knit and tonic

Things I Have Learned While Traveling.

This past week, I traveled to Columbus, Ohio for TNNA (It's a Needle Arts Association meet-up) to sign books and see other designers and yarnies and pretty much anyone else who is interested in making a living in these-type arts/businesses. I always know what to expect at these things--well I used to not know what to expect but now I do--and it is actually a lot of fun but tiring too, especially if you're someone like me who doesn't enjoy traveling alone.

First and foremost: The event was great. I got to see some designer friends who I only get to see at these meetings and I loved talking with literally hundreds of shop owners and other attendees for whom I signed books.

Second and most top of mind, to quell my fear of flying and being in situations that make me scared, I decided from the get-go that I'd take a mental note of the things that amuse me while I did whatever it was that I had to do. Not necessarily knit-related, either. Sorry. Knitting is a biggie for me but other things are more interesting sometimes. I mean, really: All we have is knit, purl, knit through back loop, purl through back loop, knit one below, purl one below, twist to the left, twist to the right, ssk, k2tog (the hardest one to type), make one, knit front and back . . .

Oh Wait: Maybe I should take my last assertion back. We have plenty to think about beyond knit and purl. Probably at least as much as an Olympic diver has to worry about while standing on that really high platform wearing teeny tiny Speedos. Har. Please don't get me started.

• If you go to the Burbank Airport it is best to have wine before you go through security. Otherwise, you may not get the opportunity to talk up two friendly strangers from north of Bakersfield picking up a niece. Not such an unusual thing, except they hadn't traveled and were both carrying luggage. She ordered a Singapore Sling.

• If you're in the window seat on the second leg of a long journey don't fall for the guy smushed in the middle of you and the guy on the isle who claims he's starving. I fell for it and handed him a packet of the black pepper crackers that came with my eight-dollar "fruit and cheese plate." He proceeded to pass wind to the tune of black pepper for the next hour. When he grumbled how hungry he was again, I again handed him the other packet of crackers that came with the "meal." This time a nice buttery flavor. Take a wild guess what happened for the next two hours.

• Wait a day before you exclaim to the bartender "Wow! Those Garden Association Folks are really rowdy!" until after the next night, when the knitters actually arrive and settle in. The knitters totally blow the gardeners away. And I'm serious when I write this.

• Hide your iPad in your dirty pajamas when you leave your room at the Hyatt Regency, Columbus.

• If you happen to be in Columbus during the the local festival ComFest, you might want to skip it. People go semi-naked. And let me tell ya, I'm pretty sure Megan Fox and/or Levi Johnson don't attend ComFest. I confess I was warned by the locals.

• On the way home, specifically on the first leg and longest of your journey, pray that you don't get stuck sitting next to the gal reading "50 Shades of Grey." (Bold and italic intentional. Really, really intentional.)

The End.

Here's me signing books at the Unicorn Booth. In total Wendy Fashion, I forgot to ask anyone to take pics until the thing had ended. So, after everyone left, I found my tech editor, Sue McCain, and asked her to look interested in what I was doing.

BTW: Head on over to Jimmy Beans Wool. They're having a book giveaway of Custom Knits 2.

Slip-Two Slouch

The great thing about knitting a smaller project, something like a hat, is that if the pattern is interesting and not too difficult that it can worm its way into your brain and chances are, you'll end up knitting more than one of them.

This is how it is with this Slip-Two Slouch. It starts with a top-down swirled slipped stitch crown and the rest of the hat is a nifty slipped stitch herringbone pattern that shows off hand-dyed yarn beautifully. Although this pattern features instructions for two different weights of yarn--sportweight and DK weight--it is really adaptable to other weights of yarn and sizes. Why? The stitch repeat requires a multiple of four stitches so all you need to do is add or subtract multiples of four to adjust your gauge or final head circumference.

Here are the particulars:

SIZE
Average Adult

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
22" circumference approximately 9.5" tall

YARN
Sportweight Version: Cephalopod Yarns Bugga! (70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon / 412 yards / 40 ounces): 1 skein Red Eft (Shown on the right)
DK Version: Mirasol Nuna (40% merino wool, 40% silk, 20% bamboo / 191 yards / 50 grams): 2 skeins Fuchsia (shown below)
Make note of fiber content when substituting yarns as silk and bamboo add significant drape to the DK version.

