The Hits Just Keep on Coming...

"What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me."

- Joseph Addison

What are you knitting for Xmas this year?

I am knitting neck warmers & cowls. They are quicker than scarves, easier to wear indoors, and less hassle than hats. ( No decreases to keep track of)

Plus they just feel warm and cozy, like love personified.

And, as you know, whatever I am knitting always seems to eventually make its way into your hot little hands.

But this is the season of giving, right?

So I don't want to make a lot of money off y'all. I just want to share the joy.

Every Monday between now and Christmas, I will publish a free pattern for a cowl/neck warmer. I'll put them up on Ravelry and also here on the blog. And I will do my best to get DH to take pictures of them being worn.

gasp!!!!


First up this Monday is Stonehenge, a lovely little worsted weight beauty in Rowan's new Lima yarn. The pattern is an easy slip stitch basketweave variation. If you can knit, purl, slip stitches, and knit through the back loop, you can do this pattern.

The following Monday I will reveal a new design for Madelinetosh Worsted with deeply textured diagonal lattice work. This one is taller and wider than Stonehenge; it is designed to scrunch down and fall in graceful folds upon your shoulders.


I am also working on a fair isle design in Berroco's Ultra Alpaca Light. Red & green, natch! What could be more Christmas-sy than that? But on an oatmeal background for a more rustic look. Perfect for Christmas tree cutting with your jean jacket and boots.

The fourth look is still up in the air. We'll see where the spirit leads.

Other miscellaneous fun stuff coming up:

• A holiday contest
• More free pattern giveaways
• December sales specials

And a promise: first one to send me a completed photo of their Chrysanthemum shawl will get a refund on their pattern purchase of $8. You see, my test knitter used the charts, but the written directions were added after. And I really had to think about them. And I was recovering from stomach flu.

So-o-o... I will consider the first one to finish another test knitter - and. as we all know, test knitters get the pattern free!

Just one more reason to knit Sunflower this Xmas.

What do I get out of it all? Hopefully you will tell your friends, because that's how my little enterprise grows. I have been a little stagnant recently (my sales, not my digestive system!)

I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. I am very thankful I no longer have the stomach flu!!!

No stash sale this Saturday, because I figure you are all either at the mall, or on the road home, or sitting with your feet up looking at leftover turkey carcasses. Next Saturday, OK?

Now I must get back to my Christmas knitting. I LOVE Christmas knitting! If I hurry I can knock out the rest of the Madtosh design before the weekend is up...

Thanksgiving

It is time for my annual thanks-giving post. As I update this poem, I am ever mindful of God's many blessings. Of which, y'all are definitely among the best that I have seen this past year.

I encourage you to take a moment, amidst all the turkey stuffing and family loving and football playing that surrounds this day, to reflect and say a prayer, if you are comfortable with that.

If you are not, simply bow your head in humility and murmur a word of thanks to whatever power you may acknowledge.

And may you all experience the very best a thankful heart can bring.

For geese who fly on feathered wing
For all the songs I’ve yet to sing
For all the words I’ve not yet writ
For all the yarns I’ve yet to knit
I’m thankful...

For shortening sun that slants o’er field
Of fallow corn,for generous yield
For harvest and for hungry need
That all may come to you and feed
I’m thankful...

For chocolate hot and snowflakes cold
For playful youth and wisdom old
For peace to come on winter days
For time to ponder and amaze
I’m thankful...

For all the beauty of your world
For birds and bees; for leaves unfurled
For rocks and trees and lakes and rain
For sunlit skies and waves of grain
I'm thankful...

For peace and plenty in troubling times
For my family's safety and peace of mind
though times are tough and jobs are few
we still have love and much to do
I'm thankful...

For family both near and far
For boats and planes and trains and cars
That bring our loved ones closer yet
For telephones if that’s all we get
I’m thankful...

For horsey rides and peek-a-boo
For jammy hands and faces too
As on my grandson Conner, I
Gaze with ever joyful eye
I'm thankful...

For dreams that build and ties that bind
Unexpected blessings there to find
For room to grow and space to roam
For branching out and coming home
I'm thankful...

