New Home for My Stash 2

The previously described home I am trying to buy is not going any better.

I went on vacation out in Montana, and while there I enjoyed visit to Mountain Colors.  Tons of magnificent yarn came home with me.  I've been sketching and designing, and it will be lovely distraction for the next couple of weeks.  (Post coming soon!)  I thought when I came back that there would be some progress on the house. 

Nope.  Instead, we're more aware of how far behind we are.  It could be months while the seller finishes sorting out her bankruptcy issues, and I can't do anything to advance the process.  A month ago I was hurrying to organize all the paperwork, insurance, contractor dates, etc.  Now that all of it is finished the waiting is maddening!  And all the contractor scheduling will have to be organized again.  The yarn will have to be in its cramped digs a little longer.

The good news is, lots of yarn and knitting time.  I'm in love!  Photos to follow in the next couple of days.

New Home for My Stash (and Family)

My yarn has been complaining about the cramped conditions it has been living in: plastic bags, plastic bins, segregated from all the knitting tools.  There isn't enough space.  The alpaca has been sharing space with the cottons, and the sock yarns are in with the lace.  It has had enough.  It was time to shop for new digs, and so house shopping commenced. 

We found a great little house, and, drumroll please, it has an enormous walk-in cedar closet!  Most people would look at this as a great place for winter wearables, but as an avid knitter all I saw was a perfect place for my stash!  I downplayed it while talking to my husband about the place, but when we decided it was "the house", there was a definite happy dance done for the cedar closet.  There are is also a huge built in cubby system in the same room, and plenty of room for all my favorite knitting books, knitting chairs, magazines, and swatches and samples.  Organization and workspace in the same room!  I'm walking on air.  I came home and told the yarn, and I could tell it was happy.  Every fiber will be in its place with plenty of room to breathe.  We're scheduled to close on Friday.

And then the phone rang at 8:02 this morning.  There's a delay in the closing, and they have no idea when we can reschedule.  My poor stash will have to remain in its bins and plastic bags a little longer.  The knitting tools will remain tucked in nooks and crannies in multiple cabinets.  How much longer?  It's too early to tell.  I can hear the cedar closet calling to me, telling me not to lose hope.  I'm reluctant to break the news to the yarn. 

Working on Workshops for 2014

Now is the time of year I start planning for the next year's Knitting Workshop offerings.  If you've never taken a class from me (or anyone else for that matter) this post is still requesting your help and opinions!  What tempts you?  What do you avoid like the plague?  I'm not sure what to teach next.  Stay with my students' perennial favorites?  Add some new stuff?  Replace the old faves with what I hope will be new faves?  Normally each class is advertised with photos of techniques that will be taught in class.  I haven't done that here for space reasons.

The long-term favorites are:

1. Adjusting Knitting Patterns (for fit and style)

2. Mitten Design (design your own from any yarn!)

3. Colorwork Basics (from stripes to Fair Isle)

4. Colorwork Techniques (intarsia, bi-colored cables, etc)

5. Simple Shaping (how to perform the shaping techniques in average patterns)

6. Advanced Shaping (how to add, enhance, and recognize shaping techniques which look like design elements)


What should I add or replace?

I'm thinking of adding:

Simple Edge Techniques (make those edges on everything look even and wear better)

Intermediate Edge Techniques (vertical and horizontal options to dress up any pattern)

Decorative Cast Ons and Bind Offs (if you only know one or two of each, this is the class for you!  Change wear, looks, and flexibility for COs and BOs on all your knitting projects)

Knitting Tools - what, why, and how the right tool makes your work faster, more beautiful, and more satisfying

Making t-shirt yarn - upcycling t-shirts into knitting yarn


Most of us love taking knitting classes.  And we love learning from books and videos.  I love playing with yarn in pretty much every way I've ever tried!  I'd love your feedback on what classes to keep in the mix, which are past their prime, and which to add.  This is the best way to make sure that I continue to offer the classes you want to take - tell me what you want before I offer them!

If I haven't listed a class on something you'd like to learn, tell me!  I'll be happy to design one.  Things that don't get enough attention to make a class will likely still become articles for the blog, with lessons and technique photos.  And if you want me to teach at your shop or festival, please let me know.  I'll be happy to try to fit it into my schedule!

Thanks in advance for all your feedback!
 

Illegal Pattern Photocopying

My position on photocopying patterns is well known.  (I'm against it for anything except personal use.  Pay the designer for their work.)  Then I found this at an estate sale today.  I'm in love with it!  I'm not alone!