NEEDLES

Sportweight Version: One 16” long circ needle and/or one set double-point needles size US 2 (2.5mm)
DK Version: One 16" long circ needle and/or one set double-point needles size US 5 (3.75mm)
Change needles size if necessary to obtain correct gauge. Be sure to wash and block your swatch.

NOTIONS
Stitch markers; yarn needle

GAUGE
Sportweight Version: 32 sts and 44 rnds = 4”
in Transverse Herringbone
DK Version: 24 sts and 32 rnds = 4"
in Transverse Herringbone

DIFFICULTY
Intermediate beginner

Both written and charted instructions are included. Yarn Stores: Deep South Fibers is my wholesaler and has hard copy patterns available.

Click on the button below to buy a pdf copy. It will be sent to you in a zipped PDF file via email when payment is made or eCheck clears. Thanks!

$5.25

My Glamorous Life and Why My Neighbor is Afraid of Me

Shoot. I'm so used to having an in-house photographer, but these days, he's so busy with his own photography and editing that I don't feel like I can or should ask for an impromptu photo shoot every time I want to get a picture for the blog.

So, in the spirit of do-it-yourself-ness I whipped out my iPhone and tried a few finished object shots to show you. This is that swirly herringbone cap that I've knit a bunch of times and this orange one is my favorite one. If you can't see the herringbone or the swirl parts that are created by slipped stitches, just squint and pretend. That's what I do sometimes with my husband. Seriously, if I squint, and the light is just-so, I swear he looks like just like an Indian Brave on the cover of a romance novel (I'm not kidding).

Oops. Out of focus.

I didn't know that this phone had a flash. Must turn off the flash.

You can see the herringbone on one of my heads.

And this one is sideways.

Oh, wait: The last two pics are both sideways.

I can't win.

But the hat is going to be a winner. I have the charts all ready to go and I'm writing it out line by line so those of you who don't like charts won't have to rely on them for this pattern.

Meanwhile: I was looking in one of my little notebooks that I keep in my purse to write down things that I think are funny/fantastic/special/yadda. This is something that I heard HWWV say and immediately wrote down: "She must be a victim of really good self esteem."

The end.

Remember This?

This was something I knit months ago, after working up a couple of cowls that I discovered had been done before. I even had the resulting cowl pattern edited and paid the tech editor before I discovered that something else existed that was really close to what I thought was an "original" design.

But loving that whole slipped stitches thing, in this case a herringbone stitch, I put my thinking cap on and reworked the design into a top-down slouch cap instead. The swirl you see at the crown here took awhile to figure out and segue into the herringbone stitch but it was totally worth it.

This pink one is what I came up with using Mirasol Nuna (a medium weight merino/silk/bamboo blend). Since the time I made this pink one, I have made two more. Each with a different gauge of yarn.

So recently, when I got some Skinny Bugga! by Cephalopod Yarns (a fingering weight superwash sock yarn), and wondered what to do with it, I decided that the slip stitch pattern I used here would work well given the way it was dyed.

Anyway, here it is, blocking. This Red Eft colorway is to die for.

Meanwhile: I got to thinking about blocking and displaying knitted things.

Ever notice how many shawls you see displayed on trees?

On bushes?

Fences? (Notably chain-link, oy.)

Socks on fake feet?

Knits are notoriously hard to "display." 

In my defense: Here's my Skinny Bugga! slipped stitch slouch cap sitting on top of a rice bowl on top of a vase on top of a patio table in the wind.

I will let you know when the pattern is ready. I plan on including two weights of yarn and a couple of sizes. This is intentionally over sized so it doesn't muck up my naturally curly hair.

P.S. If you think you notice a difference between the top picture and the bottom one, you're not delusional. The photographer in the house is not . . . in the house.

 

 

There's More to California than, say, Bikinis

I just called my girlfriend who lives in what they call a historic home in Long Beach to ask her what type of historic home she lives in. "Is it Spanish Revival? A Revival Bungalow? Is it Mission Style?"

"It's a Spanish Revival. The one next to me is a California Bungalow."

