Wisdom from Whoopi

A few weeks ago, I spent the weekend with my in-laws so that I could take some classes with Sally Melville in the Virginia Beach area.  On Saturday night after my second class, my mother-in-law was watching Sister Act 2.  In one scene Whoopi tells the main teenage character, "When you wake up in the morning, if all you can think about is singing, you are a singer."  I have decided that this was a great piece of wisdom and took it to heart.  I AM A KNITTER!  I wake up in the morning thinking about which project I am going to work on.  I go to sleep at night thinking of yarns from my stash and what I can make with them.  I knit in the car, in meetings, while watching TV, and sometimes at church.  I have designed scarves, hats, fingerless mitts, and shawls.  Thank you to my mom and Great Aunt Elsie for passing this tradition down to me and my family.  Thank you to all those who acknowledge my work, publish my work, and wear my work.  I am blessed to have a supportive family and hope to continue to knit for many years to come.

Stay tuned for 2 hat patterns coming soon.  One will be listed here for free to match a recently published pattern of mine in Love of Knitting Magazine.  The second will be a paid pattern available from Ravelry which I completed as a commission for a friend.  Both are chunky, quick knits which will make great gifts for Christmas, Chanukah, or other special occasion.   I hope to have them up by end of Thanksgiving weekend. 

Free Pattern as Promised

As promised I have posted the pattern for the Fuzzy Braided Cable Scarf.

I am going to update it soon to include a cowl version in gray.  I got the yarn on Friday to complete this.  I also have added a new link box to the side which includes my first two patterns for sale on Ravelry.  The first is a pattern I wrote about in January, the Clydesdale Cowl.  I have included a picture of the finished project below.

It is a quick and easy knit and very dramatic worn with white as shown or a black coat.  It is also large enough to wear loose around the neck with a little drape.

The next pattern for sale is a Stole I created for a friends retirement.  She is hopefully going to get it today.  It is called the Walk on the Beach Stole.  It is also a quick and easy knit and makes great use of thick and thin yarn.

I hope you enjoy all my patterns.  I also have two being published this winter.  Love Of Knitting magazine will be publishing a men's winter set in their winter issue.  Their first issue of 2012 will feature a belt I created for spring inspired by the "distressed look" of things we consumers seem to be buying lately.    Well more about my summer adventures coming soon.  Thanks for reading.

Design Disappointment, Alpaca Excitement

When I got home yesterday, I found an envelope from Interweave Press.  I had submitted two designs to them, one in February and one in March.  I excitedly ripped open the package to find.......they had rejected my design.  My drawing and swatch were returned in the package.  I think a lot of my disappointment was there was not even a form letter to say, "Thank you but we are not using your design.  Keep designing and submitting."  I realize that they must receive an astronomical amount of submissions, but a form letter would not be that hard to stuff in with your submission materials.  I guess I just spent the time creating and hoped I would be returned the courtesy.  Well, to not be so glum, I am in contact with another magazine that is looking for Designs for Men, by Men.  So I worked up another drawing to make the submission a set and emailed drawings and designs to that editor.  So I am still waiting for news on the other Interweave Knits submission, trying not to be too hopeful.  And to hear from this new editor on the retooled design for her magazine.  I have 2 or 3 more designs I need to commit to drawings so that when the time arises they will be ready.

On a more positive note, this Saturday I will be helping to shear alpacas at a local ranch.  I hope to have some great pics to share with you.  I also have a new touch screen phone.  The holder/carrier for it was $49.99.  I have designed and am knitting my own phone case.  Pics and pattern are coming by the weekend!

Rainbow Shrug, Gauge, Teaching, and Knitting Retreat

I finished a shrug for my wife last week.  I ended up giving it to my daughter.  Again I was hit with the, "you didn't do a swatch/V8 smack in the head".  I had found a pattern for a 3 hour cardigan made in super bulky yarn on size 15 needles. (It can be found for free at Designer Yarn Sale.)  I decided to use the size 15 needles but try it with ribbon yarn (because it is spring and 100% wool this time of year is way too hot.)  Needless to say, 2 1/2 days later, I ended up with the tiny shrug you see in the pictures below.    So once again I learned the importance of a gauge swatch.  The reason the shrug took more

    

than 3 hours was the use of the ribbon yarn.  It tends to twist when you are knitting and after 10-20 stitches I had to untwist for a more even knit.   I like for the ribbon to lay flat on the needle instead of twisting into a strand.  I don't think the effect would have been as pretty.  I am making another one of these for a friend out of Lion Brand Hometown in orange (her favorite color) and I am using size 17 needles for the proper gauge (yes I did a swatch this time).  It should be finished this evening.  

I taught my first Beginning Knitting Class at the Crafting Stop in Franklin, VA (check them out on Facebook).  I think all went very well for those who came.  I am hoping to teach another sometime in April.  It will be great to have an ongoing gig for teaching knitting skills.  I hope the students learned and the store now has chunky yarn so we are going to try for a scarf next time.  

