Time Flies...

"We are weighed down, every moment, by the conception and the sensation of Time. And there are but two means of escaping and forgetting this nightmare: pleasure and work. Pleasure consumes us. Work strengthens us. Let us choose."

-Charles Baudelaire

There is a certain sameness to my days. I get up around 8:00, perform my morning ablutions, head straight to the coffeemaker, check my email, then settle in for several hours of knitting.

I come up for air (and a bagel with cream cheese) around 11:00 and read the morning paper (And you thought the dinosaurs were extinct!) before returning to my work, usually design or clerical work on the laptop. Oh, the joys of being self-employed...

Next time I look up. the clock says 2:00 and I begin to wonder...

Where did the day go?

I once complained to my friend Greg that there were not enough hours in the day. I was spread too thin. I couldn't manage my life. There just wasn't enough me to go around.

Instead of providing suggestions as to how I could accomplish more, he instead gave me some of the best advice I've ever gotten.

"Have you ever considered, Susan, that there are exactly the right amount of hours in each day? Twenty-four today. Twenty-four yesterday. Twenty-four tomorrow and the day after. Maybe you should try adjusting your expectations, instead of the clock. I think you might stand a better chance of success with that."

Now the only time I really feel the pressure of time is when I am hung up on a design difficulty. Finding exactly what the yarn wants to be can be an exhausting and time consuming process.

Knit. Look. Frown. Rip out. Search for inspiration.

Cast on. Knit. Shake head. Frog. Eat chocolate.

Knit. Modify. Consider. Try to accept. Groan. Unravel.

You get the drill...

But eventually, it always (or almost always) comes round right. I just have to keep turning until it does.

For example:

I picked up some Blue Sky alpaca at my LYS on Friday. I had some vague idea of an Oatmeal Scarf. I tried nubby texture stitches; I tried cables; I tried lace. I messed all day Saturday with that yarn, to no avail. I set it aside with a sigh of frustration and worked on something else for a while.

And Monday morning I knew what to do with it.

I combined a deeply defined rib with a smocking technique. Twisting the stitches on the rib gives added depth to the pattern and three lines of smocking on each end add a little pizazz. I tipped it with a little brown alpaca for interest.

I have enough to do at least a hat and matching scarf. I may even do a little fingerless glove to go along. I am calling it Cafe au Lait.

It meets all the criteria for my aperitifs collection. Easily memorized pattern with quick results. Simple.

And just like that, time marches on.

*****

My days unspool before me, each one much the same as the last; same as the next as well.

Baby Boy queries me, "What's up Mom?"

The answer seldom varies, "Working."

I presume he (in his youth and inexperience) finds the sameness of my days boring and uneventful. I remember feeling much the same in my younger days. I once dreamed of a life full of surprises, action, sophistication, and success.

But I have learned the toll that an overly busy life takes on my psyche. I have felt the distance between heart and mind. I have run with the rats and found the destination less than promised. I have reshaped my life, bringing what was once a scattered soul home again.

Baudelaire posits two ways of escaping time: work and pleasure. My work is my pleasure.

And my great blessing.

Timing is everything...







Of course, some of us simply sleep it off...

Progress

"All our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fear not, Garden Varietals, work continues on Sunflower. I am just finishing up the central mahogany section of the shawl/scarf and ready to begin the tiger section.

I don't know if it really shows up in the pictures, but I am pleased at way the lace pattern is forming.Once blocked, I think it will be lovely.

I love how a lace pattern transforms into a completely different animal when you knit it circularly. Too much fun...

For example this little arrowhead like pattern becomes concentric flower shapes once knitted.

I love the way a circular piece looks; I am less enthused by the fact that it keeps getting bigger.I am already up to a 32 inch round, and I have a 45 and a 60 inch waiting in the wings.

Hey! There's a reason I gave myself an extra month on this one!

Evelyn tells me that the Poinsettia sample is in. She is going to send me a picture. Don't worry, I'll share.

*****

Here are some alternate yarn suggestions for the AspenGlo Wrap, since the Maiden Hair is a fairly new fiber:

The Woolen Rabbit Opulence

Colinette Tao & Mohair

Fiesta Yarns La Boheme

Fiesta Yarns La Luz

Artyarns Silk Rhapsody (any of them)

Handmaiden Fine Yarn Camelspin

Artyarns Regal Silk

Handmaiden Fine Yarn Silk Maiden

Any of these would be lovely.

You know, one of the reasons I am publishing the Aperitif Collection is, quite frankly, self serving.

GASP!

Last year I really struggled to come up with inexpensive, yet thoughtful, gifts. I just hate to feed the Xmas machine that runs at the local mall 24/7 from mid-October on.

Luckily, Ravelry came to my rescue with an endless assortment of lovely, quick, cheap...

