addicted to alpaca

First project of 2012!

2012-01-03T09:57:00.001-08:00

On New Year's Day I took up the challenge issued by crochet supporter and good friend Laura Krzak, and spent part of the day making a chemo cap to donate. I chose Halos of Hope because the president, Pam Haschke, had done a really interesting episode of Getting Loopy with me - you can hear it here.

I grabbed a skein of pretty blue LB Collection Cotton Bamboo from the stash and a G/7/4.5mm hook and went to town. I also used an F/5/3.75mm hook for the single crochet edge.

For those of you who asked when I tweeted pix (I am @Hooked4Life), I didn't use a pattern but quick made one up. Here it is, in one size. If you wanted to quick size it up, you could use a bigger yarn and hooks, or add 1 sc to the first rnd which would add several stitches to the finished brim as you increase for the crown.

I got about 3.75 dcs to the inch in dc, the cap as 17" around unstretched (I wanted it small since bamboo grows and Pam said smaller is better than larger) and about 6" in height from the end of the crown increases to the edge of the brim. I used well under one skein of yarn. I don't know that I could get two whole hats from one skein but there is a lot left over.

Halos of Hope Chemo Cap

Ch 4, join into a ring with sl st in 1st ch.

Rnd 1: 7 sc in ring. Join rnd with sl st in 1st st. 7 sc
Rnd 2: Ch 3, dc in same sc as sl st, 2 dc in each sc around. Join rnd with sl st in top of beg-ch. 14 dc
Rnd 3: Ch 3, dc in same sc as sl st, 2 dc in each dc around. Join rnd with sl st in top of beg-ch. 28 dc
Rnd 4:Ch 3, dc in same dc as sl st, dc in next sc, *2 dc in next dc, dc in next dc. Rep from * around. Join rnd with sl st in top of beg-ch. 42 dc
Rnd 5: Ch 3, dc in same dc as sl st, dc in each of next 2 next dc, *2 dc in next dc, dc in each of next 2 dc. Rep from * around. Join rnd with sl st in top of beg-ch. 56
Rnd 6:Ch 3, dc in same dc as sl st, dc in each of next 3 sc, *2 dc in next dc, dc in each of next 3 dc. Rep from * around. Join rnd with sl st in top of beg-ch. 70 dc
Rnds 7 - 19: Ch 3, dc in each dc around. Join rnd with sl st in top of beg-ch. 70 dc.
Rnds 20 - 22: Change to F/5/3.75 hook. Sc in each st around. I did not join the rounds but worked in a spiral so it would be neater. End off.

Flower:
With larger hook, ch 6, join into ring with sl st in first ch.
Rnd 1: Ch 1, work 12 sc in ring. join rnd with sl st in 1st sc. 12 sc
Rnd 2: Sc in same st as sl st, ch 3, * sk 1 sc, sc in next sc, ch 3. Rep from * around, join rnd with sl st in 1st sc. 6 ch-3 loops
Rnd 3: (Sc, hdc, 3 dc, hdc, sc) in each ch-3 loop around. Join rnd with sl st in 1st st. End off.

Attach flower to hat carefully so that your stitching is mostly on the outside of the hat - we don't want bumps inside! Weave in all ends. If you have pets or the yarn is as all musty, wash it in UNSCENTED cleaner like Soak before you send it!

Happy New Year to you all - enjoy this pattern, and please consider making one to donate to the charity of your choice!

This pattern is my New Year's gift to you, but please don't steal it, sell it, print two billion copies, or generally be a jerk about it. You may absolutely link to this post from any blog or forum. Thank you.

Bits of thoughts

2011-12-13T15:29:00.000-08:00

But here I am with time to blog, and no camera to hand, so I am going with the fact that it's probably better to get a post up than not, despite the lack of eye candy.

Oh wait - a crappy picture is better than none, right?

Look! It's my thumb, but also LL holding a first place trophy! Woo-freaking-hoo LL! If she earns two more of those before May 1 2012, she will be eligible for 2012 North American Nationals in Chicago in July. Here's hoping!

In other news, may I introduce you to some chocolate that is perhaps the most divine chocolate I have ever eaten, ever? And I have eaten a lot of chocolate! It is raw, gluten- and dairy-free, ecologically sensitive, and screw all of that, it tastes divine. The name of the company is Gnosis and it gets the MBT seal of approval. I tasted it at the Chocolate Expo at the Meadowlands about ten days ago and wish I hadn't cheaped out but had bought some more. It is not a bargain by any stretch but it was so delicious a square at a time was enough, so the smallish bar I bought lasted three days which is practically unheard of at my house. I had the Fleur de Sel flavor but am looking forward to trying more.

We went to Chocolate Expo so LL could meet Buddy Velastro of Cake Boss fame. She did, he was charming, and I will talk more about that when I am near the camera because I actually did get some good pictures of them together.

In other news, in case you hadn't heard, I decided to stop producing new episodes of Getting Loopy. I am at peace with the decision, but last night I didn't quite know what to do with myself around 8:00 PM on a Monday night. I kept feeling like I was missing something - that I should be somewhere else! But I will get used to it. You can still download all the archived episodes at ITunes, now and forever, but I will be dismembering the GL website and premium account at BTR shortly before the end of the year.

Working hard on some new submissions, waiting to hear on the fate of some others, and have many many new patterns coming out in the Hooked for Life pattern line soon. Sometimes change is good!

Odd ponderings

2011-09-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

I have a Fedex account that I use all the time - ground for delivering print patterns and samples when I am actually ahead of schedule, and of course express in all its flavors when I am hot on the trail of a deadline, which is pretty often.

I have two locations that I use frequently for drop-0ff - at one the last truck out is 4:30, at the other it's 8:00. I prefer the earlier one because the location is closer and it has a parking lot, but sometimes those extra few hours count.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a new-to-me location, about halfway between my two usual haunts, with a 5:30 last truck. I had a box ready to go between 4 and 5 so I thought I would give it a shot. It was a newer location with untrained staff and the woman on duty had never seen my pre-paid ground labels before and was worried about whether she was handling them properly on her end, so I left her my cell phone number and suggested she call me with any problems.

About 20 minutes later the phone rang - it was the manager at this drop-off location. He was grilling me about the label - kept asking me if it was new, and saying that if I had peeled it off another package it wouldn't work. I was sort of offended by this line of questioning - did he think I was trying to scam Fedex somehow? - but assured him it was a regular label from my long time account and he should just send it on. All was well, the package went out, but I decided not to use that drop-off anymore because it just bugged me.

Last night I dashed to my usual haunt, racing to beat the 8:00 PM deadline (yea baby, made it with six minutes to spare!), then figured since I was in town I would run a couple of errands before I went home. Strolling through the drug store, I caught a look at myself in one of the display mirrors - messy hair, wrinkle clothes that I clearly just threw on at the last minute, shoes inapropriate for the weather that I just grabbed because they were by the door, and a general harried, not quite put together look about me.

And the lightbulb went on - maybe that's why the manager at the new location was so concerned that I had stolen or was trying to mis-use a pre-paid label! When I am that close to a deadline I am just trying to get the work done, not really worrying about what I look like to the outside world. He probably took one look at me dashing through and assumed I couldn't possibly be a responsible business owner! It occured to me that even my regular guy only sees me at my worst!

He shouldn't have judged me by my appearance, but now I feel like someday I should go to all of my regular drop-off spots when I am put together and not rushing, just to let them know that I am not always a crazed harridan with yarn clippings falling out of my pockets.

Back to the wool mines -
MBT

Interestingly enough...

2011-09-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

I thought with all of the podcasting I do, that I was sort of done with blogging. I always felt pressure to be clever on cue, blog regularly, have adorable pictures, what have you, so blogging always felt like a chore instead of a joy.

A year or so ago I found Twitter and loved it - still do! I got in the habit of sharing my thoughts with people again. 140 characters was perfect - no pressure! No pictures needed! I could write when I felt like it, publish in seconds, and not have it take up any space in my already crowded brain.

And I still write patterns by the dozen, and a new book is almost finished, and I did some videos for a video company, and a bunch of guest blogs and articles, and I am blessed to have as much work or more than I can handle. But I realized recently that I don't write for me anymore, or at least not more than 140 characters at a time.

So here I am, back where all this crafty stuff started, at the Alpaca Addict blog. With a gratuitous alpaca picture for you all. I am not promising anything here to anyone but myself - but when I have stories to tell, here is where I am going to tell them!

BTW, my friends above are on the Silken Suri Alpaca Ranch in Colorado, which I visited the week before last. Shortly thereafter, LL and I got stuck in Denver due to Hurricane Irene. Interestingly enough, the last post I wrote here detailed how I had gotten stuck in St. Louis due to a canceled flight. Clearly, I fly too much :-)

Sorry guys -

2010-07-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

I have to put comment moderation on - getting hit with tons of comment spam since I started posting again and that bugs me!

Still in St. Louis - the trip was great, but the airline dropped the ball and I couldn't leave tonight as expected. Home tomorrow though, then vacation from the 20th through the 27th of July.

Well sort of vacation - not much internet and no podcast and no appointments, but I did have some yarn for a deadline shipped directly to the hotel so I can make a model for a magazine while I am there!

Thanks to all of you here in Missouri who made my trip so terrific!

Look, I am a star - who knew?

2010-07-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

My buddy Marly of Yarnthing podcast fame always does the grunt work to put together a dinner at TNNA for designers, editors, and other yarny folks. I walked over to the event with Barb Bettegnies, editor of Creative Knitting magazine.

Guess what made her newsletter this week? Click here to read all about it!

While you are clicking around, please do me a favor and check out the needlepoint contest entries at Gone Stitching. Eleven canvases are entered, including mine (pssst, it's number 10!), and this is the people's choice award - real judging will happen later in the summer. And I know I don't have a prayer there, thus my inappropriate internet begging for votes.

Truthfully I won't even mind (much) if you vote for someone else. But we are trying to get some web traffic over there for the sponsors, Gone Stitching and Planet Earth Fiber, so that more people will enter next year. I have to think that anyone with even vaguely needlepoint-ish aspirations will look at my entry and think "Hey, I could beat her next year!"

I know, another post with no photos. But I am working on that, I promise!

This week I am in Missouri, teaching at A New Yarn in Springfield on Thursday, and Kirkwood Knittery in St. Louis. I believe there are a few spots left in each of my classes, so if you are in the area, check them out!

So many miles to go before I stitch :-)

2010-07-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

So TNNA was great fun as it often is, and as usual for me, I didn't manage to take many photos. Ok, I didn't manage to take ANY photos. And despite the overriding "What happens at TNNA stays at TNNA" ethos that prevails - well, I need to talk about something on this here blog, lest the lovely Sarah (who is helping out at Chez Loopy) get more annoyed with me than she is already!

Thankfully, my good buddy and editor-in-chief of Creative Knitting magazine) Barb Bettegnies beat me to the punch with at least part of the weekend - and you can read all about the Sunday night party here!

Columbus was quite a long trip for me - five days at TNNA, followed by five more at the Knitters Connection show - but at least there was Jeni's Ice Cream to get me through the fortnight away from home.

To make up for my lack of photography, here is a great shot taken by Jess and Casey of Ravelry.com fame - The Portals Scarf was made in Creative Juices yarn from Soak, with colors inspired by Ravelry. The pattern is available on Ravelry, of course!

OK - back to work drinking beer and writing patterns. Well, only the pattern writing part is work, the beer drinking is totally recreational...

A Brief Public Service Announcement

2009-12-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

THIS is what happens when you accidentally throw a couple of yards of sock yarn into the washer and dryer. A tangled mess of one linen shirt, one bra, and three pairs of flannel pajama bottoms.
Surgery was needed, all clothing survived, although with interesting twisty patterns dried in.

Just one more reason why crocheters and knitters need to check their pockets before laundry day!

Some new pretties!

2009-12-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

This is the new Crochet Christmas Gift Card Holders set, available at Patternfish.com. The $3 pattern includes the mini-stocking, Santa's mitten, ornament, and my personal favorite, the peppermint stick. Make one up quickly to add a little happy to a gift of a gift card or cash.

Have you seen the Beaded Thistle Shawl? It's crocheted in a lightweight acrylic/mohair blend called Swiss Mohair, which will be available to the world in January of 2010. Can't wait? Try my kit!
The kit includes the pattern, one skein (600 yards) of the yarn in one of your choice of six colors, glass beads with an aurora borealis/pale pink finish, and a #10 steel hook with which to attach the beads as you crochet, because hell hath no fury like trying to string a skillion beads on mohair yarn! There is even a nice little beading photo tutorial on the back of the pattern! All this for $19.99 plus $5.50 shipping and handling in the US - out of US residents need to hit me with an email for shipping rates. The full details are here - all six colors are currently in stock, but may not be for long.

How are you all doing with your holiday knitting and crocheting? I am still trying to get some deadline stuff finished....

Greetings from Chez Crazy Person

2009-12-10T06:58:00.000-08:00

First off, a gift to you from NaturallyCaron.com - my newest knitted shawl pattern. It's available as a free download here - enjoy! It starts at the center of the upper edge and grows as you stitch, so you can adjust the length/width to your desired dimensions - or call it a mini-shawl if you run out of time before the holidays, run out of yarn, or simply get bored!

So I am doing my annual crazy person routine - deadlines, the holidays, trying to get new things out and ready for TNNA which has the nerve to be in early January every year. It's like Christmas - I know it's coming, I know I have a ton to do, but I never seem to get it all done in a timely fashion. Add in the new kits I am working on (photos soon) and all the every day stuff, and it's crazy. Which I know I say a lot. But it is.

Anyway, I was out running errands the other day and came home to find my neighbor/buddy/fellow yarn addict plopped on my living room floor, playing with the dog. This is a good thing. I apologize for being rushed and am chatting with her as I fly through to the dining room, where the laptop was sitting, so I can check for an email I am waiting for.

Since she is sitting on the floor, she points and laughs at my mis-matched feet. Yes, I reply, I know my socks don't match, but I am so crazed I haven't had time to do laundry and at least they are both clean, which I thought was more important...blah blah blah on my part. She is still laughing. And pointing. So I look down and see that MY SHOES DON'T MATCH EITHER!

Seriously, I went out of the house and ran errands for two hours with two different shoes on AND DID NOT NOTICE! At least they were both black.

Sigh....

In which I am vaguely amused...

2009-11-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry for no pix this week - it's been a rough week here. LL mangled a tendon and cannot dance in the Irish dance regional finals next week, which she has been working towards all year. We are both very sad about this, as is her new coach whom I adore, but at the end of the day she doesn't have much choice. When you are 13 though, "there's always next year" seems like the worst sort of platitude. But there is - there is always next year, even if the poor kid thinks it will never come.

On the upside - she is getting more sleep and I am getting more work done.

With all of this emo sort of background going on you will see why I was way more amused by this morning's pattern writing adventure than I might normally have been. I wrote:

"Rep Rows 9 and 10 for pattern until work measures 6" from underarm BO"

Underarm BO - hee!

I changed the wording to start of underarm shaping....

A brief commercial announcement!

2009-10-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

New patterns, new signings, I promise this won't turn into blog o' ads, but there's what's happening Chez Alpaca Addict.

This pattern is called Cushy. It's a slightly slouchy hat and wide, dense scarf, made in a pattern of front post and back post treble crochets. The yarn is new from Rozetti and is called Spark - it's a worsted weight with - it's hard to describe but I love it - it has some shiny stuff in it that gives it a textural look, but it's not too glittery for my taste. Mouse over any of the colors in the link for a close up to see what I mean. Dense visual interest in the yarn, dense crochet stitch pattern = good looking and warm!

This is the Reticulated Tank Top Shown in Universal Yarns Cotton Supreme - I envisioned it as a summer layering piece, but the lovely Julia at Patternfish just suggested I try one in something woolier so it isn't so seasonally dependent. So that's what I will do - stay tuned. This crochets up incredibly quickly, is worked in four pieces side to side, with a decorative join center front and back, and at both side seams. I have to go stash diving...
Next we have the Mutable Wrap! Shown in Universal Yarn Linen Tweed this oversized lacy crocheted shawl has two slit in the work - you can wear it as a vest, a wrap (as shown) or a poncho/capelet (which LL wants you to know was her idea, she came up with it during the photo shoot!) More photos on the pattern listing.

Going to Rhinebeck? Please come see me Sunday from 10 - 4 at the author area in building B - where the Gem and Mineral Show used to be.

