Monica: Help for a Heart Problem

....knitting help, that is. 

A while back I walked into a LYS here in Washington State with a couple of bucks just burning in my pocket. In order to keep them from catching my jeans on fire, I felt it was best to be rid of them, hence the yarn shopping. 

Upon entering the shop, my eyes were immediately drawn to a purple mohair stole in the window, positively glowing with morning sunlight passing through it. While I was tempted to begin humming to myself, "How much is that stole-y in the window?" I gathered my grown-up wits to the fore of my mind instead, and touched the angel like fabric. It was soft and very long. I very much like very long stoles, though at the time I had never made one myself.

It was exquisite. The pale, gossamer stole was lighter than air, it seemed, and it had delicate edges of eyelets surrounding dramatic Valentine style hearts that passed through the stole, like a heart-highway from end to glowing end. They were large. They were delicate. They looked complicated. 

Dismissing that last thought, I went on falling in love with the stole. It stole my heart. (Yes, I went there.) I had been shot through with Cupid's arrow. (Yes, I went there, too. ) 

I looked to the left of the window and saw a pattern. It was short. Really short. Like only a few directions, not even completely filling up 2 whole pages. Maybe it wouldn't be so complicated...

I asked a nearby employee if they had any of the yarn that was used for the heart stole project in the window still in stock. The abrupt sales woman, wearing thick eyeglasses--and an attitude to match--announced in a clipped manner that the project in the window was a meant for a class. I apparently would not be able to understand the stitches and methodology unless instructed in classroom fashion. 

Politely, I requested the yarn again, saying that it was okay if I didn't understand it, I wanted to try it. 

The first woman walked away, pushing her glasses back up on their nose-perch, which was becoming a bit slippery with...uh... frustration. Maybe Cupid should poke her. (I went there, too.) I turned my attention as another, more helpful woman came up from my other side, offering the yarn I had requested. 

"It only takes two skeins!" She said, proud to show that such a long stole could come from only two hanks of lovely, lovely, mohair and linen yarn.

I purchased the yarn, the forbidden class-pattern and headed home. 

As it turned out, the pattern for the heart motif was not intuitive. The instructions were a bit odd on first glance, and I didn't know what a cable cast-on was. Feeling stubborn towards the thick-glassed shop woman, I forged ahead. First time stole? Intermediate lace? So what? I snorted these things to myself unfounded independence. I looked up cable cast-on online, check. Then, time after time I followed the heart instructions until, at the most literal following, I got it. (Back then I didn't know about charts yet!)

I shared my "findings" on Ravelry, but I would like to share them here with you today, as some people might be feeling a summer stole coming on. 

The name of the pattern is Monica, and this link takes you to its home on Ravelry. 

How about a little information on the stitch pattern itself? The heart pattern is seen in Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns, Book Three. Walker calls it a “variation” of the “honeybee pattern” in book two. The Variation Honeybee is on page 254 of book three, and the original can be found on page 273 of book two in the lace section.

Let's get on with a tutorial! It begins on row 6 of the Monica pattern. The set up to begin the heart is complete here.


____________________________________________________________________

 Upon entering the heart pattern section of row 6, you have your 5 strings all hanging down before you.  

 -That is, you have turned your work after dropping the final (5th) 4x’s YO 

-This means the right side of the work is now facing you and your working yarn is on the left side. 


-Cable CO 4 stitches on that left side, bringing the yarn back toward you before placing the last cable CO stitch onto the left needle. 


-Now, you are going to point your right needle down behind the dangling yarns, catch the working yarn and pull it back through away 

from you. 


-Place this yarn onto the left needle. 


-Between the yarn you just placed on the left needle and the last one of the prev cable CO, begin ANOTHER set of 4 cable cast on stitches, again bringing the yarn toward you before placing the last one onto the left needle. 


-Total stitches made: 9. 4CCO, 1 under the 5 dangling yarns, 4 more CCO. 


-Finally, you will turn you work back to the wrong side where you started these shenanigans and P1, K1. Heart done! 

And now, for something completely different...

After school today, my 12-year-old daughter, Annie was fooling around with the idea of a resume, or as she spells it, "reseme." At 12, this is not a very important concept, and a grand opportunity to make fun of the sometimes-too-serious grown-ups. 

I thought her effort was clever, though it will probably never get her that summer babysitting job she wants in order to earn money to put books on her Kindle Fire...

For your amusement, I bring you Annie's Resume...er...Reseme. 

Warning: In our house, it is a rite of passage to view at least 3 episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus," and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" in its entirety by age 5.  As I read Annie's reseme, I couldn't help but thinking of the opening credits to the latter. You know, the part with the fiesta music and some mention of Llamas? There. Knitting reference accomplished. Let's move on...

