Diana’s Aran Shawl from Three Black Sheep - Done!

It’s finished!  

Well, it’s finished being knit--in this case that’s not the whole way to “done.”  Woolen pieces, especially ones with Aran designs like this, don’t come to life until they are blocked.

That means water, a bit of Dawn blue, some pins, a few beach towels, a bulletin board, a dining room table, and about an hour.  If you’ve never blocked a piece before, here’s the basic sequence:

First, a bath.  NOT a washing.  This is a gentle soak to let the fibers settle nicely into their new configuration.  Twenty minutes in cool or room temperature water with a smidge of Dawn blue.  Rinse until the water is clear, making sure the water stays the same temperature.

Then, after oh-so-gently squeezing the water out of your newly bathed baby, lay it out on a bath towel and roll it up.  Stand on it to squish all the excess water into the towel.  Remember to take your socks off or you are likely to end up with wet socks!

For pieces with straight edges, I like to lay my work out a striped bath towel so I can utilize the stripes as guidelines.  Nudge and pin until you get the shape you want.  I use an oversized bulletin board that used to hang in my kitchen.  Everyone knows this is the real purpose of dining room tables, right?

I expect this piece to be dry and ready in a day or so, easily enough time to show it off at my Live Audiobook Knit-in at Crafty Hands in Bowling Green, KY.  If you’re in the area Friday April 19 at 6pm, come on by!  I may even let you try on my shawl.

Diana’s Aran Shawl from Three Black Sheep - Day 6

Code blue on the living room couch...

No, it’s not finished.  

I’d hoped it would be, but folks, this thing is a LOT of knitting.  Near as I can tell, it represents about six to eight hours of knitting per section, and my life rarely affords me that kind of down time these days.

But wait, I have news:

Last night--no exaggeration here--I executed the most complicated knitting rescue of my career.  And, yes, it was on this project.  

Here I was, happily knitting my way through the Daily Show and the Colbert Report--a nightly ritual for me--when I look down and see...it.

“It” being a botched cable no fewer than eight rows down.  I’d twisted the stitches the wrong way so that instead of a charming horseshoe cable, I had something that looked more like a lazy tangle. And no, it's not in this photo, so stop squinting.  Still it was, too blatant to ignore, no matter how hard I wanted to be able to stand up and show you a finished product this morning.

Rather than rip out ten painful rows, I attempted the brain-surgery of knitting: ripping down and reknitting a cable sequence while still inside the fabric.  It took both existing needles, a crochet hook, two dpns...and every brain cell I had.

Slowly, while employing all kinds of positive self-talk about my knitting prowess and the cooperative nature of good wool, I removed the eight involved stitches from the needle.  Then I carefully pulled out each of the eight stitches all the way down past the offending cable, which was ten rows (and two complicated cable rows) below.  I laid out each of the involved strands in row order behind my work.  

Luckily, because this was the actual cable, I was always dealing with knit stitches.  The tricky part came in reversing their order on the cable rows.  One at a time, I reordered the stitches using the cable needle and then pulled the strand back through to loop to make a knit stitch with my crochet hook.  Then I would remount the stitches on a spare dpn and start the process all over again with the next row.

The whole thing took me over an hour.  I’m not entirely sure I couldn’t have just ripped out and knit back those ten full rows in that hour, but I feel so very proud of my repair skills that I don’t regret taking this tact.  This is a photo of the actual restored cable.  Not perfect, but pretty darn close.  This is the Mt. Everest of fixing for me--a true achievement and a new level of skill that, quite frankly, I wasn’t sure I possessed.

This morning, I feel like I can do just about anything.

Will that entice me to clean my refrigerator?  Um, no.

Diana’s Aran Shawl from Three Black Sheep - Day 5

Yarn brain...

The section features a lovely honeycomb cable.  Like most cables, it is one or two difficult rows separated by lot of repetitive and simple rows.  And, like most challenging patterns, it can make smoke come out of your ears until you really get your brain around the logistics of what’s truly happening.  

By the second half of the section, I didn’t need to look at the pattern because I understood why stitches went where they did, why stitches stacked one on the other row by row, and how the design was built.  It’s a kind of engineering (although the real kind of engineering eludes me, and I seem to live in a house full of engineers!).  My brain enjoys figuring out how patterns work.

