Get Jazzed!

“Life is a lot like jazz...It’s best when you improvise...”
- George Gershwin

JAZZED UP WRAP
another aperitif (quick knit)

SIZE:
20 in wide by 72 in long (blocked hard - less if you desire a cushier wrap)
MATERIALS:
4 1/2 skeins (675 yd) MALABRIGO Silky Merino or other dk weight yarn size 6 (US) needles
GAUGE:
5 stitches = 1 inch (stockinette)
EXPERIENCE LEVEL
advanced beginner
No cabling - just simple decreases and yarnovers
written directions - no chart reading
easily memorized sixteen stitch repeat

$4 (cheap a great value) over on the sidebar
that-a-way>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You know, I try not to play favorites.

• Summer is great, but I do love a fresh snowfall...
• Chocolate is king, but strawberry ice cream comes close...
• Number One Son is such a special young man, but Baby Boy tugs at my heart too...
• Knitting makes my heart beat faster, but it's hard to beat an afternoon on the porch with a good book...
• Deep meaning is great, but sometimes I just want a good laugh...

But I have to tell you...

I LOVE this yarn.

What on earth took me so long?

If one project is good, two is better, right?

What about three?

I blocked Jazz hard. And to my surprise, when stretched out, the silky merino takes on a drape quite similar to its namesake silk. Who knew?

Yet, when left to its own devices, as in the above pictures, the silky merino shows more of its wooly nature: soft, deep, and showing off your textural stitches to advantage.

So you have a decision to make: Do you want a flatter, finer lacy stole? Block hard. Or is a warm woolly rib more to your liking? Block softly.

It's two...two...two yarns in one...

This pale aqua scarf ( soon to be joined by a sibling hat) in the previous picture doesn't have a name yet; I wanted to call it Arabesque, but there are already three pages of patterns on Ravelry with that name.

Then I thought I'd name it for an ice skating move, since the pale aqua (actual color: mint frappe) looks icy and the curving lines that the stitches form reminds me of the old school figures, which international competition used to require. But "school figure" is sort of a clunky name for such a graceful pattern, and "salchow" isn't much better.

Wait a minute...

I just had a great idea for a contest!

Help me name this pattern. Leave me a suggestion in the comments and I will send the pattern out for free, when it comes out in a week or two, to the top three entries (as determined by me - sorry, this is not a democracy; it is a benevolent dictatorship.)

And just to sweeten the pot, if you have the top entry, I will also include a Poinsettia scarf pattern, which is otherwise only available exclusively to those who purchase the entire Garden Variety Collection.

I am notoriously bad at shipping things. Ask anyone. I put the "pro" in procrastinate. But even I can manage to send an email.

I think...

I'm having such fun designing quick aperitif projects that spotlight this extraordinary fiber. Lots of goodies under my Christmas tree this year.

If you haven't tried it yet, you really should!

And a little bird tells me Yarnzilla is unpacking a brand new shipment of silky merino goodness, even as we speak read...

What are you waiting for?

Go!

But leave me a comment first...

Manageable Growth

"The fatal metaphor of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the real idea of growth, which means leaving things inside us. "

-Gilbert K. Chesterton

One of my good friends has this explanation for the forgetfulness that often plagues those of us who have arrived at, ahem, a certain age:

"I think the brain is like a computer, storing everything we input during our lives. As we get older, the brain gets fuller and fuller and it takes us longer and longer to access the information we are seeking, because there are just so many more files to go through."

I'm not absent minded; I'm just out of disc space.

Experts have long debated the nature versus nurture issue:

Are we a product of our genetics?

Or are we a product of our experiences?

Yes.

To both.

Let's take a look at a ball of yarn. (And why wouldn't we? We are knitters, are we not?)

The yarn has certain characteristics when it comes to us in its pristine state. It has a percentage of wool, cotton, bamboo, or other fiber content. It has a certain weight and thickness. It is plied, boucled, tweeded, felted, or otherwise finished. It is a certain color. These factors comprise the "genetics" of the yarn.

But, as soon as it hits our hot little hands, we begin to modify it. We wind it from a skein to a ball. We choose a needle size. We choose a desired garment. We choose a pattern. We choose a stitch.

And as we move forward, shaping the yarn into the stuff of our dreams, it becomes more than it was when it was in the LYS, on the shelf, in the warehouse, or at the back of our stash shelf closet room (truth in advertising.)

The bare bones of its genetics are fleshed out by our vision. The yarn comes to us in pristine (and dare we say, generic?) condition. Unless you spin your own and that is a whole 'nuther post in and of itself...

Our choices shape the final results; our experiences accumulate in the garment until it becomes an expression of love and hope - something uniquely and completely ours.

Likewise, our lives.

We may inherit blue eyes, or dark skin, or flaming carrot red hair. We may have our grandfather's wit and our mother's intelligence.

But, as anyone who has ever raised a child could tell you, we are so much more than that. We are each singular, each unique, each a masterpiece (even if we have a few dropped stitches somewhere in our checkered past.)

