Feral Knitter

Fixing Mistakes

I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion.
            ~Yohji Yamamoto

The great thing about knitting a stranded shawl: no shaping, and therefore no worries about fit!

The bad thing? The rows get very, very long the further you go.*

Now, this isn't necessarily a problem. I like knitting (news flash!), so the prospect of knitting more stitches isn't, in and of itself, a deal breaker. Frankly, if it were, I most certainly would not be besotted with stranded knitting using fingering weight yarn and size 2 needles, right?

But, when you discover that you've made a mistake, it can be very disheartening. VERY disheartening! 

This is where it is time to reach deep into your creative self and come up with some alternate ways to fix errors that have to be fixed--WITHOUT ripping back hundreds of stitches.

Regular readers know that I'm fairly tolerant of some types of mistakes, but even my feckless approach has its limits. If this happens to you, here are two techniques that might suit (and please be kind about my juggling of knitting and camera!):

Duplicate Stitch on the Fly

I discovered that I had knit two stitches in green that were supposed to be coral (the two stitches on the left-hand needle).

I pulled these stitches off the needle and pulled out the green (the large loop).

I took a long length of coral yarn and knit those two stitches, replacing them on the left-hand needle and leaving long ends that will be darned in later. These stitches are a little wonky right now because they haven't been anchored yet, but all will be well when I've had a chance to darn them in. I'm not concerned about that too-long green float right now--I'm counting on the slight felting that occurs when blocking to force it into submission.

Fixing Problems Several Rows Down

This shawl pattern is very large (55 x 55) and not quite predicable. Plus: I'm not the most attentive knitter. So the only surprising thing about this mistake is that it took me so long to make it! In this example I had moved the entire motif over by 1 stitch, inadvertently lengthening it. I didn't notice until it came time for the motif to meet up with another one six rows later. 

I dropped the offending stitches down to the row where it all began. 

The first step is to identify the green and coral in the first fixed row; it is very helpful to corral the other floats with a safety pin. You locate the appropriate floats by looking at the fixed stitches either side of the stitches you are working on and seeing which yarns come out of that row. Sometimes I turn the work to make it easier to see what is going on. Then you knit the correct pattern with the float yarn.

What if the float yarn isn't long enough? Good question. In this example, each corrected row had the same stitch count of each color as the incorrect row, but it is possible that you will need to apply the Duplicate Stitch on the Fly technique if your situation is different.

Here I am at nearly the final row--it all becomes more clear! When I'm working in the lower rows I use double point needles, but as I get closer to the final rows I just put the stitches on the regular needles. Whatever works for you!

Slow and steady, coupled with good lighting, win the day!
 

*Assuming you are knitting from the point.

 

 

San Juan Islands

There's just about nothing I like more than riding the ferry in the San Juan Islands in the upper northwest corner of Washington state. I was attending Deb Robson's Explore 4 spinning retreat--after a morning spent trying out fleeces from different primitive breeds, we had the afternoon free to explore the island. Every day the ferry makes a 3-hour run between the islands, taking school children and workers home, and we hopped on two different days. 

Residents of the islands tell me that the ferry is a necessary evil--you can see people working jigsaw puzzles, walking laps around the boat, or napping. We visitors, however, remain transfixed by the scenery. I was lucky enough as a teenager and young adult to be friends with a family that lived on one of these islands, and this route always fills me with joy coupled with a bittersweet sense of time passing. These views remain deeply embedded in my heart, no matter how settled I am into my California life.

The early afternoon sunset inspired me to pull out my Spindrift collection and begin a series of swatches--who knows where this will lead!

