Cheap is Good, Free is Better

Best Quote I Heard All Day
Money cannot buy health, but I'd settle for a diamond-studded wheelchair.--Dorothy Parker

It's time for a Dot quote. She once reviewed a play by writing "If you don't knit, bring a good book."

She's the original Jersey Girl, sans big hair and painted claws.

FREE! Suckah!
So, here it is. My Yeti Socks, the plain vanilla worsted-weight pattern that I promised to make available to ya.

 

 You can check out the pattern, the directions format, and if you want, give me your dollah-three-eighty thoughts. I'm always open to ideas.

Fucking Up

I do it frequently, at least with my knitting. My theory is, the more experienced a knitter you are, the more likely you are to make mistakes by being too poor to pay attention.

So I'm working on an Aran design, a rework of last year's, and lo! I screwed up while watching TV, talking to Jerry, petting the cat, and drinking the caffeine needed to jump-start my state of being.

Ever corrected a cable fuck-up without ripping out row after row? For those who haven't, here's how you do it.

 

First, you rip out the rows of the miserable fuck-up and put 'em on a double-pointed needle the same size as your main needles. Note all the connecting row threads.

 

Now I'm fixing the cable twist that I screwed up, using the two dps to reknit the eight stitches that comprise this motif. The one thing you have to watch is to use each ripped out row thread in its correct order.  It's very easy to use the thread one row above the one you're correcting.

I've always caught my mistakes early on--I'd puke if it happened a few rows above the ribbing.

So I put this question out on FaceBook to my friends and now I'll pose it to you: Which would you prefer for an Aran sweater--one complete chart that includes all of the motifs and filler stitches or individual charts with directions that include the fillers. Or have the whole damned thing written out? If you look at the first picture, you'll see my chart above the knitting. I charted the whole front, with bold red lines demarcating each section, including fillers. I've found this to be very easy to follow. I printed it out on legal size, works for me. 

Here's the almost completed front, still in progress. The yarn is Louet Gems Merino DK.

Haven't decided yet where the pattern for this sweater will go. I need to ask a certain designer friend of mine where she thinks I should submit it. And if it's worth submitting.

Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles

Yeah, I'm of German descent. Dad was born in Hamburg and because his father was a non-practicing Jew married to my Oma, a Gentile, they beat feet out of Germany in 1938, to London, and then to New York City. I speak some German, nicht sehr gut aber ich bin noch am lernen.

So just for the hell of it, I did a little research on knitted German clothing and found trachtenhose, which are socks worn with traditional German costumes, both by men and women.  When I was very small, I remember my grandparents giving me lederhosen and a beautiful loden cape that they brought back from a trip to der Vaterland.

The next design in my head is a pair of trachtenhose, which will contain traveling stitches found in German knitting plus embroidered flowers such as the ones found on German costumes--simple, bright, and pretty. Kristin Nicholas's embroidery on knitting has always interested me and it's a technique that would work beautifully on these socks, using crewel yarn.

This one will go to Patternfish.com, as will another sock design that I'm currently doing in Marks & Kattens' Fame Trend. And then, there's a toddler cardigan on the design board that resides in my head, plus a redo of the Jezebel lace socks. Shit, I've got more ideas than time. And no, I won't hire anyone else to knit for me at this point. I'm too fucking picky.

Da Mags

I gotta say, lately I'm liking Vogue tremendously. The quality of the designs has improved enormously. And of course, friend Carol has her first design published in the Spring issue! Yahoo! OK, I'm a bit biased. But still, Vogue is now well worth buying. But as Loopy said to me, do we really need 4-5 pages of how to do Kitchener in both VK and IK? Well...some do, I suppose. I've never had a problem grafting.

My new favorite is The Knitter. If you like Rowan magazines, buy this one--you can't beat designs by Martin Storey or Kaffe Fassett. I found it at Barnes & Noble. Not cheap but worth the money.

Out of Work, Out of Sight

Well, got the unemployment check last week. Feh. I keep getting contacted by these insane Indian recruiters, who permeate the IT employment market. Listen, if you don't leave an intelligible message on my cell phone, I ain't calling ya back because I can't fucking understand your phone number. Sheesh. And recruiters contact me for jobs for which I'm totally unqualified. If I wrote stuff for SAP users, that doesn't mean I'm an SAP developer. Read the fucking resume! OY.