Then I asked her how to tell the difference between her home and that bungalow next door.  "How am I supposed to know? I have a Spanish Revival home. The bungalow has more windows and wood. I just got home from a run and I'm sweaty. Mine is Spanish Revival. That's all I know." 

"Real quick and by the way: What's a Hoosier cabinet?"

"Hell if I know."

Actually the conversation didn't go exactly like that but it was close. Who'd have thought that California had more to it than beach babes in sweaters (gasp) or babes posing on couches with pool boys in the background? (double gasp).

Turns out, there's a whole other world out here. And it has little to do with beaches and babes. It's all about the California Revival Period, something that you don't hear very much about unless you're an architecture buff or someone who is more well versed in art history and design than I am.

Stephannie Tallent, in her book, California Revival Knits, focuses on the style, lines, design elements, and history of early-ish turn-of-the-century design of California architecture including the tiles, textiles and colors and applies all this to the design of her 14 patterns in the book.

What I like most about this book is that she talks about how she studied this architecture and took all the inspiration and created knit designs that reflect the period.

I say this because, as someone who has written books on the subject of knit design and who has also sat through endless speeches and lectures by and about other designer's design process--speeches that were so tedious and so lengthy that I wanted to eat my pantyhose--is that the refreshing (and pithy) essay at the beginning of Stephannie's book was worth the price of the e-book or physical book alone.

I'm serious when I write this. Stephannie is so clear and succint about the design process that I can say that I have learned from her. Even her brief discussion about mood boards is a revelation.  

Meanwhile . . . I have this yarn from Cephalopod Yarns. This one is Bugga! I must do something with it but I still haven't decided. Thoughts from readers are totally encouraged.

I was thinking about a cap for my Pilates instructor but I love orange so much I just might have to keep it.

The Five-Year Socks

These socks took five years to knit. Well, not really five total years, but five years in the making from the original thought/offer to fruition. The first time I met my stylist, the one who has worked on all the books with me, Mark, somehow the topic of socks came up and then next thing I knew I was falling all over myself offering to knit him some socks.

What was I thinking? This guy is over six feet tall and must have size 12 feet. After I noticed these things, I turned coy and asked him all about his family. Does he have a (tiny) mom? a (tiny) sister?

Yes! A tiny mom, he reported. I decided that I will make her socks and he'll totally forget about the ones he wanted in the first place! Yes, tiny socks! Quick socks! Yes. Quick socks!

And so I did.

These were a breeze. I sent them off, all wrapped up in tissue paper thinking that I was all done. That I didn't need to knit any more socks for anyone unless I absolutely had to. I mean, I had a book to write and stuff to knit for the book, right? I sent them off and she loved them. I even got a nice card, thanking me. Mark commented a couple times that she would tuck them into the drawer, nicely folded, and didn't want to wear them because they were too nice to wear. Oy. And then another book came and he asked me again if I would knit a pair for him.

Glutton for punishment, I said "Hell yes." (I didn't even shrug. I just spurted: "Yes!")

Aw crap. So, I took another look at his feet: Really big. I then decided these would take some time and they should accompany me everywhere. Through the years, they have been with me to Phoenix, Denver and Mount Washington. They have been with me to Calabassas, even in the same parking lot our guy Justin Beiber valiantly fought off a paparazzo. They have been with me on a south bound train. They have been with me on my patio (hence the dog hair). They have been with me during Girlfriend's violin lessons. They have been with me for the longest time. In fact, while we were driving on the 101 to Sherman Oaks for lunch with my sister and her family and while I was finally seaming the toe today, I got sorta sad.

What will I knit next?

There's nothing on the needles!

Someday, I'll wear pajamas in the daytime.

(Oh wait: I already do.)

I love my friend, Mark. These were totally worth it. And if he never wears them I will show up on his doorstep at 4:00 a.m. for no reason at all and demand mashed potatoes with extra butter.

(Shibui Sock Yarn. Color unknown. It looks brown to me and it is fabulous)

Two Weekends Ago

. . . we were sitting there working on our balls and my wonderful Temari* teacher looked up over her own ball and remarked, "Wendy, you're not afraid of color, are you?"

One part of me felt a little weird because honestly everyone else's balls looked way more traditional and gorgeous, but for some reason, I needed mine to blow my eyeball(s) out.

