Posie Gets Cozy

Vintage Crochet

I'm so pleased to be a part of this beautiful book, Vintage Crochet: 30 Gorgeous Designs for Home * Garden * Fashion* Gifts. My friend Susan Cropper, the owner of Loop, a beautiful yarn store in London, here has collected designs from some of my favorite crochet designers (including my friends fellow Pacific Northwesterners Kristeen Griffin-Grimes and Leigh Radford), and I am honored to be included.

I "met" Susan over the phone, two years ago now when she called to order my crochet patterns to carry in her shop, and she has been an enthusiastic and generous supporter of my work. In the first conversation we had, she asked if I would design a grown-up version of the Cecily baby cardigan, and so it is here in the book now, named Millie, done in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and decorated with Liberty cotton-lawn ties. This is the photo from the book, taken by Kristin Perers. I love the way she has styled and photographed everything. Isn't this photo so pretty? I love it. Everything in the book has this very calm, hazy mellowness about it.

I also designed another baby cardigan for the book, a little matinee coat we called the Maisie Cardigan, inspired by the angelic hellebore flower. This one is made from Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I haven't seen anyone make this one up yet, but now that I have finally gotten on board with Ravelry.com (have you heard of Ravelry yet? oh my stars!) I can't wait to see what people do with it there. (More on Ravelry soon; in the meantime, if you are a knitter or crocheter, please go on over and sign up to receive an invitation to join. Don't be put off by the enormous number of people waiting; I think mine came in just a couple of weeks, and I know those guys are working as fast as they can to include everyone in this incredible community. Take the tour and see what I'm talking about. Very cool.)

Also, for all of the people who were wanting to make a ripple blanket like the ones Jane and I made last year (and a lot of other people made and are still making!), there is a pattern in Vintage Crochet for you to use — the Chevron Blanket by Bee Clinch will make you very happy. She gives you yardage for a few colors and some good notes. Other patterns that I love are Juju's dog coat, Kate's Breakfast Set tea cozy by Kate Samphier, and the Rickrack Kerchief by Juju Vail.

There are two editions of the book; the one with the blanket on the cover (above) uses American abbreviations, and the one with the girl on the front uses British. The covers and abbreviations are different, but the patterns are the same in each edition. Also, be sure to check the errata page on the Loop web site — the Millie Cardigan has a couple of changes (seriously sorry!), and so do a few other patterns. (And please note, I will be keeping errata on my published patterns and books here on my web site next to their listings so please check there if you're ever frustrated by something that just doesn't look right, and let me know if you find something that hasn't been caught yet.)

Polly Beret

If you have your own mannequin head (you don't?), you are frequently inspired to think about hats, for obvious reasons. Whenever I see someone wearing a beret, it always makes me wonder where they're going. Field trip to the Art Institute? Pennywhistle lessons? Ice-cream social? Beret-wearers have a certain insouciance that I admire.

I've been wanting to make a simple crocheted beret for a while and this one that I made over the weekend is pretty much exactly what I was going for. Needless to say, that's a miracle. The yarn is Suri Merino in this woodsy, heathery green. They say it's a worsted weight but it seemed a little lighter than that to me? Probably just me. Anyway, it's beautiful yarn. Nevertheless, I'm remaking it in DK as I fuss with the pattern (and thank you to the people who have already written and offered to test this — I'll finish the pattern today or this weekend and pass it along to you) because I am just loving the cashmere-blend DKs out there right now and can't stop using them. Thank you, manufacturers, for making more of these for us! Good on ya.

Coooold out again! Snow, I will still take you, if you'd oblige, especially for the weekend. It's not supposed to snow, according to the forecast, but if you see a girl wearing this beret pretending to catch snowflakes on her mittens while walking the dog, that's just me.

Crochet Patterns Ready to Download

Thank you so much for all the nice comments on the site yesterday! I felt kind of embarrassed to have a site about myself, so it was nice hearing nice things, thank you. I really appreciate that.

Thank you, also, to those of you who found my crochet patterns and ordered them to download yesterday, as well. They are all ready to go! I'm so excited to have these available in pdf format, too, because it will mean that everyone gets their patterns immediately, including overseas folks. If you click on the link above it will take you to the collection.

