Extravayarnza

Happy 2007 Everyone!

I don't know about you all, but I'm done with 2006. Ready to move on...

The number 6 in particular has been giving me lots of trouble lately. Remember my ripping out of my Harry Potter Scarf & starting the Perfect Sweater?
I spent last night loading music onto my iPod & knitting away at my sweater. I kept having this nagging feeling of it being too small. Then I kept checking my gauge & going on... Eventually I pulled it off the needles to lay it out flat & guess what? It's a whopping 6 inches too small!
Like an idiot I cast-on for a size too small...

Then there's a sweater I dug up that I knit last year. A lovely Silk Garden cardi. I think it's time to give in and rip this sweater too. Why? it's a big 6 inches too big!

So my New Years was spent making these...

This yarn is still going to be the makings of 2 perfect sweaters, but I planning on letting them sit & to focus on a new project for the new year.

So, this afternoon I started the Pentagon Sweater from Nature Knits. I had this perfect color of Lana Grossa Merino Big (color 653). It's a medium Olive Green, yum!

I got just a bit knit while enjoying the A Prairie Home Companion special.

This project will be pretty boring to blog about for a couple of days, but I'm zipping through it pretty quick. I love just knitting stockinette in the round.

Well, I hope you all have a Happy New Year & that you made it home safe and sound last night.

My big resolution this year is to have a project for the book on the needles at all times. I'm already so excited about getting knitting. I've got notes, sketches, yarn choices, & sizing decisions all piled up from this year.
As I was getting together for the first project I realized I needed one new notebook to keep all the details from each project... stuff like a label from the sample yarn, needle sizes, final sketches, pattern notes. All that really deserves to be all together.
So, I went to my Journal shelf to see which ones were still available. This Blog is the only Journal I've ever been able to really keep. Most of my Journals have a few entries in them... then I just forget or loose interest. I do have several special Journals that I never used just for that fact. I hated the thought of wasting them.
What I found really surprised me. A Journal completely empty except for the inside front cover & the first page. The first page was a list of important French phrases, the inside cover was a gold mine.

This is the itinerary from my Trip to Europe in May 2003. I had thought that this information was lost. This trip was so important for me. I loved Belgium, Amsterdam, and Southern France. Of all the places I've ever visited I never felt like I belonged anywhere more than Amsterdam & Orange, France. There was just so much culture, history, and amazing people. I couldn't find any pictures from my time in Northern Europe (we were using lots of video at that point of the trip & I only recently found out that the tape wasn't lost in the carjacking like I thought. I hope I can get a copy of it all soon)

However I wish to share a few photos from Southern France.

The views from the mountain that overlooked Orange were amazing. I love this photo from the park on the mountain.

Probably most of you have never heard of Orange. It's claim to fame is the Theatre Antique.

This is the oldest Roman theatre still in use. The acoustics are amazing. Plus they pretty much let you wander all over the theatre. Beyond that it's a small French town in wine country.

From there we traveled down to Cannes & Monaco. The view along the coast was simply breath taking.

While there we pretended we were important hanging around the Film Festival (around as in outside the fence, I did get a t-shirt...). We relaxed on the beach, we shopped, I had the best meal of my life, we detoured to Monte Carlo for an evening, and then the ladies spent the day at the Oceanographic Institute. We saw all sorts of cool fish, coral, and assorted sea life.

(I love this last photo! Stone fish rock)

My big regret in going through my photos is my lack to pictures of people, namely myself & my fellow travelers. We did take some group photos our last day in Antwerp, but apparently not on my camera. Those plans of swapping photos with everyone in the group never seem to work out.

This is closest thing I found to a photo of myself from the trip.

The sad thing is that this is one of my favorite pictures of myself. I'm a well worn, comfortable pair of chucks. I think it's fitting. When that pair of chucks died I saved the patches off the side so I'd never forget all the places we went together.

So, I'm honored to use this journal for my book. I'm also finding it quite inspiring. My original 'reward' for when the book makes it to print was to get myself a new laptop. My father has decided that would be a better thing to have for the writing of the book, rather than later, so he's getting me an iBook (or whatever they're called now) that's capable of running all my design software.

This journal has inspired me to shot for a new reward. A trip. Maybe back to Europe, maybe to Hawaii, maybe to where ever strikes my fancy at the time, but it has to be a real vacation. It has to be beyond comfortable driving distance (i.e. Toronto or Chicago isn't far enough), and it has to be with someone I love (family or other).

So off I go, to boldly design where few designers have gone before. With only my mantra of wearable, durable, and attractive to guide me. Bonne Nuit!

