Stitch Your Art Out

Happy New Year!

2011-12-29T22:41:00.000-05:00

Did you make Christmas or Hanukkah gifts this past year? Many of you did, I know for a fact.

It seems odd, given my profession, but I never used to make gifts--I bought everything. A few years ago, however, I started making a few. I discovered that I really enjoyed giving something different and special to people. Yes, another stunning revelation comes my way.

This year, however, I didn't make as many gifts as I would have liked. Time can get away from you.

I'm not much for resolutions. They tend not to last. But this year, I think I'm making one. Every month, I am going to make sure that I make at least one gift, and.....

Wait.

Something in my head is suddenly feeling awry. I suddenly sense that I need to do actual math. [Insert muttering-type counting sounds.] Uhm.... okay. There are 23 people on my gift list.

GPS: "Recalculating."

So this is the plan: Every month, I am going to make sure that I make at least two gifts. By December, I should have at least one handmade gift for everyone on my list. I'm planning to make most of them simple so that this plan is achievable. I have no desire whatsoever to burn out or injure myself.

So that's the goal. We'll see if it works. If it doesn't, I'll probably still have more done than this past year.

But I'm quite serious about it and have already started a list of ideas for people and am even writing them into my iPhone. For obvious reasons, I can't blog about the results of this plan very well, but, provided that you are unrelated to me and/or not on the list, feel free to ask how things are going and what I am doing. You might even get a few ideas for yourself.

Anyone out there care to join me?

It's Fall!

2011-10-26T10:25:00.001-04:00

First, let me do some quick housekeeping and let you know that I now have two blogs. I'm going to talk about my Really Clear patterns only at www.reallyclearinstructions.blogspot.com. If you use Google Reader or some such thing, start feeding that one too. (I also have a Facebook page for Really Clear. Feel free to join in.) I've been wanting to do this for a while, but it's fall, I've put a number of my patterns up on Ravelry, and the time seemed right. When I talk about other people's patterns, or store events, I'll keep it right here.

On to another person's pattern we go.

The best thing about fall (other than insects going away for a while) is that I can wear a sweater that I made and finished last March--right when it was starting to get hot. So it feels like a new sweater!

This is a great little pattern from Knitting at Knoon called Jersey Shore. (We have the pattern at Stitch Your Art Out, of course.) I modified it just slightly by adding a v-neck. I just eyeballed the shaping as I went, so I fear I can't give you the particulars on that. Otherwise, I did the pattern as written. I love the stitch pattern: You do a knit 2, purl 2 pattern for 2 rows, and then you knit a row, purl a row. It kept the knitting mind from getting bored but it was easy to do.

This pattern is great because it comes in both adult and child versions. So it is time for you to make this sweater for your entire family, and then go get a group photo taken!

I used my favorite yarn in the whole, wide world--Harrisville Highland--as the yarn for my own version. This particular color of pink has been discontinued, but never fear, dear knitters: Harrisville still makes a gorgeous pink, and we can certainly get you all the pink Highland your heart desires so that you can make pink sweaters for the entire, extended family! And all your friends!

Because it is fall, and we are all ready to start knitting! With a vengeance!

Charlotte!

2011-09-08T23:54:00.000-04:00

Kim and I were leaving the shop together after teaching tonight, and she spotted this spider in her web.

Fortunately I had my camera and was able to get a photo of it.

Almost Amusing

2011-08-05T07:10:00.000-04:00

While I don't exactly hate nature, I'm not that big into it. I feel immediately rotten when I'm in the sun and avoid direct sunlight whenever possible. (When we go to the shore, I stay inside all day until just before sunset, then go on a walk on the beach. This is more than enough for me.) I never hike because I hate being surrounded by gnats and getting hot, and the bottom line is, I prefer indoor plumbing.

Really, other than evening walks around the block, I don't get out much. My day is normally this: Get up, go to the car, go to work, work, get in the car and go home, knit or sew or read if it's not too late, sleep, get up and do it all over again.

How I contracted Lyme disease is beyond me. Everyone who knows me even a little is stunned.

The only thing I can figure is that I pet the neighbor's sweet little cats almost every day on my way into the house from work. But who knows. Maybe ticks dropped from the trees that are next to our driveway. I know nothing about the lives of ticks.

This post is not for sympathy. I caught it early and am fine, and don't really care that I have it. It is to alert you to be aware of symptoms, because apparently it is a bad year for ticks, and my whole point is that if I can get Lyme, anyone can get Lyme.

The symptoms are mild, and you might not think anything of them. That to me is the frightening part. Mine started with a headache and swollen glands, and a little more lethargy even than my normal self. I know that when I get sick, I need to sleep, so when my symptoms began, I spent the weekend in bed. It didn't really help. That seemed odd--sleep is normally my magic elixir. Then I decided to see why the heck was going on with a mosquito bite that had itched for 3 days. I looked at it; it was a bite with a big, splotchy patch around it.

I wondered vaguely if it was Lyme, but that made no sense. I hadn't even mowed the lawn in the past few weeks because it was so hot and dry that the grass wasn't growing. In full denial, I googled spider-bite images, thinking that, well, I've seen spiders in our house sometimes. And none of the images even remotely resembled what I had. (I did learn that spider bites are not pretty.)

The next morning I got up and decided that it seemed far-fetched, but I would google Lyme disease. I looked for about 2 seconds at the Google Images of bite areas, then ran immediately to the doctor for antibiotics. She saw my bite area and immediately gave me a 30-day run of them.

And I also went to my acupuncturist, who seems to have cleared it further. I am still a little tired, but the cobwebs seem to be finally gone from my brain. I continue to rest (which comes naturally to me). You needn't worry about me.

It is I who am worried about you.

The whole point of this post is this: Know the symptoms for Lyme and take them seriously--even if you're not the outdoorsy type. (I never even sit on a lawn chair to enjoy nature, which is how one of my friends thinks she contracted Lyme.) If you catch it early, it is no big deal. If you don't--well, we've almost all known someone who didn't. That is why I am feeling so very educatory today.

Learn the symptoms. Go right now and do a search on Lyme Disease, and read several sources to get a sense of them. Then pay attention, and if you have any symptoms, even without the rash, take them seriously.

Okay. That is enough lecturing for now. Next time: More knitting and quilting. I've been busy this summer with crafts!

Not hiking!

My Own Long Project: Finito

2011-06-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

I'm inclined toward the massive knitting project on small needles. I'm not sure where this comes from.

Many of you have seen me toiling for the past few years on the miniwrap--it is a sock-yarn version of the Knitting at Knoon pattern, Wrap Me Up. I loved knitting it. It takes a little longer than the original wrap, but that's because you need to adjust it to make it longer when you go to the small needles. Doing that was no big deal. I added a few random squares that we had been doing in our Zimmermania class--killing two birds and all that.

This weekend, I went so far as to line the wrap with cotton fabric, attaching the lining by hand around the edge. Then I used a sewing machine to sew the fabric down around the blocks, in the ditch, as if it was a quilt top. (A walking foot is crucial for this job.) That kept the whole thing straight. Knitting gets crooked easily, especially when you are making patches of different stitch patterns.

And then, this evening just before dinner, after I had spent the entire weekend with all this sewing of the wrap, along with almost 2 years of actual knitting, the whole thing was suddenly finished. I sat in disbelief for over 5 seconds, and then Kevin said he was hungry and wanted to get going. Since it is summer and we are a little safer from college students and their pedestrian-and-driving ways, we went downtown to eat dinner and take pictures of the wrap. Here are a few of those pictures. I have lived in State College all my life, so let's add in a little town history while we're at it.

The first picture was taken in at the side of the Tavern where they're doing some remodeling.

When I was a kid and went with my family, I always got the lasagna. I think that their recipe has not changed in 40 years. It is still terrific.

Next is the scarf on the famous State College Pig statue. You see, apparently 100 years ago in State College, pigs were allowed to roam free in the streets. (Now it is just college students who roam free in the streets.)

Then 100 years later, in 1996, we in State College decided to remember the free-range pigs and build a statue in homage. The mother pig was named "Centennia" by a committee of townspeople, who thought that the name was appropriate for the "centennial" of the town. The piglets were named "Ed" for the education that completely surrounds us here in State College, and "Hope," for the hope that we all have that we are going to finish the rest of our projects soon, so that we can start new ones.

That dear little Hope seems to be hiding under the scarf does not bode well.

Or is that Ed?

In any case, we will all start new projects.

Finally, those of you who live in State College will instantly recognize the mural. It is on a side street that has been beautified with Famous State College Important People that are Not You. Or at least they're not me.

Until today. Heh.

You may not know the back story of this particular section of the mural. It looks a little puzzling, I admit--but I can help you out because I am a native of State College, and therefore I know what's going on because of those important circles I'm always running around in.

Here is what is going on:

The couple on the left is kissing because they are so overjoyed that I am finished with the mini-wrap.

Then below to the right, the man has put a dog on his head so that the dog can see the wrap better. But the the wrap is at the wrong angle for the dog to see, so the dog is feeling rather distracted and looking the other way. That is the way dogs are, you know.

My Mother's Progress

2011-05-18T18:34:00.001-04:00

My mother looks pretty normal, but I have a sneaking suspicion from all my years of knowing her that on the inside, she is just a teeny-tiny bit loco. For those of you who do not know, she is knitting a bed cover in strips using size 10 crochet cotton on size 2 needles.

She began the project about 3 years ago. With only a helmet liner in between, she has worked on this project steadily, taking only a few short breaks. When she was at full tilt, she knit on it 3 hours a day: an hour in the morning, an hour after lunch, and an hour in the evening.

She has calculated how many stitches it is--almost 1.4 million.

I have been asked many times how it is going. As of this month, the knitting part is finished.The cover is made of 15 strips, each with 20 diamonds. That was 300 diamonds to make.

And the 15 strips are sewn together. Do you see the seam in between the cables?

After the bed cover was assembled, she washed it in the washing machine. (She told me that she never left the washer's side.) It was dried on a bed, not the dryer. Do not even think that it went in the dryer.

And now the only thing left is the fringe. The fringe is quite an undertaking. (If you don't believe me yet that she's crazy, you will soon.)

Mom worked on several versions of the fringe before choosing exactly how many strands it needed, how it was to be knotted, and how long it would be. The final contenders are below, and the winner is the longer one on the left.

She chose a book specifically for the size she wanted to wrap the fringe. (Or maybe for how you are supposed to feel about her bed cover.)

And she is making hundreds of pieces, each exactly the same length with exactly the same number of strands. She puts them in a box, tied loosely, so that she can just pluck them out to attach them. This is my Dad, plucking one of them to show you:

(I have a strong suspicion that he is particularly impressed with this undertaking.)

A fringe pile:

She bought a comb that had teeth with the proper spacing she needed to comb out the fringe as she made the loops:

And that is where she is. Cutting and combing.

Mom has promised me that when the bed cover is done, we can have a big party for her in the store. I suspect it will be in the fall. Look for the day and time in our newsletter. You are invited. But be warned that this will be one party with no food or beverages.

Crochet Come Lately

2011-05-05T16:07:00.000-04:00

Kim has tried to convince me for years that crochet is "relaxing," "fun," and "logical," but I never took to it. Oh, I've made a couple of crocheted sweaters, and a few dishrags, but that was about it.

Until now. I think I'm hooked.

It started last week when I wanted to play with a yarn. It is Skacel's Shari, a yarn that has a strand of silver shine running through it. Who could resist such a thing? I wanted to knit it into an open, lace pattern, but nothing worked. I didn't feel like garter stitch, which is where this baby was going.

Then I realized that maybe the yarn would work in crochet. It did.

Oh, for fun, let's let the camera do something that our eyes would never bother with--go in even closer:

Weird.

Anyway, as you can tell by the fact that I have several "artistic" views but no pictures of myself modeling the scarf, I'm planning to make it at my leisure, just for fun, and without deadline--so when you stop by the shop, there's a good chance I'll be working on it--or at least that it will be nearby and you can see it. I'm really enjoying this project.

And my new-found love of crochet? It's actually all due to this little baby:

This is one of our new Tulip crochet hooks. Our crochet teachers swear that they help new crocheters learn faster and better. One of our knitting teachers started using them, and now she wants to teach only crochet classes. Another knitting teacher has dropped all her knitting and begun using it to crochet a series of Angry Birds characters. Misty, one of our crochet teachers, even went so far as to write a major hook comparison on her blog: The Tulip came out ahead. And I've never seen her use another hook since.

All because of this hook, I've started looking through crochet books to mull over my next project. Feel free to join me in my new obsession, and shout out ideas for projects. Kim, I have to admit that you were right all along.

I hate when that happens.

Kim is a Knitter, I am a Quilter

2011-04-09T19:52:00.001-04:00

Kim and I suffer from a persistent stereotype: that she is a "quilter" and I am a "knitter." Indeed she does quilt and I do knit. But we couldn't have gotten this far without knowing how to do both. You need to be able to help people--and besides, all the crafts are fun. We both like to knit, crochet, and quilt.

I won't talk about her yarn stash, which is as big as mine. But that should clue you in that Kim always has a yarn project going.

When Kim knits, she tends to do it in the evenings at home while watching TV. She rarely brings her projects into the shop to show people. She is a close-to-the-vest kind of knitter. But today, just a little, I am going to force her out of her knitting closet.

For some reason, she tackles only large, crazy projects. I'll show you a few of them here.

The Crazy Huge Bag

Early on, when we first opened, along with a bunch of scarves, Kim made this felted bag. She wanted a very large bag, and in order to do that, she had to make it ginormous before felting. It was as big as a laundry bag, or maybe even a dress. After felting, it was still large.

Look how pretty the colors are close up:

Even the i-cord on the handle is colorful:

When we went to yarn market one year and Kim carried it, yarn-shop owners from all over the country stopped us in our tracks and remarked on how much knitting that bag took.

The Crazy, Huge Scarf

Kim has a penchant for Fair Isle. She loves working with yarn in both hands and says that it soothes her to do so. So she usually has a Fair-Isle project going. She has made several bags--this one:

(She thinks I should weave in the ends--for some reason, I haven't done it yet.)

And this bag, which she made with a beautiful lining and leather handles (and sewed in her own ends):

But the craziest Fair Isle project of them all was this year's Giant Scarf.

She made the Giant Scarf in the round on a 16" circular needle. It took 16 skeins of Noro Kureyon in many different colors:

It is very, very thick, and she will never be cold again.

The one side is a stripe...

the other, a checkerboard.

So what's Kim's next project? Rumor has it that she has taken home yarn and a pattern for another large felted purse.

Ask her what it is!

Writing

2011-01-16T22:47:00.000-05:00

Even though this is prime knitting season, where nothing feels as good as wool on one's lap, I have not been knitting (or for that matter, quilting) much for the past few weeks. I have been writing. This isn't in a sudden change in career. For a long time, I've been writing my Really Clear patterns--actually, ever since the store opened. But I decided that 2011 was the year to get serious about them.

Now, anyone who has ever taken a class with me knows that I never leave a pattern alone. Unfortunately for me, that includes my own patterns. So as I reformat the patterns, I am also revising them. I am fortunate to have a fantastic editor, Tina Hay, working with me. (She thinks that editing these patterns is "fun," and I would appreciate it if you did not tell her otherwise. I plan to set her to work hemming pants soon, and I'm sure she'll think it's a ball.)

In the fall, I connected with a wonderful photographer, Tamar London, and I had my first photo shoot in December.

*****

For the past week, I have been revising my top-down mitten pattern. (Tina, another draft is coming your way soon.) Today I ran across photos that I took a long time ago for the cover of the pattern. I thought you would enjoy seeing the before-and-after shots.

Here is the first one I ever took, about 7 years ago:

"Mitten on Notebook Paper."

I knew it wasn't very good. I thought that maybe if I did a little photo editing, I could improve it. What do you think?

"Black and White Mitten on Notebook Paper surrounded by white haze in Pebbled Frame."

Since I knew that the photo wasn't working, I thought that maybe drawing it instead would improve the situation.

Maybe not so much.

*****

Over the years, I did become a better photographer. Last year, I took this photo of a top-down mitten. It is actually not horrendous. But it still wasn't what I wanted.

"Purple Mitten Floating in Space"

I told Tamar that I wanted photos that looked alive, as if people were wearing and using the knitted items. I didn't want what I call "sweaters on a stick."

She came through.

I am thrilled with Tamar's photos. I'll be showing them to you over time, as I write up the patterns.

You can also follow what I am doing on Facebook, by becoming a fan of Really Clear Instructions.

But in the meantime, I must get back to work.

The Blue Sweater

2011-01-10T12:48:00.000-05:00

When I first met Kevin about 12 or 13 years ago, we went to a knitting store near his parents' house. There was a lot of yarn there. I told him to pick out yarn that I would use to make him a sweater. He picked out his favorite color of blue, and I set to work.

I was going to make the best sweater known to the planet. It was going to have cables and embellishments, and he would wear it proudly. I started designing and swatching to make it perfect.

And then I started my dissertation. The sweater got put on hold.

I graduated. I picked up the sweater and started working on it. Then Kim and I started our shop. I kept trying to make the sweater, but frankly I didn't have time for the most beautiful and elaborate sweater ever made. I didn't know what to do about this because I wanted the sweater to be glorious! The sweater got put on hold.

Finally, about 2 or 3 years ago (who can keep track of these things?), I got tired of looking at the swatches. I knew that if I didn't start the sweater, and just make it plain, it would never happen. Besides, I figured something out while I was working at the store: Men do not like fancy, elaborate sweaters anyway. They want boring sweaters. They are guys.

And so I began the sweater in earnest.

I made it plain stockinette. The fabric seemed to look best on size 4 needles. So it took a while. The sweater went with me to every show I attended, every movie, and lots of knitting and quilting classes. Many of you got interested in the sweater.

After a few years of dragging around the sweater, I decided that it needed to be finished in 2010. Sometimes it's good to have a goal. Some of you, at my request, even nagged me to finish it (here's lookin' at you, Nancy). I worked to get it done for Kevin's birthday this past December. It was not an easy task. Two days before the birthday, I was doing the final embroidery on the hem of the sweater. Elizabeth Zimmermann suggested that the knitter should put her initials and the finished date in the hem of sweaters. I liked this idea, and kept saying that "2010" was a great year to embroider.

I had looked forward to making that 2010 for years now, but if I wanted to have it done in time for Kevin's birthday, I had no more time; the sweater needed a few days to dry after blocking.

