annie o.

vashon cottage

In a couple of days, we'll be heading to Seattle, and I really can't wait.  The kids will be there for a week before flying back to NY, and I'll stay for another 2+ weeks, enough time to hang out with my parents and my brother and maybe even spend a few days at my Vashon cottage.  I bought my little waterfront house more than three years ago, and have yet to spend a real night there.  By that I mean that I've slept on an air mattress on the floor, but the house has been such a work in progress that it's only recently that I've had an actual bed.  Now I have one, and a real kitchen as well.  Here's what the kitchen looked like when I bought the house

 

A pretty motley assortment of cupboards and, believe me, they were not clean.  That hole in the paneling helped convince me to spring for some sheetrock, so out went the kitchen

 

It looked like this for quite a while.  Then last summer, my friend Karen came to visit and, despite my diagnosis only a few days before she arrived, we got to work laying some tile where the kitchen cabinets had been and assembling my IKEA kitchen and two comfy chairs.  There's nothing like a home improvement project to take your mind off health problems.  Here's how the kitchen looks now

 

And the aforementioned chairs

 

The bedroom still needs some serious work and I have to find a kitchen table.  And I'd like to paint the trim and buy a picnic table for the deck and pull the weeds out of the planter boxes.  Or maybe I'll just sit on a swing and do nothing.

my new mantra

I don't know about you, but I wake up every day with a head full of stuff I want to accomplish.  Today, for example, I'd like to finish weaving the bamboo and cashmere shawl currently on the loom, begin winding a warp for another project, do some spinning on my new wheel, work on my summer weaving homework, and photograph some finished projects so that I can update my long-neglected website.  Then there are the usual bills, errands, laundry, grocery shopping and vacuuming (it doesn't help that I'm trying to save money by phasing out the maid service and cleaning my own house).  And on top of that, my daily challenge of being the world's best-controlled diabetic -- see my other blog for details on how that's going.

So, realistically, how many of these things can possibly happen?  Certainly not all of them.  Maybe one, or two, if I'm really lucky and disciplined.  The question is, why do I do this in the first place?  It's not a race.  I'm not going to win a prize for weaving the most scarves or spinning the most yarn or keeping my kitchen counters the cleanest.  I know this, of course.  The challenge is getting myself to believe it.

Just recently, I was reading an article on time management, and was struck by the following sentence:  "You can have it all -- just not all at the same time."  I'm trying to keep that in mind.  I can devote a day to weaving, but I have to accept a pile of dirty laundry in return.  I can have a sparkling clean house, but the half-woven shawl will remain half-woven.  My goal is to say "so what?" and concentrate on enjoying each day, rather than worrying what gets done or remains undone.  It's not easy, but I'm trying

the lure of new equipment

Honk if this has happened to you:  On a sunny Sunday, you go to a sheep and wool festival, just to look around and maybe buy some spinning fiber (and nothing else!).  At one of the booths, you see a wheel about which you've heard many good things ("effortless treadling", "spins like a dream").  You're not in the market for a new wheel because 1) you're in love with your Lendrum double treadle and 2) spinning isn't even your major hobby.  But it might be interesting to see what all the fuss is about, so you sit down for a test spin.  It is a nice wheel.  The treadling is, indeed, effortless.  Nicer than the Lendrum?  Definitely not.  But different.

You walk away, pleased at your maturity and restraint.  You are actually capable of looking at a new toy and not coveting it.  You love your Lendrum.  It's the only wheel you'll ever need, right?

Before leaving, you cruise by the booth a few more times, just to look.  Driving home, you hear a tiny voice say "It is a beautiful wheel.  Not nicer than the Lendrum, just different."

"But I don't need another wheel."

"You didn't need another loom either, but aren't you happy you have it?"

"Well . . ."

"And because of the weak New Zealand dollar, this wheel is actually cheaper than it was two years ago!"

"Well . . ."

"It would be false economy not to buy it now.  Who knows when the price will go up?  And besides, having two wheels will allow you to have two projects going at the same time!"

"Well . . ."

I guess I don't have to tell you what happened next.

all quiet on the weaving front

Not much weaving going on here lately.  In fact, ever since the flurry of weaving that produced my Handwoven scarves (yes, umm, I do have a project article in the March/April Handwoven, she says modestly), I haven't actually woven anything, except for a few inches on the comb reed sample.  Weaving is something that seems to come over me like a fever.  When I'm in that mode, it's all I want to do and when I'm not . . . well, I'm just not interested.

What has captured my fancy in the last few weeks is sock-knitting.  In all my years of knitting, I've never been tempted to make socks, mostly because they seemed like a lot of work for something that would soon wear out (like handwoven dish towels).  But on a recent browse through the book section of my local yarn store I came upon Cat Bordhi's book, in which she describes various "sock architectures".  Too cool.  I immediately bought enough sock yarn to last me about ten years, and started knitting.  Here are the results so far -- one finished, one almost.  Yes, I know they don't match.  But I'm planning to make another pair just like them.  Any day now.

tops & toes blog tour, day 5

Today, I'm delighted to have a visitor to the blog:  Kara Gott Warner, the editor of Tops & Toes:  A Whimsical Collection to Delight Hat & Sock Knitters.  Kara is travelling from blog to blog, talking with some of the designers featured in the book, and today it's my turn.  Welcome Kara, and thanks for stopping by.

Kara:  It's great to be here.  Ann, can you tell us how you came up with your adorable Spring Has Sprung hat?  What was your inspiration?

Ann:  The main inspiration for anything I design is color.  I love using bright colors and combining them in unexpected ways.  And I love flowers, so I try to include them in my designs whenever possible.

