Tag: knitting

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Welcome to September

You have this plan and you work the plan. You think the plan is going along just fine. Then you wake up and it’s Welcome to September, the doorstep of your busy season and you find maybe the plan needs a little tweaking.

This is what I did with my August. I finished them in August, too. That was a good thing considering I started working on them August 7th or something like that. I know I didn’t start them the first day of August. All the photos are done as well. So now starts the administrative piece of getting them ready to be sold.

The plan is a good one: create 10 items a month. That’s pretty straightforward. But I started the plan in June and here we are in the fall and I will have just 60 items in the shop. For those who are math minded, I had some patterns that were already up in the shop.

I’m gonna stick with the plan because it is an ongoing one. I may have less items in the shop than usual but I don’t know how well the plan works or where the tweaks need to be made until I see if the plan worked.

In the meantime, I have already done 1/10 for the new Do You Collection and I’m about to get busy with 2/10. Cuz knitting never stops in Knitsville.

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I Got Nuthin’

Nuthin’. I got nuthin’. Well, that’s not exactly true. Another shelf has been cleared and fourth one almost cleared. There are some more books to add to the stack that will be going to Economy Shop and they may be books someone is actually interested in. There’s books on gardening and graphic design (tools from an earlier life.) And photography. It was written when cameras still had film but I’m sure it’s more technique than material.

There’s also more than an inch more to the sweater. I know I should take a photo but the camera and the sweater aren’t in the same place. But I was working on it this morning when there was noticeable length. It was just a little over an inch yesterday and when I measured today, it was almost three inches. Knit math working positively for me. I think the cleaning gods are putting in good words with the knitting gods. I wanted to vacuum that place in front of the bookcase which made them happy but they whispered for me to calm down and finish the bookcase and then the next step would be to clean that area of carpet between the bookcase and the first desk. I am actually looking forward to it.

The cleaning folk also want to know what I am going to do with that Celtic suncatcher I’ve done nothing with since I purchased it more than 20 years ago. I don’t know but I’m keeping it. We aren’t anywhere near Irish but I do like it.

10/10 is almost done. I took it to lunch with me yesterday with Ellen, Melissa and Laeh. We all bought our knitting with us but we decided to eat instead. Imagine that. It was past two in the morning when I decided I wasn’t going to finish it. But the decreases have started and I can get it finished before September rolls in. That would be a great accomplishment. I did the video for the stash dive on August 2nd and nothing was made then. C’mon, you have to be kinda impressed I did it all in under 30 considering we were on the road. Right?

Laeh might have gotten me some yarn from Herrschners. She works at a summer camp every year and she passes by this mecca on her way to and from. She is kind enough to drop me a note and ask if I want something. I’ve been very good in the past and said no – in between the years when I’ve said yes. And this year she may have bought me back something. I will take a photo of that and perhaps do a mini yarn haul video. It was just five skeins but a little bit of heaven goes a long way. I need to go finish a hat so I can pull some yarn and start the ordered mayhem all over again.

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Work the Plan

Plan the work then work the plan. That is a key to success on many fronts. Where my brain was all a scramble just yesterday; there is hope today.

No amount of money or love of readers will move me to post a before photo of my office. It is a wreck. The producers of Hoarders – Yarn Addition have called – twice. However, today I was thinking of the after photo.

That in itself is progress because it speaks of me believing there will be an after. There will be a time when it is all done and worthy of a photo. What has me in such a positive spirit? Two of the bookshelves were emptied and are now neatly filled with books. Well, nearly filled with books. Can’t be full of books because there are fewer books. The culling has produced space. That means the big pile of books on the floor are no longer on the floor. They are on the shelves. Considering how long most of them have been on the floor, that is improvement. It means I can get the little vacuum and clean that part of the floor.

Yes, there are three more shelves to clear and those books haven’t even been culled yet. But we need to take our victories where we find them. I am already eyeing that third shelf and it doesn’t seem as if it will be a big deal. There are very few books on the shelf and I will have to deal with a couple of supplies and the other shelves have books which will be leaving. A few will stay. I think I will have this first part wrapped up in short order.