I was sitting there, dejected, when Kim said to me, "Why don't you put ears on it?"

"What do you mean, ears?" I said.

"You know," she said, "above the initials, like Mickey Mouse ears."

Kim had unwittingly reminded me about something that I had been planning to do, but had forgotten: Kevin and I like Disney, and I had wanted a Hidden Mickey in Kevin's sweater. There was still time in the day to do that rather than 2010. So I got busy, and made a little Hidden Mickey after my initials:

That seemed to suffice. I blocked the sweater, and, with the help of a fan that Kim brought into the shop, it was dry by Kevin's birthday.

To celebrate his birthday, we went to Rey Azteca that night with friends. I had the wrapped sweater hidden in my bag. After Kevin opened all his other gifts, like his sheets of duct tape....

and his Mad Scientist book...

I got out the sweater package. He said he didn't know what it was till he held the package and it smooshed. Then he wildly ripped into it:

At least that's how I like to tell the story. We may have had low-light conditions in the restaurant that created camera blur.

Rey Azteca was a little too messy and crowded for trying on sweaters, so that part waited. But he's been wearing it on cold days.

I was relieved that it fit and looked good.

Now I do admit that the neckline is a bit wide, but Kevin won't let me fix it. He claims that it makes getting the sweater over his head easier. I'm not sure if this is entirely true. I suspect that after over 10 years of watching me work on it, he can't bear to let me continue.

2011-01-03T21:37:00.003-05:00

Helmet Liners

The helmet liners are on their way to Afghanistan. Thanks, everyone, for all your help.

2010-12-18T10:18:00.007-05:00

My Current Project(s)

I have the hubbub of Christmas coming. I'm feeling behind. But there is one project I am working on that I am more compelled to do than anything. It is boring to knit--not much of a pattern, not very interesting colors--but I am getting great joy out of each stitch.

It is a helmet liner.

We're doing a drive for them here at the store. One of our customers has a son who is in Afghanistan, who will be sending the liners directly. The weather there is brutal: hot in the summer, frigid in the winter. We're heading to frigid right now. Imagine our winters in Pennsylvania, and subtract 20 to 30 degrees.

We have the patterns at the store, or if you want to get started right now, you can use this pattern. [Note: Link was broken the morning of 12/18/10. This one should work. Ignore what they say about helmet liners not being accepted. We are sending them directly.]

You need to make it out of 100% animal fiber so that it doesn't melt under fire (acrylic melts) and so that it is super warm. There are just over 20 guys in this unit, so we're trying to get just over 20 liners. If we have more, they will be given to new people who come in. We can't have too many.

You don't need to worry about making these things washable. There is no real running water in Afghanistan to wash them. The soldiers go for months on end without a shower.

Oh--and they make friends with the local kids too. So if you have an extra kid's hat or kid's socks that you would like to give, that would be a good addition to our box. You also want those to be 100 percent wool, for the same reasons that the soldiers' need to be that way. (But maybe you can have more fun with color here.)

Eleanor is stopping by our store on December 24 (this Friday) to pick up everything we have. We'd like a nice pile to give her. So in this week of cramming things in, I hope that everyone reading this crams in just one more thing.

We'll see you Friday.

2010-10-30T10:16:00.013-04:00

The Best Present Ever

This morning I came in, and sitting in the middle of the desk was a stapler. Not just any stapler. THE stapler. A new brand new one.

It sparkled!

I could hardly believe it. I walked around the desk ....

and looked at it...

from every angle...

Don't look, Ethel!

I sneaked a look inside, and--I loved this--it had even came loaded with some staples!

The other staplers, which had looked just average before....

Somehow suddenly took on a sparkling light when their new friend was put with them...

And no one was happier than I when I gave my beautiful, new stapler its maiden stapling.

It is the best stapler a girl could ever have.

Thank you, dear Kelly. You made my day.

2010-10-19T15:14:00.019-04:00

The Challenge

My friend Alice told me that her sister-in-law likes only neutrals. Like many of us, Alice likes bright colors--but she wanted to make her sister-in-law something. I thought that a quilt of all neutrals could be beautiful. One thing led to another, and soon Alice and I had set up a challenge for ourselves: We would use exactly the same fabrics, but make different quilts. The challenge is that we're not allowed to show the quilts to each other until they are done. It is a mystery for each other.

We're using a palette of creams...

A darker khaki for a bit of contrast...

Light grays....

Pure white (you can't see this)...

And a few dark grays for some contrast....

And of course, a beautiful, neutral focal fabric that has all the colors in it....

We have already designed our projects using EQ, but the sewing is not allowed to begin until October 31. This gives us time to work through a few other things. Our end projects may or may not look good, but if you never try something new, you never learn anything. Part of the fun of quilting is having a little risk.

What do you challenge yourself with to keep your life fun and interesting?

2010-10-15T13:52:00.013-04:00

Results!

I love it when people bring in their finished projects. It's my favorite thing that happens around here. Today I was doubly lucky: I had two classes that had finished objects for showing off.

First was my Big Quilt class. I love this quilt. In its variations (BQ1, BQ2, BQ3), I have made about 5 quilts. (My BQ3 using Amy Butler fabrics and solids is hanging behind the counter at the moment.) The BQ quilts are quick, they look good, and they are just plain old fun. Roberta took the BQ class from me and quickly made this pretty Christmas throw:

She was so happy that she's about to make another for her daughter!

Today we also finished up a lot of knitting around here: The wraps (or the really, really close-to-finished wraps) from my annual wrap class. I do this class every year, starting in January. We end in October, just in time to wear them. It's kind of like a quilter's block of the month--two to three knitted blocks each month, and we end up with wondrous wraps. Thank you, Knitting at Knoon, for your great pattern!

I was especially proud of this group, who didn't let a mere knitting pattern stand in their way. When they wanted to change something, they changed it.

Laura Lee added more blocks along the edge and made a throw instead of a shawl:

Look at this. When she realized that she forgot to offset one of the blocks that was supposed to look like brickwork, she decided that she loved it and kept going:

Wouldn't that windowpane make a gorgeous sweater?

One more picture of this work of art, a close up:

Lesley ignored the instructions that you're supposed to have self-striping yarn. She wanted a wrap that was subtle so she could wear it every day: She used a semisolid olive, then added lime trim to jazz it up a bit:

The semisolid shows textures that will produce gasps when the lime catches people's eyes and they start looking more closely. I think she will wear it every single cold day this year. She made me want to do one in a semisolid. I'll mull. (Do I really need a 4th wrap??)

There has never been a bad wrap. This is Betty's:

Irene's:

I love the dragon's-tooth edging on hers. She accidentally added stitches, and it made the edging a little bigger. She decided it was a happy accident:

Did I mention that Irene is a bit of an overachiever? She also made a wrap for her sister while she was at it:

She is kind of hoping that she gets mad at her sister for something--anything--and decides to keep the wrap for herself.

Who can blame her for such thinking?

Carol's. You're going to see a lot of orange and gray this coming year. Start looking for it. It is a stunning combination:

Carol decided that the top edge of her shawl was "boring" since it was just garter stitch, so she added beads. I love that detail.

Here is Bonnie's. She wasn't sure about the pink, but if you take out the pink, it just wouldn't be the same. I think she is finally coming around to agree. How could she not?

How can anyone not be helpless in the face of this?

Nicely done, everyone. You made my day.

2010-10-09T20:47:00.018-04:00

Day-to-Day Concerns

What you are thinking about when you come into the shop is perhaps something like, "Wow! Look at their new shipment of Kid Silk Haze! I must have some!"

Or perhaps (although this is less likely since you have yarn fumes affecting your brain), you might even notice our new yarn shelving:

Or maybe you will see nothing but the new Kaffe Fassett Ikats. Which I kind of forgot to photograph. So you should come in and see them.

But even before you come into our store, I am there, behind the scenes doing everything I can to make poor Kim go insane. This behind-the-scenes work means that I am thinking about something entirely different from what you (or Kim) would expect. I am always concerning myself with ways to make our business run more smoothly.

Like having the right kind of staplers.

It's true that I staple at work a lot more than I knit or quilt. And frankly, this has been a source of frustration. The not knitting and quilting I can deal with. It's the bad staplers that make me nuts.

I think this is because I am spoiled.

I love the stapler you see below. It is my own. It is about 20 years old. I got it at the Logan Valley Mall--long, long before the lizard-heater device in the pet store caused the fire that led to the rebuilding of the entire mall and made it better, but killed the poor hamsters.

I'm sorry, but if you remember this story, you are pretty old.

Where was I? My good stapler that I will not take to the store because it is mine and probably Kim would not want to touch it anyway, because this is not one of those kitschy "vintage" styles. It's just old.

As old as those of you who remember the tragedy of the dead hamsters.

While it looks a bit tattered, it's still going strong. So in my mind, this wonderful stapler looks more like this:

You will never believe it, but they don't seem to make staplers like this anymore. (And we ran out of that fabric you need to finish your quilt. And the yarn you need to finish your hat. The fabric and yarn, they are no longer made. Like this stapler.)

So I have been searching. This has led to our having 3 different staplers on our desk.

Stapler #1
Over the past few years, I've bought a couple of the staplers shown below because theoretically they are such a great idea that I continue to think that they are a great idea. They are "power staplers." You barely touch them, and they sound as if they could staple your arm to a bolt of fabric.

Doesn't it even LOOK strong and powerful?

But honestly, they don't work too well. The first one I bought simply died. This one is still on our desk, but unless you press on it really hard (I know, that is counter-intuitive), it doesn't staple properly. You're left with a partial staple that you have to pick out of the papers.

Stapler #2
The other stapler on our desk is this little number that I couldn't resist:

It actually works fairly well, but the little blue gems (do you think they might be real sapphires?) kind of hurt your hand when you staple with it. It was only $1.70 on clearance a few weeks ago. Apparently a lot of other people (who were not me) could figure out that it would hurt to use it simply by looking at it.

Stapler #3

(top view)

(side view)

This stapler is kind of interesting. I got it because it was made by Oxo, and I have had a number of Oxo kitchen utensils that worked well. I was hoping that the Oxo engineers would transfer some of their Paring-Division expertise into the Stapler Division.

It works well, but do you see how that thingee on the side slants? The way this stapler works is that when you press down, it comes forward toward you. It is functional, but frankly a little odd. It is okay if you staple while it's sitting flat on the desk. But sometimes I like to staple up in the air. And it makes my hand feel weird when I do that.

Business Take-Home Lessons from this Blog Report

1. People often think that our business just magically runs itself. I bet you never thought about how we need to staple your receipts together. I hope that now you can see we put a lot of thought into making our little operation run smoothly and seamlessly. I also hope you can see that staplers are more difficult than you think. Even though the other customer at the hairdresser that I discussed staplers with yesterday rolled her eyes indicating that staplers are actually not that difficult, and told me with a little bit of disdain in her voice to get an electric stapler.

2. The Rowan people are really cool because they have shipped us both Kid Silk Haze and a Kaffe Fassett fabric, all in the same week.

3. We are behind the scenes, working hard for you.

4. Yes, we are open Columbus Day. Only my brother Alex thinks it is a holiday.

2010-08-18T14:30:00.013-04:00

Continuing On with the Schedule,
Sort of but not Really

The Schedule has had two detours in the past 2 weeks. But I think they were worthwhile. And just as any other person would create rationales over detours, I will say that I don't believe in sticking to a schedule just for the sake of sticking to a schedule.

The two detours were two sweaters that were bugging me. They were both summer sweaters, but their sleeves were too long to look good on me. If I'm wearing short sleeves, I look best in cropped sleeves. Summer is almost over, and I want to wear them, so they needed to be taken care of.

To shorten them, I did not reknit the sleeves. That takes too long, and I'm a busy person. I cut my knitting, picked up the stitches, and knit down, casting off right away.

Here is my blue sweater before:

And after:

Much happier.

(Don't you love before/after shots? It's just like Glamour Magazine! )

Here's my hoodie before:

And after:

Sadly, that is the end of our before/after shots.

Back on schedule, I finished my mitered vest. It was a pattern from Ewe and I Originals. The only thing I did was modify the shoulders to narrow them, since I have narrow shoulders. I have no plans to redo--at least yet!

Since it is mid-August, this vest looks too dark to me, and I was rather hot wearing those long sleeves (why would anyone want to wear black in 85-degree weather?)--but it will be perfect come October. Summer is the best time to work on winter knitting.

*****

Wait! Don't go away yet!

I also finished a quilt. (I don't have a quilting schedule, just projects. One area of my life with pressure is enough, thank you.) This is the latest Big Quilt--it's called the BQ3.

It's made our Amy Butler fabrics and Kona solids. The free-motion quilting took a while and had a few glitches here and there, but I enjoyed it--and now I'm feeling a little back in the groove of sewing, and ready to start some new projects.

I'll have to dig through my pile and see what pops up to be next!

2010-07-23T20:28:00.020-04:00

Schedule Update

Hi there. When we last met, I showed you my new method for scheduling knitting projects to get my top priorities done over the summer. The most interesting part of this exercise is that I am beginning to discover how UFOs happen.

There seems to be a random ebb and flow of resistance to projects.

Yet it is not quite random.

I think that our logical friend from Star Trek, Mr. Spock, can give us insight.

But first, let me take you through the past two weeks. (Kim thinks everyone has Super Powers; allow mine to be time travel.)

*****

I will begin with the simple project. Last week, I did the four rounds on Kevin's sweater first. (Trust me that you do not want to see a picture of this sweater. It is a blue stockinette sweater on a circular needle, which gathers and bunches it at the top. It has looked exactly the same for months.) I began the project with lots of knitting and great progress, but I have, for the past year, been resisting this sweater.

When I scheduled myself, I decided that if I just did 4 rounds a week, it would get done, and I would be happy. The rounds seemed easy, and at the beginning of last week, I figured I'd immediately get them done to check them off. It was painless.

This week the resistance is back in full force, and I am kicking and screaming about the same project. I cannot fathom this. It is the same thing: get 4 rounds done. I still haven't done it.

*****

Last week I did the two blocks on my mini-wrap, and I have two more done for this week with one to go. The wrap is coming along nicely:

Isn't that fun? Not even one kick or one scream. It is something I looked forward to in the schedule both weeks. (I do not trust this excitement: I know from experience that my feelings could change at any moment.)

*****

Both last week and this week, I worked on my thrummed mitten:

Thrumming takes a while, so I resisted it a little, but it was in the schedule, so I did my job, sat down, worked on it, and it's so .... fluffy! .... On the inside! You can't tell from this picture.

*****

And then there was my sweater. This was a Noro pattern made with Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Bulky yarn (in a wonderful teal color with royal blue flecks that is discontinued of course--Oh Cruel Retail).

My goal last week was to finish knitting all the pieces.

I resisted that like crazy. I don't know why. I like the yarn. I was with Kevin's family, and I always enjoy chatting with them and working on simple stockinette. But somehow, I just didn't want to work on this sweater. It was, however, the last thing remaining on the schedule. I had no choice.

There are rules.

By Sunday, the pieces were all finished, and my job this week was to sew it together. The sewing? I didn't resist that in the least. I blocked the living daylights out of it using a direct iron on the wrong side, with huge bursts of steam and plenty of Best Press to keep the bottom edges flat. I was fearless. The button band curls in no matter what, but it looks great anyway, so I didn't care. I enjoyed sewing it and watching it come together.

As of today, the sweater is done, down to the buttons:

Hi. I am so happy in a bulky wool sweater in 94-degree heat.

I love this sweater. Now I want another one. (In November.)

And I still wonder: What was so bad about that?

I have one more day (plus the rest of this evening) to go in my schedule, and I still need to knit 4 rounds on Kevin's sweater, finish the rest of a log-cabin block, finish the thrummed mitten, finish a block in the mini-wrap, and knit a snowflake. As you can see, my schedule may be a bit too ambitious. But I planned it that way--to push myself. One of my rules is that I can't start the next week's schedule until the current week is done.

This means that the mitered vest, which is scheduled for next week, and which I really, really want to work on, will just have to wait while I resist every other project on the list.

Do you know why?

Are you ready for the ending?

"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. it is not logical, but it is often true."

--Mr. Spock

2010-07-13T22:07:00.005-04:00

On Schedules

I've always liked making lists and setting goals. "Control" is of course an ethereal reality, but if you have a list, and you have some goals, you can at least attempt to move forward with the little things you want to do in life.

Before we started the store, I was always a one-project person: I would choose a really, really difficult pattern to make, spend about 6 months making it, and then choose the next really, really difficult pattern.

Now that we have a store, however, that doesn't work. I need to do projects for classes and inspiration. And of course, I get inspired myself, being around all those beautiful things. The ideas are a constant stream!

But sometimes it gets just a little out of hand. I don't know what to work on, when to work on it, or what's important.

The other day I looked in my closet and saw that I had over 30 projects going. Okay. That's when it's time to get some control back. When this has happened before, I've tried limiting myself to 3 projects at a time to get myself more focused--but even though that helped, it didn't always work. The long-term projects needed to be broken out differently.

I joked to Kevin that I needed a PERT chart to organize it. (Can you tell I used to work in an engineering firm?)

And then I realized that maybe this was no joke. Some kind of chart to organize it all would be great. I could figure out how much time I thought each project would take, and then I would schedule it in. Some projects--the long-term ones--needed to be broken into small pieces so that I wouldn't neglect other projects.

I spent about 5 very-worthwhile hours pulling all the projects out, deciding what mattered most, and figuring out what I really, really wanted to have done by the end of the summer. I charted it out:

I was tempted to put it on the computer to make it tidier, but I had already spent enough time on it. It did not need to be pretty. This is a practical document.

Down the left side, I listed each project that I wanted to finish this summer. Across the top, I broke out the weeks. Then I split the projects, if needed, into subgoals. (I do have another page of projects that goes into August, in case you were wondering.) I decided to stop at the end of August. At that point, I'll regroup for fall, depending on how far I got.

Then I plunged in and started actually knitting.

It is working beautifully. This week, my goals included doing 4 rounds on Kevin's sweater. Check. (I am going to keep doing 4 rounds a week until his sweater is finished.) I wanted to do blocks 8 and 9 of the mini-shawl. Block 8 is done as of tonight; block 9 is a piece of cake. I wanted to do most of a block on a log-cabin blanket I'm designing, then finish it next week. Check for this week. I want to finish my thrummed mittens to the point where I am past the thumb. That is for tomorrow morning. And I have a simple sweater I'm working on, made on large needles; it is low-hanging fruit. The goal there is to have the pieces knitted this week, and sewn next week. I'm on my way with that: two quick sleeves to go. I think it's doable.