I often ask Baby Boy if he regrets any of the challenges he has overcome in his life. His response is always the same.

"If I had not gone through them, I would not be the person I am today. So, who am I to argue with the experiences that brought me here?"

This is growth in the finest and truest sense of the word.

Unlike snakes, we do not shed our skins. We cannot put things behind us. Not if we want to grow.

We must instead take things within us and build upon them. Just like a sweater forms atop a solid ribbing and alongside a stable selvage stitch.

As our triumphs, our hopes and dreams, and yes, even our failures and mistakes accumulate, they form a solid core:

A core comprised of: the memories of who we once were, the realities of who we are in this very present moment, and the pulsing heart of who we hope to become in the future.

I think manageable growth is an oxymoron. It implies a level of control that we will not only never fully achieve, but, in reality, should not even aspire to.

I believe in untramelled, freely-given, flexible, unmanageable growth, which is a gift from God, wrapped simultaneously in grace and sorrow, tied up with a big bow of common humanity.

But enough unsolicited advice. You didn't come here for the philosophy. You came for the knitting...

Here are some pictures of recent growth out here on the sunflower farm, for your viewing pleasure...

Jazzed Up (Lady Sings the Blues) has a few more repeats on her. (Don't we all, honey?) Look for her release sometime next week.

Poinsettia is 32 rows short of publication. I'll finish her up and block tonight. Let me have tomorrow (Wednesday) to update my files, put together the pattern, and compile the mailing list. She should be heading out to all the Garden Varietals on Thursday. Check your email, ladies!

And yesterday's mail drop included my first shipment of Malabrigo Silky Merino from Yarnzilla. The skein that spoke to me (No, really! It practically shouted, "Pick me! Pick me!" You would've thought it was a contestant on Let's Make a Deal!) was the Madre Perla, a lovely shade of dusty rose/lavender. I couldn't wait to cast on. Something delicate, something airy, something befitting the softness of the fiber and color.

So last night, once I had finished my allotted repeats of Poinsettia and other work, I turned on Dancing With the Stars (my guilty pleasure) and played. And lo and behold, the second time around (that, like, NEVER happens!) I had a pattern I loved.


This is Rose Buddy...

Why Rose Buddy? Because:

• The lace pattern looks like rose buds to me.
• It's a pun
• It's snarky
• It's witty

(And there are already about a gazillion patterns titled Rosebud on the market. I checked.)


An easy eight stitch repeat. Sounds like another aperitif in the works.

Now, enough is enough. It's time to get back to Poinsettia.

After all. people are waiting...

The Blues

"Oh, the blues ain't nothing but a good woman feeling bad."

- Georgia White

I must admit to my share of the blues; it is hard to be optimistic when the economy is tanking and your best friend just lost her son.

Now, D. H. Lawrence once said, "I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It's amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor."

Nope. Ain't gonna' happen...

But I did do a little light housekeeping on the blog, moving the vital statistics of some of my older patterns to a separate page, which is accessed by clicking on the picture. I thought this might de-clutter my sidebar a bit. Got about half of them done yesterday and will do the others today soon (don't want to promise too much. After all I am babysitting tonight. Happy happy, joy, joy..)

What else did I do?

I worked up an easy pattern (another aperitif anyone?) for some Cloudy Sky Malabrigo Silky Merino I have had floating around my studio since last spring. Better to knit the blues, than sing them, right?

I am tentatively calling this scarf/wrap, "Jazzed Up." I wanted to call it "Lady Sings the Blues", but I figured other people will make it in a different color, and then it would seem a little strange...

While it looks like a cabled design, all the stitch work is accomplished with yarn overs and decreases. No cabling required.

It is a quick and easy pattern, perfect for Christmas gifts. I did an entire foot of it in a couple hours.

Really!

In between writing up the pattern for Sherwood, and working on further repeats of Poinsettia.

(Fear not, Garden Varietals. More pics of Poinsettia tomorrow, along with a yardage estimate and bead count.)

One skein gave me eleven inches of a 16 inch wide scarf/wrap, so I figure six skeins oughta' do it. The new Manos Silk Blend would also work well.

I like the extra drape of the dk yarn, but you could also do 'er up in their worsted weight for even faster results . I'll include directions for both gauges in the pattern, but I haven't worked out yardage for that weight yet.

The yarn is lovely to work with - like buttah...

And, while it looks solid in the skein and even in the wound ball, once knit up, you can clearly see the slight variegation that makes kettle dyed yarns such a pleasure to work with.

You can bet I'll be working with this again. I have two semi-solid colors of Manos already in house, and three of Malabrigo's on the way from Linda at Yarnzilla.

Linda and I have talked about how there needs to be more pattern support for the silky merino, so I am happy to provide. She is going to provide a link for the patterns on her yarn pages.

Look for the pattern release end of next week (after Poinsettia.)

And just like that, the blues abate.

Knitting - works every time - far better than marmalade...