26 January 2012 · 8 Comments
Sorry for the radio silence. I’m going over the draft book with highlighters and a variety of colored pens and a stack of post its. So are a host of genius editors and tech editors and other noble and diligent souls. I know it’s part of the process, and I’m very glad to be at this stage of the project, but it does cut into knitting time. All of which means that the orange spiky socks are coming along slowly (just past the gusset decreases on the second sock). As soon as they’re done, I’ll have the pattern up. It’s all written and tested, I just need the socks finished so I can take some pretty pictures, then it’s all yours.
Actually, they need one more thing. They need a name. I noticed the other day that I have patterns starting with almost all of the letters of the alphabet (apparently I like the shiny words, who knew). The only letters missing are Q and Z. So, do I try and name the next few patterns with words that use those letters? Or do I just let them pick their own name like usual and not worry about filling out the alphabet? And if the former, does anyone know any good Q or Z words?
23 January 2012 · 2 Comments
You’ll have to pardon me. I’ve been a poor hostess. I’ve neglected to make the proper introductions. Miss Manners would not be pleased.
Knitters, I’d like you to meet Esmeralda. She’s a lovely multi-part hat form. Esmeralda, please meet the knitters. They will all appreciate your unique talent for improving the look of jaunty hats of various shapes and sizes.
You guys chat amongst yourselves, I’ll be over here working on something dashing for our new friend to wear.
21 January 2012 · 7 Comments
There was a period in my misguided youth and childhood when I thought I might become an engineer. Perhaps it was a function of the time, but it sort of seemed to be the default assumption for what smart girls who could hold their own in math and science class ‘should’ do. I had no particular objections, and I didn’t have any better ideas, so I just sort of smiled and nodded and went along with it. It meant I took a lot of math classes. I took every single math class my high schools offered, and then toddled off to college and took quite a few more.
Turns out I didn’t actually want to be an engineer. Not really at all (though it wasn’t the math classes that turned me off, those were kind of fun). But all those math classes, those years and years and years of math classes? They’re languishing in the back of mind doing me no favors at all. I’ve yet to find myself in a situation where my life depends on my ability to recall and utilize L’Hopital’s rule (and just to be clear, I don’t wish to find myself in this situation, because the chances I’d make it out alive are slim at best…though if I did survive, it would make for a hell of a story).
This is the closest I come to math these days. These are the notes for getting the heel flap positioned correctly over several different sizes of sock. Back when I knit my own socks, and only knit them in one size, I could just write down what I did. Now that I have help with the knitting and try to include several sizes, I have to do a wee bit of figuring ahead of time. I’m pretty sure if my math teachers could see this now they’d smack me upside the head for having wasted their time. On the flip side, if I do this right, lots and lots of knitters will have attractive, well-fitting socks, which seems somehow more satisfying than acing a calculus test.
18 January 2012 · 3 Comments
Yeah yeah, two posts in one day, but they’re both short.
Folks…guess what’s printing out in my office right now. That’s right, the first draft of the finished book is here from genius book designer Zoë Lonergan. I know it’s immodest, but I’m totally smitten. Now pardon me while I go admire the new pretty!
18 January 2012 · 1 Comment
Apparently I also got an extra and unexpected goodie when I bought my yarn. The bag I got at Romni has proven to be the most coveted cat toy in the land. All three kittens have been in, on, and under it at various points since I’ve been home. Right now Douglas seems to have conquered it and declared it his personal fort. He has absolutely no intention of vacating this seat of power. Move it at your own peril.
17 January 2012 · 2 Comments
A bit of careful planning (taking into account geography, lunch plans, your recommendations, and other scheduled events) led to the conclusion that there was time to visit two yarn stores. I knew I wanted to revisit Romni. I’d been there back in 2007 when I was a very new knitter, and to be frank I’d found the whole thing more than a little overwhelming. I wanted to go back and see if it felt different now that I had a bit better grounding. I had been to Lettuce Knit before, but hadn’t visited Purple Purl, so I decided I’d try something new and make that the second one.
We started at Romni. Well no, we started at breakfast so as to be properly fortified for our journeys. Then we went to Romni. I splurged on rather a lot of Fleece Artist / Hand Maiden. I justify it by saying it’s Canadian…so it’s fitting to get in Toronto, right? I got three skeins of Fleece Artist Woolie Twist (they’re the ones with the handwritten tags), and one of Hand Maiden Silk Twist. Neither of these were bases I’d seen in stores around here, and both companies have color that is so variable from skein to skein that I try to only buy their yarn when I can actually see what I’m getting. So it seemed like a great chance to pick up a bit of something new.
Over at Purple Purl, I fell prey to the charms of two skeins of Tanis Fiber Arts DK weight (it’s actually a bit greener than it looks there…not sure what’s up with that) and one skein of Malabrigo Arroyo. It totally stunned me, but I actually bought it in a fairly pink sort of color. I normally make funny faces at pink, but this one was singing my name, so I gave in. We’ll see if the appeal lasts, but for now I’m smitten.
Oh, and as further proof of the fibery nature of the town, I grabbed a shot of this wee sculpture as we wondered around. If the internet is to be believed, it’s called Uniform Measure/Stack and was created by Stephen Cruise in 1997. That’s a stack of buttons, topped by a thimble. In case it’s obscured by the snow, on the ground around it is a giant yellow tape measure. There were, alas, no knitting needles, but it still gets high points for textile awareness.
16 January 2012 · No Comments
From about 3pm on Friday, until about 9am today, I didn’t use a computer. I didn’t check my email, I didn’t check ravelry, I didn’t check the blog. None of it. And it was wonderful. I have a feeling I’m going to have to do this more often. I may even have to declare the weekends as a no-computer time. Of course this particular internet hiatus was because we were headed off to Toronto. We probably can’t quite manage to do that every weekend, but I think I could just pop the batteries out of my mouse and keyboard and call it good. As for the trip, we had a splendid time, and I’ll report on it at length later in the week. But for now, I have a wee bit of catch up to do.
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