You just know that a day is going to be great when this sky greets you.

Michigan, January, upper 40's, no snow in the foreseeable future...
The next clue might be when a day ends with a bit of celebrating (Thanks to Scout for the recipe!)
These were the best Cosmo's ever. period. (plus check out my new Martini glasses!)

So why am I so happy?
Mainly because this book was delivered by my favorite UPS man.

Which contains this pattern...

Who's lucky designer is now celebrating her first pattern published in a book!

Okay, since this is post v.2 (thanks to a power outage) you're getting the short version of the store this time.
I've had basically no voice for 2 days now. Luckily I'm on the mend, with any luck I'll be able to teach my class tomorrow morning. (and do inventory all weekend) Thank goodness that I was finally in a position to take a sick day. Thursday I spend the whole day silently cursing the phone every time it rang and helping customers the best I could with head nods and pointing. The thing I feel really bad about is that Thursday night Trent kept sneaking on the table to get my chicken noodle soup & even going so far as to drink from my water glass. Now he's been sneezing all day. Ever see a cat sneeze? It's pretty funny, but I feel really bad that he's sick too.

So, what does a knitter do when she's sick & her defenses are down? Spin of course.

I spun up an entire 400 yd of sock yarn on Thursday!

This yarn is headed off to my HandSpun Sock Yarn Swap partner on Monday. It's from my new Superwash Merino & Tencel roving. I'm (Gesundheit! Trent) so in love with this yarn, I'm glad I dyed up 8oz so I can spin up a hank for myself. Actually I dyed up 4oz each of 2 different versions of the same colorway, same proportions but the colors were in a different order. Then I spun up random chunks, one bobbin from each version. That way if the colors ever lined up in plying they changed differently so that the final yarn is really random. I really like the final yarn (did I say that already?, old formula Nyquil rocks)

This morning afternoon I turned my attention to finishing up my Crown Mountain (Gesundheit!) Farms Sock Hop roving.

One bobbin down, the other's about 1/3 full.
BTW. I need to say Thank You! to my Secret Pal. She outdid herself again with a fun package of Sock Yarn & one of my favorite albums (one I'm very happy to now have on CD).

Yep, still sick, still spinning. I don't know what it is about being sick. I just can't knit. Knitting requires too much coordinated thought & fine motor skills. Spinning is relaxing. Once I get the wheel moving nice and even & get my hands drafting it's almost hypnotic. The only thought is remembering to move the hook so the bobbin fills evenly.
I finished up the first 4oz of the Crown Mountain Farm roving that I received in the Spinning Roving Swap. I wasn't entirely in love with this colorway until it was plyed. This hank is a gift, but I'm itching to spin up the rest for myself.
The color is Twist & Shout, but to me it has a UFO feel to it (maybe Area 51?).

I think I'm on the mend. Today I finished up my spinning marathon and actually felt like knitting a bit. I managed to stick to knitting for over an hour & didn't do anything terrible like connect my two sleeves together. I even have proof.

I'm determined to have this sweater done for my trip. It shouldn't be too hard, I have a week and a half to finish the 2 sleeves & knit the yoke. I'm starting to get really excited about the visionary retreat. I now know who a few more of the attendees are & were meeting at the airport and driving down now. Much better than the shuttle bus. It's going to rock!

The other improvement I made was I started the first of 2 exercise/dance classes I'm taking this spring. From now on Tuesday nights are for Belly Dancing (Monday nights are for something much more unusual, but I'll let you in on that in 3 weeks after my first class...).

Mum and I enjoyed our first class, though we were both a little lost attempting to keep track of our arms/hands/hips/knees/feet all at the same time. I think the trick to getting the exercise I need (esp during the winter when I can't bike) is finding fun low pressure classes like this. The students really reach a full age range & fitness level.

I even got something a little sparkly & jingly to show off my curves. Got to love coin covered hip wraps! (Mum even picked out a red one with a few less coins, how cool is that)

Off to part two of my exercise commitment... push ups and sit ups/crunches every night. I've done it before, I know I can get into that routine again.

So, Yes I'm still alive. In fact I'm almost completely well now. (I'll be so happy when I finally stop coughing though)
The only good things about this has been the massive about of spinning I finished and a sweater that's now completely knit. My Swirled Pentagon pullover is getting a good soak & all that's left for tomorrow is setting in the sleeves & figuring out what the ____ to do about the neckline. I don't like the turtleneck in the book, but I feel that just leaving it plain like Grumperina did doesn't suit me either (for reference she changed the pentagons to stockinette & I left them 1x1 rib... they just don't look as nice left unfinished).
Ideally I'd like to do a stockinette hemmed neck to match my cast-on. That will require lots of increasing & whatnot to make it lay flat.
I'm going to go dry off my sweater & block it out. Tomorrow there may be a photo shoot!

