Tag Archives: process

building things

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i build patterns.

from the rough idea thrashing about in my head

to scribbled notes on junk mail envelopes

(or whatever else is handy)

followed by the musical chairs of changing needle sizes and

the flurry of many balls in the air in search of just the ‘right’ one.

in that sense i build.

today i can say

i built this

and this

because i did.

my kids build, too.

(legos and clay, duplos and playdough)

today they built with these old wooden beads

that used to be strung to hang curtain-like in a doorway

until the noise and the annoyance of having to pass through to enter that room

(which happened to be my room)

caused me to unstring them.

and i wonder,

when i am still for any space of time

(which has not happened much lately),

what they will build when they are grown.

then i dream of grand things

as i drift off to sleep

in whatever chair i had managed

to plop myself down into.

‘built’ taken from 78:69 in the psalms.

recognition

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last night my dad stopped by

(we are nextdoor neighbors, so we call and then drop in often)

and found me, slightly chaotic

slightly stressed

trying to pull to the forefront the clear thinking needed

to meet a pattern deadline which was running toward me at breakneck speed.

and he said,

“there is no rest for the …”

now he didn’t pause there,

but i just want to interject that there are many true and appropriate words

he could have ended that sentence with.

words like:

unrealistic

or disorganized

or procrastinators

or even unprepared,

but he didn’t.

he said,

“there is no rest for the talented.”

and that meant more to me than ice water on the hottest day in august.

no matter what age i am, words from my dad have a worth that is beyond estimating.

little girls love their daddy’s love.  and not so little girls, too.

thanks, dad.

‘worth’ taken from 28:18 of job.

skeins and scenery

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so last weekend

i was the righthand frontseat rider.

last in out of the five of us (as i always am).

i finished up a new pattern,

and completed 7″ on the back of another

then wound 8 skeins of 3 different yarns into nice balls,

all in the time it took to drive to my grandfather’s 95th birthday.

that yarn has been waiting ‘at the ready’ all week to become something.

i finally started in last night

with the dark on dark variegations

of the plymouth yarn company’s ‘boku’

on size 6 needles and

it’s tried my patience, so very soon.

not the yarn, it’s a funky silk/wool blend

almost like noro i’ve used where the colors melt together.

not the pattern, i’m enjoying watching the little stitches forming row by row.

it’s the ‘little’.

see, i’ve knit with 10.5’s and 13’s lately.

(i’m a huge fan of big needles & what they create)

so to switch, sort of cold turkey, going straight to the 6’s

with no transitional phase of say 8’s in between

is messing a bit with my motivation.

one row on size 13’s is about a 1/2″ high, honestly.

that means once 4 rows are knit, it’s about 2″ high.

progress is so evident and noticeable

that i merrily continue on my way.

it takes me about 12 rows on the 6’s to get that much done.

i’m thinking ‘will i ever finish this row’

‘is it possible i will ever finish…’

guess i’m impatient

at the core.

but i’m done now.

my griping ends here.

there are just so many things i want to try to knit

life feels too short for tiny needles.

mine does, anyway.

‘rider’ taken from 39:18 of job.

and now you know the rest of the story.

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(can’t you just hear the npr voice in your head?

although the name of the man who made the byline famous escapes me…)

‘merciful‘ was released

by knit picks

yesterday.

i love this bag.

i carry the original

rendition of it

with me often.

*

my youngest daughter came earlier than expected.

so much earlier in fact that, although i knew i wanted to knit something special for her,

something all her own,

i still had no idea

what that would be

when we brought her home.

after a while i decided on a babette blanket as i’m a huge fan of graphics for babies.

i replaced all the edges with ‘circus peanut’ orange to make the middles really pop.

she spent many, many hours playing on this blanket

learning to both roll over

and to crawl on it.

such memories.

as i am want to do

i originally misjudged

just how much

blue sky alpaca dyed cotton

i would need to finish it.

but, i have learned that i am bad at this.

now i always buy more than i think i need

so as not to get caught short.

in this case i went overboard with my estimates

and wound up with almost 2 full skeins (of 6 different colors) leftover.

