4,000 words on what's inspiring me lately

...by which I mean, four pictures. Got lots of writing and reading to do for the next week or so, but I didn't want another month to go by without a post, especially when I'm actually doing some pretty good knitting these days. So here's a taste of how that's going, and where some of it's coming from, starting with my garden:



I should note that I use the term "garden" very loosely. It would be more accurate to say "bunch of random plants I haven't managed to kill yet," but most of you will get the idea. I have a couple of big pillowy patches of nasturtiums that, as you can see behind this dazzling poppy, are starting to climb up the trellis that my sugar snap peas started on. Their fragrance is amazing; I've been enjoying it as I sit out there with my morning coffee and putter around at the start of most days. My mom told me about nasturtium capers the other day, so now I'm all excited for those patches to get bigger so I can try making those. I've got a bunch of herbs going--sage, three varieties of thyme, a few different kinds of basil, cilantro, parsley, oregano--along with red cherry, black cherry, and better bush tomatoes, some jalapenos, and just bit of lettuce that is struggling manfully in a few different places. I also have what might be either cucumbers or butternut squash or both (I planted seeds for both, but by the time the sprouts were big enough to transplant, I forgot which was which) along the side fence that are on the brink of going crazypants--they've been about four inches high for the last month. I'm pretty sure that in about a minute and a half they're going to start shooting tendrils all over the place.

My cherry tomatoes are especially delicious, and beautiful, too!



I put a lot of elbow grease into hacking back all the creepers that were covering the back fence, in the hopes that I could encourage the pink jasmine, climbing white roses, and wisteria to stampede in once it was gone. The canvas cover of the old patio umbrella we inherited from the previous tenants rotted through and finally tore to shreds in that last big windstorm we had, so I had the bright idea of dragging it over to the corner of the yard and trying to train the vines over that as a kind of arbor. The look I'm going for is "fairy grotto," but at the moment, it's coming off more as "whiskey tango," since the vines are all sparse and haven't covered up the string I wove between the skeletal umbrella arms to give them some handholds. Stay tuned, I have high hopes!

Black and yellow is the number one color combination I've been mulling over lately, along with bronze and blue, and dusty pink and moss green. Mostly black and yellow, though.



Yellow's a tough color for me to love, and I seldom if ever wear it, but I've got a lace cardigan in the works that's in a Madeline Tosh colorway called "Cloak" and I keep wanting to put butter-yellow things on it. I may not be able to resist adding pale yellow shell buttons to this one, although that would kinda restrict its wearability. Here's a little bit more yellow for you...



That's the palm and thumb of a glove I'm working on. It's got a lace panel down the back that extends up through the fingers in a way that I'm sure will end up being fiendishly clever but right now as I'm figuring it out is just feeling fiendishly difficult. You might be thinking "Lace gloves? That's weird. What's the point of wearing gloves with a bunch of holes in them?" But then you would just not be the particular kind of person who would would want to knit or wear these gloves, I guess. I think they're pretty. Although awfully yellow. I might have to make a pair in gray for myself to actually wear.

Things I learned at VKL, part 3

When you sit down with a group of knitters of any size, you'll hear a lot of opinions. (I mean that in both senses, by the way; the group can be any size, and the knitters themselves can be any size.) The number and strength of opinions is generally--but not always--directly proportional to size, too. When I was at VKL last fall, spending the days with hundreds of knitters in every possible configuration, I was definitely expecting to get an earful, and I did!

One of the things that I was most surprised by was the strong distaste several of the designers and workshop instructors expressed for seamless sweaters--and specifically, the top-down raglan style of construction. Given how many of the trendiest, everyone's-making-one-these-days patterns for the last couple of years have been seamless or required minimal finishing (February Lady Sweater, Whisper Cardigan, Owls...I'm looking at you, here!), all these voices united in abhorrence of the very idea of top-down-seamlessness may well have crossed the threshold into "backlash" territory. Now, it wasn't unanimous, by any means, but it was definitely a thing--so much so that one or two people were kind of back-pedally on the topic (e.g. "Now, I don't have anything against top-down seamless styles personally, if you like that sort of thing, that's fine, I just personally, for myself, would never make one, and here's why...") or seemed to feel a need to justify their acceptance of the technique in the face of the backlash ("Now, this design is a top-down one, but I think in this one instance it really works because..."). It was eye-opening, to say the least, and I started taking notes so I could sort out where I stood on what I didn't even realize was a Big Divisive Knitting World Issue. Here's my summary of the Seamless vs. Seamed debate:

Team Seamless says:

1) OMG so easy! When you're done, you're done! No more UFOs!
2) Seams are itchy, especially at the back of the neck or under the arms. Get rid of 'em!
3) It's one garment; why not knit it in one piece?

