KnitBrit

My beautiful baby is 16 today! Hard to believe how quickly he is growing up. I’m very proud of who he is becoming. Happy Birthday Corey!

I guess I should post about all the work I didn’t do this week, as well as the phenomenon that seems to be sweeping the blog world - frogging. Hands up if you’ve tinked this week? 

But before I do, I’m going to post some piccys of my Mitrebox Jacket. Not the best pictures, but pictures non the less.

The beautiful Adrianne is going to model for me for the pattern photos. I know it will look stunning on her!

So, back to the procrastination. This week, Ben was at camp and Corey was pretty much doing the teenage thing hiding in his room being all emo, so I _should_ have got some stuff done. In fact, I should have got a lot of stuff done. I may have got some yard work done, and I may have spent a little time on Ravelry (and I may have thanked Casey for not inventing a widget to let us all know exactly how much time we spend on Ravelry) 

I think the most productive thing I did this week was take photos for the Ghost Knitters with Carrie. However, I didn’t get away from my frogging issues there - the heel I had to completely knit for photos had to be frogged. I thought the red and black gloves I’m knitting were facing frog overload, however, they mocked me mightily this afternoon and I tinked the thumb three times before I was happy. 

I’m hoping that the upcoming week is both productive, and tink free. (for all of us!)

 

It’s always a huge ordeal for Ben to have surgery. I get tired of explaining his autism to doctors time after time after time. Ben is usually very wound up, verging on a meltdown and I have to take time away from keeping him calm and not afraid to explain stuff to stupid people who, if only they would actually LOOK at his chart, wouldn’t waste my time. It doesn’t matter how many phone calls I make before hand to take care of all that stuff, it’s a total waste of time. 

So when this latest surgery came up, my blood pressure went through the roof. I was advised to talk to the ChildLife Specialists at Children’s and was somewhat mollified when they actually seemed to listen to me. Infact, Ben and I went on a tour of the surgical dept last week and I was amazed at his level of comprehension, his calmness and his willingness to participate. I don’t know why I always imagine the worst is going to happen - this child never ceases to amaze me and make me feel totally humble - he really is the most astounding child. I feel very lucky that he is mine

 

So. Yesterday, the day starts off very well - Ben agreed to take his seizure meds with water. Ok, admittedly, it was 5am, but this is an absolute first. To make a long story a little shorter, he was a complete star throughout the day. Worked with his childlife worker - the phenomenal Alysa -who is also an avid knitter - I knew she was cool, but damn! She knits too! wow! Ben had his surgery without meltdown, without seven people pinning him down, without all the fuss and nonsense and without me yelling at anyone! I think this is definitely a first, and I am just so proud of him. 

He has been totally cuddly since, and just a little drowsy, but fingers crossed we are rapidly on the road to recovery

Last week I bought a new pair of shoes. Nothing earth shattering, or that big of a deal. I tend to wear shoes out pretty quickly, so a new pair always feels extra good. 

These are very comfortable, no blisters, no red marks, just shoes that felt good from day one. Except for one thing. The left one felt a little “slobby” It looked a bit big, my foot kinda flobbed around in it. It has taken me nine days to connect the dots and actually _look_ at the shoe sizes. The right one is an eight, the left is a nine. No wonder it felt so funny. And aren’t I a complete dunderhead not to have noticed before now? Of course, it’s all the stores fault. They were boxed, I didn’t bother to try them on. It was pretty much a drive-by shoe purchase. But now I’ve worn them for nine days and the newness is a very distant memory. The store says tough luck. Meanwhile, I’m flobbing around in a clown shoe and won’t have time to do anything about it until next Wednesday! Duh!

For those of you the same age as me, and from England, here’s an appropriate joke….. 

Bill and Ben go shopping for shoes, 

Bill - are those new shoes comfortable?

Ben - yeah, but they sure do flob-a-lot!

On the needles right now are a pair of my love squared fingerless gloves. The pattern can be found in Shannon Okey’s AltFiber, a book I am very proud to be a small part of. The gloves are worked in two colors with a two color rib and thumb gusset that I’m particularly fond of. This is the third pair I’ve made and have plans to work on a chartreuse and brown pair once these are finished. 

I’m also working on a sock project for Shannon right now. Can’t say much about it other than the yarn, which she dyed, is phenomenal. Can’t wait to share all the details on this project. 

I’m very lucky to be sharing Shannon’s intern, Carrie, this afternoon. We are making a visual tutorial for our production knitters and since language is a barrier, the photos will work very well. This is a common technique to use for people with language delays or deficits and we used visuals almost exclusively when Ben was younger, so it seemed like a good idea here. 

 

 

One of the most wonderful things about being a designer is having the opportunity to work with some fantastic yarn companies. I have to admit to being a little jealous of Jonelle from SWTC - she always has the best yarns, and gets to play with them way before the rest of us do. She has been very generous recently and shared the love. I received a goody bag last week full of delicious new yarn including Therapi, which I’ve been dying to get my hands on.

It’s made from Jadeite, yes - rock! I’m not exactly sure why, and it certainly doesn’t feel rocky, or even pebbly. In fact, it’s very smooth. It has 30% Jadeite fiber, 50% fine wool and 20% silk. It’s a very intriguing concept, and I’ll be interested to see how the yarn is used. You can see it in the photo - it’s the brown yarn. Below it is the Terra, which is a cotton bamboo 50/50 blend. Between the smoothness of cotton and the sheer silkiness of bamboo, I can’t wait to start working with this on a fantastic crochet project in mind. Next to that is the Phoenix, a 100% soysilk ribbon. The feel of this fiber is incredibly soft - one of those skeins that you almost don’t want to work with, just pet and fondle. But I can imagine a stunning loose-weave scarf would look and feel spectacular in this yarn. At the bottom of the picture is the Vespera. It’s a hand dyed 100% Merino from Uruguay and I have to say, the color just glows. I can’t wait to use this yarn.

