Craft

I just stumbled upon Craft while looking for podcasts this morning. And that word made me ponder just what it is I do when I knit. I'm crafting something, but not in the "crafty", let's make stuff for the sake of making stuff sense. More like what I do for a living, which is graphic design and art direction.

I've always maintained in my professional life that "I'm not an artist". Rather, I'm a designer, an arranger of elements. I do create things, but not really from scratch. I craft elements into a cohesive whole: The sum is greater than it's parts. And I've always been proud of the work I do as a craftsman (craftswoman is awkward, crafter sounds like I scrapbook or something, maybe craftsperson).

Who, me, a teacher?

At yesterday's Knit Night, my friends who own the LYS asked if I would be interested in teaching a class this winter, since another woman who recently joined the group said I was so nice and patient explaining what I was working on (haiku sweater and clapotis). Who, me, patient? Noooo.

I come from a teaching family: Mom taught middle-school English before I was born, then was my Girl Scout troop leader when I was a sprout, and now serves as a docent at the Art Institute of Chicago; my brother was an assistant teacher at a private school after graduating college; then my little sister took the same position when she graduated; and my father is the soul of patience. But I always thought I was not the teacher type. I didn't really think I had the patience. Perhaps my little lady has made me more temperate. Or knitting.

Anyway, what would I teach? Classes should go three sessions. Since it will be winter perhaps something wintry like handwarmers or hats or holiday stocking ornaments. Ooh, that could be fun. There are stocking and sweater ornaments in Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. And those little egg warmer sweaters in Weekend Knitting.

My other thought was a one-day class - Fearless Knitting, in which we have pattern or yarn but not both and venture forth boldly into the land of knitting in search of the other. Or Surfing the Web for Knitters - the art of finding patterns online (free and for sale) as well as the art of getting all obsessive about knitting-related items to the point of googling them all night long. Just more of a seminar deal to get people going.

...

I'm almost ready to start the straight section of Clapotis! It's about 24" wide at this point, and I think I will make it about 60" long, which makes it overall just a little larger than the original pattern dimensions of 21 x 55". The intended recipient is on the small side, so I don't want to make it overwhelmingly large. The neat thing about it is I can already see ridges where the stitches are twisted, and the edges are a little scallopy due to that and the yarn overs. It's going to be really lovely.

Fetching and other wristlets and podcasts

I just realized as I started to google Fetching that I might want to do some Mrs. Beetons since Brenda Dayne came up with the pattern, and she is fabulous. Have you listened to her podcast? She really does a great job, and who doesn't want to hear about life in Wales.

I'm a huge Lime 'n' Violet fan, also. During the first podcast or two (I started from the beginning) I thought they might be nuts. Now, I know they are. And they are fantastic! How can you not love these crazy women and their yarn p*rn? So much fun.

The latest for me is CraftLit. I love that we started with Pride and Prejudice for the audio book. Annie Colman does an OK job of reading, though at first I wasn't wild about her voice. She *is* from St. Louis, though (where I went to school). Makes me want to give audio book recording a try...

I tried listening to Insubordiknit, but it didn't do it for me. Lots of spinning talk, and I haven't gotten into spinning/spindling yet.

Marie Irshad has a lovely voice, but I haven't taken to her 'cast. That may be because I started at the beginning, and there were a number of segments on the London wool show that were irrelevant to my life.

There are more knitting podcasts out there to explore, especially while Brenda is on hiatus.

Darned Yarn Sale

Windsor button is having their Columbus Day sale on Monday. 20% off all yarn. And I will be at work on Monday, since we don't have it as a holiday. Grumble. Mutter. Just what I need: to buy more yarn. They have Malabrigo, and Dad wants a new hat.[How sad is it of me to complain about a sale? Pathetic.]

Sweater for meeeee

Ooh, selfish knitting. I want to do more. There are a number of things I'd like to make for myself:

luscious, haiku cardigan (on the needles but on hold)

sweater in Handpaintedyarn's Natural boucle (no pattern determined yet - thinking of a raglan with bell sleeves and some sort of turtle/cowl neck; body like the Hourglass sweater, I think)

Fetching handwarmers in Atacama aqua colorway

socks (because if I have to wear shoes here in cold New England, they should be lovely)

mittens or gloves

something with the black, laceweight, merino yarn from Handpaintedyarn, though it might not be for me

I'm sure there is more, but that's quite a list for now considering that I also enjoy knitting for my family. And have a full-time job.

