by carmen | Jan 16, 2010 | Uncategorized
There was some sun, just for a few minutes, just long enough to take the knitting outside to photograph. Considering these colours were all online choices, I am thrilled. The alpaca blend is so conforting and sensuous in my hands. I’m loving the knitting so much, that I don’t think I deserve to keep the finished capelet. It has already exceeded my expectations of happy.
The stranding is not making me crazy. I love the inside as much as the exterior. Maybe, even more.
I’m just introducing the 10th colour now as well as my first row of three colours in one row is sneaking up on me. I might even get to drop down to smaller circulars tomorrow. I’ve decided against the gauntlets. Really, if I was going to knit sleeves why not knit a sweater. Would a hat be too much? You know I want to make a hat for this.
by carmen | Jan 14, 2010 | Uncategorized
How very, very humbling. After my marathon start last night….I was gobsmacked this morning to realize that my coffee shop and chatting time while knitting this …so easy, I convinced myself.
And check it out. I was whipping along. This is 20 rows from last night and this morning. It was shortly after this photo that I screwed up.
Almost intuitive…I convinced myself that this was a walk in the park. Frack…you have to pay attention…best intentions, skill and time cannot make up for not fracking paying attention. I am no longer a knitting goddess, but a mere suffering subject to the colour work.
Please note that this is not good. How could I not notice this? The V is not a V. This is amateurish, really. So what’s the big deal? Tink back two rows and get cracking. Just two little rows….Less than 500 stitches….yep.
THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
In retrospect, there are several other things that I don’t like other than the one row of glowing mistakes. The bottom ribbing of 3 by 3 is too loose, it curls a bit and the colour stranding is pulling in the stitches more so I should be tightening up the ribbing.
Also, the green start with the red in combination is too Christmassy for me. Just because the pattern started that way, why should I? When have I ever…..A nice rich burgundy, the other green with the oatmeal V’s…now we’re talking.
So now I’m thinking, I’m not tinking….it’s a bit too delicate for me. I’m shredding this sucker and starting over. Oh and the cast on wasn’t even 219 stitches as titled in previous post, it is 216. I think it was doomed from the start.
I hope to finish casting on again before I get on the ferry today. Wish me luck.
by carmen | Jan 10, 2010 | Uncategorized
I took the ornaments off the holiday tree today. They were so beautiful, it was hard to box them up, but there are so many other lovely things to dangle off the tree. (Like I could ever leave any canvas blank).
I wish I was feeling better, but this new year’s bug and I seem to be a ritual….burn the candle at both ends, dead stop and virus’s attack what left of me after craft season. Stuffing myself with grapefruit, drowning in water and the lemon, honey, ginger mixture John has concocted. It doesn’t taste bad at all and it seems to get magically replaced when I wake up from my brief, but frequent naps.
It’s amazing how I can fall asleep with knitting in my hands and not drop a stitch and still can’t make it two blocks without tangling everything on needles in my bag.
I have made a 2nd online purchase —yes, on top of the recent cashmere purchase. This is two orders in one week….What a joke trying to make a stash resolution. I should have realized that the new year means new yearn.
I take back what I said in my previous post and I will not be taunted by anyone who has been able to stick to a strick no stash enhancement policy. I would, however, like to hear from someone, anyone who has bought yarn in 2010. Someone, anyone?
by carmen | Jan 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
It’s the 4th of January already. I can’t believe it’s taken me this many days to get back to the computer. (or get dressed, or attend to my personal grooming). I have really been enjoying life in my pyjamas. It’s like the previous post…how do you deal when everything coming to a grinding hault?
It was a quiet new year’s eve. We had an amazing dinner at Stone Grill overlooking Granville Island. Simple food. Raw meat that you cook yourself on a super heated lava rock. Even more simple for someone who likes her meat blue.
Since we were the last seating, they ran out of menu dessert and I ended up with the most divine tiramisu cake. John’s was over the top chocolate. It didn’t even catch my attention. That slice of cake was worth waiting a year for. And it will probably take me the next year to burn it off. C’est la vie!
New Year’s Day was a brunch at our place for our french friends. (it just worked out that way). It was such a soft and gentle introduction into the new year. A clean house and a full table and wonderful conversation.
And to cap off the day, a 5 hour marathon on the Space Channel…..Torchwood, Children of the Earth. What better option for someone who wants to spend the rest of the day on the couch knitting. I was covered in a sea of beautiful wool and circular needles, knitting swatches and graphing out my first new design of the year. Hint, a children’s sweater in the chunky hand dyed merino. Yippee.
I didn’t set out to change the nature of my business last year and yet things seemed to morph and the business took on a life of it’s own. Two patterns were published, much yarn was dyed. I cut down the number of shows I did and opened the studio for lessons.
