Nice Things

What a great week I've been having!

I've been making good progress on Minimalist Cardigan - heading for the finish line on the first sleeve.

I received two blog contest prizes in the mail (Thank you so much Leslie and Becky/Stephanie!)

At long last I bought myself some Hellebores

 (I've easily been waiting 10 years to splurge on these for the early spring garden.)

We're enjoying an uncharacteristically warm spell.

The children in my learn to knit class are going gangbusters on their felted heart projects purling, pattern reading, kfb-ing and k2togethering.

The forsythia branches I'm forcing look like they'll be open in time for Easter dinner here on Sunday.

And My Beloved has actually been home in pretty good time and had dinner with us every night this week!

Most importantly for the "the offspring" chez Sel and Poivre though is that after grinding to a halt a week ago with an ominous noise, the dishwasher has been repaired in time for the long weekend. So they're singing the praises of Dave the Appliance repair man who squeezed us in at 7:30 this morning and got the thing humming again with the installation of a new "upper wash hub"!

See what I mean? Its all been great!

Its also great when you drop by my little blog -thanks eh!

One "Doodle" Done!

I finished the "Kid's Kerchief" Doodle last night.

The kerchief itself is 14" across the widest point,. I used about 70 m or .9oz of worsted cotton  (Lana Grossa New Cotton Print for the Main Colour (MC) The yarn was discontinued last year - maybe I should refer to it as "Old" cotton print ;)  - I found it in the bargain basement at Romni)

The ties are each 14" long and knit in Mirasol Tika Pima Cotton remnants from these - so cute, I should make more!

With 5.5 sts/in on a 4mm needle, I "doodled" like this...

Kerchief
In MC using a provisional cast on (I used crochet) CO 76
Rows 1-3 Knit (garter stitch)
Row 4 (RS) K2, *yo twice, k2tog* Repeat from * to* until last two sts, K2
Row 5 (WS) Knit
Row 6 skpsso, Knit to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 7 Knit
Repeat these last two rows, decreasing each end every right side and knitting every wrong side until 2 sts remain
Last row k2tog, BO 1.

Ties
In CC
CO 70 (button hole cast on), transfer 76 live stitches from provisional cast on to needle, CO 70 (216 sts)
Row 1 Knit
Row 2 BO all sts

How about those colours?  I grabbed the remnant orange cotton to do the provisional cast on just to use it up but as I tried the thing on various people over the weekend and my daughter and son commented it seemed every person spontaneously offered that they liked the deep orange with the light and summery blue and white. It wouldn't be my first choice to be honest but then colour combinations, especially the edgy kind, are not my area.

My budget is tight for class materials so I'm pleased I managed to make the kerchief out of half of a ball of the Lana Grossa which I got on sale for $7.20 so if I donate the cotton for the ties (orange or I also have golden yellow you see above) the material cost for this project will be $3.60 plus tax. Not bad!

Both these cotton yarns are kind of woven rather than just held with a twist. I hope this will minimize any issues with splitting.We'll see how the kids find working with cotton after their exclusive experience to date with worsted wool.

Well now that everything has been recorded for posterity, its time to frog my little test knit and re roll the yarn into balls. I can't spare extra yarn for me to work with!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Just "Making Stuff Up"

I recently read a blog post about a designer's struggle with paper, pencil and computer to express a knitwear idea through to the chart stage. As I read I felt weighed down by the seriousness of her task, struck by the absence of needles and yarn in her process.

By contrast at the "Canary Knits" blog it seems her needles are conduits out of which pour pattern after young, fresh, flattering, quickly knit and wonderful to wear pattern. Visiting there feels liberating and fun.

In her most recent post the prolific Annie Modesitt calls playing around with her tools and materials "Doodling" and says many great designs and ideas come from her doodling time. When people ask her what she is "making" when they see her doodling away she says she is "making" herself happy.

Like Annie and the "Canary" the kids in my knitting class also jump in and start, in their words "making stuff up". No pressure, just open minded confidence and enjoyment with genuine anticipation at what will result.

My mind works like the first designer - methodical, careful, cerebral but my knitting and I would benefit from a CanaryAnnieKid approach.

I did a bit of it with my Olympic Sweater last month and over the weekend tried to do more doodling on a project for The Class to work on later this session.

Its prompting me to try out some new ways to cast on and to think about functionality beyond fit with yarn I would never have picked for myself and with colours I would not usually put together.

I would not be considering these things if limiting my knitting to the pattern supported projects in my queue. I have no interest in designing. Too serious, too much like a job to apply to a beloved hobby.  It seems I do have an interest in making stuff up. Fun and stimulating and appropriate to have in my leisure time activity of choice. Its an interesting and liberating distinction I tried to keep at the forefront of my mind as I clicked away during the evenings this past weekend.

I am going to work on keeping that approach in my mind in the week ahead. In fact I added a Doodling list among the sidebar elements to remind me that with or without the need to Doodle for The Class, I am going to try to keep some Doodling in my knitting basket all the time.

Thanks for dropping by today! Happy Monday!