According to research, that’s a good thing.  I’ve become enthralled by TED Talks recently--very good knitting entertainment, by the way--and I stumbled upon this one where Alanna Shaikh prepares herself for the possibility of Alzheimer’s. My June novel has an Alzheimer’s patient as a character, so I’ve dabbled in research about this disease. I loved Shaikh’s attitude; rather than fear the possibility since her father has the disease and it is carried genetically, she chose to find ways to prepare herself for the best possible outcome should she start to show symptoms.  That in itself is inspiring, but there’s more.

What surprised me about this speech was the knitting connection.  Evidently advanced Alzheimer’s patients are happiest when doing tactical things with a high familiarity.  In other words, she talks about taking up knitting specifically to provide comfort and entertainment should dementia enter her life.  Knitting as medical benefit, as occupational therapy--we’ve known bits of this since WWI when “shell shock” patients were taught knitting, but isn’t it marvelous how science is learning why knitting meets so many human needs besides warmth!  When I consider the shocking statistics of how prevalent Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or other dementia-related illnesses will be in the coming decades, I want to stand on a street corner and hand out yarn and needles!

Knitting is good for us.  Knitting is good to us.  Knitting is good, period.

Diana’s Aran Shawl from Three Black Sheep - Day 3

The promise to be stunning...

Simpler, huh?  Eh, not so much.  Not for me.  That’s knitting for you--every time I get cocky those needles put me in my place.

It took me no less than four tries, a YouTube search, and staying up late past my mild-mannered middle-aged bedtime to figure out how this Trinity stitch worked.  

Once I got it, it took me about four inches of stitching to place it firmly enough in my memory to leave the pattern behind.  So while my mind got a break, it wasn’t immediate.

Of course, the Trinity stitch was the third panel.  It’s the perfect place for it in the sequence. 

Like most good wool garments, this one is going to change significantly when it is blocked.

  If you look at the photo, the cable portion narrows in width, and the garter stitch dividing lines are a bit rippled.  All of that will even out once this shawl is blocked.  This is also true of the yarn’s texture, which is a bit scratchy now but will soften, I hope, when it meets water.

it’s beautiful, and interesting, and highly textured now.  It promises to be stunning when it’s finished.

Diana’s Aran Shawl from Three Black Sheep - Day 2

Cable Dable...

I’m delighted to report that the next section isn’t quite as mind-bending as the Tree of Life.  

The Wheat Ear and Cable, like most cable patterns, combines rows that are easy with rows that require your attention.  While the pattern is a simple four-row repeat, those four rows involve four different kinds of cables--in multiple combinations for some rows.  This means that unlike most four-row repeat patterns, I was not able to commit this one to memory and had to have the pattern in front of me at all times while knitting.  Not the end of the world, but not as convenient as an easily-memorizable short repeat.

I do have one gripe with this lovely wool:  it sheds.  This isn’t the sort of thing you want to be knitting in dark slacks--at least not without a lint brush handy.  Still, that’s small potatoes compared to the lovely artwork of this shawl.

For the first part of this I struggled through with an extra dpn rather than a dedicated cable needle.  That didn’t last long.  Before the end of this section, I invested a well-worth-it $5 in a set of Knitter’s Pride cable needles.  Much, much better.

Up next?  The even simpler Trinity Stitch section.  That’s good, because my mind could use a little break for my Spring Break.

Diana’s Aran Shawl from Three Black Sheep

Well begun is half done...

It should be said, up front, that this is a lot of knitting.  A lot of very good knitting--which couldn’t possibly be a bad thing, unless you have editors who want your book proposal or teenage boys who seem to think your only purpose in life is to supply them with food.  

However, like most hefty projects, the payoff is most certainly there.  This will be a statement piece, a showstopper, the kind of thing you wear to yarn shops or STITCHES knowing you’ll be stopped and admired.  This is art--yes, it’s art that also keeps you warm, but I place equal value on each of those goals.  I’m a raging extrovert.  I’m a theater major, for crying out loud.  I’m six feet tall.  I enjoy being noticed.

Each square in this shawl showcases a different aran style, and Diana Kessler, Three Black Sheep owner and our fearless leader, evidently believes in “diving right in” because the first pattern is the Tree of Life.  This is not “watching the kid play basketball” knitting.  I could barely do it in front of boring television.  Actually, I would have liked to have done it in a quiet monastery surrounded by monks chanting calming tones.

