Miniature Mixed Media Collage ~ 2009

Artist Trading Card ~ 2009

Domino pendant with resin finish ~ 2013

Handmade greeting card ~ 2013

you are
a treasure
made of sparkling
diamonds and hollyhock
you are
the lingering
scent of pine needles
and salty air
you are
sweet like
tumbling water and
smooth grey stones
you are
brave like
stepping off the shore
you are
to be celebrated
like owl song.


a poem from me to you ♥
love,
stacy

I read somewhere on the Internet that today is Pride & Prejudice Appreciation Day. (And as you know, it is a universal truth that everything on the Internet is factually accurate.) So, as a huge P&P fan, I decided to have a celebration here on my blog. mmmmm mm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm m m m m And now for that age old question ... which actor is your favorite Mr. Darcy?mmmmm mm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I wasn't able to knit at all last week due to an intense work schedule filled with meetings, lunches, a scavenger hunt, and a cocktail party. By Friday night I was desperately in need of a quiet day all to myself in which I wasn't expected to make small talk, wear high heels and make-up, or sit in a room all day listening to strategic goals.

I needed my knitting.

So I scheduled my very own private knitting retreat in order to recover from the busy week and get reacquainted with my needles. It went something like this:

9am: Start the day with a donut with chocolate icing and multicolored sprinkles.

9:15: Fire up the laptop and check out the discussions in my Ravelry group.

9:25: Search Ravelry patterns for a blanket knit with Sprout organic cotton.

9:35: Tell self several times to turn off the computer and start knitting.

9:45: Gape at birds at feeder on patio. Inform the cats they are finches (the birds at the feeder, not the cats).

10:15: Start knitting a Modern Cabled Baby Bib in purple cotton while watching the movie Love Actually.



10:30: Decide that Colin Firth movies are an important part of any knitting retreat.

11:00: Eat second donut with chocolate icing and multicolored sprinkles.

11:15: Set aside baby bib and finish up a neck cozy.


12:30: Have lunch at the taqueria down the street while reveling in the bliss of a whole day dedicated to knitting, knitting-related activities, and donuts.

1:00: Go to LYS and purchase five skeins of Sprout for blanket pattern found earlier on Ravelry.

Last weekend I attended an author event at my local yarn shop. Lorna Miser, founder of Lorna's Laces, gave a talk about her book, The Knitter's Guide to Hand Dyed and Variegated Yarn .

Lorna Miser

The book is filled with techniques and projects for multicolored yarn, including many new stitches I have never run across before. I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to this book if I hadn't attended the talk because I didn't realize how much there is to know on the subject of working with variegated yarn. It was fascinating to hear about the different methods for making certain colors pop, preventing pooling, and selecting the best lace patterns for specific types of colorways.

Lorna talked about each chapter in the book and showed us the gorgeous knit samples used in the photographs. (I wanted to tuck more than one item in my purse and quietly walk out the door with it.) She gave us tips on patterns, stitches, and techniques that make the best use of variegated colors. I was completely inspired and couldn't wait to get home and start knitting.

Here are some of the highlights from Lorna's talk:

-She founded Lorna's Laces and raised it like a child until it grew to the point that it needed more than she could give. She sold it in 2003 and went to Scotland to recover from exhaustion.

-She now designs knitting patterns for many companies, such as Fiesta, Red Heart, Lorna's Laces, and more, and says you can support yourself doing that.

-On a skein of variegated yarn, the longer the section of color, the more opportunity for pooling. She recommends untwisting a skein before you buy it to look at the dominate color and check out the length of the sections of color.

-Adding bobbles to an item (like the cute mittens in her book) can help prevent color pooling.

-When knitting Fair Isle, to prevent puckering, first drink a glass of wine.

-Seed stitch can add weight to lighter yarns.


I'm currently knitting this neck cozy from Lorna's book using a stitch called Webbed Float Stitch with alternating strands of variegated and solid colored yarn. Next I want to knit a pair of lacy silk fingerless gloves.


Next month is Stitches West! I'm attending a class on designing with lace and can't wait.

