• Cruise to Alaska with JC Briar and me aboard a Craft Cruise scheduled for September 6-13, 2009! We promise it will be full of knitting and great fun!

October 26, 2008: Trunk Shows Are So Much Fun

I spent a couple of hours at Camas Creek Yarn yesterday, helping out with the Fiber Trends Trunk Show (Melanie made me clock in). It flew by so fast—I looked at my watch and realized that it was almost time for me to leave, and I felt like I had just gotten there! I would have liked to have stayed longer, but I didn't see the girls all last weekend and didn't think it was fair to leave them home with dad again while I played with yarn.

But I am going back this afternoon. Bev and Melanie decided that Bev should stay another day. The store will be open from 12-4 and I will be there!

I helped a really cute little 10 year-old girl yesterday. She's a beginning knitter and she picked out a Fiber Trends felted bag kit. We had to wind the skeins, so I put it on the swift and she pushed the buttons on the motor than runs the ball winder. While we were standing there waiting for the yarn to wind, she asked me how long I had been knitting, and I said, "Since I was about your age—and look where I am now! You too could be 42 years old and spend all your free time at the yarn store!" She just giggled.

October 25, 2008: Stabbing Wool

It's such a rare occurance that I get to take a class from another knitting teacher that I leaped at the opportunity to sign up for Bev Galeskas' needle felting class at Camas Creek last night. What fun! This is what I did:

I didn't come in with a plan; I just decided to start punching some wool into the swatch and see what happened. I would have done more, but I had to leave early to pick a kid up from a party. Darn.

I wouldn't give up knitting for this, but this technique is great fun and a wonderful stress-reliever (like for after going to Costco). I think my kids would get into this—I'll have to see if they want to make some Christmas presents. The class was full, Melanie had cheese and crackers and other goodies, and Bev is a wonderful teacher. It was a great way to spend a Friday evening.

I am heading back to the store this morning to help out. They are hosting a trunk show and Bev has lots of cool stuff with her. I hope we get a good turnout!

October 24, 2008: Blank

I am looking at my calendar and I have nothing—absolutely nothing—on the schedule for next week. It is a rare week. No subbing, no knitting classes, no appointments, nothing. Blank. Completely and totally blank.

Of course, I do have to finish the Winter issue and get it to the printer, and I am sure that we will need some groceries at some point, but the rest of the time is mine—all mine—to utilize or squander as I see fit.

What shall I do?

• I have a book to finish and I need to knock out about three dozen swatches. That will certainly be on the schedule. I'm supposed to have draft #2 to my tech editor by November 1.
• I need to figure out the logistics of getting this DVD reproduced and packaged so I can make it available. I've done a little bit of this research in that direction, but not all of it.
• The house could use a more thorough cleaning than it's been getting lately. I spent an hour or so this morning rearranging my office and putting some books in boxes to store until the new bookshelf I ordered arrives. I have no restraint when it comes to books and they are threatening to take over.
• I've put off getting the hard drive(s) in my computer replaced because I was trying to get the newsletter done. I am walking on thin ice, however, and the computer needs to spend a day or two at the repair shop before everything collapses. I have been making lots of backups. I can't tell if it's the main drive or the backup drive.
• I have no doubt some emergency (besides the impending hard drive collapse) will present itself. Nature abhors a vacuum, you know.

I had another blood test yesterday. It was one I should have insisted on including in last week's batch and didn't. My naturopath put me on a treatment protocol that I didn't agree with, so I called and asked for this blood test to determine if I am right about what is going on or not. My thyroid meds are not working. I am freezing cold all the time and now my skin and scalp are so dry that I itch horribly. Unfortunately it'll probably be Monday or Tuesday before I hear anything about the results.

It's a good thing I am a knitter and can make things that keep me warm.

October 23, 2008: Winter Issue Sneak Peeks

Yesterday's post was meant to be slightly tongue-in-cheek, lest you all think I was serious about the end of the modern world. . .

And now, a sneak peek of a couple of the projects from the upcoming Winter issue. First, the husband modeling an Aran knit out of Lion Brand Lion Wool. He looked quite handsome in it. Donna, my test knitter, did an excellent job with the knitting of this design. (He didn't want his face in the photo, so I promised to crop it out.)

And the gray mohair sweater, which is one of those designs that is hard to do justice to in a photo. It's a simple stitch pattern and silhouette, but in person it's really gorgeous.