At first I yearned for a chart, because with row-by-row instructions and a photograph, I had only vague ideas of what I was stitching.  Halfway into it, I didn’t crave the chart so much.  I could guess where things were going, and I confess to enjoying the mystery of what each row would bring (and yes, some rows brought frustration).  

I’m glad Diana put the tree right here on the end, because that means when I’m done and wearing it, I can thrust it in your face and exclaim “Admire my mad knitting skills!”

You know I will.

CHATTANOOGA TN: Day One--Signal Mountain

Pardon me boys...

Yeah, there’s the song--the whole “Choo-Choo” thing, but Chattanooga Tennessee has a whole lot more going for it than just a lot of repeated letters.  I’ve driven through it numerous times, but never had the opportunity to stop and visit until the Chattanooga Writers Guild invited me to come speak earlier this year.  What I found is what DestiKNITions does best: a charming little city with treasures to spare.  You can jam it all into one busy day, but I spread my adventure out into two lovely, lazily-paced days--one up on Signal Mountain, the other downtown.

Day One:  Signal Mountain

First off--getting here is half the fun:  The W

I can’t remember when I’ve ever recommended an actual mode of transportation on DistiKNITions, but then again, I’ve never encountered one as memorable as a car drive on “The W.”  If you’ve always wanted to pretend you are starring in a sportscar ad, a Bond film, or an episode of Top Gear, the “W” has enough switchbacks to fulfill your fondest automotive fantasy (or fears--this is not for the faint of heart).  If you’ve ever wanted to grow your husband’s appreciation for your fiber arts adventures, let him drive you here.  

Once your stomach has settled, head for today’s fiber find:

Three Black Sheep Yarn

1229 Taft Hwy  

Signal Mountain, TN 37377

423-886-9276

www.threeblacksheepyarn.com

I’m particularly fond of yarn shops that can pull off a modern, artisan feel.  It takes a careful balance of space and cozy, a blending of retail style and community nurture.  Owner Diana Kessler, who bought the establishment from its previous owner back in New York and then transplanted the whole she-bang when her husband’s job moved them to Signal Mountain, pulls it off with flair.  

The store promotes knitting and crochet not only as craft, but as fashion.  “We love garment knitting, love teaching you to make products that fit you well.”  Anyone who’s found themselves starring in their own private episode of “What Not to Knit” can welcome that mission!  Diana is careful to carry a high volume of each yarn, “so we’ll always have enough to make what you want.”  She’s picky in the best sense of the word, establishing strong relationships with fiber companies she likes.  The result is a deep, well-considered inventory designed to equip knitters for great results.  A few projects you ought to consider on your visit:

Diana’s Aran Wrap

Start with 1200 yards of a good solid or tonal worsted yarn, add Diana’s exclusive pattern (free with your yarn purchase at the shop), and you’ll have an exquisite wrap when you’re done.  Diana advises staying away from variegated or tweed yarns, as they won’t show off the lovely designs--and you want to show these off! I’ll be working in Grignasco Knits “Loden” for our knit-along.  If you’re looking for a statement shawl, or a sure-to-be-heirloom gift, this is a great candidate.

CocoKnits Lisl top

Designer Julie Weisenberger is smart enough to provide knitters with several sets of instructions for the many types of yarn that can be used to make this top.  I love the structure and the clever pockets.  This one is done in Shibui linnen--softer against the skin than Eruoflax but with that key-to-structure texture--but you could get a completely different garment by using a completely different fiber.  Summer sheer or fall cozy?  It’s entirely up to you. It’s an extraordinarily versatile piece.

Wilde Coat

It takes a lot to lure my short attention span into the commitment required for a whole coat (some days I feel like the only serious knitter on the planet who hasn’t attempted an Einstein Coat).   Still, this one could lure me in.  Great shaping takes the could-be-clunky chunky scale of Malabrigo Rasta and gives it flattering curves.  Pick up those size 19 needles--the ones my son calls “numchuks”--and you could have this head-turner done in less than a week.  Diana advises that sharply contrasting colors will give you the best results.  One of the sharpest garments I’ve seen in a long time!

Zuzu’s Petals Cowl

This seems to be the year of the cowl, so it takes a lot for a pattern to stand out.  Utilizing one skein of an “ombre” sport or worsted weight yarn--pictured is “Ombre” from Freia Fine Handpaint Yarns--this Ravelry pattern gives a lacy texture just enough “pow” to feel modern.   Not too fussy, not to chunky, with just the right amount of detail around the edges.

