Adventure

I’ve embarked on a new adventure. I’ve enrolled in Shirley Paden’s Handknit Garment Design class on Craftsy. Like all adventures, it’s the journey as much as the arrival your intended destination that changes you. I’m not very far along. I know what I want to design. I know the purpose and shape of the garment and the yarn I want to use. My initial concept was a summer top with gansey stitching, bust darts, and short sleeves. 

My concept collided with reality over the past two nights. 

The yarn is Berrocco Remix: a 100% recycled non-wool tweed worsted weight yarn made from five different fibers. I’ve knit a swatch for another project with three different needle sizes, washed the swatch and know that the yarn grows when hand washed and lay to air dry. 

It slowly dawned on me that most gansey garments are made from solid colored yarn and that the garment would either be too busy with an all over pattern or the pattern would be swallowed by the tweediness of the yarn. 

Bust darts would add the complication of continuing a pattern and knitting the darts simultaneously. This is going to be Herculean feat from jump. I decided to apply the KISS principle: 

• Channel Island cast-on, to create a little interest at the bottom. 1x 1 ribbing (haven’t decided how many rows yet). 2 to 5 rows of garter stitch a row of corn stitch and then stockinette stitches. I’ll report on how it all works out as I knit the first swatch with these elements.

In a week of thinking, looking at stitch dictionaries, looking at projects made from the yarn on Ravelry and reading reviews and comments, this is as far as I’ve gotten. Granted, I’m a newbie; this is my first time out of the gate. 

But this week has engendered in me a deeper appreciation of the process every knit or crochet designer goes through. I appreciated designers and the work they put in before. But it’s a very different walk when you’re wearing those shoes.  

So, when I discovered from an old email and a Ravelry post that one designer has had

1. a crochet pattern sold on and published by Love of Crochet without payment or notification from All Craft Media
2. a sewing pattern sold on without notification or attribution by All Craft Media to Igloo Books for inclusion in A Guide to Sewing
3. a knitting pattern sold on without notification or attribution by All Craft Media for inclusion in A Guide to Knitting

that familiar rush of the anger and outrage at the downright disrespect for the creative ideas and work of another person that I felt at this time last year when I first learned that designers had not been paid, and that arose when A Guide to Knitting and A Guide to Sewing were discovered for sale, returned.  

The management who made those decisions, signed those contracts to sell on, and collected the money is and will remain justifiably infamous.

 

Why are Crafters So Generous and Other Random Bits

In addition to support, encouragement, and admiration when non-knitters and crocheters have heard the Friends group’s efforts on behalf of all those affected and those still being affected by KAL, ACM, CM Ltd., there has also been surprise expressed consistently involving the use of the words knitters and nice.

Well knitters and crocheters are nice. Actually they are some of the nicest, most generous people I know and have known. A few days ago, I discovered a quote which I think explains a good part of our niceness:

“We don’t knit to make things. We knit to make ourselves happy!

This is from Annie Modesitt’s online class page (Check out her new book: History on Two Needles published by Cooperative Press.) I was struck by the truth of these statements and it was reinforced by a remark from one of my classmates yesterday about how easy it is to lose an entire day knitting. All of us at the table nodded and made noises of agreement. You can only lose yourself in something when it makes you happy ergo knitters and crocheters are happy people. And happy people are nice people. Happy people are also generous people. I have a crocheting friend whom I have never seen crocheting anything or planning a project for herself. Every time I see her with a project or hear about a project it’s for a family member, co-worker, or friend. I think I would get general agreement that fiber crafters turn to each other for help. And what we ourselves don’t know, we point the questioner to a resource that can help.  

I admit to being a selfish sewer. I don’t like sewing for others. I enjoy sewing. It actually zones me out more than knitting. I’ve learned to schedule myself when I sew because I found I forget to do basic things like eat. I think it’s the process of construction in sewing that I find so relaxing. 

