Month: July 2006

  • "Why does Itty Bitty get all of the good stuff?"

    Being nearly six feet tall I’ve (This is Johanna!) always been envious of my cute petite friends, but recently my envy has doubled. And I’m not talking about being envious of your average cute as a button 5ft. 2-incher. I’m realizing more and more how lucky the really, really small people are. Im talking about those darn lucky babies. Their miniscule size makes clothing them ideal. I mean who wants to spend more time making a large hat to go on some run of the mill adults head when you could make an adorable hat that would look oh-so-cute on the head of an itty-bitty baby?


    It is for this exact reason that Susan B. Anderson’s book “Itty-Bitty Hats” is so, dare I say it, cute. Anderson’s book contains upward of thirty ways to cover baby’s head. Her patterns are all, of course, adorable, but they are also interesting patterns that are well explained and showcased in lots of colored photos that epitomize cute. As a novice knitter myself these hats feel like a likely undertaking (ones that I would not bore of quickly), that could teach me lots of new stitches, not to mention the very comprehensive beginners introduction.

    The hats range from having innovative construction, such as the “vertical stripes” pattern, to taking simple hat designs to cuter heights by adding appliqued animals, bear ears, and crazy poms. My favorite is called the marshmallow bonnet. I’ve been asking myself if I would look ridiculous in a white, fluffy bonnet decorated with pink pom-poms. Unfortunately the answer I keep coming back to is, Yes.


    Now, this may seem excessive, but the “itty-bitty” theme has been invading my life lately. This past weekend I attended a knitting retreat in Berkley Springs, WV. Amy and Laurie Gonyea, taught me and four other eager knitters. In order to pack in the maximum amount of information that we could in two days, Laurie and Amy taught everything in miniature. We made a side to side vest, a top down raglan and toe-up socks, all teeny-tiny. As we made all of these items intended for an itty-bitty, one of the students exclaimed “Why does Itty-Bitty get all of the good stuff?!” And I have to agree, that Itty-Bitty, sure is lucky!

  • Toasting Kim


    Toasting Kim
    Originally uploaded by plainsight.

    We tried to send this to kim via camera phone, but for some reason, I can’t text message someone in Canada–who would have thunk? Anyway–this is Vashti, Robyn and I at the CGOA charity dinner and fashion show–I took the train back up to Phili on a whim last night to see everyone again. We had a great time and saw some amazing designs in the show including a very cute pair of crocheted culottes. Vashti had a swingin’ 50’s-style skirt, and Robyn’s bra, which she had entered in the BRA-VO auction, rightly won first prize!

    Also at the table, but not pictured were buddies Drew Embrosky, Doris Chan and more–Doris and I share a love of one-piece construction in our designs, so it was so fun to talk to her–she’s an amzing designer and she’s got a fantastic new lace book coming out this fall.

  • Round and Round with Harry Potter

    I’ve been sitting for over three hours now, crocheting a sweater for the fall issue of crochetme.com (I can’t say much more about this cool project except that new exciting yarns will be used, a Crochet-Along and several of your favorite crocheters will be involved).

    Anyway, what’s kept me going, even though my eyes began drooping at ten, is that I’m listening to the CD recording of Harry Potter, book 6. I really love books on tape. I find it just as easy to imagine a story when I hear it, as when I read it. But of course, when I’m listening, my hands are free–to clean house, or baby-tend, crochet, or drive the car.

    What I notice about books on tape that doesn’t happen with print, is that I associate what I’m doing, or where I am, with the book I’m listening to. Last summer I listened to the amazing BBC cast reading Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials as I was driving back from taking Selma to and from summer-camp. Even now, when I drive down those particular streets, I vividly recall scenes from the book. I wonder if I’m somehow filling this sweater with Harry-potter-ness, if somehow the sleeves or the neckline will remind me of different parts of the book, or even if my design will somehow be influenced by the story.

    (By the way, this doesn’t happen with TV–I have no memory with any knit or crochet project, what I’ve been watching while I made it. Probably because TV is so much more passive.)

  • Crocheter’s demand "grown-up" patterns

    I spent the day yesterday outside of Philadelphia, PA at a “professional development day” for crochet designers, publishers, editors, etc. (It’s part of the Knit and Crochet Show that’s going on this week.) At lunch we got to see a preview of the new magazine Crochet Today. Bret Bara, the magazine’s editor said they spent a long time with focus groups figuring out what should be different about the new magazine–two things stood out to me:

    • Their participants wanted (and are getting) schematics
    • Their participants wanted (and are getting) charts

    By the way, the room erupted in applause upon hearing this news. Schematics, of course, help the crocheter to understand how the garment comes together–but it also makes it so much easier to alter sizing, change yarns, stitch patterns, essentially become a more active creative participant in the process of creating the garment–not just a stitcher. And of course, schematics have been a standard part of knitting patterns for a long time.

