. I'll be making a call to confirm that later today.

So, back to my homework. And my prototype. And finally updating my Etsy shop with my latest collection (which has been out for weeks now on Ravelry). Oh, and my blog will probably be out of commission for a few days, while we make the transition to my brand new, sparkly, pretty new blog layout :) See you on the other side!

Philosophy and hot cocoa mix

2012-01-19T10:42:00.000-05:00

I've been stalking the Annie's Eats food blog for a while now, and I just love her to death! She takes beautiful photos of the food (and lets face it...that's what draws me in to the food), but every recipe is practically fool proof. I don't think I've made a single thing yet that I haven't absolutely loved...until yesterday. I made hot chocolate mix this holiday season and I love the stuff, but it needs to be made with milk and we were going through an awful lot of milk around here. Then I found the hot cocoa mix and figured I'd give it a shot. I was pretty tired yesterday (as usual) so I mixed it up as best as I could and tried it out. Not bad, but not what I'd expected. I had a few cups last night, trying to trick it out with a little of this or a little of that but it wasn't working out. Then today I thought I'd try again...and use good quality powdered milk (instead of generic) and the chocolate flavored creamer to kick up the chocolate flavor that was lacking. As I mixed it up this morning I realized what I'd done yesterday...I forgot to add in the salt! It's crucial. So today I mixed up another batch with the flavored dry coffee creamer, and realized that this batch would have been perfect if I'd just used the regular creamer like I did yesterday, lol. So now i have two 32-oz jars of almost perfect hot cocoa mix and I'm sure the boys won't care a bit about how it's not exactly perfect. Third time's a charm?...

So anyway, last night I was on the way to bed and felt suddenly philosophical about why I do what I do, and how blessed I really am. It usually happens after I've had a big emotional parenting set-back like I had on Monday. But I had a chance yesterday to help a brother and sister learn to knit. They'd come in to take a class together, and they didn't fit our usual customer demographic. I was a little on edge at first but after they picked out their yarn I took her brother over to find an appropriate set of needles. I noticed right away that he was a little different. A little shy. A little hesitant and unsure of himself. Very sweet. And I realized that he needed a little extra care so I chose the needles for him.

We went back and sat down and I asked him about what he wanted to make. That was when I realized that he had a learning disorder, or a mild developmental disability of some sort. I don't know what, and I didn't ask (because honestly it wasn't my business and I didn't care). I only picked up on something because of my training. So I showed him how to knit and talked about how it's like an exercise and our muscles in our hands will learn what to do and take over after a while. He was so diligent! He really struggled at first and it took about an hour of constant coaching and instruction before he was able to knit his first stitch unassisted. At one point I wasn't sure if he'd be able to learn it, but the time was his...he was paying for it...and I just kept trying to show him what to do, altering my instruction where I felt it was appropriate and breaking steps down smaller and smaller if necessary. He kept apologizing for not getting it, and I kept telling him it wasn't necessary, and cheering him on. Every time he did something right, I got really excited for him. At one point, their mother called to check on him and he told her that he was at the knitting shop taking a lesson, and that he was having fun :) I couldn't tell because he was concentrating so hard, but he was enjoying himself. That encouraged me so I didn't give up, and kept being patient; sometimes using hand-over-hand to help him learn the feeling of the stitches, and sometimes demonstrating on the piece I was knitting. And finally, finally it all paid off when he completed a stitch on his own! I have never been so proud of a student in my entire teaching life. Then he did another, and another, and another. Once he had it down, I switched with my friend who had been helping his sister, and I went over to see what she was doing, and help her out a bit, while my friend kept an eye on my star pupil.

After about half the class went by, my friend asked why they decided to take up knitting. The sister told us that her brother was a twin, and that his twin had just passed away last month. They were taking this class together as a way to help them heal from his loss. We could tell right away that she was very protective of this younger brother, and she took great care of him. He lives near the shop in an apartment of his own, and checks in with a caseworker every morning to take his medication and evaluate how he's doing on his own. He's a success story. And now he's become my friend, how promises to stop in and say 'hello' to me when he walks by in the mornings, if he sees me in the shop. I'm looking forward to it. And this is why I do what I do.

One of those posts...about kids and stress...

2012-01-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

Look at this face. You would never know that under this angelic face is a master criminal in the making. This is your future Lex Luther. He's a genius. He's stubborn as a mule. He will not listen to reason (and yes, I realize that he's only 5-years old, but seriously). It's going to take every thing I have and everything that I've learned over the course of my psychology degree with emphasis on child development and applied behavior analysis, to ensure that he harness' his powers for good instead of evil.

Today, this cute brilliant so-smart-he's-actually-dangerous child managed to get through the child-safe toddler knob on the bathroom door, and climb onto the toilet seat to reach my makeup bag (which he smeared all over the bathroom floor, and drew on his chest with liquid eyeliner, but I digress...) and his brother's ADHD medication. He took one of Dante's pills. My 50lb, 5-year old swallowed a little green 10mg Ritalin pill...because. This results in my freaking out and running down the stairs with a pill bottle in my hand to call the pediatrician, which then resulted in a call to poison control. He will be fine. I'm less fine.

This is only the latest stunt that my cat-burglar son has pulled. He wakes up anywhere between 4 am and 7 am, so getting up before him is not an option. He knows how to open the locking toddler gate at the top of the stairs, so there's no keeping him on the top floor. He can now apparently open the toddler-knob-protected doors and reach items placed on 6 foot shelves. I now have to replace those knobs with ones that lock and require keys to open, because the current locks can be opened by pushing something into the little hole from the outside and he figured those out last year. Five-year olds have no idea what dangers lie around the corner and just can't comprehend when you try to explain, and this one in particular is just determined to do what he wants to do. He's compelled to do it. Punishment is not an effective deterrent, and rewarding good behavior doesn't work either, when he really really wants to do something. So now my only option is to try to prevent (which I thought I'd already done) until he's old enough to understand what I'm saying to him.

Want to know how bad it gets? My little genius (and I don't mean that sarcastically) looked at a box of Safety 1st latches (which I'd planned to use on my kitchen cabinets to lock up the cleaners) and figured out how to open them from the picture on the cover of the box. This resulted in my freaking out, yelling at him about how he isn't taking this seriously and he could have died, bursting into tears, and going up to my room to cry for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, he started to cry downstairs because I'd yelled at him and left the room crying. After my husband calmed him down, he came upstairs to calm me down. I'm usually the level-headed one but today I'd had all I could handle. Then Alex came upstairs to apologize to me for getting into "stuff that doesn't belong to me", promised to clean up the mess he'd made, and came over to hug me. That cause me to cry more, and hug my sweet little boy who just doesn't realize that he's taking his life into this hands every time he does something like this. I feel like Clark Kent, who constantly tries to talk Lois Lane out of doing something stupid which inevitably leads to her being in peril, and his having to go save her as Superman. There's only so much "child proofing" a parent can do!

So, that being said, I appreciate you sticking with me as I rant to the internet about my stress. I'm gonna go have something fattening and loaded with chocolate, since I can't go have a drink.

The Great Design Project, Part 4

2012-01-14T09:32:00.001-05:00

As promised, I've finally found time to post about the progress on my Apogee prototype. I'm very happy with the progress so far and things are coming along nicely. I've been writing the pattern as I knit (or I'll never remember the details) and I can see from this very rough draft that I've got a lot of math ahead of me, and I'm definitely going to need testers (both tall and average height). And it's going to be the little details that either make or break me.

For example, I loved the idea of using cables to create the waist shaping because it kept the pattern more simple and allowed the knitter to customize how much it pulled in by simply adding more cables, or taking cables away. No fussing about where the decreases should start and how far they should go before increasing again. In my experience with sweater knitting, I always need to start the decreases about six inches from the underarm, but most patterns suggest starting before that (because they aren't as tall as I am). On the other side of that coin, I always have to stop the decreases before they suggest and start working back out because even though I'm tall, I'm very short-waisted. I only know all of this from many sweater experiments and finally getting one right. So this method takes care of that and makes this a more simple knit...until you hit the ribbed hem, that is (but more on that in a minute).

The OCD in me insisted on symmetry where ever possible, so that meant that the cables needed to appear to flow from the shoulder and down the body. I didn't want all of the cables to appear out of no where and float in the middle of the sweater. That took some serious doing to get it set up correctly, but once that was finished, it worked out just as I'd hoped and the alternating cables over the ribs kept things interesting enough to make the body work up very fast. In fact, I averaged about a skein per night! Once I reached my intended length, I started working on the ribbed hem. Here's where things get complicated.

As you can see from this shot, the center cables extend all the way down the body and I wanted them to flow into the ribbing too. That was harder than it sounded at first. I couldn't seem to get the numbers to line up so that the center K2 column would continue down both sides (on the other side it became a P2) and when I finally decided that it didn't need to be that detailed, and that maybe I was the only one who really cared about that, I got to the end of the round and saw that it started and ended with a K2. That's not good. I needed to decrease two stitches so it would line up correctly. So I decided to continue the cable-ribbing all the way down the hem, and to work a 2x2 ribbing over the front and back sts between them. I needed to decrease the 2 sts from the front of the sweater to make that work and I think that has to do with where I started the neck shaping on the prototype...so I'm not sure if it will be necessary to do this in the actual pattern. This is where the editor and the testers will be necessary.

Anyway, the reason you don't see the hem in any of these photos is that I haven't actually knit it yet. I worked two rows and then put the body on a holder to start the sleeves. This is unusual, but I decided that I needed to know how many yards were used in knitting the average length sweater (in order to calculate yardage for the other sizes) and the best way to do that, other than knitting two sweaters, was to stop knitting mine when I'd reached the finished length of the average 38" an work the sleeves until they are also the correct length of the average 38", and I'd get my numbers. Then I'll go back and finish off my tall 38", and I'll know the difference between the tall and average yardages (in theory). I have a very large swatch, and I'll have yardage for one size (in two different lengths), and I have an excellent reference book that discusses how to calculate yardage for a design...so once I finish and I've had some sleep (still working on that whole balance thing), I'll take a stab at it.

Oh, one more thing about the sleeves...they've got a fun surprise :) A design element that I'm excited about and that I think you'll like...maybe. Well, you'll either love it or you won't. Let's just wait and see :)

The Great Design Project, Part 3

2012-01-10T11:47:00.002-05:00

Today I should be working on my Juvenile Delinquency Unit 4 project (which is worth about 100 pts) but instead I thought it would be fun to create a button for my big design project :) Feel free to take it for your sidebars if you wish (but remember to save it to your computer before uploading it). I've organized it so that all posts related to this project should be accessible from the button on my sidebar.

Last night, or early this morning depending on how you want to look at it, I finished the raglan yoke increases. I put it on some extra needles and tried it on. Success!! I've been taking notes and essentially writing the pattern as I go because I know that I won't remember any of the details regarding what I've done or where I decided to start increasing on the neck edges, or how many stitches I decided to cast on under the arms. I'm pleased with how the cable fit into the raglan section, and how the left-leaning and right-leaning increases crease a clean line on either side. I'm continuing these cables down the side of the body and I'm planning to stagger more cables on either side of these (in pairs of two) to create the waist shaping. That means that I should end up with a smaller waist in this sweater without having to work any decreases in that section. I like that idea, and it makes it easier for the individual knitter to adjust for more or less shaping by adding or removing cables.

Now I know that the v-neck might look a little bit steep, but keep in mind that there will be a ribbed collar attached to it and that will bring it up a bit. My plan for this sweater is to knit it to the standard length for a size 38 pullover, and then adjust the lengths up and down so I can figure out how long the average sweater should be, and approximately how many skeins will be needed for it. Then I'll continue to knit it to the 6' measurements, and hopefully that will give me an accurate estimate of how many skeins will be necessary for the tall versions.

You know, I have a lot of school work waiting for me, and a Christmas stocking that needs to be finished by the end of January, but I'm having a really difficult time putting this sweater down, now that I've finally started it ;) Next up, Part 4: cable waist decreases!

Fly Tribe Blog Hop: Balance

2012-01-09T07:52:00.000-05:00

Last year, the East Coast was hit with a hurricane and we lost power for three days. I was (and still am) in school full time, with kids in school, a husband who was having some medical issues, and I had just been asked to come back to teaching Sunday school at my church. I was freaking out, overwhelmed, and worn out.

The storm taught me something. When I was forced to unplug from the internet, I actually got more work done in a shorter amount of time (I know, it seems simple), but I also noticed that my boys were getting along better. I started dinner earlier and we ate at the table together as a family. It only took them about 12 hours to unplug and they were good. They played outside, in their rooms, or with each other. We went to bed early (because it was dark and there wasn't anything else to do). We woke up early. I cooked from scratch. I was happy. That was when I realized that burning the midnight oil trying to get it all done wasn't actually working. Sometimes I needed to rest so my brain could run at full speed (see Saturday's post for another lesson on sleep, lol). I needed Balance.

This year, I've decided that balance was going to be my goal. I'm still working on it, but yesterday I took the day off from school and I'm feeling more refreshed. I'm still working on going to sleep earlier (I've tried every day for the last three night in a row, and failed). But I've remembered to make dinner earlier and I've been creating a menu every week so that I can make a grocery shopping list for the week. I'm hoping that if I can bring balance to my day-to-day life, I'll be able to carry that over to my creative life.

Now, about the photos, lol. This is a pile of my current Works In Progress (commonly known as WIP's). I struggled to come up with a way to express balance in my chosen creative form, so I decided instead to show my total lack of balance, and why I chose to go with it this year. I have in this pile, 15 current works in progress (4 pairs of socks, two stockings, 1 sweater to repair, 1 blanket, 1 almost-finished shawl. 1 commissioned pair of pink children's mittens, fiber to be spun on my Turkish drop spindle, 2 sweaters, and a bag of sample yarns for design ideas). This is typical of the way that I work, and I'm hoping to streamline a little this year. And I'll admit, for the sake of full disclosure, that this large pile doesn't even represent a quarter of my current yarn stash. I need some balance in my stash too :)

Now, I hope you enjoyed my post on balance, and I hope you'll hop on over to the Fly Tribe blog to read posts from other talented artists.

Fly Tribe Blog Hop starts tomorrow!!

2012-01-08T15:14:00.000-05:00

I'm really excited about this one! I missed the sign up for last year's blog hop and I made sure to get in on this one. Tomorrow, I'll post a blog about my word for the year. There will be a link from that post to the official Fly Tribe Blog, with links to other blogs that are participating. It should be fun!! Now...to figure out how to represent my word in yarn.

The Great Design Project, Part 2

2012-01-08T00:05:00.002-05:00

No photos yet, but I've got some stuff to share. I decided to dive, and just start knitting. I know I've got the necessary skill set to knit a sweater out of thin air (I've done it before and Lord knows I've got enough reference books!), and I'm feeling much more confident thanks to the success of my last project and finding a technical editor who will help me with the pattern grading. So, I'm going to go ahead as originally planned and share my project with you. I'm designing a top-down, raglan pullover with a v-neck and cable accents. You'll see my successes and failures along the way, and I've got a few to share with you today, lol.

Lesson 1: Swatching is your friend. If you value your sanity and your own time, swatch! The bigger, the better. Last night I swatched for a few hours while watching a movie. It gave me the customary stitch and row gauge, but it also let me play with a cable idea that I'd been thinking about, and I used different hem ideas at the top and the bottom of the swatch so I could see which one I liked best. I learned that the ribbed him would look better with the cables, and that the cables will definitely serve the function I had hoped for; they will provide waist shaping to this garment without the need for decreasing. I like that idea and I think other knitters will too :)

Lesson 2: When you think you're ready to start knitting, you're really just going to do some garment shaped swatches, lol. I cast on with the idea that I would incorporate a cable into the raglan shaping for this pullover. I just thought it would flow better than having the side cables suddenly come to a dead stop, and it would provide just enough detail to keep this basic pullover from being just another stockinette top-down pullover. Now, here's the think. I'm anal about details and symetry. I'm drawn to patterns that focus on the details and incorporate them into the design. It makes the finished piece look more...finished. This doesn't always make it easy to design (because you have to be able to translate what you've done into directions that other people can follow).

Lesson 3: Never work the numbers for a complicated design when you're sleep deprived. Never! I worked on my first top-down yoke swatch and figured out the basics of where I'd need to put the markers to allow for the extra stitches in the raglan section (that will become a cable), but I had trouble with the increases. My first attempt worked, but it wasn't what I was looking for, and it seemed like the rate of increase was just too fast. I questioned myself about this, because any top-down pattern I've ever knit (and I've knit plenty) has instructed me to work the increase round every other row. However, my sleep-deprived brain figured out that I would need 172 sts for the body (gauge of 4.5 sts per inch x 38 inch bust = 171, with 1 st added to allow for a hem with 2x2 ribbing). This will be important later. So, I did the math and realized that at this rate, I'll have reached 172 sts after about six inches of knitting, but I actually needed to work ten inches before I could divide for the arms and work the body. So, I did more math and figured that if I started with 68 sts and I need to get 172, that is a difference of 104. Every increase round adds 8 sts. Dividing 104 by 8 gave me 13. I need to work my increase row 13 times, over 10 inches, or aproximately every 0.75 inches. My row gauge (thanks giant swatch!) is 6 rows per inch, so that means that I'm increasing every 4 rounds.

With this sound mathmatical reasoning in hand, I grabbed a different skein of Cascade 220 and started a new sweater (setting aside the other one and leaving it on the needles so I could compare them and see what I liked best). I put the markers in the right area, took notes on the increase row as I figured it out (I won't remember later), and managed to figure out exactly where to place the increases to get the look I was after in the cable section. It was coming along beautifully, when that nagging feeling started again. Finally, I took out three top down v-neck patterns (one written in child sizes, one in my gauge with different directions for the neckline, and another at my gauge and in adult sizes that provided a complete stitch count at the end of the increases). After a short nap, I was clear headed enough to realize what the the adult pattern in my gauge had a huge number of stitches after the increases were finished, and that all three patterns increased every two rounds. That's when it hit me like a ton of bricks... I forgot to calculate the stitches for the arms, and I only calculated the stitches for the body! I was increasing too slowly, and I wouldn't have any stitches for the sleeves.

So, I sat down with all of my reference materials and worked out what I hope will be accurate cast on numbers and stitch marker placement. None of today's knitting was wasted, and now I'm going to pull out my most recent effort and start again...but not until I've slept :)

I made an ebook!

2012-01-05T21:28:00.001-05:00

Today my friends, I made an ebook! It took me like...three hours, but I got it done. Here's what happened...

I got up this morning and realized that I still hadn't looked at the revisions for my ebook, from the tech editor. I pulled them up and went through them, using my revised copies from the individual patterns to help out. I really wanted everything to be consistent (which is the reason for using an editor). After revising everything (which took up a good amount of the aforementioned three hours), I send her the updated version and went on Ravelry to create my ebook. This is where everything went haywire.

fun with photo shoots, lol

I went into my pattern store and added the ebook to my list of patterns, along with about 10 beautiful photos from the collection. I spent a lot of time writing the description, and getting everything just right. I also went into my original patterns and updated them to say that the ebook was now available, and then set up a promotion that would deduct the cost of a single pattern purchase to those Ravelers who had already paid for a single pattern, and wanted the book. Right in the middle of the madness, I got a message from a very helpful (and patient) editor who told me that I shouldn't have added the ebook to the pattern store, and provided me a link with instructions on exactly how to create one. Thankfully, she walked me through the parts I struggled with, and encouraged me along the way :) It was the most pleasant reprimand I think I've ever received ;)

Turns out that you just add the title of the book as a source on the pattern itself (which creates the ebook), then go in to edit the ebook with all of the necessary information (photos, yarn, etc), and then you publish it. That's it! So much easier, and that way all the financial info stay in one place.

So there you have it! I published an ebook for my Fibonacci-Stripe Accessories Collection. I posted it to my facebook page. I tweeted it. I stalked it on Ravelry to see how it's being received. And now I've blogged about it. Excited much?

Oh, and turns out that Aaron and Dante (both of whom were very resistant about letting me knit them a sweater) have decided that they really like Rockaway from Jared Flood, and have put in requests in specific colorways. I don't like to knit the same thing twice, but I might have to make an exception this time if the end result is that I can get all three Washington men in a hand-knit sweater!