Now for the Knitting Retreat.  We are finalizing all plans for the Knitting retreat.  Models are nearly complete,  I have to begin working on writing out patterns and organizing supplies, prizes, folders and  whatever else we should need.  If you or anyone else you know would like to attend please send them to the previous post which announced the "Keeping You in Stitches Retreat." 

If it is Thursday, This must be Murfreesboro....

Because I have been traveling so much lately, I have been unsure of the day, week, where I am, and then the time changed on top of this.  I returned from Tennessee last Wednesday and had decided to change my plans of attending a Reading workshop the next Sunday-Tuesday (March 13-15) because I was so tired.  Then the news came.  I had been invited previously to a new LYS in Raleigh, NC to teach.  The owner and I emailed back and forth several times but never really set anything in stone.  Then last Thursday or Friday (days are still running together) we decided what would be best for a Monday night in her shop.  So with this engagement on my already busy schedule, I decided I should go to Raleigh for the Workshop and to discuss designing at Yarn Tree Studio.  It is located at 8801 Lead Mine Road and was well stocked for a 3 week old LYS.  We had an intimate group of 6 + me.  I showed pictures of Seattle, my first published pattern pieces, and other designs.  I talked about swatching, drawing, measuring, choosing yarn, and many other aspects of design.  I also answered questions about designing, knitting, and told a couple of knitting stories.  All in all it was a great evening.  Lynn was a great hostess.  The students learned a few things.  And Rachel taught me to cable without a cable needle (which I am trying to do on a new swatch.)  While waiting for my ride, I acquired some beautiful cashmere yarn for a scarf in a lavender color.  I have never worked with cashmere and am looking forward to working up the scarf for my wife.  She has had house and child duty on all my recent travels.  I am going to take some pics this weekend of FO's for you.   Next weekend I will be teaching beginning knitting at Crafting Stop in Franklin, VA.  I hope it will be a success and lead to more teaching gigs.  I am including my pattern for the washcloth I am teaching at this class.  It is very simple and can be used to teach someone to knit.

Learn to Knit Dishcloth

Enjoy and I'll be back again this weekend with more posting.

Photos of FO's

I am trying to link my Google/Picasa photos so that you and others can see my wife's and my work of late.

Knitting Knook Finished Works

It includes ponchos, hats, shawls and more.  I am hoping that everyone who wants to see these will be able to visit this Album.

Another item to tell you about is the wonderful yarn shop visit I had on Friday.  Due to planning the Knitting Retreat, I am trying to visit as many shops as possible within driving distance of our retreat.  I went to a wonderful shop on Friday.  After an unplanned dentist visit Friday morning, 2 hours and 2 fillings later, I headed to Plymouth, NC to visit "Yearning for Yarn."  It was probably the smallest yarn shop I have ever visited.  It was also one of the best.  Everything was very organized, by weight and content.  The owner was very delightful.  We discussed knitting, yarns, patterns, Elizabeth Zimmerman, and my publishing.  She was interested in every detail of each customer (there were others in the store).  I can say I will return to her store when I am in the area.  If you ever find yourself anywhere near Plymouth, NC,  get in to Yearning for Yarn.  It is worth the drive.  Take your knitting and sit a spell.

Knit your family together with prayers and love, and they will never come unraveled.

Local Magazine Story

Our local newspaper does a quarterly Magazine with stories that are not "hard" news.  Yesterday the editor of the paper came and spent about an hour discussing my knitting adventures for a story in the next magazine due out at the end of February.  I am very excited about seeing myself in print.  I am enjoying the fact that people are interested in my knitting and crochet and that it could become my Night job.  It is helping me keep dreaming about knitting as a 2nd career when I retire (or sooner if possible).  Lots of new projects are in the works.  I'll let you know if the story is on the newspaper's web site and link to it if possible.

What have I been up to, Up to now....

2 hour Wrap

more like 5 day wrap

 My wonderful wife gifted me with a weekend away this year for Christmas.  There are pictures of the place in which we stayed below.  It was secluded without the temptation of shopping (which we both love).   We did some yarn shopping on the way to the cabin.  I have included lots of pictures which I haven't shown before.  The two pics above are of my wife's Christmas present last year.  It is thick and glamorous and has a hint of pink in it.  She wears it well.
The next two pics are of a scarf I made for a co-worker

Bead It Scarf

 who retired in December.   I was unable to complete it by retirement date, but she came to visit last week and I gave it to her.  She was thrilled.

Retirement Gift

 She will have to hide it from her 3 daughters.

Bedroom at my Weekend Away

Cabin on the Horse Farm

Great Room in Cabin

Covered Bridge Red Ponchette

A very relaxed and happy Couple

Holey Mohair Shawl

Cabin Kitchen

Mobius Cowl wrapped twice

Here is the bedroom of the cabin from our weekend away.  (I still am having a hard time getting the hang of this blog for example arrangement of these pictures.  I'll keep practicing).







