Yesterday was another day where I needed a little travel project, so I grabbed the two colors of Malabrigo Rios I had left over from the Duality hats. I weighed it, compared it to the ones I’d made, and decided I just had enough left for a baby hat. I cast on 72 and knit away, and this morning I finished it off. 
I wasn’t sure about the skinny stripes, but my daughter said it was really pretty, so I stuck with it. I do really like how the stripes turned out at the crown. 
I had to improvise the decreases a couple of times, but it worked out just fine. I think it’s a fun, funky hat for a hip little kid!
Tag Archive | crafting
Memoir or Novel?
It’s voting day here in Missouri and you can bet I’ll be out there doing my part! I hope all my fellow voters today do the same. Now, maybe I should have a more patriotic project to show off today, but all I’ve got is the completed green hat. Good enough for March, I think. 
Pattern is Duality, yarn is Malabrigo Rios in Lettuce. I’ve got enough leftover of it and the teal that I really want to make a striped version now.
Confession time: I didn’t get my two queries done yesterday. Somehow I got stuck in a self-defeating mood, convinced that I’m wasting my time trying to sell this memoir that no one will want to read. And I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve written other stuff too. I’ve got two completed novels in my files. So I thought about how I never did anything with those, and how the one I’m currently revising is surely trite and common. Then I thought about how I’m still struggling to build my Etsy business, and my proofreading client base, and suddenly it hit me that I’m trying all these things and none of them are working out the way I want them to. And bam, before you know it, my head is in a not-so-good place.
Therefore, I spent much of the day outside with the puppies instead. It was a beautiful day, so I don’t consider it time wasted. I’ll consider it a mental health day.
I soaked up sunshine and puppy loving and the smell of spring flowers. I wrote in my journal, and I knit on my hat.
And today is a better day. Nope, I’m not giving up yet! I may still be unconvinced about my memoir but I’m going to work on revising my synopsis and query letter and then contact more agents. But I’m also pondering the idea of fictionalizing it, if this doesn’t work out. There are a few benefits to that route: I get more flexibility and freedom in storytelling, there’s no legal/liability issue from using the real company’s name, fiction is simpler to query (no lengthy, complex proposals), more agents rep fiction than memoir, and fiction is more marketable. But my concern is whether I would lose the heart of the story by making it fiction. Maybe part of its appeal is that it’s honest and true, and if it were a novel, it wouldn’t be as relatable.
What do you think, readers out there? Do you like non-celebrity memoirs? Do you seek them out? What draws you to them?
Here’s Grace’s opinion. Make of it what you will. 
Don’t forget to vote, whenever it’s your turn! Every single vote counts!
Boring Wrap, Green Hat
My Manos Maxima wrap is going swimmingly. I made lots of progress yesterday while I watched a movie on a wet, gray day.
But then…I kind of got bored with it. It is a really simple pattern, after all, mostly just stockinette. (This is why I think I will never be able to make a sweater.) So I had to set it aside and do something more interesting for a while, like cast on for a new Duality hat in a pretty green Malabrigo Rios. 
This is what I got done during our viewing of Apollo 13, and there were several spots I had to stop knitting and just watch. It’s just such a good movie, you know? Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise are so good, and Ed Harris is a bit attractive, and it’s all suspenseful and funny and stuff. So yeah, it was a good Sunday. Jack agrees; he appreciated being able to rest after all the excitement of the birthday party. 
This morning I was resting on my couch with a cup of tea, appreciating the view of the magnolia tree in my front yard. We had one at the house where I grew up, so this is a lovely reminder, plus it’s just a gorgeous tree. 
I can see it from the window of my craft room too, where I sit at my desk. Just another reason why I love this house. Maybe it will inspire me today as I get back to work on query letters. I got my first rejection yesterday, a very kind form rejection, and it’s fine. I’m expecting plenty of those. I’ve got lots more agents to query, and I still haven’t searched through the new Manuscript Wishlist website yet. I think my goal will be to send out two more queries today; that seems reasonable, doesn’t it?
I hope your Monday is productive as well!
Yarn Store Trickery
Funny story: so you know I went to my LYS recently, twice in two days actually. The first time, I noticed a gorgeous gradient wrap. They had two samples knit up in different colors. The second time, I asked about it, wanting the pattern. The owner said oh yes, it’s a free pattern with the purchase of the yarn…four colors at $30 a skein! Um, wow. I said that was out of my price range for now and thanked her, and she said, “Sure, and you know it’s here later.” Sure, okay. I almost asked if she’d sell me just the pattern, but figured she would have offered if it was an option.
