A peek at the Knitters Review Retreat

Berroco "Sundae" (left) and Spirit Trail "Alexandra"

Well, I’m home from the retreat and still exhausted, but I want to try to get this all written while it’s fresh in my mind.  I had a wonderful time, with the exception of one major problem, which I’ll tell you about below.

Day 1, Friday

On Friday around noon I joined up with my two new friends, Carrie and Lou, at the Albany airport.  We had met on the KR forums and arranged to ride together to the retreat.  But since dinner wasn’t until 6:00 pm, we decided to drive to WEBS in Northhampton for a quickie shopping trip.  On the almost 2-hour drive we got to know each other a bit and chatted about our hopes for the retreat.  Carrie had been to the retreat once before and Lou had been several times, so they talked about their past experiences and got me even more excited about it.

We finally arrived at WEBS and decided that we could only allow ourselves about 30 minutes before we had to be back on the road to Williamstown if we wanted to get there in time for dinner.  We took this pic before we went inside, and I think you can see by the look on my face that I was quite excited.

Lou, Carrie, and me, just before my first visit to WEBS

We went in and I really felt like a kid in a candy store (my sister said that’s what my face looked like in this picture!). The front part of the shop was beautiful, big, bountiful, bodacious, burgeoning,…you get the picture, right? I wanted to see everything, so I made a rather quick round of the whole shop before I started selecting yarn.

My WEBS loot!

I got to make a very quick lap around the warehouse in back too, where I snagged a bag of the most beautiful green Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran for a vest. Up in the front of the store I got 2 hanks of this beautiful Baby Alpaca Grande Hand Dye from Plymouth. It’s very very soft, but I think the color was what made it jump into my basket. Lately I’ve started buying more hand-dyed yarns just for the beauty, sometimes not even knowing what I’ll do with them. But I have no regrets because I can put them in a glass bowl as a table centerpiece and enjoy them every day if I want to!

I got a couple other small things, then Carrie and I tried to round Lou up and get her into the car. (I think Lou will admit that this wasn’t the only time we had to do this with her — she’s quite the social butterfly!)  We hit the road and got to the inn at (I think) around 5:00.  We quickly signed in at the hotel registration desk and the retreat registration desk, and got our tote bags full of goodies.  Look at some of the things that were in mine:

A few items from my retreat goodie bag...generous, huh?

I didn’t have much luck getting good pictures from either my camera or my Blackberry on this trip, since they were all taken in rooms with very bad lighting.  Maybe I’ll do some daylight pics and repost them later….maybe. In the meantime, remember that you can enlarge the pics by clicking on them.

We all got different books in our gift bags. I got the book “Knit Knit” — I’d never heard of it before, but it showcases “knitting as art”, from miniatures to gigantic stuff, to everything in between.  I think I’ll put it on the coffee table and read a bit at a time.

Also got a skein of worsted merino by Sundara Yarn, a skein of Berroco Sundae, a ball of Valley Yarns Deerfield (Webs brand), a buffalo gold-covered Tootsie Pop (what a great marketing gimmick), some note cards, and various other small items.

We had dinner, then started the welcoming session that’s a tradition at the KR retreats.  After Clara’s opening message (she’s really so welcoming), we each got 90 seconds to stand up and introduce ourselves and talk about our “philosophy of knitting”.  Even though I’d had weeks to think about that, I had no idea what to say.  Luckily my turn didn’t come until after about 70 other people had their turns (there were 110 people there), so I was able to come up with something.  At least I think I was…I forget what I said!  I think it was something about not wanting to knit for myself for a while instead of always knitting for my Knitting Matters pattern line….sounded good at the time.  (And I’ve since decided that I’m only knitting for myself until the end of 2009…no knitting for work.  Pattern writing will continue, but no knitting unless it’s for me.  I’m really looking forward to the next 4 or 5 weeks now!)

Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande Hand Dye

This session lasted well past 10 pm, at which time I was desperate for some sleep.  The room we were in for the session was far too warm, and I’d gotten up several hours before my normal time that morning, so I opted to head directly for my bed without staying up for socializing.

Day 2, Saturday

(Are you still reading?  I know this is long, but I promised details, so onward we go:)

I had a bit of a headache when I woke up, but took some meds and headed down for breakfast.  Then on to the workshop I’d signed up for with Kathryn Alexander.  If you’re not familiar with her work and you love color, you should take a look at her website and see if it inspires you.  Surprisingly, I’d never heard of her before the retreat signups, but I decided to take a class that was something out of my normal realm of knitting, just to see what I could get from it.  The class was a ton of fun, at least up until 11:00 when my headache had gotten much worse and I was forced to leave the class and go to bed.

I think I’ve written here about how I used to get bad sinus migraines that laid me up for 6 or more hours at a time.  Until a few months ago when I was prescribed Singulair and the migraines stopped.  Really, I think I had one minor migraine in a 4-month period.  So I hadn’t brought any migraine meds to the retreat with me.  All I had was some OTC sinus allergy medicine and a few Advil.  So I took what I had and tried to sleep it off.  The yarn market was scheduled to be open from 2-5 that day, and I was hoping to be able to make it for the opening at 2:00.  But 2:00 came and went, and I couldn’t get out of bed.  Carrie had said she’d check on me, but my head hurt so bad I put a note on the door asking her not to knock because I couldn’t take the noise.  So I missed the entire market, but knew I had to get out of bed and get some food into my stomach one way or another.  I forced myself to get up and go down to dinner around 6:30.  I sat down with a couple people I didn’t really know, because I couldn’t find Lou or Carrie.  (But that resulted in having a couple more new friends, so it turned out nicely!) Anyway, I ate some soup and a few bites of something they “said” was turkey (it was horrible), a bite of stuffing, and I was done.  I just couldn’t eat.  I was supplied with more drugs by the wonderful girls angels at my table, and went back to bed.  I was so disappointed at missing so much that day.  I also missed a talk by Melanie Falick about her career in the publishing industry. Bummer.

And of course, around 10:00 pm, all alone in my room, I started to feel much better.  Figures.  So I hit the vending machines for some pretzels and water, and just resigned myself to having a better Sunday.

Day 3, Sunday

This was the last day of the retreat, ending around noon or so.  Luckily I woke up at 7:00 feeling wonderful, although HUNGRY.  I went down for breakfast and was the recipient of so many hugs and well wishes for my headache the previous day, it made me feel like I was missed.  And, even better, I found out that some of the market vendors had left their booths set up, and we’d be able to shop them at 11:30 — hurray for me!!

But before that we had the final session of the retreat, the New Beginnings session.  Clara asks everyone to begin a new project that will be for themselves, and to have other retreat-goers knit a few stitches on it for “good juju” (her words).  The idea is that the juju will help you finish the project so you can show it at next year’s retreat.  I found it really fun and inspiring to do this, and I just know I’ll have a fantastic new vest for myself before next November.   I’m using Veronik Avery’s Mosaic Yoke Jacket as my starting point, and my finished project may or may not resemble the original…I’m not sure what I’ll do for the yoke yet. And I may make shorter sleeves.  (Here’s a link to the Ravelry page that shows this project made by lots of other people.)

Swatch for my New Beginnings project

Clara added her own special wit to the New Beginnings ceremony, reading her version of “wedding vows”, uniting us with our projects, despite dropped stitches, etc., until bind off do we part.  Not her exact words, but I think that gives you an idea of what she said.  It was so funny we were practically rolling on the floor laughing.  That woman is seriously funny!

Yum! My favorite greens all rolled up together!

I was able to get Clara to sign her book, and I also got Ann Budd to sign one of her books that I’d brought with me.  Awesome.  After exchanging contact info with a few new friends, I got to shop a bit in the market.  I got a huge skein of Robusta in the most gorgeous greens from Chris at Briar Rose, and a skein of Alexandra sock yarn from Spirit Trail.