BTW: I found a makeup product that actually does what it claims on the package. I have horrible skin allergies so I can only use hypo-allergenic makeup. So, the only lipstick Physicians Formula makes is this lip plumping stuff with silicone in it. I figured why not & tried it out. I put a coat on and my lips started to tingle. Next thing I knew my lips rivaled Angelina Jolie! (not a look I really think looks good on me) So, if that's what you're looking for, this stuff really works. (I think it looked like I bit my lip badly & it was all swelled up)

Vital Stats

Pattern: Swirled Pentagon Pullover from Knitting Nature, size Small (40")

Yarn: Lana Grossa, Cool Wool Merino Big (machine washable), color 653, 10 balls

Needles: Lots and Lots of needles. 26" size 7 circulars for body & sleeves. A size 10 to work the turning row on the hem. A plethora of size 6 doublepoints to work those pentagons (it was a bit like knitting a porcupine there for a while)

Changes from Pattern...

First off, there are a lot more mistakes in the pattern than listed in the errata.The ones I remember that weren't mentioned are:

*Between the Shape Armholes & Shape Yoke Base there is a missing wrong side row. The Shape Armholes section has you end with Work 1 row even (this is a RS row) the first row in the Yoke Base is also a RS row. I ended up knitting 2 rows even to end with a WS row

*In the Picked up Yoke under the Back Neck section it tells you to continue in 2x2 rib but you are knitting 1x1 rib.

*If you want a Pentagons that don't pucker up I recommend following the shaping as written until you have 4 sts left on each needle. Then; purl 1, K3tog on each needle. Pull tail through the remaining stitches.

*This one isn't so much an error but just something you should know. Well there's an error too, on the schematic the final width of the sleeves for all the sizes is listed as 12", but each sleeve ends up a different width the correct widths are 11.5(12.4, 13.3, 14.2, 15)" . As you might have noticed this is a pretty snug sleeve. My observation from setting in the sleeve is there is room for a few extra stitches where you sew it into the ribbed section. So it's possible to add some width to the sleeve if you have some womanly curves.

I think there might have been some other things in there, but these are what I remember seeing.

As for what I changed...

~ I hate ribbing at the bottom of a sweater, so I opted for a hemmed edge. For my turning row rather than a purl ridge or a picot edge I simply knit a row with a much larger needle (a size 10). I think this may be my new favorite turning row. It looks so neat and tidy. The elongated stitch also folds very easily.

~I also added a couple inches worth of waist shaping. (I think I did a total of 4 sts per side)

~I also added 6 rows of short row shaping to the front so the front has some room for the girls & still reaches to match the back.

~Oh, big one here, I knit in the round where ever possible. So the sleeves & body were knit in the round.

~I shortened both the body & the sleeves by 1/2"

~Decided to totally nix the neck. The ribbing edge of the pentagons formed a lovely neckline once it was blocked.

I think that's all. May I say, despite the errors in the pattern, this sweater is so fantastic. I was particularly impress with the little tricks like how to use a long tail cast-on to cast-on stitches, then pick them up, and still have a tail there after the pick up to cast-on yet more stitches. Genius! I love how the sweater fits with just a couple small modifications.

Also, I was really impressed with the yarn. After a Euclan bath & a tumble in the dryer it's so so soft. A word on the dryer... We did find with a pair of socks knit with this yarn that eventually if you continually machine dry the yarn it gets a little stiff (it doesn't shrink at all). However, when I attempted to lay it flat to dry the sweater grew several inches in all directions. In the past I've found that after a few machine dryings I was able to lay sweaters flat to dry without them growing. In similar yarns long term I machine dried them every 2 or 3 washings & laid them flat for the others.

Additionally, when machine drying or even when washing a yarn like this it really helps to turn them inside out. This way the inside gets the most abuse and if there is any piling it usually happens to the inside.

Isn't the neck just incredible. I love the extra partial pentagon to raise the neckline in the back.

So, you know, back in September I said I'd finish my Simple Knit Bodice. I think that tomorrow I may finally accomplish that. Here's where I am after 2 days of pretty constant attention...

Back in September I left it off without a sleeve to be seen...

The lace is the hard part (due to needles & gauge way too small for this yarn) and I finished that up on both sleeves. The rest is easy (and quick) sailing...

