alisonknits

Where I Am Now

Okay, I gotta vent.  Warning - lots of whining coming up, and little (if any) knitting content.  Consider yourself warned.

No really, if you don't want to hear my kvetching, turn back now.

Still here?  Okay

So, I'm finally leaving my main job, a half-time job at a church.  It's hard to be leaving, even though there has been a lot about the job that I've struggled with.  I worry about what will happen to the congregation with many staff having left this year, and many members of the congregation leaving or getting burnt out in the wake of the various controversies and increased volunteer workload.  It's hard to see an institution with so much potential to be a great church struggling and falling prey to a scarcity mentality.  It makes me feel angry and sad.

I will stay there until Christmas Eve, but meanwhile to pay the bills have taken on some temp work.  Last weekend I started one weekend gig at a shoe store greeting customers and asking them to sign up for the store's e-mail list.  It's very boring, very cold (I stand in a vestibule with just a space heater - I bundled up much more for my second day than my first), and sort of discouraging that few customers want to sign up for the list.  (And I can't say I blame them - who wants more e-mail from stores??)

This afternoon I also will start another part-time temp job, this one at a really great AIDS organization.  I'll be doing mostly reception area coverage, with some other light office work.  They warned me that I might have to deal with some belligerent drunk/high people.  Sign me up.

And I also still have my youth-related church job on Sunday nights, with a couple hours of work I do during the rest of the week.  And I will teach my twice-a-month Tuesday night drop in knitting class. 

So that's five jobs I'm working in December.  Five. Jobs.  What the f*** am I thinking!?!

I'm thinking I would rather not continue my downward spiral further and further into debt.  I'm thinking I would hate not buying my family any Christmas gifts this year, and I don't have time to make gifts for people as I'm spending all my knitting time trying to create samples for my knitting pattern business.

But holy crap.  I don't have a whole day off until Christmas.  I'm only working afternoons a lot of the month, but still.

I'm not looking for advice (I have plenty), but thanks for listening.  I'll be okay.  I will be okay.  Soon it will be a new year.  I'm just writing this one off.  Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

Cable Kick

I'm on a big cable kick lately.  A couple weeks ago I started an Aran sweater for the husband, using some charcoal-colored wool that I bought at Rhinebeck.  I can't remember the name... something like Chaco?  Anyway, I'm designing this Aran myself... here is the main cable.  I found this cable in Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting, and have been wanting to use it in a sweater for years.

But a heavily cabled, husband-sized sweater takes a wicked long time to knit!  And my hands were cold while I was doing a work-related task in a cold vestibule recently, so I decided to make some fingerless mittens as a break from the sweater.

Sorry for the crappy picture (click for bigger).  I'll probably publish this pattern, so I'll be taking more photos later.  The cable I used in this mitten is a little bit tricky - every 10 rows you have a maneuver that requires two cable needles (or at least one even if, like me, you usually cable without a cable needle).  It's a fun little challenge.

I also have in mind another cable hat in the same style as Charleston, and have a few cabled designs that I need to write up patterns for.  If summer is all about lace for me, apparently fall/winter is all cables, all the time.

New Pattern: Charleston Hat & Scarf

Here's my latest pattern - it's actually several years old, and I'm so happy to finally be offering it for sale.

This hat & scarf set was named by my friend Judi, in tribute to its rather flapper-like appearance.  It is knit out of Aran weight (heavy worsted) yarn with a recommended gauge of 4 sts per inch.  The samples were knit in Karabella Supercashmere (the white version) and Reynolds Andean Alpaca Regal (the fuschia).  It takes about 400 yarns for the set (approx. 120 yds for the hat and 280 yds for the scarf).

Techniques used include knitting in the round on double-pointed needles, picking up stitches, cables, and reading cable charts.  The cabled portion of the hat is knit flat in a long strip, and ends are joined to form a headband shape.  Stitches are then picked up along one edge and top of hat is knit in the round.

This has been my favorite hat in the last few winters, and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do!

The "buy now" button below will take you to PayPal, where you can purchase a PDF download of the pattern for $5.95.

Artemis Stole - it can be yours!

We're in business!  The pattern is now available for Artemis. 

The stole is knit in two identical pieces which are grafted together.  Requires approximately 1000 yds of lace weight yarn; sample used J. Knit Lace-A-Licious in the colorway "Nebraska."  Size 3 needles.

ETA: The "buy now" button below will take you to PayPal, where you can purchase a PDF download of the pattern for $7.95.

Meet Artemis

  artemis stole 
  Originally uploaded by alisonknits

I designed this stole and finished knitting it the night before Rhinebeck.  I'm really pleased with how it came out... so pleased that I got right to work on the pattern.  The pattern is now completed and I'm this close to getting it up on this blog for sale - check back in a couple of days.  And I'm also much closer to having my very own website with even more of my patterns for sale.

It's been a really interesting couple of weeks.  A couple people had recommended Barbara Sher's book Wishcraft to me, which is all about figuring out what you really want to do for a living and how to get there.  It's a fantastic book, and I've also been reading her book I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was.

And the upshot is, I think I need to give knit design a real shot, as well as go back to some other artistic pursuits that have fallen by the wayside.  (One of these is mask making.  Anyone know of any mask makers in the Northeast that I should apprentice myself to?)

All my life, I imagined that I would be some kind of artist or artisan when I grew up.  But somewhere along the way, I internalized the message that I would never be able to make a living at artistic pursuits, and that I should be doing something more "worthwhile."  Where did I get those messages?  My parents were always supportive of my dreams of a life in the theater, and kept me well-stocked with art supplies.

I'm not quitting my day job - yet.  But I do plan to get a different day job, some work that I can actually leave at work.  (Temping is actually looking pretty appealing right now.)

Life is too short not to do what you love, right?