For Afterglow and dreams thereof
For soil beneath and sky above
For lakeside blues and freshening breeze
Blow through our lives, our hearts, our trees!
I'm thankful

For stuffing and for pumpkin pie
For abundant love that never dies
For faith that triumphs o'er the grave
For strength to bear, to bend, to brave
I’m thankful...

For friends who comment, friends who care
For foes who question, challenge, dare
Friend or foe I know that they
Rely on you to find their way
I’m thankful...

For inspiration in all its glory
Sometimes elusive, often hoary
Yet always there for me to find
Provided I can calm my mind
I'm thankful...

For possibilities anew
Ravelry, Mehndi, and gardens too
For woolly dreams and lovely lace
For sun to which I turn my face
I'm thankful...

For all the power of thy word
Power spoken – Power heard
Power given to reach out
To share my faith; to share my doubt
I’m thankful...

For all my vice and virtue too
That all may bring me close to you
My sins seem great yet small in space
Compared to thy abundant grace
I’m thankful...

For all the times I felt your care
And all the times you hovered there
Oft unseen but heartfelt – yes!
(Especially when I’ve made a mess)
I’m thankful...

As oft I do - no perfection found
My sins are many, perceptions bound
By earthly fashion, earthly fears
Earthly passion, earthly tears
I’m thankful...

For prayer – whichever way preferred
For shouting silence and quiet word
For Quakers, Catholics, Episcopalians too
For all who hear and all who do
I’m thankful...

For rocks to stand on, steady ground
Haven sought and sanctuary found
For all the many times that we
Are fallen, faithless, redeemed, free
I’m thankful...

And at the last I pray that we
Remembered as pilgrims be
Always bound to distant place
Always bound to know thy grace
I’m thankful...

Chrysanthemum

"Drink dew from the magnolia in the morning and take autumn chrysanthemum's falling petals as food in the evening."

- Li Sao

CHRYSANTHEMUM SHAWL
the garden variety collection
$8
a beaded lace shawl
from the needles of Susan Pandorf


SIZE:
70 inches wide by 32 inches long

MATERIALS:
700 yds. Handmaiden Sea Silk or Mini Maiden in color: Origin
3000 size 8 Miyuke seed beads
#2422 silver lined topaz
34 accent beads (optional)
Size 5 (US) needles
Size 12 Crochet Hook, Large Eye Beading Needle, stitch markers


GAUGE:
one pattern repeat in wave pattern = 2.5 inches (blocked)

charted pattern; advanced intermediate level

Here is a link for the accent beads I used:

leaf beads

This full-sized shawl features a wavy pattern reminiscent of Chrysanthemum flowers

divided by panels of wine glass lace.

The open section in the middle mimics the rounded lines of the waves

and segues into a larger leafy pattern with ribbed points.

Mums are thought by the Chinese to grant longevity and strength. Don’t know about that, but I do agree with the Japanese who celebrate a festival of happiness to commemorate the flower.

May the pattern bring happiness to both the knitter in the making of it and the recipient in the wearing of it!

Pattern is available here on the blog, on Ravelry as a direct download, and at Knitty Noddy, where Evelyn gives you $1 off the pattern price with the purchase of the yarn to complete the project.

Thank you for your patience!

Off to email the pattern to all subscribers...

Done (but NOT Quickly!)

"Do not be desirous of having things done quickly. Do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished."

-Confucius

I cast off the final stitch of Chrysanthemum on Sunday afternoon. I am really happy with how she turned out.

Blocked her yesterday, and admired her today. It is so hard to tell what a triangular shawl is going to look like when you are in the midst of the center pattern repeats.

You can't really see in these pictures, but the beads glow and the entire piece is so rich and warm. Perfect for this time of year. I love the russet, bittersweet, and eggplant colors of the Origin Seasilk. I think this may be my favorite GVC pattern thus far.

I am off to attach the little leaf beads to the points and get better pictures. Then it is time to write 'er up and get 'er out into your hot little hands.


Shall we have a little chorus of "Can't - Stop - Thinkin' about tomorrow..."?

I hope you find her worth the wait.

P.S. Thank you for all your "get well" wishes last week. It was a mean bug. Took me down and out for four whole days. but all is well now.

