Where Have I been?

As I said in my last post--in July can you believe it?  I can't.-----the end of summer is sooooooo incredibly hectic for me that I haven't been able to finish my designs.  This has caused me undue concern and a bit of heartache.  Of course, I try to keep it all in perspective.  My kids are in 4-H and boy is the annual county fair a lot of work, before,during, and after the fair.  No I did not enter any of my knitting at the fair,  much to my hubby's chagrin, but maybe next year.  Anyway, designing and writing up patterns is my thing right now.  Well the Fair and 4-H thing was only one of a myriad of preoccupations going on in my life:  am still reading lots of medical literature to renew my medical boards, getting ready for homeschooling this fall, working out of town, and crazy thing of all, we are selling our house!  Our plan was to build a home on our property but that, as it turns out, will be more expensive that buying a home in today's market.  And, amazingly enough, we found a home we could afford in my favorite area of all!  I am so ecstatic, even though we still have to sell our home first, we have a contract on the new house.  So I have been busy staging our home, to get it ready for show.  Suddenly, all the things you put off doing to your house need to be done in 2-3 weeks.  So busy as a bee am I.  But.......knitting is going to resume as soon as my medical boards are done and I am so looking forward to the serenity it gives me.  I honestly do not like to have too much on my plate, even though it might appear as I do, but I do try to live my life Intentionally.  I try to make things happen instead of letting them happen to me. Anyway, we will talk again very soon.

The Crayola Skirt

I so miss my blogging; but, July is a VERY busy month for me: it includes 2 birthdays and vacation time AND studying to renew my medical boards.  Yet I had to get in at least 2 blog entries for July.  So I decided to blog about my latest design, not one that I had planned to do but you know how these things are--it just happened.  I have yet to take the better photography that is usually warranted on these types of things, but I will get to it eventually.  The colors in The Crayola Skirt really called out to me because I love lavender blues.  I wanted to make a hemmed waistband with elastic running through it because I love to do finishing techniques.  I liked the way this waistband turned out.  I knitted it while camping, thus the woods in the background. It is sized for a small child but of course I will write the pattern for up to 10 years.

As I sit here blogging I am in L.A., listening to my sister get things off her chest.  I don't thing I could return to L.A.  I grew up here and boy has it changed.  There are so many people here that you have to dial the area code even if you are calling next door.  And the smog.... I have yet to see a blue sky and I have been here a week.  It's hard to knit in this heat too. Yet, I did bring my knitting and I am working on a Dickey.  Yes, it's one of those mindless knits.  Those are important to have on the needles in addition to all the more mindful knits.   I have added a great new book to my library.  Will review that for you next.  Surf's up!

Short Row Designs

"The more I knit, the stronger becomes my taste for 'dedicated' techniques (the 'right' technique for the right job), and shaping."  This is a direct quote from the preface of the book Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  Meg Swansen wrote it in 1989.  I quoted it here because I feel exactly the same way.  Which is why I became so interested in the multidirectional knitting patterns of designer Iris Schreier.  She has written several books, and you can see them and her designs here.  I am quite interested in shaping:  how to do it, unusual ways to do it, employing it creatively in garment construction, and in who is a Master at it.  Short row construction, where only a portion of the row is knitted back and forth and then joined back to the original longer row, is what I mean when I say 'short row designs.'  These designs have unusual geometric shapes or lines.

In the photographs above, short rows are employed in the short-row hat designed by Veronik Avery.  You can see the finished hat here.  Its uniqueness is astonishing.  In the middle photograph, you can see that short rows are employed in shaping the Rib Warmer Vest by designer Elizabeth Zimmerman.  And in the bottom photograph are scarves designed by Ms. Schreier ( knit by yours truly)  and found in her book Modular Knits.

Angela Hahn was praised for her unique use of short rows to shape the V-neck of her vest called the Lutea Lace-Shoulder shell:  "Rather than a series of decreases along the neck edge, an ingenious use of short-rows in the body shapes the V neckline."  (Find it at Interweave).

In Modular Knits, Ms. Schreier explains that her method is unique because it is a continuous method:  there is no binding off and picking up stitches to add another shape or module.  As a result you can knit different shapes without cutting yarn and weaving in more yarn ends.  Piecework or patchwork knitting, which does require binding off and picking up stitches, was first described in a book published in 1940 by Virginia Woods Bellamy called Number Knitting.  Short row shaping can result in crossings and intersections, vertical and horizontal lines, and the results can be spectacular, says Schreier.   Indeed, the latest issue of Vogue Knitting (Spring/Summer '09)  has one of Schreier's multidirectional designs which I have put in my queue.  It is called the Diagonal Rib Top and it is quite lovely knit in a silk yarn that you can purchase at her yarn company called Artyarns.

