All Better Now

Email problems are all taken care of. Orders have gone out. Burning questions have been answered.

Scott, the wonder husband, does it again!

All hail...

When It's Good, It's Very, Very Good and When It's Bad, It's Horrid...

Experiencing outbound email difficulties. DH is working on the problem. Will send out orders ASAP.
Sorry!

My Ride Is Here...

"I've been doin' things worthwhile, and You’ve been bookin' time
Try, Try, Try, to let it ride
Runnin’ with the crazy crowd, ooh, ain’t no friends o’ mine
Try, Try, Try, to let it ride"
- Bachman Turner Overdrive

I don't know if knitters qualify as a "crazy crowd," but I am definitely running these days, I hope you find my work worthwhile, and I KNOW many of you are booking time with my various designs.

And that is the true miracle. I know how cherished our precious knitting time is. I know how hard it is to carve out those hours or minutes. I know how important it is that our knitting brings us peace of place and joy of creation.

And I am deeply honored when you choose Sunflower Designs.

I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and find this all a dream...

Meanwhile, I'll just let it ride...

Today, it has been 3 months since Magic Carpet Ride debuted as a kit on the Woolen Rabbit's website.

Time flies...

While the pattern is still available as a kit with Kim's luscious laceweight, I am pleased to welcome her back home, and announce that she is also now available as a stand alone pattern here on my sidebar.

I know some of you have been patiently waiting...

Well, you will have to wait just a teeny bit more.

Because my ride is leaving...

I'm comin' home...

On my way up to the lake for three wonderful weeks of R & R, and family time.

But fear not; I have...

FULL INTERNET ACCESS

24/7

wOOt!

So, any orders placed today will be emailed to you later this evening. (Seven hours drive time, don't ya know.)

And any other orders will be on their way out to you the same day, usually within hours, sometimes within minutes.

Isn't technology a wonderful thing?

See you in seven...

Yet

"The past cannot be regained, although we can learn from it; the future is not yet ours even though we must plan for it.... Time is now. We have only today."
-Charles Hummel

You know how I told you on Tuesday, I always put things off, by saying "Not yet; not yet"?

"Yet."

Last weekend, we bought Michael's wedding suit, as well as my husband's. Monday night I attended my son's fiancee Ashley's bridal shower, which was just lovely.

And Sunflower Designs is taking a back seat these days, in favor of a project near and dear to my heart...

for a very special person who is also near and dear:

my soon to be daughter-in-law.

Ashley is bright and talented and kind and funny. And the love she shares with my eldest is a joy to watch. I know that my heart can rest easy as I turn the keeping of my son's heart over to another woman. She will guard it well.

And me? I am lucky enough to be knitting a wedding shawl for the ceremony. Her dress has open shoulders and she needs a covering for the catholic service. It is my privilege and delight to be part of this special day for them.

My heart overflows as I imagine her wrapped in a tangible, touchable sign of our family's love and blessing of this union, which has been so long in the making.

Ashley and Michael dated in high school, through college, and have been formally engaged for over a year.

And what once seemed so far off, is now imminent.

August 8th imminent.

6 weeks away imminent.

Not yet has turned into...

yet.

now.

Yes, now...

NOW!!!!

You will notice a strong resemblance between Ashley's shawl and Hydrangea. I designed the scarf as a "testing ground" for the design elements I have included in the shawl, which I named after Ashley's favorite flower.

(When you are working in white, you don't want to work and rework the pattern as I always wind up doing in the development phase.)

The shawl will have a longer stretch of the simpler stripe pattern that appears only in the lower corners of the scarf. The main lattice motif with its surrounding leaves will appear at the center back of the shawl as a diamond, like Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights. That way, Ashley will have a beautiful back view as she stands up at the front of the church and recites her vows.


Did I mention how awed and pleased I am that she finds my work worthy of this occasion?

So, all you Garden Varietals, you can have your hydrangea scarves on July 22nd.

But the shawl?

It's an exclusive

This one's going out to the ones I love.

Don't worry Ashley.

Before you say, "I do..."

I'll say, "It's done."

That's a promise from me to you.

Not Yet

Black socks; they never get dirty.
The longer you wear them, the blacker they get.
Some day I'm going to launder them.
But something keeps telling me, "Don't do it yet."
Not yet, not yet...
Not yet.

When number one son was in day camp one summer many years ago, he learned this song and performed it many times over, always to the great delight of his grandparents. Said grandparents enjoyed the song so much, they had a plaque made that says...

