A Stitch to Wear

An ancient art and an ancient language

2010-06-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

I've spent this past year learning to knit and learning to read Classical Greek. These things (along with wedding plan) certainly keep me occupied.

I'm kind of obsessed with languages, and I can't remember a time when I wasn't. When I was in the 5th grade I found a book in my school's library, some sort of Teach Yourself Italian for small people, with lots and lots of pictures. I taught myself sentences which were probably grammatically horrifying, because what 10-year-old has a firm grasp on noun-verb agreement in foreign languages? But I was in love. My grandparents had a set of those old, old Berlitz books, one each in German, Russian, French, and Italian, and that's how I would spend my time when we visited.

It is true that having learned a language before makes learning another language that much easier. When my professor introduced concepts such as "adjective declension" in Greek, I sympathized with the glazed-eyed 18-year-olds, but having already learned Russian I thought nothing could scare me.

That being said, every time I learn a new language I have to re-discover just how rich and varied (and challenging) they really are. I've learned Russian well enough that it just seems simple(ish), but of course it's not. You learn a few key words in a language and then you feel like you're off to the races, but then your teacher or textbook starts dropping words like "participles" and "progressive aspect" and you realize just how little you actually know.

I've found knitting to be like this too. I've crocheted and crocheted and crocheted, to the extent that nothing scares me any more. There are a few techniques I haven't used but I know I can learn them. Knitting is starting all over again. And I had forgotten just how rich and varied (and challenging) it can be to learn a new craft.

But of course that would be the case. A language isn't only capable of expressing ideas like "I like to read in my free time" (the Italian sentence I taught myself in elementary school); it encompasses everything, every thought possible. And the fiber arts have been around for millenia; it was only recently that any type of cloth or garment wasn't made by hand by skilled women (and a handful of men), using techniques they learned from untold generations, able to create any shape or texture or weight or function.

It takes a lot of patience, something I am occasionally short of. I'm jealous of those generations of scholars who grew up reading Greek and Latin, fluent in both, composing dissertations in each, no longer having to slog through verb paradigms and declension charts. I'm jealous of my friends who have been knitting as long or longer than I've been crocheting, who can breeze through a lace shawl or a fair-isle sweater without needing to look down at their work. Sometimes I don't want to have to learn, I just want to be able to do it.

But then again, for me, learning is how I participate. And it really is lovely to get to participate. One verb form and one yarn over at a time.

Greek vase detail of women weaving

another year

2009-10-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, the lovely Jared and I got together to do a photo shoot for my new batch of Best Friend Beanies. It's the same friend from last Fall's shoot, for three reasons:
1) he actually is my best friend
2) the beanies are unisex, so I like showing them on both a guy and a girl, and
3) Jared takes good pictures.

I've known Jared for...probably close to 8 years now. When you're that close to a person for so long, you obviously don't notice them aging, but looking back at photos from when I was a freshman and he was a sophomore always make us laugh and say "we look like babies." So clearly there is some boundary there, some quantifiable period of time that changes you from younger-than-you-are to as-old-as-you-are. What is that boundary? Does anyone know? Does it change the older you get?

Here we are at almost this exact time last year:

And here we are now:

With the rather obvious exception of one of us growing copious facial hair, do we look different? Is there another year in our faces? It's hard for me to tell.

Not that it matters. We're still...you know. Us.

It took us I think five takes to keep straight faces for this shot, we kept cracking up. But I think it was worth it. This picture obviously has "we are awesome" written all over it.

Ayn Rand, a summary

2009-10-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

I feel like this blog post was a little disorganized and clearly written as a kneejerk reaction instead of well-thought-out. So I want to write a summary, and here it is:

I don't believe that life is a zero-sum game among people. And even if it is I don't believe that that is any way to live.
...
and also Ayn Rand is a terrible, terrible writer

There. End of all discussion of Ayn Rand for all time.

interconnected

2009-10-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

I try not to rant about things, both because it's usually pointless and also because I don't want to offend anybody by coming down on the opposite side of a controversial issue, but I just read this article on the Daily Beast about how Ayn Rand is "in" and fashion designers are so inspired by her writing and/or philosophy that they are designing whole collections "inspired" by her. So I feel I really must comment, and my comment is this:

I hate Ayn Rand.

I mean, HATE. Really really.

Maybe not as a person, I mean after all I never met the lady. But if she was anything like her characters, she was probably a complete a*hole as well.

First of all, she is a bad writer. Has no one realized this yet? She is terrible. I think I've even read direct quotes from her along the lines of "fiction is not my strong suit." No kidding. The characters, the "heroes" that everyone quotes/looks up to/wants to dress like (?) are two-dimensional and absurd, to say the least; the dialogue is stilted or non-existent; the exposition is predictable or non-existent...everything that you might hope for in a novel is either completely butchered or completely missing. I'm basing this on my struggle to read The Fountainhead. To be fair, I only made it halfway through before giving up entirely, but really once you've read about 650 pages, it's probably not going to get any better from there.

Side note: in that article, Ralph Lauren is quoted as saying that Ayn Rand is his favorite author, "along with Ernest Hemingway." Aaron pointed out that this is like saying Bryan Adams is your favorite musician, along with the Rolling Stones. hahaha (apologies to any hard-core Bryan Adams fans out there.)

And of course, the main character ("hero") of any Ayn Rand novel is a Rugged Individual, a Person Who Does Not Let Society Dictate, and also A Complete Jerk. That's what it boils down to, which gets down to the larger problem I have with Ayn Rand, which is that I completely disagree with her philosophy. And that's all her (awful, terrible) novels are, just (extremely long) novelizations of her one-note, self-absorbed philosophy.

I do understand the context from which this philosophy developed. I understand that spending your childhood oppressed under a Communist regime might give you a different perspective on society than the one that I currently have. But.

I have never encountered someone who espoused such a selfish, bitter, grasping worldview, who wasn't himself or herself selfish, bitter, isolated and discontent. The wise people of the world and of history (see: Dalai Lama, for one) have always said "we are dependent upon each other. To believe or act otherwise is ignorance." I cannot think of a single faith tradition that does not teach this. I cannot think of an example where "peace" and "cooperation" don't go hand-in-hand.

Of course I believe that we should be free to pursue happiness, that we should be able to express ourselves, that we should develop ourselves as individuals. But the Rand philosophy, especially as developed and lauded by later followers I think, has a serious flaw: by trying to diametrically oppose oppression and stagnation, it has brought into its scope a complete opposition to altruism, compassion, empathy, community...in short, all of the things that, I believe at least, make us human. Or at least, make being a human worth anything at all.

I am a member of a Unitarian Universalist church. "So, what exactly do you believe?" is a question that always follows this statement. It can be hard to explain, sometimes, and to some people. But there are 7 Core Beliefs which the UU church espouses, and one that always sticks with me is this: "I believe in the interconnected web of all being."

So it bothers me that in this time where we struggle, when we need each other most, that we look to heroes who believe the opposite.

I probably shouldn't let an article on "Sexy Beast" get me so worked up, but there it is.

What a day to forget my camera.

2009-10-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

My job doesn't pay very well. But it does come with some perks. The professors I work for/with are brilliant and most of them are also kind and encouraging. I learn something new about religion and/or academia everyday. I get book recommendations and frequent book loans. I'm getting to take a class in ancient Greek even though I'm not in school.

And then, yesterday, one of the professors had a meeting she had to go to, so she couldn't go to the afternoon session of a conference that was in town, so she gave me her ticket. To go see this guy:
Um yes that is the Dalai Lama. (The 14th Dalai Lama, to be exact.)

The Mind and Life Institute was having its annual conference in DC at a Hall about four blocks from my office. So I just, you know, took a long lunch and went to hear several leading neuroscientists and developmental psychologists chat with the Dalai Lama about education.

That's...a pretty big perk.

(and goshdarnit if I hadn't taken my camera out of my purse and left it at home...dangit)

Crafty Boy

2009-10-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year Aaron gave me a new carry-on bag, and inside the bag was a new swimsuit and a note to pack accordingly. He was whisking me off for a week in...?? It was a surprise. I'm not sure if I was more excited or frustrated. I almost convinced him to tell me where we were going, but at the last minute I decided I would regret it so I just let it be a surprise. I had to wait three whole weeks to find out. He kept telling me that I would find out whenever we got to the airport...he failed to mention that we had a connecting flight, so I went to the DC airport all excited and ready to find out where we were going and he hands me a boarding pass foooooor ...Charlotte, NC. Um. My frustration mounted.

Anyway, the point is, another flight and a few hours later, we ended up here:

In case that huge Red Stripe advertisement and the insanely turquoise sea didn't tip you off, that's Jamaica.

Jamaica! And entire week in Jamaica! Oh yes, it was amazing. Our hotel was on the cliffs, so every morning we would come downstairs and get some fresh Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee,

and then take a dip in our gorgeous private swimming hole.

The place we were staying was called Blue Cave Castle (for reals!)

and when we were coming back from snorkeling our boat was followed by dolphins (for reals!)

And there was seaside/seagoing horseback riding (did you know horses can swim with their riders clinging to them??)
And unbelievable food and gorgeous sunsets.

And cocktails and rum cream and Red Stripe. Lots of Red Stripe (yes I took several pictures of my many Red Stripe bottles. I'll spare you.)

And then, on the next-to-the-last day, this happened:

AARON PROPOSED!!!
Do you see that ring? At first I couldn't tell if he meant it because it wasn't a diamond and also because I was 100% surprised, and I kept saying "Really?!? Are you sure???!"
And then I started breathing again and I managed to say yes :)
So yes, the ring, ah, the ring. Isn't it lovely? It's handmade by this couple who lives in the forest in Canada; Aaron had it custom-designed so no one in the world has anything like it. There's this very thin inlay of lighter wood around the band, do you see it? I have no idea how human hands can make something like it. But, it's perfect.

