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Knitting Through the Winter Blahs

Does anyone else become slightly brain dead in January?

I think maybe it’s the busyness of Christmas that does me in. Follow me along on this tangent: I’m an introvert. I’ve been reading about introversion and what it means. I’ve read The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney, and it blew my mind. Now, I’m reading Introverts in the Church by Adam S. McHugh, and again — mind blown. So my theory is that after all the extroverting necessary to make it through the month of December, I am in such desperate need of solitude that my brain shuts down.

I’ve actually struggled with depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder over the years, and January has always been the worst. But now I’m wondering if it’s been exacerbated by exhaustion.

What does this have to do with knitting? Now that my brief tangent is over, let me say this: I usually can’t knit anything more complicated than a garter stitch blanket come New Year’s. And yet, my goal is to be more faithful and consistent in blogging, designing, and general creativity.

Ha!

But something has happened, and I am surprising myself. I’ve been reading Introverts in the Church at just the right time, it seems, to realize that maybe I’m not depressed and brain dead… maybe I’m just tired. Maybe I just need a break. Maybe I just need some solitude.

So, I’ve been seeking it out. And I’m not apologizing for it, either. I’m carving out breaks, I’m taking naps, and I’m staying home from church. I have been saying no to just about every new group or outing that comes up, except the ones that will recharge me. And it’s working! In mid-January, my brain is switching back on, and it’s not even spring time yet.

This is unprecedented.

I’m even doing a little designing of my own again. And I spent the afternoon knitting and taking an online class about spreadsheets & knitting pattern sizing. (From Craftsy. It’s awesome.)

I think I’ll keep up this pattern of [enjoy life, take a nap], repeat.

What do you do to survive the winter blahs?

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For the curious, here is the class I’m taking:

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The New Work Space: Yarn Display And All

I have yarn strewn all over my house. Partially finished projects, pretty skeins I don’t want to hide in a drawer, finished samples that got placed on top of the piano and left there — every room contains yarn except the bathroom and my husband’s office.

So of course my new kitchen work station is all about yarn.

I spend a lot of time in our kitchen. It’s my quiet(er) space, where I can both get things done and relax, depending on the moment and the needs of my kids. As much as I’d like to put my feet up on the couch and knit during afternoon quiet time, it’s just not relaxing when I’m forced to watch Max & Ruby or Spongebob Squarepants. I’d rather watch Pride & Prejudice (the A&E version with Jennifer Ehle, not that horrible Keira Knightley disaster), but the complaining would negate the relaxation.

(In case you’re wondering why on earth I need to arrange my afternoon quiet time around my kids, it’s because I’m crazy and I homeschool them. We try to get our work done in the morning, so we can all play in the afternoon.)

Anyway, I really wanted the new desk to have room for all of *my* work, which is, as you know, all about knitting. So I made a home for my knitting books on the shelves next to the cook books, and I set aside some drawers for my pattern notes, and I bought containers whose sole purpose in life is to keep my newest and prettiest skeins in easy view.

I sometimes feel bad that my hobby is scattered and displayed all over the house, while my husband’s is banished to his office. But really, I’m not going to hang power tools on the walls. I’m just not.

Now, the buttons that I bought recently are another story. But I’ll save those pictures for another day. (The day when I finally take them.)

For the curious, let me tell you where I got all my new goodies. The desk was free, from a local SWAP group. Isn’t it awesome? The shelves, I bought at Ikea. Likewise the lamp and the green yarn containers. I also bought this cute new plant and its lacy container at Ikea. It’s my absolute favourite variety of greenery: plastic. (It’s a good thing my kids don’t sit passively waiting for water like plants do; otherwise, they might never get fed.) (Kidding. Obviously, I know that a starved child is a very different thing from a brown plant.)

For some reason, my teenage disdain for lace has completely disappeared, and it its place is a great appreciation for the skill involved in its production. See, we have knitting to thank for so many things.

And now you know a bit more about me: my love for the colours blue and turquoise and for old furniture, my inability to keep plants alive, and the place where I sit down to work (or browse Facebook) every day.

Here’s one last photo of pretty yarn for you (I warned my husband that I would be buying hooks to display my skeins, and I meant it):

How do you display your yarn? Or do you hide it all away in drawers? I’d love to hear from you!

