Yarnageddon

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2010-04-09T20:54:00.001-07:00

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Stevie Fingerless Gloves

2010-04-09T16:54:00.005-07:00

Here are my Little Sister Stevie and I, when she came to Vancouver for a visit a couple of summers ago. (I have more current photos, I just love this one!)

She is clearly a young lady of taste and refinement, yes?

Accordingly, I designed a pair of tasteful and refined fingerless gloves for her for Christmas last year.

Thank you to my friend Susie, whose lovely hands you see modeling the gloves.

I visited Stevie in Calgary about a month after sending her the gloves, and was pleased to see that they were already faded, worn and slightly pilled from constant use. I think I should knit her another pair. Here's what they looked like when they were still pristine:

To see more photos (or to buy a copy of the pattern), please check them out on Etsy or Ravelry.

In conclusion: an exciting, crafty action shot!

Following Through

2009-07-18T13:59:00.004-07:00

On April 13, I finished my first year of the 365 Days project. The next day, I started my second year.

I continue to get a lot of satisfaction out if this project, and it continues to have a surprising number of benefits. It makes me think in an articulate way about what's going on in my day-to-day life. It gives me a way to express thoughts or ideas for which I may not have another outlet. It pushes me to do something creative and short-term each day, even on days when my creative energy is really depleted. I keep learning more about photography, and about how to use my cheap little point-and-shoot camera to best advantage.

There are days, however, when I really don't see the point of continuing with it. I completed the first year, which was the important thing; my follow-through on projects is often not what it should be, and I was determined to change that pattern. Do I really need to follow through on the second year, or have I made my point? On days when I am really devoid of ideas, it just feels like a self-indulgent waste of time.

But then I get a shot like the one above. I am really satisfied with this photo, I feel like it says what I was trying to express. I'm pleased with the perspective and lurid colours, and I think it has the qualities my friend Libby often uses to describe my work; it's a little sexy and a little creepy. This is when I remember what I get out of this project, and why I continue with it.

Putting it Down and Walking Away

2009-07-16T18:25:00.006-07:00

This year so far has been one of change and upheaval on all fronts, both good and bad. Most of the time things feel like too much to write about, or even talk about. There is one big change that I need to share, though.

Back in the spring, Kim persuaded me to go to the Summer TNNA Show with her. It took some time for me to make the decision to go, and I almost bailed for financial reasons. In the end I went, I roomed with Kim and Julie Holetz, and nothing could have prepared me for how much fun I had!

I met a ton of wonderful people, many of them other designers with whom I've had online contact. I had a great meeting with Amy and Jillian about the fall issue of Knitty. It was so awesome and useful, I wish we could meet like that every issue. AND, I made some really exciting contacts with dyers, yarn companies, magazine editors... in short, all the kinds of people you want to meet in this industry if you want design work.

And so, I am now working as a designer in both knitting and crochet. I spend a lot of time swatching, sketching, taking notes as I work on samples. I have designs that will be published soon in magazines! I'll post here when new designs are available.

The next one will be a self-published sweater pattern that will be available Monday. It's the new-and-improved version of this sweater. Looking back at that blog entry, it's embarrassing to realize that it's taken me more than 2 years to get around to completing this.

I'm working harder than I can remember ever working before, and I have more energy and excitement to put into the work than I can remember ever having. Although I have had a number of designs published in books, I have resisted making design work a major part of my life. My stated reason was that I didn't want all my knitting/crochet time to become work time, that I liked having these activities be things I did for pleasure.

Really, though, I think I was just afraid to commit, and afraid of not succeeding. I had an experience this year which made me realize that I've been pretty consumed with fear of all kinds for a long, long time now, and that I could just put the fear down and walk away. Bits of it are still clinging to me, but I'm also making a lot of really positive changes in my life. This new career is one of the most wonderful things to come out of it so far, and I kind of feel like the changes are only just beginning. I'm looking forward to the future now in a way I haven't done in a long time.

Fibres West

2009-03-20T17:08:00.003-07:00

Thank you so much to the sweeties who left comments on my last post. I really appreciated knowing that there are people who still want to read my blog, even though I never write in it. ;)

If you're in the area, come hang out with Leanne and I at Fibres West tomorrow (Saturday March 21)! We'll be knitting tags and promoting our book. It looks like a cool show, with lots of interesting exhibitors!

Spring Is On Its Way...

2009-03-19T14:12:00.004-07:00

I just wrote the following to a friend who's coming out of a funk, and it seemed like a good note on which to start blogging again. I may have blogged about this superstition/tradition before.

---
I must share a homemade superstition that Zak and I have been observing since before we were dating, when we were just friends. On the vernal and autumnal equinoxes (like tomorrow!), we have a party, or if a party isn't practical, we go out for a nice meal, and think about the coming seasons. It's important to do something a little special, a little indulgent; tomorrow we're picking up our roommate from school and taking her out to lunch at a good burger place with MILKSHAKES. The idea is that it will ensure good luck in love and life for the coming two seasons. (Clearly the marital strife that Zak and I had recently, and the deep and horrible funk we were both in, is a result of not celebrating the autumnal equinox.)

I find that when we take the time to remember and mark the passing and upcoming seasons like this, it really does help us sort our heads out about what we want in our lives in the coming months, and to head forward with optimism. Celebrate tomorrow, if you can. Hopefully our homemade magic will serve you well. :)
---

I hope you all have a wonderful spring!

Starstruck

2008-11-30T17:30:00.002-08:00

One of the things I love best about working for Knitty is 'meeting' all the designers whose work I edit. Some of them have become friends, which has definitely been an unexpected perk of the job!

Lately, we've had some patterns from well-known designers whose work I've long admired, whose names I saw in the books and magazines I devoured when I learned to knit in 2000. I've had email in my inbox from people like Nicky Epstein, Mags Kandis, Nancy Marchant, and - gulp - Norah Gaughan.

I have fervently admired Norah Gaughan's work since I bought my first knitting magazine (VK Fall 2000). Her work inspires and excites me more than almost any other designer's. To be editing patterns from her now... it's a bit intimidating.

In The Bag

2008-11-11T01:53:00.002-08:00

Clearly I lied in my last post, when I said I would write again soon. In the meantime, my intrepid (and patient) co-author Leanne and I have written a book!!

It is now with the publisher for editing, designing, etc. I am still recovering, and I imagine she is too.

The last night, I was at her house until late, as we tied up loose ends and made sure everything was in place before sending off the manuscript. When I got home, Zak greeted me with a glass of wine.

Writing the book was amazing, it was incredibly stressful and exciting and I learned a LOT. I'm so grateful that I had the chance to do this one, and that I had such an excellent person to do it with. I would have been lost without her.

I want to write another one...

Still Here...

2008-07-22T16:38:00.004-07:00

Oh my goodness, it's been a long time. Dear blog readers, if there are any of you left, I will write soon. I have been living over on Flickr lately, where the 365 Days project is taking the place of a journal for me.

But there's a lot to write about. I'll be back soon. Thank you for stopping by.

My Moth

2008-05-13T20:43:00.003-07:00

I posted a photo of my moth tattoo on Flickr the other day, but didn't post the story behind it. It's rather a long story, and I feel self-consciously sentimental telling it in person, and I don't think I've committed it to writing before... I suppose it's time.

I've hated bugs since I was a kid, so much so that through my adolescence I avoided going outside much in the warm months. I think I've ridden a bike only once since I was about 15, because the prospect of riding through a swarm of gnats freaked me out to the point that all the pleasure of bike riding was lost. It was getting worse as I became an adult.

I started dating Zak when I was 21, and the month I turned 22, Zak and I moved out of pur parents' homes, into a shitty little basement-level apartment. This apartment was, unfortunately, not hermetically sealed against insect life. I used to get really freaked out when we found bugs in our place. I was having some really limiting health problems at the time, which were causing me a lot of stress; finding a spider or wasp would kind of send me over the edge into a fit of despair.

Zak was the kid who would turn over rocks and be delighted with what he found underneath. He had sets of nature encyclopedias bought from library sale tables, with which he was intimately familiar. He thought my phobia was unreasonable (true), and he was very distressed about my unhappiness. He refused to kill anything we found. Instead, he would put the creature in a jar and make me look at it. He would point out its various tiny features and tell me all about how interesting and wonderful it was.

Zak may be the kindest person I have ever met. He is certainly the most charming, at least in my eyes. Hearing about these insects from his point of view affected me deeply, and soon I did lose my fear of them (at least, most of the time). I remember reading in a park near our shitty apartment that first summer, and watching a fly clean its legs on the page of my book. It was a huge change for me.

One night we were at a friend's apartment nearby, and came home late. We were standing outside the door of our building, and moths were fluttering around the light. I really hated moths; I thought they were creepy, ghostly, horrible things. Zak looked so crestfallen when I said so. I wish I could remember exactly what he said, but when he explained them as he saw them, how beautiful and harmless and delicate they are, I melted into a little puddle on the step. Now I can't even summon the ghost of how I felt about moths before he changed my understanding of them; my shift in perception was so complete.

He's affected many aspects of my life in this way. I relate differently to other people and to myself, and to the world I live in. I am a kinder, happier, more generous and optimistic person since I met him. Aside from being born into the family I have, meeting him is the best thing that's ever happened to me. We've been together over 11 years now and I am still amazed and grateful to have him in my life, both as a friend and as my love.

The moth on my arm is the tangible symbol of the amazing new world I have lived in since I met Zak. It's a gentler and more beautiful place than I had guessed it could be.

Colour-Block Sweater

2008-04-24T02:06:00.003-07:00

Believe it or not, I've got knitting to blog about. Quite a lot of it, actually; this is just the first sweater. I'll be blogging other finished projects in the next few days.

I actually finished this sweater last fall, and have worn the hell out of it (I'm sure you can see pilling in the photos). I'm not sure why it took me so long to photograph it. It's knit from Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool, one of my very favourite yarns; this is the third sweater I've knit from it so far.

I could not have made this sweater with a straight face; it was a stash-busting project, something to knit for fun and wear around the house. It languished for a long time, at one point I put it aside with only one sleeve to go. I wasn’t sure if I would ever finish it. I thought it was laughably (if pleasingly) ugly.

Then I showed it to my friend Tara, who looked at it with a straight face and thought it was gorgeous. After getting her fresh perspective on it I picked it up again and finished it, and now I love it and wear it frequently.

I planned the shape of the sweater, but made up the colour pattern as I went along. The finishing was incredibly intense. After a false start or two, I came up with a labour-intensive seaming technique to give me the coloured seams I wanted. I tried several different collar solutions before deciding on the I-Cord-trimmed version I used. For weaving in ends, I split each strand into two plies and wove them in in separate directions using a sharp needle. There’s one point in the sweater where I had tried knitting the ends in as I went, but it wasn’t a very satisfactory result; it seems I’ve become very uptight about finishing details!

Considering that I usually knit sweaters in the round using one colour of yarn, this was quite a departure. It was a lot of fun though, and I want to do it again. I'm thinking of writing a pattern to sell that's made in a similar way: worked in pieces with an intarsia pattern and coloured seams. It won't be random blocks like this because holy crap, what a nightmare that would be to chart and size. I'm still rolling ideas for it around in my head.

Book Deal!!!

2008-04-10T02:13:00.005-07:00

This is my friend Leanne and I, right after we signed the contract yesterday to write our first book! Have a gander at our call for submissions:

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Are you a knitter or crochetier? Do you design (or want to design) unusual pieces of street art out of yarn?

If so, you should design a pattern for Yarn Bombing: The Art of Knit Graffiti, to be published by Arsenal Pulp Press in fall 2009.

A DIY guide to the art of yarn graffiti and a history of hand-crafted textile street art, Yarn-Bombing will feature patterns such as street-smart disguises, useful wearable tools like gloves and tool belts, street art such as knit car cozies, bike covers and headlight toques, and outdoor installations such as crochet shawls for leafy trees. The sky’s the limit as long as it’s knit or crocheted! Projects should be fun, colorful and a little bit wacky.

Designers are asked to submit a sketch and detailed description of their project, along with a brief bio, by the submission deadline of May 15, 2008.

There is no entry fee, and you are encouraged to submit multiple designs. Please include your complete contact information (email and mailing addresses) with your submission. Hard-copy submissions will not be returned unless an SASE or International Mailing Coupon is provided.

Digital sketches (under 2MB) can be emailed to mandy@yarnbombing.com, or hard copy sketches can be mailed to:
(address removed)

You will be notified via email if your design has been selected for publication. Selected designs will need to be knit or crocheted by their designers over the months of June-August, and mailed to the publisher for photography and editing by August 30, 2008. Patterns and any accompanying diagrams must be mailed to mandy@yarnbombing.com by the same date. Designers who are chosen to participate will receive the yarn necessary to complete their project, an honorarium, a free copy of the book, and credit for taking part in the book.

For more information, please visit Arsenal Pulp Press (arsenalpulp.com) or the Yarn Bombing Blog (yarnbombing.com).
If you have any questions or concerns regarding submissions, please contact Leanne (leanne@yarnbombing.com) or Mandy (mandy@yarnbombing.com)
---

I am so excited!!

Necklace Prose

2008-03-25T17:35:00.003-07:00

I've really been enjoying writing the short descriptions for the necklaces in my Etsy jewelry shop. Here are a few; they're kind of cheesy, but they amuse me. (The listings in the shop also include information about length, materials, etc.)

Early Spring
Sure it's misty and rainy out now, but look! Buds and sprouts are already appearing. Tiny glass beads in fresh blue and green tones provide a cheery contrast to vintage lucite beads in fashionable, versatile shades of grey.
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Summer Afternoon
Sun-bleached shades of yellow warm the beads of this summery necklace. It reminds me of reading with my little sister in a tent made of bedsheets in our parents' back yard, smelling the warm grass and dozing off in the sun...
--

Midnight
The darkest shades of red, green, grey, brown and black form a little bit of deepest night that you can wear all through the day.
--

It's true, I'm a cheeseball. :)

A Story About A Tattoo

2008-03-21T16:36:00.004-07:00

It turns out my new friend Colleen once worked at a coffee shop in Calgary that I used to go to when I was in college. About 13 years ago I saw this tattoo on her arm, picked myself up off the floor and asked her about it. I have never forgotten the tattoo, it has remained one of my favourites of all time. What a surprise it was to catch a glimpse of it when we were thrifting a few weeks ago, and to realize that the legendary tattoo in my memory belonged to this new person in my life!

Zak and the Sky Sock

2008-03-14T16:41:00.005-07:00

Zak posted this photo in his photo stream today. He's in Montreal for a conference right now, and he just completed this little sock. It's a Sky Sock from Cat Bordhi's amazing book New Pathways for Sock Knitters, adapted for a different gauge; he knit it in Sweet Georgia sock yarn.
I love this photo so much. The sock is cute, but the knitter is cuter. And he's coming home tomorrow. :)

Necklace Obsession

2008-03-13T03:46:00.004-07:00

I recently put some new necklaces up in my other Etsy shop. I've been making a different type of necklace lately; instead of stringing a bunch of beads together on wire, I string each bead separately on its own piece of wire, then link them all together with rings. This type of necklace is more time-consuming to put together, but I've been so obsessed with them that I'm getting faster!

When I first started making this type of necklace, I did some with keys; lately I've been making them without. I'm curious: what do you think? Do the keys make them more effective, or are they just distracting? I'm really enjoying the effect of the beads on their own, but a bunch of exciting keys that I bought on eBay just arrived...