So, what we have learned is that Aaron* is extremely good at plotting and secret-keeping (he later said he'd been planning this trip since March or April). And also that he is pretty romantic. And crafty.
And also I'm about to become that girl that can only ever talk about wedding things. Yippee!

*my future husband! Holy cow!

Free wedding garter patterns!

2009-10-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

One of my dear friends at Stitch 'n' Bitch is Juli. She is simultaneously a mom, a small business owner, and one of the most stylish people I've ever known. Her business is selling fabulous, unique, 100% handmade wedding garters. How cute is that??

Recently Juli decided to offer free garter patterns on her website; she designed her own knit garter, and then we worked together to design a crochet version. Both versions are super-simple, super-cheap, and, I think, pretty adorable as well. We had looked around for the right yarn together but in the end Juli came up with the idea to use ribbon, which really sells it for me.
What do you think? (check out the knitted one too, the ribbon is precious)

If you don't have any imminent need for a handmade wedding garter, be sure to check out Juli's blog anyway; she's starting to offer a weekly style column which I'm really excited about.

***
I'm making some changes to this blog, did you notice? I'm still working some things out but I hope you like it. I feel like I'm in a season of big changes/improvements...more on that soon ;)

We knit because we love it.

2009-09-04T18:22:00.001-07:00

You know how they say there's a difference between a "process knitter/crocheter" and a "project knitter/crocheter"? I'm almost 100% project-oriented.

That's not to say that I don't enjoy the feeling of the stitches, or having something to do with my hands, or seeing the piece come together as I'm working on it. I love and adore those things. It's just that I only ever pick projects that I want to have. I don't pick things to work on to learn new techniques or stitch patterns; if I learn those in the process of making something beautiful, that's fine. But I'm always oriented towards the end product.

(This is true of everything in my life actually. I'd be much happier if I were more Zen about things. But I digress.)

This has the tendency to make me a very impatient crafter. I have a very low tolerance for a large swath of boring repetitive stitches to slog through. And, since my goal is to have a beautiful end-product, I have very, very little patience with myself when it comes to making mistakes or executing new things imperfectly.

On the other side of the personality spectrum is my knitter/crocheter/yogi friend Elspeth. She taught herself to knit...left-handed. And working side-to-side instead of turning the work. Basically she made it up as she went along and worked it out and she makes beautiful things, but more importantly she loves doing it.

This makes her a patient, happy, fearless crafter.

(This is also pretty much true of everything in her life. Is knitting always a microcosm of personality?)

One night at Stitch 'n' Bitch a fellow knitter was having one of those familiar breakdowns, frustrated and aggravated and ready to throw the darn thing against the wall and snap the needles over her leg (surely we can all relate). Elspeth looked up from her (patient, happy) stitching and said, calmly and cheerfully, "Remember! We knit because we love it!"

I am officially attempting to adopt this as my crafting motto. Or mantra, more appropriately.

A few weeks ago Elspeth moved to Boston to start grad school. (I think we're all a little or a lot heartbroken. But obviously also excited and happy for her.) In SnB DC tradition we all secretly made squares to put together a blanket for her as a farewell gift.

Traditionally when these things get made, what happens is everybody knits squares, and since I, up until recently, was a pure crocheter (pure non-knitter), I would crochet the border and that's all I would contribute. I was always happy to have some little piece I could contribute. But this time I could really knit! I was told that others would be crocheting their squares, so I could "just crochet some too", but I was determined.

I am not a skilled knitter; I knew that everyone else's would be a lot fancier, a lot more interesting, a lot, well, better. But I wanted to show what I could do, even if it wasn't much.

So I made these:

(apologies for the cruddy pictures, I only managed to get them when they were blocking in my dark basement)

The one on the left is eyelet lace. I do realize this is the easiest lace pattern on the planet, but man when I figured out how to do it I was so stinking proud of myself. Seriously. I e-mailed people to brag. So I know it's not that fancy. But Elspeth is the one who told me that lace was hard but I should do it. She's never considered anything too difficult not to try, including joining the Peace Corps (which I admit would scare me quite a bit) and teaching herself to knit on dpns (which terrifies me). So in honor of her I tried something new, just to see if I could.

And it turns out I can.

We miss you Elspeth. Happy first week of grad school!

to have and to hold

2009-08-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, one of my oldest and very best friends got married.

As most crafters I'm sure can agree, this kind of major event can cause one to go a little bananas. The day she told me she got engaged I started searching for patterns (I finally picked this one); I started ordering yarn that week. I wanted something beautiful, unique, slightly ambitious, luxurious. I wanted something that could become an heirloom. As my dismayed boyfriend watched the yarn pile up around me and the blanket squares multiply, all I could say to him was, "You're lucky none of my friends have gotten pregnant yet. Then you're in real trouble."

I have to say I was a little worried that what I was making just wasn't quite good enough, not quite special enough. How can I accurately reflect all the years we've had together, all the nights talking and the trips and the parties and the tears and [yes this is a very sentimental blog post] in one single little gift?
I've known Anne since we lived across the hall from each other as freshmen in college.
Since then we've criss-crossed the globe, sometimes together and sometimes only in parallel. We had crushes on boys (sometimes the same ones.) We went to school. We graduated and got jobs. We grew up (although somedays I feel like I, for one, have a lot more to do in that department.)

So I worked my little fingers to the bone, hoping to create something perfect. The squares were coming out all weird and warped and I was worried. The yarn (a wool/bamboo blend) felt a little too...fibery, in some parts. The color was listed as "polar white" which is exactly what I wanted, but when it arrived I discovered it was more of an ecru color...I panicked about that too.

Then I started blocking all of the squares and oh. my. god.

I have blocked things before, but never before this project have I experienced just what a transformation it could be. The squares turned into...squares. The flowers looked like flowers. The yarn turned into this unbelievably soft, exquisitely silky material. The color looked exactly like champagne, with an added bit of sheen from the bamboo. I love you, blocking.

I was so excited about the project at this point that I spent seven, yes, seven total hours seaming the thing over the course of two days, because I was so excited to give it to her.

She took pictures when she got the blanket home:

I am so, so happy with that. Those pictures make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That blanket laying across that warm yellow comforter is how I imagine Anne and Ben's guest room looking someday, the place where I will stay when I come to visit, wherever they are, wherever I've been.
I really hope Anne and Ben love it.

I love you girls.

Happy wedding Anne!

Letting go of project guilt

2009-06-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. I hate "finishing". I hate doing anything to my projects other than stitching them. That's the fun part. Sewing on buttons, seaming, weaving in ends, etc., all those little "finishing" details, drive me nuts and make me seek out seamless, buttonless patterns. The moment I hit a button-sewing obstacle I become the world's laziest crafter.

Ravelry is doing a lot to show me just how incredibly lazy I can really be. I have a skirt that I made from the CrochetMe book.

"in progress" shot...ha

I vaguely remember working on it...once...long ago. I remember crocheting it, I remember it being all-but-finished. Ends woven in and everything, just needs some buttons. It's been sitting in my Ravelry projects at 95%, just waiting for buttons. I've been pointedly ignoring it. It was actually sitting in a box hidden away behind my couch. Last week I decided to look through my projects and Ravelry tells me that that poor skirt has been waiting for a button since March 2008. Oh Jesus. Yes I am that bad.

It was then that I realized, "oh wait I hate this skirt". That's why it's been so long. That's why it's hiding. I would have sewn on a button by now (surely, right?) if I had liked it at all. But as soon as I was done with the crocheting I suddenly had this insight: "Why on earth would I have ever thought that a thick, shapeless mini-skirt crocheted in acrylic be at all flattering on me?" Seriously? Crafter, know thyself! Wrapping a pound of heavy-duty Red Heart around my, let's say "generous", thighsection is probably the worst possible clothing choice I could make.

I want to be clear, I have no problem with the design itself. It worked up fast, it was cheap, it looks fine, it's a perfect beginner project, and it turned out exactly as the designer intended: a cheap, durable skirt for someone adorably petite to wear while bike-riding. I was lured into making it for myself because it looks so damn cute on the model in the book; the problem is, it looks so damn cute on the model in the book because she's the model in the book.

So for over a year I've had this project sitting there, making me feel guilty every time I take up another project, ruining my crafty self-esteem and threatening to wreak havoc (again) on my body image.

This is Knit(or Crochet) for Yourself June (per declaration of Katie), so in the spirit of that, I am officially tossing this project! Frogged! Ripped! (Thrown away!) I believe this is in the spirit of the month.
I am now an un-project-burdened girl.

Congratulate me! I did not poke my eyes out!

2009-04-13T06:34:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to learn to knit for many many moons. This year I resolved to actually do it. I probably wouldn't have stuck with it very well except my friend Katie dared me to give up not-knitting at Stitch and Bitch for Lent. I'm not sure that's the kind of thing Jesus or the Catholic Church would have in mind, but I stuck with it. And just as Easter Sunday was winding down:
Yayayay! I did it!

To be fair, that shrug is just...awful. I mean, the pattern is cute as hell, and I actually ended up really liking the yarn I used for it. But. There are all kinds of uneven stitches, yarn overs in the wrong places or extra yarn overs or shifted yarn overs, increases and decreases randomly (and all accidentally) placed, etc etc. As one might expect from one's very very first knitted project.

But I'm really proud that I finished it! I'm also really proud that I did not, as I had threatened so frequently, poke my eyes out with my size 11 needles.

