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Born one week ago - Thursday 19 March 2009 - and weighing in at a healthy 4.27kg, meet Claudia Paige Thalia, my newest WIP:
(Armin might have had a hand in it too.)
You'll understand that this project is taking up all my attention right now. I'll be reopening Purlescence next Saturday (4 April). Meanwhile, instead of browsing gorgeous yarns, you can always look at gorgeousness of the baby kind over here... (more pics added periodically).
Well whaddaya know. I did in fact finish the baby jacket before the baby came.
Cute eh? We particularly like the three buttons at the top, rather than five all the way down. Yes, we do. That's a Design Feature. It's definitely not because I somehow forgot to do buttonhole number 4. Nuh uh.
[*coff*]
Cute eh? We particularly like the three buttons at the top, rather than five all the way down. Yes, we do. That's a Design Feature. It's definitely not because I somehow forgot to do buttonhole number 4. Nuh uh.
[*coff*]
Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmerman's legendary Baby Surprise Jacket.
Yarn: Indigo Moon Nature's Harvest in Wasabi (main colour) and IM Handpainted Fingering in Autumn Harvest (border)
Needles: 3.25mm Colonial rosewood
Elizabeth Zimmerman was a mad crazy genius. Cat Bordhi and Debbie New are often called the mad geniuses of the knitting world, but for my money, it's Liz all the way. Sure, knitting a boat is a little quirky, and of course moebius knitting is excitingly innovative. But this - this is a special kind of twisted. All along, while knitting it, I was trying to figure out what I was doing. "Increase here for fullness in back," I would muse, "hm, so this is the back... nope. Don't get it. Keep going." Kept going, kept looking, kept trying to figure it out. Kept failing. (The pattern is full of entertaining instructions like "this will start to look like nothing on earth, but trust me".)
Finally I cast off, looked at it, and just for kicks, tried to figure out how it would fold up without looking at the instructions.
Hopeless. I worried that I might have totally screwed it up somehow, because there was clearly no WAY this was ever going to be baby-shaped.
I looked at the instructions. I looked back at the "jacket". It looked at me. Still a mystery.
Fold A to A, it said, and I did. Still looking. Still befuddled.
Fold B to B, it said, and that was harder, because B was some unmarked point along a straight line, and I couldn't really see what -
HOLD THE PHONE! You mean like THAT? You mean THAT'S the idea? Well HOLY COW. What kind of crazy genius comes up with an idea like THAT?
And so I have a baby jacket.
It's safe to come out now, baby.
Still no baby. I have finished the jacket, sort of, but all of my buttons seem to have mysteriously vanished. Really very confusing. So I've ordered new buttons. Do you think baby will consider the jacket finished even though buttonless? I mean the ends are sewn in and everything...
Of course this sort of thing will never happen again, because I have a Shiny Knitting Cupboard of Organisational Joy, and will never again lose important Bits. Never. The cupboard won't let me. Look! Isn't it shiny?
Hm. Okay, I admit, it doesn't look so hot there. Sort of messy actually. But it isn't! It's beautifully tidy! All my stash is sorted into neat little boxes and bags and such (the bottom part is largely baskets devoted to intended projects-to-be), all my tools are similarly arranged, my messy design files are... well... still very messy design files, but all cosied up together and willing to cut me a break because after all I've at least got them sitting there with the yarn where they belong, for once. And like that. And of course, as soon as I close the doors, it's all tucked away and nobody (*coff* Armin *coff*) could possibly complain about knitting taking over the house any more.
(The balloons? Oh, the balloons were from the baby shower. Armin put them up there and I quite like 'em; I think they make the cupboard look like a very tall and dignified man in a paper party hat. Every now and then one floats down and Jemima plays soccer with it. Too cute.)
So yes, I'm pretty thrilled with my cupboard. It's a very cool thing to finally - FINALLY - have all my knitting/crafty wherewithal in one room, which just so happens to be the room I'll actually use it in. (I was very happy a year ago to have most of it - not all - but most of it in the spare room, which I thought looked like a lovely cosy place to knit. Well, it might be, but I wouldn't know, because I never have time to just sit and knit. I knit in front of the telly. So that's where it all is now. Yay!) There is a small amount of overspill; a little bit of extra stash is sitting in these baskets here:
And of course my books and magazines don't fit in the cupboard - they get their own shelves on the other side of the room:
But it's all neat and tidy and together. No more running up and down stairs and into three different rooms to find the stuff I need to plan my next project. See? A Shiny Cupboard of Organisational Joy. (Armin likes it too. Mostly because it makes it easy for me to put my stuff away so he doesn't sit on it.)
Incidentally, are you surprised at how little there is? Or how much? Or is it about what you'd imagined?
Yes yes, baby coming, whatever. I'll believe it when I see it.
Meanwhile I've been keeping myself busy with doing a little shopping. Or at least, ordering new stock for spring. And oh! I'm excited!
We have so much good stuff coming in. So much. Just arrived are new stocks of needle cases from Offhand Designs and others (*loving* Offhand's new fabrics); more Namaste bags (and yes, the super-popular bag buddies too) are set to arrive this week. I have other cool things in the works, not on the way yet but soon, including more AT LAST of those fabulous pewter clasps I used to stock. But then there's the new orders I've placed this week - the spring yarn.
