All Quiet

Things are quiet on the knitting front. I'm still kind of on break from knitting for StellaPop, but I've done a couple of pattern writing/sample knitting jobs which were very interesting and one, very challenging.

More socks got finished, Gumperina's Jaywalker, which I worked up in Knit Picks Essentials: great pattern, great yarn.


I have a lot of ideas popping around in my brain, but not a whole lot is coming to fruition. Except this little guy who's on Ravelry now as a free download:

A lot of people on Ravelry have marked it as a favorite and one has already posted a photo---I'm eager to see more photos to see the different interpretations of this pattern.

This past Tuesday was the last knitting class a ASB for the summer, and a good thing: all the volunteers (with the exception of the Queen of All She Touches) were fried and soooo ready for a break. The Queen wasn't fried because she'd taken five weeks off for vacation before waltzing in with her usual forty-five-minutes-after-the-class-starts entrance. But we ended the year well, giving the clients a pizza party and a lot of yarn to take home for summer projects. We'll start up again in mid-September with new yarn, new clients, and an organized supply closet.

This is Luis wearing his Einstein Jacket. Not only is his knitting impeccable but he has taught himself how to crochet, and also taught his daughter how to knit and crochet. Play it forward.

Another Reason to Love Ravelry

I joined ravelry a few months ago, which is, for the unaware, Facebook-on-steroids for knitters. It is a wonderful site where you can see what everyone in the world is knitting, what patterns and yarns are being used; you can upload and download patterns; you can organize your own yarns, needles, library---I keep discovering more and more things I can do on ravelry. The best one I've found yet is: what do you do with that project that you just had to make, made well, loved making, and then it didn't fit, and the yarn, while gorgeous and wonderful to work with, isn't conducive to ripping and re-knitting?

In the past, I've asked among friends to see who would like to take this mistake off my hands, and it's always slightly embarassing: if this really is a nice sweater, why am I trying to pawn it off on someone? Is accepted because it really is the right color/style/fit for her? Or is she being kind? Who ever knows (especially when you're overly-sensitive)?

Anyway, I posted this sweater




and the details of my journey knitting it, and said that is was available to anyone who wanted it, free postage.

The other day, I got a message from a Ravelryer (Raveler??) in North Carolina who was willing to take it. We agreed that she's free to "play it forward" if it doesn't fit or isn't to her liking. So off to NC went the sweater yesterday, along with an extra ball of yarn in case it's needed.

And I thought: there must be some way to track this sweater if it gets played forward, to see where it ends up. And then I could blog about it, and then get a book deal, and then they'd make a movie about the sweater and we'd all be famous.

Oh, in addition to being overly-sensitive, I also have a very rich imagination.

Thank You, Sandra!

Sandra Singh has posted a great review of Head to Toe Knits on her blog--thank you, Sandra!

And after you read the review, you can browse through all the great yarn and other things that Sandra carries.

Stitch by Stitch

I'm a fairly fast knitter: I usually can knit and read at the same time. I tend to go on auto-pilot and work quickly. But I'm working with a yarn, Country, right now that is making me slow down.

Country is a merino/acrylic blend, very soft, very plush, it seduced me at the yarn store, and it splits constantly. I have to watch every stitch and slow down to make sure that it's not splitting and that I'm not leaving a trail of yarn wisps hanging from my work. At first, I was annoyed by this, and then I let myself surrender to the quality of the yarn and to slow down, look at each stitch and take my time.

And I find that I'm enjoying this enforced slow-down. It's the difference between driving on the highway and taking the back roads: I have time to watch where I'm going, to contemplate what I'm doing, and to realize that, since there isn't a deadline, what's the rush?

Buy the Book

Please.

It's a good book. You won't be sorry. You'll make a lot of babies happy (and their moms) with what you make from the patterns.

Pink Rose, DeWitt, & Gladys

Every week for the last year and a half, I've met Allie at the Pink Rose Pastry Shop for breakfast (usually on Tuesday). We have the breakfast special (for $2.50 you get two eggs, homefries made with real potatoes--not frozen shredded blech-- and a biscuit), and the coffee is great. It's wonderful food, a great neighborhood place, and great staff. Usually Sherman is there, cooking our breakfast with love. But sometimes DeWitt is there instead.

A morning with DeWitt is an extra-special treat. Sherman cooks with love, but DeWitt sings and dances to the radio. It seems that he knows every song on every station.

This morning, my absolutely all-time, end-of-the-world, what-I-want-to-hear-when-I'm-dying-song came on: Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight and the Pips.

And DeWitt sang and danced.

This baby has legs

Being on Ravelry has given me a peek into many, many knitters' minds, stashes, and projects. When I joined, I got such a rush to see that my Sachiko Baby Kimono pattern was on Ravelry already, and it's been an adventure to watch the postings grow: as of today, it's listed in 101 projects, 286 queues, and 273 people have marked it as a favorite.

Even more fascinating is seeing the photos of the finished projects: there are so many interpretations and renditions of it---some are not my taste at all and some are so great that I'm jealous (of another knitter's version of my own original pattern!).

This was my first published pattern, and I was so excited to have it "out there" and so grateful to Alison at For the Love of Yarn for accepting it and helping me to earn my professional chops. And now to discover that hundreds of knitters around the world have taken my design to heart and made it for so many babies---it's exciting and also humbling at the same time.