Fibonacci-Stripe Collection

2012-01-03T12:28:00.000-05:00

I've been holding on to this one for a while now, and I was going to wait to launch it when the new blog goes live but I just couldn't wait any longer. I'm excited to introduce my Fibonacci-Stripe Collection!

Starting with the Neck-Warmer/Cowl pattern.
This is the updated version of my original Fibonacci Cowl pattern, which pulled over the head and fit close to the neck. As anyone with long, thick or curly hair knows…pulling anything over the head causes hair to become wild and out of control. My solution…knit a neck-warmer that buttons up the side, and/or a cowl that can be worn loose or worn doubled to keep the wind at bay (and the hair looking neat).

The pattern includes both the neck-warmer and the cowl, in either two-color Fibonacci stripe, or one-color textured stripe variations. The close-fitting neck-warmer uses six buttons (but could be knit in the round without buttons if you prefer), and uses two 50g balls of Berroco Blackstone Tweed or any aran weight yarn of at least 130yds. The longer cowl uses three balls of Blackstone Tweed for the one-color texture stripe version, and four balls for the two-color stripe version.

Next up: The Slouchy Hat! For the hat, I wanted to knit something that would be pretty and warm, and would also be capable of fitting all of my hair into it when the weather takes a turn for the worst without wrecking my hair for the rest of the day. Any of you girls out there with curly hair know what I’m talking about, and this hat is for you! (I’m happy to say that after field-testing this in New England winter weather, it’s just what I hoped it would be.) The pattern offers two sizes, two different depths, and one-color textural striping or two-color striping. It is worked in the round, and uses “bulls-eye” decreases to accentuate the Fibonacci striping. The hat uses two 50g balls of Berroco Blackstone Tweed, or any aran weight yarn of at least 130yds.

And my personal favorite: the Convertible Mittens :) These convertible mittens are the most practical, warm, soft, and all-around best mittens I’ve ever designed or worn. They provide quick access to your fingers when you need them, and the ability to quickly tuck them away when you don’t.

The pattern provides two sizes, with options for two-color stripes or one-color texture striping, flip tops or traditional mittens, and optional “texter-thumbs”. It is easily adjustable for length (great for tall knitters!), and the extra-long cuffs keep the wind out of coat sleeves. The flaps are worked as a continuation of the mitten, in one piece with short-row shaping, and they lay flat against the back of the hand when not in use. No buttons necessary, so no silly little button loops at the tip of your hand (and no How-The-Grinch-Stole-Christmas-hands when you wear them closed). The mittens use two 50g balls of Berroco Blackstone Tweed, or any aran weight yarn of at least 130yds.

The patterns are all available for individually sale, and will be released soon as a collection in e-book format. Customers who purchase an individual pattern but would like to purchase the e-book, will be able to deduct the the price of that pattern from the cost of the collection at checkout.

e-book coming soon!

Fibonacci-Stripe Hat

Fibonacci-Stripe Mittens

Fibonacci-Stripe Cowl

As is customary around here...

2012-01-02T19:21:00.000-05:00

I'm blogging when I should be working on my homework assignments. But I really need a mental break, and this blog is therapeutic. I don't know why I though I'd enjoy taking criminal justice classes (must be the part of me that's a fan of crime shows), but I'm finding it difficult to connect psychology and criminal justice. I know that there are course designers, and my professors are just doing their best to facilitate this course, but I've hardly seen anything in my forensic psych that addresses specifically how psychology is used in the legal system. The reading is almost exactly the same as my reading in the juvenile delinquency classes (which only deals with kids and crime), so that tells me that the course designers didn't add much to this class that helps the student tie the two together, and most of the time I feel like I'm groping around in the dark trying to find that needle-in-the-haystack answer that they're looking for. Meanwhile, my boys are home from school driving me nuts and making it almost impossible to get any school work done.

In knitting news, I cast on for the second of two Santa Clause intarsia Christmas stockings that I'm doing for a client on commission. I've also got another stocking and a pair of mittens (I've mentioned these both before) and I'm working on the beautiful Flora knee highs. I ended up pulling the sock back to the ribbing and getting rid of the cherry red from Cascade. It's a beautiful color, but I just don't like it in combination with any other color. It mutes it too much. So I decided to go with white in combination with my pretty Tosh sock. I'll save that red for one of the non-stranded knee highs. I just keep looking at this book and I'm so inspired to knit knee highs that it's difficult for me to stay on task with any of my other projects. I seriously want to knit my way through this book. Maybe I will, as a side project ;)

Speaking of side projects...I just took a look back and realized that I owe you all a post for the Great Sweater Design Project 2012. I haven't forgotten you, but with trying to catch up on my school work, I just haven't had the time. But maybe you could help me with something. I'm torn between starting with a pullover, or a cardigan. Any preferences? Leave me a comment and weigh in.

Heritage Silk Mitten KAL

2012-01-01T19:17:00.000-05:00

It's the first day of a brand new year, and I was hoping to greet you with my brand new blog (which I've been keeping quiet for a while now) and I wrote this whole beautiful post that I was going to publish over there, but I forgot that the blog is private right now because it's still technically under construction. So after trying to publish it and linking to it...I realized that I'll just have to be patient a little bit longer and we'll have to hang out in this space for a bit. Good thing we're all comfy here :) But don't be shocked if you log on one day, and it's had a face lift.

Now, with that being said, I'm really excited to announce a knit-along for my Heritage Silk Lace mitten pattern, for Cascade Yarns. It all came about a few months ago when a Raveler sent me a lovely message about my pattern, saying how she'd seen it at a yarn tasting in Spokane WA. It turned out that the wonderful folks from Cascade took my mittens with them as an example of the Heritage Silk in action (the very mittens I knit with my own two hands). It toured a few local shops in Washington state and a lot of excitement was stirred up. Three of the local knitting groups started chatting about doing a KAL, so I contacted the various groups on Ravelry about hosting a KAL for them, so they could all gather in one place and have a blast. A few hours on Photoshop and Ravelry later, the group was formed!

The official start date is January 4th, but I couldn't wait that long (and neither could most of the knitters, it turns out, lol), so I changed the cast on date to today! So go get your needles, two skeins of Heritage Silk (or any other fingering weight yarn), and your free copy of the pattern, and cast on with us. It's national mitten month anyway. You might as well kill two birds with one stone ;)

P.S. - Stay tuned for the release of my latest pattern collection, which is currently in tech editing.

last post of the year (probably)

2011-12-30T23:49:00.000-05:00

Well, I thought I'd cap off my round-up with the last post, showing what I've knit and designed this year. It was an adventure. I had a child start high school, and another one start Kindergarten...all in the same year. I started teaching the Senior Primary class at church, during a time when my life couldn't take one more responsibility, and surprisingly I've excelled at it (and had a wonderful time, I might add). I took a great e-course from Kelly Rae Roberts that encouraged me to spread my wings and fly! I've submitted projects to Interweave Knits, Twist Collective, Knitty, a few independent book proposals, and Cascade Yarns. Most did not choose to go with my design but all were encouraging and kind, and asked me to try again. Cascade published my most popular design ever (thus far...you know...the blanket). And I sold dozens of patterns at my LYS during the first annual Great Rhody Yarn Crawl, which did wonders for my designing moral.

I started working with a very talented graphic artist who has helped me to create my brand. I've got a new logo, a new facebook page, a pretty new Etsy shop (which is still a bit empty, but will fill up), a pretty new layout for my twitter account, and a brand spanking new blog which I'm going to start using first think next year! The rest of this blog will be slurped over in due time. I'll have new business cards to match soon, and labels for my custom work.

This year was not very lucrative in terms of online pattern sales, but I was able to see from the reports that I sold more sock patterns than anything else, and this year my Night of the Lepus was by far the most popular. I think that The Bride of Frankenstein is going to give it a run for it's money in 2012. I've already got a pretty new ad that will start cycling through your Ravelry project page on January 1st, so you'll probably see it there! I sold more patterns directly through the shop, so next year I'll continue to overhaul my current body of work and focus on getting hard copies printed, and contacting a sales rep to help me get into some of the area shops. It will probably be an easier job, once I've graduated from school in the Fall :)

I also took on quite a bit of commissioned knitting this year, and at a fair price. I realized (thanks mostly to the Ravelry Design forum group, and the Flying Lessons course) that if I charge what I'm truly worth, I'll only have to take on projects that I want to do, and the ones I'm not as excited about won't be nearly as bad because I'm being paid a fair price to do them. I won't get stuck doing something I don't truly enjoy doing. I've also learned the need to provide a quote in writing, so customers don't forget what we discussed going in, and that I have the right to refuse work if I know it won't be worth the time or cost to myself or the client. I've gotten much smarter about it, and my self-assurance translates to customers, which makes them feel comfortable paying me what I ask (and I always try to be fair...because I know what it's like to have to work on a budget and I could never afford me).

Finally, this year I learned that other people see me and my work differently than I see myself and my work. I've had the opportunity to 'talk' to other designers who I admire through Ravelry, or in person, and they're regular people just like me. They have flaws that only they can see, and they hate some of their early work just like I do, lol. They have all been encouraging, and have told me that I'm much better and I really am...which keeps me going ;) I've had a chance to work with a very talented photographer who literally makes me look good, and recently a tech editor contacted me and asked about working with me on my latest collection. She has worked on some of my favorite patterns, and with some of my favorite designers, and I was honored that she asked to take a look at my collection. Maybe she sees something in my work that I can't see yet.

So, now that I've reviewed what I've learned and what I'm still finishing up from this year, here's a look at what I managed to finish. I hope you enjoy :) There are photos for everything except the Rococo shawl, and the Owls sweater (which I'll be ripping out), and they are presented in no particular order:

Bride of Frankenstein

Crescent Park Beret (matching handwarmers not shown)

Effortless Cardigan, by Hannah Fettig

Heritage Silk Lace mittens, for Cascade Yarns

my Julissa test-knit, for Knit Rhapsody

freestyle striped Noro sweater

Night of the Living Sock

Alexander's Purple Sweater

Quilt and Cable Blanket, for Cascade

Regia socks

Rhodes Stranded sock (currently touring the Stitches conventions)

Shelby- A Handknit Tie for Little Boys (and Alex's go-to tie for church)

Takoma in-the-round

Vlad


Brambles Beret, and my Brambles Mittens

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year

2011-12-24T14:48:00.000-05:00

Now that I'm a grown up, Christmas Eve is my favorite day. When I was a child, it was Christmas day of course but now that I'm the mom, it's more fun for me to spend the day before prepping my boys for the 'big day', talking about Santa...watching every single Christmas episode of every one of our favorite shows...watching the classic Christmas movies like Rudolph and Christmas Story, and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation ;) We've added Elf to the list in recent years.

I spend almost all day in the kitchen baking cookies for Santa. My boys seem to think that he needs a variety to choose from, so I end up baking chocolate chip, peanut butter, butter balls, and oatmeal raisin. This year I changed it up a bit with the French Butter cookies from Annie's Eats (which were a huge hit!) and I scaled the rest back and just made chocolate chip. Meanwhile, I added peppermint bark, candied pecans, and sugar-free apple butter for my FIL. He has to watch his blood sugar, so I always try to make something special just for him. Oh!, and I almost forgot about the vanilla sugar and the hot chocolate mix.

For dinner I make spaghetti and meat balls. It's fast and easy, and nearly impossible to screw up (which is important because I'm usually running on fumes by Christmas Eve).

After dinner, I love to pull up the NORAD Santa tracker for the boys, and let them watch his progress as he makes his way to New England. Then, after the boys are finally in bed I hurry to wrap the things that I never got around to wrapping before. I stuff stockings, and watch movies on t.v. This year, I think I'm watching the latest Resident Evil movie. Maybe that'll be my newest tradition... horror movies on Christmas Eve.

This year, I let Alex help me a little bit. He got to count out 30 mint candies (he got to 29 before he ran into trouble), unwrap them and put them in a bag, and break them into pieces with a rolling pin. I took a hammer to them after he was done ;) The boys have been on quality control all afternoon, tasting everything I've made along the way. It's been really difficult to get some nutritious food into their bodies, what with all the cheese-it chex mix, and peppermint candies, and white chocolate, and peppermint bark, and chocolate chip cookies. I still have some banana bread and pumpkin bread to make, but I seem to have run out of butter, lol. No worries though...I'm sending Aaron out for more butter...and also spaghetti...cause I may have forgotten to get some for tonight's dinner.

After Santa's cookies are out, the boys are in bed, and gifts are wrapped, Aaron and I usually exchange gifts. He's not a morning person and I don't like to wait till the afternoon to get my presents, or for him to open is. So we get to exchange our gifts quietly, just the two of us and no boys being loud or making a mess of things. It's a good system...it works.

Merry Christmas!

Year in Review: the sock edition

2011-12-23T14:31:00.000-05:00

I designed quite a few socks this year, but two in particular were very popular. Surprisingly, they were my socks for the Super Sock Scarefest 2011. (On a side note, last year's SSS design was also extremely popular, so maybe I should consider sticking with this horror movie sock thing, lol). Anyway, maybe you remember these:

Or these:

My most popular socks this year were the Bride of Frankenstein, followed closely by the Night of the Living Sock. I loved them both and had a blast designing them. The NofLS was designed during this years Scarefest round, so I never had a chance to actually knit any of the other patterns (but I saved them all to my library for future knitting). This was the pattern that taught me that I will never be an actress because my attempt to show fear in a photograph came across as irritation, lol.

So, for your enjoyment I've rounded up some of the completed projects from Ravelry, with links to the project pages. All photos are copyright of the knitters who completed the projects.

Bride of Frankenstein:

Night of the Living Sock:

A Year in Review, part 1: Quilt and Cable Blanket

2011-12-22T12:41:00.000-05:00

I've been a pretty busy lady this year! I've designed several items and I thought that I'd share them with you over the next few days, with photos showing what other knitters have done with my ideas. Today's post is all about my biggest project to date...the Quilt and Cable Blanket that I designed for Cascade Yarns. As you may remember, this used under four skeins of Eco Wool and featured an interesting variation on a cable and the smocking technique. I first came across the idea from a blanket in an advertisement in one of my MIL's home decor magazines and she loved the idea of it, so I sketched it out and after a year of flipping past it in my sketch book, I finally gave it a shot.

This was the first time I'd ever had a submission accepted, and my first time working with a 3rd party on a design, and it was truly a pleasant experience...so pleasant in fact that I worked with Cascade again on another design that I'll review in another post. Anyway, I was really excited to see how well received the design was. As of this date, it's been listed as a favorite 900 times, and is in 293 ques with 24 active projects currently on Ravelry! It's been downloaded hundreds of times through Ravelry (not to mention all of the direct downloads from Cascade's website, which I can't track). It was 'faved' by Jared Flood. It was included in the October edition of Vogue Knitting's monthly newsletter. And it remains my most popular design to date.

Now, here is a fun gallery of projects from knitters on Ravelry who have altered the pattern in fun ways, ranging from changing the gauge to create an heirloom baby blanket, to using a luxuriously soft yarn to make a blanket that you just can't stop touching! Enjoy!

Rika's blanket in Eco Wool

Denise's stunning baby-blanket adaptation, in Berroco Vintage

Lynne's blanket in beautiful Malabrigo Worsted

Kathy's blanket in Berroco Vintage Chunky.

Holiday prep

2011-12-17T20:12:00.000-05:00

7 jars of hot cocoa mix, and a hidden jar of vanilla sugar

I love Christmas. I love it more now as an adult than I did as a child. Now that I'm a parent, I love watching my children growing increasingly more excited with each passing day. For example, this year Alexander is 5 and it's my personal opinion that Christmas is never better than it is when you're 5-years old. He's finally old enough to appreciate all the festivities and to really participate. This year, we've colored wooden ornaments, colored and cut out paper ornaments to hang on the wall, put together a foam gingerbread house and hung it on the wall, and in a few days we'll put together an actual gingerbread Christmas tree and decorate it with white and green icing.

One of the other things I've really enjoyed is being able to establish my own Christmas traditions in addition to those that my mom and I shared. The last few years, I've let the boys hang all the decorations on the tree on their own, and left them where ever they landed (lopsided or not). I also wait until Christmas Eve to put any presents under the tree. My boys are just too impulsive and impatient to have to stare at those gifts every day, and it's hard on them and stressful on us to police them all the time. Plus...isn't Santa supposed to bring the gifts? So if you're going with Santa in your house, it makes logical sense that gifts wouldn't show up until the night before, when he brings them.

Another Christmas tradition that I've started with my family (three whole years running, lol) is that I spend all day Christmas Eve in the kitchen baking cookies. I make 2-3 different varieties and they all have their favs so it works out. One year, I had 11 dozen cookies! I've scaled it back quite a bit since then. I also make various holiday treats to give to friends and family during the holiday season. One year it was cookies. Another year it was peach butter and apple butter. This year, it'll be the hot chocolate mix that you see in the photo above. This is one way that I can show my love and appreciation to those close to us, and still keep my holiday budget reasonable. I can also show my boys that meaningful gifts don't always come from a major retailer.

My favorite new traditions...socks in the stockings on Christmas morning. I knit Dante a pair of socks a few years ago, and when Alex saw them, he wanted a pair too. The next year, I knit them both ties and I have to admit that the socks were a bigger hit than the ties (although they wore the ties most of this year). This year, all three of my guys are getting socks (although only Alex's are done because I've had commissioned work and design samples competing for my knitting time).

And finally, my second-favorite new tradition is making pasta with Sicilian meatballs for dinner on Christmas Eve. We go over to my In-Laws for Christmas dinner so I don't have to worry about cooking, and frankly, the guys are turkey-ed out by the time Christmas rolls around. I always thought that it was silly to make what was essentially a second Thanksgiving dinner on Christmas, and I always thought that Christmas should get something special, but my family were turkey people. Now that I'm in charge of the food, I make meatballs. It's fast, easy, about five ingredients, and the guys eat it every single time. No dinner disasters (and I've had my fair share). Dinner is ready in 30 minutes, and I can actually eat it too (cause I have the sauce without the meatballs, on my pasta).

one of two commissioned stockings, drying.

What will not be included in my Christmas traditions, you ask?? Intarsia!

Putting up the tree

2011-12-12T16:47:00.000-05:00

We put up the tree this weekend, after a lot of urging from Alex. Dante was at Nana's, so he's absent from these photos.

Alex handled all the wooden ornaments, and Aaron handled all things breakable...except for the glass gingerbread ornament that he let Alex put up...which crashed to the floor and shattered into a million pieces. We bought that set the year we got married, so I guess we're lucky that this is the only one to be broken.

The "tree skirt" is really the yoke off of a giant pullover, that my buddy Lisa cut off and couldn't bring herself to toss out, so she gave it to me. I never got a chance to finish the edges, but we were in a bind and needed to get it on there so we went for it. Looks great on the tree, and the boys all like it.

If you want to see all of the photos (as I only put up three), then follow the link to my facebook photo album.

A definite change in plans

2011-12-09T11:54:00.001-05:00

This week has been an interesting one. I started me new classes yesterday, and even though I was really excited about the subject matter, I'm not so excited about the E-books (because one can't read ahead and be prepared for the first week if one doesn't have access to the books), or the fact that seminars are graded again and therefore mandatory. I like to attend class, but I don't like having to be really rigid about my schedule or having to do extra work to make up for a missed class. I also don't enjoy being the only psych major in the class, because almost no one sees things from the prospective of a psych major and I don't much like being the odd one out in a classroom.

Then there was the class I taught at Blithewold Manor in Bristol. I had a lovely time and the ladies were wonderful. But, the mansion is set off the road in the middle of nowhere, with no street lights and it was pouring rain. I couldn't see much of anything and my eyes are still killing me from struggling against the lights, and the glare, and the dark. Thankfully, I thought ahead and took the GPS with me this time so I got home just fine. And I came home to find a Keurig coffee maker gift wrapped for us on the coffee table! This is one of the coolest gifts we've ever received, especially the reusable filter that lets me use my own teas. Now I can make my favorite tea from The Coffee Depot at home, and it comes out like their does :)

And lastly, we got a large shipment of books and yarn in the shop this week (and you can read a little more about the aftermath here). Anyway, Naomi suggested that I take a look at all the new books (so I'll know what's in there and I can direct customers to the right stuff...really!...it's not just about looking in the books, lol). While flipping through a copy of Modern Knits, Vintage Style, I came across a pattern for a crocheted skirt. When I looked closer, I realized that it was the same exact skirt I had previously submitted to that Book Project and that I was going to design here on the blog!! Now, I've heard that this happens a lot (two different people who've never met and live in different parts of the world come up with the same idea at the same time), but I have to admit that it's happened to me quite a bit recently. See exhibit one: this is mine, and this is not, nor is this. Exhibit two is mine, and this is not. I can't exactly show you exhibit three, because I only have a collection of swatches and a sketch, and the pattern photo is not uploaded to Ravelry, but trust me when I say that unlike the other examples, these were spitten images of each other...right down to the scalloped hem. So I guess it was truly for the best that my proposal was rejected because I wouldn't have anything to contribute after all, and I would have been terribly embarrassed.