Why Do You Knit?

I just asked this question to my local knitting guild, and it made me think.

Why DO I knit?

Honestly, when I think of knitting, I get a little poetic. I really do just love it so much. It’s such a quirky, yet classic, hobby. (Okay, it’s gone way past hobby for me, and moved into lifestyle, obsession, identity.)

I knit for the warm, fuzzy feeling of accomplishment.

I knit for the continuity between generations.

I knit for the soothing rhythm of repetition, the soft movement of yarn beneath my fingers.

I knit for the places my mind goes while my hands are agreeably engaged.

I knit for a physical place to put my prayers.

I knit so I can give someone an object that embodies my love for them.

I knit to challenge my brain.

I knit to soothe my nerves.

And tonight, I am going to knit to console myself after cleaning out my office all day.

Diving into Craftsy

I’ve just signed up for a Craftsy class! I noticed that they’re having a sale this weekend for Black Friday, where you can sign up for courses for half price. (Thanks, Twitter!) So, I followed the link to see what they offered.

Well, what do you know? They had a class that looked like it would answer some of my questions. I’d love to start designing sweaters, but I was feeling under qualified. I don’t want to design garments that won’t fit everyone, but how could I possibly test knit every single sweater size before publishing a pattern? As much as I love knitting, I don’t have the time or the yarn budget. But I also refuse to publish patterns that I’m not proud of.

Amazingly, there’s a class currently being offered called Sizing Knitwear Patterns. How perfect is that?!? So, I signed up.

There are lots of other interesting knitting classes being offered, as well. As far as I can tell, all of them are online video courses, in which you can ask the instructor as many questions as you want. Your video links never expire, so you can take your time watching them. There are discussion forums for your class. You can even make video notes.

(I’m not sure what that means yet, but I’ll find out soon. I think it means I can bookmark bits of video that I want to go back to later and make notes about them. Sounds neat, eh?)

While I was there, I figured I’d also look into the Craftsy Affiliate Program. Now that aknitica is self hosted, I can add links to sites I find useful in my knitting life so I can share them with everyone. As a happy bonus, I get a bit of commission from them occasionally, which should help fund my yarn sample purchases and website fees. It turns out that Craftsy has a really incredible user-friendly program for affiliates. (You’ll notice I have some banner ads at the side and bottom of the site now. I added the ones I found most interesting, although right now, they’re all in their Holiday mode!) If you have your own website, you can Join Craftsy’s Affiliate Program Today too, if you like.

I was surprised to get an added bonus from them when I got my approval email. I get to sign up for one of their classes, for free! haha

But I think what I’ll do is sign up for the Sizing Knitwear Patterns‘ sister course, the Pattern Writing for Knitters Online Knitting Class. Maybe it will help me take my patterns to a whole new level of awesomeness. That’s always a good thing.

And here’s another one that would be perfect for my Knitting Guild, since our annual knitting challenge’s theme is shawls this year. There’s actually a Knit Shawls Class that promises to help you master lace techniques. Darn it, now I wish I could take it, too. Too much to do, too little time. I so completely love taking knitting classes.

Now, to carve out some quiet minutes to watch my videos. In a house full of homeschooled children. It’s a good thing there’s no time limit! (And hey, maybe they’ll learn something. Mwahaha….)

Have you every taken an online class? How did it go?

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[box]Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. But I only talk about things that actually interest me, that I hope could benefit my readers, as well. Regardless of whether or not I make money from them.[/box]

Charity Knitting: 1000 Hats for Cancer

I am so thankful for modern medicine. I often forget that not everyone can receive it because it’s just too expensive. There are families who can barely pay for life-saving cancer treatments for their kids, let alone the little extras, like hats to cover their little bald heads.

This little cutie pie is my neighbour, Luke. He was diagnosed with leukemia a year ago. I can’t even begin to tell you the emotions behind that statement, so I’ll move on to the point of this particular post, which you may have already guessed: hats.

Do you see that knitted hat on his head? I made it, of course. You may have seen the pattern for the horns. It’s called Mighty Warrior.

Luke has a really great collection of hats now. He hasn’t been bald for the whole last year, but he has lost his hair twice. He doesn’t like losing his hair.

