Late Bloomers

"As long as we are persistent in our pursuit of our deepest destiny, we will continue to grow. We cannot choose the day or time when we will fully bloom. It happens in its own time.'
- Denis Waitley

Thank you all for your ongoing interest in Sunflower Designs. Your enthusiasm and passion is inspiring.

The Aperitifs Collection is flying off the shelves out of the laptop (we don't have shelves on the sunflower farm - way too organized for a chronic right-brainer like me.) I have the feeling there will be more than a few of these designs under the Christmas tree this year. Look for another release later this week...

A new friend on Ravelry has reminded me that we probably have a few latecomers who might benefit from a reiteration of the details of the Garden Variety Collection.

The Garden Variety Collection is a series of lace scarves/shawls inspired by the magnificent diversity we can find in our garden flowers,and the gorgeous colors of Handmaiden yarns. The patterns are designed for Sea Silk or Mini Maiden although other yarns of similar gauge can be (and have been) substituted successfully. Designs feature extensive crochet hook beading (optional) to enhance the lines of the patterns.

So far there have been four releases:

Crocus Pocus

Iris

Hydrangea

and
Zinnia

Sunflower was supposed to come out this month.



But factors such as repetitive stress injury, family illness, new grandchild, punishing pace, and size of the finished piece have combined to delay its release. Oh, c'mon now, don't cry; you know how that affects me...

Poinsettia will still come out in November as scheduled, in time for Christmas, and that pattern will be emailed free of charge to all who have purchased the four previously published patterns. Don't worry; Evelyn at Knitty Noddy and I have been keeping track of who orders what.

I have first pictures to share of the sample skeins that Jana at Handmaiden has dyed exclusively for Poinsettia.

Evelyn is shipping one of each to me today so I can decide between them. The main difference seems to be the relative amounts of red, gold, and green and the overall intensity of the colors. I will knit a bit with both and then decide which to use. What do you think? Which one do you like?

(Please keep in mind that this an informal non-binding survey.)

This yummy color of Sea Silk will be available (soon!) exclusively from Knitty Noddy.

So don't throw up your hands in despair.

Don't mope.

Don't cancel your subscriptions, tie up your loose ends, and jump out your window...

(Y'all can detect the heavy irony in my tone, can't you?)

Sunflower

and
Bougainvillea

will be released following Poinsettia.

Not exactly what I had planned, but real life got in the way. I hope that those of you who have been knitting the series will embrace these two "late bloomers" as a welcome break from the winter doldrums, even without the added bribe carrot of the free pattern.

Since the release schedule has changed, I am pushing back the retirement date of these patterns accordingly. They are still limited editions, but I will continue to offer the patterns for sale until March 2009. At that time, all seven patterns will be retired and I will begin production on the 2009 edition.

(Yeah. I know. I'm a glutton for punishment.)

I trust that all of my fans (Gosh, do i really have fans?) will understand the slight delay and accept my heartfelt apologies.

Blessings & happy knitting always!

Into Each Life, a Little Errata Must Fall...

Crocus Pocus Errata

Chart D:

On row 3, stitch 24: change k2tog to a sk2p.

On row 5, stitch 24, change sk2p to K2tog.

I think my test knitter or I found an error and I changed the wrong one for whatever reason. So then there were two errors.

Think of it as the designer's twofer from HELL!!!!! (dramatic crashing cymbals and ominous chord)

Wouldn't life be better with a soundtrack?

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

CROCUS POCUS

Size: 54" wide by 25" long
Materials: 437 yds. lHandmaiden Sea Silk, Mini Maiden, or other light fingering yarn - main color (Dandelion)
20 yds. contrast color (Periwinkle)
Size 5 (US) needles
2750 8/0 seed beads (Miyuke #1827)
74 Czech pressed glass bellflower beads (tanzanite and citrine)
Skill level: Intermediate - crochet hook beading and chart reading
Gauge: 5.5 st. = 1 inch

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!

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...

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...

You Say Eh-RAY-tah and I Say Eh-RAH-tah. Let's NOT Call the Whole Thing Off...