Then at Stitches East, I will be signing books on Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 - 1:30 with my good buddy Marci at The Elegant Ewe. Marci will also have Hooked for Life patterns for sale, and models to paw.

Yarn just arrived for a big magazine project that's due soon - I am off to search Hulu for great tv shows and to crochet my face off. See you all soon!

Putting my money where my mouth is...

2009-09-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

I was complaining last week on the Getting Loopy blog about my classes at WEBS maybe being canceled – and yup, yesterday they were. Not enough sign ups to cover costs, which I get. But it was killing me to give up the opportunity to teach a new class. Sooooo….

I ran this by the fabulous Kathy Elkins and this is what we decided to do. I will teach a class FOR FREE on Friday October 2 from 10 – 12. It is a new class I have in development called Design it Yourself Crochet – here’s the blurb-

Join author and designer Mary Beth Temple for the free debut of her newest workshop – Design It Yourself Crochet. Even if they don’t want to design for publication, many crocheters want to design a project for themselves. While most are happy just doodling with their hooks until they get the results they want, doing just a little preparation ahead of time will make the whole process so much easier – while ensuring that you don’t run out of yarn OR patience!

Handout with class notes included. If you like, bring some sketches, swatches, pencil and paper and/or a calculator to play with.

This class is not free to Kathy and I to put on, but we will offer it to you for free. Why? Because I want crocheters to come to the store, just to prove that we are out there. Because I need the practice and some input on the new class. Because I would like to teach at WEBS later on and get paid for it, so this is sort of a free sample. Because I have books there to sell, so if you like the free class, you might buy a book. Because I have been rambling about including free things in my business plan, and this is a great experiment. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to you guys why we are being so generous, we just are!

So if you can make it, please come. I will sign books at the store Thursday evening October 1 if you just want to come by and say hello, and I will teach the FREE class on Friday morning from 10 – 12.

And help me spread the word – blog it, link it, tweet it – let’s get some cool crochet mojo happening!

Llama kisses :-)

2009-09-23T05:35:00.000-07:00

This is Wisteria, New Jersey's tallest llama. She is a real sweetie and SO soft. Here she is sharing some quality time with her owner, whose name, sadly, I did not get. She is stooping down to reach him, she is THAT tall! That was at the Garden State Sheep Breeders' show a couple of weeks back. We had such a great time there - can hardly wait for next year!

Busy, busy as usual. Finished up a large editing project, blasting out some new patterns for Hooked for Life, doing the Getting Loopy podcast, and making some models for upcoming magazine and multi-author book projects. Come next spring, I will have stuff everywhere!

LL blew out her ankle - again - on Sunday. Not too terrible this time, but annoying nonetheless as it delays her training for the Irish dance regionals in November. Think maybe THIS time she will be more motivated to do her PT exercises? Me either!

Will post some pattern pictures later in the week as they become available, happy stitching meanwhile!

Lexie Barnes storms Fashion Week with yarn !

2009-09-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

With a tiny bit of help from yours truly. Ms. Lexie of the wonderful bags had an idea and she made it work. She wanted to show the denizens of NYC Fashion Week that knitting was cool. So she rented a suite at the Bryant Park Hotel, and offered to show media and model types alike how to knit an I cord bracelet. So I offered to help...

That's me, hanging out on the couch, starting up some wee I-cords with Cotton Classic from Tahki/Stacy Charles, so that anyone could pick up and knit a few stitches without having to learn how to cast on. Lexie figured (rightly as it turned out) that most people who dropped by were unable to spend too much time with us, so pre-started projects were the way to go.

Coffee, knitting, a comfy couch, natural light - it was a good day for me :-)

Lexie and I discussed getting some crochet in there too, but figured choices were bad. Since she had spent a bucket of cash on this (with a little help from Kickstarter.com), she and her PR savvy colleagues felt (and I agreed) that we had to get out one message and one message only, and that adding crochet might muddle the message a bit. Still...

I had my hooks with me and I couldn't resist the temptation :-) The PR folks were trying to do some yarny tie-backs for the hotel curtains and tying a full skein didn't look nice, but neither did one strand. "I can fix that for you" I cried and with my trusty H hook, I whomped out a dozen neat little chains to use. They looked great in the room, if I do say so myself.

That's one of Lexie's new fabrics visible in the first photo - not available until spring, but you get a teeny little sneak peek! I am sure Lexie will blog more about the event when she gets home (and gets a nap) but my two celebrity sightings were -

I shared an elevator with Jon Gosselin of Jon Plus or Minus Kate + 8 fame (or infamy). I had read in some periodical or other that he wanted something to do with the fashion world, and here he was - doing what (other than trying desperately not to make eye contact with strangers) I have no idea.

I also passed an actress I admire in the hallway outside of the Nintendo suite (where they were showing an incredibly cool fashion game for the DSi that even I would play!) - Reshma Shetty of Royal Pains. We did not interact, but I am delighted to report that she is as lovely and graceful in real life as she is on the show!

LL was miffed she didn't get to go - darn that going to school stuff always getting in the way!

I have been ranting about some crochet related things - check the Getting Loopy blog for that if you are so inclined.

Help! I am being eaten by a giant afghan!

2009-09-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

OK, not really, but this is the only photo I had to share this week, and I hate to do posts without photos!

That is a giant afghan though - I can tell you just how big it is because I made every blessed stitch of it! Kitchen Sink afghan from DIY (Design It Yourself) Afghans.

Last weekend I tweeted my experiments in making chocolate martinis. Many of you who follow me there were amused - it wasn't nearly so amusing on my end because I was typing so poorly as the experiment progressed that editing was taking longer than typing!

End result? Delicious! And I found answers to the great chocolate martini questions of life - namely:

Where was the vodka hiding? In the freezer where it normally lives, but it was buried under 14 pounds of blueberries from our adventures in picking local produce. Found it eventually.

Can you in fact use a child's liquid cough syrup cap if you can't find a shot glass? Yes indeed you can, although your online friends will call you mean names like "sad" and "pathetic" But you know what? I believe in improvisation in mixology as well as crochet and knitting - and life, come to that. If you fill up to the 3 tsp line on the cough syrup cap, you have half a shot.

Did you really ruin the whole thing by using Skim Plus instead of Half and Half? See above on improvisation - having had to run to the store for both Godiva Liqueur and Creme De Cacao this was already turning into the world's most expensive chocolate martini, and I was damned if I was going to run out again. Skim Plus I had, Skim Plus I used. Worked fine, although maybe not as thick as it might have been.

Did Little Loopy mock you much? Yes - once when I poured the whole thing in a free-from-Burger-King Mickey Mouse glass from 2000 instead of digging out an actual martini glass. I am not big on delayed gratification.

And again when I commented on how very loopy I got from one drink - 3.5 shots of alcohol is a hell of a lot of booze in one glass for a light drinker like me.

How was your gauge afterwards? Loosey-goosey baby, but I didn't care! That's what blocking is for.

Will repeat the experiment again soon - maybe this Friday night, you never know...

Pretty pretty picture

2009-09-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

The day before the Chain Link conference in Buffalo, LL and I ditched and went up to see Niagara Falls. Neither of us had ever been before and we were both blown away by how beautiful it is.I snapped that photo from the Maid of the Mist tour boat - we got soaked, in a good way! The rest of the day included some shopping, some lunch at the Ontario Planet Hollywood (marred slightly perhaps by their complete lack of crocheted or knitted costume pieces :-), and some walking around seeing the sights. Fact that interested me the most? The fact that due to erosion and other natural forces, the Falls isn't exactly where it was years ago - it moves.

Others have blogged about the Chain Link conference - I don't have much to add other than I had a great time seeing old friends, and meeting some internet friends in real life.

Busy right now trying to get six new Hooked for Life patterns out by October 1st, helping some buddies edit their book, and sketching out the new booklet I just agreed to do for Leisure Arts. Back to school for LL next week - her supplies are all bought, her new clothes laid out. All I have to do is take her shoe shopping - we had the annual "LL wore flip flops all summer and we just now discovered that her feet grew a full size and nothing fits" tango. She needs at least one new pair of sneakers (preferably two - one for the gym locker) and some black flats to go with her nice new skirts. Later on some weather boots and the local uniform shoe of choice, Uggs! Then a winter coat.... sigh.... this growing thing is killing my budget!

Which is why I am off back to work.

Miss me?

2009-08-21T10:14:00.001-07:00

Katy and I hit the Lion Brand podcast airwaves!

I know I should blog, I want to blog, I just don't have time to blog! Just now when my business is getting interesting enough to provide good blog fodder, is the time when if I stop to write about things they won't get done and the whole house of cards will fall apart!

That said - Katy and I had a great time at the Chain Link conference in Buffalo, then at a family vacation in Cape May. Now we are off to visit my mother for the weekend, all the while editing books and patterns, and fulfilling the mounting (yay!) wholesale orders for print patterns.

So we're here, we're happy, we're busy, and the blog is boring.

Click on the link above to hear the Lion Brand podcast, on which we were guests while in Buffalo. Pretty picture to follow, next week some time, I pinky promise!

Sock Knitting Madness!

2009-07-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

You all have GOT to go check out this blog post - Brian Kohler is knitting seven pairs of socks at one time. Genius or madness? You decide!

Skacel Blog!

LL has some FOs!

2009-07-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't been able to show you anything that I have finished lately, I thought I would share these two FOs belonging to Little Loopy! These are from the book Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet which LL and I both think is adorable. These two are now residing at Stix-n-Stitches in Montclair NJ - the store that commissioned them. I guess that means LL is now a contract crocheter!

More yarn came today for a magazine project, and I am busy swatching for a potential new booklet for next year. Will let you know all the details when I can.

Been busy booking summer guests for Getting Loopy - Susan Levin, Kathleen from Jelly Yarns, Kim Werker and the Krochet Kids International are all on the schedule - stay tuned!

Fun and games at Lion Brand Studio!

2009-07-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all the Getting Loopy listeners - in fact thanks to EVERYONE - who showed up!

Last of the TNNA photos

2009-06-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

This was the final book signing at Unicorn books on Saturday afternoon - you can see the Goth Princess holding court at my right elbow.

I always panic that I will have a signing and no one will show up - that old what if you had a party and nobody came anxiety from the teenage years I suppose. Thankfully - we had a lot of folks come to the party...

Phew! And thanks to you all.

Saturday night I was able to catch up with some crochet buddies like Doris Chan, Ellen Gormley (who has some great news to share - go check it out), Vashti Braha and others.

Sunday was more of the same - a pattern signing at Universal Yarns, a few meetings with industry folks, followed by a wonderful dinner with the lovely Julia of Patternfish. Why yes, we did talk just as fast in person as we did on the podcast, why do you ask? :-)

Monday was one last meeting, a frantic run through the market to look at all the new yarns I hadn't had time to look at earlier in the weekend, a class on the Moebius cast on with the fabulous Cat Bordhi, and the mad dash as soon as the show was officially over to grab my floor models from Bryson, Mango Moon and PolarKnit. One last Jeni's ice cream, and then the loooooong drive home.

Want to see a quick video? Check me out here!

The week since then has been a pile of sorting, catching up, working on new to-do lists, and falling asleep at inappropriate times. Just think, In January, we get to do it all over again!

More TNNA

2009-06-19T06:19:00.000-07:00

It's possible that blogging TNNA will take more hours than the actual weekend covered, but oh well. I can but try.

The first signing on Saturday was at the Leisure Arts booth for DIY Afghans They had three of the samples there - Dashing Diagonals in Cascade 220, Flying Geese in Mission Falls 1824 Cotton, and Checkerboard in Plymouth Encore. They also had the lovely Debra helping me out by playing with the CDROM on her laptop while I signed books. Note the also lovely Damask on my shoulders - I am nothing if not a promotional machine while I am working :-)

I was worried that no one would show up for the signing, but then some of my store owner friends showed me this -
A full page ad in the directory! Most of those friends (some with more love, some with less) pointed out that it might be time for a new head shot - the one I have been using since Secret Language of Knitters is a mite serious. In fact one store manager held the page in front of her face and said "I am Mary Beth and you will crochet the way I tell you to OR ELSE!!!!!" which was actually a lot more amusing in person than it might have seemed in print.

Speaking of signings... I have one in NYC at the Lion Brand Studio on July 9th at 6:00 PM. I will be reading, demonstrating stuff from the afghan book, and generally carrying on. Tickets are free but reservations need to be made ahead of time in the interest of not getting closed down by the fire marshall! Join me if you can - make your reservation here!

Poor LL has 4 more days of school - but the last big project is done and delivered, so amen. We both are waiting with bated breath for the days when we can turn off the alarm and sleep as late as we like!

More TNNA later - now I have to go get some editing and sketching done.

Almost, but not quite...

2009-06-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

Back from TNNA and what a weekend it was! I don't have a whole lot of photos, partly because I was frazzled and rushed for most of the weekend, partly because cameras are frowned upon on the show floor, but I did manage to snap a few.

On Thursday I drove to Lancaster PA to pick up Middle Sister, and then we both went out to Columbus. She did most of the driving because I was frantically trying to finish crocheting a model to hang in someone's booth! It was Swirly Beret and yes I did get it finished - thanks for asking!

I had a class Friday morning with Sally Melville - she is a genius teacher and if you ever have a chance to take any of her classes, run don't walk to sign up. This one was Learning to Love Intarsia, and by goodness now I do.

Friday afternoon I ran into Marly and Amanda from Lorna's Laces, and Sharon of She-Knits fame, and we hung out for a brief and shining moment. Along came...

Marcy Smith, Getting Loopy podcast guest and editor of Interweave Crochet! She was carrying her pal WiMi who had to get into the photo.

I ran around the market floor placing my models where they belonged - I had pieces in Bryson, Unversal Yarn, PolarKnit, and Mango Moon - then ran to North Market for lunch and my first ever Jeni's ice cream. Columbus regulars have been tweeting about the goodness that is Jeni's for the last few weeks and I had to see what all the fuss was about. All I can say is yummmmmmm.

Friday night was teacher meet and greet - we were supposed to gather outside the fashion show and set up our classroom handouts, etc, at the spot where we saw our sign. I was happy to be sharing table space with teacher and designer extraordinaire Melissa Leapman, so I quick set up my things.

Apparently too quickly - another teacher came by and asked "Is that really the name of your company?" with a quizzical look on her face. "Yes" I said "Hooked for Life" People nearby started to giggle so I took a closer look at the sign...
Ah well - at least I will make money at the show one way or the other!

I fixed one side of it quickly with a black marker, but left the other side the way it was so I could flash it to my friends as they passed :-)

Then there was the fashion show, which was the usual - a few amazingly good pieces, some average stuff, and a couple of howlers that made you scratch your head and lament the loss of perfectly good yarn.

And then the Keep the Fleece party! Which was fun but chaotic, at least at the beginning. Cosmos and a chocolate fountain for dinner!

Anyway, more TNNA posting later, for now I have to start plowing through my to-do list!

Still packing....

2009-06-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

Thank God I decided to drive instead of fly to Columbus for the TNNA show because with all the last minute stuff I have to drag along with me, my luggage charges would be higher than my airfare! Four suitcases and counting....

Anyway, I did promise to try to be a better blogger, but I am really under the gun trying to get to get the car packed so I can get out of here already! So some photos from the new patterns to keep you amused in my absence - This one is Oblique
And this one is Banded Wrap Cardigan - you saw the sleeves in the last post! NOW AVAILABLE - I wanted the fine folks at Mango Moon to play with it first because it's in their new yarn.
Back late late late Monday night - no Getting Loopy on June 15th!

Busy week already!

2009-06-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday afternoon was kind of suckish. I don't want to rant - well okay, I do want to rant, but in the interest of being a professional I won't - but I will never understand why adults can't just agree to disagree on occasion. There is room in this wild fibery world for more than one opinion on just about any subject, and everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Except on copyright violation - that's always wrong :-)

Anyway I was pretty aggravated, so LL brought me this - some yummy chocolate cake with my initials on it in leftover birthday cake letters. I wanted to be a great mom and tell her that one couldn't solve one's problems with chocolate, that I would be better off taking some deep cleansing breaths and moving on with my life but you know what? I like chocolate cake, and it did improve my mood, even if it wasn't the healthiest way to do it. One more teachable moment shot to hell!Later in the evening I was a guest on Marly's YarnThing podcast and we had a hell of a lot of fun. YarnThing is in the Blog Talk Radio network like Getting Loopy, and it was fun to be on the other side of the microphone if you will. Plus I love me some Marly - she is a natural and healthy mood enhancer all by herself because she is always looking on the bright side of things. Go check it out!