(I think we should rehabilitate that word. Cheap has taken on an undesirable aura in recent years. Perhaps now that gas costs $4 and the princes of Wall Street are running for the hills, we can begin to value again the virtues of frugality, rather than consumption. Okay, I'm done now. Time to climb back down off of the soapbox.)

Gift ideas. If it weren't for Jared Flood's hat pattern, I would have been lost. I made a ton of hats last year.

And I just figured I probably wasn't alone.

Speaking of Aperitifs, Maria - the wonder knitter - has posted first pictures of her Leaves of Grass scarf. Only she made it a shawl by using a larger needle size and some Noro yarn she had lying around. And hers is red. I'm guessing she won't call hers by the same moniker...unless her grass is a radically different color than mine.

You can take a look here:

Nice, huh?

Pattern will be on the market sometime next week, as soon as I finish mine and get some decent pictures. (I'm going to try and corral my DH into taking some of Zinnia, AspenGlo and Leaves of Grass actually being worn. What a concept!)

*****
I ran across this great joke when I was researching Soulful Parent, Soulful Teen, about the difference between leaders and managers:

Two people were managing a work crew cutting through a thick forest. The leader climbed a tree, looked around, and shouted down, "Halt! We are going in the wrong direction!"

The manager said, "But we're making GREAT progress..."

Sometimes direction is more important than progress; think I'll go find me a tree...

AspenGlo

VITAL STATISTICS

SIZE: 16 in wide by 60 in long

MATERIALS:

2 skeins (500 m/546 yd) Handmaiden Maidenhair

(Other yarns may be easily substituted provided needle size is adjusted to achieve gauge)

Prototype knit with Safari

Size 10 ½ (US) needles, size 5 (US) doublepoint needles, tapestry needle

GAUGE: 4 ½ stitches = 1 inch

(main body stitch)

EXPERIENCE LEVEL: ADVANCED BEGINNER

No Charts

"O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all."
- Robert Frost

Now, I don't want to brag people, but this one is so easy...

Even a beginner can do it. Really!

And that is just what makes it so fabulous, in my opinion. This pattern knits up quick and easy, with a little 4 row repeat. but just look at the results!

This piece is all about the yarn. Find one you're crazy for.

What are you waitng for? Go! I'll still be here when you get back...

I used Handmaiden's new Maiden Hair, which has a fingering weight single ply of luminous silk wrapped around a core of mohair laceweight. The whole thing comes out to be sport/light DK weight.

The label recommends knitting on size 5s, but I think you lose the beauty of the fiber if you go that small. Maiden Hair has a real crimp to it, (hence the name) and knitting at a looser gauge allows the texture to really come out.

I knit mine in a lovely autumnal yellow, but this wrap would be equally lovely in a more spring or summery green. Or imagine it in sugar maple red, bittersweet orange, grapevine burgundy, or rich russet.


The dangling leaves are knit with doublepoints and added at the end. I completed mine within a few days. I have never knit something so easy with such stunning results.

This one is a great Christmas gift idea.

All the info is on the sidebar. Hope you enjoy this new pattern for those of us with less time/less energy/less experience/dare I say, "less money?" Only $4 folks!!!

Gotta love that...

But no less desire for beauty.

Tomorrow: progress pictures of Sunflower...

Houston, We Have a Problem...

"There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve."
- Mike Leavitt

So, in yesterday's mail, I got the additional skeins of yarn to complete Pumpkin Patch and Rapunzel. I only order one skein initially to play with and figure out if I want to complete a design with it. Then I order more. This is one reason I often swatch long before I really get going on a project. I need to ensure I can still get more in the same dye lot.

Uh-oh...

Do these look like the same color to you?

If the answer is yes, I suggest you recalibrate the color on your monitor.

Or get glasses.

These aren't even close.

But I got on the horn with Nancy and she has one lonely little skein of pumpkin Camelspin left in stock. it is on its way even as we speak. Hopefully it will match one of the two I already have. After all, the frost will be on the pumpkin before we know it. I need to get this one out to a test knitter asap.

I found this cute crossed rib pattern that looks (to me anyway) like cornstalks, so I knit a little row of them into the lower edge of the scarf. But I can;t go any further until I know which skein to use.

In the meantime, I put in a little time on my Maidenhair stole, which has a new name. All I could think of when working on this luscious blend of silk and mohair was:

Aspenglow.

See what I mean?






And yes. It IS that gorgeous. The color (safari) positively glows.






I am using a simple little four row texture pattern. By knitting it on a much larger needle than the recommended size 6, the pattern takes on a very open and drapey quality.




I am also planning to add a cable and fringe panel to each end.









And this afternoon, I swatched for another stole pattern, called Copenhagen. This photo, taken along one of Copenhagen's many canals, where we had dinner one evening, is the inspiration for the piece.

It has been floating around in the back of my noggin for a while now, and when Evelyn got these two beauties in, I couldn't resist any longer.


This is Camelspin.