In between, I'm free-motion quilting. I am doing that just a little bit at a time as well. Fortunately, I have only about 10 quilting or sewing projects--so I figure they don't require a chart. I'll just work on them as I can, but not be afraid to tackle them in 15-30 minute increments. Updates, reports, and pictures soon.

What would you like to get done? How could a chart like this work for you?

(How about getting ready for Christmas now instead of waiting until the November Panic?)

2010-06-23T21:24:00.003-04:00

I Will Call it ... Mini-Wrap

I am completely, utterly enamored with this Kureyon-sock-yarn wrap, which will be so small as to be a scarf. I don't want to stop working on it. I love working on small needles. (I inherited that from my mother, I suspect.) The knitting actually seems to go faster. You don't have to turn as much bulk when you go back and forth, and the needles make less motion because they are smaller. And the stitches are so very small and cute.

This scarf will take the identical number of stitches that the wrap took. It will just be 1/4 the size.

I haven't come to the yellow and light blue and bright pink yet, which makes me want to knit all the more. Part of the fun of knitting is wondering what it will look like--then seeing it take shape.

I admit that I feel a bit foolish about how giddy I feel. But I can live with that.

Updates as they occur.

2010-06-18T16:36:00.010-04:00

Knitting in Public Day

Each year since 2005, there has been an odd event (to the outside world, at least) called "World-Wide Knitting in Public Day." It has grown by leaps and bounds each year, and this year, many thousands of knitters are expected to participate from all over the--you guessed it--world!

Local to our store is the State College event, which is going to be co-sponsored this year by the Centre County Knitting Guild and Stitch Your Art Out. We even received a permit from the borough to allow Stitch Your Art Out to sell yarn, so I will be heading there bright and early (8:00 a.m., to be precise), with my car loaded with knitting goodies! I'll bring a variety of things that I thought would be great for summer knitting.

One of those is a fun little thing that we just got in yesterday: beads on a string, from the wonderful Mango Moon company. Kim calls them "earthy sparkle." We got about 6 colors, but here are a few to show you (in extreme close up through their plastic bags):

You knit these along with another yarn, dropping them and picking them up every 4-6 rows so the beads don't get too heavy. Pair them with any yarn you like.

I'll also have some new, glorious knitting bags, some cotton yarns, and even some notions for those of you who were sure you had thousands upon thousands of ring markers, but you didn't seem to bring them along and cannot fathom where they could have disappeared to because they are always Right In Your Knitting Bag.

If I don't have what you need, the store is 10 minutes down the road and will be open all day from the usual 10-5:30.

Along with vending, I'll be sure to be knitting of course. My plan is to work on the t-shirt that I'm making for the Zimmermania classes. (Do not panic, my dear Zimmermania classes. If you do not like capped sleeves, you can make a longer sleeve. I just happen to like capped sleeves.)

As you can see, it's getting close to done.

I live in constant fear in my life that wherever I am, I might run out of knitting and have to sit still and do nothing. Seeing the t-shirt at this state is making me a bit edgy.

So I'm also toying with taking this along--you know, just in case:

It is sheer insanity to start a new project, but I can't let go of it. When we went to Columbus, Ohio, for yarn market, Kim and I saw the Wrap Me Up pattern made from sock yarn.

I can be influenced as well as anyone, thus:

It was so pretty! And I love Kureyon sock yarn! And I love these two colors! And I think they would look great together, intermingled in the wrap, with these blue and purple beads! And the wrap is fun to make!

So I'm thinking.... what harm could it possibly do to make a 3rd wrap?

2010-06-15T22:20:00.006-04:00

What's Been Happening

May and June have been super-busy months for Kim and me, and I'm just now barely getting settled back into a work routine. In May we went to quilt market in Minneapolis, and in June we went to yarn market in Columbus, with our anniversary sale in between. So if we're both looking a bit tired for the next week or so, do forgive us.

We'll talk more about what we ordered at the markets as the summer and fall continue on. Let's just say that we have a very, very exciting summer and fall coming!

I've been working on a lot of things, but I can't remember half of them as my life has whizzed by, or else they're in such a state of disarray that they're not worth showing--so let me introduce you to something I finished up tonight:

This is a sweet little baby sweater made from a cotton called Cuddly Cotton. It's from one of my favorite baby sweater patterns: "A Very Easy Baby Sweater" by Lisa Carnahan of Lisa Knits designs. I love Lisa's patterns: They're practical, easy to make, and error free. Our shop stocks lots of them. I've made this sweater before and was happy to make it again.

As I was working on it, I was thinking that it was a fairly masculine baby sweater.

But tonight I had a realization:

Would a teenage boy who was a real football player ever wear a pale-yellow sweater with pale-blue stripes and little miniature footballs for buttons?

Not even a chance. This sweater--it is baby-baby all the way.

2010-04-05T11:51:00.017-04:00

Vacation Knitting

Each year, Kevin and I save up for the whole year, pooling all our Christmas and birthday money, and we go to visit The Mouse for a week or two.

This year was extra fun because one of my brothers came along for the first part of our trip, and then we were with Kevin's family for the second part.

Every vacation has some memorable incident. My favorite moment of this year was at a dinner in Cinderella's castle. Cinderella taught us all to do the "princess pose." To do this, you are supposed to "clasp your hands together, then bring them up to your heart."

If you want to feel like one of Cinderella's ugly stepsisters, my suggestion is to wear your worst amusement-park clothes, go on Splash Mountain and get drenched, and then immediately have dinner where you pose directly next to a princess.

Trust me that no amount of princess posing on your part will help you look good in this situation:

But I love Disney.

I love the rides and the food. I love getting to walk for hours on end, with endless amusements around me (such as watching stressed-out families interact with each other).

Most of all, I love the knitting. Disney is knitting Nirvana. There is a lot of wait time for rides and shows, and I spend every bit of that time knitting. (Sixty minutes for Toy-Story Mania? Bring it on.) I have to be sure to pack just the right projects so as to be able to put them away quickly when it's our turn in line. And they have to be easy so I can still talk to people.

I probably get more knitting done at Disney than anywhere else. It truly is vacation for me.

In my last post, I had a few goals, which I was planning to meet while away. Let's see how those went, shall we?

Number 1 was to get Kevin's sweater joined at the sleeves and start knitting up to the shoulders. I did that. I will spare you the boring picture. My secret goal was to finish the entire sweater. I was thinking I would work on it on the car ride home, but that didn't happen. I had other priorities.

I also wanted to get my wimple to the point where I was just knitting around in stockinette. I did that. I think the wimple is cute. I'll keep working on it over the summer. It's at the point of grab and go to knit during movies, dinners with friends, etc.

I have to say that I never thought I'd want a wimple, but when I put it over my head the other day to test it, I took a strong liking to it. Apparently I have peasant blood running deep in my veins.

I wanted to finish the Noro Taiyo sweater. I'm just about there. I have half of one short sleeve left to knit, and half the hood to finish. It should be done soon--and the weather is perfect for it now, so I'm going to make this one a big push over the next week or so. In the meantime, here is one of those arty, angled shots of the fabric, so common in knitting blogs when projects are either secret or unfinished:

Unexpectedly, I did finish a sweater that wasn't on my list. This one is made from Araucania Pehuen, and it's comfortable and pretty. I like this yarn a lot. The colors are gorgeous. It was hard to choose, but I settled on blue.

That wonderful spring sweater weather I discovered last year--it's here!

2010-03-01T23:06:00.014-05:00

Closing Ceremony

The Olympics are over: the torch has been extinguished. For several weeks, I have been working on my Olympic Knitting Goals. Like the last Olympics, my project gave me focus. Unlike the last one, I worked on more than one thing. So let's see what happened, shall we?

Project 1: Bulky Scarf

I am thrilled to report that I finished the scarf. I had already made a matching hat, so I am now officially warm and cozy in the cold. I finished this project first on account of the weather (and to get the garter stitch over with), and so far it has come in handy a couple of times.

Project 2: Pink Sweater

This project was done mainly while I was waiting in long lines at Disney two years ago. So while I was knitting, I wasn't at my most conscious. When I started to put the pieces together, that much was obvious.

But with a little help from the sewing machine and scissors....

.... I got everything fitting together. And in the end, I love this sweater. I can visualize wearing it a lot. It's warm and comfortable and cute:

When she took that picture, Kim asked me if that was my real smile.

Project 3: Wimple
See photo from last blog entry, then imagine 4 more rounds. Class got postponed. Motivation also got postponed, even though this project was on my list for the Olympics.

I have never claimed that anything about my personality had actual championship qualities.

Project 4: Kevin's Sweater
Although it was actually a day after the Closing Ceremonies, I am a flexible, motivated athlete and worked on this sweater last night. I therefore met my goal: I have the sleeves and the body long enough to join. When I have a few spare hours, I plan to put it all together. I have to admit that I'm pretty excited about getting this far. In the back of my mind, I have wanted to finish this sweater in 2010. I think I can do that now.

Here is a boring picture of the sleeves.

The sweater body is around here somewhere. (I "organized my projects" over the weekend.) Anyway, showing you a picture of the body along with the sleeves would not change the enthrallmentlessness of this picture.

Project 5: Taiyo Sweater

This was kind of a cheater project. I put it in so I could have something new and fresh to start, and have the excuse that I had to do it because it was part of the Knitting Olympics.

My goal was simply to start the sweater. I did that--and actually finished the back.

*****

This goal-setting stuff apparently works. So let's have another few goals for the next blog entry. Three projects is a great number to create that athletic focus:

(1) Join Kevin's blue sweater and begin knitting up the shoulders (but added, secret goal is to finish entire sweater).
(2) Get the wimple done past the lace.
(3) Finish Taiyo sweater.

Let the goals begin!

2010-02-11T22:31:00.012-05:00

Knitting Olympics, Here I Come After All

Four years ago, the Yarn Harlot came up with the idea that knitters could form their own Knitting Olympics. What could be more perfect? You would get to watch great athletes every night on TV while you knit on your own challenging project. Her Knitting Olympics were to happen only every 4 years (winter games only), which would make the challenge more special. This is the year. Besides the Harlot's Olympics, Ravelry has unleased its own Ravelympics.

I did the Knitting Olympics 4 years ago, and it was a good thing for me. The lesson I learned: If I work on only one thing for 17 days, it makes incredible progress.

So I've been mulling over whether to participate this year. A few days ago, the ADD Knitter asked me what I was going to do. I told her that I couldn't muster up the enthusiasm. I have a number of things going, and I just didn't want to work on any one of them.

But at the same time, not so deep down, I kind of wanted to do it. It kept nagging at me.

Tonight, when I was teaching, we talked in class about the Knitting Olympics. During the course of that conversation, I wanted to join the Olympics more and more. Hey--I'm a knitter; I'm as much a sheep as anyone.

To make the whole thing work for me, I came up with an idea: I'm going to take all the projects that I have goals or subgoals for, and after stating specific goals (or subgoals), work on the projects. I won't feel obligated necessarily to finish everything, but I will feel obligated to work on my subgoals as stated. I can get behind that.

Here's what I've got going:

Project 1: Bulky Scarf

It is cold out right now. I don't have a scarf that I, myself, made. (Cobbler's children and all that.) I decided to make myself a scarf a few days ago. It's just garter stitch. That's all I wanted. I would like this scarf before it's not cold out. I'm about 1/3 of the way done. I think I could finish the scarf in 2 days. Beginning time: 17 days. Time remaining: 15 days.

Project 2: Pink Sweater

I knitted on this sweater all the way through Disney last year. Or was it 2 years ago? I don't remember. Anyway, it's a pink sweater. I like pink. The sleeves and back are done. The side fronts are done up to here:

I want to finish the two side fronts and then finish the sweater. It's on small needles. Estimated time: 3 days per side, 1 day for finishing. Time remaining: 8 days.

Project 3: Wimple
I started this project for a class I'm teaching. We had our first meeting tonight to start the lace part at the base. (A wimple is a knitted tube that serves as both a hat and scarf: you put around your neck and can pull up over your head.) I want to have the lace done and the Fair Isle part that comes next either done or at least started in time for the next class. Estimated knitting time: 4 days. Time remaining: 4 days.

Project 4: Kevin's Sweater

I bought the yarn for this project about 10 year ago. Kevin picked it out, so I know he likes the color. I kept trying over and over to design the sweater with fancy cables, but nothing was working.

I finally wised up and decided about a year (or two?) ago to make Kevin a very, very plain sweater. (He is a guy. That's all he wants anyway. What is the matter with women that we never figure this out?)

I want to finish Kevin's sweater in the year 2010. For my Olympics project, however, I want to knit up the body one more inch...

and the sleeves 1 1/2 more inches each....

...so I can join them and begin to work my way up toward the shoulders. It would be nice, but not necessary in my mind, to get the sweater done during the Olympics. It's on size 4 needles, so it does take a while to knit. Time estimate: 2 days to get body and sleeves done. Time remaining: 2 days.

Project 5: New Spring Sweater
I know it's snowing out and stuff, but in my mind, spring has arrived. So I am in the mood for a new spring sweater. I need to work on it to have any hope of wearing it this spring instead of next spring. I will therefore spend 2 days knitting on this sweater. OR, if I am motivated, I will instead spend those 2 days finishing Kevin's sweater . As I write this, I have a nagging, feeling that in the spirit of this Olympic thing, I should work on Kevin's sweater and try to finish it, but this feeling may not last. I reserve the right to remain flexible.

We'll see what happens.

Let the Games begin.

2010-01-26T12:53:00.012-05:00

Knitting Again

I've gone from lots of sewing to lots of knitting over the past month. (First I was behind in my sewing projects, then I was behind on my knitting projects. It's just a matter of leveling out the panicking.)

I have a couple of new designs I've made that I'm excited about. The first I call the Juliette Scarf. I named this scarf after my piano teacher's 10-year-old daughter just because I loved her beautiful name. And about 2 days after I named my scarf, with no knowledge of such, the real Juliette decided that she wanted to learn how to knit.

Coincidence?

Anyway, here's the scarf:

It's easy to wear. I, personally, love the feel of Noro Iro against my skin. I should make a pillow out of it someday.

Then, because I never get enough Noro yarn, I decided to design a hat out of Kureyon. It's one I've had tossing around in my mind for a good 6 months as a way to teach a mitered-squares class. Abbey, one of our knitting teachers, is my model:

Both these patterns are available on Ravelry and will soon be printed and at Stitch Your Art Out.

And then I finished a red sweater. I did this as one of the projects for my year-long Zimmermania class; we'll all be making it either in the adult or baby form--take your choice. The adult version is the February Lady sweater by Flint Knits. I made mine in Tahki Torino. I didn't make sleeves on it--just a k1p1 cuff where the sleeve was supposed to start--and I cropped it on account of how short I am. I'm thrilled. I've been enjoying vest-like things lately; they don't have sleeves to get in my way. And of course red is a great color for this time of the year. It warms you up--and if you stand near some snow and trees, you can pretend to be a cardinal.

Here's a serious-model-like picture of the sweater:

I have no memory of what he said here, but my photographer doesn't ever let me stay too serious for too long:

2009-12-26T13:43:00.006-05:00

One More Quilt

There was another quilt I finished recently other than the block of the month. It was one of our mystery quilts that had been sitting around for a few years. I decided to push this fall and finish it. But I couldn't tell you about it before my brother saw it, since it was his. Here it is, on display in my parents' house.

If you like what you see, you might want to sign up for our next mystery quilt when you get the newsletter. They are always this good.

2009-12-14T21:56:00.005-05:00

One of the Most Satisfying Things....

Is to turn an idea you had....

Into reality....

2009-11-28T22:22:00.012-05:00

A Mitten Series

The final project for our Zimmermania class this year was mittens. I ended with this because I thought that during the holidays, it would be good to end with a simple little project. I knew I would have to work on finishing up the quilting block of the month and wouldn't have much time, and I figured that with the holidays, everyone else would be in the same boat. What could go wrong with a mitten?

So I started making mittens. These are Elizabeth Zimmermann's Mitered Mittens from Knitter's Almanac, and I thought they'd be fun in a nice orange yarn. I used one of my new favorites, Shepherd's Shades. I used Elizabeth's thumb trick, where you knit using waste yarn to make the thumb hole.

But I was disappointed with them: The center seam pulled funny at the thumb.

I decided to try them in Kureyon, thinking that the stripes would be fun, and I figured I could try out Elizabeth's other thumb trick: clipping a little bit and unraveling to create a thumbhole. As I was knitting them, the mittens seemed small, but I kept thinking they'd be okay. They weren't. They were too small.

No need to hyperventilate. Clipping for the thumb was really no big deal. I never bothered picking up the live stitches, so it started fraying--especially since every time I tried on the mittens, they were so tight that they pulled on those stitches.

I did like the waste-yarn method better, so I decided to try again using that method.

Oh--and also, in the meantime, I discovered that I had been knitting the pattern wrong all along, neglecting to put in a straight round after each mitered round. That made the mittens too small. I decided to try the mittens in the orange yarn again. I did my rounds the correct way.

They were huge.

I took a break for a few days.

*****

Now, the truth of the matter is, if we hadn't started this mitten in class, and I hadn't promised 20 people that I would have a good thumb for them in December, there is a very good chance I would have abandoned the project at this point.

But 20 people were halfway through their mittens and were depending on me to give thumb advice. The thought of having to face all those people with their half-done mittens in a few weeks was motivating.

I searched through my stash and found a yarn that I had once bought specifically with mittens in mind. By this time, I had concluded that the thumb needed to be closer to the edge of the mitten than the pattern specified. (I could have made the decision to put in a gusset, but I didn't feel like changing the pattern that much.)

I started another mitten. It was way too big. So I reduced the number of stitches and started again. This mitten seemed a bit small, but Kevin said it was fine. So I kept knitting.

Dear Kevin: I love you very much, but I do not need any help with my Knitter's Denial. I have plenty of denial on my own.

So I unraveled it and started again, adding 4 more stitches.

This time, finally.

I ended up with a nice pair of mittens that fit the way I wanted them, and the seams are relatively straight near the thumbs. Okay, Zimmermaniacs, I am ready for you. In December, we'll do thumbs--and you'll see just how easy it really is.