This project, if nothing else, will always be a souvenir of SnB to me. Like a patchwork quilt. Gwen taught me the long-tail cast-on, Katie taught me how to actually make a knit stitch (I was doing it wrong), Elspeth taught me how to tink back, Kelly (who I barely knew at the time) taught me how to yarnover, Tanya (who I also barely knew at the time) donated stitch markers, Beth helped me learn how to bind off. Those are just the specific examples. Basically every person in this group that I love so much is somewhere in that (tiny, misshapen) shrug of mine, so for that reason alone I will always treasure it.

T.G.I.F(inished)

2009-03-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

Oh, praises be, she is done.

This is the blanket I have been working on since January 2008, got terribly behind on, and spent the first part of 2009 dreading. I finally buckled down and worked through it, and it's done. D.O.N.E.

And yes, it was exactly as much of a pain in the butt to join as I was dreading it would be. Many, many hours of joining.
If you are considering doing a similar CAL or KAL or some such, here is a piece of advice I wish I had been given: the number of stitches along a side is WAY more important than the rough size of the square. Meaning, for every month I made squares and was careful to add or subtract rows so that they would be about 12" across. And then when I got to the joining, I ran into this nightmare: one square would be 47 stitches across, and the one I was joining it to would be 36. And the next one would be 42. And so on. So it wasn't even mindless crocheting, because I had to count each time and do careful math so that I would space out the joining stitches evenly, in order to avoid wonky seaming. It was quite the headache.
Also, squares in this gauge are pliable and will stretch a little to fit into the right size. So really, if you are making an afghan with different types of squares, please heed my warning and try to make the stitches the same, and worry less about the exact size.

This is just a simple sc join, first joining the squares width-wise and then going back length-wise, if that makes sense. It was the fastest method I could think of (hah) and also used the least amount of yarn, considering I was very much running out of the white. There's a simple sc edging around. I was thinking about adding more edging, in another color, to give it a bolder border, at which point my harried boyfriend gestured wildly and said STOP and so I did.

It's done it's done it's done!!
Now I have a beeeeautiful and warm and heavy and huge afghan, and I can make other projects with no UFO guilt!
Oh I can't wait to have my first house guest. I'm going to insist they sleep under this blanket, no matter how warm it might be.

Beth's comment + design notes

2009-03-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

My friend Beth is one of the most organized and level-headed people I know. Read this:

"when I have to cast-on (or chain) so many stitches for a project, I often place stitch markers every 25 or 50 stitches so that I don't have to keep re-counting those beginning sections more than two or three times."

That was in response to the Madness Note at the end of the pattern in this post. I swear to you this strategy had never occurred to me. I usually just grit my teeth and try to power through and pray no one interrupts me. So um please use Beth's method, not mine, if you want further sanity preservation.

Beth also asked if crocheted scarves are usually done length-wise as opposed to width-wise. I want to say that I don't think this is the case; most of the patterns I've worked with have been width-wise. But for the both of the scarves that I've designed here, I knew that the length was more important than the width; I wanted length to be a prominent design element of each. Also, the seed stitch, which I used for Snow Angel, and its variant which I used for Frosty, are very stretchy heightwise, and less so widthwise. I wanted my scarves to be flexible and soft when wrapping around your neck, but I also knew that if they stretch lengthwise they would have a tendency to thin out in the middle, right where you need the most warmth; so for those two reasons I chose to design both of them oriented the way they are.

That's a long-winded answer, hope you like it :)

Frosty

2009-03-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

Allow me to introduce Frosty, a new scarf design!

I am wearing this scarf right now. No, it's not that cold, but I love this scarf. It's the length that really sells it for me. It feels very stylish, and the yarn is so soft. It's the same yarn as my Snow Angel scarf, so the same yarn notes apply.

For those of you on ravelry, I hope to have both of these scarves available as free pdf downloads in the next couple of days.

A big, HUGE thanks to my wonderful pattern testers, Erin, Suzen, and Ann-Marie!

I hope you enjoy!

“Frosty” Scarf

The color of this warm winter scarf reminded me of the coal eyes of a child’s snowman. The subtle texture emphasizes the softness of the yarn and makes the scarf thick and cozy, without being too heavy.

Materials: I Love This Yarn! (distributed by Hobby Lobby) 100% acrylic, 355 yds/198

grams: 1 skein, Black. (or 350 yds other soft, bulkier-weight worsted)

M hook

N hook

yarn needle

Gauge: not really important

Finished size: about 4” x 104”

Special stitches:

Seed stitch

Seed Spike stitch (sdsp): in seed stitch pattern, dc into ch-1 sp two rows below,

overlapping sc immediately below.(note: in .pdf version, charts will be included to explain this stitch)

With M hook, ch 252 LOOSELY (see notes below). Switch to N hook.

Row 1: Sc into second ch from hook; sc into remaining ch; 251 sc.

Row 2: Ch 1 (count as 1st sc now & throughout), sc in next 2 sc, * ch 1, sk next sc, sc into next sc*, repeat from * to * until 2 sc remain, sc into each of last 2 sc. (123 ch-1 sp).

Row 3: Ch 1, sc in next sc, *ch 1, sk next sc, sc into next ch-1 sp*, repeat from * to * until 3 sc remain, ch 1, sk next sc, sc into each of last 2 sc.

Row 4: Ch 1, sc into each of next 2 sc, *dc into Row 2 ch-1 sp (sdsp made), sc into next ch-1 sp*, repeat from * to * until 2 sc remain, sc into each of next 2 sc.

Rows 5-13: Repeat Rows 2-4 three times.

Row 14: With M hook, sc in each st across. Fasten off.

Sizing note: The pattern as written will produce an extra-extra-long scarf, which is part of what I love about it. If you want to re-size it, just calculate any odd number + 5 for the base chain.

Madness note: I understand that chaining 252 without losing count can be insanity-inducing. Trust me, I know. I strongly recommend going into a room where you can shut the door (especially a sound-proof room) before attempting this. I think it’s worth the effort! And everything after this is a piece of cake in comparison.

that being said...

2009-03-03T06:27:00.000-08:00

It's not like I haven't been doing other things, despite the massive amounts of afghan homework I have to do.

After finishing up my beautiful sweater which I love so much, I immediately ordered yarn for another project from Everyday Crochet. Really once you get the hang of the construction, it's SO addictive. So speedy and satisfying. So I decided to do the "Eve's Rib Tunic", for three reasons:
1) it's been my favorite pattern since the first time I browsed through the book,
2) Winter is showing no signs of retreating and I'm really, really tired of wearing the same 3 sweaters over and over again, and
3) my friend Gwen is constantly producing lovely little knitted tops and tees and tunics and wearing them over long-sleeve shirts and I decided to shamelessly copy her look.
And here is the result:

I made a few small modifications. For one thing, since I wanted this to be a cozy cold-weather garment, I changed the shell pattern from the stated (dc, ch 2, dc, ch 2, dc) to (2dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, 2dc), just to add a little more fabric. This had the effect of give the shells a slightly raised texture, which was unintended but I actually like it. It adds to the coziness.
(it's hard to tell in the pictures)

Also, I not only added the bust short rows, but I then tapered 2 shells (from 18 repeats to 16, if I remember correctly) to give it some waist shaping, and then followed the hip shaping as written.
I was debating about the arm ribbing, but I am really glad I added it, it gives it a nice finished feel.

The yarn I used was elann.com Superwash "Chunky", which I assumed meant it would be sorta worsted-y and I was right. C'est la elann.com. All the same, this yarn in this stitch and at this gauge makes for a lovely, huggy, squishy garment, exactly what I was looking for.
If you're wondering, this is I guess my attempt at looking cool. Obviously that is not my strong suit. My face says ennui, but in my heart is nothing but love love love for the vest.

Thank you, as always, Ms. Chan.

no fun

2009-03-02T10:52:00.000-08:00

Last year in January I joined up with the 12" Blanket Square crochet-along run simultaneously through Craftster and Ravelry. The theory is that you make 1 of these squares a month and you'll end up with a 3' x 4' blanket, or if you're more ambitious/foolhardy and want a full-size afghan, you make two.
At first it was so much fun! A new square to look forward to every month! Plus, since you're working as you go, you don't end up with a million ends to weave in when it's time to assemble everything! Plus, how long could it take you to make two blanket squares? Honestly?
Unfortunately in the summer I got really really tied up with making Fall inventory for Etsy and building up stock for my Eastern Market booth, so the July squares got done in August. And then the August squares got done in...maybe October. And then Christmas gift-making happened and oy...
So I started 2009 with 1/3 of a blanket to complete that was supposed to have been completed already. And now it is just no fun at all. It takes a lot of discipline on my part to work on those. And then there's the assembling, and one of my squares is all funny-shaped so I may have to do it again...And it is March. Of the following year. Blargh.

So even though I don't have a lot of Etsy things to do and I have finally finished with a couple of design submissions and I have all the time in the world finally to make fun things, I have this task that I have to accomplish. And I don't want to. But hell I've put so much work into it already.

In college if I was supposed to have finished a paper but instead went out with my friends I would feel a faint haze of guilt in the background of every quesadilla/beer. That's kinda what this feels like (yes, I have issues.)

Guess what this is??

2009-02-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

It's my very first design submission!

Okay technically I sent in another design last week but it was all electronic so it didn't feel as real as this lovely, tangible thing. With swatches and proposal pages and sketches and photos, all sealed up and carefully hand-carried to the post office. It is thrilling.

I was really stressed this past week trying to get it done, and was really stressed right up until the point when I put the whole package together, and now I'm just SO happy. The project itself came together really beautifully and I'm enormously proud. Hopefully the editors of [name of publication redacted] will be as excited as I am!

