My new project: the one I thought I could never do

I have a knitting pattern addiction. There. I said it.

I, like Dumbledore of Harry Potter fame, love knitting patterns. At last count on my Ravelry page, there were a total of 1,707 patterns in my library. And that doesn\’t include the books I have yet to add there, the hard copy patterns I have printed from sites other than Ravelry, or the pattern leaflets I have picked up at local yarn shops, yarn labels, or my mother\’s old stash.

Patterns. I love to read them, download them, print them (and buy ink at at Costco to do so), buy books filled with them (I recently had to dedicate a bookcase to them) and read them, read them, read them.

Since knitting itself as an activity is slower than all this collecting and reading (I just did a bit of math and realized that is an arguable statement–I may have to change my ways. But for this blog post, let\’s just go with it.), it stands to reason that I have a lot more patterns than completed knitted pieces.

I did not follow the pattern\’s pick up instructions for underneath the cabled yoke. Instead, I picked up only what was there and did my own M1 increases. For details, see my ravelry project.

I was contemplating this the other day and I realized something: most of my patterns, no matter their source, were collected early on in my knitting life. Those of you who read the blog may remember some of my accounts of maniacal yarn buying, most of which occured 2-3 years ago when I was a new knitter. Those same stories apply to patterns. Oh, I still collect them, but not nearly as voraciously as in the past. Why?

I don\’t believe I was preparing for some sort of yarn-a-geddon, where a Y2K-like event would occur such as this: aliens would suddenly appear on earth and steal all the sheep, goats, musk ox, cotton plants and tencel in the world because their world is depleted and they are sucking our resources to continue knitting their own selfish, cozy socks, leaving us with none.

In this scenario, yarn would become a scarce commodity that people would be killing each other for, just to make one more lace twin set before knitting became extinct. Unlikely. And boy, howdy, would those aliens rue the day. Want to see a woman scorned? Take away her fiber. And I don\’t mean her Activia.

No, alien fiber abduction was just not it. The same goes for a pattern disappearance scenario: giant termites/purple paper eaters from space are probably not coming to eat all the books, leaflets and trees–unless you ask Giorgio A. Tsoukalos from Ancient Aliens, but let\’s not get off track too far.

The original design was a little to wide for me at the top, so I added more picked up stitches around the top of the yoke to create a ribbed crew neck.

Why did I buy patterns and yarn like they were going out of style? They certainly have not.

I pondered this at length recently, sitting looking through a few of my books.

I browsed the sweaters, the cowels, the socks. I do this all the time–often times to learn something about how a particular type of pattern works, or to find out how a fiber behaves and if I should use it, cross referencing different patterns. But that isn\’t the reason I formerly browsed my books.

 I used to do it to dream, to think of what I could make in the future once I was no longer feeling so intimidated by the patterns. As I looked through my books on this sunny afternoon by my favorite window, I slowly began to realize how many of the items I actually had the skills to knit now–and the yarn to do it with.

Then, one of the sweaters in a booklet, Bernat\’s Cold Front, caught my attention.  I had just been dying to make it a few years back. It was the Cable Yoke Sweater on page 11(the link is above). I had even saved several JoAnn\’s Fabric\’s and Michael\’s coupons over several weeks\’ time in order to buy the yarn on sale, then had stashed it away for that sweater–for that sweater in the future.  Back then, it had looked so complicated that I dared not try to knit it because I was sure I would ruin all the lovely yarn or have a wonky, unwearable sweater.

I read the pattern over and over. I saw that the pattern was nothing more than ribbing, a lot of picked up stitches and some great cables. By this time in my tiny place in knitting history, I had completed several socks. In fact, a lot of socks. How many times had I picked up stitches from a heel flap? More than I can count.

Energized, I got down to the business of trying out the sweater pattern.

I got out the needles–and one more 40% off coupon as I needed just one more circular pair–the previously purchased yarn from its Rubbermaid home, and got to work. I read other people\’s notes on Ravelry to check for errata, tips or tricks and found a few alterations that may have been needed.

Once I got going, the knitting really was pretty fast. The yarn was bulky and the pattern was pretty straight forward. I was able to make necessary fit alterations (if anyone is interested, they are here) and completed the project in about a week of knitting. Granted, it was a lot of knitting–I couldn\’t stop as I was too excited to finish–but it was still pretty quick.

Now I am planning to look at more of my patterns, and with new eyes. Not only are patterns great for learning new things going forward, but they are good for learning about where you have been, and where you are now, too.