There’s also improvement on the sweater front. I decided on the rib pattern and started knitting and I’ve already got more than an inch done on that. Only 13 more to go but I feel like a warrior so I don’t see worries on that front.

I’ve even started the last of the items for the current collection. So the new collection may be started on time. I am hoping to get the last hat off the needles tomorrow so I can do the video and then pick the new yarns. Fun times!

I am hoping the cleaning and knitting gods and goddesses see this as being excited at being kissed on the forehead by them and not being arrogant. I need them to keep this going for me so I can get stuff done. Don’t tell me to look at all that’s left. I know it. I just need this moment. This moment is good.

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Enough to Get By

I am not from the artist. I like to say, with a great deal of truth, that I cannot draw a straight line with a ruler. I can stay between the lines when coloring but that took some discipline and I’m still not sure I would pass grade school art class.

It’s funny then, when I use a chart to make a pattern. Charting isn’t something I do on the regular. I crack myself up when I print out the graph paper and put a pen to it. That’s another thing, I chart in pen. Like it’s the New York Times Knitting section and doing it in pen makes me smarter. It’s really because I don’t have any pencils around and when I find one, it doesn’t have a tip and I don’t have a pencil sharpener because I didn’t know I had pencils.

There is a part of me that wants to chart better. I know just enough to get by with what I’m knitting and I usually do it to make sure the idea I have in my head looks good on paper. I figure if it can look good with what I pass off as charting, then it will look pretty darned good when I get the needle and the yarn together. I would like to make neater charts. It would be more of a vanity project at this point as I would not inflict my charts on anyone – not even on a pattern I gave away for free – don’t thank me. It’s a mercy for all of us.

I am currently working on something, not the cowl in the pic; that’s done. And I pulled out some graph paper because the design was taking on something I hadn’t planned and I wanted to see how it would play out. I understand my chart but I don’t understand if it looks the way I want it to. I am going to have to redo it in a neater manner so I can see if I have to frog it or if I can keep going. 

I think I will try and do it neatly. If I succeed, I will happily show you the fruits of my labor. If not, I will use my messy chart to check my work and no one will be none the wiser. The artist world has nothing to fear from me. Salvador Dali maybe but I’m sure even his legacy is safe.

 

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I Do Not Knit

I am not someone who knits. I do not knit. That sounds surprising to some. But I used to be someone who knits. But now, I am a knitter.

There is a difference. And it isn’t an elitist thing. There are people who knit and there are knitters. Want to know the difference?

someone who knits doesn’t have much of a stash, if any at all. They go to the craft store to purchase the yarn they need for their project and nothing more. 

Knitters have a stash. When we go to get yarn, we buy it for the project we’re doing and for the one we haven’t thought of yet but we know this six balls of yarn will be perfect for it.

That same knitter will repeat buying yarn again before creating the nameless, faceless project the six balls of yarn were supposed to go to. 

Those who know how to knit are far more generous than knitters are. We will give away yarn in small amounts. There are exceptions, Crystal on YouTube gives away an insane amount of yarn. We won’t give you our best yarn but we’ll give you something. Someone who knits will give you what they have. Really, what choice is there? They don’t have a stash. They just have some yarn. Again, this isn’t a dig. Sometimes I wish I were back there.

There are many other differences between the two. But there’s no shade. Every knitter was someone who knit. We just became obsessed. For me, I’ve always been a little obsessive compulsive. When I was into books, I had tons of books. I was at the bookstore every week. Same thing when I was into gardening. 

I have more than 1000 balls of yarn and it’s because knitting has held my attention for so long. I turned it into a business and it remains a spiritual gift. I am surrounded with yarn and almost every day I look at adding more. I have limited myself to buying twice a year. The last buy was in May. The next one is December.

The countdown has begun.

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Out of Sight

Just the other day I was lamenting about yarns that have been discontinued. I was saddened because it won’t be available to me. It was a setup for a period of mourning. But then I saw this. These are in my bag for the items in my new collection.