SWTC always have the most interesting fibers at work, and they always seem to be at the cutting edge of new fiber technology. I’ve used a lot of their yarns in many different projects and love both the versatility and the fact that they’re available at our LYS. Thanks Jonelle!

 

 

Shannon gave me the opportunity to work as her assistant this weekend down at Knitters Connection in Columbus. Of course, I jumped at the chance and we left bright and early Friday morning and got there just in time for her 9 am spinning class. I’m no great shakes at spinning, so I was looking forward to helping as well as learning. The thing that I really love about being around a group of fibre people is that I always learn something from them, even if it’s a different mind set - the way we all approach fibre is slightly different and I adore looking at things from all the different perspectives. I hope it makes me a better designer, I know it opens up my eyes each and every time. 

I have to admit my resolve to NOT get a spinning wheel was severely shrunk during this class. Don’t get me wrong, I want one with a passion, however I know me. Two years with a wheel and I’ll have the sheeps and be living out on some farm somewhere. Not the best deal for Benjamin and his utter fear of the outdoors!  But the motion of spinning appeals to me, the mechanics of the wheel as it turns is incredibly soothing and the creation of yarn - well, all I can say is “WANT!”  I can _see_ myself spinning. However, I can see myself spinning to the exclusion of all else <g> so for now, I shall lust from afar

After the class we left Columbus and went down to Athens, which is about 70 miles south. The countryside down there is stunning. Lots of hills and trees and old farm buildings, not to mention some seriously delightful slate roofs. The colors were inspiring and the shapes to die for. Athens itself is a beautiful campus and it was hilly. I miss hilly towns. This one reminded me of Conisborough in Yorkshire. I used to live at the bottom of a hill that was staggering, but having to walk up and down it two or three times a day made me the fittest I’ve ever been. 

Saturday morning was Nuno Felting class. I had no real idea how this was done other than the abstract basic details. Watching the group learn and seeing the lightbulbs go off when they saw results was wonderful. We pretty much tore up the convention center by taking over the bathrooms to “thwap” our felt creations against the sinks! It looked like something out of CSI, but felty and soapy rather than bloody and gooey. 

I had a super fun weekend, lots of giggles, lots of good food, a trip to the North Market and new friends. Who could ask for more? Oh, and I _didn’t_ buy any yarn! 

As is customarily the case with me, once I get the hang of something, it crashes. Thus was the case with my blog. I was having a blast blogging about this, that and lots of nummy yarn. But wordpress had other ideas and decided that my version was incompatible with the new version and it went kaboom! I’m not the most technologically able person so I was pretty much at a loss - thank goodness hubby helped out. Apparently, we will very soon be pattern enabled too, so those of you who are asking for the tech bag and Mitrebox Jacket don’t have much longer to wait.

 

The last month has been one of the busiest in recent history and I’m sure I’ll forget a thing or three. 

 

Firstly, I have to say thank you to the delightful Ann White for hosting our semi-annual snb retreat at her condo at PeaknPeek. Too much wine, too much good food and the best company! Not to mention a visit to the Cultured Purl in Eerie. Speaking of…. when I first moved to the States I’d see all these signs on the highway for Eerie, Pa - always called it scary dad! (just one of my sillies) Anyway, moving on… the weekend was truly blissful and incredibly relaxing. Thanks to Stacey, Amy, Ann, Martha, Juniper, Adrianne and Renee for a wonderful weekend. Can’t wait for the fall. 

On the needles last month, a very comfortable pair of Koigu socks, my Mitrebox Jacket in sumptuous Malabrigo Kettle dyed Worsted, (#80 Azul) another Tech bag started in good old Cascade 220 and a pair of socks that I started to design and abandoned half way through. 

I didn’t get the chance to go to TNNA last weekend - Benjamin was graduating elementary school - wow! but I am going to Knitter’s Connection tomorrow for a couple of days thanks to the incomparable Shannon. 

 

Photos to follow along with more details on the Mitrebox jacket. 

 

Let’s see if we can keep this going for longer than two months this time! (wish me luck!)

Another sock, this time with a rather silly name. When I was trying to decide what to name this sock, I was thinking of holes, and, quite naturally for me, holes led to “Toad in the Hole” one of my favorite things to eat. The food is yorkshire puddings with sausages baked in them, covered in thick onion gravy. The sock is a simple lacy wonder done in STR Pondscum - quite an appropriate yarn, I thought. The photo below is close up detail of the sock - but don’t judge me too harshly, it isn’t blocked yet!

The sock was originally done in ShiBui, which took two skeins but it only needs one STR medium weight.

The pattern should be available here for download by next weekend if the paypal gremlins cut me some slack

I’ve had this idea for mitered cables since I read an article on Ravelry about traveling cables and was intrigued to say the least. Erica at River Colors tempted me with some delicious blue Mal and I was off and running.

It really took some figuring to get that mitered corner, but I’m pretty happy with the results, and whilst it may not get the approval of purists, I’m fairly certain that it will be easy for intermediate knitters or even confident beginners who have done a cable or two in the past.

Here’s a pic of the corner -

it’s a little fuzzy, but that’s ok, you get the idea.

If all things go to plan - and I realise that was the kiss of death - then I should have the edited pattern for the jacket up for sale by next weekend, along with my other patterns and various stitch markers, pin cushions, etc.

 

NOTE: yes, I gave it all the kiss of death… le sigh……