If you are curious, those pins right above the dragonfly are marker pins. You use them to create your butterflies and other creatures. Thing is, now that I'm looking at the placement of those pins . . . See how they outline a butterfly that's flying in the same direction as the dragonfly below it? Now that I see it, I'm realizing that I need to change the orientation. I don't want all the butterflies and dragonflies to fly in the same direction. I want them to crash into each other.

Speaking of color, I got two skeins of yarn from Cephalopod Yarns. You have probably heard of them by now. When I wrote Custom Knits Accessories, Sanguine Gryphon supplied yarn for the Skylark Stole, but since then, part of the company evolved into Cephalopod. I love their yarn so much that I grabbed these two. The orange-y one is Bugga! DK in in Red Eft and the bronze one (it is so gorgeously shiny) is Nautilace in Stargazer. Bugga! is a great example of a dk "smooshy" yarn. When I first opened the package and spotted it I thought I absolutely needed to make maybe two hats--there is enough yardage there, I think--and while I was laying on my reformer a couple of days later (the Pilates type) at the gym I looked up at my instructor and asked him if he'd ever consider wearing a quietly moaning orange hat. He said he would. I figured he'd say yes because by now you all know that for some reason, gym rats in SoCal tend to wear hats--the knitted kind--to the gym and for the life of me I will never understand why.

Thing is, I want to make a folded brim and knit in a saying so on the inside portion he can read something. I can't think of anything yet, so until I do or have a good suggestion, I'll hold off.

But to get the juices started:

"Live long and prosper."

"Santa says 'shop early for Christmas to avoid crowds.'"

"Do or do not; there is no try."

"Knit your own hats, bitches."

"Lay back and think of England."

Meanwhile, I will keep you posted on this wonderful new yarn. I'm working on a huge project that requires a lot of knitting on the sly, so it's hard for me to blog/show-and-tell these days. I hope you understand.

BUT and on another note: If you're around tomorrow (Tues), join me for a webcast at Planetpurl.com. I'll be there (and on video--with makeup and hairdo for sure) at 12 noon EST (or freaking 9:00 a.m. PST) for awhile to talk about Custom Knits Accessories. You can log in and ask questions, too. Plus, I'll answer them all. Unless, of course, you want to know anything at all about quantum physics or how to fix a window.

*Temari is an ages-old art/craft/whathaveyou of Japanese embroidered thread balls. Looks hard, but it isn't. It's actually kind of a hoot.

Bi-Craftual and Proud of It

Don't tell anyone, but apparently, Kristin Omdahl is bi-craftual.

I only know this because I was asked to review her latest work, Compliments Collection, which features Bijou Basin Ranch Yarns and *gasp* both knit and crochet items. That totally gave her, uhm, orientation, away.

Just you watch: The next thing that will happen is that she'll pick up a crochet hook in a knitter's-only lounge. And you know how that will go...

Seriously, I don't see too many bi-craftual booklets out there. I'm primarily a knitter but I do crochet, too. Designing knit patterns, I get, but crochet patterns? I can't imagine doing both, and from the looks of it, Kristen is comfortable going *both* ways.

What's more, every pattern is both written and charted. Knitting charts? I can plot them. But crochet charts? I'd need some coaching in reading them and there is no way I'd be able to chart them without a lot of help.

Kristen designed this collection for Bijou Basin Ranch Yarns. You may not see this yarn in a lot of retail outlets at the moment, but you can buy their yarns online here.

I have knit with their Bijou Spun Lhasa Wilderness (yak/bamboo), which is amazing and I have four skeins of their Bijou Bliss which is a yak/cormo blend. Those four skeins are earmarked for a hat KAL, which is forthcoming.

Any rate, I have one digital copy of this collection for a Give-Away. Leave me a comment saying whether you're a knitter, a crocheter or, uhm, bi-craftual, and I'll do a random drawing on Monday, May 14th.

You can find a link to Kristen's blog tour schedule here. There will be lots of giveaways, I think!

A winner has been selected! Thanks for playing along. Congrats to Kristie!