So, I will likely be doing some quick little short row design projects to understand how I can deviate from  the usual straight line knitting so commonly employed; and maybe, just maybe, come up with a Short-row design of my own!  Keep thinking outside the box!

The Bigger Lil' Charlee

My test knitter for my original sweater design-Lil' Charlee's Sweater- finished the larger size and it came out perfect.  Their was only one mistake in the pattern which was easily fixed.  I really like the yarn:  Lamb's Pride Wool/Mohair Blend.  I chose these colors because they were more "masculine" and I wanted to demonstrate that the sweater is really a unisex design.   The bias stitch pattern is one of my favorites to knit and the welt in garter as opposed to purl is what really makes the sweater stand out.   The very top picture shows the blocked yellow/brown version which is size 2-4 and the as yet to be blocked larger version in size 6-8.   This picture was taken before blocking, which you can see I did in the bottom pictures.  I would like to submit this design for publication but having only two sizes may not be desirable, so I will need to get some opinions from publishers.  If any of you readers have an opinion as to whether I can publish successfully in only two sizes or not, please comment below.  If  you wish to download this pattern, please see the link under "Free Patterns" in the sidebar.  Thanks.  Next, I am going to talk about modular knitting or multidirectional knitting and one of my favorite knitters. ;)

Progress on the Lace Stole

I am trying to blog while referreeing 5 kids running in and out of the house so forgive me if I end up making no sense.  First of all, this is my first lace project and it is so satisfying to knit this wrap I think I am going to be an avid lace knitter.  However, I must admit I had to rip back about 5 times before I got the Rhythm of the pattern and now I am pretty much knitting without mistakes--ha ha we will see how long that lasts. 

 Well, just in case, if you look closely at the picture you will see a life line running through the knitting.  You have to look super close because it kind of blends in with the wool color-it is gray and about 1 cm from the top line.  Believe it or not I haven't had to use it yet.  

A life-line, if you haven't heard about it yet, is a piece of yarn that runs through every loop of the knitting of a particular row.  You can place it where you want and it is useful because if you have to rip back and totally lose your way among all the loops and yarnovers or whatever else may be in your pattern, you can rip back to the row that contains the life-line and all your stitches will be there waiting for you to put them back on the needle just as they were knitted for that row.  I only put it in every 8 rows and that row is a pure knit row.  Fortunately, I haven't had to rip that far back.  

Again, blocking this in the end will substantially change the drape and feel of the fabric due to reasons posted previously.  Anyway, it doesn't look like I will have it done in one month because of the next design I am working on and I really must get that Master Knitter Level 1 done.  That's is okay.  It will be worth the wait.

I still haven't forgotten about that book review I  promised too. :)

Design Swatches in Manos for The Olivia

So I have finished the swatching and it was not easy to settle on a pattern that brought out the best in this yarn, but I think I have got one. I really wanted to show the waviness of the plies.  There are a lot of soft cottons out there but this one has that unique characteristic.

 I gauged and got my sts for the cast on; now to convert a flat pattern to a circular, chart it, and off we go.  I think this will be a relatively quick knit.  I have changed it from a blouse to a halter and I think it will be fun to do.  I want to submit this one for publication, but that will be a learning process as well and will take a lot of my patience.  I have found a good tech editor in Shelley at Creative Writing Solutions and a good test knitter on Ravelry.

The openwork pattern will be on the bottom and it will be shapeless, but just hang from the midriff section of the body and end above the hip.  I know my girls will love it anyway, even if no one else does. 

 My Master Level 1 work is waiting to get done.  Just have to do the hat and the write-ups.  So maybe I will be ready to turn in next month-I hope.

I also have a great new book to review for next posting, stay tuned.

All Knitting Must Stop!

Now that school is out for the kids-we homeschool-and for mom, I need to get my knitting area organized.  This is only one wall of our homeschool room where my Stuff is stuffed into.  Thank goodness you can't see the floor, which is full of boxes of yarn and papers, charts, you name it.  We are living in a smaller home than we want, while our "real" house is being built.  But I can't stand working in clutter.  I absolutely cannot find my way around my brain when the "backroom" is like this.  So I am sooo glad we take summers off.  It's my time too to get things done and spend a lot more time knitting.  Yet, I am going to stop knitting and get organized and then I know projects will progress faster.  I have toyed with the idea of a knitting studio! Well, I like dreaming.....