it’s the one

after lots of

false starts and stops,

i have ended up with just the yarn

to make exactly the hat that i was looking for.

yes, finally. ahh.

the test knitting has begun. final photos

might be able to happen tomorrow depending upon

weather and availability.

tech editing and layout are next…

then the new pattern can be released.

until then,

let me introduce ‘sinew’:

slouchy when worn straight up,

fitted when worn with the brim folded precisely.

warm, without being bulky or restrictively tight.

it is just what i wanted.sinew 4sqfor the record: straight up simple is not the easiest to do.

there’s nowhere to hide decreases or shaping.

every stitch has to ‘play nice’

with all the others.

every stitch.

whew.

‘hide’ taken from 119:19 of the psalms.

in search of ‘the hat’

i have long been

in search of ‘the hat’.

it has streamlined ribbing,

fast decreases that allow the top to lie nearly flat

while at the same time puckering, intentionally, just a bit.

the stitches are small,

the yarn fine, but even more importantly it is airy and light.

the closest i’ve ever come

is a machine made, store bought one

and that is so not what i had in mind.

a while back i got two skeins of berroco folio

with the intention

of making a hat like billy gibbons’.

this dk weight yarn is soft and weighs next to nothing.

i thought this would give just the right drape to the faux dreads.

in reality, the viscose in the mix makes it almost slippery

which makes manipulating the ‘dread’ stitch pattern a chore

and no matter how cool something looks, i don’t want it to be a chore to make.

so, this week i revisited (been doing a lot of that lately)

the untouched beginnings

of my billy gibbons hat and rolled the lovely

folio back up into a new ball of ‘ready to become’.IMG_2299

decided somewhere in the midst of the rolling, that perhaps this was ‘the yarn’

to make ‘the hat’ with.

a few hours of pleasant knitting later

 and i am 2/3rds of the way to the firm possibility of ‘the hat’.

feeling so excited about it,

that last night when it got too dark to continue the actual knitting,

i wrote out the decreases

this, my friends is just not the way that i usually do things.

my definitions of hat ‘decreases’ are the things that you put lifelines in for

because you wing them as you go

so as to avoid having to write

the actual math out first

(i’m a bad designer, i know, but not this time).

so, if all goes smoothly after the kiddos go to bed,

i should know by midnight if this is ‘the hat’ or if i’ve not quite found ‘it’ yet.

itching to knit a bit more to find out…

‘wing’ taken from 19:4 of exodus.

when it rains, it pours

unplanned,

i have had four patterns released in the last four days.

they each have a story, but things are busy here

and what i don’t want is to

forget to introduce

them to you in all my rushing about

 and tidying up countless other loose ends.Capturein a quick handshake kind of introduction,

(starting with the upper lefthand photo and moving clockwise)

i’d like you to meet:

‘sydney’, a chameleon of a scarf;

‘kvitt’ (in two color combos), a bag lined with its own knitting;

‘mixta’, a fitted hat with graphic cables and small ear flaps;

‘dirwyn’, a cowl of cabled columns.

i hope to find time and focus to tell you more about each one,

but now if i don’t,

at least you’ll recognize them if you ever chance to

pass them on the street.

‘chance’ taken from 9:11 in ecclesiastes.

both photos of ‘kvitt’ by caryn scanlan photography.

photo of ‘sydney’ courtesy of classic elite yarns and decicco photography.

ahh, to rest

it looks like

there is much needed

sleep ahead for both d and i.

yesterday he came home from the doc

with a cast and permission to go back to work.

while the brace and wrap from the hospital was lighter and easier in ways,

the full cast meant that the wrist was protected enough from moving covers and such

that he and i were both able to get decent sleep last night.

it’s amazing how different a little shut eye

makes the next day look.

it’s been hard to watch him in pain

and to be able to do so very little to ease that.

so, when he told me that his exposed fingers were cold

(hanging out the end of the sling, not able to be gloved or even zippered into a coat),

i jumped in to help.