Four year olds aren’t supposed to lose their hair.

Anyway, his mom, Sarada, found out that the oncology kids in Quito, Ecuador need hats. And because of Luke, and because of who she is, she decided that those kids should have hats. They shouldn’t have to walk around bald on top of everything else that they have to deal with.

So, her goal is to collect 1000 hats and send them all down to Quito for the kids. She found a charitable organization there that is actually trying to collect hats (started by one of the moms, I think), and they will put the hats in little packages for each child.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to knit hats. Or to spread the word to people who can knit hats. Or to just remember to pray for these kids and their families who are facing years of cancer treatments. (Having leukemia is vastly different than having a localized form of cancer. The treatments involve an intensive regimen of chemos, steroids, lumbar punctures, blood transfusions, needles, surgeries, and pain medication for about a year, then a slightly-less intense repeat for another couple years. It’s crazy.)

Even if you can’t knit for the kids in Quito, Ecuador, I’m sure there are some kids growing up in an oncology ward near you who would love a really cool hat knit just for them. Many hospitals are glad to take donations of new, washable, soft, extremely fun hats for the kids in their care.

And many kids love dressing up as warriors and fairy princesses, even when they’re sick.

Have you knit chemo hats before? What are your favourite patterns?

Pattern Writing for the Uninitiated

Have you ever wondered what goes into writing a pattern? Here is my process, mostly.

Get inspired! Pick up yarn and start knitting. Maybe make sketches first, maybe not.

Get really excited as things come together nicely, making notes as you go.

OR,

Get really frustrated and rip things out that just refuse to work. At all. No matter which way you try. Cross out notes as you go.

Finish the really exciting garment, then realize that the yarn you used from your stash isn’t widely available and also isn’t a standard aran weight, even though it says “Aran.”

Buy more yarn. Tell yourself it’s a “business expense.”

Knit a proper sample, realizing that now all your pattern notes will have to be slightly modified to fit the new gauge.

Knit another sample because you guessed wrong and your adult-sized hat turned out to be child sized. Also, realize that maybe bubblegum pink isn’t the best colour for showing how great the pattern looks on both men and women, no matter how much you personally love bright pink.

Attempt to take really gorgeous photos of the garment sample(s) on reluctant husband and on self. Load the photos on the computer and realize that they are a) blurry, or b) weird, or c) showing the beautiful half-dead bouquet of flowers you received from your brother’s girlfriend at Thanksgiving in the background, or d) poorly lit because you were too excited to wait until day time.

For every good photo you see, there are about 4x more terrible ones at home on my hard drive. I apparently have dead flowers growing out of my blurry head, and you can barely even see the hat here.

Find a willing model on a gorgeous day and take lots of pictures. Hopefully, some of them will turn out.

They did! They did turn out! Even the one of the willing model’s reluctant-yet-willing teenaged son, who came to ask his mom a question and found himself roped into being a model. (Regret that you had to run off to find your two-year-old instead of getting more shots of a cool teenager wearing your design.)

Pick your favourite pictures of the garment from the photo shoot. This might take an hour since it’s hard to differentiate between which photos make your garment look great, and which just make your model look great. Narrow it down while sipping some coffee and ignoring your family. Be thankful for indulgent spouse.

Crop photos. Export photos. Make sure you saved photos properly.

Open up a new file and start to arrange the photos. Format the page. Start adding the heading, sidebars, and text. Think you’re almost done! Realize that you still need to make a proper gauge swatch in stockinette. Take a break to knit said swatch.

Debate on the merits of buying charting software or creating charts yourself from thin air. Convince yourself that a table is like a chart, that your illustrating abilities are sufficient for drawing in cable symbols, and spend days creating charts that could have been made in less than an hour for the low, low price of $99. Consider just spending the money on the darn software, then discard the idea because finances are tight even though it would be a “business expense.”

Decide that since people seem to love having both charted AND written directions, your pattern should have no less. Even though you prefer charts. Even though it will add a couple extra hours to the pattern writing. Even though it will mean excellent proofreading is necessary. Wonder if your excellent-at-proofreading sister will mind helping you out. Again.

Confuse yourself with the changes between the hand-written chart and the final, computer-y version while you translate the chart into written directions. Imagine all the confused emails you’ll get if the written directions are wrong and how embarrassed you’ll be at having published a sub-par pattern.