Oh and to my Tuesday night ladies (and gent), I hope you'll be proud too: it's a felted project. :)

Fingers crossed!

Fish in water

2009-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

Right now I know exactly what I want to be when I grow up, and that is a crochet-designing professor living with a hot architect.

I am so driven by my desire to be an academic that I managed to convince one of the professors in my department to make me his grader for the semester. Usually grad students fill this role but I tricked/persuaded him into agreeing that there was no way those kids were more qualified than me (there might have been something bordering on begging in there too) and I got the job.
Also, this past week I have tracked down some submission guidelines for some magazine-type things, and I actually have (what I think are) good ideas, so I think I'm really going to for real submit some designs.

So yesterday on our day off from work, I found myself sitting in a chair drinking coffee, alternating between grading book reports and working on a design idea, and Aaron was at his drafting desk working on his own design competition, and we were listening to a great album we just rediscovered, and the sun was shining through the window, and it was one of those this is it moments. I was happy as a clam.

Shannon coat: extensive project notes

2009-02-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

So, this is probably my favorite thing I've ever made. It's from Everyday Crochet by Doris Chan (I'll do a book review of this soon, there are a lot of things to say about it...) For this project I kept actually day-by-day notes of my work, for once, and instead of taking up all the space on my Ravelry projects page I moved all of the notes over to here.

Just a few comments: I would agree with the "experienced" rating this pattern has. There are some initial frustrations, but after you "get" the pattern, it is SO speedy and SO satisfying. And lovely. And squishy and cozy. Etc etc.

January 3-4: Started this late Saturday night, by the end of Sunday had already gotten through the yoke and underarm joining and a bit of the body. So, it seems to be a rather quick pattern (it is a pretty huge gauge after all), even though it takes sooo much extra time trying to decipher patterns/hunt down other pages in the book. That part was giving me fits. But otherwise I’m really pleased. I LOVE the Sierra yarn, especially for this pattern right now.

January 5-6: The cuff in the picture made the sleeve look a little bulky in my opinion so I’m omitting the cuff altogether; I decided to do the sleeves before the body to make sure I had enough yarn to get the length I want.
I’m done with right sleeve and started on left. Sleeve length in pattern is supposed to be 25 rows, I ended up making mine 36, due to a combination of my gauge is slightly short, my sleeve needs to be longer, and I apparently have what my boyfriend affectionately dubbed “gorilla arms”.

January 7-11: Scratch that. Arm rows = 39. Gorilla arms being what they are. (Note: after blocking, the arms stretched enough for me to be able to fold them up into a different kind of "cuff")

I apparently also have gorilla torso because the hip shaping is supposed to start at 8”, but mine don’t start increasing until about 9.5”. So I’ve lengthened smaller part of the body. I’m at about hip-level right now but I’ve only got 1.5 balls of yarn left. Yikes. It’s not going to be coat length at this point. I’ll just keep working on it until I’m out of yarn and decide if I need more or if it’s okay.

January 12-13: Yarn ran out when “coat” was about 18” from underarm, instead of the prescribed 25”; after staring at it for a long time I decided I kinda like it. It’s a bulky jacket and if it were any longer it would accentuate my, erm, bulkier parts, but at this length it’s actually very flattering I think. So! Body done, ends woven in, need to start swatching for collar.

January 14: The stated gauge for the collar section is bananas. Granted, the Superwash Worsted is on the very fine end of “Worsted”; I had to go all the way up to an L hook to get anywhere near the gauge, which made the fabric look totally unrecognizable and very flimsy, so I am just going with the J hook and being careful to work evenly up the edge.

January 21: Finally finished the collar, which, after the speediness of the body, seems to take forever and ever. But I tried it on, and, wow. It’s, wow. I love the collar. I love love love the whole thing. Now I just have to make the sash and block the whole thing. Oh, how I love it.

January 26: Spent the whole weekend trying to power through the “Sash-A” that’s supposed to go with it, and finally gave up. That thing is surprisingly difficult, and slow, and will make your hands curl up and cry. So I scrapped the whole thing and started over, made a sash that is just like the stitching on the collar and the exact width of the narrowest section of the collar. Also attached little belt loops with what little Sierra yarn I had left over.

Blocked the whole thing. Tried it on. Did a little dance. <--I love you, sweater.

for something completely different

2009-01-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

I have started a new blog:
myeasternblock.wordpress.com

I've been planning on starting this up for a while now; I wanted a place for one of my other loves/obsessions, namely travel (and living in DC). I'm hoping this will be a way for me both to practice travel writing and to document my time here on the East Coast, and maybe, just maybe, improve my photography skills in the process.

I hope you like it!

Details

2009-01-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

I'm realizing that my previously-shot pictures don't really do justice to the lovely texture of the Snow Angel design (and the yarn used for it) so I took advantage of the lovely winter scenery around here and got some better photos.

Snow Angel

2009-01-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

In honor of the glorious, picture-perfect snowy day we are having here in DC, I decided it was time to finally publish my first pattern!

A big thanks yet again to my tester Celeste for her help editing this pattern. I'm hoping to have this available as a Ravelry download in the next couple of days.

Please enjoy!

“Snow Angel” Scarf

With a fresh blanket of snow, the world looks clean and soft, and we get to indulge in our warmest, snuggliest clothes. I wanted to capture all of these elements of winter into one simple but luxurious scarf. The stitch pattern is warm without being dense, and the light frilling on the edges remind me of a dusting of snowflakes.

Materials: I Love This Yarn! (distributed by Hobby Lobby) 100% acrylic, 355 yds/198 grams:
1 skein, White. (or 350 yds other soft, bulkier-weight worsted; see yarn notes below)
L hook
M hook
yarn needle
Gauge: not really important for this pattern
Finished size: about 6” x 74”
Special stitch: Seed stitch (sc, ch1, sk next st, sc in following, repeat)

With L hook, chain 206 LOOSELY.* Switch to M hook.
Row 1: Sc into second ch from hook, sc in next 2 sts, *ch 1, sk next st, sc in next st*, repeat from * to * until 2 sts remain, sc into each of last sts (100 ch-1 spaces). Turn.
Row 2: Ch 1, sc in first two sts, *ch 1, sk next st, sc in next ch-1 sp*, repeat from * to * until 3 sts remain, ch 1, sk next st, sc into each of last 2 sts (101 ch-1 spaces). Turn.
Row 3: Ch 1, sc in first st, *ch 1, sk next st, sc in next ch-1 sp*, repeat from * to * until 2 sts remain, sc into each of last sts. Turn.
Rows 4-18: Repeat rows 2 and 3. Switch to L hook.
Edging: Top and bottom edges (long sides): Sc in each st. (205 sc) Ch 1 at corner, turn piece. Side edges: Sc again into corner st. (Sc, ch 1, sc) in each st along side edge (18 ch-1 sp). Ch 1 at corner, turn piece. At fourth corner, fasten off.
*Note: This pattern can be made longer or shorter, depending on your preference; ch any multiple of 2 and follow pattern as directed.
**Yarn note: The I Love This Yarn is actually quite a nice acrylic; very soft and definitely on the bulkier side of worsted, although it doesn't feel "heavy." Feel free to substitute your own favorite yarn that is lofty and squishy without being weighty; the texture of the pattern definitely benefits from the wider gauge of the yarn.

Femme

2009-01-27T10:09:00.000-08:00

Today I am wearing my brand-new Doris Chan jacket/cardi (of which I have yet to take pictures). I love, love, love this sweater. So much so that I was sitting at breakfast with some faculty members, and I got really tired of waiting for them to ask me about the sweater, so I just flat out said HEY I MADE THIS.
This started a whole discussion about whether or not it was "feminist" of me to spend my time sitting at home crocheting. The old (male) farts seemed to think that it is a bit old-fashioned, which might be true, but my argument to them was that I find it very empowering, not to mention the fact that I feel so privileged to get to take part in a tradition that women throughout time have carefully cultivated. I realized that the bra-burning feminists would have eschewed any kind of handicraft or domesticity, but I think that this generation's feminism (are we third- or fourth-wave??) has come around to a more thoughtful and appreciative mode. Then again, I don't know that much about feminism I guess. I just like what I like.

Where I was

2009-01-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday the boy and I found a spot on the hill of the Washington Monument. Close enough to (sorta) see a couple of Jumbotrons; if we had been willing to get to the mall at 5am we might have gotten closer. As it was, standing in the 10 degree windchill for several hours was enough to make me terribly, knock-out sick yesterday. I'm better now. And of course it was worth it.

The family standing in front of us was amazing; four sweet red-headed kids, ages maybe 7 through 12, freezing their poor little ears off but so excited to be there, asking questions about the role of the vice president and term limits for senators and if reelected presidents get sworn in all over again and similar questions that would make any junior high Civics teacher well up with tears of joy and pride.
The crowd became disproportionately elated when Biden was sworn in; I think it was that moment when everyone realized a) those guys are really leaving and b) these new guys are really staying.
There was absolutely nothing mundane about that day.

last night

2008-11-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

was an amazing night to be in DC. Among other things.

I am so in love with my city and my country and my president-elect right now.

trianniversary

2008-11-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

Three years ago today, I went on a date with a boy.

I was so stomach-clenchingly nervous about this date that I had one beer, paid for it myself, and promptly fled the scene.

Fortunately for me, and for reasons I might never understand, that boy kept calling me even after that.

He is a lot of things that I could list here, but maybe some other time. Mostly he's just the best. I'm an undeserving and lucky, lucky girl.

