Metalouse Shawl from Knit Nirvana - Day 5

Le humilité...

Oh, but this pattern is proving its talent for showing my faults!

Here I am, chugging along on the section with the vertical bars, feeling all confident and cocky.  I’ve only got one or two rows yet to go—albeit the rows are edging toward 300 stitches by this point—and the end is in sight.  I’m right on schedule, despite my earlier debacle.

…And then I see it.  A sneaky little sentence tucked in behind what I THOUGHT was the end of this section, tagging along behind row 36 like a devious shadow: “Repeat Rows 1-12 once more. 335 stitches.”

What?  I thought I was done and you’re telling me I’ve got almost 4,000 stitches to go????

Don’t get me wrong—it’s a beautiful piece.  Everyone asks to see it when I knit it in public.  But I suspect I’ll forever be thinking that “Metalouse" is french for “humbling.”

DON'T FORGET: If you're heading to STITCHES MIDWEST in the Chicago area this weekend, stop by the Mia Bella booth tomorrow August 9 at 12:30  and get my latest novel free!  But be prompt--we have a limited supply and last year they were gone in fifteen minutes!

Metalouse Shawl from Knit Nirvana - Day 4

A week filled with knitting...

Now that I've settled into the rhythm of this section, it's humming along nicely.  I was worried about the difference in thickness of the two yarns, but that doesn't seem to be a problem at all.  I keep looking at this piece and thinking about Easter--that's what this colorway reminds me of more than anything else

It's been a hectic week for me, but one filled with knitting.  I turned in a book to my publisher that  has a lovely knitting element in the plot--the sequel to my WWI sock knitting novel HOMEFRONT HERO. 

The following day, the fourth book my Gordon Falls series A HEART TO HEAL was released.  This book, like most of my Gordon Falls series, has the prayer shawl knitting ministry interwoven into its story.  I love how many readers have written to tell me of the prayer shawls they knit or have asked me how to start a prayer shawl ministry where they live.  Knitters are a caring bunch of people!

Then, next week, I get to do a book signing and give-away of A HEART TO HEAL at STITCHES MIDWEST and meet even more knitting readers!  If you are in the Chicago area and planning to come to this massive, marvelous yarn event, stop by the Mia Bella booth at 12:30 Saturday August 9, say hello, and get a free novel!  But be prompt--we have a limited supply and last year they were gone in fifteen minutes!

How wonderful and gratifying that my passion for knitting touches so many areas of my life.  And I get to share the triumphs, the travels--and the mistakes--all with you!

Honey Cowl from Cream City Yarn - DONE!

I admit, it’s takes a bit of effort to get enthusiastic about a wool cowl in the dead of August, but the color and texture of this project help my excitement along.  Madelinetosh makes some exquisite yarn!

I confess, I never quite know how to wear cowls.  I’ve got a full selection of scarf ties in my repertoire, and a wardrobe of shawl pins, but cowls always just sort of sit there.  I like the simplicity of them, I like that I’m not forever swiping shawl or scarf tails out of my way, and they always look very cozy.  

It’s just that I’m always convinced the person looking at me is waiting for the thing to open up further and swallow my face.  

I ought to be ashamed of myself--that’s no way to think of a perfectly respectable swath of wool.  Sheep are not a predatory species.

It’s too early in the season to give this a test run, and I may need to consult the daughter for styling tips, but I’m confident we’ll be good friends.  I’ve yet to meet a knitted accessory I didn’t like.

Thanks to all the lovely folks who showed up for copies of HOMEFRONT HERO at Stitches Midwest yesterday.  50 books gone in 20 minutes--that was the most fun I've had in a long time!  And of course, I did a little shopping afterward....

Next up?  Another publishing industry knitter shares her life & yarn adventures.

Honey Cowl from Cream City Yarn - Day 3

The progress panacea...

Nothing soothes like progress.  It feels lovely to be halfway done with this cowl as life settles down a bit.  I never cease to be amazed at how life hands me the knitting project I need exactly when I need it.  Some of my more demanding projects would have given me fits right now, and this is perfect.  Interesting, but not taxing.  Blissful to touch, easy to work with, pleasing to look at...everything I want in “therapy knitting.”

I have one spot where I’m wondering if I’ve done it right, or if it’s an unavoidable fact of knitting patterns in the round.  While there’s no technical seam, it’s clearly visible where my rounds end.  My guess is that given the stitch pattern alternates every row, there’s no way to avoid this line.  Have any of you had this experience?

A short detour for a little promotion:

If you’ll be attending the upcoming Stitches Midwest, the lovely folks at Ohio’s Knitter’s Mercantile (you’ll be meeting them in a future episode) will be hosting a giveaway of my World War I knitting novel, HOMEFRONT HERO.  Free copies of the book will be available at noon Saturday August 11 to the first 50 guests at the Knitter’s Mercantile booth.  Free books at a yarn show?  Sounds like heaven to me.  Come by and say hello.

Knit-Along: Elemental Changes Scarf from Aylin’s Woolgatherer - Day 4

The Long Unwinding Week...

Whoa! Where’d Allie go?

Let’s just say it’s been “one of those weeks.” Sorry about that.

For starters, one needs to be careful what words one puts together. “Bestselling Author?” That’s a pair I wouldn’t mind inviting into my life. “Glamorous Lifestyle?” That’d be okay, too (if unlikely). But I should know better than to put “catastrophic error” and “knitting” together out into the universe. The next day...the very next day, mind you...I found myself staying up late to rip out and fix almost an hour’s worth of knitting on this section. Not fun. And the whole time I’m hearing my own words “But I’m not likely to pull out 15 rows to fix a non-catastrophic error. If it’s really going to mess things up, I’ll fix it.” Because it really was about 15 rows that I had to rip out. Ugh.

Life goes on, however, and during this challenging week I managed to finish section C and it’s subsequent repeat (hear Allie say, “oh, now I get why that second set of numbers is there!). It’s looking pretty spiffy. I took a photo of the scarf held up against the light so you can get a good look at the design.

Today, because we have workmen coming tomorrow, I had to do The Enormous Task. This enormous effort was to sort, organize, edit, and store my stash. Yikes. Logistics aside, I was unprepared for how emotional a task this was. Even though some of it was tiny scraps and icky yarn, it felt just plain WRONG to trash it. I actually couldn’t stand it after a point, and fished back into the trash bag to collect a bagful of usable scraps, sure SOMEONE would be able to make use of the stuff.

And then there were the UFO’s--the Un-Finished Objects. There were two--two huge old ones--that I knew, intellectually, needed to go. Not ripped out and stored, not stashed away until I had gobs of free time, just GO. One was an obscenely ugly sweater (no, I will not post a photo...and it’s long gone now so don’t ask), and the other was a Zimmermann Pie-R-Squared shawl that was such a somber collection of black and grey it belonged on a victorian widow. A two-item episode of “What Not to Knit.”

Do you know I had to have my husband stand over me while I inserted them into the trash bag? And it was a physical discomfort--an actual physical sensation--to send them away? I am not a hoarder. I hold most of my possessions (okay, maybe not my Blackberry) loosely. I put my good china in the dishwasher. I wear my good jewelry. But I was blindsided by how nuts I got over the process of paring down my yarn stash.

So why am I laughing?

I have a date to go to Stitches Midwest--the regions largest yarn show--on Friday.