Kara:  Are there any special considerations when knitting for babies and children?

Ann:  One important thing to keep in mind is that they grow up fast.  If you choose a pattern that's overly complicated or knit at a very fine gauge, your recipient may grow out of the hat or sweater or whatever before you have finished it.

Kara:  It sounds as though that has happened to you!

Ann:  It has.  When my twins were born, I decided to knit them matching sweaters -- an ambitious project considering that I was also an overwhelmed new mom.  By the time I finished, they were almost two years old!  After that experience, I decided it was best to keep things simple.  I try to design basic shapes that can be knit up quickly and embellished in a variety of ways.

Kara:  Speaking of embellishment, I see that the Spring Has Sprung hat combines knitting, embroidery and felting.  Do you do crafts other than knitting?

Ann:  Absolutely!  Knitting was my first love -- I learned to knit at age 7 while recovering from a broken leg -- but in the years since then I've added crochet, felting, spinning, embroidery, weaving . . .  If it has to do with fiber, I've probably tried it.  Having said that, though, I should point out that it's not necessary to be an expert embroiderer or felter to make the Spring Has Sprung hat.  You can do the stems and leaves in felt if you don't want to embroider and you can definitely substitute craft felt if you don't want to felt your own sweaters.  I'd love to see knitters use my pattern as a jumping off point and then make the hat their own. 

Kara:  Tell me about the yarn you chose for the hat. 

Ann:  I used Mission Falls 1824 wool and I loved working with it.  It's super-soft, comes in an amazing range of colors, and it's machine washable, which is great for baby garments.  I see that Mission Falls has come out with an 1824 cotton yarn that is interchangeable with the wool in terms of gauge.  I think this would be a perfect choice for spring and summer hats.

Kara:  Have you had knitwear designs published previously, or is Tops & Toes your first book?

Ann:  My first knitted hat design, called flower power (there's that flower theme again!), was published in knitty about a year and a half ago.  Tops & Toes is the first knitting book in which I've participated.  I also design patterns for weaving, and one of my handwoven scarves will be featured in an upcoming issue of Handwoven magazine.  So if there are any weavers out there, I hope they'll look for it.

Kara:  Wow Ann, it sounds as though you're a real "multi-crafter"!

Ann:  I guess I am!  Before we finish, Kara, I just want to tell you what a great job you did on the book.  The designs are all fantastic and I love that the book is spiral bound so it lays flat.  I sent a copy to my mother (who is 95), and she was inspired to get out her needles and start knitting again.  So congratulations on a job well done.

Kara:  Thanks, Ann.  It was fun chatting with you.

Ann:  Thank you!

Don't miss the rest of the blog tour.  Next up is Faina Goberstein of Faina's Knitting Mode on 2/26.  And then . . .

2/27- Celeste Pinhiero of Two Stix In The Woods
2/28- Kara Gott Warner of sheknitsintheloop with Laura Nelkin
3/1- Joanne Seiff of Yarn Spinner
3/2- Cindy Moore of The Fitter Knitter
3/3- Sean Higgins of Kblicious

To get your copy of Tops & Toes:  A Whimsical Collection to Delight Hat & Sock Knitters, click here.

so, where have I been?

Taking pictures of flowers, that's where.  Also, working on some new knitting projects - developing designs that I hope will be included in an upcoming book.  I'm experimenting with Misti Alpaca Chunky, described by the woman at my neighborhood yarn store as the softest yarn on the planet.  She's totally right!

tops & toes

 

A few years ago, I "broke in" to the fiber arts publishing world when a baby hat pattern I designed was featured in knitty.  And now it's happened again.  Another of my baby hat patterns will appear in  Tops & Toes: A Whimsical Collection to Delight Hat & Sock Knitters.  The book is being published by House of White Birches, and is scheduled for release - yikes! - next week.  It's available for pre-order here.

I had so much fun designing this pattern.  The hat is really easy to knit, and incorporates three things I love:  knitting, embroidery and felting.  I can't wait to see it in the flesh - or rather, in the book.

seattle weekend

 

Last weekend, I made a trip to Seattle to see my parents, fully expecting leaden skies and cold drizzle.  But even in January, Seattle can be a magical place.  For me, it's all about the water.  I took an early morning ferry to Vashon Island . . .

 

 

. . . to see my little beach cabin.

 

Here's the view from the deck.

 

The next day we took a harbor cruise on Elliott Bay, where we were lucky enough to spot a group of sea lions taking it easy.

 

On my last day, the Olympic mountains made an appearance

 

I miss you, Seattle!

adventures with the comb reed

 

Well, the Baby Wolf is warped, the comb reed installed, and the experiments have begun.  Unfortunately, I got off to a slow start, trying out only one idea before I was sidetracked by the urgent need to photograph flower bottoms.  So here is just one small example of what you can do with a comb reed. 

To get this somewhat distressed Goodwill-scarf effect, I wove a few inches in plain weave, then took off the top of the comb reed and moved some warp threads to create gaps.  After weaving a few inches, I returned the warp threads to their original dents so that the holes would close up.

 

It's a fun process, but a little bit arduous.  Every few inches, you have to stop everything, remove the top of the beater and the top of the comb reed, loosen the tension (a lot) and then carefully move warp threads from one dent to another.  I discovered the hard way that it's very easy for the whole thing to come unsleyed -- and I think maybe the next time that happens, I'll just put the warp threads back randomly and see what effect that produces.  (It's not a mistake, it's a design element.)

tulip bottoms

 

 

 

No weaving today - I got distracted by photography and just couldn't stop taking pictures of these tulip bottoms.  If only my bottom were that smooth.