February 27, 2010: Meet Chrissy!

My guest today is Chrissy Gardiner of Gardiner Yarn Works. I can't remember when I first met Chrissy—it seems like we've known each other forever! She's an incredibly talented designer and I have had the pleasure of having her visit me here in Montana. And even if you're not a self-confessed sock-knitting junkie, you will enjoy her book:

Why socks? What did you find so interesting about socks that you wanted to write a book about it?

I've found that socks are the perfect little canvas for playing with stitch patterns and new techniques. They're small enough that I can crank one out in a couple of days, but they use enough stitches to allow for really elaborate stitch pattern panels. They don't have a lot of complicated shaping to deal with, once you get a few good heels in your bag of tricks. They're knit in the round, which makes patterning on every row with lace or traveling stitches a lot easier. They don't take nearly as much yarn as a sweater, and I find them a little bit more engaging than a scarf or other flat piece.

What was the hardest part of writing the book? The easiest?

The hardest part was getting started, and then continually convincing myself that anyone would want to read it! Thankfully, it seems that they do. Since I self-published, I didn't have an editor to confirm that my idea was indeed marketable or to set deadlines for me. I've always been the type of person who's highly deadline-motivated, so this was really difficult for me. Fortunately we had this little event in Portland called Sock Summit, and I decided to debut the book there. It was great motivation! The easiest part of writing the book was designing the patterns. I never seem to lack for sock design ideas!

How do you balance work and family?

I'm lucky to have a husband who works from home and kids that are both in school (but still to young for lots of activities). Bill and I share kid duty very equally, and he's always able to pick up the kids from school if I have a deadline (or vice versa). It works out very well, although I do admit to being a terrible housekeeper and cook. I love to cook, but it's the first thing that goes if we get busy. One of the biggest benefits of working for myself is that I can scale back anytime I need to. This helps with both family and burnout!

[Chrissy and her daughter Sydney and me at Camas Creek]:

What inspires your designs?

I'm a stitch dictionary collector, and I love to spend an afternoon or two paging through my many stitch books (such as Cables: Volume 1!) and flagging patterns that strike me for one reason or another. Then I'll try to fit them together, or tweak them in interesting ways, often playing off of a theme such as nature or a sweater I saw in a movie. I also really enjoy working from a skein of yarn, swatching it and letting it "tell me what it wants to be". I know it sounds cheesy, but the yarn really does talk to me!

[Look at some of her designs! Chrissy is a very versatile designer!]:

Are you thinking about a second book or working on one?

I am working on another book (or trying to, anyway)! It's going to be another sock book, this time inspired by the very creative work of the current crop of hand dyers. I love the fact that when you get a skein of hand-dyed yarn, there's so much personal attention that has gone into that skein, from applying the colors to winding the skein to attaching the ball band. It's so different from commercial yarn manufacture, and each skein is its own miniature work of art. The new book will include profiles of about 25 different hand dyers whose work I find beautiful and inspiring (and believe me, narrowing it down to 25 was nearly an impossible task). Each dyer was asked to send me a skein of yarn that they feel represents them as an artist, and I'm designing a sock specifically for that yarn and talking about my process for coming up with that design. It has been great fun so far!

What do you do for fun to relieve the stress of knitting?

I try to make time to do plenty of reading (my goal for 2010 is to read one new novel and one non-fiction book per month, which I know is nothing for an avid reader but it's huge for me between the kids and all the knitting that needs to get done). I go through phases where I like to cook and bake really elaborate things from scratch, which I find really recharges my creativity. I'm currently working towards running a half marathon over 4th of July weekend with the ultimate goal of finishing the Seattle marathon this fall. And I've just rediscovered my love of downhill skiing along with the fact that we live just over an hour from a great mountain ski area that's open year-round! I've always been a bit of a generalist, and I find that I need to keep myself busy with a variety of things or I start to really lose my mind.

[Chrissy and her husband Bill—what a guy!—at Sea Socks]:

Favorite yarn? Favorite needles? Favorite knitting gadget that you can't live without?

Well, my favorite yarn is anything soft and pretty. Does that narrow it down at all? I love natural fibers and gravitate towards the softer wools. I also love alpaca, although it's not always the best choice for socks if it's not blended with at least some wool. If I had to choose only one yarn to be stuck on a desert island with, it would be Handmaiden Sea Silk. I know you can't knit socks with it, but if you're on a desert island, do you really need socks anyway?

