Does this thing still work?

Posted on | June 9, 2010 | 13 Comments

It’s been so long I didn’t even remember how to add links or photos! Lucky I live with a wiz ;)

I’ll be back. No, really, I will. Possibly sporadically, but that’s what feed readers are for, yes?

This knit-in-progress was actually finished weeks ago and has been worn consistently since then, so it deserves a little blog time, I think… And an even better reason to peek my head up (I’ve even been avoiding email…) – I’ve missed you all, and have been thinking about you despite my silence (which I’ve recently heard described as ‘airplane mode’ – Love!) I’ve received some kind inquiries if everything is all right over here, and yes, it is, thanks for asking.

If you’d like to know what’s been going on (as in, knitting is life, but there is more to life than knitting alone!) – click here or in the sidebar widget to the right to register for non-knitting content (Friends & Family. If you are a blog friend or acquaintance, you are most welcome. If you are a spam-bot, ax-murderer or coworker, you are still welcome to click if you like, but you probably won’t hear back!) For those of you I’ve known for awhile, this registration section will officially become the ‘Pipe Dreams’ portion of my blog, while the knitting portion here will remain public. As a registered user you will be able to feed these private posts too so hopefully it will not be an inconvenience – it allows me some measure of control over what I’m willing to share publicly since my full name seems to be floating out there in the ether. The joys of internet life :)

xo, mel

Taking my sweet time wrapping up 2009

Posted on | January 24, 2010 | 12 Comments

Though there don’t seem to be many finished projects to show for it, 2009 was a pretty wonderful knitting year for me.

Some of these became finished objects, some of them are still on the needles. But I enjoyed the process of each one and so I’m including some of those shots too – a knitting year is more than the sum of it’s FOs, no? I think even if pigs fly and I ever have a plethora of finished items at years end, I would still be as inclined to dwell on the time spent making. The final product to me is the moment of completion – the satisfaction or disappointment, and after that of course the use of the item in wearing – or the giving/sending to someone else, whatever destination it should have… But the building or creation is action, and takes up real space of it’s own. Favorite handknits become such a part of my everyday life that I generally don’t associate the wearing with particular days. I do sometimes remember that I was wearing *that* sweater for a specific event, but more so when I’m wearing it I always remember the time and space and events of the making of the thing, and I’m very attached to that. The finished fabric itself is just a piece of the whole life of a project. Does this make me one of those “process” knitters I read about? (I’ll go ahead and apply that to my life too, thanks!) I envy the productivity of the knitters who knit a slew of beautiful things every year (and can fill a gorgeous mosaic with their creations, such beautiful stuff!) and I always love a finished project reveal. But I have a feeling that I’ll always be a rather slow knitter, and that I’ll always have this attachment to the act of the knitting itself… I suppose if you were here for the FO’s, well… you just wouldn’t be!

I learned so much last year, saw my first design in print media, knit my favorite project so far and sweated through the process of writing a pattern to go with it. I knit to keep my hands busy, I knit on the way to New Orleans and to California. I knit for a challenge and creative exercise, to finish what I started. I knit to show I cared, I knit when I needed distraction, and when I needed warmth. And in between and during the knitting, there was a whole lot of life going on:

Life, and music, new places and hiking, and friends new and old… chance encounters with creative folks that turned into pretty cool things… working hard and eating well and trying to keep some balance… downsizing, cutting expenses, saying goodbye. Spending time with family. It was the year we finally took control of our situation and it was both a hard and a great year.

As for the year to come, there are a couple specific goals we’re working toward, but other than that I’m just keeping my focus on our general direction – Simplify, Health [Food, Exercise, Vigilance] and Happiness, The Future. I’ve been thinking a lot about the things that I value and plan to pursue now and down the road, and how to find ways to combine or include them over time. Living lightly. Travel. Fiber Culture. Service. Hiking/Being outdoors. Health (personal and planet). Promoting understanding, and developing it myself – I really have been exposed to very little outside the realm of my everyday and I’m actively seeking to change that.