Whereas the Seams Team says:

1) Seams give you structure where you need it most--the shoulders, back of the neck, the sides of a garment. Sweaters with no seams quickly lose what little shape they had to begin with!
2) Knitting in the round yields a spiral fabric, not a flat one. Seamless garments twist around the body and won't hang straight.
3) Come on, people; finishing's not THAT big a deal. Don't knit crappy sweaters just because you're lazy.

I've been mulling this over for months* and I honestly still haven't picked a side for myself. Many of my designs, after all, ARE seamless, and some are top-down, to boot! There's also a difference between less-seaming, and seamless, if you know what I mean. Sometimes it really doesn't make sense to knit something in pieces and then sew those pieces together, and sometimes it makes such a huge difference in the amount of time you need to make a single garment that it'd be senseless not to try to cut down at least a bit on the seaming wherever you can. None other than the inspired and wonderful Jared Flood did a series of features in Vogue Knitting on how to convert "ordinary" garment patterns into seamless ones, and that man is anything BUT lazy or finishing-phobic. And of course, different yarns and knitted fabrics work differently when seamed--fine yarn and lace fabrics don't necessarily combine well with seams of any kind. (It all kind of reminds me of the more-product-less-process approach to archival processing, which is also the subject of great debate within its constituent community...but that wouldn't interest most of you.)

What I've finally landed on is "let the people decide."** Which is more or less exactly what the original Opinionated Knitter, Elizabeth Zimmerman, used to say, only more succinctly: "Knitter's choice."

Please ignore the fact that EZ was also the innovator who brought us the Phoney Seam and many, many variations on the seamless-construction theme. Seamless was her CHOICE, not her gospel. I would also like for you all to ignore the fact that the new project I'm working on right now is...a seamed sweater. And with set-in sleeves, no less!



*That's my excuse for that looooooong lag between blog posts, and I'm sticking to it. We shall never speak of this matter again.

**OK, that's what Magic 8 Ball said. I really, really still haven't made up my mind.

And another thing! (What I learned at VKL, part 2)

My latest object of lust: Carbon-fiber Blackthorn DPNs in an embossed leather carrying case.

My second workshop at Vogue Knitting Live was "Finishing Tips and Tricks" with Cirilia Rose. In many ways, it echoed the encouraging and positive tone of Janel Laidman's "Creating Your Own Stitch Patterns" session, and amplified the message that I think was my major takeaway from the entire weekend:

You don't have to do it "the right way," as long as the way you do it works.

One of Janel's tips was to have what she called an "ugly swatch" to work out new ideas with. If you need extra stitches, cast 'em on; if you need fewer for the pattern repeat you're toying with, cast 'em off--don't waste time casting on and working a bunch of set-up rows, just keep on knitting! Revolutionary, revelatory...and totally obvious once someone points it out to you.

Likewise, Cirilia shared some of her own secrets, preferred approaches, and insider knowledge from her time on the Berroco Design team. I mean, she worked with frickin' Norah Gaughan! That's probably like having a master class every day at work. Seaming, weaving in ends, and joining new yarn (especially using methods that reduce the number of ends you have to weave in) were the big subjects, but we also talked about closures and edgings--you know, the little things that can make or break a finished garment. The best thing I learned? Cirilia loves buttons, and she told us she often doesn't make a decision on closures until a garment is finished--which means no knitted-in buttonholes! Instead, she uses snaps and puts the buttons on as decorative, not functional, features. That makes sense in so many ways. It's way easier to reinforce a big ornamental button on a sweater coat, for example, if it doesn't have to actually BUTTON anything; not only that, but you're not forced to make your sweater close with just the number of buttons you actually have. That's a major consideration for those of us who have weird quantities of antique buttons from lord-knows-where, and no way to get extras. Another idea from VKL that was revolutionary, revelatory...and totally obvious once you think about it.

