tweedy jacket in progress

I need to finish this jacket in three days. I need to ship it and the pattern to the magazine before my Resident Artist and I leave on Thursday for a show. I can't even compare knitting this jacket with that first magazine sweater. I've discovered that it wasn't the deadline or the knitting-for-hire aspect that killed the joy for me on the first one. Rather, it was the cotton yarn. This (ah, wool!) is Plymouth Tweed which is so satisfying to knit. With its mossy, felted texture, I can knit with my eyes shut--but I don't want to because of the happy little jewel-like flecks and nubs. O Tweed, how I love thee!

Today is my Middle Child's birthday. What does he want for his birthday? He wants to go camping. He's much more of an adventurer than we usually think. I don't want to crush that outdorsy spirit in him, but it snowed here less than a week ago. Brrrr. That's all I have to say.

And finally, in case anyone wondered:



Huh. If a person's self-esteem were too tied up in whether they feel smart or not, this would be a little bit of a downer. Junior High? Fortunately for me, my self-esteem is securely grounded in whether or not my kids have clean socks each day.

I can't wrap this up until I've bragged a little bit about my children. They gave me a splendid Mother's Day. Boberly made breakfast (served to me in bed!), lunch, AND dinner. And dessert. Pancakesbaconeggsorangejuice, turkeysandwiches, roastedchickenmashedpotatoesgreensalad, and strawberry shortcake. She marshalled the other kids and they did all the clean-up. I took a 4-hour nap after lunch and it was an AWESOME day.

What? There's a lady in a gold lame body suit with shoulder-to-floor white fringe along her back and a romantic ringleted bouffant 'do on the TV telling PeeWee to jump up and do a dance with "glitter hands" and "razzle-dazzle". I've clearly been sitting at this computer too long. Where did the Backyardigans go? Now there's a guy playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with hand-farts. ?!?!?!? This kind of reminds me of a music professor at Utah State who used to entertain his Music 101 students by playing the classics on his nose-flute. Bizarro.

no harlot sightings here, just mini-burgers

I did not go to Salt Lake City yesterday. That endlessly clever knitter Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (a.k.a. The Yarn Harlot) had a tour stop at the SLC Downtown Library promoting this delightful little book. I was going to go. Prairie Mama Kim and I had it all planned. Saturday night arrived and Kim called, exhausted from a day of selling at a craft boutique (and the lady is gestating, you know) and begged off. Even still, I planned to drive South by myself and enjoy the solitude of the drive, followed by the connection with knitters at the library. Early Sunday morning, I looked across PeeWee's head toward my Resident Artist and decided that I like him better than the Yarn Harlot. So I didn't go. I don't see him much on weekdays--or even Saturdays--and Sunday is really our only day.

After church, we made mini-burgers that were served with leftovers from a veggie plate I had made for my sister-in-law's baby shower. Little slices of cherry tomato, baby pickle chips, tiny green onion rings. I usually back away from the presentation of precious food to my children; I just don't have time for that sort of thing, yada yada. But maybe I don't have to be so serious all the time? Yeah.

It's a beautiful Monday morning. The birds are singing, the sun is shining, PeeWee is sleeping, I am blogging. I will type quickly and then lace up my shoes for a walk. The little darling will probably awaken before I finish this paragraph. Thre is a lone hyacith in view through my patio door. I have a formerly-magnificent rock garden in my back yard. When we moved in to this house 12 years ago, the previous owner's daily tending of the garden was evident in the riotous spring display of daffodils, hyaciths, tulips, basket-of-gold allysum, bergenia (which has the entertaining common name "pig squeak"), candytuft, and moss phlox. It was beautiful. Now, the intervening years of neglect have left us with bindweed, crabgrass and a lone pink hyacinth. Oh, and I see one daffodil.

I have grand plans this year. I'm getting more sleep on a regular basis than I have since Before Children, so I'm going to reclaim the rock garden! (Or at least a portion thereof.) It stretches the entire width of my back yard, and I'm going to start with the part that is visible through my living room window...if one is facing due east...and not using any peripheral vision. Yes, and I'm going to plant a vegetable garden this year. I have often had a couple of tomato plants and some summer squash, but this is the year of the Potato. And the Carrot, and the Bean, and the Eggplant, and the Cucumber, and the Onion, and maybe even the Corn. And RASPBERRIES!

cloudy thoughts

MagKnits is gone. (MagKnits: formerly an online knitting magazine.) Gone. GONE. Poof, in the blink of a monitor, no more. Some designers didn't even have backup copies of their patterns and it's too late now.

