I have finally decided to take a leap -- new name, new logo (which took me the better part of the day to create). After contemplating where I want to go with my design work, I came up with a list of things I should do. This was one (actually two, if you count the logo).
I'll be back when this "paint" headache goes away.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Friend + Yarn + NYC + Summer = Happy
I spent the day Wednesday with my knitting friend, Sima. We met 7 years ago at a design class with Shirley Paden. Sima and I have been in sporadic contact over those last 7 years as both she and I were published, however we reconnected at the launch party for Shirley's book earlier this year.
We decided to meet up in Manhattan which is a mid-point for us -- she lives in New Jersey, I live on Long Island. We had the loveliest time at lunch talking about design ideas and projects that each of us is working on. Unfortunately I didn't bring a camera. (I always forget my camera!)
After lunch, we decided to walk downtown to the new store location of Purl Soho, which opened in April. Both of us had been to their tiny original store. It was a 3 mile walk, but since the weather was gorgeous and we were chatting, the time passed quickly. When we arrived we spent some time looking around. I was impressed at the books they had for sale, which were a collection of both newly published and classic knitting books.
Sima suggested we head uptown to two yarn stores she frequents -- Knitty City on West 79th and The Yarn Co. on Broadway and 82nd -- so we hopped on the C train. It was my first time at both of these stores. I loved them both. Knitty City had a beautiful selection of yarn and was "hopping." The stores work table at the back was a lively group of women. However, Sima knew there would be sales at The Yarn Co., so we walked the few blocks farther uptown. It was quieter there, but Sima was right, there was a great sale. I ended up with a few balls of each of three yarns to swatch, two new "Rebecca"s and a circular needle holder that I had been eye-ing forever. The Yarn Girls -- Julie and Jordana were both lovely. We planned to go back to Knitty City, but I was pressed for time and needed to get home.
Sima and I made tentative plans to meet up again in August for something similar. We also talked about heading to Rhinebeck in October. Thanks, Sima. I had a great time!!!
We decided to meet up in Manhattan which is a mid-point for us -- she lives in New Jersey, I live on Long Island. We had the loveliest time at lunch talking about design ideas and projects that each of us is working on. Unfortunately I didn't bring a camera. (I always forget my camera!)
After lunch, we decided to walk downtown to the new store location of Purl Soho, which opened in April. Both of us had been to their tiny original store. It was a 3 mile walk, but since the weather was gorgeous and we were chatting, the time passed quickly. When we arrived we spent some time looking around. I was impressed at the books they had for sale, which were a collection of both newly published and classic knitting books.
Sima suggested we head uptown to two yarn stores she frequents -- Knitty City on West 79th and The Yarn Co. on Broadway and 82nd -- so we hopped on the C train. It was my first time at both of these stores. I loved them both. Knitty City had a beautiful selection of yarn and was "hopping." The stores work table at the back was a lively group of women. However, Sima knew there would be sales at The Yarn Co., so we walked the few blocks farther uptown. It was quieter there, but Sima was right, there was a great sale. I ended up with a few balls of each of three yarns to swatch, two new "Rebecca"s and a circular needle holder that I had been eye-ing forever. The Yarn Girls -- Julie and Jordana were both lovely. We planned to go back to Knitty City, but I was pressed for time and needed to get home.
Sima and I made tentative plans to meet up again in August for something similar. We also talked about heading to Rhinebeck in October. Thanks, Sima. I had a great time!!!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Lace Pullover Chart
It seems that when this pattern was published, there was no chart. For those who would like the chart, here it is:
Lace Pullover chart
Hope that helps!
Lace Pullover chart
Hope that helps!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
I am not apologizing...
...but 3 years is a long time between posts.
I finished reading Wendy Bernard's book, Custom Knits about a month ago. It was a great read and I'm fascinated with working from the top down. Her designs are beautiful, inspirational. So, I decided to try designing my own top-down. The idea is for a short sleeve raglan tee, with a v-neck and some colorwork in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I've just passed the armholes and am deciding on the placement of the colorwork bands. I have to say, I love the idea of not having to seam, and the raglan detail is beautiful, but...
I keep turning the thing right-side up (or upside-down) depending on how you think of it because my brain is so unused to working this way. I keep thinking of that film they showed us in high school biology where they fiddle with a person's vision so that he's seeing everything upside down. This is after they've taught you that the eye actually sees everything upside down and the brain flips it so that your perspective is correct. (I think that's what I learned, anyway.) I wonder if I knit this way long enough if I will eventually learn to "see" the sweater in it's correct perspective.
