Perseverance is not a long race;
it is many short races one after another.
[Walter Elliott]

Watching a color pattern grow as you knit can be so enchanting you might not get your bed made or the dishes washed. You keep saying to yourself, “Just one more row and then I’ll go run the vacuum.” If you would like to add this technique to your set of knitting skills (and if you don’t worry about housework), go for it. It is worth the effort.

STRANDED KNITTING—I use that term because it is more general than the term, “Fair Isle.” To me, Fair Isle knitting uses a stranded-knitting technique to acheive color designs that are traditional to one geographical area. The same technique is also used for color patterns that are identifiably Scandinavian, Russian, etc. Stranded knitting describes the process of carrying two colors of yarn while knitting a color pattern. One color strands across the back while the other color is being knit.

Learning how to comfortably carry the two strands of yarn while knitting stockinette is not difficult—it simply requires perseverence. At first, it feels awkward but, given time and practice, it becomes a comfortable motor skill. Many people carry one color in each hand. I taught myself (slowly at first) to carry both colors over one finger. I can control the tension more evenly, and knit as fast as working stockinette with one color.

HINTS:
1. Start slowly. You can build up speed after your fingers learn the new motor skill.
2. Keep the strand at the back loose so it doesn’t pucker the fabric.
3. When working rows of one-color stockinette along with bands of stranded knitting, use a size smaller needle for the one-color areas. The stranded knitting is less elastic.
4. Likewise, when knitting a garment like socks in stranded knitting, use a size larger needles or more stitches than you normally use.
5. The complex appearance of the pattern is an illusion. Like all hand knitting, it is worked only one stitch at a time, one row at a time. If you focus on that, the pattern will grow before your eyes.

The vest in the photograph took about the same amount of time as knitting a pair of stockings. I used a sport-weight woolen yarn knitted on US #3 circular needles. This is a US size 12/14 garment.

Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.
[John Dewey]

My new e-book, …and a time to knit stockings, has shipped. When the UPS truck arrives tomorrow, I’ll be able to see the fruit of my labors. I’ll also ship copies to everyone who has ordered it sight-unseen. My gratitude overflows to all of those folks. You have made it possible not only to produce this book, but to start on my next knitting publication project. Onward and upward.

The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.

For those of you who are waiting for the new CD version of …and a time to knit stockings, good news. The production company notified me that they would ship the finished CDs early this coming week. I’ll mail out orders as soon as they arrive. You can imagine that I can hardly wait until I see the finished product. This project has been long in the development stage, and I’m delighted it is finished. Now I will work on sweater and vest patterns.

The time when you need to do something is when no one else is willing to do it,
when people are saying it can’t be done.”
[Mary Frances Berry]

My husband was admiring an argyle vest at a men’s clothing store. Half to himself he said, “My wife could knit this.” The salesman replied, “Oh no. This couldn’t be knit by hand. This is knit in Scotland on a special machine.”

My husband hurried home to ask if I’d knit him an argyle vest. I groaned inside. Intarsia knitting isn’t my favorite technique. However, I found a pattern that dated back to the 1920s, bought the wool and knit the vest. The back went fast—it had no pattern. The front went slow. I juggled colored yarn on bobbins for at least two weeks and was relieved when I was finished. After it was blocked, he put it on and went downtown. When he returned with a grin on his face, he told me about the salesman and the machine-knit vest.

That was over twenty years ago. This is the only piece of intarsia knitting I’ve ever done. After many washings, it shrunk and I grew two sizes so I wear it now. When I do, I think of that salesman.

Remember
This December,
That love weighs more than gold!
[Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon]

…and a time to knit stockings CD book offers two sock patterns for December—one pair to wear and the other to hang for holiday gifts.

For all of you who took advantage of the November special offer on this CD book, I am excited to announce that the company that is duplicating and packaging the CDs is hard at work on them. I’ve approved the proof and expect delivery in a week or so. I’ll have these in the mail to you as soon as I receive them.