Also, if you are a yarn shop owner interested in purchasing them wholesale, just let me know and I will give you more information about that. I've never really marketed these patterns to shops, but only because I've wanted to remake and rephotograph the samples for about . . . two years. Now that I've finally gotten it done, I'm bubbling with ideas for more (funny how that works, eh?), so you'll see those soon, too. It feels sooooo good to be able to get these things older things done, and start more.

Please let me know if anyone has any trouble with the download (you will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to see the files) or with any of the patterns themselves. Since they've been recently revised, I'm on high-alert for errata, so give me a holler should anything confusing come up.

I made a really cute crocheted beret over the weekend. If I finish the pattern for that today, I'll see if anyone might want to test it. Typically, I have always hired a technical editor to proof all of my patterns, but this one is pretty straightforward so I think it will be okay. I don't know why I'm talking about it without showing it to you. I am just excited about these I guess! That whole download thing is really cool. I don't know what century I've been living in. Maybe someday soon I'll even have my very own iPod, too. I think I'm the only person I know who doesn't have an iPod. Slow on the uptake here.

My New Plan

Thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes! I have a whole lot of email to answer, and thank-you notes to write, and mail to sort through this week, but until I get to all of it, thank you! I had a great birthday.

Now it's back-to-work time, big time. That feels really good. The house is kind of a mess. Book proofs arrive the day after tomorrow, and I'll have those to proofread for a week and a half. My new web site is almost finished. My new-and-improved crochet pattern samples are finished and photographed. Some publicity is coming out in the next few weeks so I'm trying to get ready for that, though I've made the Executive Decision not to go crazy trying to get a bunch of stuff made for the web shop (which has been closed, and will be through January 14). As usual, everything sort of happens all at once, but I'm just not going to rush this time. I don't want to rush around anymore. I know I am the only one that can change that in my life.

January is kind of weird, isn't it? After the holidays, and that long period of intense preparation and celebration, the new year comes right up. And then there's pressure to get everything reorganized and improved right away. But I'm just going to try to pace myself this month, and this year. I already was trying, but when a drill bit comes out of your ankle it really puts things into perspective, you know? I have to set my own reasonable pace, no matter what demands are put upon me. I really don't know why that's so hard. For me, I suspect it requires saying "no" more often. How do you pace yourself and stay balanced (if you do)? Any advice?

Quiet Crochet

Yesterday I spent about four hours scrubbing the bathroom floor and the back hall floor. I really have nothing to say about that except wow, was it dirty. Scrubbing is quite a workout. It won't help your carpal tunnel either. When I was done I felt like I'd scrubbed the floors, played volleyball, gone to wrestling camp, and then gone to sailing camp. And then did twenty pull-ups. As if I could even do one pull-up. The bathroom is pretty now, though. And I take it back — apparently I can find something to say about anything.

It felt good to do something physical, though. For the past several weeks, I have done a lot of crocheting. It's been a really wonderful interlude, I must say. I have been fussing with my own patterns, adding some details, redoing the samples (correctly this time, and with new yarns). I am very much loving the Rowan Cashsoft DK. The palette is delicious and the yarn seems to have a little more of a halo than the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino I originally designed these patterns in, and I kind of like that. There's a Cashmerino DK now, too, but I get the same gauge for the Baby Cashmerino and the DK stuff, so go figure. Once I'm in the sportweight-DK family it's all about color for me. (That said, I wish every yarn store would organize their yarns first by weight, not manufacturer, not fiber content — to me, it's mostly about yarn weight, and then I find the fiber content I want within that category, then color.) I'm liking the Cashsoft palette better somehow. The colors seem more muted and sophisticated, or something. I'm so glad that there are more cashmere blends available in the past several years. I have really conservative tastes in yarns, I must say. I love DK-weight yarn, I love it to be very soft, and I love to be able to see my stitches. I have a few other kinds of yarns in this bowl, including alpaca and angora blends. I love to look at them altogether. Don't you think bowls of yarn are just gorgeous? I seem to have several around all the time. Mmmm.

By the way, if you are interested in learning to crochet and looking for a great resource, I keep forgetting to mention that I think the best one for the basics (including instructions for lefties!) is The National Needlework Association's publication How to Crochet. It's very inexpensive, filled with illustrations, and it really demystifies things like turning chains, hook sizes, and stuff like that. I highly recommend it.