Happy knitting and happy learning–alien free.

My own design: Beadboard Beach Socks

\”I never win anything.\” We all say that.

Yet, most of us also don\’t purchase lottery tickets, enter random contests (like the sketchy ones at the county fair…where strangers are asking for your name, address and the times of day you are not at home). Most of us also don\’t think much about entering legitimate contests, either.

For example, at the same county fair, absolutely anyone can submit their artistic works including photography, cross stitch, knitting, crochet, quilting…even food items or spun and dyed yarn. If we do these things, not only do we contribute to our communities and support the arts, we can also win something.

I have personally let these and other opportunities go by time after time, always saying, \”Next year I\’ll do it,\” or \”next time.\” Next time never comes. Until now.

Last March something possessed me. I was on Ravelry (oooohhhh…big shock….) reading along in some of the forums, and noticed something about a Martha Stewart/Lion Brand Yarn contest. I thought, hmmm…that might be fun. And for some alien reason, I actually clicked the link and read the information.

There was a contest for creating something from Martha Stewart\’s new line of yarn. The Grand Prize was 125 skeins of yarn plus a weaving loom, and the first prize winners–of which there would be 10, likely the finalists who would compete for the Grand Prize, I assumed–would receive a weaving loom. The final winners, the second place folks, 20 of them, would get a subscription to the Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

My first try with Debbie Stoller\’s 100% wool, worsted weight yarn

In spite of my first thought that this contest was most certainly a marketing tactic to get people to try out the new yarn, and in spite of my next thought that it would be a lot of work to create something for a contest that I likely would not win, and in spite of my final thought that I make it a general policy to not throw my hat in such rings since I don\’t have much extra time, I decided to enter.

Those of you who follow the blog know what happened next.

Not only was I late to the party–er, contest–and I was also a newbie. (A newb, for those of you with gaming teenage boys. Is that mixing metaphors? Gaming/knitting? Both have grids, right? Oh, wait…that\’s Dungeons and Dragons. Mixing again…I digress…) I learned quickly that I had to hurry up and find a design to knit, purchase some yarn for it, actually knit the design and take photos of it, put in in the Lion Brand web site, etc.

Upon my first reading of the rules, I thought the design had to be original. Meanwhile, while I was completely wrong, I became engrossed in quickly coming up with a design that I though represented my home, would appeal to a Martha Stewart-esque audience and, most importantly of all, that I could do quickly.

I didn\’t see a lot of socks in the sample patterns for the new yarn line, so I decided on socks. After all, there was a merino yarn. There was, but not in the local stores here in Vancouver, Washington. After ordering the yarn I needed online (with a rush to boot), writing the pattern, practicing it with some \”Stitch N Bitch\” yarn (worsted wool), I was ready. The minute the real yarn came, I hit it hard.

Several sleepless nights later, it was done. A pair of socks. Photos shot, put on the site. Contest entered.

For about 5 months I waited. No contact about being a finalist. I thought, \”ok, so I won\’t get 125 skeins of yarn. And probably not first place. Maybe there is a spot left for me in second place, probably not, but I do like the magazine.\” At least, if nothing else, I had two pairs of socks that I really liked.

During this time, I semi-obsessively checked the Lion Brand web site and after a while, I didn\’t know why I was doing it. I had gotten into a habit–like brushing your teeth before bed. 8 times. I couldn\’t stop. Every day, a few times at least–really like 15–I was looking for contest announcements. Then one day there was an announcement: winners would be announced on August 20, 2012.

On August 20th, I checked. Nothing. Next morning, I checked again. Nothing new. Then on August 21st at 4:05pm, I looked again.

There was the grand prize winner at the top! She had created a very cute baby set in crochet with chrysanthemums as the theme. I thought maybe that would be the only winner pictured. Then I saw some projects below the grand prize winner, the first prize winners.

I quickly did the math before moving on: 15 finalists-1 grand prize winner. 14-10 first prize winners. That left 4 that would fall into the second place category. 6 additional people would still be able to win second place.

I had hope. I scrolled down.

As I was speeding through the first prize winners, I did a double take. There was mine. My name was on the list of first prize winners. MINE. MINE!!

No way. My name was on the list.

