Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!

OK. An interlude I just had to share on a grey Sunday evening:


Cappuccino enthroned on the red ottoman looking all fuzzy and trying for 'dignified' but kind of missing the mark due to the fuzz factor. Her light colors definitely show well on the bright red, though, Madam Stylie Kitty that she is.



Now, she has given up on dignity and gone straight for the cute. Everyone all together now:

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!"

Fit To Be Tied: A knitting Saga; Part I, The Prologue

Something I have noticed in the last year or two in the world of hand knitting is that more and more knitters are addressing the issue of garment fit.

Now I love a comfy over-sized sweater as much as anyone. I have my favorite uber-large Eddie Bauer orange shetland, sized XXL that I utterly adore. It's floppy and shapeless and I can wear it about like a blanket with sleeves. It's way cozy and I can lounge at ease it, but is it flattering? No, not really. It's a garment I can get lost in.

This brings me to the subject of clothing fit. I got intimately aquainted with this topic during a two year stint working at Ann Taylor Loft in San Francisco a couple years ago. I loved the clothes there and used my employee discount as much as I could afford to. Let me tell you, though: working in a changing room with two big three way mirrors at either end for several hours a week, I got to know my body pretty well. A few inches here or there in garment length, the placement of darts or seam shaping, and overall proportion can change a garment from drab to wow very easily. If a garment is not a wow fit, then the wearer won't be shown off to full advantage. An epiphany came when I looked up and saw myself one day, while wearing an a-line skirt that hit my legs just below the bottom of my kneecaps. Damn, my legs looked good in that! My legs are fairly short proportionally for my body and I need to be careful what I wear. Cropped cuffed slacks that were big a couple years ago make my legs look like the reflection in a funhouse mirror. What I got from really seeing myself in that skirt was a sense that I want to make my clothes fit so that feeling that good, that hot, that put-together is not a fluke experience.

So what does all this have to do with handknitting, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. I have had two tough knitting experiences this year: one was a total growling tear inducing disaster, the other has been a drawn out fight filled with frustration. Over the next few posts I will expand on the two projects. The first was an Alice Starmore design, her "Grant Avenue Vest" from the book Pacific Coast Highway. The second was the Elsebeth Lavold cardigan "Zarah" from the Embraceable You collection. Both of these projects suffered from major lack of proper fit and some of fitting issues at least were inherent in how the sweaters were designed.

Don't get me wrong: I love the work of both designers. This was my first Lavold design, but not my first Starmore sweater. I have always had great results from A.S. patterns. My purpose here in these next few posts is to work through my own problems by clarifying my experiences and to share what I have learned with other knitters. (and possibly get some feedback!)

I am not a novice knitter. I knit my first sweater in 1987 and have never looked back. I know a lot of my short comings as a knitter (the loosest gauge that ever was) and an early bad (and now broken) habit of not doing a gauge swatch before starting a project. Still, I swatched here and even with my experience, I wasn't safe from fit disaster. So more to come on the Saga of my 2008 Knitting House of Horrors...

They Call It Mellow Yellow

All bad references to Donovan aside, this post is about my second favorite color: yellow. My favorite color, for those who don't know me is red. Bright fire engine red. Hot tomato red. Red red red.

But then there is yellow. Sunshine yellow. Cheery happy bright yellow. Like daffodils, butter, sunflowers, great fields of mustard that bloom in the spring. Yellow stands out on cloudy days. It is warm and inviting. During a January 2002 trip to Finland, I noticed both in Northern Lapland and in Helsinki in the south, that yellow is a common color for buildings. In the dark, snowy and grey, cold days, the yellow color pops and is warm and inviting to look at.

I have long been intrigued by yellow as a color to knit with. Indeed, it was Kaffe Fassett's Yellow Star Jacket on the cover of 'Glorious Knits' that I saw in the mid '80's that stirred me to take up needles and knit. That jacket was the second project I ever made and I remember what a hassle it was to find yellow yarn at the time. Even now, it remains a rather hard color to find. You look at most shade cards and often all colors are there in some form or another EXCEPT yellow. I really want to know why that is.

Take Rowan's Kidsilk Haze, for example. This yarn has a fairly extensive color range, but there is a real paucity of yellow. In fact, the only yellow shade was the elusive #578 'swish', which Rowan inexplicably discontinued almost at the same time as Knitting Daily published for free the Modern Quilt Wrap by Mags Kandis. I started poking about looking at other yellow yarn options and they are mighty thin on the ground, let me tell you!