Anyway, I'm not liking it. It's like learning to write with your non-dominant hand. Uncomfortable. But I totally can see why it could become someone's preferred way of knitting.
Rose Callahan
did a beautiful job photographing the sweater for Vogue, but I think the model was a little too broad-shouldered because the neckline in my photos is more what I intended -- a narrower v-neck that notches at the top to form a scoop.
I'm tweaking my Ravelry page and have made a mid-year resolution to try to be "good" about keeping things current.
It's almost summer vacation and I have plans for knitting/designing in the works.
I finished reading Wendy Bernard's book, Custom Knits about a month ago. It was a great read and I'm fascinated with working from the top down. Her designs are beautiful, inspirational. So, I decided to try designing my own top-down. The idea is for a short sleeve raglan tee, with a v-neck and some colorwork in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I've just passed the armholes and am deciding on the placement of the colorwork bands. I have to say, I love the idea of not having to seam, and the raglan detail is beautiful, but...
I keep turning the thing right-side up (or upside-down) depending on how you think of it because my brain is so unused to working this way. I keep thinking of that film they showed us in high school biology where they fiddle with a person's vision so that he's seeing everything upside down. This is after they've taught you that the eye actually sees everything upside down and the brain flips it so that your perspective is correct. (I think that's what I learned, anyway.) I wonder if I knit this way long enough if I will eventually learn to "see" the sweater in it's correct perspective.
Anyway, I'm not liking it. It's like learning to write with your non-dominant hand. Uncomfortable. But I totally can see why it could become someone's preferred way of knitting.
In other news, I have 
a design in the current Vogue Knitting, Early Fall 2010. Eyelet. V-neck. Pullover. The eyelet pattern was easily memorized. I finished writing the pattern quickly -- Vogue is now only requiring the pattern be written in the sample size. The sweater was knit up in about 3 weeks. These are my photos of the sample before it was packed off to Soho.
a design in the current Vogue Knitting, Early Fall 2010. Eyelet. V-neck. Pullover. The eyelet pattern was easily memorized. I finished writing the pattern quickly -- Vogue is now only requiring the pattern be written in the sample size. The sweater was knit up in about 3 weeks. These are my photos of the sample before it was packed off to Soho.
Rose Callahan
did a beautiful job photographing the sweater for Vogue, but I think the model was a little too broad-shouldered because the neckline in my photos is more what I intended -- a narrower v-neck that notches at the top to form a scoop.I'm tweaking my Ravelry page and have made a mid-year resolution to try to be "good" about keeping things current.
It's almost summer vacation and I have plans for knitting/designing in the works.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
A lull
My apologies for being so long between posts.
So the fourth in the to-be-published Fall sweaters is finally done. This one for Knit Simple. Here's a little snippet, although I think this picture is a little blurry. (We bought a new camera -- Sony -- and are still trying to learn to use it.) This pattern is an all-over cable and I doubted
that I would get it in by the deadline of June 1st, so I was up at 4:00 a.m. doing some knitting before work for the last two weeks of May. Again, the cabling was done without a cable needle, so it was speedier. The thing is that May is always a busy family month -- this year second son's Communion, Joe's 5oth, followed by second son's birthday. But all worked out in the end and it arrived at Soho in time.
In the interim, I've finished a seamless baby sweater, my own design based on the parameters set forth by EZ. It was lovely and had a matching bucket hat, in Cascade Cotton Rich for my second son's teacher who is due today. I'm not really that big a fan of cotton, but the yarn was delightful, very soft . Of course, I was in such a rush to get it done before the baby arrived, I forgot to take a picture.
I'm busy working on something I started awhile ago. It's from the Debbie Bliss Alpaca S
ilk Two pattern book. Horseshoe lace pattern, done with the front and back. I love the yarn, but it's the kind of stuff that I think I'll wear once and then spend years trying to be brave enough to clean (or have cleaned).
And I'm busily swatching and sketching for my next submission book which is due the end of the month. I submitted a book to Interweave early last month, but haven't heard anything yet. Usually I send 8 to 10 ideas, but because of my schedule I was only able to send in 5. I'm excited that Eunny will be the new editor as I think she's extremely talented, but in my one experience working with Pam Allen, she was generous and delightful. I'm sure she'll be doing great things at Classic Elite.
