Treebeard

Naur vi eryn, lanc i dalaf.
Mathach vi geven?
Nostach vi 'wilith?
Mâb le i nagor,
Bâd gurth vi ngalad firiel.
Dorthach vi mar han?
Dagrathach go hain?

'The woods are burning,
the ground lies bare.
Do you feel it in the earth?
Can you smell it in the air?
The war is upon you,
Death moves in the fading light.
Are you part of this world?
Will you join their fight?'

- Words by Philippa Boyens, translated into Sindarin by David Salo,

TREEBEARD $6
THE TWO TOWERS SERIES

A shoulder hugging organic lace wrap from the needles of Susan Pandorf

Size: 33 (36, 39, 42) (45, 48) inches wide by 10 inches tall

Materials: 440 (480, 520, 560) (600, 640) yds Alchemy Silken Straw in Forest Waltz or other DK weight yarn
size 4 (US) needles or to obtain gauge

Gauge: one pattern rep measures approx 1.5 inches wide & 1 inch tall, unblocked

WRITTEN & CHARTED DIRECTIONS

suitable for beginning lace knitters

This pattern is intended to be left unblocked to maximize the likeness to moss. Wrap is knit flat in one piece, twisted and seamed at back of neck.

I love this piece! It is light as a feather and stays on your shoulders effortlessly, due to the strategic decreases in the pattern. By leaving it unblocked, you maximize the elasticity of the finished piece. It really does hug your shoulders.

Any fingering weight yarn will work, but the Alchemy Silken Straw really enhances both the lightness and the textural nature of the wrap. It's a little stiff to work with in the beginning but softens up beautifully as you work and has fabulous drape & color.

Now that my photos are done, I think this one is going into heavy rotation this summer. Just the thing for cool evening breezes...

Vinyasa

“Some think it's holding on that makes one strong; sometimes it's letting go"
- Sylvia Robinson

When I was a little girl, I loved to climb trees. I would raise my arms, search for purchase on the rough bark of the trunk, flip my legs up and haul myself onto the lowest branch.

Then I would begin again with the next layer of branches.

On the day of my mother's second wedding, right in the middle of her reception, I climbed a tree in my grandmother's front yard, clad in pink silk and my very first pair of grown up sheer pantyhose.

Mom was not amused.

I loved the idea of climbing towards the sky. It felt like freedom. I still smile as I write this.

Going down?

That was a lot harder.

The first time, I resolutely refused to come down, hugging the trunk with my eyes squeezed shut tightly and screaming for my brother David to, "GO GET DAD!"

Eventually I learned how to dangle my legs from the upper branches and search for the next lower tier with my toes, sliding down the tree in manageable increments.

I learned to let go.

I don't know about you, but I often want to hold onto things longer than I should.

I cling to my familiar habits, opinions, and beliefs, because they seem to form a safe haven in an often confusing and sometimes dangerous world.

But life is like the monkey bars; you can't move forward unless you let go of the first rung.

The trick is to grab onto the next one, before you fall, establishing a rhythm of hold and release that carries you across the breadth: of space, of time, of life itself.

The reward of sure footing await us only at the end of our perilous journey. Solid ground must be gained through ongoing effort.

Vinyasa is a form of yoga that uses sequential movement to interlink postures, forming a continuous flow.

This moving meditation reveals all forms as being impermanent and for this reason not to be held onto.

Is it any wonder, I chose that name for the first creation in a new collection of organic cotton wraps and scarves?

VINYASA
the zen collection
$6

add to cart

SIZE:
18 inches wide by 72 inches long

MATERIALS:
6 balls (1080 yds.) Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton 4-Ply
Color: Natural
Size 3 (US) needles

GAUGE:

5 stitches = 1 inch (blocked)

Written Directions
Knit in One Piece - End to End
Suitable for Beginning Lace Knitter

This design uses twisted stitches to wonderful effect, creating a sinous rope like pattern. Dropped stitches add to the texture.