So the project isn't off, but it's definitely different that planned. I'm going to force myself to take the plunge and design my first sweater, right here on the blog. I know that I'm going to run up against some issues with my first design and I think that having a place where I can talk about them will be therapeutic :) Plus, the peer-pressure will keep me from backing out. The Great Design Project of 2011 is back on (with a new name), and this time it's a sweater! So, check back for the next post in The Great-ish Sweater Project, where I'll have a pretty sketch and some swatches to show you.

Holiday Madness

2011-12-05T11:01:00.000-05:00

Today, after I went to Petco for cat food and cat nip, I went into Michael's looking for plain tree-shaped blocks of wood to paint for Alex's Thomas set. I didn't find that, but I did find some pre-painted trees and a boat, a light house, and a sun. But I also found a gingerbread Christmas tree, and a foam gingerbread house that he can put together. I figure that if I get a few inexpensive things and let him color/paint/put together one every day or two...that should hold him till Christmas. I even found a wooden advent calendar with dials that let you count down the days until Christmas, and he gets to paint it!

Meanwhile, I've finished the first of his socks so I know that at least Alex will have socks in his stocking on Christmas morning. I'm still in the middle of Aaron's first one, and I haven't even cast on for Dante's socks. But the good news is that these stockings I'm knitting are basically worsted-weight socks so there's a good chance that I can finish them in about a week. The only issue I've had so far is that I've had to completely chart the colorwork myself using Intwined Pattern Studio, because the chart is non-existent. I'm also going to need to re-write the pattern because much of it is missing. So I'm pretty much reverse engineering from the stocking itself. Maybe when I'm all done, I'll refresh this vintage pattern and release it with modern directions (if I can find the time, lol).

Also, tomorrow I'm teaching a knitting workshop at the Blithewold Mansion in Bristol RI from 6-8pm, if you're in the area. Stop in and knit a scarf or a cowl with us!

Takoma is all done!

2011-12-04T09:56:00.000-05:00

I finally finished knitting my Takoma sweater, and I haven't taken it off since I got the buttons put on.

I changed the shawl-collar to one with 2x2 ribbing to better match the cuff and hem details. I actually did knit the original collar as written in the pattern, but then I pulled it out and replaced it with this one. I'm much happier.

The Eco Wool grew a bit after blocking. I knew it would, and I counted on it, but I didn't realize that my sleeves would grow quite as much as they did. They're super long, and I'm actually really excited about that. When you're as tall as I am, you rarely have to worry about sleeves being too long :) It's a refreshing change.

I went with dark brown leather buttons from JHB. Naomi and I are going to have to go onto their site to get the care instructions for the buttons. I hope that I won't need to remove them every time I need to wash the sweater... Thankfully, these don't need to be cleaned very often.

Check out that set-in sleeve! I'm really proud of this one. The fit wasn't exactly perfect, since I'd steeked the armhole and I knit the sleeve in the round. Thankfully, I got it sewn in evenly all around. And you'll also notice in earlier photos that I fixed my error in the colorwork section in the middle of my arm.

My husband said this was the most impressive thing he's ever seen me knit, and that it looks like I bought this sweater in a store. When you knit as often as I do, your family gets pretty jaded over the handknits (cause they see so many come off the needles). They get tough to impress, so this is one of the best complements he's given me (regarding my knitting). That's saying something :)

Guess who passed her finals?! lol

2011-11-29T10:02:00.000-05:00

As if I needed to answer that question ;)

I just finished registering for my December courses, and confirmed with my advisor that I passed this term's classes at 99% and 100% for the term! Who's a smarty-pants! lol. Now I'm registered for intro to forensic psychology and juvenile delinquency. I'm really excited about these classes. I've been interested in forensic psychology for a while, and now I get to use my remaining electives to take a few classes in criminal justice. (and on a side note, I just want to state for the record that I spelled 'forensic' and 'juvenile' correctly on my own the first time, without needing to use the spell check!) This, my dear long-suffering readers, means that I have one core class left for my ABA requirement, four electives, and my capstone left, and I will be walking away with a Bachelors degree in Psychology with special emphasis in Child Development and Applied Behavior Analysis! And I won't be qualified to do a whole lot with it, because there isn't much one can do with a bachelors in psychology, lol. However, I will have finally finished my 16-year college degree (and made my parents proud), I'm qualified to deal with my son's special education department, and I can work in a classroom if I take a special test and get some classroom hours under my belt. But what I'm most likely going to do is to go enroll at URI or Rhode Island College, and start working on my Masters degree.

Now, for what you came here for: knitting!
I've nearly finished my Takoma. I actually finished my shawl collar, and when I was done, I hated it. It has nothing to do with the actual design. I just have some sort of block when it comes to executing a traditional shawl collar, and each time I try to do it, it just doesn't look right. After two days of hand-hurting work, I ripped it all out. Instead, I'm subbing the technique used on the Emerald sweater (the one I wear every day, so I know that I like the collar). I think that using the same 2x2 ribbing along the collar will look better, since the hem and cuffs are knit that way, and I like the overall shape better. I just finished the button holes, and I'm getting ready to start the actual short-row shaping soon! Then I'll put on sleeves, and wear this baby within an inch of it's life.

In other knitting news, I'm working on socks for all three of my boys, and it's killing me because at least on of them is home and awake at all times! I only have so many sets of 2.5mm needles! So I've been taking Aaron's set with me to work to knit on during class, and I started Alex's, which I work on after he goes to bed. I just would the yarn for Dante's and I'll have to knit those after he goes to bed as well. Thank goodness I'll be working on the crocheted skirt, because I'll need something to do when everyone is home and awake, lol.

Oh, and in interesting news...my photo made the Berroco Blog. Normally that would be exciting, except that I was wearing prototypes for two of my pending designs and someone snapped a photo without my knowledge...and put it up on the blog so now, my designs have been 'published online' and are no longer eligible to be submitted to any of the major publishers. I feel bad about this for two reasons. First, I've had the hat test knit but the mitts are mid-test right now and I've made everyone promise to keep them offline (which they have...since March!), and then I somehow manage to get caught wearing the only hat that fits my giant head, and ruin it myself. Second, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this design, but I wanted the option of submitting the pattern elsewhere, because I'm still pretty small potatoes and my indi-releases don't reach a very large audience right now. I had higher hopes for these babies, but never fear. I've arranged for a photo shoot, and I'll get cracking on the matching cowl, and then I'll release them on my own. Maybe when I launch my freshly branded blog, with matching etsy page? lol.

The Great Design Project: part 1

2011-11-25T19:37:00.000-05:00

Welcome to one of the scariest things I've done yet as a knitter, blogger, and designer: The Great Design Project. This is going to be a series of posts related to my lasts design idea. I submitted this design to be included in a fantastic project, but it didn't quite fit with the other designs. And that's okay! So I decided that since I love this project, I'd take this opportunity to show what I go through from the first step in the process, all the way to design completion. This is the first part, and I'd love if you followed along until this is all done :) Keep in mind that the way I work in no way reflects the way that all (or even most) designers work...it's just what works for me. So, lets get started

This is a sketch of my baby. It's a crocheted skirt. I got the idea when I was working on a swatch for a baby blanket. I wasn't in love with the colors that I had available to me, so I went to the shop and found a pretty heathered-brown. When I started doing my 3rd swatch, I thought "this would make a fantastic skirt!", and I ended up shaping my swatch like a mini-skirt. It was so cute!

The pattern is simple, and and easily customizable. I put a great deal of the work into the conception of the idea (for the proposal packet) and I've decided that it will be worked top down, to allow the wearer to more easily adjust the length. I've also decided on what I feel to be a pretty good range of sizes. Unlike most of the knitted skirt patterns I've come across, the sizes increase two inches at a time because it's been my experience that crochet has less horizontal give than knitting does.

So, now that I have a few swatches, and a sketch, and a range of sizes with a general idea of how I plan to approach this baby...what's next? Well, this is where I start working on a prototype, and taking some good notes. The prototype is simply that; a prototype. The finished garment can very quite a bit, or not at all from the original concept, because sometimes designers run into issues that work fine in a one-off situation but will never work out when it needs to be duplicated in multiple sizes. I've experienced this before, and probably will again. That being said, I'm off to go crochet a few more swatches and get some ideas of row gauge to go with my stitch gauge, and then I'll come back with more photos and an idea of what worked, what didn't, and where I'm headed next.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:59:00.001-05:00

me standing in socks, and Norah in 3" heels, lol

This Thanksgiving, I'm really thankful for the fact that my finals were last week, rounding into this week, and finishing up on Tuesday, because I can have a school-work free Thanksgiving this year! I don't have to leave my MIL's early because I had a major homework assignment due (like last year, or the year before). I also finished my homework early enough that I had time to scoot down to Slater Mill on Tuesday night to meet Norah Gaughan! That's right. This is me...standing with my arm around NORAH GAUGHAN!! An up-and-coming designer, standing right next to one of the most prolific and talented designers of ALL TIME. Maybe some will rub off on me :)

This holiday season I'm looking forward to spending time in my kitchen with Alex. He loves to help me (although sometimes it's not quite as much help as he thinks it is). I'm going to bake cookies today with my new Pampered Chef stoneware cookie sheet. I'm going to make mashed potatoes with goat milk/butter so I can eat them. I'm going to make candied yams with the mini marshmallows and brown sugar :) And if I can find the energy...I'll be making a pumpkin pie with coconut cream instead of condensed milk so I can eat that too! Oh, and at some point in time I have to put my vegetarian pot pie in the oven so it'll be warm when I go to my MIL's :) See... I'm a considerate vegetarian, and I come to holiday events with my own main course so the chef doesn't have to sweat over what I can eat ;)

Now, I'm gonna go knit the rest of my Takoma sleeve, on my couch, sitting next to all of my boys...who are all awake at 8:57am for once.

Off to a rocky start, lol.

2011-11-22T09:44:00.000-05:00

So, last night after I finally quit working on my final projects for the evening (the ones due today by 11:59pm...that still arent' finished...and I'm typing this blog instead of working on them...yeah, those), I sat down and finished my second sleeve for Takoma. The 3rd chart section looked a little odd, and I kept looking at it trying to figure out why it seemed different, but I just kept happily working on it and after binding off, I laid it next to the 1st sleeve, and found this mess. Really?!? Really. So I guess I get to spend another day ripping all the way back to that part and reknitting it in the correct color combo, cause there's just no way I can get away with leaving the sleeve like that, lol. Oh well. Chalk it up to user error.

In other news, I heard back already on one of the submission I sent out and unfortunately they did not choose to use my design. They were very kind, letting me know that they loved my work, and hope to work with me on a future project. They just got so many submissions for this project, and lots of them were the same type of project I'd submitted (but mine is crocheted and the project actually says "knits" in the title so I'm assuming they put priority on knit designs, which makes perfect sense and I would have done the same). To be honest, I don't even know if they were accepting crocheted designs (the submission call didn't say) so I was taking a risk by sending it out, but what's the worst that can happen?... they say 'no'? Well, they said 'no', and I feel okay with that. Maybe it's because I've really thought this project through, and I created my strongest submission yet so I know I did my best work and I'm proud of it. So I know that not being chosen wasn't personal. I can see it from a business perspective, and I get it. And maybe it's because I'm an independent designer and I have another option for it :)

So, with that in mind, I've decided to give you all a glimpse into what I go through as a designer to get a design written, a sample knit (or crocheted in this case) and tested, and to get it promoted. It's an "all access backstage pass" if you will. Keep in mind, this is only my process, and other designers may work in a totally different (and more efficient, or logical) way. I'll be working on this design over the next month or so, (with breaks for Holiday Knitting and the inevitable school work), and sharing it all with you! So enjoy, and try not to judge too harshly, lol.

This post is brought to you by lack of sleep

2011-11-18T09:04:00.000-05:00

It's finals again so you know what that means. No sleep. Staying up later than necessary and getting up earlier than necessary because Alex gets the roosters up. Surfing the web when I should be researching for a paper. And blogging.

So what's new around here? Nothing really. I'm knitting more projects that I can count. I've got a few designs kicking around too. I've got several repair projects (including the one where the woman complained about the finished results for a sweater that was literally missing an elbow, and the one where the lady had to come get it and take it to be cleaned because it was infested with moth eggs). I've got research to do for my hubby's side project. And I've got family holiday knitting.

My boys traditionally (for the last 2 years, lol) get a pair of knit socks for Christmas. This year I've got other guys who need to get in on the act and I don't have a lot of time. I started a pair with Berroco Sox in a blue faux fair-isle pattern that's boring me to tears. Dante selected the skein in the summer, and then Aaron said he liked it so I started knitting the sock. Turns out that neither of them actually love the resulting sock (and I don't either) so on Wednesday night I broke down and bought a skein of Mountain Colors Crazyfoot in Harmony Starlight...cause it GORGEOUS! I decided to use that for Aaron's socks and knit the Sox for Dante, but when I showed the Crazyfoot to Dante to see what he thought, he really liked it too. So now I think I've got to drop another 23 bucks and get a skein for Dante too! I tell ya...every time I try to knit from my stash, it doesn't work out. Why do I even HAVE a stash!?

Now, in other knitting news, I'm finishing the first of the Takoma sleeves today and feeling pretty good about the progress on my sweater. One more to go and I'll get to cut the steeks! Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to get around to knitting the sweater for Alex's little girlfriend. It's just too much work this close to Christmas.

And finally, I'm having the usual issues with Dante's school and the teacher's lack of understanding regarding how to help students with ADHD to be successful in class. His grades are terrible this quarter and when I spoke to some of the teachers, they acted like they didn't understand why he couldn't just write down his homework like other students because "it's listed on the board for the whole week" or "I tell them to exchange emails with other students so they can check their assignments" or "all my freshmen email me to ask questions if they need to". Did anyone remind him of that?...cause the other schools didn't bother to teach him any problem solving or study skills or time-management. Would it kill you to say "homework is on the board...write it down" or "a major assignment is due on Tuesday...remember to get it done"? So what's a mom left to do when it's clear that her child's school (which...I kid you not...looks like a prison on the inside) can't handle his education? The school that's failed to meet statewide standards for the last 3 years in a row? Well, I'll tell you. If his grades don't improve this next quarter, then I'll be picking up some financial aid forms from the local private school, and contacting some homeschooling companies to consider the options. His school isn't going to get any better, and I'm not going to let this stand, so I'll have to let you know when I know what my options are and what my next move is gonna be. Meanwhile, I'll be over here doing my final projects and knitting socks.

Breaking blog silence

2011-11-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

How many pictures does it take to get one that looks good?!

I'm so darn tired! This is nothing new, you say...and you're correct. I've worked extra shifts in the last week, finished a test-knit, and repaired two garments for customers. I've had my hands full in class every week for the last month. I've been trying to wrangle my grocery budget and cook something warm for my guys to eat every night (because my plans for left-overs keep getting upset by the appetites of two growing boys). Finals are fast approaching. I have three more repair jobs to do. I have a pattern in the midst of being test-knit, and another being totally overhauled (more on that in a minute). I have holiday knits to try to squeeze in, and my 5-year old has asked me to knit a sweater for his girlfriend (yes, you read that right...) who he loves. I'm gonna have to watch this one like a hawk when he gets older, lol.

And that pattern I'm overhauling? That pattern never had a real sample, which might be one reason why it only ever sold one copy. I decided that I needed to knit the sample myself, and now that I'm looking back at the pattern, I'm wondering what exactly I was smoking when I wrote this! It's a mess. I've changed the format and updated the charts with the fantastic Intwined Pattern Studio software, but I've designed a unisex-sock for men and women, so I'm having to make some serious adjustments to the pattern as I go. Right now I'm knitting the men's size because The Boy needs a new pair and I need to make a men's pair anyway so I've decided to make these his holiday pair of handknit socks. I know it sounds terrible, but I have to make him a pair anyway and what the heck am I going to do with these after they're done? So they go to him and I kill two birds with one stone. I'm looking forward to finishing this pattern and then I'll relaunch it and do a little advertising to help it along :)

Meanwhile, I finished my Julissa test-knit and I just love this sweater! I've worn it three times already! And who knew that 3/4 sleeves would actually be functional in New England. I loved every minute of this sweater and I finished it in 18 days (which I know because I was totally monogamous to this sweater, lol). I only added 1/2 inch to the sleeves before starting my decreases and to be honest, that was a total accident because I was happily knitting along and didn't feel like going back to pull it out. I also waited to start my increases after I'd covered my bust, but other than that I knit the sweater exactly as written. I only used 3 1/2 skeins of Tonos Worsted to knit the 36.5" size. And I know that I haven't posted any decent photos yet, but the weather hasn't cooperated so as soon as I can, I'll have the hubby take some. So, if you're tall or busty or simply looking for a super sexy sweater to knock 'em dead in, then go get the pattern!

Now, back to my Takoma.

I may have bitten off more than I can chew

2011-11-06T20:57:00.000-05:00

Alex's mittens knit by his Momma :)

Today I submitted a design proposal for inclusion in the Librarian Knits book. I can't say much about it, except that it's an honest-to-goodness garment and it's crocheted. Two things I've never done before. I've never designed a garment, at least one that'll be written in multiple sizes and was intended to be worn by anyone other than myself. And I've never designed in crochet before, although I learned to crochet when I was about 10-years old and I've been doing that far longer than I've been knitting.

There were just so many things to be considered with this. Yarns. Sizing! I can't begin to tell you the headache I dealt with just deciding on the measurements, and I can tell you that I'm definitely going to need help from a tech editor to grade this baby. Sketches. I'm not the best artist (as I've recently mentioned) and unfortunately, I couldn't simply knit a tiny version of my design and call it a day. I actually had to sketch the garment and put it on an illustrated lady with a pretty blouse and makeup and pearls. I had to take photos of the sketch and the of the swatches. Thankfully, I'd finished the swatches weeks ago. Then there was the dreaded Schematic. This time I used Photoshop to make it, and it came out much nicer. I'm definitely learning my way around these Adobe Illustrator programs :) Then, I made sure to use a nice, pretty, easy to read font and to check out the PDF before sending it off into the ether.

I've got confirmation that it was received, and now I wait. So what's the worst thing that could happen, you ask? Well, maybe they say no (and I'm prepared for that). I'll sulk for a while, and then go back and look at Jared Flood's Ravelry fav's and find my Quilt and Cable blanket there, and I'll feel better ;) Or maybe they say yes... then I'd actually have to pull this thing off! I have no idea if I can make this work within the deadline, but I think I can do it. I don't know if I can afford to use a tech-editor, but I've got a few good testers on hand and if I do most of the work ahead of time, I can cut down the amount of time they need to put in and that will save me some money. Or maybe the publisher will have an editor that they use and I won't have to come up with the cash for that... And what if Interweave accepts my proposal too?? Then I'd have one project/pattern due in February and one in March, and neither would see the light of day until the Fall of 2012. All that work, and nothing I can blog about for months and months!

So now, we wait.

So much work, so little I can show

2011-11-05T10:26:00.000-04:00

I've been working my little fingers to the bone. I've pulled extra hours at work. I've had classes full to capacity for the last few weeks. I've had school work (which I should be doing right now instead of typing this post). I've had repair projects, and I've had my Julissa test-knit.

I just love this pattern. The only change I've made was to lower the placement of the decrease section. Otherwise I've knit this pattern as written, and it was long enough for my very tall body. To prove that I've been knitting, and to give you something to look at, I had to take these awful bathroom-mirror shots of me in the sweater :) Alex tried to help, but I had to delete those photos because they look like a 5-year old took them, lol...cause one did.