Glacier Bay (for the water)







And Morgana (for the colors of the buildings along the canal)









The stole will feature traditional Danish star and check motifs, done fair isle style. I am going to line the stole with Merrimekko fabric after blocking, to hide the carried yarn on the backside.

The photo doesn't do it justice.

I know I have to get back to Sunflower, but my hands needed a break from all the beading.

Back to the salt mines...

Aperitifs

"The measure of achievement is not winning awards. It's doing something that you appreciate, something you believe is worthwhile. I think of my strawberry souffle. I did that at least twenty-eight times before I finally conquered it.

- Julia Child

"Girls just wanna have fun."

-Cyndi Lauper

I love to cook.

Sometimes I haul out my Julia Child, four bowls, two pots, all my measuring cups and spoons. I devote the day to my appetite for chocolate mousse.

It is delicious...

But also time consuming, fiddly, and rich beyond belief. You wouldn't want to eat it every day.

(Well, maybe you would, but you'd never admit it in writing.)

So I have a little sorbet, or a biscotti and a cappucino. Something light. frothy, easy, and quick.

Because sometimes, simple is better.

Most of my designs are intricately put together, tightly planned (dare I say, fiddly?) affairs. They are challenging and require attention to complete them properly. They also feature heavy beading. They are the knitting equivalent of the French Chef''s chocolate mousse.

As I pushed through the final rows of Zinnia last week, I felt the need to take a break now and again.

I had this yarn I had picked up at Threadbear in Lansing MI over the summer. Charming by Elegant Yarns is a two-ply fingering weight wool that stripes like Kauni or Noro. I wear a lot of green, so I picked a color that shaded from evergreen to olive to grassy to chartreuse, and everything in between.

I began to play with it. The yarn was so gorgeous by itself; it didn't need as lot of pattern to distract. And therein lies the beauty of it.

Once you get through the leaf pattern at the bottom, the lace pattern spools right out in eight easily memorized rows.

And the scarf served as a palate cleanser; the perfect balance to the more complex patterns in my basket.

I have several ideas for smaller projects (scarves, mitts, hats, etc.) rumbling around in my noggin, but they don't seem complicated enough to justify my usual fee.

And I thought, "What if I offer these little appeteasers on-line only (to keep costs down) for $4 a pop?" These simpler projects would be easily within anyone's budget and feature easily memorized and repetitive motifs. They would not neccesarily be lace, although this first one is.

So, here are first shots of Leaves of Grass, on its way out the door to Maria, the wonder knitter.


























Soon to be followed by Rapunzel - a wrap out of Handmaiden's scrumtious new yarn Maidenhair;









Pumpkin Patch - a variegated solid scarf with a nifty little pumpkin cable design in Handmaiden's beautiful Camelspin;



and Mossy Glen - a scarf in a variegated sock yarn (Woodthrush) from Rio de la Plata.

I am calling them aperitifs, which I was introduced to in Paris as the answer to the question:

"How can I monopolize this table on the Champs Elysee for four hours, without ordering any actual food?"

I was a student. I was poor. I could sip my kir royale for hours.

Now my children are students and I am still poor, but that is the subject of another post...

A good aperitif whets the appetite for more substantial fare. I hope these patterns will serve as a good introduction and alternative to my more complex and difficult work.

Why?

Because sometimes you want chocolate mousse beaded lace (current projects: Sunflower, Drizzle, & Sherwood)

And sometimes you just wanna have fun.

Julia (and Cyndi) would be so proud...

Zinnia

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light."

- Theodore Roethko

SIZE: 60 in wide by 23 in long
(at center back)

MATERIALS:
600 yards Handmaiden Sea Silk or Mini Maiden
4000 size 8/0 seed beads
45 ladybug beads
Prototype knit with Pale Autumn Sea Silk and Miyuke beads 8-0140 – Matte red orange
Size 3 (US) needles, stitch markers, size 14 or 16 crochet hook (for beading) tapestry needle, beading needle, & stitch holder
GAUGE: each small petal motif = 1 inch
(blocked)

It may be the tail end of summer, but out here on the Sunflower farm, things are still blooming.

Zinnia is bright and cheery as the flower she is named for. This fourth installment in the Garden Variety Series is a semi-circular shawl, designed with an overlapping petal pattern, bordered by leaves and lacy openwork. Cunning little ladybug beads add a delightful touch of whimsy to this graceful design.

Here are a few links for lady bug beads. You can find a lot of different versions. I got mine at my local bead store.

http://www.artbeads.com/lb-822.html?zmam=24751123&zmas=1&zmac=2&zmap=LB-822

http://yhst-84575400752514.stores.yahoo.net/14st12redlab.html

http://store.redthreadchina.com/coloured-glaze-lady-bug-beads.html

Remember, only those who have purchased all the patterns (from Evelyn at Knitty Noddy or me) will receive the free Poinsettia pattern, for which Handmaiden is dyeing a special exclusive color.

Next up? Sunflower...

You hold your light deep in your roots today also, ok?