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...

Sunshine On My Shoulders

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high

-John Denver

You may have wondered where I've been...

Then again, you may be used to it by now.

You may just shake you head and figure the hermit has gone back into her designer cave.

Now there are two words I never thought would go together...

"Over here we have the Calvin Klein sabre tooth rug, which is complimented by a lovely Martha Stewart Home mastodon tusk."

Anyway...

Tuesday afternoon, my wifi connection died. I grimaced, got up off my fanny, and plugged my laptop (which was now a desktop) into my hard cable connector.

Yesterday morning, that died as well.

You know how they say no man is an island?

They're wrong.

I couldn't post, couldn't chat, couldn't print, couldn't surf, couldn't email,

Couldn't RAVEL for God's sake!

So I un-Raveled. At least until DH got home and hooked me up again. Phew!

On the other hand, I got lots done around the house.

And I got some terrific shots of our gal, Crocus Pocus.

Yep, she is done. Finished. Complete.

We have grown so close over the past two weeks, that when I tossed her loveliness over my shoulder, and danced her around the room yesterday, you didn't hear a peep out of her.

(And, if you'd ever seen me dance, you'd know that takes fortitude - either that or a lot of trust. I have THREE left feet!)

She didn't even question my intent.

Just lay there on my shoulder and cozied up to my neck.

And, even without the sun streaming in the window, I felt the sunshine on my shoulders all day long.

I am very pleased with how this one turned out. I was a little afeared the Garden Variety Collection might start out with a whimper.

But the color (Dandelion) that seemed a little too intensely chartreuse for my liking in the knitting, all came out in the wash.

No, she didn't run. But the act of blocking nicely diffused the color, turning into a breath of spring.

Instead of a shout in your face.

The beads on the points are perfection.

And I love the little periwinkle blue edging on the last two rows and bind-off.

She lies just right on the shoulders - not quite a shawl, but substantial enough to have an impact, frame the face, and draw the eye upward from my, shall we say less than attractive but more than ample, ass-etts.

Now, I had a lot of you volunteer to test knit and I have started a database, but my question to y'all is this:

Anyone feel particularly called by THIS project as opposed to Sherwood?

Anyone a speed-demon, chart-reading, crochet-hook-beading, lace knitter who can commit to finishing it by the end of the month?

Anyone have 450 yards of seasilk or mini maiden lying about the house? (Plus a little extra of a complimentary color, if you want to add the contrasting border.)

Anyone have any other fingering weight that wants to be a scarf instead of a pair of socks?

Anyone dying to play with 2500 size 8 seed beads?

Anyone's size 4 needles getting rusty?

Anyone want the perfect spring accessory while it is still , oh I don't know, SPRING?

Have I got a deal for you!

Email me at susanpandorf@comcast.net or include your email in a comment (Some said they want to knit, but Blogger didn't give me their addy.) and I'll get back with you later today, or tomorrow for sure.

And you could be knitting on your own little crocus by the weekend!

Cause everyone could use a little extra sunshine in their lives...

Cockeyed

"When the skies are a bright canary yellow
I forget ev'ry cloud I've ever seen,
So they called me a cockeyed optimist
Immature and incurably green."

- Rodgers and Hammerstein

I have these wine tumblers from Sur la Table. They were a Christmas gift from my father and step-mother.

I don't know how well you can see from this picture, but there is a line halfway up the glasses. Below that line is printed the Italian word, "PESSIMISTA" or pessimist. Above the line, the glasses herald, "OTTIMISTA" or optomist.

They bring new meaning to the question: Is the glass half empty? Or half full?

Now I am a half full kind of gal, as you might expect from someone who turns her face to the sun on a regular basis. Ever since fighting my way back from clinical depression some years back, I have determined to keep to the sunny side of the street, whenever possible.

Of course, into each life a little rain must fall. Otherwise nothing (including us) would grow.

This morning on the Sunflower Society boards, TreeFrog shared the following bumper sticker slogan with us: Life isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain. (unattributed)

How true.

Optimism serves me well in this life. It keeps my eye on the long term outlook, rather than the short term forecast. Today is cloudy? I just wait for tomorrow. Today is raining? I dance. Today is the fortieth day and fortieth night of rain? I build an ark.

Do I look like I'm stupid?

I digress...

Optimism is closely allied with its kissing cousin: hope. And hope enables us to bear what we must in this veil of tears, knowing that tomorrow "the sun'll come out."

Life according to Annie...

Hope in a better day and a better world is an essential part of a fulfilling life. It allows us to keep faith with our human potential.

Hope bears us up when we are down. It fills our common cup past the ottimista line to overflowing.

It helps us fulfill our promise.

Speaking of promises...

I hate to make promises I can't keep. And yet, I always seem to come up short with y'all.

I feel as though I am perpetually running late when it comes to my designs. I come up with ideas about 3 weeks after they would be on track for a well-scheduled release.

The crocus blooms are fading into memory and yet I still have to get Crocus Pocus through her test knit prior to release (hopefully in two weeks, if one of my volunteers is a speed demon.) Iris is already in design, but I will probably struggle to get her out in May.

Things always seem to take longer than I anticipate. Partly, it is the test knitting, which everyone assures me is an essential part of the design process. Partly, it is the fact that I learn by doing.

Which means I make a lot of, ahem, let's not call them mistakes; let's call them modifications.

