alisonknits

Retail Therapy

It's been a long week. At my desk job, I've been lending administrative support to a rather large event that's going on this weekend (more on that in a moment). Meanwhile, I've been chugging away on the lace-for-hire project, and trying to get work done on some patterns that I have to write (not my own designs, sadly), while also trying to steal time to work on my submission for Melanie Falick's holiday book. All this makes for a rather grumpy Alison.

So I'm killing time at my desk job this evening while I wait for registration to start on this event, reading blogs, when I read on blogdogblog about gloves. Since I gave away the cashmere gloves I made in December, I've been meaning to make myself another pair. And I was rather taken with the Koigu gloves I saw pictured here on her site. There's an upscale yarn store near my desk job that sell Koigu, and on a whim, I called up to see if they were still open. They were. I bought a lovely rainbow-y colorway of Koigu, plus some Noro Silk Garden that caught my eye for a scarf.

And do I feel better? Well... not really... because I don't have time to knit these lovely yarns until I finish the for-hire job. A word to the wise: if you are offered money for your knitting, think hard about whether you really want to take the job and put all your other fun knitting projects aside. Sometimes I think it's worth it, sometimes not.

One of the reasons that I stopped pursuing a career in theater was because part of me didn't want to have my income dependant on my art. I felt that it might cause me to make choices about what plays I directed and how I directed them based on monetary concerns rather than on artistic merit. (There were a lot of other reasons I quit the theater, this was only one.) But the thing is, I can't really imagine myself having a career that didn't involve doing something creative, so in that sense I suppose my income will be dependant on my art anyway. Only it seems that I've found one of the few professions that may actually be less lucrative than theater.... incredible!

Anyway, the fact that I have so many projects that I really want to work on is at least pushing me to finish this lace thing faster. I'm about up to the armholes on the back, then I have to make the sleeves. I have two days off next week (hooray!!), so hopefully I'll get a lot of it done then.

(warning: off-topic contraversial content ahead)
But back to this event that I've been working on. As you may know, my desk job is at a Unitarian Universalist church. This weekend, Interweave, the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered organization within the UUA is having it's annual Convocation weekend here at All Souls. There will be lectures, panels, worship, and celebration. I have a lot of friends in the GLBT community, and I'm proud that my church supports them and their civil rights. I'm truly dismayed by the concervatives' push for an amendment to the Constitution banning gay marriage. I honestly don't understand how letting same-sex couples marry threatens hetero marriages, and I don't think the government has any right to say they can't marry. Marriage is a sacrament, and the last time I checked, there was still separation of church and state. My church says gays can marry. Here is a sermon preached at All Souls this past Sunday on the topic that pretty well sums up my own point of view.

So much to knit, so little time...

Sometimes it feels like all my posts could have that title. I'm enjoying working on this lace piece that I'm doing for pay, but at the same time there are so many other things I want to be working on. I mailed in one design submission (for the sequel to Stitch N Bitch), but I still have 2 more to work on in the next couple of weeks. My father decided that he wants to take the family to Paris this summer, an incredibly generous offer, and so I feel guiltier than ever that I still haven't finished Hank8. (Even though he insists that he doesn't mind and it's worth the wait.) And then there are the cashmere sweaters calling out to me...

But obligations must be fulfilled, and I must make money. So I'll keep plugging along on the lace - it's coming along bit by bit. At least it's small and light enough that I can take it with me everywhere I go, and get a row in on the bus, another two waiting in line at the post office, etc.

I am Turbo, hear me roar!

You are "turbo" charged.a
Fast moving and classy, you get things done with
power and grace. Your expensive tastes can be
deceiving, since what you really value is
quality and efficiency. As you're careening
around those corners in life, finishing a dozen
knitted objects each month, stop and smell the
roses. Don't miss the beauty of process!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
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Wow, for once I actually came out as my favorite! (I'm mohair?! I hardly ever knit with mohair!) And it sort of makes sense. I do have expensive taste (see below), and I have been pretty product-oriented of late. I just took a knit-for-hire job for a designer, and have to do some lace on small needles pretty quickly. The pattern is lovely, though, and I don't think very difficult, and the yarn is cashmere. And we all know how much I love cashmere...