I looked at the list again. I was at work. I squashed a squeak that tried to leave my lips. I wasn\’t really supposed to be surfing the internet. I coudn\’t stand it. I ran, silently waving my hands to my friends at the front desk. I began shout-whispering to them, pounding–quietly–on their collective desk. \”I won! I won first place!! There are others, too, but I won!!!\” My throat was dry. Who wins anything?! 

\”What? What are you talking about?\” My friend Linda was confused. I was still trying, and failing, to not cause a disturbance. I was whisper-squealing now, too many words were spilling out of my mouth at once and then all over the floor, out of order like in an impromptu game of 52 card pickup. Linda probably thought I was having a seizure.

I dragged her to my computer screen. I couldn\’t stand it. Linda had known about the contest, so my wild gesturing and scrolling around the screen said everything she needed to know. She understood. Her eyes grew wide. As she proclaimed her congratulations, words would still not come to me. I couldn\’t even figure out how I felt. I thought about my inhaler and wondered where it was.

Then I remembered Reese Witherspoon.

I thought of her character, Elle, in Legally Blonde standing in front of the newly posted list of candidates who had been accepted to a competitive internship at Harvard Law. She, the unlikely candidate, was on the list. She herself could not believe her eyes. She stood silently in a crowd of other students that were high-fiving each other, and talking loudly and excitedly about the list. Overwhelmed with feelings unknown to her (except for a bit of revenge that does not apply here) all she could say was one word: \”ME!\”

Knitting may not be Harvard Law, but Elle, I get it. I get the feeling.

Me.

Congrats to everyone who won and to everyone who entered!! In all seriousness, way to support art and creativity! We can\’t live successfully on this planet without it! Here is the link to the site where everyone\’s artistic endeavors can be found.

Happy, happy knitting, my friends,

Janelle of The Knitting Muse

The original sample sock

Hello, all! Well, the pattern is done and hopefully error free!!

I am linking to the new pattern here. It is a free pdf download on Ravelry.

Please direct all questions/errata to me in email at earthtogspatternhelp@gmail.com.

This is improved heel flap. It was a bit off center before, but is right on.

Happy knitting!

I was looking over the \”pattern\” I wrote about a year ago called The Fountains of Portland. I was trying to convey the way I built a pair of anklet socks for myself for the practical use of others.

Since writing that pattern, I have been knitting several more new items–including several socks–and generally adding one more year to my now 3.5 years of total knitting time.

Well, it turn out that the Fountains of Portland pattern is well, un-knittable. Really un-knittable. It seems I fell into the pitfalls of not saying what I meant/not knowing how to convey the information needed/not knowing what the crap I was doing.

Do I now? Well, it\’s better than before. It\’s like I told a friend who recently asked me for help with her photography, \”I\’ll try to help you out, but all I really know are the camera buttons.\”

I still feel new, but I am learning. I hope you all can forgive me if you tried to knit the sock pattern. The only consolation for me is that I know you would not have gotten past the ruffle, thus, hopefully limiting your irritation.

I have been working feverishly on the pattern. It is still an untested pattern, as it is free, but if you will all be so kind as to give me another chance, I will give you what I have. Please indicate any errors you find.

I have included 3 sizes this time, and I think it is a little better.

Here is part I:

The Fountains of Portland

I wrote this pattern for myself last summer when I became really sick and had to stay home from work for a while. It was right around the time before Sock Summit and I thought the pattern was an appropriate way to welcome fellow sock knitters to my hometown, Portland, Oregon.

It is a ruffly ankle-height sock, fashioned to resemble a lesser known Portland fountain called “The Carwash,” and my object was to give the effect of water flowing down the foot. The bobbles are a nod to our “Benson Bubblers” here, which are lovely, historical drinking fountains found dotted around the downtown area.

Specifications

Size: Small (Medium, Large) women’s. Corresponding approximate measurements: 8” (9”, 10”) foot circumference.
Gauge: 8 stitches to 1 inch in stockinette and in fan pattern on size 1 needles, unblocked.
Yarn: 1 (2, 2) skeins Patons Stretch Sock Yarn. If substituting yarn, use a stretchy sock yarn containing elastic, approximately 239 (478, 478) yards.
Needles: Two 24” circular needles, size 1. DPN’s or one long circular (magic loop method) could be substituted if desired.
Construction: Top down.

Ankle/Ruffle

The ruffle is worked in groups of 10, for every 10 stitches cast on, you will have 4 remaining after the decreases in the first round.

CO 150 (150, 170).

Carefully join work in the round, so as not to twist (this is a little tricky with so many stitches, but it gets much better once the ruffle gets started) Mark the beginning of the round.