These are yarns I’ve never used before. This is a rough photo of them and they are gorgeous. The Verbena will become Basic Beanies and the Chunky Cake will be a cowl.

This isn’t a matter of out of sight, out of mind. It’s more of an acceptance of the things I cannot change. I won’t be able to bring back discontinued colors or lines. It makes no sense to hold on to them so with each use, it will be bittersweet.

That being said, I must also confess to some fiber infidelity. The Caron Chunky Cake is in a color called Cherries Jubilee. I’ve been wanting to work with it for weeks and finally the chance came with this new collection. There is to be one of the field made with this yarn in the new collection. Just one. That’s the plan. 

I was up in the office where the caged and free range yarn live. I was sitting at the desk waiting for a software upgrade to finish when out of the corner of my eye I saw another chunky cake. This one was in Dolce de Leche. So beautiful. There was a crochet hook, a couple sizes too big, but still.

It was over in an hour. My fiber infidelity. But we have a beautiful cowl as a memory. I don’t know how to break it to the cherries jubilee. Thinking I should keep it to myself for the moment. Maybe fess up when it notices the new cowl. There is another of the same cowl in the collection after this one. I could save it for that one. Out of sight, etc.

I would call myself a yarn harlot but, you know, that’s already taken.

 

 

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The Things I Do

The things I do.

I was at StitchCraft – the knitting group in Knitsville – and I was looking at what everyone was making and it hit me that I knit for my shop while everyone else knits for themselves or as gifts for someone else.

Now, I love that I can make a living knitting and designing. That’s a great gig. But when I see the sweaters, shrugs and other 

 

pieces of clothing that were being made around me, I couldn’t help but think I was perhaps a little…well…boring with my knitting. And then I remembered I designed and knit this. It came to me as I was uploading a pattern to my Ravelry shop. It occured to me I haven’t written this pattern or the pattern for a infinity scarf.

Yes, this is the hat worn by Dante Alighieri of Dante’s Inferno fame. This was a custom request and the client offered to pay me $20 more if I would send him photos of the hat in progress.

OK. So, I’m going to cross boring off the list. The things I do can sometimes be routine and there is a business aspect to it because it is a business. But it isn’t boring. All that means is I need to branch out into some other territories and that is already happening. Over the past few days, I’ve been uploading a pattern a day to Ravelry. I’m up to two dozen there are four more I have to do of existing patterns and then the three that are part of the latest collection.

I will have to write this pattern and the one for the scarf. I went looking through my pattern notes and didn’t see any for either or them. Really strange but I will get that done. I have a collection coming that will have four or five patterns in it. There’s no reason two of them can’t be this hat and the cowl. I sold the dante hat twice and it was not boring to make. I will have to make it again for the pattern. I definitely will not be bored.

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WTF

This is yarn. This is pink yarn. This is pink yarn I have in my stash, I don’t do pink much but I have it for a specific purpose.

I also have a nephew – well, I have several wonderful nephews – this one, Alex, made a request that I knit him something. Hear that, Mr. Honey? Alex asked that I knit him something.

A pair of pink gloves.

WTF?

At first I thought he was kidding but he reminded a few months ago that he still didn’t have them and he still wanted them/ So, I have it on my list to knit the kid (almost high school age) a pair or pink gloves.

Here’s the thing: I’ve never knit gloves. Fingerless mitts. Mittens. Those I have done but not a pair of gloves.I have scoured Ravelry and found this. I will be using that pattern when I start working on them It looked simple enough. Which means, I will change it around to suit me better. It’s what I do. IT’s the fingers that give me pause. That looks like work. Each finger put on dpns and worked. Makes me think the best thing to do is just knit the middle finger. Oh c’mon, I can’t be the first person who thought of that.

I am beginning to think there are no rules to man knitting. I thought my nephew would forget he made the request and he was very firm with his reminder and that he likes pink and he doesn’t care who says anything about it. He likes what he likes and he’ll stand on it. That boy is so getting a pair of pink gloves made by his auntie.