Yes, I bought yet another cone of bulky cashmere from School Products. But I've been receiving so many compliments on my purple cashmere sweater, and this wine color just called out to me. So I had to have it. I must be stopped! I'm planning on making another sweater in a similar shape as the first one (center cable opening out into a V-neck), but with a different stitch pattern this time. But first I have to do the paid work (so I can afford the cashmere) and finish Scott's sweater. His is not going as fast as mine did, since he's a lot bigger than me, and the cable pattern on his has twists on every right side row rather than every 14th row like mine.

I've been interested in the discussion on Annie's blog about the lack of decent pay or credit for knitted samples for publications. I was talking with Teva Durham about this yesterday as it happens, and with someone else recently as well. Someone pointed out that in quilting magazines they do give credit to all the people who worked on it ("pieced by..." etc.) How can we make this standard in the knitting industry as well? Start a letter-writing campaign? I mean really, how hard would it be to add one line somewhere, "Knitted by so-and-so"? As one commenter wrote on Annie's blog, throw them (us) a freakin' bone!

On this sunny Saturday, I'll be staying indoors working on my submissions. Wish me luck and creativity!

Two for Tuesday

Hello! Finally got around to taking a few photos. First a Hank8 update:

Looks kinda like the first sleeve, huh?

Also, here's a pic of the lace shawl I've been working on:

It's coming along. I never seem to learn; with these triangular and circular pieces each row or round takes longer than the last, but I keep doing them anyway. It's pretty slow going at this point.

I had Scott take some pictures of me wearing my new cashmere sweater, but I don't like the way they came out. So I'm not posting them - too bad. Maybe I'll try to take some more tomorrow.

Over the weekend I started Scott's cashmere sweater. He was rather specific about what he wanted and didn't want (I shouldn't have asked! he probably would have been thrilled with whatever I presented him with if I didn't give him a choice), so I'm not working from a pre-existing pattern. After much negotiation, I'm using a cable from the cover sweater of last fall's IK (the one with the two waiters), but with just plain stockinette on the sides and sleeves and back. Sadly for you (ha ha ha), the navy yarn is much too dark for me to photograph well.

I'm trying to motivate to get some design submissions together - I have several ideas for two books and a magazine. But it's just so hard to focus on stuff when I come home from work. I should have worked more yesterday while I had the day off, but I barely scratched the surface. Well, I think I'm free this Saturday....

Which Peanuts character are you?

You are Schroeder!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
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Brighter days

This week is shaping up to be much better than last week. For starters, Scott is feeling much better - no anxiety attacks, even though he went back to work on Monday. Thanks to everyone who expressed their concern.

Also, I finished my cashmere sweater, and I'm wearing it today. In a knitting frenzy, I knit an entire sleeve on Saturday while watching X2: X-Men United and Monster's Ball (both excellent movies). Then on Sunday at Church of Craft I sewed it up. And last night I washed it. Oddly and unfortunately, it did not shrink very much lengthwise like my swatch did. Problematic, given that I based my pattern on the swatch gauge, and so the sleeves in particular were much too long. This morning I did the unthinkable and put it in the dryer, and it shrunk a bit so that now the sleeves are still long, but acceptable. It's a "look" now, rather than an obvious mistake. But I may try to shrink it a bit more. There was no visable damage from putting the sweater in the dryer. Sometimes I'm amazed at what cashmere can withstand. Berta is always telling people that they can machine wash their cashmere sweaters.

Part of why I wanted to be able to wear the sweater today is that this evening I'll be seeing lots of knitters at a talk that Debbie Stoller is giving at Makor, where I teach beginning knitting classes. I've been looking forward to the talk for a while, and I enjoy wearing my own creations when meeting knitters. I'm a show-off, what can I say?

I found myself without commuter knitting this week, so I've picked up again one of the lace shawls that I started last summer. It's really pretty, and the pattern is complex enough to be interesting but intuitive enough to memorize (the best kind!). I probably won't finish it before I start something else, but it's a good diversion.

I've also been reading a lot this week - I started Watership Down, a book I've had on my shelf for about 10 years without ever cracking it open. In high school my Latin teacher, whom I revered, once called Watership Down "The Aeneid with bunny rabbits." It's incredibly engrossing; this morning when I had to get off the subway I didn't want to stop reading it! I highly recommend it to all humans.

What yarn are you?

Okay, this is my favorite quiz in a long time:

You are Mohair.
You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with
others, doing your share without being too
weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely
refuse to change your position once it is set,
but that's okay since you are good at covering
up your mistakes.


