Home alone

It's Friday morning. I took the day off work because I planned to go to a knitting retreat in a town 2 hours' drive away, a little 2-day gathering to knit and eat and chat and attend a couple informal workshops.

Instead I'm writing this blog post. I took the day off anyway, but I'm not going anywhere. My husband broke his wrist a week ago and it's in a cast from the elbow down.

Now I'm sure a healthy person could manage by themselves for 30 hours with one arm in a cast--even the dominant arm. But my husband is chronically ill. Adding another health crisis has him reeling. He needs help opening his medication bottles... he needs help covering himself up in the bed, sometimes.

So this is the life of the spouse of someone who's chronically ill. Holding plans lightly in case you have to cancel them at the last minute. Working around his needs.

I'm disappointed, of course. I thought about going to work, for about three seconds... but I already asked for the vacation day, and getting a day off is somewhat of a consolation. OK, I'll admit it: going to work instead of going to the knitting retreat would be rubbing salt in the wound.

Two months ago, I was asked to consider going on a six-day mission trip to teach knitting. My church has been partnering with a church in the Dominican Republic, and started a sewing ministry a year or so ago to teach poor women a marketable skill. These women now want to learn to crochet and knit as well.

My first instinct was to say, "I can't leave my husband alone for that long." And they laughed, thinking I was making a helpless hubby joke. Turns out my husband's health status isn't common knowledge at my church. But even after being informed, they were saying, "Have faith! What if someone brought him meals?" Meals are the least of my worries with him--he doesn't even eat some days. And there's always Domino's.

I started a flurry of Facebook messages with two friends at church who DO know the situation, and also have experience with chronic illness. One, who also has a chronically ill husband, said, "People just don't get it."

Our final conclusion? It's one thing to have faith, and it's another to fling yourself (or someone else) off the pinnacle of the temple and expect the angels to catch you.

My primary ministry in this season of my life is to take care of my husband to the extent he needs it. Any other ministry opportunities have to fit in around that, and also can only take up so much of my energy. I turned down another ministry opportunity more recently, even though it would have been right here in town and maybe only once a week, because I felt I didn't have the energy. I prayed about it, and did not get any sense the Lord wanted me to do it.

The Lord knew my husband was going to break his wrist slipping on the last ice of the season.

This weekend I'm going to go sit on the couch at my local yarn store for an hour or three, and knit and chat with whoever else is there. It's not the same. But it's as close as I can come right now.

The maker movement is simply rediscovery

I was listening to the Woolful podcast recently and the interviewee said something that really got me thinking.

We used to make, to mend, because it was a necessity to life, Now, I'm seeing more and more, people are making to mend their bodies and their minds. It's a therapy....

-Tif Fussel

I re-started crocheting and knitting in 2008, when my husband was in the hospital for six weeks following surgery. I learned to knit and crochet in childhood, but hadn't touched it in years. However, I was starting to go a bit stir-crazy sitting by his hospital bed, and I suddenly thought, "I could be crocheting!" I made time to pick up a pattern book with instructions to refresh my memory, and some yarn, and it's been a constant ever since.

I think it's historically been common for women to work on their handwork when sitting at the bedside of a sick person. Of course, historically, women always had sewing, mending, etc. needing done; I've seen an old photograph taken somewhere in Scandinavia showing young women knitting as they walked across the fields. Because it's not that long ago that if anyone were going to have warm socks or sweaters in the winter, someone had to knit them. If you were going to have clothes, someone had to sew them by hand. You had to take every opportunity to work on clothing items, when you weren't churning butter or washing your pots & pans & dishes by hand.

Most of us wouldn't want to go back to the days when all but the very wealthy HAD to be makers to survive. We like that our knitting, crocheting, spinning, etc. is a leisure activity. But more than that, like Tif Fussel I'm hearing many makers say that it's benefiting them in certain ways.

Evidence is growing that needle arts are good for the brain. It may even delay the onset of dementia. Simple knitting can serve to help you pay attention in meetings and such---see Cognitive Anchoring by Heather Ordover. There's even a book called Crochet Saved My Life. People are crediting handcrafts with emotional healing.