BTW: If you have a few minutes to kill I recommend checking out this blog: f5.6 photographer Journal. Its the blog of a photo journalist. Absolutely breathtaking!

So, bright and early tomorrow morning I'm headed off to the LakeDale Resort near Friday Harbor. As much as this is technically a 'working trip' it's also the only vacation I'm likely to get this year, so I'm going to relax and enjoy the island.
As you can imagine the last few days have been hectic, both getting ready for the trip & for being away from the store for a full 7 days (I've never been gone this long since we opened two years ago!). Any of you with a small business know that you get really attached and protective. No matter who your employees are & how much you trust them it's still very nerve wrecking to leave them alone. That said my Mom & Sharon are splitting the week so I think the store's in good hands. Both are great knitters with lots of common sense.
I have all the 'important' things ready for the trip, my iPod now has another 25 cd's worth of music on it, I have knitting projects all sorted out & notions separated into 'plane safe' & 'checked baggage'. Unfortunately I leave in about 13 hours & still don't know what computer I'm taking! This is a writing thing... and my laptop is too old to run Knit Visualizer. My new to me Laptop shipped on Wednesday & I need to call me dad to see if it arrived. If not my brother offered his for the week, but either way I've got a lot of files and programs to load/transfer before I leave in 13 hours!

My Simple Knit Bodice is finished... I hope to take some pics when I'm away to show all of you.
I'm finishing up some traveling socks~

These are in a new yarn from Mondial called Bizarre. It's a worsted weight superwash merino. Each sock is taking one ball. The bizarre part? The second ball is all blue/purple from this point on out! No more green or orange. Crazy?!
I'm calling them my traveling socks because it's a little chilly out there & I always where my Birks for plane rides. Easier for getting through security. Some thick wool socks are just what I'll need for my plethora of plane/car/boat changes tomorrow.
I have been told that we'll have Internet access at the resort so blogging is likely! If not... I'll catch you all next week~

Hey Everyone... I've figured out the internet thing here, so I should be online the rest of the week. Right now I'm going to post an entry I wrote on the plane yesterday, but I've got lots to catch you up on! I may attempt to write a bit more later (remember I'm 3 hours behind my usual time, so it's only 6 here!).
Most importantly I've started a Flickr photostream for the trip, I'm attempting to keep all the photos at a fairly high resolution, so please check out this link to see the whole group...

Visionary Retreat Photos

Okay, it's now way way later & I installed Firefox on the laptop. I can now actually edit blog posts...

Back to Sunday's Flight...

I’m considering the trip to have started last night, even though I didn’t leave till this morning. Last night was all about packing & going on a special outing. I knew the night was going to go well when this amazing sunset greeted me. It was clear & violet & all the colors of fire. Simply stunning.

Then followed the results of something I’ve been working on for a while, but haven’t mentioned here on the blog before. A few weeks ago when I was home sick I bit the bullet & joined eHarmony. So far I’ve found it very enjoyable & a great way to meet people (hey, what’s the harm of checking it out?). Well, after a week or so of guys who were nice but not right, I met someone who I think I clicked with. I think emailing him was one of the bravest things I’ve done, he was the only match I’d gotten who I was the one who made the first ‘move’ at opening conversation. Well, we emailed for a while & last night we went on our first date. Not a big hoopla kinda thing, just coffee, but what a great way to start a vacation. I think more of this dating thing may be in the works for when I get home.

So, after meeting B for coffee I headed back home to pack pack pack! I believe I only managed to forget one thing (bathing suit which sadly rules out the hot tub) & narrowly made the weight limit (only 2lb to spare & my expander zipper was already released to allow the bag to close, I’m going to either need to be very careful about aquiring any new yarn while I’m out there or ship it home…)

Fueled with a whopping three hours of sleep I embarked on the first leg of my trip. For those of you with smaller local airports may I say I highly recommend them. I flew out of Lansing this morning. Not a single person in line at the ticket counter, nor at security (in fact I had 3 TSA agents all jump up in excitement to see me walk up). My cheep kids scissors, knitting needles, plastic yarn needles, and both bags of assorted stuff all made it through security without a hitch.

Perhaps only the bumper sticker reading “ I read your email” on my brothers Laptop gave them a moments pause. My new laptop was so close to making it for the trip. The mail lady attempted to deliver it Saturday at my Dad’s, but his Dog was on the porch & she left (with the package) before my Dad made it down stairs. That’s okay, Nick lent me his for the week (bumper sticker and all). His laptop is a 14” which is a huge improvement over my old 9”. My Dad gave me the option for either a 15 or 17 inch powerbook, and I think I agree with the guys that the 17” just isn’t very portable. So far Nick’s computer is traveling great. In fact as I’m writing this we currently cruising on our way to Seatle.

