Tag Archives: classic elite yarns

cey & i: experiment gone good

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this was originally a swatch.

then i forgot how i did the swatch

(because i brazenly thought in the moment

that i was knitting it, that i would never forget how i did it).

then i dissected the swatch and wrote down how it was done in the first place.IMG_5695crop

now it’s one of the pieces in ‘artistic differences’

to be released later (i know, i’m a tease).

but, it you will see it later

(i promise)

and when you do, i hope you think the same things that i did

when i first stumbled over how to make it happen.

“oh.” … “hmmm.” … “wow.” … “cool.”

‘later’ taken from 20:25 in proverbs.

(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‘.)

cey & i: poking about some more

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2.5 hours alone, 4 days a week.

that’s how many daylight hours i have

all to myself for each week of july.

it may not sound like much to you

but in my world (at least for the past 14 years)

it’s a landslide.

once the kids were deposited at their activities,

for the entire first week i dabbled.

a little of trying to refind the herbs in what had become a mini jungle,

a little of sorting out children’s drawers to see what really still fit and what did not,

a little playing the piano, writing letters and having a sit in each room of the house

just to reassess the state of things and ponder what is crying out for change.

this second week i ventured out to the local shops.

fyi: any shop seems new without the constant buzz of my kids along for the ride.

threw in some thrift store browsing as well

since i love the adventure of looking for ‘who knows what’

and the little rush of finding something unexpectedly rare.

here are the finds that will most likely make their way

IMG_5635satinto fall’s photo shoot for my collaboration with classic elite yarns.

at this point, i’m nearly done with the styling.

nearly done with the knitting.  well into the grading.

still having ever so much fun.

‘sound’ taken from 4:12-13 of ezra.

(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‘.)

cey & i: the art of enthusiasm

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i have met lots of people

in all different artistic fields who are talented,

whose skills really set them apart from the rest of the pack.

the most memorable of those,

the ones who

truly move

me, are

the people who possess both mad skills

and remain excited about what they do

day after day after day, no matter what the circumstances.

friday’s ‘theater of the mind’ shoot was my first ever,

but everyone else there, save one model, had wrapped up a previous shoot

late in the afternoon of the day before.

this was not new to them

and they’d just done it yesterday,

but i would never have known.

that they knew their stuff was obvious

(pros without a doubt),

but the level of creative energy was palpable, too.

that’s what caught my attention.

second day shooting, pouring rain, creative energy still high.

these are great people to work with.

IMG_5408crop

oh how i enjoyed listening

to the ongoing banter, to the decisions being made,

and to the flow of warm, interesting conversation

that kept the models engaged

coming from the photographer as he nearly seamlessly

captured each frame exactly as he imagined it

one after the next after yet another.

thanks to cey and the full crew for allowing me

to be a ‘fly on the wall’.

i loved it!

‘listening’ taken from 18:13 of proverbs.

(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‘.)

cey & i: mirage

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radio deejays

sit alone in small rooms

and create what sounds like a music filled party on-air.

we tune in to join in on their fun.

they call it the ‘theater of the mind’.

three days ago, i drove

(windows rolled

as far down as the rain would allow and music blaring-

to give you a good picture of my frame of mind)

about an hour north of here to a classic elite photo shoot.

i had never before been to a professional shoot.

i had no idea what to expect.

i arrived to find

things already in motion

as a nondescript corner of the yarn company’s warehouse

was being morphed into a pleasing backdrop for

perfectly party ready cold weather knits.

now, all of us knew full well

that it was just dangling strings of little twinkling lights,

huge rolls of hanging paper, and pretty girls dressed in hand knits

but the illusion worked its wiles on us as well.

IMG_5410crop satwe talked of garden parties floating in

citronella candles, rascally gnomes, and sparkling drinks.

we talked of possible menus and childhood memories, stopping now and again

to ooh and ahh over the cut of a cardi or the drape of a wrap.

the dark gloom of the rain outside,

with its huge drops pelting down

on the metal truck dock delivery doors,

seemed ever so far away as the models spun and the camera shutter

captured the nuances of this carefully crafted diversion.

do you know how many things can be done

with hanging lights, willing models and a really good photographer?

i started to keep track, but lost count shortly after lunch.

IMG_5412cropthe buzz

of all that creativity

emanating from

six people working

very closely together

in that one made-over corner

distracted me, but

more on that…

tomorrow.

‘rain’ taken from 26:4 of leviticus.

(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‘.)

cey & i: new colors in the mix

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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…

7ef426673050a557eacd6344248513afand 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.

‘mind’ taken from 46:8 of isaiah.

experimenting

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ribbing and stripesIMG_5147sat

has always equaled

‘tricky’ to me.

i didn’t understand

just how sts work

well enough

to stop

purl bumps of the

previous color

from breaking up the

smoothness of

the striping color changes, until now.

IMG_5143satafter reading

this post by

techknitting,

everything

just

clicked

into place.

it was a real

ah moment.

now,

as i’m trying

ribbing and stripes,

it’s working just the

way i always wanted it to.

success.  hope the techknitting posts can teach you something you’d never

considered before, too.

‘previous’ taken from 3:2 of judges.

.

cey & i: so very close

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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?

IMG_4975sati 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.

IMG_4977satfor 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‘.)

cey & i: a question of shaping

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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.

IMG_3893brighturbanso, 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.

‘fitting’ taken from 26:1 of proverbs.

cey & i: needle and thread

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to pull it all together, the seams have to be right.

lace can be challenging, but once i figured out the best techniques,

it all fell into place in a great big ‘ta da!’ moment

(with a sigh of relief and a thankful smile).

IMG_3528flarecrop‘fell’ taken from 13:3-9 of matthew.

(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‘.)