"Not yet."
"Not yet."

It hangs by the side of their front door up at the lake. When the boys were younger, it adorned the door itself every morning, until my parents arose for the day and were ready for company. If they ran down the hill from the guest cottage at 6 AM and saw the sign, they knew they should quietly, like little mice, creep back up and jump on their parents' bed (lucky us!) instead of disturbing the grands.

I believe I have previously shared with y'all the extremely well-adjusted, self aware, thoroughly analyzed fact that I am a procrastinator.

Of the nth degree.

Twas not always so.

Before my depression and its ensuing life transformation, I was anal. I was organized. I was spastic about it. I stockpiled:

shoes
cosmetics
earrings
books
food
clothes

and yes...

yarn.

I have been conditioned to feather my nest, gather my finery, catalog my excesses, and pull them around me as a protective blanket.

Just in case...

In case it is no longer available.
In case I run out of it.
In case I need it.
In case I regret not having it.

Whatever it is.

A book I read once, called this the "ga-zingus button." You know, that thing that you gravitate towards, even though you already have one (or more) because you don't have "that" one.

For most of us that button is yarn. Witness the evolution of the "stash."

Some of us knit from our stash. Some of us take vows of yarn poverty. Some of us wear proverbial hair shirts and flog ourselves.

Only we use Quiviut and knitting needles.

I have tried to quit cold turkey with little success. I am a tried and true worshiper at the bright, shiny, "new and improved" altar of modern consumerism. I struggle with this issue on a daily basis. Bombarded by messages aimed at creating a previously non-existent need which only they can satisfy, I have learned two things:

I cannot stop the juggernaut.
But I can slow it down.

It's called procrastination. And it ain't always such a bad thing folks. Used judiciously, it can save you a ton of money and a butt load of heartache.

Do I need this? Maybe.
Do I want this? Definitely.
Do I have to have it?

Not yet.
Not yet.

One day at a time. I learned that lesson from the folks at Al anon. Do I need to control my acquisitive impulses for the rest of my life?

Nope. Just for today.

The downside of this approach is the feeling of always having a ton of stuff on your to do list. Because I don't do things ahead of time. I wait until I have to. This sometimes creates, shall we say, uncomfortable situations and last minute emergencies.

The upside is having a larger balance in the bank and spreading out your purchases and energies over a longer period of time.

I no longer have to figure out if I need something, or only want it.

I just have to figure out if I can live without it for today. If I really need something, it will become self evident in the normal course of events. If I only want something, that too is revealed by the passage of time and the degree of obsession. Sometimes, the want deserves satisfaction. (Hey, nobody's perfect! Life is short.) More often, it doesn't.

And by putting things off and refusing to worry about tomorrow, I gain a firmer awareness of living in the moment. I turn my eyes from the new to appreciate the familiar. I don't reject what will come to pass. I just choose to ignore it for a while and focus on what I have.

Instead of what I don't.

Not yet...not yet...

Not yet.

I Cain't Say No...

I'm jist a girl who cain't say no,
I'm in a turrible fix
I always say "come on, le's go"
Jist when I orter say nix!

I'm jist a girl who cain't say no,
Kissin's Knittin's my favourite food
With or without the short row toe
I'm in a designing mood.

Other girls are coy and hard to catch
But other girls ain't havin' any fun
Every time I lose a wrestling match
I have a funny feeling that I won.

I never make a complaint
Till it's too late for restraint
Then when I wanna I cain't
I cain't say no!

-Rodgers & Hammerstein

OK. Let's recap.

First came Crocus Pocus. I started her in February and released the pattern on May 1st. A reasonable time span.







In April, I began design work on Iris, which made her debut at the beginning of June. Not as long as CP, but still workable. I am still trying to plow through the last few inches and get her onto the blocking board. It's hard, when other projects are calling me...


Meanwhile, back at the ranch, sunflower farm, Hydrangea is beginning to take form. (Here's where our heroine begins to slow.)

The lovely Maria has been waiting for two weeks now to begin her assault on the peak (such a violent word: assault; perhaps she is ascending the peak instead.) And the errant designer has still not provided her with the triptik (otherwise known as written directions) to begin her journey.

Clearly, something's gotta give.

So Hydrangea will be fashionably late (as in July 22nd.) After my nervous breakdown vacation.

And Sherwood? Jeez, I haven't visited the forest in weeks!

I ask you: is this any way to run a business?



