Baby, It's Brutal Outside

It’s so hard to think warm thoughts when the windchill is -23 degrees and dropping. The wind and snow whipping furiously around the house last night scared the cat right off my lap while we were watching Sherlock. He stood at the back door and meowed as if to say “what the hell is going on out there?” The downside to cold weather like this is having to bundle up to walk to the mailbox. The upside is getting new yarn in that mailbox. So much for my yarn diet. Everything in moderation, right?

Cowboy Cowl

I’ve been on a bit of a cowl kick lately. I think the last six or seven things I’ve finished in the last few months have been cowls, with the exception of the Metamorphosis shawl, which has yet to grow on me and the Ashburn shawl. I think it’s been my need for quick-knit gratification—you know,something that only takes a week or two to work up. I have every intention of wearing them, but the truth is they get folded up and put on a shelf in my craft room. Why not give them away, you ask? Once upon a time, a work friend of mine, let’s call her Audrey, was commenting on how a childhood friend of hers was always giving her handmade scarves for Christmas. The problem was that Audrey didn’t want or like the scarves and felt obligated to keep them so that she wouldn’t hurt her friend’s feelings. Audrey didn’t know at the time that I was a knitter. That has always stuck with me. It takes time and love to make someone a knitted project. My fear is giving someone something and having them secretly react the way Audrey did. That’s not to say that I haven’t knit up some scarves, wraps and cowls for close family and friends, because I have. I just have it in the back of my mind now that there are Audreys out there who don’t appreciate a knitted piece of love.

Plum (honey) Cowl

So anyway, back to cowls. I’ve reached the point where I’m officially all cowled out. I’m halfway through my last cowl for the season (the Cupido Cowl) and should be done in a day or two. I may knit one more—the Cowgirl Cowl which is the companion cowl to the Cowboy Cowl I just finished. But other than that, I’m pretty much ready to go back to sweaters. And this is where that new yarn comes in. I recently ordered some skeins of the Webs 40^th Anniversary Valley DK yarn dyed by madelinetosh in Ruby. I love it. It was a little pricey for a Valley DK (twice as much as the regular price for the same yardage), but I think it will produce a very nice sweater assuming the skeins aren’t too drastically different once opened up and caked.

Not-Quite Herringbone Cowl

In other knitting news … I’m headed out to Stitches West this year. It’ll be my first time there and I’m so excited. I attend Stitches Midwest every year since it’s only a 45 minute drive for me, and every time I go someone will mention how big Stitches West is and how I need to make it out there someday. So I am! I’m taking a friend (a non-knitter) with me and we’re making a long weekend out of it. Very excited!

Song of the Sea Cowl

Eternidad Cowl

Cocoon Me Cowl

More Knitting Than You Can Shake Your Sticks At

Lowbrow Cowl created with
Plucky Primo Aran "Honey Wilkes"
Pattern designed by Thao Nguyen

I've developed an obsession with The Plucky Knitter yarn over the last few months and it really just needs to be nipped in the bud. If you haven't heard of Plucky and you don't need something new to obsess over, you may want to skip over this paragraph. For you gluttons for punishment … Plucky yarn colors have cool names like "Grandma Bev" or "Bleedin' Armadillo Groom's Cake." They come in rich, vibrant colors. They include high quality merino and cashmere, silk, camel, or yak depending on the base. The yarn is only available through online sales announced to their newsletter recipients, Facebook fans and Ravelry group followers, and buyers have to basically compete for it because the yarn goes fast. Did I also mention that it's not necessarily inexpensive. Ranging anywhere from $19-36 (most in the $30 range) for one skein can put a bit of a dent in your pocketbook, especially when you're thinking about buying sweater quantities. But it's so pretty! No matter how hard I try, I just can't resist it. Maybe it's the competitor in me. Maybe it's my love of all things pink and purple and cashmere and merino. Sigh. I have to enforce another yarn diet. Plucky you temptress, stop being so damned irresistible!

