CHEERFUL PROJECT BAG

What every knitter needs is a CHEERFUL PROJECT BAG. Every knitter needs to have one project available at all times just because it makes them feel good. Something in a bright cheerful color or something so silly it just makes them smile to be working on it.

I've had that for the last six weeks. I gave myself the assignment
and the permission to design and make toys for an upcoming class.
And having both the need to do the job and the permission to go where
I wanted to with it has been a wonderful experience. If I had an idea
I could feel free to follow it to some kind of conclusion. Some became
full fledged toys and others ended up in my body parts box. But in
reality, every stitch I took, even the ones I ripped out lead somewhere.




It has been a month and a half of knit and rip for me. I was talking to DH this morning. We were discussing how much time I have spent on this knitting project and comparing it to last year.

Last year, February was a hard month for me. I had a lot of days where the depression had the upper hand and I slept a lot.
I was very eager for spring to get here and READY to get out
into the garden as soon as the weather was above 40*.
I NEEDED to get out in the sun.

This year I have been busy and happily occupied all of February
and had no incidences of real depression.
Something to think about there.


Of course, who has any time to be depressed when you are working on a cheerful little duckling like this little girl I named Princess Pink. I keep thinking she needs a pink cape and a crown, or maybe what I need to do is to make another duckling in some bright pink yarn I have.






Or her big brother, whose name is Qwock because that is what
my son called ducklings when he was very small . . .









Yup, from now on I will try to have a CHEERFUL PROJECT bag
to hold something in a bright color or in a silly theme just to make me and the folks around me smile when I work on it.

So what's the tally?

We have Bunnies, Babies and Blankies for the first class.

1. Rolly Polly Baby bunny based on Jean Greenhowe's Rainbow babies (Click here to download the Rainbow Babies free pattern) as an example of how to adapt a pattern.
2. Rabbit inspired by Basil Staghare in the Redwall books
3. Bunny Baby Doll - she needs a name
4. Set of underwear for the bunny doll
5. Dress for the bunny doll
6. The Gumball Bunny Family, Pappa, Momma and kids
7. Laying down bunny egg cozy
8. Sitting up bunny egg cozy
9. Round Easter Basket Blanket based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's (Pi Shawl)
10. Square Easter Basket Blanket

And we have the Chicks, Eggs, Carrots and a Sheep class.

1. Qwock a duckling.
2. Princess Pink another duckling
3. Large felted carrot "box"
4. Carrot Racer
5. Chick in a nest egg cozy
6. Chicken egg cozy
7. Elegant Eggs ( from Knitty Keen Elegant Eggs)
8. Sleepy sheep egg cozy
9. Sheep toy
   

I finished my last piece on Friday and delivered the whole
set of toys to the A.C. Moore store in Downingtown PA,
on Saturday morning. I can't say thank you enough
to the Knitters in my local SnB, my non-knitting
friends and the new friends I have made through
Ravelry during this process.

Folks who see them seem to like what they see.
Now I wait to find out if anyone signs up to take the class.

I have learned:

That I really like to work things out on the needles.

That I shouldn't write down a line in a pattern until I am sure it's the way I want it or I should wait to write the pattern until the toy is finished. Writing as I go leads to a lot of crossing things out as I change things again and again and again, until I get the shape I want.

That I love to knit very small toys, but that slightly larger ones are easier and will meet the child safety rules better.

That I will use short rows for shaping often, unless I am reminded that other folks may not enjoy them.

That I can make an attempt at just about anything and it's OK if I don't get "there."

That I have a part to play in each community I choose to associate with.

And that as the FlyLady says, Housework done incorrectly still blesses my family."


Knitting can be so much fun. My plans for this class are that is should not be pattern driven. I would very much like to run the class in a way that encourages the student to discover their own creativity. Ideally, I'd start with something along the lines of "We're all going to knit a bunny right now. Everybody cast on a few stitches, how many, if you want really big bunny do a lot, if you want a little bunny like this one not so many. Knit around to make the first leg. How many rounds, how long do you want the leg to be. Yes we will get to stuff with patterns but right now it's time for you to make a bunny. Do you want a sitting down or a standing up bunny? And so forth.

EASTER BASKET TOYS - the first batch

Now you can see some of what all that yarn abuse was about. I'm a needles in hands kind of designer so far. I think a part should be bigger I add some stitches, if I want it round I add them evenly, if I want it to have a shape, I only add them where I want them. And I rip it back out fairly often. The bunnies, the duckling, the carrot which will get wheels and become a race car are all my original stuff.

Here are the photos of the first batch of my OWN and ORIGINAL designs. These are some of the Easter Basket Toys I will be teaching in March 2009.

The blanket is my idea of a substitute for cellophane Easter grass and is a small Pi shawl from EZ. The eggs are from two patterns on Ravelry.

The yarn may disagree.

First, let me state that there are NO yarn police.

But. . .

If there were they would be on their way to my house with sirens screaming. The charge?