Now, there has been lots of knitting and writing and schematic making and over-night mailing going on around here, and unfortunately I can't show you any of it. But I can say that I did it again, even though I swore I would never do it again. What is 'it', you ask? I submitted another design to Interweave Knits for their 2012 Holiday issue. I saw the call for submission and figured I'd just take a look to see what they were looking for. Then I thought, "I have a cute stranded mitten design that I've been kicking around for like...a year. I'll work up a swatch and send it out".

Fast forward several weeks, and I realized on Wednesday that the deadline was fast approaching (Monday) and that I still hadn't knit my swatch. Then I worked all Wed, and Thurs, and part of Friday. I came home and started swatching on Thursday night and after working on it for a while, I went back to my computer file and realized that the design wasn't what I'd originally planned and I wasn't sure if I liked it as much. Then I scrolled through some of my older stuff and found three super cute designs for children that I loved and I'd been waiting for the right opportunity to use them. I took another look at the submission call and realized that this fit another category better than my original idea did, and that I had a stronger submission with this new idea so I changed my mind and started something totally different about 12 hours before I had to hit the post office.

I couldn't decide on which of my three ideas to send them, so I just knit as fast as I possibly could and sent them all. I'm not the best artist when it comes to sketches, so I decided to skip that step and simply knit my swatch in the shape of the intended garment. They were mini-versions of what they would eventually be, and I put all the details on (including buttons and embroidery) so they should really impress then they get there. I also think I wrote a stronger submission proposal and everything was much neater and labeled clearly. I definitely learned from my first go at this. One thing I didn't learn last time (but I did this time) is to pay closer attention to those submission dates so I can avoid dropping 18 bucks to overnight something (especially when I don't know if I'll even get in).

So now my little babies are zipping their way through the mail to the good folks at Interweave Press and I'm going to forget all about them because I know from prior experience that I won't hear a thing about them for months and months :) Thankfully, I have lots of other ideas to work on and I'll be too busy to think much about them. And who knows...with three ideas, they're bound to like at least one of them, right?

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:31:00.001-04:00

I love Halloween. I always have. It was an equal-opportunity holiday. Halloween fun isn't dependent upon your socio-economic status. You can be dirt poor and still have a great time, as long as you don't mind a little cold and you're willing to pound the pavement. My poor mom would be out with us for hours as we walked half way across town and back, getting as much candy as we could possibly carry. It would be enough to last for a month if we played our cards right. And on what other night were we allowed to be out way past dark, or be up way past bedtime?

painting pumpkins

And then there were the spooky, kid-friendly, light weight horror movies that I loved so much! The Ghost and Mister Chicken was a personal favorite, as was the Disney version of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I watched that every year! I also learned to love Hammer Productions' Dracula movies with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. My love of scary movies has mostly passed Dante by, but Alex definitely got that gene, and we've been watching every Halloween episode of every cartoon we can find on Netflix (some of them more than once a day, lol).

Later, after he comes home from school, we'll watch another spooky movie and have a snack, and then get ready to go out Trick or Treating. I sure hope it warms up a little before then because it's only in the 20's right now. Dante's already said he's out if it get too cold, but Alex is a die-hard so we'll all have to bundle up and go out there. I just hope he isn't too exhausted to be able to handle himself, and I don't have to haul him home kicking and screaming like I had to on Sunday at the ward party.

So, with that in mind, I'll leave you with the knowledge that I'm totally wearing my Night of the Living Socks right now, and these awesome pics of Alex as a pirate (comic book style for fun). I've got homework to do, Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow to watch, a sweater to knit, and candy apples to make. I hope you have a blast!

Now available: Heritage Silk Lace Mittens

2011-10-29T09:31:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, I completed another design for Cascade Yarns a few months ago and I've been eagerly stalking their site for it's release. I'm excited to say that my Heritage Silk Lace Mittens are now available for download on Ravelry, or directly from Cascade's website. They did another wonderful job with the photos and I'm really excited to finally share the pattern with you!

The mittens are two-layered, with anatomical thumb placement to keep the pretty lace design on the back of your hand (where it belongs). The inner mitten is worked at a smaller gauge and has ribbing at the cuff, to help keep the wind and cold out. The pattern suggests that you "pick-up and knit" when starting the outer cuff, but if you would rather use a provisional cast on to do this step, feel free (just remember to do that when you start the inner mitten).

The outer mitten has a picot edge, a lace cuff, and eyelet holes at the wrist for an optional ribbon if you really want to girl these up. The lace pattern is worked over a small number of stitches and rows, and was easy to memorize after a little while. The pattern is written for three sizes, S (7" - 7.5"), M (8" - 8.5"), and L (9" - 9'5") in circumference, and includes written and charted direction for the lace (on the last page, so you don't have to print them if you don't use them).

You can use any colors you like, but the design shows best if you choose yarns with high contrast. I would also advise that if you substitute yarns, make sure that they are both colorfast as these mittens are attached.

I used Heritage Silk in 5630 (aqua), and 5618 (winter white), and knit the medium. It was funny because not only did I have to rip the lace portion at least 4 times on the first mitten (so I can attest to the durability of the Heritage Silk yarn), but I also had to rip back the inner mitten because I started to knit these to fit myself. I'm 6' tall and I always have to add at least 2 inches to any mitten/glove pattern. Here I was, happily knitting my mittens when I remembered that the model probably has average size hands (as you can see from the photos, I was correct) and I wouldn't need to knit these quite as long as I normally would, lol. That was an interesting moment for me :)

Anyway, I'm really pleased with these. They're my first attempt at designing with lace. They were tough to figure out (how do I attach these?, how do I get the correct number for 2 mittens at different gauges?, how do I...). I have to say that it wasn't nearly as difficult to send these off as it was to send away the blanket. Maybe it's because I don't have any other accessories in that color? But I'm planning on making another pair for myself, with what's left of my Ruby River to match my beret and scarf this winter. That is, if I can find the time :)

Night of the Living Sock (just in time for Halloween)

2011-10-22T22:14:00.001-04:00

Introducing my latest release for the Super Sock Scarefest:

Night of the Living Sock!

This is the 6th pattern (and my 2nd contribution) for the 2011 round of Super Sock Scarefest. I was inspired by the classic Night of the Living Dead, and decided to knit a sock that looks like something the fashionable zombie-chick would wear. It took a while to find the perfect color, but once I located the green (at Fresh Purls) I knew I was ready to go.

The pattern features a faux-tear and several randomly placed runs to add to the look of ”I’ve been chased through the woods by flesh-eating monsters”. The runs were easy enough to manage and I had a blast knitting them. The tear was another matter. I had one in the first sock but it looked more like a giant hole and I hated it so I ripped it back. While I finished the first sock, I figured out how to make it work and included it in the second sock. However, it still looked more like a circle and less like a rip in the fabric, so I decided last minute to 'stitch the wound' and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

The sample was knit to accommodate my size 10 foot. They only used about half a skein of Dream In Color Smooshy in Scorched Lime, less than one ball of Knit Picks Palette in Bittersweet, about 25 yds of Palette in Fairy Tale, and 5 yds of Cascade Heritage in Cherry. Not too bad at all! If you have some left-overs from another sock project, you could easily substitute them for the contrasting stripes and save some cash! I might end up making another pair, because Dante said he'd like a pair with black and white stripes. I think that might be cool looking too, so don't be surprised if you see another pair of these real soon!

Be ready for the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse! Get your copy now.

photo shoot preview

2011-10-18T23:19:00.001-04:00

Today was the photo shoot for my latest design for the Super Sock Scarefest, which will launch this Friday. As you may remember, the design needs to remain secret until their release date, so I can't show you all the photos yet. However, I was able to block them out and give you this beauty!

Think classic 1960's horror film that launched an entire horror genre, and lots and lots of remakes. And hopefully you'll also notice the yellow cast and film grain in this photo, which I hope adds to the feel of what I'm trying to express. This shoot is more of a story and I hope that it'll flow nicely and do Raini's wonderful photos justice.

This picture is my best attempt at showing fear, lol. I am a horrible actress and every time Raini tried to direct me, I'd just start laughing. Not very 'scary movie-ish' when the hapless victim is cracking up.

Here's what I can show you...

2011-10-17T09:16:00.000-04:00

Possible crocheted design?

I've been a busy bee! I know, I know... 'what else is knew?' you're saying to yourself, lol. Well, I'll tell you!

This last few weeks, I've had a crap-ton of homework (I know, not exactly new but just stay with me here). This week I've been involved in a group project...well, it really started last week but I'm finishing it up this week. Notice I said that "I'm finishing it" and not "we're finishing it". Bingo! I'm the victim of the all-too-common group project curse...the one where you get assigned to a group and at first everyone's working together but pretty quickly it's just down to you and one other girl, and before you know it, the actual work part starts and you're the last man standing. Thankfully, we're supposed to be working in a discussion board set up for our group, and this board stamps every response with a date and time stamp, so it's obvious who's participated and who hasn't. Plus I emailed my professor and let him know. When I turn in the project and they don't, I'll get a grade and they'll fail the project. So, at least it's not one of those situations where I'm the only one who actually cares about my GPA, so I do all the work and we all get the same grade.

Meanwhile, while all this is going on, I've been finishing up some projects and swatching for others. I finished knitting my newest design for the SSS2011, due for release this Friday the 21st. The photo shoot is tomorrow and I'm pretty excited about it. I called on the resources of my buddy Raini again. She's amazing! It was pretty last minute and I didn't think she'd have time to do it, so I asked my hubby if he'd help, and if he had any ideas. He said "well, we own that movie so I was thinking we'd prop up the DVD case, and lay your sock in front of it..." I may have freaked a little bit inside, lol, but I did manage to calmly tell him that these things are best when the socks are on a model's feet. That's when he tossed out this gem: "so, we paint you up like a [insert movie monster here] and we put you in a cute little dress and have you sit like this [think pin-up pose], and we take the photo". Thanks honey, but I think I'll just call Raini and beg her to help me, lol!

Now, while all this was going on, I remembered that I have an almost finished pattern collection awaiting my attention. I've got a hat, and a neckwarmer (which will need to be reknit in another yarn), and I started a set of convertible handwarmers but I never quite finished the first one. I finished it the other day but I didn't really love the flap when it was worn closed. It have a very Dr. Seuse quality to it. Then I did a little research on Ravelry and found that most mitts used the same flap but that the photos never showed them worn closed...hummm... Guess I know the reason for that. Then I started having this other idea using some short-rows so I knit the mate and tried my idea. It worked, but the flap was too shallow. Then I realized that I would have to use some combination of the two, and last night I reknit one of the mitts. Success! Now I have to reknit the flap on the other one and adjust the pattern accordingly, and then its off to the testers.

And as if that wasn't enough, I also finished the commissioned shawl, almost finished the body of my Takoma sweater, and I started swatching for what I thought was going to be a reproduction of a vintage crocheted baby blanket, that I repaired for a customer. I've done two swatches, and I'm about to do a third in the color that I think I'll be using for this project. However, I thought about it again and I realized that I'd love to have it as a skirt. Now, I learned to crochet way before I ever learned to knit and I even learned to read crochet patterns, but I never made many garments so I'm not sure I can pull off a garment like this, but I'm gonna give it a shot and see what happens. There's a submission for a project that I would love to be involved with, and I think this might just fit what they're looking for. I have three ideas actually, so I'm going to flesh them out and send in some good swatches, and then see what happens. So, don't be surprised if you see a whole mess of posts about stuff I can't exactly show you yet. I'll try to splice in some things you can see :)

Now, off to go check and see if I've been accepted as a test knitter for this :)

Illnesses, Vogue Knitting, and Candace Flynn

2011-10-08T09:35:00.000-04:00

In the effort to blog something (because I haven't blogged anything), I thought I'd bring you a totally random collection of stuff from my week.

Alex has been pretty sick since Wednesday and I've had to sit with him at the ER and the Urgent Care center, twice in the last three days. Not because he was on the verge of death or anything... He looked like he was having another episode of low blood sugar and I was instructed to take him directly to Hasbro to have specific tests done (because they have the best lab available), so I did. However, when we got down there he started to spike a fever and he got sick in the triage room. His blood sugar was really good, so they figured he just had a virus and that was the cause of the symptoms. We took him home and kept him out of school for two days (until he was fever-free for 24 hours).

Yesterday I sent him to school and they called me at 2:30 to tell me that he was in the nurses office with a bad headache. I went down to get him and they told me that he'd gotten sick in the office. I tried to get an appointment at his pediatrician's office but they were booked solid, so I had to take him into Urgent Care instead. Poor guy got sick 5 times in 2 hours, and his fever kept coming and going. They aren't sure what's going on, and they suggested that I watch him over night and bring him back in again today. Naturally, he feels just find this morning. I'm gonna watch him for a little while and bring him in later.

In other news, I was stalking Cascade Yarn's website to see if my Heritage Silk mitten pattern had been released yet when I found a link on their site to the latest Vogue news letter. Vogue featured several Cascade Yarns free patterns in their news letter, and my Quilt and Cable Blanket was among the group of patterns to be selected! How flippin cool is that?! I don't even know how to contain myself. If you haven't made one, now's the season for it...and it's only 4 skeins of Eco wool.

Speaking of patterns, I've got one coming up on the 21st (another design for the Super Sock Scarefest 2011) and another that should be ready for release soon. I've been working on this one off-and-on since March. I just worked out a design issue, and now I just have to go back and fix the pattern to reflect the changes. This is my first mini-collection and I'll be releasing them when I debut my brand. Keep a look out, cause these are gonna be cool!

Finally, if you've read this blog for any length of time, you'll know that I'm a huge Phineas and Ferb fan (don't judge me...) I was watching the episode where Candace is given a super-growth formula and grows to 50 ft tall. Before that she went to the Flawless Girl (think spoof of Cover Girl) audition to try out for the new spoke-woman job. She didn't meet the criteria (being at least 5' 10"), and in her despair she hollers "I'll always be two inches too ugly!" lol. It reminded me of my hormonal rant last week...nice to be able to laugh at ourselves (and at cartoons).

Man, I love colorwork!

2011-10-03T23:52:00.000-04:00

This, folks, is the Takoma sweater with just about three motifs completed. You can see where I'll be cutting this baby when I finish. I wish I could describe what it is about colorwork that I find so appealing, because I know that many people out there think it's difficult and I'd really like to change that misconception.

I love watching a picture grow off my knitting needles. I love how the little squares on the graph exactly match the little stitches on my needles. I always know where I stand with colorwork. You know if there's a mistake because you can easily see it in your work. You can take it a row at a time, and an individual repeat at a time (unless you're me, in which case you have to finish an entire row before you can put it down). You can be surprised by the way some colors play well together despite your expectations, and how others simply don't work out. It's sort of like paint-by-numbers, only with yarn.

Don't be afraid to do colorwork. Give it a try. Just two strands of yarn and your needles. Start with something simple like a hat or a mitten or sock, and work your way out. Check out the blog tutorials, the youtube videos, the articles in knitting magazines. Take a class at your LYS (I taught one last week). Just try it! Cut yourself a break, accept that your tension is going to be wonky on the first project, and have fun with the process. You might just surprise yourself and find that you've got a natural talent for it, and next thing you know, you're knitting a fair-isle pullover, lol. Or not, but at least you will have given it a try and not let fear hold you back from attempting something that you've always liked the look of, but thought you didn't have the skill set for.

Now, this week is a crazy homework week for me so don't be surprised if there's a little radio-silence on the blog. Rest assured, I'll be doing lots and lots of homework, working on my Takoma, and trying to get my latest Scarefest design ready for the October 21st release date :)

More of (not necessarily) the same

2011-09-28T21:29:00.000-04:00

Today I had a great class with a student I very much like and my buddy Denise. They were both working on socks while I was working on the color work section of Takoma (I know, no surprise). So I was right in the middle of one of the rows when I stopped for a second and said "is this right?..." and then found my place. My friend Denise started to laugh and then thanked me for making her feel better, lol. Turns out that she has insecurities about her knitting skill when she knits with me. So I guess what I've learned today is that we're all a bit insecure about something and that's okay. The key is to be willing to admit them (for the theraputic aspects) and then to have a good cry and move the hell on.

So in the spirit of moving-the-hell-on, I realized some things about myself today. My friend and reader Daisy sent me a poem from Maya Angelou that really lifted me today, called Phenomenal Woman. It reminded me that there are so many little parts to me that I love. I have learned to love my hair. I love my skin color. I love my legs. I actually like my streak of gray hair (not that it's gray, but that it's an awesome streak). I like my hands, and feet, especially when I paint my nails. I have nice nails (and as a former manicurist...I would know, lol). I have presence and people listen when I speak.

I love to make things with my hands and I get a great sense of accomplishment out of it. My boys love me for who I am, including my flaws (and there are many), and that's really all that matters. Any time I dress up or wear make-up, Alex tells me that I'm pretty :) The kids I teach at church actually like me, which is good because I love them. And I mean love in the actual sense of the word. I worry about them and I get excited about their accomplishments, and I get excited to see them every week, and I cry when they are hurt or upset. I feel like an extra mom. I mother them. I mother anyone who will stand still for it :) If you come into the shop and you look like you don't feel well (or aren't eating enough), I'll mother you too! I love my pets like family, and I grieve for lost fish.

Not to get all religified on you, but God made me who I am and had me go through what I've been through (good and bad) for a reason. I believe that reason is so I can understand and sympathize with others who are going through similar trials. He made me stand out so that people who were looking for a shoulder to lean on for comfort would see me better. I'm good at comforting. I'm good with children, and they seem to be drawn to me even though I'm so tall and could easily intimidate a small child. He made me sensitive so that I would take extra care of other's feelings because I know what it's like to have my own hurt. He made my face an open book so that people would know exactly what I'm thinking just from looking at my face, and all so that they would feel comfortable confiding if they needed to.

I am a mother, and a daughter, and a sister to many women at church, and just like a sister to many others, and a friend, and an extra mom to children who need a warm loving adult in their lives. I'm also an example to others going through trials similar to my own (not saying I'm a good example, just an example). I'm also a representative of my faith, and I've been able to change stereo types of what a Mormon (or a black, or a woman) really is and what they can do. I've been the exception to the rule. I've risen to the challenge. I've done what people told me I couldn't do. I've fallen on my face and failed fantastically, but got up and tried again. I can go. And now, I can remember my own worth. I hope that you can remember yours too.

In this post, I wax philosophical about nothing much

2011-09-27T20:38:00.000-04:00

This has been one of those weeks (so far). The kind where you wonder what you did to deserve all the crappy karma stuff that keeps biting you in the butt. Or maybe it's good karma that keeps things from being any worse than they could have been... Not really sure. Glass half empty/full type of situation here.

Anyway, Sunday I wore my repaired FLS to church even though my most recent photos made me look fat and I wasn't feeling too confident about how I looked in it. I was showing off where I'd repaired it, when I looked down and found ANOTHER hole. I guess the yarn is just done and I need to replace the sweater entirely.

Monday I went to the gym (because I was feeling fat after trying on clothes and comparing my photo in the FLS to an old one on my Ravelry project page). I felt really strong while working out and was impressed at how much energy I had. I was feeling pretty good about how I looked in my yoga pants (compared to when I first started working out) and I was having a good time. Feeling confident. Then, one of those tiny girls with delicate bone structure in super cute, matching workout gear (and her hair down and styled...) got on the machine right next to me and instantly in that moment I was back in high school all over again. Awkward. Freakishly tall. Dateless. Clothes that didn't fit properly. And fat (that's a new condition by the way, I was not fat in high school). I was instantly envious of her and how she was average height and how I bet all the men feel an instinctual need to protect her from harm. She's girly. I'm not. I'm 6' and 187lbs. I wear a size 10 shoe. I have big hands. I am an Amazon that comes lumbering into a room. I am literally big and tall. I hate it.

See, I know that everyone always tells me how they with they were taller and how luck I am, but really...you don't want this. I'm 34 and I just now find clothes that fit, but I'm forced to order them online and only 3 stores carry talls that are tall enough (that I can afford). Skirts aren't long enough. I have bad knees and scoliosis and I can't just sit in any seat comfortably for a long period because my knees and hips cramp up. I can't fit into several small car models. I intimidate children. Adults stare. And on top of all this, I'm now overweight. I have never (nor will I ever) fit the traditional standard of beauty. That's usually okay but every now and then I just wish I was like everyone else. I wish that I could just once feel like a girl.

