Sherwood

“The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness. “

- John Muir

Vital Statistics

Size
15 in wide by 72 in long

Materials
800 m / 875 yd heavy laceweight (model knit with handmaiden sea silk in forest)

1200 size 8/0 seed beads
(model uses miyuke #0311 topaz gold luster)

size 4(us) needles, beading needle, crochet hook (for beading)

Gauge
5 stitches stockinette = 1 inch (blocked)

Experience Level: Intermediate. Charted design.

finally...


This one has been a long time coming...


but hopefully worth the wait...


I love the amber beads - subtle, but glowing with the warmth of fine polished wood


and the dainty beaded edges...


Robin Hood - eat your heart out!

(thank you for your infinite patience with an over- worked imagined designer)

Delay

"A delay is better than a disaster"
-Unknown

I spent the weekend waiting:

• for the final beads for Poinsettia to come in the mail, so I can begin knitting.
• for news of a dear friend's son and his ongoing battle to recover from brain surgery last week. (If you believe, please offer a prayer for Tyler; if you don't, offer hope)
  
• for my test knitter to finish up Sherwood.
• for the housing market to improve
• for the economy to settle
• for our next leader to be chosen
• for my grandson to open his eyes again (last two times we saw the young family, Conner slept through dinner - good for Mom & Dad, not so much for eager grandmas)

Delays are an inevitable part of life. We don't have to enjoy them, but we do have to understand and accept them. We fuss; we fret; we hope; we pray...

and not one bit of it changes the course of time.

So we wait.

• In hospital rooms.
• In churches.
• In homes.
• In businesses
• In schools.

And while we wait, we knit.

I used to sit on several community boards, and I always took my knitting to long monthly meetings. A fellow board member once asked me, "Do you have to do that during meetings?"

My response?

"You wouldn't like me much if I didn't."

Somehow the act of manipulating sticks and string calms my soul and grants me that which is sometimes all too rare and hard to come by:

Patience, purpose, and perspective.

Delay has something to teach us: about flexibility, about tolerance, about the fact that we are not the ones in charge.

About the true nature of our world and our proper place in the grand scheme of things.

The present moment hangs suspended between the past and future; we live between the dreaming and the coming true. Delay builds character. It tests us. It tempers us.

We can spend our lives fighting every delay in fear and frustration.

Or we can meet the challenge with reverence and respect for the past, grace for the present, and hope for the future.

We choose. And what we choose makes life an eternal surprise or an endless hell.

For us, and for all those who come into contact with us.

*****

Speaking of delay, remember this?


Suie is finishing up her test knit and I am pushing it this week, so Sherwood's long delayed release should be later this week, God willing.

Good news for those of you who have been patiently waiting.

My other priority for the week is to get Poinsettia far enough along to get the pattern out to Maria the wonder knitter by the weekend.

So what do I have to share with you, while we wait together?

How about a few pics of another upcoming Aperitif?

Diamond Girl (yes, from the Seals & Croft song - I just dated myself)



Yarn: Handmaiden Silk Twist in Stardust


And yes, this one has beads. But I still place it in the aperitif category because of the easily memorized and executed stitch pattern.

In the meantime, here's a final pic of my grandson Conner modeling his Sea Baby ensemble to tide you over.


Cute, huh? And his eyes are open!

All things come to those who wait.

Eventually...

OOPS sighting

Leaves of Grass

Written Directions

Row 15: should be ...K4 (slipping marker)...

Row 23: should be ...YO, SSK, K1, YO, SSK... and in the left-hand side of the chart ...K2tog, YO, K1, k2tog, YO...

Row 24: should be P1, K1, P3... and at the end of the row ...P3, K1, P1

The chart is correct.

I can't really say I am surprised. The written directions were quite tedious and long; while I was writing them out, I tried to be careful but I thought to myself, "If I don't mess up somewhere, it's gonna be a blessed miracle!"

Maria, the wonder knitter, knit by the chart. Thank you Liz for the feedback. Y'all please let me know asap if you find anything else, OK?

Sherwood update: After being stuck in test knitter purgatory (I lost her name in one of my computer freezes) for the summer, I have sent her out this morning for another knitter to try her hand. Hopefully, she will have smooth sailing and we can get her to market by November.

I Tried

"There ain't no rules around here, we're trying to accomplish something."

-Thomas Edison

There used to be this commercial for Lay's potato chips.

"No one can eat just one."

In my brief but fruitful career as a designer, I have discovered the truth of this advertising maxim.

"No one can knit just one."

I knit multiples at the same time. Doesn't everybody?

My knitting basket is a little like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. And to carry the chocolate analogy a bit further (and who doesn't want MORE chocolate?) it often resembles a picked over box of candy, with one bite taken out of lots of different projects and few completely consumed. (Coconut - YUMM! Nougat - GROSS!)

Many fans of Sherwood and Drizzle have contacted me recently, fearing for the health and welfare of these long-neglected children. Fear not, they are in the hopper for the fall. I am knitting as fast as I can.

I am an intuitive knitter. I allow my muse to lead, determining my path. Sometimes the path is smooth. Sometimes it is bumpy. Sometimes it leads to places I never expected.

That is what happened with Zinnia.

She was a simple little knit with one central petal motif, repeated over and over in ever widening circles until the edge, whereupon the final petals would be added and cast off individual.ly. She was a one-trick pony. And a one skein project.

