Limitations

So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time
-The Eagles

Nobody like limitations. They nag at us. They restrict us. They hem us in.

They pinch like a shirt collar two sizes too small.

I saw a new commercial this morning on television (Now see, if I had Tivo, this wouldn't have happened. I'm not sure if this is a drawback or a selling point. Perhaps we get enough freebies in this lifetime. Perhaps we should be required to watch the blamed things to earn our MTV. Perhaps it builds character. Perhaps I'm full of s#@t.)

The commercial ended with the slogan, "Because nothing is more beautiful than unlimited potential."

I don't remember what they were selling (sorry ad-men) but I agree whole heartedly with the sentiment.

Unlimited potential is the most intoxicating feeling in the world.

We, here in the states, don't seem to deal well with limitations. I don't know if it is the result of all those wide open spaces, manifest destiny, the new frontier. Or if it just that we are, by nature, stubborn.

The good ol' US of A was born from the willingness of people to leave behind what they knew as familiar, and venture into the unknown. We are all (with the exception of Native-Americans) newcomers. And all of our ancestors, at some point, decided to throw off the limitations of their old life and forge a new one in a new land.

Whether they came over on the Mayflower or crossed the border last week.

We want to:

• Worship God in our own way.
• Keep a gun on the top shelf of the closet if we so choose.
• Decide for ourselves who is best suited to run the country
• Be able to drive our cars as often, as far, and as fast as we like.
• Own our own homes
• Eat out when we are busy. Or tired. Or stressed out.

We want to live out the "American dream" We want - we have the right, dammit - to be free.

And we don't take kindly to someone or something telling us,

"You can't."

There's a reason it is called the "Bill of Rights" instead of the "Bill of Desires."

But a funny thing happens on the way to our own individual declarations of independence.

We bump up against limits.

• Not enough time.
• Not enough money.
• Not enough health.
• Not enough faith.
• Not enough us.

I don't know about you, but I spend most of my days close to home these days. Cuts down on the gas bill.

I don't know about you, but I worry that my house is unsellable in today's market.

I don't know about you, but both my candidates lost in the Indiana primary yesterday - and the one that won the primary is a walking advertisement for term limits.

I don't know about you, but my grocery bill scares me.

For every freedom, there is a counterbalance; a price that must be paid for the lifting of the limits. Just like the speeding tickets we get when we ignore the legal limit.

I can drive all I want, if I'm willing to sell my children into white slavery.

I can sell my house tomorrow, provided I'm willing to accept $30,000 less than it was worth a year ago.

I can overthrow majority rule, if I am willing to accept dictatorship.

I can eat out every night, provided I don't mind bankrupting our retirement savings and ruining my health with too many Mcfatty Mcmeals.

Maybe, limits are trade-offs of a sort. An ever-shifting series of transactions with life.

I spent the last couple days, widening my search for the "perfect" spot to vacation in with my DH next year for our 30th anniversary.

You know the one:

• Close to the beach, but not so close that topless women are parading by (although DH probably would not think this a problem)
  
• Comfortable, but not fancy
• Charming wildlife like birds & monkeys, but no mosquitoes
  
• Romantic, but not smarmy
• Warm, but not hot
• Private, but not desolate
• Quiet, but not boring
• Fun, but not frenzied.
• Nice, but inexpensive

I feel like Goldilocks...

Every time I think I have found something that is "just right"...

it isn't.

Usually because it costs too much. There is no free lunch people. especially when that lunch is a tropical picnic on a deserted isle.

And to make matters worse, my computer is running like

M-O-L-A-S-S-E-S-----

S-L-O-O-O-O-O-W M-O-O-O-L-A-A-A-A-S-S-E-E-E-E-S

Like my pocketbook, I am afraid it has reached its limit. I ran a disk clean up and de-frag yesterday, but I am still waiting for things to load.

And waiting...

And waiting...

Still waiting...

I am trying to think positively here, and come up with a philosophical reason why limits are good. It's hard right now to look beyond the frustration.

And then I think of Baby Boy, and how, when he was two, I put a gate between him and the stairs, so he wouldn't fall. I am sure he felt just as frustrated then as I do today.

But the limits kept him safe.

I don't know if I am safer because of my limits. But I do know enough to respect them. I can sense when things are getting out of whack.

I know when I exceed my limits. When my gauge is too loose and I need to tighten up the stitches of my life.

And I can sense intuitively when my limits are bigger than I realize. When it is time to widen the circle of my experience, change to larger needles, and turn what I thought should be a tightly wound scarf

Into a capacious afghan.