And yet, I doubt the old hand-knitters of the Yorkshire Dales considered knitting therapeutic. They churned out socks, gloves, and fisherman's sweaters day and night for pennies per item to supplement their meager incomes (until the industrial revolution put them out of business) .

So how did knitting go from drudgery to the magic cure-all?

I think the transformation of western economies to where so many of us are knowledge workers of one stripe or another, where all of our work is done with a keyboard and a mouse, is no more good for us than any kind of excess. Staring at a screen all day starves a fundamental aspect of how we were created. 

We were created to do and make things with our hands. Our brains as well as our bodies were wired for it. So when you've been neglecting this aspect of your inborn nature and then you start using it---it just feels good!

There's something about doing things with our hands that keeps us in tune. And we still need to think as well. We don't need to chuck everything else and just knit all day... what we need is balance. 

Some people do have a calling to knit a lot, to design knitwear, and so forth. And those people should also spend some time doing other things that aren't knitting. Like baking, balancing their budgets, bicycling. You can get a repetitive stress injury from knitting as surely as from keyboarding. Those Yorkshire knitters could have used a break from knitting; alas, they were in survival mode.

We modern denizens of Ravelry, and other makers, occupy a unique position in the history of humanity. Yes, we have to specialize to earn a living--but we don't usually have to work day and night at that specialty. We can earn enough in 40 hours a week to give our leisure time over to something that exercises other capacities. It is actually possible for us to have some balance.

So actually, becoming a maker isn't some kind of salvation. It's just a way to wake up a part of your brain that might have been atrophying. Be grateful for it, sure. But don't elevate it overmuch.

20 things I learned in 2014

I'm participating in a blog linkup with Emily P. Freeman at Chatting at the Sky--What We Learned in 2014.

1) I learned about African refugees from Congo and elsewhere, right here in Illinois, who fled persecution for being Christians.
     Among others, I got acquainted with two sisters who came here with their aunt--their parents were murdered.

2) Don't leave hand-knits within reach of a puppy.
     (Really I knew that, but it only takes a lapse of a few minutes...)

3) That Jeremiah 17:9 does NOT apply to the Christian regenerated under the New Covenant.
     It gets quoted a lot: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" That's the King James and I still have it memorized. But that's an Old Testament verse about the carnal heart! I learned this from John Eldredge's book Waking the Dead.

4) To accept my childlessness.
     Thanks to the Beth Moore study Breaking Free.

5) That I have insulin resistance and the ketogenic diet is the one for me.
     ... in other words: "Butter makes your pants fall off!!"


6) I really really need to journal.

7) Also, I'm supposed to be blogging.

8) However: Writing is not an end in itself.
     whaaaAAAA???

9) I learned disturbing things about the founder of the cult I grew up in.
     More about that some other time... maybe.

10) Why my husband felt sick more often than not for almost a year.
     He had a hidden pocket of infection. When it was finally drained, he felt better immediately. In a friend's words: "No wonder he felt bad--he was full of toxic goo!"

11) That I can buy yarn faster than I can knit it up.

12) It's all very well donating to a cause; the challenge is trying to help a real, live, flawed and neurotic human being whose problems have no easy solution.
     There's someone who just exhausts me. Mostly I just drive her to church, because she doesn't have a car, but just listening to her talk wears me out. I'm not sure if I just need to let her chatter just roll off my back, or what. Do I just need to learn patience?

13) Even mild sleep apnea takes a lot out of you.
     I wrote a whole blog post about it.

14) The power of the Holy Spirit in my life means I don't have to succumb to my fears and weaknesses.
     um... duh?

15) I may have made an agreement many years ago to the effect that I should never reveal my heart.
 
16) Listening to an audio Bible while knitting rocks!

17) I learned about hybrid cameras, and got one.
     Many settings available--aperture, shutter speed, plus digital effects--but the size of a point-and-shoot. Perfect for me!

18) Lots more about introversion.
     I read Introverts in the Church by Adam McHugh, and Quiet by Susan Cain.

19) That I'm a direct descendant of John and Priscilla Alden of the Mayflower.
     My aunt did the legwork to prove it to the satisfaction of the Mayflower Society, which she has now joined. I could join too by just appending proof of my descent from her parents.

20) How to survive a polar vortex.
     Wear all the wool!