I'd really love to hear any thoughts on the necklaces in my shop. I'm still having a lot of fun learning this new medium, experimenting with new ideas, shapes and colours.

Rachael and Susie Patterns (Finally) Available for Sale!

2008-03-06T03:19:00.003-08:00

Well folks, I'm sorry it took so long, but the patterns for the Rachael and Susie Neckwarmers are now available for sale in my Yarnageddon Etsy shop! Please let me know what you think.

I'm really happy with these designs. I had to make one of each for myself, and I wear both of them a lot. The Susie (at the top) is knit in the last bit of precious Manos del Uruguay that Amy gave me for my birthday a few years ago. The Rachael is knit in the delicious and sadly discontinued Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky. There are so many great yarn options for these patterns, they're proving to be real stashbusters. I just finished a Rachael for my Mom in scrumptious Kathmandu Aran Tweed, I'll post a photo after I choose buttons for it!

Bloody Stupid Johnson

2008-02-09T02:27:00.001-08:00

This is the Bloody Stupid Johnson hat from beloved Knitty. I love how it turned out!

When we first published the pattern, there were a couple of errors in it. It's my job to ensure that this doesn't happen, and I feel pretty sick about it when I miss something. I worked out the corrections as soon as I realized there were errors... but I wanted to knit this hat, to test my work. (Also, come on, it's a brilliant design! I couldn't resist it.)

I changed a few things - the gauge, ribbing, and crown decreases - but I worked the short rows and cable panel as per the pattern. They're the parts I had to test, and I'm happy to say they worked out perfectly! There are a few more photos on Flickr (click any one of these photos to get there), and further details are on Ravelry (username yarnageddon).

On another topic, the Susie and Rachael neckwarmer patterns are just about ready... I should have them available this weekend, hopefully! Things always take longer than I think they will... I'm sure this never happens to anyone else.

My First Patterns of 2008

2008-01-09T03:05:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year, for my friends Susie and Rachael, I came up with a plan that would result both in gifts I would be excited to give, and patterns I could sell.

It started like this: Rachael and I tend to spend ridiculous amounts of time on the phone looking at Etsy, and she kept showing me neckwarmers that knitters and crocheters were selling. I really enjoyed looking at the different ways people have of constructing them, and I told Rachael I'd knit her one for Christmas (she doesn't knit).

I started thinking about designing a neckwarmer for Rachael that would suit her tastes and personality. It was a really fun exercise. And then, because Susie and Rachael were both among the friends I'd be spending Christmas with, and because they are both close friends of mine who inspire me a lot, I decided to do the same exercise for Susie.

I'm really happy with how they both turned out, and I think they're fairly different from anything I've seen around. I'm currently knitting a version of each for myself, to test my patterns (and because I want them!). When they're complete (they almost are), I'll photograph them on me (or another willing human) and prepare the patterns for sale. I expect everything to be ready late next week.

I want to do a lot more design work this year than I have in the past, and plan to regularly release patterns for sale here. I have a couple of sweater projects in various stages of completion which will be on their way soon, including the revised version of this lacy summer sweater, which I was supposed to release last summer. (Erm... sorry about that.)

If you think you might be interested in purchasing the patterns for the Rachael or Susie neckwarmers, can you please let me know which you'd prefer: buying them separately, or buying them together (at a lower cost than buying both separately)? They will each be offered in 3 sizes.

Thanks for reading. I hope your 2008 is off to a great start!

A Shawl for Sivia

2007-12-17T01:35:00.000-08:00

I crocheted this shawl for my friend Sivia using Kid Silk Haze and Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, with big fat red glass beads. I'm very happy with how it turned out. The pattern is one of my favourites; it's by Doris Chan, from the 2004 issue of Interweave Crochet. I've made it a few times in different yarns, and it always looks wonderful.

If you are a knitter you may be familiar with Sivia's work, and it will seem redundant to you that I decided to make her a beaded shawl. But I happen to know that she doesn't really crochet, so I figured that in that way, I could make her something she wouldn't have made for herself.

Besides, I really enjoy receiving things people have made for me which give me a glimpse into how they see me and what they think of me, and I thought this would be that sort of gift.

And... who appreciates a knitted or crocheted gift more than a knitter or crocheter? They know what's gone into it! Sivia seemed very surprised and happy, she said no one ever knits her things.

Or am I wrong? If you are a knitter or crocheter, do you think "Oh, I could have just made that for myself" if the gift is not terribly complex or time-consuming? I'd like to know... especially if you are a friend of mine... :)

Shetland Shawl Turned Vest

2007-10-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to show a recent finished project. This is my adaptation of Véronik Avery's "Shetland Shawl Turned Vest", from the beautiful book Lace Style.

I knit it at a different gauge using Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool. I changed the lower edge, the bodice pattern, and the shape of the bodice.

Here's a close-up of the lace pattern in the skirt, which is the same as in the pattern.

Here's the lace pattern I devised for the bodice.

And here's how I've worn it!

I'm so happy with how this turned out. It's terribly flattering, comfortable and easy to wear. I think I may need to make more sweaters in this shape.

Elizabeth and the Swamp Thing

2007-10-14T02:39:00.000-07:00

Early this spring, Elann was selling R2 Rag yarn for 80% off its original price. I'd been wanting to work with this yarn for several years, but it was always stupidly expensive and never seemed like a practical choice.

If you're not familiar with R2 Rag, it's a very bulky cotton yarn made from bias-cut strips of jersey-knit fabric. I rarely work with either cotton yarn or bulky yarn, so I could never quite bring myself to pay for it. When it was suddenly affordable, I was excited by the opportunity to work with it. I designed this sweater specifically for this yarn, in this colour. It was a fun knit, it turned out very much as I had planned, and and I love the way it looks. For obvious reasons, it's called the Swamp Thing.

One fun thing that I did with this yarn was to sew the end of each ball of yarn to the beginning of the next, using red thread. This eliminated most of the yarn ends, which would have been impossible to weave in nicely, and I like the way the red spots look in the olive-coloured fabric. I left any remaining yarn tails hanging, which suits the look of this yarn well.

Unfortunately, I didn't love the sweater on me. It fit the way I had intended it to, it just didn't do me any favours. I am usually pretty aware of what my body is like and how it looks in clothes, and I can usually plan garments that suit me fairly well. Sometimes, though, I'm just wrong. I have had this sweater sitting in a basket since then. I couldn't bring myself to rip it out because I just love it so much, and could not imagine a better design for the yarn.

Later in the spring, I met my dear friend Elizabeth. In the last few months, Elizabeth and I have realized that we are not dissimilar in clothing size, though we are differently shaped. I know that a lot of people have friends with whom they can swap and share clothes, but this isn't the case for me. When it does happen, it's quite a treat.

Elizabeth was over at my place recently and somehow the Swamp Thing showed its face. Elizabeth loved it, and tried it on at my insistence. I absolutely love how it looks on her; it might as well have been made for her. It flatters her much better than it did me. She was persuaded to take it home with her. And so, the story has a happy ending.

Two Necklaces

2007-10-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

Bound

This is the newest necklace in my Etsy shop.

I started this piece with the key from the handcuffs I bought at a novelty store as a teenager. As I was working on it, I was remembering owning them; how risqué I felt buying them (I was pretty sheltered), and how audacious I felt wearing them to a show, cuffed with my goth boyfriend, when I was 17. At that time of my life, I used to wear them as jewelry (both on one wrist).

When I had one half of the necklace done, I showed it to Zak. He liked it, but I thought it might be a bit boring. I was trying to think of how to make the second half more interesting but still compatible with the first half, when Zak thought of adding the awesome cherub.

This necklace is the first one that's been a collaborative effort. It seems appropriate that we make at least one together, as the shop name derives from the name we made years ago from our combined last names (Moore and Greant). It also seems appropriate that both its appearance and its contents make me reflect on what I used to think I knew about love, and what I know now.

Diary 4

One thing that's been interesting about selling necklaces is that my choices are influenced by what sells. The 4 necklaces that have sold in my Etsy shop have been built around keys. I like the keys, but admittedly I'm more motivated to keep using them than I would be if they weren't selling, or if the other necklaces were selling as well.

I've been making things as long as I can remember, but this is the first time that I've really tried to sell anything I make. I've resisted selling in the past for a number of reasons, and this has been one of them: I generally just want to explore my ideas without worrying about whether things will sell.

On the other hand, having a parameter provided can often inspire great creative problem-solving solutions. Maybe using keys (not always, but often) can do the same thing for me.

I've now bought more keys. I'll be interested to see where they take me.

Mograh Open for Business!

2007-10-06T02:04:00.000-07:00

This summer, during those months when I was neglecting my blog (more than usual), I started making beaded necklaces.

I've been enjoying learning how to use beads. Stringing beads on a length of wire is a very different way of organizing visual information from desiging a garment, or composing a painting. It's been more challenging than I had expected to come up with interesting and pleasing pieces, and I feel like I learn something new with each piece. I have yet to feel like I'm really innovating at all, but I've made some things I'm proud of.

One thing I particularly like about beading is that it's possible to make something satisfying and lovely in less than a million hours. I'll likely never knit for money, but beading is fast and interesting enough to do that I am happy to sell necklaces. And so without further ado, I present my Etsy shop!

Please check it out and let me know what you think. I'm quite excited and would love feedback.

Family Tattoos

2007-09-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

First things first. To those of you who read my last entry, especially those who commented: Thank you!! Thank you for sticking around. It was really nice to know that my crappy blogging habits have not lost me *all* of my readers.

When my brother Dan and his friend Mike visited last year, Dan and I got matching tattoos. I can't believe it's taken me this long to post a photo, but that's them, above. Rachael took the photo for us when Dan visited again this summer. A year on, we're both still pretty nuts about these tattoos, though we both need touch-ups.

Posting this makes me think of all the tattoos I have that match those on other people. Of the 16 I currently have, 8 have a match that lives on someone else. Of the remaining 8, 3 were acquired as shared experiences with friends or family.

I'll post photos another time, but for now here's what I've got:

1 and 2: Zak and I have matching tattoos on one finger of each hand. The first, on the traditional fingers, are our wedding rings. We call the others (on the index fingers of our right hands) our engagement rings, though we got them over a year after we were married.

3 and 4: My mother, her 2 sisters and I all have a little vine tattooed on a toe. When we got them, I also got the Chinese charater for "family" done on my ankle. My great-aunt went for a tattoo with us, but got a butterfly on her ankle instead. At the beginning of that day, I was the only one in the group of us that had tattoos.

5: My sister and I have little matching blue stars on our stomachs. You will never, never see a photo of my blue star. We got them on the same day I got #6:

6: I have an abstracted cog wheel on my right shoulder, which was designed by my high school friend Chrys, who ended up doing 10 of my tattoos, including our wedding rings and the blue star. He has the same design circling his navel.

7: My aunt Sandy and I have matching maple leaves. Mine is on the inside of my left wrist, hers is on her ankle. My friend Jane went with us and got the same maple leaf, on her upper chest. My friend Sara also joined us, though she got a different tattoo. I've lost touch with both Sara and Jane.

8 and 9 are, of course, the lovely monkeys you see above. They're derived from a joke my brother and I have which falls 100% into the category of you-had-to-be-there. I've now got matching tattoos with everyone in my immediate family except my Dad, who hates tattoos, so I don't think that one will ever happen!

10 and 11: When I visited my friends Amber and Brigitte in Montreal in 2003, Amber and I got tattooed together. She got a fabulous abstracted fish design on her leg. I got a rocket ship on my inner right wrist, and a beautiful moth on my upper right arm. I get more compliments on that moth than on anything else, even from people who profess to dislike tattoos.

That leaves the ones I got alone:

12: A star behind my right ear. I got this in 2000, at the same time as the one that would become the "engagement ring".

13: A frog on my upper back, with the character for "love" by its foot, and with a speech balloon containing the character for "happiness". I got this for our wedding, and had the dress cut to show it.

14. I love the frog tattoo so much I got the exact same frog on my left foot... so I could see it! I had saved the stencil from the first frog.

15: If you have read The Little Prince, you will be familiar with an illustration of a tiny planet ovewhelmed by 3 huge baobab trees. I adapted this illustration for a tattoo on my inner right forearm.

16: I have a large octopus around my right knee. Its body sits on the outside of my leg, with tentacles trailing down my kneecap and the top of my shin, and up the back of my thigh. It hurt like fuck.

And that concludes our tour. I would like to close with some sort of reflection on what my tattoos mean to me, or their place in my life or SOMETHING, but unfortunately the only reason I'm awake at this godforsaken hour is that the empty house was making freaky noises in the rainstorm last night, and I psyched myself out and couldn't sleep. So I'm afraid the best I can do is a list, and a rambilng, run-on sentence or five.

I'd love to hear thoughts about tattoos from other folks. If you have them, how do you choose the tattoos you get? How do your feelings about them change over time? If you don't have them, do you want them? What do you think of them?

Now I'm going to go try to sleep, I am so very, very tired. Have a lovely Sunday!

Rip-Off Post

2007-09-27T01:31:00.000-07:00

This post is a total rip-off, cross-posted from my Flickr photos. I started posting to the Wardrobe_Remix group this summer, and this is my most recent shot. Zak has been bugging me to post my W_R shots to my blog; is anyone interested?

I missed you guys (I hope you're still out there). I don't really know what was wrong with me this summer; in many ways it was even a great summer. My sister had a beautiful wedding. My brother came to Vancouver for a nice, long visit, and my "Little Sister" came out for a short one. I learned more about beads and am planning to open an Etsy shop of beaded jewelry within the next week or so. I am getting ready to (REALLY REALLY) publish my first self-published design (not the Summer Sweater, that will have to wait til next spring).

I will post for real, soon. But for now:

---

I've been away from my online life for too long, it feels daunting to try to step back into it... so I'm cheating and cross-posting this to my blog.

Zak took this photo for me of the outfit I wore last Saturday afternoon. It was a fun outfit. I've missed my fall clothes (and everything else about the fall) and am glad the weather is getting cooler again.

Hat: Peter Grimm
Jacket and jeans: Made by me
Shirt: Blatantly copied from this photo, using a thrifted shirt
Shoes: These ones
Purse: Thrifted from Kawabata-Ya
---

A Satisfying Distraction

2007-07-02T03:13:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. It seems like there are a lot of things, large and small, that have to be done in the next couple of days. Today, I needed a break from stressing about them.

I called my mom and sister, and while I talked to them, I made a couple of necklaces. This first little one is for my sister, Shawn.

It looks vaguely Egyptian to me... I really like the bone and copper beads combined this way. I think I need to play with this combination some more.

This one is for me. I have been admiring the work of Natalie at Pashupatina for a while now, and in this necklace I used some of the ideas I've picked up while poring over her beautiful work. I am definitely a beginner when it comes to beading, but I want to learn more!

Except for the large circular bead, all the beads in both of these necklaces are from a bunch that Zak gave me for our wedding anniversary this year. It was our eighth anniversary, and he gave me eight strands. He took his time choosing them, and chose based on colours he has either seen represented in my yarn stash, or that I have been obsessing over lately. The strands are each made of a different material: there are beads of bone, carnelian, copper, coral, garnet, glass, peridot, and turquoise.

We're not always that good at buying gifts for each other, but sometimes we get it right. When he gets it right, he really gets it right.

Silent Night

2007-07-01T01:59:00.000-07:00

I was at a noisy party tonight. It was a good party held by beloved friends to celebrate their Canadian permanent residence status. Now I am alone in my silent house. Why do I feel depressed and crappy after going to parties? This happens so often, even after the best parties.