In other knitting news ... I recently attended the Vogue Knitting Live show in Chicago. The classes were great and the marketplace seemed better this year. I don't know if the marketplace was actually bigger this year or if it just felt that way. Since I live local, I try to support the local shops when I can. But when it comes to these events, I want to support the out-of-town vendors who have taken the time and expense to showcase their yarn and projects. This year I picked up some great yarn from Green Mountain Spinnery, Lost City Knits and Pepperberry Knits. 

Here’s how the rest of the event went …

VKL Chicago Day One – Gudrun and Candace

I started off the morning with Gudrun Johnston and a class on how to get into designing (patterns, self-publishing, magazine and online submissions, tech editors, marketing, etc.). It was one of those classes that I signed up for not really knowing what to expect. I wasn't sure how a topic like that could fill up three hours, but it did and it was great. So informative! Lots of questions asked and answered (I may have asked most of them). I've been thinking a lot lately about designing my own patterns and offering them on Ravelry (see below to read about my first pattern). Her class was super helpful and she really gave us a lot to think about.

My afternoon kicked off with Candace Eisner Strick. That woman has such a wonderful personality and a great sense of humor. I took her Mobius Parlor Tricks class and I have to say it was challenging. I'd been considering doing a Mobius cowl for a few years now but the technique has always scared me a bit. Candace's approach made it easier to understand, but getting started (casting on and working the first full row) was very hard on my hands. Part of it may have been due to the fact that I needed a more flexible cable on my circular needles. The woman next to me seemed to grasp it right away and got a significant amount of work done during class. But many, like me, were having challenges here and there. Candace was so patient and spent one-on-one time with the people who needed it. Afterwards, I shared an elevator with another classmate who asked what I thought of the class. She mentioned that she was a beginner knitter and found it to be pretty difficult. We laughed when I told her that I've been knitting for over 10 years now and had been putting off taking a Mobius class for that very same reason. I told her she was brave and assured her that not all techniques are that difficult at the start.                                                                                                                                

VKL Chicago Day Two  - Lily

If there was a Lily Chin class punch card, my card would be just about full. Between Stitches and Vogue Knitting Live, I've taken almost all the classes Lily has to offer. She is far and away one of my favorite teachers. This time around I took her Reversible Cables class. LOTS of information to cram into six hours. We worked on samples, looked at some of her finished pieces and she encouraged us to take what we learned and create our own reversibly cabled pieces. I always walk away from her classes ready to do something fabulous. I see a reversible cables scarf in my future.

VKL Chicago Day Three – Ysolda

Much like Cher or Madonna, when it comes to knitting I don’t think Ysolda even needs to be known by her last name Teague (I hold Cecily Glowik MacDonald in that same high regard). If you’re a knitter, you likely know who she is. I tried to get into Ysolda’s Perfect Sweater class last year but it was sold out before individual registration even opened. I’m a big fan of her work, which is detailed and beautiful, and I’m also a fan of her style which is kind of quirky and cool and a little retro.  

What I really liked about this class was that it focused on what it takes to make a great sweater—beyond just the right measurements and fit. We literally discussed yarn and swatches for the first three hours, and I learned so much. 

Before the lunch break she took photos of us straight on and in profile. When we got back, we traced over them and made our own croquis template to better see our shape and aid in designing. The rest of the class covered shaping and touched on sweater ease and short rows. A lot of really great information. So much so that I thought they could have easily added another three hours to this class. I capped off the knitting weekend with a Ysolda signature in my new Rhinebeck Sweater book. Lots of great patterns in that book and lots of projects to keep me busy this winter!

Announcing My First Design

My grandmother turned 80 this year and she’s at the point where she doesn't want to get gifts for her birthday. She'd rather just have everyone together to celebrate. But come on! You don’t turn 80 every day! I knew she needed something special and handmade. Last year, I went to a local warehouse sale for Dream in Color yarn and picked up three beautiful skeins of a special edition cashmere blend worsted yarn (Classy in Cashmere). The variegated yarn had shades of dark pinks and deep purples called Raspberry Blaze. I knew I had to have them.