Where is all this bitching going, you ask? Well, first it was a wake up for me to realize that even as a grown woman in possession of above average intelligence, a gorgeous husband, two really great children, and an impressive yarn stash, I'm still incredibly insecure. It's also a wake up call because one of my classes is shining a light on how a child's early years can affect them for the rest of their adult life and I can clearly see how mine is still affecting me. Don't misunderstand me; my parents were warm and loving. I had friends and I lived in a pretty safe neighborhood. But I was always the outsider. The tallest child in school. The only black kid in the family/class/neighborhood. The only kid who couldn't go to all the parties (although I know for sure that this wasn't a bad thing). It was hard to watch all of my friends be asked to the prom and not have anyone ask me. It was hard to be the only girl to not have a boyfriend. I grew up feeling ugly, and I didn't shake that until I was in my 20's. I'm mostly comfortable with my height by now. But I can't stop feeling bad about my weight. You know why? Because Western culture tells me I should be a size 4. I should have straight hair. It should preferably be blond. I should have straight white teeth and perfect skin. I should be glamorous and delicate and wear make-up every day and my entire worth as a being is based on how many men find me attractive. I've been beaten over the head with this since I was old enough to watch t.v. And I wish that one of these advertising exec would look at just ONE longitudinal study about what this crap does to a child's self-esteem, and then think better of it.

Oh, and my fish died today too. So...if you're still reading this post after all that heavy crap I've dropped on you, then you must not have had anything better to do with your day, lol. You'll never get that 15 minutes of your life back ;) Thanks for listening, and please please don't feel like you have to comment on this (unless you truly want to). I just needed to get it out there. I'll be looking for your invoices for services rendered in the mail (you know, for therapy...) lol.

The Saga of the February Lady Sweater

2011-09-24T17:28:00.002-04:00

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, then you know of my recent sweater tragedy. I don't know why I did this, but I certainly learned a valuable lesson. I knit a FLS out of a lovely yarn that a friend gifted to me. The sweater only took 5 balls, so I destashed the 7 I had left over. I never really wear the sweater because I didn't like the buttons and for some odd reason I thought that it was ill-fitting. However, I recently acquired a beautiful set of buttons and decided to pull them out and put them on. I stabbed my finger and made it bleed. I fought to get them all off the card. I got them all in place and they were beautiful! Then I started to fold up the sweater and noticed a giant hole in the lace. I was crushed!
My friend searched her stash to see if I'd given her a ball of the yarn but no luck. Then I realized that I probably put them in the "make room for more" sale at the shop, so I called Naomi to see if she still had the bag of partial-balls and rewinds. Nope. We'd already sold it.

To make matters worse, I showed my husband the hole...and noticed the second, larger hole! I was so disgusted that I ~~tossed it into a corner~~ put it on the dress-form and stuffed it into my closet until I could find the time to deal with it. Meanwhile, I checked Ravelry, Ebay, Amazon, and put out calls for help in two groups on Ravelry, Facebook, and Twitter looking for the yarn to repair it. No luck on any front. The yarn is discontinued and I'm SOL. That'll teach me not to keep a yard or two around for emergency repairs.

Now, if you haven't had a chance to tap into the genius of the employees at Bella Yarns... you're missing out. After agonizing over this issue for days, I told the story to Ann who replies "so, you're gonna pull back the bind off on the bottom and take some of the yarn from there?...". Genius! Why the heck didn't I think of that!! All this angst for noting. So, once we got that straightened out , I decided to pull out the bind off on the sleeves and cannibalize the yarn from there (because I love the length of the sweater).

The first thing that I did was pull back the cast off on one of the sleeves.

Then, in order to be able to bind off the sleeve again (once I had my extra yarn), I had to tink (knit backwards, literally lol) another row so that I would still have some yarn left over.

With my free strand of yarn, I decided to try my usual trick for repair work: follow the yarn. It's similar to duplicate stitching. I just run my needle with the yarn attached along the path that the knitted yarn is following, and walah! Repaired hole.

Now, I know that there are better ways to do repairs, specifically with lace, but for now I had to go with what I know. The final result isn't perfect, but if you look at the before and afters you can see that it's wearable and it's hard to spot the repairs unless you look hard for them.
Look closely at the photos. On the left are the repairs, and on the right I circled them so you can see them. I had a particularly tough time finding the repair on the last set of photos, so that's a good sign that they'll go unnoticed.

So friends, let this be a lesson to you. Always wind off a few extra yards so that you can repair your beloved sweaters later. Or, always knit your sweaters from the top down so you can more easily pull back a row or two for repairs. Or, always use commercially produced yarns that are readily available in the United States (and check Ravelry to see if others have used this color before or stashed it) so that you'll have a resource if you need more. But I say, go for option one :)

Takoma, here I come

2011-09-20T20:12:00.000-04:00

I was innocently surfing Twitter today when I saw an announcement that Knitty's Deep Fall 2011 issue went live today...so I clicked the link to check it out. That's when I saw this! I swear I gasped and my hands went right to my face, and my heart rate increased. Of course I clicked the photo and went to the pattern description, and started to plot about what colors I would use, and about how I already have multiple skeins of Eco Wool and Eco + in my stash... Then I went to Ravelry and stalked it until the pattern was put into the database so I could que it. I just saw it there a few minutes ago, so I qued it so fast that my fingers caught fire and the keyboard may have melted a bit.

I've been obsessed with Cowichan-inspired sweater patterns like this one I saw on Knit-Picks website, or like this one, or this one, or this one. Yep, they are all in my que right now. That would be the que that currently contains 10 pages worth of patterns x 30 patterns a page, that I'll never live long enough to knit through if I started today and did nothing but knit for the rest of my life. That que. So.... if I ever get done with school, and I finish my current knitting obligations, I might get this sweater finished before I die. Or at least right after Alex gets his back-to-school sweater and Aaron get's his afghan.

Oh, how I love that sweater!

Reclaimed yarn

2011-09-18T08:37:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I faced facts, that a most beloved pair of socks was ruined beyond repair. They were made for me by my buddy Rain of Honey & Ollie, in my first ever sock swap. Somehow my socks got bagged up in a giant plastic bag and shoved into my closed, where a carpet beetle got ahold of them and two more pairs of my socks. When I finally found them, they were chewed up in so many places that I just couldn't fix them. One had to be tossed out, but the other wasn't quite as bad off so I saved it.

Well, as you know I'm knitting the Beekeeper's Quilt and that uses sock yarn leftovers. I realized that this was a perfect opportunity for me to reuse the yarn from these special socks, so that I could keep the with me as a special memento...sort of like quilters do when they take squares of fabric from christening gowns or wedding dresses, and add them to a quilt to pass down. That being said, it was time to reclaim the yarn.

If you've never reclaimed yarn before, here's how it's done.

if the yarn to be reclaimed is knit into a garment with multiple pieces, then you need to take that garment apart first. Then, start from the bind-off edge, and pick back the yarn until you have a free thread...then pull that sucker out. You'll want to wind into a ball, or on a niddy-noddy (or your arm), or even wind directly onto a ball winder as you pull the yarn out. Once you've unwound the piece, you'll have something that looks a little like this.

As you can see, any yarn that's been knit into anything for any length of time will look a lot like Romen Noodles when you rip it back. It's not ready to be reknit yet, because the kinks will interfere with you ability to get a decent tension, and the finished piece will look like crap (to use the technical term, lol). To fix this, you need to wash this baby (and it could probably use a good wash anyway...) in an approved wool wash. I like Eucalan, and I literally have a gallon of it. It cleans and conditions the fibers, and there's no need to rinse.

Once the yarn is soaking in the water, you want to gently squish it to make sure that it gets completely saturated, as well as to encourage the dirt to float away from your yarn. Then just walk away and leave it for about 20 minutes. As you can see, the kinks start to drop out of the yarn right away.

Once the yarn is finished soaking, carefully remove it from the sink and squeeze out the excess water. Try not to pull on it, because the fibers are fragile when they're wet and you don't want to cause the yarn to wear out earlier than it normally would, now would you? I like to put the yarn into a towel, roll it up, and step on it to get the last of the excess water out. Next, the yarn is ready to be hung out to dry. This is what my yarn looked like after being left out to dry over night. See how much more relaxed it is?

Finally, you're ready to wind the yarn into a ball and knit with it all over again! I used a ballwinder, and made a center-pull ball.

I'll be knitting hexapuffs with my skein, and adding them to my future afghan. That way I can point to those little hexagons and say "this yarn was a pair of socks that my friend Rain knit for me, and I wore them all the time, and they were loved". So go forth, and reclaim yarn from you much loved (or even not-so-much loved) projects, and use it again for something you'll be more likely to use and love!

A sad, sad day (sort of)

2011-09-16T13:41:00.000-04:00

Please join me in mourning the passing of my all-time favorite pair of pajama bottoms. My mom sewed these for me a few months before I moved to Rhode Island (10 years ago...). The seat finally gave out and there's just no more wearing them. They are survived by one pair of lavender flannel pajamas (the last of the five pairs that she sent me away with).

I loved these pants for several reasons. First, I was a huge wrestling fan for several years and my favorite wrestler was Stone Cold Steve Austin. These are Stone Cold p.j.'s. Second, the little blue and white skulls in the background. Third, the giant skulls glow in the dark! I know, right?! So, I've worn these constantly through the last 10 fall's and winter's, but now I have to toss them out. I'll miss them greatly.

It is also a sad day because I have faced the realization that I am addicted to hexagon puffs. I've pulled out various left-over balls of sock yarn (and was just SHOCKED to see exactly how many of those I actually had) and I've knit about 7 in two days. They're pretty quick and they're easy to pick up and put down when I'm teaching knitting class. I can see that this is going to be a problem. Good thing I can turn them into a blanket when I'm all done (a year from now, lol).

Look what I got today!

2011-09-13T18:10:00.000-04:00

Today was a good day! My book order arrived from Knit Picks, including Modern Top Down Knitting (by Kristina McGowan), The Knitters Handy Book of Sweater Patterns (by Ann Budd), and Itty-Bitty Hats (by Susan B. Anderson). I've wanted these books for a long time now, but I've always held off until now. I really need the handy book of sweaters to help with an upcoming project, and since Knit Picks has that trusty free shipping with purchases over $50... I just had to get the others. Really! Don't look at me like that. I was only going to get two but the price difference was only about 7 dollars after shipping was added in, so I just decided to spend that money on another book instead of shipping. I managed to literally squeeze them onto my bookshelf, but if I try to add one more book to my collection, I'm going to need a new shelf.

The Bride of Frankenstein!

2011-09-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

My latest pattern for the Super Sock Scarefest! Click the link to see all of the beautiful photos taken by the talented Raini Stout

It was a dark and stormy night...

The monster demanded a mate, and Frankenstein was working hard in the lab to give him one

When we finally see The Bride, she's all wrapped up in gauze from head to foot.

Now you can have matching feet, just in time for winter pedicure season ;)

The pattern is free to Super Sock Scarefest members, and available for download for a short time. After the group winds down for the year, it will be available to the general public through Ravelry, as well as this blog. Please feel free to email me if you would like to be notified of it's general release.

A beautiful Saturday

2011-09-10T14:51:00.000-04:00

Today was Alex's first trip to the temple, and while it wasn't without incedent (Alex knocked the prayer roll box off the counter and made a huge racket in the quiet temple), it went about as well as I could have expected.

We waited outside the distribution center for the rest of our group to arrive, and then we went in and heard some stories about how the site for the temple was chosen. Did you know that there are fossils in the granite floors of the entry way? I had no idea, but they pointed a few out.

Then we got to go inside the temple and see the visitor center (for lack of a better word), and listen to another story about the sacrifice of early saints as they built some of the temples. They also pointed out some of furniture and the rugs, and talked about how the trees and flowers symbolize the tree of life. It was really neat.

We all got together after, and Raini took family photos of everyone, and some group shots in front of the temple. By that time, Alex had just about enough of being still and quiet so we decided that we would skip the picnic afterwards and just head home. (Can you believe I took that photo?!) Anyway, if you would like to see the full album (there are just too many to post in the blog), you can view it by clicking on this link.

Oh, and I made great progress on my socks yesterday. I like how they're coming out but I really had my heart set on a certain element of the pattern and it just doesn't have the same impact without it. I think I'll try it again on the second sock and see if I can't somehow get it to work.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

Quickly.

2011-09-09T22:56:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to pop my head in to share my latest purchase: Coastal Knits. I just pre-ordered my copy and I'm excited about knitting from this collection. It called to me right away because I'm originally a California girl, so the West Coast knits all feel familiar and nostalgic to me. However, I moved to Rhode Island about 10 years ago so the East Coast knits all feel like home. What a perfect book to meet my bi-polar knitting needs :) And as a fun bonus I got an instant download of two of the patterns, plus a few other neat little things. I just need to find some time to knit just for me. And I just realized...I'm self-employed when it comes to my design business, so I can knit for myself when ever I want to...so I guess I'll start right after my commissioned piece :)

Also, I have just over 24 hours before I can upload my SSS2011 pattern! And to help me get over the anxiousness I've started another design for the Fest, which I'll toss in as a potential bonus.

Oh, and Alex did just fine today on his second day of school. He told me all about his day and I think he's going to end up having fun after all. Tomorrow I'm driving him and a few others up to the Boston Temple for a Primary Activity and I can't wait for him to see it. I'm sure he won't react like I expect, but I think he'll like it just the same. So, I'm off to finish watching Halloween Resurrection, and then I'm off to bed.

Rainy with Raini

2011-09-08T17:23:00.000-04:00

This is my buddy Raini, and we were getting completely drenched in the rain while doing a photo shoot for my latest pattern design (which goes live 9/11/11). She's so talented that she managed to take some really great photos with my little point & shoot camera. I'm sure that we looked completely crazy to passers-by. As a matter of fact, I know we did because a woman walked past us while we were doing one of the sidewalk shots, and she gave me The Eye. Here's why:

Yep. I looked like this, in public. Plus, I was standing outside in the rain, in my handknit socks and a white skirt, getting completely soaked. Sorry I had to cut off my feet in the photo, but the socks still can't be seen until after the pattern goes live. But can you see my Vlad Shawl peaking out from under my husband's gortex jacket? It rained so hard at one point that even his military-issued rain-proof coat couldn't keep me dry. You should have seen me, with my wet sweater sleeves and my wet socks and crocs, at physical therapy. I certainly made an impression in these socks, lol. But at least my feet were still warm (wet socks and all).

Oh, and it also might have been Alex's first day of school today. Lets just say that things went about as well as I expected they would, and that's why his teacher met me right as I picked him up to tell me that he'd had a difficult day. I looked her straight in the eye and said "That doesn't surprise me." We'll be scheduling a conference ASAP. Also, Alex said school bored him and he doesn't want to go every day. Sigh. This is going to be a very, very long year.

What did I do to deserve this?

2011-09-07T21:58:00.000-04:00

I've had a mixed day folks. I managed to find the two balls of Blackstone Tweed in the discontinued colorway that I needed to reknit one of my samples to match one of my patterns-in-the-works. That was fantastic, and I bought those bad boys before my debit card knew what hit it. I also got quite a lot done in the shop today and I had the satisfaction of being able to see how my hands (which touched just about every yarn on the machine-wash side) were able to make a big difference in how pretty it all looked. But then I got a few customers today who were having trouble with projects because they were trying to knit something with a different yarn than called for, in a totally different gauge than the pattern is calculated for, and they wondered why it wasn't working. Someone actually asked me to explain to them why they liked knitting with one yarn but not the other...? How should I know why you like one thing and not another? And honestly, you have the right to like what you like and to dislike what you dislike, so you don't need to stand at my counter and try to justify it to me over and over. We have a simple exchange policy. If the yarn is still in original condition, and you have your receipt, that's all I need. No explanation necessary. And I tried to tell this customer that, but she continued to justify. Let the guilt go. It's okay to dislike a yarn that we like. Just tell me what you want and I'll point you in that direction...and if you don't like it...just say so. We'll move on.

Now, that being said, if you want to knit something but you don't have a pattern, and you don't want one (which seems to be happening more and more often lately), I respect that but I can't be responsible for the finished outcome of a project if you wing it. There are no guarantees in knitting, just like there are no guarantees in life. And there are lots of little pitfalls that less-experienced knitters (and even very experienced knitters) can get into when knitting a garment with no pattern. Why? Because maybe the yarn has more drape than you realized and it flops all over the place when it's supposed to be structured and firm. Maybe you knit a yarn at the necessary gauge, but got a fabric so dense that it can stand in the corner by itself. Maybe you got something that is delicate and will pill if not treated gently...and then knit mittens out of it (like I did). Or maybe it's not even the yarn. Maybe the yoke depth is too deep and it bags under the armpit (happened to me). Maybe the rate in increase is too fast and the gusset isn't long enough to fit your thumb without pulling up the cuff (again, happened to me). Maybe you wanted to make a boat-necked cardigan and wondered why you never saw any patterns for one (only to find out exactly WHY there aren't any).

Designers make a million mistakes and they learn from them all, and then they pool that knowledge into a well written pattern so that you can knit a garment without going through all that. You just knit. We cover most of the unexpected issues so you don't have to. It's hard work, and it's all available for your convenience. So, if you want to know how many yards of some random yarn you'll need to knit a vest for an eight-year old girl, I'm going to point you to a pattern because there are way too many variables to go over and it would make your head spin. And if you decide that you still don't want one, I'll respect that, I'll give you a very rough estimate, but don't hold me to that...cause things are probably going to go off the rails.

Finally! haircuts!

2011-09-06T23:36:00.000-04:00

It sure took long enough! I've been pestering these boys all summer about getting a haircut and they've been putting it off and putting it off until they both had hair so long it was curling. Legitimate curls. Dante had ringlets! Honestly I think that Alex dug in his heels because Dante was refusing a haircut, because once Dante finally gave in he was willing to get one too. And that poor girl earned her money today. He wiggled. He giggled. He whined. He complained. And through it all she just kept clipping and cutting, and when it was all done, he had his mohawk back. Meanwhile, on the other side of the shop, Dante was getting a fade and having a chat with the barber (who is a friend of my husband) about fantasy football. Then, we all came home and had something to eat, and then showers. Now, they're truly ready for school on Thursday.

I finished my final project today and turned it in a little bit early. I also sewed the buttons onto my socks and wove all the little ends in. They are now on my sock blockers, looking cool, waiting for tomorrow night when I should be out in a cemetery in Warren shooting black & white shots of these socks with my buddy Raini (a talented photographer who has kindly agreed to lend me her expertise). I sure hope we can make our schedules work, because I'm really excited about it. I even shot off a quick email to The Powers That Be with photos of the design so she could get a sneak peak, just cause I had to show them to someone or I'd blow up! But no worries. I'm making some good progress on the next design and it should help take my mind off this one. And the timing of these designs are perfect because it's been freezing around here at night and I've already pulled out my handknit socks (which are severely depleted due to worn-out heels). I haven't knit myself a pair of socks in a while so the ones I have are really taking a beating. Goodness knows, I've got enough in the stash for about 60 pairs of socks if I just sit down and knit them. But that's a story for another day...

Oh, and I did a little experiment today. I used my row counter to count how many times Alex asked me a question today. I didn't start counting until 9am (cause I was sleepy and forgot about it...we were up at 7am), but from 9am - 6pm...my child asked me a question approximately 160 times. That's actually on the low side given the 2 hours I didn't count, and all the times he asked questions that I answered automatically without remembering to click the row counter. I discovered that when he starts a sentence with "Momma?..." he follows that with a question 90% of the time. No wonder my brain doesn't work and I'm always tired :)

one down, one to go

2011-09-05T22:29:00.000-04:00

Today, I not only finished knitting a full pair of socks for my SSS2011 design, but I also wrote the pattern! I'm so stoked. I wish I could show you a photo of the socks blocking, because they're hilarious looking (maybe I'll put up some blocking photos and photo shoot stuff after their release), but I have to wait till after they go live. My husband told me that these are either going to be hugely popular (because they're so original) or they won't be...no in between...and I think he's right. Knitters are either gonna love this concept, or they'll hate it, but it doesn't matter to me. I had a blast making them. They're exactly what I want them to be. And they represent a fun, old fashioned horror movie (one I could actually watch with my 5-year old, who likes old horror movies like his momma) so they're dear to my heart.

