Knitting Ganseys

03 Wednesday Jan 2007

Posted by in Knitting Sites, Review

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Must be a gansey year! People are talking about them on blogs, there are gansey workshops online, and I’m ready to start one myself!
[Nancy J]

Knitting TraditionsBeth Brown-Reinsel wrote the book, Knitting Ganseys. It is clear, concise, and fun to work through. This was my mother’s favorite knitting book, and, considering she was a knitter for close to 90 years, that is saying a lot. There are other really good books about Ganseys, but I found this to be the most practical when you have yarn and needles in hand.

Knitting TraditionsI was inspired by this book when I designed the sock for the workshop that you can find links to in the column at the left. Although I have used Gansey yarn for many of my projects, I’ve found that most smooth, firm yarns can be used — the lighter the color, the more you can see the textured effects. I have used cotton, but my current favorite is Cascade 220. It shows texture well and blocks beautifully.

More information about Beth’s book and workshops can be found HERE on her Knitting Traditions web site.

Happy New Year

01 Monday Jan 2007

Posted by in Ongoing Projects, Thoughts

≈ 4 Comments

Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.
[Cherokee Indian Proverb]

Buckeye Gansey

I spent New Year’s Eve finishing the back yoke on a two-toned Gansey I’m knitting for publication. Okay. I’m not a party girl nor did I wake up with glitter in my hair, but I bet I feel better than some folks do this morning.

I wrote a post in November about my new design collection, Great Lakes Chill Chasers. Now that I have my new CD book, …and a time to knit stockings, finished and ready to sell, I am determined to produce patterns for as many Chill Chaser designs this year as I can. These knitting projects are bigger than socks so they take longer to proof and polish up. These patterns will be printed in a standard-size folded piece and hole punched so they can be stored in a three-ring notebook. I plan to print each one as it is finished. That is not a New Year’s resolution. That is a definite intention. I learned last October, when I set aside time to finish a book, that putting an intention into action works. I already knew that, but procrastination is so easy. It is a choice.

I ask myself daily, “How are you going to spend this hour or day?” Sometimes the answer is, “take a nap.” Sometimes it is, “contact a friend,” “finish a job,” or “walk Toby.” Whatever it is, I am constantly aware that it will accumulate into that which I call, “my life.”

I wish you joy.

The Contemplative Photographer

30 Saturday Dec 2006

Posted by in Review

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The thoughts that come often unsought,
and, as it were, drop into the mind,
are commonly the most valuable of any we have.
[John Locke]

The Contemplative Photographer

My friend and client, Jim Miller, maintains a photoblog named The Contemplative Photographer. It is well worth browsing. Each post includes his thoughts and one of his beautiful photographs.

Jim owns the publishing company, Willowgreen, and offers a wide selection of books, videos, notecards, and photographs. They inspire, encourage and enlighten. He may not have thought about this, but I can imagine a book evolving from his blog entries.

Have you ever lost yourself in what you are doing? Time telescopes and the world disappears. That happens to me when I am designing, knitting, quilting, reading, etc. I see it as a form of meditation. It lowers my blood pressure and feeds my soul. It also counteracts the negative influences that bombard us from all directions. If you would like to take a brief mental vacation, do browse The Contemplative Photographer.

Comments

29 Friday Dec 2006

Posted by in Thoughts

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I like to reminisce with people I don’t know.
[Stephen Wright]

Train

My two model trains.
Maybe now I can cultivate a two-track mind.

I’ve posted to my blog for six months now. When someone leaves a comment, it is emailed directly to me. That process has been so fun. In addition to friends and relatives, I’ve heard from folks I don’t know. I love that. It not only encourages me to write a post more often, it also reminds me of the universal experiences of people.

Now and then, I meet friends at a tavern just for coffee and a chat. One of them said, “We have nothing in common.” I had to think about that and decided that we do have something in common. We are living, breathing human beings; we enjoy a lot of the same things; we are both military veterans; and neither of us will die young.

Who among us haven’t used a Crayola, put off doing a chore, walked into a room and forgot what we were looking for, or skuffed a toe on our new shoes? We have a lot in common, even with folks we don’t know. I read comments with gratitude that I have friends whom I’ve never even met.

