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Some Fresh Energy

Holy. Carp.

Hi guys! We’ve been busy here at the store. Um, let’s see…where to start.

We have new owners, our dear Hannah’s parents Jim and Linda who are ridiculously sweet and well-adjusted. They are awesome.
An upgraded inventory management system which has fixed many glitches and given us much cause for rejoicing. Also replacing the previous problems with some new ones that we discover anew every day. It’s like an easter egg hunt. Only the eggs are spiky. And poisoned.

A new website and online store which have radically altered our world. It’s alllll about the online store at work right now. “Did you take pictures for X?” “Is Y class up yet?” “Does it have Z already?” Oy!

A new store layout. Everything’s arranged by weight and fiber. Worsted weights are all together, and sorted into different blends. It’s. Lovely.

New Assistant Manager, our dear Hannah.

A new employee, David, who will ALSO be blogging here now that a lot of my time has been sucked away into class scheduling and making sure Stev isn’t forgetting to go to sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom. Don’t worry, I’ll still post from time to time but you should be expecting the majority of the content to be coming from David. Be nice to him, or I will come back and give you all such a kick!

There is sooo much more coming up, but I just had to let ya’ll know what’s going on here at home. News from abroad soon, I promise!

Designs by Marcie Nishioka

Marcie [Ravelry link][Blogger link] has a minimalist, whimsical feeling to her patterns which I like. For instance, I can think of no use for but still adore her knitted cherries – Complete with stems!

Ice Cream Cones by Marcie Nishikoa Copyright 2008

Her patterns are for a few hats, and several small items. It’s playful in a way that a lot of people try to get at but instead of getting wacky she just puts a yarny twist on everyday things – From Ice Cream Cones to Olives

Knitted Cherries by Marcie Nishikoa Copyright 2008

I can see a lot of these things as toys for kids, or just small pretties for yourself. I keep picturing my friend’s dauhter with a bucketful of unmeltable ice cream cones to play with when she’s a bit older and my heart just melts a bit.

These things all seem to be pretty simple knits, using techniques any adventerous beginner could learn pretty quickly. The most advanced would be her Snowflower hats which use stranded colorwork but her Button Tab hat is a great spin on a beginner project and allows plenty of room for personalization which is key, I think, for knitters who want to make things their own.

Japanese Maples

My beautiful sweater is no match for the chill of my heart.

I did this sweater so quickly that many people commented that they don’t even remember seeing me work on it. It’s true, I can churn out a stockinette sweater in a week or two depending on the amount of time I have and how much ripping out has to be done. This one lingered for want of cardiganization. Now that the final process has been completed, you may bask in its glorious fall hue as I have been. It’s very cozy, and surprisingly heavy. My Beaverslide cardigan is much lighter than this one, despite being of a thicker yarn. I think that in the end, I like both of them equally though I may have a slight preference for woolen spun yarns.

This sweater is entirely seamless, with a set-in sleeve a la Zimmermann. Honestly, do I knit anything else? I thought not. The set in sleeve and I have some disagreements. I like to add gussets to sweaters, while the set in sleeve seems to feel that this is most inappropriate and protests by being a bit…mutton-sleevish. It’s not enough to bother me a great deal, but I think in the future I would use only half gussets on the body of the sweater when doing set-in sleeves. On the other hand, my lovely saddle shoulder sweaters have complained not a whit about gussets. and for that I love them.

 

Garter stitch is good for everything

 

 

On the button bands, I decided to do a few things that dear Mrs. Zimmermann suggests. One was to decrease by one third across the back neck halfway through the band. Those of you who say that one ought to bind off and pick up for necklines will be happy to know that this prevents any sagging, flaring, cursing, or unsightly dancing on the part of my neck band. He is perfectly well behaved and lays just as one would wish. I also did mitered corners on the neckband as well, accentuated by a slipped stitch on the wrong side rows. Elizabeth says to purl it – I say to hell with purling. This is a garter stitch button band.

At first I was concerned by the ribbing at the bottom pulling too much and causing the button band to gap awkwardly, but even when fully buttoned the sweater looks well and I have a penchant for leaving the bottom and top buttons undone in most cases anyway. I blame Auntie Mame for my heedless bohemian dress.

Oh yes, the specifics.

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Japanese Maples (heathered) and Natural. Half dozen of the first, one of the other.

Needles: US 3 for the ribbing and body, US 2 for the button- and neckband. I knit loosely, sue me.