When I was thinking about what to make her, I searched through magazines and pattern books and even did a Ravelry pattern search, but nothing seemed just right. I wanted to make her something simple and interesting. I knew that anything too detailed or lacy or ornate was only going to sit in her closet because she would think it was "too nice" to wear. So, I decided to just start knitting. I cast on some stitches, worked about 10 rows and thought "I should change this up. How about squares?" I worked for a bit and realized that my squares weren't quite squares, so I frogged and started over again … this time with a plan. It took some additional tries to get the squares to be perfectly square, but I figured it out and carried on. When I was done, I was so pleased with the end result. It's not groundbreaking and not likely something you've never seen before, but it looks pretty cool. I especially like the contrast between the garter and the stockinette pattern, which looks almost like an optical illusion with the variegated yarn. 

"You're So Square" Scarf

Afterwards I thought to myself "I should post this on Ravelry for free for others to enjoy." And thus my "You’re So Square" scarf came to be. Imagine my surprise when it popped up in my Facebook feed the day after I posted it on Ravelry. The Dream in Color yarn company featured it on their Facebook page and it showed up in my feed! I was beside myself with joy. It's a super easy, fast project perfect for holiday knitting. It's the kind of pattern that could easily be adjusted to work with different weights of yarn. I hope you enjoy!

Stressful Knitting

We all have those days when the alarm doesn't go off and you step in cat puke because you didn't realize the fluffy love of your life had thrown up in the middle of the night next to the bed and the pop-tart causes a toaster fire and suddenly the ice maker doesn't work, right? We've all had those days, haven’t we? Am I alone here?

Photo from designer page

During times of stress, I turn to knitting. The rhythm of a pattern and the feel of the fiber between my fingers just seems to send a calm over me. But lately I've been feeling more stressed out by patterns. I am always up for a new challenge and love new-to-me techniques, but in the last week I have started and stopped three separate patterns because they are just too difficult or fiddly. I’m not usually a knit quitter but this week I made exceptions. One pattern in particular was the gorgeous Hamanasu cowl. It’s a really beautiful design using unique knitting techniques, but it just beat me. I can’t handle three cable needles at the same time. I just can’t do it. I tried. Even I have my knit limits! I had two cable needles going in different directions (I hadn't even come to the third cable needle yet) and there were some yarnovers and slipping yarn and just too many things happening at once. My brain shut down and my fingers went on strike. God bless the knitter who can manage that project. It’s lovely, but it's not for me.

Photo from Interweave Knits

I also feel spoiled by online patterns versus magazine patterns. With online PDF patterns there’s just more room for detail and notes and photos. With magazine patterns, they are restricted by allotted page space. I worked in the magazine industry years ago and I know how constrained you can feel by three columns or 500 words or less. There’s only just so much you can get in. I think it would be a great idea for some of these craft magazines to offer extended versions of their patterns online free to current subscribers. Free being the key word there. For example, one of the projects I started and stopped (and maybe I’ll pick up again) was the Barnard Raglan in the Fall 2013 issue of Interweave Knits. I’m no stranger to sweaters. I love to knit them. This past winter and spring, I was knitting about a sweater a month or so. When it comes to the Barnard pattern, I don’t think the sweater itself is particularly hard to knit, it’s just that the instructions were difficult for me to envision. I like a straightforward pattern that tells me what I need to do and when to do it and I like to think about the pattern visually (how I would knit it). With this particular pattern, I felt like assumptions had to be made and there was the dreaded “at the same time and also at the same time” language. I love the pattern and I’m sure I’ll come back to it over the winter when my head is feeling less overloaded, but for now my brain just needs to knit and not to think too much.

Photo from designer page

On the needles now  …

• Cocoon Me cowl
• Miss Babs Yowza - Whatta Skein in "Zombie Prom" (love that name!)
• New-to-me technique = p5tog. That's a lot of purling together!