Dee's No-Twist Circular Cast-On

I knit in the round a lot—and I've twisted my cast-on a lot, too. That is, when I've cast on all the required stitches and go to join the two ends, I have accidentally let the stitches twist around the needle, even though I tried to check for that. It's really frustrating when I don't realize it until I knit a round or two. And of course, the more stitches in the cast-on, the more likely this is to happen.

A few months ago, a knitter named Dee posted her solution on the "Techniques" forum in Ravelry. I didn't see it until a few weeks ago, and I wish I had sooner! "Dee's No-Twist Circular Cast-On" is simply the best way I've heard of to prevent twisting your cast-on when you join to knit in the round. You can use it with any type of cast-on, as far as I know.

Here is a link to the original forum thread on Ravelry, where this technique is discussed at length. (If you're not a member of Ravelry, I think you'd have to join to see forums. But if you're interested in this topic, and you read blogs, and you're not a member of Ravelry... the mind boggles.)

Dee has also made a YouTube video:


Dee knitted up a strip of fabric to use, but somewhere in the thread someone suggested using a ribbon that has loops along the edge, and I latched onto that idea. There are limits to my DIY-ing. I only have so much knitting time. I'm lazy. Pick an excuse, any excuse.

I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and found a wide, stretchy ribbon with loops AND gaps along the edges. The loops will accommodate needle sizes of perhaps U.S. 8 on down, but the gaps are stretchy and could go much bigger. It's a bright lime green that will contrast with just about any yarn I might knit.

I "hang" the ribbon either before or after the first stitch, and then every ten stitches (using it also to help me count!).

 

As Dee says, the fabric or ribbon must remain BEHIND the cast-on. Here you can see my cast-on stitches in front of the ribbon, with a loop of green every ten stitches.

I have way too much ribbon for this project, but that's OK—it just hangs down, no big deal. I figured too much would be better than not enough. I cast on over 600 stitches for a project once, and you never know when I might do it again!

I found out the hard way that even doing this, it's still possible to twist the stitches when I join them in the round. However, it's obvious right away. I didn't have to knit a whole round before I realized it. The whole width of the ribbon twisted up and forced me to face reality.

Here's another view of the same cast-on, in case it's helpful. Another thing about my ribbon is that one side is satiny and the other side is matte, so I can tell at a glance which side I'm looking at (and therefore, whether it SHOULD be in front or in back).

I won't be surprised if this technique starts showing up in knitting reference books—it's that handy.

Big Foot Knits--because socks aren't as simple as they sound

The more I read about the book Big Foot Knits by Andi Smith, the more I think I've GOT to get me a copy.

My feet are size 10 narrow. I didn't think at first that would qualify for this book, just going by the title.

But actually, this book is about customizing socks to your own unique feet. I've heard the author interviewed, and it sounds like she did a LOT of research regarding different shapes of feet and toes.

There are people out there who knit any old sock pattern that appeals to them and they fit just fine. But I've knit two pairs of socks (one for myself, and one for hubby), and crocheted one pair too, and they just DON'T fit.

OK, I'll grant you, the first two pairs I just blindly followed instructions. But the third pair, I tried really hard... and knit them toe-up so I could try them on along the way, and they SEEMED to fit when I was 3/4 of the way up the foot. But once I went to actually wear them, it turned out they were actually too big around. It was those darn narrow feet again.

I'm still thinking about it... We'll see if I have any crafting budget left after Stitches Midwest next weekend. ;-)

Cardigans large and small—WIP Wednesday

Last night I cast on for the pattern Climbing Lace Cardigan, by Vanessa Ewing. (Side note: this pattern was recently translated into French. Do I have any Francophones reading my blog?) I'm knitting this cardigan for myself.

Here are the swatches I knit first: one in the lace pattern, and one in stockinette. I'm glad I swatched the lace pattern—it tripped me up a few times. Probably because rows 2 and 4 are identical, so I sometimes lost track.

I'll be using the techniques I learned from Amy Herzog in her Fit to Flatter class and her book Knit to Flatter to make sure it fits me properly. This includes adding waist shaping, since the original pattern doesn't have any—it goes straight from hip to shoulder. That's not how I'm shaped!

