If Hanami is Japanese, why is the knitting like Greek to me?

Here's the thing. I am busy. I am busy all of the time, much of this busy activity is fiber related and yet more is not. So, in the midst of all of the busy behavior, the end of a school year, planning for summer trips and adventures, I agreed to a KAL. You know, Knit a long...so harmless, so well supported by friends and others who can share your sorrow and joy and pressure you into finishing what you have begun. KAL, perfect. Thanks to my friend Cheryl, who brought the most beautiful yarn that she dyed and the most beautiful pattern, the Hanami Shawl by Melanie Gibbons, I am involved in this project.

It was so harmless, in the beginning. Fun, friends, using yarn that I had and never knew what I would make of it. Yes, I had a $52.00 skein of Schaeffer Andrea Silk in laceweight, and never knit lace. I also had a bunch of lovely alpaca lace from Cherry Tree Hill, and more .....you get the picture. The pattern is an inexpensive, quick fix of a download and away I go!

This was two weeks ago.

I now have started the beautiful shawl, with all of my knitting experience to guide me. The pattern is well written and easy to follow. I am an idiot! I work all day, stay busy into the evening and late at night, in the poorest of light, I decide to work on this project. Is it a surprise that by following such clear instructions and using markers in the proper places, my section counts never make sense? Is it possible that with all of my knitted rows and unknitted rows and the perfect beaded cast-on (the second time around) that I may have actually knit the entire shawl, but only have one inch to show for it? Yes. It is true. I am embarrassed and horrified. I knit a beaded bookmark to prove that I haven't lost my touch (thanks Stacey, great kit).

Last night, after struggling with the perfect yarn and getting to about 3 inches of knitting, I realized that the wonderful, expensive silk from my stash was pooling and hiding the pattern. That was the last straw on this redone and redone and redone project. Not the pattern itself (I don't give up that easily) but with that yarn.

I started over. I found beads that match the Cherry Tree Hill Suri Alpaca. It is not cherry colors, but it is soft and softly shaded. I cast-on and began (did I mention it was about 11 pm on a school night?). I know the pattern inside and out by now, you would think that life would be a breeze. I think that I felt a little too confident, because I made a whole new batch of mistakes and put it aside (not frogged, just aside) for tonight.

Each day is a new day, each night, new also. A fresh start is what I always recommend to my friends, so that is what I have recommended to myself. I will begin before 11 pm and I will quit when I have a row that has the correct count. I will sleep without worrying about the next row. And as we are reminded in yoga, nothing is perfect. Nothing is intended to be perfect. Try to achieve a new level, appreciate what is accomplished and challenge yourself to do more.

I am challenged, and finding myself, strangely, enjoying the fact that it is not a simple act.

Retreat Adventures continued...Dyeing to get at it!

Saturday morning proved to be a bit overcast, much cooler than our arrival, but heading full blast into color as we began our dyeing day with Rita! She gave us a little overview, reminding us to be safe and careful, some general inspirational tips and books to look over. This is when the various types of learning styles become apparent. The listen, or read and analyze folks began to do just that. The less patient, jump in and try it types did just that! Me...well, I had done some dyeing before, so I wanted to start right away.

Rita had pre-knit some blanks for us on her knitting machine, so that we could dye in a different way. This was great, since it was my first blog experiment, I had a chance to try again with more vivid color! I had brought my own pale green silk and wool blend lace weight that I had pre-knit just for this purpose. Boy, how I love getting clearance prices on a less desirable color...what a great opportunity for over dyeing and twice the fun since it will have a second life in my knitting! I love that.

Much of the yarn that we dyed was sock yarn. This is a great way to experiment with patterns and colorways. Not only is it a manageable amount of yarn to work with, but it can easily be used almost regardless of color choices or experimental methods. It is so interesting to me, seeing the choices and varieties that are used when a huge array of colors are available. Some people gravitate to their favorite colors and combinations and others are like kids in the candy shop grabbing up everything that looks exciting. I tend to choose a color that grabs me and become inspired by adding bits of other colors for new combinations as I go.

Looking at the drying rack gave us inspiration for future projects and insight into what variety was available. I am guilty of finding that one skein of yarn that has fabulous colors and feels great, but may not be ideal for my project. The colors may pool, based on the repeats, or may even muddy out of the picture when combined in small knit stitches. I am not saying that all yarn should have a purpose before it is dyed, but it helps to try a good variety to understand what the options will be. Some of my less dramatic colorways seemed a bit wimpy on the rack next to the wonderful peacocks that surrounded them. But when I got them alone and twisted them or held them open, I could see new potential for the closer or further repeats or the skein that was neutral with a couple of surprises dotted into them. I am anxious to see who they grow up to be once on my needles.