Work ruffle as follows:

K10, then pass the 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th, 5th and 4th stitches over the 10th stitch. This creates little mock crochet shells. Do this 15 times. You will end with 60 (60, 68)stitches.

Next 2 rounds: Knit

Next round: Knit, decreasing evenly by 6 (0, 2) stitches. End with 54 (60, 66) stitches.

Eyelet Rounds

You may use the chart on page 3, or the written directions below.

Round 1: *K2, P1, K2, P1; repeat from * to end of round
Round 2: Repeat round 1
Round 3: *K2, P1, K2Tog, YO, P1; repeat from * to end of round
Round 4: Repeat round 1

There will be a total of 9 (10, 11) eyelets in the round. Repeat rounds 1-4, 2 times more, then knit round 1 one additional time. You will have 3 vertical “stacks” of eyelets. See photo above.

Next 2 rounds: Knit.

Bobble Rounds

Round 1: *Knit 2; MB, repeat from * to end, 18 (20, 22) bobbles made.
Round 2: Knit.
Round 3: Knit.

MB: Make Bobble Knit into the front, the back, and again into the front of the next stitch. Turn work to wrong side, K3, turn work to right side, P3. Holding the yarn to the back of the work, and using the stitches on the rightneedle, pass the second and third purl stitches over the first purl stitch. Bobble made.

Right now, your ruffle will seem a little loose compared to the rest of the stitches.  This is to be expected: that’s what keeps it ruffly!
________________________________________________________________________

Much more to come!

thanks for your patience!!

We spun a bunch of yarn. We thought it looked pretty cool. We took photos.

What do you do when your knitterly adult daughter comes to stay for two weeks while she is working in Portland? You squeeze in all the fiber your diet can hold. (In spite of all the eating out you may plan to do…after all, we do live in the land of food carts and coffee)

Jo, my grown daughter, stays with us periodically for various events, life stuff, etc. Whenever she comes to Portland, we have a great time eeking out ways to spend time knitting together, pouring over knitting book and patterns, shopping at knitting stores, or otherwise enjoying a wooly good time.

Sometimes it gets tough when we are all working, and this last visit from Jo was no exception. She was here working at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts as a dance teacher for a kids\’ arts camp. Regardless of the sparsity of our time while Jo was teaching modern dance during the day, we made time for a few dances with wools, no matter how few they were.

Pattern from The Joy of Sox book

This visit, we spent a bit of time in Portland and a few nights and mornings knitting on my little front porch on some cushy chairs. Jo brought a few projects and some tiny bits of yarn. The projects included a cabled scarf from Lily Chin\’s Power Cables, and one from The Joy of Sox.

The bits of yarn were things she did not know what to do with and included 3 colors of yarn she had used for various projects including some socks. She gave them to me. I thought I could save them with other sock yarn to eventually make socks or gloves in whatever stripes strike my fancy as I knit. But then I thought it might be cool to see if we could come up with something that would completely use up just one of the tiny balls.

Bits of magic

I thought a headband just the ticket.

So we took out the Walker stitch dictionaries, among several others and layed them all over the floor. We decided on one that is called Sea Foam in Vogue\’s stitchionary, but has other names depending on the writer.

It has a 2 pattern repeat over 10 stitches, but I wanted a triangle sort of shape with the pattern. So, I did a row with only one pattern and one with 2. In between those rows are 3 knit rows. The result is pretty promising, really stretchy. Good, since my head is huge. (No, huge. Like the kid in Mike Meyer\’s movie, So I Married an Ax Murderer.)

Stretchy is goooooooood

Jo and I fiddled with the headband a bit, but honestly, the time was too short. It is still not done, though it has been weeks. If I finish it, I will share the recipe.

As it is, the fun was over too soon. She is returning this week, however, for her 24th birthday and my dad\’s 81st birthday picnic. We may have to sneak away to some nearby trees and see if we can secretly spin some moss into gold. Or at least into yarn.

….knitting help, that is. 

Jolene\’s legs in her stockings

While the title implies a promise for some very racy reading, you may rest easy and read on if you planned on momentarily being offended. If you stop reading now in disappointment, I promise that I, on the other hand, will not be offended.

You may wonder, if you read my last post, if I have been knitting through all this chaos in my house.

Yes, yes I have. In fact, when things are tough, I knit. When stress comes, I knit. When I am hungry, I head straight to the pantry, bypass the healthier foods and devour two pounds of Ruffle\’s potato chips.