The yarn is Peace Fleece Sport DK, in the colorway Sheplova Mushroom. I bought this for a different sweater about three years ago, before I understood that it's nearly impossible to make DK weight yarn work in a pattern that calls for Aran weight.

It's wool and mohair, very crunchy and rustic. I love crunchy rustic yarns. The swatches are noticeably softer after washing, though I'm sure they'll never be as soft as merino. That's fine; I'll always be wearing a shirt under this cardigan.

Oh, and I'm knitting this as part of the Yarniacs Podcast Fall 2013 knitalong. I figure this is close enough to the color Pantone is calling Samba.

The small cardigan referenced in the title is for my nephew, who's currently 8 months old. The pattern is called L'illo and is available in the Fall 2008 issue of Knitty. (Click over and have a look at the pattern model! Isn't he a cutie? Of course, my nephew is cuter....)

This photo shows the back and half of the right front. I'm knitting the 12-month size and shooting to have it done for his first birthday in November.

The yarn is Takhi Cotton Classic Lite, 100% mercerized cotton in sport weight. My nephew (and his mom and dad) live in a suburb of Dallas, so he doesn't need tons of cold-weather gear, and I already knit him an acrylic cardigan before he was born.... it was supposed to be a newborn size, but apparently my yarn was too thick, so I told my sister to save it for next winter. I'm hoping a cotton cardigan will get more use.

I wish I had started it on wooden needles instead of aluminum. The combination of slick needles and slick yarn means I have to take it slow. But I can't change in the middle. It might affect my gauge, and then the pieces wouldn't fit together.

The back looks short, but that's because this sweater has saddle shoulders. I've never knit that kind of shoulder before, so it'll be interesting.

Here are links to my project pages on Ravelry: Li'l Cardi and Climbing Lace Cardigan. (I guess I should come up with my own name for it?)

Can knitting be an idol?

The Second Commandment, out of only ten: Do not worship idols.

It was the subject of a recent sermon at my church. The preacher acknowledged that actual idols that people literally bow down to are vanishingly rare in modern Western culture. And yet, humans still have this need to worship something. And we still have this tendency to drop our eyes from God to something we can actually see.

I certainly do, anyway. I didn't write for ten years, because writing had become my idol. And when I write that, I don't mean that I nobly and selflessly put it away from me and now I'm all righteous. I mean that I had my idol smashed before my eyes, revealed as the false hope it was, and all my desire to write evaporated.

But that's a story for another time. Because now I'm worried about knitting.

When I arrived at church a couple weeks ago, I realized I'd forgotten to bring my tithe—again. Now, if it were just a bill to be paid, I'd be ok, because there was one more Sunday in the month, I could catch up then. But it's not just a bill... or at least, it shouldn't be. It bothers me that in some ways it IS just another bill to me. It's not the act of worship it should be.

By contrast, I went to a fiber event the day before. I planned way ahead for that. I carefully hoarded my spending money, made sure to get my cash together, thought about what I'd shop for.

Follow the money. What's my priority?

OK, it's not a perfect comparison. Fiber events are rare for me; church is every week, there IS always next week. However, one of the criteria our preacher mentioned for identifying an idol was, "What do you always seem to find money for?" Hmm.

The jury's still out; I don't see most of the other criteria applying to fiber crafts in my life.

However, I do see signs that there may be people out there in the "fiber community" who DO put their crafts in the place of a deity in their lives.

No, they don't bow down before their yarn stashes. But how about acquiring more stash than you can possibly ever knit—and then continuing to purchase more?

Some other criteria from the sermon:

• It is the source of our security.
• It is the source of our identity.
• What do you treasure? Dream about, dwell on?

I see people writing about yarncrafting as if it's their comfort and their solace and their ultimate. Like it's the cure for all social ills. Like only at a fiber-oriented event can they find true fellowship. Is this worship?

Maybe; not necessarily. There's nothing wrong with using knitting to relax after work. Crafts can be a creative outlet, and yarncrafts have the potential for something really useful as the end result.

The trick is that just because something is lovely and comforting and whatever other good qualities it may have, doesn't mean it can provide ultimate fulfillment.

The key statement in the sermon for me came, oddly, in the middle. This is what I want to take away and evaluate myself against whenever I seem to be getting too much into something:

Idols are usually good things that we have made god things.

