Demonic Progress

Book Review

I recently bought 200 Fair Isle Motifs: A Knitter's Directory, by Mary Jane Mucklestone. It is a book that every knitter should have, and I would say that even if I didn't know that Mary Jane was fabulous.

Basically, the book is in two sections, "Essential Skills" and the "Motif Directory". I found the 2-page "About This Book" to be very helpful too. This is meant to be a real working book, a book that you really get down and dirty with, and it will help if you know what it can do before you start. I am blown away with how Mary Jane, in a very efficient, Fair Isle fashion, was able to get  so much content in so little space so clearly. It's an amazing book.

The Essential Skills section has just the right information that a knitter needs to get started. MJ talks about Shetland wool and how and why it is wonderful it is for Fair Isle knitting, but she also talks about other yarns too, and what you may need to do differently if you use them. She talks about needles and other equipment you will need. There is a very good section about gauge, and how to make a gauge swatch properly, as well as how to choose a gauge properly. See, this is about designing your own sweater or mittens or a cushion ... all you need is a little guidance and it will work.

Then comes casting on, circular knitting, how to hold the yarn (three ways; I will need to look at the left hand method and practice it), stranding and yarn dominance, weaving (again, she has clear pictures, and I am especially keen on the weaving with the left hand), and increasing and decreasing. It's like I asked Mary Jane to show me exactly how I can do Fair Isle, and she wrote me a book. She wrote the book for everyone, really, but secretly, I think it's just for me! 

She also put in correcting mistakes and joining pieces together, the oh-so-mysterious steeking process, which is not mysterious at all with all the wonderful pictures, and blocking and finishing. There's a good explanation of color theory, too. She finishes with some design principles and planning your project. If Mary Jane had stopped there, it would be a very helpful book. 

But no. Now comes the meat of the book.

She starts out by putting a motif selector, pages of just the photographs of the actual knitted motifs that Mary Jane knit, with the design number and the page to find them. How helpful is that! The Motif Directory pages have a stitch and row count; the motifs are organized by the number of rows they use. Every page has a black and white chart for knitting; an easy to read color chart in the knitted motif's colors, as well as a color variation chart. Columns next to these charts are an easy way to keep track of what colors are used in each row, pattern (left column) and background (right column). Amazing. 

There is a large actual photograph of the knitted swatch that you can see up close, every single stitch. She has a black and white all-over chart that you can use too. And finally, there is sometimes (from Motif 186 up) a mix-and-match suggestion demonstrating how to combine motifs to make large desings. Heavenly!

Mary Jane has been addicted to Fair Isle ever since knitting a hat way back when, in the fall before we went on our first yarn show, but she has been addicted to color and fiber, and a joy to be around, her whole life. She used to work with me and Brenda, the original owner of Unique One, and she was a breath of giddy inspiration even then. She came and visited me a few times after I had my stroke, and showed me the piles of the motifs she was making for her book, and I was so proud of her. I'm so glad she wrote this book, and I look forward to many more.

Whether you want to create a whole Fair Isle sweater or just make some thrilling fingerless mittens, this book is one that will keep you designing forever. I am gonna try me some Fair Isle just as soon as I get my courage up, but now that I have this book, I think I can do it. I used to knit with two colors using both hands, keeping one color in each hand, but after my stroke, I thought I couldn't do it. I can't knit like that anymore, but I might be able to knit Fair Isle using a new technique. It will be hard at first, like everything I am learning, but I can do it. (I can hear a very loud little bird, chirping in my ear, saying, "Believe!!")

Why Don't We Knit Sweaters That Fit?

Lots of people knit, but not sweaters, never ever. They knit hats and mittens and washcloths and scarves and shawls and things that look like sweaters, but that don't have to actually fit. We have gotten away from our bodies, hoping things will just fit. 

I used to see it all the time in the yarn store, people getting all excited about a sweater project but when choosing the size their eyes kind of glaze over, and they'd say, oh, medium I guess. I had to tell them I wasn't going to sell them the yarn unless I measured them, and you know, that's what they wanted -- someone to measure them and tell them what size to make.

I had to learn how to make patterns fit in different gauges, different arm lengths, with different necklines. Some people wanted a size large on bottom and a size small on top. These are things they do not teach you in knitting school*. I had to do it all with math.

MATH. There, I've said it. Walk around the word until it isn't scary anymore. Math, numbers, angles. They are things which will not kill you, and if you become familiar with them, you'll control the world.