No Sale

NO STASH SALE TODAY
RECOVERING FROM STOMACH FLU

Blech!

For every ailment under the sun, There is a remedy, or there is none,
If there be one, try to find it; If there be none, never mind it.

-Mother Goose

Sick, but still pushing through...

Push

"It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

-Anais Nin

I used to push my life where I wanted it to go. I was a real driven type A personality. My family cowered when Susan got on a tear.

Now I have learned to ride my life, realizing that all will unfold as it is meant to, whether I push or not.

That being said, there are timers when you just have to push through.

The past few weeks have really tested my resolve that work would never come before family. I have been babysitting Conner on a weekly basis and have had many family and friend commitments.

My work has suffered.

That is why I took Saturday off from stash sale-ing. I needed the time to devote to actual knitting.

It doesn't help matters that I have been in a fever of design illumination. In the past three weeks I have gotten three lace shawls and two DK weight designs in the hopper. They are all charted out and four of them are on the needles - enough for me to order the necessary additional yardage to complete them. On the final design ( a red cable and lace triangular shawl for the holidays) I just bit the bullet and ordered blindly. Hope I got enough yarn.

I am always a bit concerned that unless I get a design down on paper I will forget what I intended.

So I chart and make notes for future construction. I swatch and then put it aside to pick up at a later date.

Sometimes the ideas don't pan out.

I want to do a matching cowl for the Innisfree gauntlets. I will include this with the mitt pattern as a set. Anyone who has already purchased the pattern will get the expanded version free of charge.

So I ordered more MadTosh in Norway Spruce, this time in the worsted weight merino. The yarn is great - very soft, but the color is too dark.

See what I mean? So I have ordered some of the plied worsted from Loopy Ewe, hoping that is a better match.


This year's free holiday pattern is almost ready to be written up. I can't wait to wear this neckwarmer myself. The Rowan Lima is a little tough to knit (splitty) but the light weight and softness level make it worthwhile. Wouldn't want to do an entire sweater in this yarn, though.

And this is the beginning border to Druid, a lace stole in Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-ply. The color is Celtic Mix and I fell in love with it. It is primarily green, but with an incredible depth of color, which includes peacock, earthy brown, and even red. The yarn is just gorgeous. Had to use it. I have Celtic Knot charms on order from Artbeads for the points.


But most of my time has been spent in completion of Chrysanthemum, the October (OY!) issue in the Garden Variety Collection. I completely underestimated how much time this one would take to complete, forgetting that each row is longer than the one before.

You would think I would know better, wouldn't you?


I have completed the main pattern and am almost through the transition to the edge pattern.

Friday - may it please God...

Pushing through...

PS. For all you Drizzle fans out there, I think I have a solution to the longstanding design difficulties that have beset this piece. I am redesigning as a beaded cowl, a la "Smoke Ring". Hope to knock it out after the holidays.

Speaking of which, the scarf vote was overwhelmingly in favor of Facets, so it moves up the pattern queue...thanks for voting.

Saturday Stash Sale - Bargain Basement Edition

No new sale items today. Having computer/printer issues and have decided to spend the day working on Chrysanthemum. Will send out last week's yarn as soon as we get printer issues resolved (can't print the postage - yikes!)

If any of you want to go dumpster diving leftover hunting, here is what's left from last week's sale. I will try to get some new stuff up tomorrow.

SHIPPING TO US ONLY

Email me at susanpandorf@comcast.net and tell me which one(s) you want. If there are more than one balls/skeins in the lot, don't forget to specify quantity. If no quantity is listed, I will assume you want the entire lot.

I will invoice you through PayPal and ship them out to your hot little hands by the end of the week.Yarn will be shipped first class mail in a padded envelope if the total weight is 13 oz. or less. If yarn weighs more than that, I will ship in flat rate priority mail box for $10.35 or $13.95. By next week you should be happy knitting!

All yarn colors are true (on my monitor- can't account for yours.) We are a non smoking household, but I do have a cat. Most yarn has been behind closed doors, so cat contact has been minimal.

Each Saturday, I will post more yarn for your viewing pleasure and buying frenzy.