Also, of course, it's election day. In case you didn't know.
I'm hoping that tonight those of us who have spent a lot of time in political frustration and desperation can finally sleep the dreamless sleep of the relieved and the victorious.

Happy electianniversary day to me.

Zig, baby, Zig

2008-10-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

My last design idea for fall is all done and photos are up and everything's listed on Etsy. I have to admit I'm outrageously proud of this one:
It was a pain in the neck to work out the math and the construction on this one, but I knew exactly what I wanted and this came out exactly like it was in my head. I'm in love with the yarn I used and the colors and the length and the way the zigzags look next to each other. I'm so pleased.

We took the photos a couple of weeks ago, which meant I again ran into the conundrum of shooting Fall things in what was clearly not even close to Fall weather or scenery. We found this spot right next to Rock Creek, under a stone bridge, and Aaron of course worked his photo magic, and I think everything looks great.

Now I'm working constantly and obsessively on my Winter things. I'm really excited to show those off too.

P.S. I'm about halfway through working up a pattern/tutorial for this scarf, so if you're a crocheter, stay tuned! :)

Belle Isle

2008-10-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

I finally got all of my pictures from England edited, resized, edited some more, and uploaded to Flickr. It only took me two months! I put up a LOT of pictures but it was honestly only a quarter of the pictures I took, which is quite an achievement. My pictures are like my babies; no matter how unremarkable they are I want everyone in the whole world to look at them and marvel. So it's pretty hard for me to exclude any.

Here is one of my favorites:
Aaron tried to convince me to cut out all of the "pictures of pretty houses" because he said they had nothing to do with our trip and didn't really tell a story. I told him to shove it, basically, because when I close my eyes and think "England" the image that almost invariably comes to mind is pretty white cottages with thatched roofs and flowers surrounded by impossible shades of green. I was so thrilled to find out that England really looks like that. So there. It's part of MY trip story at least.

England also looks like this:

(muddy, muddy music festival)

And this:

(off Brick Lane, London)

And this:

(Tate Modern, across the Thames)

I wouldn't want to live there maybe, but looking at the pictures sure makes me want to go back there immediately (or maybe when the weather warms up.)

Now I'm off to warm my hands around a hot mug of Earl Grey tea. Pippip. Cheerio.

(rest of pictures can be found here)

To market, to market

2008-10-16T06:54:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I had my very first, real-life, honest-to-goodness selling day. I've never done a show or a fair before and I've been working for almost a year and a half making enough things to be able to have a little space in the flea market at Eastern Market. If you live in the DC area you've probably heard of this; it's the name for both a really beautiful neighborhood around Capitol Hill and the "market" itself, which happens every weekend and literally has sellers of everything you could possibly imagine: antiques, furniture, thrifted clothes, books, crafts, jewelry, African and Tibetan art imports, original paintings and photography, fruit and veggies, etc. etc. etc. And on Sunday, there was even this:

I was so insanely proud of my little booth. Aaron worked for hours the night before on that sign, and both of us stayed up way too late making price tags, packing everything up, etc. But it was so much fun.

I'm going to have two more days there: October 26 and November 2. If you live in the DC area, come by and say hi!!

a better Monday

2008-10-06T10:33:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I suddenly realized that my weekends in Fall were almost totally booked, but I hadn't made time for camping in the mountains, which is an autumn must for me. So I ditched work one day and spent Sunday and Monday here:

with these guys:

We saw more deer than I could count:

We also ran into a full-grown black bear in the woods in the dark on the trail back to our tent:
{image unavailable due to I was walking too fast in the opposite direction and forget to take out my camera}

For breakfast we had sausages slow-roasted over charcoal and Graham crackers with apple butter I had bought for a little roadside stand on the way out (and homemade apple cider from the same stand):

(Aaron is so proud of the new camp sporks we bought just for the occasion.)

We hiked, just a teensy bit:

And took our sweet time getting back into the city. We stopped at a diner on the highway that we always see and I've always wanted to try:

(the Double Cheeseburger was good, the milkshake was okay, but Jared tells me the buffalo burger is definitely NOT worth the money.)

It's almost Fall in Shenandoah. Probably next weekend will be breathtaking:

It's not like I'm having a particularly bad Monday right now. It's just that, how can you beat that?

a small gift

2008-09-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

One of my very favorite things about my job is that I get to work with so many interesting, kind, hilarious, brilliant people. I love my professors and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

One of the people I've really gotten close to is a wonderful adjunct professor who also happens to be a Buddhist nun. She and I have worked on a couple of very big conferences together and she is such a patient, hardworking and longsuffering person (as you might expect), not to mention the fact that she is constantly in the process of translating some ancient Tibetan literature into English, which is mind-boggling/awesome to me. I had been wanting to give her a gift, something handmade, but kept running out of time or ideas, so I was a little bit embarassed as well as flattered when she asked me to make her a hat like my Parisienne caps, but in a color that she could wear (they're only allowed to wear Burgundy or Gold). It took a lot of searching but we finally found a suitable color and I ordered a lot just to make sure I had enough. I tried to give her the hat as a gift but she wouldn't hear of it. Fortunately though I had a whole skein of the yarn left over, so I found this pattern and thought it would be perfect.

The first step was easy enough; the pattern was clearly written and I worked it up in maybe two afternoons; no sweat. Then I arranged it on a mixing bowl for a mold to see what it would end up looking like:

(that cloth it's sitting on is a Nepali brocade that my friend gave me after our last conference as a thank you gift)

Looks great, right?
Then it needs to be starched; both because I was/am broke and because I don't know where to buy commercial fabric stiffener, I opted for the homemade formula listed with the pattern. Sugar and water, soak it, let it dry, three days and you have a bowl! What could be easier! Except:

It really looked like a kindergarten craft project that had been drizzled in Elmer's glue. It was um a little bit heartbreaking. There is something very, very wrong with the formula for that homemade stiffener. I'm assuming it has to do with the complete wrong proportion of sugar to water, but since I have not a clue how to fix that proportion or what would be the correct way to do this, the only thing I can recommend is to AVOID THE HOMEMADE STIFFENER. Bad. Bad bad.

I finally calmed down and decided to try to fix it instead of tossing it and starting all over again. It took three weeks of careful wiping with a damp washcloth, drying for two days, wiping the other side, drying for two days, and repeat, but I finally have something that looks like a gift a grownup might give to another grownup:

I'm really really happy with it and I can't wait to give it to her this afternoon!

So the moral of this story is, this pattern is wonderful, but PLEASE spring for the commercial stiffener, unless you're really looking forward to producing a big sticky crusty awful mess :)

By the way, when I gave Ani her hat, she said a quick blessing in Tibetan over it, which she said is traditional before putting on a new piece of clothing, to commemorate all the work that went into it. Which is hands-down the best thanks I've ever gotten for anything.

Best Friend

2008-09-26T06:02:00.001-07:00

A few months ago, one of my best friends, who lives far away, sent me a picture of a ski cap she saw somewhere and asked if I could make something similar. Having learned (and fallen in love with) crocheted ribbing from Celeste's fabulous City Girl Cap pattern, I got really excited about designing something for a friend. And thus, the Best Friend Beanie was born.

A few weeks ago (still blazing summer weather in DC) my best guy friend and I did a photo shoot with all of the beanies I had made for my etsy store for Fall:

One nice thing about having Jared model is that, of course, he is a beautiful boy. He's just astoundingly photogenic. Which is almost a shame because inevitably 80% of the photos I take have me in the middle of talking or sneezing or sneering or looking dubious or are otherwise unusable, so I ruined a whole lot of good Jared pictures :)

Another nice thing is that Jared's head was made to wear beanies. I've never seen a beanie that didn't love Jared. He was actually known to some of my acquaintances as "your friend who always wears the hat." They're kind of his thing.
A few years ago I was living in St. Petersburg. I was cold and miserable and homesick as hell. I went to check my e-mail and there was a link to a video. On the video was Jared's face. "Hey Allison," he said, smiling his perma-smile, "guess what time it is?" He reached off camera, made an "are you ready??" face, and pulled on one of his ubiquitous beanies. He pointed at his head and did a dance and sang "beanieweathertimebeanieweathertime!" and laughed like he does.
That was how I knew that it was Fall back home, and also how I was reminded, yet again, how much I love my best friends.

Full Disclosure

2008-09-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

The heat index was 98 degrees when we took these photos yesterday. And yes, I was miserable.

But I had bought a spot in the Etsy Fall Fashion Showcase so I needed some Fall things up. I was patient with DC weather for two weeks; the mercury was slowly dropping into the pleasant high 60's, and then...well, Summer hadn't finished tormenting us yet apparently.
(You'll notice that if it were actually as cold as that scarf would merit, my legs and feet would be frostbitten, but I refused to walk outside in knee-high boots in the 80% humidity...)

Just looking at these pictures makes me crave Fall. Please please please, have mercy on me, Climate!

I've been a busy girl

2008-09-04T06:25:00.000-07:00

I promise.

I've been crocheting up a storm, not to mention my little 10-day jaunt to the UK (oh how fabulous). But I've somehow met all of my project goals, and over Labor Day weekend finished up everything I wanted to have finished up.

After learning elann.com is discontinuing the glittery-fab yarn I made scarves out of, I frantically bought up a couple of bags full and made a few more scarves; I'm saving the rest for something bigger later. Got photos of the new colors, and re-did the old color so everything would be uniform:

Those are up on etsy starting today.

I also finished a slew of hats for the fall, and did a photo shoot of those on Sunday with my best guy friend, I really can't wait to see how those come out.

