Snagged a Button!!!

Finally got the Vintage KAL button into my blog! It's rather big, but it is there! The site isn't as busy as it used to be, but there are some cool patterns there if you like the 1940s. It was a different time period then, not just the knitting, but everything. Imagine how rationing would fly now? Makes me have a little patience with a slow loading computer...

UFOs and other things

There are enough unfinished objects around to make me want to sit down and organize them. The oldest are the Morale Builders stockings. I'm down to the first ankle and uninterested in progressing further at this point. I've started another sample swatch with an eye to the Miz Marple Jacket and the Sir Walter gauntlets. I've finished one sock for The Shuj, just need to graft the toe and start on the other one. He made some comment about being able to wear them in the spring. Funny man.

Figured out how to capture a button from another blog, but not how to insert it into this one. The new Blogger is coded differently from the old one. So I can drag the tables around, big deal. I want to know how to put stuff in them! Then I see other bloggers with all kinds of neat stuff...in Blogger, mind you, and wonder how they did it. Maybe I should look for a blog that talks about computer geeky stuff as these questions seem out of place in a knitting blog.

Schematics

After looking at my drawing of Sir Walter, I realize that I need to hold my nose and draw. I don't draw easily or well, especially on the fly. I need to sit with my tongue between my teeth and consider every line. Pencil works, not ink.

Which leads me to schematics. That I think I can do. One square for every inch of knitting. The foot of a sock is 10 squares, the cuff 7.5. Do I do a side view that looks like Christmas is coming? Or lay the sock on its face with the heel sticking up like this ________ ?

Then there are the charts for lace and cables. Arrgh! Let me out of here! Stop me before I OCD again!

Sleeted in

First bad weather we have had this winter. Got enough sleet to glaze everything with ice and keep me home from work today. Love it! Spent the day working on The Shuj's socks. Got past the heel of the first one hooray hooray! First successful traditional heel I've done in 20 years! Slowly the fingers are remembering their skill.

Spent yesterday doing a long swatch of samples, looking for the patterns that will go into the Sir Walter gauntlets. So many patterns, so little time... Brioche stitch is so cool. With the ends of the sample held in with the other patterns, it puffed out like a Renaissance sleeve. Don't know if I can use it in the gauntlets, but I have it captured for another day.

So for two days I have been knitting my brains out and feel great! After so many years maybe, just maybe I have found the work that I'm supposed to be doing. The world has yet to beat a path to my door...or even my blog, but a learning curve has to start somewhere.

The Knitting Universe

Finished the red gauntlets except for half a seam. They are too short and tight for my taste, but maybe someone with smaller hands will like them. Now I can take the concept and do my own thing with them like knit them in the round, change the cuff and maybe even do a gusset for the thumb. Though, if I start from the finger end I'll have to retain the hole-in-the-wall thumb.

Perused the Knitting Universe site to see if they might enjoy the Michelin Man socks. Their designs seem tradition-based, but there is usually a twist, either with yarn or technique. No miles of K1P1 ribbing for them. On second thought, maybe Michelin Man is too simple except maybe for beach knitting. I'm too late for the summer issue, alas.

One interesting thing, all they require is a swatch and a drawing of the idea. I guess if they like the idea, the designer has 3-4 weeks to come up with the finished object. That sounds like some hard core production knitting. Imagine cranking out an afghan in 3-4 weeks! But it would save knitting the item only to hear no, no, NO!

I think this is the way real designers do it, and I must give it a try...but what if the design improves in the knitting? That would make me nuts, though I could add the variations at the end of the pattern...

Let's get one accepted first, then worry about it :)

Piggin' out

On knitting magazines, that is. Vogue Knitting has a couple of derivatives out there, and there is Knitters and Interweave Knits. Saw a pattern for wrist warmers in Knitters and almost passed it by until I realized that this would be the perfect use for the Silk Dreams wool/silk blend I bought last summer. It is a two needle pattern featuring bobbles, lace, and fun fur. I omitted the fun fur trim and am slipping the first stitch rather than keeping it in garter stitch, but mostly I am following the instructions.

When I do it for real, I think I will start from the fingers and work back. It will give me a chance to try a banded ribbing pattern I found, and a lace bind-off for the cuff. If that one works out, I may pound on Knitty's door again.

So far the pattern goes quickly. Finished the first yesterday and started the second, but had to frog the cuff when I noticed I had left out two rows of the pattern. Beer, knitting, Sinbad movies and a late night really do not make for clear thinking. Should finish today if I behave myself.

The Cat

Cat Bordhi's technique with two circular needles left me cold at first, leaving me with molehills in my socks and a tangle of clanking needles. But other than that the technique was easy and fast and I decided to try it again with the Shuj socks. So I sprung for a couple of #2 Addi-Turbos and set off. Maybe because both needles were the same length, maybe because moles can't root under k2p2 ribbing or maybe because I'm so fed up with dpns...anyhow things seem to be going well. The blue alpaca I'm using shows well against the silver needles and so far the circs show no tendancy to drop out of the fabric. This is a good thing.

I've also learned that Cat self-published her book. Another good thing or this technique might be lost to us. Many people can design patterns; how many ever come up with a new and better way of knitting?

...and back to the drawing board

Checked out Chiagu yesterday only to find that they aren't currently accepting submissions. Bummer. And Knitting Vault might be accepting submissions, but apparently they aren't looking for newbies. Questions like: How many patterns do you have for sale? How many do you want to sell here?

Well...one and one...

Then they want 60% of whatever I think the pattern is worth. So designers are charging $6.00 for a pattern that might be worth $2.00. Are there people out there that will do that? For six bucks you can get a copy of Vogue Knitting and get dozens of patterns.

Guess I'm in the mindset that if I can design, then anyone can design. And it's true. Thank you Elizabeth Zimmerman!

Chiagu might not be accepting designs right now, but they have a lovely blog and an opportunity to join a Web Ring of other knitting blogs. The main catch is that I'd have to post at least once a week...which is what a blog is all about after all.

Meanwhile I've got a personal project on the needles, a pair of socks for The Shuj. It's time to knit from the top down and re-master the old-fashioned heel. Might even show pictures of this one :)

First rejection

Last weekend I learned that Knitty didn't want the Michelin Man sock. They said it was a lot of fun, but not for them. Seems I remember doing this when I was trying to get a novel published...a pleasant little note that gives as little feedback as possible. They liked it, I think. Was the whole idea too simple? Was it something technical, like the guage being too loose? Was the pattern badly written? Were the photographs boring? I may never know.

Fortunately I have a couple more patterns in the works...the Viking Formal stocking and the Miz Marple jacket. That Simply Soft acrylic looks shinier all the time, but it will be good for making a prototype. Then I'll knit it up in alpaca or something that fits the modern trend for luxury yarns.

As for the Michelin Man... Chiagu? Will the public actually pay for such a simple pattern? I think I'll just mosey on over there and check them out.