I just finished reading The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel. It has given me much to consider. Is leaving early cowardice or courage? Is it a good thing to leave before the second act, before the plot gets too messy, before things start to unravel? Is there really solace in that? Or is one cheating oneself (who says "oneself"?) by trying to avoid the sticky tangled consequences of the first act?

I stay up too late at night by myself. For the sake of a few hours of my own thoughts, I handicap the next day with inadequate rest. Is that my way of leaving early? Am I trying to give myself an excuse for not being fully present in the daytime? Is this pathological avoidance or laziness? Am I thinking too much about this? (Finally a question with a clear answer!) Yes. Go to bed.

But first, how about a picture to liven things up? Remember those Miranda Mitts from the last post? When I was experimenting with the mitered rib, the first yarn that I tried was a beautiful cream wool/silk/angora handspun. After I knit and ripped back 3 or 4 times, I decided that maybe angora wasn't the best fiber to experiment with--but here is a picture of it. Note the kiwi fruit. I was feeling poetic.



Tina, you said "Blog more" but this probably isn't what you had in mind.

Miranda Mitts (no early bird here)

***I keep editing this post to fix little errors in the pattern. Sorry.***
***Edited a link due to the demise of MagKnits...Sorry again.***

I'm on a bit of a roll today, this being my second post in one day. Nevertheless, I'm bummed. I wrote a pattern last fall for some mitts knit from my handspun. I intended to submit it to Knitty or Magknits or somebody, but I suffered a crisis of confidence and did nothing. After my last post, I was messing around with Ravelry's pattern linking and I thought I'd post my mitts so I could link to them on my designer page. Then I had a bright idea: I decided to check out MagKnits deadlines and maybe submit the pattern. I clicked over to MagKnits, glanced at their current patterns page and saw (dun dun duhhhh) a pattern for mitts that have the SAME styling, though a rather more refined version (skinny yarn, more complicated construction). D'oh!

I've decided to stop dithering and post this pattern. I swear to you all that I did not copy Sarah Wilson and her lovely Angularities; I knit these during the 2007 Little League baseball season. I have witnesses.

Here is the pattern, which I suppose should be announced with a flourish, but instead it's getting more of a dismissive wave...


Miranda Mitts
by Valerie Wallis

One evening while folding laundry by the oh-so-romantic flickering glow of the television, I wrapped a knitted washcloth around my wrist, curious to see how the diagonally-knit ribs would look as a sleeve. My sweetie looked over and said, “Ooo, that’s sexy.” That’s pretty much all the motivation I needed to figure out this pattern.

There was never any question of what yarn to use; since learning to spin last winter, I’ve been trying to find ways to wear my handspun on a daily basis. This 2-ply merino was my first wheel-spun yarn and the fiber was handpainted by etsy-seller Nettie and Tuddy (nettieandtuddy.etsy.com). The ribbing makes for a very accommodating and stretchy fabric. The centered double decrease creates a crisp line that stands in contrast to the nubbly, rustic handspun. A finger loop keeps the point in place on the back of the hand and I find it rather evocative. Perhaps Miranda on her island would have made herself something similar.

SIZE
One size

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Wrist, with ribbing unstretched: 6.5 inches
Length, point to point: 9.5 inches

MATERIALS
70 yards of fluffy aran weight yarn; 8 WPI
Fiber used in sample mitts was spun from 1.6 oz of Merino wool

1 set of five US #10/6mm double-point needles
1 size H crochet hook

GAUGE
3 sts = 1 inch in stockinette stitch

PATTERN NOTES
Centered Double Decrease (CDD): Slip 2 stitches at once as to knit. Knit the next stitch; pass the 2 slipped stitches over the knit stitch.

PATTERN
Cast on 36 stitches. Divide stitches between 4 DPNs with 10 stitches on 1st needle, 8 on the 2nd, 10 on the 3rd, and 8 on the 4th needle. Join, being careful to keep stitches untwisted, and work in the round.

ROW 1: *YO, (k1, p1) 3 times, k1, CDD; (k1, p1) 3 times, k1, YO, k1. Repeat from *.
ROW 2: *(P1, k1) 4 times, k1; (k1, p1) 4 times, k1. Repeat from *. (As you knit this round, knit the 1st stitch from needles 2 and 4 onto the ends of needles 1 and 3 so as to position the stitches for the CDD on the next round.)
Row 3: *YO, (p1, k1) 3 times, p1, CDD; (p1, k1) 3 times, k1, YO, k1. Repeat from *.
Row 4: *(K1, p1) 4 times, k1; (p1, k1) 4 times, p1. Repeat from *. (Again, as you knit this round, knit the 1st stitch from needles 2 and 4 onto the ends of needles 1 and 3 to position the stitches for the CDD on the next round.)

