My Sunshine

Every year since I moved to Oregon, I've gotten to enjoy a unique meteorological phenomenon that I call, rather unoriginally, "February summer." For a week or two, or even three, every February, the sun comes out and temperatures soar well into the high 50's or 60's, until inevitably, the clouds, rain, and arctic chill come creeping back for another few months.  This year, it came a bit early, starting just after the new year, and as of yesterday, we've officially bid the teaser summer of 2014 farewell.

I got to take the photos of Chloe in her new blue sweater while the sunshine still lasted, and I was afraid that once the rain set in, it would be too late for a photo shoot of her in the fairisle bonnet I was test knitting, but it turns out my baby girl is a true Oregonian after all! We went out for a walk in the misty drizzle this morning, and I got some really great shots in the overcast light.

The pattern for this cap is by Nuria Pastor and will be available soon at http://www.bezencilla.com/en.

I also took the opportunity to snap some decent non-phone pics of the chunky billed cap I designed for Tanya. I'm nearly done writing the pattern out, but I'm going to have to knit another one before I can submit this pattern for testing, because I am going to need some good progress pics to illustrate some of the trickier construction points. I improvised some fairly non-standard  methods to get the look I wanted, and I think without photos, the pattern will make no sense to anyone who buys it. :P

Giving Back

My test request filled up in less than 24 hours! So exciting to know that five people are currently knitting the sweater that I designed for Chloe. Exciting and nerve-wracking. There has already been a bit of confusion with my chart design.

One person is modding the sweater to be a standard length suitable for a boy, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it works out for her and incorporating the mod as a length option in my pattern! Woot!

In the meantime, a lovely mom new to my playgroup circle has commissioned a chunky cabled billed cap, designed by yours truly. She's sent me some photos to give me an idea of what she's looking for that but the realization of her dream hat is entirely in my hands!  Any commission work is awesome, but when I get to design it myself and maybe even create a new, publishable pattern from it? Score!

shh... work in progress

Simultaneously, I've decided to throw my needles into the ring as a beta knitter myself, and I've volunteered to test knit a nerdy fairisle bonnet for another designer. Yes, it's a tad bit overwhelming to think of juggling it all, but hats are small projects and it's all just so thrilling - I feel like I've really taken the next big leap in my knitting career, from pattern-follower to pattern-maker. It's kind of a headrush.

Intro to Designing

Yeesh, I am terrible at blogging. Sorry. I have resolved to do better.

And I mean that! I made several resolutions this year in the general vein of most people's resolutions - stay fit, eat more veggies, etc. But two of my resolutions were specific to my knitterly self - challenges that seem daunting and even perhaps a little tedious, but which I believe will pay off in so many ways if I can really stick with them!

One - I will stop ignoring this blog. Its little bookmark toolbar button taunts me, but I so often feel that I have nothing interesting to contribute, and even if I do, I've already written it all on some project page on Ravelry, or gone into lengths on Facebook, and I don't want to hash it all over again. But I so admire and adore those women who have truly found their home in the loving, knitwear-ensconced arms of their blog readers. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee! Rachael Herron! Kim Werker! I know I can make this blog into something better. Something not utterly forgettable.

Two, and this is where the rewards involve actual money (needles crossed!), I will publish a pattern. An actual, original design by yours truly. I will be a real designer.  I have dreamed of designing for years but I'm such a neurotic perfectionist that I could never bring myself to actually ask for money for anything I'd just improvised.  But, I've been a stay-at-home-mom now for over a year and a half, and failing repeatedly at selling handknit sweaters and scarves and hats, not because they're bad but frankly because they'e too good, and therefore too expensive for anyone who might stumble across my dinky little Etsy shop.  If I can make a pattern, a pattern that people love and lust after and will happily pay even $5 for, the return on my time and labors will be SO much more.

For over a month now, I have been working on a sweater for my daughter, with the intention from the get-go that this would be my first non-free pattern published on Ravelry. I took extensive notes, charted like a woman possessed, and did ALL THE MATH. SO MUCH MATH. I finally finished the sweater - what was supposed to be a sweater dress but turned out merely tunic-length - this week, blocked it, and took the niblet out into the glorious Oregon January sunshine, and took nearly a hundred photos.

Meanwhile, I have spent hours and hours (I didn't even keep track of how many) writing the pattern to a publishable polish. Creating the charts in a spreadsheet, turning them into images that could be popped into the pattern document. Adding in the photos of niblet in her new sweater. And then EVEN MORE MATH to make a larger sized version, since I feel like a jerkface charging for a pattern that only comes in one size.

And now it's been put out there in my pattern testing group on Ravelry for beta knitting and initial feedback. I am so nervous it's making me kind of ill. What if everyone thinks my style of pattern writing is totally incomprehensible?! I've never written down knitting instructions for someone who didn't live inside my brain! If I have to scrap large parts of it because they just don't make sense to anyone not me, I think I may cry. Or vomit. We shall see.

On the other hand, maybe my testers will think my pattern is genius! They'll tell me its clarity is refreshing, its layout is stunning, its charts are works of graphical spreadsheet wizardry.

One can only hope.