_________________________________________________________

“I’m all out of love,

So lost without you,

I knew you were right believing for

So long”

Name: Anne E. S. Winner

Favorite color: Blue

Favorite food: Spaghetti

Favorite number: 11

Past jobs: Professional Asassinator, The terminator, Mc Donalds, Wolverine, Spiderman, the Hulk, Reporter, detective, and Darth Vader

SKILLS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Master of all Tarot cards, Professional assassin, Black belt in all martial arts, backwards walking champion, best person in the world, writer of many famous books, met William Shakespeare, became an overnight sensation, also a one hit wonder, killed a bear with own 2 hands, most attractive person in the world, also the most humble person in the world, Skilled hemp bracelet maker, rode a unicorn, hardcore camper, brought sexy back, attractive, Artist, fashion designer, back up lead singer  for Aero Smith, master chef in culinary arts, attractive, sweet genius winner, held breath longer than anyone in the Guinness book of world records, champion of  Chopped all-stars, attractive,  preformed heart surgery, Won the tour de France bicycle race, starred in Harry Potter as girl # 2, invincible, attractive, cross breaded a llama and unicorn creating a llama corn, #1 Adventure Time fan, survived without water for 6 months, attractive, created the revolution  against math being taught as a required class in school, created the acronym for F.A.C.E. (Filthy apes cause evolution), Won the super bowl as the quarter back for the Broncos, Confirmed the existence of cryptids(Big foot, Loch ness monster, Yeti,Chuba Cabra, Trained in CPR, attractive, ate 900 warheads in under a minute, caught a fly with chopsticks, burned asparagus out of hatred of asparagus, sang national anthem at a Phillies baseball game, traveled back to dinosaur times, voted scariest girl out of my peeps, tamed a tiger, eaten a live shark, attractive, swallowed a whole cactus, killed a man with a spoon, won a wrestling match, attractive, attractive, attractive, attractive……, and so on…….attractive, and attractive, makes the best bacon ever!, created a robot, signed the declaration of independence, and there’s a whole lot more that I just can’t type or my printer would explode in a fiery passion, but one more thing, attractiveJ

Education: Attended Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry

Why I want this job: What job am I applying for again?

Additional information: Help run the Maniac club, Work for the government spies, and defeated Voldemort (J.K. Rowling loosely based the Harry Potter series on my life when I was at Hogwarts)

Last comments: Did I mention I was attractive?

Two Slouches and a Pair of Thigh Highs

Jolene's legs in her stockings

While the title implies a promise for some very racy reading, you may rest easy and read on if you planned on momentarily being offended. If you stop reading now in disappointment, I promise that I, on the other hand, will not be offended.

You may wonder, if you read my last post, if I have been knitting through all this chaos in my house.

Yes, yes I have. In fact, when things are tough, I knit. When stress comes, I knit. When I am hungry, I head straight to the pantry, bypass the healthier foods and devour two pounds of Ruffle's potato chips.

But I digress...

I love knitting. In spring and summer I especially love it, even when it's hot. There is something about being able to be outside that makes me imagine those kept Victorian (or Regency Era, for you Jane fans, of which I am one) ladies who were well schooled--and skilled--in language, art and fiber arts.

A "hive hat," pattern courtesy of The Knitting Bee in Hillsboro, Oregon

I would love to make myself a Regency Era dress (and I swear I will do it one day) and sit under a tree like Alice in Wonderland (pardon the cross-referencing) on a sunny day. Instead of chasing rabbits, however, I want to knit all day, picnic, knit, have tea, knit more...you get the gist of the fantasy.

I love outdoor knitting so much that my husband created a sitting area for me on the east-facing front porch where I could sit in comfort to my heart's (and schedule's) content and while away the hours knitting.

Annie showing her brother's hat. I guess I should make her one.

This spring so far, I have completed a baby sweater for a friend, a slouchy hat for my son's 21st birthday and a pair of 100% baby alpaca thigh high toe-less and heel-less stockings for my dancer daughter. I had leftover alpaca, so I made a hive-style slouchy to match.

What fun it is so far, and I hope to make so much more!! I still have my mind set on some more sock patterns. I am re-reading the Hobbit in anticipation of the first film, coming out in December. Let's see what happens next!

A Mother's Day to Remember

A spring Oriental Poppy in our yard. Change can be beautiful

We've been busy. Really busy. When you have a house filled with 6 children (not usually all at once, but I always think of the number alone as impacting. I like to say it: six.) you cannot avoid it, but this year it is especially so for us.

We have a toddler who is about to become a preschooler, a child finishing her first year of middle school, a child finishing his first year of high school, a child graduating high school, a child turning 21 and a child graduating college.

