alisonknits

Happy Halloween!

Hula Hoopers Crossing

I took very few pictures on my trip to Vermont last weekend, and this is by far the best. There were several of these doctored signs on a steep, winding road into the mountains, and we enjoyed them so much we had to pull over and take pictures.

Highlights of my weekend: the incredible foliage driving through NJ and NY state (Vermont was already a bit past peak as you can see in the photo above); spending all of Saturday lying on a couch in the corner of the room where everyone else was taking classes with Annie, alternating between knitting, reading a great book (Middlesex), and staring into space in a vegatative state; eating lots of beef stew, scones, granola, and other goodies, most from Trader Joe's, and some brought by other knitters; enjoying the company of a dozen fantastic women.

Now that I'm back, and my ponchos are turned in to Vogue, I'm in a bit of a funk. I need a break. The weekend was great, but it was a long drive back on Sunday after teaching in the morning. And I returned to rejections from Vogue (for the designs I submitted for their Spring/Summer issue) and Interweave. I tell myself "Better luck next time," but I also recall how stressful it was knitting three ponchos in three weeks and wonder whether it's worth it. I have a great job. Maybe I don't need to be a professional knit designer.

Speaking of my great job, I'm late for work.

Tangled up in blue bamboo

For my last poncho, which I plan to finish tonight, the yarn I was given is made of bamboo. It's actually a very cool yarn, which I had coincidentally been playing around with at the same time I was designing these ponchos. (Maybe the yarn coordinator at Vogue is psychic, and felt the bamboo vibe even thought I made my swatch for this one out of cotton.) I think it's well-suited to this particular poncho, I like the color (cobalt blue), and it's not as hard to knit as I had thought it might be. But there's just one problem. So. Many. Knots. Each ball I've worked with has had at least two knots, and it's been incredibly frustrating. But the yarn has incredible yardage (the whole poncho will take only four balls), so I guess it's a trade-off.

More next week, at which point I will be done knitting ponchos and back from Vermont....

I'm still here.

Just a quick note to say that I'm still here but very, very busy. By a week from Friday I must accomplish the following tasks:

*Weave in ends on Poncho #1
*Approximately 8-9" more on Poncho #2, which grows wider as it grows longer (it's knit from the neck down)
*Knit Poncho #3
*Prepare for my finishing class at Autumn Vermont Knitting Retreat, including creation of handout(s)
*Various and sundry life obligations, such as hold down a full-time job and spend time with my lovely husband.

I had been planning to go to Rhinebeck, but I think I have to stay home and knit. There could be worse reasons to miss it!

Covered in Possum

Thanks to all who posted their congratulations. I'm so grateful for your support. I've been knitting up a storm on the first poncho, which is out of a Cherry Hill Yarns possum blend of all things. It's beautiful but it sheds quite a bit. I'm on track to finish it by the end of the week as I planned, and today I received the yarn for the next poncho.

So far both the yarns they gave me to work with are green. I almost never wear green, and therefore rarely knit with it. A few years ago, before I got married and took a new last name, I realized that a big part of why I don't wear green is that my name was green, and as a child I got teased about it. ("You're green, so you must be a martian!" "Alison Green is going to marry Richard Brown - ew!") Isn't that a wierd reason not to wear a color?

All Ponchos, All the Time

Something extraordinary happened to me the other day. I got a call from Vogue Knitting saying that they were taking three of my poncho designs for their VK On the Go poncho book. This is especially remarkable since I only sent them three designs for the book. Once again, I feel incredibly blessed.

They had the yarn for one of them, so I went and picked it up from their offices yesterday. They need all three by the end of October, so I have a lot of knitting to do! I'm hoping to finish the first one this week, because I think the other two will take longer. Good thing I didn't end up taking a second calligraphy class that would have taken up three whole Saturdays this month. Everything happens for a reason, right?

In other news, I may have mentioned before that I'm teaching a class at Annie Modesitt's Vermont Knitting Retreat, October 22-24. There are still a few spaces left, and it promises to be a great time. I met Annie last year at her Seaside Retreat, which I attended even though I didn't know anyone else who was going. Some of Annie's students, as well as Annie herself, told me they thought I was brave for doing that. Actually, just clueless - I didn't know that everyone else there already knew Annie! But I got a warm welcome from all, and was very glad I went.