No matter what twists and turns your life may take this weekend, remember to both reach out and let go, Only then will we move steadily towards our ultimate home ground.

BIG STASH SALE TOMORROW.
SEE YOU THEN...

Makeovers

"The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind."
- Maya Angelou

The problem with makeovers is...

I still look like me.

Which is fine, I suppose, but then what was the point of the whole endeavor? (besides trying to sell you a buttload of cosmetics or hair products or diet aids)

Besides, the message of most makeovers is: you are not good enough - we can make you better.

And isn't that a sad state of affairs?

Back in my opera days, I studied voice with five consecutive vocal coaches. Each one spent the first month telling me that everything the former coach had taught me was wrong and explaining why their way was better. And when my serious study ended, I was no closer to being Beverly Sills than when I began.

Very confusing - to say nothing of expensive.

Self- improvement isn't all bad. It does keep us growing and flexing our identities. It can make us better people, I suppose.

But at a significant cost to the psyche. We all too often fall into the quicksand of approval seeking, where we no longer know our inner truths and must therefore rely on others to define us. I spent years mired in that bog.

I think the key to effective self- improvement is the word "self". True growth must come from within, prompted by deep reflection (or chagrined acknowledgment of our many inadequacies - OY!)

Other- improvement is a barrier reef, one that has marooned many over time. We had best not try to change:

• our spouse
• our children
• our bosses

For we will surely fail miserably, and waste a lot of time and goodwill doing so. That is the wisdom behind the saying, "Be the change you would see in the world."

When you get right down to the nitty-gritty, we can only and ever change ourselves.

And our knitting...

First Try


Too regimented, heavy, and closed in. I want something more open for summer lace.

Second Try


Too schizoid. Border just doesn't go with the lace pattern and I'm not that crazy about either one.

Third Try

I actually like this one, but it just seems too angular for a Zen scarf. Needs to be more organic.

Fourth Try



Stay Tuned...

It's a little like blind dating; you never know if this is going to be the one, until you sidle up, get cozy, and figure out if it makes your heart beat faster...

Iterations

"Iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat instead of progress."
-George Elliot

Linen textiles appear to be some of the oldest in the world: their history goes back many thousands of years. Fragments of straw, seeds, fibers, yarns, and various types of fabrics which date back to about 8000 B.C.E. have been found in Swiss lake dwellings.

Linen was sometimes used as currency in ancient Egypt. Egyptian mummies were wrapped in linen because it was seen as a symbol of light and purity, and as a display of wealth. Some of these fabrics, woven from hand spun yarns, were very fine for their day, but are coarse compared to modern linen.

The Phoenicians, who, with their merchant fleet, opened up new channels of commerce to the peoples of the Mediterranean, besides developing the tin mines of Cornwall, introduced flax growing and the making of linen into Ireland before the birth of Christ,

-courtesy of Wikipedia

Remember this?

Mendhi (formerly known as Mudra)

The yarn is Lenpur Linen by Rowan. It is very drapey and soft and supposedly has moisture wicking properties (I'll let you know) Good thing to have in a summer wrap, No?

It comes in so many lovely colors...

like this lovely quiet linen:

Phoenicia
(coming after Mendhi)

and blue...

Doesn't look much like a snowdrift when you do it in cobalt blue, does it? I think I'll call this version, River Run. Same pattern; completely different look.

It also comes in green (which I love and you do too judging by the robust sales of Leaves of Grass, Sherwood, and Sprout.) In fact I was going to do a lighter version of Sprout, but I also have these extra skeins of orange and yellow lying about...


And I was in the mood for easy (something mindless while I go "Dancing With the Stars")

One night and a pair of size 8 needles makes very short work of an easy horizontal pattern...

I think I'll do the orange in vertical and the yellow in diagonal...

Or maybe yellow in the vertical and orange in the diagonal...

Lemons, Limes, and Oranges...

3 beginner patterns for one low price.

Sounds like a sunny citrus summer to me...

Is it me?

