Custom Mittens

My contribution to Guumon. Details of the project to come!

In Between

is where I get my knitting done these days. I have a big train-bus commute to the New Job (which is officially going "fine," but I would be lying if I said I weren't having some trouble adjusting, including a moment yesterday where I ran into a few coworkers in the kitchen and said, "I just need more work to do, you know? Do you have any work for me to do? Because I can't work like this. I need work to do. What can I do?"). So I call the commute "Ann's Knitting Factory."

Behold, 4 sleeves for baby jackets, displayed by the first shoots of our brand-new flower boxes! It's my own design, to be released in the fall. One pair of sleeves for the baby gift, one pair for the sample.

And a pair of booties, the shower gift for the same baby. I think the sole looks like an eyeball. I love it.

Ann's Knitting Factory is opening up a lot of possibilities for me. I believe I'll be able to have the collection I desire ready to publish in September... hopefully 7 patterns in e-book or magazine format. Reasonably priced. And TOTALLY UNDER MY CONTROL. I don't want to disparage publishing in magazines and books AT ALL, but there comes a point where I want full control over my yarn, my models, my photos, my layout, all of it, 100% what I want. It's coming.

48 hours

On the morning of Saturday, May 8, I was pulling hundreds and hundreds of baguettes out of the oven around 8 am.


On the morning of Monday, May 10, I was arriving at NEW New Job and settling in at my "desk" in my new position as Editorial Assistant. Here is the building.


And here is my "desk" area.


You may ask yourself, "how did I get here?"

Don't worry, I'm not done baking. My current job was unsustainable at the pace it was running (look at my pants in the first photo. Those pants fit me perfectly two months ago and on Saturday I had to keep pulling them up); the bakery is going to be sold and under new management, and, when that happens, I can go back if I want.

The day I realized that New Bakery Job was going to kill me, I got a call from a firm that does all manner of editing, a firm where I had interviewed months before but had been told I was an "unusual" candidate who would be difficult, but maybe not impossible, to place.

Well, there was a place for me. I'm working at least through the summer, and then I'll reevaluate.

And if you're wondering if I miss baking, know that I cried while I mixed my last preferment on Saturday morning.

What can be accomplished when one is unemployed

After I was fired last year, before the bakery job, I had a LOT of time to knit. And, fortunately, I had a lot of offers to design for publications. Finally, I can show you two sweaters I designed and knit during that period... I believe I did both of them, patterns and all, in about a month. Without further ado, two designs from the just-published book Circular Knitting Redefined:


First, the "Jacob's Ladder" pullover, a standard round neck sweater knit from the bottom up. I knit the sample in Terra from The Fibre Company, which was a treat. I was thrilled that the editor of the book let me use both the yarns and colors in which I submitted my designs (or very close substitutes).



Next up is the "Bohemian Rhapsody" jacket (not my name! Not the name I would have chosen! However, it makes me hum or sing a little of the Queen song every time I think about it... "he's just a poor boy from a poor family..."). An intermediate-level piece, this is the first in a series of sweaters I've designed and continue to design modeled after a man's suit jacket. Again, I got to use the very colors I desired, and I'm really proud of the result. For those of you interested in the design process, here's the sketch for my submission for this jacket. Note the unrefined sketching techniques:


Aside from the fact that it contains my patterns, I highly recommend the book. There are over 40 designs, the photos (as you can see) are SO clear, timeless, and styled to show off the garment (there are several detail photos for each piece that are also extremely well done). The schematics are awesome as well.

In other news, I have a New Job. A NEW new job. I start Monday. Tonight is my last shift at the bakery I've come to call "The Gulag"... 10 pm to 8 am tomorrow... so I have to go rest up. More soon!