Cirilia's was probably my favorite workshop of the weekend, since it was the one where I had the most fun and felt the most at ease. Even though I'm pretty extroverted, I'm still subject to occasional and surprising bouts of extreme self-consciousness. I usually have a cocktail or two, if that's socially acceptable and even remotely appropriate in the setting, and just fake it til I make it, but whoof! That social anxiety does a number on me when it does hit. It's another good reason to take some knitting with me wherever I go--I've always got something I could be doing if I don't feel up to talking to people.

Luckily, the opening night reception and marketplace preview did have cocktails. (Actually, they had all the champagne you could drink, alongside an actual buffet of candy and chocolates, and dozens of vendors selling yarn and knitting accessories of every imaginable kind.) After a glass or two, I felt loose enough to start chatting up the folks in the Blackthorn Needles booth--their carbon-fiber DPNs use stealth-jet technology to create a VERY nice knitting experience. I now lust for one of their custom sets--see image above, which doesn't really do them justice. I was also in the mood for love, so I took home practically the first handbag I set eyes on, a Betty Knitting Tote from Atenti designs in what I am told is a one-of-a-kind fabric and color combination. But she looks a little something like this:

Ain't she sweet? Mine is done in a tomato-red velveteen wallpaper pattern with a taupe ground and lining--a bit like the orange one in back. But nicer, of course.

That was pretty sneaky, VKL--get a bunch of knitters drunk and hopped up on sugar, and then put purses and yarn in front of us. We didn't stand a chance! I am proud to say, however, that I stayed strong and did NOT buy any yarn. One day at a time.

Want to see something pretty?

Good news for you Cecily fans out there: The jacket has landed. Cecily is now officially a twinset! Check this beauty out...

Photo (c) 2011 by the lovely and talented Meg Rice.
Click on the image for super-duper detail...or here for more modeled shots.

The long-delayed and hotly-anticipated (by me, at least) Cecily jacket was definitely worth the wait. It's an awfully sweet knit, if I do say so myself. It's got a sort of kimono vibe going on, which I'm into these days. The motif is called Lotus Lace (thanks yet again, Barbara Walker Treasury!) and the inset of it at the high waist has an obi-like effect that's awfully flattering on any figure, not to mention really comfy to wear. Fans of Amy Herzog's Fit to Flatter series--and I know you're out there, because I just learned how to read my blog stats, and a LOT of you are coming here from her site, so thanks, Amy!--will know that this design will work especially well with top-heavy proportions. It's got a long vertical line from neck to waist, simple shoulders, and a draped lower half that balances wide shoulders with lace edging. Sleeve length is, of course, adjustable to your preference: Work the lace trim just an inch or so after picking up the sleeve stitches for a cap sleeve that broadens the shoulders visually, or work them down to bracelet length if you want more coverage for cool autumn evenings.

Sadly, I've just found out that the sample colorway, Pearlescent, is back-ordered until the end of the year, but don't let that discourage you. There's a kit-builder feature on the Knit Picks site you can use to select similar colorways from their other sock yarns--just drag and drop!--or a different colorway of the Stroll Tonal yarn I used. Cecily will also work beautifully in whatever solid or semi-solid sock yarn you've been stashing away in sweater quantities. (Don't lie, I know you do this. Oh, no, wait, that's ME...) Make yourself something pretty, already!

Things I Learned at VKL: Part 1

So, I said in an earlier post that Vogue Knitting Live was well worth the time and money for me; I also said that the staggering amount of stuff I learned there would be continuing to soak in for several weeks. As always (just ask my husband, ha ha) I was correct about this! I'm a huge believer in the idea that the more you give the world, the more you get back, so I'm going to share the wealth over the next few posts. No trade secrets, mind you--that wouldn't be fair--and some of it I couldn't tell you, you'd have to experience it for yourself. Just ask Nicky Epstein, the next time you see her, what they do for fun in the little desert town where she grew up...she is a 24-karat laugh riot, that one. Trust me, though, when I say that ANY of these instructors are well worth taking a workshop with. Whatever I say here is seriously just the tip of the iceberg!

