Category Archives: Notions

the bright spot

Posted on by

despite all my efforts

it’s been ‘one of those days’.

messy things spilled, children argued,

what i tried to write dried up, and what i tried to say came out sideways.

everything i put my hands too seemed to crumble into dust.

by 10am, i’d about given up on attempting the cable chart that’s waiting for me

and the simple math that’s holding up another design.

by noon, i was praying to keep calm

 and stay out of trouble.

so much for all the things i’d wanted to get done and make progress on.

shortly before 3pm, ‘the box’ arrived.

and i admit that i smiled a big ‘oh how beautiful this is’ smile.crater lake 'mazama'now, the hardness of the day did not disappear, but it dimmed just a little bit.

more things spilled, more kids fought, the cable chart and numbers remained untouched.

but, this soft bulky weight superwash

made me think back to the excitement i felt

the first time i held ‘crater lake’.

it reminded me

that i was looking forward to it arriving,

because i have an idea of what i want it to be,

and working with my hands to see if the yarn agrees with my idea

is something that i like to do. something that i can do. something that i will do…

as soon as i get the latest round of spilt milk

out from under the stove.

‘milk’ taken from 3:17 of exodus.

one more chance to be heard

Posted on by

i am finally allowed to tell you

that the mini collection i entered in the holla knits mini competition

is ‘status of the stratus‘. but you’d already guessed that, hadn’t you?'status of the stratus' collagemine made it to the top four collections,

so now there’s more voting.

to help you make your choice (because they’re all

interesting collections by interesting indie designers),

you can click on any of the four main photos shown

to be linked to the full info for each.

also there are some

questions that the four of us answered

and detailed descriptions of the construction and yarns

that we’re each thinking about.

you can vote once a day, but for as many of the four of us as you’d like to.

that’s a fun twist, no?

so take a minute and support indie designers

by placing a vote. i did.

‘tell’ taken from 9:18 of first samuel.

‘nyilt’

Posted on by

as promised

today is new pattern day.

knit up in sport weight sloan (from raventwist)

the fun is in how much room the streamlined shape of this wrapped poncho

leaves you to express yourself in your own way.

my friend wendy and i

stopped

one saturday morning on the way

to hanging with the knittahs, to take these pics for the pattern.IMG_1104 4x6i was happy and comfortable and having fun. can you tell?

for me, the best knits are the ones that make me smile.

this one sure did (and sure does).

‘nyilt’ is for sale on

ravelry here.

photos by wmr photography.

‘express(ly)’ taken from 20:21 of second samuel.

from right here

Posted on by

i find myself in the place where i am.

i determine to aim for better and then, almost as an afterthought,

i look around and invariably, i look down.IMG_1139 up sqthe truth is,

that it’s a long way down from here

so maybe, just maybe, i’m not doing as badly

as i thought i might be feeling that i was.

who knew.

(note: my current emotional state brought to you by the promised

second sneak peek photo of the new pattern ‘nyilt’

to be released tomorrow.

stay tuned…)

‘place’ taken from 28:11 of genesis.

the bottom before the top

Posted on by

as the last half of august rolls around

it is hot and the lustre of the summer is wearing off for my kids.

they’re missing the routine of the classroom and i’m missing having a little quiet

now and again.

so my blogging is irregular

and my time is limited

(puzzles to assemble, swings to swing on, chocolate chip muffins to bake…)

but, i have a pattern that somehow got ready release in the middle of it all.

don’t get ahead of me, it’s not released yet.

i’m sure though,

that i can have it ready for friday.

so, i’m going to throw a sneak peek out today and tomorrow

and by then friday will have arrived. good deal?

ok, so here’s your first peek:IMG_1052 sq

boots always make me feel more strong and brave than i feel without them

which makes this a good place to start.

another shot to come tomorrow.

i promise.

photo by wmr photography.

‘brave’ taken from 16:13 of first corinthians.

hurdles

Posted on by

neil degrasse tyson,

(renowned astrophysicist, etc)

talks about his colleagues in the field of science.

actually, he is talking about all of us, in particular

those who own their specific individual diagnoses

and conquer the world irregardless.

this is good stuff. so simple and yet so profound.

when you come to a hurdle, what do you do?

you jump over it.

’nuff said.

‘world’ taken from 5:14 of matthew.

watg

Posted on by

didn’t intend to

leave this to the last minute,

but i just got home from vacation last night,

so you’ll be understanding with me, right?

i designed an openwork crochet bag

and it made it to the final 8 in the ‘wool and the gang’

crochet bag design contest (they call it ‘gang lab #4’).

i don’t crochet much,

but when i get the itch, i like to scratch it.

even if my mind tends to think in knits and purls, ch and dc sts are a lot of fun.

in this contest the pic of my bag has my name attached to it.

that means i can show you a photo.

ready?

here it is in all its ‘sling me over your shoulder for the farmer’s market or beach’ vibe:

'sun shine sack' by talitha kuomi (1)i got it this far, then i brought it to

the saturday morning sit and knit at in the loop

so the gals could weigh in on how to deal with the round bottom

and how it meets the straps.

using their suggestions,

i now think that the bottom came out the very best because it looks like this:

'sun shine sack' by talitha kuomi (2)i do love how in the knitting/crochet community

we can all put our heads together to come up with

better than we would on our own.

works for life, too,

but it’s often harder to get everyone together to weigh in.

if you’re on facebook and want to vote for this bag

(before 3pm in new york city tomorrow)

you can use this link.

a bit more unpacking to do post vacation

but i’m getting ready to jump back into regular life in the morning

and to tell the truth, i’m pretty excited about it.

i’ve got lots of new ideas

i am ready to

play with.

‘better’ taken from 118:9 in the psalms.

#hkminicomp

Posted on by

holla knits is an online knitting magazine

with a quirky vibe that is both fun and innovative.

they do at least 2 things that i haven’t seen done anywhere else.

first, they use a ‘typical model size’ person

and then they knit the piece larger and use a more ‘normal size’ person

for all the patterns. i really like the honest grip on reality which that implies.

second, the patterns are all knit twice

not only in 2 different sizes, but in 2 different yarns:

one is an indie yarn and the other from a larger yarn company.

what a great feel you’re able

to get for how each pattern knits up

when they’re shown in different sizes and different yarns. gold!hkminicompthe reason i’m telling you this now is

they’re having a contest where 8 indie designers

get to have their mini collections voted on to see which 2 collections

will be featured in an issue next year.

i’m excited to be 1 of the 8.

you can see the 8 collections here and you can vote for your fav(s) here.

now, i’m not allowed to tell you which one is mine,

but you’re allowed to vote for as many as you want to once a day starting today

(ending on august 13th).

do you think you know me?

do you think you’d know my style in a heartbeat?

test yourself and on august 14th i’ll be able to tell you how you did.

also, this is such a great way to support indie designers

and holla knits on-line magazine.

i’m headed over there myself

 to vote now, too…

‘support’ taken from 11:18 of romans.