Favorite needles are definitely the Addi Turbo (although I'm coming around to the Addi Lace - I don't generally like sharp points, but I have a couple pairs that are working well for me right now). I also use my Denise Interchangeable kits a lot for larger-gauge knitting. If I was a double-point girl, I'd be sporting those slick Signature needles - I've test driven them and boy are they nice. I use dpns maybe once or twice a year, so I won't be making that investment anytime soon.

As for knitting gadget, I have to say that it's my Clover Chibi with the fine-gauge curved-tip darning needles. I would give up a lot of my other notions before I'd give these up. That curved tip makes all the difference, and if you try to get me to use a straight darning needle these days, it would feel like pumping up a bicycle tire with a fireplace bellows. They're the ones in the little orange case - I buy them by the half-dozen just to make sure I'm never without one!

Thanks, Chrissy, for stopping by! I've got two copies of Toe-Up: Patterns and Worksheets to Whip Your Sock Knitting Into Shape to give away. To enter, send me an e-mail at Janet at BigSkyKnitting dot com and tell me what the names of Chrissy's two office bunnies are (you can find out at her website!). I'll enter all the names into a random drawing and pick two winners.

February 25, 2010: Accepted

I got word yesterday that my design submission to Cast-On has been accepted, as was my recommendation that the design be knit in Shepherd's Wool. Yay! As soon as the yarn arrives from Stonehedge Fiber Mill, I'll be able to start knitting. And that's probably all I will be doing for the next month.

The husband has had a miserable week replacing the rotted-out sill plate in the foundation under the other house. He had to fold himself into a pretzel to get into a very dirty and smelly 4-foot crawlspace (he's 6'4") to access the foundation. But it's done and now we can move on to fixing stuff inside the house. We're going to have insulation added to the attic and the crawlspace; the husband says that that will help keep the house from smelling so dank and damp. Taking out the smelly old carpet will probably help freshen the place up, too.

I've got the Spring newsletter packed up and ready to go, but I am waiting on mailing labels, and I am not very happy about that. I have barcoded mailing labels made up for me at a place in town—they have the $2000 piece of software which creates labels that meet USPS specs, and they only charge me a couple of cents per label. Unfortunately, this company is not very well run. I'm actually amazed that they have been in business as long as they have (15 years or so), but they are the only game in town and that's probably why they are still around.

I've tried giving them a week's lead time to make labels, but I would go to pick them up and they wouldn't be done (it takes 5 minutes to run the labels—I know this because I've had to stand there and watch them do it). This time I took them in on Wednesday and asked if they could be done by Thursday at 4 p.m. Oh yes, no problem. So I made a special trip into town yesterday to pick them up and surprise!—they weren't done. The owner asked me if I was in town every day and I said, "No, actually, I live 17 miles from here and I made a special trip to come in and get them." She promised to have them done today and have her driver meet me up by the elementary school to deliver them. Then I have to come home, put the labels on and bag the newsletters, and take them BACK to town to the post office.

Sigh.

If I were going to be doing the newsletter much longer than the end of the year, I would find a different way to get this done. There are businesses elsewhere that would both print and mail the newsletters for me. Silly me, though—I was trying to support the local economy by having everything done here.

So the newsletters will be mailed this afternoon, and sometime today I will get the digital copies e-mailed out.

Don't forget that Chrissy will be here tomorrow for an interview, and I'll be giving away two copies of her book! I'm not going to do the contest via the comments as originally planned, because the new commenting software is causing people fits (me included). I suspect that it's because this company recently inherited everyone who used to use the Halsocan commenting software and their servers are simply overwhelmed (there was a note to this effect on their website). If the problem doesn't improve in a few days I'll go looking for another way to have commenting on the blog.

February 23, 2010: Giveaway!

Chrissy Gardiner of Gardiner Yarn Works will be here for an interview on Saturday as part of the blog tour for her book Toe-Up! Patterns and Worksheets to Whip Your Sock Knitting Into Shape. As part of the tour, I'll have a couple of copies of the book to give away, so stay tuned for some kind of contest.