So, like a forgotten fire, a childhood can always flare up again within us.
[Gaston Bachelard]

Elizabeth is a Magic Attic doll. She is 18″ tall like the American Girl brand, but her body shape and composition makes her easier to fit. I enjoy knitting oufits for her with left over yarn.

This is her Christmas outfit. The yarn is fingering weight that I used for a pair of socks, and I knit these on #0 and #1 needles. The knee socks and red tights are all one piece as shown below. The dress was knit from the hem up, then the sleeves from the armhole down. There is a long, snap-closure opening in the back to make it easier to dress the doll. The hat ties under her chin with I-cord. The photo below shows a side view.

Dressing Elizabeth marks the beginning of my decorating for Christmas. She will take her place next to the toy train and other dolls by the time I get the tree up and decorated. Hand-knit stockings will hang on the window ledge in lieu of a fireplace mantle. I decorate a little bit at a time — Advent wreath, manger scene, door decoration — as Elizabeth watches in her holiday dress.

Just think of all those women on the Titanic who said,
“No, thank you,” to dessert that night. And for what!
[Erma Bombeck]

Pass the dessert folks, I’m still celebrating. The special introductory offer is up on my web site for ordering the CD version of . . .and a time to knit stockings. I’m already receiving orders. I’m so excited.

I sent the papers to the state to make A Time to Knit Publications into a LLC. At 63, I’m finally turning this into a business. I’m so excited.

Yesterday, I received an order from Susan at Tongue River Farm for more copies of my other sock book, The Tongue River Farm Sock Collection. She told me that her icelandic wool that she kits with my little book of six sock patterns was mentioned by the Yarn Harlot on her blog. Since then she’d sold out. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Yarn Harlot) is Canada’s answer to a knitting Erma Bombeck. So funny. We all need folks like her for our mental health. As for me, her post on her blog was like being on Oprah’s book club list. I’m so excited.

Much encouraged, I’m forging ahead. I have more than a dozen sweaters, vests and accessories designed in texture knitting. I’ve started layouts for those patterns under the name, Great Lakes Chill Chaser Collection. That doesn’t exactly roll off of the tongue, does it? The photo of the Grosse Ile, Michigan lighthouse is the hallmark for that collection. One of my clients, Janet Newell, took that lovely photo. I’m so excited.

Clocks slay time…
time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels;
only when the clock stops does time come to life.
[William Faulkner]

. . . and a time to knit stockings is finished—ready to go to the disc makers for production and packaging. I set aside most other tasks for the month of October to meet this goal. Whew! I made it.

I have posted a special introductory offer on my website, atimetoknit.com, for placing pre-paid orders at a reduced price. This offer will last until November 30th and the projected delivery date is mid-December.

The CD will be compatible with both Macs and PCs, and the software it uses is common to almost all computers. You can use your web browser (Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Netscape, etc.) to surf through colored images of 16 sock designs and a “How To” section. You do not have to be connected to the internet to use web browsers. You can open files that are on your local computer. Then, if there is a pattern you’d like to knit, you can open and print its PDF file. It doesn’t take long to open these since they are local and not coming through an internet connection.

The November stocking (pictured above) is knit in the Setesdal folk art style—Norwegian design. The knee stocking is knit using Guernsey yarn and the short sock is knit using cotton yarn. If you click on the “Knitting” link in the left column of this page, you can browse several other socks that are in this book. If you scroll on down this page, you’ll see a photo of me in a sweater that I knit to match the knee stockings.

One more thought. Sometime during the night, time changed (a new experience this year in Indiana). Now I’ll have to read the handbook to figure out how to change my car clock. I don’t really see the point to all of this. Tracking time is a man-made thing—it can be whatever hour we say it is. It is important to coordinate the tracking of time to prevent train wrecks and air disasters, but it is all relative. It would be easier to just pick a time and leave it alone. No matter. I can always find a time to knit stockings.