Miscellaneous notes:

• My Fair Isle Yoke Sweater class at Madrona Fiber Arts has some spots open--the fact that it falls on a Sunday that is also Valentines Day has left many classes uncharacteristically available, so if you've heard that it's impossible to get in, take another look!
• Hunter Hammersen has a new book out, Fine Things for Plain Occasions, and it looks like a wonderful collection of accessory patterns. She's got a pre-publication offer you'll want to check out.
• Have you heard about Susan Crawford's Vintage Shetland project?  She's working with the Shetland  Museum to recreate 25 garments in their collection--this looks like a must-have book for any Fair Isle enthusiast's library.
• The Neighborhood Fiber Company has created a beautiful new color way--Sans Frontieres--to challenge us to move from grief to action. 100% of all sales will be donated to Medicins sans Frontieres/Doctors without Borders. Hanks of this yarn would make lovely presents for your knitting friends and family! 

Madrona Fiber Arts 2016

I hope you are already on the mailing list for Madrona Fiber Arts news, because it is always such a great, inspirational, energizing event. Madrona is held every February in Tacoma, Washington (Tacoma? you say, disbelievingly--yes, Tacoma, the Tac in SeaTac Airport. It's a 20 minute shuttle ride from the airport, and the hotel that houses the retreat is within walking distance of the Glass Museum and lots of restaurants.) 

This year I'll be teaching Fair Isle Color: How Do They Do That?, a 6-hour class on how colors are used in Fair Isle knitting--we'll start with history and theory, and then move to making color choices and swatching. (Thursday, February 11th). On Sunday, February 14th I'll be teaching Fair Isle Yoke Sweaters--we'll work through the structure of seamless yoke sweaters on a small scale, using Elizabeth Zimmermann's percentage system, and I'll talk about the different ways to add patterning to the yoke. On Saturday (I think) I'll be manning (femaling?) a Fair Isle table in the Rotunda--come see me with your stranded knitting questions or to show me your current knitting project or just say hi.

Most exciting (read, stomach clenching), though, is that I'll be giving the Teacher Night talk on Friday night!  This is a free event, followed by teacher show and tell--teachers set up tables with their work, and you get to wander around and meet them and regret that you didn't sign up for such and such because you had no idea that it was so cool. 

I'm so excited about sharing my life in obsession with so many knitters, but I'm also just a wee bit scared. So I cast on for a power shawl that I can wear while giving my talk. The pattern and colors are much bolder than usual--as I learn to be bolder than usual. The power of knitting!

Sign up for classes opens on Tuesday, November 10th. Registration opens at an unspecified time (servers have been known to crash when everyone tries at once), so be prepared to check frequently. There is an amazing number of fantastic classes!

If you've been through this before you know that classes often sell out quickly--it's important to be ready when the Register button appears. Have your list of classes ready in front of you, in date order (because that's how they are sorted on the form)--have second choices at hand, too, because you don't want to lose time going back to see what else is on offer. Have your credit card out, and know ahead of time whether you want to go to the banquet (Cat Bordhi is the speaker this year!). Move quickly and surely through the process, and don't despair if the class you wanted so badly is full--get on the waiting list right away and you will be surprised at how things shift around. The market is fun, the Teacher's Charity Night is fun, the Teacher Night is fun, the Rotunda demonstrations are fun, seeing all the people wearing their handmade clothes is fun--there's so much to do even if you don't sign up for anything.

 

Oh oh oh! I nearly forgot to tell you! I've found a new designer, and I'm so happy and relieved and beyond excited about the possibilities of this collaboration. Schedule conflicts mean that we are looking at a publication date more like May, which means I won't have it with me at Madrona. (But maybe I'll have some printouts to show at the Rotunda table!) And of course, it was through the help of you readers that I found my new designer. SUCH a relief.

The photo shows my "office." As you can see, I've taken over the dining room--the dining table is covered with a sweater (I'm trying to write up the pattern), several small orders ready for packing, pages from The Joy of Color, pages torn from magazines to paste into my inspiration journal, a copy of In the Footsteps of Sheep... 