I am both relieved and happy.

2009-10-23T13:47:00.004-04:00

My Second Wrap

Sometimes

you make something

that you absolutely
love.

Pattern: Knitting at Knoon "Wrap Me Up."
Yarn: Noro Yuzen

Our next class for this project will start in January.

2009-10-18T21:20:00.023-04:00

A Learning Weekend

I spent the weekend at the Tiadaughton Quilt Guild's show. The guild is up in Williamsport, and when I do this one, I stay with my Aunt Ellen, one of my father's 6 brothers and sisters, who lives nearby in Jersey Shore. (Which, for those of you non-Pennsylvanians who are now confused, is nowhere near New Jersey. It is a little town in the mountains of PA.)

My father's mother was a quilter, and my aunt is also a quilter. (Come to think of it, I guess I am too.)

I worked all day at the show, but Aunt Ellen and I got a few evenings together.

Friday night we talked. We're related that way: we can both talk.

Then we had a good time on Saturday evening going through my grandmother's trunk. My aunt had never gone through it before. I suspect we spent way too much time on it and that this tuckered her out--but I kept pulling stuff out because she kept egging me on.

My grandparents have both been gone a long time now, but grandma saved a lot of things, and I am glad she did. It was interesting to see things like her high-school flag:

(That flag is from the West Branch Iowa High School.)

A doily I'm sure she made:

And a child's apron that must have belonged to her with that "M" (for Maud) on the pocket and the tatting around the edge:

And a bunch of pictures. I was particularly interested in this picture of her with her two sisters (grandma is on lower left; I think I kinda look like her):

And I love this picture of my grandmother's uncle (left) and grandfather (right), who was a Civil War vet (yup, a Yankee):

The Civil War is only 5 generations behind me. That's not really so long ago.

But the whole reason we looked at all this stuff in the first place was to see my grandmother's wedding dress.

The story of the wedding is interesting. My grandmother had been working in the Treasury Department at the Smithsonian Institution (which is probably as good a place as any for the Treasury Department to be):

...and apparently got word that her best friend Jessie, who was married to Clarence Spencer, had died.

Jessie's father implored my grandmother to come and marry Clarence, to raise the two children of that marriage.

My grandmother said that if he was good enough for Jessie, then he was good enough for her, so she went north to the dairy farm near Canton, PA, and they got married. I'm not sure of the exact year offhand.

I am sure from looking at it that she made her dress. This dress was originally longer, but my grandmother modified it into a fancy short dress for my Aunt Ellen when she was a girl. (My grandmother as an adult was approximately the size of a 5th-grader. I thought of her as small even as a young child.) I can envision this dress long and think it would have been gorgeous. And I'm all over the light pink.

Here's a closeup of that lace:

Thanks, grandma, for keeping your dress so I could see it.

*****

Where was I? Ah, yes. I was at a quilting show. The show was wonderful, but I would like to talk here about my aunt's quilting, since that's where I was. Aunt Ellen's eyes and arms have gotten worse over the past few years so she can't really use her sewing machine, so her solution to this is:

to hand piece.

I love people who won't let anything stop them.

This wonderful lighthouse quilt of hers was in the show this year:

Don't you love the scrappy dimensional blues and whites together?

Last year when I was there, she had just started it.

This year, when I got to her house, she was working on a chicken quilt. I wasn't permitted to take a photo of it since it wasn't finished, but let me just explain that there were chickens all over that quilt.

Aunt Ellen, I know you read this blog. Let me just say that I want to see some finished chickens next year when I come back!

2009-10-07T16:33:00.011-04:00

Hard-Nosed Businesswomen

Today Kim and I attended a conference called EWE, which stands for Entrepreneurial Women's Expo. We had a good day. We got to set up a little exhibit-table that showed what we did, and we got to meet a lot of pleasant women who own their own businesses.

Throughout the day, we heard a lot of speakers talking about things like setting goals, taking care of ourselves, and so forth, and they all had good tips. We also learned that we're supposed to laugh and have fun. We quickly adapted to the clown noses.

We learned that you're not supposed to dual task. For some reason, at that, everyone at the table turned and looked at me. And then one person said, "You're knitting!"

This is the mitered mitten I was knitting at the table, from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac. As always, it is a completely fun knit. The mitten doesn't have thumbs yet. You get to snip the yarn to make them.

Heh. I can't wait to make everyone in Zimmermania quake in their shoes over that trick.

Anyway, the other thing that happened was that they announced that there was something under the booths of the vendors and we should look for it. I crawled right under that table and looked really hard....

but the only thing I found was the hotel's wireless router.

It turned out that if you were a vendor, you could win a prize if there was a very large bow under your booth. I am going to guess that the bow would be easy to find without crawling, if you were dressed like most of the people there, in good clothes.

2009-09-13T11:40:00.016-04:00

Pi Shawl Come True

Kim often calls me "girlie girl," and for a long time, despite my belief that Sephora = Mecca, my penchant for jewelry, my not having seen my actual hair color in 30 years, and yes, even my very profession, I have always brushed her off. But I no longer can: I have succumbed to ruffles.

I started this shawl in January 2009, as the first project of my Zimmermania class (a class that pays homage to Elizabeth Zimmermann, the knitter with the biggest cult following of all time).

I told the class that they were to use this simple project as their go-to project--something easy that they could just pick up anytime, anywhere, and it would last them a year in between other projects. And that's how I treated it.

Till this month. Suddenly, it seemed time to get it finished, even though my year wasn't quite up.

The shawl could not be easier to knit. It is just a big circle (with increases based on ... pi!) But it takes a long time and has a lot of stitches. (Warning: Do not read the next two sentences if you are in the middle of a pi shawl.) I've calculated that with the way I made it, the body of the shawl had about 44,000 stitches. The ruffle, just under 15,000. (To make the ruffle, I cast on 15, went up, caught a stitch on the edge, went back down 15, went back up 11, went down 11, went back up 15 and caught a stitch, down 15, etc.--576 times.)

I went through just under 5 skeins of Kureyon sock yarn--probably about 2100 yards of yarn--to make this baby (I used 3 different colorways, and mixed 'em up).

Let's estimate that it takes me about 3 seconds on average to make a stitch. (I'm no Miriam Tegels.) If you do the math, you'll realize that with only 50 hours of knitting, this shawl can be yours.

And you know what? If I had it to do over again, I would change .... absolutely nothing.

Thank you, Elizabeth Zimmermann, for giving so many knitters so many opportunities to have so much fun.

2009-08-25T23:24:00.018-04:00

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

Each year for the entire time I have known him, Kevin has gone to the beach in August, and each year, I have stayed home. This started back when our cats were geriatric and couldn't be left alone. And I just never gained momentum to go, even when we no longer had cats. This year, I told Kevin that I would go, but there was only one condition: I would be sewing all day, every day. We went with a large group of friends, so it's not as if I was depriving him of someone to have fun with (or as if he does anything other than walk, swim, and read). And so he agreed to my conditions.

And therefore, every day, while other people walked on the beach....

Or did "pool yoga"....

I sewed. I worked about 10-12 hours per day (although on the last day it petered out to about 6, mostly on account of having to pack). But the view from my window helped; it was better than the view I would have had if I had stayed home. In fact, the thought of being able to have a view while I worked was pretty much the only reason I decided to go, other than being with Kevin for a couple of minutes each day.

Our friends kept teasing me about being on house arrest and asking how I got out of the room to eat dinner.

And as you would conclude from their comments, I got a lot done. I finished 30 out of 60 blocks on some memory quilts I am making (and I got the rest of the blocks cut out, which is no mean feat on a memory quilt):

I just about finished the center of this year's block of the month:

(Yup: That's all you get to see till it's done.)

I got one full row done on a quilt-as-you-go class I am teaching soon:

And on the 10-hour drive down and back, I got some car knitting done (although Kevin was pesky here and made me drive half the time). The beginnings of a Christmas stocking:

A little more on the pi shawl (I am loving my ruffle):

And a finished felted bag:

So it was a good week. I got a lot done.

And on those brief moments of going outside, I even made a new friend.

Gull Friends 4-Evah.

2009-08-04T08:18:00.011-04:00

Gnome-Like = Ganomy

I admit that this wasn't my idea at all. Kirsten was my inspiration. She wore this hat to work, and in the middle of winter, a fun hat is the only way to go. So I decided to make the Ganomy hat, and when I told people what I was doing, they all corrected me: "Don't you mean gnomy?"

Nope. I mean Ganomy. This is a hat designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann. She had that kind of humor. And she had kids. Kids think this stuff is hysterically funny.

I'm sure you know a story just like this: When we were kids, my brothers and I thought that the town "Newberry" was the funniest thing ever. Whenever we would drive through, the backseat of my parents' car erupted in hysterical giggles: "Newberry! Blueberry!"

Yes, my friends, "ganomy" is the funniest word ever.

So anyway, here I am, in our waterlogged garden, our beans as thick as kudzo, looking all ganomy-like:

You're supposed to put a ping-pong ball in the tip of the hat (so the hat can float in an emergency), or else ball up scrap yarn. I found that for me, little bits of scrap yarn worked well.

I love this hat. It's made from two yarns, Brown Sheep's new Shepherd's Shades, and Ester Bitran's Talinay, alternating stripes of about 6 or 8 rows each (I forget exactly, but if you really care, you're not fully in the EZ cult).

The Talinay striped for me, except on the top stripe. No guarantees on what yours would do. The patterns is from that little gem of a book, Knitter's Almanac. (Yes, Zimmermania class, it is our next project.)

What words did you think were funny when you were a kid?

2009-07-23T18:54:00.008-04:00

Kim is an Einstein

I know that when you blog, you're supposed to blog about your own stuff. But this time, I am feeling compelled to blog about Kim's Einstein Coat.

Besides, I did take the pictures, so I guess that counts on some level.

Kim has knitted a lot of other things (her latest obsession is Fair Isle), and she helps people with their knitting every day. But this is the first sweater she has had time to make since we opened the shop.

She used combined Oceania with Harrisville Highland. Isn't it fabulous?

Yup. I think she looks happy.

2009-07-19T08:19:00.002-04:00

Out of the Mouths....

An interesting thing happened yesterday at the Friends School Workshop.

We had a friendly little group of knitters sitting together in a circle of couches, and an 8-year-old boy joined us for a few hours in the morning. He was a fabulous knitter. He brought along two colorful knitted bags he had made (they weren't just ordinary bags--they had stripes of blended colors at the bottom, and a mesh pattern at the top, shaped into handles), and he brought along a pinwheel baby blanket he was making, as he explained, using the Magic Loop. (To those of you in Zimmermania--he was making the pi shawl with a yarnover increase on each round to create a spiral pattern.)

So we're all sitting there chatting aimlessly for about an hour, and suddenly, the kid pipes up. He says something like this:

"You know, my problem is that I have too many projects." We all look over at him.

He continues, the words pouring forth: " The thing is, I find a pattern I like, and I just have to make it. The only thing I want to do is go to the yarn store to get the yarn for it."

He has everyone looking at him, and I suspect that all our mouths were gaping.

"So I get the yarn, and I start the project.

"Then, I'm partway through that one, and I see another pattern, and then I don't want to make the first thing any more. I want the new pattern and the yarn. And then all my projects pile up, and I don't know what to do."

This child is apparently looking to us for advice, and we're unable to do anything but sit there, just staring at him in astonishment. Or perhaps he is just making a confession. We don't know anything other than that we have the same problem he does.

"It starts at age 8," one says quietly.

Another group member is curious: She asks the child how he stores his yarn.

"Oh, I put it in plastic bags. And then I put those bags into big plastic bins. I push the air out of the plastic bags to flatten them so I can fit more yarn into my bins."

Someone else says quietly, "This makes me feel better."

Then we all sit in silence for a moment, absorbing that this 8-year-old boy is an absolute mirror of every single one of us. We can't offer any honest help or any advice to him, and we all know it.

So we don't even try. Not one person sitting there can do a thing for that child.

*****

Today I'm mulling over what we should have told him.

There are just two thoughts that keep coming to mind over and over:

1. I should have had some sort of advice for him but I still don't know what. He was talking to the wrong person.

2. Maybe it would work better to squeeze the air out of my plastic bags, so I can fit more yarn in.

2009-07-17T08:35:00.003-04:00

Preparing for Saturday

I'm still preparing for tomorrow. The granola looks pretty good. In fact, it might be my best batch ever:

You have till 5:30 today to sign up for tomorrow's workshop!

2009-07-15T13:34:00.003-04:00

Having My Cake...and Eating It, Too

I have a sweet tooth. Kim calls me a cookie monster. She's right: I'm all about eating cookies. I have been known to steal cookies out from under people. But I also love pie and cake and just about any other baked good. And oh--dark chocolate.

This past week, I made the best cake ever. It's a chocolate-zucchini cake. I made it with really good chocolate.

I am planning to make it for our Friend's Workshop this Saturday--among other things. If you haven't signed up yet, you might want to. We're going to spend the day knitting, quilting, and eating:

Want to join us? Give us a call at 238-4151, or stop by to sign up!

2009-07-09T22:36:00.018-04:00

Buy me Some Peanuts and Crackerjack and a Funnel Cake and a Cheesesteak and Chocolate Fondue and Maybe Some Dipping Dots if I'm Still Hungry

Tonight was a perfect night for a ballgame--dry, cool, and comfortable.

Our Stitch Your Art Out group had a great time.

The quilting and knitting guilds had tables set up:

Kim and I posed with Ike the Spike, and Ike made us pretend we were on CSI:

The players blew bubbles:

But they also played really hard and won the game!

And then it was over....

maybe until next year?

2009-06-26T12:43:00.023-04:00

It's a Sure Sign!

Okay, let me tell you about Sign People.

When we first opened--which was 6 years ago--we needed a sign. So we started calling around. We called about 10 sign people from the yellow pages, and the response from all of them was....

crickets

I was still teaching at Penn State the time, and one of my students said that she knew a sign guy. So I called that person. I told him what we wanted. He sent me a proof. I asked him if we could make the sign bigger.

crickets

About a month later, having not heard from him, we were surprised to have a truck pull up, and a guy install the original small sign:

Their sign was the left sign. Note from the picture how you can't read it from the street. On the right side, we had a bar sign that had come with the store. Our store really does not have that "smoky bar feel," but at least the bar sign was set so far back that you couldn't notice it anyway.

Although it was imperfect, we had a sign, and we decided to let it go. It had taken a year to get that far.

A few more years came and went. We knew the sign needed to go.

It was time to find a new sign guy.

I called a guy who was very responsive. He immediately sent us an idea for a sign that had lettering which looked as if it belonged on "Joe's Garage," except that it was colored teal and pink.

I told him we'd get back to him.

So then I called a person whom I was told had made many of the beautiful signs around town. I called him about 5 times to try to get a hold of him. Although he never returned any of my messages, on the 5th try, he did actually answer the phone and seemed to want to help us. And then....

crickets

One day, about 6 months after that, I called him. He called back. "I'm calling you here from the beach in Florida, and drinking a Pina Colada," he said. "I'll get with you when I'm back." I waited.

Crickets.

I was talking to a friend who owned a yarn shop in New Jersey, and telling her our tale of woe, and she said that they had had the same problem. The sign guy they used was smoking dope--literally.

So after a few weeks more, I called our sign guy back. (Hey, at least he was only drinking.)

He seemed more enthusiastic this time. He even sent us an idea for a sign!

Here was his idea: He thought was should have out in front of our store a giant, pink spool of thread the size of a barrel. It looked like something that would advertise for, say ... the world's LARGEST ball of STRING! Yes! A sign for a souvenir shop in Florida! Here in Pine Grove Mills! One thing I will acknowledge is that people would have found us.

I'm just not sure that they would have actually stopped.

I suggested that maybe he could stop in to see what our atmosphere is like to make a sign that is a little more congruent with our business. He said that he didn't need to do that--that he just "created things."

I drove around town for 3 hours one day, taking pictures of signs we liked, and emailed them to him. He said that they were all his signs. This was promising!

So we went back and forth with some more ideas, none of which would have remotely worked for us. I suggested again that he stop by. He said that there was no need to do that: He didn't work that way.

And then he stopped calling. I guess it just didn't work out between us.

A few more months went by. A number of people informed us that we needed a better sign. One of them was our printer. He told us to call the Sign Stop. So that's what we did.

It was kind of weird: they answered the phone.

By now, Kim and I had come up with what we wanted the sign to look like, and so we had both the Stop Sign and my friend Ellen, who is a graphic designer, work on our concept. Again, we went back and forth a few times--but in normal ways, ways that seemed to make the sign better. We like the Sign Stop very, very much. Thank you, Scott!

And today, on June 26, 2009, on this very momentous day, we got our sign:

Remember to Turn It Upside Right, Guys!

Ta da!

Kim sez: I Can Haz a Sign? I Can Touch It?

Be Careful with Our Sign!

We are So Happy!

There is only one little problem with our sign. We know about it. We can't do a thing about it. Fortunately, it will go away in the fall....

...but it will come back in the spring.

2009-06-16T21:52:00.004-04:00

Thank You, Kim

It's handy to have a business partner (most days, at least--heh).

You see, it was only a week ago that I was feeling completely overwhelmed and paralyzed by projects. We have been working to prep for summer and fall, and it was getting to be a bit much. So I made a list of them, and I asked Kim to help me set priorities--what to finish first, next, and so forth.

Number one on the list turned out to be the summer sweater I had started back in April, which was almost finished. It was called Hey Teach!

Because Kim said I should, I have been working on it all week, and tonight, I finished it:

Well, actually I lied. Kim said that number one was getting the block designed for this week's block of the month. In fact, I promised her today that I would work on it tonight. So far, that hasn't quite happened. But Hey Kim! the sweater--it is finished.

P. S. Remember that our Anniversary Sale starts tomorrow and goes for a week. Come on in! And while you're there, feel free to pressure me to finish designing the block.

2009-06-08T16:50:00.010-04:00

Sewing at Last

The weekend was gorgeous and sunny, which finally gave me an opportunity to stay inside and get some sewing done.

Correct: I am not the outdoorsy type.

I started out with the fastest, easiest project: An Amy Butler apron, which I am doing this summer as a class. This apron is very, very cute. Here I am, with pale skin, posing with it, looking all 1950ish:

Check out the close up of what's in my bowl:

You say you don't see anything?