Well, maybe that's going a little far, but women used to knit sweaters rather than buy them to save the money, and the sweaters they made fit well. Somewhere along the way we forgot that important skill and started to blindly follow patterns and sizes that Somebody said were right, and made sweaters that did not fit, and nothing in the world makes you into a raving loon more than spending the money and the time and have a sweater not fit. And you know what? We got convinced that the reason we got it so wrong was because our knitting was bad. And that's just wrong. And we stopped making sweaters.

It's time to take back control of your knitting. Measure yourself, measure what fits you well, do a gauge swatch that is not miniscule and know how to measure it well. Find out how long your arms are. Draw a diagram for your size, with the increases or decreases that you have to do to make it work, using the diagram that the pattern comes with as just a guide. You are in control of your knitting. These things are not hard to do, but they require effort; spend the time to do it right and you'll be rewarded with sweaters that fit every time. {Rant mode off.}

And remember, math will not kill you. But you could freeze to death if your sweater's too short :)

*There's no such thing as knitting school, really, except maybe in England. The only degree in knitting I ever heard of was from there.

My Knitting

The knitting has been going well. Last Saturday I finished the V-neck vest for my husband:

He tried it on and it fits perfectly. I was really worried, about lots of things. Doing the three-needle bind off to join the shoulders was pretty hard, but I did it. It used to be so seasy, but this was pretty hard. I did not, however, have to ask for help, not yet. Someday there may be a time, but it will wait. Picking up the stitches for the V-neck and knitting it was hard too, really tricky, but I did it. Knitting the armhole ribbing was fairly easy. Sewing the two underarm seams, I had to get creative. Oddly enough, the part that almost defeated me was pinning it together evenly; I almost had to ask for help, but figured it out by pinning it together (at least to start) by using my mouth, while my hand held the two pieces together. Epiphany! I got it. Sewing it together with a little crochet hook in my crochet hook holder was a piece of cake. After all the finishing that I learned that I could do, I can see how it can be done and done well. It gives me a little glow of satisfaction.

The catnip mouse was knit on Sunday:

The scraps of yarn left over from the vest help my afghan:

On the Wings of the Ocean Breeze gained an inch and a half -- there's a lot of stitches in that thing! Yikes! 

Yesterday I did a few more inches on the Haiku garter stitch scarf. I knit it while listening to The Roadhouse podcast. Easy knitting + good music for an hour = good times. 

It was 46˚ and sunny here in Rockport today, nice. January thaw, you rule! 

How Did You Learn to Knit?

Honestly, I don’t remember. Or rather, I remember a whole lot of people who taught me, encouraged me. I don’t remember anyone telling me I was doing it wrong, or it was bad, and I just kept going. The very first memory I have of knitting was before I was five, with my mother in the kitchen -- she was trying to do something else, as I recall, and my pestering her wasn’t exactly helping, but she showed me how to do the knit stitch. I did that for a while, and then I wanted to make something, and I had to know the purl stitch too. God bless mum, she didn’t batt an eye, even though I was probably only 4 at the time; she tried to teach me to purl. It ended with me crying, it was too hard, why do I have to learn to purl anyway?? She just said, if you want to make a [insert whatever it was I was trying to make], then you’ve got to learn to purl. Otherwise, keep on knitting, and when you’re older, try it again. 

But I wanted to do it now, of course. Some things remain the same I guess. She died before I ever learned to purl. I think she thought I could knit at 4 because she came from a family of knitters, and I bet they learned early too. Everyone learned to knit in those days. Some just liked it more than others.

I don’t know where I learned to purl. My sister taught me maybe, and my sister-in-law, and the knitting class at the Catholic church. I knit lots of rectangles and “ties” for my dolls. My grandmother’s sister taught me to make mittens. The only thing I remember clearly is that I loved to knit, loved it. 

In high school I even got credit for it in a “clothing construction” class (they wanted boys to take it, and a lot did, too). We had to choose what we wanted to make. I said I wanted to knit a sweater -- I never had knit one before, I don’t think -- and the teacher said, oh, this class is about sewing, not knitting. I countered that “clothing construction” involved making sweaters. The teacher struck a deal with me: I would learn to sew for one semester, and then I could knit for another semester. So, I did. I sewed the most horrible corduroy jumpsuit, with pockets and belt loops and, I think, a zipper -- it was the 1970’s, after all -- and the next semester I knitted a horrid orange and brown “ombre” sweater with acrylic yarn that I bought at Zayre’s. Did I mention it was the 70’s? The No-Fashion Sense 70’s? yes.

I learned a lot from that sweater: don’t make an increase in the exact front of the sweater to make the stitch count correct, because it will show; don’t make the sleeves to short even though you hate making the damn things; and don’t bind off the neck too tight! After I eventually figured out the neck thing, I could wear it, and I did, too. I was pretty proud of that sweater.