After finally managing to get Lou into the car (she doesn’t know this, but there was talk of getting a leash…I’m just sayin’), we headed back to the Albany airport and said our goodbyes until next year.  I’m already looking forward to it.  It’ll be nice to be a “veteran” instead of a newbie next time!

Yarn and brownies…can you say “perfect day”?

One more quick post before I head off to Massachusetts….  Last Saturday I spent a couple hours at Heritage Spinning & Weaving in Lake Orion, MI, for a meet & greet event that was held in connection with the kickoff of the Knitting Matters trunk show there.  (Selected garments will be in the shop for the next 2 weeks if you’re in the area.)

Jan (left) and Kim at the Trunk Show debut

It’s always very special to be able to spend time at this shop, partly because I used to work there and know most of the staff, but also because it’s such a vibrant and exciting place to be.  That’s due in large part to the personality and wisdom of Joan Sheridan, the owner and positive energy that keeps things hopping.  (And boy, does that woman know how to make brownies! She put cherries in them this time, and tortured me by having a big plate of them right at the table where I sat for the meet & greet.  I’m proud to say that I restrained myself and only ate one brownie though…small victories.)

P.S.  Thanks to Jan for posing with me so I wouldn’t feel like such a dork having my picture taken alone!

Two days and counting….

In 48 hours I’ll finally be on my way to Massachusetts for the Knitter’s Review Retreat — hurray!  Ever since I missed the cutoff for registration last year, I’ve been anxiously awaiting my next chance to sign up for this annual event.  Now I can hardly believe it’s finally almost time to go.  Now that my printer has been repaired and I’ve gotten all my pattern orders sent out,  I’ll be able to spend some time planning what to take for all the special sessions and classes.  Wish I was close enough to drive instead of fly, because then I could take bunches of yarn and magazines for the stash swap room.  I still might take yarn, but the heavy magazines will have to stay home this time.

The brilliant Clara Parkes is the organizer and hostess of this retreat, and we’ll be graced with the presence of other knitting celebs too.  I’ll give a full report of the festivities when I get home next week, so make sure to check back if you want to read all the deets!

(Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I’m also going to make my first visit to WEBS on this trip too!  Jealous much?)

And we’re back in business, finally

After having my printer out of commission for several weeks waiting for a new print head, I’m happy to say that the repair was completed yesterday morning and all’s well again in the Knitting Matters print shop.  (I have some good things to say about Media Sciences too…below.)  And just in time for a couple of new orders too.  While my duplexing printer was broken, I had to print a few orders on my old backup inkjet printer.  The print quality on it is fine (sometimes I even like the color better on it than on my main printer), but it doesn’t have a duplexing function.  So printing double-sided patterns was not fun by any means.  To accomplish that trick I had to babysit the printer so I could pull out the printed pages and feed them back in to get the second sides printed.  Not horrible when it works ok, but it almost always pulls the pages wrong so you end up with page 1 on the front and page 3 on the back, for instance.  And even if you only load in five copies at a time, that ends up wasting every page that comes after the misprinted page because the printer doesn’t know that it made a mistake, so it keeps printing the same incorrect page sequence for the rest of the print run.  (Does that make sense?) So I was basically reduced to printing one pattern at a time for hours on end.  Dreadfully boring, to say the least.

So here’s what I have to say about Media Sciences: they are fantastic!  When I first bought my Xerox Phaser 8560 almost two years ago, I decided to buy the solid ink sticks from Media Sciences instead of directly from Xerox.  I knew that would void the Xerox warranty, but since I’d heard that Media Sciences had a reputation for standing behind their ink, I decided to take the chance.  Their ink is significantly less expensive than the Xerox ink, so I’ve saved lots of money.  But here’s the best part — when my print head failed, Media Sciences paid for a new print head, paid for the installation, and sent me a bunch of free ink as compensation for the down time I’d experienced.  You can’t appreciate how immense this is unless you know the price of that print head — the service tech who was here yesterday says it runs around $700 or 800.  That’s almost as much as I paid for the entire printer! So they gave me a $700 print head, a service call that would have cost me $200, and ink that probably would have cost me a few hundred dollars more.  And I paid NOTHING!  You can bet I’ll be buying ink from Media Sciences for a loooong time to come.