Another way of thinking about it is, what do I look to for life? (I don't remember where I picked that up; possibly John Piper.)  What do I look to for fulfillment?

I just want to remember that He is the ultimate; anything else good in my life is a gift from Him.

WIP Wednesday: Background Radiation

This week I'm going to show some love to a project that I keep forgetting about in the context of WIPs. It's like the background radiation of the universe: always there, humming along.

The pattern for this shawl, "Mie," was originally written in Danish and then translated into English. I'm surprised it's only got 47 projects on Ravelry... especially since it's free! My project page is here.

I bought the yarn at Stitches Midwest 2012, and started knitting it last October. This photo shows it a little past halfway done. It's a simple end-to-end garter stitch pattern with a ruffle formed by short rows. It takes about four rows to memorize the pattern. Therefore it's become my social and stoplight knitting. I barely have to look at it. I've also knit on it while reading.

It's so perfect for those situations, in fact, that I seriously wonder what will take its place when it's finished!

The yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the colorway Lowland, which doesn't appear to be available any more. It was actually a limited run of short skeins (which was stated up front and priced specially because of that). It was a case where I saw the color and said "Oh my," and made a wild guess how much I would need. I bought two skeins at first, then went back and bought a third skein, thinking that might be enough for a sweater.

Ha! nope. After I got home, I strained my Ravelry search skills to the limit trying to find ANYTHING within the yardage I'd purchased. I wanted to use as much of it as possible, but it seemed I'd bought exactly the wrong quantity.

And then I ran across Mie.

Although it's not written that way, it seemed to me I could weigh my yarn, knit increase rows until I'd used up half of it, and then knit decrease rows until I used it up. It might actually turn out incredibly long... but I have ahem a generous circumference, so that'll probably be fine.

So that is exactly what I'm doing.

The pattern IS written for striping two colors. Since Madelinetosh is notorious for color pooling, I decided to knit from all three balls in succession. I switched every time the pattern called for switching colors (which is every time you get back to the straight edge). I think this scatters the colors nicely.

My photo doesn't do justice to the colors... When it's finished, I hope to get some really nice photos. Closeups and all that.

I like a challenging knit as much as the next yarncrafter, but there's a lot to be said for the elegant simplicity of this pattern.

A scarf pic, finally! (WIP Wednesday)

I've talked about this scarf in every WIP Wednesday post... now I can finally show you a WIP photo. I had to get my husband to snap the picture while I stretched it out between my fingers.

Pretty yarn, eh? It's the "Happy Forest" colorway in Dream in Color Smooshy. Obviously it'll have to be blocked severely when the time comes. The pattern is "Not a Drop" by Arlene's World of Lace.

I'm in a finishing mode this week... I finished two items already, and I just got the hook & eye tape in the mail today for my cardigan--everything else is done. I'll have to create a Finished Objects post sometime when it isn't Wednesday.

That's it for today. I have a couple pictures to take--can't do it now, though, there's a storm wrecking the light.

WIP Wednesday: starting to look like a cardi!

My Andie's Cardigan is all seamed up—it looks a lot like a cardi!

Now all I have to do is pick up & knit the collar and the i-cord trim down the front, and sew in the hook & eye tape... as soon as I find some hook & eye tape. Tried two stores the other day, no luck.

While I was at Jo-Ann's, I picked up buttons for my Comfort of a Friend shawl. Vintage look for a vintage design.

 

The scarf is proceeding slowly, and I just knit 2 more swatches for the baby cardigan. The first swatches didn't give me gauge so I am trying a larger needle size, and you have to swatch both plain stockinette and the stitch pattern. I haven't measured yet.

 

I am starting to think about picking up the socks that have been in time-out since last winter. I've got to rip back a couple inches, yuck. But is it really THAT bad? Well, the difficulty is I'm knitting two-at-a-time on two circulars and I'm worried I will muck them up.

 

Still, I should just get going on them so they aren't nagging me in the back of my mind.



WIP [Wednesday] Thursday

Considering I completely FORGOT to write a WIP Wednesday post last week, I think a few hours late is an improvement.