Gauge: 5.5 stitches to the inch or something like it. The Heathers of Cascade 220 are thinner than the others, so I find that knitting them on a 3 for me yields a nice fabric. Knitting the thicker colours on 3’s also yields a nice fabric. I don’t pretend to understand why.

Pattern: My dears, if you really think that at this time of life I have any sweaters knit from patterns you have not been reading with us nearly long enough.

Designs by Cailyn Meyer

Today I’m testing out a new idea. Ravelry is chock full of designers both famous and unknown, and I hope to make a regular feature of finding and sharing a new (or new-to-me) designer with you all.

Cailyn Meyer [Ravelry link] uses colorwork in some extraordinary ways.

Albuquerque Gloves Copyright Cailyn Meyer

I think one of the most inspiring of her designs are the Albuquerque Gloves, shown above. She says, on her blog

“These gloves were an attempt to blend the Fair Isle style with traditional southwestern designs instead of snowflakes and diamonds. Although I did add in some “pine branches” in the corners to keep the Fair Isle relationship obvious. (To be honest, though, I think they could just as easily be arrows.) I spend a lot of time looking at Navajo and Pueblo pottery for the pattern bands and palm.”

I find that incredibly artistic and moving, to combine two traditions of crafting in this manner is at the heart of what I love in designers. Innovation, combining techniques or colour palettes, these gloves are a wonderful mingling of two parts of the globe.

Cailyn also has some wonderful sock patterns, my favourite being Danube

Danube Copyright Cailyn Meyer

The cabling on these is so delicate and performed with such skill, I have only the greatest awe for the designer AND anyone who knits these. This would be far outside my realm of patience. But I do admire them so.

You can find Cailyn’s patterns on her blog The Daily Skein or on Ravelry.com

Edited To Add:

A new design has JUST come out from The Daily Skein and you can find it here.

WRX Copyright Cailyn Meyer

You Stupid Twat

Dear Twat,

I know you stole the scarf I made out of Granite from Nashua, the one with the mitered ribs that I designed. I know because it was here in the shop yesterday and it’s not here today. I hope it strangles the life out of you in a bizarre accident involving a bus door and my ridiculously long scarf.

Sincerely,

Rodger M.

P.S. If you see a long, skinny scarf where the ribs meet in the middle and it’s a thick-and-thin gray blue like the Granite yarn, tackle that pig and get it off of them. That scarf is mine.

The Convalescence: Week 2

Stev’s doing fine, it’s the second week of her recovery and all is well. She’s already off of the heavier pain killers and is enjoying the constant barrage of visitors. Nikolyn has made her a flax-seed pillow with a reverse applieque and very stylized…um. Uterus. On it. It’s really cute, I shall have to get photos of it.

The store is holding together alright, I suppose, but more and more my future here seems somewhat limited and I am drawn again to my hopes of becoming a nurse. A dream deferred, as they say. So we shall see, life’s short and very long all at once so I’ll do my best.

The knitting of the blanket is done, and I must say it’s most attractive. Even the mitred mosaic squares in each corner. Yeah, I did that. I also made up the mosaic pattern for the border. It’s pretty simple, but I really like it. I’ve also begun the knitting of the first sleeve for Stev’s sweater. Omg, short row top-down sleeve caps? SO. EASY. Almost felt stupid having never done one before and then seeing how easily it could be done. I sort of just made it up, but I’ve heard that Barbara Walker has great instructions in Knitting From The Top and there are also good instructions in Knitting In The Old Way, which is a book I own and highly reccommend.

137

This is blog entry 137. I can’t believe it. That’s a rather arbitary number, but what it really means is that I’ve already written 136 other posts. That just seems rather…a lot. And yet you clamor for more! I am happy to provide, of course.

Some reasons why October is an important month for queers and lovers of queers everywhere.

October 12th was the anniversarry of the death of Matthew Shepard

October is GLBT History month.

And it’s Halloween. Which is like Gay Christmas for some of us.

Onto the knitting.

I’m working on borders for a blanket that one of my customers did not finish because she died of leukemia. She was about my age. It sounds corny, but out of all the squares and all the people who added to that blanket…Bethany’s are my favourites. Maybe because I know the rest of the blanket is just a guess. A supposition of what she would have liked, of what she would have done and I am a person who likes to know. At least I know those two squares of hers are exactly as she would have done them, because she did.