Knitting Matters supports Farm Sanctuary

Samantha in 2007, shortly after she got out of the hospital.

You may remember reading my post last summer about our visit to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY.  (Check out that post for a detailed account of that visit, and for pictures and video of the animals.)  I’ve been a supporter of Farm Sanctuary for a long time, and was thrilled when I was able to become a sponsor for one of their rescued animals a while back.  She’s a sheep named Samantha, and she was rescued as a lamb in 2007, along with 20 other lambs who had been abandoned to die on the side of the road.  I received a little picture of Samantha when I became her sponsor, but had no idea of her specific physical problems until I got to meet her last summer.  The poor little girl has 2 lame and deformed back legs, and has developed the most lumbering, awkward-looking gait to get around the pasture.  But, happily,  I received an update letter from FS recently, telling me that Samantha has received a custom-made leg brace to help bear the weight of her body and take some stress off of her hind end.  I’m trying to get a picture of her using her brace, and if successful I’ll share it here.

I decided that in addition to my personal membership in Farm Sanctuary, I want Knitting Matters to support their rescue efforts too.  So from now on, a portion of my profits from sales of Knitting Matters patterns will be donated to Farm Sanctuary each year. (I hope you’ll feel good knowing that you’re helping too. ) I know there are innumerable worthy causes in the world, and I’m someone who always struggles trying to decide which ones to help.  But I’ve been watching Farm Sanctuary for a long time, and after my visit I was reassured that they really are doing good work.  The animals are living happy, normal lives in an idyllic setting.  In fact, their New York shelter is exactly what a farm should feel and look like!

Sophie the Blue Sheep

Sophie is particularly glad that we’re sponsoring Samantha, and has hinted that she wants us to help more sheep if possible. (Sophie is the feisty Knitting Matters mascot, and for some reason she’s quite adamant that we not sponsor any pigs. Go figure. I thought the pigs at the farm were wonderful….)

Now that's a big yawn!

When I went to Farm Sanctuary’s website as I was writing this post, I discovered some sad news too.  Zoop, the goat I had played with last summer, passed away suddenly recently.  Here’s the short video of her playing with me, despite her amputated leg.    They have posted a tribute page for her as well, if you’d like to read it.  She was a very enthusiastic and playful little goat — one of my favorite animals of all.

Because WordPress keeps statistics on how many people visit my blog, I know you guys are out there reading, but I sure wish some of you would comment once in a while.  It’s really not very satisfying to write all this stuff and not get any feedback.  I’d like to be able to get to know you better and find out what types of things you’d like to read about here.  So please, leave me a comment as often as you like! I love to write, but I need some motivation once in a while….pretty please?

Exposed!

Leaves…

Well, the leaves are almost all on the ground now, leaving our protective shield of trees bare.  For the next 6 or 7 months I’ll be watching traffic from my office window, instead of enjoying a beautiful wall of green that muffles the sounds of cars.  Our house sits back from the road, behind trees and at the end of a curving driveway, so we usually have plenty of privacy.  But when the leaves are down it’s like living in a different place, and I don’t like it nearly as much.  I feel exposed and less safe.  I tend to forget how many cars go past our house every day until the leaves are down…and it seems like the amount of traffic keeps increasing all the time.  And going faster.  Ugh.