Repeat these 4 rows until work is 6 inches long, ending with row 2 on needles 1 and 2, and casting off in pattern the 17 stitches on needles 3 and 4. The last stitch of the round (the side rib) shifts to the front of needle 1 to become the first stitch of the next row (19 sts remaining).

Begin working back and forth, creating the top point of the mitt. (Be sure to stop making yarn-overs unless you want a square-edged mitt rather than a pointy one, which actually could be interesting…but would probably just look floppy.)

Row 1 of Point (RS): Slip 1st stitch as to purl, *(p1, k1) until 2 sts from center st, p1, CDD, (p1, k1) to end.
Row 2 (WS): Slip 1st stitch as to purl, follow rib pattern across row, accommodating center stitch whether it should be k or p.
Row 3: Slip 1st stitch as to purl, *(p1, k1) until 2 sts from center st, k1, CDD, k1, (p1, k1) to end.
Row 4: Repeat row 2.

Repeat these 4 rows until only 3 sts remain. Work a CDD on the RS to decrease to 1 stitch. Using a crochet hook, chain 10 and join with a slip st to the back of the point. Draw yarn through loop to fasten off. Now make another.

FINISHING
Weave in ends. Block if desired.

Copyright 2007 Valerie Wallis. This pattern is provided free for personal, non-commercial use. Stores may not sell this pattern or give it away to customers. This pattern may not be redistributed in any way without permission of the designer.

All text and images on this site is copyright the author, Valerie Wallis. Images and text may not be used on other sites without permission of the author.

embossed daisies

Marly (Hiya Miss Marly!) called me a couple of days ago from her location at a magazine rack about 800 miles away from me. Why? Why indeed. Because she's a sweetie. Because she was looking at the latest (May 2008) issue of Creative Knitting Magazing. Because she saw my name. Wheeeeeeeeeee! (Little plug for Creative Knitting: Its niche is accessible knitting. If sometimes the challenging designs of those other wonderful knitting magazines makes you heave a big sigh, check out CK. I think this latest issue has a particularly nice balance of simple yet charming designs. ) (And I'm talking about the other designs, because I'm trying desperately to keep from pointing out all the flaws in mine. Relax, Valerie.)

I haven't received my copy yet, but the magazine has pictures of the current issue's projects on its website. I found this link: Embossed Daisies. It features a drastically cropped photo of the sweater which serves to show off the model's sparkling white smile and a glimpse of the sweater's collar. Oh yes, and the sweater drooping a bit from her elegant, narrow shoulders. It looks to me like they steamed the stuffing out of that cotton yarn, because if you click over to the magazine photo, you will note a vast difference in the appearance of the knitted fabric versus that shown in my photo...



The day I took that photo, I vowed to my friend Jenny (who graciously modeled the sweater for me) that I would never knit for pay again. Well. Somehow, as in childbirth, the pain of that endeavor has faded and I'm ready to have another (sweater) baby. I'll be doing a tweed jacket for CK's January '09 issue. This one should be much better--after all, I've done this before...heh heh. Wish me luck.

and one month later...

It's March. The snow is melting, crocus are popping, the days are lengthening--I love spring. What else do I love? I love books. I love new books. I love this book. And I'm in it: my Meathead hats, my brown slipper socks, and an afghan square.[excited giggle] It's a beautiful book with sweet patterns, and lovely discourses on knitting communities. Writing and most of the patterns are from Larissa "Stitch Marker" Brown and Martin Brown, two very nice, deep-thinking people. Knitting + Philosophy = Love. (And did I mention the Entomology Mittens and Hat (scroll down a little) in there by Adrian" Hello Yarn" Bazilia? Aaaaaaaadriaaaaan... I think I love you...)

I also love spinning. My back is doing better, so what do I do? Do I sit at the computer and get my taxes ready for the accountant? No. Do I go for invigorating walks in the fresh spring air? No. Do I sit and spin? Yes.

I've had this Falkland wool in the colorway "Ravelry" from Spunky Eclectic on my Schacht wheel since Halloween. I was finally able to finish up enough this past weekend to merit plying. This is just under 2 ounces of fingering weight 2-ply. I have about 2 ounces left, but my SpinnerADD got the best of me and I started on something else...