This issue includes a few smaller items: some childrens' hat patterns by a new designer, and a pillow with my knitted interpretation of a Celtic love knot symbol. It should be available mid-November. Watch this space.

I am feeling a slight bit of post-project letdown. I've got some gorgeous charcoal gray Harmony yarn from Fiber Trends, and as Bev Galeskas is going to be at Camas Creek this weekend, I'd like to get something on the needles. I have a design swatched; it's just a matter of getting the math done and some stitches cast on.

October 22, 2008: Surviving the Collapse

Yesterday morning I came downstairs, let the dogs out, turned on the coffeemaker, and sat down to read MSNBC. Interesting—the lead story was an article on survivalists preparing for the coming collapse of the modern world—a collapse spurred on by the current financial disaster.

I read the article. I couldn't decide what to think—are these people nuts? am I missing something?—so I went to talk to the husband. He is the most rational person on the face of the planet. My father used to say that my middle name was "hyperbole," so it's tremendously useful to be married to someone who can look objectively at all situations.

The husband's take is that you never know what will happen, thus it's always good to be prepared, but it's doubtful that Armageddon is on the schedule tomorrow. And even if it were, we're better off than most people would be in that situation. He's got a fair bit of survivalist training. I have a good stockpile of food—I always have, because we could be without power for days in a snowstorm. The husband is well-armed. (He says the rate at which people are buying ammo has gone way up, but I think that's a consequence of the probablity that a Democrat will become president rather than the recognition that the world is about to descend into anarchy). I know how to grow and preserve food, and we all know that I have enough yarn to keep my family well-clothed far into the next century. We could go back to living in the 19th century without much trouble, although I would miss my computer and re-runs of Eureka.

[I might actually get to have real live sheep. There's a thought.]

And there is nothing like substitute teaching to take one's mind off the subject of whether one should have some kerosene lamps on hand just in case. I had a full day yesterday. I groaned when I got to school and saw that my first class was a mix of 7th- and 8th-graders and that we were supposed to practice singing some songs for an upcoming program. Ugh. But I rose to the challenge and by the end of the class I had those kids singing so loudly they could be heard down the hall. I rock.

At the end of the day I had the 5th-graders for beginning band and it was way too much fun. This group of kids is really good and there are a lot of them. Normally our beginning band has five or six kids. This is a group of fifteen. I told them that they played so well, it was hard for me to believe that they just picked up their instruments six weeks ago. I hope they all stick with it.

The first draft of the newsletter is done and with my tech editor. It's a lovely day—a bit bright for pictures, but later this afternoon there should be nice light outside. I haven't told the husband he needs to be a model for me. I know he's going to want to keep wearing the sweater once he gets it on.

October 21, 2008: Ping-Pong

A ping-pong ball is what I feel like right now. I've been bouncing from activity to activity since last Thursday and I would just like to sit and be still for a while. I even had a massage yesterday and the good feeling only lasted until I went to Costco, where I was forced—once again—to follow slow people dragging their carts behind them. Arrrggghhh. And that was on a Monday afternoon!

Last night I taught a Ravelry class at Camas Creek Yarn. That was a lot of fun and I even stumbled across a couple new features I hadn't seen before.

I should be able to decompress tonight. Today I am scheduled to sub for the music teacher at DD#2's school. Last period is beginning band. That should be lots of fun. I love it when I get to be the band director and wave that skinny stick around.

I think the issue with the store software has been resolved. The developer of the software package which I installed most recently finally agreed to go in and take a look at my store, and he figured out what was happening. Things got activated during installation that shouldn't have, and when I tried to deactivate them, the whole system got mucked up. He un-mucked it (for lack of a better technical term). Normally I choose the "developer installation" option (an extra $10-25 charge) when I buy a software module for my store. The developer installation charge for this module was $100 (do you get the impression the developer doesn't want to install it for you?). The software module only cost $40. I decided to install it myself.

I would just like a week of smooth sailing. I think Mercury is out of retrograde now, so that should help.

Bev Galeskas of Fiber Trends is coming to Camas Creek again this weekend for another trunk show. I signed up for the needle felting class on Friday night. I've never done needle felting before and it looks like fun.