Zinnia is shaping up nicely; the increases are flowing right into the concentric petal design, and I love how the bright red beading plays up the color, not pink, more like watermelon. I have the perfect red dress for her to show off her stuff against.

But not until late August, after number one son's impending nuptials.








Now one would think that between Iris, Hydrangea, and Zinnia, my current projects would have enough charms to entice any normal woman and hold her attention.

But no. I am more promiscuous than the yarn harlot. I am the yarn slut who likes to take on two, or even three at a time.

Hell, why not make it a foursome? Or a full blown orgy?

The hands are willing, but the mind is weak. I know I should just knuckle down and knit like a whirling dervish, but my brain won't let me.

I wiggle.

I squirm.

I ponder.

I look at Evelyn's stock of sea silk.

I look at bead sites (warning - black hole)

And before you know it, I'm thinking...

Sunflowers!






With three colors of beads to go with the three colors of sea silk.








And poinsettia!

In crimson, and evergreen with gold beads; rich; sumptuous; decadent like the season of plenty; all ruffles and gilding.








And bouganvillea









With Fruit Punch sea silk and white beads. Vine motifs and hanging clusters of white blossoms on the ends.










Somebody stop me...

Before I design again.

Look What I Got...

These are Venetian glass beads with a gold foil center. When I was in Venice, I fell in love with Murano glasswork. Such fire and depth of color. Absolutely stunning...

So when I went looking for beads for Sunflower, I remembered running across this website while looking for ladybug beads for Zinnia.

I wanted something special for this piece (it being a sunflower and all) I spent the weekend in design mode, working through the design in my head (and on my newly recovered computer - there is a God...) I needed to get an idea for what I was looking for, even though the piece won't be offered until September, so I knew whether or not to have Evelyn contact Handmaiden for a special dye job.

A special signature color would be great, but I just love the colors of the seasilk I ordered last week. So rich...

This is the Tiger and Capri.





And this is the Mahogany.

Look at those colors. The richness of the ambers, browns, golds, and reds are phenomenal.

The design will follow the lines of a true sunflower. The Mahogany seasilk will be the center of the shawl/scarf, done in a spade lace pattern with gold beading. That is for the earth.

The next ring will be the Tiger in a sunray pattern with topaz beading. That is for the flowers and the sun to which they turn their faces.

And the outer edge will feature the Capri blue in oriel lace, named for the oriel window. What better pattern for the sky that we see through our own windows on the world.

And the piece will be finished off with the Venetian beads.

Couldn't wait to start. Did some research over the weekend into circular shawl construction. One place I went said to increase 8 stitches every row.

I don't think so...

Anybody want a ruffle?

Moroccan Days/ Arabian Nights Yardage Figure

NEW YARDAGE ESTIMATE : 1950 to 2000 yards.

My shawl took 1941 yards. Some knitters are within the original yardage estimate. Kim generously and wisely increased the size of the skeins in March, with no bump up in price.

All but the earliest kits sold have 2100 yards and should not pose a problem. If you ordered your kit during the first few weeks of release, you may wish to weigh your skein to determine it's size.

I RECOMMEND SHORTENING SHAWL HALVES BEFORE BEGINNING CENTER DIAMOND BY 20 ROWS (2 DAINTY CHEVRON PATTERN REPEATS) IF NECESSARY.

You will have to fudge the beaded edging. as you will be a few rows off on the end of that pattern, but I don’t think it will be noticeable by anyone but you. Shawl will still block out to 83 inches long.

To those who have sent me messages, thank you for your support at this difficult time. It means the world to me.

To quote Blanche DuBois, “I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers.”

Tonight, you proved yourselves to be anything but.

It is I who am blessed for your presence in my life.

When It Rains, It Pours

My original yardage estimates for MOROCCAN DAYS/ARABIAN NIGHTS were too low.

I weighed the leftovers to determine how much yarn I had used. I should have weighed the finished piece. Kim is always nothing but generous, in life as in yardage, and I must have underestimated the size of the skein I was working from,

I now weigh skeins upon receipt to ensure this does not happen again. It was a beginners mistake, due to my inexperience.

I BEG YOUR FORGIVENESS AND WILL DO WHATEVER IS IN MY POWER TO MAKE THIS RIGHT.

Disgustions

Ravelry is a terrific resource. And a comfort in times of great need.

Some days you go to the boards and discuss.

Some days you need a little bit more.

Some days, you need to "disgust."

Today is that day.

To whit:

OK. Enough uplifting. I need to vent…

First my wi-fi failed; we got a new card.