I got the swatch done for the Cast-On submission—they were gracious enough to give me an extra day to get it put together. I ended up knitting almost a 10" x 10" square due to the size and scale of the cable patterns. A swatch that big was the only way I could see how things worked together.

I have to tell you all about the yarn I used for the swatch (and the yarn I hope to use for the design if it's accepted). Somewhere in my travels last year I picked up a couple of skeins of Shepherd's Wool, from Stonehedge Fiber Mill. It's an incredibly soft yarn—so soft that its suitability for Aran sweaters was questionable in my mind. I thought maybe a hat or pair of gloves, yes—but I prefer sturdier yarns for my sweaters. I've felt a lot of soft yarns and either they don't have enough twist to prevent them from pilling or their softness comes from the fact that they are mostly air.

When I went stash-diving, though, the Shepherd Wool popped up and said, "Use me!" so I did. My goodness. I thought Lion Brand Lion Wool made my fingers sing—this yarn makes them yodel with delight.

From the Stonehedge Mill website:

"Shepherd's Wool is made from a wonderfully soft Merino top. Merino is the softest of sheep's wool. It is washed, combed into top, and dyed to my specifications. I then pindraft it, often blending additional colors (all the heathery colors are blends), and spin it on my machines. I occasionally add new colors, so please check back here before ordering.

"The three-ply yarn is spun to 1000 yards per pound, which in 4-ounce skeins is 250 yards per skein. It knits like any commercial worsted weight yarn, about 5 stitches to the inch on size 6-8 needles. This yarn is worsted spun, meaning it's very very smooth and almost shiny in appearance. It will give great stitch definition for intricate patterns such as lace, cables, and knit/purl patterns."

I wish you all could feel the yarn and feel the swatch. This is a yarn with body, and it held up well even after being ripped and reknitted a couple of times. I think this is my new favorite yarn. Ever. I may even like it more than—dare I say it?—Brunswick Germantown.

February 19, 2010: An "Essential" Book!

Yesterday was rather a noteworthy day—when the husband and I stopped at the title company to sign papers for the new house, I noticed that they had the latest issue of 406 Woman Magazine sitting there. I happen to have an article in this issue. You can flip through the magazine on the website and then zoom in to look at the article and pictures. It's about knitting and Camas Creek Yarn and I am quite pleased with it. (It's called 406 Woman, by the way, because 406 is Montana's area code. For the whole state. The whole big state.)

And when I got home I discovered that Cables 1 made Clara Parkes' list of "essential" books to take with you should you ever have to travel for a year and not be able to take your entire knitting library with you! Clara's list can be found in the latest issue of Interweave Knits. Yay!

That mention in IK was a much-needed boost—Cables 1 has not sold as well as I thought it would, nor has it sold as well as Aran Sweater Design. It's been hard to work up the energy to get Cables 2 finished, because I don't want to have even more books sitting here on hand, not selling.

This will be a drive-by post; I am subbing for 4th grade at another elementary school today. I subbed there about a month ago and was so tickled to find out that the teacher strongly emphasizes writing in her class—the kids spend a total of an hour every day on writing. I mentioned to the kids that I had written a couple of books, so I am going to take ASD and Cables 1 with me today to show them.

And I got a note from Cast-On yesterday about submitting a design for their 25th anniversary issue. I really want to submit a design, but if it's chosen for publication, it has to be there by April 2. I said to the husband that I may have to give up sleeping to get this all done. Yikes.

February 18, 2010: Rewriting (Design) History

I've got a spreadsheet that has all my designs listed on it. I use it to keep track of what I've done with them—what designs are selling through Fiber Trends, through Patternfish, through Ravelry, which still need to be formatted as individual patterns, etc. Yesterday I went through my list and marked which ones need to be re-photographed (because the original pics were taken with my then-state-of-the-art 1.0 megapixel camera) and which need to be re-knitted (because they were originally made as gifts or have been worn out).

Some of my older Aran designs which need to be reknitted are getting a complete makeover. The Staghorn Aran (that's one of those 1.0 megapixel pics) was originally knitted for a friend of mine from college. The yarn is no longer available, and I need a model to keep here because I can't keep asking him to send his from Ohio so I can take new pictures of it. The original was knit from the bottom-up and I want to write the pattern for knitting from the top down.

