No more fake spring!

REAL spring is here!

Somehow several weeks in April just... "got away from me" is the right phrase, I suppose. Thinking about this time, I wonder what I was doing. I remember feeling very busy and generally not great, but don't recall what I accomplished. Even attempting to create a mental "bullet list" is difficult, probably due to the not feeling great mentioned above.

So, as an aid to my recall, I'll be posting small updates this week of things that I have done/have happened to me over the past few weeks. Here's one: I got a new pattern published in the most recent issue of Yarn Forward, or, rather, Knit, The Magazine Formerly Known As Yarn Forward (or just "The Magazine" for short, perhaps), which does not appear to have a website yet.

It's an elusive publication.

Here's a photo of a little guy wearing it (he looks like he's ready to cry or has just stopped crying):


I called it the Albers Baby because I did some intarsia on the back. I've been thinking about new ways to create geometry and play with color, and a small project seemed like the right place to use some intarsia. It's VERY easy intarsia because it's all straight lines. I was able to knit most of this on various Greyhound buses.

It's all garter stitch and it's knit in one piece. Cool, right? The sizes are 6 months to 24 months. If you can't find a Knit magazine, the pattern will be available as an individual download from my website and Ravelry with additional sizes (I'm thinking up to age 4) in a few months.

What else have I done? Updates to come.

New Designs and Mitred Crosses

Front and center: I hope I'm not the last knitter out there to begin Kay's Mitered Crosses blanket. If you haven't begun, or at least purchased the pattern, or at least become aware of the pattern, check it out. All proceeds go toward the relief efforts in Japan.

In our house, "blanket" means "cat fur magnet," so I decided to make a long scarf instead, either one or two squares wide and many square long. I'm using Noro Sekku, which is a sensitive twiney laceweight yarn that breaks if one so much as looks at it with displeasure, but which also blocks out fabulously and is light as can be. I've accumulated many balls of Sekku thanks to its placement in a basket to the right of the cash register at Windsor Button; it's like a Snickers bar, I can't resist. (Note: It appears that most stores no longer carry Sekku, and that the yarn itself may be discontinued. Working with it, I can understand this.)

Background: A lot of new designs, dark things all. I've committed myself to a new book(lette) that will be available this coming September, as well as several self-published individual patterns, so it's time to get to work. The color palette is dark; the theme is dark. Call it my reaction to a recent overload of "easy femininity."

Tax and Hotpad Successes

I did it! I filed my taxes to nearly-broke-even results (better than expected for someone who gets a lot of 1099s for random work) AND successfully participated in the POTHOLDER SWAP 2011!

5 hotpads, double-sided. What's odd is that I had to force myself to create something that wasn't at all "work" related. I don't think I would have completed them without my grandma's death, which both rendered me incapable of working on new designs and inspired me to crochet, because she taught me. She was the queen of afghans and taught me to make granny squares when I was 7 or 8. I think she'd be proud.

The pattern: Knowing that I might struggle with the deadline, I went simple with Maurice's Modern Vintage Potholder pattern. However, I did do tiny stitches with a US 1 crochet hook and size 3 crochet cotton! Here they are:

The obverses: Pastels reminiscent of bathrooms with embroidered towels that are not at all absorbent and color stories from recent issues of Interweave Knits.


The reverses: Op art! Eyeballs!


The rings: something Bicycle Boy dug up out of his tool/supply box. Back cog ring spacers or something.


Tags so you know they're from me.


And it's all in the mail, in a repurposed Interweave rejection envelope. Turn that frown upside down, right???

Black hoodie, orange, scotch.

I have a new profile illustration, thanks to Andrew Kolb. Be sure to check out his stuff, but only if you like FUN. I traded Andrew a customized hat for the illustration, a hat that, because the pattern will be published this fall, I cannot yet show you. Craft for craft barter, hooray!

And hey, if you want to read more about me, or want to read thoughtful, informative reviews of new knitting books, check out The Knitting Scholar. I had a chance to meet Deb in New Jersey, and she reviewed my book (and was kind enough to include my lengthy responses to the a list of questions she sent me).

Knitting for love

My dud is the latest recipient of a handknit sweater. I think he's been wearing it for the last week, nonstop.

It's about a million stitches, knit in worsted weight at a pretty tight gauge. I've made three sweaters using this pattern, Easy Raglan from Green Mountain Spinnery, all in Greenwood Hill Farm Merino worsted weight. Something about this combination makes it irresistible to men. Chris, sitting next to me as I write this, says "it's a sweater made out of tiger blood and Adonis DNA" (he was the recipient of the first one I made).


Hey Dud, at least take it off to sleep, okay?

Interim Activity

Thanks to all of you who expressed your sympathy about my grandma. I just returned from Michigan and am attempting to return to some sort of routine, which is not easy.

While I take stock of all the copyediting and designing work that needs to be done, here are a few photos from the new book, Simply Circular, which includes a new design and a re-issue of one of my earlier designs.

The Aurora Shrug: Super easy; includes underarm gussets for ease of movement. I'll be wearing this one a LOT this spring. Worked in Manos Silk Blend, niiiiiice. The editor picked the colors, which are even more dramatic than what I suggested in my submission--I love that!

Here's a photo of me wearing it:


Bohemian Rhapsody: Originally published in Circular Knitting Redefined, this version is also worked in Berroco Peruvia, a warm, durable wool available in a fabulous range of colors. It's the same yarn I used for the Johnny Rotten Jacket, and, interestingly, I knit these two within weeks of each other. For two different publishers. Peruvia: The Yarn for Jackets with Lapels.

Grandma

My grandma died last night, after a day filled with her favorite activities: shopping and going out for lunch. She got home, and her heart stopped. She was 88 (mom, correct me if she wasn't 88).

As a tribute to Grandma Snapper, I've created a flickr set of just a few of the pairs of socks I've knit for her over the past few years: Grandma Socks. No matter how busy I've been, Grandma has received a handknit pair of socks every Mother's Day and every Christmas since I was able to knit socks. Every time I saw her, she would explain that she deliberately walked around her retirement community shoeless, fishing for compliments on the socks. I'm certain that if the compliments were not forthcoming, she actively drew attention to the socks.

When I published Craft Work Knit in September, I gave Grandma a copy. Wait, no, she INSISTED on paying for a copy and put a check in the mail. Again, I'm fairly certain she used her socks to lure her friends and neighbors into her apartment to show it off.

Grandma was an elementary school teacher, in the family tradition. She had a long, fabulous life. I miss her already.