I must not cook much, either.

After the apron was finished, I decided to make a shirt for Kevin. He picked out this fabric about 7 year ago, and I promised him I would make him a shirt out of it for when he plays in his band. I decided the other day that it was truly nagging at me, and it was time for him to get this shirt.

He was not super-enthusiastic about posing, but here is the shirt. Can you tell he plays guitar?

You might be able to see him in it either at People's Choice on July 11 at 12:30, or at the Lemont Village Green the evening of July 17. I don't know if he'd wear it twice in a row within a week. That depends on how much he loves me.

And then I started to tackle the big project. This is a quilt-as-you-go project. I have one block finished, which isn't much--but hey, at least it's quilted already.

This is my "mystery project" in the newsletter. Keep encouraging me to work on it. I have to teach it in a few months; but at least I can stay inside all summer and sew.

2009-05-16T22:32:00.008-04:00

Greetings from Quilt Market

2009-04-29T10:59:00.013-04:00

Thinking about Sewing

I've been thinking about sewing lately. I've been working a bit on my brother's quilt, which remains in little snips and pieces:

It will build and grow. I have faith. Target date: Christmas 2009.

I've been working on the next block for block of the month. I know what I want to do; I just have to write up the instructions.

So I've been putting that off.

I'm thinking about this:

I'm loving this Amy Butler apron with our funky 50s fabric. I have the fabric, and the book. All I have to do is cut it out and sew it, and it will be done!

And I'm also working on a quilt for myself. I'm making pretty good progress: half the fabrics are washed, and I have a rough design in my head. So all I need to do is finish washing the fabrics, finish the design, cut it out, sew it together, have it quilted--and I'm good to go!

Can you get things sewn simply by wishing them sewn?

2009-03-25T00:13:00.016-04:00

Old Kids on the Block

Most of the time Kim and I only work together. We have fun, and we're friends at work. But it's mostly work.

Every once in a great while, however, we get to do something together that's not tax deductible.

About two months ago, Kim was saying that she'd sure like to go to the New Kids on the Block concert coming up, because she used to live near Boston, and she used to have friends who dated the New Kids and their body guards. Kim was sad as she said this. She was sure no one would go with her.

*****

The concert was tonight. Kim and I left right after work, ready in our 1980s-style clothes. You can see here how happy and excited we were!

(I had been to the hairdresser not a few hours before, and she done her best to puff up my hair.)

I was in college when the New Kids were popular, so they were a bit out of my age bracket. Right before we left, Kim gave me a 30-second lesson on who everyone was. There was no way to remember all 5 of them, so I picked one. He looked sort of tough, and his beard reminded me of my brother who lives in Colorado. I liked that about him. (I suspect that my Colorado brother would probably rather die than be compared in any way to a New Kid on the Block, given that my D. C. brother flatly said he would rather poke his eyes out with sticks than go to one of their concerts.)

"What's that one's name?" I asked Kim.

"Donnie," she said.

"How do you spell it?" I asked.

"d.o.n.n.i.e."

"Okay then," I said. "He's my favorite!"

So we went to the concert. On the way there, I was toying with getting a Donnie t-shirt because he was my favorite. But when we go there, they were $40, and I just couldn't bear to spend $40 on a t-shirt for someone who in my mind was the equivalent of a first date.

Along with t-shirts, they had $10 buttons of each of the boys. I decided to get one of those. "I would like a 'Donnie' button," I said to the girl at the counter when it was my turn in line.

She beamed. "He's my favorite too!" she said to me.

*****

The Donnie Button was huge--roughly the size of a dinner plate.

I cannot tell you how strange it is to walk around with a button that covers half your chest.

*****

Now, I didn't tell Kim this part of my story until just now, as she reads this along with you.

After I had told her I would go to this concert, I went home and tried to remember what on earth the New Kids even sang. I pulled up some of their videos on Youtube.

And as soon as I did that, I remembered them. I remembered fully. I had hated all their songs.

So I figured that when we got the tickets, I would be a good sport for the fun of being with Kim.

But it turned out that something happened to them over the past 20 years: They got better.

Kevin and I have noticed this with a lot of musicians after they've played for 20 years. They improve their stage presence, they become better at singing, and their technique gets better. And believe it or not, despite a few weird things here or there (the weirdest being when one of the boys stood on a platform, opened up his white shirt, and they blew wind at him so that the white shirt ruffled behind him), I loved the concert. I got into the spirit of it, and even put my fist in the air when they told us, "Everyone! Put your fists in the air!"

At the risk of sounding old, the thing I liked about them was this: They sang a lot of songs that had good melodies.

See, they were singing 5-part harmony. In order to do that, you need to have some kind of melody. I come from a family of barbershoppers, and I love harmonies like that. I loved the concert.

So did Kim.

And it turned out that my favorite really was my favorite. First of all, he knew the word "flummoxed" and used it properly in a sentence. And then, I loved the solo he did during this picture: My dear Donnie, all in white, so ethereal:

Okay, please, do me a favor. Just focus on the lone white Donnie figure with the fabulous lighting.

Ignore the part where you can see his giant, white hat on the big screen.

(Read Kim's take on the concert here.)

2009-03-18T13:30:00.020-04:00

The Blue Sweater

I started a "Zimmermania" class this year. It is based all around the patterns of the greatest knitter of all time, Elizabeth Zimmermann. The first night, I asked everyone to rate which projects they wanted to do. To my surprise, one of the top three was a yoked sweater. I have to confess that this made me happy. I had been wanting to do one of those myself.

I have 25 people in the class. Think about the pressure of making sure that 25 people have a good sweater. Think of what would happen if the project turned into a train wreck. Think of 25 angry people all in one room, all of whom carry pointy sticks. I decided that I'd better hunker down and make the whole sweater first, to be sure it worked.

I was motivated.

So for the past month, I have been knitting on the Blue Sweater every day, and I have taken it with me everywhere I have gone. This included Disney. I worked on it on the way down to Florida. After we got there, I was grateful for every hour-long wait in line. Between those waits and my "Yarn Buddy" knitting pouch, I was able to work on that Blue Sweater a lot:

(Isn't it amazing that Security didn't haul me away with my threatening t-shirt? Do you see what I mean about angry knitters and their pointy sticks?)

I worked on the Blue Sweater as we drove home. And when we got home, I kept knitting. I had a week left to do the yoke.

Kevin was patient as I ignored him and everything around me. His quilter-mother operates exactly like this, and so he understands the culture of the insane project with a deadline.

I knitted and knitted. Finally, this morning, the morning of the class, the Blue Sweater was finished. And, I have to say, all that work was worth it:

I can't wait to share it with 25 people. I think we're going to have some good sweaters in that class.

2009-02-22T22:45:00.010-05:00

Finishes and Starts

I have been finishing things.

Project 1: This little scarf just needs fringe. I made it from Silk Garden Chunky, which is now gone from our store, but any Noro yarn will do--try Iro if you want it fast, or Kureyon or Yuzen or Silk Garden or or or.... whatever you like. Anything you choose will be great. This scarf trend, started by Brooklyn Tweed , is all over the Internet, and I have yet to see a bad one.

Cast on an even number of stitches, and K1P1, changing back and forth between two balls of two different colors every second row. Do not worry about exactly how many stitches to cast on or hyperventilate about how long it should be. It works no matter what. Good luck making just one. I've already started a second.

Project 2: I finished a Magnum Opus, my shadow-knitting sweater:

This is a great pattern. The Harrisville Shetland drapes well. (Note to self: Think about serious Fair Isle. Or maybe Fake Isle with Kureyon sock and this yarn.) The shadows are interesting: shadow knitting is made for movement, and you really can't appreciate it fully until you see someone walk around in it.

It's done on size 2 needles, so you do need persistence and patience--but if you've got those, then go ahead and make one of Vivian Hoxbro's sweaters from her gorgeous book. You won't regret it.

Project 3: I finished a pink vest. It's not so horrible that I'm embarrassed to wear it in public. But I think I'm going to rip it, maybe as soon as tomorrow, because it is so very much not my style. At any rate, here is the evidence that I finished it:

Kim says that in this picture, I look as if I hate this vest.

She knows me pretty well.

I think that it would look great on someone else. As for me, I'm going to turn it into something else. I totally love the yarn, which is Debbie Bliss's Luxury Tweed, and I love the color--so I am actually am looking foward to a new project in it. Ripping is part of knitting. I suspect I'm going to make a cabled vest that is in the same booklet as this vest. Still mulling.

So since all those projects are finished, I need to start new ones.

Before I show you what I'm about to do, let me say that in my World View, finishing the shadow knitting sweater alone is worth about 8-10 new projects, so what you are about to see could realistically be described as moderation. In my World View.

First, I'm making a Fair-Isle Yoke sweater, designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman, using the EPS. I am loving, loving this project so far. I know it doesn't look like much.....

But I'm liking the idea of using percentages to figure out fit. I'm going to teach this to my Zimmermania class next month. My plan is to finish it before they start it so that I can make sure that the percentages get us what I think they should.

I have also made ....

.... a serious commitment:

Rolling a ball of yarn (like this Fisherman wool from Lorna's Laces) means you have to use it. In this case, I'm going to make the Elizabeth Zimmerman Butterfly vest. It is kind of like her Rib Warmer. But I've made two Rib Warmers, so I want to try out the Butterfly Vest, which is similar. I wear my Kureyon Rib Warmer so much that it's embarrassing.

I'm continuing to work on my new wrap this year. I cannot say enough good things about Noro Yuzen. I love working with it, and love the colors:

I'm also about to start on this Fiber Trends shrug, and I think I'm going to make it RED, with Nature Wool Chunky:

And finally, I'm going to make a little neck warmer from Iro, using Kate Lemmer's pattern that we just got in:

So that's me. What about you? What are you just about to finish? What new projects are you starting?

2009-02-16T23:24:00.021-05:00

New Patterns are on Their Way

This past weekend, Kim and I went to the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet festival as vendors. One thing I always do when I go to shows is look for new patterns just for you. (Well, and maybe for me, too.) Of course it's good to have plenty of yarn, but patterns (and of course knitting needles) allow you to actually do something with that yarn.

At the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet show, I found two new pattern companies that were willing to sell to shops, and so I ordered from them.

The first is from a woman named Kate Lemmers. Kate has two designs in the Winter 2008 Knitter's Magazine, and she has worked in the yarn industry for ... well, oh dear ... to tell you the truth, I'm not sure how long. But I have been running into her about once a year at various shows ever since we started the shop, so I know she's been in the industry at least 5 years. Now she is launching her own patterns. Kate lives near Allentown, so I'm trying to talk her into teaching a class or two for us at some point soon. You will love her as much as I do.

Anyway, I am the first shop ever to buy her patterns from the new pattern company she is launching. I feel good about that! So that I could get the word out to you immediately, I photographed her work at the show. (By the way, everyone shown gave me permission to take photos of their work.) The first is a cute little neck scarf. I like it because it's not only attractive, but quick to make:

Next is a cabled sweater I fell in love with. I think I might have to make it. The secret ribbing at the side is designed to provide shaping. Clever:

And I also loved this sweet little baby sweater:

I hope we'll be seeing much more of Kate's work. (Don't worry, Kate! I'm going to nag you incessently to keep designing new things!)

The second company I chose patterns from was a place called Ewe and I, which was run by Kathy Disantis and Dianne Rodabaugh. I had never met them before, but they were so sweet. And I loved, loved, loved this sweater that they designed:

It's a sampler sweater. Some sampler sweater designs look incoherent, but the patterning in this one hung together. You can either make it in one color, or use intarsia to make it more of a patchwork. I also liked how the neck just folds back: Minimal finishing. I ordered a bunch of those patterns. I think I see a class coming.

This is another little sampler sweater pattern that I bought. It would look great in Noro yarns:

Here is another cute sampler pattern, for those of you who prefer knitting scarves:

And finally, this is for my group of customers who all wanted a sweater pattern just like a sweater that our knitting teacher Lynn was wearing one day and everyone wanted me to figure out how to design it. I haven't had time, and I haven't been able to figure out a good stitch pattern for it. Fortunately, Ewe and I did all the work for me, and they gave a vest option too!

Thank you, Ewe and I! You have just saved me hours of time!

These patterns should all be in the shop soon. Let us know if you want us to hold one for you.

2009-01-30T13:37:00.024-05:00

Almost Getting There

I'm in the middle of a bunch of projects right now. I keep thinking that I'll have them finished to share, and then they take just a little longer than I expect. Kim would say that this is always true of anything I do. I admit I'm a little too optimistic at times.

I'll show them to you now, and then later, if they turn out okay, I'll model them. How's that for a deal?

The first one is this ribbed vest. Right now, I admit I am a bit concerned about its resemblance to a halter top:

But it's not finished yet. I have just about an inch to knit on the back, and then I have the finishing to do. I will give you a full assessment after trying on, but only if it looks good.

*****

Does this look endless to you?

It sure felt that way to me. But I am finally done with the knitting for this shadow-knitting sweater and have started in on the finishing. This is one sleeve. I knit it on size 1 needles.

Yes, it was as bad as you think.

The worst part is, I should have used a 2. I have been called the gauge witch. I had done a swatch, and it was to gauge. So it couldn't have been a gauge issue. But for some reason, the sweater shrank a bit as I worked on it. So. The sleeves were too short. The body was too short and too skinny.

I have some fixes in mind. Full report later--if they work. If not... well, forget you ever saw this picture. And don't mention my red-rimmed eyes. It isn't just that I knit this sweater on size 1 needle. It is that I actually started it again after a Big Error. (Scroll down to the second entry from the bottom, where you can see the first draft of this sweater turned into a pillow.) So you have to be extra nice to me about it, no matter what happens and no matter how it looks. Thank you.

*****

I'm in an Elizabeth Zimmerman kick that has been lasting about a year so far, so much so that I started a Zimmermania class this year. (Sorry, it is full, full, full, but look for individual EZ projects in our newsletter this year if you want to join in on the fun.) The first project we started was the pi shawl. I'm enjoying it out of Kureyon Sock yarn:

It's a shawl, so I feel certain that it will fit and look good. Shawls do not provide the level of risk and adventure that sweaters and vests do.

I'm also working on a new wrap for our wrap class this year. So far I have Block 1 finished:

I love Yuzen, the yarn I am usin'.

*****

And, ahead of schedule, the block for February is ready:

But not the directions for the block. Those will happen... sometime soon.

In the meantime, as I write, it is your job to get ready to come in and get some good stuff during our Super Sale this Sunday! We'll be open 10-4. I hear we've got some snow coming in next week, so you'll need a project for both the game and the Big Storm. Me, I'm going to be finishing at least a sweater and a vest, so I can start something new. There's a rule, you know: Two projects done, four begun.

2009-01-06T17:07:00.014-05:00

Color Play

I just finished making the first block for this year's block of the month. I'm making blocks that look three dimensional, and I am getting a kick out of the project. The first block I call "folding arrows." (Show it to a guy. I guarantee he will think the three-dimensional thing is cool.)

I originally designed the block of the month to be on a plum background, but after a few people wrinkled their noses about plum (you need a thick skin in this job to survive all the nose wrinkling), I decided to try it out on different backgrounds. I'm still making mine on plum, but make it your own; other colors look good too. Today I got out the camera and played around to show you.

Let's start with the original plum idea:

And then my post-seeing-nose-wrinkling ideas of green....

.... and cream:

For this block, the cream would have worked better if there had been a purple or plum border around the block. We'll do other blocks later that would work fine with no border.

Purple also works for this block, which is no surprise (but it made the camera think that all the purple is blue):

But blue itself? Doesn't work at all, even though blue is one of my favorite colors:

If you use turquoise, it gets even worse:

Probably someone out there just said, "But I like that!" Well, nose-wrinkle comin' back atch-ya.

And here, full circle, is plum again.

To me, it's easier to breathe with that color behind the block. Ahhhhhhh....

Ready or not, the new year is rolling. Block of the month starts in a few weeks, and it's going to be a fun one this year. Sign up anytime! We have planned a year of fun, prizes, and .... cool blocks!

2008-12-23T15:13:00.005-05:00

Today is a New Day

I'm feeling so much better today than yesterday.

Maybe you think that my brother's quilt is done? Not so. It is no further than the pictures you saw. I knew even as I was writing about it that there was no way to finish it within schedule. And there was also no way to finish up the Christmas cards.

But I'm done and ready.

I give Kevin the credit for my peace of mind. He said (and I may be misquoting, but this is the gist), "Give him the quilt next year."

I said, "Hey! That's a good idea! I can just box up the pieces! That will amuse him!" (Yes indeed, I was in a full exclamation-mark state of mind.)

Kevin said, "No. Don't do that. Just let it go."

You know how you get a whack on the side of the head sometimes when you need it? That was mine for the week.

And so I let it all go. I know this: My brother will still love me. (Besides, he's already gotten a quilt this year.) My friends will get their cards later, and they will have more time to read them then. (I love to write Christmas newsletters that are ..... well, they're .... extremely long.) It all works.

I no longer have even a flicker of concern. And with letting go, it turns out that I was completely correct yesterday about having enough time. Thus, I say, as a free person:

Have a happy holiday, everyone!

And if you're not done with something and it's causing you undue stress and making the people around you miserable? You have my permission to let it go and be healthier.

Remember, this is supposed to be fun.

2008-12-22T14:16:00.016-05:00

As My Sewing Progresses Very, Very Well, Right up onto Christmas

Kim often accuses me of being too optimistic. According to her, even when things are going wrong, I see us as having enough room for all the inventory, enough money for all the bills, enough time to accomplish everything on the list.

Most of the time, things go well for me in the end, although I do admit that my sunny disposition occasionally has a few conflicts with actual ... uh.... searching here for just the right word... oh, okay, let's just call it.... say.... "reality."

But Kim always comes up with solutions for my schemes, or sometimes I even think of my own solutions, and all is well.

Today Kim is home on vacation. I am in the store, working on a bedspread for my brother. I started it a year ago. It was a 6-step mystery. We were supposed to start it in January, do a step each month, and it would be finished by June. I figured that even if I ran a little behind, I'd give him the top for Christmas, then have it quilted later.

I ran a little behind.

But I had done a great job organizing it this summer, putting each step of instructions into its own labeled, zip-lock bag.

I admit right now that I'm still feeling just a bit behind on the bedspread. I even admit to a flicker of concern. As you can see, although it is indeed organized, it really doesn't look very big yet, or very bedspread-like.