I'm reaIly not up to writing right now, I just wanted to write and say I'm sorry, I don't have the pattern for the summer sweater ready. It will be a few more weeks. June has been eventful.

When a decent blog entry is not forthcoming, form demands a photo. Here is a photo of the very, very second-hand Coach bag I bought via eBay and received in the mail on Friday. I adore abused, broken-in leather. No photo can adequately convey the charms of this bag. Click for big.

I have been having exciting ideas about leather lately. If any of my experimenting is successful, I will share.

I hope you're all having a great weekend. My fellow Canadians, happy Canada Day!

Personal Shoppers

2007-06-17T02:31:00.000-07:00

First: Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm for the new sweater design! I am working on the pattern and a sample; I should have it available by the end of the month ("should" is the operative word...). I really appreciate your feedback about the edging as well; I think I was being a bit silly worrying to much about using a crocheted edging. :)

And now: Why my friends are awesome, part #4973

My sister is getting married next month, and I am a bridesmaid. I will be wearing a red strapless dress, with silver accessories. Tracking down the necessary shoes and underpinnings is proving to be a challenge and a half; I am difficult to fit. I did manage to find a bra in my size after a depressing 5-hour shopping marathon yesterday, but I failed to find a pair of shoes.

Today I had coffee in the afternoon with Susie. The plan was for us to meet up later with Travis, Rachael and Rachael's mother to go to the Richmond night market, which is a ton of fun; I had been looking forward to it all week. In the end, I bailed on that part of the evening because my back and legs were killing me from my shopping marathon the day before.

They dropped me home on their way to Richmond, and dropped in again on their way back. They brought me the items you see in the photo below. Combined cost: $30.

I love my friends.

Thinking About Edgings

2007-06-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the comments and requests for the summer sweater pattern! (And thank you so much to dear Rachael to posting about it on her blog!)

I spent a large chunk of the weekend working up charts and numbers for the sweater, and have knit most of the yoke of the second version. I've changed the way the raglan and neckline shaping are worked; they are much more refined, and are charted out to integrate more beautifully with the lace pattern. The finished-measurement size range goes from 81cm-142cm (32"-56").

Version 2 will probably have the same simple crocheted borders as the original, unless I come up with a knitted border that will work as well with the lace and stockinette. (I have an idea to try, but I'm not sure if it will look as good.) For any non-crocheters out there, I'm curious; what would you do with a pattern that had simple crocheted borders? Would you try to learn the stitch involved? Would you come up with your own knitted border solution? Would you just make something else? Please let me know, I'm curious.

I'm a bit torn on this. On the one hand, I want to make a pattern that's accessible to a wide range of knitters, and I know that not all knitters know (or want to know) how to crochet. On the other hand, I feel that crochet offers the best solution for the borders of this sweater, and I want to be able to produce designs that use the best technique for the job.

This is where my impatience with all the knit vs. crochet crap comes in. They are both excellent ways to make things from yarn. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Each is easy to misuse, and can make things of unparalleled hideousness as well as things of beauty and delight. The question of one being superior to the other is ridiculous; the problem comes in thinking that they are interchangeable.

The lace pattern I'm using for this sweater would not have the same deliciously clingy, squishy, collapsible drape if I substituted a crocheted pattern, no matter how pretty and drapey it might be. Likewise, the crocheted border gives me the chance to make a lovely, stable border with perfect buttonholes, that looks both distinct from the fabric of the sweater, and harmonious with it. My original idea for the sweater involved knitted borders, but the crocheted border worked much better in the end, both visually and functionally.

I will probably end up keeping the crocheted borders, though perhaps I will offer a suggestion and photographed swatch for a knitted alternative. What do you think?

Summer Sweaters

2007-06-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

The multi-project tech editing marathon that has been eating my life since last fall is almost over, and I am regaining my ability to compose rudimentary sentences that do not contain bracketed sets of numbers.

Except for beloved Knitty, I am planning to take a bit of a break from tech editing now. I have some other goals to pursue in the second half of the year, one of which is to do more design work... that is, designing things that will actually become patterns.

One of the first pieces I will pattern will most likely be a revision of this little sweater, which I knit in at the end of May.

It took less than six 95m (104yd) balls of Katia Mississippi, to fit my 116cm (46") bust. I'm planning to make the second version in Rowan All Seasons Cotton, which is the same weight and has a similar construction.

I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I worked it from the top down, and incorporated the waist shaping into the lace pattern.

In the next version, I will change the way the raglan lines and front neck shaping are handled. I may also change the lace pattern slightly. This one had a six-row pattern repeat, with patterning worked on the third (WS) and sixth (RS) rows. To make the pattern easier to write, I may change it to be all RS or WS rows... I'm still figuring out how I want to handle this. Or maybe I will suck it up and not be so lazy, because this really made a nice fabric.

One of my favourite things about this in the end was the buttons I used. They are from Zak's late grandmother's button box, and I managed to find five similar buttons that made a nice colour gradation (though I didn't manage to get a good photo of them). Unfortunately, the bottom one broke the second time I wore the sweater, and I have yet to find a replacement that pleases me as much as the original button.

The other sweater I completed recently was a gift for my sister Shawn's 30th birthday. This is the first sweater I have knit for her, since she is seriously allergic to animal fibers, and I really can't handle knitting with inelastic fibers. (I'm starting to learn about sister-friendly yarns that don't kill my hands, but wool is still my Most Beloved.) I have recently discovered that I enjoy working with some cotton/acrylic blends, like Mississippi and the delicious All Seasons Cotton, and seized the opportunity to design a sweater for Shawn.

This is All Seasons Cotton in Sea Foam, an unreleased (beautiful) shade which is being sold on eBay by Cucumber Patch and Jannette's Rare Yarns. It took just under 8 balls.

I won't be patterning this sweater, though details of it (like the patterning at the back neck) may show up elsewhere. This is partly because I've moved on to other things, but also because I like the idea of Shawn having the only sweater exactly like this.

Here are a few more shots: a detail of the buttons and lower border, and some crappy shots of me modeling it. I tried to get better photos, without avail.

As clothing sizes go, Shawn is close in size to me, though she is considerably more... well-endowed. She's a few inches shorter than I am, but is not as short-waisted, so I think the length should be good on her. She says the length is good, but I want to see it! If she sends me a photo, I will post it. Until then, these will give a rough idea of fit.

I foresee more little summer sweaters in my near future. These ones were fairly quick to knit (if you don't count all the agonized ripping and second-guessing I did at the beginning of the birthday sweater), they don't take much yarn, and they're fun to experiment with. If you think you'd be interested in the pattern for the first sweater, which will most likely be a pdf available for a few dollars, please let me know; it will motivate me to get off my butt and get it done!

Old Hair vs. New Hair

2007-05-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

It often seems that when I have a lot of things I'd like to write about, I am least inclined to write. Therefore, I am a crappy blogger.

I ran across this photo the other day, and I've been feeling compelled to post it again, since my blog archives from when it was taken have been lost.

This photo was taken in January 05. I feel like I've changed a lot since then... my new hair is a symptom. I used to cut and dye my hair very frequently. I've done neither for over a year now. Sometimes I miss having hair like this, but when I think of doing it again, it feels like it would be returning to the past.

(The hat in the last post wouldn't look as good with the old hair, for one thing...)

The beautiful wrap was a 30th birthday gift from my beloved friend Bel (which is how I know this photo was from January!)

I'll write more soon. I even have knitting to show you.

Trying Something New

2007-04-26T03:41:00.000-07:00

Zak and I were buying yarn at Three Bags Full last week, and I had a splitting headache from the sun. Just a block away at My Orange Bag was a hat that hadn't looked too bad on me when I'd tried it on with a friend a few weeks earlier.

It's been a surprisingly practical purchase. What do you think?

Come Back, Words...

2007-04-11T00:35:00.000-07:00

Words are not my friends right now. I don't know what I did to them, but lately I'm finding it amazingly difficult to compose even the simplest email. If you're expecting an email from me and I'm taking forever to write back, I'm sorry... I hope the words and I will work out our problems, and that they will come back to me soon.

In other news, Happy Anniversary, Honey!

One Advantage of Being Large

2007-04-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last hour or so trying to write a blog post about marriage that's been rolling around in my head for the last year or two, and I'm not having any luck getting it out. So for now, I'm just stopping by to say thank you for all your interesting and thoughtful comments about Pan's Labyrinth, and to show you a beautiful thing that was given to me recently.

You'll likely recognize the design as the cover sweater from the Winter 06/07 issue of Vogue Knitting. Ande knit it and it was huge on her, so she gave it to lucky me. Sometimes, it is a very handy thing to be much larger than one's friends. ;) I need to take more photos, but here's one for now:

Note the monstrous pin. I bought a bunch of kilt pins off eBay, and I have a few of these 12.5 cm (5") ones. I love them madly and need to think of more ways to wear them.

And I think that's it for me right now. The killer projects of the last few months are finally wrapping up, and there are others on the horizon. I'm catching up with the friends I hadn't seen much while I was working like mad, and I've met a few new friends. Though I seem to be unable to write a decent blog entry or reply to email, life is pretty good.

Pan's Labyrinth

2007-03-23T05:39:00.000-07:00

Have you been to see Pan's Labyrinth yet? Please tell me, what did you think?

Zak and I went to see it tonight. I can't remember the last time I saw something so cruel and dark. I do often enjoy dark and violent movies, but after this one we both felt like we'd been physically beaten. While it's true that it was beautiful, we both felt that it was gratuitously brutal.

It's possible that it was just not what either of us needed to see tonight. I was strongly inclined to leave, and I know Zak would have been happy to leave as well, but I really wanted to see it and I knew I would never be able to sit through that first murder again.

There were a few years, in my mid-twenties, when I had a really hard time watching violence in movies. It's possible that I'm going through another such time; I keep thinking I would have enjoyed the movie more at other times in my life. I really would like to hear more opinions about this movie.

The Bar Has Been Raised

2007-03-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

My friend Kirsti just sent a link to these fantastic ads for Katia. Go see them now.

First Daffodils

2007-03-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

I usually go for walks in the late evening. I like the dark, and the quiet streets. It's not such a factor right now, but I'm not a fan of hot weather and bright sunlight. In the summer, I stay indoors much more then in the winter. As well, I tend to be fairly nocturnal, especially at times like right now, when I'm working most of my waking hours.

I needed a break this morning, and it was late enough for things to be open, so I took a short walk to get a coffee. I thought I'd walk 2 blocks each way, but it was such a beautiful, mild, fragrant, wet day that I ended up walking about 20 blocks. I discovered that less than 5 blocks from my house, there is a tiny, old-fashioned looking church, the size of a small house. It's all painted blue and white with a hand-painted sign. I have walked down that street before, and never noticed it. The next time I go for a walk during the day, I'll try to remember my camera.

This often happens when I take a daytime walk through an area I usually walk in at night; I notice new details (or, ahem, new buildings) in familiar places. The neighbourhoods near me are pleasant at any time of day; there are nice gardens, houses with unusual details, and lots of trees. It's also rife with churches, schools and shops. There's a lot to notice.

When I got home I peeked out the back door, which is next to my desk. At the foot of the steps was these:

I love Vancouver.

My Thrilling Job

2007-03-10T02:15:00.000-08:00

This one's for Symeon. A few months ago she sent me some photos of pages of notes for a design in progress, and I said they reminded me of what my editing notebooks look like.

I have several books full of this:

Yeah. I live the glamorous life, I tell you.

More Pollyanna BS

2007-03-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

The nicest thing about having a bad cold or flu, is the way it becomes an incredible luxury to breathe normally once my sinuses have cleared. I just have to remember to notice it.

Charting a Heel Turning

2007-02-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

Zak keeps nagging me to blog about tech editing. I don't know if anyone is interested, but I really do derive a good deal of satisfaction from my job, and maybe it will turn out to be interesting after all. Let me know, all right?

I am not a sock knitter. I have knit exactly 3 pairs of socks, and only one of them used a conventional sock construction. I knit a mini-sock with a flap heel years ago, to better accquaint myself with sock theory, which is elegant and fascinating. However, when I started working as the technical editor for Knitty two and a half years ago, that was the only conventional sock heel I had ever turned.

I was rather daunted when I first had to edit a sock pattern. For a long time, I used to swatch the heel turning for every fucking sock pattern I edited, so I could be sure the directions were correct. And man, you guys like your socks, which is why Knitty publishes so many sock patterns.

By now I can work out almost anything knitting-related on paper, though I still have a working swatch in constant progress on my desk, which I use to test anything I'm not intimately familiar with. Though it is still punctuated by the occasional heel, I am pleased to say that I now have a better way to work out or check the numbers for the most common type of sock heel, the flap heel. Click for big, if you are so inclined.

Pretty, yes? This is the heel for one of the lovely socks in the upcoming Spring issue.

I do this in the OpenOffice spreadsheet program, which is also what I use to make the charts for Knitty.

I start by numbering the stitches at the bottom; this is the total number of stitches the heel flap has at the beginning.
The highlighted squares are the stitches that are knit or purled in each row, save the last stitch, which is just a K or P. I do it this way because it's the fastest and easiest for me, and because it gives me a chance to muck around with colour.

The k2tog and ssk symbols are surely familiar. Each time a stitch is decreased at the end of a row, I remove the borders from the column of stitches at the end of that row. This way I can see how many stitches are decreased within the course of a heel turning, and I can be sure the heel turning starts with the right numbers on those first two decisive rows.

I'm not sure why heel turning has remained more opaque to me than many other things in knitting, why I still need this kind of process and visual aid. I understand how they work and everything, but it remains something I can't break down easily on paper without going through the stitch-by-stitch process, on the computer or on my needles. I did have a epiphany moment when I was editing one pattern this issue, which started out with numbers that didn't quite work out evenly; I started to see how I could just reduce it to a formula, but it hasn't yet fully formed in my head.

Until it does, I have to admit I quite enjoy making these pretty striped charts. I also enjoy knitting all these socks in my head, though I have yet to convert to being an avid sock knitter with my needles.

Reasons I Love my Husband, #4859

2007-02-17T05:06:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was editing a pattern for a beautiful jacket by Jordana Paige. Zak came into my office, and I showed him some photos of the jacket.

"That's nice, what's the yarn weight?"

"It's a DK."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense."
(The stitch pattern makes the fabric look substantial, but it has a that nice DK drape. I showed him my swatch of the stitch pattern.)

"I love it, I think I'm going to make it, though I'll probably make it a raglan."

"Yeah, it would look look really good that way, because...." etc.

Life would suck if I couldn't talk to him about knitting.

The Choice Game

2007-02-16T02:30:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the Glad Game from Pollyanna? I have a similar "game" I play in my head. When I feel trapped in a situation or a course of acton, I find it useful to remind myself that I have choices, and to identify the choices I'm making.

For example, right now I am in a truly terrible state with work, where I absolutely must work more than 12 hours a day and cancel everything else, every day for the next week and a half (and the whole month has been basically like this), or I will fail to meet my deadlines.

Of course I know that I'm in this situation because I have managed my time and workflow badly, and that's useful knowledge if I want to self-flagellate (which is not very helpful).

But I have found it very useful to remind myself that I have an alternate choice to this insane state, which is that I could just let it go and not do the work.

I feel more relaxed and in control (at least for a few minutes) when I remember that I do have that option, and not taking it is my choice. I care about the people I'd fuck over by not doing the work, I care about the career I'm building, and I care about my self-respect; I don't want to sacrifice these things. I've tried the not-doing-the-work option before, and my relationship with myself really suffers.