I did somewhat tempestuously begin a year in pictures project, so I guess that could be considered a resolution of sorts. I’ve been toying with the idea for a couple years now inspired by Flickr and blog friends, and encouraged by some truly awesome Flickr peeps and my frustration over the lack of documentation of such a momentous last year, I decided to give it a whirl. You can find it here if you are so inclined.

I make no promises as to how far I’ll get – I seem to keep publicly declaring this on Flickr and otherwise – and I truly don’t mean to be self-defeating, I just don’t want to give myself a big ‘ol hard time about it if I should happen to find that I can’t follow through for any reason. That said, I’m trying very hard. And I haven’t missed a day yet. Only 343 more to go (I started on Jan 2 – not intentional, but I do kind of like the thought of ending the project on January 1 of NEXT year. If I make it. How many more times can I say that? Ugh!)

And back to the knitting, yes! I would like to begin to incorporate more of the “useful” in my knitting by making some things that we need – dishcloths and mittens, socks, etc. It seems I’m usually too wrapped up in a”big” project to take some time out to knit something quick and useful and satisfying – like I did with my Thorpe just before our trip north for the holidays – I really needed a warm hat, and I was so glad I did that! We’ll see – I don’t expect my knitting productivity to explode anytime soon, but I will make an effort in this area. Other than that, I have not made any knitting goals – I have plenty of very satisfying projects already in progress or on deck, and I’m quite happy with that.

And with that… It’s nearly February – I’m ready to get on with 2010 already! Happy new year – again!

—————-
Now playing: Dawn Landes – Who Are You
via FoxyTunes

What a decade can do

Posted on | January 3, 2010 | 10 Comments

I haven’t had much chance for reflection in the last couple weeks – though there’s a lot of material there from this last year and last decade… So I’m starting a little late with some initial thoughts. I can’t help myself from a little reflection and self-analysis, the new year always does this to me. I don’t make many annual resolutions any more, but I do use it as a chance to reflect and re-evaluate my general goals – and re-direct if necessary. Our decade was bookended by our move to North Carolina and a sweet furry boy who entered our life that year… and who we finally had to let go of just prior to the holidays this year. These years have been punctuated by some pretty formative events. We entered the 2000′s with very different priorities and a very different view of what our lives would be like. Children, suburban bliss, beautiful home, solid corporate careers… Pretty typical, really. Perfect for a lot of people. But I would say that we are much happier having realized that pursuing dreams that weren’t actually our own was a bit… well, depressing. And futile.

We entered the decade blessed by a lack of difficult experiences (I would have argued that at the time, but really it’s just that my definition of “difficult” has changed dramatically – it’s all relative, isn’t it?) I had never experienced very deep personal loss… We continued to experience far more good fortune than we’re due… Our move here and all that has followed has been pretty serendipitous. We made some pretty bad decisions. Actually moving here was a pretty fantastically bad financial decision… But in all other aspects worked out well, we don’t regret it… We bought a house (another crap financial decision… Seemed like the “thing to do” at the time…)

I voted for the first time (and lost all faith in the process – 2000). Continued to vote and had some of my hope restored (2008).

I stopped thinking about trying yoga and actually did it (2000 ish…) And after fits and starts over the first several years it’s a pretty permanent and necessary part of my life now. Even though I still struggle at times with practicing consistently, the gaps are getting closer and closer together. Eventually they’ll meet in the middle.

About halfway through the decade, we lost a wonderful woman and a good friend, and with the loss came an enormous shift in perspective. It changed the way that we view everything. Mortality has a way of bringing what’s important to light and sadly, it was a lesson we needed to learn.

I learned to knit. And could write pages and pages about that and the changes that followed  -much needed creative exercise, a new coping mechanism, new skills, wonderful friendships, boatloads of inspiration… the impact of this one thing in my life continues to grow and grow.