About a year before I had my stroke, I met my long-lost cousin in Camden and we reconnected. I showed him Unique One and its many sweaters, wool, needles, and he said, well, it’s not surprising, after all. I looked at him questioningly, and he told me my grandmother knit all the time, constantly. I never knew that. I guess what goes around, comes around :)

L'Oignon

I'm sitting here at the computer, typing away, and Nicky has joined me on his little "bed" (I folded up the prayer shawl that my sister made me, hi Rachel!) and he just look so content and happy. I wish *I* could be as content and happy as he is, but then again, I've never watched myself sleep, so maybe I *look* content and happy then, too. 

I am lookint at a big pile of yarn, gray and off-white marled together, that's destined to be the V-neck sweater for my husband. But I can't take that much gray yarn all together, so I am knitting a couple or three other things in between. I have projects lined up, things I know what they're gonna be. I have a lot more yarn, things that I do not know what they're going to be yet, and through a mysterious creative process I'll provide them with a path to be what they want to be. 

The creative process is harder now. Before a had my stroke, there was nothing I couldn't knit, and everything I did seemed so easy. But now, everything is hard, and for the first time I shy away from things because they are hard, because I will need a person to help me hold it, because I can't knit anything in the round bigger than a size 6 needle (a problem for hats), or because they simply cannot be done the way I imagined them, due to the circular needle issue. Before there were such things as circular needles, people in the Shetlands used to knit great big shawls, and Fair Isle jumpers knit in the round, so I know it can be done. I think I can figure out the shawls, thanks to Nancy Bush's wonderful books, but the sweaters knit in the round are a little bit more problematic. I don't know where to buy 12" or 14" long double pointed needles, if anyone even makes them any more. Ah well. it is a Holy Grail and it gives me something to find. I know a woodworker who could make me nice long double points, but only in sizes 3 and 8, hehe. 

But maybe it's just a shift that I have to make in my creativity. I used to have it pretty easy, I must admit, but now I have further challenges. I have an extra layer in my thinking, like an onion. I can design anything, the way I used to, but then I need to figure out how *I* can knit it, kicking and screaming the whole way mind you. 

Nicky is just snoring now. He thinks a nap will cure everything :)

 

Wheat'll Kill You

Starting about the middle of October, my husband and I read Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis. We were amazed at how bad, seriously bad, wheat is for you, and we decided then and there to make a change in how we ate. We’re eating wheat-free and sugar-free now and loving it. One of the side-effects of eating wheat free is being more creative in our cooking. I made a lasagna last week that used sliced zucchini and baby spinach instead of noodles, and it was delicious. I didn’t even miss the noodles at all.

This morning my husband surprised me with a masterpiece for breakfast. It was pancakes, layered with creamy cheesy filling and sliced strawberries, and it was so good, about halfway through I asked him where he got the recipe. Turns out he didn’t use one; he made it up! I am sharing it here with you to enjoy. 

Pancake Parfait

I. Pancakes

1 c almond flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 eggs

1/4 cup Splenda

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons lime juice (to catalyze the baking soda so they’ll be puffy, like pancakes; if they want crepe-like pancakes, leave out the lime juice and baking soda)

enough liquid to make them the consistency wanted; you can use half and half, water, coffee, milk, cream whatever

1/4 cup grapeseed oil or melted butter 

Beat it all up, make little pancakes, about 3 or 4 per serving.

II. Filling

8 oz. cream cheese

3 Tablespoons maple syrup or Agave nectar

 Put cream cheese and syrup or nectar into a bowl a microwave it until it is soft enough to stir. Mix well.

III. Fruit

 Strawberries, blueberries, peaches or other fruit, cut up.

IV. Layers

Put it together in layers. Put one pancake on the plate, put a gob of filling on it and spread it around, top it with a layer of fruit. Repeat two or three more times. Yummy!

This made enough for two people.

         

Silly --And Not So Silly -- Stuff I Found on the Internet

1. In New Jersey, it is against the law for a man to knit during the fishing season.

2. Knitting is Nerdier than RPGs. (I really enjoyed this.)

3. In a post from 2006, I found a working knitting machine made from Legos:

 (from TechEblog)

4. I found a company in the Netherlands that makes lace chainlink fences. They are beautiful!! Check out the link to the projects. Lovely.

5. I found a site that converts any image file into a chart for knitting, cross stitch, or whatever, in 3 sizes, dubbed knitPro 2.0. Just upload the file and wham! it's ready. All in your browser. Pretty slick. And it's free, too. Doesn't get much better than that!