AND, I finished up a prototype of a new scarf design for fall, which I'm really really excited about. In that way that one gets excited when an idea actually turns out as cool as it was meant to be, which I'm discovering only happens about 20% of the time with me so I'm really trying to savor it ;) So I'll be making a few scarves as soon as the yarn gets here. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a little bit of "fun" crocheting for the first time in...a while. And by fun I mean the afghan I started for my grandma for Christmas. A full-size afghan in three months on top of all of the other million projects I'm anticipating? No sweat (eeeek)

I found something really exciting this morning. In my etsy store I'd been getting a whole lot of un-looked-for hearts, and I didn't see myself in a treasury so I couldn't figure it out, until I saw this scroll across the bottom of the front page. Holy. Cow. I squealed, at work. Fortunately I was the only person in the office at the time. I am so so so flattered and excited. Geez. It's not on the front page any more, but STILL. Holy cow.

And Many More

2008-07-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. I am a whole quarter-century old as of this afternoon.

In some ways I don’t feel like this day is different because it’s a Monday and I’m at work. But I figured I should take a pause to do some reflecting. My friend Gwen made a list of 34 goals for her 34^th birthday, which I was considering doing, but instead I have made a list of my 24 happiest memories of my 24^th year. Which would have been probably more appropriate to write last night, as sort of a farewell to that year, but…I was eating brownies last night. No time for blogging.

And so, in no particular order, are my top 24:

1. Visit to Colorado. Two weeks ago, as an early birthday present, I got whisked off to Colorado Springs to be with my girls. The first time in 5 years we’d all four been together, as a unit, which we are in spirit. Those 2 days probably had 24 happiest memories in themselves.

2. Anne moving to DC. I missed her. I love having her close.

3. Jan’s visit to DC. See above.

4. Andrew and his wife visiting/ASP Reunion. Getting to sit in the same place with Andrew and Colleen was amazing. Getting to have a beer with Andrew at my neighborhood bar was…perfect. I love my Harlan family.

5. Spending Thanksgiving with Robin & Co. Turned my perpetually least-favorite holiday into a fantastic and wonderful weekend. I don’t remember the last time I’ve spent so much time with complete strangers and felt so comfortable. And Robin’s futon and dachshund give me joy in equal measure.

6. Getting to spend time with my brother, both over Christmas and for his 22^nd birthday. Those times will always make my top list.

7. Halloween. Which is really to say, any amount of time I spent at Tonic in general, but that one night was particularly memorable. Jared might argue that it was negatively memorable, but I sure had a good time J

8. Road trip to Vermont in the fall. For all of the reasons that trip would be awesome to anyone, but with the added bonus of Kevin and Chelsea (and their menagerie), road time with Aaron, and pumpkin pancakes with local maple syrup. When I think about that I feel the air temperature hit that perfect autumn-in-New-England note. Perfect perfect.

9. National Aquarium in Baltimore, for Aaron’s birthday present. We went to the Dolphin Show. No, you don’t have to be a small child to find it amazing.

10. Camping in Shenandoah. The first time was a near disaster that was actually really great. The second time was really great despite my near-death experience exploring the limits of my own hiking exhaustion. Camp food. Mountains. Bears. Dozens of deer.

11. Calling in sick to work and spending the whole day going to the movies with Aaron and playing in the city. (Shhhh don’t tell)

12. Letting Philadelphia grow on me. It does indeed have character. I’m finally learning to love it. (and trying Philly cheesesteaks, that’s a singular top memory)

13. Seeing the Tragically Hip. Twice. Year 25 promises to be even more stunning than 24 as far as concerts goes, but it really takes a lot to top the Hip.

14. Seeing R.E.M. Which got a boost from the presence of Johnny Marr. I was a complete fangirl wreck.

15. Finally working up the guts to get involved in my local Stitch ‘n’ Bitch. Turns out drinking beer and crocheting with interesting, funny, smart people my age is pretty much my number one way to spend a Tuesday.

16. Developing my own crochet designs. I’m inordinately proud.

17. Opening my own etsy store. (and making my second sale this morning for my birthday!)

18. Getting a new job. Loving my new job.

19. New job led to two other related happy memories: getting to organize, facilitate, and manage two Colloquia on Buddhism, and being invited to attend a farewell dinner party for a faculty member. There are smart people who work here who treat me with respect, and will actually have conversations with me. I’ve learned so much just by osmosis.

20. Kayaking on the Potomac after sneaking out of work early. No one’s out on the weekdays, except for the crews but they come later. Just me and the river. Saw two deer (!) gracefully walking to the edge of Roosevelt Island to get a drink of water. Became so entranced that I forgot what time it was and had to paddle so hard to get back to the boathouse on time that I wore blisters on both hands and my shoulders ached for days.

21. Learning to sail. Impressing my sailing certification test instructor. Talking to my dad about sailing.

22. Watching television shows with Aaron. Which is an ongoing activity and may or may not involve brownies, but it’s the couch time and Aaron time which I love.

23. Seeing a chipmunk at the zoo. No, the chipmunk was not in an exhibit. He just ran across our path as we were walking to the lizard house. I had never seen a chipmunk for real before and I got a little overexcited. Fortunately Aaron did too. We have pictures. (that memory is happy mostly because of Aaron, it really has very little to do with the chipmunk)

24. Rehoboth Beach. We went there on Saturday. This year started and ended with a beach. Last year Anne had come for our birthdays for a visit and we went to Ocean City, and I remember looking into the ocean at the end of the day and tearing up, because I knew she was going to leave soon. This year our beach evening ended with some Mexican beers with my DC Foursome (including Anne), and then a little skeeball, for which I won a stuffed sea turtle.

I think it’s a good sign that this blog post is so infernally long. I’m being brief too.

Thank you Year 24! You were so good to me!

a milestone!

2008-07-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

Today I got my 100th Heart on Etsy!!

I feel loved. :) That's such a nice round number.

Summer time, and the living...

2008-07-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

As my dear boyfriend keeps reminding me, 95degrees Fahrenheit is not what most people think of as "crochet weather".
But I have managed to come up with a couple of designs that I am really proud of for the summer!

This wrap is made in 100% linen, which is very much the fiber-of-the-season, and the colors are just gorgeous (I can brag because I didn't make the yarn, just used someone else's genius!)

This one actually got me on the front page of Etsy! I was so thrilled I called my parents to make them look!

My guest blog for Carnival is yet to post, but when it does I'll let you know, it's actually all about the challenge of designing crocheted things for summer, and the loveliness that is available in all seasons. I'm looking forward to my post!

new store!

2008-06-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

I have recently discovered DaWanda, which is a sort of Etsy-like enterprise but with a slightly different feel. It's smaller, and based in Europe, and seems to be a little more geared towards high-ticket items. It's a fun site to poke around, and on the recommendation of some other Etsy users, I decided to open a shop there too! Hey the more exposure the better, right?
Here it is:
AStitchtoWear.dawanda.com

In other news, I've been invited to be a guest blogger for a fellow Etsy seller, carnival!! I'm really excited to be chosen, and will give you more updates as the time for my column gets closer. Meanwhile, check out her eye-popping blog.

featured in a Treasury!!

2008-06-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to minimize the use of exclamation points, which is hard because I'm really excited! (!!)

I just found myself featured in a Treasury on Etsy! Please click here to view (it's a gorgeous treasury based around a Eggplant/Plum/Maroon color scheme) and leave a comment.

Yay! (!!!)

of photo shoots and bright hats

2008-06-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a trip back to ye olde country, aka Oklahoma. My goal now is to start promoting the heck out of my etsy shop!

Since my last post, I have added hats to my lineup. I've had these "in stock" for quite a while but finding a time to get the photos I wanted of them proved to be a major obstacle; but after almost a month of attempts, my best friend Anne and I managed to find the perfect afternoon in Dupont Circle to do a photo shoot. If I look way cooler than I am, it's because the wonderful Aaron is a very talented photographer (and took over 400 pictures just to make sure he got some decent ones.) I love how the hats look on Anne, with that thick long hair of hers, and her dark features. Here is a sample, more at the link above:

Oh, how I love the greens in this photo:

The photo shoot was way more fun with a friend helping.

Other than that, summer is in full swing, which means I'm still experimenting with ways to create crocheted items, typically reserved for chillier months, into fashionable designs for warm (if you're a DC resident, read: miserable) days. I think I've hit upon something I really like, so stay tuned :)

FIRST ETSY SALE!!

2008-04-30T06:35:00.001-07:00

*squeal!*

Astonishingly, someone other than my friends thinks that my scarves are worth purchasing. I am shocked.

I have also listed a new item, it is based on the idea I had for the scarves, but my friend Gwen had the idea to construct a more solid, collar-like piece from the repeating circles I had designed. I very much love how it came out, although it's definitely a lot of work. Anyway, check it out!

More images at astitchtowear.etsy.com.

Yay for etsy!

Big Announcement!

2008-04-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

My etsy store is now officially opened! I am very excited about it. Please take a look!

Other exciting news: my scarf design won a Hookilicious award from the Crochet Liberation Front blog!! I was featured on the blog, I'm totally flattered and blown away that I got singled out for literally the second original design I've displayed on Ravelry. Woo!
I have to say I'm very pleased with how the scarf turned out. It was one of those rare and inspiring moments where the thing that is in your head actually turns out just like you hoped. And the yarn I used has SUCH beautiful bright colors, I had a lot of fun creating these things.

Tomorrow I should be able to get pictures of my spring hats as well, so those will go up in the shop over the coming week.
Tell all of your friends!

Aaand...we're back!

2008-04-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

My goodness I knew it had been a long time since I'd written, but six weeks is ridiculous.

My March/April has been filled with people coming to visit, catching up with friends and generally playing. Which means not a lot of quality crochet time. But it's been so nice.