And finally, a picture from up at the retreat center where I spent the weekend. I had some free time so I took a walk. The area is filled with larches—an evergreen that loses its needles over the winter after they turn a brilliant yellow. It's one of my favorite trees. Last spring on the outdoor camping trip I found out that young larch needles are edible and taste like lettuce and a bit of lemon. It's always good to know these things in case one is ever lost in the wilderness (although I draw the line at eating bugs).

October 17, 2008: It Fits

The gray mohair sweater (it will have a name by the time the newsletter comes out) finished out a bit larger than I anticipated. I took it to Camas Creek and had Melanie try it on. It fits her perfectly so it will be her sweater once I sew on the buttons. It was destined to be a shop sample anyway; now it will be a shop sample on a person, if she doesn't overheat in it. It is very warm. (Can you imagine the headline in the paper?—"Yarn Store Owner Roasts to Death in Sweater". Oh, the irony.)

I've been feeling a bit like I've neglected the larger sizes in my patterns recently. I am trying to address that. The gray mohair sweater has been sized from a 17" chest width all the way up to a 27" chest width (five sizes total). Should I go larger? Things get a bit more problematic in terms of pattern grading as you approach the smaller and larger ends of the range. But if there is demand, I am not opposed to doing the work.

While I was at Camas Creek I picked up Franklin Habit's new book It Itches. I found that some of the cartoons hit fairly close to home. I've enjoyed reading his blog for some time now. I hope this book does well for him.

Dear Sister, I have not forgotten about your flowers. I need to get deadline knitting done first.

I got my flu shot last night at the fire hall. The husband's immunizations are paid for by the department, but spouses are allowed to get them at cost. This is much more convenient than trying to get them at the health department or a flu clinic. We didn't get flu shots last year and I paid for it—I got the flu twice within the space of a month. This year I am not taking any chances, especially as the Europe trip is in February, normally the height of our flu season.

Fran, you are right. There is never a dull moment around here.

I'll be at a retreat this weekend so don't look for another blog post until Sunday night at the earliest. We'll be up by Glacier Park; I'm taking the camera in case I get lucky and get some good wilderness shots.

October 15, 2008: Free Range

I was working in my office yesterday morning when all of a sudden I heard the dogs having a fit outside. Chester isn't a vociferous barker, so when he starts in, I know something is up.

I looked out my kitchen door and saw this:

Just to the left of the white horse, through a small clearing, is our neighbor's property. The horses must have decided that our grass tastes better than theirs and wandered over.

I got Chester and Rusty into the house (we lost a dog once because she liked to chase horses and got kicked in the side, and these two don't have the sense God gave a chicken) and went over to see if the neighbors were home. They weren't. I went back home and called Animal Control. They sent a very nice man out who spent about a half an hour going through the neighborhood trying to find the horses, who had since moved on. He found them and corralled them at another neighbor's house.

This happens at least a couple of times a year. Once it was a pack of llamas from down the road. When there were more free range cattle out here, they used to wander in and out. I know Animal Control doesn't like it when people don't keep their animals penned up, but a few horses don't bother me.

The gray mohair sweater is done except for the buttons. I'll pick those out tomorrow when I go to town. I really feel like I ran a marathon with this sweater. It took forever and it wasn't for lack of knitting on it. The other sweater design for the Winter issue arrived back from my test knitter yesterday and it's just stunning. I knew it was a cool design when I swatched it, but it's even cooler knitted up. It's a man's Aran and it really does look like a man's sweater. Carson, if you're reading this, you will love it—it's knit out of Cadet Blue Lion Brand Lion's Wool.

I spent yesterday working on the newsletter. I got the mohair sweater and a mitten pattern graded and written; the Aran pattern is written but still needs to be graded. The Aran itself will be washed and blocked today so I can get a picture of it. Lots to do.

October 14, 2008: Who Was That Football Team?

Wow, what a game. I'm still having trouble believing that my team actually won, and they won because they played well. I would have loved to have been in Cleveland Browns Stadium last night. In the Dawg Pound. My mother said that tailgaters were lining the streets when she went downtown for lunch yesterday (her business is in Cleveland). We Browns fans are nothing if not delusional loyal.

Now we just have to keep playing like that for the rest of the season.

I am being plagued by computer issues. I installed some new software in my store a few weeks ago, and subsequently, orders stopped getting e-mailed to me. The terrific help desk guy at my hosting company helped me fix that problem. However, customers who order digital downloads are no longer receiving the links to download the files they purchase. That process is controlled by a different piece of software which worked perfectly until (what a coincindence) I installed this new software.