MARS SUSAN NEEDS WOMEN TEST KNITTERS!

I need a couple volunteers to test knit Sherwood and Crocus Pocus. Both are smaller scarf projects that involve basic lace skills and crochet hook beading. Samples do not need to be completed in original yarn, as I will use my own versions for the pattern picture. Let your own imagination fly free...

What do you get? You get the pattern free of charge and get to be the first on the blogosphere block to knit one of these beauties!

And if you call within the next five minutes, we'll throw in a set of ginsu knives...

Not really. I just got carried away...

What do I get? A chance to de-bug and make sure that other knitters understand my pattern.

What do we get? A chance to make new knitting friends (my favorite part!)

Time is of the essence, so please take a pass if you can't free up the time to knit one of these within the next 2 weeks or so.



























And now for something completely different...

It astounds me how many designers resent people pointing out their mistakes. I have heard horror stories of non-responsive, angry people insisting, even when confronted with the truth in black and white, that there could not POSSIBLY be an error in their pattern.

I don't do that. For many reasons:

• I believe no one is perfect
• I believe my mistakes teach me humility
• I believe humility brings me closer to God
• I believe there is an unspoken contract between designer, yarn producer, and knitter: to work together in good faith to bring forth, not only a beautiful and satisfactory FO, but also a rewarding knitting experience.
• I believe denial and self-delusion are defeating attitudes
  
• I believe in my knitters: when you're right, you're right
• I believe we are all in this world together, and we had better help each other through
• I believe you've probably had enough manifesto for now...
  
  Anyway, I have held off on a comprehensive errata posting for Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights. (Forgive me if I've already told you this, but...if I had had any idea how many times I would type that extremely l-o-n-g moniker, I would have named it, "Fred!" Or maybe, "Omar!")
  
  Not because I didn't want to admit my mistakes. But because I wanted to make sure all of them were corralled into the same enclosure, before I started branding them with the Sunflower logo. Now that four different knitters (some chart-readers, some written direction aficionados) have completed the first half (making it through the pattern once, before repeating) I am hopeful that we have hogtied them all. But I make no promises...
  
  Errata are wily little critters. They run when they see someone comin' round the mountain. And they are notably ornery cusses, throwing off numerous attempts to tie them down. But most of all? They are masters at camouflage. They hide out in the sagebrush, right under our noses, resisting many attempts at detection until some intrepid knitter actually looks closely at the directions and hollers, "Wait a minute, sheriff Pandorf! I think we got us a live one..."
  
  So, a big and humble thank you to all my deputies. Without you, our wild world of knitting would be a lawless wilderness.
  
  

  Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights Errata

  Chart A, row 41, stitch 20:

  Should be purl, not knit. Written directions are correct.

  Chart C:

  On rows 7, 9, & 11, 2nd stitch in from edge should be a knit 2 together. All right side rows on this chart begin with a beaded yarnover, k2 tog. Written directions are correct.

  Chart G4, row 19, st 40:

  Should be YO, not knit, as written.

  Schematic:

  I meant to put G1 & G3 on the right side triangles and G2 & G4 on the left side triangles. Directions are correct. Diagram is correct. Label is specious.

  Pg. 8, Written Dir. Chart A

  Row 8 should read: (P1, k1tbl) twice, (bead1, k1) twice, k2*, not k1* as written.

  Row 17 should read: Repeat to last 7 stitches, not 8 stitches, as written. Chart is correct.

  Page 12 at bottom:

  Should read:

  End panel

  Row 1: (WS) Purl. Row 2: Knit. Row 3: P1, slide 20 beads close to RH needle, k1tbl, forming a beaded loop, k2; rep from, end p1. Rows 4 -8: Knit. Row 9: Knit 94, knit 2 tog, knit 94 (189 stitches)

  Pg 13, one third of the pg. down, after line beginning with Next Row:

  Should read: work chart D (leaf shadows) over next 27 stitches, not 26, as written.

  “It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

  - Mahatma Gandhi