 

Against the window is my standing desk--I love love love this! When you like to knit and spin and read, you sit a lot. Couple that with computer work and you can have some serious structural issues--standing feels just plain good. I cobbled mine together from a shallow Ikea desk top (it's long and shallow, to fit into the room), some Ikea adjustable legs, and some bed risers from Bed Bath & Beyond. It's important to get the height right so you don't injure your wrists or elbows--I spent a couple of weeks adding and removing layers of books to raise the keyboard and mouse pad until I figured out the baby bear spot. Once I'd measured that, I could fiddle with the adjustable legs and risers to set the desk up to my preferred height. Although it would be great to have a desk that was adjustable with the flip of a switch--sometimes it would be nice to sit while working--my desk was cheap and it works well for me.

Best Readers in the World!

That's you! I've read and re-read all your lovely, supportive comments with deep pleasure and gratitude. As the week went on I felt my energy and enthusiasm returning. I launched into a new stranded project AND got inspired to start swatching another design. To top it off I met a blog reader (hello, Jean!) at an event at A Verb for Keeping Warm. 

I apologize for not responding to each of you individually, but my thanks are sincere. I'm ready to get working again! The Joy of Color will not be out in February, but I'm hoping that it will be available in spring of 2016.

My new project is a shawl, tentatively called Smtarbright (now why did autocorrect turn starbright into smtarbright???). This is a much bolder motif than usual, and the colors are used in bigger blocks than I'm used to--a challenge! As I knit on this odd little cornucopia I realized that it resembles the work of Märta Stina Abrahamsdottor, an impoverished Swedish knitter from the late 1800s.  I've always loved her bold motifs and inventive use of materials at hand--go ahead and use Google to find out more.

Kristine Vejar's new book on natural dyeing, The Modern Natural Dyer, came out last week. It's a beauty! I've been dabbling in natural dyeing for decades, but I've already learned new refinements from leafing through this book. The book covers working with natural dye extracts, with foraged materials, and with indigo--and the photos are gorgeous. The projects themselves are lovely.

I'll post photos of Turkey and Greece soon! Here's a detail of a Turkish rug that caught my eye--perfect for a Fair Isle, wouldn't you say?

 

 

Book Chronicles, Part 1

Making a book is like buying a house. If you've never done it, you can't figure out why people aren't more excited when they move into their very own home! But the entire process seems designed to wring every bit of enjoyment and pride out of the result, leaving you with regrets and second thoughts that wake you up in the middle of the night.

Well, The Joy of Color: Fair Isle Design Your Way is wandering the same path. A few years ago I decided that I would like to translate my 3-day Design Your Own Fair Isle workshop into book form. I'll talk about what it took to go from "vague idea" to "book in nearly finished written form" in another post, because I know that many people have dreams of self-publishing. Let's just say that I was challenged on many fronts, mostly personal negative self-talk issues--the committee in my head was absolutely certain that such a book would be a major failure, opening me up to responses ranging from indifference to anger to laughter. Not to mention financial disaster. But I digress....

Despite all that, I wrote the text. The folks at Stitch Definition took some great photographs for the chapter opening pages. My first graphic designer didn't work out, so I taught myself how to produce a book using InDesign (thank you, Lynda.com!) And I came up with a nearly reasonable version of the book, but it didn't delight me--I don't have the skill and training to figure out how to lay out complex pages in any way other than the obvious. I found another designer to give it a spa treatment.

In August the designer came up with brilliant changes--less spa treatment, more major plastic surgery and pilates--and I felt so excited! I said, OK, let's go! Love it! 

Time passed.

I got quotations from printers, even got a dummy book--a blank book with the same paper and binding and cover choices that I specified--so I could feel it, turn the pages, imagine readers being inspired and empowered. 

And then, two days ago, a blow: the graphic designer, after months of just enough output to keep me hanging in there (but enough warning signs for me to ask her directly if she could complete the job a couple of weeks ago), told me that she had not spent the weekend working on my book, as promised, and had enjoyed a weekend with her husband instead. And when she admitted that the work wasn't done she also admitted that she wouldn't have time to do it in the next few months, either. 

Needless to say, I fired her.

And then went into a funk. 

I'm breathing deeply, taking this time to rework the text and photographs, gathering my energy to find a new designer. I am trying to embrace this gift of extra time to add some more pages, knit a few swatches, fine tune. Lemons into lemonade.