I blogged a lot, and then not at all. John and I canoed with friends and enjoyed all that Whistler had to offer. The market was blessed with very few rain days, so much so that I did not have a tent for the last 8 weeks of the market.
I swore not to take on custom orders and yet I found myself intrigued by customers wonderful ideas and was thrilled to help make them a reality.
I started teaching, even while having so much to learn. It didn’t take long to realize that this experience was transendant above all others. I was meant to teach. I feel it in my bones. I’ve always done small “teachy” things for customers, showing a technique here or there(Trying to convince people that the cable cast on is by far the BEST way to cast on. And now I have a regular gig at Birkeland teaching beginning spinning, advanced spinning, crochet and a drop in spinning group. I promise to add a margin to the side of the blog with my list of classes for the year. And there will be things going on at my studio as well.
Yes, the studio. It has been an intriguing year having the space. . What it has done for my designs, my inspiration and my friendships. Having that creative space gave many of us a crazy place to knit, spin, drink lots of coffee and just bounce ideas off of each other. Or bail water!
Even during the great flood, nothing could slow down my enjoyment of the space. Alive and giving, organic and addictive.
John took on a larger role in the business. Pearl and Toni were above and beyond and near the end of the year Nancy stepped in to lend a hand. The craft gods were kind. Joan and I continued to collaborate by incorporating her lovely buttons into the designs and sharing markets here and on the Island and even one day in Whistler. She is now a permanent fixture with her own space in the “cave”.
I fell flat when it came to filling out paperwork and find the new year in a sea of forms and paperwork. It will get done.
Do I have any resolutions? A few.
I will speak with more value and less entertainment and I will speak with a softer voice. I will start earlier in the year to help Mariegold with her wonderful yarn bombing project providing accessories for the DTES. I will work less and ride my bike to the studio more often.
I will drink more water (which means having to put the knitting down once in a while). I will seam less, having finally being convinced after 20 plus years to embrace circulars and double points.
I wish everyone a new year filled with many completed projects and even though I sell yarn, I beg those of you with giant stashes, to knit, trade or give away some of your stash. It will make you feel good, I swear.
I leave you with warm wishes and one final pic of the finished thrummed mitts.
Oh, and of interest to very few, the prequel to Battlestar Gallactica will be debuting in a week. I expect abundant Caprica knitting.
by carmen | Dec 30, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’ve been like a runaway freight train since September.
Inventory
Pack
Show
Replace Inventory
Custom orders
Pack/Unpack
Shows
Flood
Then…..nothing.
The orders are caught up. I found myself staring at walls of wool with no idea of where to go next. In all my life I never expected such a sensation. I was spent.
There are still a few fiddly things to do, some last minute requests and some orders for the new year already in, but really I don’t know what wool or needles to pick up.
Our own Christmas was small, simple and contained. The tiny tree of little knit gifts and one Olympic ornament was tucked nicely beside the fireplace. The deliveries carried on right up to Christmas eve (in Ladner) and even one in Blaine on the 27th…..At MelonHead KnitWear we believe in exceptional customer service, really.
This is the money shot of the holidays. Thanks for sending this to me, Jen.
I also have finished shots of the thrummed mitts …so pleased at how they turned out…..and lots of new yarns and tiny knitting (a la Toni), but alas my computer has decided to be a killjoy over the season and is giving me grief. Thank goodness for the IPhone which was definitely the most useful purchase of the year.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and that all your hand knit gifts were truly appreciated.
by carmen | Dec 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
I had a custom order to deliver in Coquitlam and took the opportunity to get right back on track with my mitt (which I am loving knitting). I was so in to it that I didn’t notice I was attracting some attention drafting roving and working on my project.
When I got off the sky train an elderly Eastern European man put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me. Watching me knit on the train reminded him of his mother who he had lost so many years ago and he wanted to thank me for putting those memories fresh in his head. He then handed me eighty cents and told me to get a small beverage on him as thanks—-and then he was gone.
I burst into tears. Okay, they weren’t heaving, hulking sobs, but I definitely did not look like a Christmas shopper. I didn’t know what to do, so I crossed the street to meet Joan. I was a bit early so I thought I would pop into the Safeway to pick up a few groceries, the whole while holding the change in my hand.
It was then that I saw the Salvation Army Kettle so I put the change in there. Then suddenly I panicked, wait, he wanted me to get a small beverage, that was a significant gesture for him. I should have put my own separate money in the kettle and then used his for the beverage…just then the Safeway loudspeaker blares…..
“we have samples of our Christmas Blend at the Starbucks counter. Please come by and sample a bit of Christmas on us.”
So, it was possible to get a nice small beverage for eighty cents. I sat in the parking lot in the rain, waiting for my ride and thinking that knitting in public was the best thing in the world.