The problem with the back catalog is that I look at some of my earlier designs and I cringe, because I see things that I wouldn't do now, like knit saddles separately and sew them in. That is one of the "benefits" of 16 years of design experience. On the other hand, I worry that completely reworking a design is going to cause confusion for those people who have the original pattern from the newsletter. I haven't completely figured out how I am going to deal with that question (which may, in fact, be a non-issue), but as long as the design needs to be reknitted, I am going to do it my preferred way the second time around.

The bottom line is that it's really gratifying to be able to get some of those old designs out of the closet and give them a chance to be seen again in new yarns.

I spent most of yesterday running around trying to get the pieces in place for closing on a property we're buying. The house and property directly behind and adjacent to us went up for sale a few months ago:

The husband and I talked about the fact that it would be a nice place for his father to live eventually. His father helped us with the purchase and—until he's ready to move up here—we're going to use it as a vacation rental. I had our lawyer set up an LLC for the rental company, and then I had to open a bank account for the LLC, and finally I had to see our insurance agent about getting coverage for it. Now we're all ready for closing this morning.

The house needs a bit of work—the husband will have to replace a rotted-out sill plate in the foundation and the inside needs some paint and new flooring. The husband would also like to replace that deck/porch. And we'll need to furnish it with the basics. The plan is to have it available to rent this summer. It will be listed on VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner). I'm also hoping to be able to have some kind of knitting retreats there. It's an ambitious plan but I think we can make it work.

We've done the long-term rental route and it was nothing but headaches. We don't want to go there again.

I think I've figured out how to put the comments link in the RSS feed. Would someone try it out and let me know if it works? Thanks!

February 17, 2010: The Best Part of Winter is Soup (and Knitting)

I have a couple of go-to cookbooks, and The Big Book of Soups & Stews is one of them:

I like to flip through and just make whatever strikes my fancy. Last night I made Barbecued Bean Soup, because the husband has a cold and this recipe calls for a teaspoon of Tabasco sauce. I thought it would help in clearing out his sinuses (I have been making him "tea" every night with ginger, hot water, honey, and cayenne pepper). He is cranky when he is sick (what man isn't?).

The recipe got two thumbs up from everybody here. The husband ate three or four bowls and said that he didn't think there was anything I could have done to improve it—probably true, as I followed the recipe exactly and the authors of this book knew what they were doing. We'll be having it again soon, I am sure.

Soup and knitting have to be my two favorite things about winter. Soup is so easy—I can start a pot of it and let it simmmer while I knit.

I'm really having trouble with the sweater design for the Summer issue, and I haven't decided if it's the yarn or the design that is giving me fits. The design has gone through so many permutations in my head that I have finally come full circle and am back to my original idea, which says to me that I just need to run with the original idea and stop trying to second-guess myself. I've set it on the back burner for the moment while I get some designs from the back catalog re-done and ready to photograph on the poor husband, who has been pressed into modeling service.

And I've also had Cables 2 up on my computer and have been working on it in odd moments here and there. I think I have the Brioche cables chapter beaten into submission. It was holding up the whole works, so hopefully things will go more smoothly from here on out.

February 13, 2010: I Have a Knitting Itch . . .

. . . and I would like to scratch it. I just got my copy of this:

It's Color By Kristin, by Kristin Nicholas. Now, I've mostly stayed away from projects with multiple colors in my knitting career—I like riotous, bright colors but I've never felt that I had a good eye for combining them. Kristin combines colors with abandon, and her designs make my eyes giggle in joyful delight. Really. I want to try this.

The book begins with a short piece on Kristin's very interesting life, and then it jumps right in to color knitting with both feet. On page 12 is a chapter entitled "The Joy of Color"—basic color theory for color-impaired people like me. Wow. But just when I thought things couldn't get any better, I flipped the page and saw at the top, "The Importance of Swatching." Kristin, I love you! Swatching IS important, for all kinds of knitting!

Kirstin explains other important skills—like steeking and duplicate stitch—with lots of pictures and drawings.

The last two-thirds of the book is filled with all manner of Kristin's wonderful designs—projects from small accessories to wearable works of art. If that weren't enough color-knitting magic, Kristin includes a section at the end with ideas for edgings, and a comprehensive chart resource.

