A Designer I Be?

How many years has it been, gentle readers, since I declared that I would write my designs down? I guess it took an actual job as a designer to force me to do it.

Since I've been partnering with Laura at Krafti-Kit last Summer, I've been much more in the role of designer than I ever thought. We had originally planned to purchase exclusive designers for the entire first year, but way sooner than that we've come to offer our own designs. It doesn't mean that we don't still WANT to work with designers. It's just been more time-efficient at times to do our own thing.

I'm going to start off by saying that one of my biggest time savers has been Knit Visualizer. I cannot say enough great things about this charting software that I've had for quite sometime now. I can use it for needlepoint as well as knitting and who knows what else?

One of my favorite parts of designing has been working with dyers like PicoAccuardi on projects like these socks, knitted in Maple Way. I'm working on a lace project using one of their yarns right now and I'm just loving it. More than just sock yarn!
Then I collared FibroFibers for a wool/bamboo blend for this crochet project (modeled by the ever lovely Petra):
An entire sweater? Yeah, but baby sized:
There have been some smaller projects too:
Oh yeah, knitting with beads too:
And then there's the needlepoint:
At this point, you might think, Wow! That's a lot of designs. Truth is though, that I have a basket of ones that are still in the works that haven't made it to market yet.

I've also been thinking about pattern writing "guildlines" that would be "approved" by some authoritative source. I think it's great that we have the freedom to do things as we like, but sometimes I do like the idea of agreed upon pattern guidelines. What do you all think?

Back to the drawing board, literally!

Really?

Is it truly about to be Spring? Has it really been over a month since I posted?

Well, the Knitting Olympics have been here and gone, but not without some serious, down to the wire knitting. I started the team, Spinning Knitters on Ravelry. It was more fun to be a team captain because I had the opportunity to interact and inspire all my fellow spinning knitters.

The challenge was to use at least 4 ounces of already spun yarn and knit something challenging in the 17 days of the Olympics. It may seem a bit "beside the point" to use already spun yarn, but for those of us with growing stashes of said yarn, it seemed appropriate. I started out with 7 ounces but when my scarf grew to 72", I stopped knitting. Smart girl. Tired girl.

The yarn I carded and spun was my current favorite in my stash. It was a blend of Polwarth and Angora that I carded and spun to about a sport weight. I used the pattern Alhambra of Anne Hanson of Knitspot. After a false start cast-on during the opening ceremonies, in which I gently frogged my attempt, I started with new needles and knit away. It's all in the tools, people.

I was waiting for the perfect picture of me wearing this lovely for my post, but alas, that's not happened yet. So, here are the progress and finished scarf pics for you all.
This is pre-blocking and I know that a lot of folks said it looked so cool here, but...
Block it, I did. I wanted to see the pattern definition and show off the AMOUNT of knitting I did!

Fae Days

All photos courtesy of Micki Da Re

I'm not quite sure now of the exact turn of events, but Robert and I had been talking more and more about Fiber Arts, in general because...well, that's what I like to talk about. After some prodding he attended Black Sheep last year and saw a distinct "lifestyle" link between the faerie community and the fiber folk community. We both thought it would be cool to find a way to make that happen through demos first at the Winter Celebration. Indoors, smaller, sooner and the enormous Summer shindig.

At the same time I was building Krafti-Kit with Laura, and although we had no intention of doing shows per our business plan, this seemed like the perfect way for us to get our feet wet in the show world. It would be good to actually see our potential customers because of our ecommerce experience limiting us in that way.

So it came to be, through Robert's generosity, that we got to do all of this and have a big taste of the Fae community to boot. Here, I'll speak more to my experience demoing and then I'll try and get Laura to chime in on the Krafti-Kit blog with her experience.

I love to teach. I forget how much I love to teach. When one does two days of spinning demos, it's like a tease for folks who might have a passing interest to come see what you're doing. In this case, it had quite an amusing turn. I normally have a lot of kids who drag their parents to see what I'm doing. In this environment, where the children often roamed freely, the little girls were all in their faerie costumes, whooping it up. That left the boys to...find other things to occupy themselves:

A fast turning wheel and some fiber magic.

Suddenly I had a 7-12 year old boy fan club. Such sincere curiosity! It was truly great to see the amazement when one boy asked to just hold a ball of yarn because he had never done so and it was "so cool". Yeah, I kinda think so too. Just a little.

And then there was the experience of wearing flowers in my hair for two days. Quite another thing. I think my big glasses rather took away from the entire look, but hey, sometimes reality just has to play into things, even in Faerie Land.