Yesterday I came home to a whole box of these -

I wasn't going to blog about it until I had somewhere to send you to buy it if you so desired, but I just can't wait any more. I really love how this came out - 8 afghans made from various crocheted building blocks, plus a CDRom that you can put in your PC (sorry Mac users!) to make up and print out an afghan layout of your very own. It is shipping to stores now, and eventually will show up on the Leisure Arts web site! Please ask your LYS for it - and when they say that Leisure Arts booklets only use mass market yarns, you can point to the Mission Falls cotton and the Cascade 220 on the covers!

And I am also quite happy to show you my newest crochet pattern - Damask.

It is a small shoulder shawl made in Elann.com Pure Bamboo, and is silky, drapey and full of summer romance as all get out. I will be wearing it at TNNA on Saturday during my book signings.

Those of you with itchy trigger fingers might notice that that is a Patternfish link. The Hooked for Life web site is being upgraded as we speak, but with my increasing focus on the wholesale side of my pattern business, it seems like a more time efficient practice for me to hand off the download process to someone who specializes in it. Patternfish does a lovely job, and every hour that I am not fiddling with downloads is an hour I can be busy creating more products - or you know, sleeping. So Patternfish is now the official download source for all Hooked for Life patterns.

Speaking of patterns, I have several hundred more than need to be wrangled into sleeve protectors, so I am off.

PS - Another one of my students has sold her first pattern and I am almost as excited as she is! If you are interested in taking Designing for Print Publication in July or September, please email Sarah@GettingLoopy.com for more information.

Fun and games at BEA

2009-06-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

Book Expo America was at the Javits Center in NYC over the weekend, so I took a break from the knitting on Friday and went to look at books.

Lots and lots and lots of books! I had never been before and a lot of people I know in the publishing industry said it was smaller than last year, but I couldn't believe all the publishers and printers and PR folks and authors who were there.

Two books in particular I was maybe looking for...

And there they were! In the Andrews McMeel booth, just where I was hoping they would be. I got to meet my publicist from AMP up close and personal for the first time, so that was a lot of fun. And I got some quality time with my agent, whose office is four hours away from mine, so that was good too.

I of course want to bask in the glow of Hooked for Life and DIY Afghans both being finished and just starting to make their way into the world - everyone I spoke to Friday wants to know what book I am doing next! I guess I have to do some pondering on that topic, but not until after I get back from TNNA.

So it's been a while

2009-05-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Chez Health Issues.

I was ill for a while, went in the hospital for a few days, got better, got sick again, then LL got sick, then LL's Dad, and then the dog.

It's been an exciting couple of weeks! But everyone is all better now.

This is what I have been working on when I could -
So Inclined, a new knit pattern which will also be the basis of a knitting class I am now offering to a LYS near you!

Spike, a crochet pattern.

And this poor nameless sweater that I have been complaining about on Twitter for the last few days. They are never ending because I am in a hurry to get it done so I can mop up everything else I need to do before I leave for TNNA in two weeks. Lovely yarn though, yes? Brand new from Mango Moon, it's called Bulu, and will be available at a store near you in the coming months. Love the way the colors blend, it's a real semi-solid.

LL's dance suspension is almost up - six months was a loooooong time. She goes back to competition on Sunday June 7th and we are all hoping for hardware after her long absence, so please hold a good thought in your head for her in the next week or two.

Been busy designing more stuff, writing more books, taping more podcasts, and avoiding cleaning the house. Mostly successful at that last one.

Anyway - an update so you know I am still here, and I will try to blog more faithfully in the coming weeks.

Soooo....

2009-04-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Last week was an odd combination of highs and lows. After the podcast Monday night I was feeling a little bit ill - might have had something to do with the Ben and Jerry's I had afterwards, or so I thought. Turns out my ulcerative colitis was gathering up a head of steam to kick my ass. Things went downhill pretty quickly...

so I spent Tuesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon in the hospital getting fluids and many unfortunate tests. The good news is, as much as I dislike having UC, it beats the crap out of the many other nasty diseases it could have been (and isn't). For this I am thankful. Seriously.

I nagged the doctor into letting me out so I could attend the ASJA conference (that's American Society of Journalists and Authors) on Friday and Saturday. I always love going to the conference, but this year was special because I got to speak on a panel discussion about Profiting from your Writing Passion. I had a really great time and got some nice feedback. Friday afternoon was editor meetings, and I managed to get through most of Saturday's workshops as well.

Saturday night, LL did a big dance fundraiser with her new dance school and it was a whole lot of fun- although we didn't get home until 1:00 AM! She danced in four different numbers and had a blast - all the fun of performing with none of the ups and downs of competition. Middle Sister came too so she could watch.

Now I am exhausted! But not awfully sickly, just way worn down. Finishing up knitting two sweaters, trying to catch up with everything that didn't get done last week when I was ill. Mostly sitting on the couch full time - knitting or crocheting, or writing, or emailing. Cinderella Puppy is happy I am home and keeps coming over to check up on me, which is cute.

So two more things - I am teaching my Designing for Print Publication online class again - this time on Yahoo Groups so I can have knitters as well as crocheters. Check it out here.

And for today's high? I admit to going through phases of checking out my books' sales rank on Amazon.com way more often than might be considered necesary by a more normal person, but with Hooked for Life being new to the market, I have succumbed to the lure of the rankings. It has spent a whole lot of time on the top 100 crochet books list, which of course pleases me greatly - thanks to all of you who shopped or bought the book there already. But when the ranking is particularly high, I turn up on the top 100 essay books list - which makes me feel a lot like a grown-up writer - a feeling I don't always have. So today was one of those days when I was on the essay book list.

I now share my dementia - I clicked over to see the whole list of top essay books today to see the kind of company I was keeping, if only for a brief and shining moment. Joan Didion was one title above me, Kurt Vonnegut one title below. I can die happy now!

Speaking of books - if you are the mother or special adult in the life of a tween or teen girl, I highly recommend this one -

I met the author over the weekend and enjoyed her immensely.

Back to the knitting...

Even I got tired of talking!

2009-04-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

This is where I spent last Tuesday...Reading The Secret Language of Knitters aloud so there will be a brand new audio book available in July from Knitting Out Loud. I admit that I enjoy talking, as any of you who know me in real life or listen to the podcast know. But even I was ready to be quiet for a while after reading with proper diction and some attempt at intonation for four straight hours. Phew!

All done though - back to planning events for Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot. Which has been in the top 100 crochet books on Amazon for most of last week. Not that I am happy about that or anything....

A little belated Easter frivolity!

2009-04-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

Can you tell LL is a knitter and crocheter? She didn't want a chocolate bunny in her basket, she wanted a chocolate sheep! Can you tell we were at her grandmother's house? note that all the photos behind the basket are of LL :-)
And the annual bunny cake she makes with Middle Sister. This year LL did the cutting herself - all those hours of watching Ace of Cakes is finally paying off!
Got the taxes done - AMEN! And am now trying to figure out what the most productive use of my time is today. I suspect it isn't going to open knitting at the LYS, but I might do that anyway...

Help, the wool, it is taking over!

2009-04-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

It all began with a phone call. I gave a talk when Secret Language of Knitters came out, and someone in the audience said her daughter threw out sheep fleece because she didn't know what to do with it. When I reacted in horror, the listener took my card and said she would pass on the info. Almost two years later I got a call saying if I could get to the farm in question, I could pick up some wool. So off we went!

This is what we came home with...

Yes sir, yes sir, FIVE bags full. Suffolk wool for those of you who are keeping score at home.

While I spin, I had never actually processed a whole sheep fleece and wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, so I began with a large handful and the kitchen sink.
These fleeces aren't particularly neat or clean and they have a very long staple length (6" plus!) So it has taken many many tubs of water to get them reasonably clean. After they are washed they sit in the sun for a while, but during a damp weekend I plonked a bunch on top of the heater so it would dry...
Then I picked through the dry fleece one more time - getting rid of whatever nasty bits I can lay my hands on. We wind up with a giant pile of puffiness - thusly...

Since a lot of this was two year growth I have to assume that yellow stripe ain't coming out for nothing. I thought it was lanolin but it isn't greasy feeling at all anymore, so now I don't really know what it is. It will add character to the final product though, so I am not stressing about it.

No matter how much fleece I pull out of the garbage bags, they don't seem to be getting any emptier. This could be a problem...

I was going to send the scoured fleece out to be carded, but the staple length is too long for the company I wanted to use. Now on the hunt for a drum carder to rent or borrow.

Next I need to learn how to dye some of this stuff. I have done Koolaid and frosting dyes with LL, and I have some Jacquard dyes lying around, but I have never dyed fleece so I don't know how to do it. Dye it now or after it is carded? Or even after it's yarn? Input welcome...

The book, she is here!

2009-04-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

Here she is - my newest wordy baby! Available at fine yarn or book stores near you starting on or about April 21st, 2009.

We at Chez Alpaca had a very busy weekend - my parents, sibs, LL, nieces, nephews and assorted grands gathered at my favorite place in the whole wide world, Cape May New Jersey, and had a loud, alcohol, carb, fat, and sugar fueled celebration of my parents' 65th wedding anniversary. That is not a typo - they have been married for 65 years come the 15th of the month. Can you imagine?

And for those of you trying to do the math, yes I am their youngest :-)

A few new goodies on H4L

2009-03-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

Rosado by Kim Kotary

and Surge by yours truly

Both are crocheted.

LL and I have been stuck in Irish Dance hell this past week because of St. Patrick's Day. Show after show after class after show. One more show tonight, then the Pearl River (NY) St. Patrick's Day parade tomorrow.

I got a phone call asking if I wanted a large pile of recently shorn Suffolk sheep wool. Do I? I don't know squat about Suffolks, but will certainly go find out!

High Tech Procrastination

2009-03-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

When I should have been blogging I succumbed to peer pressure and signed up over at Twitter. I am @Hooked4Life if any of you are interested.

Now that I should be swatching, I am blogging instead. My new theory is that maybe I should deliberately focus on something other than what I should be doing so the thing I need to be doing gets done. Need to swatch? Tell myself I have to write. Need to blog? Tell myself I should be upgrading the web site. Although that might make my to-do lists even more confused than they already are!

Saw the photos for DIY (Design it Yourself) Afghans which is coming out from Leisure Arts in late May if we are lucky, early June if production is slow. I can't wait to share them all with you, but it's still too early.

Busy this week with LL's step dancing - show today, school demo Tuesday, shows Tuesday and Wednesday, parade next Sunday. Everyone's Irish around St. Patrick's Day I guess, although I still think green beer is an abomination.

Afghans R Us

2009-02-26T05:40:00.000-08:00

Remember when the afghan book was finished and I said I didn't want to make any more afghans at all ever?
Apparently I lied, if only to myself! Princess Cinderella Puppy is show above, trying to bogart my most recent creation. Called Framework, it will be available on Hooked for Life just as soon as I get my act together to get the new web page for it put up.

And this one should be titled "What I did on my Christmas vacation" because this is one of three I banged out between December 15th and January 15th. The other two will be out soon in a book, but this one is now available free courtesy of the fine folks at Premier Yarns! Circles in Rectangles Afghan I am quite fond of this pattern if I do say so myself, the rectangular motifs are quick and easy, changing colors all the time keeps you from getting bored, and assembly was very easy. Please check it out!

Kind of scattered at the moment, finishing up two magazine articles, trying to do some magazine submissions which I haven't done in forever, and getting my fall/winter grouping ready for Hooked for Life. But today I am going to sod off and run into NYC to have lunch with a friend. Every hardworking designer/writer/podcaster needs a day off every now and again.

Lookie what I made!

2009-02-13T12:23:00.000-08:00

Yum, Corriedale singles....Yes I have succumbed to the lure of the spinning wheel even though I have more pressing matters at hand. I haven't had it out since before Christmas, and when the following came in the mail....
What could I do but spin? And spin....and spin... thank God it is only 3 ounces. This is a luscious Corriedale batt from Zarzuela's Fibers. This is my first experience with a batt and I am loving it - and the color does such gorgeous things I can't get over it. Ms. J is a genius if my spinning looks this good!

Lookie what else I made!

The new book is in my hands, sort of. This is the galley set - all the pages laid out in order as they will be in the book, but not bound yet. I get one last read through to see if there are any small changes I need to make - typos and the like. Trying not to re-write the whole thing as it's a little late in the game for that. This is the third time I have done edits on this book - and by the time I read anything I have written straight through a bunch of times I hate it all Always. And then a few weeks go by and I like it again - about the time I have to started doing readings and signings. But here is the firsty first peek - just for you guys.

LL has strep - again. They decided to go with the serious anti-biotics this time. Apparently they are so serious that the cost about ten times what the last round did! I almost had a heart attack at the drug store. Luckily LL is off from school next week so she can zone out and rest. Thank God she likes to crochet now so can keep herself amused while camped out on the couch!

No pix,

2009-02-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

but a funny story.

So last Friday, LL and I were planning to hit the highway and go visit Grandma Loopy in South Jersey - it was one of the cousins' fourth birthday party, and who doesn't like birthday cake? To make the most of the ridiculously high NJ Turnpike toll (don't get me started!) I figured I would pay a little sales call to an LYS I love while I was down there - tell them about my new books and class, see if they wanted to order some patterns, and just general sucking up on my part.

Anyway, in the interest of not packing frantically at the last minute (like we normally do), I took the small rolly suitcase containing the H4L models and look book, along with a stack of cruise flyers to hand out, outside to throw it in the trunk well before we had to leave. Sadly, I didn't bring the car key with me so I went back inside to get it.

Time passes and LL calls and asks me to pick her up from school so off I go. Totally forgetting that the small suitcase was sitting behind the car. So I run over it, nd it jams itself under the car.

Still haven't figured this out yet so I am driving down the block wondering what the horrible dragging sound is - did I hit a branch or something and not know it? I pull over to look under the car, see the suitcase, and try to tug it out. No go. So I drive a couple more blocks, zigging and zagging, figure this will dislodge the suitcase. Still no go. So I sit and I ponder and I wonder how long it will be before LL calls to ask where in heck I am, and I spot a smallish snow bank from when the roads were last plowed. Eureka! I gun the poor little Ford up the snow bank, do a little dash from the driver's side to the passenger side, and yank out the now unstuck but dirty and disgusting suitcase out from under the car, throw it in the front seat, and run off to school.

What makes this even funnier is that Middle Sister did something similar (she didn't smack her suitcase but left it behind) a few months back and I laughed and laughed. Karmic payback is a bitch, and the bigger sisters always win!

It has been a good week...

2009-02-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Looky looky what I got in the mail! A box of freeform-ready bits and pieces from the incredibly talented Kristine at Curious Creek. I have not yet succumbed to the lure of freeform crochet, despite hanging out with wonderful practitioners like Myra Wood, author of Creative Crochet Lace. But if this yarn doesn't make me get out my hooks and noodle around, nothing will. Every last inch of it is wonderful - this photo does NOT do it justice. If you want assurance that it is all lovely, know that Little Loopy is trying to pilfer from the pile every chance she gets, and is quite miffed than this time I am keeping all of it for me!

I am also kind of over-excited about my Designing for Print Publication class, which I am teaching on Crochetville. We are in our last of three weeks, and the purpose of the class is to help each aspiring designer focus on one design and go through the submission process. Well not only have four of my twelve students already submitted their first design proposals, one has a sale already! Granted I know it is their talent and not my teaching that will get them where they want to go, but at least I get to feel like I helped push them out of the nest a little bit. And that's a good feeling.

LL lived through the massive Language Arts paper that was due and the first mandatory chorus concert. Which is why we are off to Grandma Alpaca's this weekend, where the family will spoil LL rotten and all she has to do to be considered wonderful is show up and be her charming self. I have to go pack all the yarn we need now... but you know that pile above is first into the suitcase.

Polar Pair!

2009-02-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

I was having some knitting fun last weekend with a couple of skeins of PolarKnit (tm) yarn and this is what I came up with.

There are actually three buttons on the neckwarmer - you can't see the bottom one very well in this photo. Anyway, I just made the pattern available here and as a side note, isn't LL cute????