Then my email server changed, causing all kinds of disruptions, including:

• PayPal sending payments to never-never land because the address on the “pay now” button was different
  
• Only being able to send one outgoing message, before dying on me.

I finally got everything changed over.

Then my computer ran slower and slower and s-l-o-w-e-r; we quadrupled my memory.

Next, my power cord got pinched and began cutting in and out before giving out totally; we found a replacement.

Over the weekend, I began having problems again with programs locking up; we replaced my disc drive (which meant I was without access most of the day, yesterday.

But finally, we had replaced just about everything. I had a souped up chassis - ready to burn up the virtual world. I could leap tall buildings with a single bound…

Well, at least I could design lace, print patterns, email buyers, and surf the web.

then today…

the final straw…

I opened outlook to discover my entire personal folder is AWOL. Zip. Nada. Zilch.

No contacts; no appointments; no messages; no mailing list; no task list.

Nothing. Clean slate. Fresh start.

When I try to repair file, it tells me the file doesn’t exist. Even though a search turns it right up.

I can see it, but somehow it isn’t there anymore.

You know how they say you can’t believe your own eyes?

Yeah. Tell me about it.

DH tells me he can recover the data tonight when he gets home. He tells me to chill out. He tells me to go do something else for the afternoon.

I feel like someone just erased me. So I came here, because here?

I have a past. I have a list of friends. I have…

me.

I feel like the "Who"s, yelling out:

I am here.

I am here.

I AM HERE.

I AM HERE!

I want love...

I want tea and sympathy..

Scratch that...

I want CHOCOLATE!

Or ALCOHOL!

(whatever gets you through the night day)

June Is Bustin' Out All Over

June is bustin' out all over
All over the meadow and the hill!
Buds're bustin' outa bushes
And the rompin' river pushes
Ev'ry little wheel that wheels beside the mill!

June is bustin' out all over
The feelin' is gettin' so intense,
That the young Virginia creepers
Hev been huggin' the bejeepers
Outa all the mornin' glories on the fence!

Because it's June...
June, June, June...

Just because it's June, June, June!
-Rodgers & Hammerstein

June really is busting out down here on the sunflower farm.



The Iris are going like gangbusters...









The Crocus are still holding their own...









The Hydrangea's on its way to the master gardeners test knitters (thanks, ladies!)









The Zinnias are just beginning to bloom...









They've attracted the cutest little ladybug beads...









And, by popular demand, the Sunflower seeds yarn has been ordered...












I'm going to attempt a tri-color lace design.















Could be cool...









Of course, it could also turn into a big hot mess.









Time will tell...

Don't you just love the growing season?

Another One?

“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”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

IRIS

Y

SIZE: 64” long by 13” wide

MATERIALS:

750 yards

Handmaiden Sea Silk

or Mini Maiden

5000 size 8/0 seed beads

82 teardrop beads

Prototype knit with:

Mermaid Sea Silk

Miyuke beads 0455 – met variegated blue iris

Blue Iris petal beads

Size 3 (US) needles, stitch markers, size 14 or 16 crochet hook

Skill level : beginning intermediate; basic lace knowledge, chart reading, crochet hook beading (optional)

Yes, another one bites the dust joins the queue (that word has GOT to be on all of the Scripps spelling bee lists - weird!)

Iris joins the Sunflower roster today. And baby makes five...

I really need to get that website up and running. My sidebar is getting so crowded, it's going to need its own zip code!

Of course it is a toss up which will come first: my new website or Casey's new code (for Ravelry's pattern sales option.) Smart money is on Casey.

And what would a release day be, without a little errata...

(Hey! at least we caught this one toute suite - spelling? as if English spelling wasn't bad enough...)

So only about 15 of you got the copy this applies to:

For those eternally damned unfortunate souls:

1. Chart A and B are labeled backward.
2. On Chart D Row 15 Stitch 44 should be a ssk instead of a knit.
3. On Chart D Row 31 there are two empty space that should be knits.

See what you get for being an early bird? A lot more worms than you bargained for...

For all the ravelers in my clientele (way too formal - let's try...) friends (that's better)

There is a new group called the Garden Variety Collectors for all of the, umm, garden variety collectors. Check it out.

Right now my energy supply is cutting in and out (I know the feeling) Better wind this up...

Sneak Peek

That's why they call it a teaser...

Hmmm... wasn't there something else?
Oh yeah!
This:

comes out Wednesday.