 

Invaders Must Die

Girlfriend used to go to what we called "messy school." This was a school where the kids basically let loose. You know, they were allowed and encouraged to run up and down hills in dirty super hero costumes willy nilly (and there were rusty nails; trust me) and once, when a little boy attacked Girlfriend upside the head with some sort of Tonka Toy and I reported it to the, lack for a better word, "headmaster," and asked that the four teachers in the group watch him closer (that is all I asked), she trilled:

"We here are all a group, a family, and since Girlfriend is more balanced than this boy, it is a good thing. She will, over time, help balance him so he understands it is not okay to bonk children on the head, and further help him to discuss his frustrations rather than using tools to physically express himself."

(She didn't say "bonk," though.)

On another note: I've been knitting a pair of socks for a friend for nearly a year. I'm ashamed of myself. I used to knit a pair in a few days. But these days and normally, if someone isn't sock-worthy, I don't sweat it. But he's totally sock-worthy.

And if he only knew what he was missing out on (thus the source of my distress). I just bought a packet of six pair of socks for myself. Made by Hanes. The ones that I should be able to wear while running or whatever. Sized 4 - 11 Ladies. Yeah, right. Those suckers barely make it past my heel and I wear a Ladies 8.

Shoot. Do you think that the makers of those socks should ask a couple sock knitters a few questions?

Or maybe not. Otherwise those famous socks that all those silly non-knitters tell you that can be purchased at Target for only a few bucks would skyrocket to $38.00 for yarn plus, oh, oodles more for love and labor.

 Mark, my love: Your socks are almost here.

Meanwhile. My book, Custom Knits Accessories is out. Will tell you all about it tomorrow.

BTW: Sorry if you've been having problems with the comments. Some crazy spam robot has invaded and the only way I've been able to lighten my load of hyper-deletion is to change some of the comment settings.

Driving Girlfriend Home

Yesterday in the car coming home, Girlfriend went on and on about how she wanted to give one of her classmates a mechanical pencil.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I feel sorry for him. He has a foot fungus. It's on the bottom of his feet and he was up all night itching them. The teacher, she said that he looked really tired and he squirmed all day. I know this because I sit next to him. I feel so bad because his feet itch and he can't concentrate. He got permission to wear flip flops to school and doesn't have to go to P.E."

And the day before that it was: "I want to have a car like Uncle Rico."

"Uncle Rico had a van, Girlfriend."

"Yeah, I want a van like Uncle Rico. And I want a mobile home, too. I wonder how they keep the couches in the back of those things from moving when they go up hills. How do they do that? Keep the couches in the backs of vans and mobile homes from moving around? I want one of those real bad. I want one that has a sink in it. How do they get the water in the vans? I would have lunch in the back of my van. And if I had a mobile home, I'd invite a friend or two and then we could wash the dishes then go outside and play ball. You know, like Uncle Rico. Mom, how do they keep the couches from shifting when they go uphill?"

And on and on and on and on.

I guess its a good thing that she cares for others and has one dream in life: To own a brown and orange van with a couch and a sink in it. I guess things could be worse.

I think I know where she got this from. Me. Not the caring about foot fungus or having simple desires like owning a van like Uncle Rico. It's the wondering thing. I wonder about the craziest things. I wonder so much that I lay in bed at night and wonder. It could be that my mom, like me, didn't answer the many questions I had while riding home with her. She, like me, was probably a little tired of all the chatter and honestly wondered to herself, like I'm wondering to myself as Girlfriend chatters my ear drums off, how she's going to make it home without jumping out the car window first.

So the semi-circle scarf/shawl thing: Sure, I know how it gets semi-circular. That much I get. But what I don't get is how someone thought this thing up. Who was it? Elizabeth Zimmermann? Maybe it was her. Or not. I happen to have a copy of The Principles of Knitting but honestly it's busy right now keeping one the old fences out back from falling over so I can't really look it up at the moment.

I'm lying. It's not holding up the fence. I was just joking. I can't go look it up because I'm making chicken under a brick.

Har. Kidding again.

The green version of the little scarf is Manos del Uruguay Lace and the one in my hands is the Quince & Co. Sparrow. I'm hoping that the little peak at the top blocks out.

Good news is, linen is so tough that should it need a little goading, I could probably shore up my falling-down fence with it for a few days to stretch it out. I'll let you know how it goes.

 BTW: Love the book, Principles of Knitting. I just can't get over how big it is.