alisonknits

It's (still) hip to knit.

Ellen posted this link to a Newsweek article affirming, yet again, that it's hip to knit. It features Debbie Stoller of Stitch N Bitch fame, who is quoted as saying, "Crafting is the new rock and roll, baby." My question is, This is news? It's now been at least 3 years since I starting seeing "knitting is the new yoga" articles.

I have had somewhat mixed feelings about the hipness of knitting. I started knitting about 10 years ago as a teenager, and always got a lot of strange looks. So I think that, like many longtime knitters I'm sure, I had this sense when knitting became trendy that the new knitters weren't "real" knitters, or were doing it for the wrong reasons or something, whereas I had paid my knitting dues or something. Which is really rather ridiculous. Now I'm quite pleased that knitting is enjoying a renaissance - we have nicer yarns widely available now, and my classes (particularly beginner classes) are filling up and therefore making me more money. But I still have this sense that knitting isn't about being hip - it's just a really excellent thing to do, and finally some other folks my age have figured that out.

Another trend I've noticed that I think is cool is that traditional knits, or updates of them, seem to be coming into fashion more and more. The brightly-colored Fair Isle line at the Gap last fall is a good example of this. Today I noticed that Candice, a woman in my office who I consider a barometer of fashion, has worn ready-made sweaters with some traditional-knitting element (lace, fair isle) for two days in a row now. (Both sweaters gave me design ideas for handknits.) I think this is a great thing.

What it comes down to for me is that in this high-tech, fast-paced automated world we crave something made from scratch, something that ties us to tradition. But of course we're also such an individualistic society that we must make it modern, make it our own.

On another topic -
For those of you in the NYC area who are planning to head over to School Products and buy some of this fabulous bulky cashmere, I would suggest that you go soon. I have no idea how much of it Berta has, but I do know that when she gets cashmere in good colors, it tends to fly out of there.

And it's flying off my needles as well! I'm already up to the armhole. Crazy progress for someone who doesn't often go above a size 6 needle... (no wonder I don't consider myself a very fast knitter).

I am a cashmere slut.

I know I wasn't going to start any new projects until I had finished several of the things that are currently in progress. And I was definitely not going to buy any yarn, since I have several projects waiting already purchased.

But I just can't say no to cashmere in my favorite color.

Here's the story: I taught a beginning knitting class on Saturday at School Products (my place of part-time employment for those of you joining us already in progress), and on my way out, I noticed that Berta had just put out cones of 70% cashmere/30% merino, in many beautiful colors. This stuff, which would typically be sold for around $200/lb, is at SP for $50/lb. And I get an employee discount. So I wound up spending half the money I'd made teaching on a 2.5lb cone of lovely plum-colored cashmere.

By the time I got home I had a pretty good idea of what I'd knit with it, but I wasn't going to knit it up right away. Then I thought I'd just swatch it...

That evening I bound off my cashmere baby blanket. I still need to crochet the border, but I'm waiting until I see Berta again, because she promised to show me a nice stitch to use. (I'm quite a novice at crochet.)

The Baby Norgi I'm working on for my steeks class is at a point where it needs more attention that I can give it on the subway.

So suddenly I'm without take-a-long knitting. So I can't really be blamed for starting a sweater with my new cashmere, can I?

(Except that truthfully, I could make swatches for my class, and also start the Baby Norgi sleeve. Or get back to those cashmere mittens. But we'll pretend we didn't think of those options.)

So here's the lowdown on the cashmere sweater:
As with most of SP's cashmere, it gets much, much softer after a washing. So I dutifully swatched it on size 11 needles, which Berta had recommended, washed my swatch, then decided I wanted to try a smaller needle. Went down to a 10.5, made another plain stockinette swatch, washed it, and decided I liked it better. Truth be told, I'm still waffling a little on which is nicer. I tend to like a slightly firmer fabric, but that's starting to change. Anyway, I went ahead with the 10.5. The sweater I'm planning will be shaped at the waist, and the front will have a big cable going up the center, on a stockinette background so that it be sort of subtle, and the cable will split at the V-neck. Serendipitously, on way home from the store, daydreaming about this sweater, I stopped in a Starbucks and saw a guy wearing a sweater with this very idea (only the V-neck was very shallow, where mine will be deeper, and his cable was a braid, where mine will be just a right-twist). The universe was clearly telling me to go ahead with this project.