Every time I think I’ve seen all the knitting gadgets the world has to offer, my adventures prove me wrong.  I’d never seen this Clover Circular Stitch Holder before, but its usefulness for sweater sleeves, mitten thumbholes, and any number of other places made it a winner with me.  Maybe even for that depressing moment where I realize I can’t hope to finish both two-at-a-time socks by the end of a DestiKNITions feature and need to drop one.  Yes, well, let’s hope it doesn’t get used for that.  Ever.  Again.

Hungry for lunch?  Head back up Taft Highway to:

Gin Gin’s

1904 Taft Hwy

Signal Mountain, TN 37377

423-825-4540

I actually met the owners later in my adventures (you’ll read about that next post), so while I didn’t get the chance to eat there, I have to agree with Diana’s recommendation--if the food is half a delightful as the owners, you can’t go wrong.  They didn’t earn their reputation as the mountain’s top caterers for nothing.  Unpretentious, comfortable, down home Southern Yum.  If anyone could turn me into a sandwich person, it sounds like this place could pull it off.

After lunch, work your way back down Taft Avenue to a few charming shops.  some of my favorites were right around Three Black Sheep:

Wild Hare Books

1219 Taft Highway

Signal Mountain, TN 37377

423-886-1360

You know me, I’ll always steer you toward the local independent bookstore.  I found them friendly, well-stocked for their small size, and perfectly “stuffed” to encourage browsing.

Accents

1238 Taft Highway SE

Signal Mountain, TN 37377

423-886-0062

www.accentsonsignal.com

A soap and candle lover like myself is always on the lookout for the non-chain, artsy gift shop in town.  I was told to head here for both, and the stock did not disappoint.  I picked up a couple of bars of Michel Design Works that smelled simply amazing--I’d seen them before but never sprung for the pricey bars.  Wow.  Worth every penny!

All Creatures Great and Small

1238 Taft Hwy, 

Signal Mountain, TN 37377

423-886-5399

Pottery fiend that I am, I was particularly interested in their collection of Mole Hill Pottery, whosw main retail location can also be found in downtown Chattannooga.  I drooled up against their storefront windows, but this store was closed on the day of my visit.  Still, it looks well worth exploring.

By now, you may be craving a little coffee and treat as a mid-afternoon pick-me up.  You’re in luck; I’ve got two wonderful places for you:

Xpresso Mart

816 Ridgeway Ave  

Signal Mountain, TN 37377

423-886-7707

Do not let the gas station exterior fool you!  Don’t let the purple-blue roof put you off!  This is one of the most unique, friendly coffee joints I’ve ever seen.  Sure, I drove past it twice because I was looking for something a bit more...predictable, but don’t you make the same mistake.  I had a truly good latte pulled by the friendly owner.  I’m not an ice cream person, but I’m told the treat is quite good in here, too.  Honestly, I smile every time I think of the place.

Signal Mountain Cookie Lady

715 Mississippi Ave  

Signal Mountain, TN 37377

423- 886-4037

http://www.signalmountaincookielady.com/

Come on, could you resist over 900 cookie designs?  The smell that hits you when Sandie Benson lets you in is all the advertising this place needs.  I’ll be honest; I’m suspicious of cookies that look this good...I always wonder if the taste can live up to the decoration.  No worries here.  If that isn’t enough to tempt you, they do cupcakes as well.  I wonder if they’d do cookies in the DestiKNITions logo?

Caffeine and sugar in hand, head on up the road to see where the name came from:

Signal Point

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

Even on the cloudy day of my visit, the view from Signal Point was stunning.  The story behind the spot is just as compelling--you can almost imagine the signal lights being passed from point to point with vital battle information.  If you’re looking for a breathtaking spot to sit and knit (perhaps with aforementioned coffee and cookies in hand), this is it.  Hiking, should you be so inclined (I am not), can be had here as well.

When you are ready for dinner, head back down to:

Nino’s

720 Mississippi Avenue

Signal Mountain, TN  37377

423-886-1900

This is just how you imagine a well-loved Italian restaurant:  crowded, happy, filled with giant plates of good food.  The owner recommended the “Nonna” (which means “Grandma’s Pasta”) with roasted red peppers, pancetta, tomato sauce, caramelized onions, cream & butter over rigatoni.  Good thing I brought my cholesterol meds!  Other specialties include the Carbonara and Funghi Bianchi.  Outdoor seating makes for a perfect atmosphere if the weather is cooperative.