What kind of yarn are you?
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Much knitting progress to report, but no time at the moment...

temporarily suspended

It's been kind of a wierd week. A week ago Friday my husband went to the emergency room with chest pressure and a tingling in his left arm - which I didn't want to mention on this blog until I was sure everything is okay. (It is; although they still don't know exactly what was going on, they're now pretty certain it wasn't cardiac.)

Then on Monday night my wallet was stolen. I had to cancel my credit cards, which had all been used by the time I discovered they were missing. One of the cards is billed automatically for my typepad account, and while I was waiting for a new card they tried to bill me, my card was declined, and they suspended my account. So that's one reason I haven't written on here all week. Fortunately there was very little cash in my wallet, and I'm not going to be held responsible for the charges on my cards, so this is all just an inconvenience. I still haven't gotten around to ordering a new driver's licence. (This part especially sucks since I just got a new one a couple months ago.)

Then on Tuesday Scott went to the emergency room again, after having an anxiety attack while resting at home. I think it was particularly bad since he hadn't experienced this before so he didn't know what was going on and thought it could related to what happened on Friday (at that point, we hadn't yet learned that it wasn't his heart). Since then he's had a couple more smaller anxiety attack, but he's been able to deal with them better, and he has medication he can take if he can't talk himself down. Hopefully now that he's not so worried about his health, he'll stop having the anxiety attacks (and can just go back to his normal level of anxiety?)

And then of course amidst all of this I didn't have a break from the usual work, lessons, meetings, etc. Now that I have a little time to myself this morning, I think I'm just catching up with how worried I've been. When bad things are happening, I tend to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and only later will process my feelings about stuff.

Anyway, I didn't really mean to get into all that, but... well, that's where I am.

Okay, but back to the knitting - my cashmere sweater just has a sleeve remaining to be knit, then I can sew it together and wash it. I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but this cashmere does shrink lengthwise a good deal with washing, while the stitch gauge remains the same. So my completed front and back look very long. This project has been a lot of fun - it's very rare that I'll spontaneously buy yarn, come up with an idea, make my calculations, and knit the sweater all in the span of a couple weeks. I look forward to wearing it very soon, and posting a pic here to show you all.

When I brought the cone of cashmere home, Scott thought it was navy (it's actually purple; he's colorblind), and hinted that he'd like a cashmere sweater himself. The next time I went to School Products she actually did have a navy, so I put it aside for him. Although I owe my sister's boyfriend a sweater, I think I'll do this one for Scott first.

Hank8 continues apace; I'm about 1/4 done with the second sleeve. I'm taking a page from Wendy's book and trying to do the finishing as I go along, so that when I get down to the cuff I'll be done. I think that will be a very good feeling.

Sorry for the lack of pictures - but I'm sure you understand! soon... soon...

What Famous Leader Are You?

What Famous Leader Are You?

Steeky Fun

My steeks class yesterday went well. It's amazing to me how things happen for a reason; I was originally supposed to teach this class last September, but not enough people signed up. However, I realize now that I was very unprepared at that time, and this way I really took the time to plan and have good samples and whatnot. After going around and doing introductions, I started the class by cutting an armhole steek on Hank8, which I think helped break the ice. It's lucky I didn't finish it by Christmas like I wanted, huh? We then worked on their homework swatches, and no one passed out cutting their first steeks. After finishing those steeks, we did the Norweigan style steeks. My little sewing machine worked fine (okay, a couple of small snags, but no major problems). As I'd feared, we finished way early, but I think that's okay. No one seemed to feel like they weren't getting their money's worth. There are a few things I would do differently were I to teach this class again (mainly, create a more detailed handout, and teach the crocheted steek method, which I had never tried but figured out near the end of class and did an impromtu demo).

But how cool is it that I created 10 more knitters not afraid to cut their knitting?! I honestly feel like cutting steeks is incredibly liberating. If you've never tried it, I highly recommend it.

So now I have no excuse not to finish Hank8. I'm going to pick up stitches for the final sleeve tonight. In other finishing news, I'm crocheting the edge on the cashmere baby blanket - should be finished in a couple days. Woo hoo!

With this class behind me, I also feel I can devote some time to developing a couple of designs I have floating around my head that I'm going to submit places. This is a very good thing.

Coming soon: more photos! I'm too lazy to get the camera out this mellow Sunday.