Realize that your eyes are blurring from staring at the computer screen for so long. Instead of taking a break from the computer, take a break from pattern writing to write a blog post about pattern writing.

Make some more coffee as Go, Diego, Go! plays in the background. Thank God for Netflix, for completed homeschooling lessons, for a napping two-year-old. Add cinnamon to the coffee to make it more special because you need it. Take a real break, get the kids a snack, and wish you had a magical sushi snack bar in the fridge. Eat a bowl of cereal instead.

~~Get back to work.~~ Go to post office, park, and library with kids. Realize at park that the p.o. box keys are not in your pocket. Go back and find them still in the p.o. box.

Get home and make dinner. Plan to get back to work later.

Cozy Fall, Cozy Knitting

There’s a chill in the air around here, and the leaves have been turning rusty shades of sun-kissed orange and red, and a switch has flipped in my brain. I’m knitting cables.

I picked up a gorgeous skein of Fleece Artist Blue-Faced Leicester Aran on sale at a local yarn shop in the summer. It’s just brown… but oh! What a brown! When I finally got around to winding it into a ball (by hand, off the back of a kitchen chair), I discovered that there are depths of warmth and coziness in the colours. As it ran through my fingers, I fell in love with the texture. It is soft and squishy and velvety, and I’m in love.

Here’s a little sneak peak of the pattern I’m working on, which, although it was inspired by this yarn, will probably be written for a worsted weight instead. We’ll see.

I find that my favourite designs come out of experimentation, not premeditation. Maybe that’s weird. I will sometimes dream and imagine all the things I’d like to knit, but the reality of those dreams doesn’t always work out. When I sit down and just get started, playing with the yarn as I go, I often end up with something very satisfying. Cables can be especially lovely for that, since they can travel around at will as I go. Hats make a great canvas, since they are small and easily re-knit if things go horribly wrong.

Have you ever sat down and played with a hat? Here’s a glimpse of what I do: Cast on something in multiples of ten, with appropriate-sized needles for your yarn, and just go for it. Throw in some evenly spaced cables, then let them travel around when you get bored. Maybe I’m strange, but I find that to be a fun and stimulating exercise. The first hat I cast on ended up being too small, so, about halfway through, I ripped it all out. The second hat was just right (since I had looked at my stitch count on hat number one before ripping it out to see how many more stitches I’d need). I had some nice, mindless cables at the beginning, then I started to get tired of them. Where can they go? I wondered. So I sent them travelling to see what would happen. I knew from previous experience knitting other peoples’ patterns how to move a cable around (most recently the Knotty gloves, of which I have made three pairs), and I knew I could always rip things out if I had to.

As I decided on one possibility, others were discarded or filed away in my brain for later. Maybe this will turn into more than one design for a hat, or maybe there will be matching mittens. Or leg warmers! (My one love from the 80’s.) Who knows? The point is that knitting is fun, and I can go on adventures in my own kitchen, with Yo-Yo Ma playing in the background. What a great life.

I’m Zazzle-y

Okay, so I did something that maybe only fellow knitters will understand.

I made yarny phone cases. I mean, if I had an iPhone, I’d want its case to have yarn on it. Wouldn’t you?

(That particular case is for a Samsung Galaxy S3. Isn’t it purty?)

Zazzle gives its members the opportunity to create their own little stores with their own quirky designs. I like yarn, so I designed some yarny things. Phone cases, Kindle and Nook skins, laptop skins, even key chains and soothers and stickers, oh my! Yes, you can now purchase all of those items, made by me, covered in woolly goodness.

I made this one as a joke, but it’s kind of growing on me:

Yes, it’s a pacifier. Bahaha!

Anyway, there are so many products on Zazzle, and I’m having fun. I made my own little Aknitica store, and I have products with black yarn, grey yarn, pink yarn, green yarn, and even a painting I made of yarn. I hope to have yarny pictures in every colour of the rainbow available eventually. Since I’m taking pictures of all my favourite, most gorgeous yarn from my stash, I think I have a good chance of finding every colour.