Also, instead of working on a lot of other people's patterns, I actually managed to hit on a couple of designs of my own that I really like, and for the past few weeks I've been a hat- and scarf-making factory! I wanted to sell things on Etsy that I had designed myself (to insure that I don't step on anyone's toes), and I wanted to focus on this beautiful spring/early summer time of year. I finally I think have enough to stock a good store, shot some pictures of scarves this weekend and should get hat pics in the coming days, so I should be opening shop soon! I'm really excited.

Speaking of original designs, my first-ever scarf pattern is being worked on by my friend Celeste, you can click on this post and scroll down to get a sneak peak! (I'm a little late noticing this, but the picture made me so excited!!)

Hasn't been too much else, except that I finished the blanket I was working on for Project Linus:

It is the "Baby Starghan" that can be found here. Last time I donated a blanket to Project Linus, the organizer told me that they were really in need of blankets for boys and older kids. I thought this might be unisex enough for anyone, and I liked the colors, it looks cheerful to me. Not sure how in love with the design I am, actually, just because it's pretty impractical as a blanket, and I'm afraid it's not quite big enough for a bigger kid. But hopefully someone will like it.
I put the blanket on Shrek to get an idea of the size, as Shrek is sized (although not exactly proportioned) like an average toddler:

Um and yes I do own a giant stuffed Shrek doll. You wanna make somethin of it?

That's all from this busy girl. Will have the link to my etsy shop, accompanied by lots more pictures, soon!

trial and error

2008-03-03T06:34:00.000-08:00

So I have this idea for a ballet-wrap style cardigan in my head that I've been meaning to create for probably a year now. I even made a prototype long ago, but the measurements were wrong, the yarn was too thick, etc etc, all very fixable things so when I sat down with a better idea of the size and a better yarn, I thought, oh boy! This will be a snap. And I worked on it a lot, and this weekend finished the body of the piece, and spent a few hours meticulously diagramming and taking notes and doing math so that the pattern would be flawless. Then I sewed up the seams and...it's awful. Maybe not awful, but compared to what I want, it's bad. I used an all-in-one-piece construction, up the back and over the shoulders, the arms worked at the same time. Which is a neat construction I picked up from the Knot-Ugly Shrug from the Happy Hooker, but there are several reasons that works for that pattern and does not for mine. Because I had a more solid fabric and a tighter gauge, the shoulders looked wrong, and armpits bunched weird, and the sleeves weren't fitted at all although they were tight towards the top. Gah!
So I threw a little fit and wallowed in self-pity for a few minutes, my design dreams crushed, a colossal and eternal failure. I drowned my sorrows in some sharp cheddar and repeatedly threw my poor prototype sweater to the floor. Then I finally pulled myself together and thought about the fact that this is what is called "learning by doing". Of course I've never designed a sweater before. And I'm not too experienced in constructing sweaters designed by other people either. So perhaps I was doomed to failure, but I did learn a valuable lesson about the importance of choosing your sleeve construction. And of course the whole point of crocheting the darn thing yourself instead of just writing up a pattern and letting other people deal with it is to make sure your design makes sense, and like all new designers, I am bound to have designs that just don't. So I'm no longer wallowing, although I still wasn't prepared to face the frogging yet so I just hid both failed prototypes under the bed until I feel up to it :)

On the brighter side, I've gotten my first complete feedback on a pattern! The wrap I designed for Project Spectrum was finished by one of my testers this weekend (holy cow she was fast!) and I got some really nice comments! So apparently I'm okay at designing things that are flat and rectangular haha. Oh well, that's enough for right now. Pattern should be available soon! Yay!

everything in moderation?

2008-02-29T08:27:00.000-08:00

I love crochet. I am obsessed with crochet. This should be an obvious fact.

I am not, however, as obsessed with crochet as this gentleman:

Holy cow.

Does this merit...applause? Shocked silence? I can't decide.

baffled by two needles

2008-02-28T13:22:00.001-08:00

Q (from Al before she picked up knitting needles): Isn't it possible to set down your knitting in the middle of a row and come back to it and get completely confused as to which needle you've been working onto? And as a follow-up question, if this happens, how can you tell?

A (from Al today): Yes, yes that is entirely possible. And since you are an absolute beginner, you won't be able to tell until several rows later when your supposedly rectangular piece starts looking a little stair-steppy. With holes.

Gah. A hook would never be this confusing.

thrilling, just thrilling

2008-02-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

When I uploaded my wrap design and asked for volunteer testers, I got three responses almost immediately. Three people loved the design and are testing it for me! (!!) The idea that there are people in the world who liked the finished product, and are looking at a pattern that I wrote, and using that pattern to create their own thing...gosh, it's just thrilling. I can't even describe it with words, but it makes me giddy.

Another exciting thing: I finally got around to dragging myself to a Stitch 'n' Bitch meeting last week, and turns out, the people are really nice! I've been having a really great time. What could be better than crocheting, meeting new people, and drinking beer? (Yes, I picked the group that meets in a bar. Of course.) The bonus to this is that the other girls are knitters, so being around them has really encouraged me to actually pick up the needles (needles! without hooks on the end! madness) and try to learn. Last night Gwen taught me the long-tail cast-on, which is fabulous and stupendous and made me feel very cool once I got it down...and now I'm knitting a scarf! Granted, it did take me probably an hour to knit 1/2" of scarf, but...I'm remembering the stitches and they're coming easier. Soon I'll be a bi-crafty phenomenon. I'm really jazzed.

pics and other news...

2008-02-26T10:15:00.000-08:00

First of all, I'm really excited because my third pattern is officially off to the tester! I got some really nice photos of it on Saturday when the weather was nice and crisp and overcast. I will unveil it once the pattern is finalized and uploaded (yay!)

So I have some finished objects that I just hadn't gotten around to photographing. Here are a couple, they are for a housewarming present for my friend/former boss who just bought her first house with her husband and new baby:

I wanted to do something that wasn't too terribly involved, but was still a sweet little gift. I'm really happy with the hotpad, I think it looks pretty neat.

Also, here is the hat that Jan requested:

It came out even better than I thought. Crochet ribbing is very different than knit ribbing, and I love the way this looks on this particular hat. I also love the way the post stitches affect the striping. Yay for hat! I have written up a pattern for this too and will post it soon.

I'm really, really excited about the ballet wrap sweater I'm designing right now. I hope it's half as neat in real life as it is in my head :) We'll see.
As always, yay for crochet!

turning all of this yarn into something...

2008-02-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago I finally finished all of the projects I was making for other people, and got all excited about a couple of different patterns that I've been looking forward to making just for myself. I got out the yarn I had already bought months ago for each one, and in each case...figured out the yarn was just not right, for either one. I'm a little bummed, I mean I can use the yarn for other things and I can get new yarn for these projects, but I'm broke so I just can't let myself buy more yarn for myself right now. And it feels weird to not have a project that I'm really excited about waiting at home for me. Le sigh.

On the other hand, I've been kinda flying through new design ideas the past week or so. I finished up a wrap that I've had in my head for a while, and I'm pretty pleased with the results, and as soon as I take a couple of photos I'll be looking for a tester for the pattern (woo!). And yesterday a friend showed me a picture of a hat she wanted that she saw someone wearing at a ski lodge, and I went home last night and banged it out! So, new hat pattern! It's not the most original or exciting hat in the world but it's definitely warm and squishy and when I tried on the prototype this morning I didn't want to take it off. So cozy.
Also, I have some yarn on the way that I'm going to use to make a newsboy-ish cap that I've had in my head for a while, and I have some good yarn to work on a squishy fingerless mitt design I've been meaning to get around to. So, I'm feeling exceptionally productive, and proud of myself! I can't wait to get pictures and patterns out for these things!

I made a convert!

2008-02-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

The other day I was on the bus, working on one of Celeste's City Girl Caps (of which I've made probably two dozen so far), and a lady came and sat down next to me, although many of the seats were empty. She said she just wanted to watch me, said she had noticed me before but someone else was sitting next to me and talking to me.
She said she was a crocheter too, but had only ever made blankets. She said she was intimidated by anything that wasn't a big flat rectangle, a sentiment I certainly understand and only recently got over. I avoided making hats for years, mostly because Susanne, my roommate at the time we both rediscovered crochet, tried to make ski caps for herself and her beau, and they kept coming out with this weird pointy, nipply looking thing at the top, and neither of us could figure out with the heck was going on. (I can't remember if she finally figured it out or just bought a bulkier yarn so it wasn't all that noticeable any more haha). So I was intimidated, certain that I was destined to a life of scarves with (accidentally) wavy edges.
And then a couple of years ago, when I first moved to DC, I found myself in dire need of a warm hat. I had moved in the summer, me and Aaron both squeezing everything we owned in the world into the backseat of my tiny car and driving across country. Somehow, in June, with limited space, my winter clothing just did not seem like a priority. And DC summers will make you believe that there is no such thing as snowflakes and icicles, and that you will in fact die in sweltering agony before you ever see another below-90-degree day. And yet, winter did in fact arrive that year. A cold one too. So I grabbed some black yarn I had laying around, found a non-scary looking pattern, gulped down my fear, and began. And in a day or two...a hat! And I put it on, and it looked like...a hat! It was round on top and came down the sides. It had a little cuff that you could turn up or pull down over your ears. And it fitted to my head. And it looked like...a hat! I was unbelievably excited. I wore it around the apartment and couldn't stop looking in the mirror. I also couldn't stop saying things like, "It looks like a hat!", which I'm sure Aaron thought was just fantastic. I was seriously stoked.
That was the first non-flat-rectangle thing I've ever made, and if I hadn't gotten over my hat-making fear I'm pretty sure I never would have been able to attempt sweaters or anything else for that matter. So when the lady on the bus said that she was afraid, I told her not to be. I showed her what I was doing, and she admitted she thought she could figure it out. I told her I had gotten the pattern off the internet for free, and that there were a ton of free patterns and the yarn was cheap, so it's really a no-lose situation. And I showed her an example of a finished City Girl Cap, and she gaped and said, "All right, that's it, I'm gonna go look on the internet as soon as I get home."
YAY! You go girl!