This is the first book that makes me feel like color design is actually within my grasp, and I look forward to being able to play with color in my knitting.

In other news, we had a bit of excitement here this week. I subbed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for the music teacher. The husband was here with the dogs. I called home mid-day on Thursday to see what was going on, and we had this conversation:

Me: Hi. Anything happening there that I should know about?

The husband: We had a chimney fire.

Me (thinking that "we" means the fire department and that"we" got paged out): Really? Whose house?

The husband: Ours.

Me: WHAT?!?!??!

The husband: Yeah, we had a chimney fire here. It's out. Stop worrying. The house isn't going to burn down.

Me: Are you sure?

The husband: Yes, I am sure. I am a professional. And I need you to hoist me up to the roof with the forklift when you get home so I can clean everything up.

So this is the husband 35 feet in the air (hence the need for the forklift), checking out the chimney. It's nice and clean now.

We had a fire department meeting Thursday night and everyone got a good chuckle out of our story. At one time we gave out "Golden Shovel" awards for firemen who had chimney fires at their houses.

I'm getting to be quite the forklift operator, although I still sometimes need a refresher on which way to push the joystick so I don't accidentally ram the platform into the side of the house. The husband has a great deal of faith in my abilities.

I have a whole day of knitting and Olympics ahead of me. Joy.

February 10, 2010: Spring Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek at the projects from the Spring issue, which is heading to the printer this week:

I'll give you a bit of background about each of them. At top left is Molly, a wonderful twist-stitch pullover designed by my colleague and tech editor JC Briar. The yarn is from Shelridge Farm and they will be offering this design as a kit.

At top right is a lusciously drapey scarf knit from Atlante, a yarn carried by Fiber Trends. It's a 100% bamboo yarn that is simply heavenly to knit with—and it shows the lace-and-cable pattern to perfection.

Mid-left is a the Cotton Candy Bag, a project I had a great deal of fun designing. It's knit from two colors of Cascade 220, one solid and one variegated. The cable pattern "floats" on a background of garter stitch, but only one color is knit at a time. It's not that complicated but gives a lot of bang for the buck!

The bottom pattern—the Cedar Trail Vest—is my favorite, I think: it's knit from a new Classic Elite yarn called Chesapeake (part of the Verde Collection). The yarn is listed as a "fall" yarn, but the 50/50 cotton and wool blend makes it a great trans-seasonal yarn and it worked beautifully in this design. It fits the husband very well (I tried to pose him so his tattoos wouldn't show but you can get a glimpse of one on his left arm).

Look for it in your mailboxes in about two weeks!

February 9, 2010: A Good Bummer

Virtually every newsletter renewal form that has come back in the past couple of weeks has included a handwritten response to the news that 2010 will be the last publication year. Some simply said, "Thanks for a great newsletter." Others had notes about projects from past issues of Twists and Turns and how much the knitter enjoyed making them. One had "BUMMER!" scrawled across the top in big orange marker (I got a bit of a giggle out of that one).

This was one of yesterday's longer notes:

Thanks to your "design" book [Aran Sweater Design], my husband picked out favorite cable patterns and designed an Aran vest for me to knit him. He's quite proud of it and it's very nice in a grey-green DK Shetland Jamieson wool.

I appreciate all of these notes so much. They've taken some of the sting out of folding up the newsletter.

Cathy, you asked about the pasta-and-bean soup. It's ridiculously easy: saute some chopped onions, celery, and garlic until translucent, add some chicken stock, three cans of great northern or cannelini beans (rinsed), a couple of handfuls of small pasta like shells or macaroni, and some chopped spinach (I used frozen). I'll also toss in some zucchini if I have it on hand. Let cook until the pasta is al dente. DD#2 likes hers with fresh parmesan grated on top. The last couple of times I've made it I've added in some Italiano Reggiano sausage, which is made and sold locally by some friends of ours.

It's even better the next day but ours doesn't usually last that long.

I seem to have picked up a cold—not a bad one, just a slightly scratchy throat and some post-nasal drip. I think the only reason this hasn't become a full-blown knock-me-on-my-butt cold is because I drink Emergen-C every morning. Literally—I have not had a cold of any kind in over a year, and that's a minor miracle considering how much time I spend at the germ factory. But this is enough to be irritating and I hope it goes away soon. I spent most of yesterday in my recliner by the fireplace, knitting and drinking tea.