There are so many things to consider when dyeing yarn. The project, the colors and the combinations are just a few. But it is not necessary to get caught up in this all of the time. Sometimes the sheer pleasure of experimenting will produce an outcome that you could have never planned. Nor may you always repeat, if you are like me and react to color and just keep painting or over-dyeing until it looks right and neglect to keep notes! I leave that organization up to the professionals who need to repeat their results.

Unabridged Retreat: Round One

After about an 80 minute drive with my friend, anticipating a weekend of all fiber and no responsibility, we arrived at the Hankerd Inn. This was going to be a chance to get to know my fellow Black Sheep members better, and a great excuse to talk about knitting 24/7 with people who don’t think that there would be anything wrong with that. The conversational focus matched the quantity of unattainable knitting goals that were in my bags. (A habit that is probably the reason that I laughed so hard while reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s newest book. Hmmm, imagine, she, too, has difficulty limiting the projects that travel with her.) In fact, the hardest part of packing was the fiber. Planning to spin or not to spin, a simple sock, a new project, needles for the mystery knit along, so many choices! It was tough!

I was going to be spending the weekend with friends that are relatively new to me, and it had me wondering how the weekend would go. As a kid, I did not have a group of girlfriends or spend much time at slumber parties and that sort of thing. Outside of a couple of good friends, I spent time learning to knit and crochet, needlepoint, sew, cross stitch and macramé from my mom and the help of the library "how-to" section. I loved working with fiber and that interest has obviously not gone away. In fact, it seems to have slowly come to full blown obsession. Working in a class was the closest that I came to working in a group. Even as an adult, the fiber thing has been somewhat solitary.

So, spending the weekend with 19 women and their wool is a newer sort of phenomenon, one that I have been developing for the past couple of years through fiber trips with smaller groups and guild members. I have always thought of myself as a shy person. Lately, though, I have been realizing that maybe this attribute may be evolving a bit. (I say this, since everyone that I mention my shyness to has laughed.)

Once we had all arrived, we were ready for food. The dining room was set with a large table and a few smaller tables, it was perfect sitting with different women and mixing it up. What a great way to get to know each other better, sharing food! Some food and a little rest and we were ready for a little ice-breaker. This was planned around our keen knowledge of the knitters who keep us inspired and get us in trouble for logging onto the internet during work hours, a few too many times.

Although I am generally not a fan of the ice-breaker sort of activities myself, it was great fun trying to determine which famed knitter’s name was on my back by asking ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions about me. (I turned out to be the famed Nancy Bush! How exciting).

Since it was the beginning of the weekend, it was important that we got our mystery knit along kit; we just might need something to do all evening! The kits were a mystery right from the start…each was hidden in different colored bags and contained yarn in seven different colors plus the main color and the 4 sealed clue envelopes to get us through each stage of the project. We made a few swaps to liken our colors to our personal favorites and we were happy. Pictures will be coming soon, I don't want to spoil anything for the other mystery knitters!

Then came what seemed to be the equivalent to Oprah’s favorite things. Our “Knitting Goodie Bags” were distributed with bits of everything fiber in them. The Black Sheep leadership team went all out for us. (All I can say is "Namaste" and I mean that!) Even the dyeing supplies for Saturday’s workshop were included. The thrill filled the room and continued through the rest of the weekend!

Arriving Friday evening made for a long day after work. But it did not take long for us to get our second wind. Soon, we were enjoying our fiber, our friends and, of course, a bit of chocolate.

To be continued……

Surprised when scouting new sites!

Whilst looking around for knitting with scouts type sites, hoping to find informational items to share with children, I happened upon this wonderful site for adult knitters. It is really funny and I would love to award all of my friends with the appropriate badges. Yup, badges, the kind that we earned as youngsters in scouting, but much more applicable to our modern knitting lives. Grown-up scouting badges, check it out!

Return from OZ (the abridged version)

Have you ever had an experience that was so vivid, so colorful, that it was almost like a dream? Do you dream in color? This weekend was a dream in color, like when Dorothy awoke in OZ and the black and white became Technicolor. I was in fiber heaven with 19 of my best fiber buddies for the entire weekend. Moments ago, I returned. So here is the abridged version of the happenings, details and reflections to follow.