What's new Chez Loopy Alpaca

2009-01-30T12:59:00.000-08:00

Have you guys seen Tracery? I finally got a knitting pattern out! This one is is Universal Yarn Summer Linen, a Dk weight linen/cotton blend/ I has a deep scoop neck, a slight a-line, short sleeves, and is knit in pieces bottom up to the yoke, where all are joined for a raglan shoulder. Will try to get a photo of it on an actual person when it isn't snowy out side - it seems sort of silly to have snow in the background of a pattern for spring/summer.LL had a couple of friends sleep over last Sunday night because there was no school Monday. Imagine my surprise (and delight) when I got up Monday morning and they were all crocheting. Photos cropped to hide kids' faces - and notice they all have the same electric orange mail polish on? They did that too!

This is M, she didn't get past the chain stitch, but had a really great time chaining.
This is A - she loved her scarf so much that she went to A C Moore and bought crochet hooks, pillaged my stash, and made another one before she went to bed on Monday night! She even wore this one to school, so I know she wasn't just humoring me with the crochet interest.
LL is on an amigurumi kick - this is her current favorite, Chiquito! He was made of leftover Cascade 220, and is from the book Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet

LL wants you all to know that she is officially a contract crocheter now, and is making some ami store models for our LYS. I told her she isn't official until she actually finishes something and delivers it. Silly mommy...

Busy swatching and trying to get organized. I don't think a weekend will be enough time...

Want to see my new collection of patterns?

2009-01-29T06:25:00.000-08:00

There it is!

Or at least the first half of it. I remember the days when yarn arriving was a good thing, now it comes in boxes the size of kitchen appliances and makes me a nervous wreck! That's a hell of a lot of crocheting and knitting that has to be done right there...

Overall though, this indie pattern publishing thing is making me happy. I had a successful weekend at TNNA selling to the LYS via Universal Yarn who acts as my distributor. I got some great feedback from store owners about what they wanted to see and improvements I could make on the clerical end of things. I have learned that I should focus my time on things I am good at (writing and designing) and let others do what they do best (selling and organizing). It only took me a few decades to figure this out, but better late than never I suppose.

On the non-indie publishing front, I saw the first draft of the cover for Hooked for Life last week. They are still tweaking it a bit, but it's headed in a good direction. I also saw the first round of photos for DIY Afghans from Leisure Arts - also needs a few tweaks, but headed in a good direction. While the vast majority of my work on those two projects is finished, it will still be a bit of a relief when both manuscripts are off to the printer.

Snow day yesterday for LL, she spent the day sledding and making amigurumi - her newest addiction. Will show you some of her work tomorrow - right now I have to go run errands!

I'm baaaack!

2009-01-24T11:32:00.000-08:00

And freezing my butt off! What started out being planned as a simple trip to San Diego for TNNA took a turn for the better when I got the opportunity to go to Rosarito Beach in Mexico for a few days ahead of time to interview various artists in their studios. It's jobs like that that make me love what I do!

This is the view from my room - I stayed at the Rosarito Beach Hotel, which started construction in the 1920s, went through various and sundry developments over the years, and had its most recent addition completed just last year.

This is the view from the pier seen above - the early part of the hotel is to your left, the part where I stayed is the squat building in the center of the photo (I had just about the center room) and the behemoth in the background is the new condo hotel, which I got to tour. All of the parts are wonderful in different ways!

I stayed two nights, and as I said, spent all of my time meeting local artists in various disciplines, which was incredibly cool. Oh, and crocheting, I spent a lot of time crocheting because as usual I was a day late and a dollar short on an afghan I had promised to deliver to Premier Yarns in time for the CHA show, which I think starts tomorrow. I did in fact get it finished, although not in Mexico, but I will show you that one when the pattern gets published. Anyway.

Everyone kept telling me it was unseasonably warm - I sure wasn't complaining about 75 degree weather and beautiful ocean breezes - but I really loved what you see below.
The sunsets were unbelievable!

More from TNNA as I have time - I am still trying to get organized on all of my various projects! Getting Loopy is back in the saddle this week - please join us!

Extremes

2009-01-12T05:19:00.001-08:00

Here is Rosewood, the latest pattern from Hooked for Life. It is crocheted in a bamboo ribbon yarn and comes in three sizes - XS/S, M/L and XL/2X.

I went from the relative peace of New Year's weekend to crazy busy getting ready for TNNA. And no I get an email from a friend in San Diego who warns that the weather there is odd - 80 degrees in the afternoon and 40 degrees after dark! Not sure exactly how to pack for that - I am not a dress-up/grown-up clothes kind of person, so my conference-suitable outfits are somewhat limited.

Off to finish knitting a sweater, will try to blog from CA but no promises!

A beary fun adventure

2009-01-08T13:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the bad pun, sometimes I just have to succumb, you know? This is Boyd's Bear Country, and amazing store near Gettysburg, PA. LL and I went there before Christmas to do a little last minute Christmas shopping, and I have to say it was a whole lot more fun than I thought it would be.The store was highly decorated for the holidays and I have never seen so many stuffed animals in my life - and that includes LL's room! There was a museum display on the history of the company, a build you own bear area, restaurants, themed areas with all the bears and hares displayed, I could go on and on. While we were primarily shopping for others, and LL knew she was getting a big Christmas pressie so not much else under the tree, I didn't think it was fair to drag her in there and tell her she couldn't bring anything home, so I told her ahead of time that she could pick out an new animal friend. We looked and looked - found something for biggest big sister, a couple of cousins, and a nephew, and then we came upon this -
The bear nursery! All sorts of different bears were in the window of this area, styled to look like a hospital - the nice lady that waited on us was even wearing scrubs, which you can see in the background! Ll selected this little white sweetheart with green eyes, and named her Angelique.

Of course as soon as the new mama brought my grandbear home she said it needed some crocheted or knitted clothes, so I whipped out this little cap - pretty darned cute if I do say so myself. Custom fit of course, with little ear openings so as not to squish her pretty little head! Yarn is Bella Stripes by Universal Yarn. I wrapped it up and put it under the tree, so LL had something besides her Wii to open on 12/25.

I suspect some new bear accessories will be on my hook or needles soon - I had a really great time doing this, and you can't beat bear-sized outfits for instant gratification.

My buddy DC came over today to help me get organzied. Thanks DC! And now I have to move on to the next thing on my list...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T12:05:00.000-08:00

Is is 2010 yet?

This is what I have been trying to finish for the last week or so - three new patterns from Hooked for Life - and three more that aren't quite done yet.

In addition to the final edit on the new book - YAY!

And three afghans for a yarn company - YAY!!

And LL is home from school which is good but bad, because she thinks I should hang out with her rather than get any work done - BOO!!!

And why does TNNA always have to be right after the holidays? I crocheted through Christmas dinner and the Planet of the Apes marathon on New Year's Eve (hey, don't laugh, I love those movies!)

Seaside Jacket
Two Infant Car Seat Blankets
Estival

Isn't Estival a great word? It means "summery". I liked how it sounded with Astral, which is another one of my patterns. I may have to go hunting for -al words now.

LL got a sewing machine of her very own for Christmas and is sewing up a storm. She also got a Wii - and spent half the day 12/16 complaining that her shoulder hurt. She was not amused when I pointed out that 7 hours of Wii will do that to a girl...

Anyway - back to pattern writing and post-holiday clean-up, which never seems to end.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

LL was rocking the salt dough ornaments over the weekend when we went to visit Middle Sister. Here is her happy sheep - waiting for a bit of ribbon so he can hang out on the tree! Imagine what kind of yarn he would make - white and shiny!
I am crazed trying to finish work and Christmas preparations so not much blogging this week. Happy Holidays to all!

Sometimes I love my job...

2008-12-18T11:59:00.000-08:00

I only wish I could tell you what weirdo project I was working on that required me to give a doll an up-do, but it's a little too soon to share. Sorry about that! But I had a great time playing with dolls and saying it was work.
On the sometimes I don't love my job front - this just in. Why is it snowing in Las Vegas you might ask? Well, I will tell you why. It's because THAT'S where the yarn that I have been waiting for for a week went by mistake, and so OF COURSE there is a freak snow storm so that even though the yarn was supposed to be here tomorrow after it's country-wide detour, it might not be, because FedEx couldn't get their planes off the ground, and for all I know still can't. Not that I am bitter.

But it's my fault. If the yarn had been mis-directed to Hawaii, it would probably be snowing there instead. I would like to apologize to the people of Las Vegas :-)

A little Christmas knitting

2008-12-15T06:21:00.000-08:00

While I was trying really hard not to over schedule on gift knitting this year (for a change), I discovered I didn't like not having ANY Christmas gifts to make. So I did a little stash diving, and a little list searching, and came up with a few things that I would like to make that the recipients would also enjoy receiving.

I finished up the Eros Glitz scarf I showed you in a previous post. I wanted to use up the whole skein of yarn, but I got bored and ended it off at about seven feet long! Now I have to put the extra away, which is why I wanted to use the whole skein - I don't want extra! Ah well, boredom won out over clever, as it so often does.

Then I started these. I have a friend and neighbor who sincerely enjoys getting handmade gifts, so I love making things for her. Last year I made her a Calorimetry from Knitty.com and she loved it. I had enough of the yarn left over (Sheep Shop Sheep 3 in a photos-don't-do-it-justice semi-solid orangey-red) to make these cozy wrist warmers to match.

The pattern is from The Purl Bee blog, and they are called the Greenaway Gloves. I may make a pair for LL too - they work up very quickly in sport or DK weight yarn on size 5 needles, and lord knows there is enough yarn around here that I should be able to stash dive for something LL would wear.

LL is having her first real "grown-up" Christmas and is not sure how she feels about it. There is a very expensive gift that she wants, and I told her she could have it for Christmas if I didn't buy anything else for her except stocking goodies. On the one hand, she really wants the big gift, on the other, she has always had a million presents under the tree and is not real sure how she would feel about one. After much pondering she decided on the one big gift. I, of course, am scrounging around for coupons and things to make and bargains so that I can have a few small things to wrap without blowing the budget. Sometimes it's hard for us both to grow up!

A little knitting

2008-12-10T07:24:00.000-08:00

A quick garter stitch scarf for a relative in Georgia - I was aiming for decorative rather than warm, so am knitting up a skein of Plymouth Eros Glitz that I found in the stash. Does anyone else discover yarn in the stash that they have absolutely no memory of acquiring? This is one of those skeins.

In other news - did everyone see that madness on Stephen Colbert's site? Knitting Radicals! I also like the comment from the CLF (Crochet Liberation Front) that is currently on the top of the list.

And for those of you who aren't Getting Loopy! followers (although you should be!) I have some cruise news. Doris Chan and I will be hosting the first Crochet Cruise to Canada. It leaves NYC on July 4th 2009, more details are to be found at Lace Wings Cruise Check it out and join us if you can!

I am off to do more pattern writing. Sigh. That's the boring part so far as I am concerned.

It's not a swatch...

2008-12-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

It's a sheep shawl!

This is Figure, who came from the 2008 Oireachtas. She has an O t-shirt on which amuses us all no end. This is LL's third O animal - the predecessors are a wolf named Ceili and a bunny named Solo. What she will name next year's animal when she has no new dances to do I don't know, but we shall cross that bridge when we come to it.

In any case, I have a knitted shawl coming out soon for Caron yarn. It doesn't look a bit like this one in an adult size, but I wanted to check a few of the pattern instructions so I was noodling around with the stitch combo and the shape and this is what came out. It fits Figure perfectly, so I knew it was meant for her. Am I the only crazy that dresses stuffed animals with leftovers?

Peace has descended now that Irish dance has calmed way down until LL's ankle heals up for good. We are both alternating between relief and boredom - neither of us is used to this much unscheduled time. Not that I don't have a ton of work to do, but the lack of pressure to fit it in in the hours when I am not driving to or stuck in dance class is confusing me...

Speaking of shawls, I have a new knitted one and an accompanying article in the January issue of Creative Knitting - if you subscribe, it's the one you just got. It's a silky shawl in SWTC Phoenix, and I quite like it if I do say so myself. The photo was nicely styled as well.

Looking at the calendar, thinking about Christmas knitting and crocheting - you would think I would start this process in August, but no. Speed will be the watchword this year.

Anyway, I have some pattern writing to do that I have been procrastinating about - off to do it.

Happy Belated Turkey Day

2008-12-03T06:26:00.000-08:00

This is LL's pastry masterpiece - a turkey cake! Her 3-year-old cousin was somewhat disappointed with Thanksgiving dinner, because when he was asked what he wanted he replied "turkey cake" and his mother put actual turkey on his plate first. And corn, and mashed potatoes too! He suffered through it though, and got a big slice of turkey tail for dessert.

We had a lovely time at the regional Irish dance championships, right up until the second round when LL twisted her sprained ankle again. Needless to say, she did not medal. As disappointing as that is, she has next year and the year after, etc etc etc, to make up for it. She will be taking it easy dance-wise and catching up with her neglected homework for the next month or so, and we can start all over again after the first of the year.

Now that I am not driving to dance class 5 days a week I will attempt to get my own neglected homework together - the blog and the Getting Loopy web site. If LL can catch up, so can I!

My new guide to life...

2008-11-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

Feng Shaun: Discover Inner Peace with Shaun the Sheep

I have read lo these many self help books and have gotten something useful (and a few good guffaws) out of most of them - but I think I have finally found my guide to life. Who if not Shaun the Sheep should tell me to relax and be happy? Wallace and Grommit and a few sheepy friends also make guest appearances.

This book takes about 14 seconds to read, but it was worth the ten bucks for the smile it brought to my face. I saw it in an LYS the other day and couldn't leave without it!

Dance hell this weekend for Little Loopy, shawl hell for me as I have a large shawl to finish for Caron Yarn. At least with the teachers' convention in NJ today, LL and I could sleep in.

Have a great weekend -Feng Shaun: Discover Inner Peace with Shaun the Sheep

How did it get to be November?

2008-11-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

It totally happened when I wasn't looking. I have been frantically trying to get all my models remade in Universal Yarn, because starting today (!) the UY reps will be selling my pattern line to LYSs across the country. I hope. Because if not, I just spent a lot of time and money for nothing :-) In any case, on the one hand I was getting all princess-y about re-working the old patterns - I wanted to move on to new things. On the other, some of the older patterns look, in my opinion, a heck of a lot better in their new incarnations. The Geometry Purse
is one of those that I like much better now. There are two sizes in the pattern, one is two shades of cotton worsted held double, the other is two strands of lightweight flax held double. They have plastic canvas inserts in the bottom so they hold their shape. These of course had to go off to be in a trunk show, but I am making another one of the linen version for myself.
After I made the immediate deadline for UY, despite the fact that I have a pile of work to do, I was suffering from near brain meltdown and wanted some brainless activities. I made this scarf on Sunday afternoon after some very quick stash diving...
It has some deliberate dropped stitches in it, and fringe, and I made it using techniques I learned in a class I took with Chris Bylsma at the last TNNA. It took less than one skein each of Cleckheaton Gusto, and Plymouth Yukon. I didn't know who to give it to, so it's listed in my Etsy shop for sale. I had pretty much forgotten I started an Etsy shop, then loaded a bunch of the new patterns on there, and lo and behold they are selling. So now I think I might put some handmade items on there too and see how that goes.

This was just for me. I had to put the spinning wheel away because I was succumbing too often to the lure of its siren song, and not getting enough work done. Since I couldn't go to Rhinebeck (for which I am still bitter) a friend brought me two ounces of (crack) roving to play with. I spun it up right away, work schedule be damned. I am still underspinning when I ply, so I may run this through the wheel one more time to tighten it up. Little Loopy thinks it should be a scarf for her, so of course that's what it will be.

She is crazed too - Irish dance regionals are Thanksgiving weekend, less then four weeks away. She has a solo and a team event, and is trying desperately to qualify for national competition next year, so has been dancing pretty much six days a week. Which means I have been driving and writing checks, pretty much six days a week :-)

Back to work - thanks for putting up with my bloggy absences recently, I am trying to do better now!

More Stitch n Pitch

2008-10-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

Cat put up her newest episode of Let's Knit 2Gether a very well produced video podcast. All of use from SnP are wandering around, and there are some great shots of Little Loopy (light purple coat, cream and purple fringed scarf which she knitted herself!) Go check it out!

