Cub Reporter

Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen.  I'm reporting live tonight from the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat.  For starters, let me just tell you that this joint (the very tony Hotel Murano) is crawling with Knitteratti.  I got on the elevator with none other than Lucy Neatby.  When we got off, she went straight over to chat with Vivian Hoxbro, who was in deep conversation with Eugene Bourgeois.  I was here maybe eleven minutes, racing to my class with Elsebeth Lavold (for which I was late due to a MapQuest discrepancy), and I had to beat back the knitting celebrities with a US size 10.  Totally. Starstruck. 

In my class, I made this:

which is the Viking Rune word "love".  Betcha didn't expect to learn a dead language today, now did you?  Me either, but what a blast - I am reeling with ideas for what to knit another one of these on.  Cuff of a sock?  Hidden in some tangled cables on a cozy turtleneck?  Elsebeth actually asked the students in my class ahead of time to choose a word we wanted to work with.  Then when we arrived, she presented us each with our very own chart.  How cool is that?

After that I found my room, spread my gear around, then made for the marketplace, where I delivered the Faery Ring.  Marilyn King, owner of Blackwater Abbey Yarns, is a completely delightful lady, who also happens to have lots of yarn.  She is very kindly distributing copies of the pattern to interested parties.  I got a genuine kick out of watching people try on the sample sweater.  I am extremely gratified to report that I saw 6 people wear it, all different shapes and sizes, and every last one said she felt pretty in it.  It was flattering to all the body types who tried it while I was there, which was my intent in designing it:  Something that would make knitters feel beautiful and special, no matter what their size or shape.  Well-played, if I do say so myself.  Of course, there is zero chance of developing a fat head around here - at the evening chartity event I sat directly behind the Three Graces: Cat Bhordi, Tina Newton, and Stephanie Pearl McPhee.  No kidding, the staff here are probably thinking they should spray for knitting rockstars - the place is positively lousy with them.

Totally blissed out in Yarnlandia.  Tommorrow: Ganseys!

 

Flying Saucer

That's what Phillip called it when he saw the Noro beret drying on a dinner plate.  He's not wrong:

It borders on unnatural, how much time I spend looking for weird household items for blocking.  I am the self-proclaimed Crown Princess of Making Weird Towel Shapes to Block Stuff With.  As a late-stage convert (I only began to understand the importance of blocking a couple of years ago), I have become a Blocking Zealot.  It's lame how long it took me to get a clue about blocking, having trained as a tailor.  Tailoring requires more than just a little steaming, thwacking, molding and otherwise sculpting of fabric, so you would think that knowledge would be more easily transferable to knitting.  But it wasn't until I had to study and write about it for the Master Knitter program that I really gathered brains.  Now I love to do it so much that no knitted item is safe, and no household implement, non-porus surface, or passing pet is sacred.  I'll block anything on anything.  My personal best was a combination of 6 washcloths and 2 balloons for a lace shrug with puffy sleeves.  Wish I'd had the presence to take a picture that time.

But back to the hat:  My kids are fighting over who gets it, which I take as a good sign.  I think it's okay as a first attempt, and I learned a lot about self-striping Noro.  There are things I will do differently next time, like chart a bigger, clearer motif.  I also would engineer a more interesting pattern for the crown.  I think I will also choose 2 really different colorways when I do this again, rather than two ends of the same skein.  I did myself no favors by going cheap on that one.  (Note To Self:  Since when are you scared to spend Money on Yarn?)  What I really enjoyed about this project was not having any idea what to expect as the colors changed on me.  I did not know what a control freak I am with regard to color.  I kept having to tell myself not to break the yarn and felt in a new color - MADE myself trust the progression of what was on the skein, just to see if I could stand it.  And I did!  I even was surprised by how much I liked some of the combinations that happened, notably yellow and burgundy.  These are two shades I almost never work with, and certainly not together.  But in context of the small space of a hat, I really liked the area where it happened.

Tomorrow I head for the garden spot that is Tacoma, Washington, for the Madrona Retreat therein.  I am so amped I can hardly keep it together.  My goal is to post on all four days, so stay tuned for reports on my adventures.  Reminders not to paint "Madrona Or Bust" on my car are probably needed.

In unrelated news, one of the projects has been cut from my book, and I am completely devastated.  I thought my skin was much thicker than that, but apparently not.  It's like loosing a toe.  I will live, but I think I will always miss it.  The good news is that the outcast project is going to be featured on my episode of Knitting Daily TV, whose theme, I'm told, will be "Fun With Color".  I think it will also be offered as a free pattern via the Knitting Daily Pattern Store, so it's future is by no means doomed.  Watch for it next November.  In the meantime I plan to Get Over It.  Knitting, after all, is not for weenies.  And wallowing in despair messes up your hair.
 

Launch Failure

It happens to knitters all the time:  They start out full of great expectations and positive energy, and before the cast-on is done, something's gone sideways.  At least, that is what I have been telling myself for the last two days, as I struggle to Knit A Hat.  Real rocket science, this.  Clearly I am in over my head.

The yarn, by the way, is Noro Kureyon Sock #180, which I finally looked up online because I wanted to be able to curse it more specifically than just "YOU @()(&!) **! hat".  Now I can say "YOU @#()*) Noro Kureyon Sock #180 !*&#@%^hat".  Not that it helped much.

Attempt the first had me working toward a simple watch-cap style, until a small bystander commented that "berets are way cooler, Mom".  Far be it from me not to be cool.  Of course, the change in shilloutte required math.  No problem.  I just needed a change in percentage, divisible by 10.  Only took me half an hour and two calculators.  I am seriously flummoxed by numbers, and I can't believe how often I have to dig my way out from under them when I knit.

Attempt the second began with two ends of the same skein of yarn.  Huge tactical error:  After the first color change on each end, the pattern disappeared when one strand changed to Orangey-Rust, while the other strand changed to Rusty-Orange.  Couldn't have done that on purpose if my life had depended on it.

Attempt the third commenced after re-winding one of my half-skein balls to the other end, and a brief entreaty Ombrella, the patron knitting god of color-change yarn.  Naturally I jacked up the pattern and worked four rows before catching it.

Attempt the fourth found me repeating the mantra "Yarn is my Friend" and rocking in place as I got the colors to contrast properly, the number of stitches right and the pattern to repeat:

No wonder people think knitting is hard.  Watching the gyrations knitters go through on the path to nirvana must be really scary for those on the outside.  I am telling myself that I needed more stillness around me than I had, to get this hat started in fewer tries.  Too much chaos does nothing to complement meticulous patterning on size two needles.  Being out of town, the rigors of attending my daughter's sporting event, and hotel-mattress-induced sleep deprivation are this hat's afflictions, not its maker's lack of skill.  Really.  I think.

Madrona is this week, and I am so stoked to be going.  I can feel the energy gathering here on the west coast as knitterati converge in Tacoma.  I am signed up for classes with Elspeth Lavold, Beth Brown-Reinsel, Lucy Neatby, and Stephanie Pearl-Mc Phee.  Something good has got to rub off in that kind of company.  Also, I get to go on a wee vacay, which is feeling a bit overdue.  Good thing I have this swell "@#()*) Noro Kureyon Sock #180$!" hat to work on.