Cole Duke Smith

01 Saturday Mar 2008

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Becoming a grandmother is wonderful.
One moment you’re just a mother.
The next you are all-wise and prehistoric.
[Pam Brown]

James, Beverly, Cole and JackieCole Duke Smith was born February 26, 2008 at 8:44 a.m. He weighed in at 10 lbs 9 oz. and measured 20.5 inches long.

Last Monday and Tuesday were busy for the Smiths in Wilmington, North Carolina. Beverly and James presented our family with another member.

Grandpa Smith visited from Charlotte, and Grandpa and Grandma Duke drove from Bicknel, Indiana for the big event. Grandma Misegades (that’s me) shoveled snow and dreamed of holding Cole in his hometown that has 70-degree weather in February.

Meanwhile oldest grandson, Joshua, stayed over last night. We read more chapters in Uncle Wiggly. Today, we are going to get a boy haircut and tour the downtown library. Busy. Busy.
The Dukes with Cole

My Day Work

24 Sunday Feb 2008

Posted by in My Client's Sites, Other Favorite Sites, Thoughts

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Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.
[David McCullough]

Web Sites

I’ve been focusing on my day work and haven’t knit a stitch in two weeks. Good thing I like what I do for a living. In the past two weeks, I did a print layout for a 28-page newsletter. I rarely do print work now that electronic communication is so prevalent so this was more of a challenge than it was when I did it every day. I’m also doing website development and revisions.

I’m in the process of developing Bargello Rhythms for Bernie Miller. We have a start, but are adding to it soon. I’ve also added content to the Shepherd’s Moon website. Today, I plan to add new products and a PayPal shopping cart to Andrea Wong Knits.

Each media in which I work has its assets and liabilities. Print media is my favorite form of reading material, but websites are easily updated.

As an update on an old post, last week was my one-month measurement at Curves. I lost two and a half inches, two and a half pounds, and over one percent on my body fat ratio. I’ve gone three mornings a week for exercise, but haven’t changed my eating habits so those losses were just due to the weight training. My original reason for joining was to strengthen my muscles so I could shovel snow easier. I’ve had ample opportunity to shovel and it is, in fact, easier (or else the snow was lighter).

Grandmothering

17 Sunday Feb 2008

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It’s such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother.
That’s why the world calls her grandmother.
[Author Unknown]

Michael AlexanderI confess. I’ve been preoccupied so I haven’t been writing posts as frequently. I’ve been making major changes and reorganizing stuff. Meanwhile, my newest grandson reminds me that he is growing up already—here he is at two and a half months. Doesn’t he look like one of those pixies in a greeting card illustration?

Argyle continued

03 Sunday Feb 2008

Posted by in Knitting

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Once you can accept the universe as being
something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something,
wearing stripes with plaid is easy.
[Albert Einstein]

When I think of plaid, I think of Argyle. Having its origins in Scotland helps generate that thought. This cap is the first of four projects I’m using in an upcoming workshop. It is not knit using the traditional method for knitting Argyle—intarsia. Instead, I knit this using a method I adapted from the book, Armenian Knitting by Meg Swansen and Joyce Williams.

The yarn is Shetland jumper weight. The stitch pattern is a simple argyle. The technique is stranded knitting (Fair Isle style). The difference—I wrapped the unused yarn every other stitch. This gives the right side of the fabric a heather look. First I worked the cap with the diamonds, then I used duplicate stitch embroidery to add the gold stripes.

Now I’m working on a small bag that uses intarsia for the Argyle pattern. Stay tuned—I’ll post it as soon as I finish it.

Argyle—Themes and Variations

29 Tuesday Jan 2008

Posted by in Knitting, Knitting Sites, Review

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If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.
[Mark Twain]

I’m preparing patterns and samples for workshop lessons that I’m planning to present at a knitting retreat in April. I chose Argyle as a theme to tie the variety of techniques together.

Classic Argyle is worked in intarsia—my least favorite technique. Since I rarely knit intarsia, I ordered the book, Intarsia, A Workshop for Hand and Machine Knitting, from Sealed With A Kiss. This book is an excellent source for polishing technique. I’ve been working a sample using acrylic and following the instructions carefully. I figure if I can get it to look nice using yarn as unforgiving as acrylic, I can certainly make woolen yarn look nice. I’ll post photos when I have the project finished.

I have other little projects that imitate Argyle in Fair Isle and textured knitting. Then I received a copy of Armenian Knitting by Meg Swansen and Joyce Williams from Schoolhouse Press. That launched me into another Argyle interpretation using the technique in that inspiring book.

This post will be continued as I get samples finished and photographed…

Curves

28 Monday Jan 2008

Posted by in Thoughts

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I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing.
[Marsha Doble]

When I was shoveling snow, I realized that a person can’t sit at a computer working or in a recliner knitting all day then clear snow from the walks. Muscles atrophy with disuse. I tried exercising on my living room rug with hand weights. It was too easy to talk myself out of doing that on a regular basis. SO, last week I joined Curves mainly for the weight training. I head over there three days a week at the crack of dawn and spend thirty minutes moving from one exercise station to the next. I’ve noticed several benefits already.