Abuse of yarn. Poor defenseless yarn ends up in my knitting bag. I knit it up, and, what I have done doesn't quite please me. I rip back a few rows. I knit it up, and it's still not EXACTLY what I was planning. I rip back those same few rows. I knit it up and decide that I have been working the entire thing on too many stitches and it has to go. I rip it back and start over.

Poor defenseless yarn. But I can hear those sirens and they're on the way to my house. I have become a yarn abuser.

Working on my own designs has been so much fun for me, but I think the yarn may disagree.

Some Problems With Knitting In Public

Hello Again,

I have discovered the very great pleasure of meeting in public with a group of knitters. What fun! The group is ChesCoSnB and evenings we gather at a Barnes & Noble bookstore, but daytimes we are likely to show up, believe it or not at a local grocers. This place has a living room area with enough seating that 4 or 5 knitters can settle in for a couple hours nice chat and knitting.

The problem with knitting in public. . .
well, as a knitter, we are often quite happy to start and work our way through a project. Knitting in public lets us bring that project out to be seen by "the ones who understand" this is great fun. . .
until . ..
well, until you see that they have discreetly set aside, their own very advanced level of the same type of project on which you were satisfied with your progress and skill development. I had taken my second felted tote bag to show. IT did look nice. The fabric had felted down nice and thick there were no krinkles or odd folds from it's trip through the washing machine and the colors muted just the way we all thought they would, it will suit my husband very well. Then as she was leaving another knitter picked up her felted, fair isle ! !!, multi color, multi textured purse. Wow! !! I didn't know you could do stuff like that! Can't decide whether to feel like an underachiever or to move into high energy, "Now I've seen that I know what I want to try next! !! Insane Creative mode."

The other problem with Knitting in Public. . .
drop ins. . .
you go out with your work bag and it's a plain and simple invitation for every sticky fingered kid in the neighborhood to stop by and see what you are doing (note to self, might be time to knit up some little give away bears again). . . and it's an invitation to folks who haven't been brave enough to try this yet (one of our group tries to carry extra learner yarn and needles). . . and then you get the lovely senior citizen who identifies the fiber you are using and offers to GIVE you her entire stash of mohair as she is no longer knitting . . . and you get folks who like to talk and need somebody to listen.

It was a great day. And I am very glad that I had no pressing need to rush home and could spend the time to share my work with others and to receive from them the encouragement and pleasure we all get from working with our hands.

Got the knitting Brain Fever

Hi,

I'm back again.

I've been having so much fun with the knitting and the new knitting communities I've found through Ravelry and the local Knitters Stitch and Bitch that I didn't get back to the blog till now. My mouth did it again! I checked in with the ACMoore and managed not only to schedule my Seamless Slipper class but the Events Lady is allowing me to offer my Intro to Sock Knitting Class too! Then I heard myself saying, "Would you like me to work up an Easter Basket Toy class?" What was I thinking? I checked their shelves and right now the store isn't offering any books OR pamphlets with knitted toy patterns. Sheesh! !! That means I have to design for "other people" or modify existing patterns to make them mine, or write the polite letter of inquiry to designers asking for permission to use a pattern they created.

Note to self. Either spend more time designing n general (of course this would be easier if I had grandchildren to inspire me! !!) or do not offer classes you have not prepared IN ADVANCE.

So. .. I've been a true Sherlock Holmes style brain fever of trying to design my own toys. I used to make them for my kids but then I was just knitting along trying to reach the goal of the day. Mommy I want a fish can be easy and fun. Design a pattern other people can use is a bit intimidating.

And I just love my rabbit. I have a little sheep too that is enough different from the two others of the type I found out there to count as not the same, I hope. I'll do some modifications on the generic garter stitch teddy pattern to make a bunny of my own. Then I start on the duckies and chicks. I love to do things in the round but I keep wondering if I make it too hard for other people. DH swears he hears me muttering, "I'm sure I can make this harder." Why didn't I look to see if they had a book first?

Ah well, time to get back to real life.

More later,

Lynne

I thought I had started a blog

Hello Again,

I just KNEW I had made a previous attempt at starting a blog. And now that I have gone out and looked, there it was just waiting for me. Thus we know that I am not much of a diary keeper and never was.

Now it is January 2009.

Lots of project ideas since I signed up for Ravelry. What fun!

The Christmas Knitting was well received. IN fact, DH liked the felted tote bag I made for DD so much that he asked me to make one for him. I have stated it and I do enjoy working with this yarn.

Today I simply must get some housekeeping done. Time to get the Holiday decorations packed away. Just the tree and the Fontanini this year but I still have to pack it up so DH can carry the boxes up to the attic. Then maybe I can get the furniture reorganized in the living room and get back to comfortable normal. This house has been disrupted for way too long.

DH finished laying the new floor in the kitchen yesterday. It looks just grand. Now maybe we can get that remodel finished. I am the QUEEN of the hot plate, but I do so want to have my own kitchen back again.

Back Again and Still Learning

I thought I had tried to start a blog a while back.

This morning I found it again and posted a note.

But it doesn't show up anywhere I can see.

So much more to learn.

Mon, Jan.