No process is perfect. Knitting, crocheting often involves ripping back hours of work or getting part of the way through a project or to the end to realize the yarn and the design weren’t meant for each other or the item doesn't fit or that gorgeous colored yarn in entire garment makes one look dreadful. Or realizing at some point that this isn’t what you want to make (Us fiber crafters all have works in progress (wips) hidden away that someday will get frogged or finished). And most projects aren’t perfect but learning to live with the imperfections, our failures and our successes is part of the joy. 

When you are happy, when you are part of a community in which generosity, cooperation, and support are naturally occurring, these values and behaviors become inculcated and affect your behavior and attitude in other areas of your life.

What’s on the Needles

I am participating in the Folk Shawls forum KAL on Ravelry knitting the Wool Peddler’s Shawl from the book Folk Shawls. I’m should begin the lace part tomorrow. And unless there is any more hidden in my stash, this project should use up the last of my Knit Picks Special Buy Pumpkin sport yarn.

 

I should also finish the second sock of my Knee High First Time Tube socks. I’ve modified the pattern to add an afterthought heel and I’m knitting the foot in stockinette.

 

 

I’m totally in denial about the other wips on the needles.

Knit Picks Customer Credit Card Information Compromised. Click

If you have shopped online at Knit Picks or any of the Crafts Americana businesses, please check your credit/debit card/bank statements. If the Ravelry topic on this issue is any gauge, a lot of people have been affected.

Cast-On Class with Shirley Paden

One of the big frustrations of 2012 for me was each time Shirley Paden came town to teach, I was on travel. So as I blogged before, when I saw the announcement at Looped, I paid for my purchases, caught the bus, arrived back at my desk, enrolled and paid for the Cast On Class in under 10 minutes. 

Had the most wonderful experience yesterday. We covered 18 cast ons in the four hours. I learned a lot; have a lot to practice and a lot to put into practice. I am more than a little graphically impaired (someday I will post on the blog the story of what happen when a mall I frequented several times a week changed their signage from the word Restroom to the Male and Female symbols used in airports) so drawings and pictures are many times incomprehensible or very difficult for me to understand. The most valuable take ways from this class, besides the practice and explanations of the best uses for the different cast ons, was having the memory of what the hands and yarn are supposed to be doing and being able to relate that to the drawings in the workbook. The other lovely thing about the class was being taught by someone knowledgeable and experienced means that there are ancillary bits of information relayed, like about the importance, size and what your swatch tells you besides the stitch and row gauge, that are spontaneously given. 

Having been a trainer, there were little things that I appreciated. Although the students were given a list of materials, Shirley came prepared with yarn, needles, hooks, scissors, and highlighters (which were really useful) just in case. She used a bulky weight yarn in easy to see colors for her demonstrations and she always elicited and encouraged not only feedback, but constantly reminded us that we were doing a lot of these cast ons for the first time. I always used to say in my software training classes that it was more important to remember that you can do something then to remember the exact steps to do it. At one point, I was unable to get my yarn and needles in the correct position for long-tailed cast on. After several frustrating attempts, I had to stop, breathe, and take the advice of a fellow student. 

I instinctively knew from Shirley’s design alongs in her Ravelry group that she was a generous person. My opinion was borne out in her teaching style, the way she helped individuals, and the way she took time at the end of class to chat to each of us. I didn’t sign up for the other sessions because I didn’t think I was skilled enough. That is a mistake I won’t make again. I might not know enough about finishing or design, but next time I have an opportunity to take a class or classes from Shirley Paden, I’m signing up for them all.

Shirley is teaching a design class on Craftsy, which is currently on sale. Of course, I’m enrolled. 

Just a word about Looped Yarn Works: I have had the fortunate of experience (which I’ve learned is not true of all knitters) of always having helpful and kind owners and staff in local yarn stores. But Looped Yarn Works staff and management are exceptional. They have been able to expand their space adding a lovely, functional, bright and comfortable training room. I love the fact that they carry yarns from local crafts people like Wandering Wool. And although Looped has been open for about a year and half, the shop has gone from strength to strength in yarn selection, their podcasts and the expansion of their class offerings with the new space. They also contribute yarn, support, and advertise community charity opportunities. If you are local to Looped, watch their website for an April class on Knitting and Meditation. The instructor is a friend and I highly recommend you consider enrolling in this class. You won’t be disappointed.