Family & friends moved to and from NC. We did some good things. We walked a lot (360 miles) and raised an awful lot of money over the last 6 years. We hiked (but not enough!) We got online. We both were published doing some things we enjoy and have made our creative efforts a priority in our lives. We started a backyard veggie garden. We learned to cook (really cook…) We traveled a tiny bit. We saw an awful lot of amazing live music (seriously, what a decade… I could do a retrospective of favorite shows!) I learned to love bluegrass unabashedly. We did the best job we knew how in taking care of the furry children that took the place in our hearts and minds of real ones…  We had some pretty crazy ups and downs with all three of them over the decade, particularly Mathias over the last 3 years. We did the best we knew how to do, and that’s what I’m holding onto (along with the memories).

We amassed a mountain of debt early in the decade (building on our still staggering student loans), stagnated through the latter part with enormous vet bills, house maintenance, etc. And finally turned things around just in the last year – One-third of the way to being completely, 100% debt free. In one year. It has required an awful lot of time and energy – focus and change of lifestyle – and luck in keeping our jobs in the current economy. I can’t believe how fortunate we’ve been… And we were even able to do some fun things in the process without getting too far off track… If there’s one thing we’ve learned it’s that NO fun is a sure recipe for disaster for us! And we’ve built some great habits that have helped enormously, as long as our luck continues to hold.

I think we appreciate our good fortune so much more than we did before… Someone posted on Twitter the other day about summing up the decade in one word. I think for me it would be “learn” – and I think this will continue to be the main theme well into the next decade if not my entire life. We’ve learned that even our simple acts are really decisions, and we try to treat them as such and act consciously as much as possible. My definitions of many things have changed substantially as I’ve looked outward more – “real” food, quality time, success, challenges. Knowing what is really important to me (and what is NOT) has been the basis of so many changes… And now that we have all that firmly established, life looks a lot different.

I am a little sad that most of the last year went undocumented aside from the big events despite our growing love of photography… The day to day of playing with food, yarn, and websites, caring for our sick boy and other pets, spending time with friends and family, celebrating little wins like sending another big payment toward our debt… Our “team meetings” on the back porch steps with coffee and breakfast. Picking vegetables from the garden.

As I write this, I recognize that the constant in all this has been my best friend, Tad. And that is the most fortunate thing, to have this amazing partner. I know that I am missing some big things in my reflection here. Normally I would have been thinking on this for weeks! But that’s ok. I like seeing even in this list the progress… the imperfections… the intentions (the hits and the misses)… and the hope/knowledge that we’ll continue to grow in such positive ways. I couldn’t bring myself to dig through a decade of pictures though… Not quite ready for that! I will pull some from 2009 though, and the knitting photos, of course.

Thank you for reading, for your friendship and your support… Wishing you a full, wonderful and meaningful next year and decade!

—————-
Now playing: Sarah Jarosz – Can’t Hide
via FoxyTunes

Rustic Bodice – or – A Design Story Completed

Posted on | December 7, 2009 | 25 Comments

I thought about writing the whole of this final post and then putting the final pictures and link at the bottom, but… I’m too excited!

My new pattern, Rustic Bodice, is now available through The Sanguine Gryphon Fiber Arts!

ETA: Oops – I jumped the gun a bit! Updated Link and Rav-Link!

Finished Sizes: XS, M, L, 2X, 3X

Finished Measurements: 28 (35, 41, 47, 53)”/71 (89, 104, 119, 134.5) cm Chest at Underarm
21.5 (23.25, 24.50, 25, 25)”/54.5 (59, 62, 63.5, 63.5) cm Finished Length

Sample shown modeled with 3 inches of negative ease.

Yarn: The Sanguine Gryphon QED 4oz/168 yds, 1oz/42 yds 100% Blue Faced Leicester)
5 (6, 7, 8, 9) 4 oz skeins Multiplying Rabbits
1 (1, 1, 1, 2) 4 oz skeins Algorithm
1 (1, 1, 2, 1) 1 oz skeins Nascent
2 (2, 2, 2, 3) 1 oz skeins Evanescent
1 (1, 1, 2, 2) 1 oz skeins Quadratorum

Skill Level: Advanced

Needles:
US8 (5.0 mm) circular needles in a range of lengths, or size needed to obtain gauge.
US7 (4.5 mm) 24” circular needles

Notions:
Stitch Holders (2) or waste yarn
Stitch Markers (4)
Tapestry Needle
Hand-sewing needle or sewing machine and thread

Gauge:
16 sts and 23 rows = 4” (10cm) in Stockinette Stitch with larger needles
19sts and 21 rounds = 4” (10cm) in colorwork with larger needles

Skills Required:

Provisional cast on, picking up stitches, stranded colorwork, short rows, and steeking.