Please give my yarn and books a loving home and a productive future.

Ready?

Here we go again...
FINGERING

1) 3 balls RYC Cashsoft 4-ply - Mixed Colors - $7
(Spa -top, Mosaic - left, Rose - right)
merino/microfiber/cashmere - machine wash - 197 yds. each

DK WEIGHT

2) Blue Heron Rayon Seed - Tulip - $5
dry clean - 500 yds.


3) Mixed Batch DK Weight Wool Tweeds - $10
(brands include Jaeger, Rowan, & Jo Sharp)
wool - hand wash
SOLD


4) Huge Batch (both pictures!) Novelty Yarn - $20
mixed fibers
SOLD

WORSTED

5) 1 skein Colinette Enigma - Popsicle
cotton/rayon - hand wash - 173 yds.
1 skein Colinette Mercury - Popsicle
rayon - machine wash - 65 yds
$5 for the lot

6) 2 skeins Colinette Enigma - Caramel - $5
cotton/rayon - hand wash - 350 yds. total

7) 3 Partial skeins Rowan Summer Tweed - Mixed Colors - $4
silk/cotton - hand wash
SOLD

8) 5 balls Louisa Harding Kimono Ribbon - 2 balls #1 - Brown, Fuschia, Yellow, 2 balls #7 - Grass, Orange, Yellow & one ball (not shown in photo) #6 - Pinks, Grey, Orange - $4 each or $15 for the lot
Nylon - 100 yds. each

9) 1 & a half balls Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - beige - $5
wool/microfiber/cashmere - machine wash - 150 yds. total
SOLD

10) 2 balls Adrienne Vittadini Dianna - Coral - $5
cotton/microfiber - machine wash - 174 yds. total

11) 3 balls Dusk - 2 balls 01 Gold, Pink, Blue & 1 ball 03 Orange, Brown, Gold - $8
cotton/acrylic/nylon - hand wash - 113 yds. each
SOLD

12) 2 balls Rowan Kid Classic - 825 Crushed Velvet (top) - 832 Peat (left) - $5
Lavender Ice (right) SOLD
lambswool/kid mohair/nylon - hand wash - 153 yds. each

CHUNKY

13) Blue Heron Rayon Boucle - Spring - $4
hand wash - 212 yds.

14) Blue Heron Cotton Rayon boucle - Primary Garden - $4
hand wash - 150 yds.

15) Blue Heron Rayon Boucle - Amethyst - $4
hand wash - 212 yds.

16) 1 skein Autumn House Farms Finnean's Rainbow - Zinnia - $2
wool w/ rayon seed - handwash - 100 yds.

17) Mixed Batch Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky (disc.) - $4
wool - hand wash - approx. 300 yds. total
SOLD

18) Large Batch Mixed Colinette - $12

19) 3 balls Rowan Chunky Chenille - mixed colors - $8
(from top left - 393 Sprig, 379 Coffee Bean, 382 Lush)
cotton - hand wash - 140 m. each
SOLD

20) 2 balls Sirdar Click - 0145 Mitten - $5
Wool/Acrylic - machine wash - 81 yds.. each

21) Great Adirondack Mixed Fibers - Antique - $8
dry clean

Everything Old Is New Again

"When trumpets were mellow
And every gal only had one fellow
No need to remember when
'Cause everything old is new again

Dancin' at church, Long Island jazzy parties
Waiter bring us some more Bacardi
We'll order now what they ordered then
'Cause everything old is new again

Get out your white suit, your tap shoes and tails
Let's go backwards when forward fails
And movie stars you thought were alone then
Now are framed beside your bed

Don't throw the past away
You might need it some rainy day
Dreams can come true again
When everything old is new again"

-Peter Allen

I have promised DH I will spend an hour each day cleaning out closets, drawers, cabinets, and the like. The idea is to make our storage spaces look bigger by making their contents smaller. I am told this is standard house listing trickery.

Now it seems to me that if "everyone does it," potential buyers would be well aware of the tactic and not easily fooled by it, but who am I to argue with real life realtor wisdom?

So I am cleaning out, throwing away, boxing up, and getting down with the whole "let's revisit every item from the past 20 years" gig.