My first class was "Creating Your Own Stitch Patterns" with the gentle and lovely Janel Laidman. Maybe it's because she's a font of quiet inspiration and understated genius, or maybe because all of us showed up at 8:00 am on Friday totally pumped for VKL, but you could really hear the gears turning as we all started paging through her stacks of stitch dictionaries and scribbling on our graph paper. I had signed up based on the class description, not even realizing that Laidman was the designer of the Rivendell sock, a pattern that I already had in my Ravelry library--a lot of her work has that graceful Art Nouveau sensibility that I really like. Rivendell was one of those patterns I bought more to learn from than actually knit; it's that pretty.

This class was really a subtle one. I wish I could describe it effectively, but it's hard to convey what we covered and how it helped. The general effect, for me, was like when someone comes into a room where you've been reading and turns on the light, or changes some little setting on your monitor so the text is suddenly bigger and clearer. Just a steady accumulation of little "aha!" revelations, plus some friendly encouragement, and some time spent focusing on how stitch patterns are constructed, and a bunch of really instructive swatches. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but the cumulative effect was quite something. I left the room determined to buy a copy of the Japanese stitch dictionary I was working from, as well as some highlighter tape. The highlighter tape alone has been a revelation, in fact--I'm working a stranded-colorwork pillow cover from a big ol' chart right now, and the little "taste" of tape that Janel handed out to everyone in class went right onto that. Now I can't believe I ever thought of attempting to work from a chart of any size without this stuff. It's amazing! So simple, so straightforward, and so helpful.

I brought some inspirational materials with me to the class--just a couple of scraps of things I've been holding onto, thinking they'd be nice to translate into knitting--and I expect I'll be continuing to play with those until I figure out what they want to be. The best part of the class, I think, was just hearing from someone who does this all the time the steps she follows when she's working up something new, and seeing how well they work. Thanks, Janel, for an inspiring and useful VKL session!

So...how was your weekend?

On Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, here's what I did: I staggered into my house, dumped all the stuff I was carrying on the floor, pulled off my shoes, and collapsed. First on the couch, then into a hot bath (which got stone-cold by the time I mustered the energy to climb out of it), then into bed. I never, ever sleep on my stomach, but still found myself lying with my face plunged between the pillow piles on Saturday night, thinking "Oh, this feels unusually niiiiiizzzzzzzzzzzzz...."

What wrecked me? Vogue Knitting Live. Between the pre-party at Unwind, which I attended with a new-knitter friend who then came over for (YUM!) chicken and dumplings, and the three looooonnng days of lectures, demos, classes, steel-willed resistance of the opportunity to purchase even yet still more yarn (I limited myself to some decadent silk ribbons and a handbag), and inter-knitter mingling that followed at VKL, I'm absolutely bushed. I also think I'll be digesting all the lessons, discoveries, and facts from this for several weeks to come. Here are some of my initial thoughts on the event, though:

1) I should not have to work this hard to sign up for something I'm paying this much to attend. The worst, and yet most fixable, problem was the online interface for class selection and signup--Vogue Knitting, I love you, I really do, but speaking as an information scientist, your usability could use some serious evaluation. No calendar view for classes and workshops, so you could actually SEE what's happening in which time slot and avoid conflicts when selecting things? The "schedule" printed on the back of my conference badge doesn't list events in day/time order? The conference-at-a-glance listing in the program booklet is organized by instructor...and they're alphabetical by first name, even though the badge "schedule" lists them as first initial, last name?? Whoever is doing this stuff for you is really bad at it, and it's probably costing you a lot of money in the form of failed registrations from frustrated, not-so-Web-savvy knitters. Please, please address these issues! We will all be grateful.

2) One jerk per thousand knitters...that's not half bad. Lots of folks were, shall we say, taken aback by the discovery that the parking garage at the Century Plaza Hyatt was unable to process credit card payments for most of the weekend. Yes, that was a bummer--but really, nothing to pitch a fit over. The fact that I only saw one person the whole time being kind of nasty about any of the difficulties we all coped with (never-ending lines at Starbucks, not enough staff in the bar and restaurant to manage the lunch rush, especially on the weekend, confusing signage and late-arriving speakers and really mediocre banquet food at the Gala Dinner) just goes to show you how great knitters in general are. I'm proud to be one of ya. Not only that, but the big stars of the knitting world that I met there (Nicky Epstein, Cookie A, Cirilia Rose, Amy Singer, Kristy Porter, and many more) were even nicer than the average knitter...not to mention funny, whip-smart, and generous with their time and considerable knowledge.