I wanted some yellow yarn because I saw a pair of beaded wristlets in the book 'Decorative Knitting ' by Luise Roberts and Kate Haxell. The original wristlets pictured were lavender, but in my mind, I saw them bright yellow with dark blue trim and blue beads. Kidsilk didn't come in that color, so I looked at other yarns. K1C2 douceur et soie had a pale butter yellow, but I wanted more punch. Habu textiles had some good yellows in a silk/mohair, but I had a hard time finding anyone who sold them. Madil has 'kid seta', but that looked more like a highlighter pen than anything else. Then today, I found at Jannette's Rare Yarns that Rowan made a yellow shade of Kidsilk Haze called 'daffodil' that it never released for general sale. All I can say is why not?? It is a perfect yellow--warm and inviting.

I am not a dyer, so maybe there is some difficulty with yellow pigment. I am seriously curious here. Is yellow just not popular? I mean I love it. I have a few yellow garments in my closet that I wear from time to time and they always garner positive comment. I have, however, noticed that yellow clothes are often hard to find, too. very weird.

Call this post an open call to yarn manufacturers and indeed also to clothing designers to bring out the yellow!! It looks good on many skin tones, and makes both wearer and viewer happy because it is warm and positive without being aggressive. So really--more mellow yellow please!

Post Something--ANYTHING! JUST POST!

Yes, I am yelling in this post title. I have started a post in my head fifty times on fifty subjects in the last few weeks. I even went so far as to start a post draft on the Dale Chihuly show I went to see in June in San Francisco. Have I posted it? Hell, I haven't even finished it. I have several nice Chihuly pics. I also have pictures from the Monterey Bay Aquarium over Labor Day weekend, where I went to see the Mini Jaws White Sharklet they had on display (and have since released). Hubs and I took a couple of very nice recent hikes, too.

I have also started percolating in my mind a collection of recipes for the farm that Phil and I belong to and where we have been getting our veg for quite some time, now. The full veggie boxes have precipitated some creative use of edible plant material. See. Another posting idea.

Then there is my knitting, which at the moment consists of a wrap I am procrastinating with, a sweater that is fighting me tooth and nail (and royally pissing me off in the process), the sweater for a friend that is half done, but scares me and lastly, the Christmas gifts that I really should be working on like NOW in order to get them done on time...

I am like a squirrel in a nut factory and I don't know where to start and my ADD is kicking in. Or maybe it's hormones. Who knows? So call this post-cum-rant a laundry list for the things I SHOULD be posting about. I guess the best thing to do sometimes is to just kick the ball and post, so consider it kicked. Oh, and here is a picture of some anemones from the aquarium trip to tide things over until I get my head together to make a 'real' post.

In Praise of the Used Bookstore

Used bookstores are one of my greatest pleasures, both at home and on vacation. I have spent more hours (and dollars) than I can remember at the Half Price Books I used to live near, with my buddy La Chica poring over the stacks, finding prizes and laughing over the general weirdness that has been published.

I use this topic for this post because used bookstores figured prominently during my recent trip to Washington State. Any trip up north along I5 means a stop in Portland Oregon to Powell's City of Books. This place is without question the most amazing bookstore I have ever been in. It's HUGE, taking up multiple buildings. My first move in any bookstore, new or used, is to make a beeline for the crafts section-- specifically the knitting book shelves. A place like Powells gives me a chance to get a real look at book content rather than searching the web for pictures and reviews that other people post. This trip was decent, but not as profitable as in the past. There were many things that were new, not so much used and not so much that was old-new, meaning books that have been out for a while. The cookbooks were good, though, but I got caught in a scam that I had never encountered before. I saw a cook book called 'The Spice Routes' by Carolyn and Chris Caldicott, and when I flipped through it, it had some really interesting recipes. It was also on sale, so I added it to my stack to buy. After Hubby and I head out north towards Seattle, I flipped through my new treasures while he drove. Closer perusal of my new cookbook made me realize that some rotten nimrod had done a switch and put a DIFFERENT cookbook in the Spice Routes dust jacket. Pooh! Still the cookbook I did have was pretty neat-- 'The Gourmet Prescription' by Deborah Friedson Chud. I called Powells and, bless them, their nice manager credited me the difference for the book I had, found my wanted book, and mailed it to me for free shipping and 20% off. Now, that's service! Yay Powells! I will, however, be checking the front page of books more carefully in the future. Anyone need a Spice Routes dust jacket? I have one to spare...

