Maybe not always new

When it comes to yarn, I love to have new things and to see colors change. It keeps the options alive for me. However, sometimes we're sad to see something go. Such was the case with Zitron's Lifestyle Color, a self-striping superwash merino in great colors.

The good news is, it's back, this time as Ambiente. This is the same high quality yarn, offered in the same five color combinations! It is 100% Merino Wool Superwash wool, with 170 yards per 50 gram ball. It works up on US 3-5 needles, yielding 5.75-6.5 stitches per inch.


Denise Interchangeable is offering change too, with an interchangeable crochet kit. This will be awesome for Tunisian crochet/cro-hook work. The kits include 12 individual hooks, sizes F5 (3.75mm) to 19 (15mm) and 7 cord lengths, 2 each 3" and 5", plus 1 each 9", 12" and 16". What's not to like about this!

Babies and Flowers

Not as much knitting as I'd like the last couple weeks. I took a few days after NWNM in Seattle and went to Bellingham to visit family, which includes 15 month old grandson Ian (not pictured). I was surprised to endure record heat in the Northwest, especially after 60 degrees and rain last year.

Back home and settled in waiting for Baby Boy Messiter to be born mid-August. Zane Carlos made an early appearance on August 3 at 7 lbs 10 oz and 21.5 inches--clearly ready to join us. Proud parents and grandparents!

I'm a bit distracted by my garden too. Not only is it absolutely beautiful right now, but there's lots to harvest too. This week's focus has been on herbs, gathering them in the cool morning and setting to dry.

The colors inspire me. I want to knit yellow, pinks and corals!

Creative Monkeys

I must admit that the creative monkeys have been quite busy since I got back from NWNM in Tukwila, WA. I came back from TNNA in Columbus, OH exhausted and it took me more than a week to get back on track, and my subsequent vacation from teaching seemed ever-so-short and I just worked more in my office. After TNNA I was anxious to get going on new projects, but was working on tying up loose ends from new patterns, grading final portfolios, and doing a little side project for cash. And my spouse has had a crazy transaction going on which is causing him to have restless nights--and me too, so I'm sleep deprived with dark circles under my eyes as evidence. So I went to NWNM somewhat under-enthused; I'm always happy to see Susan because she and I always have a good time, and I was looking forward to seeing my niece Rose and having our mother Jane along (a girls slumber party at Embassy Suites), but I wasn't enthused. Oh, also looking forward to the excellent Thai food near the hotel. I actually only took along my Sea Shell sleeve and one swatch; I just wasn't feeling the whole thing.

Saturday was kind of slow, which it always is, although it provided an opportunity to catch up with Maureen and Christopher who stopped by while killing time before going to the airport and then to get to know Celia who is deadly funny and has great magnets. I ripped my sleeve back three times. I did have my eye on a hank of Serendipitous Ewe Sport, but I'd told myself that I couldn't take it unless it was unsold at the end of the show. We had turned over our fashion show garments to Brian when he came around at 4 p.m. so next was a free drink and popcorn before the fashion show. I was slated to be one of the judges for the "amateur" contest so I slid into silvery pants and my red Must Have Lace Top.

Anyway, I think what got my juices (i.e., the Monkeys) going was seeing eight (seven recent) designs go down the runway. They were interspersed with other things, but I never get to see that many of my things on people. The models were real people which made it even better. What they may have lacked in fancy walks showed how great my designs look on real people. It was very satisfying. The best one was Vikki in Winter Ball Cami. She totally rocked that top. She is, well, probably older than me and she looked totally hot. I hope she knew it--she sure looked like she did. Everyone looked great, but that really struck me.

I came back ready to go on new projects. Today the problem is how do I winnow them?

Chicken or Egg?

Every six months, in preparation for TNNA's Great Wall of Yarn the members of the Association of Knitwear Designers do swatches for the yarns submitted by the yarn companies. As someone who loves to swatch, this is a wonderful distraction for me, and despite the fact that I don't really have time, I usually sign up to do three yarns. I always request natural fibers, which are my preference, and I frequently get nice luxury fibers to work with.

I use this as an opportunity to let some yarn talk to me about what it wants to be. This means that I sit down with some stitch books and look for appropriate stitch patterns. To me this is one of the best parts about what I do. No matter how many times I have looked through those books--and my Barbara Walkers are so handled that I have had them rebound--everything looks different when you have a specific

yarn in mind. Sometimes a pattern that I've loved just all of a sudden has the right yarn for it, and sometimes something I've never really noticed, just leaps off the page.