Or is it getting hot in here?

Attention

"To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself. Whenever a man so concentrates his attention -- on a landscape, a poem, a geometrical problem, an idol, or the True God -- that he completely forgets his own ego and desires, he is praying. The primary task of the schoolteacher is to teach children, in a secular context, the technique of prayer."

W. H. Auden

Attention

14th centuryMiddle English attencioun, from Latin attention-, attentio, from attendere

1: a condition of readiness, involving a selective narrowing or focusing of consciousness and receptivity
2: consideration with a view to action
3 a: an act of civility or courtesy especially in courtship b: sympathetic consideration of the needs and wants of others
4: a position assumed by a soldier with heels together, body erect, arms at the sides, and eyes to the front —often used as a command

-Merriam Webster

Four different usages for the word, "attention."

What do they have in common?

Respect.

For an individual. A problem. A situation. A task.

If we respect someone or something, we pay attention to it.

I find it interesting that we use the words, pay attention, rather than be at attention, or hold in attention.

For there is a cost incurred. By focusing on the one, we exclude the many. That is the price we pay. No one can pay attention to everything and everyone every day. Just not possible...

So we choose.

And we don't get off by thinking we are so busy with our lives that we only respond to external stimuli.

Yes, we are often bombarded on all sides: by the omnipresent media, by the demands of our families, by the pressures of our jobs, by the calling of our church, by the raw need in our society.

We cannot disable these inputs.

But we can choose what we pay attention to.

And what we discard as unworthy of our focus.

Everyone will draw different lines. But all will have deep consequences.

I believe one of the great blessings of knitting is its ability to shrink the world to the size of two sticks and a length of string.

I also believe in knitting's ability to draw attention to worthy causes, whether they be disaster relief, medical research, or simple comfort.

Attention must be paid.



I am hard of hearing since birth and have only recently discovered the "closed captions" feature on my television set. I am amazed (and appalled) at how much I have been missing. On movies I have watched ten, twenty times, or more. On reruns of past television shows.

(Last night at dinner in a fairly noisy restaurant environment, I found myself wishing my family's dinner conversation came with subtitles.)

To watch a show dense with dialogue requires I not only listen, but also watch closely, lest I miss something.

Which is difficult when I am trying to knit a complicated design. One that requires and holds my attention, like the one pictured above.

Some patterns, like Taize, allow us to focus elsewhere, as we knit repetitively and reflexively across the rows. Some, like this one, command our notice.

This is Mudra, hopefully released this upcoming April. A mudrā is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers.

The yarn is Rowan's new Lempur Linen in color: Tattoo.

It is not difficult, but you do have to put the increases and decreases in the right place on each row, in order to give the ribs their direction. Otherwise, you get a hot mess of twisted ribs to nowhere.

Attention must be paid. To the rhythm of the stitches. To the pattern of the dance. To this and to any other work that reflects our souls and earns our respect.

Our engagement with, and enjoyment of, an activity is directly related to how closely we pay attention to it.

We choose what we attend to.

And what we do not.

And we pay for that privilege.

It behooves us to think on these things and choose well...

Let It Snow...

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"

J.B. Priestley

SNOWDRIFT
$6

SIZE:
16 in wide by 72 in long
(blocked)
MATERIALS:
3 skeins (780 yd) ARTYARNS Silk Rhapsody Glitter
or other dk/ light worsted weight yarn
size 7 (US) needles
cable needle
GAUGE:
4 stitches = 1 inch (blocked)
EXPERIENCE LEVEL
intermediate
Charted and Written Directions

I love how the waving lines (accomplished with simple decreases and yarn overs) look like the lines that skiers make when they ski powder.







See what I mean?

The stitches drift from side to side in neat little mounds.


While the little increase and decrease design between the lines reminds me of animal tracks in the snow.

The yarn is Artyarns Silk Rhapsody Glitter in white: a lovely blend with one strand mohair, one strand silk, and a razor thin filament of silver. The filament lends a lovely sparkle to the piece like sun on snow, but the pattern could easily be done with any white or ivory yarn and be equally lovely.