Another busy weekend

2008-10-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

It was Mom-mom Alpaca's 87th birthday this weekend, and since she likes the beach best in the whole wild world (which is where I get it, I suppose) Little Loopy and I hauled butt down to Wildwood to take her out for dinner.There ferris wheel was still going strong even though it's October. I love me some Wildwood boardwalk. LL and my sister AJ were not all that interested in riding rides, but I had to take a spin on the swings - my all time favorite ride. When I worked at HersheyPark two trillion years ago, I rode the swings almost every day. When you combine a swing ride with the boardwalk, you just can't make me much happier, unless I could figure out how to knit or crochet at the same time.

Speaking of crochet -

Here we have the Universal Yarn version of All Tied Up. This is made in Fibra Natura Heaven, which is a merino/silk blend. It is lighter and smaller than the original, but still big enough to tie into a great big knot, which was the point. Now that the remakes are almost all finished I am finally getting going on some new stuff - pix as soon as I am able.

Oh, and LL would like you all to know she got a hard earned 10th place trophy on Saturday. The hardware blight has ended, amen :-) Seven weeks until regionals, three more local competitions on the meantime.

Back to work...

Introducing...

2008-10-06T17:18:00.001-07:00

All Tied Up

This is the newest of my patterns from Hooked for Life, LLC. I have a slightly smaller version coming out soon, but being tall I like this one best.

I got the idea for it when a few of the Big Damn Knitters on Ravelry (knitters and crocheters who are fond of the Joss Whedon show Firefly) were talking about a shawl worn by the character of Saffron. Now that I go back and look at the original photo, this shawl is only a distant cousin of the one in the show, not exactly a twin, fraternal or indentical. And I didn't reference the name of the show on the pattern because that seemed to by copyright infringement to me. But for those of you who are Firefly geeks like I am, you might notice a slight familial resemblance.

Knitted some baby socks last week, but the baby was only visiting for a short while so I had to tuck them in his bag before I got to take a photo of them. Bad blogger, bad bad bad. Not much else on the knitting and crochet front.

Irish dancing is sucking up LL's life - and mine - at least until the regionals are over Thanksgiving weekend. She is having a good time though - me - not so much :-)

Off to do Getting Loopy tonight - hopefully some fiber forward movement tomorrow.

New York Mets Stitch n Pitch, 2008

2008-09-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

Warning, photo heavy post here, but there was too much fun to pass up! I don't know who exactly these two lovely crocheters are, but they were all ready for SnP with their color coordinated Mets crochet gear. How cool is that?

This is the committee on the field pre-game, getting our Spirit awards from the Mets. You may not be able to tell from the photo, but thanks to Lily Chin, Mr Mets is wearing both a knitted and a crocheted baseball scarf. He was very into it!
That's Kim Small from Workman, Stacy Charles, Tanis Grey from SoHo Publishing, Heather Carlson, Andrea from Seaport Yarns in NYC, yours truly in my Getting Loopy t-shirt, Jack Blumenthal from Lion Brand, and of course the shy and retiring Lily Chin in the front, in her knitted Mets uniform, complete with crocheted baseball cap, ball and mitt.
This is the banner that Lily made to commemorate the evening. Knitted center...
With a crocheted border, because she is nothing if not multi-craftual.
Here are all of the authors that showed up and hung out to sign books and meet the knitters and crocheters - clockwise, from Debbie Stoller down in front, Shirley Paden, Nicky Epstein, me (I didn't know I was that tall!) Wenlan Chia, Kay Gardiner, and Lily Chin.
Lily got so excited about her beloved Mets that no only did she wear her uniform, she had her manicure done in blue and orange, and slathered on the Met's blue eye shadow - not her normal look.

I seem to recall that at the Knit and Crochet Show in NH she said she was a shortstop :-)

It was a great night - and the Mets won!Thanks to all who came, saw, and got rained on - looking forward to next year in the new stadium.

Extreme Close Up Fever

2008-09-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

As usual since I started designing so much, I am working on a great deal, but can't really show you much of it because it violates some agreement somewhere! This is a close-up of a knitted project I have been working on. Yarn is Cotton Candy by Blue Ridge Yarn, and I looooooove it. Will show you the whole ball of wax (or is that cotton?) when I can.

And this is another version of my Field of Flowers pattern. This is in Universal Yarn's Yummy and I really like it. It looks very different from the original, which was wildly colored because it was made of Noro Kureyon Sock, and a lot of people who have seen both models said they actually preferred this one because the stitch definition is better. So if you liked the pattern but not the color, this shows you how it looks made up in a more staid colorway. Both patterns are the same mind you, but the one has the Noro model and gauge info, and the other has the Yummy model and gauge info. Meaning if you have one, don't buy the other one!

Getting ready for Stitch n Pitch this Thursday night at Shea stadium - should be great fun! And other than that have just been writing and designing and dragging Little Loopy around to her 12 million weekly dance classes!

Thank you!

2008-09-16T06:44:00.001-07:00

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those who made a donation to SaveLorisHouse.com Due to your generosity over $7,500 was raised via the blog-a-thon, and combined with personal donations from many of the members of ASJA (the American Society of Journalists and Authors), and a grant from WEAF (the Writer's Emergency Assistance Fund, a non-profit organization that helps writers in dire need), foreclosure was avoided for now.

I read a touching email from one of Lori's close friends yesterday and Lori and everyone around her are overwhelmed with the response to her story. WalletPop on AOL has covered it, and if there are any other media mentions, I will post a link. The cavalry came in to save the day - thanks for saddling up. I can't tell you how touched I am by the response from the readers of this blog.

OK - back to some knitting content soon, I promise. I am off to the Stitch N Pitch meeting to get ready for the Mets game on 9/25, and then to Tar-jay to buy a new memory card for the camera, and I pinkie swear I will get some fibery goodness up on this here blog soon.

A 32 pound box of yarn is sitting in my dining room. If I put a tablecloth on it do you think I could call it a sideboard?

Be well,
And thank you.
Mary Beth

If you can...

2008-09-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

... please help a colleague of mine.

Lori Hall Steele is a gifted professional freelance writer with over 3,000 articles to her name. She is a 44-year-old single mother of seven-year-old Jack. And she is suffering from an unholy combination of Lyme disease and ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and is days away from foreclosure. Stuck in a hospital room, attached to a machine that is helping her breathe, there isn't much she can do about it - but we can.

This is not an urban legend or an internet scam - this is someone whose work I know and respect, and the horror of her situation gives me chills.

If you have a dollar to spare, please visit Save Lori's House and make a PayPal donation. Any amount, no matter how small, will be greatly appreciated, and put to immediate good use.

This has nothing to do with knitting or crochet, and I promise I won't turn this board into a constant barrage of sad stories. But again, the fact that while she is quite literally fighting for her life she has to worry that her son is about to be displaced due to her crappy insurance company and her mounting medical bills - as a mother, II just can't imagine how that feels.

Bloggers on all sorts of topics are spreading the word about Lori as best they can. If cute photos of quirky cats can reach millions in days, I hope this topic can to. This is a real, visceral thing we can do via the internet - we can't save someone's life, but we can at least help to give Lori some peace of mind about those she will leave behind, sadly, sooner rather than later.

Thank you.

Mary Beth

Happy News on many fronts!

2008-09-09T11:28:00.001-07:00

I am pleased to announce that Hooked for Life(my indie pattern line) has joined forces with Universal Yarn. I will work in their yarns for my line, and we will have all sorts of new goodies to show at the January TNNA.

My afghan book for Leisure Arts is finished and will be out next year,my crochet humor book is almost finished and will be out next year, and Getting Loopy! just passed its 12,000th download with the help of many of you here.

I need a nap.

Anyway, this is why I haven't been posting much - it has been a truly busy summer.

I am going to go stalk the UPS man now - I am expecting a 32 poound box of yarn this afternoon!

Peeking out from the rubble...

2008-09-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

Of my looming deadlines...

The house is covered in yarn bits and sticky notes, my sleep schedule is shot to hell, and my to-do lists are longer than the book manuscripts which are due. So I thought I would just give a heads-up that all is well if slightly hectic at Chez Alpaca. Here is a small cute picture of my small cute dog to distract you .
Little Loopy had a birthday last week - all was well until she managed to kick her own finger at Irish Dance. It's sprained, which sucks. It's not broken, which would have sucked worse I suppose. She is not thrilled with the fact that it hurts, but is glad it happened near the beginning of school on the off chance she can use it to get out of some homework!

School starts for her this week - amen. Irish Dance started back up and she has to be driven 6 days a week. Booooo!

I am deliriously happy to announce that I have finished the first draft of the afghan book. Although it may just be that I am delirious, I am not sure. Working on the final first draft of the crochet humor book, and then I have a trillion and four designs to swatch and submit.

Since I am a crappy blogger right now, I invite you all to whip over to Let's Knit 2gether , a video podcast. I was interviewed at Rhinebeck last year and my little bit of interview is in this episode. CAT does a great job with this show - you should definitely check it out if you haven't already, even the episodes I am not on :-)

And of course, Getting Loopy! is still cruising along, with new episodes every Monday night.

OK, back to the to-do list...

Busy busy busy...

2008-08-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

I know, busy is nothing new here. But speaking of new, here is Astral, my most recent pattern for Hooked for Life I had finished it some time ago, but fell prey to the awful never finish an item without completing the pattern jinx, and it took me a while to recreate what I had done. It doesn't help that I am often too clever for my own good when it comes to construction - you may never have attached a bag bottom and sides the way I did here, so I had to explain it to you, but by Gosh there is hardly any sewing to do when you are finished.
Of course Little Loopy is modeling.

Other than that it's the usual here - three more afghans to finish. It seems like I have been stuck on the number three for some time, but that's because I am working on all three at the same time instead of sitting down like a normal person and finishing one, then moving on to the next. I blame it on my short attention span.

That and they are too darned big to drag to dance class with LL. She is back in training, so I am back to crocheting and knitting in the car park. Tonight I am going to relax with a chemo cap for Nichole's drive and hope for a little instant gratification boost.

Two-fers

2008-08-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

My poor camera is on its last pixels and shooting a might blurry, but this is one of the photos I could sort of salvage from The Knit and Crochet Show. This is Amy Shelton from Crochetville and I, hanging out on the lobby of the hotel, getting ready to tape my appearance on her podcast. She later returned the favor and appeared on the Getting Loopy! live show - we will have her back soon to tape a show of her very own. Doesn't she look fabulous in Doris Chan? Even with my sad broken camera, Doris' designs hold their own :-)Speaking of Getting Loopy! did you all hear Lily Chin last night? She was great - we talked for 45 minutes and never a dull moment. One of the things we talked about was her book Couture Crochet Workshop I took a class with her last year on achieving better drape and closer fit in crocheted garments and it was a real eye opener - and we used the principles from this book. I highly recommend it.

In another two-fer - my buddy Nichole found this wonderful and entirely apt mug for me. It has two sayings, both of which I live by.

Although sometimes I think my messy desk is more the mistress of me!

Back to afghan hell - boy will we be having a party when that book has shipped!

Phew! Home again, and to stay,...

2008-07-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

... at least for a while. The camera is suffering from a personality disorder and I am still too fried to try to deal with it right now, so I will post, but sadly no pix.

First off I have an announcement to make. The artist formerly known as the Kid or Kiddo has decided she wants a different online name. She is now and forever after to be known as Little Loopy. If you had seen her helping me run the podcast on Thursday night when we did the live remote from the Guilds conference you would know why. I was a little shorthanded and she just took charge - helping new buddy Kim Kotary (go buy her book You Can Crochet Socks right now - it's fab!) keep the show going under somewhat chaotic circumstances. We did 18 guest live on the air in 60 minutes, despite technical glitches, overhead loudspeaker noise, and general crazy. We also ran a live raffle which LL did pretty much on her own. She rocked the house with her mad organizational skills, which let's be honest, she didn't get from me! She also rocked the fashion show on Saturday night with her knitted faux denim shorts, complete with purple Berocco Suede pocket and five dangling pewter dragonflies. Pix as soon as I am able.

We took a side trip to visit our pals at A Knitter's Garden in Chester New Hampshire. LL was taken by the sheep in the back yard and by how Joanne, the owner said the word "yarn". Joanne is from Boston, you can fill in the rest. LL also was quite taken by the shawl KAL, and started on her very own. 6 rows down, bunches to go, but it is 5.5 more rows than I thought she would do, so I am impressed.

I taught a class (three times!) on book publishing for aspiring authors which I hope didn't suck. I talked a lot of business which I hope will lead to some new projects I can show you all some day. I ate, I drank (although not enough), I shopped, and hung out with new friends and old (also not enough). And then we came home.

Home for a while now - dance season starts up for LL soon and I have to tackle all the work I put off by whining about traveling! I will try to blog more frequently now that I am home more - at the very least because I have run out of excuses about that too!

Oh - and go check out the brand new and fully functional Getting Loopy! site. Designed by the lovely and multi-talented Amie of Nexstitch it does more than I ever dreamed it could. We have Amazon links, we have show archives, we have a CafePress store, we have a little bloggity with comments enabled, it does everything bu produce the show! I totally love it, which I can say without sounding braggy because I had absolutely nothing to do with how completely fabulous it is.

Drive by blogging

2008-07-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

Home for less than 48 hours between trips. We got back from the alleged vacation on Sunday night, and are minutes away from leaving for New Hampshire for the Knit and Crochet Show. Lots to tell you, but no time to write! Will try and do some (photoless) catch-up later in the week.

In the meantime, this is Harrison- And so is this -

Yum! I wish I had time to spin!

New logo, new pattern, new FO...

2008-07-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

This is the new logo for Getting Loopy - click on the photo to make it bigger - ain't it cool? I am totally in love with it, and Amie from NexStitch.com who designed it. Next up, a new website to go with my graphic fabulousness. And already available, T-Shirts for you, your dog, and your Teddy Bear! Getting Loopy! on Cafe Press I got the Kid and I each a t-shirt to wear to New Hampshire, and two tote bags - one for me, and one to give away on the show. Can't wait to see what they look like in real life.
Next up, my newest pattern, available at Hooked for Life , which is also soon to get a graphic remodeling. This is called the Swirly Beret, and is crocheted in one skein of Colinette Jitterbug. It fits head sizes 19" - 23", mods available to make the diameter of the top larger, although you would then need more yardage. The Kid is the model - she makes me pay her per pattern sold, gotta love her entrepreneurial spirit...
And then, a wee little FO I made for a friend of a friend. Don't ask me what yarn since I already lost the ball bands, but I think it was Cascade and cotton. Don't remember who the pattern was from either - I definitely suck at blogging today. But will post the deets if I find them while I am cleaning up this weekend. My stitching area is taking over the whole living room and needs to be beaten back with a stick. The sweater has little bees on the buttons, which I love. Amazing what you can find when you clean...

Another two pieces for the afghan book were shipped today, three more that are partially assembled are going on vacation with me starting tomorrow. Does anyone think Leisure Arts will mind if their samples have sand in them? I am guessing they will be so happy to get them since I am a little behind the 8-ball, deadline-wise, that they would just vacuum them and move on :-) I have two book chapters to write before Wednesday, but I should be able to crank them out by the pool. I just discovered the high contrast setting on my laptop and hope this means I can use Word outside.

Gone for a week, back for a day, then off to New Hampshire. Will try to post in between laundry loads next Monday. Off to pack...

Home again - for a minute or two...

2008-07-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

Home from the midwest. Nice to sleep in my own bed again, but I wish it wasn't so hot and humid - yeeeeewwwwww to the giant humidity. Kiddo and I are taking great amusement from the dog, who is following us around as if she thinks if she can keep her eyes on us, she can prevent us from disappearing again. She even jumped into the car this afternoon as we were unloading it, in case it had ideas about spiriting us away again. Boy is she going to be pissed off on Sunday when we leave for vacation!

The photo above is on the front of the art museum at Ball State University. I was working at BSU all of last week on a documentary film that covers some of the same info in my Driving the National Road in Indiana book. It was fun being an academic for a week, although I don't know if I could do it full time. We got the first draft of the script finished, some of the shooting has already taken place, and with any luck the one hour film will be on PBS in early 2009.

Anyway - the inscription above is Gracious Living is the Finest Art. My new mantra :-)

Getting Loopy! was fun last night - Jacqueline from SOAK came on and we talked quite a bit about how to properly care for your fine crocheted items. Do you think anyone would mind if I won my own contest? I have prize lust for the things that she will give away! No show next week - vacation is coming up and I can't wait.