I think many times we tell ourselves that we have no choice in a situation. It's very seldom true (though, admittedly, sometimes the choices are absurdly bad and dire). Most of the time, when we think we have no choices, it's because we made the choice for the situation a long time ago; we have long-established habits of thought and behaviour that we use to make decisions, and we're so used to this that most of the time we don't even realize the choices we're making.

I am grateful for moments when I realize this and identify these patterns in myself, particularly when I discover a habit of thought that's not working for me any more. It's excellent to be aware that the choices I'm making all the time are the choices that shape my life.

As I write this, I'm thinking of a lot more I want to say; I had intended this to be quite a short entry, just to get the thought out, but I keep thinking of more I want to say and this is getting long.

One more thing: I was also reminded recently that in fact, I like my job very much. This is also a useful and refreshing thing to remember when I feel like freaking out. But that's another blog entry altogether.

It's time to get back to work. Wish me luck. :)

(Incidentally, I think the upcoming Spring issue of Knitty is a winner.)

A Pretty Thing

2007-02-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

I made a pretty thing for my lovely friend Christina to wear at her wedding reception this weekend.

All photos can be clicked to take you to their Flickr photo page.

It's a crocheted, beaded capelet, which I worked using a pattern from Phildar magazine #440 (the same book this scarf is from). If you want this excellent magazine, you can find it here. Please note, though, it is only available in French.

I used less than 2 balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Trance, and a bunch of clear tiny beads with silver centers.

It's unusual for me to make something pretty and delicate; generally, it fits neither my style of dress nor my lifestyle. I really enjoyed having an excuse to make this, and it was nice to be able to make something beautiful for my friend.

I hope she likes it.

"Based on a True Sweater"

2007-01-31T01:52:00.000-08:00

I've used that tagline for my blog since... since I started blogging, I think. (...which was in 2003 - my archives lie.) I don't think I've ever said anything about it.

It's basically a comment on how I knit, and how I use knitting patterns. I don't think I've ever knit a sweater exactly as it's written in the pattern. I do collect patterns, but I use them as starting points for projects, and sometimes you'd be hard pressed to figure out what pattern was the inspiration for something I knit.

Two recent knits are good examples of my knitting MO. They are both based on patterns I found exciting and inspiring, and you'll probably recognize both patterns if you are familiar with them.

One note: sorry for the crappy photos, they are the best I have been able to get. As you can plainly see, I fucked around with them in order to show as much textural detail as possible. Please do click for big.

The first sweater is based on the Dewdrops Pullover from A Gathering of Lace. The original sweater is... very much not to my taste, let's say. I hate the white angora yarn, the picot hems, the small neckline, the fussy body pattern, and the baggy shape. The yoke pattern, however, is gorgeous.

I worked the sweater in Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool, in Brocade. This yarn is probably #2 in my Top 3 Favourite Yarns list. I altered the chart slightly and worked 8 repeats insted of 7, to achieve a larger neckline. I messed around with the numbers in the pattern so much that the chart is about the only part of the pattern I used. The body of my sweater is cropped and fitted, incorporates underarm gussets, and is shaped with both yoke and bust short rows.

There are a few things I will do differently if I make a sweater from this chart again (which I will likely do). At first, after I finished this sweater, I was unhappy with some decisions I had made. I planned to rip parts (most) of it. However, after letting it sit on my shelf for a few weeks, I took it out, figured out the right way to wear it, and have found that I love it very much.

I you are so inclined, you can see another photo of this sweater here, taken before I blocked it.

I really love wearing seamless sweaters. They feel amorphous and cozy and wonderful to slip into, then they settle onto your body and embrace and comfort and warm you. They feel totally flexible and accommodating, and never binding or restrictive. I don't mind the sewing-up part of making a sweater, I used to really enjoy seeing the pieces come together. There's nothing like wearing a seamless sweater, though, and I love the elegance (and sometimes the challenge) of constructing one.

The second sweater is the Bubble Pullover from Norah Gaughan's thrilling, beautiful, inspiring book, Knitting Nature. When I saw this sweater in the book, I knew I needed to make it, and I needed to make it in Rowanspun DK (it has the perfect drape for this shape!), and it needed to be navy blue ("Drizzle"). (I almost never make anything blue. What is happening to me??)

(click me!)

Rowanspun DK, by the way, is #1 in my Favourite Yarns list. Well, the whole Rowanspun line, really, but the DK is just about perfect in my eyes. Also, the actual colour is much darker than shown here, I just lightened it so you could sort of see what the hell is going on.

Some of the changes I made:

1. Both my stitch gauge and my stitch:row gauge ratio with the RSDK were completely different from the gauge in the pattern, so I had to recalculate the pentagon shaping.

2. I used a provisional cast-on for the pentagons, so the sweater is totally flexible in every direction. The pentagons themselves are not outlined at all, only the radiating decrease lines are visible.

3. I used centered double decreases, instead of paired decreases, to shape the pentagons.

4. I incorporated shaped gussets into the side pentagons to give me the lower edge and armhole measurements I wanted.

5. I worked short-row neckline shaping with shoulder "seam" decreases, then hemmed the neckline.

6. I worked short-row sleeve caps, then ended them in cap sleeves. I was originally planning to work long sleeves, but after several false starts, Susie convinced me to stick with short sleeves. It was the right choice.

And, I shortened the lower ribbing and omitted the side buttons.

This sweater was so exciting to knit, I can't remember another I've enjoyed more. I am completely engaged by Norah Gaughan's explorations of polygons. I have planned at least one more sweater based on this pattern, and several more from that chapter of the book, and several from the Hexagon chapter, and of course I can't wait to adapt her pattern from the cover of the current Vogue Knitting. Then there are the rest of the Knitting Nature chapters...

In case you care, my #3 favourite yarn is Noro Kureyon.

100 000 Years Old

2007-01-18T15:34:00.000-08:00

That's how old I am today. In binary, anyways.

Don't look a day over 11 111, do I?

Tasty Pineapples

2006-12-21T01:16:00.000-08:00

I finished a couple of crochet projects recently. I know I haven't shown any finished projects in a very long time, but believe it, folks: I do still make things with yarn! Both projects incorporate the crocheted pineapple motif, which I'm finding to be a bit of an addiction. All photos are clickable.

The first is a wrap I made from this pattern, using Rowanspun DK in Rush. I changed the border slightly; I started each row with ch 4, resulting in the loops (blocked into points) along each edge.

I made this for my aunt, as part of a trade; she gave me her Serger, and I made her two shawls. I've already sent her the first one, I'll see if I can get a photo of it when I see her at Christmas. It's quite different from this one; it's a small triangular piece, made from gold-coloured hemp yarn and wooden beads.

Rowanspun DK is one of my favourite yarns for both knitting and crochet, and it makes unbelievably beautiful lace. It blocks into a fabric that looks lightly felted and has an incredible drape. I have read complaints about this yarn, and it's true that it is idiosyncratic. It breaks easily and should not be used for seaming, though I have never had breakage problems while knitting or crocheting with it. It also has a different drape from many other wool yarns; a fabric made from Rowanspun DK will not have the elastic reslilience that most other knitted or crocheted wool fabrics will. Its ribbing will not pull in in the same way, for example; it will hang more like this. However, it is extremely light and soft, and I find it luxuriously comfortable to wear. It is dramatically transformed by blocking, so if you're experimenting with this yarn and are initially unhappy with your swatch, be sure to wet-block it before you decide you don't like it.

I absolutely love how this wrap turned out. I need to make one for myself, using the same yarn. I will refrain from showing you how large my Rowanspun stash is. The whole line was discontinued several years ago, so I've been stockpiling it in all four weights. Ahem.

And now, on to the monster shawl.
Several years ago, my Dad was in Scotland with some friends, and I asked him to bring me back yarn (of course). He brought back three 400g skeins of Sirdar Aran with Wool in cream. Now, I don't often work with acrylic blends, and I look awful in cream, but I really do like the yarn (and my Dad had a hell of a time finding it). I started at least 10 different sweater projects with it before figuring out that a) I'd prefer to crochet it than knit it, and b) I didn't want it to be a sweater. It seemed, though, that it would be perfect for a home decor project, which is not the sort of project I am usually attracted to.

I'd been wanting to explore the pineapple motif since I first learned to crochet, and when I found this pattern, I knew I'd found the right project for my poor, oft-ripped yarn. I initially made the largest size, resulting in a shawl that was about 10' across the top edge. I was thrilled with how it was turning out. It was a bizarre fantasy object, monstrous and absurd. I thought it would live on our big black couch, look odd and pretty, and serving as a 2-person movie-watching couch afghan. Despite my frequent checking and calculating, I ran out of yarn.

I thought about making something else... the thought of starting the same shawl again made me want to tear out my hair. I've so patiently been growing my hair out, that would have been a shame. But after looking around I realized that really, this project was the right one. So after a break, I started the smallest size. (I could have made the second-largest size, there was enough yarn, but I just couldn't face those long, long rows again.) I unravelled directly from the first shawl as I made the second.

It was worth making twice. I am so happy with how it turned out (though the photos aren't that good). I am still tickled with the idea of a lace-shawl-afghan, even if it is now a more suitable size for watching a movie alone. And the best part is, when my folks visit us for New Year's, I will be able to show my Dad what I did with the yarn he bought me.

I thought I was going to write a rant about how very annoying and stupid that whole knitting-snob anti-crochet bullshit is, but I think this entry is long enough, and I don't really feel very ranty any more. Behold the beauty of well-blocked lacy crochet in Rowanspun DK. I think it speaks for itself.

Perhaps It Will Eat You

2006-12-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

My friend Nancy made my Felted Trellis Scarf, from Amy's book Not Your Mama's Crochet. It is awesome. Behold:

She really went all-out with the tying on of tentacles. She tied on about 400, which is perhaps twice what I did for the one I made for the book. She has raised the bar, folks; I must now make one with 800 tentacles.

Okay, maybe not. But I do need to make another one that looks as malevolently ALIVE as hers does. Apparently she has been asked if she feeds it.

It's always a thrill when someone makes one of your designs, especially when it looks this awesome in the end. :)

Email Woes

2006-12-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

If you know me in person, or would be emailing me for some other reason, please note:
It seems that I'm not receiving all the emails being sent to the email address I use most often (the one linked to in the sidebar).
If you've sent me email in the last week and I haven't responded (and you think I probably would have), please try again; you can reach me at mandy d0t moore @t nucleus d0t com, or mm @t fooassociates d0t com.

Also, let me take this opportunity to try this again:
TARA K, if you're reading, please go here. I would very much like to get in touch with you. :)

I Don't Lighten Up

2006-11-30T17:42:00.000-08:00

It seems I'm going to follow my usual bloggng MO here: I do a bunch of stuff that I'm excited about and want to blog about; I get busy and procrastinate and don't write about it because I think I don't have time to write a good enough post. Time passes and I feel like hiding from my blog because I haven't written about whatever it was. Then, faithful reader, you get my random thoughts about whatever I feel compelled enough to write on a day when the stars and atoms align correctly for me to sit down and write. And so it goes.

I was blog-surfing during breakfast today, and landed at a blog I'd never read before. The current entry was the writer's announcement that she and her husband were splitting up. It was long and articulate. Near the end, she apologized for being so serious. What's wrong with this picture?

Obviously there's a discussion to be had here about relevant social phenomena, blogging culture, and on and on, but I'm not going to go there today. No, instead, it's going to be All About Me. (I need to start tagging these posts, like Jodi does.) I promise, though, I'll make it into something about not-just-me.

I got to thinking about a friend I used to have. Around the time Zak and I were preparing to get married, I had a very intense and damaging friendship with someone who used to tell me to lighten up all the time. I've been told to lighten up all my life, by many different people, and I've got to say, I hate it more than you can imagine.

On the whole, people don't tell you to lighten up because they're concerned for your emotional well-being. They do it because they are uncomfortable with your feelings, and because they don't really want to go where you are.

It's true that people don't all experience things the same way, and that's fine. I don't need everyone to process information and emotion the same way I do, and I don't think I should have to think and feel the same way someone else does. Because we all really only know what it's like inside our own heads, it can take a while to figure out how you are different from other people. (Think about colour-blindness. How do you know what colours other people see?) It's taken me a long time to realize that I am, to a larger degree than normal, serious, passionate, imaginative and emotionally intense. Why is this something I've been shamed for?

There is a balance to be found between wanting to improve yourself, and accepting who you are. There are certainly things about myself that I have worked concertedly to change, and things which I am still striving to change.

I think that too often, people are content to say "that's just who I am" about aspects of themselves which are damaging to themselves and those around them. (There's a lot of cultural reinforcement for this, too, but that's a tangent for another time.)

However, it's absolutely vital to recognize which of your qualities and characteristics are at the core of your being, and define who you are. Those things do not need to be "improved" away. They are aspects which need to be accepted and cared for, and if your environment and relationships are hostile to these parts of you, then they will be inimical to your soul.

The trick, of course, is in knowing how to differentiate between qualities to nurture, and qualities to work on. I'm afraid I don't have a clean answer for that. Being honest with yourself about this can be a terribly difficult, scary and slippery task.

The other trick is in not hating yourself for needing to improve. We are often so afraid to admit that we are flawed, that when we finally face this, we end up having self-loathing to deal with, too!

I've learned to choose better friends, and I'm much more comfortable with myself as a result. I feel like the people in my life now actually do accept me, and like me for who I am. They don't tell me to fucking lighten up.

Fortune

2006-11-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

I'm in Calgary this week, visiting people I love and miss. Although I'm not going to be able to see everyone I was hoping to see while I'm here, it's been a really excellent trip so far. There's a lot to tell; I'll write more in coming days. Tonight, however, was particularly special.

Eight and a half years ago, I had a terrible, terrible fight with a beloved friend. I was quite certain that our friendship was truly lost. Because of a mutual friend, we did eventually regain contact a few years ago, but I didn't really think we would ever really reconnect.

We went out for dinner tonight, and we did indeed reconnect. We talked about the fight we had had and about how we both regretted the rift between us. We started catching up. I had never thought that this could happen; the fight had been so horrible, and it had hurt so much. I know that one dinner after eight years is really just a start, but I feel like I have my friend back.

In the aftermath of the fight eight-plus years ago, I made a choice to use the awful loss of my friend as an opportunity to change the things about myself which had contributed to the conflict. I really worked hard at this; the price was so high, I wanted to be sure I would earn something valuable in return. (Okay, I've never actually put it in those terms before, but the analogy makes sense to me.) Tonight, I feel as though I've been given a refund.

Sitting here in my parents' house right now, thinking of my friends, my husband, my loving family, and this lost, lamented friendship now regained, I can hardly imagine how I could be luckier.

Thank You

2006-11-02T02:43:00.000-08:00

Thank you all so much for your comments on my last post. They have really meant a lot to me.

May I offer you some Hallowe'en candy?

I'd Really Like To Know.

2006-10-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

You know those days (or weeks, or months) when...
...you can't find the right thing to say in any situation, and it all just keeps coming out wrong?
...your mind straps you down and subjects you to a barrage of the stupid things you've said and done over the years?
...you feel absolutely certain that your friends and loved ones will figure out that you aren't really very smart or interesting?
...you generally suck?
What do you do when you have one of those days (/weeks/months)?

Thinking About Pretty

2006-10-22T03:05:00.000-07:00

Please go read this post on Dress A Day. It's not long; I'll wait.

I think this is something that isn't said often enough, and rarely this well. It's an issue I could write a long and personal blog post about, but I'm just not up for it right now, and really, Erin has said what needs to be said. (Go read her post now!!)