A Winge

I try not to winge in real life and rarely on my blog but I'm making an exception in this case.

This evening has been miserable. I've somehow injured my right shoulder. A visit to the doctor and xrays last week didn't reveal much because of the inflammation. So I'm to schedule physio for six weeks and take an anti-inflammatory three times a day. I left work late, so I wasn't able to walk home. The bus was full up, so I didn't get a seat at the front. I was too far away from the doors to wait until the bus stopped to get up. Using the seat rails and the arm slings, I moved slowly towards the front door. By the time I got off the bus, my upper arm and shoulder were screaming with pain. I picked up my packages (it was Amazon night...lots of small stuff). I was almost in tears opening the door. I stepped on poor Toupie's paw in my haste to get my jacket off and sit in the chair under the vibrating neck harnness. By the time I sat, the pain was in my neck and up behind my ear on the right side. 30 minutes under the vibrating harness and I was at least able to do some french toast in the toaster oven for dinner. Now I'm just waiting for the motrin to kick in.

I'm a sucker for quizzes and such. I was delighted to find out I'm most like the Dowager Lady Grantham on the Downton Abbey quiz. While looking at a sock pattern on a blog I saw the what kind of flower are you quiz. Irresistable. I'm a snapdragon. The quiz totally pegged me.


 

Afterthought Heel

There are myriad of resources and video tutorials available on the Internet as well as in books. I’m only going to list a few. To explain in a bit more detail, my heel issue is this: I have a 4A width foot with a 5A width heel. So my repeated attempts to master sock knitting arise from a very practical need: most commercial socks are too wide for both my feet and heels. The result is that I end up having extra fabric around my foot and heel, or the heel of the sock rests at the bottom of my ankle. Totally unattractive and in thicker socks, uncomfortable. So my hunt in sock knitting has been to find a heel which works first time every time. I think I’ve done that with the afterthought heel. What I didn’t do, which most books and tutorials recommend, is knit the entire sock, and then knit the heel. I knit the length of cuff I wanted. Then knit a row with waste yarn. Started again with the project yarn and knit for about two inches. Using another set of the same size dpns, I then knit the heel; bound off with Kitchener Stitch and the reattached the yarn and resumed knitting the foot of the sock. I could have measured or calculated how much length the heel would add to the foot as done in the video tutorial.

Some Resources:

The Yarn Harlot

The Knit Girllls Video Tutorial

Teach Yourself Visually Knitting Socks

Yarn Tainer

Toupie is very good about yarn 98% of the time. He is a little challenged when I’m blocking (pulls at the pins, lays on the drying fabric) and occasionally has fits of mischief when I’m laying out yarn or fabric to photograph. But yarn coming out the Yarn Tainer drives him wild. When I knit from freezer baggies, he’s not bothered. There is nothing better for skeins of Lion Brand Fisherman’s wool than the Yarn Tainer, as long as I keep the water bottle equally close at hand to squirt the resident feline.

Afterthought Heel

 

 

I just realized that the drug I take for my shoulder problems has the same name as the plant-derived drug in the Vedic scriptures.

 

I augment this blog post at another time with more information and links about the afterthought heel.

Predatory Pussies

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The wonderful thing about cats is that at some point every cat owner admits they've let something wild into their lives with its own agenda.

Friday night I didn't hang up my coat but draped it over the ottoman. Walking through the living room, I thought I heard a noise as I passed the coat-draped ottoman. I stopped, looked around; I even called the cat by name; no cat in sight. When I passed through a few minutes later, a paw swiped my ankle as I reached the ottoman. I was the prey, and puss the hunter.

Being male, Toupie is a more than a little territorial. He growls when someone comes to the door that he doesn't know. And as more than one chinese food delivery person will attest, he habitually bounds out of the apartment after them. My sister on more than one occassion has simply branded Toupie's behavior as gangsta.