When I was younger, I pushed the limits more, as youth are wont to do. Now I am (usually) content to live within my limits.

But sometimes, it just feels like the limits chafe.

Sometimes I hear the irresistible call of unlimited potential:

"Just because you haven't, doesn't mean you can't."

So I pick up my needles again, and...

Dream...

Design...

Create...

Fulfill...

And the limits?

Fade to black.

Black & White

The world is black, the world is white
It turns by day and then by night
A child is black, a child is white
Together they grow to see the light, to see the light
- Three Dog Night

As a designer I often key my designs from the inspirational color: Moroccan spice, dandelion yellow, purple iris, lettuce green, foggy gray.

So, when someone commented the other day that they couldn't see the pattern for Crocus Pocus because the color got in the way, it made me think.

I know exactly what she means; sometimes a color just can't seem to coexist peacefully with a pattern, no matter how many different things you try. One is oil. And the other is water. And never the twain shall mix.

Now I don't necessarily place Crocus Pocus in that category, but I get where she's coming from. Nobody likes clown barf. (Well,actually, SOMEBODY does, or they wouldn't make it; one person's "clown barf" is another person's "bright and cheery," and who are we to judge?)

So , just for you, because I aim to please... Crocus Pocus in black and white (or as black and white as my photo editor would get me.)

Just pretend it's an old movie. Very Bogie and Bacall...

Before Ted Turner got a hold of them...


In other news, Knitty Noddy is giving a $1 discount on the pattern price when purchased with the yarn.

It might not be enough to bring back the old flicks in all their black and white glory.

But it COULD be the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

May Day

It's May! It's May!


The lusty month of May!


That lovely month when everyone goes


Blissfully astray.

- Camelot

Could there be a better day to kick off the Garden Variety Collection than May Day?

I don't think so...

CROCUS POCUS HAS ARRIVED!

When I was young I would laboriously endeavor to render my very best May basket out of construction paper, crayons and scotch tape, then wander through our yard, plucking a tulip here, a daffodil there, some branches from our lilac bush, and a few dandelions just to be cheeky.

I would hang my homemade largess on the nearest doorknob, ring the bell and run. My mom always played along, poking her head out of the front hall with a theatrically bewildered look on her mug, declaiming loudly,

"Oh my goodness! SOMEONE left me a beautiful May basket. I WONDER who it could be?"

Mom was a good sport.

The crocus are in full bloom today, if not outside in my yard, then along the pathways of my imagination and the byways of the blogosphere.

What a great way to kick off a new month and the beginning of the blooming season!

All the info is on my sidebar; I got the seed beads from Foxden and the flower beads from a local source. I have found the flower beads many places on the web. Google "Czech glass bell flower beads and you should get lots of options.

Here are a few I found:

Embellishments
Fusion Beads
Fire Mountain

And while you're at it, give Knitty Noddy's sea silk and mini maiden a gander. I tell you, this stuff is too addicting to be legal!


And if crocus are here, you know what that means.

Can Iris be far behind?

Breaking Up

Don't take your love away from me
Don't you leave my heart in misery
If you go, then I'll be blue
Cause breakin' up is hard to do...

- The Carpenters

You know, one of two things is gonna happen when you sequester two lovers in a small cabin in the great north woods of Michigan for five days.

They will either bond, or they will drive each other crazy.

All too often, when we are in close proximity for too long, we begin to notice all the things we don't like about our companion. Their annoying habit of drumming their fingers on the table top. The endless throat clearing. The way they leave the cap off the toothpaste tube.

The way their directions are so difficult you can't make it four rows without making a mistake.

It's official.

Drizzle and I are on the rocks.

The love is gone.

Trashed by the scattershot nature of the original design.

Perhaps I should start at the beginning...

SIGH...

I originally designed Drizzle to be asymmetrical, slightly off-kilter

(sort of like me!)

The only problem was, I couldn't make it more than about 4 rows without making a mistake.

And I KNOW what it is supposed to look like.

The first few times, I told myself it didn't matter. Since it was disorderly anyway, what was one missed bead or misplaced stitch? It would just add to the charm, right?

By the 40th time, I was forced to admit:

It wasn't working for me. It was too random and unfettered. It needed (gasp) structure.

What seemed whimsical at the end of the shawl degraded into chaos by the center section.

(Those who know me are now chortling gleefully. I am known for my fly by the seat of my pants bravado and spur of the moment freedom.)

