i just finished working with
a beautiful tweedy yarn and i thought,
“i love the vibe of this. why didn’t i think to include some things that were
softer and tweedier in the upcoming collection?”
so, as is my prerogative as both a woman and an artist,
i proceeded to change my mind…
and staying true to their easy to work with nature,
classic elite yarns quickly sent the new colors
right to my back door.
majestic tweed and inca alpaca are going to make for
fun new swatching tonight.
thanks, cey.
the hazy early morning light
seemed to forecast a normal type of day
but that was just not to be.
because later that day, under the same sort of light
my dad taught my 14 yr old
how to mow with
the ride on.
he sat on my rock, with her younger siblings
and a few assorted neighborhood kids
to ‘supervise’.
the smallest of the onlookers
was by far the loudest as he chanted
‘go, go, go, go!’
trying his very best to be heard over the
roar of the engine, unsuccessfully.
and then, as if pretending
that this day which feels so monumental
(watching my oldest baby do such a ‘grown-up thing’)
was ‘just an average day’ after all,
things have wound down to quiet knitting
which is the ending of a lot of good days around here.
‘rock’ taken from 32:31 of deuteronomy.
so much to say, but not today.
hush now. it’s nearly wordless wednesday.
this is
about as scary
as knitting gets for me
(if we don’t throw steeking into the equation,
but that is another story for a different day):
will there be enough yarn to finish?
i almost never cut it close.
unlike my friend (and fellow contestant in ‘the fiber factor’), tracy
who if i remember right was left with only inches of yarn
remaining at the end of two different challenges.
i would have sweat myself into
a little puddle of goo.
i’m the knittah who buys an extra skein (or two)
over what the pattern calls for just to be exceedingly sure
that i could not possibly run out.
but, two nights ago
as i was working on one of the patterns
for my upcoming indie collection with classic elite yarns
i cut it close. real close. too close.
for the last 18 rounds my head spun
searching for options of what i might do if, or more likely when,
i ran clean out of yarn.
when i tied off the final stitches
with a whopping 98″ left,
i felt a little silly.
i mean over 2 yds remaining isn’t really cutting it that close, right?
i tried telling that to the butterflies in my stomach
and to the weak in the knees feeling between my ankles and my hip bones,
but they were having none of it.
irregardless, this piece is done and i’m moving
full steam ahead into the next new design
which i’ll be sure to have just
one extra skein for.
smile.
‘enough’ taken from 36:7 in exodus.
(this is an ongoing series of posts chronicling
the process of my yet to be released collaboration with classic elite yarns.
to search, all post titles will include ‘cey & i:‘ and be tagged with ‘artistic differences‘.)
fit counts.
the catch for me
is that it counts differently to different people.
everyone seems to have their own opinion of something fitting ‘right’.
and it changes for any individual depending
if you’re talking about a sweater,
fingerless gloves,
or socks.
so, when i design i make a judgement call.
sometimes i pick shaping to fit something the way i’d like to wear it,
sometimes i shape something a way i’ve not seen many other patterns done,
sometimes i’m just challenging myself to see
if i can make something fit
in a different way.
and any way you look at it, there’s math to be done (and checked and rechecked)
to be sure that i hit the mark on
whatever fit i aimed for.
so back to it.
‘nearly’ taken from 13:12 of romans.
(this post is part of an ongoing series chronicling
my current collaboration with classic elite yarns on an upcoming
indie collection. all posts tagged with ‘artistic differences‘ and titled ‘cey & i‘.)
there is always something new to try.
part of what i get to do for ‘artistic differences’
is being involved in styling and choosing the outfits for the photo shoot.
that gives me an excuse (ha! thrift stores never fail to inspire me!)
to jog on over to the local 2nd hand shops
every couple weeks
armed with my loose leaf ring full
of little knotted bundles of all the yarns involved.
there are people who would see something and know
(just know) if the colors worked,
but i am not even close to being one of them.
instead, i carry the little snap ring around in my pocket
to be sure that things will go well when they’re matched up,
but not too well. it’s not
classically clean or preppy or too overly pulled together that i’m aiming for…
now, i’m not ready to reveal the theme just yet.
(a girl’s got to hold back and have a little mystery when she can.)
i will say this though: i’m having such a good time sussing out
how the personality of the clothes
will breathe extra life and skads of character into the knitwear.
i haven’t done anything like this
since i was ‘costume director’ for a play my junior yr of high school.
it was fun then. still, i’m pretty sure it feels like even more fun now.
you gotta love that.
i’m really not ready to tell,
but to not leave you hanging completely, here’s a quick peek
at my favorite finds from this morning’s jaunt.
good stuff, no? oh yeah.
i was only gone for a minute.
just long enough to blow my nose and
wash the sick germs off of my hands. then i was back
to find my youngest’s train set ambulance
being driven by a cocky looking blond brio man.
he seemed to have been
considering a little off roading while eyeing the ‘field of lace’
that is currently pinned to the blocking board.
it appears that after revving the engine and hitting the gas,
he got his tire hung up at the last moment
on a t-pin
(whew, that was close)
before he was able to leave even one
skid mark across all that work done up in the silky ‘magnolia’
which is so close to being the first finished piece
of ‘artistic differences’ at this point.
how thankful am i
for such a well placed
blocking pin? so thankful!
sometimes
even failing can be really lovely.
cey’s montera is a versatile work horse yarn.
it’s been in their line-up for quite a while now
and i just love the feel of how it knits up.
it brings so much personality
to the table.
but, despite the things that it can do,
i can’t get the cables i have planned
to stand up and ‘pop’ enough in it.
so, it’s time for a little
rearranging of fibers and colors.
not that that’s a problem for me in any way.
getting to dream about what more yarns could be,
and picturing in my head what a different color will do to a design
are my version of daydreaming.
really for me
any excuse to try to listen to what a yarn wants to become
is an unexpected treat thrown into a normal day
like running out of homemade bread and having
ice cream for breakfast instead.
all good.
math tamed: check.
swatches done: check.
wet blocking complete: check.
pinning it up to get a better look: check.
the magnolia becoming wearable: to be continued…
‘tamed’ taken from 3:7-8 of james.
(this post is part of an ongoing series,
chronicling my collaboration with classic elite yarns on
an indie collection. all posts tagged with ‘artistic differences‘ and titled ‘cey & i‘.)