But I need some encouragement, people!!!

Getting Twisted

Spinzilla, the week-long spinning contest sponsored by TNNA, was last week. I signed up to be part of the Storey Publishing Team (partly because I like the team leaders, Beth Smith and Jillian Moreno, and partly because I was hoping to get one of the sponsor prizes--yes, I admit it). 

I know that the key to becoming a good spinner is regularly spinning. Duh. This contest gave me the spur I needed, and it did, indeed, work out as hoped (even if I didn't win a prize...). My long-set-aside goal of making a Fair Isle-from-scratch project is now significantly more likely to be met! I spun yards and yards of white, light gray, medium brown, and indigo-dyed Shetland rovings last week. I'd already spun the dark brown, so now on to the moorit. Soon I'll be ready to knit! If you want to monitor my progress on Ravelry, I've named this project Arrowhead County, after the mythical Alaskan home of Northern Exposure. 

I took breaks from my spinning efforts to read a fantastic new book: In the Footsteps of Sheep: Tales of a Journey Through Scotland, Walking, Spinning, and Knitting Socks, by Debbie Zawinski (Schoolhouse Press). The author's goal makes mine look puny: "a journey around Scotland spinning and knitting the fleece of the Scottish sheep breeds in their native haunts." She made her way by bus, ferry, and foot, camping wherever a spot made it possible, gathering fleece from fence lines and hedges to spin yarn for socks that would commemorate her travels and the people she met along the way. "Sock wifie" used primitive tools to spin on her travels, making an armchair spinner take a hard look at what is needed and what isn't. In the Footsteps of Sheep includes several sock patterns, but the main joy of the book is the text and the photos. Maybe your goals are less broad, maybe you feel yourself a little stuck in your life--if you need permission to get a little wild, read this book. 

Worded Out

My book--The Joy of Color: Fair Isle Knitting Your Way--is getting a makeover at the graphic designer's. I've been writing for YEARS, and I'm still reading and re-reading the text, trying to get it right, to say what I mean. To make it the best it can be. (For updates on publishing status and preorders, sign up for my newsletter at Feral Knitter.)

This has been a very emotional project--such a labor of love that it feels very personal putting it out in public. I'll write more about this another time.

I don't seem to have many words left over. 

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I started knitting the Pelerine I wrote about in the last blog entry. Perhaps if I actually KNIT it I will stop purchasing the yarn for it!

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A year ago a friend of mine called to ask whether I'd like to go on a cruise of the Greek Islands with her. Would I! Of course, in book terms this is a very bad time to take off for two weeks. In personal terms I'm looking forward to it. A few days in Istanbul, then fly to Rome to catch the boat. We'll port in Mykonos, Ephesus, Santorini, Athens, and Ancient Olympia. John and Gingko are going part way with me--they will hack around Italy while I'm on the ship.

And yes, I was just in Sicily. An embarrassment of riches in my life right, a combination of good health and disposable income that not everyone is blessed with. I'm well aware that I have a lot to be grateful for.

What about Mason?, you ask. (I know who you care about!) Our housesitter is moving in to keep him company--we'd never kennel him for such a long period of time, much less leave him alone. I've gotta say, he caught the gold ring when we adopted him!

The most important thing is done: I've settled on my vacation knitting, a simple little shawl out of my wonky handspun. That settled, I've got nothing else to worry about. 

Well, except the book.... Sigh.

Why the Stash Always Wins

I have been finishing up UFOs at a (relatively) rapid pace:

The queen-sized bed Hap-Afghan out of A Verb for Keeping Warm's worsted weight Pioneer yarn in natural sheep shades plus a final round of indigo. Not yet blocked, but the knitting is done! And I will tell you that those final rounds took for-friggin-ever...

The linen stitch scarf made out of Koigu odds and ends. You know how precious Koigu is--you don't want to throw out an inch, but it's hard to know what to do with it. Churchmouse Yarns' linen stitch scarf, written for 3 colors of Koigu, was the answer. I used one skein of a semi-solid blue, one skein of a multicolor, and a big mix of short bits for the third color. Love this!