So, leaving Lansing I was given a little scare. My connecting flight from Cincinnati to Chicago was canceled. Yips! Apparently there is a snow storm in Cincinnati (actually I can attest to the fact that there is a snow/hail storm there). The pooled together travelers from several airlines & put together a direct flight from Cincinnati to Seattle.

I got to see the most amazing view of Lansing as I left. I never had flown out before dawn before. The city is absolutely stunning in the dark. You get to see the whole pulse of the city. A few cars & street lights showing the roads. Clusters of brightness that form subdivisions. The dark veins of our many rivers that cut through town with a painterly curve and flow.  The blinking lights of our beloved Winkin, Blinkin, and Nod (the power company smokestacks). We followed a Southern course out of town and a quilt of farmers fields, wood lines, and lakes laid out beneath us. My face was pressed to the window until we cleared the clouds & were left on our pillow of white.

Weather in Cincinnati extended our flight an extra 20 minutes & delayed my flight out a full 2 hours. I believe an hour of that was waiting in line to be deiced. (Oddly enough, because I now had a direct flight I think my arrival time should be about the same so no harm done). Once our plane was nice and soapy the accent once again began. This was probably the only time I’ve been a bit frightened on a plane. First the engine roared to life & a tiny funnel formed in the melted snow, a little twister that reached up joining our plane to the ground. The engine just got louder and louder then all a sudden a vast amount of white steam or smoke suddenly erupted form the engine. We broke free from the ground, but the engines just were much more loud and violent sounding than any others I remember. All turned out to be fine. I quickly got my camera out & ready because the sun was freshly up. Once again the views took my breath away….

I always had this deep desire to study clouds. I never could decide how to go about it though. Being a storm chaser always was near the top of my list, even before Twister came out. I was just a geeky little kid who loved science, math, and weather. The thought of those black clouds gathering in, the rain & hail pelting the chase van, then the hand of God reaching down in an all powerful funnel. Gets my heart going just to think on it.
Then I would go the exact opposite way and try to figure if I could make a living taking photos of clouds. Fluffy clouds on a blue day, storm heads clashing as weather fronts unite, purple & red clouds of a tropical sunset, and that special type from when you were a kid laying back on the grass watching them form bunnies & elephants who suddenly learned to fly.

But, the best part of this flight? Well, each one of us on the plane has a full 3 seats to ourselves. The next four hours are going to be pure relaxation lounging on my little private row. Just me, my new socks, an airline blanket, and probably a couple of sticks with some string~

I got to visit the most unexpected creature today here on the island. This Camel lives just down the road from the resort. From what I'm told he's a rescue, but how he came to be here is still a story to be told.

He was a very friendly creature & came right up to greet us and get a little attention.

I presented my book idea tonight & am so excited I can hardly sleep. All I can say right now is that if tonight was any indication I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when my book comes out. I've found all sorts of new direction & feel the book really shaping up. It will still be a long road to completion, but I will get there.

I have lots of new photos to upload to the flickr album from the trip... the link is on the last post. They will probably be up tomorrow morningish.

Night~

I do have one more post & group of photos from the trip that I edited on the plane. I'll try to get those posted later on Monday. I've just been too jet lagged to do much more than sit here and spin or yammer on endlessly to my family. As I mentioned earlier this month spinning is my comfort craft. When I'm too sick/tired/or whatever to knit, spinning helps me center, it's almost a meditation.
While at Madrona I picked up a couple of pounds of roving (some of it for gifting...) I really love Crown Mountain Farm Sock Hop Roving. This time I picked up 'Love me Tender'.

I'm spinning up my first 3-ply sock yarn. I'm hoping that 8oz will be enough for two pairs of socks. One for a very special friend & a matching pair for me. That would rock.

I also picked up a new spinning toy while in Friday Harbor...

It's the Drawstring box from Lantern Moon. It's completely lined & so perfect for holding spinning fiber or yarn. I think I've finally been talked into ordering Lantern Moon products for my store. Trust me, you all need one of these!

Just to give you guys a heads up, this is the post I wrote on the airplane Saturday heading back from the retreat. I just hadn't gotten a chance to finish uploading the photos to flickr. Right now I'm attempting to recover from my first Cardio class on Monday. Wow, what a workout. I found muscles that I had forgotten I'd ever had.
So, please read up on the end of my trip & I'll catch you all up on knitting tomorrow.

(one thing you all should know though.... the comments are nearing 500 & I think a prize will be in order when that number is reached...)