Stuffed, stitched, and shopped, wander on home for another day of Tennessee hospitality as we take on downtown Chattanooga tomorrow.

Cables Building Block from Knitting Temptations - Day 2

Color me happy...

I find it amazing the effect color has on me.  For a woman whose closet sports mostly grey, black, and brown, I'm genuinely impacted by color.  There is something about the bright turquoise, the cheery "Aqua Mint" of this yarn.  Truly, I have the sensation of the color choosing me rather than the other way around--hasn’t every knitter walked into a store and had a fiber pull at them in such an emotional way?

For a cable project, color is an important consideration--there's a reason the traditional Aran sweater is done in cream. Sure, it's the natural color of most sheep yarn, but the design would never show up on a darker color.  Or a patterned yarn--I tried a pair cabled mittens in a grey tweed with dismal results.

What is it about color?  Lots of things play on our emotional response to color.  The folks at LUSH, one of my favorite bath and skincare product companies, have dived into the cosmetics market with a spiffy line called "Emotional Brilliance." I fell for their wheel-spinning color choosing gimmick (much like the "turn the wheel and tell me the first thing you see” thing from Chocolat) loving the evocative names each color was given.  Try it for yourself here.

Part of what makes us yarn people is our powerful response to color and texture. We want to spend time with it, near it, pondering it.  It takes us hours to select bathroom tile, we need to touch things to purchase them, and we have trouble understanding the lure of the Home Shopping Network.  You can't touch the scarf on your television screen.  Is this true for you, too? Or are you just the opposite?

I love touching this yarn.  I crave the lushness of the bamboo, the cozy loft of my stitches, the creamy texture against my fingers.  Tactile Xanax, this stuff--a dose of calm and cheer no matter where I am and what I'm facing.  Making beauty, at least for me, is always the best medicine.

The First-Ever Edition of Authors Who Knit: Tracy Barrett

I've long wanted to introduce you to some of the fabulous knitting authors I meet in my travels.  As a new feature for 2012, you'll meet one knitting author each month. Let's get started!

DestiKNITers, allow me to introduce you to Tracy Barrett.

What’s on your needles right now?

I'm working on a cardigan called "Eala Bhan" from the updated edition of Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I had to pause to make Christmas and Hanukkah presents but I'm back to it now. It's very complicated but so well designed that it's fun, and the yarn is a dream to work with.

What feels like your favorite/greatest knitting accomplishment?

I made a jacket for my slender six-foot tall daughter (in other words, not a standard size), and she had very precise requirements for fit. It involved math skills I hadn't used since high school (which is a lo-o-o-ong time ago now!) to make it all come out right, and it fits her like a glove!

What feels like the worst knitting mistake/foible/wrong choice you’ve ever made?

Using cheap yarn is always a mistake. I have a sweater that looks great right after it's been re-blocked and de-pilled, but in a short time it stretches out and pills again.

Straight or circular needles?

Anything but double-points. I'll keep knitting on a circular long after the work has gotten too tight on them just so I can avoid the DP's as long as possible.

Metal or wood needles?

Whatev.

White chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate?

Usually dark, but if I'm eating it for emotional reasons (which is the main reason to eat chocolate, right?) I'll go for the comfort-food aspect of milk chocolate.

Coffee or tea?

There are authors who drink tea???

Have you written a knitting character? 

Not yet, but a lot of my heroines are accomplished at other needle arts. I mostly write historical fiction, and women (and some men) have always made crucial contributions in those areas to human survival and to the economy of their families, so I make sure that my heroines like and are skilled at spinning, weaving, sewing, and embroidery.

What’s the last thing anyone would suspect about your latest book, Dark of the Moon?

The huge amount of research I had to do! It's a retelling of the myth of the half-man, half-bull monster known as the Minotaur, but I set it in the real, not mythical, world (and my Minotaur isn't a monster), and I had to learn a lot about Bronze-Age Crete. I love research, though, so it wasn't painful.

Give a shout out to your favorite local yarn store:

Haus of Yarn

265 White Bridge Pike

Nashville, TN 37209

hausofyarn.com

Dark of the Moon is described as the tale of the half-man, half-bull Minotaur, as told in alternating points of view by his sister, Ariadne, and his killer, Theseus.  School Library Journal called it "deft, dark, and enthralling." Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy!

Visit Tracy's website at www.tracybarrett.com or her blog at goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com