Stevanie is having surgery today, which makes it more imperative than ever to finish her sweater. After all, once the girl is up and about again it will be nearly Christmas and that is definitely a time of year to have lovely handmade gifts.

My Slow Descent Into Domesticity

Today I found myself looking at vintage candy dishes on Etsy.

It all started with baking my own bread. Then I started wearing an apron and cleaning on my days off. I thought, “If I plan my meals, I can save some extra money by buying things on sale and using leftovers smartly.” After that it was a small jump to start baking all of my own bread-things like dinner rolls, foccacia, and the like. I found perusing my cookbooks even more fun that usual, I put away all of my laundry (if you have ever lived with me, you know how utterly shocking that is), and then to top it off I bought Jane Brocket’s book.

Oh dear. Jane’s blog has long inspired me with her beautiful photography and essays on a slew of domestic topics from knitting socks to the profusion of tulips she plants each November with her son’s help. And now I have her in my home, or at least on my bookshelf.

This book is extraordinary. Jane goes the whole-hog in her own home, surrounding herself and loved ones with saturated colours, whimsical cakes, and gorgeous quilts. I hope to someday take my own home and make it my own on the scale that she has – But Jane is well aware that all of us may practice our gentle arts to different degrees and encourages us to do whatever it is we like. Whether you like to knit, sew, cross-stitch, bake, or arrange flowers, Jane wants you to explore your sense of color and subject matter, to do what makes you feel safe and provide comfort in your domestic space.

That’s not to say that Jane does not also advocate for stretching ourselves to find new things that please us – Recombining colours, mediums, or experiences to heighten our enjoyment or just to broaden our understanding. One thing is certain, for all the time she spends cultivating her relationships and domestic space, Jane is anything but a homebody – intellectually or otherwise.

I would say that if you enjoy seeing what somebody else has done to make their home, and you enjoy finding where others draw inspiration, you will more than likely enjoy Jane’s book. I will say, I don’t read it for very long stretches. It’s like getting lost in a Fairy Land – If I stay too long, I may never wish to come back!

As a plus: We just got this book and a few others in stock. Please check them out, they’re all wonderful!

Seamless. Er, Nearly Seamless.

The transition from August to September has been a little bumpy. Shipments have been coming in spurts at the shop, so we go through a frenzy of activity and then a few days of normalcy. Of course, business is showing that gradual upswing that comes when people feel Fall’s crisp grip on their t-shirted selves. Yesterday I stepped out in my summer uniform, t-shirt, jeans, flip-flops and nearly shivered. Not just from the cold. The affection I have for Oregon’s weather is slightly unhealthy. And that means that in my world it never gets hotter than 70, and never colder than 40. Portland isn’t part of Oregon, at least weather-wise. Summer is stupid hot and we get snow here. Snow! Of all the inconvenient things.

Ahem.

I’ve started to run every morning, doing whole miles along with pushups every other morning. I have to say, it’s sort of fun to think about getting better and going farther. Also I like to think about how it will change my shape. I’ve never been a thin or in-shape person, as a kid who eschewed running around or tag for reading books and hanging out with grown-ups. So for me it’s kind of like a big surprise. What do I look like 5 pounds lighter? 10 pounds? 15? Who can say? I’m interested to find out though.

For pushups I am following this website’s plan. It’s pretty easy since it always retests you and puts you in the best level for your development on a weekly basis.

I’m also going to stop buying bread and start making it myself. It’s cheap fun and when you’re as broke as I am, that’s the best kind. Plus it impresses boys. At least the kind of boys I’m interested in.

Nikolyn is knitting me a sweater in exchange for fingerless mitts. It’s what she asked for, so don’t look at me like that! She also asked for a bonnet, which I will happily make her. She’s making the Manly Maze [Ravelry Link] sweater from No Sheep For You out of the original yarn, Hemp for Knitting.

The neckband on Stev’s sweater is effin’ weird, guys. The pattern has its reasons, I suppose, but there is all manner of oddness in that puppy. If this dog were at the pound, it’d be the three-legged drooly one with the crazy eye that swivels around like a loose marble. Yeah, really. Cute, but odd. Anyway, it’s just rib until my brain melts now and then I get to start the sleeves! Hurrah! For the sleeves, I believe I will try a top-down set in sleeve since I am a lazy knitter who is against sewing when I don’t have to. It’s not that I can’t, I just don’t like to. Now that will be seamless.