A page from my father.
15 Nov 2010 2 Comments
in Knitting Content Ahead, Ranting
One of the things my father is known for in my family is his writing skill. He is a published author, a grammarian, and an enthusiastic writer of letters to the editor. I think I took a page from him this morning.
In my previous post, I explained all about NaKniSweMo. You can imagine my surprise when I saw this article in the New York Times on Saturday the 13th.
Let me excerpt.
November is National Novel Writing Month. Perhaps you know that already. Perhaps you’re trying to reach word 23,338 by night’s end. If you don’t know NaNoWriMo, think of it as a literary marathon with nearly 200,000 mostly amateur writers. The goal? To write a 50,000-word “novel” in 30 days.
“Novel,” in NaNoWriMo-speak, means “laughably awful yet lengthy prose.” What began in 1999 with 21 friends has grown into a nonprofit called the Office of Letters and Light, whose purpose is to get people to throw their literary inhibitions aside, work within a communal deadline, and have fun.
Imagine, a contest called NaSweKniMo — National Sweater Knitting Month — in which first-time knitters knit their hearts out. In many cases that would be a total waste of wool.
I don’t know what disappoints me more. I’m used to the slightly mocking tone, although I don’t really appreciate it or the “waste of wool” comment. But the editor can’t even be bothered to Google the notion before he hits publish.
I stewed about this for a few days, and then this morning wrote the following letter to the editor.
To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing to notify you of an error in your Editorial ””Word After Word After Word” which appeared on November 13, 2010.
In the article, the editor is discussing National Novel Writing Month. He/she makes a tongue in cheek comment:
“Imagine, a contest called NaSweKniMo — National Sweater Knitting Month — in which first-time knitters knit their hearts out. In many cases that would be a total waste of wool.”
Such an endeavor does indeed exist and has since November 2006. NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month) is the brainchild of editor and knitting author Shannon Oakey and was first brought to life on her blog in 2006.
I just wanted to say that I’m surprised and disappointed by your article – both that the editor feels the need to call what we do a “waste of wool” and that he/she can’t be bothered to do basic research on Google (when I enter “nasweknimo” in the search box I get no less than 198 results).
I don’t expect a response, but I feel better now.
NaKniSweMo
10 Nov 2010 1 Comment
Every year, in November, professional and amateur writers gather together for “thirty days and thirty nights of literary abandon!” The event is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and the rules are simple: write a novel of 50,000 words between November 1 and November 30.
Not to be outdone, the knitters have come up with their own version: NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month). The rules are simple: knit a sweater of 50,000 stitches between November 1 and November 30.
Yes, we’re crazy. I fully admit that. But nothing like a little challenge in the midst of knitting Christmas gifts, winter gear, finishing old projects and starting new ones.
This year my challenge is the Victoria Buttoned Raglan.
When I saw this sweater about a year ago in a Webs catalog I knew I wanted to make it. And I had the perfect yarn: Madelinetosh Vintage in the Tart colorway. It’s a rich complex red and I could SEE it in my mind.
Well it’s November 10th today, 1/3 of the way through the month and I’m up to 16,858 stitches and I’m LOVING it. Want a preview?
More to come…
Connections
20 May 2010 2 Comments
in Knitting Content Ahead, Off the Needles
I was recently reminded of those old games we used to play in the car as kids. You know what I mean – the ones where you had to find all the states on license plates? Or count the number of VW bug cars? Or find all the letters of the alphabet in signs (damn that Q – we always hoped there would be a La Quinta inn nearby!).
The theme of a lot of those games was connections. Each thing you found or said was in some way connected to what came next. So here are my connections.
***
I just finished knitting a beautiful shawl for my friend Helena in Wales. The finished shawl is so graceful and majestic – I think of it as eagle wings, but Wes called it the bat shawl, which I’m SURE Helena would appreciate.
The Pattern: Agatha
The Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon’s Kypria in A Fateful Plan and Wedding Gifts
The Needles: US 6′s
***
Coincidentally, as I was knitting Helena’s shawl, I was also making myself socks out of some sock yarn that she had dyed! The socks are simple, stockinette socks with a short row heel. Plain and simple. The yarn is a bit rustic – it feels like sturdy, warm wool. They are so cozy to wear and I love them – I’ve already worn them several times since finishing them! I cannot recommend the yarn highly enough, and this particular colorway just resonated with me!
