Knit Sisters

As Ellen said, I have had a pattern published at elann!

I designed these gauntlets last fall with elann’s Peruvian Highland Wool.  In fact, I spent the first day of school (the day of all the useless teachers’ meetings) drawing and designing the cable pattern.  I was supposed to be listening to people talk about “Professional Learning Communities.”  I think, on the whole, that I got more out of the day than most people did.

The gauntlets are pretty cool, if I do say so myself, and most everyone who sees them wants a pair, including Harvey.  (I do have a pair in the works for him, they just need to be finished.)  Well, except men, that is, who in general just don’t seem to get the point.  Oh, well.  You can’t please everyone all the time.

So, if you’d like a pair yourself, just jet on over to elann and print out the pattern.

P.S.  Although these really are great in elann’s wool, and it does come in almost any color your heart might desire, and it’s really inexpensive, I do have to admit to you that this pattern is also a great way to use some of your stash.  It only uses about 300 yards of wool, and if you don’t have that much, you can shorten them.  And dare I say that they would make perfect Christmas gifts?

I am on vacation with my dear friends J., Red, and The Cardinal, so this will be abbreviated (as I shall almost certainly be called back to the beach directly), but I have a few important points to make.

1. Did you see my sister’s lovely gauntlet pattern, Marquise, over at Elann? I could not be prouder. And what do you think is right smack dab on their home page? You guessed it!

I knew her when…

Go check it out and you can say the same.

2. The Outer Banks in North Carolina are stunningly beautiful this time of year and the area is full of gracious and welcoming people.

Exhibit A: Our beach. We seem to be about the only Northerners here, but we’ve learned to pepper our speech with “y’all” and “all y’all” in order to blend in and earn the trust and respect of our fellow vacationers. It doesn’t work, but at least we’ve given it the old college try! Y’all.

Exhibit B: The Cardinal masterfully flies a Kite at lovely Jockey’s Ridge State Park. If all y’all had been there, you would have been impressed.

3. There is a great yarn store, Knitting Addiction, exactly 0.2 miles from our vacation rental home. Reason enough to love this house, even without factoring in the hot tub and the fabulous…

…Rundown Cafe, which is practically next door. Try Ja love…and a fresh softshell crab sandwich.

But back to the really important stuff. Knitting supplies and suppliers. I got a delightful little Knitting Addiction knitting bag (love these little clear bags!), the local version of which is now a standard souvenir for me wherever my ramblings take me.

Because life is really, really, really too short to knit with ugly yarn.

Knitting Addiction in Southern Shores, NC. Check it out when you hit the Outer Banks, people. Could not be lovelier or have a more friendly staff, namely Brittany and Jeanne. And yes, that is a ball of Tofutsies you spy there. I don’t see a color number on the ball band, but if I were in charge, I’d call it “Sunkist.”

4. I have been knitting, but nothing too grand.

My Cherry Tree Hill Gems Merino sock with a nascent eye-of-newt heel.

Here’s a close-up of the stitch pattern, which I kind of made up on the fly:

I am quite entranced with the effect.

5. My friend Julie, a North Carolina native, assures me that S.L.U.T.S. stands for “Southern Ladies Under Tremendous Stress.” She has formed a S.L.U.T.S. Society in her hometown and apparently the meetings are very well attended.

But when you think about it, if you publicized a meeting of the S.L.U.T.S., you’d expect a fair contingent to show up, wouldn’t you?

They just might not all be ladies. Ahem.

6. And yes…

…unattended children will be sold as slaves.

Thank you. —The Management.

And with that, I gotta run. I have a rather sizeable coterie of small children to sell into slavery, and then I’m gonna mix me up a margarita and hit the beach.

More soon, y’all.

You know the one I’m talking about.  The white cabled one that Cameron Diaz wore in the charming little cottage in England.

It’s time for me to clear up a little misconception that seems to have arisen, all unbidden, on the knitting-blog world and taken on a nasty little life of its own.

Now, it’s true that I did watch that movie.  I did see that sweater.  I was intrigued by that sweater, and I did make a sketch of that sweater in my sketchbook (see above).

But I never, ever, intended to copy that sweater verbatim, as it were, and create a replica of it.  In fact, I believe my exact words were:  “Lots of good inspiration there.”  (Emphasis mine and new.)

Nor did I ever intend to create a pattern for that sweater and publish it here on the blog or elsewhere.

Why?  Because that sweater is someone else’s design, and for me, there’s really no excitement or pleasure in the exact duplication of someone else’s design.

I have a whole notebook full of pictures of garments I’ve torn out of magazines and catalogs, and another notebook slowly filling up with sketches of sweaters and garments from movies and TV shows.  In every case, I chose those garments for one or more details that I find intriguing or creative.  I look at those pictures and sketches for inspiration, for new ways of thinking about garments, for a jump-start to my own creativity.

I try to look at it in this way:  “What specifically is it about this design that I find interesting or creative?  Are there details here that could be used in my knitwear, and how could I make that work?” 

I attempt to look hard at the details of others’ designs and think about not only how to use those details in my own way, but also what it is about those details that catches my imagination.  Sometimes that process can lead me far away from the original source, as I attempt to reconcile the inspiration with the medium.  

Now, that is not to say that there is anything wrong or bad in looking at that sweater from “The Holiday” and wanting to duplicate it.  It’s just that it simply doesn’t interest me.

And another thing!  I hate the idea of good, intelligent knitters sitting around waiting for someone else to provide them with a pattern, when I know very well that you’re all quite capable of knitting that sweater or any other sweater that might strike your fancy. 

Here’s how I would go about it:

1.  Check out from the library or buy one of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s knitting books.  Read it and take it to heart!  Remember, if you want it, you can knit it!  You do not have to be a slave to already-written patterns.

2.  Take a good, hard look at the sweater in the movie.  Rent the DVD and pause it in the scenes with the sweater.  Write down your observations and make some sketches.  Ask yourself:  “What is it that I’m really drawn to about this sweater?  Is it the front band/collar?  The cabling?  The shaping on the back?  The length?  Some combination of these elements or all of these elements?  Could I make my life easier by making a version of the sweater using some of those elements instead of all of them?”  (And, just as an aside, the sweater might be more flattering to you without all those elements.  I’m fairly certain it would be to me–I’m no Cameron Diaz.)

3.  Buy a ball or two of good wool in a natural white and start swatching.

4.  Take your measurements, get out your calculator, and crunch some numbers.

5.  Start knitting!  Measure as you go, and if you don’t like what you’re getting, rip it out and start over.

At the risk of sounding simplistic, that’s really is all there is to it.

Think of it this way:  this is probably the one area in life where you can take a risk without endangering yourself or anyone else in any way.  

If you want it, you can knit it.  Brace up, little friend.