However, one anecdote belongs in this entry. The last time I bought glasses, I was shopping alone; the only person giving me opinions was the nice guy at the shop. After trying on many frames, I was still drawn to a particular pair which had made me gasp when I first saw them, even though they were (by far) not the most flattering pair on me. I did end up buying them, after dragging several people to the mall for opinions. It was unanimously decided (by those who know me) that they were the best choice, because they fit my personality so well.

However, rewinding back to my first visit, the man helping me was becoming increasingly flummoxed by my continued resistance to several frames which looked lovely on me, flattering my face shape and features. Finally, in exasperation, he blurted out, "Don't you want to be pretty??"

Current Events

2006-10-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

Well, folks, it looks like you will be spared the full force of my anniversary mushiness. Monday was the tenth anniversary of the day that Zak and I decided to, as they say, take our friendship to the next level. It has been the first ten years of something better than even my most fervent dreams. However, my relationship with myself is going through a bit of a rough patch right now, and it's leaving me a little less loquacious than usual.

But I have a few "look over there!" points to round out this entry:

1. Amy's crochet book is out! I'm excited by this because:
a) It was written by Amy.
b) I have 4 patterns in it, and acted as technical editor.
c) Zak has a pattern in it! (It wasn't photographed in a way which shows that it is actually a cool design, but... well, it is.)

2. The Perfect Sweater Pattern, the result of a collaborative project initiated by Ann of Mason-Dixon Knitting, is unleashed upon the world. I was technical editor for this, too, and did the sizing for it. It was a fun and exciting project to be part of, and I was very happy for a chance to make Ann's acquaintance after reading the MDK blog forever!

3. Hanging out with my friend Rachael has got me interested in photography. I'm certainly nothing more than a dilettante, but I'm having fun, and some of my photos please me very much. I have gone on a few photo-taking outings with Rachael and other people from Vandigicam; one to a bird sanctuary, and one through back alleys in downtown Vancouver (to shoot graffiti). I've been posting these photos on my Flickr page, as well as photos of other things, like KNITTING. Because I do still knit, really, and I have a lovely sweater to show you soon, I just need to photograph it. So, you know, please feel free to go check out my photos.

And that's all I've got for now. I guess I ended up with a respectably long post after all. Knitting soon, really.

Human Knitting

2006-10-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

Check out the photos my friend Christina posted on Flickr, from the Craft Rocks event at the Victoria & Albert in 2004. Remember reading about it in all the knitting magazines? That's where Christina learned to knit; her brother is in the Cast Off group. Can you imagine a better "how I learned" story than that??

Attention Tara K.

2006-10-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

This is a message for Tara K, from the fashion show days at the Warehouse:

I hope you read this. I got the comment you left a while ago, but unfortunately Blogger didn't send me your email address. Could you please try emailing me again? If the email link in my sidebar doesn't work, try mm at this domain name. I would love to get in touch again.

Quiet

2006-09-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's hard to write... things stay in my head, and the words just don't come. I've been seeing friends, but I haven't been talking on the phone or writing email much, except for my regular conversations with Zak.

He's home from a trip now, maybe I will get back to a more normal state of mind. This year has been pretty intense, we've been making lots of changes in our lives. We've both been finding the trips harder then they've been in the past.

Perhaps finally renting the first season of "Lost" to see what everyone was on about wasn't the most stress-free thing I could have done while Zak was away on a multi-city overseas business trip. I surprised myself by abjectly weeping during the first crash flashback.

I went for my usual walk tonight and ended up stopping for a latte on my way home. I sat and drank it and looked out the window, listening to the conversations going on around me. One thing I love about Vancouver is that it's not unusual to hear many conversations which I can't understand. I didn't understand anything being said in the entire coffee shop for a good 10 minues before someone answered their cell phone with a "hello". Although the cafe was noisy, I felt very peaceful. It was helpful to know that when I returned home, I could go into the bedroom and listen to my husband breathe.

The Time, She Passes

2006-09-12T05:04:00.000-07:00

A few milestones, in random order:

The new issue of Knitty was my ninth as technical editor. I'm still shit at meeting deadlines. (I'm proud of the first point, but not the second.)

August 30 was my three-year blogging anniversary. Most of my archives have been lost. (Amy is to blame for the first point, but not the second.)

Sometime right around now, six years ago, I decided to teach myself to knit. I have met a surprising number of my dearest friends because of this decision.

Next month, Zak and I will have been together for ten years. Ten freaking years, folks. I will refrain from going on about this right now, because you will no doubt get a nauseating dose of my sappiness when our anniversary rolls around. I'll tell you one thing, though. Right about now ten years ago, I was pretty shocked and angry to find that it really was possible to need someone.

Several hours ago, I really should have gone to bed.

Mea Maxima Culpa

2006-09-09T00:58:00.000-07:00

As you may possibly have seen already, I am sick, and it is my fault that the Fall Knitty is late.
Soon, my pretties. Sorry to keep you waiting. I promise I'm not having fun.

In the meantime, here's a photo of my brother Dan and I, taken when he and his friend Mike visited for a day last week, and a photo of him getting tattooed. As I expected, he's way tougher than me. Jerk.

Photos of my new tattoos will be up once they're done being crusty and gross. I have photos of his (which match mine) when they were just finished, but I want to try to build a little suspense here...

And now, back to work.

Sisters Redux

2006-08-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

More sewing photos, anyone? This isn't a very recent project, but it's one that pleases me.

When I went to the Sisters of Mercy show this spring, I bought a band shirt which I didn't like very much. I'm not nuts about this logo, and it didn't fit well.

(Okay, nothing new there. Commercial t-shirts never fit me well. That's why I do so many t-shirt sewing projects.)

I cut up the shirt and put it back together with pieces salvaged from a failed project, and voilà!

I finally got around to asking Zak to take some photos for me tonight. He took a lot of really nice ones - I was very tempted to post, like, twelve of them. Click for big.

Vanity, thy name is Mandy. Take a flattering shot of me and I want to show the world.

Soon I'll also have a new tattoo photo to show! My brother Dan and his friend Mike are visiting tomorrow, and Dan and I are finally going to get the tattoos we've talked about for the last 800 years. This will be his first one. I'm going to make sure he gets done before me - I'm a wimp with the pain, and I'm getting them done in very painful spots.

When I got tattooed with my Mom, aunts and great-aunt, I made sure they all went before me so I wouldn't inspire them to chicken out. (I was the only one who had been tattooed previously.) They all said I was right to make them go first, after seeing how tough I wasn't.

Heh. Oh well. At least I get it done.

I'll try to post some more sewing photos in the next few weeks. I have a lot of projects from the last year or so that I have been meaning to show. I'm afraid it's likely to be a while before you see any kntting on this here knitting blog. I'm currently working on one of those notorious secret design projects that seem to be plaguing the knit-blogging world.

Eighties Love

2006-08-27T23:19:00.000-07:00

I made some fun pants a little while ago, to show off my long legs in as garish a manner as possible. I've inflicted them on the world a few times recently, and Rachael kindly took a photo for me.

As usual, click for big. Sometimes when I sew, I don't feel like doing the detail work of making small pieces like pockets or belt loops. I buy jeans at thrift stores for a few dollars and use them for parts. I love the way that worked out for these pants. They're long, tight, tapered, stretchy, comfortable and hilarious. I love them, but I have to be feeling pretty good to wear them out of the house.

Help!

2006-08-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

Folks, I need a little help. I am in need of a knitting font to use in my work for Knitty, and for my other tech editing work. I know about the Aire River font, and the one available from Knitter's, but those are intended for personal use. I need something I can use for commercial applications.

I'd like to just make my own, but I don't know what tools to use. I don't have Photoshop, and I can't afford to buy it just for this. I have Gimp on my Mac, perhaps I could use that? So far I've only used it to edit photos, I don't kow what the limits of its powers are.

Really, I don't know where to start with this. Please, if you have any advice for me, I'd be grateful for it.

Or, if you know of a knitting font package I could buy, please let me know. I've written to the person at Aire River to ask about buying that font, I'm not sure what she or he will say.

Thanks in advance...

A Public Service Announcement, etc.

2006-08-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

My hand is still in sort of a bad way, though it's getting better. I'm being careful, thank you for your concerned comments.

The Public Service Announcement:
If you don't read Rollertrain, you should. She works for a company that makes porn, so there's some writng about the sex industry - I'm telling you that because there seems to be a rule in blogging that people need to warned if a linked site has anything to do with sex. Most of her entries are not about sex, though. She writes well, beautifully and movingly about her life. Start with this, most recent and quite wonderful, entry.

The Tangent:
One of the panels I attended at BlogHer was about sex blogging. One of the questions discussed was (to paraphrase), "Why don't most people talk about their sex lives in their blogs?" It was a really interesting discussion - unfortunately the podcast isn't up yet, I'll keep and eye on the BlogHer site and let you know when it is.

Food for thought, it was. As enthusiastic as I am about my sex life, it would feel weird and forced to talk about it here... perhaps if I were a more frequent blogger, and discussed more of my life here, it would seem more natural. For better or worse, I guess that's not the kind of blog this is. It's not much of a knitting blog, really, though that's where it starts. I guess it's what I need it to be, which keeps changing. I'm glad that there are people who read it.

Edited to add: A salient point of this discussion was about the shame surrounding sex, especially for women. This was a point that really resonated with me, and a lot of the work I did about sex when I was in college (see below) was concerned with this issue. The panelists were discussing how the separation between our sex lives and our "real lives" was absurd and artificial, and contributed to harmful ideas about sex... of course I'm paraphrasing here and it's a much more involved discussion than I'm prepared to get into right now. This, however, is the idea that's been rolling around in my head as I have thought about this issue since the conference.

Steph's comment, however, brings it back to reality. Although I do agree with many of the points that were made by the panelists, for many of us it is not a good practical choice to discuss our sex lives on our blogs. (I hear you saying "Duh!") Yeah, I know that. It's not a good choice for me, either. I really shouldn't have left it unsaid.

When I was in art college, a lot of the work I did was about sex and sexuality, on both personal and political/societal levels. I've often thought that I'd like to do more work on these themes, and there are some books I'd like to write. Attending this session made me realize just how much I really haven't been working on, and researching for, these "some-day" projects. Reading Susie Bright's and Melissa Gira's blogs has reminded me of just how much more articulate, well-read and -informed I'll need to be if I want to start saying anything about anything. I'm out of practice, out of the loop.

So what am I going to do about it? For now, I can't distract myself from the other things I'm working out in my life - work, money, health, you know. But I need to be mindful of the goals and dreams I'm deferring til later (writing about sex isn't the only one). I need to be sure that when I say I'm working on an aspect of my life, I'm really working on it, instead of hiding behind my incompetence and using it as an excuse to avoid something else.

My Treacherous Hand

2006-08-17T01:54:00.000-07:00

Part of my left hand has been somewhat numb and tingly for most of the day. I have editing and knitting deadlines I have to meet - I don't have time for this now!!! I'm typing this entry with my right hand only, so it will be very short.

Here are a few photos of a shawl I made a while ago for my stylish friend Rachael. I forgot to photograph it - she just took some shots for me and sent them tonight. Click for really-quite-big.

Wow, typing with one hand really sucks. It's making me grumpy. Project details when my hand is better. 'Til next time, dear readers...

Still Here

2006-08-13T00:23:00.000-07:00

Hello again.

This is my Giger bear, which I bought last night at Voltage. Rachael and I found this awesome store last night by accident, and barely escaped without far, far too much stuff. Actually, she managed to buy nothing, which was impressive. It was a great night - we poked around in exciting vintage stores, had delicious food with great conversation, saw really amazing art, found the aforementioned fantastic store, and bought me a new camera, all in under 5 hours. I even picked up the new VK, IK, and Threads magazines. What more can you ask for from an evening?

I've been having a hard time even thinking of blogging lately. Lots is going on, and I haven't really felt like talking about any of it. I should tell you a bit about BlogHer, though.

First of all, thank you again for being so generous with your stories. If you haven't read through the stories that were left in the comments, I would encourage you to do so, they're lovely and interesting. Even more stories were sent to me via email. I was pretty overwhelmed by the response.

Unfotunately, the panel didn't really go the way I had hoped it might, and I wasn't able to share your experiences with the audience at all. The session could have used a moderator, but we didn't have one, and chose to let audience questions determine the course of the discussion. In the end, I felt that I wasn't really a good fit - the session was on group blogging, and I don't have a group blog. The idea to put me in that session was an inspired and interesting one; the coordinator's thought was that the knit-blogging community functions, in some ways, as a large group blog. When we (the coordinator and panelists) discussed the session in a conference call beforehand, the discussion was really interesting and it seemed like a good fit. However, the audience ended up asking a lot of practical questions about running a group blog, so I ddn't have a lot to contribute in the end. Ah well.

I did enjoy BlogHer, though. I attended a couple of really interesting session, which I'll write a bit more about later. For now, though, I have to get back to work. The fall issue of Knitty will have some really lovely sweaters, and unfortunately (or fortunately, or I wouldn't have a job) the patterns for these sweaters aren't going to edit themselves. (Man, I hate it when people say things like that. I'm afraid I've been reduced to irritating clichés. Even my title sucks.)

I'll write more soon. I just wanted to drop in and let you know I'm still here.

Four Things And A Knitting Photo

2006-07-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

1. Thank You!
Wow, thank you so much for all the great responses to my last post! The comments and emails have given me a lot of food for thought, and it's been wonderful to hear about your experiences with, and thoughts about, knitting and blogging. I've had a few notes from people saying that you want to respond, but have to sit down to write the epic email. Please don't feel you need to write a novel, or answer every question I've asked; any thoughts or information you want to share will be appreciated.

2. New Blog In Town
My beloved mother-in-law has started a blog! She and my father-in-law are making a major change in their life, and I have been enjoying her email updates so much that I entreated her to start a blog. Do check it out, and say hi. She's funny, interesting, and a great writer, and her blog will be worth reading (no pressure, Deb!!).

3. I Promise, It's Not Just Whining
If you read any other Vancouver-area bloggers, you will have already read whining about the heat, but that doesn't mean I can resist whining myself. I do very poorly in the heat, and was quite sick from it on Friday. It's cooled down slightly, but is still on the un- side of bearable. I'm panicking a little, because it's supposed to be hot in Santa Clara this weekend, and I can't lay around in the light dresses and things I've resorted to this last weekend. (I've mostly been wearing the rejected "practice dresses" (muslins) I make to test dress patterns.)

This leads me to ask a question. I think many of us can agree that light skirts and dresses would be the very best clothing choice for hot weather, were it not for one thing: the dreaded Thigh Problem. From an unscientific poll, it seems like people of most body types have issues with thighs that chafe when skirts are worn in hot weather without nylons or tights. I've been thinking about this for the last while, trying to come up with solutions for things to wear that are as cool, comfortable and attractive as skirts and dresses, but will alleviate the Thigh Problem. Shorts are just not as flattering on many people, nor as much fun. (Again, I'm being unscientific here. Highly biased, that's what I am.)

I'd really love to hear about solutions you have found to summer dressing. Please share; I'll compile any answers and post them, along with anything I come up with. Unfortunately, my sewing room is in the hottest part of the house, so I'm not sure if I'll be brave enough to venture in there before I leave for Santa Clara! Your answers, however, will benefit future generations. Really.

4. The Ex-Tee
You may recall this thing which I was knitting with R2 Paper. It was going well, looking hot, taking advantage of Paper's ability to make a great, stretchy fabric, suitable for figure-hugging garments.

