Conflicts of Interest

Of course I get personal gain from my blog. Why else would I write one?

Full Disclosure
I get an enormous amount of personal pleasure from writing my blog. That is the reason I write it. I have written to a number of folks in individual e-mails, that even if no one read my blog, I would still be writing one for my own personal satisfaction and to document my knitting progress and projects.

However, I do also have some indirect financial gain from writing this blog, and I didn't want anyone to be surprised or shocked to find this information out.

I am friends with the owners of Simply Knit in Lambertville, NJ. I have known Carol Lapin (one of the owners) since her days at the now defunct Tomato Factory, when I worked there briefly on a part-time basis. As a courtesy to them, I also maintain their web site (as awful as it is) at no charge to them. In exchange, I get a discount on the yarn and knitting supplies that I get from Simply Knit. It's usually about 20% off.

I also have a vested interest in having Simply Knit survive as a store so that when I retire from consulting in 8 or 9 years, I can be a partner in the store.

So in case possible conflicts of interest or financial gains from blogging or advertising are issues that concern you in blogs you read, I have just listed all possible conflicts.


More Reader Questions
Peter, our resident botanist expert was trying to identify what we think is a picture of Mexican Heather from a bad picture that provides very little perspective. Here's a picture that more closely shows the size of the plant.



And here's a closeup of the flowers and leaves.



Denise asks about a book with African pattern motifs.

I mentioned one book in a previous blog entry by Marianne Isager called Afrika (with whom I have no conflict of interest). The book is in Danish and has some lovely African motifs. I'm not sure if you'd be able to find it very easily.



Donegal
I got very little opportunity to work on Donegal this week because of long hours at the office, and project team dinners after work.

I made some slight progress, and I still hope to finish this sweater this weekend. I've started using Wendy's tip of kn


Who Put the "Queer" in QueerJoe?
I took this little "Am I Gay?" quiz and thought it was cute

http://www.burlyadventurer.com/quiz/index.tcl?gay

The result said:

We think you are Gay
and we are 63.26% confident with our answer

I leave you with a moving collage of some of my favorite T.V. characters (lest there be ANY doubt in my sexuality).

Overtaken

No surprise that Wendy has vaulted to the lead in Roscalie compared to my progress on Donegal.

Knitting Pace
Actually, I am somewhat relieve that I don't have to try and maintain a frantic pace to keep up with Wendy. As a result of focusing on Donegal for a significant period of time this weekend, I was able to finish the first sleeve and do a full pattern repeat on the second sleeve.



As with the first sleeve, I think I should be able to finish Donegal by this weekend if work doesnt' keep me to busy at night here in Albany.

Reader Questions
Someone asked if I was doing the colorway using the original Rowan yarns, or the Alice Starmore yarns from "In The Hebrides" (the pattern was published twice with two different lines of yarn).

I'm doing most of the Alice Starmore colors from "In The Hebrides". When I bought the yarns, the one called Wood Green was not available any longer. Yarns International was recommending a similar color from the Rowan Donegal Lambswool Tweed collection (#477). Everyone that has seen the sweater in person says the colors are beautiful on the web site, but most amazing in person.

Another reader asked how I secure my steeks after cutting.

I don't do anything to secure the steeks. I don't machine sew them, I don't hand sew them, and I don't crochet them. They never seem to unravel when I use the Shetland wool (it's like Velcro).

Finally, a reader asks "What is your method of keeping track of the pattern whilst decreasing for the sleeves on Donegal? Do you use the magnetic board a la Wendy?"

I am a much more "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" type of knitter than Wendy. I keep count in my head, and when I lose track I count stitches. I will also sometimes forget to do a decrease, so I fudge a little.

This is my second Fair Isle (the first one being Square Dance, a child's pullover), and I'm not overly fond of how the decreases look. After blocking, they're fine, but I'm going to experiment on sleeve shaping the next time I do one of these monsters.

Web Issues
This weekend, and the beginning of this week sucked when it comes to two of the softwares I use for this blog. Blogspot.com, who hosts my blog was having major issues with their service providers, and the blog was down for quite a while on the weekend. When they finally got their act together, Haloscan, which does my comments was down for almost a day.

I apologize to anyone who was trying to get here and couldn't. At some point towards the end of the year, I'm hoping to migrate my site to a more reliable provider. Moveable Type seems to be the top contender at this point. But that migration won't happen for a number of months. Hopefully Blogspot and Haloscan can keep it together for a while longer.

Weather
The weather in the Northeast has been dreadful over the last month, unless you're a fan of cold, gray skies and rain. I'm not. Today is bright and sunny in Albany, so I leave you with a picture of the view from my back deck at home, since I can't be there to see it at the moment.

I am SUCH a Hypocrite

All that talk about not needing validation flew right out the window today.

I'm a REAL Designer
I just had my first validation as a designer, and I can't tell you how tickled I was by the event.

I was at Simply Knit looking for yarn for my next design idea (which is going to be great, I think). The owner, Carol and my friend Janis were sitting, knitting and chatting while I searched for the perfect accent color to the main color I had already chosen (a vibrant rusty red tweed). The phone rang, and since I was closest to the phone, I answered it.

The woman on the other end started to tell me that she had been in last week and had purchased fourteen balls of the Jo Sharp DK cotton in cream (dye lot 32) and she was into the first sleeve of her project, and thought she might not have enough. Did we have any more? I checked, and sure enough, there were five more of that dye lot on the shelf.