IMG_4086crop2 vintage bulky from berroco,

three double pointed needles,

necessity (which is the mother of invention after all),

a little knit forward, pull backward, repeat…

and a thumbless mitt was ‘born’.

the velcro of the sling is already reeking some havoc

on the lower stitches near the binding off,

but overall, i’m happy with it.

the shaping keeps it in place without being uncomfortably snug

and knowing he’s warm and feels loved is he best part of all.

note: i did not forget

the ‘saga of the jagged edges’.

give me a few more nights of solid sleep

then i’ll be able to continue that tale.

thanks for your patience with things.

until my head clears,

i’ve got my 14 yr old’s fo’s to show you.

more on that tomorrow

(for real, tomorrow).

i don’t need much sleep to be proud of her

and i sure am proud of her.

‘necessity’ taken from 9:7 in 2nd corinthians.

2 days out

this is my newest scarf, mnara,

(pattern is now available here on ravelry).

see how it’s climbed a tree to get a better ocean view?

come on.  use a little imagination…or just ask my 6 yr old.

he’ll explain to you in great detail exactly how it could happen.

‘mnara’ is swahili for ‘tower’ taken from 8:9 in the song of solomon.

flight into folly

i have stood,

teetering on the precipice,

with my thoughts running hot and cold

(should i learn double knitting or should i not?)

mentally plucking off imaginary daisy petals one by one for quite some time now.

i have multiple patterns

queued that

all require this skill

and it was this bag pattern

that finally toppled me firmly

into the ‘must learn’ camp.

still, i was stalling

feeling fearful

of what

the

result might be if i

didn’t immediately

master the technique.

(i am, btw, a bit of a perfectionist, which i mention just in case you hadn’t noticed.)

so i formulated

a seemingly foolproof plan.

i would choose two yarns whose

contrast was so minimal that mistakes

(of which i expected there to be quite a few)

wouldn’t be glaringly noticeable.  sheer genius, see?

but, after getting through 2 or 3 rounds of the colorwork i noticed,

much to my dismay,

the shades blending so very well

that although i didn’t see the mistakes

i also couldn’t quite see which stitches i had gotten right. sigh.

now it’s time for pulling it all out and getting back to the beginning

which is, i fear, the dreaded provisional cast on.

if at first you don’t succeed, buy more yarn and try, try again.

‘fearfully’ taken from 139:14 of psalms.

pretty things

i have a pair

of red velvet gloves.

you would think that they

might be from my life before wee ones

(kids & red velvet don’t get along),

but they were a gift that i

specifically asked for

just this past Christmas.

because i really

like pretty things.

i have a 5 yr old and a 4 yr old

both often covered in goo-

mud to bubble soap to peanut butter and jelly sandwich crumbs,

a teething one yr old (think drool in lots of crazy places),

and a sweet 11 yr old who inherited my general clumsiness.

so ‘the good stuff’ at  my house is up high or secured inside the china cupboard…

but equally as well,

i like plain old rocks.

i like beach rocks and

broken sidewalk rocks

and even gravel when it glitters in the sunlight.

if i go someplace special, i tend to bring home a rock.

not sure why

but they feel real to me-

solid, strong and substantial.

i even have a few special ones with

crystalline growths in them from a small

island in maine and from my bass player’s wedding.

now tomorow, knitcircus will release their summer issue.

my contribution

is a pattern that marries

these two pieces of my life

(the fragile but pretty things and

the sturdy things that carry their own weight) seamlessly together

and really

what knitter

doesn’t love nearly

anything without seams?

*

*

‘fragile’ taken from 8:14 of job.

where’s the love?

i love stockinette

stitch, always have.

there’s something about

the repetition of the stitches

(especially in the round so it’s all knits)

that soothes my muscles and quiets my head.

this week i’ve been bearing down hard on a new stockinette stitch project

and finding myself inexplicably, dare i say it, bored.

this is confusing, particularly since i’ve been

looking forward to getting back

to my partial cardigan

which is absolutely

stockinette stitch.

how’s that work?

go figure.

but, as i daily alter even the smallest of our routines

adjusting to newly being a family of 6 (no longer 5)

i am overjoyed and truly exhausted.

i think that’s the real issue.

my precious stockette

is so soothing that

it’s lulling me

almost to

sleep.

guess i’m not bored after all,

just tired.

whew.

i much prefer tired.

at least it’s something

that i am very,

very familiar

with.

‘familiar’ taken from 139:3 in the psalms.