Then I remembered that I hate wearing figure-hugging garments, no matter how good they may look when I'm standing up, sucking in my stomach ever-so-slightly.

It has been ripped.

I took this terrible photo for pos-terity. You can clearly see the three radical-ly dif-ferent shades which, I remind you, all came from the same fricking bag.

You will, no doubt, notice that the sweater is rather short. It wasn't really this short; I just knit it without a non-curling edging, so it rolled a lot. The plan was to pick up around the bottom and knit ribbing down, which is a favourite design choice of mine. You can also see the circular needles hanging out of the neckline; I was going to make the neck ribbing a little deeper.

I've started a new sweater at the same tight gauge (16 sts = 10 cm on a 6mm (US 10) needle), with a looser fit. I'll show it to you when there's something to show. I plan to dye the new sweater, because I'm knitting it in that lurid Pastel Green.

One day when Angie and I were callous and strange high school students, we were hanging out at her place, painting. A colour resulted at one point which we tastefully named "Dead Baby Green". This isn't it exactly, but I'd say it's close.

The Knit-Blog Community: Stories and Opinions Needed

2006-07-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

I do a stupid little giggle every time I think of this (or my stomach falls out and goes "splat" on the floor): I'm on the panel of the "Group Blogging" Room of Your Own session at BlogHer.

After I spoke about knit-blogging on a panel at Northern Voice 2006, Susie suggested that I submit a proposal to BlogHer for a similar talk. I followed my crazy new policy of saying "yes" as a default answer to possible opportunities, and voilà! I am now on this panel.

I'm quite excited about the chance to talk again about the amazing community that knit-bloggers have formed, and about the cool things this community does. I'm a bit anxious about talking about how the community has formed, because I am not among the most active or popular members of this community. Although I have made small financial contributions to a few of the charity initiatives that the community has... uh... initiated, I have not introduced any of my own, nor have I started any knitalongs or swap projects. I have been an enthusiastic observer of these sorts of projects and I find them cool and inspiring, but by nature I am not inclined to be a participant.

This leads me to make a request. I would like to hear about your experiences with the knit-blogging community. Please tell me about your experiences with the charity, knitalong, and swap projects. (What other group projects to knit-bloggers do that I forgotten about?) Even more, please tell me about being a knit-blogger or non-blogging reader of knitting blogs. How did you become engaged with this community? How has it enhanced your life (or not)? These are questions that are based on my own experiences, but please tell me whatever you want to - answer questions I haven't thought to ask, or suggest questions that I may, in turn, ask others! You can leave your story in a comment, or email me (link in sidebar).

Please also feel free to let me know your thoughts about the knit-blogging community, removed from your own experiences. Why is it such an unusually large and ardent group? Why do we leave so many comments? Why do many of these group projects gain so much initiative and popularity? Why (fill in the blank)??

Also, please pass on these questions (or a link to this entry) to any other knit-bloggers or knit-blog readers you know, who you think may have an opinion or story to share.

And incidentally, thank you for reading. :)

The Family You Choose

2006-07-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

I feel like saying "sorry I've been away", but I think you are all used to me being a crappy, infrequent blogger. I've enjoyed posting more frequently lately, though, so I feel like I really have been away.

Here's why:

Stevie, my "little sister" from Calgary, was visiting.

We had a fantastic week, though we failed to get photos of most of the things we did. We had a lot of fun, and she got to meet many of my Vancouver friends.

Do not fail to see this incredibly cute photo of her, taken by Travis as Stevie spent some quality time with the water. To say "Stevie loves the ocean" would be a bit of an understatement.

She even got me to into the water (the bottom few inches of me, anyways), such is the persuasive force of her will.

To say "I miss Stevie" would be another understatement. I don't say this often about people I'm not related to by blood or marriage (because I am a dreadful literalist), but she is family.

We've been "sisters" since she was 9, and she's 14 now. One of the things I most regret about leaving Calgary, is that I'm not able to be there for Stevie as consistently as I'd like to be, especially at such an... eventful time of her life.

After she left us at the airport, Zak reminded me of a time after Stevie and I had started hanging out, when I had said to him, "I wonder if Stevie will still be interested in being my friend when she gets a little older." I really didn't expect that we'd develop the kind of relationship that we have, and I'm very grateful for it.

I just wish she wasn't so far away.

Good News, Bad News, Good News, and a Question

2006-07-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

Before I Begin:
Thank you all so much for your comments on my last entry. You've given me some food for thought and for further discussion, which I think I will return to in a later entry. I think, also, that I will be wearing this look, possibly with more makeup than I was wearing in the photo (because I was actually wearing some). But now, the new business.

The Preamble:
Have you seen this insane sale on R2 Paper? I loved the R2 project, I'm quite sad that it didn't fly in the end. I imagine it was more feasible for British consumers, but by the time the yarn made it over the ocean, it was too expensive for the way it was being marketed. I was quite inspired by the R2 books and I continue to draw inspiration from them every time I pull them out, though I find I use the ideas more in sewing than in knitting.

I have wanted to try the Paper yarn since it came out (I'd love to get my hands on some Rag and some Braid, too!), but I wasn't willing to pay the $$$ for it. At this price, however, I could not resist it, and I ordered a bag of grey.

Good News:
It arrived only 2 days later! I swatched and cast on for a sweater at a pretty firm gauge (approx. 16 sts = 10 cm / 4 inches on a 6mm/US10 needle). The yarn was so nice at different gauges, I ordered another bag, and an 8mm/US11 Addi Turbo. I'm into the third ball of the sweater now, and I'm really enjoying knitting it. (I'll rhapsodize more about why I love it in another entry, when I've got something to show you.) But...

Bad News:
What the hell is going on with the colour?? I received a sealed bag of yarn, all one dye lot, but the colour differs so much from ball to ball that you'd almost think I was using 3 separate shades! Of course, it doesn't differ enough that you can see this difference in the ball, it only shows when it's knit up, and it's subtle enough to look like total crap. This yarn is 100% nylon, would you really think it would be so hard to achieve colour consistency between 2 balls of the same freaking dye lot?? (rolls eyes, froths at mouth, shoots steam from nostrils)
*ahem*
Fortunately, however...

Good News:
Nylon is, apparently, easy to dye. I have RIT dyes and acid dyes (which I've never used), so I'm going to try dyeing the sweater when it's done. I suppose this could work out better in the long run, since I really do love the yarn, and I really do hate its pastel colour palette. In fact, this could be a lot of fun. Which leads me to...

A Question:
Dear readers, have any of you had any experience dyeing this yarn, or dyeing nylon in general? If not, do you know anyone who has? I'd welcome any information you could share. I have 2 more bags on the way (one is to make a gift), so this yarn and I will be spending some serious quality time together. Hopefully the other bags will not present me with the same bullshit colour problem, but if they do, I'd like to know what my options are.

Miscellany:
In other news, Zak and I had a really nice Canada Day, which Ben has summed up here.

I hope you all had a nice Canada Day! (...or will have a nice Fourth of July, or will have/did have a nice nationalist celebration of your own country, as applicable, whatever.) Last year, we didn't manage to leave the house to celebrate, so it was great to actually get out and enjoy the beauty of Vancouver (and some tasty food) with some friends. Buying take-out before walking to the beach is certainly a very stress-free and enjoyable way to have a picnic.

On an unrelated note, I really, really hate editing glove patterns. Hate.

That is all.

Drag?

2006-06-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

So. I have loved the menswear look for women for as long as I can remember. Many times in the last many many years, I have tried to pull off the shirt-and-tie look, and I don't think I've ever actually left the house in it before. (I got enough practice at it, though, that I can tie a tie on myself without a mirror.) Last week it all came together in my head: I have the right haircut, a shirt and blazer that fit attractively, pants to match the blazer, and a buttload of neckties (hoarded to make things with). I tried it on and loved it, so I wore it the next night to my last bookkeeping class, then out with some friends, to celebrate being done my course. I asked my friends, "What do you think? How does it look?"

One friend said, "You are in drag."

To be clear: I appreciate my friend's honesty. That's really how he felt, and even though I felt a bit crushed for a little while, I'd rather hear that than "You look really great!!" if he didn't mean it. He's not a good liar, and the lie would have been useless anyways. My other friend did say "You look really great!!", but I'm pretty sure he meant it.

When I was younger, I would just wear what I wanted, even if it looked totally bizarre. I was not often bothered by what people thought of what I wore. (Sharon, vouch for me here: I used to wear pretty weird outfits.) My fashion sense was (still is) very subjective, shall we say; it's just more low-key now that I'm older and have less to prove.

So why did I give a crap that my friend, who's a pretty conservative dresser, felt that I was in drag? Well, I'm actually thinking of dressing like this for work and stuff, once the weather is cool enough. (I don't work in a business-dress office, so I don't need uptight business clothes.) I don't really want to go to work in drag, though I'd happily wear the look on my own time, drag or not.

When my friend Julie was over the other day, I put on the outfit and asked her to take a few photos. (Aren't these great photos? Click for big.)
So tell me, dear readers, what do you think?
This outfit on me is:
a) Drag
b) Cute
c) Both a & b
d) Stupid
e) Other

"And remember, this is for posterity, so be honest."

Past and Future

2006-06-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

Last night I got this photo of my grandfather in my email, with this story:

The attached photo was taken at Comox Air Base ( they have an area of now obsolete Airforce aircraft on display). The picture was taken on our recent trip to the Island with Sue and Roger. The number of the aircraft is 007, a T-33 jet trainer. I flew this aircraft in Dec, 1953 At Trenton when I took the T-33 instructor conversion course on the aircraft. I wonder how many hours that aircraft flew before it was "retired".

Pretty cool, huh? My grandfather was in the Canadian Airforce for years and years... I have lots of childhood memories of being fascinated by the exotic souvenirs from all over the world, which cover the shelves of my grandparents' house. I remember also feeling in awe of the world map which hangs on the wall in their place, liberally studded with the pins which show everywhere my grandfather has been.

Would you guess that my grandfather is turning 81 next month? I sure as hell hope I look as good when I'm 81.
I think it will have to be a good year for him. 81, a square of a square... how can that not be auspicious?
(...this is in my own made-up numerology system, I don't know what it looks like in any other system.)
(Shut up. I like numbers.)

Hey wait... I've got a square coming up myself, in 5 years. Maybe I should do something to make it monumental, I've got the time to plan...

I wonder what it would be like to find a piece of your past, like that plane. I feel so young sometimes, I'm looking forward to all the life I've got stretching out ahead of me... I wonder what I'll happen upon in 50 years that will give me memories like this.

Sweet Tart

2006-06-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Check it out, it's a finished knitted thing! (Click all photos for big. Especially click the ones on the grass and the stair rail, to see the amazing colours.)

I made this shawl out of some chunky hand-painted (maybe hand-spun?) wool, which ended up with me during someone's random act of stash-offloading, when I was in Calgary a few weeks ago. There was one enormous, messy skein of this, with no label. I had no idea how much there would be, or how it would knit up. I picked up a cheap 9mm (US 13) circular needle and made this shawl during the not-work hours in the last week and a half that Zak's been away, and I blocked it last night.

For those who have been reading a while, yes, it's another freaking Flower Basket Shawl. This would be my seventh. Perhaps I should pack it in and resort to the Shetland Triangle Shawl from Wrap Style, because it's soooo different (read: almost exactly the same). What can I say? I love this sort of shawl formula, I like the bold, all-over motifs that make up the fabric of the shawl instead of being details of the fabric, I like the lack of a separate edging and I love the pointy edges. I like the way this shawl has looked beautiful in every yarn I've worked it from, and there are others in my stash that would suit this sort of design equally well. I like the way the stitch pattern is logical and super-easy to memorize, so that it's easy to work while I'm paying attention to something else.

And I love the way this one turned out!! Only seven rows of flower basket motifs, and I have a full-sized shawl. (Keep in mind, I am six feet tall, so a full-sized shawl for me is no shrimpy thing.) There wasn't enough yarn to do the full number of edging rows, so the edge was actually straight instead of pointed; I made the points during blocking. There was exactly the right amount of yarn; the yarn tails at the beginning and end of the shawl, together, were less than a foot long. I love it when that happens.
The yarn was endlessly fascin ating. The colours are so strange and varied, and they shifted so much throughout the ball; I love how well the shawl shows them off. I've taken all these photos, in different types of lighting, is to try to do some justice to the colours. Susie saw the shawl while I was working on it, and we both thought the colours looked like candy. Specifically, they remind me of Sweet Tarts, or those Rockets candies people (used to?) give out at Hallowe'en; hence the name.

I'm very happy and satisfied with this shawl. I even found out that I can work with the big chunky needles after all, as long as I use circulars; I had given them up a few years ago as I find they hurt my wrists. I've been having a harder time then usual with this trip of Zak's. Usually it's not so bad, and I can get into having some time alone, even though I miss him. I'm not sure what's different this time. It's not over yet, but at least I've got a nice cat and this big shawl to keep me company.

They Will Know The Power Of Thy Sword

2006-06-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

It's confession time. I have an addiction, an infatuation, an obsession right now with the cheesiest of cheesy epic metal. (...if this isn't the cheesiest, maybe don't tell me.)

Manowar is a band from Zak's youth, which he told me about for years but never actually tried to play for me... I think he was afraid of rejection. After we went to see this movie, though, we were both feeling the love for the metal in our lives (we are both fans of different genres), and he played some Manowar for me. It was one of those "how can something so wrong be so right??" moments.

This band sings about myths, Satan, the glory of battle... apparently without irony, which is rare and a little exhilirating. Technically, they are brilliant and amazing, and their music is beautiful. Incredibly, the live stuff is at least as good as the studio stuff. I don't like all of it that I've heard; some of it is really, really not to my taste, but my playlist keeps growing. They have all of their albums available for purchase as MP3s on their site (both as albums and as single tracks), and Zak bought all of them, so I am slowly going through them and finding what I like and what I don't.

If there is a part of you that loves cheesy, melodic, glorious metal and you want to try some Manowar, I'd definitely recommend buying a few songs. Here's my current favourite playlist, in case you're interested:

1. Gates of Valhalla
2. Battle Hymns
3. Black Wind, Fire and Steel
4. Defender
5. Guyana (Cult of the Damned)
6. Master of the Wind
7. Bridge of Death
8. March for Revenge
9. The Power of Thy Sword

I would love to see these guys play live. I would even stand in the sincere line.

This post was brought to you by the conversation I had with Rachael on Friday, about sitting down and writing those blog posts that write themselves in your head as you're doing something else. Guess what I'm listening to as I bang away on the patterns for the Summer issue of Knitty?

Dress: Check.

2006-06-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well, last night was dancing night again. Although we did not end up actually dancing (our dancing spot was a little too populated), I did actually show up dressed appropriately. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the whole dress, but here's proof that I got one made in time to not look like a total slob:

If you are in Vancouver and have not yet been to the Hamilton Street Grill, you have no idea how much you are missing out. This is one of my favourite places to go, and it's always nice to bring folks who haven't been. I had that pleasure again last night.

I'm too tired to write more now, I'm going to go and... knit. I actually do still knit. I'll try to photograph some stuff this weekend, to prove it...

In Which I Meet A Friend, And Go Dancing

2006-06-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hey... is anyone still there? Wow, you're really patient. I know it's been a while. I was in Calgary last weekend, which was wonderful... but that's not what I'm going to write about today. I brought my camera with me to Calgary, but I didn't remember to use it even once. Perhaps I will soon be able to show you some photos taken by other people, but for now I'll show you some photos that were taken since I got back.