So what did I do to celebrate, you ask? I cast right on for my next Scarefest pattern, which I hope will make it into the 10-day pattern rotation, but if not it'll probably be a bonus pattern. This one was actually my first idea, and I'm really excited about it too. I hope it turns out just as funky and cool as the first pattern did. Now, for those of you who might be playing along with the Scarefest KAL this year, I can tell you that for next week's pattern, you'll need at least 400-600yds of fingering weight yarn with some elastic content, and 6 small buttons. I used two balls of Knit One, Crochet Two's Soxx Appeal for my sample, in color # 9812 (fawn). There are two leg options, and if you decide to knit a full pair using version 1, you'll most likely need 3 balls of Soxx Appeal (or 600yds), but if you decide to do one leg in version 1 and the other in version 2 (like I did) or both in version 2, you'll be fine with 2 balls. You could also use Cascade fixation, but it's a sport weight yarn and that'll mean that you will need to recalculate the numbers a little bit to get it to fit properly...and I can't accurately estimate how much yarn you'll end up using...so maybe you should just stick with something that knits up at 8sts per inch with elastic in it (you'll need the elastic!!).

And if you're wondering why I have a random picture of my baby boy in this post...it's because he's super cute and I don't have any knitting photos that I can share with you yet (and also zoo photos haven't been uploaded yet, but they will be) so enjoy the mohawk!

Fun with my boys, lol

2011-09-04T14:56:00.000-04:00

Now I know that this is, at the end of the day, a knitting blog...but I've had projects that I wasn't free to share so I've been giving you some insights into my crazy day-to-day. And I'm sure that you've seen just about all you want to see of my family on this blog (lol) but my mom (who lives 3,000 miles away) reads this blog to stay up to date on what we're doing, so you're gonna have to suck it up a little bit ;) Or you can take it up with her...

Anyway, things are starting to get back to normal, which means that I've got lots and lots of stuff on my plate. The boys both start school on Thursday. Dante started seminary on Wednesday and I just had a meeting with his teacher about his expectations for the year (more stuff to keep track of). I'm driving some of the kids and teachers up to the temple this Saturday for the upcoming Primary Temple Trip. I have my final project due this Tuesday. I have my first pattern for the Scarefest due on the 11th. I still have physical therapy, and my cat is due for a check-up at the vet. Whew!

Oh, and my MIL asked me to knit her a sweater that she saw in some high-fashion magazine. She tore out the photo for me, and I immediately took out a pin and started sketching over the top of the photo, to correct the issues that make that sweater unwearable in real life. Then I flipped through to find what the hot colors were for the season, and went to work to pick out single skeins of several different yarn options for her to choose from. I have a feeling this monumental project is going to end up as my first official pattern release...since I have to design it anyway and will have done all this work. This will be a project that I get to show you and I plan to take you through the bulk of the process with me so you can see how my brain works (can't promise it will be pretty, or make sense).

Now, unfortunately I had planned to upload a video for you but my blog was giving me a hard time, so you'll have to click here for the hilarity.

Hurricane photos: The Final Chapter (lol)

2011-09-03T11:02:00.000-04:00

So, you've seen the last two episodes of hurricane/tropical storm Irene photos, and now I bring you the final chapter: How We Coped For 72 Hours Without Electricity.

As you can see here, we were pretty well stocked with snacks. This is only a small portion of what we had on hand, and after all, when one has an apartment full of boys...one must keep the pantry stocked with Little Debbie snacks, lol. Trail mix and wheat Ritz crackers were for me.

Once we were able to leave our homes again, I took Alex to school and had Dante with me, running errands to the bank and walmart for additional supplies. We had a charger that plugs into the car's cigarette lighter port. It has regular outlets and a USB port so we could charge our phones, Nintendo DS's and Dante's iPod touch. I didn't let the boys use the battery operated items until after 5pm when the light started to fade, and that way they had them when they really needed to have something to do, and no one's battery died in the middle of a game, in the dark.

After Alex got out of school, we went to the local libraries so he could play and we could take advantage of power, internet, and air conditioning. We also keep up a steady supply of book for Alex to read. At the newly remodeled Weaver library in East Providence, we found this awesome train table where Alex played for about an hour, during which I was able to sit at a tiny table in a tiny chair and work on my final project offline.

There were several rooms with cool things like a puppet theater, a funhouse mirror, a lego table, and a station set up for babies 1-3 years old. Dante went over to the teen section, found a beanbag chair, and read for a while.

At some point in the day, Alex needed to go potty and when I took him into the bathroom in the children's section of the library, I felt like I was in Alice in Wonderland! Everything was child-sized! The sink was at his level. The mirror was low enough for him to see himself in it. He could actually reach the soap dispenser and the paper towel holder. It was so cute, that I had to take photos of him at the sink, lol.

Later in the day, we went home to add more ice to the cooler, eat lunch, and stock up on snacks again. Then it was off to the Barrington Library where we found half the town at the park with their children. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared for the icecream truck to randomly pull up out of the blue, and Alex was pretty upset that I didn't have cash to get him an icecream. That meant a trip to Riverside Creamery for a sub-par soft serve (because they take debit card). At least the boy was happy.

Thankfully, the power was restored the day after this, so I have no more storm-related photos to show you. Hopefully I'll be able to show you some of the knitting projects I've been working on, in an upcoming post.

Hurricane Photos: part 2

2011-09-02T13:55:00.000-04:00

Shaw's dairy section, 2 days after the storm

not much cheese left

donuts. the breakfast staple

cream cheese. maybe it's going on all the donuts?

Target, the day after the storm.

I saw something just like this in Zombieland

nothing. and it was dark.

still more nothing.

right about here I realized they had to pull all the refrigerated foods off the shelves.

a tree down.

trees down on either side of the street

tree down on the Blackstone Blvd.

more of the same.

ditto.


clean up started first thing Monday morning, and was still going on as of Friday morning.

Tomorrow, photos of what got us through the first few days.

Hurricane photos, part 1

2011-09-01T14:35:00.000-04:00

four 72-hour kits, ready to go by the door

Candles lined up for use later when the power goes out

assorted milks, and soda in the cooler (it got a lot more crowded in there later)

lanterns, extra candles in a box, and assorted flashlights (recognize flicker from Handy Manny?)

garden, after I cut down my herbs

basil hanging up to dry

basil, thyme, and cilantro, all brought in from the garden (the basil didn't last the night)

hurricane winds blowing plants across the street

this was blowing way more than you can tell from the photo

debris from the storm

blowing winds and rain

hurricane lamp (aptly named)

Alex's activity station during the storm

hand-cranked radio/flashlight combo (which we adore)

the wind blew off the neighbor's screen door

Tomorrow, photos from the aftermath.

This post brought to you by...electricity :)

2011-08-31T11:00:00.000-04:00

That's right folks! We not only survived the hurricane without having to evacuate, but we also survived over 72 hours without power with a video game dependent 14-year old, a t.v. addicted 5-year old, and minimum food spoilage. Of course our checking account took a substantial hit, as the banks were all closed because of the power outage but the clearing houses were all open, so that money I had sitting in the savings account just sat there instead of getting into the checking account where it really needed to be. Oh well. Worse things have (and did) happen as a result of the storm so I'm feeling very blessed.

I was a good little blogger, and made sure to charge the camera battery so I've got some pretty surreal photos to share once I get home to upload them. Unfortunately, I'm right smack dab in the middle of finals again and I've been without power or computer access so I'll be busy for a good week, but if I get some spare time I promise a proper blog post complete with photos and a full debriefing of the last three days. Now, back to work :)

A peek into my work-neighborhood

2011-08-27T10:26:00.000-04:00

This little sign was invisible from my car and I found it on my giant walk on Monday. Super cute!

This is the front of the Warren town hall building, and it's about a block over from my yarn shop. I don't usually get to go down that end of the street much, because I normally just go into Warren to work and then go home. My travels usually don't go much past the Coffee Depot, which I believe is directly across the street from this.

From that spot, turn to your right and you'll see this beauty. Isn't it the prettiest clock you've ever seen?! I love the view from this part of the block.

A little further down the same street is the Warren library. It looks like a castle! Who knew that Rhode Island had a castle, lol. Unfortunately I've never been inside because I usually go to the Barrington Library, and because it's about two blocks down from work (and their hours are our hours so it's closed when I get out and closed when I come in). Maybe next week I'll go on my day off and stop in with my camera so we can all see what's in there.

Up the other direction, and through a little alley between the town hall and a building full of businesses, is the Warren Police Department/DMV and municipal parking. If you're traveling to the shop off of Main St (route 114) from Barrington, turn Left onto Joyce St, and then make an immediate Right. That's where you'll want to park when you come to the shop, and when you get out of your car you'll see this :) I love the lamp posts which say "public" on the left one and "safety" on the right one. And the red doors are great too!

Now, back to the Warren Town Hall. This is the sign that's carved into the front of the building, just above the doors. It's so pretty! Did you know that Rhode Island and Massachusetts has a rich Native American history? Many of the towns and streets share names with the tribes that lived in the area, like the Wampanoag Trail, or Narragansett, RI.

Here's the cute little sign, with benches and flowers where people can come and sit for a spell. Do people still do that?...sitting for a spell? Well what ever. You can come and sit.

Hope you enjoyed this little photographic tour of two blocks of Warren, RI...a town where I don't actually live, but I do spend a good amount of time, lol.

Dear Irene

2011-08-26T17:34:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about it, but we're prepping to be slammed by Hurricane Irene. It's currently 93 degrees here, and I've just packed up the contents of four 72-hour kits, which were spread all over my floor. I've packed a small suitcase for Alex and I with 3 days worth of clothes and a blankie each, and everything is sitting in front of the door just in case someone comes knocking and says that we need to head for the middle school. I have charged my phone and added minutes. I know where the candles are. I've spoken to my mother and my Mother-in-Law. I bought 2 cases of water, and have four gallons put into into plastic containers for the cat. And finally, I've arranged a place to go if they should ask up to leave, but hopefully they won't because Dante is away at a Young Men's activity and Aaron is working a golf tournament in Mass so it'll just be Alex and I.

I'm definitely feeling the calm before the storm, and I feel pretty good about finally putting together those 72-hour kits (that I've been hearing about for the last 10 years at least). We're expected to lose power for up to 3 days (and I've got candles, head-lamps, yarn, and a gas stove so I'm good), so if you don't see any updates from me on facebook or twitter, don't worry.

Now! Knitting. I decided to take the advice of my friend Sam, and start my socks over with the Sox Appeal yarn. It's got elastic, so I think it'll be a better choice given what I'm trying to do. This is a risky proposition because my pattern is scheduled for release on September 11th and I need to have the sample finished before then or the pattern won't make sense. This isn't a standard sock, and it really needs a picture. That being said, if I get to the leg and this one isn't working any better than the other, I'll just go back to it. I put it on hold so it's still there waiting for me to finish it (and I just might finish it anyway because I like what it's doing, even if it's not what I planned).

And I know this is slightly off topic, but does anyone else wish that netflix would put some sort of language warning on movies or shows that are listed as "NR" so I'll know ahead of time that someone might drop an F-bomb within the first minute of their show...while my 5-year old is in the room? Or maybe the artist could say something right up front, like Craig Ferguson did in the stand-up special we started to watch last night. He said straight up that he was going to cuss, so at least we knew. Just sayin.

It's Tuesday, so you know what that means...

2011-08-23T14:31:00.000-04:00

Yep, dear readers. I have a major school assignment due tonight before midnight and instead of working on it, I'm writing this blog post :) Don't you feel special? How is it that I still maintain a straight A average, you wonder? What business is it of yours, I say! lol.

Anyway, yesterday I took Alex to school and after I dropped him off I went for a walk down the street to the library on Hope St in Providence (only to discover that it doesn't open until 1pm on Mondays). Along the way I got to see some really pretty things that you just can't see from the car, like this Episcipalian church with the gorgeous red door. I love it! I've wanted to get a better look at it ever since the first time I saw it years ago on my way to Fresh Purls, but I never took the time. And yesterday, on my grand adventure, I saw beautiful things all over the place and was in awe of all the things that I never noticed before or couldn't see from the car. I was even moved to tears when I finally got a better look at the Jewish Temple, with the gold leaf and the round dome, and stone versions of the 10 commandments on the outside. And I was totally going to share it all with you...only I left the camera at home :| Then I had this great plan that involved bring the camera with me (which I did) but then my husband suggested that we go to Sam's Club today (and I needed him to get in because I lost my card) so he came along and I couldn't go on that same walk today. So all I have to show for my big day out is sore shins and this one photo of a red door.

I wish I had something more clever to say, or more photos for the post, (and I actually did have something to say when I started this post) but I just spent the last 5 straight minutes playing referee to my boys and trying to keep them from killing themselves, and now I don't know what it was I was trying to say. But maybe it's for the best. I do, after all, still have a paper to write... And two pairs of socks to knit and design... And some research to do for a project I have going on the side...

Why I need a photographer :)

2011-08-21T16:34:00.000-04:00

I've had some visitors to my blog in the last week, so I thought we'd do a little review. This young man is Alex. He's my youngest son. He's 5-years old, doesn't sleep well, is a very picky eater, loves Thomas the Tank Engine, his favorite color is green, and he's very particular about his hand knits. He knows what he likes and what he doesn't, and no one's gonna tell him otherwise! When I surf Ravelry, he likes to get on my lap and ask me to make him just about everything under the sun. Sometimes he asks for things that don't exist. Telling him that there are no patterns for that is not an acceptable answer to Alex. That, my friends, is why Alex is one of my two biggest resources when it comes to my design biz. If he want's a tie, I better design him a tie (and he's wearing it. It's Shelby, and it's available in my Ravelry pattern store and on my sidebar). Anyway, Alex currently has me running ragged on a hat that I've been having a hard time working out the details for, but rest assured that he'll eventually have his hat (because he checks in on it regularly). I can't say here exactly what it is because of licensing issues, but I can say that it's a classic 64-bit video game that may or may not involve specters and eating stuff :)

My other main source of inspiration comes from my pretty respectable knitting/reference library. Honestly, it looks like a lot more when you're standing in front of the book shelf. I've got design books, stitch dictionaries, repairs and technical info, volumes upon volume in Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting, a ball winder, umbrella swift (in the box), blocking wires (in the tube), a tub of scrap yarn, three-ring binders with leaflets and printed patterns, a few works-in-progress, my Dooney & Burke bag serving as my spinning WIP basket, and my knitting bad.

Unfortunately, this is the most organized space I have right now for my knitting supplies and I'm realizing that I really need an office. However, that's not going to happen anytime soon so I think I might need to hit IKEA for some small-space storage solutions. That or I just need to stop buying yarn because let's be real for a minute...I'll die before I ever in my lifetime knit all the yarn I currently have, and we all know I'll probably bring some home in the next week.

So, you've seen two big influences in my design business (business?...really?...still getting used to that). And you've seen a few examples of my ~~lack of~~ skill behind the camera. That being said, I'm really excited because I discovered by accident today that one of my friends from church is a photographer with a great camera, and she's agreed to work with me when I launch my Altitude line! It's all going right back to what Kelly Rae Roberts has been saying her e-course. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and opportunities will come. And three came just this week alone! I can only tell you about one right now, but stay tuned because I'll be revealing the others soon enough :)

Secret Knitting, with updated photos, lol

2011-08-18T22:01:00.000-04:00

First of all, I need to confess that I just got into big trouble for uploading this photo while the hubby was playing Call of Duty on X-box live, because it caused him to lag and die, lol. So I can't upload the rest of the photos or he won't speak to me for the rest of the night, but if you haven't gotten to go check out my Ravelry project page for this puppy...go do it right now (no Ravelry account needed). Seriously. Why are you still here??

As you know, I troll Ravelry stalking my friends' activity feed to see the latest, newest, prettiest, funnest (?) projects and patterns out there. I've seen some things that will knock your socks off, and some photography that let me know pretty quick that my old point-and-shoot sucked. We eventually got a new camera, but there were so many options and buttons and to be honest I still don't know what half of them do so I sort of live-and-die by the flash and the 'natural lighting' functions. (Whew.) Fast forward a few years to when my hubby went to school to get a degree in Web design, which led to our acquisition of Photoshop. I've mentioned before that I've had some steep learning curves with Photoshop, but I've learned how to doctor my photos to look pretty much the way I want with a few simple settings, and I've gotten much faster. These only took about an hour from camera flash to my project page. Not bad considering my earlier efforts. One thing that I've learned...you can make a pretty background with just about anything. The background of that photo is just a white polo shirt draped across my bed. But since I can't keep a white shirt clean to save my life, I probably won't be able to use it again :)

Tomorrow, my pretty mittens head out to Washington, to their new home. I've started on my latest project and as usual, I immediately started to second guess my original vision. But this time I told that voice to 'Shut the hell up', because I'm not going to let it scare me away from what I fell in love with and got really excited about when I first started sketching the idea. Where does this new, bold version of designer-Cam come from, you ask? Well, I've been working my way through the e-course (you know, the one I mentioned a couple times already), and it's been liberating! Already I'm starting to network with other people in my position and that makes me feel better about where I am and how I feel. I've responded pretty emotionally to several things that I've read because I was struggling with that issue. I think I just needed the validation. So here goes:

I am a fiber artist. I am. Others have tried to call me a designer, or an expert, or even a professional, and I've shot them down. Why?! Why was I afraid to admit that I'm an artist? I think I was afraid that because I'm not at the level of the fiber artist that I admire and follow, that I didn't have the right to call myself that. Who do I think I am to go out and create my own fan group on Ravelry? Who am I to have an artist page on Facebook. And when I first set it up, it was as a business page and not an artist page. I've shunned that title for years, and without reason. Here's a little background on me...

My mother is artistic, has beautiful handwriting, sews, cross-stitches, crochets, and could sketch and paint. My father was recruited to draw for Walt Disney studios (but turned them down). Mom said he could draw eyes like nobody's business. I have always loved to draw and I've loved color. I used to dump out my crayons and put them in color order before I could start using them, lol. I took art in school until high school, where I had to give it up for Advanced English. I never got to take it again, and it was pretty much beat out of me. But it really wasn't, because it showed up again when I went to beauty school to become a manicurist. I was very talented, and I really got into nail art. I worked happily for years until the economy made it impossible for me to stay in the business. That's when I started knitting. Not long after I started altering patterns, and a few short years later I was designing my own. I'm an artist in my soul, and being artistic makes me happy. I love to be surrounded by color (and yarn, but that's another story), and I love to make beautiful things. I find beauty in everyday things, like the jars of pickles I canned a few days ago. So yes, I am an artist and I'm ready to embrace that and I'm not afraid of it anymore.

Hi. I'm Cambria, and I'm a fiber artist :)

Secret Knitting: done!

2011-08-17T23:18:00.000-04:00

Tonight, I finished my Heritage Silk Lace Mittens for Cascade Yarns and I couldn't be happier! They are drying upstairs right now so I don't have much by way of photos, but I do have a couple to share.

This was a real challenge for me. I have never designed anything with lace before and I wasn't even sure if I could! This pattern, like my Quilt and Cable Blanket, has been knocking around my sketch book for at least a year and I finally figured out how to get it out of my head and off my needles. I can tell you that there were several elements of my original design that didn't make it into this one, but I love it just the same. Originally, the inner mitten was going to be knit in lace-weight yarn. The inner mitten and outer mitten were supposed to have matching eyelet holes, through which I was going to weave a beautiful ribbon. In the end, I went with fingering-weight yarn for both mittens (at the suggestion of the wonderful Stacy from Cascade). And I fought with the eyelets until I finally decided that it wasn't necessary to have holes on the inside. In the final version, the eyelets are only on the outer lace mitten, and the ribbon is optional (final photos will include a ribbon).

I have never worked with so many test knitters before, or designed a pattern with this many sizes. My poor test knitters had to get the pattern in phases (inner mitten first, then outer mitten), be willing to keep photos and projects offline until I gave the go-ahead, and deal with my insecure questioning and follow-up emails, lol. They were all fantastic. The project also required that I create a spreadsheet to keep track of my testers, their contact info, and the sizes they were making. I also added a tab to keep track of those testers who would like to be contacted about future projects. How crazy does that sound?! I need a spread sheet to keep my testers straight, lol. That's totally surreal.

