Spread Your Wings

How was your New Year's celebration? Mine was fantastic. I spent part of it getting this ready:

As promised, I present my 2015 exclusive design, "Butterflies". 

Butterflies is worked in two colorways of Kauni Effektgarn in a large circle, then cut at its steek to form a rectangle. Applied knitted cord finishes all four edges, and can be knotted or tied at the corners. Finished size is approximately 12 1/2" X 82"; it's almost a stole.

The kit, which includes the pattern and four (4!) whopping skeins of Kauni Effektgarn is available for purchase to attendees of the Madrona Winter Retreat. It works like this:

Students in my Eeek! Steeks! class will receive their kits via US Mail (shipping later this week), so you can begin knitting your homework.  Remember: you don't have to actually finish the entire project to have a great time in class and learn all you need to know. But if you are a maniac (and I know you are, because you signed up), you can actually leave class with this finished project if you knit to the specified point in the pattern before we meet.

01-06-15, Breaking News: 2 slots have opened up in class! Click HERE to sign up, and get your kit right away!

Everyone else, If you are attending the retreat, (or have a friend who is), you can order a kit from me and pick it up at the retreat. Kits for non-students this year are $75. If you'd like to purchase a kit, please send me an e-mail using the contact tab above, and I'll let you know how to proceed. While there is no limit to the number of kits I can provide, I won't have any extras for sale at the event, so let me know as soon as you can if you'd like to reserve one.

And non-Madrona-attendees, you know I love you too, so if you wait for a year, I'll make the pattern available to the whole wide world. Can't wait that long? Check out Wisteria, Violets, Thistle and Dragons, from prior years, available now.

Wildlife Photography

I've been knitting on the Butterflies scarf quite a lot.  I only stopped long enough to eat some turkey with my family, visit a few friends, and cherry-pick one or two holiday cyber-deals.  But now I'm back at it, as shown by this film of me, shot in my native habitat:

As you can see, I knit at a pretty good clip, so I ought to have the sample done before too long.

In addition to that, my intellectual wheels are turning in response to a question from Ginny G., who asks:

I have a stranded colorwork pattern designed to be worked flat. What would I have to do to knit it in the round with steeks, instead?

What a great question; and one we have all asked at one point or another. I'm so intrigued that I got hold of a copy of Ginny's pattern to see what I might do to help.  Stay tuned for my answer next time.

Five Hundred and Eighty Three

No, this is not a length of yarny intestine.  It's a 60" circular needle, with my Butterflies scarf in progress.  Sexy, no?  

There are 583 stitches in every round.  I'll wait while you consider that. 5.8.3. Possibly the biggest round of knitting I've ever made.  And you know what?  I twisted it when I made the join.  Not that I could tell that until I'd already knit 2 inches of butterflies.  

But of course, this is not the big deal it might seem to be.  I'm going to cut the thing open at the end, so all I have to do is try not to think about it and keep knitting until it's time to make the cut.  

Try not to think about it (there's a twist in my round) while I'm grocery shopping.  Try not to think about it (there's a twist in my round) while I'm picking up the kids.  Try not to think about it (there's a twist in my round) while I'm gold-leafing the Thanksgiving cornucopia.  So far, It's working out great.  I predict this will be the fastest knit of my career, because knowing there's a twist in my round is causing me a fair degree of discomfort, and the only cure will be to get done knitting and cut the sucker.

And in the meantime, I'm stopping often to admire my work.

This is the marriage of pattern and yarn I was looking for, and I'm so glad I pressed on after my first false start.  

Thought for Today:  There are people in my house who actually think they know what it means when I say "As soon as I get to the end of this round..."  Ha ha.