So yesterday I swatched the cable, and took my stockinette swatch and plotted out the back. Watching the Golden Globes, after winding many balls of yarn for my beginner class tonight so that they could start knitting their hats, I cast on and began knitting the back. I'm trying not to feel too guilty, or stressed about all the other work I was neglecting. At least I have a few nights free to work on stuff at home this week.

The cool thing is, I hardly ever knit with bulky yarn, so this thing is flying. Fun!

Day off

I forgot that I was going to have today off until yesterday, so I didn't really make any plans. This is a good thing!

I finished the first sleeve of Hank8, see?

The ribbing took me 2 hours! No wonder this thing is taking me forever.

I also finished my Debbie Bliss cardigan! I plan to wear it to my knitting class tonight, and hopefully will get over my bobble-phobia. It fits beautifully. I'll photograph it soon, I promise. Right now I'm way too grungy to appear on camera.

But you do get more photos - here are 2 wire necklaces I made recently:

The top is one that I started last Sunday from an Annie Modesitt pattern in last summer's IK. It is being modelled by my friend Sara, who liked it so much I gave it to her. Aren't I generous? She commissioned the second one from me, as a gift for her brother's girlfriend. That one's from the booklet Annie gives out at her wire knitting classes.

I thought I would play with my new sewing machine today, but I may not get around to it before I have to shower and go to class. It's cheap, almost like a toy, but I'm thinking it'll get the job done when I need to sew a steek, and it's small and light enough to easily carry to my steeks class. It's actually quite cute.

Good things

On a whim, after my daily read of CurlsandPurlsNYC, I just signed up to be a Rowan member. I'm very excited about the free pillow kit! And I downloaded this month's free pattern, a cute hat and scarf. We all know how much I love cute hats, and I may start this one next time I need a small project to take around with me.

I just learned that it's currently 12 degrees outside. And that's not even with wind chill! This morning when I was bundling myself up I decided to wear a different hat and scarf instead of my Charleston set, and I must be getting spoiled because I fretted over the fact that the ones I chose are not a matching set. In fact I did design a scarf to go with the hat I'm wearing (it's one of the ones in the Vogue ad - the grey and white Fair Isle), but I hate knitting scarves, and never made this one for myself. I didn't even knit the sample - just got it started so that another knitter could do most of the work.

I'm in a good mood today, after having dinner last night with my friend Ellen (hi Ellen!). Ellen wants to open her own yarn shop, and I'm trying to convince her to do it in Boston instead of NYC, so that I can partner with her or at least work there when I move to Boston in 2005. She's very excited about changing careers and getting into the knitting biz, and her enthusiasm is infectious. Perhaps if she ends up opening her store here in New York I'll consider opening my own shop in the Boston area. If anyone has suggestions about locations where a LYS is needed, I'd love to hear them!

Not a lot of knitting progress to report, but I did buy some buttons yesterday for the bobble-y Bliss cardi. I plan to finish it tonight at the UWSKnitters group. After hitting a milestone on Hank8 last week, I haven't touched it since! Poor dad could probably use a handknit sweater on frigid day like today... maybe he's wearing the one I made for him two years ago.

Beginning Anew

Started wth a new group of beginning knitters tonight. As Annie and I were discussing just the other day, teaching is so inspiring. My streak of good classes at Makor seems to be continuing: all 20 (!) students were knitting by the end of the 2 hours, thanks in large part to an assist by my friend Nancy.