I’m glad I didn’t, too: I went home and out of curiosity did a search on Ravelry. I found the exact same pattern…AND IT’S FREE. It’s a FREE PATTERN. I’m a little irritated. I understand kits, I understand paid patterns, and I’ve even bought yarn to get the pattern and be able to replicate a shop’s sample. (In that instance, the pattern was written by one of the shop’s employee and isn’t even available on Ravelry.) But when it’s distributed for free on Ravelry, it irks me that they’d want me to shell out $120 for it. And for the record, I spent $30 the first day and $50 the second, so it’s not like she wasn’t getting any money out of me.
So if you’re interested, check out the Pradera Wrap by Jocelyn Tunney. It’s stunning, and she’s got so many other equally beautiful patterns on her page on Ravelry. I’ve made her Picholine Hat and Springtime Picholine Hat, and I’ve got several others in mind.
In related news, yes, I did get to do some knitting yesterday. Here’s the start of my Moonstone Wrap. I started with size 17 needles and it was too loose, so I frogged and cast on 175 stitches on size 15s. I love it already. Can’t wait until it’s done, and I don’t think it’ll take too long. 
The party went well, though I did keep Jack on the leash for the first hour or so until he adjusted to having so many strangers around. He did keep my baby nephew happy: the baby laughed every time Jack barked, which was a lot. Once I let him off the leash, he did really well. He and Grace both followed me around, settling in wherever I did. 
My mom noticed and asked if they loved anyone else as much as they love me. Don’t tell my kids, but I don’t think so. They’re both my babies, even if I do have a favorite!
Now, I’m off to knit my quiet Sunday away. I must take advantage of the time I have, since I lost an hour today!
New Yarn. Again.
I blame it on my friend. She was going to the yarn store near me and asked if I wanted to meet her there. Well, I didn’t want to risk hurting her feelings, and I do enjoy seeing her, so it was a risk I had to take. Then, the silly yarn store worked against me by putting one of my favorite yarns on sale, 50% off! It’s Manos del Uruguay Maxima, and they even had my favorite purple shade. I knew I had two at home, so I grabbed two more with the plan of making Purl Soho’s Moonstone Wrap, holding the Maxima double. 
They also had a beautiful Herb green so I grabbed a couple of those. I mean, you have to get it when the price is this good, right? 
Now, I want you to look at the yarn below the green. It is the exact same yarn as the yarns on the right side of the green. Same color way and everything. COMPLETELY different. That’s the Maxima I was planning to use for the wrap, and having one skein so different would not work at all. I had to go back to the yarn store. Had to. No other option. Plus, the owner had mentioned they were having a yarn tasting, and that sounded fun.
So I went back this morning. The yarn tasting was actually nothing exciting, just a trunk show of new Shibui yarns, which are beautiful but more expensive than I wanted, and none of them called my name anyway. But this Berroco Fiora did, in a big way. I kept coming back to this pewter color, and ended up taking two home. 
I’ve also had the urge to make something with brown and teal, so when I saw these colors in the Fiora, they ended up in my arms too. 
It’s an interesting blend of fibers: 40% cotton, 30% viscose, 15% alpaca, 10% nylon and 5% wool, and it’s 246 yards of DK weight. The two together should make a lovely lightweight scarf; I just need to find the right pattern. But it’ll be after I do the Moonstone. That’s my next project, and I’ll be casting on this morning.
I have no knitting to show you. Today is the girl’s birthday party so I spent ALL DAY yesterday cleaning. It was horrible. But now the house is as good as it’s going to get (can you believe it’s raining? I clean the floors and of course it starts raining) and I’m going to take a couple of hours to relax with my yarn before all the people show up at my house. I just hope the puppies behave themselves. Jack has a habit of being a bit of a jerk to visitors sometimes, and not all of our guests are comfortable with dogs. I’d put him outside but he freaks out and claws the heck out of the door and barks non-stop, so that’s not a good option. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll just get the vacuum back out. He loves that! 
Enjoy your weekend, friends!
Frogging and Query Letters
Ugh. I need to frog my Because I Love You Wrap and start over. Okay, no, I don’t really *need* to, but I want to and won’t be happy with it if I don’t. Here’s what I’ve got so far: 
I love how it’s knitting up, and I even watched a video about intarsia and figured out the yarn-twisting bit so there’s no hole where I picked up the teal for the stripe. Great, right? Right! But then I looked at the pattern again and realized that in the second half of the shawl, the stockinette sections are much bigger because of how the shawl grows. I would much rather have the variegated yarn in the big sections of stockinette than the solid teal. Maybe it’s a minor thing, maybe it won’t make a huge difference, but in my mind right now, I’m thinking it will. The only downside is that I’ll lose those two lengths of teal yarn (unless I just use them and have even more ends to weave in). But at least I figured it out before I got even further into the wrap!
