What makes you choose a pattern?

Today I cast on for a sweater coat that I never intended to knit and by the look of it in the book, you'll guess why-it's a bulky knit, slouchy sweater coat. Now, I had intended to knit up Briar Rose Fibers' Robusta cardigan, making the necessary mods like the really nice woman who wore it at Rhinebeck told me to do-just knit it longer to make it like hers. I instantly fell in love with this sweater coat that day and went through their patterns frantically searching for it to purchase-to no avail. I even went back to their tent, later in the day, to see if they re-stocked and to my surprise, the incredibly nice woman there, told me that since they were out of stock on it, she would gladly mail me the pattern-gratis. Gratis?? Whaaat??? What an unbelievably nice and kind and completely unneccessary thing to do? I gave her my mailing address and walked away stunned. Wouldn't you know, a few days later, I got the pattern in the mail-just as promised!! I am still stunned by the above and beyond service, that I've since been told, is the way that really wonderful company runs. How cool, right?

So, imagine my surprise, when I finally went to CO for this cardi, that I debated it over and over. I found myself scanning "Sweater coats" on Ravelry, to see if there was something seamless instead. You see, when I knit for myself, I want the pattern to go smoothly and quickly-no seaming, no sewing in sleeves, if at all possible. The idea of having to knit fronts, back and sleeves and then set them in-while, I know how to do this, it bugs me when I have to-for a pattern for myself. I almost feel guilty knitting something for myself, like I should be knitting for my kids or hubby or gift-knitting instead. I know, completely insane!! I'm going to change this thought and will write more about it in another post. Anyway, I also find that I prefer raglan sleeves for their look-they seem more flattering on me-I think. So, despite the incredibly kind story above and the overwhelming infatuation I had with Robusta back at Rhinebeck, I just wasn't feelin' it anymore.....so I checked out Flicca and Stephanie Japel's Long Coat with Chevron Lace and Stephanie's won. So there...

New updates to etsy shop!

Well, it's been a nice, long and relaxing weekend. The whole family, myself included, is sick with a wicked cold and so we didn't do a thing but hang out all day in the house. I did a ton of swatching for fall designs and worked on some proposals. I also made some new small stitchmarker sets (4 in each set) that I'm going to set at a lower pricepoint on etsy and see how they do. I love stitchmarkers-they are like pretty knitting jewelry and I do love to see them hanging on WPI's. Look for these to be up on my etsy shop real soon!
All this knitting hasn't made for many FO's though b/c it's mainly swatch-n-see time. I can't believe I'm saying it, but I'm actually looking forward to cutting the t-shirt yarn for daughter's sun cloche. Crazy, right?

All this patterning and swatching has me really thinking about the type of patterns that I write. My friend's mother often says to me, "I don't know how you knit without a pattern. I can knit, but not without a pattern." I don't know, when I first learned to knit, most of my projects were without patterns b/c I learned from a book and bought my yarns from a big-box store, not an LYS (I know, egad!!) Back in those early days, when I look back, those designs were flying off my needles and I couldn't get enough of mixing yarns and seeing what the end project was to look like. In many ways now, I wish I didn't know as much as I do b/c I know now that I can search on Ravelry for different ways to do things or look in my substantial library of books and magazines instead of merely experimenting with yarn to see what happens. Sometimes I feel like all these directions at my fingertips hinder my designs and experimentation. At the same time, though, there are plenty of designers both big-name and independent, that I look to for inspiration. I guess, like all good things, it takes a delicate balance of both to work well.

I really need a....

knitting friend. Everywhere I go, be it to teach a knitting lesson, to an LYS, various wool festivals, meetups, whatever, it is a rare occasion that I have a knitting friend MY AGE with me. While I do love my knitting "friends" on ravelry too, I would love to be able to sit and knit with someone my age, who is interested in similar patterns, yarns, etc. I find that most of the women that I meet, while incredibly nice, are just not at the same point in their lives that I am in mine. No one has little kids, no one is knitting/designing garments that are more suited to show off curves, and most of the women I meet are either beginner knitters (learning to knit from me) or are really, really into socks. I mean, how many pairs of socks can you really have?? While I too, love a good sock yarn (socks that rock really do ROCK!!) the idea of making socks day and night bores me to tears.
My friends that I hang out with (on the rare occasion that I do hang out) find my knitting addiction fascinating, if not a bit insane. I don't really know how they survive happily cleaning the house, cooking dinner, taking care of hubby and kids w/o some sort of outlet. None of my friends have hobbies either-so strange....not that this is a hobby-goes way beyond that now, but despite my many attempts to convert my bff's to this great craft, it hasn't happened yet. I so wish I had a friend close by to knit with and go here:
http://www.everythinghomemade.com/lunch_menu.shtml

They host a knitting night on Thursday nights-how fun would it be to hang out and knit there?? And eat/drink some yummy food? This place is great-I've taken my daughter there after her dance class and everything we've had has been so yummy! If only I had a friend...

Tilling the garden and...

Knitting do not mix well! This morning, I saw a bluebird. My favorite bird in the whole world-that cobalt blue tint is like nothing I've ever seen-it stirs something in me everytime I see it. Amazing....anyway, I saw our resident bluebird and thought to myself, as the sun peaked out, "Today would be a good day to till out the garden area." So, with pitch-fork in hand, I went outside and.tried.hard.-no luck...
A phone call to the home and garden store and a massively large piece of rental equipment later, the garden is tilled....I'm exhausted, but so happy. The soil is much better than I thought-not nearly as many rocks as I thought we'd have and it is really nice, drained soil. I brought the tiller back to the store to get my deposit back and asked the gentleman if my deposit came with a bottle of Motrin?? He laughed and asked me to sign a paper and I winced while holding the pen. Holding the pen hurt!! What about knitting needles??!! Aye....

Here's hoping a hot shower helps!!!

Spring fever...

This time of year always makes me...antsy. Filled with the promise of unpredictable weather, new projects for the year, the earthy smell in the air and all things sprouting up from the ground, I can't help but have a little...A.D.D! With all these ideas sprouting up in my head, I can't focus on a darn thing! Do I: finish up sending my very first whole garment design, plot the new garden out (my upcoming b-day present!-can't wait!!), wash windows (too cold for right now-can you believe it's flurrying outside??), give the house a good cleaning or just go for a walk around the property and neighborhood with my daughter and doggie in tow?? Decisions, decisions...

Any way ya slice it, I do believe...I've got spring fever!!

Update on...

the bus driver lady. Seems she's a bit brazen, thinking that knitting is so much more mindless than crochet. Last week, she stopped me at the bus stop to say, "Hey! I can't get those mitts you gave me away from my daughter-she loves them. I crochet and I'm sure I could figure out the pattern. Would you give it to me?" Ummmm....sure....I guess....

Of course, I gave it to her that very afternoon. Happy Knitting, Bus Driver Lady!!!