3) Thinking about knitting, talking about knitting, and actually knitting all day is frickin' intense. We all say we'd love to spend all of our days knitting, but now I'm not so sure. This program was eye-opening in so many ways, especially for me as a fledgling designer--I have a much better sense now of what this would be like as a full-time job, for one thing. As I was heading home after my last workshop (a really fun session on menswear design with Josh Bennett, aka boymeetspurl, who is a terrific teacher and made  us all feel like we were design geniuses), I realized why my chaotic state of mind felt so familiar. It was just like when I first went back to grad school for my PhD: I went in thinking I was really something special, with my awesome test scores and my generous fellowship funding, but then I got hit with this tidal wave of expert knowledge and high expectations and I just did NOT feel READY for it. It was really destabilizing for a few months there...but then the next time I gave a preservation workshop, I realized that what I'd learned in those few months had been a huge advance, and that I really did know my stuff even before that. The next time I teach a class or do a knitting demo myself, I bet I'll have that same feeling again, too...

VKL was absolutely worth the time and money and mind-bending effort for me, in short. I'm tired but happy. Pictures of all my fun acquisitions from the event to follow!

My startitis is flaring up.

The seasons must be changing--I can barely sit still, and I've got hourly urges to start on something entirely NEW and FUN and QUICK TO KNIT (and for that last one, read "Ha! Fat chance!"). I don't have startitis on a regular basis, but when it does hit, it wallops. There'll be a work in progress on every horizontal surface in the house, and our dinner will be served later and later every night, because I'm too busy casting on or ripping back to put the potatoes in the oven.

In one way, having multiple projects in the works is a good thing. I have loads of yarn in my stash. The only way I'm going to get through this stuff is if I actually make a thousand different things with it. I'm also fairly organized about the business; for instance, I keep decent notes about needle size and gauge and where a given project is generally headed, so if I put something down I have a way of re-orienting when I pick it back up.

There are only so many needles in my collection, though, and right now my circulars case looks like the Popular Fiction New Hardcovers shelf at the public library on Memorial Day weekend. All the good stuff is checked out, man! I swear by interchangeable tips (with all the lace and cable knitting I do, I LOVE my pointy pointy Knit Picks Harmony Wood Options*) but don't want to get in the habit of having piles of projects with capped cables lying around, so I only have two pairs each of my favorite sizes of needle tips. (OK, I might have three pairs of US #4s. And I'm not counting the fixed circulars. Also, all my spare cables and caps may possibly be attached to WIPs. But whatever.)

Last night I had another frenzy of sketching and scribbling before I went to bed, in the little "Daydreams and Nightmares" notebook my friend Katie gave me for Xmas last year. (Thanks, Katie!) I don't think you can get the notebooks anymore, but check out the hot Weimar-era fashions these ladies on the cover of the exhibition catalog are wearing...there's yet another potential new project in there somewhere, don't you think?

I daydream about these Weimar-era outfits, I tell you what!

This really can't go on, though. Vogue Knitting Live is coming up at the end of the week, and I'm counting on being able to work on a few things while I listen to brilliant folks like Nicky Epstein and Cirilia Rose drop science on needlework (Cirilia made a really nice comment on a project of mine on Ravelry loooooong ago, and I have had a pathetically intense knitter-girl-crush on her ever since, which I hope I will not get tipsy enough to confess to her during the gala dinner. Because I requested to sit at her table for the gala dinner. Is that stalkerish? It seems a little stalkerish of me. Geez, I hope she's not reading this...). At some point the startitis has GOT to turn into a fever of finishing, because my holiday knitting should probably get underway, um, well, last week...?





*Full disclosure: I'm not endorsing a product I got for free--these needles are my personal favorites. Although I do sell patterns through Knit Picks, and sometimes receive yarn support from them for new designs, I want to be clear that I buy ALL my own needles and knitting tools. Especially when there's a sale on.