…and the winner,
of enough of julie asselin’s super bulky ‘yotta’ to knit up the neckwrap
‘water under the sky‘, is tinerw!
congratulations!
or as my cousins said at my graduation,
snoitalutargnoc (in true cousin style, they sang it in harmony)!
and for those who almost won,
julie has plenty of
amazing colors to check out. enjoy!
‘sang’ taken from 38:6-7 of job.
i used up
one and a half skeins
of yotta to make
braids and all.
now i have
one and a half skeins
left to giveaway
for someone else
to enjoy.
you have from now until this saturday night
to leave a comment (which includes your rav name
or some other way for me to reach you if your name gets chosen).
i’ll draw a name this monday, the 21st.
take a look at julie’s yarns
and tell me which one
you’d most like to knit with.
you can include why if you feel so moved.
then check back monday to see the results.
ready? … set … comment …
‘half’ taken from 44:15-17 in isaiah.
the summer i was fourteen years old,
i spent two weeks immersed at language camp.
this meant only french
spoken, all the time.
the thing is,
most of us campers
knew very little french.
we’d whisper
in english
in our bunks at night
or behind
the counselors’ backs
trying to stave off
the deep feelings of homesickness
that were only intensified by the language gap.
in an effort to connect 
(and to calm us down),
our cabin leader ingrid
would quietly sit
humming
while she brushed
our hair until it shined.
she would then
do different
braids each day.
french braids (of course),
dutch braids, pigtail braids and my favorite, fishtail braids.
four of us had long hair then and became known for our daily locks.
we loved our matching braids and we ate up the attention.
we were so far
from home and from
our own sweet mamas.
even now,
braids
make me feel hugged.
this piece
of my history
is the inspiration
for today’s
new pattern.
‘water under the sky’ feels to me like a warm hug around the neck
and the fishtail braids are like emotional comfort food.
don’t you dare let
the braids scare you.
there are clear
step by step directions.
if you want more,
is easy to find
on youtube,
and tomorrow you can
to enter to win
enough yarn to knit and braid, your own ’emotional comfort’.
see you then…
1st and 3rd pics: julie asselin’s ‘yotta’.
‘water under the sky’ taken from 1:9 in genesis.
2nd and 4th pics: camaj fiber arts ‘boheme sari ribbon yarn’.
you’ve been patient.
so patient, as my designing has taken every detour in sight lately.
this week, finally, i can share some new patterns.
three new patterns to be exact.
it’s april, right?
so when it rains, it pours.
now i don’t have ‘sneak peeks’ per se.
instead, i have a ‘behind the scenes’ shot from during
the photo taking for each new pattern. ready?
for tomorrow’s pattern, this is my youngest testing out
the remote attached to the camera to see if the set-up is working.
and yup, he pressed the button to take this picture all by himself.
the photographer for wednesday’s pattern
was my 14 year old.
she said she just ‘couldn’t resist’ taking pictures of the yard
in between taking pictures of the knitting.
last, but in no way least,
is friday’s pattern.
picture this, i’m making
some slapped together kind of dinner
when i look out the window and the light is gorgeous.
the ground is wet from rain and i’m in my slippers and the food’s on the stove,
but i’m running out (zig zagging to find dry spots) to the kid’s clubhouse to take pics.
a designer’s gotta do what a designer’s gotta do.
i didn’t even burn dinner
too badly.
so this last shot is me balancing on the base of the clubhouse
trying to keep my feet dry long enough
to catch some of the light.
three patterns in four days, starting tomorrow…
the thing about blogging as i go,
is that i very seldom go in a straight line.
it’s full steam ahead for a few miles (or days) and then something catches my eye.
maybe the drape of the yarn gets me thinking,
maybe the colorway starts to pull me in another direction,
maybe a certain series of stitches does something i didn’t expect..
whatever the reason, i don’t end up where i said i was headed.
took me four different colleges in two different states to get my degree
so it’s not just in knitting. my overall life seems to go like this.
and i’m ok with that.
actually, i’m more than ok. i’m good with it.