I look at the pieces while I am working on them and as I progress, the yarn teaches me:

• About the pattern.
• About the bead placement
• About the fiber
• About how to translate an idea into a largely two dimensional medium, like a shawl.

Of course, I also can't leave well enough alone. Because good enough isn't, well...

Good enough. Not when it could be better.

As Crocus Pocus took shape in my hands, I began to see how I could make her better.

• Close up the YOs in the main crocus pattern with beads to enhance and draw in the diagonal lines to a more vertical configuration.
• Add YOs to the inner border to lighten up the points and keep them in harmony with the lace pattern.
• Redesign the center back point to bring it into proper alignment with the diagonal points along the sides.

And once again, what I thought would be done a week ago, has taken me a week to complete.

SIGH...

But I didn't mean to break my promise to you. You know, the one where I said I'd have finished pictures today.

I didn't lie...

Not exactly...

I'm just overly optimistic.

You're Never Too Old...

"Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions."
-Pablo Picasso

What did you do today, little girl?

Well, AFTER I spent all morning fixing a PayPal problem (if you ordered from me at the old address and have not received your pattern, please contact me. I retrieved all but one.

(Email address change complications - OY!)

I colored...

Ain't it purty?

This is the initial chart work for Iris, the next design in the Garden Variety Collection.






And it will look even better, done up in Mermaid Sea Silk, a lovely purple, bronze, and olive green blend.

I know it looks blue, but it's not...

In other news, Crocus Pocus is nearing completion. Should get onto the blocking boards yet tonight. Finished pics on Monday.

Drizzle (oh yeah! That one) is also coming along...

Although I gotta tell ya, working on drizzle on a gorgeous spring day is less than inspiring...

Dare I think Spring is finally here?



Must make time for a pedicure...

See how I neglect myself for you people?

Ugly, I tell ya...

Garden Variety

"Babylon drizzle: it's a crying shame.

Watching the skies and praying for rain...

Could you be the answer to the world in need?

Waiting for somebody to plant the seed.

Soul Hands..."

-Garden Variety

Sunflower Designs announces:

The Garden Variety Collection

An original series of beaded lace scarf and "shawlette" patterns, inspired by Nature in one of her most magnificent and varied manifestations:

The flower.

Beginning with Crocus Pocus in April, and Hydrangea in May/June, patterns will be released every 4-6 weeks throughout the summer and fall of 2008.

******

Designs will use seasilk by Handmaiden, a light fingering blend of silk and seacell, suitable for year round wear, in even the warmest climates.

Most, if not all, will be one-skein projects. Some will be triangular, some rectangular and some half circles, depending upon the design. All will reflect the shape and nature of the flower in color and design.

They will also include a brief description and history of the flower and the personality associated with it.

Initial plans call for:

Crocus Pocus (Dandelion sea silk)

Hydrangea (Wildflowers sea silk)

Iris (Amethyst seasilk)

Damask Rose (Rose Garden or Rose seasilk)

Bluebells (Periwinkle seasilk)

Baby’s Breath (Ivory seasilk)

Zinnia (Origin seasilk)

Sunflower (Straw or Tiger seasilk)

Chrysanthemum (Indian Summer seasilk)

Poinsettia (Sangria seasilk)

Patterns will be available on my website. I am currently exploring options for a seasilk retailer to offer kits. I am also mulling over the option of offering a discount if you "subscribe" to the entire series.

My favorite kind of garden has always been the English garden, where a profusion of bountiful blooms intermingle in a seemingly haphazard manner. The beauty of it lies in its apparent randomness, yet it is actually quite well planned in order to present a harmonious whole.

It takes all kinds to make a garden. It takes all kinds to make a world.

And we are all master gardeners in this life. If we give things the proper attention they both need and deserve, we are privileged to watch them blossom under our care: flowers, children, shawls, friends, food, music, love...

Above all, love!

The Sunflower Society on Ravelry ( a group for middle aged women who turn their faces to the sun) has a thread called, “What botanical are you?” It has been great fun to see how people identify with the different blooms. Some are pansies; some snapdragons;some daisies (the friendliest flower, as Meg Ryan christened them.)

And all of us grow in the light of God's love.

You know, the term "garden variety" has often been construed to mean "common". And we are that. We use "common" sense (hopefully!) We live "common"- place lives.

But a "commons" in a village or town means a place to meet; a place to celebrate; a place to come together. "Common" is the root of the word communion, and communion is a miraculous thing.

We are as many and as varied as the blooms in any English Garden. And we are all...

beautiful.

I hope you will embrace this new project as so many of you have taken my eastern-inspired designs into your heart and home. And I hope you will be reminded, while you work on them, of how lucky we are...

to walk in the garden.

I Lied...

Big announcement on Tuesday Wednesday.

C'mon...

Y'all should know by now how often I run late...

My estimates are always optimistic.

Too tired to type that much this evening.

You guys will forgive me, right?

Right?

BTW: those that make note of such things, my email has changed. It is now:

susanpandorf@comcast.net

The big conglomerate ate up our little country cable provider.

G'nite. I'm off to rest up for the big (heh!) reveal tomorrow.

Go ahead. Call me a tease. You're allowed...

And for those who lose sleep over such things...

the cat still lives...

and smirks...

and appears totally unrepentent...