…and Berries

Ok, let’s stop thinking about stressful things.  Guess what?  I got a new Blackberry Tour!  I’ve never had a BB before, but my husband has been attached to his for years (yes, almost literally attached to it, I swear).  I’d been working from a cell phone and a Palm handheld, and not having too many problems.  But when my hotsync cable broke recently and I couldn’t sync the Palm to my desktop calendar anymore, I decided it was time for a change.  Plus, I wanted to be able to access my email and Facebook when I’m away from the office.  So now my phone and calendar are in one device…convenient but a little scary (what if I lose it?!).

I’ve had to start using Google’s calendar now, so it can sync to my BB calendar.  And I like it well enough, other than the worry in the back of my mind about allowing Google Inc. to have access to my calendar.  But the only other desktop calendar options would have required me to buy Outlook or Lotus Notes….don’t want to.   And so far I L.O.V.E. my Blackberry! I was worried about getting used to the small keyboard, but it’s really easy.  (And much easier than typing with a stylus as I had to do on my Palm.) And the menus are pretty intuitive (mostly). I didn’t even know I was going to be able to sync my iTunes library onto my BB either — way cool! This decision was on my mind for several weeks, and I’m glad I finally got it taken care of.  It’s amazing how difficult it was to comparison shop for a new handheld…there are SO many of them out there, with so many different features.  And they come out with new models every other day it seems…crazy.

And something else to EXPOSE today —

The new Roundabout pattern is finally ready to ship (I was very unproductive last month), and I sent the digital file off to WEBS and they’ve already got it loaded up on the site and ready for download.  I hope to get the next pattern for the Kids’ Collection done by the end of this year too — it’s a cardigan.

As soon as I get all my scattered “to do” lists combined on my Blackberry I’m sure I’ll be able to keep a handle on things better.  Who knows, I might be able to get a half dozen more patterns published before TNNA in June….you never know!

Oops, I did it again

Remember a few days ago when I wrote this?  Well I’ve had another steeked project bite the dust now…can you believe that?  It’s not like I don’t know how to do this…I’ve done successful steeked projects before.  But this time I was working on a new baby cardigan and must not have secured the steek well enough with the sewing machine because the stitches started unraveling when I began to add the button bands.  OMG, I’m so frustrated with steeks right now.  I almost tossed the whole thing aside, but after I calmed down I realized that I could just reknit the yoke portion because that’s where the steek stitches didn’t hold.  It’s not a tragedy, but my confidence is shaken.  I think I’ll secure my steeks with crochet stitches instead of using the sewing machine from now on.  Sheesh.

Rug Hooking

You may remember a while back when I talked about my interest in learning rug hooking.  Well I took a beginner’s class at the Fiber Expo in Ann Arbor, Michigan this past weekend and I loved it!  We each got a simple star pattern and kit to begin with, and were able to start practicing how to make the loops for about an hour at the end of the three-hour class.  I’ve only done a little bit so far, and my loops are still very uneven, but I can already tell this is very addictive. (Click the picture if you want to see it bigger.)

I was concerned that it would be expensive to buy all the supplies, but the teacher recommended that we do a couple kits at first so we don’t have to buy strip cutters and wool right away.  Most kits come with the wool strips already cut, so I think that’s a good idea.  I did go ahead and buy the starter frame from her in class, but that wasn’t very expensive.  If I end up wanting to do this more regularly, then I can look at getting a used cutter on eBay or something.  Now if I can just figure out how to avoid getting a blister on my hand when I hook….

The rug hooking class was at 9:00 Sunday morning, and I had to drive an hour and a half to get there, so it was really tough for me to get my night owl self up and moving at 6:00 am on a Sunday to hit the road by 7:00.  But I did it, and was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise, and a huge rainbow arching over the highway on my drive over to Ann Arbor.  I can’t remember the last time I saw a sunrise (sunsets, yes; sunrises, not so much). Almost makes me want to try to become a morning person….almost.