Knit with DK/light worsted yarn on size seven needles, this pattern is actually quite predictable and flies along once you get the hang of it.

I blocked mine hard to bring out the lace pattern.



Pattern available on sidebar at right.

That way>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Let it snow; let it snow; let it snow...

Are We Having Fun Yet?

"Blessed is the man who has some congenial work, some occupation in which he can put his heart, and which affords a complete outlet to all the forces there are in him."

-John Burroughs

WARNING!
SERIOUS DROOL INDUCEMENTS AHEAD
RECOMMEND EVASIVE ACTION
GET BIB...

So...

What did I do on my Christmas Vacation?

No, no, besides filling a ginormous amount of garden variety orders (thank you SO SO MUCH!)

I played.

Of course, my play looks a lot like work. With one critical difference...

I work on play with whatever I want to.

Not what my customers want most.
Not what my family wants most.
Not what is most delayed.

But whatever I darn well please.

What a concept!

Want some show and tell?

Of course you do!

I started with a couple balls I had floating around from the fall that never quite developed into full blown designs.


This is Classic Elite's Moorland in misty morning: a beautiful soft heathered single ply DK wool. It is deceptively simple. The slight halo tends to obscure fine patterning and texture stitches aren't as crisp as I'd like. But I loved the soft, foggy nature of it, if I could just find the right pattern for it.


After much knitting and subsequent frogging, I settled on this simple zigzag pattern, composed mostly of knit and purl stitches, with only one yarn over and decrease each repeat. I'm doing a stole. No name yet.


And this is Rowan's lovely Purelife organically dyed DK wool in Ivy: a very pale and subdued grey green. A natural for this leaf pattern. A scarf, I think...

Then I moved on to the hard stuff...

The Artyarn goodies Santa brought me. Simply the best. Loads of fun. Seriously drool worthy.


This is Ensemble, an absolutely pet-able fiber consisting of one strand of silk and one of (be still my heart) cashmere.

Excuse me for a moment. I'm getting all verklempt...


This one was a challenge. I loved the soft springlike colors, but I didn't want streaks. I settled on this pattern that combines cabling with lace work.



Once blocked out, I should have a lovely open early spring scarf. I think I'll call it Trellis.

Then there is the little lovely I showed you at the top of the post.


This is Drift: a pristine cream colored confection of Silk Rhapsody Glitter. The pattern is a combination of the gentle curves of a snow covered landscape, the tracks which form in the snow from our cars, the footprints of forest animals (or pets), and the schussing pattern of slalom skis.

See the little footprints between the tire tracks?

But the best part is the little silver filament that runs along with the silk and mohair strands. Its subtle sparkle reminds me so powerfully of the way new fallen snow sparkles in the sunlight.


This one just has to be a sumptuous stole. A brilliant bit of comforting warmth to wind around my shoulders on a cold midwinter day. I know it is indulgent, but I rushed right out and spent some of my ill gotten gains on three more skeins of this beauty. It is so yummy to work with and the pattern is just enough to be interesting, but not a pain in the rear.

But wait! There's more!


This is my icicle scarf, knit from Artyarns exquisite bead AND sequins silk mohair.

SHUT UP!

THIS STUFF IS TOO GORGEOUS TO BE LEGAL!

AND YOU CAN GET IT OVER THE COUNTER?

YOU MEAN I DON'T HAVE TO GET IT IN A DARK ALLEY FROM A YARN PUSHER?

NO WAY!



This stuff is like crack. It is that addictive. And that easy. No crochet hook required. Just knit.

When you have fiber this gorgeous, you really don't want the pattern to get in the way. I worked it with a simple four row, six stitch repeat lace pattern that results in a vertical wave that reminds me of melting ice. Just for panache, I did pointed ends, because that's what icicles do.

I made it thin since the yarn is so expensive, although it will block out a little wider. Besides, icicles are skinny little suckers.