So, the pattern is speeding along the internet to Cascade, complete with a few photos that I thought might be helpful. I'm going to look for the perfect ribbon tomorrow, and I'm gonna see if I can get some pretty photos for my Ravelry project page. And then, I'm casting on for the first of three (hopefully...) designs for SSS2011.

Oh, and don't be surprised if you see some uncharacteristically insightful stuff coming in the next few posts. I've joined a fantastic e-course called Flying Lessons (button on my sidebar) thanks to my buddy Rain blogging about it, and it's been eyeopening! Expect big things from Cambria W. Designs in the next few months!

Keeping with tradition

2011-08-15T14:06:00.000-04:00

I have a major paper due tomorrow and I haven't started working on it, so naturally I'm blogging. Keeping up with a well established tradition, lol. And I think I'll be making it a tradition to do some canning in the summer and fall. I love it! It's really satisfying to put stuff in jars and have it sit on a shelf looking pretty, and then opening it much much later and having it still taste good! I've been bitten by the canning bug. This season, I bought the kit from Ball that has the wide mouth funnel and the extra large jar tongs, and the magnetic wand to pick lids up out of the hot water. It was SOOO much easier to do these pickles than it was to do the assorted butters last fall. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a large bag of tomatoes to make salsa and put that up. My only disappointment regarding the pickles...for some reason I thought I would be able to eat them after a few days. I've got to wait 4-6 weeks! I would have started them two weeks ago if I'd know that.

Alex started school at the Providence Center today and had a great time. I didn't have as great of a time, because I was at PT working my legs off. On a side note, I've been doing lots of leg lifts which I think might be working my abs as an bonus consequence. I'll take it! I graduated today from 1.5lb leg weights, to actual 3lb leg weights (woohoo!). It sound pathetic, but it means that I'm getting stronger, which means that I'm closer to my goal. I rode the bike for 10 minutes today and my knee only popped for the first minute or so, and then stopped. That's progress. Once we get over the popping, I can start running again. Yay progress!

Speaking of progress, I'm almost finished with my last mitten for Cascade and the testers are starting to report in. I'm really pleased with this one. Oh, and I'm getting ready to order my yarn for the SSS2011 socks. That's my next project. Then there's Alex's sweater, and then I have a shawl to knit for a bridal party before the end of October. Not exactly sure when I'll get Aaron's birthday blanket finished, but it sure won't be before his birthday, lol. Well at least we have the yarn, and I did buy him a gym membership so I think I'm covered.

It's getting out of hand!

2011-08-08T09:57:00.000-04:00

pictured in order from L to R, are my homemade pesto, salsa, and meat sauce, all made with herbs from my garden (and my MIL's garden too). The meat sauce has ground turkey instead of ground beef. The salsa is from the tomatoes that we got on our road trip to Tiverton, and you can see how unusual their color was. I'd never seen tomatoes that red before, and the finished salsa looked more like a strawberry-red than a tomato-red. Very pretty and very tasty! And for the pesto, I kicked up the garlic a little bit and used some purple basil that my MIL brought me from her garden, along with my German basil from my own garden. That made the difference, and made up for the lack of pine nuts (which add something important to the flavor of the pesto).

When last we spoke (lol) I mentioned that I had two fantastic ideas for socks for this year's Scarefest. That's now longer accurate. I now have three. Three! How am I ever going to find time to knit, and format the pattern for three different sock designs in time for the kick-off? We'll just have to see how it goes. And while I can't tell you what movies I'm using, or what the patterns will look like, I did give you a preview of the yarns I'll be using for one of them. But since you've twisted my arm (wink, wink), I'll give you one more clue: this latest one is based on a sequel of a popular classic horror film. I love classic black & white horror movies (because they're totally kid appropriate) and 1950's B-movies. It's a weakness, and a great source of scary sock inspiration.

Oh, and does anyone know what this is? I got it for free thinking it was a food mill, but now I think it might be an old fashioned meat grinder...

What's brown, green, tan, and pink?

2011-08-07T16:55:00.000-04:00

Well, I can't tell you, lol. But I can say that it might be scarefest related...

Today we got up and got ourselves to church despite the torrential downpour. Alex was well behaved, and I claimed a kitchen gadget that used to be in the kitchen downstairs in the ward building...I think it's a hand-cranked meat grinder. I need to find out how to get the blade sharpened, and then I need to find some meat and grind it up. I'm not sure when I'd need this, but they were giving it away and I snatched it up.

I'm almost finished with the inner layer of my two-layer lace mittens. I hope to get the outer later cast on tomorrow, and then I'm hoping to hear back from my testers as to their progress. I want to get this out to Cascade asap, and get on to the next design. That's supposed to be the old interweave submission that I'm hoping to shop out to Knitty for their winter issue, but I'm super excited about this scarefest idea and I have a few other ideas for Cascade...oh! and I have a blanket to knit for my husband's birthday (that I started for his birthday LAST year and never finished). So, we'll just have to see how it all goes.

Oh yea, and in case you haven't already heard...I finally signed up for Twitter (as @CambriaWdesigns) and you can follow the chaos over there too :)

Impromptu day trip

2011-08-06T11:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was talking to my buddy Denise about my day and she mentioned that she was going to go out to Tiverton to hit Sakonnet Purls, then Provender sandwich shop, then possibly Greg's icecream shop and the farmer's market. It sounded like so much fun, and I sort of passive-aggressively suggested that I would really love to come along on this trip (think whining about how much fun that sounded and how much I'd love to go, lol). So she invited me along (wink, wink) and I jumped at it. Sakonnet Purls is closing down at the end of September, (unless they find a buyer) so that the owner can retire after decades of running the shop. Everything is 25% off right now (excluding the needle-point items), and I was hoping to find a really great deal on some Eco Wool for Aaron's birthday blanket. This will be my second attempt at knitting him a blanket for his birthday, as last year's project is sitting in a bag not more than 10 feet from me right now, gathering dust. Unfortunately, they don't carry Eco wool. Of course, we carry plenty of it at Bella Yarns, but I figured that I might be able to get it at an even deeper discount than my usual employee discount but that's okay. I did however find beautiful red wooden oval buttons for my future Henley design so I bought them. Not much else appealed to me.

On the way back we stopped at Provender as planned. It was a really cute little shop with gourmet foods, bulk gummy candies, various sauces and spreads, and sandwiches made to order. I picked up a bag of four current scones for breakfast, but passed on the rest because everything was at a higher price point than I expected, given the size of the items. However, it was a lovely shop and if I wasn't responsible to buy dinner for my entire family of growing boys and was only feeding myself...I would definitely have bought one of the sandwiches! Denise got some of the gummies, so we passed on the icecream.

After a quick stop at the local Subway (for my guys), we hit up the farmer's market where I bought the most beautiful, red, giant tomatoes! Why I didn't bring my camera into the veggie stand is beyond me but I should have because you wouldn't believe the tomatoes. I got two of them and some pickling cucumbers to make pickles with (of course). When I got home, I got some cilantro from my garden and made a good amount of salsa. It's fantastic and I got two decent sized canning jars full, just from those two tomatoes!

Later that night, while the boys were eating their subway sandwiches, I finished off the last of the pesto I made a few days ago and put some water on for my corn-on-the-cob. Denise told me about an interesting way to dress the corn and I just had to try it! After it's all done and cools down a little, lightly spread mayo on the corn and then roll it in grated Parmesan cheese. It's amazing! I had one last night, but I'm definitely paying for it today (milk...) so I'll just have to eat the others the old fashioned way (with butter, salt, & pepper) although I'm thinking of adding some cilantro to mine to help use some of it up. It's going nuts in the garden.

In knitting related news...I got a call to design another sock for the Super Sock Scarefest! I'm really excited about it, because last year I was pushed into designing a pattern for the group and it sort of launched my design career. Oh, and also because my name was mentioned in the same post as some real hard-hitting sock designers :) It was like being acknowledged as a player in the sock design game. I spent the rest of the day thinking about different ideas for a sock and I think I finally came up with something that's cool. I just need to swatch and see how it goes.

Oh, and while I was at it...I finally joined Twitter so you can follow me there if you want to. I'll be posting my sneak-peaks there and updates about special offers and releases. You can find me as: @CambriaWdesigns. Hope to see you there!

I gave in

2011-08-05T18:35:00.000-04:00

Yep. I'm a sheep. I broke down and bought the pattern for the Stripe Study shawl and plan to cast on just as soon as I can, (which will probably be when I finish my mittens, and then the convertible mittens, and a sock pattern for the Super Sock Scarefest...that I don't even have a basic concept for yet), so probably not until October, lol. I'm thinking that I'll try using the rust-colored zauberball (that I've tried to knit with two other times) and my gray Cascade heritage for this.

Now, if you're reading this and notice the shift in the tone of this post, it's because I ran out of the house with my buddy Denise to go to Tiverton to Sakonette Purls...and I forgot all about this post so it's been about 5 hours between the first paragraph and this one, lol. On that note, I'll wrap this up and post about the trip tomorrow.

Just one of those days

2011-08-04T08:50:00.000-04:00

project sneak peak #2

Yesterday was one of the longest days I've spent at work in forever. There is just so much left to still do to get ready for the Fall, and we have giant boxes of new yarn arriving almost every day. Normally that would be exciting, but our shop has limited shelf space do it's like we have to rip it all apart and figure out how it all fits together...every few months. And keep in mind that we're open 7 days a week so there's no good time to do this, which often results in Naomi staying in the shop until midnight, sometimes with one of us staying to 9 or 10 to try and help her out.

Yesterday I walked in to an in-progress inventory of Comfort Worsted, which I had to complete. Then I had flurries of customers come in with lots of questions so that took a lot of time away from my other project...totally restocking and reorganizing the Ultra Alpaca (by a new color system that Naomi wants me to start using...that I can't figure out and doesn't make sense to me at all). When the shop closed at 6pm, and I had to go teach class, I had every bag of Ultra Alpaca we have in the shop tossed on the floor with several skeins on the floor to go with it. After class, I had to go back and try to finish it up because I just couldn't leave it like that for Naomi to find in the morning. It wouldn't have taken nearly as long if it wasn't for the fact that Naomi want's the colors arranged 'tonally'. When I looked at her example in the 220 wool, I didn't see any sort of discernible pattern and had to call her to figure out what the heck she did there. It looks so random (and unpleasant to the eye, in my personal opinion)! So this task killed me, and it sucked my will to live, and I cussed it and complained bitterly about it, and worked on it until 9:30pm when I finally threw in the towel and called Naomi to let her know what I'd actually gotten done. I have no idea if it looks like she wants it to, but I know I tried my best and felt like I was floating in the breeze the entire time.

So what did I learn from this process? That I don't understand color value very well. That I prefer a shelf that flows naturally from one color to another in a basic ROYGBIV order. (As a child I would dump out my brand new box of crayons and sort them in order before using them.) That my mind perceives things a certain way and it's not usually the way that other people view things. That if I don't enjoy a task, it's really really hard to finish it and to do a good job. That if I apply what I've learned here to my budding design career, I should resign myself to simply designing what I want and what I like (even if there's not much money in it) because trying to do things that aren't my 'thing' simply because its profitable is going to make me miserable and I'll end up hating the thing at the end of the day...sort of like that wall of Ultra Alpaca. That being said, I think I need to have a conversation with a few people about some project ideas that we kicked around, that I'm not very interested in doing, and getting them off my plate so I can focus on things I love.

Radical honesty (be warned, lol)

2011-08-02T09:27:00.000-04:00

I don't usually like to post photos of myself, especially first thing in the morning before I've had breakfast, or a shower, or put on any makeup but I figured "why not?!" This is me as I really really look. This is the Me that my poor husband sees every day when he wakes up. It must not be as bad as I often think, because he's still hanging around, lol.

I have many flaws. I hate housework. My husband does 95% of it, and my son does 4%, and I begrudgingly cover that last little 1%. I have no sense of home decor. My apartment still has boxes in it after living here for 2 months...mostly because I can't really be bothered to unpack something unless I need it...and I haven't needed any of it. I buy pineapples, and then never get around to cutting them up so they die a slow and disgusting death on my counter until I finally have to throw them away. I am a pineapple waster. I get a new drink before finishing my old drink, and leave the glasses and cups sitting around. (it's not unusual for me to have at least 3 different drinks at one time). My husband says he could find me by following the trail of abandoned drinks. I like to watch bad horror movies (and really, aren't they all bad these days?). I like to listen to rap and hip-hop, and watch R rated movies (which clashes with being a Mormon in a big way). I can be a 'know-it-all' and I'm afraid that I'll have a really hard time cutting the strings when Dante moves away. I'm 'that mom'...you know the one. The one that everyone avoids eye

contact with. The mom that all the neighborhood kids fear. The one that's so intimidating that no one comes to the door to ask her kids to play outside. In my defense, I'm often tired so I look mad when I'm not, and I'm 6' tall, but I don't take any crap either.

I have to admit that when I started this post, it wasn't going this direction, but it feels good to admit it all and get it out there. Maybe it's inspired by all the Rage Against the Machine that I added to my iPod last night, lol. Because as bloggers, we're programmed to try to put a rosy spin on our lives and show ourselves in the best possible light. We gloss over things that go wrong or try to put a thoughtful perspective on it. We take beautiful candid photos of our children doing things like playing sweetly with pets, playing in the mud, eating fruit, working in the garden, playing on a farm, etc. We don't show them getting into trouble, being mean to the same pets, hitting their friends or siblings, getting rashes or stitches or surgery or going bonkers because they're sleep deprived. We don't show them struggling with a learning disorder or battling depression because they feel a deep sense of failure about things that other children can let slide off their backs like water. We don't show photos of our husbands struggling with year after year of job loss, and the resulting depression that comes from not feeling like you have any purpose or contribute to your family in any meaningful way (even thought that's not true in any way). And I honestly don't know why we try to hide the actual state of our existence.

I can totally understand wanting to put a positive spin on your situation, because I look for the good and the beauty every day. But I don't think that should be done at the expense of being honest about what type of life I live. I keep having to check myself, and remember that I'm living a good life and with the exception of the financial instability, I wouldn't change anything about it. I love my husband and I know that he loves me. I love my children and although I'd kill for them, and die for them, I also LIVE for them. I've adjusted things about myself that weren't in line with raising well adjusted children. I'm not standing on a soapbox here...I'm just saying that they are my whole world and I love being able to grow and change with them so that they can live their own lives and be happy and healthy. If that means that I have to miss social functions because Alex has to get to bed by a certain time or be miserable for a week...well I'll just have to skip the function this time. I can say for certain that becoming a mother has made me a better person, despite my natural tendencies. I've had to let stuff go and adopt other stuff, and I'm the one who benefit from the changes in the end.

I love the mess. I'm learning to love and accept my "bride-of-Frankenstein" streak of gray hair. I'm finally comfortable with my height after feeling like a freak for 30 years. I'm finally at peace with my hair (and happy to report that it looks good now that I've stopped trying to wrestle it into submission). I'm happy with my style of dress. I love to read trashy young-adult vampire novels. Sue me. I am a collector of yarn and patterns. My son's had better have daughters...because their inheritance will be wool, circular needles, and a collection of patterns designed by me that don't earn any money, lol. Oh, and on that note, I finally got my rejection letter from Interweave Knits. But on the positive side, I've got a mostly complete pattern that I'm thinking about sending to another publisher (and Eunny Jang included a hand written note praising my use of color in the design). I love my flawed, not-quite-there-yet life.

Seeing is believing, lol

2011-08-01T13:15:00.000-04:00

I never thought I'd see the day when Eddie would lay still and let Alex cuddle with him. I made Aaron get the camera so we could take photos, because no one else (who knows us well) would ever believe it without some sort of photographic evidence.

Anyway, it was a really bizzar day today. Alex woke up early this morning (which isn't that different from any other day) and came into my room to ask if he could sleep with me because he had a bad dream. I was too tired to object so I just told him to get in. He did, and went right back to sleep (which is weird for him). He even slept through the alarm, and continued to sleep after I got up this morning. We've had two good night's sleep in the past two days, so I'm hoping we can correct the lack of sleep before he has to start school.

After my appointment this morning at DHS (which went relatively quick), we managed to sneak him in to see the doctor. We got a cream for his bumps and he should be good to go in about a week. And now, instead of working on my paper...I'm writing this post. But I'm proud to report that I finished the reading last night, and I didn't knit anything yesterday either so I'm not messing around as much as it might seem ;)

This morning, the Fall 2011 Twist Collective went live, and I was really impressed with several of the patterns. I also realized that although my pattern is really unique and pretty (in my not-so-humble opinion), it really didn't flow well with any of the other patterns in the collection. When I looked at the mood board, I saw whimsical and fairy tale-esque. The collection was more woodsy and rustic. It definitely made me feel better when I saw what the direction they went in, because now I know that it was more about the pattern clashing with the tone, and not about it sucking. I think my submission to Interweave would have fit in better with the Twist Collective collection, but I'm not sure if there would have been enough clever details for it to make the final cut. This whole thing is definitely a refining process, and I'm trying to learn something from each submission and rejection :)

One last thing. I'm not going to Rhinebeck this year. I just can't afford to go. But I see everyone gearing up for their trip and planning their Rhinebeck 2011 project. I can't help getting swept up in the excitement and I've decided that I want to knit a Rhinebeck sweater too. If you haven't been to the NY Sheep and Wool Festival yet, you should really go. It's like a knitters pilgrimage. And knitting the Rhinebeck project isn't just about making something to wear there. It's more of a personal challenge to make something that stretches your skill set. It's about making a project that you might not quite be ready for yet, just to see if you can do it, and then show it off to everyone at the festival when you do. It's sort of a coming out of your skill set and sense of style. And there's always an 'it' pattern. The year I went, it was Vivian. There must have been 20 people wearing one! So, even though I won't get to go up and show it off at the fest, I'm going to knit a Rhinebeck sweater this year, and I think you should join me! My only question that needs answering right now is whether or not I'll design my own sweater, or knit one from my que. Any thoughts?

Pain!

2011-07-31T17:59:00.000-04:00

So I know I was jazzed about starting P.T. and I knew I would probably hurt before things started to feel better...but honestly, can anyone explain why I hurt so much when I'm only stretching! I haven't even started any exercises. My back is so out of whack that I have to do the modified versions of the stretches that she showed me, because my hip and ankle joints hurt. Right now as I sit here typing this, my knee is throbbing. This is gonna be fun.

Also, I have an appointment tomorrow at the DHS office so that'll be fun :| And after that, I get to see if I can get Alex in to see the doctor for a suspicious looking rash on is arms, face, back, and ears. Meanwhile, I also have to find time to work on my paper that's due on Tuesday night. But don't think that means that I'm not going to Denise's to watch True Blood tonight, lol. Or posting every day for a week during my busiest school-related week so far. Cause that makes sense, right?? If it makes any difference...I didn't knit anything yesterday...

In knitting news, my rockstar test-knitter Daisy found three small errors in the numbers for my outer mitten between yesterday and today (and I just sent the pattern yesterday!), and she's managed to finish the first mitten. She's a knitting force of nature! Thankfully, she chooses to use her powers for good instead of evil. So, this means that I just might get this pattern out faster than I expected, all depending on how quickly I can get the other mitten finished. Or on whether or not I can resist casting on for this or this. I tried to ignore them, but I keep finding myself checking out the finished projects and clicking on the pattern to see what it is. It's going viral! I usually try to avoid these types of patterns because I don't want to be a sheep in the herd...but I'm a total sheep! They're just so genius, and I'm just so powerless to resist. Maybe I'll be saved by my huge school workload, my family obligations, and my unreasonably large Ravelry que.

Why am I so constantly tired?!

2011-07-30T18:25:00.000-04:00

Hercules, the neighbor's cat in my garden

I feel like this guy! I'm so tired all the time. I know this is starting to sound like a broken record, but I just can't figure out why I'm so tired all the time. It's probably a combo of not eating all that well in the summer (cause it's too hot to cook...or eat), and staying up late with school work and knitting, and then getting up early with Alex (who isn't sleeping well again). I just need a serious nap. And this supposed break from school, where I'm only taking one class instead of two...that's crap. This class is as much work as two classes, and my only solace is that I don't have another one to try to fit in to my day.