I received word from the State of Michigan yesterday that a date has been set for me in small claims court in Lansing. I've given Threadbear every opportunity to honor their obligation to me, but if it takes a court judgment to get them to do so, well—it was their decision to let it get to this point, not mine. I will probably fly to Cleveland and spend a few days with my mother and drive up to Michigan for the court appearance. And I'll ask that my travel expenses be added to the amount I am owed, along with all the legal fees I have incurred thus far.

Have a good week of knitting. I'll try to be a bit more conscientious about posting.

February 3, 2010: I've Found My Knitting Limit

I sat down to cast on the second front of the vest yesterday afternoon, thinking I would knit until I had completed six of the coin cables that make up part of the pattern. I often set goals for myself like that—it's one of the ways I get through my knitting when I am in production mode.

Well, I kept going for about four hours straight—sloppy joes in the crock pot meant I didn't have to stop to cook dinner— and by 8 p.m. I had knit nine of the coin cables. That put me at the halfway point to the start of the underarm shaping. At about 7:30, though, my lower back started to spasm and I had to take a quick break so the husband could massage it for me.

I knit in one of these (minus the footstool, which I don't use):

It's pretty comfortable, but I am going to have to dig out a lumbar pillow and use it. Obviously I am not getting enough lower back support.

I have an enforced knitting break today; the schedule is such that there won't be much, if any knitting.

We're having a discussion on a designers' list I moderate about the price of patterns. Several among our group have been asked recently by their customers to justify the price of their patterns. We're not talking expensive knitting books here—we're talking $6-8 for a sock pattern. And it's not limited to the less well-known designers. Take a look at the January 20th entry of Lucy Neatby's blog.

I have a friend on the fire department who (with his late wife) wrote and self-published a book on knives. We compare notes periodically and I never hear him talk about people trying to get him to lower his prices—his is a male-dominated field and I suspect he sets his prices and other men pay what he is asking without question or complaint. It's such a troubling phenomenon among women that we apparently are incapable of supporting each other in making a living wage. You would think that the gender that had to fight so hard for equality would be bit kinder to those in its own ranks.

No one has tried the new commenting feature yet? Is it working okay?

February 1, 2010: Power Knitting and Power Logging

Today I meet with our accountant to go over everything for our 2009 tax return. Last year was a challenging year for both of our businesses. It's hard to tell what 2010 is going to be like, but I hold out hope that it will go up—not down—from here.

And I am glad to have January over and done with. No, it's still not spring or anything even close to spring yet, but it's no longer January, either. And February is a short month (listen to me, I sound like Pollyanna).

I got quite a bit of knitting done this weekend, although it wasn't without some problems (more on that in a moment). Thursday night I cast on for one of the fronts of this vest I am working on for the Spring issue. I finished it last night during a marathon session of "Ax Men" interspersed with a bit of the Pro Bowl here and there. We have friends who are loggers and we know that "Ax Men" isn't a very realistic portrayal of what goes on in the woods (I always wonder how those companies do what they do without OSHA slapping fines on them every couple of weeks). Oh well, it makes for very entertaining television. We got a real charge out of the father and son who tried to drive their 22 year-old dually from Washington state to Florida (they can't log in Washington State anymore, having run afoul of some regulations there) and broke down in Montana. Seems they hadn't bothered to check the truck's road-worthiness before they left.

I took a break from the vest Saturday afternoon and was trying to do a few rows on the twist brioche shawl. It's a 3-row pattern, so it's a bit harder than normal to keep track of one's place in the pattern until there are a few inches of finished knitting. I was knitting along and then the husband came in and asked me a question and the next thing I knew I had worked row 2 on the second half of row 3. Of course, I didn't figure that out until I had tried to work row 3 on what was supposed to be row 1. I knew the pattern didn't look right, but I couldn't figure out where it had gone wonky. I ripped it back to where I had screwed it up and now all is well again.

Normally I don't have a problem if the husband talks to me while I am knitting. I excel at multi-tasking, unless—apparently—one of the tasks is twist brioche.

I had to install new commenting software, as the old commenting software no longer exists. Hopefully it will be a seamless transition, but please let me know if there are any issues. Thanks.