QED is one of the most interesting yarns I have worked with. It is sturdy and strong due to the long staple of the Blue Faced Leicester fiber, and does have a bit of a, well, rustic quality in knitting. It is soft, but I wouldn’t place it in the same category with cashmere or even merino – it also feels like it will wear considerably better. What is both springy and structured in the knitting here blocks out into a beautiful, smooth fabric with a bit of sheen, and more drape than I expected. As I was knitting the sample, I was a little sad in that I didn’t feel my body type was well suited to wearing a fitted garment in this weight and type of yarn, and would not have considered modeling it… But after blocking? I was tempted to knit one for myself. A note too that this finished smoothness came with some growth – Choose the size you’ll knit based on the low end of your preferred fit for this garment type and know that you can gain some room in the wash. Knit a large swatch, give it a good soaking before checking your gauge, and you’ll be fine.

With that piece of business out of the way, I guess I should finish the story, hey?

(Part I & Part II if you’re catching up!)

A year ago last summer, Gryphon was thinking about adding a yarn to her line for colorwork and began working with a mill to develop a BFL yarn – And after I received my submission back, we discussed this sweater concept as possibility for her new yarn. Fast forward a few more months to winter of this year – and imagine a whole other story going on at this time about the process behind working with a mill to develop a new yarn! Gryphon had her new yarn and sent me some samples and suggestions of color combinations. I began swatching and we settled on the color combination that you see here. Then came the real work for me… As I mentioned, I did have a lot to learn in the process and it was nice to take it slowly in manageable chunks (and also promoted my sanity during a wonderful, but very full year!) The knitting itself was very quick – condensed, it might have taken me a couple weeks of concentrated work to have a finished sweater – but I spent a good amount of time on the front end planning:

Sheet one, the body… The back side with the sleeve calculations looks far worse – note the water and (wine) ripples… I had to scan the darn thing before I really destroyed it!

And then stalled a bit at each key point to ponder and calculate. And re-calculate. The waist shaping wasn’t a big deal for me, but then there was a PAUSE for every step after that - Armholes, the colorwork panel and the steeking… (during which I learned that hand or machine stitching would be a better method for this project – but doesn’t that crochet steek look nice?):

Seaming the panel:

Sleeves (I am in yet another Sleeve Pause at the moment – this amuses me!) During the original Sleeve Pause, I learned lots about knitting sleeves from the top down – which is very much fun – But I wasn’t happy with the effect as I was seeing it in this gauge of yarn… Can you see the jog here from the short rows?

In hindsight, after finishing the sweater and seeing the full effects of blocking on the yarn, I think it would have finished quite smoothly, but the jog bothered me as it was – So I took a step back and calculated the sleeves from the bottom up, knit the first to the widest part and then paused again to ponder the cap shaping. After that, and seeing that the cap FIT (into the armhole and also on a body – YAY!)

The second sleeve flew off the needles and all that was left were the hems – easy peasy in comparison – which brings us to this excited post. All those pauses, frustrating as they were, paid off. The knitting was a one-shot deal all the way through except for those sleeve caps – which means that this may represent the least amount of ripping of any project I’ve ever knit. It’s tradition for me to cast on multiple times, for instance. Note to self: Pre-planning pays off (Not sure I have quite learned this lesson yet based on a more current experience which I’ll share soon). Calculating the sizes and writing the pattern took at least as long as the knitting, I’m sure that comes as no surprise now! And then came the final step of tech editing/formating/etc which also flew in comparison.