‘merciful’ was the result of figuring out just what to do with all that gorgeous yarn.

it’s knit in the round

all in one piece

(except for the i-cord straps)

including an inner knit lining,

this bag is much easier to make

than it looks like it might be.

what seems to be colorwork

is really just two strands

of two different solid colored yarns

(wool of the andes worsted)

mixing and mingling to it’s heart’s content.

happy yarn is always a good thing in my book.  smile.

knit picks was generous,

as they tend to be,

so they sent me the extra yarn

to make up three

different color combinations.

choosing 6 colors

to knit up into 12 color combinations

can get a little tricky,

i was really thankful to be able

to work these out ahead of time.

(my guy just walked by and knew the answer to the question – as he always does,

“who said this at the end of his every broadcast?”.

“paul harvey”.)

‘generous’ taken from 11:25 in proverbs.

wearing a groove

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when i skated,

there was only on choice:

old fashioned skates,

but my sj got to choose

‘i want those!’ (in-line skates)

at the roller party i took her to

this past last weekend.

my knitting hung lazily over the rail of the rink

slowly getting longer and longer

as she used every muscle she could muster

to keep herself up and get herself around

over and over and ‘just one more time’ again.

and i was so glad the next morning

when all those muscles that she had called into service were screaming at her

‘ow, ouch and ouchie!’

that my happily knitting by memory fingers

are practiced enough at their craft

to just hum merrily along.

hummmm.

‘choice’ taken from 36:16 in job.

the fourth skein

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it seems like once the pattern idea is born,

picking a yarn to knit it in shouldn’t be that hard, right?

i mean i knit a lot,

at least a few minutes of every day if the truth be told,

and after all this time i should know what will work.

shouldn’t i?

but, no.

when the squall of my latest brainstorm had passed,

i assembled the usual suspects and the swatching began.

first up was plymouth yarn company’s

trabajos del peru

this is a semi-solid thick and thin yarn

(semi-solid colors and thick & thinness are two of my favorite things in a yarn)

but the stitches i wanted to use were blurred by the yarn’s strong personality.

malabrigo worsted

(which is actually aran weight, go figure)

was up next.

i bought this solely because the color tugged at me.

the tones in the velvet grape are very rich and deep and …

the stitches were now lost

in the variation of color in this skein.

i actually spent time trying to rework the pattern

determined to make this the perfect project

for just this yarn,

but it wasn’t.

this little ball

of brightly colored cotton would surely work

it isn’t thick and thin.

it’s all one shade (blue sky alpaca’s dyed cotton in ‘cumin’ to be exact).

but alas, the cotton had no elasticity to it leaving the cables flat and the ribbing dull.

down to my last contestant, i cast on turquoise retro by noro.

hopeful and a bit unsure,

much to my surprise it knit along absolutely the way i wanted.

the cables popped,

the ribbing held it’s own,

the smile spread across my face.

there is some color variation in this yarn, but it’s not really different shades.

more like the worn to perfection fade

that your favorite things acquire once they’ve been yours for long enough.

i’m headed back now to the retro and the needles and

the pattern that this combo is working up to be.

knit happy! and be safe this weekend.

‘the fourth’ taken from 1:19 in genesis.

every silver lining…

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… has it’s cloud.

the knitting i love.

the sketching is fun.

pushing the fiber to see just what it can do is great.

the rejection is tough.

because once i’ve put myself way out there

on the limb,

i want to feel that i can fly

not like the ground would hurt

were i to fall

from such a dizzying height.

and yet, the possibilities keep me going

sticking my neck out there to see just what these tiny wings can bear.

and here we go again…

‘silver’ taken from 28:1 of job.

tomorrow & today

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if

a picture paints

a thousand words,

then why

can’t i

paint You?

the words will never show

the You i’ve come to know

and if

a face could launch a thousand ships, then where am i to go?

there’s no-one home but You.  You’re all that’s left me to

and when the sun and stars have all gone out …

‘if’ by bread.

‘words’ taken from 4:4 of job.