Live and learn

2008-01-31T06:57:00.000-08:00

I have recently learned two very important things:
1) If your base chain is 4 ch per stitch, but your stitch consists of 5 trc, your piece will slowly circle back on itself. DUH. I think I knew this would happen, but was worried about the base being too loose...um, what? No Allison, it's just math. So...I need to learn math for design projects. And I think it's just a matter of trial and error. So I lost a whole night of work because I didn't think it through, but I have learned to be more deliberate with the numbers, and that is a very valuable lesson.
2) I should trust my instincts with patterns. I was very skeptical of this pattern, because it's just a big long tube with armholes basically, and the top of the tube is supposed to be a "cowl"...I knew this sounded weird, but the picture didn't look too bad and it looked like a quick project. Well, it wasn't a quick project, first of all, and this is what happened:

That is not a cowl. That is...the top of a big tube. Blah. Made me grumpy, as I am illustrating in this photo. I should have known better.

Anyway, now I am turning that yarn that I am actually kinda in love with into some pretty. That is, if I can learn how to count...

Yay finished object! Yay design! Yay Project Spectrum!

2008-01-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

Well the Unending Sweater of Death (as I affectionately think of it) is finally done, and I gave it to its recipient last week. She was very, very pleased which makes me happy, and then she said that her friends would love it too and I "should be expecting a lot of orders". Gulp. I finally got around to telling her that I don't want to do sweaters any more, since I would like to spend more time focusing on creating my own designs and such and sweaters are just so labor-intensive. She was really understanding and said she felt privileged that she now has a handmade sweater from me. (One of these days I'm going to actually post photos of these things...)

This weekend wasn't really productive on the crocheting end, moved apartments and that takes up um all of your time and energy. But Sunday night I sat down and started working on a wrap design I've had in mind for a while, just chaining away with no real concept...and last night I started all over again. I actually took time to swatch, which I've never really done before, and it took me a couple of hours to come up with something I was moderately pleased with. It felt good though, it felt like productive work. And then this morning I made a different swatch...I think I'm actually going to be making two different designs based on one stitch concept, one in a solid color to show off the stitch, one in variegated in a simpler stitch. I'm excited now. I feel good about this project. Will take me a little while but I feel good.

This wrap is going to be called "Fireside" and I envisioned it in colors of red and colors of the forest. And what do you know, this morning I stumbled onto Project Spectrum (have I mentioned how much I love Ravelry? holy cow), which is a "create-along" for anyone to make anything around a color theme picked for each three-month period. This year's theme is Elements, and this season's element is...Fire! Yes! What a coincidence! Now I am even more inspired, and feel like maybe I will start thinking about working some more designs in this theme. I'm so pumped. Woo!

lessons I've learned recently

2008-01-23T06:15:00.000-08:00

I am about 94% done with the Unseamly Sweater that a coworker commissioned from me. I have learned several things from this experience:
1) I'm suffering from severe project ADD. I've never had three projects going at once before but I do now, because I am SO BORED with the sweater. It fills me with dread knowing it's not done yet and I feel guilty doing other things but I just can't handle it some days.
2) I'm never taking a commission again, unless it's for something small. It makes me feel pressured, and like I can't work on anything else, and it takes all of the joy and relaxation out of the project and makes it something I have to do instead of want to do.
3) Sweaters are a completely impractical thing to make for sale. I will be able to recoup my material expenses but there's no way I can charge enough to pay myself for the three weeks of labo I've put into it. Blah.

Anyway. I should finally finish this evening! That will be a relief. And these were things I needed to learn anyway...

a quick note about the Unseamly Sweater

2008-01-17T12:07:00.001-08:00

I started and stopped this sweater twice before I finally got it right. Thanks to the beautiful people at Craftster (not sure who was the first to suggest it, but it's a miraculous save!) I took the suggestion to do the base chain with an N hook (otherwise there is NO WAY that sweater's going to fit around your hips), switch to J hook (or whatever hook you would need to achieve the original gauge) for the V-stitch portion, and switch to a K hook (if not bigger) for the waist shaping. Unless you are concave-chested, in which case the waist as written should slip on you just fine.
(I tend to use the K hook for the seed stitch of the sleeves too, but that's not as important.)

Without these suggestions, I would still be looking at my half-frogged sweater and weeping a little inside. I think it's actually physically impossible to create this sweater (and have it be wearable) as written.

exciting update

2008-01-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

My first crochet patterns are with a tester! Woo! I wrote patterns and now someone is testing them for me! Woo!

K
:) Carry on.

Al on the bus

2008-01-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I started taking my crochet WIP on the bus, mostly because I've been commissioned to make a sweater so I'm trying to do it quickly, and it's the Unseamly Sweater, whose sleeves were almost the end of me the first time I made it, so I figured I could do the mindless repetitive sleeve stitching while I commuted and get it over with quicker.
At first I felt like a bit of a geek, actually. I was aware that a lot of eyes were on me and I was self-conscious (for some reason). But, it did make the commute go by waaaay faster, and indeed, the sleeves didn't seem to take such a death-defyingly long time. In fact, the first day we got stuck in traffic for a long time, and I didn't even realize that it took twice as long to get home. Not getting ticked off at my evening commute=a positive and unexpected consequence.

But even more than that, people have started to talk to me. This made me uncomfortable at first, because I like to be left alone for the most part, but then I started to notice what nice conversations we were having. A young guy in a business suit talked about how his girlfriend tried to teach him to knit and he was all thumbs, but he thought it was cool anyway. A lady from the Netherlands reminisced about learning yarn crafts in elementary school, and we talked about Dutch lace-making and the way that crafts maintain a sense of identity. Last night a lady from Colombia sat down next to me and started talking about her mother, and her sister who knits and sews, and she talked about her children and what a treasure children are. She learned new English words ("embroidery" was a new one), and she talked about how important it is to make something by hand, to be able to give loved ones something you've worked hard on, especially since everything else in this world is "buy and destroy", as she said.

Sometimes people don't say anything, but they notice me and I see them smile or see recognition in their eyes. They look knowing, and content; either they crochet themselves, or their grandmothers did, or someone else, but either way they are always good memories that come up.

All of this was unexpected. But it just reinforces my belief that there is a connection to be made with other people, even in brief moments of contact. We don't have a lot of traditions in America that everyone can respond to, but hands working with yarn to make something warm, that resonates with almost everyone. I feel lucky to participate.

Oh, and a word re: knitting vs. crocheting. I realize that among crafty folks this is a huge debate, and obviously they are two very different crafts. And I admit that I often feel a little defensive about crochet (especially as someone who wants to make crochet designs, and therefore needs to fend off bad crochet stereotypes). But I'm learning not to get offended when a "lay person" gets the two confused, and I don't usually correct them any more. People repeatedly say something like "my mom used to do that, but with two needles". To 97% of people in this world, it's not the difference between the two crafts that is important at all; it's the wonderful things the two share that speak to them, and I'm very okay with that.

Seriously, though

2008-01-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Why I started to crochet:
When I was small, my grandmother tried to teach me how to crochet and knit and sew and tat and cook and garden and probably other things I'm forgetting. From her I inherited my love of needlework, a warm home, big trees, healthy tomato plants, and dinners that take a long time to make and are shared around a table. She was the stereotypical domestic goddess. Unfortunately for me, my small hands and short attention span meant that none of her diligent craft lessons really stuck, I got tired of fumbling with the various shapes and sizes of needles and would inevitably run off to play in the backyard. But even then I appreciated it, and her.
A few years ago, we finally had to move my grandma to a nursing home. My grandpa had passed away a few years before, and my grandma had had a severe stroke from which she never fully recovered. She was no longer able to take care of herself, and no longer able to use her hands to create and to share. It was very strange, having Christmases without handmade gifts from her. Her health was deteriorating rapidly, she wasn't able to speak any more, and the nursing home upset me too much for me to visit very often. But she was my grandma, and I wanted her to know that I still cared, that she really had made a difference in my life, that she had passed something on to me and I treasured it.
So I re-taught myself to crochet. I wasn't very good, but holding the aluminum hooks in my hands took me back to our days on her couch, and I knew I was doing something good. I made her an afghan as a surprise, and presented it to her for her birthday. I wanted to show her, tangibly, that I had learned from her. She couldn't say much about it, but she looked happy. And proud.
I've gotten a lot better since then. I'm sad that I can't show her, but I have a feeling she's proud anyway. And it makes me proud, to know that I'm participating in something that goes back for generations. I'm not just making things out of yarn, I'm acting out a sacred ritual that my grandma and countless other amazing women (and men) have performed for centuries. And that's very important to me.

the way of all flesh

2008-01-14T13:11:00.001-08:00

I have caved. I have begun a crochet blog.

I finally realized that crochet/yarn/knitting blogs have become very resourceful for me; they are fantastic places to find inspiration, corrections to patterns, information on yarns for certain patterns, etc. Plus I'm really bad at forgetting things, so this way I'll be able to track my projects and remember what I've done and what I want to do.

I don't have any pictures of projects I really strongly desire to post right now, so here is a picture of me illustrating just how much I love hot sake:

Mmm. Sake.