You could get by with one skein for a short little scarf, but I am doing mine long and lean, with two. And this is so fast it is a turbo-aperitif. I knit the full skein in one day. Very gratifying after all those lo-o-o-ong projects...


Just look at that sparkle! I love this so much that I returned the green sweater my DH gave me for Xmas in favor of a light taupe one that will go with this scarf. Am I crazy, or what?

Now surely, I must be done, right?

Wrong.

The best thing I played with on vacation?



My grandson Conner, who accompanied us to the frozen north for a four day post-Christmas visit with family in Leland, MI and then came home with Grandma and Grandpa to stay another two days, while Mom & Dad celebrated the New Year in Chicago.

Six days...

Seriously drool worthy...

Can't say I didn't warn you...

Abundance

"Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance."
- John Petit-Senn

Sometimes, it only takes a sentence to improve our outlook on life. I think the one I quoted above is a doozy.

It is an interesting holiday season this year.

REVELATION BY TYPO ALERT: I accidentally typed holidazy. Actually, I think that is a pretty fair description. I just might have to keep using that...

Anyway, as I was saying...

This year:

As the no-longer-looming-but-already-painfully-here recession deepens and the sobering news is interspersed with cheerful advertising...

As my email box fills up with desperate emails entreating me to spend, spend, spend...

As my mail carrier groans with the added weight of all the glossy catalogs ordered by retailers in happier times...

As my desire to indulge my family wars with my fear of impending lay-offs...

I find myself, even more than usual, contemplating what it takes to make us happy.

I will confess to having barely started my Christmas shopping. I have looked, but not yet bought, as I watch my bank balance creep up into enough to fund a modest shopping trip.

Hey, you try earning your keep in increments of $8 or less! It takes a lot of pattern sales to buy a sweater...

So I electronically shuttle from PayPal to Online Banking to Old Navy to Fisher Price (now there's a company I haven't patronized for a l-o-o-o-o-n-g time!) to Gap to Williams Sonoma.

At least I don't have to find a parking place. And I can play MY music while I shop.

With a cat in my lap.

And a mug of hot coffee.

But, no matter how serene the surroundings, there is still a creative tension between want, need, the willingness to go into debt, and the ability to pay.

I think to myself, "There just isn't enough!"

And then I read a sentence like the one that leads off this post.

And I humbly beg forgiveness for my foolishness.

I am a knitter. I am a designer. I am a writer. I am a mother. I am a grandmother. I am a wife.

I am a seeker of truth, a child of God.

And I enjoy each and every one of these things. Together they add up to a magnificent abundance.

Sometimes, all it takes is a sentence...

*****

Here are some pictures of my knitting abundance, but first a word (Well, several actually; why use one when a dozen would suffice?) about those eight charts I spoke of yesterday.

I did eight charts, so you won't have to.

I was tired of knitting and ripping out rows. I was unhappy with the balance of the patterns in Rouen. So I charted the whole thing out, including repeats, reduced the size of the graphs and lined them up on the page so I could get an overall picture.

And it worked.


I have added the next element to the foundation of the border I shared with you yesterday:

A secondary border, with vertical ribbing and architectural details.


The color is very pretty; rather an opalescent gray, with bits of pink and blue. Appropriate, I think to a piece that was inspired by the incomparable Monet and his paintings of Rouen.

And now, I am ready to move onward and upward to the soaring heights my creative soul can reach. I have an abundance of enjoyable challenge waiting for my hand. God will provide.

It's a good thing.

Coming Attractions

"I'm in The mood for love yarn,
Simply because you're near me.
Funny, but when you're near me,
I'm in the mood for love yarn."

Rose Buddy


Just $4

On sale Monday


Name that Scarf

winner revealed Monday

(so get your entries in)

Wheaties


Eat Knit yours...


Shy Vi

Coming Soon...


All in Malabrigo silky merino

I'd call it the SM collection, but people might get the wrong idea...