I do have steps 1 and 2 finished, am about a quarter of the way through step 3 (well, let's call it a third of the way through; that's more accurate), and then I will just have to finish up with steps 4, 5, and 6. By Thursday.

Kim, on account of being home, has not come up with a solution for me.

But I still have a few days. I am positive that I will have enough time.

2008-12-10T22:17:00.009-05:00

It's a Wrap!

For the past year, we have been running a class based on the pattern "Wrap Me Up" by Chris de Longpré. Each month, we knitted 2 or 3 blocks, and by December, the wraps were finished--or at least pretty close to finished. And we headed out to Meyer Dairy.

For those of you who are reading this blog from out of the area, we live in a little town completely surrounded by farms. In other words, we are completely surrounded by ... cows. Having grown up here, I have always been amused that this gives State College, which is a university town, a bit of a sophistication complex.

Me? I pay sophistication no heed. The truth of the matter is that I have always been a big fan of cows. My father is a milking-machine specialist. You might even say that I bleed black and white.

You see, these cows give us a really, really good place to get milk and ice cream called Meyer Dairy.

This place has a nice, big seating area, big enough for a group of people to eat ice cream and knit. And, as I mentioned, it has really good ice cream. So for our finale tonight, we met at Meyer Dairy to eat ice cream and celebrate our finished objects. Or to eat ice cream!

So without further ado, may I present the first group of finished shawls:

And another group of a few finished and a few more soon-to-be-finished--but, I hasten to add, still-spectacular shawls!

Yup. That's me, on the far right, working it.

Want a shawl like one of these? Not a problem! Feel free to sign up for the class that will start this January. This is a great class if you haven't been knitting for very long. You'll get a lot of technique and gain a lot of confidence. Please join us!

Honestly, I can't wait to make another one. I admit, after tonight, to a bit of color envy.

2008-12-04T13:26:00.003-05:00

Bring on the Holidays. I'm Ready.

I bet you think I am done with my shopping. Oh heavens, no. My gift knitting? Not gonna happen. My gift quilting? Not even close.

None of these. But I am now feeling ready for the holidays, nevertheless.

You see, to me, the holidays represent a great deal of knitting time, both in the car and among friends and family. A lot of my projects were at a standstill. I needed to get them organized so that I could continue knitting, while still being able chat and not look down too much. (In the car, so I don't get carsick. When talking with people, so I can make at least some eye contact.)

Knitting is portable, so when I'm on holiday, I always take my knitting. I have a lot of knitting projects going at once, mainly so that I always have something easy to work on.

But lately, on project after project, I began to get stuck over something. And the pileup began, faster than a foggy day on the Autobahn.

I had a day off the Monday before Thanksgiving, and I finally had a chance to sit down to sort it all out.

This is an easy little top, and there's no reason it's still hanging around--other than that I haven't knitted on it:

It's from the book One Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn Shop Favorites. (It's on p. 57 if you have a copy handy). It's just a little shrug, called Shrug This. I'm making it out of Tahki Torino Bulky. It's knit from the top down, and it's super easy. I need to spend a few hours and just finish it up. I have a row-by-row checkoff sheet made now.

I'm in similar shape on this vest:

It's a simple little v-necked vest that I found in a Tahki Yarns tweed booklet. I'm using Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed to make mine. I have the front and back both done to the armhole shaping. In the background of the photo, you can see my self-instructions for finishing it up. Just a few more hours, and that vest is mine.

Silver Belle is fruit that is a bit higher hanging:

I have written out the chart for making the sleeves and bodice, sort of. ....well, not completely. This sweater is a big project, and it's just slow going. But it is so pretty, and Tahki Torino is a dream to knit. Every time I see it, I get a longing to work on it. Unfortunately, I do more longing than knitting sometimes.

Okay. This sweater must get done. I have had enough of it:

It's my shadow-knitting sweater. I've been working on it for 3 years. It's really cool: When you look at it face on (like this picture), you see stripes; from the side, you see checks. It's made from Harrisville Shetland. I just have the sleeves to go, and they're the easy part. I have charted them out, and I should be able to make quick work of them. ....As quick as you can do on size 2 needles.

Dear Kevin. I know that you chose the yarn for this sweater 10 years ago. I realize that I had many false starts on it until I came across the pattern for Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Seamless Hybrid." But I'm knitting it now. I promise to finish your sweater someday.

Do realize, however, that it is on size 4 needles. And know that I started this sweater at the beginning of our relationship, back during those early stages, when a size 4 needle seemed appropriately devoted and romantic. Fortunately, Kevin, my love for both you and the long-discontinued wool/alpaca yarn of this sweater has never faded. Someday, I promise, you will have your sweater.

(Note to reader: The black part at the bottom of Kevin's sweater, in case you were wondering, is a contrasting hemmed facing. According to Elizabeth Zimmerman, the knitter is supposed to write her initials and the year she finished the sweater into the hem. The unfinished sweater, with its constantly unfinished hem, therefore provides the guilty knitter, who has finished up plenty of sweaters for herself, with an extra reminder of time's passing.)

Starting in January, I'm doing a "Zimmermania" class once a month--a class to honor the most famous knitter ever, Elizabeth Zimmerman. (Don't worry. We are going to be knitting smaller things than a man's "Seamless Hybrid.")

To prep for this class, I started working on her February Baby Sweater out of this yarn:

Now, in all my organizing, I seem to have misplaced the actual sweater I had started.

But I'm sure I'll find it again, and then I will get to work on it, and this wound-up ball of yarn is ready to go when I run out of the first ball of yarn.

I'm also working on a Fair Isle sweater from the Philosopher's Wool book, using Harrisville Highland. One sleeve is almost done, and I've started the second. Fair Isle is completely addictive. Unfortunately, my addiction has been overshadowed by my lack of time.

But I have it organized now! As soon as I can get back to work on it, I know just what to do!

And finally, my little crocheted jacket in Silk Garden from So Simple Crochet:

Just the sleeves. Come on. Crochet is supposed to be faster than knitting. Why is it taking so long? Maybe because I modified the pattern and forgot what I wanted to do for the sleeves. And because I have been staring at it rather than crocheting. It doesn't seem to be getting finished that way.

So lately, what with all my organizing, I have developed a new theory.

The theory is that knitting actually progresses only when you actually--ready for this?--work on the knitting. You can't just think about knitting, dream about knitting, blog about knitting. If you get stuck, you have to work your way through that sticking point because you have to knit. And when you do--voila! You might make some progress, or even finish something.

So for the next blog entry I write, I vow to show you something finished from the above.

But probably not Silver Belle.

2008-11-14T10:26:00.015-05:00

Continuing the Finishing Binge

I start a lot of new projects, but I also finish a lot of projects. (It's as if I knit or quilt during every free minute. It's as if I'm obsessed.) But yesterday I had one of my best recent triumphs: I finished The Wrap.

This wrap was for a class. We started it last January. Every month, we worked on two or three blocks. Suddenly, without much notice or fanfare, it was done.

I had Kim take pictures, and other than having to suffer through her telling me to "work it, baby, work it" the photos are great.

I love this wrap:

Does this count as "working it"?

Here I am, like a vulture sunning itself:

Requisite shawl Dracula pose:

Pattern: Wrap me Up, by Knitting at Knoon designs.
Yarn: Ella Rae Palermo (which is no longer being made--big sigh) for the main yarn, and Tahki Torino for the contrast. Many people in the class used Kureyon or Silk Garden. They were fabulous too.

We had about 20 people in this class, and I hope to get some shots of more of these wraps next month, when our class meets at Meyer's Dairy to eat ice cream, knit, and show off our stuff.

And I'm starting a new session next year, starting in January, times to be determined. Look for information in our next newsletter, coming out at the end of December.

2008-10-29T10:52:00.018-04:00

These are More of my Favorite Things, Cont.

I have a lot of quilting and knitting gizmos that I love. Here are a few more!

*****

This is an invention from a little company called Rollie. It's remarkably simple--a couple of plastic caps and a piece of elastic between them. When you look at it, you think it's something you could have done--but the truth is, I've thought about what you would actually have to do to make these, and quickly decided it would be a pain. I prefer letting Rollie do that job.

These gizmos hold double-pointed needles. You put a cap on each end, and the elastic keeps the caps held onto the needles. The project stays tidy, the needles stay on the knitting, nothing is ever lost again (or if it is, it's your own fault), and life is good.

*****

This looks like an innocent, rolled-up piece of plastic. But it's not. I thas a grippy side and a slippery side. You put it grippy side down on the bed of your machine, the slippery side up, and free-motion quilting becomes a breeze.

I learned about it a few years ago when we were vendors at a quilt show. The booth next door sold nothing but Sew Slips. Over and over, for 4 straight days, I heard the Sew Slip Sales Pitch. Finally, on the fourth day, I gave in a tried it (which was a big part of the pitch).

I was completely hooked. For another 6 months, I tried to explain to Kim how cool the Sew Slip was. She thought it looked just like another piece of plastic. Finally one day, I shoved it onto her machine. She was assimilated.

Come on it. Try one out. You know--just to see if you like it.

*****

For the rest of this entry, our theme will be hand-sewing.

Wait! Don't go away!

Hand sewing is part of both quilting and knitting. You need to do it to FINISH things. Do you like the word "finish"? I thought so. Please keep reading, because I am going to show you a few more tools to make it go more easily.

*****

One day, a year or so ago, I started to thread a sewing machine, and I couldn't see the eye of the needle, which made threading it hard. I told Kim about it. Rather than sympathizing with me about how my eyes are going downhill, she explained that there is an automatic threader on the machine.

Thanks, Kimmie. Problem not solved. My eyes are still going downhill.

But now I will tell you, if your eyes are going downhill too--or even if they're not--about a similar invention for hand-sewing: The Clover Needle Threader.

This is the coolest little thing. You put the eye of the needle into a hole at the top of this little baby, drape the thread across, press the lever, and--voila!--your needle is threaded.

Once again--provided that you can at least discern between the eye end and the pointy end of a needle--you can put off buying those zebra-print half-glasses that are a feeble attempt at making the 40+ wearer feel "hip."

Between the needle threader and....

*****

....Thread Heaven, I don't mind hand sewing the binding on a quilt quite as much anymore.

Thread Heaven is a simple little box of wax. It has a scattering of sparkles throughout the wax, which I was puzzled about at first, but finally figured out that these symbolically represent "heaven."

Thread Heaven lives up to its name. You just run a piece of thread across it, and you get no more tangles as you're hand sewing.

*****

Speaking of heavenly, the next helpful thing I like is my business partner. I love her the most of all! Oh, Kimmie, just look at you--so smart, so beautiful!

*****

Woah! Hijacked blog! I should have known to change the password. Let's be moving on. Quickly.

*****

Knitting also requires a bit of hand-sewing to finish, and I have found several tools that make this process better too. The first is Knit Klips.

I used to use hair clips to hold my knitting together in preparation for sewing seams, but the problem was that they go caught in the yarn. About a year after I discovered the hair-clip idea, Knit Klips were invented. (I am pretty sure that I sent the inventors Special Energy Waves from My Head that made them invent the clips.)

They have a single hook in the center, which means no more tangles or catching.

By the way, all of you who know Kirsten (our Saturday godsend) know that she seems pretty mild-mannered. But trust me, that's just on the surface. If you want to dare test it, take away her Knit Klips. You will see her instantly turn into someone with the amiability of "Venom" on the TV show "American Gladiators."

*****

The other sewing tool is the humble Chibi. (I bet you'll be unable to process any thoughts at all about Chibis as you continue trying to picture Kirsten acting like "Venom.")

The Chibi is a darning needle with a smooth finish and a bent tip.

It makes sewing yarn a breeze. It also comes in its own little storage case. The case has a little hole on the side, so you could, should you desire, put a string through it and hang it around your neck, kind of like a necklace. (Don't you want a necklace made from a plastic tube and darning needles? I'm sure it would look good with those hip, zebra-print glasses you have dangling from your neck too.)

Why it is called a "Chibi," I have no idea. "Chibi" is apparently a Japanese word meaning "small child." I am not pulling together any connections here. All theories welcome.

*****

Here is something for everyone! It's a cute little sheep from Lantern Moon.

It's not just cute, it's practical: It has a special secret when you pull on its tail!

Everyone doing any kind of craft needs such a tape measure!

*****

Well, there are lots more gadgets that I love, and I want to go on and on about them, but my mother was always big on telling me that I should "know when to quit." (She is a good mother and always tried hard to teach me things, and I am at least able to recite some of them back.) What I am actually trying to say is that the little sheep is helping me symbolize that this blog entry is at

the End

2008-10-15T12:14:00.024-04:00

My Favorite Things

Because we do the ordering, and because we're in the shop every day, Kim and I often see things that you might not ever notice. Today, with that in mind, I want to talk about some of the knitting and quilting gadgets that I love; I think you will love them too. If you don't have these things at your house...well, you know us: We're never above selling you stuff.

I'll alternate them, so if you don't quilt or don't knit, feel free to skip over every other paragraph!

*****

Let's start with quilting, shall we? I think I'll start with my newest favorite thing: Mary Ellen's Best Press.

We initially bought it because one of our customers nagged and nagged for it. I finally told her we would order it if she bought it and also made some of her friends buy it. (We have minimum orders for some items, and I didn't want to be stuck with a bunch of extra bottles of this stuff.) She promised. Kim was skeptical when she saw that I had added it to our order, but I explained that this customer and her friends had promised to buy it.

We sold out of all of it within about a week.

Whenever we sell out of something that quickly, I sure do get very interested in it. So I tried it myself.

I loved it.

Kim was not so sure; she was a Magic Sizing fanatic. But I really, really loved it, and I suggested that she just try it once, because, really, I loved this stuff. So Kim buckled under.

Our can of Magic Sizing is now gathering dust.

Now we have every scent that Mary Ellen's makes--lavender, cherry blossom, Caribbean breeze, and, of course, unscented. And we're thinking that it's about time to start carrying the gallon refills.

*****

My next newest thing that I love for knitting is a bag.

Oh, I know. You have tons of bags. You don't need another one. But, my dear knitting friends, I'm talkin' about a bag here.

When I travel, I never carry less than 3 projects, and usually I carry many more if I'm traveling for longer than, say, dinner in Altoona. You never know what you're going to need. For example, the last time I went to Kevin's parents' for a 3-day weekend, here were my projects (circled below in a cheerful turquoise):

Lantern Moon understands my needs. They came out with a bag that is so large I can carry at least 3 full sweater projects in it. And I love the graphic, black-and-white print:

Inside, the pretty blue lining is attached in such a way as to give four additional large pockets (one for each sock project you're working on), a cell-phone sized compartment, and a zippered pocket. In addition, this bag helps people in Vietnam earn a living while being paid fair wages in good working conditions. Hooray!

*****

The Clover Yo-Yo maker is for making an old-fashioned type of quilt with a new-fangled type of gizmo:

To make yo-yos with this thing, you no longer have to use the bottom of a glass or piece of worn-out cardboard to draw circles on your fabric. You just snap the yo-yo maker onto the fabric, trim around it, and start stitching. All your stitches are the same length, and when you're finished, all your yo-yos are the same size. If you use it once, you will never look back! And of course it comes in different sizes and shapes.

*****

I know this might seem mundane, but I love Plymouth's stitch holders:

They are a classic style. The metal glides right into my live stitches. They come in a couple of sizes in each pack. I have never found a better stitch holder. In fact, I like them so much and hate running out of them so much that I wildly over-ordered them. Kim suggested that it might be good to talk about them in this entry, and maybe people would come in and buy a few of them.

So, knitters, if you come buy them, she will be happier.

And as soon as you do, I will order even more. Because I love these things.

Coming up soon.... I'm not done yet! I don't want you to have to spend 3 hours reading one blog entry, but I still have untold amounts of enthusiasm left! Stay tuned for more of My Favorite Things.

2008-10-05T20:56:00.023-04:00

Wide Open Spaces

Kim has been wanting to move the fabric around for years so that we could put the quilting tables in the middle of the room. She initially wanted to put the tall bolt-holders against the window. But I nixed that idea, on account of losing all the light.

In fact, I have nixed that idea about 5 times over the 5 years we have been open. (I give both of us a lot of credit for our once-a-year stick-to-it-ness.)

Then the other week we were preparing for our Yarn Tasting. We were trying to figure out how to get more than 20 people into one space without putting them into two corners. Kim tried her idea on me for the 6th time, but this time made it more palatable: "What if we put the short bolt-holders at the window?" she asked.

Done.

We were in the middle of a quiet morning that day, so we plunged in and started moving stuff around:

It took us the better part of the day--which of course was the day before Yarn Tasting, a day we had lots of prep left to finish. But we needed the space. So we worked hard and fast.

And after a while, we had a new space:

I cannot describe how thrilled we both were.

For Yarn Tasting, we were able to take the tables down and comfortably fit all those people into the room. (I would show a picture, but all of the pictures I took were of knitters frowning as they concentrated on their knitting.)

Pictures aside, the Yarn Tasting went great. We started by giving away a goodie-bag to each person:

.....Okay. This particular person, while indeed ending up with only one bag (under duress, I might add), thought that maybe if she sorted all the nearby bags, she could find the best goodies for herself. I did not put her face or any identifying characteristics in the picture--but Bag Sorter Person, you know who you are!

We ate snacks:

See those cupcakes in the upper-left corner? Hannah made them just for this event. Let's take a closer look at her little yarn balls and little scarves:

They looked so real at first glance that one person actually asked if she knitted the icing. Hannah, I think you'll soon be ready for a job at Charm City Cakes.

Of course, the best part of Yarn Tasting was tasting the yarn. Kim served it up to everyone:

And we all played with a bunch of great yarns that night. I even let her keep all the descriptions in those handouts you see in her left hand. I had my editing pen at the ready but decided that when she wrote that "Dreams Really Do Come True," I felt as if I was at Disney. I love going to Disney. So I didn't change a word in any description.

Everyone had a blast. In fact, it may have been the most fun we've ever had at an event.

Which means we need to do it again.

Look for another Yarn Tasting, coming up sometime in the spring!

2008-09-23T19:47:00.003-04:00

Mmmmmmmm...... Good

Coming up this Thursday is our first Yarn Tasting. We have a nice little party planned, and we're both so excited! This is an Event. We've chosen 8 yarns to taste--and everyone who attends gets a sample.