Here’s some good news though: remember my Duality hat from yesterday? The designer noticed my project page on Ravelry and asked to feature it on the pattern page!! I love when that happens! You can see it here, and remember, today’s the last day to get the pattern for free!
And more good news (maybe): I sent my first query letters to agents yesterday!! I don’t know if I’ll ever think my memoir manuscript is “done” but it feels done. It feels ready, although of course as soon as I sent the letters I was consumed with doubt and self-loathing. I only did three; they take longer than you’d think. You have to determine each agent’s requirements, tailor your query letter for each agent, then copy and paste the requested materials (and in my case, reformat it when it goes all wonky in the email). I also had to write a brief synopsis, since one agent requested it along with the query letter. Each one is so different, it seems like. And there’s so much pressure to be PERFECT with that one short letter.
Ugh. It’s hard hard hard. But also so exciting. It feels wonderful to move on to this step, to believe in myself enough to send my book out for others to judge. And they will, and most of them will reject it. I recognize that, and it’s okay. I know there are thousands of books written every year and agents have to turn down perfectly good books just because it didn’t call their name. I only need one, one fabulous agent who believes she can sell this book to a publisher. Until I find her, I’ll keep sending out queries and waiting patiently.
And I’ll knit of course, to calm my nerves while I’m pretending to be patient.
Okay, fine, you’re right. Yes, I’ll play with the puppies too. 
Duality Hat
As promised, I have knitting to show you after our long day yesterday. Both kids competed in the regional National History Day so we were there from 9 am to 5 pm. The girl is moving on to state and is quite happy, the boy is not moving on but doesn’t mind too much because it means he can stop working on it and stressing out about it! So yes, lots and lots of knitting time but it’s not the Because I Love You Wrap. I did start that shawl, and I’m loving my yarn choice so far. It’s going to be quite lovely. 
This was knit with size 6 needles, as the pattern recommends. But it was too loosey-goosey for me so I frogged that and started over with 5s, and I like it much better. I learned how to do picots and those are pretty darn nifty. But guys, there’s a trick in this pattern that I didn’t discover until I started knitting. When you start the first garter stitch stripe, you do the first three stitches in the other color and then pick up the stripe color. Well, that left a big stupid hole in my knitting! That irritated me so I frogged back (and frogging picots are interesting) to before the stripe. A bit of investigating showed another Raveler recommending the intarsia technique of twisting the yarns at that point. I’ve never done intarsia but I’ve carried yarns up the side of my knitting; is the twisting the same as that? I’ll do more investigating before going back to knitting this but I’d love any advice you have!
After that rough beginning on Friday, I knew it wasn’t a good travel knitting project, so instead I cast on Karin Michele’s newest pattern, the Duality hat. It’s a classic ribbed beanie but with broken rib for the body, and the decreases are written so well! I love how she managed to carry the broken rib pattern all the way up. Best of all, it’s free through March 7th, so move quick, knitters! I got it almost completely done at the competition, stopped only because I forgot to bring my DPNs with me, so the last six rounds were done at home. I love love love this hat. 
I used Malabrigo Rios (the recommended yarn) in color Teal Feather, and knit to 8.25″ before decreasing. I think it’s the perfect amount of slouch and I’ll definitely be knitting this pattern again.
Now we have a quiet Sunday at home and I feel brave enough to tackle my shawl again. Wish me luck with my yarn-twisting!
I beat the yarn
Guess what I did yesterday?? I untangled yarn. Yes, seriously, that was the bulk of my day. That stupid mess of pink silk took me probably four hours to untangle, and I should have set it aside to do something else but I couldn’t. I’m stubborn enough that I just couldn’t stop, especially when I got close to the end. But hooray hoorah, I prevailed and now have a lovely ball of yarn ready for the right pattern. 
I wasn’t ready to cast on with it right away, though. I’d spent too much time with it by that point. So it’s back in the stash, and instead I cast on for a new hat last night. I switched to a quick crochet pattern and it felt so good to have a hook in my hand again. I love being able to go from one to the other, and being able to incorporate both into one project like I did with this hat. 
These are lazy pics, sorry. The lighting inside wasn’t great and I didn’t want to go outside, but these still show the awesome pattern. This is the Spinning Summer Slouchy Beanie by Tamara Kelly, aka Moogly. It was SO fast to make! My modification was to pick up stitches for a knitted ribbed brim instead of doing a crocheted brim. I love the stretch of ribbing for a hat, and it’s super easy to do.