Clapotis is coming along well, though I had a near disaster yesterday and ended up with an extra stitch between markers. I ended up knitting two together in the non-drop stitches. Then a couple of rows later I somehow ended up with one too many stitches in one segment and one too few in the next. Somehow the stitch marker moved! After some tinking and counting and muttering I figured it out and just moved the marker, though I feared the k2tog had somehow precipitated the mess and was boggling at the thought of tinking back a couple of rows of 100+ laceweight stitches in single-ply yarn. Eep. But all seems to be moderately well at the moment, and I just have to decide if the piece is wide enough yet to get on the with straight section (and the drop stitches). I've done two extra increase repeats. Guess I should go look at some shawl dimensions to make an educated decision.

Also, on the Clapotis I'm uncertain whether to stay with stitch markers or switch to purling the dropped stitches. At this point I have enough stitch markers, but after the stitch switch above and losing a marker on the train this morning, are the markers more of a problem than necessary? Would things be wonky if I switch in the middle? One of the files on the Yahoo! group makes it sound like you need to twist the stitches on the purl side as well if not using markers. A nice thing about the original version of the pattern is not having to think on the purl side: just slip the first stitch, purl to the last, then pfb. I'll probably continue with the stitch markers for this one but will consider purling if I do another.

Sweater for DD

So, I have this great yarn (Eljido 160 from Handpaintedyarn in Shells - brown and pink - sooo pretty) that I want to turn into a sweater for the little lady, who will be two in November. That means I need a pattern. A cardigan of some sort would be most practical, and the yarn with all its variegation will do all the work, so stockinette is fine - any fancy stitch pattern would get lost. I could do a basic top-down raglan cardie like the luscious one I'm working on for myself, but I could use a little variety in my knitting life. Perhaps a wrap style? I could cop out and do another child's tunic from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts - last year I made her one in Shocking Pink Malabrigo.

There is an infant-size kimono cardigan pattern in Simple Knitting for Cherished Babies, though it's for the really wee set and is in garter stitch. You knit it up in one piece and then sew the side and undersleeve seams. I made one (was working on it the day she was born, in fact) in a lovely, pink, silk-cashmere blend for the babe that ended up too small. That will teach me to be more careful about gauge. So, I could swatch up the Eljido, adapt the pattern by doing a little math... Or I could spend a lot of time browsing for a pattern... And then make up my own pattern!

Knitty's Tigger is pretty cute but not really what I'm looking for, I guess. And the MagKnits kid stuff isn't blowing my skirt up, as one of my colleagues is fond of saying. The search is on!

Stash Enhancement

In a little shopping spree this weekend (school clothes for mama and daughter, diapers, etc.), I added some yarn from A.C. Moore's four-hour 25% off knitting sale on Saturday with a couple of skeins of Araucania yarn and two of the Atacama. Did you know that Araucania now has a bulky weight? I didn't until I spied some lovely, slightly variegated grey that will make a nice, warm hat for my husband and go with the gloves I made for him last winter out of the regular weight Araucania grey. The other Araucania is a periwinkle to violet variegated yarn in their original weight.

I gave some Atacama to a friend for a birthday present a couple of years ago and really liked that rosy colorway, but when I saw the aqua one, I decided a couple of skeins for me would be nice. Not sure what I'll do with them yet, perhaps Fetching though I wonder if the variegated yarn would distract from the cables. Or it could be really cool. I think I'm going to have to spend some time googling "fetching".

To make the trip to A.C. Moore legitimate, I bought more stitch markers for the Clapotis and some big safety-pin style stitch holders for the luscious cardigan. However, the bamboo needles seem to have settled down with the Clapotis (or I've gotten the hang of working with them and this yarn), so at least I don't have to swap with the Bryspuns for now.

And I put all my accoutrements in a little makeup case from Stila that looks like it might work well. It's got elasticized bands inside the "lid" that hold my sewing needle case, stitch holders, and other such tools, while the rest of the gear is loose in the "box". It's even big enough to hold the Sister Set case. This is probably a better solution than a felted bag, which I thought would be a future project.