No Other Life

Since most of my focus of late has been on knitting, there is little to write about in other areas of my life, so for now, this is my primary blog. The news is that thanks to Fed-Ex's Airport office having a 9:15 drop-off, I was able to get the package out the door on Thursday and received a nice email on Friday acknowledging its arrival. What a green-horn I must sound like, making such a deal out of one magazine submission. There are folks who have 2 or 3 garments in every magazine. Although, I have heard reports of Lily Chin needing to be fed meals by her husband while she finished deadlines, so maybe I'm okay (and she doesn't have 5 kids).
Anyway, I was happy with the overall results, although there is some tweaking to be done. I actually look forward to their comments and suggestions about improving the pattern, because that is my weak spot and the thing that has prevented me from publishing more of my ideas.

I finished the repair of a baby blanket for a four-year-old friend for whom it is her most important comfort item. It was a big repair and she has been waiting a long time. Another repair is a little more poignant. A much older friend dropped off a beloved old sweater in February to be fixed for a second time and told me not to rush, that she wouldn't need it before next fall, and a few weeks ago, she passed away. It is a moving feeling to hold an object of hers after she is gone. So I need to get that done and back to her family for them to cherish.

I'm doing test knitting and another project for Gwen's book, but both of those are small and will be done in a matter of days. I think I'll have a whole sweater to do for Gwen in early June, but it sounds gorgeous and I think I may have even helped with the final color choice, so that will be fun. It will be great when all these things are published to be able to show you what they look like.

I Think I'm Going to Make it!

So, I'm almost done with the knitting, the patterns are written and I have all day tomorrow to put the polish on everything before overnighting it before the post office closes. Luckily, my personality is pathologically dependable, so I actually will make the deadline, even if it does, in fact, cause my death.

Note to self: Remember NOT to agree to alter prom dresses for friends during knitting deadlines. Especially if said prom is the same day as deadline.

Busily Knitting

I'm working on a submission for a national mag, doing test knitting and updating all my handouts. I suddenly feel like I'm working for a living. My friends still smirk when I tell them I'm a professional knitter, but that's okay. I'm keeping busy and that feels good. Well it will until I have to pull an all-nighter to get everything out the door.

A New Blog

I have good news. I have one more thing to be irregular and "artistic" about. No, just kidding. I have a great new opportunity that I'm very excited about, I just haven't remembered to put it here for me, myself and I to have the thrill of reading about it online and clicking on a link instead of having to google for it.

Gwen Bortner, my esteemed colleague, has invited me to be one of the Knitting Professors on her excellent blog about the adventures of knitting teachers. We will have a back and forth conversation about anything that comes up in the world of knitting. I hope you'll check it out. I find that I like writing about teaching almost as much as actually teaching.

Now I just have to remember to occasionally log onto Ravelry.
Oh dear.

Knitting My Fingers to the Bone and Getting Ready for Stitches

I've been a knitting fool lately getting samples done for shops, author and designer friends. I have seriously talented friends there in my sidebar. Please check out their stuff. My work will be on display, albeit anonymously, at two shops at Stitches West-Ellen's Half Pint Farm and Homestead Heirlooms.

I really like sample knitting because sometimes it is so nice to just follow someone else's directions. It is especially fun when the patterns are really well done. I have also been enjoying playing the role of an organized knitter (as in, "I'm not really an organized knitter, but I play one on TV.") by busily making notes on the patterns, keeping track of when I started and finished, and sticking with one project until it is done and done quickly. I've never listened to so many books on tape in my life. It has all come at a very good time for me, when circumstances have made knitting a true respite from the real world, a world that, at the moment, has my head so full that it has not really had room for an original thought. Thus, I am grateful for the originality of my pals and grateful for this opportunity that I've had to do this work. I'm pleased to say I have yet another job coming from my brilliant author pal.

Another job came my way this week which is even more personal. I want to take some good pictures and post separately about that one. Stay tuned.

So, today my fiber life was replete with 2 excellent private lessons at the shop, good conversation with Jolene, Kate and Lyn, lots of time spent racing to the finish of one of the for-hire projects, and the satisfaction of keeping my commitment of one hour of spinning per day. It was actually hard to stop spinning. As a foil to all the programmed knitting, I've started to play around with the famous February Lady Sweater. I don't know if I dare say it, as popular as this pattern is, but I actually prefer EZ's original round yoke, so I am going to give that a try in Classic Elite Premier in a lovely pale lavender. Maybe I'll find out that the raglan yoke really does look better, but I'm at least going to give it a go using EZ and Meg's guidelines for shaping a round yoke. I've made this for big kids with all kinds of yarn and it turns out really fun. We shall see.

I leave a week from tomorrow for California. I'm detouring to SoCal to see a dear childhood pal, then will most likely drive north with a stop in the middle to see G. I really wish I could go way north to see H. in Yreka, but not this trip. I think next year that will be the plan.

Why I'm Glad I have a Knitting Blog and that I Knit

Right now I'm waiting to register my daughter for a very popular summer retreat for teens. It is sponsored by the Continuing Ed division of Brigham Young University. There are sessions all over the country, but they have so many interested in certain sessions that there is a lottery period for getting your registration in. I am currently number 1492 in line with an estimated wait time of 39 minutes. Fortunately, I have something easy and mindless to work on. Yay Knitting! Other, less fortunate friends would just be bored, or have to play Scamble on facebook all that time. Bless their hearts.

As for why I have a knitting blog, it is because sometimes my other blog is just a chore. I'm just not that interesting that I have something cool to write about every day. Interestingly enough, during times that are challenging or even a bit depressing, my knitting output goes up and I can avoid having to report yet another blah day in the real world. Here, all is color and texture and progress toward the next thing. Yay Knitting again!

Knit One Below Scarf

Here is the sample of the scarf I'm teaching at the shop. This technique, newly explored in Elise Duvekot's great new book Knit One Below, is a variation of a brioche stitch that I first sampled from one of the Barbara Walker Treasuries. Elise has done a nice job fleshing out the possibilities of the stitch, and adapted it to modern yarns like this long repeat stripe called Paintbox from K1C2. It is knit so the colors start out opposite one another, converge in the middle, then shimmer back to the beginning. It was quick and fun to make.