i’ve learned to enjoy the scenery out whichever window i’m sitting in front of.
you know?
but i feel a little like
i’ve pulled you all this way and that,
right along with me, as i’ve talked about
working with julie asselin‘s super bulky ‘yotta’.
i was glad to have you along for the trip.
hopefully my distractible mind didn’t wear on you too much.
and (drumroll please) i’ve finished the piece.
probably hard to believe
after all the
twists and turns, but it’s 100% true.
here’s a sneak peek:
i plan to release the pattern early next week
and you will absolutely be the first to know.
thanks for keeping me company
during the whole process.
i really liked that.
my ‘nearly wordless wednesday’ photo
from yesterday caused lots of questions to come my way.
most of them along the lines of ‘what in the world is going on there?’.
many times in need of a zipper to be shorter
than what i had on hand, i have shortened.
when you’re dealing with a metal zipper, it’s quite simple.
use needle nosed pliers to remove
the little metal stopper that halts the zipper pull from pulling all the way off.
make desired length by using scissors to cut the fabric backing in spaces between
the close-set metal teeth (that’s the hardest part),
then reattach the little metal stopper at the new end of the zipper.
takes maybe 10 minutes and you’re good to go.
but the zipper i was tussling with
is molded electric blue plastic.
it wasn’t key to any project (since i found a replacement)
so i thought i’d see what was possible.
turns out what is possible is to make a huge mess,
pretty quickly and with very little effort.
huh.
then i got an idea. an ‘awful’ idea. i got a wonderful, ‘awful’ idea!
(a la the ‘grinch who stole Christmas’)
and it has to do with julie’s super bulky
and with the reason i wanted a zipper in the first place.
and i frogged back (that’s the only ‘awful’ part about it)
to ‘no knitting done at all’ once again.
today i didn’t knit much.
i started feeling all inspired by the above pic,
so i drove and i did paperwork (not simultaneously).
i walked by the fjord colored yotta, in the bowl on the kitchen island,
as i tried to slow down the chatter in my head and hear it tell me
exactly what it wants to become … and it did.
might even be finished by tomorrow.
definitely making headway.
until then, remember that brave (wo)men don’t slay their dragons
(or their unproductive tendencies and quirky character traits),
they ride them.
the view from up here, by the way, is stellar.
as i was saying,
except for the internet, our journey might have ended
with sore feet and a tired steed having trekked here and there and back again
in search of the needed zipper.
one of the right shade and fierceness was found,
but it’s extent was too expansive (way, way, way too long).
then my mind, even in its current state,
hit upon the idea of the tag
(i am often lost in the obvious).
yea, the zipper in my possession had a tag
which by the light of a torch, still clearly read:
coats & clark, f45 – 22 – 7, closed bottom sport.
after deciphering the tricky code (color – length – heft),
i was able to procure the exact same hue in the 7″ height that i desired.
the quest for closure(s) was now complete.
until tomorrow, keep your wit sharp and your needles sharper still.
‘sharp’ taken from 27:17 of proverbs.
addendum:
my knight in shining armor, has fallen.
the result is both dented armor and a broken wrist.
tomorrow the storyline of the saga will continue,
but for today we rest
filling our weary, battle worn heads
with dreams of the progress soon to be gained.
until next time, don’t forget to
keep your castles in the sky and your feet on solid ground.
‘weary’ taken from 16:14 of 2nd samuel.
once upon a time,
in a castle not so very far away,
there was a grand,
dare i say unequaled twine
that landed in the willing hands of a knitwear designer.
said maiden had in her noggin a vision
which longed for just such a fiber to set it free.
excitedly the designer and the twine set about releasing the vision,
until they tripped as one upon the jagged edge
of the need for a matchless zipper.
having scouted
about the village, they were
only able to obtain the proper shade.
alas, the count of the teeth was too many
(too many by far…about 15 inches too far…)
and, but for the internet,
our tale might have ended upon this point.
instead, the ‘saga of the jagged edges’ continues tomorrow.
until the dawn, keep your sword close at hand, and your dragon well fed.