When I got home Tuesday night, I had a few hours with Zak before I went out again to meet up with Stephannie! It was fantastic, dinner and dessert and coffee went by in a blink. Suddenly it's 3 hours later and that's that until who knows when. Steph is funny, smart, interesting, sweet; all the things you would know from reading her blog, but better. I have one more reason to go to Toronto than I did a week ago, I have to figure out how to make that work...

Here's the shot of her I like best:

Here's the one I like best of me:

..and here's another one, for good measure.

Last night, I went dancing with my friend Raistlin. We have been talking about this for a while... he used to swing dance with an ex, and I used to do many other kinds of dancing, but I've never really done swing dancing (expect for whatever I got in the Social Dance unit of Gym class in Junior High... you know). I used to be quite a good dancer, and Raistlin said he wasn't, but it's been a while for both of us so we thought we'd just go dance somewhere outside where no one would be watching.

It was raining last night, so I didn't dress up. He did.

Yikes! I can't wear a t-shirt and jeans to dance with a man dressed in a freaking tie! I hastily put on a skirt, though I was still under-dressed. Here are some goofy photos we took beforehand in my messy, messy kitchen. These photos hurt my vanity, so just look at him, not me.

Here's where we danced, at night, in the dark, in the rain:

It was really great. We have a long way to go before we could dance together in public, but who cares? After all the time I spent dancing in clubs when I was in college (I'm talking 2-3 times/week), I had no idea how excellent it could be to dance in a picnic shelter at night.

I know I've waxed poetic before about how wonderful the friends are that Zak and I have made in Vancouver, probably enough times that you, dear reader, will barf if I do it again. Um... cover your keyboard with something, I promise I'll make it short.

Raistlin is another friend who makes me glad that we moved here. He and his partner Lj have become very good friends of Zak's and mine, although we've only known them a few months. I miss my friends and family in Calgary very much, and it was both wonderful and a little heartbreaking to see them all last weekend. The fantastic friends we're making here make the difference for me between wallowing in homesickness, and being excited about the future.

I can't wait to go dancing again, though I'm making a dress first.

This Must Be Why I Usually Skip The Morning

2006-05-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

But first, this just in:

Holy crap you guys, thank you for all your comments about this entry! I don't know many of you who commented and Blogger doesn't give me your email addresses, so I can't write you back (here's me pretending that I am ever good about responding to comments), but I do appreciate all the comments very much. :) The pattern in Phildar book #440. You could order the book from Amy's shop, you know. Yes, that is a shameless plug for a friend.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled blog entry:

I got up at 6:something this morning to go to the US Consulate and see a notary for a boring reason. Things I learned this morning:

1. Visiting a consulate is a way more dramatic hassle than I had expected. I suppose it makes sense and everything, but I was not prepared.

2. My husband know how to push my buttons. Thankfully, he uses this power for good, not for evil. (Crankzilla to Pollyanna in 5 seconds flat.)

3. I can get an ignorant, bile-spewing racist pigfucker on a crowded bus to shut his loud, revolting mouth, and without even swearing! I'm not very smooth at it, but the appalling asshole did shut up. I got called a lot of names to my back first, though (not surprising), as I walked to another seat on the bus. I can't believe no one else said anything to him.

All in all, this, the first morning of my attempted return to a more normal (ie. not nocturnal) schedule, was not a hit. I like 4 am much better than 8 am.

New Tiny Humans

2006-05-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

Some of my very favourite people have recently (in the latter case, very recently) reproduced. And they both live too far away for me to meet the new small ones before they're less small. This makes me very, very sad.

Congratulations, little C and little T. You are lucky, lucky babies. I hope I can meet you soon.

Making A Thing For A Friend

2006-05-10T00:56:00.000-07:00

Well, how about that? I have a finished thing to show you!

This little scarf is made from some of my precious handspun from Wendy Black. It was a gift for Susie, which I gave her tonight. This leads me to think about two things:

1. So far, with the handspun which I received from Wendy in exchange for the painting I did for her, I have made 4 small projects and given away one skein. The one skein I gave to Amy, because it screamed her name too loudly to ignore. The projects were:
- a small creature (a travel charm) for my brother Dan
- a Flower Basket Shawl for my Mom
- a "Chanson on Crochet" capelet for Bel
- this scarf for Susie. The pattern is from Phildar book #440, which is still available from their website, though I think it's only available in French. I made the scarf fairly short, to wear draped around a jacket collar, or fastened with a pin, or tied like an ascot, or... well, as an accessory. I love how it turned out, and it was really fun to make. Plus, it looks great on Susie.

I really, really want to make things for myself with this yarn, because I adore every single meter of it. Apparently it was instead designed to carry messages of love. Wendy, is this a trick of yours? I swear, I will make at least one thing for myself before this beautiful yarn is all gone!

2. Spending an evening with Susie is definitely in my top small number of things to do with an evening. Often when we hang out, I am reminded of the things I look for in a friend, now that I am old enough to have learned a bit about what I do and do not want in the people I choose to spend my time with. One of the things I was thinking about is this:

When I spend a few hours with a friend, I would like to feel replenished afterwards, instead of drained. I don't want to feel resentful, like I have given a friend the best of myself that I could during the time I was with them, and that it wasn't enough. I don't want to feel like I have poured myself into a black hole or a sucking wound. I don't want to feel used. Instead, I want to feel like I have shared and been shared with, and that my friend and I are both the richer for the time we spend together. That isn't to say that I can't be the shoulder to cry on for a friend who's had something bad happen or is going through a rough time, but I've been in friendships before where that was all the relationship consisted of, and I have to tell you, I'm done with it.

I feel very replenished tonight. :)

Well, Shit.

2006-05-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

Wow. You know what's not a great pick-me-up when you're tech editing a book? Going to look at the errata page for the last book you edited. I was so, so scared and nervous the week before the book came out, for exactly this reason. It seems like every single knitting book out there has errors, but still... you try so hard to make your own work perfect.

Zak and I have this imaginary contract which delineates some of the conditions of our relationship. One of the clauses forbids ritual suicide. He keeps quoting this at me at times like these, the bastard...

98% Content-Free!

2006-04-30T02:25:00.000-07:00

While Susie and I were out shopping on Main Street on Friday, she took some photos for me.

Here's one of the t-shirts I made this week. I really enjoyed making this shirt, it was a departure from the way I usually do things. It's not actually a great photo of the shirt, but it has two things going for it:

1. I look less fat than in the other photos (vanity, thy name is Mandy).
2. Behold the glory that is spring in Vancouver! Behold it!!!

Click for big.

Oh, forget the damn t-shirt. I'll take some photos of it lying flat, so you can see the things I like about it, which make it interesting. I'll photograph the other shirt I made, too.

How about some more of that glorious spring? How about... some spring, with lovely Susie (squinting a bit because of the sun), and a random car? Yes, that's the ticket. Again, click for big.

It's As If I Have A Social Life

2006-04-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

Work is freaking me out right now, as yet again I race to meet a deadine. Not so conducive to this racing is the amount of socializing I have been doing. Let's review the week, shall we?

- Monday: Zak leaves on a business trip. I go out for coffee, then wine, with our friend Sam. I stopped by Chapters on the way home to see this book on the shelf. (Holy crap! My name's on it! ...not that this is a surprise, but it was definitely a thrill.) I spent some serious quality time with this book, and had the inexorable need to then come home and make t-shirts until far too late.

- Tuesday: I went out for dinner with Rachael. You know when you meet someone through friends and think they're cool, then you see them at a few things and then you get together for, like, a first "friend date"? That was that thing. I was late. I hate being late. I am a reformed late person. I was thwarted by evil buses. *sigh* It was fun, though. Afterwards, I came home and worked til very late. The Late. Are you sensing a theme here?

- Wenesday: I went to our friends Lj and Raistlin's place. I love hanging out with them; they are wonderful, interesting, and never boring. Of course, I stayed too late. I came home and crocheted all fucking night to finish the last touches for my samples for Amy's crochet book. I am seriously sleep-deprived today, but the stuff is on its way... hooray!!

- Thursday: Tonight I'm seeing Susie, and we're both going to take tomorrow off work and hang out. The theory behind this evening is "Why should sleepovers be only for kids?" Doesn't it make more sense to have them when you're an adult, and don't have to worry about waking your parents up by talking too late? And, you know, you can drink?

That's my "weekend", since Saturday and Sunday will be all about the work. Zak comes back tomorrow, which makes it just about the shortest business trip ever. It will be so nice to have him back home so soon. :)

I wish I could show you some stuff, but there's been no knitting, and all the crochet has been for the book. Maybe I'll ask Susie to take some t-shirt photos for me tonight, so you can tell me if the shirts I am into making now are cute, or stupid. I only know they're fun to make. :)

Also? I have to make a dress to go swing dancing in. I will fantasize about that while I work to meet my deadline. I can't wait to start dancing again. :)

Holy Crap, She Knits!

2006-04-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

Did you know I knit? True story.

I finished my first pair of conventional socks last night. Years ago, I knit a couple of pairs of the Boston Bulky socks from Socks Socks Socks, which are double knit using chunky yarn. Since then, I have swatched toes and heels many times (for tech editing purposes), I've made mini-socks and read extensively to familiarize myself with sock theory... but every time I started a pair of socks, I would think "This is boring. I could be knitting a sweater."

Earlier this year, I bought two 60 cm, 2.5 mm Addi Turbo needles, with the idea that having the right needles would make all the difference. As usual, Addis were the answer. These were made from the beautiful Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock which Knitty Amy sent me last summer; the colour is Purple Club. I used this toe-up sock pattern, and made up a simple edging when I thought they were long enough. Here's the edging pattern:

When you get bored of knitting your sock, arbitrarliy decide you're at the end of a row. Cable cast on 4 sts; you should have these stitches on your left needle, ready to work, with your sock stitches trailing away down the needle after them. (Pardon me if this isn't my usual pattern writing style; I've been tech editing all day and am tired of pattern-writing succinctly and soberly.)
Row 1: Kfb, k3. Turn work; 5 edging sts on left needle, a whole bunch of sock sts on right needle.
Even-Numbered Rows 2-8: Slip first st from left needle to right needle, slip second st on right needle over first st on right needle, slip this st back to left needle, k to end. Turn work.
Row 3: Kfb, k4; 6 edging sts. Turn work.
Row 5: Kfb, k5; 7 edging sts. Turn work.
Row 7: BO 3 sts, k3; 4 edging sts. Turn work.
Repeat 'til you're done. Ta-da! Prissy little sawtooth edge.

These were fun. I think I will start another pair of socks tonight, Sivia gave me a pattern for a beautiful new (not-yet-published) sock design of hers...

A Boring Entry About Cool People*

2006-04-10T02:22:00.000-07:00

First things first: Though I am writing as though it's still Sunday night, technically it's the morning of the 10th, which means that Zak and I have now been married for 7 years.
Happy Anniversary, my Love!!

We had a wonderful evening with Rachael and Lala tonight. Rachael was one of the first bloggers I started reading, and we have been wanting to meet for several years now. It was very exciting to attend her wedding (v. 2) last Monday! Zak and I had a great time. It was fantastic to finally meet Rachael and her Lala, and it was a nice bonus to see Rachael Ashe again, and to meet Janice. (We met more folks at the "reception", but I can't remember everyone's name, so I will not embarrass myself by writing about it.)

I think I enjoyed tonight more, though. I wasn't so nervous, and we got to hang out with Rachael and Lala and relax with fantastic sushi and divine gelato. It's pretty cool to meet blog friends. I was surprised how much I have remembered from reading Rachael's blog the last few years, the conversation was pretty easy and the weirdness factor was pretty small. In fact, I kept sort of catching myself forgetting that I actually hadn't met Rachael in person before, and that this actually was a situation that should be fraught with awkwardness, or some kind of strange strangeness. Zak and I both like them an awful lot, and it's pretty disappointing that they live so far away!!

Also, I should point out that these photos are pretty good of Lala, but not so good of Rachael. (Also: quite goofy of Zak. Indifferent of me.) Do not be deceived. Rachael is gorgeousness incarnate.

* Sorry this entry is so devoid of wit and charm. It's been a busy, intense few weeks, and writing takes more brain power than I have at my disposal right now. As a result, I have to say this explicitly, instead of hoping it will come through in my writing: I am very happy and excited about meeting these new/not-new friends. They are quite awesome. That is all.

Sometimes, Cats Are Frightening.

2006-04-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Sleepy

2006-04-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

So busy right now, and so tired. I need to work, but I'm exhausted and my back is spasming constantly, so I think it's time to sleep.
But there are a few things I need to get down before I go to bed.
1. Rachael and Lala's Wedding Part 2: The Canadian Edition was wonderful. I was so honoured to be there, and to finally meet Rachael after knowing her online these past few years was awesome. Pretty amazing. :)
2. Ande, I'll send you those photos tomorrow, promise.
3. Amy Sw., I missed you tonight. I wish you could have been here.
4. I love Vancouver. Also, I am very happy right now.
That is all. Good night. :)

Work

2006-03-30T14:41:00.000-08:00

This is a concept I've been familiar with for many years, and have had intermittent experiences with. I spent most of my 20s in a weird, soul-crushing, guilt-enhancing space of avoiding work, and have been trying to get to know it better in the last few years. Right now we're pretty close and I have to say, it's doing good things for me.

But I just received the first few pattern chapters of dearest Amy's upcoming book, Not Your Mama's Crochet, and I gotta tell ya... work may eat me for lunch. I admit it. I'm afraid.

This is where someone needs to remind me about The Book That Ate My Summer, about how much work it was , what a good experience that was, how proud I am to be part of it, and how patterns look much less impenetrable when you sit down with them one at a time.

Also, please remind me that I can't even look at it again unil Knitty is finished. One thing at a time...

Okay, thanks for listening. Just felt a little overwhelmed and needed to vent.

Happy Vernal Equinox!

2006-03-21T01:27:00.000-08:00

Oh, yikes. I look up and suddenly it's been 11 days since I posted (I'm counting today as the 20th... I haven't gone to bed yet, so it's still Monday, right?)

Anyways, Happy Spring to you!

That photo is actually from about 2 weeks ago. Cherry-blossom-and-daffodil season is in full swing right now in Vancouver. Zak and I are going to remember to bring our cameras with us on a little walk tomorrow afternoon (if it doesn't rain), and we'll get some photos of all the pretty around here.

Sorry I haven't been around lately. I've been working a lot, and I've actually had a crazy social life. It is not normal for me to have a crazy social life. I'm enjoying it quite a lot. Have I mentioned how Zak and I keep meeting cool people in Vancouver? Oh wait, yes I did. Never mind.

There's lots of knitting to show, but I've got a bit of an aversion to in-progress shots (mine, that is, I enjoy other people's). Maybe I'll get over it and take some when the sun is out. It's been out a lot lately, showing off all the beauiful scenery around here.

There was a time last year when Zak and I had decided to move back to Calgary, because we miss our families and friends rather a lot. When I thought we were moving back, one of the things I felt a bunch of regret about, was that I would have had only one spring here. I am so grateful that we decided to stay. The beauty of the city is not the biggest or most important reason why I'm glad, but it's one that makes me very happy, every single day. My heart is very full these days.

Not Bad For One Evening

2006-03-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

I had some new experiences last night.
1. I held swords in my hands. Okay, replicas, but swords and I? We had not met before.
2. I ate oysters.
3. I spent quality time with a boa constrictor. I couldn't really get enough of the boa consrictor.
4. I tasted beautiful cognacs, and drank a Beautiful.

