Goddess Knitters

27 March 2014

...once upon a time...

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who wanted a sweater…that was red


She asked her LaLa to knit one for her.


It needed special buttons.


And so her LaLa knit the little girl a sweater...that was red.  The little girl said she wanted to wear it every day.  She did, and they lived happily ever after.


The end.



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21 March 2014

...deadlines be damned…

About a week ago, Paytan and Elliet had a couple of days home from school due to pneumonia.  I packed up and headed down to stay with them while Mom and Dad went to work.  While there we read a new book, Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep.  

It’s a great story about a farmer that shears his sheep, then take the wool to a man that cards it, a man that spins it and a woman that dyes it, all the while his sheep are following him to each place.  Why are they following him you might ask?  Because they are cold.  When Farmer Brown realizes that the sheep are cold he does the only thing he can do.  He knits them all sweaters.  Of course he does.

While reading this story Payan kept pointing out the things that I can do that were just like those in the story.  She would say things like, “Lala, that’s just like you."  "Lala, you can do that too!"  "Lala, you can knit just like Farmer Brown!”  I told her that yes those were things that Lala could do too, just like the people in the story.

When we finished the story I asked her how she liked it.  She said it was great and then she did something that I will never forget.  She turned to me with those big blue eyes, took my hand in hers and said, “Lala, can you knit me a sweater….that’s red…with buttons?  Red is my favorite color, just like yours.”

I said the only thing I could.  “Of course I can.”

So last weekend while at Vogue Knitting Live I searched for the perfect red yarn to make the perfect red sweater for this special little person in my life.  I came across this.

So even though I have 3 different deadlines in front of me I am busy with a little red sweater.  Deadlines be damned.  This deadline is way more important.  My granddaughter wants a new red sweater.  And so I am knitting one.  But I know that this sweater isn’t the only one I will be knitting.  Paytan also told me that I had to knit a sweater for Elliet too.  But her’s has to be pink and purple.  After all Paytan said, “Those are her favorite colors.  Can you knit one for her too?”  I said the only thing I could.  “Of course I can.”

Hang on deadlines, I’ll be back in a bit.



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15 March 2014

…quick and dirty…

Just a quick not to tell you that I am in Seattle this weekend for Vogue Knitting Live!  A couple of my knitting group friend and I took off yesterday and headed to Churchmouse.  
What a beautiful shop that is.  I never have any trouble finding something wonderful to knit when I visit there.  More on what I bought later…

We took the ferry over to the city and walked through Pike Place Market.  Such beautiful flowers!  Makes me truly believe that spring is really coming.

Today we will hit the marketplace when it opens.  Shop, shop, shop!  

Then I’ll be in the Black Trillium booth from 1:00 - 6:30 this afternoon.  Melanie is hosting my and a few of my patterns.  Come by and see Spectral, Traliccio and Knit Night in person!  I have them knit up in some of Melanie’s beautiful yarns.  


If you haven’t met gradients yet, now is the time.  Melanie does some pretty spectacular gradient kits!  I never know which is my favorite which might explain why I have more than a few in my stash.


Hope to see you today!!

07 March 2014

...this is what you're doing, this is what you should be doing...

So, I have been churning away at this...

I bought 3 balls of Habu linen at Madrona and have been working on it as I have a spare minute here and there.  I sat down on Monday and was determined to get this thing done.  I was pretty smug.  How long could it take?  I just had the right front piece and the collar piece to finish.  Basic stockinette with a bunch of decreases, really mindless knitting but I was totally on track to get it done.  I knit off and on during the day, taking it with me as I ran errands.  I knit at stop lights, waiting in line at the bank and while waiting for my car to be filled with gas.  After diner I sat myself down and told myself I wasn’t moving until it was done and ready to be blocked.  It all seemed very reasonable until this...
That’s me running out of linen with about 2 inches left to go on the collar.  Okay, so I wasn’t going to finish that night,  but how in the world did I run out?  My gauge was on, I checked it and rechecked it.  Okay, never mind.  I set out to find another ball of the linen, calling yarn shops I know in the area that carry Habu.  No dice.  No one had the color I needed.  They had every other color that Habu makes, but #2.  I even had Kristine at Verb check to see if she might just have a ball of the elusive #2 at the store.  Nope.  I gave up the hunt nearby and ordered it from the Habu website.  It should be here in another couple of days.
Then something else happened.  You may or may not know this but Steph and I are both knitting this.  We both fell pretty hard when we saw it, both tried it on, loved how it fit.  She got the orange, I got the tan.  She’s been knitting on hers in hopes to have it done for the book tour.  When I saw her in Portland on Tuesday night she was almost done.  She had the fronts and back knit, had them seamed together and was cruising up the collar pieces.  We were sitting together after her book signing and she was knitting on hers (mine was at home in a time out waiting for the ball of yarn to arrive).  As she was knitting I realized something...she was almost done and she was going to have a bunch of yarn left.   How was that possible?  We were knitting the same size and I had run out and she had a surplus.  She told me that because she is shorter than I am she had reduced the overall length by about an inch but I didn’t think that that could account for the difference in she having that much yarn left and me having none.