Your Balls Are Tangled … VKL Chicago—Day Two Recap

I think I got pretty lucky on day one of Vogue Knitting Live (VKL) Chicago. Since it was a Friday and I arrived early enough, I only had to pay $14 for parking (that’s actually really good for a city garage). Unfortunately, the same garage didn’t have a morning special for Saturdays and I ended up paying $32 on day two. Ouch! I half expect a car wash and an oil change for that much. 

Day Two

Debbie Stoller and the Tangled Balls

I started off my morning with the super cool Debbie Stoller and her “Knitting on the Double” class. If you thought I was excited to see Ysolda Teague the night before, you have no idea the level of excitement I had for getting to learn techniques first-hand from Debbie Stoller. Years ago, I learned how to knit with her very first Stitch n’ Bitch book. I was in between jobs and watching a morning show one day when there she was talking about her book and showcasing some of her projects. I thought to myself, “I can do that!” The rest, as they say, is history.

I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of project classes. I really prefer technique classes. This class, unbeknownst to me, was project focused. We worked on her Uncle Argyle scarf the entire time. She showed us how to hold the yarn for the double knitting technique, then went around the room to check on people. We progressed through some rows of the pattern and then called it a day. I, like many others, left about 30 minutes early. It was an interesting technique to learn, the pattern is great, and Debbie Stoller is an awesome teacher, but project classes just aren’t my cup of tea.

During the class, the older woman sitting next to me (I'd guesstimate her to be in her 80s), was having a hard time mastering the two-strand technique more so than the rest of us. I felt so bad for her. She kept saying that she was losing the feeling in her hands, and you could see they were slightly curled with arthritis. At one point she was ready to give up, but Debbie encouraged her to stay and practice the strand-holding technique. The woman commented that it was hard when her yarn kept getting tangled up, and Debbie said “well of course, your balls are tangled! You can’t knit when your balls are tangled.” The woman blushed a little and we all kind of chuckled like 12-year-olds as Debbie stood there and untangled the woman’s yarn for her.

Throughout the class Debbie used what some might consider “salty” language. Being married to a police officer, I’m pretty used to it, so it didn’t faze me. I think she accidentally let the f-word slip once, which I'll admit isn't exactly appropriate for this setting, but other than that it was pretty tame. Apparently she got dinged in the class feedback sheets for using inappropriate language. 

Debbie Does Lace

In the afternoon I took another Debbie Stoller class called “The Amazing Lace.” She taught us how to make lace patterns, figure out what works, what doesn’t work, she used people to demonstrate stitches, and we practiced techniques throughout. The class really helped me to understand why designers create lace patterns the way they do and the difference that yarn over placement makes. Afterwards, she signed my first Stitch n’ Bitch book for me. I felt kind of like a dork for asking, but other people were doing it too.

Marketplace Day Two

During my downtime between classes, I thought I’d give the marketplace another try, and I’m glad I did because I got to meet Vickie Howell (not just stare at her from afar like the day before). One of the Kollabora booth peeps pulled me in and encouraged me to meet Vickie. I walked around the booth, chatted with Vickie a bit, purchased some yarn and had her sign her new book for me. The best moment came when she reached out for my crocheted cowl and complimented it. Vickie Howell liked my cowl! (rhyming completely unintentional) That seriously made my whole day. Well that and getting to meet Debbie Stoller.

That's a Wrap

Overall, VKL Chicago was a great experience. I went there with the intention of taking some good classes and getting to meet some cool designers, and I succeeded. I wasn’t overstimulated by too much yarn the way I am with Stitches, and that’s just fine by me. Would I go if it comes to Chicago again? That’s a definite maybe. Depends on the classes I suppose. Let’s just hope the parking prices don’t jump up again!

