but,
if i had
spent yesterday
afternoon with my
knitta’s from the taunton s’n’b
i would have (finally) learned
and gotten about a big toe worth
of a skew sock done.
now you know tiny needles and thin yarns are not my forte
or my preference by any means
(give me bulky on size 11’s
on any day of the week)
so certainly this did
not just happen.
not at all.
ok?
and thanks to fiendishchef for the phone pic.
pattern writing is not something
that i would do alone
by any means.
i design,
but there are
oh so many people involved
and my ideas would surely be lost,
in the swirl of the details,
without all the help.
as i wrote ‘asa‘ out,
the line-up went something like this:
1st there was wallace & gromit in ‘a close shave’
inspiring the super bulky yarn & thick stripes.
next my cousin j, who
held the corners of my sketch flat
against the warm ocean breezes of vacation
while i snapped quick photos at dusk for the official proposal
and a larger
troupe of cousins
were hugely responsible
for entertaining me with their rowdy laughter
while i knit, and reknit, until the swatch was ‘just right’.
fourthly, it took spud and chloe supplying
all the necessary super bulky to knit the final sweater.
(they’ve just added new colors to all 3 of their yarns.
check them out here & here & here.
gorgeous, no?)
fifthly, it took the camaraderie of m
sitting on the livingroom floor very late into the night,
as we scribbled out rectangles & math formulas (& laughed at our ‘skills’)
to accurately determine just how many yards each different size sweater required.
then, of course, my faithful friends at taunton s’n’b
who helped me make a final choice of buttons when i teetered,
on the edge of resorting to ‘eenie, meeni, miney moe’, in the depths of indecision.
and up 6th is a for the super fast, super helpful test-knitting
(in bright pink and yellow, no less. how girly fun!)
while over the oceans from me, j was creating the schematic.
brandy fortune was up next taking the photos
that produced the final, adorable, pictures.
along with the rest of the gals
for their tireless efforts
to put out the consistent, high quality
on-line magazine that petite purls always is.
then, after all these fingers in the pie,
the pattern finally sees the ‘light of day’.
and if those who came in contact with it to this point
were willing to be honest about any weaknesses in my original idea
and to enhance the strengths of the pattern as it came together,
then there is satisfaction at the end of the process for me.
in the case of ‘asa’
there was also an afternoon visit
to my favorite lys where i loaded up
on new yarns that fueled fresh ideas to start the process all over again…
almost every wednesday night
‘papa’ comes home
(from work)
just before dinner
and i head out to ‘clack and yack’
(with the taunton girls).
*
last week my youngest saw me
pick up my bag to go and said,
“where ya going mama?”
*
i said,
“knitting”
which she quickly followed with
“but i want to go, too’.
*
“i hear you, baby. but, mama’s going
to knit with her friends.
it’s really only for big grown-up girls.”
*
“oh no. not like that.
you don’t understand.
i only want to go to little knitting, mama.”
(she makes me smile, this sweet little one of mine.)
my friend k, brought her newly handmade
stitch markers to knitting this week.
we oohed and aahed, amazed
that she found the time,
with her daughter a newborn,
to be so creative.
then she gave each of us one.
all smiles and tickled pink
(or in this case blue),
we were like kids on Christmas morning.
now mine looks
like it has always been there,
hanging jauntily off the front
of my jordana paige knitting satchel
(the one i bought at my favorite lys,
fancie purls thanks to ann
in plymouth massachusetts,
as i celebrated the winning of the aslan trends knitting challenge in 2009).
i have been holding off writing
because what i’m working on i’m not at liberty to tell all about.
i’m not so good with telling half of the story.
i’m more a truth straight ahead at full steam kind of gal.
but, i was told by my friends at the taunton s’n’b last night that partial telling
is what’s done in cases like this.
here’s my best foot forward on that front.
etsy fascinates me.
i really, really like all that handmade creative stuff set in one place
just waiting for me to wander through.
all those many ideas make me think.
and that is where i found mike of north street crochet.
this man meticulously, in his free time, turns unused t-shirts into yarn.
sturdy and machine washable in worsted or bulky weight
the official name for this fiber is ‘tarn’.
so
i’ve been
working with it.
have created a pattern.
have had that pattern accepted by petite purls.
will have that pattern available there when the spring issue goes live in mid-march.
boy, oh boy.
(a little peek)
i have so much more to say. but, i won’t
just yet.
i’ll be good.
‘think’ taken from 4:8 of philipians.
