Knotsewmuch

Here's the sample for the Beginning Lace Knitting class that I'll be teaching at The Naked Sheep.  I call it Wandering Lace because it sort of ambles around.... It's a fun pattern, (my own) and it pretty much teaches you what you need to know to  stop be intimidated by lace knitting.  The folks at Naked Sheep seem to like it.  They want the pattern!  The class is on Nov. 27th and Dec. 4th.  I'm excited! (No one signed up for this class, so it was cancelled.  I was bummed. 11/25/13) Working on a Guernsey (not the cow) sweater for another class sample, as well as thinking about a sample for an Aran design class.  I'm thinking about a tea cozy or a pillow.  Can't decide.  The Guernsey is knit in a color called Ruby, and it is working up BEAUTIFULLY! On other subjects, the Fair is almost upon us.  Margo is working frantically to get her stuff done.  I have pretty much given up trying to get anything else finished.  We have to submit our stuff this Saturday,

I hate to clean house.  From the time I can remember, my mom had a cleaning lady, so I was under the impression that houses just cleaned themselves every Wednesday. When I got married and was gainfully employed I had a cleaning lady and again, the house cleaned itself every Wednesday. When I quit working away from home I thought one of the good ways to cut expenses was to get rid of the cleaning lady.  Now, I have made some epic mistakes in my life.  I have decided (at various times) that a Dorothy Hammill haircut was perfect for me, I really wanted to keep my childhood piano when my parents moved (why do you keep the Iron Maiden that the Spanish Inquisition used on you?  For sentimental reasons?), I decided to buy my husband a roll top desk (we now refer to this piece of furniture as "The Albatross"), I simply HAD to have black and white checked flooring in the kitchen (more on that later), I planted silver nettles (stingless) on the north side of the yard (they morph

Hamper remake Margo had an old hamper (circa 1958) and she hated it.  I have to admit, it is bordering on ugly.  So here's what we did. We used pink flowered fabric and using the basic ironing-board covering technique I learned about 35 years ago, we covered the top and padded it with batting.   Then we made a skirt out of the coordinating stripe.  My daughter learned how to thread elastic through a casing, how to measure and draft patterns, wind a bobbin, press a hem up, and sew a casing.  Not a bad day's work!

I was asked by a friend for help with a knitting project.  This is a new knitter (comparatively) and she was reaching beyond scarves.  She had picked a pattern online and was stuck at a slightly ambiguous instruction.  I got the pattern company and pattern name, I downloaded it, I printed it off.  Then we got down to cases.  Where EXACTLY was she stuck?  Figured that out.  So then I walked her through the confusion step by step.  I did all this with her 50 miles from me sitting in her house and I in mine.  On Facebook chat. To me, this is an incredible thing.  I went to college.  I took "Computer Programming and Statistics".  Never in my wildest DREAMS would I expect to chat to my friends (anywhere in the WORLD).  Never did I think I would solve knitting dilemmas on chat. Now I grant you, we DID set up a knitting fun day at the same time.  We're meeting and having a fiber fest in a couple of weeks.  Nothing takes the place of being in the same room, but when you are

I was thinking the other day about Jerome's Sock.  It's always capitalized, always.  Here goes. Once, when I was teaching a sock knitting class at a local yarn shop, I had a student, Mary, who was knitting a pair of socks to surprise her husband, Jerome. We were about halfway through the four weeks of class, and one evening just as I was getting ready to leave for class, my phone rang. “Hello, this is Andrew from Alaska Airlines.   This is going to sound strange, but your business card was found in a bag of knitting on one of our flights.” Okay. “There was also a note in the bag that says ‘Jerome 10 ½ inches’.   There is a lot of needles in there, it sort of looks like it might be a sock?   We know you were not a passenger, but I wondered…” The penny finally dropped.   Jerome!   Oh heavens!   I told Andrew that the knitting was not mine, but one of my students.   Could I come and get it?   (I live very close to the airport)   I certainly could, as Andrew really didn’t