I then gather up my stitch patterns and the yarn, find the right needles, and usually sit on the couch and begin to make tiny sweaters. I love to do this! It means that I get to blend the stitch pattern with a garment shape.

Sometimes it works on the first shot, and sometimes not. Some patterns have to be swatched before I can start and others I just do a guesstimate and take off. Rarely is it a completely forward process, but it is fun for me because there is also no expectation except to make a nice, tiny sweater. And I don't have to write the pattern!

These are pictures of the three sweaters I did for TNNA in June. Yarns are for Winter 09/10. If you look closely at the purple sweater you'll see that I didn't do the armhole bind offs evenly and the pattern doesn't sit quite right. I was drinking a martini. I loved the stitch pattern.

I had to adjust it to work in the round, and I wasn't wild about how the bobbles looked, but that wasn't important at that point--I just needed a nice sweater.

I loved how I carried out the details on the tiny sleeves and neckline, but couldn't imagine that the pattern would look so great circling a real person's hips. But I really liked it, so I have now tweaked the stitch pattern, and done a swatch in a yarn that I was looking for a project to match to.

This yarn was at a better gauge, and this hat gave me the opportunity to rework those bobbles and finishing off the top was just too fun! A swatch like this is also a good test of how the yarn behaves when it is ripped. I redid portions of this many times. If you look closely you can see that my small bobbles change from the first repeat to the second as I refined my process; I had gotten fed up with ripping by then, so I just left it.

This is on its way to becoming a Y2Knit pattern. Hopefully it will be complete for a January release. The hat pattern will be included!

Battle of Funkstown

Saturday, July 11, the town of Funkstown celebrated with a Day in the Park and a reenactment of the Battle of Funkstown, a civil war battle.

I think the best part of the day was the music by the 97th Regimental String Band. They came from Florida and played 18th century music. Since their "stage" was right across from the shop, we sat on the porch and enjoyed the music while we knitted. They played later in the park, too.

After the music came the reenactment. Weird to me, but they seemed to be having a good time. Best part was the women who looted the fallen soldiers, taking their boots and valuables. I called out that they should take their socks too--hand knit with love by someone!

Thanks to Dennis for some more great pictures: team 1, team 2 and women looting.

Finished Sock

Elizabeth (Lizzy) Lundsford took the sock class at Y2Knit and finished her first sock today. She's just 10 years old! She turns 11 on June 21 so we think she'll finish her second sock when she's 11. She used a yummy colorway, reminds me of strawberries, of Fixation.

Lizzy's knitting has really taken off in recent months. She's knit a blanket for her stuffed dinosaur and has nearly completed a sweater for her American Girl Doll, thanks to Bonnie's patient teaching during Mommy and Me sessions.

Her next project is a stuffed snake. The pattern is written for flat knitting in Stockinette stitch. Lizzy wants to knit in the round on double points so she doesn't have to purl!

Field Trip to Be Sweet

When we were at TNNA I had a quick conversation with Nadine Curtis of Be Sweet. We share an awesome rep, Tina Hilton, who had suggested that Nadine talk to me about pattern grading. Susan had been by their booth and was told she'd won a door prize from them, but didn't believe them. Pic shows the tee I picked out for her and the replacement of Bubble yarn to match!

So Nadine said to go to the booth and get yarn so Susan and I went over on Monday, we were tired, and Kristine (Christine?) was tired and so I grabbed a couple of balls and said I'd get in touch with Nadine when she got back from vacation. Of course I swatched--who can resist pretty pink yarn?--and I had an idea to use their fabulous novelties and their bamboo yarn. Nadine and I emailed and I set up a field trip for Jennifer (my lovely assistant) and I to go to the Be Sweet studio in Sausalito. I also invited my mother, Jane, just because she loves to go almost anyplace.

I promised Mom ice cream so we took care of that before we went to Be Sweet. Then we headed upstairs to the Studio and an hour of fun ensued. Yarn was examined, we talked about design ideas and pattern collaborations. And Nadine showed us her new accessory products and things she'd purchased as inspirations. So we have some fun with all this great yarn and each of us came away with lots of sample yarns!

Prior to the visit, since returning from TNNA, Susan had executed, and Sandy (our very special test knitter) had tested a pattern to use the Be Sweet Bubble yarn. So a sample was sent out here to show to Be Sweet (of course I didn't bring a camera!) but it looked so fabulous on Kristine, who was wearing a fushia tee--and is young and pretty anyway. A pattern will be available soon! Tentatively named Bubble Whirl.

I have the makings of a Truffle top (raspberry Bamboo and chocolate Ribbon Ball).