Updates

Happy Drops, the scarf I have to really concentrate on, had a bit of a setback... I somehow messed up one of the drops, so once again I tried inserting my needle at the base of a row of drops as recommended by the designer. She then goes on to say you'll have to tink back a couple of rows (because odds are you didn't get the needle inserted into only one row... it's really hard to tell). I must have tinked back 15 rows before I finally felt like all the stitches on my needle were correct. But that beats starting all over. No new picture yet.


Comfort of a Friend, blocking & being cat-scanned.

My Comfort of a Friend shawl is done except for the buttons. I have to go shopping for buttons, and that's waiting for June because I am almost out of spending money for May. This is for the first KAL for the book What Else Would Madame Defarge Knit?, edited by Heather Ordover. Actually, this pattern isn't in the book—rather, this pattern is available in doll size and child size in the book. The adult size pattern was a bonus for those of us who pre-ordered the book; however, it's available for purchase on Ravelry.

The most exciting update is for my Andie's Cardigan. I've finished all the pieces!

Andie's Cardigan, the fronts and sleeves blocking.

Tomorrow, or maybe tonight, I'll start seaming the pieces together. Once that's done, I'll pick up and knit the collar, then pick up and knit the i-cord trim down the fronts. Meanwhile I'll purchase the hook-and-eye tape for the closure. I never heard of hook-and-eye tape before reading this pattern. Brilliant idea!

Naturally, by the time I finish this up, it'll be too hot to wear even though it's short-sleeved. The yarn is Berocco Ultra Silk (discontinued), which I picked up on clearance. It's aran weight, 40% nylon, 40% rayon, and 20% silk. Interesting construction—it's a knitted tube with filling. I imagine the tube is the silk and the filling is the nylon & rayon. It's very drapey, and I hope it doesn't grow outrageously in wear.

New

I've started swatching for a cardigan for my nephew—the pattern is L'illo by Susan Power. I'm making size 12 months, out of Takhi Cotton Classic Lite, a sport-weight 100% mercerized cotton, in a darkish green. Tried size 3 needles, next I'm going to try size 4.

A minor discovery

This morning I ripped out the first swatch of the Cotton Classic Lite, and balled it up, but it's kinky even though it hasn't been knit up all that long. So I had an idea... I used my Amish swift to re-skein the yarn from the ball.

 I made a slip knot and put that over one of the dowels. Then just held the ball with one hand and spun the swift with the other. After all the yarn was on the swift, I tied it halfway between each dowel and voila! ready to soak and hang up to get the kinks out.

Maybe that tip will help someone! I don't know if it would work with an umbrella-style swift... I have no experience with them.

Happy knitting, all!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday!

I've decided to join in the Work-in-Progress Wednesday meme. It looks like a fun way to incorporate some knitting posts into my blog. To learn more (and to join in, if you're so inclined), check out this post in the Tami's Amis blog.

Alas, my WIP's are kicking my tail this week.


The left strap of the "Comfort of a Friend" shawl.

I'm in a knitalong for the Comfort of a Friend Shawl. It looks really nice so far... except I've discovered I did some purling. It's a garter stitch pattern—there isn't supposed to be any purling! I guess I did that because I'm going back and forth between this and a stockinette project.

(Now that I think of it, the stockinette project is NOT kicking my tail. Maybe I should work on it some more!)

The hard part is the purling is right below the place where the middle is bound off, so I'm afraid to rip out. So I'm using my Fix-A-Stitch tool. Which works great but it's slow going.

The other WIP that's giving me difficulty is the Not a Drop scarf. I took this picture before I started having problems.

Yeah, I didn't get very far before I started having problems.

It's just that if you make one tiny little mistake, it's extremely difficult to fix it. The designer does have some tips in a thread in her Ravelry group, and yet I've had trouble following the tips. I mess up the tinking back, and next thing you know I'm ripping the whole thing out and starting over.

I've decided my strategy for this scarf will have to be not to do more than one or two rows in a sitting. If I go much longer than that, I start getting into a rhythm (because there IS a lot of repetition) and next thing you know I'll miss the next shift in the pattern.

I hope to have better news next week!

RAPT

A week ago Tuesday I was RAPT for the first time.

Someone I don't even know gave me a knitting pattern electronically via the Ravelry pattern store. She had read one of my posts about losing my job, and wanted to help make my week better. I love that!!