Friday, an 80 minute drive with fellow Blacksheep and Raveler, Harriet, and no getting lost ended at our destination: The Hankerd Inn. We had a room in the barn, so what did I expect? Not this! We had a great room with a high ceiling for gathering around the fireplace. It was attached to a large kitchen for easy snacking and uniquely decorated bedrooms that were quite lovely! Downstairs was the workroom with great lighting and tables anticipating our Saturday dyeing workshop with Rita Petteys (Yarn Hollow hand dyed yarns).

All meals were taken care of, so all that we had to do was get inspired, knit, spin, talk, LAUGH, and learn new things! We did all of the above.

Saturday's dyeing workshop had us measuring and painting yarn or roving to our own specifications with the expert guidance of Rita. There were NO bad results and Rita was most accommodating to our sometimes very specific needs. Plus, she brought oodles of her wonderful hand dyed yarns for our shopping pleasure. What a day, I dreamt all night of what I made, what I bought and what they would become.

A weekend like this is a real treasure and time well spent with other creative people with so many different ideas. With that many women, it is pretty likely that there may be a few moments of discontentment. Not this weekend, there were none. We spent our time together in peace and harmony, just like that Technicolor dream, and I am not kidding.

As for all that we packed, spinning wheels, knitting projects (at least 2) movies, books and food...well, we did use most of them. There was not much time for movies, but there was inspiration from knitting books, many show and tell moments and a great knit along that challenged us all. The excitement went on and on and continues to make me smile. The blogs to follow will surely recap the adventures in more detail after I get some sleep and return to the real world. (Thanks Black Sheep Knitting Guild...to say "You Rock" is not enough.

Teaching the old dog new tricks

It happened! Tuesday at the Beanery, it happened! I learned from the great and wonderful Evilneice how to Navajo ply.
Off and on during my years of spinning, I have witnessed and tried to do this with my hand spun singles. I really like the idea of a yarn that comes from one bobbin. No more worrying about how much yarn is on the bobbin, dividing it as close to the halfway point as I can or even if I have ENOUGH bobbins to spare for this job!
It did not happen all at once, nor was it clear and easy at first. I am still hoping that I can actually do this again, now that the rhythm is gone from my one on one instruction. But my friend encouraged me..she did what a great teacher does, she watched me and figured out what the heck was going on with my awkward posture and arm motions that were accomplishing nothing.
The key for me was this:

The right hand pulls the loop open and holds the plies waiting to be spun together. The left hand needs to be more passive, it is the guide to get the three plies to join together happily and evenly. Then, repeat the process.

I did this. I kept doing this. In the end, I finished plying a ball of yukky hand spun single yarn that I debated about tossing. It is not gorgeous, but it is plied. It is ok. Maybe a bit curly (over spun is and understatement!) Stay tuned for Navajo plied yarn pictures, I am sure that I will do this again, and will share the evidence.

As I said, I have tried this before. More than once. The point is, I did not give up on the idea and hope that I should be able to Navajo ply my yarn. Persistence and a good teacher were the winning combination.

Now lets see what I can do without my coach.

It is all in the SHARING

Last night, I made a presentation to the Eastside Weaving Guild. It was about combining knitting with woven cloth. I weave a little, and knit a lot, so combining the two seemed only natural. I had the opportunity to travel to San Miguel, Mexico, last spring to make a sweater that combined the two techniques. The trip was wonderful, the class was great, but the ideas that came springing forth in my brain were the best!

I find that workshops and classes are so valuable. No matter how much I know, or think that Iknow, there are always new ideas and techniques and manners of working that open my mind to new possibilities. This workshop did that for me, so that was what I shared.

The audience knits, and weaves and dyes...and essentially does everything fiber. That is what I like about belonging to the guild. It was equally valuable to me to hear the comments and suggestions of what inspired them while we talked! So, the workshop that was intended to give me a way to do one thing became the inspiration for doing more and the presentation added further to the experience! Wow! I can't wait to see the new work that might come from one kernel of sharing.

It will be especially exciting, since much of what we weave is sampling for larger pieces or yardage that is beautiful, but not enough for, say, a jacket. The renewed use of beautiful fiber in all forms helps to revive the work and interest in our stash. One suggestion was using felted wool in combination with knitting, or even crochet!

All of those creative minds on one room, with all of that experience. It is pretty powerful, and it is ALL in the sharing.