There's Handmaiden and Fleece Artist, of course, and some Claudia's too; lovely bright and girly spring colours, as requested, and lots of gorgeous silky things from Handmaiden in particular. Can't wait to see those in the flesh. But the really big deal is a HUGE order I've placed with a new supplier - someone whose yarns I've been buying for years, but whom you have probably never heard of.
Every time I go home to Cape Town, I visit a lovely little shop called Orion Wool & Crafts. (They just so happen to have relocated literally one block from my mother-in-law's home. So considerate of them!) And every time, I stand in front of this wall of colour and start to hyperventilate a little, because there's just *too much gorgeousness*, how can I possibly choose? These beautiful yarns - cotton and bamboo, perfect for summer and lovely and soft to work with - are stacked up in this fantastic array of hues, each prettier than the last and all of them looking even more amazing in combination than they do alone. So there's me, with my limited suitcase space, struggling to limit myself to a few precious balls. It's heaven and hell at the same time.
Hang on, though. I have a yarn shop. I too could have a wall of colour! Couldn't I...?
So look out for something very special for summer: hand-dyed, solid hues, DK weight, modestly priced; great for baby knits and summer tops, in almost any colour you can imagine. (I couldn't get her whole range in. You might remember I posted a sneak peek at the shade cards recently. That's a LOT of colours. I've got at most a quarter of the total available - which is still a whole lot more colour options than I usually carry in any one yarn; I figured anything less just wouldn't do this range justice.) And of course I will be happy to take special orders for any shade we don't have in stock.
Thank you very much, Vinni, for doing business with me. I'm enormously excited to be your first UK stockist. And can't wait to stand in front of my very own wall of colour!
Like Douglas Adams, I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. Which may explain why I've been cutting it just a leetle bit close on two very important projects of late.
First there was The Bridal Shrug. I promised my dear friend Pip I would ensure she had warm shoulders for her wedding. I promised this back in, oh, September or so? Heaps of time, there was. And a shrug is only little. And I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to achieve. I was sure I could get it to her by - at the latest - beginning of Feb; allowing plenty of time for fitting and if necessary, totally reworking it by the big day itself, 28 February. Plus of course we had to be sure I wasn't going to get foiled by possibly early arrival of the bebeh. All these factors were much on my mind and I was totally planning for them. Totally.
Yet somehow, I almost failed to deliver. I blame pregnancy for killing my mojo; but maybe I'm just a bit crap. Anyway, in the middle of last week I was still knitting away. (I had at least managed to fit it on Pip halfway through, so I was pretty sure the size was working out.) On Thursday I stayed up till the wee hours tucking in ends etc. So Friday could be given over to blocking - easy, right? Shouldn't take too long for a simple shrug to dry... right? Especially when left in our lovely warm upstairs room, where laundry always (always) dries in a flash.
Yet on Saturday morning, the damn thing was still very, very damp. And we had to be on the road by around 9am, delivering the shrug to the bride by 12pm. Desperate times, I thought. Let me chuck this in the dryer, just on cool cycle, just for a short time.
Insert shrug. Set dryer to "delicates". Hm, the delicate cycle doesn't seem to allow me to choose a shorter drying time than 2 hours, but never mind; I'll just pull it out after 20 minutes and see how we're doing.
Wait 20 minutes. Go to dryer. Try to stop cycle.
It won't stop.
Try to open door.
It won't open.
Damn safety device.
Switch off dryer. Try to open door.
Still won't open.
Think: there must be a way to tell the dryer I'm done. Switch it on again. Press buttons. Check manual. Press more buttons.
Oh. Shit.
Not only am I still failing to stop the cycle, or reduce the time remaining; since being resuscitated, the machine seems to have forgotten the "delicate" instruction.
So my very special, urgently needed, rather expensive cashmere/silk shrug is going to be stuck in the tumble dryer for 2 hours... on full heat.
Manage not to cry. (Pretty good for a pregnant lady, huh?) Wait for Armin to come back from collecting the car we're borrowing for the weekend.
"Oh honey," I say when he walks in. "Are you in the mood for working miracles?"
(I have absolute faith in his miraculous powers. Absolute faith based on 12 years of experience.)
"No," he says. But I pay his reluctance no heed. Explain the situation. He looks at the manual, pokes a few buttons.
"I think I've stopped the machine!" he says happily.
"Yes, but can you open the door?"
"Oh..." (tries) "...no."
Hm.
"Just wait a few minutes. Then try the door."
It works! I feel silly. Hurrah, I have a shrug! With no apparent dryer damage! Hurrah!
It's still wet though.
We get in the car and drive. Try hanging the shrug up inside the car and opening a window... but this is not very convincing, and also, really not very pleasant for us.
Are you feeling the tension? Are you absolutely on knitterly tenterhooks? WAS THE SHRUG DRY IN TIME FOR THE WEDDING? How? When? Who? What? Again, how?
Breathe, my dears. Breathe. All was well. Armin suggested laying it flat on the dashboard, over the air vents, and blowing a little warm air through it. Worked like a charm, and very fast. The shrug was done, was pretty, fitted, and - glory be - was dry.
So now I'm moving on to deadline number 2; but this one is moveable, for extra credit. Apparently I'm supposed to be having a baby soon. (There's talk of "Thursday".) Her jacket, the one thing her loving and knitterly mother has bothered to cast on, isn't even nearly finished. What do you think? Will I make it? Is it true what the Harlot says - babies don't come till their knitting is done? And if so, does she know that this jacket is the right knitting to be waiting for, or will she be confused by the presence in the house of a gorgeous blanket knitted just for her?
Hm.