Drafting fiber with my young guy, Gareth at the wheel

Tracy Irwin Helping me out with a spindle demo

I Sing as I Knit

Singular in my focus? Making a change on that.

Sure, I'm interested in lots of things but when I was a student, years and years ago, I studied voice and piano. You'd think that "once a singer, always a singer". When folks know about my past, they often ask me, "Well, aren't you still singing?" It seems odd to them that I haven't been. I've played piano depending on availability and I have a box of sheet music in the closet, but I've not even been much of a shower singer. Things change though, and for the better.

An article just came out in Neighborhood Notes, an online local news source that I'm quite fond of, about the Flash Choir. They were taking pictures last Monday night at our rehearsal. I've been going for a couple of month now but this is the first time it seems that we're getting some notoriety. We're practicing like fiends this week in preparation for a concert that's been scheduled for a while. Then, on our night for a dress rehearsal, this other opportunity came up for us for sing at a benefit for Haiti.

I've been obsessively watching the coverage of the Haitian disaster on CNN every day while I'm doing my work, my knitting, my whatever. It's been a couple of weeks of planning more than moving great things forward. Mercury Retrograde. Now life has an engine again, so to speak. The Christmas tree came down today. I took care of the neglected plants. Turned on the music to drown out the sad news...

The sun was up in the sky today and it actually kinda looked like this. I understand more clearly now why the Nordic folks wear such brightly colored knits. I'm catching on...

So, this is a sample for Krafti-Kit as we didn't have our own. It's called the Seven of Hearts Tam and I've photographed the blocking on a plate process that gives it a distinct "tam" shape. For those of you not keen on blocking, this hat, like many others would just be a "bubble" hat without this process. And, it actually stays this way. Pretty cool. And, for a change, my colorwork tension was just right! My sample is quite a bit more pink than the first sample but I really like it. For more of the reddish-orange, I could have cut the yarn and used more of the end bit.
I'm ever thankful that I do have multiple skills and interests. I hope that by my readers are sometimes influenced to reach outside their comfort zone to try new things that may end up as new loves.
Make, Heal, Love.

Five Eighty Four

That's the blog post number this is. Wow. New Year, new stuff made. Even with a busy business life, I've been knitting and spinning like a maniac. Truly.

This is going to be a photo content heavy post; the work speaks for itself.

I have started and am halfway up the back of the Forever Sweater. It's a little hard to get each little red crown perfect, but I've actually gotten that part memorized. I've actually finished something I started last year with mixed results. It's the February Lady Sweater (above), or to you knitters, the "FLS" I made it a bit cropped when I felt the weight of the yarn and that's fine but I wish I had lengthened the sleeves a little. You can see in the neckline that I used some ribbon to stabilize and as always, so glad I did!

Finally got to use these handmade porcelain buttons I've been saving.

There were the 2 hats from Vogue Fall 2009. This one below was knit in wool/bamboo sock yarn for the lovely, Dr. Kate.

This is mine, knit in some alpaca that's been sitting in my stash forever. This is the hat I pull on when I'm waiting for a bus and the wind is cold. The second I put it on, all is well in the world! (Oh, and that's a reversible cable scarf I knit a couple of years ago, also in alpaca).

Hmmmm. Then there's the two pairs of mittens. This first pair I started years ago and "shamed" myself into finishing. They came out rather narrow because I was insisting using a yarn that was too lightweight, but I have narrow hands, so that works out.
And then there were these mittens I knit in 3 insane days for Petra. They're really long and gladly, she likes them that way. I do want to knit them again. Knitting plaid is fun.
And then most recently, I threw gauge caution to the wind AGAIN and used a slightly too heavy yarn for these End Paper Mitts and so they came out really long in the hand. That's working out for me as well. I still have my fingertips available for my phone and yet they nearly cover my hand.

There's the spinning, as I try and get the hand of spinning more Worsted weight. There's also some more of other stuff I've spun MORE of to be able to make my projects of choice.

So, yeah. Folks ask how I get so much done and all I can say is that I work at home. Knitting and spinning are my breaks of choice. Oh, but that reminds me: Weaving.

Yeah, another post for that one.

The Forever Sweater

I cannot remember when this sweater was not a part of my life. It always was. I held onto it as fashions came and went and came again and I'm glad.

Where to start to tell this story? The booklet that the pattern was originally published in was copyright 1957. This sweater was knit by my father and I think it was the first time he tried intarsia. Knit in brown, red and white acrylic, most likely in the 42" large size, It must have been made for himself and then passed down to my eldest brother.

