Tag Archives: process

the reveal

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late this past winter,

string theory yarn company

asked if i would design with dream in color’s ‘canyon’ for a mystery kal.

i jumped at the chance. what fun!

i knew that i wanted to

design a hat, but how to keep it a mystery?

i mean once you start knitting in the round on size 16″ circulars…

a hat is everyone’s first guess, right?

but earlier this winter

i had knit up a super warm, oversized braided hat

(the ‘nomadic nights slouch’ by holly priestley)

her construction was such that you knit the brim flat

and then joined in the round.

that might be enough of a novelty

to throw people off track in guessing ‘hat’,

and ‘tohutohu‘ was born.

the mystery kal has just ended, so now:

tohutohu hat collagei chose really mildly contrasting colors,

but some of the other knitters picked things that really pop!

i’ll collect some of their pretty photos soon

to make a collage for you to ooh and ahh over.

i love seeing what color combos

other knitters knit.

don’t you?

‘thrown’ taken from 6:30 of matthew.

sequential

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i just wanted to knit.

something straight forward and nearly mindless,

in stockinette stitch and a stashed bulky weight yarn.IMG_1267+

but, the indian lake artisans needles that i wanted to use

were still in a hat that i’d started at vklive ny in january.

nothing, somedays it feels like

absolutely nothing, is a straight line in my life.

so, since the hat in classic elite yarns chateau was nearly done

i thought i’d just whip through the decreases lickety split

until i saw this:IMG_1266+

why didn’t i write down what i did as i went along?

huge designer no-no, unless you like to painstakingly stare at your knitting

trying to jump start your memory as you count

stitch by stitch to record what

 you think that you probably did when you were knitting it in the first place

and thought that you’d never forget – so why write it down?

deep sigh.

the thing is that it’s not that complicated of a hat,

i just didn’t want to take the time.

i wanted to be knitting with the richly red swan’s island bulky. IMG_0532+deep sigh again.

i did, for the record, figure out how i’d knit the chateau hat.

i wrote it all down and i finished the decreases.

it felt good

to have accomplished something

that i’m really happy with. i know that i’ll wear a lot in the fall.

patience is a virtue.  it’s true, especially when it doesn’t feel like it.

it’s probably most true then.

‘patience’ taken from 21:19 of luke.

touchy feely

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i’m still in ‘pondering’ mode,

still trying to find the words to explain just why

the indian lake artistans needles

have struck such a chord with and in me.

you know how sometimes, something fades away,

but so slowly, that you don’t realize it’s gone

until you get a glimpse of when it was still around

and then the ‘missing it’ is sort of fierce?

i feel like that (if it makes any sense at all).

i took this quick shot today and posted it over on instagram.

IMG_0345urbsee how the warm tones of the wool and the wood

make the foreground of the photo look all cozy and welcoming?

while at the very same time, all the ‘other stuff’

(in this case, the things waiting to be taken care of on the kitchen island)

sort of fade into the background?

that’s how i feel knitting with these maple needles in hand.

it’s like i’m in the foreground of the photo and the ‘stuff’ has just faded away.

now don’t get me wrong, i’ll knit with almost anything.

(i’ve used pencils and bobby pins for cable needles in a pinch)

and i always enjoy it,

but there’s some other layer to the process.

it’s a layer i had when i first started knitting,

and it got lost in all the ‘stuff’.

then somehow with these handcrafted wooden needles in my hands,

it’s not lost anymore.

that’s what i couldn’t find clear words to say yesterday.

i’m not sure that i’ve succeeded at being any clearer than mud

about it here today, but there it is.

now, i hope you enjoy your knitting tonight as much as

i know i’m going to enjoy mine.

‘feelings’ taken from 29:11 of proverbs.

first and last

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nothing feels better to me than

casting on and working the first few stitches of a new design.

nothing, that is, except having gotten through all the joy of the knitting

to the very last few stitches.

here they are, the last ones, with the math and the sweatIMG_9202unsatand the wondering if it will really work or not

behind me.

new pattern (and color photos) coming soon

just in time for tnna on may 30th.

‘wondering’ taken from 24:21 of genesis.

in this moment

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IMG_9022urbi’ve been doing a little 2 steps forward, 3 steps back

with this new cabled design.

fresh ideas are often like that for me, never a straight line

of forward motion from beginning to end.

it’s a good thing that

it’s the process of the knitting i love.

if i only had my sights on the reward of reaching the goal,

and wasn’t able to enjoy the tangental paths that take me there

i’d be miserable doing what i do.

helps immensely

to be surrounded by yarn and needles

that i really like working with.

in this case, it’s rowan’s cocoon and the new handcrafted

hexagonal needles from indian lake artisans.

now, tonight i’ll move a few more

steps forward, and see if they stick or not.

‘paths’ taken from 3:17 of proverbs.

snug as a bug in a rug

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or as cozily warm (and excited)

as a catepillar about to burst forth and see

the world as a butterfly for the very first time.

it’s all white outside, but in the kitchen

a welcoming shade of grey

is growing.

always feels so good

to watch lovely yarn (like rowan’s cocoon)

becoming something.IMG_8961brnot too many details to share yet,

but this is the beginnings of a collaboration with jul designs

working its way from idea to reality.

watching the process on the sunny island in my kitchen is

a great way to end a long,

cold, snowy week.

‘burst’ taken from 55:12 of isaiah.

so very, very close

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i am not one to underestimate.

i have no intention of running out of yarn. ever.

i buy the extra skein. if i don’t need it, it will become a hat later on.

no frantic calculations at the end. no wondering if there will be enough.

all good.

but, when you’re knitting for a contract

often the company sends the yarn

that they’ve estimated you might need.

usually they’re right.

i’m always amazed that they are,

since i have so much trouble getting it just right myself, but right they are.IMG_8017this time, however, it was close.  really, really close.

forty-six narrow inches from not having enough.

less than a yard

and i admit to sweating

it out more than a little  bit right near the end.

but all’s well the ends well, and this one did.

‘close’ taken from 13:8 of genesis.

cey & i: remember?

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back in june

i wrote about this cey photoshoot.

the deary rain outside and

the bit of a garden party going on inside.

all the while,

the creative director,

make up artist, and assorted crew,

working hard behind the scenes to pull it all off.

the happy atmosphere being adeptly captured

by the hard working man behind the lens

and now you can see the results.3964_medium2classic elite’s december book ‘winter lace’

is special to me because i got to be there while the images were coming together.

hope you enjoy a bit of being ‘behind the scenes’.

i sure did.

‘happy’ taken from 7:14 of ecclesiastes.

‘leanna‘ pic courtesy of classic elite yarns.

(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‘.)

homegrown

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i want to tell you a little of the story of ‘left hand lazy‘

and his yarn.  today is not the day for that.

vision therapy for my youngest,

parent teacher conference for my 9 yr old,

the library, the pharmacy, the grocery store and

looking locally (which means driving down roads in town

that i’ve never been down before) for places to shoot pics for upcoming patterns.

this day is already full up.

but, as a prologue to aaron and what he does,

here’s my very newest project swatch his east fresian yarn.IMG_7993urbthis stuff is rustic and real and i just love it.

the color is natural, the real color of the real sheep it grew on

and aaron worked individually with this particular sheep.

so cool.

’nuff said for now.

back to the business of the day.

‘roads’ taken from 49:10-11 of isaiah.