Dayton Knitting Guild

26 Tuesday Dec 2006

Posted by in Knitting, Review

≈ 2 Comments

A good friend is cheaper than therapy.

DKGPart of my day job as a graphic designer is producing and maintaining web sites. One of the sites I update regularly is for The Dayton Knitting Guild. This group of knitters in Dayton, Ohio are better than therapy. They are warm, welcoming and full of ideas. Whenever I can get to Ohio for a meeting, I feel like I’m wrapped in a hand-knit afgan of friendship. In addition to many community projects, they offer workshops, and an annual retreat. Member shops set up tables at the monthly meetings so supplies are close at hand. If you find yourself in the Dayton area, these folks would welcome you with open arms. Select this LINK to tour their site and take advantage of their free patterns.

Model Trains

22 Friday Dec 2006

Posted by in Thoughts

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We don’t stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing.
[George Bernard Shaw]

When I was just tall enough to see over the edge of a ping pong table, I loved to visit at a friend’s house where the father had a model train. I remember walking slowly around the table, and studying the scenery. The train came through a tunnel, across a bridge and stopped at a station. I fell in love with model trains.

I have an O-Scale, 0-6-0 B&O steam locomotive with a tender and three cars. It sits behind me as I work in my office. I have ordered a Lionel Polar Express, also O-Scale. So, what is a 64-year-old woman doing with model trains? Playing—having fun. I rationalize my madness with the idea that I have two grandsons who are also fascinated by trains. Some day, when I’ve finished playing, they will each have one of Grandma’s model trains. Meanwhile, they can play with them when they visit.

Owain’s Hat

21 Thursday Dec 2006

Posted by in Free Pattern, Knitting

≈ 3 Comments

I was just thinking,
if it is really religion with these nudist colonies,
they sure must turn atheists in the wintertime.
[Will Rogers]

Owain's Hat

I purchased a couple of pounds of fine Leicester wool when I was at Noah’s Landing in Ohio. My daughter spun it into yarn and encouraged me to knit it for our little Owain. Here is the winter hat. If you are interested in knitting this pattern, I’ve made a PDF version that you can print at no charge. Select this LINK to download the pattern.

Grandsons

15 Friday Dec 2006

Posted by in Thoughts

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What a bargain grandchildren are!
I give them my loose change, and they give me a million dollars’ worth of pleasure.
[Gene Perret]

grandsons

The photo of Josh in his Christmas outfit is a “before” picture. By the time he made it on stage to sing in the holiday program with his kindergarden class last night, his shirt tail was out and hanging below his red vest. Grandma (me) thought it was funny. It is odd how years make a difference in a person’s view—had he been my child in my youth, the shirt tail out would have been a serious matter to me. The program was charming and I’m thankful for digital cameras since these moments go by so fast.

Owain grinned through his haircut at the mall the other day—he’s not quite two. He’ll go home to Wales soon and I’ll miss him dreadfully. Like his grandma, he loves trains, and we have memorized The Polar Express in the past few weeks.

E-Book Shipment

13 Wednesday Dec 2006

Posted by in Knitting

≈ 3 Comments

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.

Browser Bug

10 Sunday Dec 2006

Posted by in Learning to Blog

≈ 2 Comments

All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors.
[Author Unknown]

Blogs

This morning I discovered a glitch in one of my internet browsers. My two blogs should look similar to the photos above. The appearance of a blog is driven by code in a Cascading Style Sheet. Without that, this would all be in large, Times type with no background graphics. Internet browsers read those style sheets to form a page with…well, with style. Every version of browser software reads code a bit differently. That makes designing for the web a bit of a shot in the dark.

This morning, I checked my blogs in Internet Explorer (version 5.2) on the Mac and the pages were a mess. The content on this blog invaded the left navigation bar and pushed all the links down below the content. On my other blog, the type was too small to read and the content started down the page after the side links. I use standard templates that are commonly available on these blog services, and they look nice in my Safari browser on the Mac.

How do they look on your browser. If your view isn’t similar to the photos above, I’d love to hear from you—what do you see? What browser do you use? Do you use a Mac or a PC?.