So, redoing patterns, going to get some special buttons today and rephotograph everything, with the hopes of relaunching these patterns sometime this month (on my new eponymous web site — yay — gotta get that done, too). If I can figure it out, I'll also be making the patterns available as downloadable pdfs. That's been on my list for, oh, three years now. Same with redoing the pattern photos, actually. Same with finishing the web site. All in good time.

Slow is my new thing.

Where I Plan to Stay Home Until 2008

Oh, the quiet wind-down of the year. There is frost on the roofs of the houses across the street this morning. New Year's Eve. The last day of 2007.

It's been wonderful having the past couple of weeks off. Absolutely wonderful. Christmas was quiet and lovely. We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's beautiful new house. The highlight of the evening was Arden, our nine-year-old niece, passing out the crochet presents she'd been secretly working on for weeks. I know I've said it before, but this girl truly is a crocheting wunderkind. As we opened our presents (pictured here are the hat and scarf she made for Frances the polar bear, and all without a pattern) pure amazement was expressed as we looked at each thing she'd made entirely on her own, with no help from anyone — a hat, a round pillow, a bracelet, a scarf, a stuffed bear for her brother, and juggling balls — and a collective cheer went up for our girl. It was my favorite moment of Christmas.

Thank you for all your kind Christmas comments and well-wishes and the beautiful cards and presents. Egads, so kind of you — thank you. It all gave me such a sweet, warm glow to carry through the holiday. I've spent the past week quietly crocheting, soaking up the wind-down of the year, reflecting and planning things for the next one. Nevertheless, a worry was plaguing me. My bad foot had not been feeling right since November. I tried to push it to the back of my mind, since there were so many other things going on, but for a couple of weeks a small bump had been looming on my ankle. I tried to stay off my foot, hoping it would disappear. By last week it could not be denied. It was popping up in a place that was held together by lots of plates and screws, where my bones were put back together at the time of my accident in 1998. Last week I went to see my regular doctor, who referred me to the orthopedist; because of the holiday I wouldn 't be able to get in until this coming Wednesday. But by early Sunday morning, the bump looked big and angry, and had developed a tiny, weeping hole, so, once again, we headed up the hill to the ER.

Eight a.m. Sunday morning at the ER felt oddly comforting and familiar. To say I was "nervous" doesn't begin to describe it. I think the clinical term is "very, very, very-very-very nervous." My blood pressure and pulse were insane. While the docs drew blood, asked questions, took x-rays, and looked concerned, I quaked with anxiety until someone gave me an Ativan. Under warm blankets, I took deep breaths and watched "Christmas in Yellowstone" and held Andy's hand, all of which helped to calm me. Slightly. Hours passed. People in scrubs and coats came and went. Sometime in the afternoon, the very kind orthopedic surgeon appeared to talk to us and said, as they usually do to me, "Well, there's something very unusual on your x-ray."
     "Really."
     "It seems a drill bit is trying to get out of your ankle."
     "[I'm giving up swearing for new year's so I won't repeat here the long string of very creative expletives that whizzed through my brain upon receiving this news.]"

I won't go into the details either, but basically at the time of my original surgeries, a drill bit had broken off and stuck into bone. When that happens, they leave it there, if it looks like it won't cause any problems. And it didn't, for almost ten years, though who knows how long it's been trying to work its way out. By the time the surgeon removed it yesterday, the tip of it was actually coming through the skin.When I got home, I told my friend Elizabeth this story. She screamed appropriately (thank you, E) and then said, "So your ankle was like 'Pa-tooey!' and . . . spit it out." Prrrrretty much, yeah.

Everything's good now. I am fine and feeling more relieved than I can say. Turns out having a drill bit in your ankle is actually not as bad as some of the other problems I was imagining! Of all the things I was imagining, I will admit that I hadn't considered that there might be a tool coming out of my body. Luckily, it came out without any trouble and now just has to heal up. Nevertheless, it is my fervent wish to stay out of trouble for the rest of 2007. To that end, I plan to stay on the sofa all day, cuddling Frances (above) and Clover (video and photos coming soon, just haven't had time), eating shrimp cocktail and homemade eggrolls (thank you Andy), and watching movies, the New Year's Eve ones you guys recommended last year.