My work on the Purl Soho Top-Down Turtleneck Cardigan in Madeline Tosh DK Merino is zooming along, too. 

So why does it feel like the stash remains the same? No, not the same: it appears to be growing. How can this be?

When I was at Knitting Camp last month I was smitten by Elizabeth Zimmermann's lacy Pelerine, a 4-pointed capelet she designed many many years ago. I have the Spun Out in my collection and have thought about knitting it many times. After trying on the original Pelerine I decided that this was the year: I purchased 4 cakes of deep blue Unspun Icelandic to bring home.

Well, as I was putting my purchase away in the plastic bins that hold my stash I ran across a bag--inside the bag were 4 cakes of deep blue Unspun Icelandic plus a working copy of the Pelerine pattern.

It turns out I'd had the same thought last year.

At least I'm consistent.....

The Design Your Own Fair Isle last weekend went well--some great designs were born. Here is Carson's. Nice, right?

Why I Love My New Spinning Wheel

Got a Hansen electric miniSpinner for my birthday! Now I can do two of my favorite things at the same time:

Hope you are having nice summer!

Wisconsin IS Summer

I come from a family that has been rooted in the American West Coast for generations; any traveling we did was north and south, but we never went east of the Cascade/Sierra ranges. When I got older I had a chance to visit Vermont and Washington DC on work trips, but until I became a knitter I'd never visited the Midwest. 

Now, with 16 knitting camps under my belt, the feel of humidity when I step out of the airport signals vacation time! I still remember my first experience of driving through Wisconsin on a sunny summer day. I said to myself, "How come EVERYONE doesn't know about how beautiful this place is?"

Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp is a tradition at this point (that's Meg, above). I've grown to love the people there, those I see only once a year and those I am in regular contact with. 

I met this crew the second year of camp--here we are, ready for lunch at the Kitchen Table Restaurant. Their friendship and ongoing support has meant the world to me.

I always learn something, too: this year's major revelation was Susan Rainey's presentation on Invisible Stranding. Susan scouted out and described for hand knitters a machine knitting technique that allows yarn to be carried for long distances without any color peek through! She has gathered all this information into a Ravelry pattern called It's Not About The Hat that goes through the steps to set up, knit, and end the invisible stranded areas as needed (10 youtube videos are included in the pattern). If you are a stranded knitter who wants to knit large, isolated motifs, the cost would be worth triple the $6 she's asking!

After camp was over I drove to Washington Island, 23 square miles set in Lake Michigan off the tip of Door County (the thumb to Wisconsin's mitten).

Revelation! I've been an urbanite all my life, so spending 5 nights in a place where people don't lock their doors? Leave their windows open at night? Don't automatically lock their car doors when they take in a load of groceries? A relaxing haven.

Plus: really good restaurants.

And so very green and blue in high summer. Summers in the west are marked by brown (don't get me wrong--there's plenty of green, but it's a little dusty and stressed). My friend Holly designed a Fair Isle sweater she calls Driving to Camp based on the blues, greens, and roadway gray:

She says it reminds her of Wisconsin when winter turns cold and dark. I think she captured it!

I taught my Design Your Own Fair Isle class at Sievers School of Fiber Arts. This school, in its 37th year, lived up to its good reputation--I was really impressed with how the staff focuses on the experience their students are having. If I lived nearby I'd be taking classes all summer long--but it's a destination as well for people from further away (an easy 2.5 hour drive from Green Bay). (Note: If you decide to sign up for a class, don't hesitate: when registration opens at the start of February classes fill up just like that!)

My students were great! These are Mindy's swatches--everyone's work was so individual! I've got to say, teaching is one of my favorite things. 

And now it's back to California: 3-minute showers, watering with a watering can so nothing goes to waste, water-saving appliances, low-flow toilets.... They say we might get a wet winter. I say: bring it on!