And now it’s here. I can’t quite believe it, an idea that was hatched more than two years ago. It’s an indication to me of how long this process can take, and worthwhile and satisfying it can be when the pieces all fit. The right circumstances… The right YARN!  I think this project is a great example of how the type and weight of a yarn as well as the colors can change the whole feel of a project. Now, even after the details of the original swatching, and how much I loved that yarn – the QED and Gryphon and Sarah’s beautiful colors took the sweater to a new level.

Thanks for reading along with me and indulging my reminisces here. I hope you like it!

A Design Story Continued

Posted on | November 24, 2009 | 8 Comments

Did you see this in the IK Winter 09 Preview or in your magazine? I love this!! Hurray for more sideways colorwork – I love the traditional motif and natural colors. And that collar. I may have to make this:

Sharon Shoji's Heritage Sweater From Interweave Knits Winter 2009

I digress, I was just excited to see more sideways fair-isle – great design, no?

Getting back on topic, along with the swatching to settle on colors, I did a little more sketching to better flesh out my idea:

Note the sleeve detail… I acknowledged fairly quickly that I was going to let that detail go – because I wasn’t entirely sure how to execute a sleeve cap on my own, let alone a potentially fussy one like this. I still love the thought though. I’m a sucker for interesting sleeves. I’m finding that the coolest thing about ideas and sketches is that they don’t go bad, you can always pick them up later in part or as a whole when and where it turns out to be a good fit – I have filed this one for future reference.

I shared the sketch and my swatches from the previous post with our little design group, and got some good feedback, then it kind of sat while I finished up other things. Later in the fall, I received Interweave’s mood boards for the following years Autumn issue and it seemed like this idea might just be a good fit, and plus I was getting to the point in my head where I wanted to more experience with submitting both print and online. So I decided to make the project my first magazine submission. Being completely uneducated in such matters I had no real hope of being published – that would have been a big bonus, of course! I mostly thought it would be a good excercise – I wanted to see if I could put together a comprehensive and professional proposal that I felt good about. And I did, with a little coaching from some friends. In hindsight, thank goodness it WAS rejected. Not sour grapes, truly. I’ve learned a ton with this project and it’s been so nice to take it slow. Though I generally work pretty well under pressure, I don’t believe the results would have been up to my expectations if I’d had to put this together in a month’s time. I’m quite happy with how all the technical aspects came together, and I think that’s a direct result of having the time and freedom to let everything sink in and really understand all the concepts rather than force it. I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when I was terribly impatient. But I’m working on accepting that these things take time, especially with a busy life and non-math brain (how other people do this and produce a huge volume of work, I’ve no earthly idea!) I probably shouldn’t confess that, hmm? But, so it goes. I had, and will always have a lot to learn. One of the many things I love about knitting.

More swatching ensued:

Hmmm… No.

Yes!

And the submission went something like this:

And now you have an idea of what it looks like (except that it doesn’t really, except in structure – it’s amazing what a difference yarn can make in the look and feel of a project!) And then I waited. And learned that maybe it would be best to work independently on a project that I’m already really excited about rather than wait. Not that it wouldn’t still take me a couple years to complete, you understand. I got my swatch back in July of the following year, and did a little dance (Firstly because, yay! Swatches back, can play! Secondly because my name on IK’s letterhead? Even if it is a nicely worded form letter that reads rejection? Still very cool. Again, fan-girl, yes, I know.)

So this is really only part two (You’ll forgive me for stretching this out, won’t you? I’m trying to keep you interested until it comes out!!). Chapter three starts with Gryphon mentioning that she was working with a mill on a yarn for colorwork…. I’ll save the rest for next time! And I’ll leave you with a question. Have you had a LOOOONG running project (knitting or fiber-related… design… any creative endeavor or goal…) that you just couldn’t let go of? I’d love to hear about it!

—————-
Now playing: William Elliott Whitmore – Hell or High Water
via FoxyTunes

This album was included as a download from our Paste Magazine digital subscription, and I’m loving it so much!