Be well, everybody, and a very, very Happy New Year to you all!

xoxo,
a

Where I Make Things Easy for Others

Every year, it feels like that last week before Christmas really sneaks up on ya. I'm in pretty good shape — mailing long-distance presents today, baking more gingerbread cakes (the alternative to Peppermint Bust-Up Brownies) tomorrow, for the first time in years trying to get the Christmas cards out before Christmas (or at all — it's been a while). Nevertheless, there are little odds and ends to take care of, and that little thing called the Husband Present. What do you get for the man who wants nothing? Jeesh. He's now flush with sweaters — I thought I was going to luck-out this year and get away with buying him all clothes, like normal people, but he needed them all stat, so, I don't know — pulling the shirts presents out of the laundry and handing them back to him on Christmas morning ("Here, honey, Merry Christmas, and — oh man, what did you get on the collar there, anyway? Mustard? Nevermind, I'll get it out. Love you!!!") doesn't seem right, somehow. . . . What to get, what to get, hmmm. . . .

Girls are SO EASY. I personally think I must be the easiest person on earth to shop for. When I met my friend Allyson's mom after knowing Allyson for years but never meeting her mom, her mom's like, "Oh, you're Alicia! We see so many things to get for you whenever we're out shopping!" Er, yep, that's me! And this from a person who's never even met me. My materialism is known far and wide. You're welcome, family and friends! Just sayin.

Anyway, on Friday I had a wonderful, quiet day crocheting a prezzie for a special someone, making this, the Poinsettia Bunting, designed by my friend Jennifer Fletcher of Fable Handmade. I absolutely love her romantic designs. I feel like I'm crocheting accessories for a fairytale Christmas. And how pretty is this! A scarflette. Perfect. This week, I need three more, by Christmas Eve. Go fingers, go! I think the girls will love all of this. I would. See what I mean? Easy.

I did wind up making a few of the bags I was talking about earlier (need to get a photo of those), but they required a lot of time standing at the table in the studio. And I was so weary of spending every waking moment in the studio after I'd finished the Lucias that all I wanted to do was put my feet up on the sofa, which is not in the studio. So, crocheted gifts from the sofa instead. A gift for us both. Crocheting gifts for you is a gift I give to myself from you, so don't even worry about me!

See how easy I am?

Ripple Morning

Candy-colored Christmas ripple, a miniature version for one of many babes in Blogland these days. Or actually, this one will be for many, not one — beautiful Amy and Rich are going to be foster parents and are outfitting their child's room in a charming landscape of hills and houses in the brightest, prettiest, coziest colors. I'm so happy to be working on this for my dear, sweet friend.

I chained 135 to start, and the pattern is the same as Soft Waves ripple from last winter (and all the information I have about how I made that blanket is contained in the post and the links embedded in it — there's a lot so you just have to kind of dig through, 'kay?). This same pattern shows up again in Vintage Crochet by Susan Cropper, which I just finally saw last week. I'll tell you much more about this book next week but for now I'll just say IT. IS. AWESOME. I am so proud to be a part of this book.

This weekend has been busy but I am desperately hoping that we can have a few hours to decorate this afternoon before the day is over and it is back to work for Andy, who recently got a promotion and needed all new clothes. That is, clothes that were not 1) Western shirts from Goodwill, 2) jeans, or 3) scrubs. His entire outside wardrobe is made up of these things. I have never been able to buy clothes for Andy because he won't let me, because I always buy really preppy stuff. I have been trying to get him to wear a sweater for about ten years. More than ten years. My dream came true last week when he asked me to come to the mall and help him buy some clothes because I do not exaggerate when I say that the man had nothing appropriate to wear to his new job. Now he has a sweater (doesn't that look just fine?), several sweaters, actually, and shirts, and corduroys. Let me just say that this was one of the most fun days I have ever had, shopping for him. So much more fun than shopping for myself. I was very excited. I seriously think I totally missed out on a career as a personal shopper. If you have the opportunity, I highly suggest marrying a clothes-oblivious hottie, because when you dress him up he will 1) look awesome and 2) keep you peeing in your pants laughing because he has no idea how to wear clothes. I would point at mannequins and say things like, "Look at that guy, see how he has his sleeves rolled up over the cuff of his sweater? That's not loser-y, that looks cool!" and then Andy would look and say, "I don't know how to do that." He was ASTOUNDED at how much things cost. I guess that happens when you are used to spending about $50 annually. Anyway, I am so proud of you honey. A promotion and a sweater! Good for you!