First, I’m already feeling better physically and have more energy. Second, the environment is pleasant and fun—I look forward to going there. Since I live alone and work at home, this gives me the opportunity to be around other people who are jolly and encouraging. Also, it puts more structure in my day and I seem to accomplish more. Instead of getting up at five a.m. and working in my PJs until lunch, I dress, eat breakfast and do something active. Then I come home and do my day work. I think my brain even works better.

Stop the car. It’s a yarn shop.

20 Sunday Jan 2008

Posted by in Knitting, Knitting Sites, Review

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Whoever said money can’t buy happiness
simply didn’t know where to go shopping.
[Bo Derek]

Fort Wayne had a lovely yarn shop for many years—The Cass Street Depot. It was housed in a charming late-19th century railroad station, and sold all of my favorite yarn. The Depot closed last May so we were suffering from withdrawal until recently. Now we have two (count them—2) yarn stores.

Knitting Off Broadway opened in December at 613 West Brackenridge Street, just off Broadway a couple blocks south of Jefferson Boulevard. The shop has an earthy but upscale feel and plenty of room.

Sarah Jane’s Yarn Shoppe opened yesterday at 3400 North Anthony Boulevard next to the Bead Source south of the IPFW campus. It is bright and cheery with several rooms of yarn.

I am going to have to alternate my yarn shop visits between the two since they are both so nice. I do wish them each the greatest success.

It warms my heart

17 Thursday Jan 2008

Posted by in Knitting, Other Favorite Sites, Review, Thoughts

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The hero draws inspiration from the virtue of his ancestors.
[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]

Mama was, among many other things, a hand weaver. In the early 1950s, Daddy built her a large, 8-harness floor loom out of birch. It was as pretty as a piece of furniture and sat in our dining room. She wove on it until the late 1990s then gave it to my daughter Ellen. When Ellen crated her belongings to move to Wales, the loom went along even though she didn’t know how to use it.

Ellen learned to knit, then she learned to spin and joined a guild near her home in Wales. Her hand-weaving friends helped her put the birch loom together and she has been weaving. Recently, she has been building the structure for a small fiber arts business—business plan, web presence, etc. All the while, she has been spinning, knitting and weaving wares to sell.

Ellen’s mama (me) earns her keep with graphic design and web development. I’ve been helping her long distance with the art and web side of things. We want to launch her web store for the UK on February 4th and have an introductory page online until then. Her site is www.shepherdsmoon.co.uk.

Today we were discussing a variety of exciting developments and I sat here with the phone to my ear and my heart so warmed I could have exploded. It is a mother thing. Then I thought about how happy my parents would be if they knew their granddaughter was earning her living on that 50+ year old loom.

We never know how far our actions and influence will extend into the future.

Allen County Courthouse

10 Thursday Jan 2008

Posted by in Other Favorite Sites, Review, Thoughts

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Architecture is a social act and the material theater of human activity.
[Spiro Kostof]

Allen County courthouse

The best thing about being called for jury duty is the opportunity to sit in the Allen County courthouse and study the art. I can’t imagine that even the buildings in Washington D.C. are any better appointed with architectural detail and beauty. I especially enjoy this photograph of the dome, and wanted to share its richness.

Cameras are no longer allowed in the courthouse for security reasons, but my friend, Robert Pence, took this photograph and a number of others before the ban. At the Indiana/Fort Wayne/Allen Courthouse link on his website, he writes:

The Allen County Courthouse is one of only 35 National Historic Landmarks in Indiana. It was ordered in 1895 and dedicated in 1902 at a cost of more than $800,000. Designed in the Beaux Arts style by Brentwood S. Tolan and constructed by James Stewart, it replaced a badly-deteriorated 1861 brick structure on the same site. Thanks to the effort of the Allen County Courthouse Preservation Trust, it has been lovingly maintained and recently underwent a $9 million restoration of its interior design features, scagliola (faux marble) and Charles Holloway murals. The richness of detail and ornamentation are wonderful, and it’s especially remarkable that it has been restored after having been overpainted.

For many years, Bob has traveled the country to photograph interesting buildings, bridges and machinery. Many other photographs of interest can be found on his website as well. His eye for good composition and interesting detail lift his photographs from being mere pictures into the realm of fine art. Large prints can be purchased from him through his website.

Owain’s Wonderful Wallaby

09 Wednesday Jan 2008

Posted by in Knitting

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Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.
[Ambrose Bierce]

Owain and his new wallaby finally got together this week. I mailed it in early December. Instead of Christmas, it arrived in time for St. Distaff’s Day (Rock Day). That is appropriate since his mother is a hand spinner. Next to doing the actual knitting, seeing it warming a loved-one’s body is the most fun.

The Wonderful Wallaby pattern was designed over 20 years ago by Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations, and is in its fifteenth printing. The pattern booklet offers instructions for child’s size 2 through very large adult.

(NOTE: The lady in the photo below is this lad’s great-great grandmother.)