6. Finally, a bit of anti-knitting: Knit Me Sweaters by Smooth-E. For when you've done too much knitting. (I love "Ninja of the needle" though, hehe.)

A Programmer, a Creative Person and a Knitter Walked into a Bar...

What a trip THAT would be. The programmer would absent-mindedly order a vodka martini while she continues to program her app on her iPhone (there’s an app for that!) ... the creative person would order a sparkling water while furiously making plans for an animation involving one scotch, one bourbon, one beer ... the knitter would order a single malt scotch, neat, pull out her knitting and drift off dreamily, planning her next knitting project. Or they could all be one and the same person. Creativity is a wonderful thing.

I read a book a few years ago, Drawing on the Artist Within, by Betty Edwards, who also wrote Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Drawing on the Artist Within is about improving one’s creativity, a practical guide, a series of steps to take, as it were. I found it fascinating. At the time, I needed some way to be more creative with my knitting designs, and I found it to be helpful. 

Shortly thereafter, I took a class from Sally Melville on creativity at a yarn show I went to in Long Beach or San Diego or somewhere, and she touched on some of the same points from that book. She had us do a few exercises in the class and it really made the book come alive. Who knew that creativity could be learned like that? Or maybe it was just uncovered, maybe it was there all the time. Hmmmm.

So now, my life is pretty different. I feel like I am standing on the brink of something, ready to take that step that will take me off in a different direction, but I am not exactly sure what direction it is. Quite a quandry! I think I should re-read, or re-peruse, Drawing on the Artist Within to get some ideas. Regardless, I will keep on knitting, because it’s in my blood, literally. One of the first things I worked at was learning to knit again, even before I could walk. I don’t know where I will end up, what I’ll be doing, but you can bet on one thing -- I will be warm :)

 

Needles

I've got needles on the brain. I always have, and you know it. I've blogged about my Signature needles, Al Mather's remarkable hand-turned needles, my glass needles, my Autumn Hollow fabulous needles with the extra pointy tips, my needles that glow in the dark. I really like my needles.

Recently I searched for needles and I found even more needles to love, hand crafted little sticks of joy. I'll probably never be able to buy any of them (welllllllll maybe just a couple....) but here are the ones I've seen that I love.

If ever I used needles sizes 9 through 15, maybe when my eyesight starts to go and garter stitch scarves become really hot, I would love to have some WoodRose Needles. They are beautiful. The exotic woods used, like bloodwood, bubinga, cocobolo and sugar maple are topped with a lovely rose that is handsculpted of clay. They are gorgeous.

The point's the thing, they say, and when I saw the points on Lee Chesson's knitting needles, I fell in love. They are so pointy! They're only in size 10 1/2, and only in a couple exotic hardwood with ebony tips.... but the points. Oh my, the points.

I love the tops of Montana Mountain knitting needles. They are so old-fashioned looking, like some Victorian knitting needles ... I would knit lace on them. They kind of remind me of the way that Brittany needles used to be, with the black walnut wood. The exotic woods used by Montana Mountain are so beautiful: curly maple, which I just love; the bright red of the cardinal needles; the stripeyness of the tulipwood, very hard and durable; and more. So pretty. Sigh. They even make needles out of American Holly. And they even have a knitting needle club, like the sock clubs and the fiber clubs. Sigh sigh sigh sighhhhh....

 

My Cunning Plan

I always run out of time to make catnip mice for every cat in the family for Christmas. I succeeded in only getting two done for Lynne's cats before Christmas; I made our three cats each one after Christmas (they don't know it's Christmas anyway), and while I was knitting them I was thinking, this is stupid. It takes less than an hour to make a catnip mouse, why the hell don't I make everyone catnip mice in time?! 

This is what I think about. So sad. But I feel so sorry when the kitties do not get any presents from me, because I know how much I love our cats. And they love their catnip mice :)

So I have developed and implemented my cunning plan. Every day but one, I'll work on my knitting, whatever that may be, but Saturday or Sunday, I'll knit a catnip mouse before knitting anything else. So far it's been three weeks and it has worked, and the mice have actually gotten faster to knit, and I have kept up. We will see. 

I found two mice already made before I had my stroke, but the rest are new. I'll fill them with catnip and stuffing when it's closer to Christmas, because the danger of collateral damage from my cats if I fill them with catnip now will be great, and storing 50 catnip mice in the freezer or refrigerator is not an option. And when it is Christmas again, I'll feel very virtuous when I have a stash of catnip mice to give out generously!