That's shorthand for disorganization, folks.

Back to the drawing board computer and three hours later, Drizzle emerged leaner, more streamlined, and more predictable to knit.

BUT

the beaded lines fall in different places. Totally different places. Have to frog the whole blessed thing places.

Oh, the agony!

A solid month of labor and 500 plus yards of linguine to show for it.

I didn't take a picture. I didn't have the heart. It's too tragic when someone you love...

goes bad.

Needless to say, Drizzle will be a little late arriving.

On a brighter note, Crocus Pocus goes on sale tomorrow. And Iris is looking ab-so-f**kin-lute-ly (to quote Big on Sex and the City) one hundred percent, no doubt about it, show stopping, guaranteed...

gorgeous.

Now THAT is worthy of pictures, folks! And I have them in all their Technicolor glory.

But you'll have to wait until a suitable mourning period has passed.

I figure a day oughta do it...

After all, Drizzle hasn't really died, she's just gone on to a better place.

The south Drizzle will rise again!

Return to Sender

Hello everybody!

For some unknown reason (at least unknown to me) my server is letting me receive email up here in the great North.

But it is NOT allowing me to send...

DIDDLEY SQUAT!!!

So...

I cannot send out pattern orders.

But...

I can watch them pile up in my in box.

I can read your plaintive missals asking where your patterns are.

I can grind my teeth.

I can feel your pain.

I just can't make it go away.

Not until Tuesday, when I return home.

Serves me right for taking some time off...

Sorry, y'all!!!

Really...

Truly...

Sorry.

My server and I are gonna have a "discussion" when I get home...

Grrr...

Gone Walkabout

I'm heading up to Michigan for a long weekend with the folks. Will check email and Ravelry daily, but I have to go in to town to the local coffee house for wifi access.

Since living at the coffee house is not an option (the parents would feel left out and the wait staff at said coffee coffee house would expect a R-E-A-L-L-Y BIG tip)

Anyone ordering a pattern the rest of this week will probably have to wait up to 24 hours for its delivery. (patience is a virtue.)

Even Santa Claus gets a few days off!

Back next week to kick off the Garden Variety Collection with Crocus Pocus on May 1st.

See you round the garden path...

Sunflower Samplings

Today is sort of a status report - bring everybody up to date - kind of post.

A little bit of this...

A little bit of that...

Think of it as knitting hors d'oeuvres...

Or maybe a pot-luck supper.

We'll begin with Sherwood: a handsome fellow who is heading out to test knitters today.(Forest sea silk)

He's a love em and "leaf" em kind of guy, but I managed to pin him down and take some measurements. While he was helpless, I took advantage and snapped a few surreptitious shots.

He never knew what hit him.

You can ask him yourself as soon as he pulls himself together (probably sometime in June)

Iris came through her cosmetic surgery well (removing all those beads bumps on her face was hell, I'm tellin ya!)

She is lookin' mighty fine (to see the detail you really need to click on the pictures; I LOVE this color!) all freshened up in Mermaid sea silk, and lighter by a few ounces. She has passed the point where I put her on a strict diet, and is now a lean, mean, neck-flattering machine.

I told her she should wait until she was further along, but she just can't wait to show off her new look. She insisted I take pictures NOW!

And last, but certainly not least, we come to Crocus Pocus, the first born of the Garden Variety Collection.

It's hard to be the lead-off hitter (Oh, the weight of expectations) but this saucy minx has traveled far in her search for test knitters fulfillment (Thank you Jeannie and Joanne!), and is looking forward to her release date of May 1st.

She will be presented on this website (pattern only) and on Knitty Noddy as a kit in any of the glorious colors of sea silk or mini maiden that call your name. (Sample shown is knit in dandelion mini maiden with a periwinkle sea silk edging.)

Each pattern in the collection will retail for $7 and will be available through the end of November.

At that time, I will offer a special Pointsettia pattern for the holidays. This pattern will be provided free of charge exclusively to those who have purchased the entire series. Sort of a buy six, get one free deal. Actually, EXACTLY like a buy six, get one free deal...

So line up those skeins of sea silk (or 440 yards of any other lace or fingering yarn you desire)

And join us for a stroll through the garden...

After you've polished off your pot-luck supper, of course.

Just don't miss Aunt Rhodie's jello salad.

It's to die for!

Mmm...

Little Earthquakes

My hands are shaky and my knees are weak
I can't seem to stand on my own two feet
Who do you thank when you have such luck?
I'm in love
I'm all shook up
Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!