Gary (the help desk guru) suggested I contact the maker of the software that seems to be causing all the problems. I did. This programmer (it's a small company and he does tech support, too) really needs to work on his customer service techniques. His reply to my inquiry was rather nasty, implying that I—as the stupid customer—must have done something incorrectly during the installation and that was why I was having problems. He said I needed to contact the makers of the software that controls the digital file delivery because it was their problem, not his.

Okay . . . I don't think it is, but I was left with no recourse. I went to this other company's website to log a trouble ticket and their site was down. (By this time it was about 10:30 a.m. and I'd gotten nothing accomplished.)

I waited for their site to come back up and logged a trouble ticket. In the meantime, I went back and re-read the documentation for both pieces of software to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. I also got an e-mail from the programmer of the other piece of software, who apparently felt bad about his initial response to me because this time he offered up some possible fixes. I tried them. They didn't work.

While all of this is going on, one of my hard drives started making weird noises. I am pretty sure it's going to need to be replaced, but I don't have time to take my machine in and have it worked on. I need to get a newsletter done this week and I just can't do it on my laptop. I decided it was a good time to sign up for an online backup service (something I've been meaning to do for a while). I got the online account set up, but there were issues with my firewall settings and the files were getting copied over at something slightly less than glacial speed. I changed my firewall settings. Still no luck. I logged a trouble ticket with that company, too.

Finally, at around 2:30 p.m., I got a note from the help desk at the other software company saying they had received my trouble ticket and were looking in to the problem. I haven't heard anything further from them beyond the comment that "the two pieces of software might be incompatible with each other." Lovely.

So I got absolutely nothing done yesterday. I've really got to buckle down today and get the bones of this newsletter in place. Thank goodness most of the knitting is done. I've still got to get the band knitted on the gray mohair sweater, which I will do tonight after dinner. Wish me luck.

October 13, 2008: Me in HD

We watched the DVD last night. There are still a couple of relatively minor things that need to be fixed, which the production company is going to do this week. The whole DVD was done in HD. I am really happy with the quality. Everything is very sharp. I will put some clips here on the website once the whole DVD is ready to go.

I like everything about the DVD except watching myself on film. I do need to loosen up a bit. It's so hard talking to a camera. Fortunately I am only on film for a couple of minutes at the beginning and the end. The rest of the time it's just my hands and my voice.

The production company owner has a cute little pug named Annie, and she's in the DVD in a couple of places. Next time I am going to make sure we introduce her on camera. The husband says I shouldn't let Rusty and Chester find out or they will be upset that they didn't get to be in the DVD.

I finished the body of the gray mohair sweater yesterday. All I have to do is the buttonband and then it's done. Denise, here is your picture:

It's a very subtle stitch pattern. The sweater is very warm. I'm going to try to get the band done tonight while I watch the Browns play the Giants on Monday Night Football. Of course, I may be too busy yelling at my football team to knit.

October 12, 2008: Cold-Blooded

I had a visit with my naturopath on Thursday. We're still trying to nail down this thyroid problem I have. I am doing much better than I was two years ago, now that I am on thyroid hormone replacement, but almost-healthy is not the same as healthy, and I am pretty demanding. I want healthy. Healthy is plenty of energy and motivation. Healthy is no brain fog. Healthy is my hair not falling out in clumps when I wash it. Healthy is losing the last 15 of the 30 pounds I gained when my thyroid shut down—pounds that won't budge no matter what I eat (or don't) or how much I exercise (or don't). I am a firm believer in the body's ability to heal itself under the right conditions. We just need to create the right conditions. I got really close last spring—I was on a combination of hormones that made me feel like I was operating at peak efficiency and the weight was melting off, but I had some other issues and we decided to take a different approach. It has sort of worked, but not consistently, and it's driving me nuts.

As part of a possible new treatment, I have to log my body temps for a week or two. I took my temperature every three hours yesterday and discovered that it never went above 97.7 F. Hmmm. My doctor thinks that may be a clue. I'm just glad he wants to help me get this figured out. As I said to him, I have a lot going on and I can't afford to lose days of work because I am feeling unmotivated. I know what is normal (read: healthy) for me and "unmotivated" is just about as far from normal as I could possibly get. The past few days have been horrible (hence the lack of blog posts). I get up and I look around and I see what has to be done and I just can't get myself in gear. I know that sounds like depression but I don't feel depressed. I just feel like I am swimming in molasses, which is how I know my thyroid hormones are seriously out-of-whack.