This trip didn't afford time to take a trip to Port Townsend, Washington and William James Bookseller, which is one of my very favorite used bookstores ever ever ever. Much disappointment until a trip to Bellingham and Henderson Books. Oh MAN, what a place! William James just got bumped to second best. Henderson Books has the single best selection of used knitting books I have ever seen, and I was a very very bad rabbit. People knit in Washington. They knit in California, too, but every tiny town in Washington seems to have some sort of fiber underground like nothing I have ever seen before and the net result is that used bookstores are often plump with goodies others have off-loaded.

So for all you yarnies out there, check out Henderson Books and add a side of Powells if you have the time. The fiber result of my recent vacation was a deep gouge into my Amazon wishlist due to finding some lovely knitting books. Got some great cookbooks, too, but that is for another post.

On our way to Washington..slowly

The time has come for a real vacation. Hubby and I leave tomorrow ridiculously early for a trip north to Whidbey Island and all the delights it has to offer. We are driving, so that means a rest stop in Portland at Powell's Books. I have the take-along knitting picked out. and my (empty) suitcase is on the bed. And I have a migraine.

The joys of vacation! I look forward to trips well in advance and enjoy them when I am there. So why is the week leading up to the trip such an utter misery? I am seriously stressed right now. But why? Throw some junk into a suitcase and hit the road--how hard is that? The cats and bird are accounted for and reliable babysitters are lined up. The house is even reasonably clean to avoid wretched embarassment of outsiders seeing it. So what am I doing? Blogging, surfing and poring over my Ravelry site.

I am growing ever more addicted to Ravelry. I finally started a queue and have been madly jotting down ideas and transferring over my various wants. The whole process is too much fun and this vacation stuff is pulling me away from it. Who knows, though? The Coupeville Arts Center is this weekend and there are a lot of handspinners on Whidbey--better go get packed!

"I can quit anytime...!"

My husband met me at work today and as we walked home together, we chatted. About half way home he casually said "You got a package of yarn in the mail today." Like a lead balloon those words thunked out. Yep. I bought more yarn. After promising Hubby to discuss purchases beforehand, I bought more yarn. After my recent post about stash organization, I bought more yarn. Even after the patient question from my pal La Chica about the blue lace creation I was supposed to be knitting her (for the last 5 years, actually), I bought more yarn. I can rationalize anything. I really can. As my husband said today, "Well, if it's for a project you are doing and you really NEED it, it's fine." Did I NEED this yarn? No. Do I 'need' it? Yes. Really I do. I don't have a stash habit. Honest.

It's for the Modern Quilt Wrap posted on Knitting Daily a few months back. I loved the wrap in the colorway just as it was in the picture from the moment I saw it. I downloaded the pattern right away. I have also been scoping Rowan Kidsilk haze online looking for bargains. I found out recently that one of the colors has been discontinued. Just like that. Supplies of the color 'Swish' #578 are dwindling at best. So I pounced. I found Swish and in a fit of panic found a decent price and bought the rest of the needed colors. I have my Quilt Wrap yarn in my hot little hand.

Here's the thing: there is always something cool out there. Moreover, patterns and yarns are ephemeral. That pattern you are dying to make will eventually go away. But here's the rub: if you don't have the yarn yet and don't make the item right away, will you still be dying for it when you have time to make it? Maybe the answer is yes, maybe it isn't. I have a hugely elusive pattern kitted up for a Jade Starmore sweater 'Medieval Tapestry' in the original yarns. I got it years ago when it was actually affordable. I wanted it bad at the time I bought it. Really bad. It has been bouncing around in my stash unknitted for eons. I was, however, committed enough to it that I did a swatch and have kept all the yarn faithfully together through three moves. When I got it out recently looking for a project to start, I realised that my tastes have changed quite a bit over the last few years and it is not so 'me' as it once was. It is still a stunning sweater, though, and it would be criminal in so many ways to repurpose the yarn for something else--like using a priceless ming vase to hold a bouquet of cheap supermarket flowers. I will hang onto the Starmore yarn for now, but it has given me pause. I guess I'd better start the Modern Quilt Wrap now. Or at least just after I finish La Chica's sweater!