Anyone know who designed this?  Or where I could buy a copy of the pattern?
 

Coming Back to Blogging

I'm back!  It will be in baby steps.  Thanks to all who have been encouraging me to return, via Facebook and Twitter.  It's been a strange time in my life, and you've all been incredibly patient. 

Today I want to share one of my newest knitting book acquisitions: Knit Your Own Dog: The Second Litter. 

I had to have it purely based on the dog on the cover!  You see, this is my dog:

 



 

If you haven't looked at these delightful books, take a peek.  Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne have done an amazing job designing patterns that resemble our beloved dogs  (and cats!), and I'm a sucker for a good knitted toy!  Enjoy!

 

Sweaters on Syfy's Defiance

Grunge and Industrial chic are back in a big way.  This new show on Syfy is just dripping with custom knitwear, much of which is made with handspun, hand dyed yarns.  They are all hand knit.  There are shirts, sweaters, coats, wraps of every description...  I see a big fashion trend set to counter the art deco trend coming on the heels of this summer's Great Gatsby movie!  Here's a peek.

 

 

 

Knitting on the Cheap

As I've said in the past, you don't always have to spend a fortune to knit well, use great fibers and great needles, and even to build a great knitting library.  I meant it then, and I mean it now.

It's easy to spend a small fortune on good tools, great yarns, and classes.  (Though, as a teacher, I'm a big fan of spending money on classes...)  The full-price retail of most hand-knitting yarns and tools IS heavy, considering what it costs to by a machine-made piece of knitwear.  So what do you do if you're a knitter on a tight budget in serious need of a really good knitting fix?

Today I had one of my favorite knitting moments: Estate Sale sign on the way to where I needed to be, and I had 20 minutes of leeway in my schedule.  I wandered in, sad for the family's loss, but also curious as to what the family had chosen to part with.  According to the family photos, this family had only sons, and mom was a knitter.  A good knitter. 

There was a treasure trove of yarn, knitting books, needles, and notions.  The yarns were hand-labeled with content, source, dyer, and who  spun or manufactured it.  They were selling it for a dollar a skein, 3 for $2.  Naturally by the time I arrived after 3 in the afternoon most of the knitting things had been picked over, and yet still there was good stuff.  I chose a variety of hand-dyed sock yarns.  Then I chose a cashmere/merino blend, hand-spun and hand dyed.  And some Manos del Uruguay skeins that she had balled and paired with a terrific mitten pattern.  It was late in the day, and they gave me all ten skeins for $2!

I'm told her library of knitting books had been cut down by over half, and there were still over 10 titles there.  Only one was a book I didn't have, and I grabbed it up immediately.  It was "The Yarn Girls Guide to Beyond The Basics", and it was marked $10.  They gave it to me for $1. 

$3 later, I left with a retail value of over $350.  Is this normal?  NO.  This was a good score.  But it isn't that far out of the ordinary.  I've found cashmere at the Goodwill.  I've found matched pairs of Addi circs at yard sales.  I've found ebony Lantern Moon straights on Craigslist.  I've purchased bins of yarns at yard sales and found they included hundreds of dollars in antique notions and high end yarns (including my favorite find ever, hand-hewn ivory crochet hooks!).  Sometimes a student of mine will tell me that it's creepy to them to shop "used".  I don't think so.  Someone loved these yarns and these tools.  They ended up with people who don't want them.  And rather than throw them out, the folks who don't appreciate them have made them available to us. 

People stop knitting or sell off knitting things for many reasons: allergies, arthritis, abandoning a project, change in interest, moving to a warmer climate, changes in work schedule or hobbies...  Maybe they've switched from knitting sweaters, and have now become addicted to socks, or vice versa.  Or they've taken up golf.  Or started building dollhouses.  Not really the point.  The point is, you can choose to pay a lot, or you can choose to pay a lot less.  It just takes an occasional stop at the thrift shop, yard sale, and estate sale to check out the current offerings.  Websites like Craigslist (for everything), eBay (for yarn, needles, and magazine back issues), and half.com (for books), will also save you a small fortune.

The one thing that shopping for knitting supplies on the cheap does require of you is flexibility.  You can find high quality pretty consistently.  You cannot, however, find exactly what you want exactly when you want it.  I wasn't planning on sock yarn today, but I know I'll use it.  If I need 2 sets of size US 1's knit those socks in the double circs method, either I need to be patient until I can find them thrift shopping, or I need to pay regular price at my LYS. 
 