That’s all I have for today, folks, but I’ll have plenty more on Monday. Tomorrow is competition for National History Day for both my kiddos, so I should have plenty of knitting time while we wait around. Maybe I should cast on for that Because I Love You wrap…
Sparkly Indian Silk Yarn
This is why people hire yarn de-tanglers, isn’t it? This is fingering weight silk, a skein my husband brought me from India, and at one point it was neatly caked. Then the puppy happened. Thank goodness Grace didn’t chew on it, just played with it and turned it into this mess. This happened a few months ago and it’s been in time-out ever since. But I spotted it last night and remembered how much I love this yarn and want to use it. I don’t have a current WIP calling my name, so I decided to give it a shot. Let me tell you, I would NOT want to be a yarn de-tangler. This is a big pain in my butt. I’m making progress, though, so I’ll keep going. I’m just stubborn enough to win this battle.
This wasn’t even why I was in my craft room. I was up there perusing my stash because I’m obsessed with the Because I Love You wrap. I keep seeing them on Instagram (check out #becauseIloveyouwrap) and they’re gorgeous!! People are using fantastic color combos, and I do love stripes. At first my mind was going nuts, thinking of all the gorgeous yarns I wanted to buy for this wrap, but then I came to my senses. I HAVE YARN. I HAVE GORGEOUS YARN. I HAVE GORGEOUS FINGERING WEIGHT YARN. No purchase required! I think I found the perfect match-up, too. Check it out: 
The pattern recommends picking yarns with a strong contrast, and this fits the bill. I have some solid purple that would work instead of the teal, but it would be much more muted. Plus, I love that both these yarns have some sparkle. (Side note: this teal yarn is the same yarn as the pink. THIS is what got me thinking about the pink.) So now I have a project planned out, and it’s so far out of what I normally do. It’s fingering weight yarn, not bulky. It’s a paid pattern, not free. It’s a large shawl, not a quick hat. But I can’t stop thinking about it and that means it must be knit, no matter how long it takes. Today I will be winding some silk and casting on!
Have you ever had an unusual project that called your name, something out of your comfort zone?
“Please rub my belly, mom!”
Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
I got complacent. Grace was being so good the last couple of months, not chewing things up when we were gone. I mean, yeah, she was stealing butcher knives, but whatever, right? Then yesterday I was gone for almost four hours and came home to stuffing on the floor. Now, she’s already destroyed our throw pillows, so at first I had no clue what it was from. Then I realized: we have an upholstered chair in the sitting room. It’s one of her favorite spots because it’s in front of a window, so she drapes herself over the back and watches the world go by. Not anymore, pup! Not anymore. Not after this: 
Oy. This dog. So yeah, she was in the doghouse (figuratively) for the rest of the day. At least until it was time for me to stretch out on the couch with my blanket. Then both puppies thought it was cuddle time with mom. Fine. They’re warm and snuggly. 
Fortunately, I did have some good to counteract the bad. The yarn store was indeed open yesterday and I did indeed find some yarn. More than I meant to find, honestly. (That’s always what happens, isn’t it?) Last night I hid in my craft room and wound yarn. It was lovely. Please note: not all of this is new yarn! Some of it was in the stash and I decided it needed to be wound. Mostly to make room for the new yarn. 
This is the new yarn. Yes, I have plenty of cotton now, in a nice variety of colors. 
The three on the left are Berroco Weekend, which my LYS has for 35% off. It’s a crispy yet soft cotton/acrylic blend and I’ve made several hats with it in the past. The two on the right are Universal Yarn Cotton Supreme, which is a deliciously soft yarn. I’m hoping to get one adult hat and one baby hat out of each skein. I don’t have patterns picked out yet, so some of today will be spent perusing Ravelry.
And some of it will be spent on my manuscript. I have an idea for a new first chapter, so I’m going to play around with that. A fellow knitter/blogger/writer/reader has generously offered to be an extra set of eyes, so I’d like to get it as ready as possible before that happens. I thought it was, honestly, but then I started doubting myself again. There’s a blog I follow written by a literary agent, and she’s strongly anti-memoir. By that I mean, she seems to believe that unless you’re a celebrity or super funny, your memoir won’t sell (with a few obvious exceptions, and I don’t think I’m Cheryl Strayed either). And I know she has the experience to back that up. So yeah, I’ve got that in the back of my mind. But I’m still going to keep pushing forward. I haven’t hit a roadblock big enough to stop me yet!
Oh yeah, one last thing. Here’s the finished purple hat! 
Ravelry notes are here if you’re interested.
Until next time, happy Wednesday, friends! Go forth and create stuff!
bonnyknits 