RAPT stands for "Random Act of Pattern Tuesday," a takeoff on the phrase "random act of kindness." A Ravelry user chooses another Ravelry user, scrolls through their pattern wish list, and purchases one for them.

The consensus is that this idea originated with late blogger and designer Karrie Steinmetz, aka KnitPurlGurl. [This link may fail... there's no telling how long her family will leave the blog up.] Since her unexpected death last November, her readers and fans have been perpetuating the practice in her honor.

So what was I given? The pattern for the beekeeper's quilt by tiny owl knits. Isn't it cute? It's very popular on Ravelry because the work is portable until assembly, and you can make all the "hexipuffs" out of bits and bobs of yarn—ideal for me, since I can get started with leftover yarns I have stored away. (Yarn is NOT in my budget while I'm unemployed!)

Here's my very first hexipuff. I made it with yarn left over from a hat I made for my sister. I actually dyed this yarn, and it was my first dyeing project as well. I have plenty left over from the hat.

 

I confess, when I first heard of Random Acts of Patterns, I thought it was cute, but on the other hand I was a little cynical. OK, I had a bitter thought: "No one's ever given ME a pattern." Yeah, I'm selfish like that.

 

Well, now they have, and now I sort of get it.

 

Maybe when I find a new job, one of the things I'll do to celebrate is send someone a pattern.



A lifetime of learning

I took a knitting class this morning... an initiation into the mysteries of the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern by Elizabeth Zimmermann. Just two hours (plus two hours next week), with a local but experienced teacher and three other students in the back room of the local yarn store. Big deal, right?

And yet, I was so excited about it I woke up at 5 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep.

I don't think it's knitting in and of itself. Nor was I beside myself about this baby sweater in particular—I've already knitted and crocheted five projects for the nephew who isn't even born yet. (He'll arrive any day now, though... stay tuned!)

It's just that I love to learn.
And, it's been WAAAY too long since I took any classes in anything.

This is why I've all but abandoned TV in favor of informative podcasts.

I think it's not such a bad thing. And I should encourage it in myself.

Cooperative Press is my fantasy employer

Cooperative Press tempts me again with Needles and Artifice, a book full of fabulous Victorian-inspired patterns AND a novella to go with them.

OK, OK, it’s steampunk! I confess to a secret fascination with the steampunk aesthetic, even though I’ve never read any and suspect I wouldn’t even like most steampunk fiction. I just like the clothes and the props. I don’t have the figure for the clothes; in fact, I woudn’t be caught dead in some of these items. AND YET—I WANT THE BOOK!

Spats! Knitted spats with brass buttons. This doesn’t depend on my figure…

This hat & cowl set is called “Master and Commander.” Just what every girl dreams of.

The last Cooperative Press book that tempted me is more justifiable, seeing as how I have a nephew on the way. The only reason I haven’t yet purchased Boys’ Knits is that I have plenty of time… I’m still making newborn gifts. My nephew won’t be big enough for anything in this book for a few years.

The cover photo from Boys’ Knits. Cute!!

[Note: all of the above photos are copyrighted not by me. Either by Cooperative Press or the respective authors.]

I’ve also subscribed to Knit Edge magazine, which has published 1-1/2 issues so far. (They started with a sampler which they called “issue zero.”) So far so good: I want to knit the sweater that was on the cover of issue 1. And maybe the colorwork cowl, too.

Iconoclastic is the word for Cooperative Press. The mass-market crafts publishing industry has gotten rather boring. They’ve got too much money invested to risk doing anything that won’t appeal to the broadest possible audience.

Shannon Okey, the brains (and often muscle) behind Cooperative Press, has shifted the paradigm. She’s using the newer publishing technologies of short-run digital printing and e-publishing to open up the field to unique, even quirky ideas. They don’t HAVE to have mass appeal in order to make a profit.

I’ve yet to purchase a physical book from Cooperative Press. Everything I’ve bought from them comes in 1s and 0s. I read them on my Nook, or my laptop. It’s easy enough to knit with my Nook propped up on the arm of my chair. I made these booties from a pattern in the first CP book I bought—Extreme Double-Knitting by Alasdair Post-Quinn. [Yes, for the nephew.]

So Shannon—how about it? See, I know how to use an em-dash. ;-)