Lazy Knitting

OK. I have to say something.

At first I though it was simply tacky. Then I thought it was lazy. Then I started to get irritated. Now I'm verging on angry.

I'm talking about the glut of novelty "yarn" that is now flooding the cheap yarn market - giant swathes of pre-knitted, crocheted, or otherwise assembled material that merely has to be gathered in a bit to create some kind of hideous frothy tentacle scarf thing. AND THEY ARE CALLING IT KNITTING.

It is not.

Figure 1: Frothy tentacle scarf thing

Figure 2: The "yarn"

Even if you think the end result is adorable - fine, whatever, taste is personal (even if you have none).  But I have spent years honing and building on my knitting skills. I take great pride in the complex geometry of my cables, the delicate intricacy of my lace, the perfect shaping and blocking techniques, the obscure methods for casting on, binding off, and increasing nearly invisibly that lend professionalism to my work.

But with the advent of these new ruffle yarns, they are telling would-be knitters that knitting doesn't actually require any effort. And this where I draw the line. This crap is the paint-by-numbers of the knitting world. I'm not saying I would never paint-by-numbers. It might be fun. But I wouldn't call it painting.

Any pattern to make scarves from these "yarns" is practically required to mention how easy and lightning fast it is. Some of these patterns don't even require hooks or needles - you just string a separate piece of yarn through and cinch it up like a drawstring. It's insulting.

If you don't really want to knit a scarf, just go buy a freaking scarf.

Entrelac in the Round

I have decided to add a new sub-skill to one of my favorite techniques - entrelac! I've been sitting on two skeins of Knit Picks Chroma Worsted in Paperback - a soft, subtle blend of greys and tans, and while the original plan was to knit a scarf for sale, I now have a much more exciting, if less profitable idea - legwarmers!

Chroma looks GORGEOUS in entrelac, and having just knit some legwarmers for a friend, I'm feeling the need for some of my own.  The weather is getting colder, I just bought some new skinny jeans, and I have the totally awesome book Entrelac: The Essential Guide to Interlace Knitting to guide me.

I have pretty large calves, so much so that I have a lot of difficulty finding tall boots that fit, and knee-high sock patterns always have to be extensively modified, so this will be quite the challenge.  Do I make the legwarmers loose all around and then drawstring them at the knee? That could be cute, especially if I put little pompoms on the drawstring.  Or do I want to do some shaping? And if so, how do I handle shaping with entrelac? Do I switch needle sizes? Do I increase internally in the squares?  I can't wait to get started!

Oh and by the way, how freaking cute does my daughter look in her her knitwear?

Yarn Kisses

The last time I posted here, I had just found out that I was pregnant.  Finally pregnant, after nine months of trying. After knitting for other people's babies. After stocking up on baby pattern books, baby yarns, and baby buttons in anticipation.  I was finally pregnant.

And I didn't stop knitting.  Oh, far from it.  Between last October and today, I've completed two dozen projects.  Several were gifts or commissions, a few were just for me, but ten of them have been for my precious, beautiful, amazing, perfect little girl.  I just can't stop knitting for her.   Even knowing that she'll grow out of any and all of it much faster than I'd like.  Even though one of the projects never properly fit her at all.

In the beginning, before we knew if we'd be getting a prince or a princess, it was gender neutral accessories:

Then, once we knew we were having a girl, I started in on the lovely sweaters - and who says powder blue isn't a gorgeous color for a girl's winter ensemble?

Then, with a book of toy patterns received at the baby shower, I suddenly went nuts for knitted plushies!

Most recently I completed a lace pullover that will hopefully fit her next spring.  This project was the one that bridged the great divide between pregnancy and motherhood. Cast on in June, just a week before my due date, and finally finished a little over a week ago.

And a house-elf hat for her costume for our upcoming Harry Potter cosparty:

And this kid is only ten and a half weeks old! By the time she starts kindergarten, she won't leave the house but sporting at least one thing handmade for her.

In June 2011, I posted a letter from Eunny Jang entitled "Living a Handmade Life," in which she describes the thoughtfulness and care that goes into a handmade project, how crafts like knitting teach us to appreciate quality and sincere effort, and to be better problem solvers and risk takers, and that ultimately, knitters are a positive, creative force in the world.  We add, rather than subtract.

And that is a lesson that I look forward to teaching my daughter, while I'm wrapping her up in yarn kisses.

Cobblestone Pullover

Working on a sweater for Bucky - the first sweater I've ever knit him!  Working from Jared Flood's Cobblestone Pullover, which is an easy knit but texturally interesting, and I think it'll look great on my guy.  The yarn is Valley Yarns Amherst in soft brown, and I'm working on size 8's.  I'm up to the yoke, so nearly done - check it out:

 

The yoke will continue in garter stitch until the end.  There's no ribbed neckline, so it'll be a bit of a roll-neck.  The underarms will be kitchenered.  I'm following the directions for the small size with a few stitches extra at cast on to account for a slightly small gauge.  It's about 37" around the chest, so it'll have about 2-3" of positive ease.  Of course I had to mod the math for the decrease rows in the yoke, but it worked out very nicely!  Can't wait to see it on him!