Let me know what you think. Have I gone crazy? Maybe…

And if I have, I know the exact reason: I can’t find my size 1 circular needles!!!! I have searched all over my house, looked for UFOs hiding in all my knitting nooks and crannies, and I still can’t find my go-to needles. I’m trying not to hyperventilate. I wanted to make gloves with them Right. Now. I hate waiting.

Please cheer me up by commenting below. Thank you. That is all.

Arm Warmers of Indecision

When I first started knitting, my mom rolled her eyes at me a lot because I was too stubborn to knit mittens from a pattern. I wanted her to show me how to increase and decrease and let me figure it out myself. After a bunch of horrible, disastrous, misshapen attempts, I made mittens. I still knit them to this day (except now I’ve adapted them for working in the round.) I don’t think I’ve ever knit mittens from a pattern.

So you see, I have a history of this. Enter the arm warmers for my sister-in-law. I want them to be just right for her, and I want to design them myself. I also want to get them done quickly so she can wear them. Well, three (no, four. Drat.) weeks after she requested them, I think we can all agree they’re not getting done quickly. In sad fact, they are in their third incarnation at this point in time. But I’m finally feeling optimistic about them.

I was really encouraged on Monday night at my knitting guild. Natalie Servant was our speaker, and she is so great. (She showed me how to use my drop spindle! And lent me a book about drop spindles! I’ll have to ask her to explain plying to me again, though…) Anyway, her presentation was great all around, but my absolute favourite part was when she told us about her pile of swatches at home that just didn’t work out. Thanks goodness! I thought, I’m not the only one.

And that’s the thing that I often forget, I think, and the reason I get discouraged sometimes: I’m not the only one whose ideas don’t work out the first time around. In fact, instant perfection seems to be pretty rare.

So I’ll keep going with these arm warmers, and maybe someday soon, I’ll have a new pattern to show you. Then again, maybe not.

On another note, Fibrefest was last weekend in Almonte, and I told myself I wasn’t allowed to buy more yarn, since I’m at the point of being years behind in knitting up my stash. (I blame that on my new favourite place in the world, Unraveled, and her incredible collection of Fleece Artist sock yarns.) I almost caved in when fondling the yarn in the Turtlepurl booth, especially the sparkly ones, but, in the end, I persevered… and bought myself a yarn bowl instead. I love pottery. (Besides, I imagine Turtlepurl will have a booth at my knitting guild’s Vendors’ Night, and I’ll have to get something then.)

Here’s my new clay friend, made by Laura Sheppard of sheppardhandmade, holding the luscious Misti Alpaca that was being magically transformed into an adult-sized Impunity hat. Isn’t it a pretty shape?

So, in spite of my indecisiveness when it comes to those arm warmers, it’s been a good knitting week.

Yarn Obsession

Just call me The Compulsive Yarn Photographer. That’s me. Lately, I’ve been taking photos of all my new balls of yarn to store in my Ravelry Stash database. I feel a little silly, but it kind of makes me happy.

Plus, I just love its squishy self. Yarn, I mean.

Like this ball, which was sitting on my very messy kitchen table, staring at me. Smiling at me. I had to capture its cuteness.

It’s such a weird, intense, mustard-y colour that for some reason, I like it. Also, it looks awesome alongside my favourite colour, electric blue. I plan to knit that little beauty up into a cowl for a pop of contrast in my usually-blue wardrobe.

It’s also is made of jade. I got it at a yarn swap last night, and I’m exceedingly pleased with it.

I have this theory about yarn and all things knitty and fibre-y. The theory is that when the apocalypse comes, and we all have to fend for ourselves without electricity and government and iPods and Facebook, knitters and spinners will be heroes. What’s that? we’ll say, You’re cold? Your sweaters are all worn out? Well, do you see that sheep over there? I can make something warm and beautiful with it. I know. I’m awesome.

I have another theory. This theory is that if everyone could just find something they love to do as much as I love to squish and photograph and knit yarn, then the whole world would be quite a stunning and happy place. Personally, I think that everyone should like knitting, but maybe others will prefer things like crocheting or roller derby. Whatever.

So, for the rest of you yarnaholics whom I do not know but love already, here’s a little more eye candy.

aknitica designs. Sock yarn-y goodness. — I have a special fondness for sock yarn.

Have a lovely, yarny day!

Amanda

Category: Blog