    Charts, well, I love charts–charts can take hundreds of words and abbreviations and simplify them–charts are why we can read adorable japanese crochet patterns, charts could, possibly make it so crochet patterns don’t take up *three times* the space in print that knitting patterns do, perhaps encouraging editors of publications that carry both media to include more crochet. I was very excited.

    What’s more, this morning, I got home and found Carol Alexander’s “Talking Crochet” in my inbox. Coincidentally, she said her readers are “demanding” schematics–and starting in November “Crochet!” and her other publications will have them. Woohoo! The power of the customer. Now let’s start demanding charts too.

    By the way, I’ll have more fun news and pix from PDD soon–I got to meet Drew in person, (he’s just as nice as he seems, and very, very, funny), catch up with friends, and learn lots of great stuff. I just wish I could have stayed longer, it sounds like the rest of the weekend is going to be a blast. Enjoy, guys!

  • Knitting in the dark…


    Headlamp knitting
    Originally uploaded by plainsight.

    A dim bar, a car-ride home at night–we’ve all been in places with less than perfect light where we want to keep knitting. Lately I’ve had a chance to try out several solutions to this problem. In this picture, I’m wearing a cyclist’s headlamp–it does a great job of really illuminating my knitting–but it’s not very subtle. By the way, these are really cheap on E-bay.

    Speaking of cheap–the other day, I was at Rite-aid and I discovered these finger lights at the cash register for $1.49–a little research, and I found out they’re popular “rave” accessories… They also make great knitting lights–on my left thumb, (I knit continental-style) they light my stitches perfectly, and don’t light everything else in the room the way the headlamp does. (Just remember not to point them towards your husband’s face while he’s driving.)


    Ok–here’s the ultimate in low-light knitting… If it weren’t for the price tag ($40 per pair), I would own these needles in many sizes. Needle Light, by MRB Innovations are smooth, lightweight acrylic needles with nice sharp points–they also glow beautifully from the tip to the base.

    Unlike their $20/pair competitor from Clover which only is lighted at the tip–these needles really light things up. Not only that, call me crazy, but I really enjoy seeing both sides of my stitches through the clear acrylic needles.

    The crochet hook is even better designed than the needles–the wide base creates a very well-balanced hook. I tested a size K, and it created a very nice smooth fabric, and it is really nice to hold. I met the guys from MRB in Indianapolis and they’re serious about creating useful needles and hooks, this is not a novelty product–I only hope that with their success they can produce larger quantities that allow them to lower their prices because I think they could be really popular.

    Technorati Tags:
    , , , ,

  • Johanna’s TEXT-iles

    Johanna has launched her own textile blog today. Her first post is about her demonstration this past weekend at the textile museum. It went really well. We’ll be uploading more photos of the indigo dyeing process as we get them off the camera! Congratulations, Jo–and welcome to the world of blogging!

  • How far I’ll go for my crochet…

    After driving 30 minutes each way to pick up Selma from French Theater camp–I had just gotten home when the director called to say I’d left my knitting bag… Should she leave it at the camp for me to pick up on Wednesday or take it home with her. (Wait until Wednesday to work on that languishing sock? Be away from my new Flo for 48 hours? I think not.)

    Explaining that it contained work (i.e. a project I owe to Kim asap), I asked if she could take it with her and asked where she lived. “Rockville,” she replied. Sigh. realizing I had at least another hour on the road, this time I rallied the troops. Jay and Johanna went along to keep me entertained, (Johanna realizing that being a passenger stuck in the car makes for great knitting time) we headed off to battle rush-hour traffic.

    When I got to the directors house, she again wanted me to explain what I did for a living, not readily finding the words to do this in French, I stuttered, and switched to English, “um, I teach crochet and knitting, and I design patterns and sell them.” “Oh,” she said, “that must be quite lucrative!” (The French seem to always have funny ways of translating their thoughts into English.) Trying not to laugh, I said, “well, I don’t know about that, but it sure is fun!”

    p.s. In my other life as a food-writer, I had an article come out recently in VegNews, you can read about it in my veg food blog, The Comfort Kitchen.