But I digress…

I love knitting. In spring and summer I especially love it, even when it\’s hot. There is something about being able to be outside that makes me imagine those kept Victorian (or Regency Era, for you Jane fans, of which I am one) ladies who were well schooled–and skilled–in language, art and fiber arts.

A \”hive hat,\” pattern courtesy of The Knitting Bee in Hillsboro, Oregon

I would love to make myself a Regency Era dress (and I swear I will do it one day) and sit under a tree like Alice in Wonderland (pardon the cross-referencing) on a sunny day. Instead of chasing rabbits, however, I want to knit all day, picnic, knit, have tea, knit more…you get the gist of the fantasy.

I love outdoor knitting so much that my husband created a sitting area for me on the east-facing front porch where I could sit in comfort to my heart\’s (and schedule\’s) content and while away the hours knitting.

Annie showing her brother\’s hat. I guess I should make her one.

This spring so far, I have completed a baby sweater for a friend, a slouchy hat for my son\’s 21st birthday and a pair of 100% baby alpaca thigh high toe-less and heel-less stockings for my dancer daughter. I had leftover alpaca, so I made a hive-style slouchy to match.

What fun it is so far, and I hope to make so much more!! I still have my mind set on some more sock patterns. I am re-reading the Hobbit in anticipation of the first film, coming out in December. Let\’s see what happens next!

A spring Oriental Poppy in our yard. Change can be beautiful

We\’ve been busy. Really busy. When you have a house filled with 6 children (not usually all at once, but I always think of the number alone as impacting. I like to say it: six.) you cannot avoid it, but this year it is especially so for us.

We have a toddler who is about to become a preschooler, a child finishing her first year of middle school, a child finishing his first year of high school, a child graduating high school, a child turning 21 and a child graduating college.

I like to joke that if you want to feel young forever, just keep having babies. It\’s not that simple. You need energy to stay young, too, and alas, there does not seem to be a limitless supply, no matter how much vitamin D and Gingko Biloba you take. When the subject comes up, I also like to joke that when we decided to have a child when I was 39 and my husband was 43, God looked down upon us and said something like, \”You want a child at 40? Here, try this one.\” Even God must have had trouble holding back laughter at this joke. And He must have certainly snickered to Himself as he sent us little Amy Rose. Amy Rose. Who keeps us up night after sleepless night and then runs, giggling, away from us non-stop all day as she tears apart everything in her path. Amy Rose: A tiny, impish, adorable tornado of cute desolation.

Energy or not, time marches on. While that seems to be a favorite theme of my mid-life epiphanies, it simply is true.

Last week, as I checked out two potential preschools for Amy, and was simultaneously planning a trip to Seattle to see my oldest daughter graduate from college on Mother\’s Day, I contemplated this year of change. It is quite a doozy.

I marvel at it all. Amy talks in great, adult sentences at just 3. Alex is leaving home soon; Ben will be a senior in 3 short years. And Jolene, my 23 year old, graduated from Cornish College for the Arts on Mother\’s Day with a BFA in dance, cum laude and on 4 scholarships. (I\’m not proud or anything…ahem!)

The good and the bad of it all; the ugly and the drama that comes with teens, or the precocious mischief that comes with toddlers, all ends (usually…hopefully not the mischief…if I have my way…) in adulthood. And while there are, of course, even more rites of passage through adulthood, this last year feels especially meaningful to me, like there is a crossing of all the paths at once. Sort of like the planets aligning.

It\’s a great time to see. To really see in our house. See the stages of life all at once, it seems. Even my parents come to mind. My dad turn 81 next month and it just increases the wonder. It feels like I have been given a map, unfolded it, and spread it out on a very large table. Between my three year old and older kids, my middle-aged husband, me, and my parents, we have at least one representative from every age group.

I plan to take it all in, enjoy it, hopefully receive insights and hindsights. Inspiration and direction.

As my daughter walked down the aisle after receiving her diploma to the beat of live African drum music, complete with costumed dancers (what do you expect from an arts college? It sure beat Pomp and Circumstance), I beamed.

I wept.

I am overjoyed even in difficulty.

I am glad to be alive.

Left to right: My mom, dad, Annie, me, husband Luigi behind me, Jolene to my left, Alex, then Amy Rose in front. Geoffrey and Ben are not in the picture this time.

Improving Your Skillset – 3KCBWDAY6