Now I tried to keep her simple. I really did. Honest. I tried to reign her in and confine her to one skein.

But this simple petal motif:






turned into this small leaf motif.






Then four of them merged into this large center leaf:






And surrounded themselves with other leaves...






Which needed some filler in between them, to finish things off.









And before you knew it...

Zinnia was a three or four trick pony. And a two skein project.

Sigh...

Here's another metaphor from one of Baby Boy's favorite childhood reads, for those of you with little ones around:

If you give a mouse a cookie...

A mouse muse can be a terribly demanding mistress, a hard task master,



but she sure does know what she's doing...

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...

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
  
  

Sail Away

"So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
—Mark Twain

Wow! It's been a while, hasn't it? Time flies when you're having fun...

So, where have I been?

Sailing.

"But Susan," I can hear you saying ( What? You don't hear voices in your head? Is it just me? Me too. What? ME TOO! Shh, I hate it when you interrupt. Who me? Shut up and let me think...)

Where was I, before I was so rudely interrupted? Oh yes...

"But Susan, how is it you have been sailing, when the rest of us have been slogging through melting slush and mud? Have you been on vacation and forgot to tell us? You didn't even ask one of us to be your test knitter tourist to guard against inadvertent mistakes (luggage displacement, inadequate sunscreen distribution, dropped stitches sunglasses, etc!)"

Rest assured, I have not budged from the sunflower farm. I have, however, been traveling in my mind.

Next month, Scott and I will celebrate our 29th anniversary. And, while this is not exactly a landmark, next year's annual event will be cause for exceptional celebration. Every five years, we celebrate with a little trip. Our twentieth was marked with a week in Hawaii, and we enjoyed our twenty-fifth with a slightly shorter (due to the fact that I was enrolled in Seminary at the time) voyage to the wine country of Northern California. We had a wonderful time in both locales and are now beginning to look ahead to our thirtieth.

So, when I needed a break (yes, even I occasionally put down the needles) last week, I went to my trusty laptop and surfed the net for someplace warm, tropical, romantic, laid back, and cheap enough we could avoid selling the children into slavery to raise the necessary funds.

I spent a lot of time in the virtual world, looking at scenes like this:

To steal a line from Ma Bell, it's the next best thing to being there. It ain't spring break in Florida but, as diversions go, it ain't a bad way to kill a little r & r time...

And it got me to thinking (always a danger...)

How many times I wish the course was clear, and straight, and short, and direct.

And how many times I have to tack.

If you are familiar at all with sailing, you know that the shortest distance between two points may indeed be a straight line, but you can't get there from here, unless the wind is blowing in exactly the right direction.

Unlike other forms of boating, you cannot control your course; you can only adapt to the conditions that present themselves. You are, to a certain degree, dependent upon the whim and mercy of the wind.

So many times, in my life, I see where I want to go. And I do my best to stride ahead purposefully in that direction, only to be taken aback and pulled up short by a perceived setback or roadblock. So I must re-chart my course, adjust my sails, and detour around the obstacle, muttering under my breath ruefully, regretting the additional time and effort this requires.

When I reach the other side, I turn and survey the territory I have recently covered and can (nearly always) see exactly how I got there. And I understand how what seemed like an unnecessary circumnavigation at the time was, in reality, essential to my timely arrival in safe harbor.

But, at the time? Hah! I fret. I fuss. I try my darnedest to make the wind blow MY WAY, DAMN IT!

Have you ever tried this? Yeah, well...good luck with that...

I am not nearly so philosophical. I fight frustration, as, I am sure, you do as well. It is the human condition.

Sometimes, it seems we will never reach our goals. Wouldn't it be simpler to just ditch the boat altogether, and swim?

Even if the waters are infested with piranha and sharks?

It often seems that way, doesn't it?

But I know that God sees a larger picture than I do. I see the shore. God sees the full map of the Caribbean with all the shoals and sandbars clearly marked.

So I sigh; I let up on the rope; I pay out the line; I adjust.

Because I know something else as well.

If I keep faith, the divine wind begins to blow, as it always does. And it sees me safely home.

It is but for me to trim my sails.

******

After much tacking last week, Sherwood is well on her way to her desired destination. I am loving the seasilk's sheen and glowing green richness.

But it was not a straight shot across the forest. No-siree-bob!

She took on a lot of water in her construction, but every time I pulled her back, she sailed truer for the course adjustment.

A swagged design turned into a garter stitch leaf design, turned into a stockinette stitch, turned into a reverse stockinette stitch, turned into both!

A leaf insert turned into an all over lace pattern with some adaption and removal of extraneous elements.

And each time, I delayed posting pictures until she was a little further along on her voyage.

Before I knew it, a week had passed.

And I was still sailing...

Though this time, along a more manageable course, with the wind at my back.

At least until the next...

Obstacle

Opportunity

Wind shift...

******

In other news, look for a MD/AN errata posting later today (wOOt! BIG fun there...)
And make sure you visit the Woolen Rabbit. Kim has done up the cutest little stitch markers for the McGregor's Garden sock. Thanks to the industrious efforts of Donna Lee and Heatherly, the kit should be available soon!

Am also looking into reorganizing the website to provide easier and more complete access to pattern information. DH is workin' on it...

******

Is it any wonder, with pictures like this in my head:


I began thinking of a summer pattern called Caribbean Dreams?


Made out of this?









Now the only question is:






Which beads?







And what shape?








And what pattern?







I think I feel the wind comin' up...