Off to hit the local craft store - I need to take some photos for one of my magazine articles and the lighting is not what they had hoped for. So I am going to make a quicky light box to shoot the smalls. Will share a photo with you next time if they work out.

Greetings from Muncie!

2008-07-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Hey there all - almost halfway through my consulting time here at Ball State, but wanted to announce a few new things.

It's funny when you have been designing for a short while, because you have sold/written/finished a bunch of patterns, but they aren't published yet so you don't have much to show for the time you have put in. Then all of a sudden it seems, your work shows up all over the place at once. I guess it's sort of like an actor that has been plugging away for a while, then gets a role that garners a lot of attention, and suddenly she is an "overnight success". People don't realize that overnight was several years in the making.

Anyway - here is a look at my newest pattern, The Flirty 30s Tank, in the current issue of Interweave Crochet. I love how it looks on the model, but I do want to point out that I am not a petite little flower, and I wear the top too - in fact I was wearing mine when Kim Werker spotted it and asked if it was available for the magazine. I have gotten several emails asking why the size range is so small, but it isn't - the measurements you might be looking at are for the area under the arms where the top band goes. The pattern goes up to a 52" bust, and it has more than 6" of ease for a drapey fit, so please don't think you have to be a size 2 to wear it!

The other thing I want to direct you to in a totally self serving way is a fun book of belts put together by myself and a gang of my friends. Check out Straight from Today's Designers for a downloadable book of belt patterns from all sorts of great folks, including yours truly, Robyn Chachula (who by the way was great on Getting Loopy! last night) Doris Chan, Amy O'Neil Houck, and many many others. Please go check it out!

I have to go back to work now -

My swap partner is psychic!

2008-06-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

I was involved in a swap at the 9-5 Multi-tasking group on Ravelry. They are nice enough to let me in the group even though I don't work in an office - they figure with all the crazy things that I do I am an expert at multi-tasking, and they are right!

Anyway, one of the themes of the swap was work related items, and since I lamented on my swap sheet that I was chronically disorganized, my fab buddy Nichole threw in some cool binder clips. How is that psychic?

Look at the colors of the binder clips... now look at the colors of the afghan I just finished for my Leisure Arts book. Creepy in a good way, no?

Now I know that she is home saying - "all the wonderful stuff I sent her and she is going on about the binder clips?? Nut bar!" and she does perhaps have a point. She also sent some lovely local yarns that I can't wait to play with, and she made me a beautiful pendant that I will wear at the Guilds conference in a few weeks. And there were some other fun and fabulous goodies, many of which have already been stolen by the Kid, so you know they were great. But I have to say, I get a kick out of the binder clips. Now my labels for that project are color coded - it might be the only organized thing on my desk right now!

Off to the Midwest tomorrow - Kid and I are going to King's Island on Sunday, then up to Muncie, IN so I can work a bit on the documentary I am writing, then to see our friends in Richmond, IN. On Saturday July 5th from 1 - 3 I will be doing a book signing and trunk show at UnWind - a cool new yarn shop that I can't wait to visit. If you are in the neighborhood, stop on by.

Getting Loopy will run on schedule - I will tape the show from my hotel room in Muncie - God I love technology! Kim Werker was fabulous this week - next week I will be talking to Robyn Chachula about the joys of symbol crochet. Check us out!

On why you should never be without more yarn...

2008-06-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

While I am generally allergic to going to a shopping mall on the weekend, here it was the night before Father's Day and I still hadn't taken the Kid to the store to pick up the shirt she had chosen for her dad on a previous outing So we had to go - we just had to.

She had a feis on Saturday (nice effort but no hardware, we aren't complaining though because she is having a good season overall this year), so we were dragging a bit by the time we got there. I never park in the indoor parking garage, preferring to park as far away from the other drivers as possible and getting a nice walk in out of the deal, but it looked like it was going to rain, and the poor Kid wasn't going to want to walk too far on her tired Irish dancer feet, so I parked on the 4th level of the garage. We went in, we shopped, we ate some salad, we came back to the car.

Where we sat for twenty minutes only moving about 20 feet. We were still on the fourth level of the garage, and hadn't even gotten to the down ramp yet. I made an executive decision that we were going back inside - the air conditioner isn't working right in the van and I was getting cranky sitting and not moving and being hot all at the same time. So I re-park the car just a few spots away from where we started, and we went back inside to hang around on the comfy chairs. Kid is exhausted but agrees it would be better to sit around in the AC than to sit outside and listen to me curse. I have some knitting, she does some window shopping, and an hour later we head out again.

The line isn't notably shorter, but since the rain has started it isn't so hot, so we decide to tough it out. I can't knit because the piece I have requires a few brain cells and I don't want to drop a stitch and curse some more, so I reach into the bag and come up with a giant hook and some thick yarn that I can't talk about yet (but will soon) and I decide to make a scarf. The photo shows you how much bulky scarf you can get done while in stop and barely start traffic in a mall garage - answer is: a lot. We first left the mall at 6, went back in at 6:20, went back out at 7:20, got out of the garage at 8:40 (which is when I put the crochet hook down :-), and got home a little after 9. Total escape from the mall time? Just over three hours. It didn't take us that long to eat dinner and buy the shirt! When will I park in a mall garage again? Never ever ever ever.

The moral is - always have a brainless project in your bag.

And look who came out to watch me take photos of the scarf! It is often like Disney gone wrong in my back yard with the critters everywhere - we have a ton of local bunnies, woodchucks, evil squirrels, birds, and I have even seen some wild turkeys perched on my shed roof.

But I love the bunnies best!

Fun from Valley Yarns!

2008-06-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

Women's Striped Pullover is my newest pattern - this one is offered by WEBS and is in their Southwick yarn, a cotton/bamboo worsted weight.

I loved making this sweater - I am totally into the texture and feel of the yarn. It has a rolled hem, cuffs, and collar, and set-in sleeves, and is available in five sizes from S to 2X.

I had no idea the pattern had been released yet until folks starting giving it favorite hearts on Ravelry! The designer is always the last to know :-)

Getting Loopy! was a little wild last night - there were some technical difficulties that prevented me from starting the show on time so we went a bit over on the other end so as not to cut off the fabulous Dora Ohrenstein, from Crochet Insider. We were chatting away about a variety of things including the wonders of vertical crochet, and after the live stream went off, Dora hit me with her fabulous crochet rap - Stick It! Even if you don't listen to the whole show you should zip on over there to hear they rap song - there is nothing like it!

Just finished up another sweater, this time for Caron International. Now I am writing patterns and working on my book projects. School is out for the Kiddo next week and I am trying to blast through as much as I can until she is home for summer vacation.

Another June, another TNNA...

2008-06-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

And another finished pattern from Hooked for Life, LLC

Just got back from TNNA (The National Needlearts Association - a trade show for the fiber industry). I go twice a year, in June and January, to see all my yarnie buddies, check out all the new products and colors, and basically suck up for more work. All of which I accomplished, amen.

This year I unveiled my very own pattern line - Hooked for Life - but in a smaller way than I had anticipated. Between the genius stabbing myself in the hand with a seam ripper move, and the weeks of lets see how many barely related illnesses Kiddo's father can fall prey too, I only had eight patterns ready - and frankly four of those were done in the 48 hours before my flight!

Anyway, I had a wonderful time as always - it's pretty cool to talk about yarn for four straight days with people who are at least as interested as you are. The best wrap up of the show I saw was Franklin's In fact it is so wonderful I am not even going to try to do a wrap up post! He was so much fun to meet. We talked a bit about falling in with a bad crowd (some of us perhaps do not pay as much attention at the fashion show as we might - they called us the Dirty Thirty because a whole troop of fun-lovers was lined up against the back wall instead of sitting politely in our seats...)
In addition to stalking wonderful yarn, I was also stalking wonderful guests for Getting Loopy! Booked up for the next four weeks now, and I got a stack of very cool gifts to give away on the show (many of which I would prefer to keep - that's how cool they are...)

Now that I am home I am hating the heat and humidity in a big way. Hard to believe that during the wonderful knitting class I took on Friday with lovely and talented Chris Bylsma that I had to borrow a shawl from her because I was freezing my rear off in the convention center!

I am also sounding a little gravely, voice-wise, but at least I fared better than Amy Singer who lost her voice entirely and had to exclaim over gorgeous yarn in sign language.

This pattern is called Field of Flowers, and it is crocheted in Noro Kureyon Sock, but would work in any fingering weight yarn. Even though it is a fine gauge, it worked up very quickly because the lace pattern is only a four row repeat, and two of those rows are pretty darned tall.

I am off to plow through business cards and figure out how many designs I promised to whom so I can rough out some sort of a calendar for the summer. Catch you all soon...

Two down....

2008-06-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

Ten to go!

This is Wrap Star , formerly known as the Silly Putty Shrug. It had a name change in the interest of not violating anyone's copyright. It is knitted, very stretchy, reversible, and one size fits many. I never say one size fits all - because I think that is not humanly possible...

Anyway I really like it and hope you will too. I wore it for my taping for the Knit and Crochet Today show on PBS so it will be seen on television sometime this fall!

In other news, I am still not sleeping, but boy am I productive! Or I could just be deluded because I am busy and sleep deprived at the same time. I am really hoping I won't wake up on Friday, look at all the work I did this week and say "Damn that's ugly!"

Speaking of a day late and a dollar short - Julie Armstrong Holetz was on Getting Loopy! last night, talking about crocheting with alternative materials (like leather and twine). It was very interesting - you should check out the archives if you haven't already. A quick reminder - no show next Monday because I will be homeward bound from TNNA. We get back on schedule on June 16th with Dora Ohrenstein of Crochet Insider We are going to talk about vertical garment construction among other things, and I am sure I will have some good dirt to share after TNNA.

The Kid saysm 17 more days of school. Not that she's counting or anything....

I have to go crochet a beret now....

ZZZZzzzzzzzz

79 hours until TNNA....

2008-06-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

And about 100 hours of work left to do. If I don't sleep.....

Anyway, I know I get the bad blogger of all time award but you would not believe the last few weeks if I told you. So I won't go on and on (which might make me a really bad blogger - am I supposed to go on and on?) but here are the highlights -

Step dancing season is in full tilt for the next few weeks. Today, the kid got a very nice plaque - we are greatly pleased, as she is a champion now, so hardware is hard to come by. Two more events before the July break.

Getting Loopy! cracked the 2,000th download this week with room to spare. The show is only 6 weeks old. I am delighted (and writing really short sentences, apparently). Thank you! This week's guest is Julie Armstrong Holetz, author of Uncommon Crochet. NO SHOW NEXT WEEK as I will be staggering home from TNNA that night. Back on schedule June16th, although I haven't scheduled a guest yet so who knows what will happen? ITunes finally works - it was me, not them, that was brainless.

Kid's dad is more or less back to work. Amen. I skipped over his several day hospital stay because it was icky. You may thank me later.

Speaking of icky, I start PT/OT for my thumb on Tuesday. The scar tissue has fused with the underlying whatever and needs to defuse. It sounds painful, so I am going to pretend it is not going to hurt until proved wrong.

Afghan parts are arriving on my doorstep - way cool. It will be a few more months before I can show you anything, but I think they are lovely and will be well worth the wait.

Hooked for Life, LLC , my new publishing endeavor, is making its debut.
There is only one pattern available for download at the moment (the 50/50 sock shown above), but more will be coming in the next week, and at TNNA your LYS can order printed versions. I am pretty excited by this endeavor, and hope you all will love what I am doing too. Those are the kid's feet. She says please buy patterns with her photo on them (it's nice to have an in-house model on call) because I have to put change in her bank whenever one sells. The dog will be in an upcoming pattern or two also, but she has not yet asked for a percentage. Thank God.

OK - going to try to finish crocheting a shawl, then stagger off to bed for a quick nap. Send your extra sleep this way!

It's spring and everything is green...

2008-05-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

and Purple! The green swatch above is a detail from a shawl I just finished for a knitting magazine. As usual I shipped at the last minute and lamented how much of my fee was passed along to Fedex, but at least it got there.
Then I had an attack of reality and realized that the Serenity Blanket I was working on was not even going to be close to finished by the second week in June, when the baby it is intended for is scheduled to make an appearance. So I decided to go for quantity of goodies and went stash diving. The little bitties above are the Magic Slipper pattern from Sock Pixie, made up in a little ball of Koigu that was laying around. You know those bits - too pretty to throw away, not big enough to actually do anything with? This was the perfect solution to my issues - fast, fun, and pretty.
It has been raining on and off quite a bit here over the last few days, and while the dog is not amused because she doesn't like to get her paws wet, my flowers are very happy and are springing up all over. This lovely guy is the first of my purple irises to fully open. I am also waiting to pounce on the peonies when they open up - they are full to bursting of flowery goodness and I can't wait to smell them!

Kiddo is fine and dancing - we are both looking forward to the long Memorial Day weekend, which starts today as they cashed in an unused snow day so she is off tomorrow too. And her dad is back to work after seven weeks of madness (one of his kidneys decided to go haywire last week - you have no idea....) and is doing much better.

I have two stories to write this week, a sweater to design and knit, and a ton of stuff to do before I leave for TNNA in two short weeks. Wish me luck!

PS - on a Gettling Loopy! update - ITunes is finally working. Hurrah! Catch the back epis if you missed them - next week is Carol Ventura talking about tapestry crochet.

Egads!

2008-05-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

Sooooooooo busy here. The Kid had a dance thing, her father had another body part go down for a while (right kidney - what have I ever done to you?) and the usual deadline madness. Eeeeyyyyyyaaaaaahhhhh!

Anyway, Jess and Casey from Ravelry are on Getting Loopy! tonight - yes, tonight, we have moved from Tuesdays at 1 to Mondays at 9 - a step up in the world according to the time/space management laws of studio time assignment. Check us out at 9;00 pm eastern tonight at the usual spot!

Still knitting away on a shawl that was supposed to have already gone to Fedex, still cranking away at a half dozen models for TNNA.

I will sleep in July....I will sleep in July....I will sleep in July....

Cripes!

2008-05-13T12:01:00.001-07:00

I am supposed to be doing a "day in the life" post today - a cool idea started by the lovely and talented Robin C But this particular day in my life has been so freaking hectic already that I nearly forgot. Here it is - the good, the bad, and the fuzzy.

7:00 am - the alarm goes off - first the Kid's and then mine. Neither of us are particularly happy about getting up early, but there you have it - until there is a local middle school that opens at noon we do the best we can. During the getting ready process I make the first check on all my emails - the writer one, the radio show host one, the knitting book author one, and zip over to Amazon.com to see where The Secret Language of Knitters is, ranking wise. Sulk or jump for joy accordingly. I am going to do that approximately 1200 more times today, and may even check on other knitting books to see where I am in comparison at that moment. I am not going to cop to that here, on my official schedule. But I can waste some serious minutes that way...

8:00 am - at the gym. I try to go three times a week because since my job is writing and designing I mostly sit on my butt. And it's spreading. Sometimes I skip it when I have a project due and feel like I need that hour to weave in ends and run to Fedex - which I do with alarming frequency, because I rarely get models done in time to use UPS ground which is way cheaper - but I always regret not going. So today, I go.

9:00 am - Whole Foods, because the princess puppy dog needs her organic food. Manage to spill an entire Jamba Juice in the parking lot - but the nice woman inside feels sorry for my sloppy self (I suspect the fact that I still have the hand brace on part time helps) and makes me a new one.

10:00 am - put away the groceries, walk the princess puppy dog while pondering a scarf design I want to do, panic about how many things I have to do today, mentally adjust to the fact that I will be crocheting until midnight - again. Run home.

11:00 am - Prep for Getting Loopy! This includes typing up the show notes so I don't sound like a complete idiot, collating the contest entries so the guest can pick a winner, updating Ravelry and the web page. Etc. Look at the calendar and realize I was supposed to be writing this blog post today. Panic.

12:00 noon - Ding Dong - Yarn delivery! A friend who is a newish designer wrote me the other day and said how cool she thought it was when yarn came. I, on the other hand, being old and cranky and in the middle of an afghan book that is consuming ten times my not inconsiderable body weight in merino, often panic at the mere thought of yarn deliveries. But this one was good - samples to swatch with, not actual job related yarn.

12:45 pm - Set up the switchboard and live chat area for today's Getting Loopy! live broadcast. Give up on finding the book we are going to talk about (Carry Alongs: 15 Crochet Handbags and Purses by Carrie A Sullivan, who really needs a blog, damn it!) because the Kid bogarted it, because she is a purse fiend.