Libby

My oldest kitty Libby, who is 15, has started having “yowling episodes” lately.  She’s had some age-related behavior issues recently (peeing outside the litter box), but other than that she seems very healthy.  We went to the vet today for her bloodwork re-check, and I talked to the dr. about this.  He says that it’s common in older cats, but they (meaning the researchers) haven’t been able to find the real meaning of it.  Sometimes it’s because they’ve got a form of feline dementia and they forget where they are or they’re lonely. But whenever Libby does it and I go to see if she’s ok, she immediately stops the yowling and looks at me as if to say, “What’s up, Mom?”.  She’s her normal lovable self, with her sweet little voice.  So my concern was that maybe she has cancer or something causing her pain.  Dr. vet says that a cat with cancer will generally lose weight, and Libby has gained a pound since her last vet visit only 5 months ago.  Plus, he says that cats generally don’t vocalize when they’re in pain, so that’s a good sign, I guess.  We’ll get the results of her bloodwork tomorrow and see if any problems show up there.  I hope it’s just a weird behavioral thing and not a serious health problem.  She’s just the sweetest cat in the world, and I’m not ready for her to leave yet.  I hope she’ll be with us for years to come.

Kiyo getting some love

I was tickled to see that my Kiyo design is featured in this week’s WEBS podcast and on their blog.  They’ve knitted it up in their Valley Yarns Deerfield in a gorgeous brown shade (and I might have to make myself another one now that I’ve seen it in that color!). I’m sure Kathy and Steve won’t mind me showing the picture of their version here, so here it is (click to see it bigger):

You can download Kiyo instantly at WEBS.   (You’ll also see Kiyo in the WEBS holiday catalog arriving in mailboxes shortly.)  Enjoy!

UPDATE: I found the WEBS catalog in my mailbox today, shortly after I wrote this post, and discovered that they also feature my Circle of Life on page 4.  Kiyo is on page 11.

I can’t believe I did this

Since I don't have any knitting pics for this post, here's a recent photo I took at a local park (click to see it bigger)

The Tweed Vest is no more. That’s right, it’s gone. You probably want to know what happened, right?  Remember that I was working it in the round with a steek at the front center.  Well, even though I knew I shouldn’t do it, I screwed up by cutting my steek early so I could try it on. After cutting the steek I decided I didn’t like what I had done in the waist area. Since you can’t reuse the yarn after cutting the steek, I’m basically screwed with this project. Sad me. I love this yarn, and especially this color. Might have to buy more and try again, but for now I’m done with it.  I’m back to working on the new kids’ cardigan (it doesn’t have a name yet).  I finished the yoke, cut the steek, and have one button band done.  This project almost got frogged too though, because I wasn’t paying attention when I went to weave in ends where I had joined new yarn — I somehow unknitted more stitches, leaving me with a hole about 3 stitches and 3 rows wide, right on the front of the cardi.  Now, I have no problem weaving in ends normally, but when it’s a dark color yarn and there are multiple rows missing…then I have a problem.  It took me over an hour of intense concentration under my Ott light to get it repaired.  It’s not perfect, but good enough for now.  I ended up duplicate stitching over a couple of stitches anyway to make it look more even.  I hate that I have such difficulty with that stuff!

I don’t know what I did to cause all this bad knitting karma lately.  My Xerox Phaser 8560, the printer that I use to print all my pattern orders, has major problems.  The blue ink jets are all clogged up and it won’t clean itself with the self-cleaning procedure.  So I’m in the unbelievable position of hoping I don’t get any orders for the next week or so…or at least that I only get small orders that I can print on my little HP Deskjet.   Of course I didn’t buy a service contract from Xerox (those things are like umbrellas…if you have one you won’t need it, and if you don’t have one you do need it), so I’m at the mercy of Media Sciences, the manufacturer of the compatible ink I’ve been using.  I’m told they’re very good about paying for repairs if their ink is shown to be the cause of the problem.  They made me mail them a couple pages from the printer so they can analyze it in their lab to make sure it’s their ink before they will consider authorizing a repair (very CSI, don’t you think?).  So allowing 2 days for the mail, then 2 days for the lab tests, we’re looking at the middle of next week before I even hear back from them, and then probably a few days before I can get anyone scheduled to come look at it.  And maybe more time if they have to order a new print head or some other part.  I suppose most shops would be understanding if I couldn’t ship their orders for a week or so, but I usually like to ship within a day or two, so I hope this gets resolved sooner rather than later. 