I asked her what she was making with this yarn, and she said that she was making a "Joe Wilcox design sweater". I contained my excitement long enough to ask which one. She was making the high v-neck, patterned pullover (the same one I made for my sister). She started telling me how much she was enjoying the pattern, and that Joe Wilcox designs fit her son perfectly.

At that point, I had to tell her she was speaking to the designer, and she was so excited to be able to thank me for such a great design.

Suffice it to say, I certainly don't need validation of my knitting, but the ego boost provided by this conversation had my head so large, it was hard to fit it into my car on the way home.

New Design Color
My newest design idea (which won't be knit until after Donegal and Chock-a-Block II are both done) is going to be mostly in one color with an accent color around the neck. Here's what I've chosen as the main color, and the initial swatch of rib I'm thinking about using.



After selecting a number of different colors as the accent color, I realized I didn't have to choose that color at this very moment, since I didn't have to do that part until I did the neck (unless I decide to add a stripe in the ribbing at the bottom as well). So I didn't buy any accent color yet.

Donegal
After Wendy mentioned that I was "ahead" of her on the sleeve (I can't wait to see how far along she is on Monday), I worked like a dog and finished the first sleeve of Donegal.



At one point, I got incredibly bored of knitting on the sleeve, and I was tempted to work on one of my other projects. Instead, I picked up the stitches for the second sleeve. It provided just the relief I needed so that I could proceed to finish the first sleeve.

Knit Whining

Whining about knitting is like whining about your spouse. You know you're in love, and the whining is just one way of demonstrating that love.

Knitting With Passion
Anything that I'm passionate about is worthy of as much attention as I can focus on it. Even if that focus might be complaining about it sometimes. Knitting is like that for me. My complaining about how long Donegal is taking is just another way for me to express how much this sweater means to me.

I don't personally believe that angry or hateful thoughts you have while knitting are somehow inbued in the finished garment. Physical aspects of my knitting are also not affected by my mood. So, for instance, my tension is not tighter when I'm tense/angry/stressed, nor is it looser when I'm relaxed/happy/loving.

In the 18 or so years that I've been knitting, there have definitely been times where I started to hate a garment I was in the process of making. I hated the color, I hated the stitch and/or I hated the yarn.

A perfect example of that was the first Aran sweater I ever made.



It was a raglan-sleeve, cable sweater from a book called Knitting Today's Classics.



It was my first attempt at any cabling (which took me forever). It was done in a deep forest green wool...at this point, I don't even know what yarn it was...Bainin maybe? Anyway, by the time I was finishing the first sleeve, I would have been happy to have never seen this yarn or sweater again.

Thank dog I have a stubborn persistence, and I finished it.

I put the sweater away for a few months, and when I discovered it in my armoir a number of months later, I was thrilled to have this great looking handknit classic. To this day, I love the labor that went into that garment.

Anyway, I'm glad Peter brought up this point, so I can say what Marilyn said much more succinctly. I'm a whiner, but it doesn't mean I love knitting or the resulting garments any less.


Donegal
This sleeve is FLYING now that the number of stitches keeps reducing every third row. Changing yarns and weaving in ends is the hardest part. I don't even have a chance to memorize the pattern repeat before it changes to the next row.

Here's how it looks.



I will definitely have this sleeve done this week and I'm going to push to finish Donegal by the end of next week. I'm already getting excited at the prospect of checking this one off my to-do list.

All I can think is that if I'm so ready to finish Donegal, you folks will probably be twice as happy to see me working on something else.

My People

Sometimes when I'm joking with friends, I will discuss the gay, lesbian and transgendered population as "my people".

Knit Meet Up
This weekend, it took on a different meaning. I got to meet up with Marilyn and Kathy, two of my favorite knitters in the area. We started off at Simply Knit and showed off our current projects. Marilyn's Aran sweater in Cashmerino for Achim is stunning. The color is rich and beautiful and the softness it just sublime. She took a picture of me wearing it (which I hope she posts to her blog). She's lucky she got the sweater back.

Here's a picture of "my people" in Lambertville:



You'll notice that Kathy is wearing a great multi-colored sweater. She made this amazing crochet raglan pullover that looks great. We also got to see another of her crochet designs in more pastel shades.

Both Marilyn and I agreed that Kathy gives crochet a good name.

And another one of me and Marilyn.



Missing Yarn - No More
Thanks to Jillian, I was able to get the remaining yarn I needed to finish an Aran cardigan started years ago. I continue to say that the internet is an amazing place. I got this yarn on Friday with a nice little postcard from Jillian. My part of the trade will be sent out tomorrow, Jillian, sorry for the delay.



Donegal
I should have the first sleeve of Donegal done this week. Not only did I finish the second pattern repeat, I'm almost done with the third one now. It's zipping right along.

I tried Donegal on for Kathy and Marilyn and asked their opinion on whether they thought I could block Donegal so that it would fit me, and they both thought I absolutely could. I thought so too, so it seems all this work will not have to end up as a gift.

As to Peter's comment about not enjoying wearing a sweater that I don't knit with pride and joy, I don't really subscribe to that belief. I have an armoire full of handknit sweaters, some of which ended up being a pain to knit as I neared the finish. But I love each and every one of them.

If everyone believed that a painful process begets an unwanted finished product, then there would be a lot of unloved newborns. While the mothers who read this would probably disagree, some of my sweaters felt like childbirth.