We'll get it figured out. My doctor knows what I have going on (his wife knits) and he's not going to leave me undertreated. We joke about me being my own clinical trial.

Denise, you asked about a pic of the gray mohair sweater. When the light is a little better this afternoon, I'll take a picture of the stitch pattern for you.

I am hoping to get this sweater done this weekend. It's really close. I'm tired of working on it, and it would have become a UFO ("unfinished object" for you non-knitters reading this blog) a long time ago were it not for the fact that I have a newsletter deadline. I did start a scarf the other day. I had an idea and I wanted to try it out. The yarn is thick and bulky so the scarf isn't taking long at all. But I'll be thrilled when I can finish this gray mohair sweater and move on to something else.

And finally, I have a DVD screening tonight at 6 p.m. This is my last opportunity to make any changes. Hopefully we can just watch it from start to finish, and I can knit at the same time.

October 10, 2008: DVD Update for Debbie

On Wednesday, I got to see the mostly-complete DVD for the first time post-filming (I saw the individual clips a few weeks ago). It's pretty darn cool. Each technique is shown once in a wide shot, then again in a close-up shot (in case you miss it the first time). The release date is close, but I don't want to specify it just yet. I have a newsletter to get done next week. If I specify a release date for the DVD, I can just about guarantee that the universe will toss a wrench into the works and it won't be ready when I say it will, nor will the newsletter get done.

One thing at a time. That doesn't promise smooth sailing, of course, but it puts the odds in my favor.

And now, I am going to apologize (again) for some technical difficulties that are beyond my control. I installed a new piece of software in my store a couple of weeks ago. Ever since then, some orders have been e-mailed to me to be filled and some haven't. Some customers have gotten download links for files and some haven't. There is no rhyme or reason to it. The new software was supposed to streamline the process, not muck it up.

I opened a trouble ticket yesterday and the support guy got back to me right away. He wanted to know why I had installed seven modules when all I needed was one (my store runs on software that can be customized with these modules). Here's the kicker: I only purchased the one module, but apparently the company that makes these modules thinks it's a good thing to install ALL of the modules they make in hopes that you will decide you need them and will purchase the additional license keys to make them active.

Arrrgggghhhh. I am really beginning to dislike programmers. I changed some settings and removed the extra modules. We'll see if that fixes the problem.

Our corner of the state missed a huge snowstorm that is affecting the rest of Montana, but we've had a lot of wind for the past 24 hours. We finally did get a frost. I found four butternut squash but they didn't ripen all the way—no surprise considering the plants got snowed on in June.

I'm home all day so I am going to make a pot of soup and spend the day working on Cables 2 and the newsletter.

October 8, 2008: Momentum

Deb over at KnittingScholar has done a lovely review of Cables 1! Check it out.

This gray mohair sweater seems endless at the moment . . . I haven't allowed myself to work on anything else because I don't want to lose the momentum, but I have a gazillion ideas rolling around in my head that I'd like to get to.

I took a little detour Monday afternoon: I ran across a post in the Cables Lovers forum on Ravelry from a guy wanting a Celtic love knot pattern that he could include in an afghan he's making. He posted a picture of what he was looking for, and I thought, "Heck, I could chart that up in an hour or so," so I did. It's actually a pretty cool pattern. I would like to make it into a pillow for the Winter issue, if I ever get finished with this gray mohair sweater . . .

[If you're on Ravelry, check out that thread. When I posted that I would help him by charting out the knot, someone clicked "disagree" on my post. Which one of you is messing with me?]

This showed up in my mailbox yesterday:

I don't recall ordering a subscription to it. Maybe it's just a sample issue. It's interesting, although the sweaters are all summer designs.

I have a meeting this morning at the production company to finalize the DVD—yay! It will be nice to get this done. That was another project on which I had trouble keeping the momentum. I really do work better when I only do one thing at a time, but my life is all about multi-tasking.

I think we finally got a frost last night. I will have to spend some time this weekend cleaning up the garden.

October 6, 2008: Disagree (1)

I'm probably spending too much time in the Ravelry forums . . .