Whatever, it is what it is.  We were just wrapping up our evening and she tried the vest on.  It was a little shorter than I remembered it being when she tried on the sample.  But, whatever, she had shortened it a bit.  

We went our separate ways, me to home and Steph on to Seattle and then San Francisco where she met up with Julie.  Julie had signed a copy of the pattern for Steph and presented it to her after her book signing.  It was then the Steph discovered what the real problem with all of this was.  We were knitting this:

when we should have been knitting this:

Yup, two different patterns;  Adrian, the unisex design, which is the one we've been knitting, and Adriana, Adrian’s feminine sister, which is the one we tried on and loved.  We had been knitting the wrong pattern, different gauge, different yarn, different needles, different shaping...  I can’t even tell you how I felt at the moment Steph called this to my attention because I’m a nice person and would never type those words here that came out of my mouth that night, but let’s just say that the text thread back and forth between Steph and I should be deleted before my grandkids get hold of my phone and leave it at that.  


So, I will be re-knitting this beast. I’m not sure what Steph will be doing with hers.   I am determined to get this thing done and wear it.  I’ve decided, rather than frog it and wind it into balls, I will just knit from it like it was a sock blank.  The less time I have to devote to this project the better.  And the extra ball of linen that’s coming?  I would have had to gotten another one anyway because the Adriana calls for 4 balls.  What can I say?  When you’re wrong, you’re wrong, but now I think I’ve got it right.  


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02 March 2014

...a crawl, a show and a thank you or two...

Thanks to everyone that stopped by All About Yarn yesterday during the Rose City Yarn Crawl to see my trunk show!  It was a great afternoon.  I loved chatting with all of you about my designs and it was really fun to see some of you wearing them!  Also, many many thanks to RaNaye, the owner of All About Yarn for hosting me!  You are the best!! 


Speaking of the Yarn Crawl, I may have purchased a few things on Friday...
I bought some beautiful BFL form Shaggy Bear Farms.  They had a trunk show at Northwest Wools.  Beautiful, squishy stuff.  Can't wait to cast something on in that!  I also gave in finally and got a ball of Freia Sport.  I have been eyeing that yarn in the same color way, over and over and over again, at the last several yarn events I've been at.  I finally told myself, snap out of it and just buy it already.  And last, but certainly not least, 2 balls of Blue Sky Alpacas - royal alpaca and the Tiny Empress Set pattern.  Some lucky baby will be getting a hat and mitts out of this.  

I was able to see a whole bunch of friends during the Crawl.  It was really great to reconnect with some of them that I haven't seen since last year at this time.  It's so great that our love of yarn and knitting can keep us so connected even if we only see each other once a year! Yay for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

If you haven't yet joined the Winter Birch KAL there is still plenty of time.  You can get the details here!  It's a one skein project and goes really quickly.  I've heard from quite a few of the people participating that they are planning to knit several to put away for gifts.  We will be knitting until March 16th, so join us if you can!

Today is a rainy, stay inside, drink tea, knitting kind of day for me.   I've got a date with a Habu/Cocoknits vest...  
Stay dry if you are out on the Crawl.  Can't wait to see what you bought!

p.s.  Many thanks to my knitting group for always being my biggest cheerleaders.  Ladies, you know who you are, I couldn't do this without you, and I love you all.






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