So I'll be teaching some workshops at my beloved Stix-n-Stitches. That will help and I enjoy teaching, having been a software trainer. Working with knitters will be better, hopefully. At least the people who patronize S-n-S are rare and handy. I met this fabulous woman at the last Sit 'n' Knit I went to at the shop, Lucy. I almost fell off my chair when we talked about graduating from Montclair High School, and she told me she was in the class of '46. As she sat there knitting a complex pattern and looking no older than 65, maybe. 

There's hope for this babe, then. Birthday's coming in seven weeks. Urp.

It's a Barbie World.

Best Quote I Heard All Day

If you carry your childhood with you, you will never grow older--Tom Stoppard

I admit to jonesing for a Barbie when I was nine. I, who hated dolls, wanted Barbie and her clothes. I've just finished writing a bit about this for the book. I made clothes for her from scraps of cloth gleaned from my grandfather's closest friend, who worked in Manhattan's Garment District, and knitted weird tubular ropes using my knitting jenny. I didn't know about I-cord back then.

If I had that 1959 Barbie MIB (mint in the box), I could retire. Anyone remember her wedding dress? Exquisite. And cost $5 back then. I saved for that for weeks. 

OP Knitting

I find it interesting that many designers use other people to do the knitting for their books. I'm knitting every piece for my book. Why, given that I work a full-time job and have limited time? Because Knitting in Public is my story and it deserves pieces made by me, not some friend with too much time on their hands (I don't mind the plural possessive, despite my love of Strunk and White).

I suspect that most writers/designers of knitting books don't work full time outside the home and have plenty of minions willing to knit for them, which is why there is a continuing stream of useless knitting books. I'm sure I could round up a few volunteers to knit for me. I won't. Ever. 

That means that I may only write one or two books. Big fucking deal. I'm sure that the market doesn't need a book a year from me. God knows it's enough to work on the book every evening. Write a little, knit a little. Jerry's probably sick of looking at the current book project. I know I am.

Other Fiber Shit

Despite the book, I have found a little time to do some experimental weaving on my Flip loom. What you see in the picture is me fucking around with the warp and weft. I like the colors but the warp, a 10/8 cotton, is too thin. 

The first picks were done in leftover Raggi sock yarn, just to see what kind of fabric I'd get. A mess. Then I used the same warp cotton for weft. Another mess, too thin for the reed. Finally, I tried some Harrisville Shetland that I bought at WEBS two weeks ago. I bought two cones of magenta and dark green. Now I know that I need to use the Harrisville for warp and weft. Off comes the cotton, which I'll save for the Mighty Wolf loom when I can set it up. 

And I do have some embroidery waiting to be started. Sometimes I need to cleanse my palate.

Mammy's Birthday

Ellie's still going strong. She'll be 86 this Friday. You'd never know it. She still drives, does her own shopping, knits better than many people half her age, and doesn't miss a trick mentally. My brother is convinced that as long as she keeps planning knitting projects, she won't have time to die. I agree. She asked for yarn for her birthday. "What else do I need at my age?" 

My mother just got her Stitches flier yesterday in the mail and noticed that there was no mention of any instructors--she found that quite odd, along with the new Hartford venue. So I said to her, "Maybe I'll go this year, what the fuck. Wanna go?" I figured she'd say no. 

She said, "Sure, why not?" I almost fell over. We both got sick of Stitches a few years ago and she wasn't really interested in going to Rhinebeck. 

So look for me and Ellie at Stitches this year. For those of you who have met my mother, you know she's a trip.

Happy birthday, Ma. I don't know what I'd do without my bestest knitting buddy. May you live for another 20 years, like your doctor thinks you will.

Da Mags

I just picked up IK tonight at the supermarket, of all places. Haven't looked at it yet but these days, I flip through the knitting rags and immediately forget what was in them. Jaded, I suppose. I don't think I've bothered to look at a copy of Knitter's in more than a year. And the rest, I leave alone too. The new VK is out and I'm shaking with ennui. I'll get it because I like reading Lee Ann's column, dude.

The Rowan Magazine, which I will always buy sight-unseen, is the exception. And the exceptional. It puts the rest to shame.

Books are another story. I do want the new Marianne Isager book, Japanese Inspired Knits, and Spin Control, by Amy King. Besides, I love receiving packages in the mail when I get home from work. 

I'm such a child, as Jerry says. He's right. And rare and handy. It won't be long now...I'll see him tomorrow night. We didn't kill each other on our vacation. Always a good sign.

P.S. I've made my reservations for Rhinebeck. Have you?