All I can say is, "This is what happens when you live in the same place for too long."

Actually, I can say something else...

OY!

That about covers it. If you are familiar with the former size of my stash, then you can begin to get an idea of what I am going through.

And through...

And through some more...

While it can be daunting, there are hidden treasures that come to light. I am tempted to keep them, but try to hew to the one year rule: if you haven't used it in one year, get rid of it.

Actually, DH & I started boxing things up a couple years back, before our move got postponed. We boxed up many things we thought we could live without for the year or two we thought it would take to sell this house and build the next. We weren't ready to get rid of these items, but we could put them in storage for the duration.

The sad truth is: not only have I not missed them, I don't even know what's in those boxes anymore. I think that is a convincing argument for divestiture.

We will lose many things in our long term move:

• our dining room set
• our decrepit rec room couches (Baby Boy/Family Man thought it was the "wreck" room, when we were adding it on. Truer words were never spoken.)
• our bumper pool table
• our piano
• our high maintenance yard
• our easy availability as last minute babysitters (this is a double edged sword.)
• our frustration with over-zealous suburban developers and the traffic headaches that ensue when they fail to adequately plan ahead
• our local doctors, dentists, hair stylists, dry cleaners, etc.
• and a s**tload of unessential belongings that clutter up our lives
  

Most of these things are long overdue for overhaul. Familiarity breeds complacency.

Some things, however, are worth revisiting, reworking, rehabbing, re-purposing, or re-imagining.

Like my pattern for Celestial.


Celestial was my second pattern. It was never test knitted. It had many flaws. It was a beginner's effort. Not bad, but certainly not up to my current standards.

The bead count was off, the directions were confusing, and it used a convoluted method of pre-stringing, rather than the crochet hook method I now prefer. The directions for getting the beads to line up at the center of the star were torturous, at best.

I have long meant to rewrite this pattern and last week, I did.

Anyone who has purchased the original pattern can get the re-mixed pattern free of charge. I think it is the least I can do for those of you who have purchased the pattern in good faith, based upon my other designs and been disappointed.

I would like to say I have all of your purchases on record, but the sad fact is, I think I may well have lost some of them last fall when DH dropped my old laptop. Just drop me an email. I'll send you the updated pattern. We will use the honor system.

This pattern has long been the ugly stepchild of the sunflower family. No more.

She is spiffed up, made over, and glammed out.

There is only one project on Ravelry, other than mine; this is bandknito's beaded nothern lights scarf.

Isn't she lovely?

I am assuming this is NOT a picture of the knitter...

My cat would never stand still for this! LOL...

Anyway...

Celestial is really a lovely little bit of lace and I hope this rewrite and her new availability as a Ravelry download will make her more popular with the hoi-polloi.

She deserves better. And so do you.

Beauty Contest

"Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but, until they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful. "

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

So...

I have three different scarf and hat sets on the needles right now and as soon as I finish Chrysanthemum (Hey! You try beading with a one year old in attendance - new definition of impossibility) I will get busy on one of them in case anyone needs a new Xmas knitting project.

The question before us is: which one?

Which one speaks to YOUR imagination?

Exhibit A: highly textured (all done with yarnovers and decreases) done in worsted weight multicolored wool - good pattern for blending colors and eliminating pooling. Written directions, intermediate level. Yarn is Mountain Colors Mountain Goat. This set will also include mittens.

Exhibit B: solid color DK weight - oversized lace pattern. charted, intermediate lace knitter. Yarn in model is Mirasol Tupa - lovely sheen, silk & wool blend.

Exhibit C: easy truncated cable pattern for progressive colored yarn. DK weight, written directions. Noro Yuzen is used for the model.

Y'all can vote over on the sidebar for the rest of the week - I figure it will take me about that long to get Chrysanthemum out to GVC subscribers...sigh...

I promise I will abide by your wishes. so please vote for your favorite.

I like them all!

And now I am off to pack up yesterday's yarn sale. It is almost gone now, folks; the end is near...

FYI, if you ordered books last week, I held some of the packages to combine with yesterday's yarn purchases, Will get those without additional goodies out in tomorrow's post.