In the second picture, we again have Falkland wool, also from Spunky, called "Pie for Everyone" divided in half and plyed with two different singles that I had languishing in my Great Pot o' Fiber. (I have a very big ceramic pot in which my fiber stash resides. I cannot show it to you at this time because I let Bob take my camera on a field trip today. The Great Pot o' Fiber started out as a covert hiding place for fiber, but about 5 Spunky Club shipments ago, I gave up on the "covert" part.) I plyed the darker skein with a wool-silk-soysilk-mohair batt from Splitrock Ranch. It was such a lovely batt, but once I spun it, it kind of murked out. Plying it with the brighter Pie for Everyone brought out all the fun colors of the batt again. I quite like this tweedy skein--plus it's soft and silky. Ooooh, shiny...

The lighter skein is plyed with a batt that I carded at Yarn School from random floor fiber. It was a rusty-orangey-red color and though I love the resulting color of the skein, it is rough stuff. I spun the second half of the Pie while talking with my kids about book orders (very exciting stuff at chez Wallis) and it is SO overspun. This is a prime example of how spinning tightly will cut your yardage. The two skeins are the same weight, but the light one has about 1/3 less yardage.

Lastly, we have some yarn that I dyed for the Holiday KAL-CAL as a prize. I had so much fun dyeing this yarn. I have over-dyed things in the past simply because I didn't like the first go-round of dye. This batch, however, I overdyed on purpose. First I did a cool version of rainbow colors on the yarn, then I overdyed it with blue and I really liked the watercolor effect of it. I hope the prize recipient liked it too! (The bauble is a little bracelet that I made to match the yarn. And I printed up those yarn labels and everything. Woo. :)

Snow Day? I'll have one, please.

It seems to have become a point of pride with our school district that we don't need no stinking snow days. True, the temperature is above zero, but wouldn't you think that a foot of snow on the roads and white out conditions would influence the decision? No? All righty, then. We shall just say a prayer of thanks for 4-wheel drive and please grant us clear intersections. Are you somewhere warm? Would you like a cooling shot of a pretty blizzard? I shall oblige...

You know what? I'm going to stop playing coy and just spit out all the stupid things whirling in my brain. I get too caught up in worrying about the possibility of my idiocy, as revealed on the internet--not just the regular real-life dorkiness, coming back to haunt me in the future. Who cares? And I like crafty blogs with opinions. So. Henceforth I shall be unburdening myself of my strongly-held and perhaps even controversial beliefs about knitting, spinning, dyeing, and crocheting!

Yes, that's right--I have returned to my crochet roots. All it took was a polite request from a sister-in-law and BAM! A cute little crocheted cloche for my darlink neice. You want instant gratification? I give you the Hailey Hat. Vee-oh-la! Here it is as modeled by LB, my 7-year-old. She picked out this particular shot and I must agree that the I'm-holding-my-breath-until-you-let-me-stay-home-from-school look is rather engaging.

Pattern: Hailey Hat (It's mine own! I have grand plans to present it all tidy and spiffy in a PDF, linked on the side bar--so if you read this months from now and don't see it, please contact me and nag profusely.)

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease--But any worsted weight yarn would do. Low maintenance was a high priority for us on this one, thus the cotton-acrylic blend.

Rating: I give this one a 10, Bob. It's got a nice beat and I think I could dance in it. It's fast and CUTE, just like your favorite Hollywood cheerleader stereotype. You'll be weaving in the ends before you can say "Ready? Okay!" The top has a wee bit of a doinky point that I'll need to fix, but as a whole, I'm irritatingly smug about the little thing.

I remember reading years ago in Maggie Righetti's Crocheting in Plain English about how she was entranced when she first saw someone creating crocheted lace out of thin air. I agree, beloved Maggie, it is magic. (It looks like Maggie Righetti's "Plain English" books are in new printings and I'm so pleased. I highly recommend them.)

thrift is empowering

I have a little book entitled Raising Kids with Just a Little Cash. Somewhere near the front of the book, the author recommends repeating her mantra (Thrift is empowering!) if one needs encouragement. I repeat it often. (Art as a career is a rollercoaster.) This book can open your eyes to a Whole New World of Frugality. But back to the subject at hand...

I've been thinking about the state of my yarn stash and my desire to be more committed to current projects. Then what do I see? A fine example of Knitting from Stash from the A.D.D. Knitter. She suggested that a medal might be in order to recognize her resourcefulness. I have to say that I agree! As my little PeeWee would say, "Jood Job!" So here's your medal, Heather. :)




I have stayed up way too late messing around with the graphics program. Gentle readers, if any of you know of someone who deserves recognition of their empowered knitting, please feel free to snag this award (saving it on your computer, of course) and spread the love. Thrifty Knitters everywhere, I salute you!