The Pattern: My own plain vanilla sock
The Yarn: Midnight Sheep Superwash Sock in Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
The Needles: US 0′s
***
Socks! The connection this time is socks. This week I received a delightful gift, a love bomb if you will, from my friend Kippi. A while ago, perhaps 6 months, there was a particular skein I lusted after inexplicably. It was called Pickle Jar and was bright green, and wasn’t (and still isn’t) my best colorway, but I wanted that skein and some Pickle socks with a fierce passion. Well Kippi snatched that skein out from under me (all the while trying to talk me out of buying it for myself) and made me pickle socks! Thank you Kippi – you are a wonderful friend!
Spring Fling!
29 Apr 2010 6 Comments
in A Picture's Worth 1000 Words, Fabulous Friends, Knitting Content Ahead, Off the Needles, Weekend Update
This year I was lucky enough to get into The Loopy Ewe‘s Spring Fling! The Loopy Ewe is a great online yarn store that is housed in St. Louis. Once a year it hosts “Spring Fling” which is a knitting event for 125 knitters featuring classes taught by knitting authors and designers and yarn dyers. It’s basically a long weekend of immersion into the knitting world. In addition to classes, there’s great food, lots of friendly knitters and a shopping trip to Loopy Central (the yarn store!).
So last Thursday my friend PlazaJen and I piled all of our stuff in the car and headed for St. Louis! We arrived around noon, checked in, and started meeting the knitters. The interesting thing is that, with popularity of Ravelry these days, I knew many of the attendees from online before I ever met them. I even roomed with someone I had met through Ravelry!
Around 3pm we could get our registration materials and our goody bag and of course the cupcakes! Each year Laura and Leslie of the Knit Girllls start the weekend off by picking up cupcakes from the Cupcakery. Ever want to know what almost 15 dozen cupcakes look like?
The goodie bag this year was FABULOUS. It featured a sock pattern by Wendy Johnson, a skein of Wollmeise yarn in the exclusive colorway Femme Fatale, a Loopy Ewe Spring Fling Mug, a Loopy and a few other extras all delivered in a Loopy Ewe Messenger bag!
After registration 67 of us headed over to the mexican restaurant for the newbie dinner. Holy Margaritas Batman! Then we headed to the conference center for the dessert reception and knitting time. Then it was off to bed!
The next morning we got up early, breakfasted and began the day’s activities. My first activity was a Sweater Class with Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed. Jared was friendly, knowledgeable and a great teacher. He spent the class teaching us how to design our own sweaters, getting into the nitty gritty of how to measure yourself and how to do the mathematics and achieve the sweater you want. I can’t say enough good things about this class – I learned a lot and I can’t wait to apply some of his tips and tricks to my next sweater.
After the morning class, we had lunch and then I had a free afternoon of knitting. I got to hang out with my roomie and work on a variety of projects, including an Ishbel for myself! More details on that near the end of this post!
That evening we headed over to the Drunken Fish for sushi and drinks. Then it was back to the conference center for an evening talk on how to better photograph your yarns and knits led by Mr. Loopy himself! The talk was really interesting and gave me some tips that I applied when I got home taking pictures of my new stash. Also notable for the evening is that my roomie’s husband brought us Ted Drewes, which we had all been craving. (For those who don’t know Ted Drewes is a St. Louis tradition – frozen custard!) We were trying to fly below the radar so we didn’t set off a riot, so imagine my surprise when a picture of us ended up on The Loopy Ewe blog!
I could barely wait for the next day because I got to go shopping at Loopy Central! Sadly I didn’t take any pictures in the shop so you’ll have to be content with pictures of what I got! While there I managed to pick up an extra sock club kit including a skein of Wollmeise in the Guide to the Galaxy Colorway! I also picked up enough Madelinetosh Tosh DK in the Cherry colorway to do a delicious cabled sweater in the fall. My last two splurges were a skein of A Swell Yarn Shop‘s Duets DK in Merlot Spritz and a skein of The Sanguine Gryphon‘s Skinny Bugga in Tarantula Hawk that I had been lusting after for a while.
After shopping I returned to the hotel for lunch and another free knit period. Then we had a full group picture. After that, those of us who had knit stripey Vesper socks go together for a photo op. Remember my melons? Can you spot them?
For dinner we went back to the Mexican restaurant for more margaritas (that might be where I was “hanging around”). Then it was on to the final evening party. There were door prizes and fabulous cake balls!
All in all it was an amazing weekend. I met so many people and took so few pictures I can’t believe it’s already over. One last souvenir, however, is the shawl I completed while there. (Yes – I knit a shawl in just over 4 days!) I’m calling it my Spring Fling Ishbel!
