full disclosure, part II

i wore the red skirt to class yesterday and all is well as far as it keeping its shape, looking adorable, and attracting attention. however, i did feel a need to wear a slip under it—when i looked at it in the light, i thought i might end up spending the day feeling self-conscious about it. i would have worn some long skivvies if i had a pair available—if it was cold, i could have worn heavy tights or leggings. the slip worked great, though. i rode over with out that on and added it when i got there.

i don’t have too much else to report—i am deadlining til tonight on a project, so i’ve just been knitting on socks and simple things i already had on the needles. which wasn’t very much surprisingly! but i do have a couple of aging WIPs.
one of them is this japanese feather stole i started back in may or june (wow, that seems so far back now!). if i can finish it soon, it will make a nice fall sample for the shop to help sell the pattern.

i have been picking it up late at night and doing at least one pattern repeat (28 rows)—
sometimes two!—before i go to bed. the rows seem so short compared to all my other recent projects—they just zip by.
i’ve also been looking at stitch books, planning my next new pieces. once i get this deadline out of the way, i will have a short lull, then dive right back in to two book projects which will end up overlapping. this is the VERY busiest time of year at my job

because i already know i won’t be able to put any thought into this next month, i’d like to get two or three more projects set up on the needles, even if i just store them away to work on later. i want to pattern up the skirts, and get my fall class schedule settled as well. it already sounds like too much to accomplish in a few days!

i worked on my mermaid socks yesterday in class, and finished the cuff. i started on the heel section but then decided that pattern should go all the way down the top of the foot, so i ripped THAT back to rework the beginning of the heel area, which is where i am now. the cherry tree hill supersock yarn that i’m using is kind of slippery—it does not lend itself to ripping and going back on the needles. the stitches all want to slip out at the slightest jostling—arrrrgggh.

class was really, really nice yesterday; we had a cozy group of four, and no one was needing very much help, so we got to do a lot of chatting while we worked. we mostly sat and gabbed about everything from health care to our aging parents, to yarn. it’s nice to have week once in a while where we focus less on learning something new, and more on the social aspect of knitting. i encourage people pretty early on to learn to knit in social surroundings where there might, or might not be, a lot going on—to be able to knit through noise, chatting, laughter, questions, tension, whatever.

we have certain classes that do not focus on any one thing, but are more like a seminar, or workshop. everyone works through their different chosen projects, and we discuss the challenges that each person has as a group. these groups may also choose for everyone to be working on the same project in any given month—we keep it loose; i let them choose. people make amazing progress in these classes, and on many levels—participants sometimes start out shy, but quickly learn that this is a “safe” environment where they can be learners, make mistakes, ask questions, and be guided by others without judgement. no need to “already know” anything, and no need at all to get mad at oneself.

for the most part, i find that this helps people open their minds, relax, and absorb more of the knowledge is being shared. it helps develop the sense of humor one needs to accept that knitting is, indeed, humbling, and also the aplomb to revel openly in one’s triumphs over a challenge—i.e., to be feel it is totally OK to jump up and do the happy dance when you turned your first heel, or did your first repeat of a lace stitch.

this morning i woke up early and had a chance to work on the cashmere shawl while i had coffee, adding about 8 rows i think. of course, i first had to back up a bit to find a mistake i’d made at the beginning of the last row i worked the other day. having cashmere in one’s hands in SO soothing

i’ve been trying to think of a name for this piece. the stitch pattern is the spade pattern from BW2. you can’t see much of it yet in these shots

but if you look at the chart again, you can see them, kinda. however they will be upside-down on the shawl because i though they looked prettier that way—that’s why i’m working top-down. i like the way the YOs appear to fall like vines or raindrops in the upside-down orientation.

so, i’m trying to think of a word or phrase or play on words that captures the essence of gambling, casinos, night entertainment, as well as the deep colors of this yarn—something risqué and devilish, and maybe in another language. let me know if you have a good one!

OMG—i just walked by the front door and saw this in the mailbox—i was wondering when it would arrive. i am a rowan memeber, so mine comes directly to the house. i’m too busy today to read it til later!

well, well, once again i’ve said i have nothing much going on, and here we are—if you were HERE, i’d have talked your ear off! back to work it is now, i see my email is starting to go off.