We did ski a little as a family, but it was more of the "idea" of skiing that interested me at 5 or six, when I had little wooden skies with leather bindings. But back to the sweater...I hate skiing.

Even though it was the 70's and this kind of Retro wasn't really in, I loved it. The only clothes that I could get away with wearing that were "cool" and not bought by my mother, were the things that I could steal from my brothers. As they are 8 and 10 years older, and as soon as they left for college, I would rummage through their clothes left behind to find something that I thought really suited me. (If you're reading this guys, don't get mad, it was a desperate situation.)

When I went to college this sweater went with me and I can see that my mother sewed my name in with a label (still have those too). It wasn't until I started knitting in my late 30's that I really looked at this St. Moritz sweater as a knitter. The pattern had been in the box with all the knitting needles at my parent's house. I actually have a copy of it now because their original was lost in the selling of their house and I was able to find another copy online!
I still wear it all the time and last year it occurred to me that I should really knit it myself. I've had the yarn and it's just been sitting there. Some pretty good reasons: Intarsia, scary instructions, fear of failure. I mean, Dad already knit it, will mine measure up??

Christmas Eve was his birthday. He would have been 90. I wore the sweater and went out for a day of knitting with friends, before the stores closed. I had my friend Emily take this picture of me and now I see that I'm really committing myself to something here. I've got so many unfinished projects and I just completed one. So, even though it was just mittens, I'm adding a whole new sweater to the mix.Of course I should have realized this but after scanning the charts I see that they are all hand drawn and pretty impossible to read. I'm coloring them in with contrasting colors. I'm actually going to knit the body in sky blue, and the rest will be the same, off-white and red. (The hat in this picture is the one from the cover of Vogue Fall 09-- pink) that I knit during Thanksgiving.

So where am I today? Committing myself to something I finally know I can do. Sure, it's going to take a lot of concentration and patience. I doubt I'll finish it this year, but you never know! I do know that I'll want to wear it. Who will this one get passed down to? Who can say...

Seriously?

Folks, I have so many blogs that I manage or write for, sometimes I get caught short when it comes to just writing about stuff!
Here I am, several weeks later, hanging my head in shame....oh, shame has no place here! Just tell it like it is...

That choir in my last post? I joined it. Yeah, two rehearsals and one performance later, I hear that music in my head all day. Now if that were to also mean that I had it DOWN, I'd be in good shape. Fortunately I can sight read because I can't say I've really learned it all yet. Next month a couple more performances and my Monday nights are now spoken for.

Knitting? YES.
There's the stuff for Krafti-Kit that you can oh so conveniently purchase online, like...the Oregon Tweed Socks.
Or, the crochet Faerie Ring Mobius Which comes with the MOST awesome ebony crochet hook that you will most likely NEVER lend out. (Look at the drape of the wool and bamboo on the the lovely Petra)
Then, there are some things I can't show you yet... but I did finish a hat from Vogue Fall 2009, during the holiday weekend. I love it. It's nothing like the pink confection on the magazine cover, but it has sparkles and right now, this girls needs some sparkles...(why can't you see the sparkles in this pic? Click on it to make it bigger.)
Then, there's the spinning. Last in line these days. This weekend is Spinnerati again and I hope to bring the old girl wheel. I do have a fiber confession though. My rational on this on is that I will use up more handspun. I'm entering the weaving world. Don't become afraid, dear readers. I have no intention of slipping down another slippery slope (right...).

What, you want me to stop? My fiber passion knows no bounds, and in a world where I see a distinct lack of passion, I have no intention of holding myself back. I figure that if I continue to teach, and make cool stuff and spread the fiber love around, it's all cool... Yeah. Like that.

Weird?

Flash Choir Performing

A pirate, deb, me and Petra at our table (photo by Leila Wice)

Deb giving some spinning time to one girl and her sister wants HER turn ;-)

Renegade Rose Morris Dancers, here and above

This past Saturday was the Keep Portland Weird Festival at the Multnomah County (Portland) downtown library. Spinnerati was invited because that's where we meet every month. We're so lucky to be able to grab the space somehow, each month where the room is large, carpeted with tall ceilings and huge windows.

We could see by the schedule, that we would be on the top floor with all sorts of entertainment going on. I was stoked. I spent weeks imaging what fun Portland could come up with.