I have never attended an actual wine tasting on account of how I do not like the taste of wine, but Kim has explained to me that this will be similar to a wine tasting. She says that at a wine tasting, you get a little sample and then want more; on a yarn level, this makes a lot of sense to me. We'll no doubt be telling you to sniff each yarn to see if it has a sheepy bouquet.

We have a lot of good things planned: We'll have not only a discount for that night on the yarns we taste, but of course we'll also have snacks and door prizes. Kim keeps coming up with dramatic, fun ways of showing off the yarns. She is worried that I will be boring and only tell you, "This is yarn. You can knit it. Or crochet it." This low-level of drama from me is indeed a very real danger.

But Dearest Kimmie: For you, I will try my best to be dramatic! I promise!

We both spent today making a lot of cute little mini-skeins. Kim has been spending the past few days writing up wonderful descriptions of the yarn. Today, I threw that off a bit with my last-minute shuffles of exactly which yarns we're going to taste.

By now you might be wondering what my role is in this whole thing other than winding mini-skeins. It's my job to explain what we can make out of all the yarns. I'm in the middle of researching that. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.

Above is your preview. We got it yesterday. I'm madly playing with it to see what I can tell you about it. Hint: This picture is an extreme close up.

We have just a few opening left for this event, so if you're interested, give us a call ASAP!

Yarn Tasting: Thursday, September 25, 6-9 p.m.

2008-09-11T21:01:00.002-04:00

That Time of the Year

It is that time of the year for me. The same thing happens every year.

Every fall, I have a list of new projects that I'm excited to start. In fact, I have that list right now.

But I also have a lot of old projects dragging along, because I always start with a long, long list every fall, start them all, and then don't have time to finish them all over the winter. I start to get mad at them. And then I work like a dog to finish them. That is what "Labor Day" is all about.

For the past few weeks, I have been working like a dog on finishing up projects. I am thrilled to report a few that are out of my hair. Let's start with the quilts.

First, is my brother Alex's quilt. It is my feeling that when a wall-hanging is actually hanging in a house, it is super-ultra done:

(Didn't I tell you he likes fancy stuff?) I had been too lazy to put a quilt hanger on the back, but he didn't know it was supposed to have one, and he figured out on his own how to hang it. Thanks, Bro. You saved yourself another 6-10 months of your quilt not being done.

How do I know this? Because I just finished my other brother's quilt.

Below is my brother Todd's quilt. He lives in Colorado. He likes earthy stuff. I had given his wife and him the quilt top for Christmas 2007. Deb quilted it in January. I finally finished hand-sewing the binding last week:

Should I mail it, or at this point, give it to them for Christmas 2008?

I know it looks innocent enough, but below is the most nagging UFO I've had a while:

It was the Block of the Month that Deb Kerr and I designed in 2006, which we called Starry Night. Back in 2006, Deb had finished hers, so I was able to show her finished one to the block-of-the-month groups. Mine, with deadline-motivation thus gone, languished. Until this week.

I got tired of looking at it on my piles (or maybe I wanted my head clear for the 2009 Block of the Month that I'm in the middle of designing). Whatever the reason, I finally sewed on the borders, which was all that was left. DONE. Now it's Deb's turn to quilt it.

It's all yours, Deb!

Next, I pieced a tree skirt for a class I'm teaching in October. I'm well pleased with it:

It still needs to be quilted, but since it's a new project, I am not feeling the pressure yet. Having it pieced kind of feels like it's done, at least for the moment.

On to knitting. Knitting is a bit less instant-gratification. It seems as if you sit your butt down to quilt, then the quilt gets done (unless you're a hand-quilter--and then my sympathies are with you). But knitting--when you're "almost done," you still have hours or even days of work left. I have a few projects that are "almost done." But I do have one that is actually done.

Remember that Back-to-School vest from Fitted Knits that I was making? Here it is:

And as a glorious bonus, I don't actually have to go back to school. Ha!

In case you are interested in knitting it, I ended up modifying the shoulders to make them way more narrow. (I didn't really take good notes. I used my eye to judge them, and then, when they were still too wide, I steeked them into the shape I wanted.) And I had to cast off the armholes and neckline several times before they looked right. That's life in knitting. I'm thrilled with it, and am thinking about putting a few more vests on my to-list for fall.

Because when you finish one project, you can start two more.

2008-08-27T13:13:00.003-04:00

Diamonds are Forever

About 6 months ago, my mother visited Bassett Hall, a Rockefeller house at Colonial Williamsburg. There, in one of the bedrooms, she saw a knitted coverlet that she fell in love with. (Go to this page, click on the lower picture in the master bedroom, and you will see a small picture of it.) She asked about it, and it turned out that another knitter had figured out the cabled pattern and had written out her instructions for any tourist to have.

My mother took home those instructions, and started thinking about it. She was at a point where she was ready for a new project.

She decided to swim that ocean.

Now, before you decide to jump in too, let me tell you a little about what you'll need to do to knit it.

The coverlet is knit into long strips with crochet thread. My mother used #10 crochet cotton. She is using Maxi, which is a gorgeous thread made in Austria that you can only get at a Local Yarn Shop. (She has a good source for it, however.) To make the coverlet, we figured she needed somewhere around 40 skeins of the Maxi. Each skein has 600 yards.

Each strip takes 2 skeins of yarn, or 1200 yards of thread. To put it in perspective, for each strip she makes, my mother is working on the equivalent of knitting one medium-sized sweater in worsted-weight yarn.

But it is not worsted weight. She is on a size 0 needle. (She calls it 2 mm, because millimeter sizing is more precise. My mother steadfastly refuses to talk in American knitting needle sizes. If you are going to make this coverlet, you need to have this frame of mind too.)

Each strip has 19 repeats of a diamond-shaped motif. She plans to make roughly 14 strips. (If you've done the math, you know that she will need around 28 skeins for the strips, not the 40 we got her. We got her 40 skeins of yarn because there is also an enormous amount of fringe, fringe eats yarn, and neither my mother nor I wanted to take any risks on yardage.)

She told me that she cannot ever think of the whole project because it's too overwhelming. She thinks of one diamond at a time. Each day, her goals is to knit a half a diamond. She works on it about 3+ hours a day, and at that rate, it takes her about 40 days to make a single strip.

So far, she has 3 strips and is well up the fourth. This is the one strip that is blocked so far:

So that the strips are joined perfectly at the same spot, Mom has tied on little pieces of red thread between motifs:

Extreme closeup:

She will join the strips by matching up where the thread is. (She's been experimenting with different ways of joining, so I cannot yet give details on that.)

Now that you know about all the work that goes into it, do you know how much the Rockefellers paid for their coverlet in what we suspect was 1930s? About $15.00.

Lest you think that this was a lot of money back then, I ran this amount through an inflation calculator. (Isn't the Internet a wonderful place?) If you were to buy this at the Rockefellers' cost today, you would spend about $225--approximately half the cost of the yarn alone.

And people wonder why knitters don't sell their work!

2008-08-22T20:33:00.016-04:00

Nature at the Shop

Here in Happy Valley, we all live among a great deal of incredible Nature.

On account of how our job is what you might call the inverse of "Forest Ranger," Kim and I spend most of our time indoors. But occasionally, on the way back and forth from our cars, we have do an encounter or two with the Nature that Surrounds Us.

This week, I have seen quite a bit. It started with a bird's nest that had apparently been finished with and dropped out of a tree:

Whoever made that one was quite an architect and builder.

I also saw this strong little ant carrying a dead moth on the sidewalk. As a yarn lover, I never much mind if I see a dead moth, even though I realize that moths are probably an important part of the Nature that Surrounds Us:

Go on, sweet little ant. Gather your provisions and get ready for winter!

And then today, this little guy came in with one of our customers who does animal rescue, looking for a home:

He's probably about 6 weeks old, no name yet (though when Kim tried out names, he clearly preferred "Max" to "Spats"). He needs a kind, loving home with plenty of Kitten Chow available. We have the information if you're interested.

2008-08-17T21:55:00.003-04:00

Falling into Yarn

Every Fall, we order too much yarn. We have been open 5 years, and this pattern has not changed--ever. It is mostly my fault, I admit; I always find yarn that we need. But I'll blame Kim for maybe 25 percent of it. She says that hey, when we're ordering and I get yarn I want, she should be able to get yarn she wants.

Our rationales, as compelling as they are, do not solve the underlying problem of where we are going to put the yarn when it arrives.

Last week, we got our first fall delivery. We got 6 very huge boxes. I was out when they arrived, and Kim reacted by telling me that she had put all the boxes under the table, and I could deal with them by myself when I got back. She always says that. I wasn't a bit scared.

I got back. We started by pulling out all the yarn and piling it on the back table, since the boxes had random mixtures of different types of yarn:

We had piles like this in a lot of places. To give you a sense for just how bad it was, my mother came into the shop when we were in the thick of these piles, said hi, looked around, and then, before we could put her to work, ran out of there as fast as an Olympic gold medalist.

The whole shop had to be moved around. It's fall: The bulky yarn that had been in the back needed to move out front. The cottons had to go from the front to the back. This kind of moving is like switching around whole rooms of stuff in a house. As this completely unposed photo demonstrates, I was tearing my hair out:

And as we kept working, I got very, very tired:

(Don't you think I look like an angel when I'm asleep?)

Fortunately, I didn't do it all alone. Kim put on her serious work shoes to help get the job done:

(Seriously, I can never resist teasing Kim about her shoes, but I have never in my life seen anyone else who can plow through so much work while wearing flip-flops.)

We kept moving yarn around, and around, and by the end of the week, the front area looked like this:

And when Kirsten worked on Saturday, she and I were able to finish things up, get all the yarn off the floor--and even leave some shelf space:

Which we need. Because we know that over the next few months, more yarn is on its way. Enough to fill at least 8 times this much space.

But I'm not a bit scared.

You're getting sleeeeepy.... you're getting sleeeeeeepy.... you neeeeeeed to buy yaaaaaaarn.....

2008-08-09T10:35:00.051-04:00

Congratulations to my Brother

Whenever I go on a long trip, I take my knitting. In fact, I tend to take more knitting than clothing most of the time. This is how I packed for my most recent trip:

Who knows what project you're going to need?

I have just returned from that trip, a long but satisfying drive, for my brother Alex's graduation. He got his Ph.D. from Auburn.

Among the three of us children, he is the one who got the most "what are you going to do with that" undergrad degree--history--without even the education option fall-back plan. And among all us, he is the one who has been the most steadily employed, at the same place, for the longest period of time. He works here.

In case you're wondering, my other brother, Todd, works here. He is the coolest of the three of us:

(That is little Mickey the dog in his backpack.)

*****

Kevin and I didn't have a lot of extra time for this trip, so we drove down and back to Auburn in the space of 5 days.

The night before graduation, my dad treated us all to a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called the Warehouse Bistro. There, I was able to give my brother his presents.

It was a quiet, dignified restaurant, so I decided that this was the best place to give him a loud, dancing, stuffed chicken. As you can see from the low-quality video I took, it's very hard for Ph.D.s, with their "theoretical knowledge," to understand how to work a stuffed chicken. (That is my mother's hand reaching in to show him how to turn on the chicken.)

Since he reads this blog, I have not been able to show you this quilt that I made for him until now. I admit that I didn't plan for it to be his up front. I did it to make a sample for our braids workshop--but when I had finished it, I realized that it was perfect for my brother. He likes fancy stuff.

So my ecstatic parents got him all graduated....

He finally learned how to work the chicken....

And Kevin and I drove home. And drove. And drove some more.

It's hard for me to quilt in the car, even hand stitching (I can't do anything that I really have to look at, or I get carsick), but whenever we go away, and it's not my turn to drive, I get a lot of knitting done. I have trained myself to knit while looking up.

Although I took 6 projects along, I decided to work mainly on a 1950s-style sweater called "Breakfast at Tiffany's" out of Cherry Tree Hill's Oceania. It was one of those projects that had been sitting around for over a year.

My mother wouldn't let me knit during graduation on account of wanting to keep our family's dignified demeanor during such an occasion. (Yes, I am 49 years old, and my mother still will "not let me" do stuff.) With all the knitting I did in the car, I finished the back of the sweater. The fabric so far looks like this:

*****

If you think about it, graduation is all about completing something that you'd been working on for a long time in little bits and pieces. You get rewards along the way: Classwork finished--check. Comps--check. Dissertation--all done.

Working on a sweater is easier than getting a Ph.D. But in my mind, they're different only in scale. The idea of "gradual" underlies the tasks in much of life. There are always roadblocks, and the secret is to persist on through them until you graduate. Some of the roadblocks are tougher than others. In this case, the roadblock was a simple one: starting the sweater. I'm not done with it yet, but now it's coming along. I'll keep working on it, and when it's finished, I'll graduate to the next project. In the meantime, getting a little subgoal done sure feels good.

What project are you making little bits of progress on?

2008-08-04T11:01:00.031-04:00

Changing of the Seasons, Month by Month

I don't normally compliment her too much in case her head swells, but now that I have taken over the blog, she'll never see it. It'll be our little secret: I think that Kim is a total genius.

The reason I think this is that every month, she comes up with beautiful blocks for our Block of the Month quilt.

Now, you should know that most quilt shops buy commercial patterns to do their block clubs. But Kim loves to design, so our blocks of the month are unique to our shop. And they are so wonderful!

When you join our block of the month, you have to take a bit of a risk. Kim sketches the quilt out, but then she always changes the design as she goes. Hey, that is the nature of being an Artist. And it always makes the quilt better.

But it doesn't stop with the design. Ideas are nothing without action. Each month, we have to do the down-and-gritty work. I will show you what happens behind the scenes, so that you can fully appreciate those magic packets you get every month.

The first thing Kim does is figure out a block she likes, keeping in mind the general colors she is planning to use. And then she has to write the instructions. See this picture--a picture that is on each instruction?

See all those little lines and letters? Yup. Drawn in one by one, by hand. Well, by computer. But you get the idea.

This year, she is also finding an excerpt from a poem that applies to each month. I have the instructions right in front of me, so I'll give you a sneak preview for August:

Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
Ripening fields lush-bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn.
--Michelle L. Thieme, August's Crown

Here is some insider information for you. I know a lot about Kim, and one of the things I know is that the word "riotous" is one of her favorite words--so I bet that's why she chose that excerpt. But please don't tell her I told you that. She might think I'm teasing her a little, which of course I would never do. And she really, seriously likes that word. If she were reading this, she would turn to me and say, "What's your problem with riotous??" Then I would scramble and tell her that I like that word too--that it is very descriptive.

Where was I? Ah, yes. Color. After she drafts the instructions, she has to choose the fabrics. This month, for August, she wanted the colors of deep summer. Here's what she chose:

Aren't they gorgeous?

Keep in mind that she isn't choosing the colors in isolation. This year's quilt has a block for each month's color, from the icy colors of winter, through the pale colors of spring--and now we're getting toward the deeper shades. In August, don't you see the little hints here and there that fall is coming?

Most people have trouble picking out 4 or 5 different fabrics to make a quilt. Can you imagine picking out 12 combinations, a different combination each month--but combinations that still all work together?

Don't tell Kim I said this on account of her head--her precious head--but look at how stunning her colors are when they flow next to each other. From January through July, read from right to left:

This is what you would call "strong visual coherence." (One of my favorite words is coherence. I totally love that word. It's a solid word. A practical word.)

The August block, the 8th block in this series, will look like this (Please. don't tell her that I showed it to you. She likes to keep it a surprise until she shows it at Block of the Month):

I can sneak it to you because I have inside information: I test-sewed it yesterday.

Which brings me to the next stage of the process: test sewing. It's important to test blocks. Sometimes there is a typo, and when there is, we get 70 people telling us about it. Have you ever made a little mistake in your job--like accidentally making the number 8 into the number 6--that causes SEVENTY people to tell you you did something wrong? It is never fun. So if you catch a mistake sometime, be sure to be super-gentle and extra-nice when you tell us!

I did catch one little typo yesterday. Do not panic, gentle quilters! It has been fixed! I'm not even going to tell you what it was.

Today, my job will be to cut all the fabric and put it into packets. Please pray for me that I do the math right when I cut for all those packets. There was one time when 70 people told us that I didn't give them enough fabric.

Kim was nice and kept it a secret from me.

Now that you know what we have to do, be sure to thank Kim for her good work, and hug those packets with appreciation when you get them. Aren't we lucky?

2008-07-31T12:00:00.001-04:00

What Can Happen with Knitter's Denial

Do you know about knitter's denial? It's well documented. You knit and knit, and you think that something looks... well... a bit "off"--but you assure yourself that all is well, and you continue on.

I have been working on a cute little vest--the Back-to-School Vest out of Fitted Knits. I loved it when I first saw it, and then my friend Alice made it, and I wanted it even more. (Humans are herding animals.) I was making it out of one of my favorite yarns in our shop, Harrisville Highland.

I've been knitting the vest mainly at the movies. (It's summer movie season!)

The pattern for the vest begins with 13 inches of knit-2, purl-2 ribbing. I long-ago trained myself to knit in the dark. But counting in the dark is another matter. Every single time, without exception, when I am knitting in the dark in the movie theater on this vest, I lose count.

And yet, I have taken this vest to the movies over and over.

I have always been kind of a slow learner.

*****

After seeing the new Indiana Jones movie this past weekend, I had just finished another two hours of laddering back. (I know. In that 2 hours I could have torn back and reknit what I had knit in the movie and then some--but fixing it seemed psychologically more encouraging.)

And then I showed it to Kevin.

He took one look at it and said, "It's too small."

This kind of statement, in the store, is my job. (I hate to break this sort of news to anyone. I try to catch any problems early on.) But sadly, I do not always have the same editing capabilities for my own things.

So after Kevin said that, and I had knit 9 inches out of 13, I held it up. That's a test I almost always do--when you hold a piece of knitting up to you, does it go the whole way from side to side comfortably?

Not so much. It looked as if he was perhaps correct about this one.

I decided that maybe a tape measure was in order. Side to side, the sweater measured 12":

If it's reasonably stretched, 13" or 14"--still too big for Scarlett O'Hara, but not quite big enough for me. Normally I would want it to be 19" to give me a total of 38".

In my mind, there were four options:

(1) The Wii Fit has been hard to find, so I knocked that option out right away.
(2) Frog (rip it, rip it) and reknit.
(3) Continue knitting, but then steek (cut the knitting vertically) and put in some side panels.
(4) Steek and make this part of the vest either just the front or just the back, and then knit another front or back.