1:00 pm - Getting Loopy! goes live. Things are proceeding pretty well until I notice a slight commotion on the chat room - apparently my live feed has gone down and no one can hear me. Continue on with the show, monitor the tech support guys, hope for the best.

1:40 - the best doesn't look like it's happening - the show went well (thanks Carrie!) but the archive button is playing commercials and dead air. Panic about having to do a re-tape.

2:00 - Breathe a huge sigh of relief- the feed was rescued, the show is in archives, Amen!
2:01 - phone rings - it's my interview subject for an article I am writing on organic yarns for Creative Knitting magazine. Chat with subject for half an hour, typing notes as I go because I am too cheap to pay someone to transcribe my interview tapes for crafts pieces because by and large they do not pay as well as my non-crafts writing assignments. Vow, as always, to take more non-crafts writing assignments (which I will then whine about because they aren't any fun!)

Panic that it's now 2:40 and no crocheting has happened. Ponder which of the many projects which are about to be late should be worked on today - the scarf? The shawl? The afghan? The sketches that aren't even sourced yet? The patterns that are almost done but need layout help? Panic more, then decide to do this blog post instead!

3:00, 3:05, 3:08, 3:12 etc etc etc - answer the phone. It's always the Kid :-)

Now the rest is conjecture, but based on years of experience so here goes.
3:30 - update the Getting Loopy internet presence - book the next guest, reload the web page, the BTR schedule, blah blah blah. I love the radio show and the fact that thousands of folks now tune in, but it is a Tuesday time suck.

4:00 - Kid arrives home. Feed her, water her, nag her until homework is done.

5:00 - Leave for dance class - hers. Crochet afghan squares in the parking lot because thank God it is now light until 7:45 when she comes out. I have attempted to do crochet work that requires more brain cells on dance night but it's never worth it - brainless motion works best.

8:15 - Arrive White Manna hamburger stand. Make sure to remove any hand knit or crocheted items because if I wear them inside they will smell like hot grease and onions for the next week. Get the usual from the grill guy.

9:00 - Home again - scramble for clean clothes for the Kid for tomorrow, nag her into the bath and through the homework that is never quite done before we go even though it is supposed to be. Look for something good on tv - fail.

9:15 - Panic because no forward movement has happened on the pending new project deadlines. Sigh deeply. Haul out whichever project is offending me least, and crochet/write patterns/sketch/block the offender until 11:00 pm

11:00 pm - go to bed. Decide to crochet just a little bit more before I go to sleep to try to get ahead...11:02 and a half - pass out cold.

2:00 am - dream of yarn.... realize I am sleeping on pointy crochet hook. Throw it to the floor even though I know I will spend fifteen minutes looking for it tomorrow - go back to sleep.

Rinse and repeat!

SO nice outside!

2008-05-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

I know there are folks waiting for it to be twelve hundred degrees, but I am not one of those people - I hate when it is really hot and humid. But this time of year makes me happy - the Kid and the puppy dog and I have been pretty much living out in the back yard in the afternoons because it is so pretty out.

Sadly that is not my back yard in the photo - I had camnesia all weekend, so that's another shot of the state park where we took pictures for the upcoming patterns. My back yard doesn't look half bad right now though - the Kid has spent quite a bit of her (read my) discretionary income at the plant nursery and has gone to town with the perennials. I will try to get a photo of that later today.

The blue and white sweater that seemed like it would never end due to my mangled thumb causing purling to be an adventure has landed at its new home. The pattern should be out soon I think, and I will link to it when it is ready. I am now crocheting away on a ton of throws/baby blankets/other projects that I can't talk about yet, and playing away with the radio show.

Speaking of which - this afternoon's guest is designer Doris Chan. That makes me happy - Doris and I always have a good time when we hang out. Getting Loopy! airs live at 1:00 pm this afternoon, and of course can always be heard after the fact via the archives. I am getting all Sally Field about the whole thing - you like me, you really like me! Because the download rate is growing day by day, on May 19th the show will be moving to prime time - Monday nights at 9:00 pm eastern. I am hoping that with the more accessible time slot that those of you who listen in later might be able to actually participate via telephone or live chat. But we shall see what happens as it happens. A sincere thank you to all of your for your support of the show - it is growing so fast I hardly know what to do!

Where in hell is SSK?

2008-05-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

You know those little white oval bumper stickers with abbreviations of cool places on them? They seem to be everywhere - I know you have seen one if you ever travel by car. So I am toodling around my small town this morning and I spot one that says SSK. And of course I thought, "There is a town called Slip Slip Knit? Cool - I want to go there!"

So can anyone tell me where SSK might be? Or what it could actually mean, because I am pretty sure that if there really was a town called Slip Slip Knit I would have heard about it before now...

Almost two weeks down...

2008-04-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

Almost two weeks to go... Got my stitches out yesterday, but I am not supposed to bend my thumb for another ten or so days. What a pain in the rear! Knitting is okay since I throw, the purl stitch is slooooooow and crocheting is a mess. Not that my deadlines care... but I am in denial about that for at least today.

Kiddo was off school last week so we took an afternoon, grabbed the projects and the puppy dog, and headed up to Bear Mountain Lake in NY. I am working on some new patterns of my own to sell via download and in yarn stores - here is the back view of the very first one! Called the Silly Putty Shrug because it is so adjustable and can be worn different ways. It is knitted in a reversible stitch, and the model is made in SWTC Karaoke. More details available as we get closer to launch. We took photos of three of the patterns since it was so nice outside.

Speaking of launching - thank you SO MUCH for coming by the radio show in droves! Getting Loopy! airs again today at 1:00 PM eastern, and as always you can go to the archives to listen later. Today's guest is Crochet Dee , next week is Doris Chan, and later on will be Carrie A Sullivan among many others.

How cool is the internet? We launched the little radio show and hundreds and hundreds of people listened. We were talking about a yarn company and the president of that company called in before we even went off the air! I love how crocheters and knitters can use the latest technology to talk about their craft, which when you come right down to it is about the lowest technology you can think of.

Anyway, I have to go slowly finish some sleeve caps. Can't wait to try to pick up and knit the collar once the sweater is finished...

Big news on two fronts!

2008-04-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

The kiddo got some hardware, the kiddo got some hardware! Her first time earning a trophy at the champion level of solo Irish dancing, so we are pretty happy. Pix tomorrow - I was sucked into the time space continuum that is too many doctor's offices yesterday, and I am now getting ready for my other big news -

My brand new half hour internet talk radio show on crochet and crocheters debuts this afternoon! I know this is short notice, but with only one hand I am not quite moving at the speed of light this week :-)

The Deets -

Getting Loopy! will air live weekly on Tuesdays at 1:00 pm eastern. If you can hang around during that half hour, you can call in via telephone to heckle or ask questions, or hang out on the live chat. If you want to hear the show at other times, it is archived on the site I just linked you to, or you can subscribe via RSS feed or ITunes.

This week's guest is Amy O'Neill Houck, then comes Crochet Dee, then Doris Chan (who refuses to have a blog) and many many other crocheters. Please come by and check us out!

Here is the widget...

Whoops...

2008-04-17T06:22:00.001-07:00

Or, four reasons not to fool around with seam rippers when you are stressed.

Why did I have the seam ripper out while I was knitting, you might ask? Because the stitch holder I was using was really tight and I thought I would just use the blade of the seam ripper to pry it open a bit.

Where did the seam ripper end up? At/in the outside base of my left thumb.

Why was I happy? Because I did not bleed all over the blue and while sweater which I am frantically trying to finish.

Was that not bleeding on the sweater thing the high point of the day? yes.

Why did I say four reasons? Four stitches hidden under the hardware.

Have I tried to knit the sweater again yet? No, but I can't imagine what my gauge will do... Crocheting looks like it might be easier.

How are you typing? I never learned to do it correctly and it turns out in my demented way of typing I don't really use my left thumb. Thank God. I whomp the space key on occasion, but that's not the end of the world.

What happens now? I am stuck with this for ten days since there is "tendon involvement" (which hopefully means I just nicked it - it moves well so I am not worried I did any serious damage, but man that seam ripper was a lot sharper than I had thought!) I will get a follow up with an ortho guy who specializes in hands next week.

Damn.

Hey, we're eating here!

2008-04-15T10:23:00.001-07:00

Doesn't it look like that sheep on the left is pissed that I am taking photos of their cute little sheep butts while they are trying to eat? Not that it bothere the other two... This photo has nothing to do with anything other than I haven't taken any knitting photos in days and I like to have photos on the blog posts...Spent most of the weekend at the ASJA conference in New York City. God, I love that conference. I meet new editors (which usually leads to more work), see my writer friends, take classes, drink beer, get all inspired about my writing career... and then I come home and it all fades away in a matter of hours. Except hopefully the getting more work part.

Kiddo's dad is recovering slowly from his surgery - having some infection issues but nothing that won't get cleared up with a whomping big pile of antibiotics. The Kid? She is dancing, what a surprise. She wanted to go away next week for a few mommy and Kid days while she is on her long delayed spring break, but all things being equal we don't think her father is quite up to being left alone overnight just yet.

I just saw the layout pages of the yellow and cream top that is about to be in a big ol' magazine and I can't wait to show you all - it looks fabulous, if I do say so myself. And I do.

Off to clean the living room and finish the blue and white sweater, which has the dubious honor of being the oldest work related WIP, so it has to go out next. Everybody finish their taxes?

Just a quickie...

2008-04-09T07:38:00.001-07:00

Are you book mad like I am? Check out this new web site for author information. Red Room
You might get some interesting info from your favorite authors. And, you know, me too. I am under T for Temple.

Hmmmm...

2008-04-07T11:14:00.001-07:00

Here it is - the thing I finished today and have to mail. It looks absolutely nothing like the photo anymore - which is why I say again, felting is an art rather than a science. It can also be a big fat surprise - 'nough said.

It is raining yarn here at Chez Alpaca. Two big boxes just arrived from Caron - one for a sweater, one for the afghan project. I am hungrily awaiting boxes from Mission Falls, Cascade, Plymouth and SWTC - most of which will get sent out to contract crocheters soon after it gets here. I promise a photo if all 150 skeins arrive at once...

This week I have the ASJA conference on Friday and Saturday, and the Kid has a dance thing on Sunday. I love going to the ASJA conference - I get to see a lot of friends that I only really see once a year, and spend some time talking about writing without sounding like a pretentious snob. There is only so much talking about sentence structure that one can do with non-writers before their eyes start to glaze over.

Today I indulged in my most favorite and least favorite parts of preparing for the conference - I will leave you to guess which is which. I hunted down copies of magazines whose editors I expect to meet with on Friday, and I started trying to figure out what I want to wear. One of the great things about being a writer is that no one can see what I am wearing as I work - a blessing for both of us, I can tell you. When I am doing knitting book signings it's easy - throw on something basic and top with a Clapotis and I am pretty well covered for any situation. But for things like this weekend, I want to look business-like and professional, yet not like I have stuffed myself into a monkey suit that is trotted out but once a year. So far I have settled on a nice jacket. Due to the current cash flow imbalance (it is all flowing out rather than it), everything else needs to be chosen from the depths of the closet.

After I move a bunch of yarn...

Ding Dong and Amen!

2008-03-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

Ding Dong! New yarn is here, but it isn't making me cry because I get to keep some of it. Some of the highly coveted Flat Feet from Conjoined Creations . I had scored one of these cool beans sock yarns at TNNA in January, but had given it as a gift to someone who I knew would get to using it much faster than I would. She did, and she loved it, but I was wanting some for myself, and now here it is! Yum...

I have decided that the opposite of Ding Dong - AAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH! which is what happens when new yarn comes in that has to be made up into a model in 14 seconds flat, is Amen! As in Amen, I shipped that crocheted tank top off to Plymouth Yarns (thank God for Fedex, even though it eats into the profits!), and Amen, those two felted bags made it out to Brown Sheep in the nick of time! Two almost finished projects here still need to go out - one felted bag and one long sleeved sweater, then I can get on top of the new projects I just agreed to do - a knitted shawl for Creative Knitting Magazine, and a knitted cardigan for Caron Yarns. All is well in throw-model-land as long as I don't look at the calendar too closely - two of the crocheters have already started, and the yarn for all but one throw is ordered and on its way. That will SERIOUSLY be Ding Dong followed by tears - I have something like 130 skeins of yarn on their way here in the next week, from five different manufacturers.

Is anyone coming to the Knit and Crochet Show in New Hampshire in July? It is also the regional meeting for TKGA, and the national meeting for CGOA - the Kid just likes to go because she gets to be in the fashion show on Saturday night. Anyway the highlight of that weekend for me has always been Professional Development Day - an all day affair in which designers, teachers, magazine and book editors, and yarn company reps talk about how to make a living in the yarn industry. Click here to check out the class listing for the day. And maybe pay special attention to the number 8 round table discussion... Speaking of which, that's another thing to add to my to-do list - I need to write my hand out so it can be printed. Last year I think we had something like 125 attendees for that day and it was a lot of fun (and plenty productive). If you are coming, please give a thought to attending my group, so I won't have crowd envy when Lily Chin starts talking to her devoted followers :-)

I am behind on my holidays...

2008-03-26T17:46:00.001-07:00

I am pretty much behind on everything, but let's ignore that for the moment, shall we? Kiddo's dad had some major surgery of the knee persuasion yesterday and I am buried in trying to take care of him and do everything else on my to-do list at the same time. But this too shall pass, just like the many holidays that seem to have just blown by.

First we have National Pi Day - the Kid got extra credit in math for making a Pi Day T-shirt so we made a trip to AC Moore and went to town. Here's the front...The back had the first 1000 number of Pi and more rhinestones than one would think was possible. I am not sure how she stood up under the weight, but I guess her step dancing dress was good practice.

Speaking of step dancing, the Kid did 7, count them, 7 separate dance demonstrations at her school on the big day. Twice in the gym for phys ed class, 5 times in social studies, where her Irish surnamed teacher made a St. Patrick's day cafe as part of the economics unit. Most of the kids in the class made food and beverages to be sold to the other classes, guess who was the entertainment for the day?

Here she is warming up. Let's just say that 5 reels and 5 hornpipes on linoleum over cement flooring take a lot out of a girl. The gym routines were much more fun because she had room to spread out and a nice wooden floor. I did have to remind her that there were not judges so she didn't have to pay to the front :-)

Just ordered another hundred skeins of yarn for the booklet that has no title. Gonna be fun times here next week when I try to pile the yarn around the hospital equipment for the Dad's rehab.... I need another house just for my yarn. If only my potting shed had electricity...

Delivered the lacy crocheted top in the deep burgundy alpaca - amen and good riddance. The photo shoot is tomorrow (not that I was cutting it close or anything) so it may be available to the public sooner rather than later. I have to finish two felted bags and ship them out tomorrow, edit and annotate a few thousand magazine words, and knit a good chunk of a sweater. Speaking of which - let me go cast on the sleeves...

In Marc, no one is busier...

2008-03-12T06:48:00.001-07:00

than an Irish step dancer! Crazy busy here with competitions and performances for the Kid - things should settle down for her after March 17th. And for me too - she may do the dancing but until she can drive herself to events and style her own hair, I work hard too!

Here is Cinderella trying to help out with our busy schedules by working with the Kid on her math homework. Sadly, the fractions puzzle her as much as they do me... she keeps trying to figure it out, though.

Of course since I am completely buried in work deadlines, I decided to cast on a new knitting project. This is the Serenity Blanket - here is the pattern if you are a Ravelry member, not sure how to get you there if you are not. The designer is La of JenLa fame - maybe she can help any non-Ravelers locate the pattern if they so desire.

Love love love love love this pattern - so much fun watching it grow, although knowing me it will be less amusing as each row is hundreds of stitches rather than dozens. Yarn is Lion Brand Cotton Ease in the almond colorway, which is actually more of a pale yellow. This one is destined for a gift, although now that the Kid has seen the pattern she wants one too.

Did I tell you guys I sold another book to Andrews McMeel? Due out in June of 2009, this one is called Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot. More musings, less alphabetizing than SLoK.