I've been feeling a little blah about my current projects lately. I've vowed that I won't start anything new until I finish a couple of the things I'm already working on, but nothing is terribly close to completion. Yesterday I had a few hours of leisure time, and felt like I needed a break from the WIPs. I was inspired by helping Annie out with her wire knitting class to I made a cool wire necklace. I figure it doesn't count as breaking my vow, since wire knitting isn't so much like regular knitting, plus I could start and finish the project in one sitting. Except that I need to get some ribbon or cord to really finish it. I think we have something at the store that will be perfect, but I won't be there until Thursday, so it will just have to wait until then. I keep finding that as much wire and as many beads and tools as I keep buying, I still need more to do what I want. It would be a good thing if I could stop picking up new expensive hobbies.

It was a very good break, though, and I hope to do more wire knitting very soon. So far this month, my schedule hasn't been quite as hectic as last fall. Here's hoping this will continue to be the case.

Shameless Self-Promotion

See my hat collection in Karabella's ad in the new Vogue Knitting, page 21!

New Mindfulness

I try not to make New Years' Resolutions, but rather aim to better myself year-round. This doesn't always happen, but it's a goal. However, it's hard not to make some resolutions at the beginning of the year. So when I do make New Year's Resolutions, I try to make them more a shift in attitude rather than something as specific as, say, "I will lose 15 pounds" or "go to the gym 5 times a week" or what have you.

So in the spirit of this thought, my New Year's Resolution is, in the immortal words of Thoreau, to live deliberately. To me this means practicing mindfulness, having my priorities straight, watching less television, paying more attention to what I'm putting into my body. I think it's a good frame of mind in which to begin the new year.

There are lots of good things happening in my world, particularly the knitting part of my world. Annie Modesitt asked me to help out with her wire knitting class at Urban Knitter this Saturday, which I'm delighted to do. It will be fun to hang out with Annie, and I think I can learn a lot about teaching from her.

My various projects are progressing. As I keep saying over and over, I really want to finish something already! Hank8 has almost an entire sleeve - just the ribbing left. Very cool! It's encouraging to me that I did the sleeve in about 2 weeks. Maybe I really will get this to my dad while it's still cold enough to wear it.

I finished sewing the Debbie Bliss cardigan that has been on hold for eons. I still need to weave in ends and get some buttons. But I'm a little dismayed because I tried it on and I'm not crazy about it. It's very bobble-y. Scott agreed with me that it's a little too bobble-y. (Doesn't he know by now that he should lie to me?) Well, I'll finish it anyway, wear it and get some more opinions. It's not bad, exactly, it's just a lot busier than the sorts of things I normally wear. I could always give it away I suppose. But I spent such a long time working on it! Cables and bobbles with inflexible yarn on size 1 and 2 needles!! What was I thinking??

Happy New Year!

It's been really good having a few days off. I'm back to work tomorrow, and will be busy all weekend, so this is the end of my vacation. I've made some good progress on the first sleeve of Hank8. Here it is:

I decided that for my steeks class, since I'll demonstrate with the same swatches that I'm having people do for homework, I can take Hank as far as possible and not worry about saving anything for the class. Urban Knitter is having an open house on the 11th and wanted me to contribute something to advertise the class, so I'm going to have swatches in various stages of steekiness there.

I also decided that I should both get some more practice with Norweigan-style steeks and have a good example of that available, so I'm starting a Baby Norgi with some yarn from my stash. The only color of Baby Ull that I have enough of for the main color is a bright gold, so I had to be creative with color choices. This is what I'm using:

I'm doing the border patterns in a combination of the three contrast colors (I may mix it up for the various borders), and I'm skipping the main yoke pattern altogether since it wouldn't really work in these colors. Plus it'll save me time.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, a photo of the Kureyon jacket I've picked up again:

This is one of the fronts. You probably can't see it in this photo, but there are pockets. Should be a comfy jacket, and I'm enjoying turning to this when I need a mindless break from Hank.

Happy New Year all!