Meanwhile, I’m going back through my records trying to calculate a better estimate of how much it really costs me to print my patterns on this printer.  It seems that it wastes a LOT of ink, which is disappointing considering how darn expensive the ink is.  And one of the reasons I bought the printer was that I liked the supposedly lower environmental impact from not having to use those plastic ink cartridges.  Ironic, huh?  The environment wins, my wallet loses.  I suppose Al Gore would be proud of me though….and that’s something, isn’t it?

Tweed Vest progress pics

The new kids’ cardi has been temporarily set aside because I started this: 

Kim's Tweed Vest

It’s going to be a vest for ME, and I’m not planning to write up the pattern for the Knitting Matters line. I feel like I’m breaking some sort of unwritten rule by knitting something and not publishing it — isn’t that awful? (Awful that I feel that way, I mean. Perils of turning your hobby into your business I guess.)  But I just wanted to do it this once, so I’ll have a unique garment for myself. It won’t have to be sent out in trunk shows, and I can wear it whenever I want. Assuming, that is, that it turns out as planned. I’m using Kathmandu Aran Tweed, one of my all-time favorite yarns. I’ve made 2 other cardigans in this yarn over the years, and have enough stashed away for a couple more after this vest. It’s a blend of wool (85%), silk (10%) and cashmere (5%), so it’s warm and soft. And I especially love the little flecks of pink and orange in this mostly brown yarn (color #154). (Click the picture to see it bigger.)  The column of stockinette stitches you see in the picture is the front center steek, where it will be cut open after it’s all knitted.  It’s going to have a single button at the waist, resulting in what I hope will be a figure-flattering fit.  (Sigh, it seems like lately there just isn’t a figure-flattering fit for me.  BTW, I worked out today, so I hope to change that!)

The hardest decision I had to make about this was choosing the stitch pattern, because the tweediness of the yarn tends to hide all but the boldest of stitch patterns. The first 2 sweaters I made with it (see below) were done in stockinette, but I wanted some more texture and body to it this time.  Cables would probably look great, but I’m using a variation of moss stitch (using K1, P1 instead of K2, P2). Whenever I work patterns with alternating knit and purl stitches I tend to use the continental method because it’s easier on my arms. And that’s what I’ve been doing, but after working on this the past 3 evenings, my right shoulder is still getting sore. I’m trying to take it easy, but I’m getting anxious to get this done so I’m probably working on it too much without taking breaks. Oh well, I guess I’ll be spending lots of time with my heating pad until this is done.

My first cardi in Kathmandu Aran

My second cardi in Kathmandu Aran

Charity for the Holidays

I think I’ve found the perfect Adopt-A-Family program for us this year. If you read my previous post, you know that we’ve decided to forgo gift-giving in our family and give gifts to a needy family instead.  The Volunteers of America Michigan runs an annual program where you can adopt a specific family, get a list of what they need and want, and buy them gifts.  You can even deliver them directly to the family yourself if you want to.  Of course, if you don’t want direct contact with the family you can just donate money to the program instead, but I think we’d like to deliver the gifts ourselves.  If you’re interested but don’t live in Michigan, check with your local VOA or search for a charity at Charity Navigator.  There’s bound to be a charity that speaks to your particular interests or concerns…why not take a few minutes to check it out?  This year more than ever before (at least in my lifetime), we need to reach out to help our fellow citizens.  I’m very much looking forward to shopping for our adopted family this year, knowing that what we buy them will be appreciated.

Oh, BTW, how do you like the new blog header?  I figured out how to crop pictures into a circle instead of a rectangle, so decided to play with it a bit.  I like it!