working and teaching and designing, oh my

Please forgive my long absence.  I've been working a lot, plus the usual holiday stuff (including a lot of very inappropriate dinner table conversation at Thanksgiving in CT... I love my off-color family...)  I think I need a blogging schedule so that I actually post - I'd like to make this blog a higher priority.  I'm not telling what my planned schedule is... I want to see if I can stick to it first!

Besides my hours at the store and the church, I'm gearing up to teach several classes and workshops at Three Bags Full in Newburyport.  Tomorrow night starts a new beginner cycle, another starts Friday, I'm doing Last Minute Holiday Gifts Saturday morning, then Finishing the following Saturday and Beginner Refresher (for people who knit a long time ago and want to pick it up again) the Saturday after that.  The gifts class has involved making some samples, because I like to make things difficult for myself so didn't choose to use existing patterns. My favorites are these cabled fingerless gloves, knit in Reynolds Odyssey merino:

And now I'm scrambling to get my designs finished in time to send to my technical editor when she's expecting them.  The cutaway jacket sweater is almost finished, but it took a lot of trial and error to get it right.  Originally I did the curved front pieces by increasing on every row for a bunch of rows, but decided (after completing the pieces and starting the border) that it was pulling in too much.  So I ripped.  My solution was use short rows, and I also used short rows on the curved bottom of the back and also on the shawl collar, so this sweater is now a study in short rows. 

Today I'm working on the patterns, and just finished calculating all the sizes for a bolero jacket that I made last spring.  I should be able to start writing the pattern, but the eyelet stitch pattern that I used is going to make it difficult to write the instructions for the fronts.  The problem is, it involves increasing in pattern, with each size being half a pattern repeat off from the next.  I'm thinking of just charting it, but that too will be rather labor intensive.  I may need some guidance on this one.

Comments

[Karola]

Hi Alison,
wow i love those fingerless gloves wristwarmers.. or what ever you want to call them :-) yes you do have a lot to do.. but isn't that what keeps our minds constantly going :-) i wouldn't have it any other way.. hope you stay warm this winter and i hope to make it up for a visit in the spring.. lots of hugs.. lots of luck.. hugs karola

[Karola]

Hi Alison,
wow i love those fingerless gloves wristwarmers.. or what ever you want to call them :-) yes you do have a lot to do.. but isn't that what keeps our minds constantly going :-) i wouldn't have it any other way.. hope you stay warm this winter and i hope to make it up for a visit in the spring.. lots of hugs.. lots of luck.. hugs karola

[Teresa C]

Those gloves are yummy and look so warm. Why is it that I want to knit everything I see?

[Amanda]

Have you ever been to Circles in JP? www.circles-salon.com The woman who started it did a series at Simmons as part of a grant she received. She was looking at archetypes of women, asking those in the circle to think of what type of woman they want to be, and designing patterns that help the women get closer to their desired type. Then she taught them all how to knit the pattern.

[Joseph Santos-Lyons]

Heard a great carol at the Eastshore Unitarian Church yesterday, "The Mitten Tree" to the tune of the Christmas Tree. They wrote it in support of the churches effort to collect warm clothes for people in need in the winter!