Class-y

Last weekend I had the great good fortune to teach a class to these ladies:

Heidi, Kristi, Donna, Nan and Jill are not only friends, they are family:  Living proof that the clan who knits together is the clan who fits together.  They met up at Kristi's house for an afternoon of knitting, snacks and high jinks, to which they invited me.  Turns out this gang all learned to knit from the same lady:  A Grandmother's gift that keeps on giving.  Being with them was almost like getting to meet her, and I wish every knitter could be remembered with such love and joy.  We made some steeks, and some edges, and some promises to do it again another day.  Big. Fun.

Then I came home after a week on the road, where my little family were as glad to see me as I was them.  And I got straight to work on my next dreamy project:

I am delighted to share with you that I get to make another exclusive design for Madrona next year!  As you can see, the yarn is coming from none other than Oregon's own Blue Moon Fiber Arts. 

Like last year, these kits will only be available to my students, and, in limited number, to attendees of the 2011 Madrona Winter Retreat. Check the Madrona website for registration information - Can't wait to see you there!

I never get tired of saying it:  I love my job.
 

Brick. House.

One of the drawbacks of Heretical Knitting is that in the process of doing things one's own way, there are sometimes surprises.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make an Elizabeth Zimmermann Tomten jacket.  Even though the entire nature of this garment is based on its being worked in Garter stitch, I decided that I would fly in the face of tradition by knitting a Stockinette Tomten.  I feel that I can attempt this with impunity because Elizabeth, herself, was the original Heretic. If anyone would have encouraged me to go on and do things my own way, it would have been EZ.  And while I was feeling defiant, I elected to make my Tomten a trapeze silhouette, rather than straight like the original.  Since stockinette would change everything about the row gauge, I figured I might as well throw caution to the winds and really play with the shape.

And if all that weren't enough, I even messed with the yarn, using a windfall I love, by plying thin yarn into fat yarn.  Therein lay the first surprise:  Fat, cablespun yarn, knit at a firm gauge, makes STOUT fabric.  And by stout, I mean just this side of bulletproof.

I've met Persian carpets with more drape.  KT felt it, and pronounced it a Bomb Shelter.  She's not wrong.  But rather than frog it and mess with the gauge, or Heaven forbid, change the nature of the yarn I've re-spun, I altered my expectations.  Rather than a sweater, I've begun thinking about this piece as a real live winter coat.  The fabric is so stable that I think it could even support some Afterthought Pockets, and what could be more Zimmermann than that?  

It's also really big, here at the bottom where I'm working.  Which means that it's likely to get correspondingly long, as I decrease my way up the body.  Yet another reason why this is no longer merely a sweater, and now more of a winter coat.  Who knows? Maybe I'll even install a lining!  Fur-trim around the hood?  Sky's the limit my friends! 

Or else, disaster.  Equal likelihood exists that I won't be able to bend my arms in it at the end. 

Dontcha just love a good adventure?

Mad Fandango

Although my history of dancing at weddings is tragic (I once blew out my ACL when they played "Twist and Shout" at my friends' reception. I did both, effectively ending my pro football career), I'm ready for another go at it.  Even if I land in another crumpled heap on the dance floor, at least I will look sassy doing so:

Twirly, no?  Looks a bit Flamenco, if I do say so myself.

Assisting in today's photo shoot is Ichabod, who normally oversees the activity in my sister's laundry room.  I thought he deserved a special assignment, so he came outside to sit on the windsor chair. 

He's not a bad model, once you get past his ego (thinks he's God's gift to laundry room statuary-there'll be no living with him now that he's famous). 

Things I practiced/learned/used on the Mad Fandango:

2-ply handspun: Spun loose & plied tight makes fluffy yarn and happy knitting.

Ruffle: It's just possible I have been cured of knitting ruffles.

Short Rows:  I wanted it wider at the center and narrower at the ends. Which is what happened.

I-Cord bind off:  Always wondered how that worked, and now I know.  I dig it.

All this and I didn't even have to shake my grove thing.

Much.