Last week I was having a taxes disconnect.  I really didn't notice, but Bruce and Margo thought I was a) going deaf, b) developing Alzheimers, c) losing my marbles. I would be sitting on the couch (knitting a sock) with the TV on (background noise) and was thinking about the taxes and what I had to get together to go to the accountant.  Bruce or Margo would walk into the room and ask me a question or make a statement.  I would respond and they would stand there.... stunned. What he SAID was: "I have to work tomorrow and the next day and I probably won't get home until late." What my RESPONSE was: "Great, then you'll have time tomorrow to call the stupid lawyer about the stupid check that they made out to the wrong stupid person."  There he stands.... stunned. What I HEARD was: "I have to work (I wonder if I have all of the  expense paperwork calculated)won't (does that show up in the register report?) late." Eventually the stunned

I've finally figured it out.  It has taken me a long time.  I am the victim of PATIENCE, or at least the concept of patience.  Here's what happens... I'm sitting, knitting.  It's usually socks because they are small and fit in my bag.  Anyway, it could be anything, a hat even.  A non-knitter begins a conversation asking what I am knitting.  After making the appropriate noises over my project, they let me have it...  "I wish I could knit, but I just don't have the patience." Sigh.  "Lady," I think (because they usually are women), "you have absolutely NO IDEA with whom you are speaking."  (and yes, I do think that way, my mom was a librarian and a primary school teacher). Patience.  It may be a virtue but it is NOT one of mine.  I suffer no fools gladly, I am  "Difficult to Manage" (per my past employment evaluations).  If you ask a silly question, you are liable to get a highly technical, factually accurate answer de

I had a thought (which is always a danger).  Ideas about what to do for an over-the-top Valentine Hat.  For starters, a Valentine hat pretty much has to be red and white, right?  (Come to find out, not so much)  I started with a typical 2/2 rib white hat with red hearts knit in.... bleh.  OUT it ripped!  I looked at the yarn, and I got EZ's book and tried to knit small hearts using her heart idea for the back of her heart hat.  I wanted  hearts about 1.5 to 2 inches across.  Didn't work, I got red blobs.  So, I sat and looked at the yarn for another day. I was looking for a hat with style, not cutesy but whimsical.  Whimsy is my middle name, right? (those who know me are gagging)  I saw a gal in a hat that was knit in alternating bands of stockinette and reverse stockinette so it looked horizontally ribbed, but it was brown so it rather resembled a large cow pie.... I wanted more structure. This is what I came up with: And in Blue: They are on etsy, and I just finished one

I finally got around to dealing with the house.  I figure I'd better take down Christmas before it's Valentine's Day....you think?  Anyway, I always refer to this (in my head because no one would get it) as the Changing of the Lares and Penates.  Lares and Penates were Roman house gods.  They found bunches of them when excavating Roman ruins.  There, that's as much explanation as you get. Anyway, I take down Santas, and snowmen and nativities and snowcovered houses and I replace them with fossils, Zapotec gods in black pottery, Tang horses, elephants and rabbits of all sorts.  The Oaxacan wooden figures return, replacing reindeer.  The "Three Chinese Guys" (as Bruce says), the gods of Longevity, High Rank and Fortune are put out where the Christmas Village was.  You see, I change my Lares and Penates.  Not any Lares or Penates the Romans would recognize, but I have to make do....

Well, today after paying the bills, I resolve to spend less in 2012.  Not sure where I'm going to cut the budget... I can't cut my spending on fabric, books or yarn.  Maybe electricity or water.... you think?  Perhaps kid clothes.  Groceries?  Nah. I resolve to eat more (vegetables), and to drink more (water) and to drink less (wine) and to be more organized (like I don't resolve to do that every year and we ALL know how THAT works out).  I resolve to be less (of a control freak) and more (of a relaxed person).  I resolve to not let the failure to follow any of these resolutions get me down, after all, I have the BEST of intentions. I'm thinking of a scarf that is only a cable.  a BIIIIIIG cable and that's all.  How would I do that?  hmmmmm.  Gotta work on that one. Just sent in the registrations for Sew and Stitchery EXPO in Puyallup.  We've got our room all booked and Phyl is coming from Kansas.  She must have had a good time last year, because she's