Zak and I also experienced the disorientation of realizing that, while we have been engaged in talking with exciting new friends, the evening has passed and it is suddenly after midnight and we have to catch a cab home. Thankfully, however, that is not a new experience. We keep meeting the coolest people in Vancouver. :)

(Okay, it's not like we don't have a good number of very cool and cherished friends in Calgary... but the number of cool, interesting, fantastic people we have been meeting here has been freakishly high. And it's been so easy to meet people. Really, it's quite wonderful.)

Hey Now, Hey Now Now

2006-03-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

One day in my first year of college, some music coming from a classroom made my heart stop. I went in and found out what it was. After school, I asked my music-snob goth boyfriend if he'd heard of the Sisters of Mercy. He was quite full of disdain at the fact that I, before that day, had not. (What can I say? I was sheltered. And a geek.)

I have bought the album Floodland five times in the intervening 14 years. (I wore the cassette out 3 times before I bought a CD player, then the first CD ended up becoming defective.) It is still one of my very, very favourite albums.

And now, on March 26, Zak and I are going to see them in concert at the Commodore Ballroom, where I saw Ministry play shortly after we moved here.
I love Vancouver.

Well, It Was My Name First.

2006-02-27T20:47:00.000-08:00

This is the only time I will ever blog about celebrity gossip.

This is one of those weird and irritating coincidences that cannot pass without a note. So, my name is Mandy Moore. Yes, like that Mandy Moore. I get stupid comments and questions frequently. I was 24 when she became famous, or at least when I first heard of her (from people who knew me and thought the name thing was hilrious, of course). It's weird to suddenly have your name not be your own any more. This happened several months after I got married, and I have sort of wondered if I would have hyphenated my name if I had heard of her beforehand. Lame, yes, but it actually rattled me.

Then, last week I read on a trashy gossip site that she's marrying Zach Braff. I mentioned this to Zak because it was the first time I had seen her name written out as "Amanda Moore", which of course is also my name. He said "How weird, another Mandy and Zak". I had failed to register that fact... thank goodness the spelling, at least, is different. And, of course, they don't have the same last name. But still.... well, weird.

This Entry Is A Week Late

2006-02-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

Speaking at Northern Voice didn't suck. People actually seemed interested and asked questions, and I didn't die. I met Jana of Handmaiden (!!!), and the lovely Rachael Ashe (you can also read her here), who was a co-presenter on the same panel I spoke on. Neither of us had done this sort of speaking before - it was nice to have someone else there who was as inexperienced as I was!

In case you're interested, here are the sites I used as slides:

1. Yarnageddon (...of course)
2. Indigirl (re. why I started blogging)
3. See Eunny Knit (re. blogs that offer excellent technical information)
4. Knitting Rock-Along (re. knitalongs - this one got a great reaction!)
5. Tricoteuses Sans Frontieres(re. knit-blogging charity initiatives - the numbers with this one impressed folks)
6. Oliver's Fund (re. knit-blogger community stuff)
7. Knitting Olympics (a good excuse for more impressive numbers)
8. Jodi's Weblog (re. personal experiences, people you only know online but still think of as "friends")
9. Knit and the City (re. personal experiences, moving to Vancouver and having someone to hook up with because of blogging -yay!)
10. The Boogie Knits (re. personal experiences, the painting/spinning barter Amy and I did - I made sure to wear my Saturn sweater)
11. FishyKissKnits (re. another close "real-life" friend who blogs - this relates back to the story behind slide #2 and let me have a nice, circular, personal way to end my talk.)

Phew! It went a lot better than I feared. Zak wrote a bit about it here, complete with crappy little photo. Hey wait - I could post that photo here too!

The only thing that really sucked about the day was that I had nightmares the night before (nah, I wasn't nervous at all!), so I slept in and missed Susie's presentation, which I had wanted to see. But at least we got to hang out with her and Travis later, which improves any day.

Panic On The Streets Of Vancouver

2006-02-10T02:37:00.000-08:00

Hm... I can see why the Smiths used "London" instead. It really does sound better.

Hey folks, guess what? I'm speaking on a panel at Northern Voice on Saturday! About knit blogging! AAAAH hahahaha hahahaha HAHAHAHA HAAAaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Having reread old Life in Hell comics recently, I feel that it would be appropriate to make a joke about doing an interpretive dance to demonstrate how I feel about this speaking gig. However, I can't think of how to formulate such a joke - perhaps it doesn't work if you're not a rabbit. Instead I will post this dubious old photo of myself and hope that the my-head-is-on-fire hair and wild-eyed facial expression (humor me here) will hint at my turmoil.

And now, I will stop gibbering incoherently.

Two things:

First, thank you so much for all the awesome comments about the Saturn Sweater! Unfortunatley, there will be no pattern. I took precisely zero notes, and so much of it was ripped, reknit, re-ripped, re-reknit... and so on. It was 100% made up on the fly. The essential design elements:

- a raglan cardigan with a shallow v-neck and really long sleeves
- lots of waist shaping, worked at 8 different points around the sweater
- short-row bust darts
- 7 inches of 2x2 ribbing for the collar, and 2x2 ribbing for the button bands

There is one question from the comments I can answer, which was Deb's question about yarn substitution. I don't know of any yarn that could be substituted for this yarn, as far as weight and texture go. It's DK to worsted weight, I got about 20 sts/4 inches on a 4 mm needle, and the fabric is pretty dense. The yarn is a very springy 2-ply wool, with a bit of thick & thin action. Manos is not similar, for the following reasons: it is much thicker, it is a single ply, and it has a very different drape. Actually, having had the privilege to work with handspun yarn from 3 different spinners (Spunky Eclectic, Insubordiknit, and Lanas de Libelula), I have to conclude that nothing is as nice as handspun yarn. Nuthin'.

Secondly, have you seen this??
Knitted graffiti. Go look, it will make you happy.

The Saturn Sweater

2006-02-04T02:41:00.002-08:00

This is the final (for now) version of the sweater I knit from the beautiful yarn that Amy King dyed and spun for me almost 2 years ago. For almost a year it languished in my closet as an ill-proportioned cardigan, which came close enough to fitting that I kept putting off the work necessary to make it just right.

While Spencer and Lisa were visiting, I pulled it out and started removing the buttons and digging out the woven-in ends. (I am all in favour of ripping, I do it frequently, but man, I hate that part!!) After they left, I removed the bound-off edge and lengthened the sweater body by an inch or two. This bit of length made the sweater look much better, but I had to be frank with myself and admit that I still wasn't happy with the overall fit.

The upper sleeves were more close-fitting than I prefer, and as a result the yoke felt too snug through the shoulders. I like more ease in the upper arm and shoulder areas than I usually find in commercial patterns (I have quite wide shoulders), which is one reason I usually don't knit sweaters from patterns. This makes it even more frustrating when a sweater I have designed and knit for myself is too tight in the shoulders. (Having said that, I've learned a lot about how I want a sweater to fit, since the I first knit this sweater.)

I ripped the yoke, added length and width to the sleeves, and reknit the yoke. I added a wide, cozy collar, and reknit the expletive deleted button bands. Ta-da! I have a well-fitting, very warm, easy-to-wear cardigan which I adore.

Possibly the best thing about this sweater is that the combination of reds and pinks has almost preternatural powers of flattery for me. My crappy skin looks almost clear, it suits my colouring so perfectly.

I can't complain at all about spending more time with this delicious yarn. It's so varied, from meter to meter and skein to skein, that it's never boring. It's the kind of yarn that I will likely rip and re-knit over and over in coming decades as each sweater I make from it slowly wears out. It's hardy, I think it could handle it... and it would be worth it.

The striping and colours on the back yoke of the sweater kept reminding me of alluring, brightly coloured illustrations of the planet Saturn, which intrigued me so much when I was a kid. Hence the name. (I suppose there's an obvious joke to be made about the size of the planet Saturn, and how I may look in this sweater. If you feel inclined to make this joke in the comments... don't.)

40 Hours

2006-01-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

That's about how much time I have left in this house. I'm looking forward to getting settled in our new place, but man I'll miss this house! It was built in 1914 and has been extended a few times, so it has lots of character. It's comfortable, well laid out, and has many beautiful details. Also, it has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, whereas our new place has only 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. (In case you're wondering why 2 people need 4 bedrooms: 1 bedroom for us, 1 guest room (which we use frequently), 1 workroom for sewing and painting and 1 office.)

Fortunately, the new place has some extra little spaces that are almost rooms in their own right, so we will still have enough space for everything. (For example, there's an open space at the bottom of the stairwell that is large enough to be used as a small office.) The new place is sweet and has nice touches that give it some character, and will make it comfortable and livable. But... it just doesn't have what this house has. I'll miss the recessed, moulded ceilings, the coloured walls, the open floor plan, and the few steps leading up to the guest room or down to our bedroom. I'll miss the way the house looks really tiny from the street, then you walk in and are surprised at how far it goes back, and how spacious it is. I'll miss the extra bathroom!!

I'll miss the huge trees in front that prevent any natural light from entering the living room. I'll miss the incredibly conventient proximity to Safeway (2 blocks!) and the Skytrain station. (Our new place has an excellent location for public transit and has just about everything we need within close walking distance, though, so I can't complain too loudly.) I'll miss our front yard in the spring, which is constantly teeming with little wildflowers that change very few weeks. The photos on the left were taken last April (click to make big). Even now, there are little daffodil shoots poking out of the ground.

Goodbye, little house, our first home in this new city. We will miss you. Thank you for being so good to us.

(Note: My blog will be down for a few days, and I will be without email access for that time. I hope to be back online Tuesday or Wednesday next week.)

It's A Good Idea To Blog About The Election When You're Sleep-Deprived

2006-01-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

Even when I've got cable, I don't usually watch election coverage. I vote, then I do something else until I can find out the results - I hate the suspense. Tonight after voting (I'm still up packing - so it's still last night for me) I went to the eighth-level-of-hell mega-mall near my house to run errands, and was treated to ambient election coverage via TVs in department stores. In the early stages I glimpsed and overheard, it appeared that the Conservatives were going to do much better than they did in the end. I'm disappointed that they won (that's a nice way to put it), but when I looked at the CBC summary, I am... well, less disheartened. The Conservatives have a smaller minority government than the Liberals did last time, and the NDP increased their number of seats by half. This might not suck as badly as I had feared.

Now go read Jodi and Steph if you haven't already. (That's me saying "Look over there!" because I am sort of shit at talking politics.)

News Flash: Moving Sucks

2006-01-22T01:01:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I'm just not going to get caught up on my blog entries after all. Perhaps I will just have to skip writing about our wonderful trip home for Christmas, and my subsequent trip home last weekend. (I was a birthday present for Bel. Long story, or I'm a lazy story-teller: take your pick.)

We're moving on the 28th. Zak's been away since last weekend, and doesn't get back til after we move. This is all fine and good, and I could wax eloquent about why this is all fine and good, but I'm a little busy packing, avoiding packing, and freaking out about packing.

Fortunately, because my husband isn't a cretin, we went out for my birthday before he left. Also, I have a couple of really nice friends who have taken me out for my birthday since then. Twice. Because, you know, birthdays that don't suck make everything better.

The photo above is, in the interest of randomness, a crappy shot of a little shelf I have on the wall in the guest room right now. (This was actually the best shot I was able to get. I'm not sure why I love this little display so much.) I know I can set it up again in the new place and everything, but still.... I'm going to miss this place. On the off chance you're curious, click to make big.

L-R: The Iron Giant, a little lamb I bought at Ten Thousand Villages, a fantastic head made by Sharon, a little wooden Christmas tree I bought in a Christmas store in Heidelberg, some tiny babies my mother-in-law put in my stocking the first or second Christmas Zak and I were together, a small piece by the ceramic artist John Chalk (there's a cool story behind that one), a vessel and stopper I made in ceramics in college, and a really amazing dragon head Zak made when he was 12.

Edited to add: I think I'll just give up the idea that my blog is meant to keep up with the events of my life. I so often want to write about something, but I don't because I feel like I should write a nice, long entry about something else first, then I let it get more and more behind til I have to just both ideas go. I do this very, very often. A bit late for a New Year's resolution, but I think I usually make birthday resolutions instead.

Here goes: I will give up the idea that my blog will record my life in any detail. This means that many wonderful things that happen in my life, like Spencer and Lisa coming to Vancouver to visit us, may not be covered in my blog. I will write about whatever I end up writing about, punctuated occasionally by knitting and crochet. I bet I'll write more this way. :)

Spike-Along!?

2006-01-20T02:17:00.000-08:00

Oh goodness. Cleo has started a Spike-Along. She directed me to a finished Spike, which you can see here. I love how this one turned out, very Alice in Wonderland, yes? It is the first Spike I have seen aside from my own, and I am so excited.

The 18th was my thirty-first birthday. I think a knit-along is a pretty good birthday surprise, don't you?

Christmas Knitting And A New Ring

2006-01-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

There is, of course, a large entry I need to write about our trip home to Calgary for Christmas. First, though, I must show shitty photos of the Christmas knitting I did. (I neglected to get good photos - too busy having Christmas. Oops.)

I knit only four gifts this year, for my father, mother, sister, and brother. Here we all are together.

From left to right:

Sadly, my sister Shawn is very allergic to any yarn made of animal fiber. For her, I made the Triangle Shawl from the Interweave Crochet 2004 issue, in Butterfly Super 10 Cotton. I love this pattern, and I'm very happy with how it turned out in this yarn! I must make more of them...

My brother Dan specifically asked for a new earflap hat when I asked him what he wanted me to knit for him. I made him one with a flame pattern the first Christmas I was knitting, and he still wears it - but I'm glad he wanted a new one, because I have a much better idea what I'm doing now, and I use much better yarn! This one is made with 2 colours of Lamb's Pride Worsted, and some Kureyon (the brown/black sections). It was a design-as-you-go thing, using the same skull chart I always use (from Enchanted Knitting). I love knitting for my brother. Of the people I have knit stuff for, he may be the most appreciative, and the one most inclined to say "my sister made it for me!"

Here's a photo I took right after the knitting, before the steam blocking and weaving-in of ends.

My Dad's scarf is the one that you really, really can't see at all in this photo. I worked a nice, angular cable pattern in Rowanspun DK, one of my very favourite yarns, though I find it very slow to work with. I really wish I'd taken some better photos of this scarf, it is very beautiful and suits my Dad well. I was proudest of this gift, since my Dad has particular taste and is very hard to knit for.

Last but not least, for my beautiful mother, this entrelac scarf in Silk Garden. This was the gift that inspired the others. Though I love living in Vancouver, I miss my family terribly, and I loved the way knitting this scarf for my Mom made me feel close to her. The scarf suits her perfectly and exactly fits her personal style. It was an unqualified success!! :)

Here's a shot I took before I blocked it. This scarf was so fun to make, and I was stunned at how beautiful it looked.

Finally, can't resist showing this photo. Shawn and her boyfriend, Jeff, got engaged the day before our family's yearly pre-Christmas brunch, at the club my Dad golfs at. Jeff is a very old friend of Zak's, so I knew him before he started dating Shawn, and I have always liked him. I'm so happy for them!! :) (...and I think Shawn looks beautiful in this photo.) Click to make big.

Bel Chanson

2006-01-05T01:03:00.000-08:00

Life is good right now, but I can't seem to get the words together for an entry. Instead, here are some photos of the Chanson en Crochet I made for Bel for her birthday. I used parts of three different skeins of the delicious yarn Wendy made for me in 2004. I included 2 buttons, sewn back to back, so Bel could choose the one to suit her mood. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Words soon, really...