- Elvis Presley

I am sure by now, you have heard about our little midwest shake down on Friday morning - one of the only times in recent history that we here in our little corner of the world have been the "top story" on the national news.

I slept through the initial 5.4 quake, but was wide awake for the 4.6 aftershock.

Perhaps I should point out that while I was quiet, the earth was not.

My DH missed the aftershock; we assume it was because he was moving at the time and thus did not notice any change. If you are already moving fast, you are unlikely to register an additional jolt to the system. It is only when we are still and attentive that we register the imbalance.

Unless, of course, the earth opens up in front of us.

That's hard to ignore.

Earthquakes are interesting phenomenon. They shake us to the core, because we make the mistake of taking the relative stability in our foundation for granted. We move along at our own pace expecting our underpinnings to remain constant, safe, secure...

And then, in a moment, we are forcibly reminded of how transitory and artificial our assumptions are. We are all shook up.

The little earthquakes in our lives open our eyes to the possibility that, just perhaps...

all is not as it seems.

This leaves us with two options: adjustment or denial.

We can go about our lives as if the quake never happened, ignoring the turmoil of uncertainty in our souls, or we can learn...

• To remain flexible, rather than rigid
• To bend, instead of break
• To embrace compromise, in place of dogma

To ride out the earthquakes and regain our balance.

On Friday, residents of central Indiana were counseled to do a walk- around survey of our homes to check for cracks in the foundation.

Earthquakes will do that. They have a way of revealing the cracks in our foundations.

Death, divorce, job loss, illness, break ups, children moving out, substance abuse.

All the little earthquakes in our lives challenge us to reassess, to find a new center point, to accept a new configuration of the landscape.

We can be tempted to smooth things over rather than do the hard work entailed in rehab. But we do so at our own peril. If we build on a cracked foundation, the edifice cannot stand.

We must regroup and repair, before we can rebuild.

Whether we are speaking of our homes, our lives, or our knitting.


On Saturday morning, Iris looked like this:


She was lovely.


She looked perfect.


But her foundation was cracked.


I tried beading every row on this one, instead of only wrong side rows.I loved the way the iridescent beads, when combined with the open stitch pattern, played against the less open, smoother texture of the largely stockinette shell pattern.


I loved the way she looked.


But she weighed a ton.


That'll happen when we value form over function.


I had built a lovely facade upon a foundation too delicate to support its weight.


You know what that means:


Yep...


Patch, patch, patch...


Earthquakes.


Can't live with 'em. Can't deny 'em...


Can only accept them, repair the damage, and move on.

In the Spring

In the Spring, a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;

In the Spring, the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;

In the Spring, a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;

In the Spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

- from Locksley Hall by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Well, I don't know about the young men, but MY fancy turns to sea silk.

Crocus Pocus is with the test knitters. Thank you to all who volunteered to help. Will be contacting knitters about Sherwood later this week.

I have "rendered unto Caesar" and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I think designing is harder than taxes (at least with Turbo Tax helping out.)

I have also been working away on Drizzle, my next commission for Michelle at the Sweet Sheep, but she's not quite rady for her closeup - soon - patience, my sweets...

And in between times, I have made a small start on the next addition to the Garden Variety Collection.

This is Mermaid seasilk with (what else?) blue iris beads...

Had a minor setback when I realized I didn't have enough of the iridescent petal shaped beads on the end, but, with a little surf-time, was able to locate some on line. I figure that will come in handy when it's released in May and y'all are writing me for my bead source.

I decided to go with the mermaid instead of the amethyst, because iris can be bronze as well as blue or purple and I really like the way this color blends and shimmers.

I also have an olive green linen jacket that this is going to look fabulous with...

(Assuming I ever get ahead enough to finish the second half of some of these babies, rather than moving on to the next design in the pipeline. I think I am going to have a 2nd half holiday come vacation time...)

Where Crocus Pocus was all about the small "cupping" or triangular shapes, Iris is all about the long and lean. She is also taking on a decidedly arts nouveau feel.

Evelyn at Knitty Noddy will be offering kits for Garden Variety scarves on her website. She has ordered extra skeins from Handmaiden in anticipation of your orders.

Off to the salt mines garden to see what I can dig up...

Orcs (of all kinds)

TNT is running The Lord of the Rings today. You know,, the one with the R-E-A-L-L-Y ugly monster army of Orcs.

I am doing taxes today.

Not as violent as Orcs, but twice as ugly...