And coming out about the same time will be a fabulous new booklet from Leisure Arts, that I can't tell you a damn thing about lest it's fabulousness be bogarted by someone else with a shorter production lead time :-) It's crochet - does that help? It doesn't have a title yet, although I probably wouldn't tell you even if I knew what it was. I am having a wonderful time ordering a zillion skeins of yarn - again, I suspect it will be less fun when the yarn has to turn into projects, although I have three trusty test crocheters standing by. I hope they are all still speaking to me by July first when the models are due.

Okay back to work - really - SOMETHING has to get finished today, and I don't much care what. I just want my to-do list to be shorter.

PS and a slight begging note: If you liked SLoK and didn't review it on Amazon.com, could you please? Even if it's just a line or two - I have review number envy in the worst way, and I just read a book that alleges that if I have a minimum of six reviews (I only have 4!) it will help with numbers and page layout. Pretty please with alpaca on top? I will stop whining now, I promise!

Deadline extensions mean....

2008-03-03T12:25:00.001-08:00

Look! It's the spinning wheel! With actual spinning happening! Which means guess what I am doing instead of catching up on the deadline that just got extended?!?!

Sigh - it made me so happy to get the wheel out of exile. Big sigh of joy....

Okay - now that I took this break I really have to get back to work so that when the extended deadline comes up I am not in the sorry-ass shape I was in when it rolled around this time.

So this week I have to:
Finish two articles, one on cars, one on gardening
Finish grading the pattern for the nameless red sweater.
Finish making the models for a crocheted tank top and a knitted raglan sleeve sweater. And then grade those patterns. And then ship the models.
Finish sketching 5 of the 8 patterns for a new booklet I am designing, then order the yarn for all of them.

Then get back to the log home book which is the deadline that haunts me.

Irish dance season started with a bang yesterday - the Kid didn't manage to win a trophy but she is up a level now (preliminary champion for those of you keeping score at home!) and had a very respectable finish. She looked beautiful and strong and confident, and she didn't freak out from nerves, so it was all good as far as I was concerned. She, of course, was somewhat miffed about the lack of hardware. Next weekend we get to go do it again, after an evening performance at a local country club. No one is busier than a cute little Irish dancer in the run up to March 17th! Unless it's her mother who has to do her hair and drive.

Another one bites the dust!

2008-02-27T14:09:00.001-08:00

Hurrah for the Finishing Fairie - she came, she saw, she finished! And she charged me a little money but that's okay too - if my WIP level doesn't go down my stress level will go up, so I was completely willing to trade some cash for some done-ness. This is in a box and on it's way to SWTC - hopefully they will love it and get the pattern out just as soon as I finish grading the sizes - the part I hate even more than finishing.

It still doesn't have a cute name, and for those who asked, yes there are sparkles in the yarn, not randomly placed glarey bits in the camera. I know these shots are blurry but the color is close - the less blurry ones with the flash would blind you with their evil redness. Why are red sweaters so hard to photograph? I haven't had this much problem getting nice finished photos since the Red Scarf Project last year.

Did some felting this morning - work masquerading as fun so far as I am concerned. I probably let it go on a little too long as the finished item is smaller than I had intended, but man did I get a gorgeous, striated color run and a dense, cushy fabric. We shall see what the yarn company thinks of it when they get it - another box going out tomorrow, hurrah! Boxes and articles going out eventually = checks coming in, and I have a big old getting my basement re-finished fantasy going on. Never go to a home show if you don't have tons of cash laying around to start remodeling immediately. I stopped by a home show last weekend in the guise of doing work on the log home book (I was writing about roofs and hardwood floors and went to touch samples) and now random burly guys are trooping through the house leaving massive estimates in their wake.

But if my basement was dry and mold-free, the yarn could go there. And the knitting accoutrement. And the spinning wheel. And then all of that stuff wouldn't be laying in piles throughout the rest of my house, meaning my house might actually be un-cluttered enough not to cringe every time the Kid brings someone new home to chill with.

Speaking of the Kid - feis season starts this weekend and little Miss Champion starts all over again on the great trophy quest for this season. Wish us both luck!

Are you ready to knit on tv?

2008-02-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

Before I move on to the story of the day - I finished the yellow and cream mystery and shipped it off. One project down, two kazillion to go...

Yesterday the Kid and I went off to see the fabulous Martha Stewart! She was having a Knit and Crochet Show and asked for knitters and crocheters to sit in the audience. The show will air on Monday February 25th - you will definitely see a moment or two of the Kid in all her glory - she was the only 11 year old in the audience so the cameras came back to watch her knit a few times. She got a big kick out of a friendly camera assistant who came over to show us his working notes which had "young girl knitting" scribbled in over his seating chart of the audience. So she knew they had her eye on her, which was fun. The woman who was in charge of placing audience members in seats made sure she had an aisle in the front so she could see, which was also pretty cool.

But first we had to wait in line...

It was a little chilly, and you would think that since we were lining up for a knitwear show we would all be buried in woolies, but the Kid thought her outfit looked cuter without socks so she wasn't wearing any - and she is pretty much always cold anyway. Many nice onlookers and our friend Quirky Knitter from Ravelry helped formed a little human shield around her so we could at least keep her out of the wind!

Inside was much toastier, but note the lack of socks! I made those cool legwarmers on Monday out of Adriafil Party that was in the stash. They look great with a cable panel up the front and a ribbed back to keep them up, but they don't photograph very well being black and silver and bulky. She had cute silver shoes on too!
Thanks to my kid being adorable we had great seats, and she got some freebies too like a small cookbook and a cool water bowl for the dog. We also each got a copy of the book that was featured on the show - Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-Off Socks and Gloves. It is an adorable book about making stuffed animals out of commercially made socks and gloves - we may have to make one later today!

Martha came out at the end to say goodbye and let all us stalker types take her photo - then she had to run off to her next appointment. Since I used to work in television I had seen many a show get made, but the Kid was amazed by all of it, and I have to say I was quite impressed with how smoothly this set ran - kudos to all.

The thing I thought was most interesting was when Martha expressed surprised that we were knitting and crocheting while she was talking - I guess she didn't realize we could all multi-task! She didn't seem annoyed, just a bit taken aback. And the warm-up guy kept yelling "are you ready to knit on tv?" which was also thought was pretty funny. We maybe didn't knit ON tv much, but I am sure all of use had at one time or another watched a tv show and knit at the same time!

Where are those finishing fairies when you need them?

2008-02-15T09:48:00.001-08:00

And I need them, really I do! The yellow and cream crocheted top is ready for finishing - amen - and this red sweater for the lovely folks at SWTC is just needing a few seams and then it can go off to where it belongs!

Haven't come up with a clever title yet - the yarns are Yin and Yang.

Three sweaters, two felted bags, eight afghans, two magazine articles, a book, and a partridge and a pair tree yet to go. That's AFTER these two are finished and shipped...

I need a nap....

A rainy day...

2008-02-13T10:33:00.001-08:00

a blurry WIP... This one is almost done, I intend to finish it up tonight and get it on its merry way tomorrow to the magazine that is waiting patiently for it.

Yuck on the weather - we had a few inches of snow last night, followed by a dose of ice, then sleet, now rain. Eeeewwww. Gray and cold and slippery. The good news is that the Kid had a delayed opening at school today so she went in at 10 instead of 8. Since neither of us is a morning person, this actually made this morning rather pleasant. The bad news is the princess puppy does NOT like to get her paws wet, so she has been pretty much crossing her legs for the last 24 hours and refuses to go outside. She is much to ladylike to go inside where she shouldn't but she has to be uncomfortable.

Kiddo has dance tonight (I know, it would be bigger news if she didn't have dance) and I will be crocheting the hem on that top. Also working on the never ending log home book and a long magazine article on the Model T Ford. The glamorous life, no? Um...no!

Busy busy busy...

2008-02-06T12:06:00.001-08:00

Every week I say I am going to blog more frequently and every week it goes to hell. Herewith, some of the last week's excitement

WEBS! I had never been there before and was completely and absolutely overcome with faintness at the amount and variety of yarn that was all collected in one place.

Here are a few shots of the warehouse, where the Kid and one of her local buddies spent some time running around and trying to stay out of trouble.

I also brought home a few bags of bargain goodies - pix when they turn into WIPs...

ETA:WEBS blog has some photos of the event, and while I can confirm the water snorting, please note, you who shall not be named, that it wasn't me who brought it up first :-)

Then we have Chelsea, who finished her first sock and immediately cast on for her second. I am not trying to take credit for her diligence or anything, but I did in fact read about the perils of Second Sock Syndrome during the book signing, so maybe I helped a little...

Remember how I said that I was currently living in fear of the doorbell ringing because boxes and boxes of yarn were arriving? And how normally I like boxes of yarn, but all of these had to be turned into finished projects in the next few months and I was starting to get nervous?

Ding dong.... ding dong.... ding dong... ding dong.... AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!

Does anyone want to move in with me for the next four weeks and knit and crochet 24/7? I make great brownies...

No photos, but a funny story.

2008-01-30T12:39:00.001-08:00

I am up to my ample behind in work right now - something a writer should never complain about, but it does sort of hamper my blog-worthiness at the moment. Yesterday I was at the New York Public Library doing some research for a story I am writing, and couldn't resist ordering up a few 19th century knitting and crocheting patterns to look at since I was there anyway. It's all research, right? I write knitting and crocheting books too...

Anyway, one of the topics that has been buzzing around the design community in recent years is the whole length of patterns issue. Designers want to go on at the length they feel they need to, publishers tend to want things as short as possible to conserve on ink and paper, and/or to leave more room for advertisements. Then someone always points out that there is always room for a how-to in many of these pubs, and wouldn't one assume that if someone was buying something for an intermediate knitter they would know the difference between a knit and a purl? Can't we save some space there? Then someone always says that patterns are too over written these days anyway and maybe we should assume the knitter or crocheter can figure some stuff out on her or his own, and write shorter instructions. Not that there are any right answers here, these are just comments that seem to drift across my consciousness every quarter or so.

So I am carefully leafing through the remains of a knitting book printed in 1847 and enjoying myself immensely. Did you know they used to say pearl stitch instead of purl stitch? I wonder when that changed? Anyway I wanted to share the following pattern with you, in its entirety.

Directions for a Full Sized Quilt
No. 18 cotton, no. 20 pins

Eight stripes with one hundred and thirteen stitches for each, with a border of fifty stitches; a counterpane without a border will require more stripes.

That's it - the whole pattern, right there. No gauge, no amount of materials, nada. Can't accuse a 19th century knitting book author of spoon-feeding her audience, can you?

Ding Dong!

2008-01-28T06:40:00.001-08:00

No, not Avon calling, but bags of yarn that are the result of my little "please buy my designs" hustle at TNNA. I had thought that I would have a little time to work on other projects before I had to get going on samples. I thought wrong...

First came this yarn - we hadn't decided on the tan or the wine colorway, but I love the wine so we went with that. Here's the stitch pattern - of course I can't tell you what it will be or for whom until we get a little closer to the pub date, but you know I will keep you posted...

Then this lovely box of cream and yellow goodness arrived. It wants to be a top for a magazine when it grows up, and it wants to grow up FAST! So this is what I will be working on this week. You know, in between writing two books and two magazine articles that are also due soon.

This morning's email brought notices that two more boxes of yarn have been shipped, thankfully I have a contract crocheter standing by for one of those projects and the other one is relatively brainless, so that shouldn't make me too crazy - yet...

Also on the writing front, if you have any interest in the Jersey Shore (and who doesn't? It's beautiful!) buzz on over to Down The Shore with Jen , a blog by the lovely and talented writer Jen A Miller. In which I manage to turn an interview about lighthouses into a conversation about the knitting book. Sometimes I worry about how shameless I actually am....

Sometimes I don't...

Perhaps I really do have a one track mind...

2008-01-23T13:48:00.001-08:00

Monday being a school holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Kid had a jones to go to to The Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. While I don't hate this place, I was thinking she might be a wee bit old for their target demographic and didn't really want to drive and hour and a half and pay $30 only to see her yawn with boredom. But her father agreed to drive, and I had a sleeve to finish (photos later in the week) and so we went. She actually still quite likes it - it is a whole floor of arts and crafts stuff to mess with, and what's bad about that?

My favorite part is where you get to play with the air dry clay that they make. So of course all my little airdry clay thingies are knitting related, because what else do I think of? My favorite is this here sheep. While not a shining example of the sculptor's art, it was kind of fun to do :-) I should have put in a quarter or something for scale, he is about and inch and a half high.

Then I made a ball of yarn with some knitting needles sticking out of it, then because I don't want to be accused of ignoring my brothers and sisters of the hook, I made a crochet hook as well. The Kid just rolled her eyes at me - she wasn't surprised at all!

I had had to put the spinning wheel away in the weeks leading up to TNNA because I wanted to spin because I was stressed, but if I sat at the wheel all day nothing else would get done which would make me even more stressed. So over the weekend I dug out this batt I bought right before Christmas at Woolbearers in Mount Holly, NJ. It is a lovely lovely blue and I can't remember for the life of me what breed of sheep it is, although I know they told me. Romney perhaps? Anyway, this is my first experiment with something other than merino top. My thickness is okay, I like how it handles (and the lanolin on my hands!), but the singles are a little fuzzier than I expected. The Kid has had great success spinning this as well so we are going to have a yarn co-production - we will each spin some singles and then ply the two together. Ah the joys of mother/daughter projects.

Dance has started up again for her - oh boy... Which means tons of sample making for me in the waiting room of the dance school. We both had a nice breather after regionals though, and she is getting her grades up a bit which makes me very proud. We have a rule that she has to work as hard on her homework as at her dance, but honestly when you were eleven, which would you rather do?

Off to play with my new design software. I am still very early in the learning curve - will give you all a full review when I start to get the hang of things.

Back from TNNA!

2008-01-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

TNNA is The National NeedleArts Association, a trade show where manufacturers display their new wares so LYSs can purchase them wholesale, and designers like me wander around, drool and pet, and ponder the design possibilities of the new merch. It happens twice a year, in January on the west coast, and in June in the midwest. So off I went last week to do some PR for The Secret Language of Knitters and to do some legal fondling.

New yarns, yum.

While it is a trade show rather than a retail show, which means you can't really buy stuff on the show floor, there is a hoobie on Thursday called Sample It! in which some of the wholesalers bring some goodies to sell outright. I always try not to get carried away, but this time two yarns followed me home, and what could I say?

This is Flat Feet from Conjoined Creations I could not get over how clever this yarn is - it is a hand dyed yarn that is sold in flats rather than skeins - you just pull off the waste yarn, grab the real stuff, and knit from the flat, which unravels as you go. No knots, no skeins to wind, and because it is hand dyed each flat gives a unique pair of socks. The flat is divided in the middle so that if you want a long sock you can go toe up and knit until you run out without having to split a skein. It came in oodles of colors - I bought this one for a friend to try since my sock yarn stash is ridiculous, but I couldn't stand not to buy one. I am sure she will give me a review.

Then I bought a skein of Sterling from Kraemer Yarns. It is about a fingering weight and has merino, silk, nylon, and silver content. Real silver. Which gives you some subtle sparkle without any of that "Yeesh I am knitting with Lurex and should be shot" sort of guilt. The yarn company had a garment made of this yarn on the runway at the fashion show on Thursday night and I was impressed - I didn't think there was such a thing as sparkly yarn that was not obnoxious, but I was wrong. Of course the Kid already bogarted this skein - and she wants socks. Only my daughter would use silver yarn for actual socks...

On Saturday I taped a segment of Knit and Crochet Today! a newish show seen on various PBS stations. I hear that several new markets will be picking up the show when the new episodes are released in the fall of 2008, so if you don't get it yet, you might soon. Anyway I was hanging out in the waiting area with Kaffe Fassett, and tried really hard not to act like a stalker. He has some new yarns coming out which will make your brain melt in delight at the color ranges. I am pretty sure that I did not sound like a total idiot, which is always a relief. Then it was back to the market to schmooze and drool some more.

I want to take a moment to thank all of you who stopped by to see me on Sunday at the book signing. I was having a real Sally Fields moment when I realized there were actually people waiting in line to get a copy! After that, some friends and I went off to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles where I enjoyed the house specialty, chicken and waffles. It was delicious if a bit hard on the arteries - I ate half of the plate and stopped in self defense.

One of the things I liked about the Long Beach convention center is that if you walked outside, there was an actual view of something pretty. There were also several other restaurants in walking distance, and if I had been so inclined, a ferris wheel across the street!

Happy to be home, trying to get back on the right time zone, and really trying to get through the mounds of notes I took about who to contact about what, when.