Como Se Dice … VKL Chicago–Day One Recap

If you’ve never been to a Vogue Knitting Live event, I should say that it is different from a Stitches event (not necessarily better or worse, just different). I noticed some people were chatting in VKL forums about how the marketplace was smaller and how it felt less organized than a Stitches event. While Stitches gets some really great teachers, it seems like VKL is able to procure additional high profile designers and teachers that you don’t typically see at  Stitches. VKL (I can only speak for the Chicago event) also had a more local feel. Many of the local yarn shops from the city and suburbs were featured as vendors … only a handful of which were at Stitches Midwest. The booth spaces are smaller than Stitches, but I got the feeling that was because they were showcasing special yarns, projects and designers, not necessarily trying to sell bulk amounts.  In my opinion, it's not really fair to compare the two events against each other because they aren’t trying to be the same thing.

Day One

The Multilingual Lily Chin

I spent six hours with Lily Chin and it was glorious. After taking one of her classes at Stitches Midwest this year, I knew I had to take another with her at VKL. This time around it was her Reversible Color Knitting class. I love classes where you learn a technique, knit a swatch, learn another technique, knit another swatch and on and on the rest of the time. I learned so much, including an easier way to brioche. I swore off the brioche stitch after I finished a bi-color scarf a couple of years ago. But her demonstration of the technique was so much easier. I don’t know why we don’t all do it the way she does!

And as if I needed one more reason to idolize Lily Chin … the woman taught this class in both English and Spanish. She is amazing and super patient. There was a woman in the class who didn’t seem to be quite grasping what we were doing. As it turned out, the woman’s English was very limited. So what did Lily do? She taught us all a technique in English and then would go to the woman and demonstrate it to her in Spanish. Sure there was a lot of “como se dice” (“how do you say”), but for the most part Lily taught a knitting class in two languages. I have nothing but deep respect and admiration for that woman. She also spoke Chinese to an Australian woman and would occasionally throw an Italian word in there every so often. It was a fantastic experience.

Starstruck by the “Knitterati”

On Thursday evening, I noticed that there was a Twitter feed on the VKL home page and it said something like “the knitterati is arriving.” My first thought was “oh please, knitterati? Is that what they’re calling themselves? Seriously? Pff, whatever.” I mean they’re just people like you and me, after all. But then, as I was leaving Lily Chin’s class and turned a corner, there stood Ysolda Teague cute as ever just waiting for an elevator. My inner knitter said to itself “oh my God, oh my God, that’s YSOLDA TEAGUE.” I tried to play it cool, like her presence had no effect on me whatsoever.  We exchanged some “these elevators are taking forever” chit chat, and after she boarded her elevator I turned to the woman next to me and said “wow, that was Ysolda Teague.” Of course I felt completely stupid after she looked at me deadpan and said, “yes, one of the knitterati.” Clearly she didn’t share my excitement.

Other moments of knitterati delight came in the marketplace when I spied Vickie Howell chatting up a fellow knitter and caught a glimpse of Cirilia Rose just hanging out in a booth. Did I go up to either one and strike up some intelligent conversation with either one of these uber creative women? Sadly no. Seeing them almost made me walk away faster. Such a bizarre reaction.

A Different Kind of Marketplace

As I said before, VKL shouldn’t be compared to a Stiches event, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t try to compare them. Aside from featuring yarn shops, I thought there was more of a focus on designs and designers. Sure there was yarn to be sold, but not in mass quantities. Comments I’ve heard from other knitters since the event is that it was “disappointing” or “underwhelming.” I guess it’s all just a matter of expectation setting. I went there to take classes and it was great for that. If I only went there to buy yarn, then, yes, it probably would have been a disappointment. The only thumbs down I would give the marketplace is for its layout, which was very cramped and spread across two floors of the hotel. Some of the booth spaces fit about four people max. Another criticism for one vendor in particular (who shall remain nameless) was not listing yarn prices. I’d like to know what I’m committing myself to before I buy it. Is it a $10 skein or is it an $80 skein. This particular booth was far too small and crowded, and the sales people were always swamped. In the end, the yarn just wasn’t worth it.

Stay tuned for Day Two … “Your Balls are Tangled”