Coming Back to Life

I looked at my blog today with horror as I realized it's been almost three months since I've written.  Life's been a little nuts since the first of the year.  Many of you have sent kind words, warm thoughts, and encouragement my way, and it has taken hold.  So here's a quick recap:

I moved, and then sliced my hand open.  Then off to starting a new job.  Next, a really strange schedule.  Then, sadly, I lost my mother.  That set me reeling.  And through all of it I had a very hard time knitting.

My charity hat knitting is behind right now, as I haven't made a hat for April.  I'll get back on the horse and get it done.  I hope you've all been keeping your commitments to knit for those in need.  Share pics!  We'd all love to see.

It's nice to come back to the cozy world of knitting.  I'd like to stay here for awhile.  Thanks for keeping my spot warm!

Elisabeth

 

Late January Update

Hello, Friends!

I've moved, and am settling in to the new place.  I'm also changing my day-job, and my schedule is a little odd.  And on top of those things, I injured my right hand in a cooking accident making it very difficult to type and impossible to knit.  I'll be back in the saddle again soon, and apologize for my absence.

In the meantime, the charity hat knitting is going well, and the Ravelry group has made and donated 30+ hats so far (that they've shown us)!  Woo hoo!  I finished one this month amid the chaos, and hope to do better next month. 

My daughter is doing much better, and by extension, our entire family is enjoying the peace.  Thanks for all the good wishes. 

Enjoy your fibers, and I'll be happy to share your comments and pics.  We'll talk soon!

Asperger's Is My Life, too

As I've mentioned before, my daughter has Asperger's Syndrome.  It's a high-functioning form of Autism.  What it means is that my daughter is incapable of social learning.  She doesn't recognize facial expressions, sarcasm, idioms, or most forms of subtlety.  She is immune to peer pressure, as she genuinely doesn't care what other people think.  She has no interest in fashion, what music is popular, doesn't attend dances or sporting events, or do anything social.  If you're unfamiliar with the syndrome, picture Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory.  We don't have the good writers who make it all come out funny in the end.  Take that, add a violent temper and profound desire to lie and manipulate her surroundings, and that's my daughter.  I tell you this because coping with her has taken up huge amounts of my time and energy of late, and it's putting a huge dent in my knitting time and interest. 

The day before the tragic shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, my child had another of her violent outbursts, and I called the police for help and protection.  It was two weeks before her 18th birthday.  If she had committed the same actions once she was 18, she would have been brought to jail.  Instead, due to her age, she ended up spending the evening in the psych ward of the local hospital.  If you want more info on what living with this is like, please read the wonderful essay, I Am Adam Lanza's Mother.  I practically could have written myself. 

My daughter requires very frequent supervision.  Left to her own devices, she doesn't take her meds, bathe, or brush her hair or teeth.  She can't drive.  She doesn't eat fruits or vegetables most of the time.  She's a big fan of carbohydrates.  She occasionally cooks, but usually forgets to turn off the burner, and puts the dirty pot back on the hot burner.  (This has cost me 4 pots in the last year, because they were too burned to save.)   She spends most of her time on her computer or watching TV or reading.  She refuses to do chores. She is combative and/or self-serving in most conversations.  She doesn't do her classwork or her homework if she doesn't like the teacher, the lesson, or the subject, so in spite of her genius IQ, she is failing 2 subjects.  She is a compulsive hoarder.  And we are moving, but she won't pack her room or her zillion belongings.

Today is not an unusual day in that by noon, I had received two calls from the school, one from the counselling office, and one from my daughter claiming to be ill so I would come and pick her up.  I went to the school.  She's got a little pink in her throat, but no fever or swollen glands.  She's staying at school.

I'm still working on the move, and I have a head cold of my own.  After 18 years of trying to pretend that I'm just like all the other parents, I'm over it.  I'm not like the other parents.  I'm overwhelmed.  I'm tired.  When people ask me how my daughter is, I never know what to say.  She's a very difficult person.  I love her, but I can't always explain why.  She's difficult to like.  People ask the polite questions.  "How's school going for her this year?"  "Does she have a date for the Valentine's dance?"  "She must be so excited about college."

"No," I want to tell everyone.  "Asperger's is her life.  And it's my life, too.  A successful day is when she hasn't blatantly insulted anyone, and she bathed and took her meds.  Everything else is just gravy."