I decided to wait overnight to decide. I have found that it's best sometimes to mull over a problem for a day. I was leaning toward option 2.

The next morning I woke up, and after an hour or so, I had a flash of a memory. When Alice had knit the vest, it had looked freakishly small when it was off of her. Maybe it was okay after all.

So I tried it on, and look what happened:

It was fine.

I admit I still can't quite fathom the physics of this ribbing. It seemed impossible that it should have fit. But there are some things in life that we just don't question.

Knitter's denial, for the first in my knitting life, had faked me out.

2008-07-27T10:06:00.034-04:00

"Work" Shop

Hi everyone! It's Cynthia here again! Before I begin today's story, I would like to announce that Kim says I may take over the blog. I am excited about this because I love writing blog entries. (Hi Mom and Dad! This is what my degree in writing is useful for!)

Besides, Kim has her own blog anyway (www.fiberhaven.blogspot.com), where you can read thoughtful, insightful ideas on quilting (and of course my very favorite--a really neat entry on the spectacular coverlet my mother is knitting right now).

I will not promise so much thought or insight....

Today's post is all about our Friends' School quilting workshop. We do a lot of classes at our shop, but these workshops have always been among our favorites.

First of all, we like it because the school has a funhouse mirror near the bathroom. (Are you already sensing that so far there may be little or no insight from my posts?) I started my day by entertaining myself with that for a few minutes:

Time to go out and buy some new low-cut shirts!

*****

Where was I? Oh yes! The workshop!

We try to have at least one new workshop every newsletter. It's like a big party, with a lot of people having fun together; it allows us to cook some great food for them; and it allows everyone to make good progress on a project with an entire day of sewing.

You can knit in small chunks--but for sewing, it sure is nice to carve out a day.

We did two projects this time--one was either a braided wallhanging or tablerunner, and the other was a kaleidoscope wallhanging.

I didn't get photos of everything, but I do have a lot of gorgeous work to show you from the day:

People are generally camera-shy, but I loved how Keri-Lynn's shirt matched her project, so I took her photo with her kaleidoscope. I promised her that I would not put her photo up on the blog unless it turned out well. I think you'll agree that she looks great here:

As does her kaleidoscope!

But I did not promise a certain other person any such thing:

Want to join in on the fun? We'll have another Friends' Workshop this fall. Details will be in the newsletter, which should arrive in your mailbox around the end of August.

2008-07-21T11:31:00.014-04:00

Animal Planet, Continued

After I got done making the penguin, I decided that I had better continue on with my animal production.

You see, we have a lot of brown fur yarn in our store.

Since you have just read about the penguin, you probably have it figured out: At market, I had also insisted that we buy a lot of brown fur. There was also a new squirrel pattern, and we needed yarn for squirrel tails. "Come on, Kim!" I said. "We live in Pennsylvania. Everyone here loves squirrels! We'll sell a million of these as kits! They are soooooo cute!"

A year later, the squirrel had made just as much progress as the penguin.

Now that the penguin was done, however, I felt motivated. Home I went, to knit a squirrel. It started out much like the penguin:

There was the cute little tummy!

I thought it was starting to look kind of quizzical as I knit around on its little head:

But as I kept going, it took on a rather disturbing, lifeless look:

(Please forgive product placement. I swear I am getting no royalties from Sony.)

And by the time it had a tail, it looked .... well .... like this:

Dinner anyone? I'm knitting stew tonight.

*****

Postscript: I did feel a little uncomfortable shooting pictures of a dead, knitted-animal squirrel as cars drove by. Especially since I kept picking up the squirrel and moving it from one side of the street to the other, to get the lighting and the angles the way I wanted them. The bottom line is, I'm not in the habit of picking up roadkill with my bare hands.

So whenever cars drove by as I moved the squirrel, I decided to distract them by waving hello! Hi, everyone!

It is a friendly neighborhood and a small town. They all waved back.

And I wondered if, after they had driven on, their brains started realizing what they had just seen.

*****

Finale: The squirrel looked way more perky after it was felted, dried, and stuffed.

Don't cross, cute little squirrel!

2008-07-13T21:32:00.019-04:00

Penguin Love

Cynthia writes:
Anyone who knows me knows that I like animals. I like 'em a lot; I love their spirits. That is probably why I am always wildly attracted to little stuffed, knitted animal patterns.

But it's odd: I usually don't want to knit the animals that much. Yes, when it comes to stuffed, knitted animals, I admit that I am a so-called "product knitter."

Which is why I had yarn for a penguin that had been ready to knit ever since yarn market, June 2007.

*****

You should have seen me at market: I was embarrassing.

You see, we had just discovered the new Fiber Trends penguin pattern, and I was completely crazy over it. I had to make one. I made Kim run around with me all over the conference center, looking for the perfect yarns to make the penguin. I assured her that everyone else would also want to make one, and we could create kits.

Now, I am kind of picky about my stuffed animals. The beak color had to be just the right orange. The white had to be white enough--yet feltable--and the fur had to be fluffy--but of course not too fluffy. Kim was remarkably patient. (Although come to think of it, she did mention something about wanting to kill me; I ignored her idle threats.) We got everything I wanted. I was so, so excited.

And then the yarn and pattern sat in my office area at home.

*****

Fast forward to July 2008.

Ever had those moments where you just get annoyed at something unfinished? And you just get it out and work on it and finish it, even though it wasn't in the game plan?

Me neither.

But this weekend, that's exactly what happened to me.

Oh, I had had big quilting plans for the weekend. Brother graduating in a few weeks, quilt not done, blah, blah, blah.

And then for the millionth time, I looked at that bag of yarn, and a strong feeling came over me: That feeling, my friends, was nothing less than a fierce determination to knit the penguin.

[Hey! I just read your mind. No, no, I was not procrastinating about making the binding on my brother's quilt. Stop thinking that. You are distracting me from the real story.]

Suddenly, and without any prior warning, I opened the bag and started knitting. I couldn't stop. Why, it was as if the penguin was knitting itself, and I was its mere instrument.

I knitted:

And knitted:

And within 2 easy days, I had a penguin:

(Note to curious techies: Despite the implications of the above photo, I use Windows Vista, not Linux.)

I put it in the wash to felt, and then I put it out on a baking rack so its back would dry evenly:

Which gave Kevin an idea:

(Settle down, settle down. He did not turn the oven on.)

I still have to stuff it and sew it closed, and perhaps add a couple of eyes--but from my point of view, this bird is done, baby. Put a fork in it.

2008-06-27T14:52:00.002-04:00

Local Support

For obvious reasons, we believe in supporting local businesses. We try to do so as much as we can. But sometimes you don't even know that certain businesses are out there. To help everyone support local business, there is a new website for Centre County.

Check it out: http://www.sustainablelocal.net/

If you discover one of these businesses through this site, let them know you found them on Sustainable Local! And of course be sure you bookmark the site for future reference.

2008-06-15T12:01:00.001-04:00

Anniversary Memories: Scarf Fest

The first and second years we were open, scarf knitting was a huge trend. The number of people knitting scarves was breathtaking, and this was true not only in our shop, but across the country. Bamboo needles were in short supply; we heard that it was because there wasn't enough bamboo to make them fast enough. (Anyone who knows anything about bamboo growth rates would find this statement astonishing.)

So we decided to have an event around scarf knitting. We would call it "Scarf Fest."

We decided to buy extra yarn for this event. It was hard to find yarn at that point because novelties were so scarce, so we bought what we could. We weren't sure how much to order, but we knew we needed a lot. It arrived....and arrived....and arrived, in amazing amounts. We put it in the back room, in anticipation of the Big Night.

That, too, arrived. We closed at 5:30, our usual time, and then we had a half hour till Scarf Fest was to commence. One person wanted to come in early, but we wouldn't let her. We were sure she was trying to get a leg up on the other customers. (Later, she would tell us that she only had a few minutes between work and another appointment, and she was sorry she missed the event.)

In that half hour, we opened bag after bag of yarn. We piled it on our back table. The amount of yarn was amazing. We apologize for not having a photo. Words cannot do this story justice.

And then we opened the doors.

Our customers arrived--lots of them. They all looked at the heaps of yarn on the back table, got a glazed--or confused--look, walked past the table, and went to the familiar types of yarn they had been buying.

It took us years to sell all that scarf yarn.

2008-06-08T21:41:00.010-04:00

To Market, To Market...

Greetings from Columbus, Ohio! While Misty watches the shop at home, we've been here since Thursday indulging in the fiberlicious annual event that is TNNA's Fall Market. Each June, we head to Columbus for a long weekend of browsing, comparing, and eventually buying great yarn, patterns, notions, and other goodies to fill our shop.

It is always summer-hot when we are in Columbus, right when we're purchasing warm, cozy yarns to keep you knitting all through the fall and winter. (Although buying winter yarns while wandering around in flip-flops sounds difficult, it's not nearly as painful as what quilt manufacturers put us through. Our sales reps arrive in February laden down with suitcases full of Christmas fabric swatches.)

We left on Thursday because we had an important and exciting event Friday lunchtime: the Retailer's Luncheon. As yummy as the Asian Chicken Salad was, that wasn't our reason for attending. Our main motivation was the lunch talk by the Yarn Harlot herself, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Stephanie taught us the interesting statistic that knitters outnumber golfers by 2 to 1, which got us also to wondering how many quilters there are in the world!

After Friday's lunch, we attended a class on making better use of our retail space. Basically, that meant helping us learn how to fit into our shop all the fabulous stuff we were planning to buy. (This is always our annual concern. Kim more than Cynthia.)

After a quick dinner, we headed to the main ballroom for the Fashion Show.

Now, maybe we shouldn't admit this on a public blog ... but the truth is that we are both fairly sneaky. (Hildegard--that's Cynthia's mom--if you're reading this, you can skip next couple of paragraphs.)

There was an enormous line of knitting shop owners snaked around the convention center waiting to get in. That seemed just too long. So we figured out where the door was and then just stood near the entrance in a nonchalant, "we're just chatting" kind of way. Just before 7:00, the doors opened and the line began slowly moving in. We sidled our way in with the early crowd.

The ballroom was setup just like a New York runway show. The runway ran out into the middle of the ballroom with rows upon rows upon rows of chairs heading out from it. Because Cynthia is short, she always likes being right up front. We immediately headed to the front rows closest to the stage. Just as we were taking our seats in the second row, Kim noticed that the front VIP row had two unreserved seats. So we moved up.

After viewing 130+ garments, we noticed a few trends for fall and winter. We saw lots and lots of lace, both in shawls and as detail work added to sweaters. Sweaters were fitted to flatter, moving away from oversized, and the general gauge of the yarn used was smaller. Thinner yarn may take longer to knit, but it creates a fabric that drapes better and is more flattering. Fair Isle is resurging, both in traditional patterns that reflects its Scandinavian roots and in updated designs that suit a casual, modern sensibility.

Saturday morning is when the market opens. This is our entire purpose for being here. From the moment the market opens on Saturday until we leave sometime on Monday, we are consumed by the enormity of the task before us. Hundreds of vendors set out their stalls offering their wares. It takes almost all of Saturday just to walk the entire floor, browsing in various booths, picking up literature and samples, and talking with representatives.

One walk through is never enough because there are always booths we miss. Very often, after leaving one booth, we are so engrossed in discussing what we saw that we walk down an entire row without even noticing what is around us. This leads to confusion as to whether we've actually been down that row or not.

Generally, we buy very little on Saturday, knowing that we can come back on Sunday and Monday. But this year we had a mission! We knew that we were in dire need of more buttons. So we decided to order them while we were fresh on Saturday. We ordered lots and lots of buttons from two new vendors. You can expect to see them in September. (Remember, we're always working 3-6 months ahead. There is no instant gratification allowed for shop owners.)

The rest of Saturday, we walked and walked and talked and thought and then walked some more. We petted yarn and tried knitting needles, sniffed some wool wash and tasted chocolate-covered huckleberries from Mountain Colors, and managed the bulging piles of order forms and brochures we were collecting.

Usually, Saturday night is full of comparisons and prioritizations as we evaluate and consider everything we saw that day. But this year, we got a bit of a reprieve as we met our friends Suzie and Myra from Woolbearers for dinner at BD's Mongolian Grill. (Highly recommended if you need to eat in Columbus.) After dinner, we took the hotel shuttle to the Columbus Arts Fest, where we coincidentally learned local quilter Sandy Garris had a booth. Of course we had to visit her!

Sunday was much of the same. One highlight for Cynthia was talking to Nicky Epstein about Nicky's new book, Crocheting on the Edge, along with an upcoming gorgeous new knitting book due out in November, Knitting on Rop of the World. (Nicky doesn't sleep much. We asked.) Nicky made Cynthia try on a shrug, and then Kim took their picture together. Nicky said that the picture may appear on her blog. We don't know if the picture will have turned well out enough to make the blog. But even if it doesn't, read her. Buy her books. We absolutely fell in love with Nicky. There is no one sweeter or more enthusiastic about knitting and crochet.

We walked some more and thought some more, and by the end of the afternoon began to have a plan for fall. We placed some orders right before close and then came back to the hotel where we've planned the rest of our orders. Tomorrow we will return and if all goes well, we'll be back on the road to State College by 2:00 Monday afternoon and arrive by bedtime.

And we'll see you Tuesday for the first day of our anniversary sale! (If we look a little tired, you know why! Who planned this crazy schedule?)

2008-06-02T07:30:00.002-04:00

June 2: Our Birthday

Today is June 2. Exactly 5 years ago today, we opened our doors. It is a date that will remain with us, like any other birthday or anniversary in our lives. If you knew us that summer, you might remember a store that looked like the above picture.

We'll actually be celebrating our anniversary next week, from June 10 to 16, because of scheduling convenience--but there is no better time to reminisce about our opening than today, our real birthday.

*****

We said in our newsletter that we started with just a broom, a roll of toilet paper, and a dream. That much is true.

Reality soon hit that dream smack in its head, and the scrambling began. We had to figure out who our vendors would be, call them, and get sales reps to our doors so we could buy things to fill the store.

It seems incredible, but just 5 years ago, companies did not show their lines of products on their websites. Today, we would be able to hit the Internet, figure out what we wanted, call the companies, and wait for the UPS delivery. (Well, it's not quite that simple, but you get the idea.)

Way back then--all of 5 years ago--we had to wait for reps to come to us with their samples so we could see what we wanted to buy. (By the way, we still prefer seeing reps to buying on the Internet today. As everyone knows, with fabric and yarn, it's better to see the colors and textures in person.)

We scrambled hard, and lots of things fell our way. Within a month, our store looked like the top picture. That was looking in from the front. From the back, we looked like this:

We had so much empty space that when the quilt guild asked us if we would like to have a quilt frame set up so that people could come in and quilt, we happily accommodated them to make the store look more full. It was pleasant having the quilters in there working. We still love that the best about our classes--the store is full of happy, busy people.

We kept going. By September of 2003, the store looked like this, and we celebrated with a Grand Opening:

Looking at the short transformation in these pictures, even we're amazed. But the best part is that we kept at it, and we're still here. And now look at us:

We admit it. We like having grown up.

2008-05-15T09:25:00.003-04:00

The Newsletter

It is underway. We are just about finished scheduling, and it will go to the printer soon. You should have it in your hands in about 2 weeks. Look for it in your mail!

We're excited about our summer classes.... and don't forget that this summer we turn 5. You'll read all about our plans for celebration in the newsletter.

And over the next few weeks we'll start a series of blog entries looking back at our early days. We'll share funny stories and pictures from our first five years.

2008-04-16T11:17:00.007-04:00

Look what we got in yesterday:

This and more! These new fabrics are grand fun!

There is only one little problem with them: We have too much fabric in here already. The only solution we could think of was to put a few other fabrics on sale.

And so we have a full row, front....

and back....

of sale fabrics at 30% off.

We're not sure how long they'll be on sale--probably till we clear enough room--so stop by soon and pick out something pretty!

2008-03-27T14:28:00.016-04:00

Spring is here....

Penn State's spring break has come and gone, and that can mean only one thing in Central Pennsylvania: spring is really here!

We've been getting in our spring and summer yarns, plus new patterns patterns by Jean Moss, Jane Ellison, and others, and everything is pretty! One of our favorites is Ella Rae Silkience. It's DK-weight cotton/modal yarn, with a touch of silk and rayon to give it the most gorgeous sheen.

We have it in many colors...

If your taste runs to variegated and textured yarns, we have two new ones that will be perfect for you. Canasta is our new one from Ellyn Cooper's Yarn. She is a small hand-dyer, and we love, love, love her colors. (We love her, too!) Canasta is 100 percent cotton, and one skein has 225 yards! Pick a summer project and go!

The other new one we love is Araucania's Ulmo Multy. This 100% cotton yarn has been hand-dyed in Chile, and the colors are soft, earthy, and absolutely beautiful...

And where would we be for summer without Cotton Classic? It's the perfect ...well, classic... cotton, and we have it in a full rainbow of colors!

We can't wait to show you our new yarns. Stop by soon to see them!

2008-02-28T09:59:00.013-05:00

There's Nothing like the Old Days

“Everything old is new again,” or so the cliché promises. There’s a lot of truth in that; or so we’ve learned from our newest fabric arrivals. When we say newest, we actually mean oldest, because we’ve become greatly inspired by the 19^th-century reproduction prints by designers such as Jo Morton.

We know, we know, it’s surprising and unexpected. Over the years we’ve become well-known for our fabulous collection of Asian prints, contemporary prints, and batiks. But lately we’ve become enchanted by the possibilities that reproduction fabrics bring to quilt design. Look:

Batiks, reproductions, metallics, and Fairy Frost. It works. And our combination is actually conservative compared to the textures that people used in the 1800s. (Take a quick peek at Lincoln's bedroom.)

We believe there is no contradiction in our choice of these new fabrics. Reproductions have a wonderful graphic quality that complements contemporary designs. These groupings show how effectively reproduction fabrics, contemporary prints, and batiks can blend for a compelling quilt.

Their smaller-scale prints provide textural interest and balance the larger-scale designs of contemporary fabrics. As always, batiks blend beautifully with reproductions.

But beyond that, we love how using reproduction fabrics pays homage to the generations of quilters before us.

Stop by, get inspired by our newest fabrics, and see how everything old can become new again.