. . . because one thing is really beginning to bug me. I do love a well-reasoned debate that doesn't deteriorate into a name-calling shouting match. I love it when people present multiple sides of a topic in a calm, thoughtful manner. I even love when people disagree with me, as long it they do it in a well-reasoned, calm and thoughtful manner that doesn't involve name-calling.

But that darn "disagree" button allows people to disagree anonymously and that drives me nuts. Case in point: someone posted a comment on a thread about inexpensive yarn at Wal-Mart, saying that 99% of Wal-Mart's yarn is inexpensive because it's of such cheap quality. Here is my response:

Really? I buy Lion Brand Lion Wool there and I think it’s one of the nicest yarns I’ve ever used. I designed the Granite Cardigan using that yarn. I’d buy it at my LYS if they sold it there, but since they don’t, I buy it at WalMart.

educational (1) interesting (2) funny agree (12) disagree (11) love (10)

Note the tags at the bottom. One person found my comment educational, two found it interesting, no one thought it was funny, twelve people agreed with me, eleven people disagreed with me, and ten people loved it.

I don't care that those eleven people disagreed with me, but WHY did they disagree with me? Because I buy yarn at Wal-Mart? Because I like Lion Brand Lion Wool? Because I designed a cardigan with it? Speak up, people! What exactly are you objecting to in my post?

What's really bizarre is that occasionally I'll make some completely innocuous comment as part of a discussion (for example, "the sky is blue"), and I'll come back later to find that someone has clicked "disagree" on it. Well, okay—do you have some scientific proof to back up your claim that the sky isn't blue? I'd love to hear it.

It's Monday morning, can you tell?

Moving on to other topics: I just wanted to say that my post about dumbing down patterns wasn't meant to imply that I was going to leave more advanced knitters in the dust in favor of knitters who want quick-and-easy. I'd go nuts if I all I designed were quick-and-easy pieces. I'm simply trying to find a balance between designing challenging garments for which grading and writing a pattern is the equivalent of a PhD dissertation and designing items that my 11 year-old could knit.

"Balance." I ought to have that tattooed on my forehead so that it's the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning.

October 5, 2008: The Birthday Dinner and Date

We took DD#1 out for her birthday dinner last night. She likes a particular restaurant in town so much that she signed up for their birthday club, so we had a coupon for a free meal for her. While we were there, we ran into DD#2's godparents. We visited with them for a while. I had a bleu cheese burger and sweet potato fries for dinner. And DD#1 informed me that next year, the high school is reinstating "early bird classes" that effectively add another period to the day (they start at 7:30 a.m.), so the IB kids can still be in band. Hallelujah! I will happily drive the child to school early every day so she can stay in band.

We planned to go see a movie after dinner—the husband and I wanted to see Appaloosa—but there was nothing playing that the girls wanted to see (and they certainly didn't want to be caught at the same movie as their parents). We went to the bookstore instead. Both girls found things to read; I picked up the new Mason-Dixon knitting book and this one:

It's Retro Knits by Kari Cornell and Jean Lampe. I bought it because I love looking at vintage patterns and because Jean Lampe was the head of the Master Knitting program when I went through it, and is in large part responsible for launching my career as a knitting designer. It's nice to see her name on a book.

I like the book a lot. It's interesting to see the updated patterns. I recognized a number of the old pattern books; they are in my personal library. And it's fascinating to see how fashion gets recycled over and over again (although I hope the gigantic multi-colored 70s poncho doesn't come back anytime soon).

I tried looking for some fiction, but I couldn't find anything I wanted to read. The husband and I both are more than willing to spend money on books as long as they contain good stories and good writing. You'd think that wouldn't be hard to find in a bookstore, but it is. I don't know how some of this stuff gets published.

I want science fiction, but all this store seems to carry is fantasy fiction. Occasionally I like elves and dragons, but mostly I prefer hyperdrives and aliens. I like historical romances that don't involve women throwing themselves in front of some overly masculine hero. I have a couple of favorite authors, but one is dead and obviously not writing anymore, another one gave up writing after half a dozen novels, and my very favorite is having trouble convincing her publisher to give her another book deal.