Portland is a place where, after work, folks actually go out and DO STUFF! Every nook and cranny of this delightful city is filled with extracurricular activities. Some predictable, some not. I think that spinning is a perfectly natural thing so do with my free time, but everyone has their own idea of fun and I think this festival made it abundantly clear. So much in fact that it actually inspired me to join a choir that was performing right in front of us at the festival. Tonight was my first rehearsal and I got to sing the music I heard them perform. How great is that??

So, Sew buttons?

Many, many moons ago, too many to count, I used to be a professional sewer. or rather, a custom clothing designer. Somewhere along the way, I lot my love of the sew. Well, not the hand sewing kind. That I've always loved. In fact, right before I took up spinning and knitting I was quite the hand-quilter.

In the past years, I've become more and more sloppy when I've sewn something on the machine. Even when it has seemed the fastest way to get something mended or put together, I've chosen a needle and thread to the machine.

I had a little tin sewing machine as a child. It had a hand wheel on the left and it sewed a very nice chain stitch. I look at "toy" machines like that in the antique stores and they are a bit out of my range. I mean, for what they are! So, how come my electric, electronic machine doesn't do a chain stitch???

Meanwhile, a friend from long ago who knows that I sew, asked me the favor to make him a pair of Hakama (samurai) pants out of wool. First came the fabric selection, sending him the swatches and then the decision. Although he sent me a pair of store bought ones to use as a kind of pattern, I realized that to create a pant that was not open on the sides was going to take quite a bit re-engineering. Pockets, ties, flaps, etc. And so, he's not here to try them on and I was unable to make a mock up in time. Fortunately we are close to the same size. I cannot imagine making them otherwise. I think I have success. I'm sending them to an event on the East Coast tomorrow and we shall see if they do the trick.


In search of further sewing success and some clothes that actually fit me and my lifestyle these days, I made these two jacket types things (New Look Pattern # 6920) For right now, the machine is staying on the kitchen table...

This one here is a batik with trim done in a really intense Kaffe Fassitt Fabric that I had laying around. You can't really tell from the pictures, but they button right under the bust and have a little A-line from there.

My Own Worse ...

I've gotten what was coming to me.

Preface: Please no comments of suggestions, admonition. Only pity please.

Had a little too much caffeine today. Thought I'd take the edge off a little bit with some washing of the huge pile of socks, in a bag in the bathroom. This will mellow me out...this will do something useful with the jittery energy.

So, let's just say that there were around 12 pairs of handknit socks just waiting for me. That's probably about half of what I own, that I haven't accidentally felted at some point.

I'm noticing how dirty they are. Happy to be getting them Lavender soap kinda clean. I've got about 10 pairs, on hangers, on the bath rod. Ah! It all comes tumbling down... CRASH.

This has happened before. No worries. I'll just get some more water out of them and... OMG! There's a hole in the heel of...SEVERAL of my socks? Yes, as I am putting the socks back up on the bath rod I notice that many but not all of my heels have been chewed out by moths.

The were indiscriminate. Didn't touch the Wollmeise, but ate the Shibui. Blue and Red were favorite colors, for sure. My hands are still shaking...

How stupid could I possibly be? For the love of...
I saw moths in the past few months and kept checking my stash and my sweaters. No harm. How strange, I thought!

I will survive. Although I no longer have matching yarn for most of the socks, I will mend them. Although, I have this silly little thought that perhaps I should send them to Brenda to continue with her Pod-Series, Make Do And Mend. (I'm gonna catch what-for from her now on THAT one.)

Carry on..... and don't laugh TOO hard.

It's Up

Kallerin Designs of Norway

I will now take a moment to say how hard it's been to not be posting about this all the time. For the past 9 weeks, I've been pretty much completely consumed with getting Krafti-Kit up and happening. Today, we finally went live. One day later than expected, but live.

All along I've been working on developing kits for the store and that work continues at an intense pace. I never quite knew I had so many designs in me! It's wonderful to get back to crochet, needlepoint and embroidery as well as continuing to design knitwear.

Building the business in 9 weeks has been completely insane, and I knew that coming into it. I don't think there was any way to prepare Laura. (Maybe I'll have her do a guest post here or on my biz blog).

Thanks to everyone for your love and support.

Spinning Hands

Yesterday at Spinnerati, I was determined to get some good "spinning shots". Considering most of the action is at "crotch level", it was a little...challenging to get this right. Oh, and then there's the matter of hands moving so fast, I had to keep telling folks, take it slooooooow.

I'm not going to identify who is who. Just for fun, see if you can guess who is who! Or not.
Do all spinners have such nice hands, or is it that our hands just look particularly graceful when we're in the act of spinning. Clearly rhetorical to us.