The Pattern: Ysolda Teague’s Ishbel
The Needles: US 6′s
The Yarn: Wollmeise 100% in Rhabarber
The Verdict: LOVE LOVE LOVE this shawl. It’s the third one I’ve made of this pattern, but the first for me! I had enough yardage to add some extra lace repeats and make it a bit bigger and I think it will be the perfect summer shawl to throw over my shoulders when the office gets a bit chilly or I’m out in the evening. And every time I look at the shawl I will remember how much fun I had with my friends while knitting it!
Oh Mo.
29 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
In February of last year, Mo Rocca stepped in it….
This year, we had a bit of a followup:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
22 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend, A Picture's Worth 1000 Words, Knitting Content Ahead
Well despite the fact that March is for WIPS, I did cast on something new this weekend.
In the past I have challenged myself to learn new techniques with some hand-dyed skeins of yarn. Of late, I have been very inspired by Wenat and her pooling stoles. You can see that I experimented with pooling colors around Christmas. Well I decided it was time to try again.
This stole is going to be a for a friend on Ravelry who sent me a skein of yarn she wanted knit up using the pooling technique. This particular skein of Wollmeise is in the colorway Raupe Nimmersatt, which is the German name for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Yesterday I dove in and with only a little tinking I had the first pattern repeat done:
Do you notice anything special about this?
How about now?
Lost and found.
04 Mar 2010 1 Comment
in Deep Thoughts, Fabulous Friends, Knitting Content Ahead, Uncategorized
Lost.
Last night, at knit night, the local yarn store owner announced that she is closing the shop at the end of April. For most of us this was both unsurprising, and a shock, all at the same time. It is bittersweet news for the owner, who is closing the shop so that she can spend more time with her family – especially her new little one. We all are delighted that she will be able to do what she wants to do most right now. And yet, I know that we all are feeling a sense of loss today.
The yarn store, “my” yarn store, is one of the first places I went when I moved to Kansas City just over two years ago. I was immediately welcomed by the owner and by a group of wonderful women whom I have now been knitting with every Wednesday night for the last two years. I have made most of my friends here in Kansas City at this shop. When I first moved here and didn’t have steady work, I can’t count the number of days I enjoyed the hospitality of the store, just stopping in and knitting on the couch for hours at a time. This store truly has been a home away from home and I will miss it terribly.
***
Found.
Over the years, I’ve often marveled at how friendships are formed, how they ebb and flow, and how people I thought I would always be friends with have drifted away and people I thought would just be passing ships have stuck close to me. I was particularly reminded of this when my college roommate told me two nights ago that she was offered a faculty position at a university less than four hours from me.
This is someone I lived with three out of the four years in college. We have spent the last ten years with almost 2000 miles between us; when I left college I returned home to Los Angeles and she continued on to graduate school in the Midwest. How could I know that two years ago I would move back to the Midwest? Or that a year ago she would move to Texas? Or that now we would be so close that we could eagerly plan weekend trips to visit each other?
To be clear, I never thought that our friendship would disappear. And yet for many years it waned while we pursued different paths. I am so thrilled that our paths cross again though. It makes me once again feel like I’ve found something precious.
Progress Report
19 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in A Picture's Worth 1000 Words, Knitting Content Ahead
I left you all last week with a post about the Olympics, and what I planned to knit. I just thought I’d give you a bit of a progress report.
One Back: Check
Two Sleeves: Check
Front: Well I’ll give you a little peek here…
I may even finish this weekend!
Citius, Altius Fortius
11 Feb 2010 2 Comments
in Knitting Content Ahead, The Boob Tube
The 2010 Winter Olympics begin tomorrow in Vancouver and I’m super excited. Not only am I an avid watcher of the Olympics, I participate in my own way.
Back in 2006, the Yarn Harlot challenged knitters across the world to undertake their own Olympic challenge, to tack a challenging project from start to finish within the 2 week time frame that the Olympics run. The rules were simple: Pick a project that will challenge you, but isn’t impossible to complete. Cast on during the opening ceremonies, cast off by the closing ceremonies. Push yourself and earn your own gold medal.
In 2006, I was still a relatively unadventurous knitter. I decided that I would tackle my first felted purse. Imagine my surprise when I knit the whole thing in 2 days, and had it felted within another 2. So much for challenge, eh?
This year, I plan to tackle a sweater for me. I plan to knit the Climbing Vines Pullover as featured in Interweave Knits Winter 2008.
I will be knitting my sweater out of Queensland Kathmandu, a wonderful Aran weight mix of Merino, Silk and Cashmere, in my favorite color, Teal.
The torch is almost lit… and away we go!
Jumpers
31 Jan 2010 1 Comment
in Funny, Knitting Content Ahead
With a side of Goat Belly:
Thanks to Teri for forwarding this one my way!