I wonder if male knitters know what guys want. I know they won’t have problems with their girlfriends. While a man may scoff if a woman says her boyfriend knit her a sweater, this is something she will lead with on a girls’ night out.

“Hey, girl, how you doing?’
“My boyfriend made me this sweater.”
“WTF!”

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Believe It or Not

Believe it or not, I do not use my own stuff. Well, I do wear my hats but that is strictly as a matter of function when it’s really cold and I have a high threshold for cold. Otherwise, I don’t (often) wear hats, scarves or even afghans I make.

I recall one day I complained to Mr. Honey that it was cold in the house. He stopped, turned to look at me and said, “You have a hundred blankets in the house” and pointed to a pile of afghans.

There weren’t a hundred of them. But there was a nice pile of them. Never occurred to me to take one and put it over my body. I have an electric blanket – a gift he gave me and a nice comforter my sister-in-law gave me. There is a handmade comforter we use on the bed but that was made by a friend of my mother-in-law. Hey, I purchased it at their annual craft show more than twenty years ago. It fit our double bed, was only $40 and it still holds up all these years later. Don’t tell me handmade ain’t great.

While I am not a great ambassador for my own goods; I am for my craft. I knit/crochet in public all the time. Even in church. I sit in the back and I put it down when during prayer time – except for the quiet prayer time. During that time, I hold onto the fiber and send a prayer and ask for a blessing into it. For some reason, it is more important to share the gift of it than the end result. I’m not sure I want to change that. I do like making money and having a successful business but I would be knitting anyway.

I like to think of it as being a natural inclination to remember what is really the important thing. The spiritual gift that knitting is to me. It is the journey not the destination that makes it work for me and through me. I imagine how I should look pulling on one of my hats. I should be thinner and taller and the rest of my wardrobe should all of a sudden make sense. It never has in all my life but that’s what the imagination does. Real life is so much different. I rejoice at finding a clean shirt. Where I was once proud of the way my hair draped after a visit to the salon, I now have a stylist who cuts me practically bald and I live for haircut day. The last time I bought makeup was around the time of the royal wedding – of Charles and Diane.

Knitting has remained a constant for me. Believe it or not, I have a short attention span so this is a good thing. I’ll take it over having a hat head. But still…

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Talking Back

It surprises no one in Knitsville that people speak to their yarn. It should surprise no one that there is a habit of the yarn talking back. There’s no real point in speaking with yarn if it’s not going to engage in the conversation.

Sometimes yarn even starts first.

My yarn is (mostly) in my office. About half of it is caged (in bins) and the rest is free range (not in bins, might be in a bag, could be just hanging out.) There is not a day that goes by without one of them trying to get my attention and wanting out of the cage or off the range. They want to make it to the living room where the yarn in waiting is waiting.

I am allowed only one bin of yarn in the living room so Mr. Honey doesn’t feel as if his life has been taken over by fiber. It has been but he wants the illusion. So, there is one bin of yarn downstairs. One big bin and then there’s free range yarn down there as well. But that’s because I thought it would be easier than having more free range yarn in the office. Just keep whatever was down there down there. All 100 skeins of it.

It is all nicely piled up and from that, every month, I select at least 10 fibers to work on my collection. Those yarns are put into a bag and are resting at my work seat. (My mother-in law’s chair. She was quite the crafter.) That is the place all other yarns want to be. And they let me know it. Right now, there is a group of Homespun letting me know they’re ready to unite and become a prayer shawl and just this morning, a skein of Yarn Bee Sugar Wheel is telling me he would be ideal for that shawl design I have in mind. He would be. And while the Homespun will surely become a prayer shawl, the Sugar Wheel does not have such a guaranteed future. Did I mention there’s 100 skeins in the living room?

I have a great relationship with my yarn: it talks to me; I’m talking back. We can’t always get together but we don’t want to be apart. Some days, it works better than my relationships with people.