Cashsoft Cables

The Piccolo-Playing yoke here, growing slowly but surely. This is the long strip off of which the garter rounds grow toward the top to make the neck, and from which the long vertical cables fall to make the body/bodice.

I'm using size 7 needles with Rowan Cashsoft DK in color 516, which is sort of an olive green — a lot more yellow than it looks in this photo. It's got a little bit of loft and is very soft. I love these cashmere blends so much. The pattern calls for a worsted-weight yarn, so I'm just going with the counts for one size bigger, and knitting lengths as my size calls for.

Who knows if I'll get this done, but it sure is pretty and fun to play with. I was trying to do one cable repeat a night when I got into bed, but some nights I just sit there, daft, and then fall over, mumbling. The yoke needs to be over fifty inches long (can't remember exactly how long but it's long). For some reason I can't seem to memorize the cable pattern, which is driving me crazy. I think I'd get a lot more done if I could memorize it. The repeat is 16 rows but it keeps sliding out of my brain, a slither of loose braid — gone.

Did anybody else decide to make this sweater?

The Knitting Man(ual)

We have a little morning fire in the fireplace this morning so I'm thinking about knitting. My friend Kristin came over on Tuesday for a hang out. I haven't had much time to see my friends lately so it was nice to bake and sit and talk. The sun was shining, low and golden. I hope it comes back. I hope and pray the humidity kicks up and the winds die down in southern California.

Kristin's a phenomenal knitter and all-around incredible person. I met her, probably six years ago now, when she worked at the Yarn Garden, which I think was the first yarn store to open anywhere near my neighborhood. When I first moved to Portland in 1997, I had just learned to knit. I didn't know my way around town, and when I wanted to find a yarn store I looked in the yellow pages. I think I went to three different locations that were no longer even open. When the Yarn Garden opened a couple of years after this, it really took off, coinciding perfectly with the renewed collective interest in knitting. I went down to find yarn to make a shrug to go with a salmon-pink dupioni silk dress I'd made to go to a friend's wedding. I was a very nervous yarn-shopper — I knew nothing about yarn, or gauge, or fiber content — but Kristin was there and she was so nice to me, walking me through possibilities gently and patiently. And now, years later, I know that that is just how Kristin is in everything: gentle, patient, generous, wise.

I think all of these qualities are exponentially displayed in her work, for in addition to being a lovely person, she is an illustrious and incredibly talented knitter — a technician of great skill and integrity and a truly creative designer, she has already written four knitting and crochet books: Knits from the Heart; Crochet from the Heart; Blankets, Hats, and Booties to Knit and Crochet; and her latest, The Knitting Man(ual) just came out from Ten Speed Press last month.

The Knitting Man(ual) is a collection of patterns for guys that anyone, men or women, will enjoy knitting. Taking traditional designs, including many Scandinavian inspired patterns that reflect her own Norwegian roots (my favorite is "Dad's Sweater," which she designed based solely on a little black and white photo she had of her dad wearing a sweater hand-knit for him by one of his sisters in the 1960s — so cool — it is such a cute picture), Kristin has updated classics to include contemporary colors and modern construction. Everything is classic in the best way — but classic with an edge of cool.

In the introduction, Kristin traces the history of men knitting, and interviews many males knitters to discover just what it is about the craft that appeals to them. I love reading stuff like this. What I also love about the book is that she used many real-life models — everyone photographed wearing the projects from the book are members of her own circle of friends and family and there is such a wonderful, accessible, friendly feel to the photography. Even local knitting rock star Jesse Stenberg's tattooed chest ("Born to Knit" in a modified skull and crossbones) is included. I remember once watching Jesse knit a present for his baby nephew while explaining that he intended to be the world's greatest uncle, blowing every other potential baby gift that anyone else might deliver out of the water. I just busted out laughing when he said that. I thought that was hilarious.

Christmas presents, peeps! It's time to start!