A design story – pt1

Posted on | November 12, 2009 | 18 Comments

Tonight I’m sitting here making good on my Autumn Manifesto (wrapped in a family sweater, drinking tea), feeling sleepy from all the rain we’ve had this week & satisfied from recently reaching a final milestone on a long-lingering project. Since this project is in it’s final stages – and much closer to finally being able to share with you all, I thought I would go back in time a bit and share some of the process before the design comes out.

Back in the spring of 2007, I was still a new knitter and newer blogger – but I had some ideas in my head and wanted to see if I could make them work. I had the good fortune to run into some other knit-bloggers who were starting their own design efforts and we did a few design challenges, bouncing around ideas and offering feedback and encouragement. It was a very good thing and had my wheels turning constantly, so excited about ideas and possibilities and as a result I was just getting ready to put out my first pattern. Tad and I were on our way to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (MDSW), and in a fit of inspiration fueled by my excitement, I was sketching furiously all over the vendor list I had printed out.

I’m a fantastically awfully sketcher. Ah well. At least they jog my mind, where they look much prettier.

Several of the sketches/scratches on this page were multi-color ideas. I had been dreaming of colorwork all winter long and had attempted my first couple of projects (my ill-fated Anemoi mittens, and first attempt at Chuck’s Cabled Socks). And I had seen a particular sweater in Vogue Knitting earlier in the year that had gotten me thinking about working a fair isle or colorwork sweater sideways.

Sandi Posser's Fair Ilsle Cardigan - Vogue Knitting, Winter 2006/2007

I wanted a beautiful multi-colored sweater, like all the gorgeous Venezia’s I had seen (Eunny Jang phase? Yes!) But I knew with my extremely short and very curvy torso that this might be difficult to carry off – the  traditional sideways stripes of pattern and color seemed not to be such a good or flattering idea for me. The sweater above set off a little lightbulb for me – vertical stripes would work! My knitting brain thought on this idea for some time, and on that piece of paper ideas finally started popping out. (I’m starting to notice that this is the way my brain works – sometimes with technique as well as inspiration. As a new knitter I sat on the concept of circular knitting/DPN’s for at least a week until it clicked, then I was off!) I didn’t have the knowledge or experience – nor were any of these ideas fully formed enough to pursue buying yarn at MDSW that weekend, but I did do some looking – and I got excited about a couple of the ideas on that page and began to flesh them out a bit more in my head and on paper. And, did I mention? It so happens that this MDSW is the one at which I met Gryphon.

I came home and sketched some more, and then ordered some yarn to start some colorwork dreaming. I’d been infatuated with Green Mountain Spinnery and how they do things for some time but had yet to actually try their yarns, and so that seemed like a good place to start. But it was a few more months before I would act on any of these sketches as I finished up my first design and started my second (which Gryphon, after joining our group of Design Workshop folks saw and picked up – it became Chrysalis). When I knew I’d be making a trip north toward the end of the summer, I did some more sketching and planning – I wanted to be able to pick up the yarn in Vermont in person.  I played with color blocking in Excel, the basis was a graphic scrollwork backdrop on a website I had seen (no memory of where at this point unfortunately!) I played with it until I felt it would work up ok sideways, and would tile nicely.  When we got on the road to New England, much of the drive was spent swatching.   I chose the colors for these first attempts in sequence. Brown, I love brown, that’s the backdrop. I love brown with Turquoise or Teal… Yellow is a good opposite on the color wheel, snag a few lighter shades of the yellow and teal/blue, and start playing. There wasn’t a real method to my process at this point – after reading Julia’s recent post about colorwork, I think I would go about things a little more methodically/thoughtfully in the future, and it might take less time for me to come up with something that I like!

My first attempts were a little rough, but enough to give me an idea of how the colors worked together:

I settled on this combination:

And picked up enough yarn (this is Cotton Comfort, BTW) for the concept during the trip (on a somehow unblogged, awesome visit to Green Mountain Spinnery)

And back at home I did some fine tuning until I was happy…

To be continued!

—————-
Now playing: Hem – Betting On Trains
via FoxyTunes