Hope to have some things to show you next time.
So the fourth in the to-be-published Fall sweaters is finally done. This one for Knit Simple. Here's a little snippet, although I think this picture is a little blurry. (We bought a new camera -- Sony -- and are still trying to learn to use it.) This pattern is an all-over cable and I doubted
that I would get it in by the deadline of June 1st, so I was up at 4:00 a.m. doing some knitting before work for the last two weeks of May. Again, the cabling was done without a cable needle, so it was speedier. The thing is that May is always a busy family month -- this year second son's Communion, Joe's 5oth, followed by second son's birthday. But all worked out in the end and it arrived at Soho in time.In the interim, I've finished a seamless baby sweater, my own design based on the parameters set forth by EZ. It was lovely and had a matching bucket hat, in Cascade Cotton Rich for my second son's teacher who is due today. I'm not really that big a fan of cotton, but the yarn was delightful, very soft . Of course, I was in such a rush to get it done before the baby arrived, I forgot to take a picture.
I'm busy working on something I started awhile ago. It's from the Debbie Bliss Alpaca S
ilk Two pattern book. Horseshoe lace pattern, done with the front and back. I love the yarn, but it's the kind of stuff that I think I'll wear once and then spend years trying to be brave enough to clean (or have cleaned).And I'm busily swatching and sketching for my next submission book which is due the end of the month. I submitted a book to Interweave early last month, but haven't heard anything yet. Usually I send 8 to 10 ideas, but because of my schedule I was only able to send in 5. I'm excited that Eunny will be the new editor as I think she's extremely talented, but in my one experience working with Pam Allen, she was generous and delightful. I'm sure she'll be doing great things at Classic Elite.
Hope to have some things to show you next time.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Two Knitters Walked Into a Bar...
Have you ever done anything really, really stupid as a knitter? Something you're almost too embarrassed to say you did? I hesitate to even tell you, dear reader, and I fear that if I say it I'm sure to do something worse, but here goes...
I'm doing a little "artist's smock" for a fall publication. It has a"paint-splattered" pleat in the back (read: intarsia). On each side of the pleat is a panel of solid. Guess who cast-on four, FOUR FOUR, FOUR fewer stitches than she was supposed to because her husband was talking to her while she cast on? Guess who didn't check for 100 rows? Guess who didn't notice it until she counted each side after the armhole bind-offs? Guess who has a deadline of Wednesday? (YES!! A week from today.)
There is no other solution but to rip.
Pray really hard.
I'm doing a little "artist's smock" for a fall publication. It has a"paint-splattered" pleat in the back (read: intarsia). On each side of the pleat is a panel of solid. Guess who cast-on four, FOUR FOUR, FOUR fewer stitches than she was supposed to because her husband was talking to her while she cast on? Guess who didn't check for 100 rows? Guess who didn't notice it until she counted each side after the armhole bind-offs? Guess who has a deadline of Wednesday? (YES!! A week from today.)
There is no other solution but to rip.
Pray really hard.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Contemplating the frog
No, no, not frog used as a verb, frog as a noun. I have finished the cape for the fall issue of Knit.1 and am thinking of frogs as closures. Long ago, in the first piece I ever designed (which, in retrospect, was (O)VER(L)Y ambitious -- pleat, frog with crochet-covered button, shawl collar) I used a frog designed by the wonderful Nicky Epstein. It involved knitting I-cord and then
contorting it into the correct shape using a diagram and tacking it down into place. It was fairly complicated. This is the original frog. Recently I did a simpler frog when I knit a Rowan pattern (in the Autumn/Winter 2006 issue #40). For this one, the instructions were to single crochet a length of yarn. There was not much twisting and no tucking, just tacking. I need something a little more angular for this job. I'm looking to match the diamond border. I think I'm going with I-cord and a simpler construction, as there will probably be three (or possibly four) frogs. I'll let you know how it turns out.
contorting it into the correct shape using a diagram and tacking it down into place. It was fairly complicated. This is the original frog. Recently I did a simpler frog when I knit a Rowan pattern (in the Autumn/Winter 2006 issue #40). For this one, the instructions were to single crochet a length of yarn. There was not much twisting and no tucking, just tacking. I need something a little more angular for this job. I'm looking to match the diamond border. I think I'm going with I-cord and a simpler construction, as there will probably be three (or possibly four) frogs. I'll let you know how it turns out.
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