When I started this blog almost two years ago, I had a vision, albeit a blurry one, of what it would be about. I wanted to design original knitting patterns, share them on Ravelry and improve my skills by knitting larger and more complex items.

I did end up designing a few things. Nothing terribly complicated, just some easy scarves, bags, booties and fingerless gloves. My mesh bamboo scarf is the most viewed page on my blog, and with the arrival of cold weather the gloves are getting a little bit of attention. It's gratifying when someone knits one of my patterns and posts the project on Ravelry.

But it's been a while since I designed a pattern. And I've not attempted to knit anything too big or complicated since I started this blog other than a lace shawl (which turned out to be rather small and easy). At this point in time, I'm knitting garter stitch scarves.

Garter stitch scarves. The kind that are your very first knitting project, the kind that are supposed to get monotonous after you've made one for each member of your family. I've read enough knitting books to understand that garter stitch scarves are kindergarten knitting; they are the finger painting of the fiber world.

But the truth is, I like how they look and enjoy knitting them. I don't have to remember to use my row counter or glance at a pattern every few minutes. It's like being transported back to a simpler time before you knew about tricky techniques like a Turkish cast-on or three-needle bind off, when you had no idea how to use circular needles and didn't care, when terms like K2TOG and YO made your eyes glaze over. In those days, knitting with acrylic yarn was perfectly acceptable and the smallest needle size in your collection was maybe a US 6 (but you never used it).


So here I am, finger painting scarves while forgetting how to do a proper wrap and turn. Simply knitting. While I do plan to return to the world of purl stitches, yarn overs and short rows, for now the basic act of creating something with two sticks and some pretty string is enough.

I'm a terrible cook and seem to be getting worse every year. There was a time in my late 20's when I knew how to cook well enough to get by, but my tastes have changed since then (hot dogs for lunch don't cut it anymore). Enter my new favorite book:


Cooking Basics for Dummies! This book is great because it is really basic. If the recipe tells you to thinly slice an onion, you can turn to an illustrated page that shows you how to slice an onion. Really basic.

Last night I made a simple dinner of a salad and an entree using recipes from the book. It was one of the best meals I've cooked in recent memory. Nothing got burned and it wasn't too salty or oily. But it took a looooong time to make it.

I wanted to follow the recipe exactly because I have a tendency to miss important steps like adding essential ingredients or reducing the oven temperature. So I chopped and sliced at a snail's pace, reading and re-reading every word, without wandering off to watch television or play with the cats while my food cooked in the oven. At first I felt ridiculous taking so much time to make a simple meal and told myself repeatedly that I should be able to do it faster. But eventually I relaxed and let myself enjoy the process of cooking a careful meal for myself, and that might have contributed to it tasting so good.

Isn't it funny how we value speed? I'm beginning to think it's highly overrated. I am constantly trying to figure out how to knit more quickly, but maybe the trick is to learn to enjoy doing it slowly, to savor each stitch, each row, each little chunk of time dedicated to creating something with your hands. The instructor who taught my first sock class told us that whether we knit tight or loose, we should make adjustments to the pattern rather than trying to change the way we knit. I thought that was great advice for life in general. Acceptance. Not trying to change yourself. Being present to who you are and how you do things and not judging whether you should be faster or slower or tighter or looser.

Tonight I'm going to attempt to cook another meal, so I'll see if I can put that in to practice.

Okay, I admit up front, I don't know how to paint. I've never taken a class or made a serious attempt to learn how to do it correctly from a book or any other resource. But I love how it feels to paint, to dip the brush in a mixture of gooey colors and sweep it across the canvas. I love being totally immersed in the process of painting; it is so soothing and satisfying.

I've been working on my art studio (also known as my bedroom), trying to set up a more organized, inviting space. It's not finished, but it's coming along.

I've been giving a lot of thought to studio space lately. I mainly use my bedroom as an art studio, and it was fun at first, but now it's becoming messy and crowded. I want to organize it with more shelves and an additional table, and actually start hanging my artwork on the walls.

But this is my *dream* studio. It belongs to an artist named Ingrid in Mendocino.