(And no, in 15 years of living here we've never gotten into the habit of using the public library. That's odd for me, as I worked at the local library for two years in high school. It's just that the library in Kalispell is not convenient and has very little parking. There was talk of moving it to an empty grocery store, in a convenient location with lots of parking. Alas, that move has been blocked because apparently there is some environmental contaminaton there. Ironic, because it didn't seem to make a difference when there was a grocery store at that location, but we can't run the risk of contaminating the books. Go figure.)

October 4, 2008: My Life in Knitting and School

Wow, thanks for all your comments! It's great to hear directly from knitters and you've given me lots to think about. So much goes into creating a design: picking a yarn, selecting cables and placing them in the layout, sizing, choice of techniques, even little details like choosing to use short rows and a three-needle bind off to shape shoulders. Trying to juggle all of those things can get overwhelming sometimes.

I also know that it's a skill to be able to design something that looks complicated but really isn't. And sometimes the designer—just like the knitter—wants something simple. Not every single design can be a crowning work of art.

I subbed for the school secretary yesterday. I always have some downtime in the afternoon, so I took a printout of Cables 2 with me and went through it with a red pen and highlighter. One of the cables from the first chapter on textured cables somehow got stuck in my brain, and I kept thinking about it all the way to the football game (it wants to be a scarf). It felt like such an itch that needed scratching that I almost stopped at Camas Creek Yarn to buy some yarn and needles. Unfortunately, we needed to get to the game.

The marching band performed last night:

Marching band at our high school has been something of an adjustment for me. When I was in high school, marching band was my life from late August through mid-November. We performed at every home and away game, as well as several Band-O-Ramas. We practiced every day during band period, as well as after school. We went to band camp for a week. Some of my fellow musicians loved marching band so much that they still work with drum corps around the country. It was just like the cartoons in Tom Batiuk's Funky Winkerbean series ("Football fields are for band practice!" says Harry Dinkle). I wanted to be just like the band moms who went with us on the bus to all our performances (I've already signed up to chaperone the band trip next March to Portland).

Our school's marching band performs at ONE home game, and last night was it. I understand all the reasons they don't go to away games, and why they only perform at one home game, but it still makes me kind of sad.

DD#1 is one of the upperclassmen in charge of uniforms, so unless she drives, I need to wait for her after each performance. I sent the husband and DD#2 home after the game last night, and I went to sit in the band room and knit while I waited for the kids to get the uniforms put away. Her band director came over and we had a little chat. This guy is a fabulous teacher. He was such an encouragement last year. DD#1 was in the last class which spent 9th grade at the junior high (now both high schools are 9-12), and she almost quit band after that year. I try to be supportive of teachers in all situations, but teachers who inspire kids to drop out of an activity rather than getting them fired up about it probably should do everyone a favor and find a different career path.

I managed to get DD#1 to agree to be in band for one year at the high school, with the agreement that she could do something else after that if she still didn't like it. When she got to the high school last year, I shared my concerns with this band director. He bent over backward to make band the positive experience I knew it could be, and it shows in DD#1's attitude toward band this year. She stayed in band. She volunteered for uniform duty. She's also talking about continuing to play in college instead of leaving the trumpet at home. It's a shame that the kids who are in the IB program won't be able to be in symphonic band next year because of the way the program is structured, but she'll have this same teacher for IB Music. She might not have the marching band experience that I did, but it's wonderful that she's getting a grounding in music that will follow her no matter where she goes. Maybe someday she'll be a band mom.

The football team won, by the way, in overtime. How exciting!

October 3, 2008: Dumbing Down Designs

I've been part of a Ravelry discussion in the Designers forum. The topic centers on writing patterns. The original poster asked how to make patterns that are pleasing to everyone (a customer had complained about the way one of this designer's patterns was written). A little farther along in the discussion, we got to the subject of grading patterns. I commented that I've seen an interesting phenomenon among designers: at the beginning of their designing careers, designers will often design very technically challenging and interesting pieces. However, after having to grade some of those designs for publication, those same designers begin to make design choices based not on aesthetics, but on "how difficult is it going to be to write up this pattern?". Is that a "dumbing down" of a design or just technical streamlining of a design?

