Inside of diamonds.

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Jen

Its the end of January, and that means the coldest barest month of the winter is over. But I’ll take a thousand Januaries, for the rain and cold means the watershed is potent on the mountain, promising a verdant landscape in spring and water trickling through into the heat of summer, pushed down and flowing somewhere deep beneath the forest. The days are warming up a little, and in a week the fields will be solid yellow with mustard flowers, which are already beginning to bloom!

I am in need of a break, feeling quite assaulted with lace knitting & difficult chart writing, but in the nick of time I’ve recalled the quote from Elizabeth Zimmerman, and remembered it being a revelation a few years ago in in this post . To me this quote of EZ’s is a diamond jewel for staying out of the mindset of crazy perfectionist thinking, reminds me there are no knitting police, and even though my lace may sometimes be riddled with mistakes, I can surely hope from my forthcoming pattern, yours will be a flawless veil of heirloom-worthy stitches that you can be proud of, for that is my first desire, truly.

In closing, I hope you enjoy this incredibly masterful, energetic, and artful performance film of Mahan Esfahani and his harpsichord. I’ve got a few more Variations queued up for you, so as long as you don’t mind listening, I don’t mind posting them, until at some point there will be a logical destination for all of them.

Its Only Knitting

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Jen

I’ve been busy as a bee working away on my designs, coming up with new ones and further test-knitting my existing ones. Add now tutorials. I have gotten to the point in the whole knitting Thing where I really don’t have time or energy to put into anything which is not my own design. I really can’t regret this , because whether or not I endeavor to write the design into a pattern, I’ve just come to face the fact that I have to make up for lost time. I’ve embraced Indie Design, and am committed to wear ‘all of the hats’ in the job, and I’m ready for a lot of hard work ahead. The more I tell myself this the more I want to work like an ox towards succeeding. However, the elusive truth often escapes me, and that is ” Its only knitting. ” A quote of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s used by over-zealous knitters everywhere. Although it is ‘only knitting’ , I am practically ‘only knitting’. I have little chalkboards I’ve made which I’ve placed in prominent places of my work space , with lists or sage messages to give me perspective, and I use them to keep my focus clear wherever I turn. Today’s brilliant message . . .

Michigan Winter

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Jen

The His & Hers Michigan Winter Pullovers are finished !

Interesting improvisations I’ve done, with ‘His’ v-neck. I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to do it, never having done it before. But now I think it looks very unique ~ steeked on the body, then after shirt-yoke was finished up to the steek in front, I transfered the live stitches on to waste yarn while I continued the yoke across back to be grafted together. Finally I cut the steek, and then picked up the steek stitches , back edge, and live stitches all around for a K2/P2 rib.

‘Hers’ crew style neck was a cake walk ! I really love the tweedy look for these, sparkling with flecks of buff, browns, black, ivory, and occasional bright-colored Donegal nebs. I wonder do they do look a little long in the arms? Yeah, I guess, partly because they are sagging a bit off of the hangers (I know, not the ideal way to display a handknit garment such as these) however, I assure you these sweaters were custom measured, and I stayed true to the wearers’ measurements, but I believe I added an inch (or two) to the sleeves to ensure they weren’t too short, and the end result is, well, much longer sleeves. But we’ll see when they are slipped on Him & Her.

Here is the back !

Just look at that spectacular design of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s,

the seamless shirt-yoke . . .

A close-up detail of how the decreases go into the yoke. . .

Lastly, my mark, I like to sew on the label just above the rib, in the back . . .

Now these his & hers pullovers get shipped to Michigan, to keep warm two very dear young homesteaders in their first year of settling & farming, undoubtedly shivering in the soon-to-be snowy winter landscape.