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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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

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?)