I like to joke that if you want to feel young forever, just keep having babies. It's not that simple. You need energy to stay young, too, and alas, there does not seem to be a limitless supply, no matter how much vitamin D and Gingko Biloba you take. When the subject comes up, I also like to joke that when we decided to have a child when I was 39 and my husband was 43, God looked down upon us and said something like, "You want a child at 40? Here, try this one." Even God must have had trouble holding back laughter at this joke. And He must have certainly snickered to Himself as he sent us little Amy Rose. Amy Rose. Who keeps us up night after sleepless night and then runs, giggling, away from us non-stop all day as she tears apart everything in her path. Amy Rose: A tiny, impish, adorable tornado of cute desolation.

Energy or not, time marches on. While that seems to be a favorite theme of my mid-life epiphanies, it simply is true.


Last week, as I checked out two potential preschools for Amy, and was simultaneously planning a trip to Seattle to see my oldest daughter graduate from college on Mother's Day, I contemplated this year of change. It is quite a doozy.


I marvel at it all. Amy talks in great, adult sentences at just 3. Alex is leaving home soon; Ben will be a senior in 3 short years. And Jolene, my 23 year old, graduated from Cornish College for the Arts on Mother's Day with a BFA in dance, cum laude and on 4 scholarships. (I'm not proud or anything...ahem!)

The good and the bad of it all; the ugly and the drama that comes with teens, or the precocious mischief that comes with toddlers, all ends (usually...hopefully not the mischief...if I have my way...) in adulthood. And while there are, of course, even more rites of passage through adulthood, this last year feels especially meaningful to me, like there is a crossing of all the paths at once. Sort of like the planets aligning.

It's a great time to see. To really see in our house. See the stages of life all at once, it seems. Even my parents come to mind. My dad turn 81 next month and it just increases the wonder. It feels like I have been given a map, unfolded it, and spread it out on a very large table. Between my three year old and older kids, my middle-aged husband, me, and my parents, we have at least one representative from every age group.

I plan to take it all in, enjoy it, hopefully receive insights and hindsights. Inspiration and direction.

As my daughter walked down the aisle after receiving her diploma to the beat of live African drum music, complete with costumed dancers (what do you expect from an arts college? It sure beat Pomp and Circumstance), I beamed.

I wept.

I am overjoyed even in difficulty.

I am glad to be alive.

Left to right: My mom, dad, Annie, me, husband Luigi behind me, Jolene to my left, Alex, then Amy Rose
in front. Geoffrey and Ben are not in the picture this time.

Day 6: Improving Your Skillset - 3KCBWDAY6

Improving Your Skillset - 3KCBWDAY6

How far down the road to learning your craft do you believe yourself to be? Are you comfortable with what you know or are you always striving to learn new skills and add to your knowledge base? Take a look at a few knitting or crochet books and have a look at some of the skills mentioned in the patterns. Can you start your amigurumi pieces with a magic circle, have you ever tried double knitting, how's your intarsia? If you are feeling brave, make a list of some of the skills which you have not yet tried but would like to have a go at, and perhaps even set yourself a deadline of when you'd like to have tried them by.

I started knitting about 3.5 years ago. To be exact. When my grandmother showed me how at age 8, I was so frustrated that I quit. While I wish now that she would have considered using pencils instead of super slick aluminum knitting needles for my lessons, it does not matter. For whatever reason, I did not really start  knitting until I was 39. 

This has been a great source of frustration for me. Looking back, I see how many lost years there are. Especially when I see so many people who can say, "I have been knitting pretty much my whole life." Or, "I guess I have been knitting about 30 years." And they are 35. 

While I spend some moments truly lamenting the passage of unfortunate time lost (those moments really appear when I am looking through pattern books, calculating the time needed to reach certain skill levels in order to make certain projects, and realizing that I will be very old by the time I am as skilled as some women and men...and children (let's face it)), I spend a lot more time in intense study. 


Is this some weird mid-life crisis? Me suddenly figuring out in reality how much time is really left in my life, and does knitting represent everything I want to still do? So be it. There are worse things, and I want to be good--really good--at knitting.

So when asked where I want to take my skillset next, I say everywhere.

I want to understand the concepts, the techniques and the little details that make finished products look so perfect. I want my own work to eventually rise to the quality of so many others' I see day after day on Ravelry and in the hands of friends.  

To this end, most things I make are guided by what I want to learn next. My first project was a layette set: booties, a baby sweater and bonnet. Looking back at that, it now seems like a pretty crazy choice, and I think, crap! I had no idea what I was doing! How did that even turn out??!  Soon after, I took to trying socks, took a class and loved it. Then, while making different styles of socks, The Sock Summit came along and I loved that, too.

Now, my new goal is not only to try everything--entrelac, more intarsia, fair isle, tons of sweaters (as the styles are endless)--but I would like to take several classes per year as I like the learning style and more than that, I love the little pieces of helpful information that come out of that setting from everyone around you. My hope is that more study will help push me along a little bit. 

Even if I never become a "perfect" knitter, that's ok. I am sure having fun trying. : )