Complaining aside, I did manage to get my pattern typed up this morning and out to the testers. Now I just have to find the time to knit the mate, and then it's off to Cascade (assuming there are not huge errors in the pattern). I'm looking forward to working with them again. My only regret is that I don't get to keep the samples...which means that if I knit something I particularly love...I have to knit it twice. I sort of have a 'thing' about that. There's just too much to knit and not enough time to do it in, so I almost never knit anything twice. It's got to be a really special pattern for me to knit it multiple times (like the Baudelaire socks by Cookie A, or the Natalya hand warmers by Savannah Chik). And to be honest, even after going through my Ravelry que and weeding out three solid pages, I still wouldn't be able to knit everything in there if I started today and did nothing but knit from now to the day I died. So my blanket that I love so much...well, the likelihood of my ever having one of my own isn't good because I just can't spend that kind of time reknitting something that I've already done. Besides, I have at least three other blanket ideas in my head right now and those need to get out! Plus I have few sweater ideas and I think I might be ready to take that leap finally, after all, I did just design something with some lace in it and that was pretty intimidating at first. I'm honestly feeling like I can do this, and there's a lot of help out there to make it happen.

So, that being said, I'm going to quit fooling around and get back to my homework. I still have to read 40 more pages, write a 3-4 page paper on schedules of reinforcement, and post to two discussion board questions plus respond to at least four of my classmates...all by Tuesday at 11:59pm EST. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I've knit the Baudelaire socks twice (and will have to knit them at least once more to replace a pair I wore out), and the Natalya hand warmers in some version or other at least five times.

sneak peak: heritage silk lace mittens

2011-07-29T08:01:00.000-04:00

What you see here, is a sneak peak at my latest design for Cascade Yarns. I was almost done when we had the Yarn Tasting, so the customers had a chance to check it out and feel it, but I finished it last night and you've just got to see the finished mitten to believe it! I sent photos to my contact at Cascade, and to the test knitters (so they'll have some sort of idea what it's supposed to look like when they knit it), but other than this little glimpse here...photos are going to stay off the web until it's all done.

I did find one little flaw in the concept that require an adjustment of some numbers in the inner mitten, before the pattern is released, but that's sort of what this process is about right? I can definitely say this: it's super cool to have something I saw in my mind make it's way out and off the end of my needles. Oh, and I also understand how much it sucks for the designer to have this super cool project to talk about, only they can't talk about it or show photos of it, but they still have a blog and a group and a facebook page to update. What the heck does one talk about when one has to hide their best current project?! And I also understand how boring that is for a reader, because I read lots and lots of blogs and everytime I come across a designer's blog where they're in the same situation, I always feel like they're holding back the goods. So I understand how you probably feel and I promise to try to find something worth talking about while this is going on.

Meanwhile, I started physical therapy for my knee yesterday. I don't have an injury or anything. I just have femurs that point inward so if my feet are pointing straight ahead, my knees are pointing toward each other. That causes soreness over time. Combine that with the scoliosis, which raises my right leg higher off the ground that my left leg (so when I work out my left leg carries more of the weight), and that means that my already sore knees are being aggravated by super tight muscles in the legs (and the muscles are tighter on the left side). I have a handful of stretches to do daily (for right now) and I have to see her twice a week for the next three weeks at least. Then we'll add some strengthening exercises to help keep the knee strong, and to help keep my back aligned longer so I can limit some of the daily pain I've had to endure. I'm just too young to be this sore all the time, so I'm really excited to do something about it.

Now then. I just talked about something other than the mystery-project :) Time for me to get ready for class, and then to go do some homework. I have a paper due this week, so I won't be able to get the pattern fully written until next week. I also have to knit the other mitten, but after that's done and the testers report back, the pattern will go straight off to Cascade and should be available shortly after.

Bella Yarn's Yarn Tasting and Silent Auction event! (photo heavy)

2011-07-28T08:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our first ever Yarn Tasting and Sample Silent Auction event! It was a ton of work, and a huge success thanks to all of the generous sponsors (Dill buttons, Berroco, Mountain Colors, Brown Sheep, just to name a few) and the fantastic people from Cascade Yarns.

We had our favorite reps in from Cascade, Warren and Marina, and we had balls of Cascade Yarns all over the store! I didn't actually get to pick any up and knit because I was busy helping customers, but I got to mingle with everyone and help them find what they were looking for.

I also got to show off my latest design for Cascade in Heritage Silk...the lace mitten! It was really well received so I'm feeling encouraged to hurry and finish it so the pattern will be available.

I got to hand out some of my new cards to people I knew (and a few I just met, lol) so that they can check in and get word of new pattern releases.

I also got to show off the Quilt and Cable blanket, and help ladies pick out the perfect color combination for Naomi's Inside Out Blanket (also a free Cascade download). You should have seen the back room after we were done for the night!

We had over 80 people come in and knit with us, and we sold over half of the samples so we have a nice donation for the new Warren animal shelter.

There were three cheese trays with dried fruit and bread from the Cheese Plate in Warren. I didn't know they were even there, which was probably for the best because I'm allergic to milk...and I love cheese...and they had a huge assortment. I stayed away as much as possible, but I had to try the caramel cheese! I brought home a good amount for the boys as a peace offering for being out for 13 hours :)

I got to meet a local actress from the Trenity Rep. I got her name but after 11 straight hours at work, I'm lucky to remember my own. It'll have to be enough to say that she was a really lovely lady and I had a great time chatting with her. I love how knitting brings all sorts of people from different professional backgrounds together!

I also got to see my buddies from the knit-a-holics group last night. It was really good to see Tracy and Lisa, and I'm sure there were others who stopped in but I was running back and forth so much that I missed some people coming and going.

We also had all five members of the Bella staff in one place at one time! That has never happened before, and to mark the occasion, we asked Amy to snap a photo of us at the end of the night.

Ann did a beautiful job of getting all the current samples down, the samples for auction out on display, and tagged for auction. She has a real talent for making things look pretty!

I spent my day sweeping, making room in the storage room, restocking the Cascade 128 superwash, and stuffing yarn descriptions into the doggie-bags.

We had samples donated by some of our yarn distributors, and one of our reps, Andra Asars donated samples that she knit herself!

This purple sweater is one of Andra's pieces!

These baby samples went like hot cakes!

The pink scarf was donated by one of our talented customers. It's Rayon Metalic yarn with Sugar Rush as the warp (I believe...don't quote me), and it was one of her first projects! Unbelievable. And it didn't last long :)

bid sheets

These were the cute plates that the yarn was displayed on, with the type of yarn listed on the plate. I ended up tossing my mitten into the pile as a sample of the Heritage Silk yarn (it's the orange ball).

shop mascot :)

There was one lonely door prize that somehow didn't go home with a customer...so I got to bring it home! Yay! It's five skeins of Brown Sheep's Lambs Pride in a pretty blue-lilac variegated colorway. I'm thinking about a simple pullover.

This is how we looked at the end of the day, lol. I didn't get out of there until quarter to 10 last night. It was a crazy long day, but it was fun and I can't wait to do it again :)

A beginning and an end

2011-07-23T21:41:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went with Denise to visit The Sisters of the Wool in Westport MA. It was funny because we had discussed plans to go up there on Tuesday, and decided that we'd go Friday...and then the ladies popped in on Wednesday night to check us out and introduce themselves! We met Pat and her friends (and I apologize profusely, but I'm lousy with names), and gave them a quick little tour of Bella Yarns (as much as we could, considering that I was in the middle of class). We told them that we had planned to come in on Friday, so they gave us a few business cards with their address, and we parted ways after a nice conversation. (Too bad I didn't have my cards yet).

Friday came, and we hopped into the air conditioned car to shoot down to the shop. I'd never been to Westport before, and it was quicker that I expected. The shop is in a quaint little shopping plaza with wood panneling on all of the buildings. It's rustic and adorable. When we went inside we were shocked at how much larger it was than it looked from outside. Right inside the door, they have a warm and inviting seating area for hanging out and knitting for a while (complete with a wall-mounted flat-screen television!), and then further in they have a table and chairs set up on a platform for classes. They had a huge selection of needles from Addi, Clover, and Knit Picks (including the interchangables). They had yarn as far as the eye can see, and I found a set of hanging sock blockers from Bryson in a large for 15 bucks!! That's a steal compared to the ones that I have now, which are too small and don't let enough air into the sock. Pat was there and she took us on a tour of her shop, which is truly lovely. I plan to go back when I actually have some money to spend, and get something special for myself. And if all that wasn't enough, she gives out a free knit-fix tool to everyone who joins the email list (and was kind enough to open a brand new box so we would have more colors to choose from). They were all really, really lovely people and she had really, really lovely yarn.

Later in the day, I took Dante to see the last Harry Potter movie in 3D with Jason and Kelly. It was really well done, and I think it was a fitting end to the story. I know my husband is glad that it's all finally over, lol. I'm looking forward to it coming out on DVD so that I can do a marathon with the entire series, but I have a while to wait for that.

Meanwhile, the mitten is finally cooperating and I think I can get the pattern written by next week. I should have it out to my testers soon and then hopefully I'll have the mate knit by then and then it's off to Cascade. I can sure use another paycheck, lol. After that, I'm going to concentrate on knitting a blanket for my husband...since I promised him one last year for his birthday...and his birthday is in about 4 weeks...and he still doesn't have one. Only problem is that the original yarn I chose isn't what he wants so now I have to figure out what to do with multiple balls of Comfort Chunky, and where I'm going to find the money for 4 balls of Eco +. Thankfully, I have a discount and it's not expensive.

My, how busy I've been

2011-07-22T22:27:00.000-04:00

When last we spoke, (or I wrote and you read), I told you all about our wonderful playdate. Yesterday, we took Alex to the Crescent Park Carousel to ride as many times as we could for $10. Turns out that yesterday was kids day...so that was more times that I originally thought. He was so cute, walking right up to the ticket booth and plunking down his little $4 that Aaron gave him a few days before (when we walked over and discovered that they're closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. That was a bad day, that ended in our handing over the cash for Alex to hold, and us taking him to Honey Dew to help sooth the sting of not getting to ride the carousel. So anyway, we rode lots of times and then Aaron got the gold ring so he got a free ride. Then Alex wanted me to ride with him, and on the very next ride I got the gold ring! Two gold rings, back-to-back, for the same kid. That was an awesome trip for Alex.

When it was time to leave, we were really hot and he wanted an ice-cream. Thank goodness the girl wasn't in the stand, and I was able to convince him to let us pick up some at the market when we went in to get a tomato and some shredded cheese for tacos (which he requested for dinner). He agreed, on the condition that he could eat some right away instead of having to wait till after dinner. Even though he didn't eat lunch, I agreed because it was just so hot! He picked out mint chocolate chip, and had a scoop just as soon as I could get some in the bowl. I'm pleased to say that he ate his dinner! Two tacos. And I even got him to agree to eat a tiny amount of lettuce in exchange for not having to eat any tomatoes. On the next taco, he asked for my sauteed mushrooms. The kid will eat mushrooms...but not lettuce.

Later that night, I headed to work and he went off to bed without me. I hear he did well. I went in to teach the ladies of the Thursday night group, and took some time to work on my lace mitten for this pattern. I think I finally have it all together now and I'm really pleased with how it looks. I hope to get the pattern together soon, and send the other half off to the test knitters within a week or so.

Oh, and my brand new business cards were in the mail box today :) I feel so official!

One last playdate

2011-07-21T21:41:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, Alex's friend came over to play for the last time before moving away to Florida. It was really good to have them get together one more time, and it was good for Alex and I to be able to spend the day with our special friend before we had to say goodbye. 'J' came over at about 1pm and hung out until about 5:30pm when it was clear that both boys were getting pretty tired and were ready to wind down for bed. I was grateful for my child development courses, that helped me to plan a fun and mostly uneventful day for these two little guys (ages 4 & 5).

To start, we went to 4-Town Farms to pick berries. I checked online first to see what was in season, and they were supposed to have blueberries. However, when we got there they said that they weren't picking berries that day. So I looked at my two little guys...then looked back at this woman...and then I said "what can we pick?" Flowers. Okay, flowers it is. As you can see, the boys adapted.

We walked up and down the rows, looking carefully at the available flowers and letting each of the boys pick out exactly which flower they wanted. Then I cut the flower, and they tossed them into the bucket. There were some very pretty ones. Some were bug magnets, and some of these bugs were pretty scary looking, so we avoided those. As hot as it was, I am happy to say that the flowers made it safely back home and didn't wilt...even with our making a stop for ice-cream on the way home.

We stopped at the Dairy Bee in Riverside for some soft serve ice-cream for the boys, and a cone and a shake for dad and I. They have a soft serve there that comes with a flavor striped along the edges, in fun colors. I tried to keep it simple by asking them what color they wanted. "Red". Easy enough. So I asked the girl for "what ever the red is", and she asked me in return "watermelon, cherry, or raspberry?". Sigh. So much for keeping it simple. So Alex went for watermelon and 'J' went for cherry.

They both stayed pretty clean, and managed to avoid dropping their cones on the ground, so it was a pretty successful outing. Overall, it was a wonderful day. We went back home, watched some Spongebob and The Andy Griffith Show on Netflix, and "J" sat right against my left arm on the couch for a while (something that Alex usually does). Alex didn't even get jealous! They played upstairs, and didn't make a huge amount of noise. No one cried. No one got hurt. No one whined (much). Everyone shared, played nicely with their friend, kept their hands to themselves, and generally had a great time. It was the best "last day to play" we've ever had.

I'm admittedly

a little sad that these two won't get to grow up together, as "J" is the first friend Alex ever had. I love him and his family, and they've been really good to us and understanding of my boys and their needs. They've loved my two boys (even when it was hard to do) and they've always welcomed my boys into their home. Josh has been a huge influence for good to my teenage son, and Kristen has been a friend, a visiting-teaching companion, a relief-society president, and a primary co-worker to/with me for the last handful of years. I've really enjoyed getting to know them and making friends with them, and I'll really miss them.

So...hot...

2011-07-18T16:20:00.000-04:00

The thermometer says it's 83 degrees F, but the humidity has to be over 90%. It's too hot to knit. It's too hot to walk. It's too hot to type, or do homework, or cook, or eat, or sleep, or watch t.v. This is ridiculous. Lets just say that today, I finally gave up and turned on the A.C.

Yesterday, I actually did some knitting and I managed to fix the issue with the cuff and the thumb placement but I need to adjust the numbers on the mitten body again because the lace needs to be able to stretch. I'm also trying to figure out if I want to knit a plain stockinette palm and just keep the lace to the back of the hand, or if I want to have the lace all the way around. I know that I'd love to have the lace all over, but I'm worried that the lace might snag, so for the sake of practicality...I think the palm will need to be plain. Thank goodness I've secured a few test-knitters, because I've had to change the numbers so many times on this pattern that I know I'll need 'em to help me sort out the issues before this goes off to Cascade.

I guess I can wear shawls

2011-07-17T14:06:00.000-04:00

Forgive the craptastic photo

Anyone remember this? It's the lace-edge swirl shawl that I knit in the Noro Kirameki Singles for the shop almost a year ago. It's finally come home to live with me, and although I was happy to have it back, I was unsure of whether or not I could pull it off. I know I've said this before, but I'm not really a lace shawl kind of girl (although I love to knit them). So today it was pretty warm and I decided to bring this with me to church instead of my Noro sweater. The air conditioner was kicking pretty good when we got there and I was glad to have it. I tossed it over my shoulders and it took the chill right off without being too warm. And you know what?...I felt pretty in it. Turns out that this circular shape works well for me and it looks good on. Guess I can wear a shawl after all.

Vlad photos

2011-07-08T17:28:00.001-04:00

I finally have photographic evidence that I completed Vlad, as part of the True Blood season 4 knit-along. I know what you're thinking and you're right. With a blog named Knit-along little doggie...you'd think that I would participate in more knit-alongs, lol. I try but stuff always gets in the way.

full blocking shot


blocking close-up

I don't usually feel like I can pull off a lace shawl, but I'm really going to give it a try because I just love the details on this one, and it matches my hat (which matches my scarf, which matches... etc, etc). I'm a junkie for this particular colorway.

Total bandana-style (I'm from the West, after all)

Pattern: Vlad
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) circulars, 40"
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Ruby River (from my stash!!)
Cast on June 27th, bound off July 7th.

If you've never heard of Ravelry...

2011-07-07T07:48:00.000-04:00

I can't imagine how its even possible in this day and age, but I run into people every day at work who have never heard of Ravelry. I can't understand how they have never come across it yet, when they've been knitting for a million years, and honesty it's really hard to explain exactly what Ravelry is without taking 20 minutes to give them a quick tutorial on the site and it's features. Then today, I ran across anarticle while trolling Facebook, and I thought "that's perfect!". So, here is the link. If you don't know about Ravelry (and I just don't know how you couldn't by now...), here ya go.

Happy Birthday Mom & Dante

2011-07-05T09:08:00.000-04:00

Totally random, non-knitting or content-related photo

Today is my mom's birthday. Oh, and my son's birthday. And my good friend from high school's birthday. And my first friend in Rhode Island's birthday. Did I leave anyone out?

We're going to go out to Best Buy today and pick up the iPod 4g, 8GB that Dante saved up for all year. Every time there was a gift-giving occasion, we just told people that he was saving up for a big-ticket item and to please just give cash. They were perfectly fine with not having to stress over "what to get a 14-year old boy", and after only seven months of saving, he finally has enough for his iPod touch. When he asked for one last Christmas, I had to put my foot down because I just couldn't justify spending over $250 for an iPod for a 13-year old (at the time) when I don't even have one of those. After all, he'd only lose it or break it. But he really wanted one and I didn't want to totally shoot him down at Christmas, so I told him that if he could save the money himself, he could have one. So he did. I didn't think he would, but he did. So this morning I went online and ordered it for him, with in-store pickup, and I tossed in a screen protector and a decent set of headphones while I was at it. He is a happy kid, and I know that he'll take good care of it because he had to work so hard for it. And if he doesn't...well I won't care because I didn't have to pay for it.

In knitting news, I'm making fantastic progress on Vlad. I started the final body repeat yesterday at my in-laws. We had a great time there and I got a lot of knitting done at my MIL's kitchen table. She was blown away by my shawlette, so I can see that I'll need to knit her one this year. I'm thinking it'll probably be Ishbel. Maybe I'll make her the matching beret. Anyway, I'm expecting delivery of the yarn from Cascade today so I'll be starting on my next project for them soon. Unfortunately, my other potential projects keep hitting snags. I had a few ideas for the yarns that they sent me to play with, but then I found a similar project on Ravelry so I had to scrap that idea and go back to the drawing board. It all goes back to my rant about how there's nothing new because it's all been done before. But I'll just keep working on it and hopefully I'll be able to put my own spin on something, and make fresh and new.

Owls...not so much

2011-07-01T16:18:00.000-04:00

Well, to say that my owls sweater was a colossal failure would not be out of the question. And it's nobody's fault but my own. I over-estimated how much the Eco Wool could stretch, and I under-estimated how much of a difference that 1/4 stitch per inch would make in a 38 inch garment. I'm here today to tell you that it makes a HUGE difference. I can't even get my arms in the sleeves. It's like being strangled by wool. There's just no saving this sweater. So unless you're a 6' woman with a 32" bust, this sweater needs to be ripped back and started over.

See, I really want one of these sweaters for my own. I'm a lemming. Everyone else has one, so I need one too. It's one of those projects that as a knitter, you should knit. You know...one of those? Like the potato chip scarf (which I've never personally knit), or the stripped silk garden scarf from Jarred Flood (again, not one that I've knit), or the Central Park Hoodie (which I totally knit). So I've tossed the sweater into the basket-of-shame, to be ripped at a later date. The plan is to use a larger needle, and to knit this at one size larger than my usual so it'll be sure to fit. And this time I'm starting with the sleeves, so I can check the fit before I put all that time into the body. But at least I found the buttons for the eyes and set them aside.

In other "rookie-mistake" news, I just had to take my Vlad off the needles and start over because the yarn just wasn't a good match for the pattern. It's so bright! I couldn't see the lace pattern at all, and while I was knitting with it, I kept telling myself "I don't know if I'll even be able to wear this..." and "I don't think I can pull off this color..." and yet I still kept going. Finally today I faced facts, and pulled it out. I've opted to go for the mountain colors bearfoot in Ruby River instead, and I'm much happier. Photos as soon and I can find the darn camera charger.