I'm in the middle of a similar conundrum myself with this gray mohair sweater. This thing has taken way longer than I anticipated it would. I am now knitting the body—in one piece, so there are quite a few stitches on the needle—and I am delighted if I get 2" done per day. It's a four row pattern. Only one of those rows is cabled, but the cable is a three-stitch cross where two knits cross over a central purl. In a plain wool, I could probably do that cross without a cable needle. In this thin, sticky mohair, though, I absolutely have to use a cable needle. I zoom through three rows of knits and purls, and then I have to stop and cable my way through the fourth row, a process which—I timed myself yesterday—takes upwards of 15 minutes.

I am probably the only knitter I know who is willing to devote her entire life to cabling. The sweater looks so wonderful that I am just sucking it up and knitting it the way I designed it. But I don't think other knitters will want to suck it up, so I've been playing around with substitute cables that can be done without a cable needle. I think that when I write up the pattern, I will write it as knitted, but offer these substitute cables for those who want to get the sweater done before 2012.

I am a bit more than halfway down the body; I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The sleeves are already done, so once the body is complete, all I have to add is the buttonband. The feel of the fabric is indescribable. We took one of DD#2's friends home from ballet class on Monday, and the sweater was in the backseat. DD#2 handed the sweater to her friend and said, "You have to feel this sweater my mom is knitting."

So what do you all think? Should designs be "dumbed down" for easier pattern writing and knitting?

October 2, 2008: Sweet 16

This is what I was doing 16 years ago today:

It's hard to believe that she's 16 years old already (really!—I just graduated from college yesterday!). But I think the husband and I did a pretty darned good job when we produced this one.

Happy birthday, you little pumpkin. Your parents think you are fabulous.

October 1, 2008: Sport Burning Opening Day

I subbed for the music teacher yesterday. It was actually a light schedule; I only had classes until noon, and I spent the rest of the day organizing band music. I sat on the floor of the band room with music spread out around me, listening to the husband on my fire department radio as he and a couple other guys chased down a smoke column out near our house. It turned out that someone was burning slash piles—illegally, I might add, as open burning doesn't start until today.

[Our fire chief refers to open burning as "sport burning." I am sure we'll get called out again today as half the people in the valley torch their slash piles and make their neighbors nervous. It happens every year on October 1.]

DD#2 and the 5th and 6th grade classes went to Glacier Park yesterday for a fire ecology unit. She said it was really cool. They hiked along along a trail in one of the areas burned out by the fires in 2003, played fire ecology Jeopardy (the 6th graders won), and enjoyed being in the outdoors. They couldn't have asked for a nicer day—there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temps were in the low 70s. If I hadn't been scheduled to sub, I definitely would have gone along. I just think it's so fabulous that my kids get to do things like spend a day in Glacier Park studying fire ecology.

After school, DD#2 and I drove in to town, did some errands, and went to the football field to watch the marching band preview. The band did a great job. DD#2 took some pictures with my phone, but she was monkeying with the settings and they all came out with goofy filters on them (she took one of me with the head of a clownfish surrounding it—before you ask, yes, I deleted it).

Some of you might remember that back in May I bought out the lease on our church's copier, but was unable to get the copier place in town to service it (their exact words being "we usually throw these machines into the landfill"). It's taken a few months, but a different copier company down in Missoula—which has techs up here in Kalispell—was quite willing to work with me on servicing the machine and ordered parts for it. The tech came this morning and installed them. The machine is working splendidly. He says it doesn't have a lot of use on it—fewer than 200,000 copies—and it's in great shape. I should be able to get many more years of use out of it. I am thrilled that I got such a nice machine at a bargain price, and that I kept it out of the landfill.

In other technology issues . . . I am more than a little annoyed with Apple. Last week I installed the recommended HP Printer Driver update through Software Update and ever since, my LaserJet 1200 has not printed correctly from InDesign. The pages are printing at 400% normal size. When I print the same page with the exact same settings to my LaserJet 2500 (the color one), it prints perfectly. No other apps had this problem when printing to the LaserJet 1200, just InDesign.

Of course, I could just print from InDesign to the color LaserJet, but the toner for that machine is much more expensive and I prefer not to use it for straight B&W printing. That LaserJet 1200 is a workhorse. It seems like I have had it forever and it just keeps going.

This 400% scaling issue is a documented bug in both the Apple and Adobe forums, but I had to try THREE of the suggested workarounds before I found one that fixed the problem. It seems to be holding. I do hope, though, that Apple releases a proper fix soon.

Raye, how long is Mercury supposed to be in retrograde?

I'm off to the chair to knit. I've had enough technology for today.

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