This is an outside view of the cabin.  It was on a working horse farm and we could view the horses from the windows as we knitted, crocheted, and watched movies all weekend.










My daughter is modeling lots of things for me.  See her in several items I have knitted over the past few months.  The ponchette was finished just before our trip.  The Holey Mohair shawl is small but was my first design (before I knew I could design, one day I will get around to remaking and writing up the pattern).  The mobius cowl to the right is an older piece, one of the first that I knit after learning.  It fits and looks good on my darling girl. 

The felted hat is only the second piece that I have ever felted (the first was a belt).  I accidentally felted

a little too much, but it will fit a pre teen girl.

Felted girl's hat

Shawl in Autumn colors

Another view of the hat, my daughter makes it look good.

This is my favorite shawl pattern.  It only takes me about a weekend to complete one.  And this one is in my favorite color, oranges. 

Shawl, tied in the front

Holey Mohair Shawl

Mini Waterfall Shawl

Sweetie Pie baby hat, for a friend

While we were at the cabin I quickly knitted up this Horseshoe lace cowl for the owner of the horse farm.  She was thrilled and called us on the way home to thank us.  It is going to be my next free pattern.  Look for it in February.

























Finally I completed a baby hat from yarn I bought in Seattle, on the Men's Fall Knitting Retreat.  I gave it to a friend who had a baby this summer and she was thrilled.  I got to practice lace and try bobbles for the first time on this piece.  Well, now you know what I've been up to, up to now.  Next blog, finished pics of the Bernat Mosaic Shawl.

 Keep playing with sticks and string.

Does this sound like Small Town life?

Last Thursday I took a day off from work for a Knit-a-thon on my pattern that is being published.   I worked all day long (4 am to 5pm).  I did take about an hour off to get lunch and prepare for my knit group party.  We had a small group that evening, but ate, knitted, exchanged gifts, and had a great time.  Friday was back to work (2nd grade Math teacher that I am),  lesson plans written, grades recorded, progress reports printed, papers graded, and lessons taught.  We rushed home to a quick dinner and then off to ring hand bells at the town's annual tree lighting.  It lasted over an hour.  Saturday morning brought a very chilly day for the Murfreesboro Christmas parade.  It was great to watch my children enjoy the parade.  My daughter attended an all day birthday party and I knitted and wrote on my pattern while she was gone.  Sunday morning brought a rush to be to church early as my wife and I had to play hand bells once again.  Between church and the annual Christmas at Chowan University Concert, I finished writing (I should say typing my pattern as it was written in my Knitting Knotebook  as I knitted it up) my pattern.   The concert was great and I am glad that I did not skip it.  After the concert it was off to the drugstore as my wife and I are feeling under the weather.  When I returned I printed the pattern, boxed everything up and sealed it.  Needless to say, I cried.  Over 2 months of work went into this and I have to send it cross country.  I have a lot of time invested in it, and separation anxiety, I guess.   I will feel better when I see it in print.  I wish I could share all the pics I took this weekend but I have to wait until I have a publishing date.  This week brings two more concerts:  Community Christmas concert and the NC Symphony on Wednesday.  Friday we begin to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family.   Oh, for those of you who read regularly, the Bazaar was a success.  I sold all my scarves and several other items as well.  In honor of my first pattern being published I will be working up a surprise free pattern to post here as a Christmas gift for my followers.  It will be a knit pattern and quick to work up.   Look for it over the next few weeks. 

Fiber Beat, Hat, and Bazaar

Here I am blogging again.  As I write this I am waiting for my wife to finish a workshop so I can go home but wanted to share all that is going on this week.  Today on my lunch break I had the chance to listen to Fiber Beat, episode 12.  This episode contains an interview with Kathy Hattori who led the indigo dyeing workshop I attended in Seattle.  I learned even more about dyeing than on the day I participated.  The episode also contains an interview of yours truly, Rusty Boyd , the Small Town Knit Guy.  It chronicles the winning of the XRX, inc. scholarship and knitting facts about me.  If you are interested go to Itunes, podcasts, and search for Fiber Beat.  It is episode 12 which has these interviews.

As I listened today, I remembered that I took my birthday yarn and a hat pattern to Seattle with me.  While, I was there, I completed what is my favorite hat.  The yarn is a bulky wool and mohair blend.  The colorway is Tropical Punch.  The pattern I used is from Pie Knits (free download) called Subtle Cables.  My daughter is modeling the hat for me in the pic.  I call mine Sunburst.  The yarn was from a local farm in Tidewater Virginia, hand spun and hand dyed,  and I loved it the minute I picked it up out of the bargain basket.  I have since purchased two more hanks of similar yarn from the same yarn shop, Knit Wits of Virginia Beach.  I already have a pattern picked out to work them up after I finish the pattern publishing work.  They are a lovely deep wine color and I will enjoy working with the yarn.

This Thursday I am doing my first Bazaar.  My wife has more in the show than I, due to my recent publishing work.  I just want to see what people will say about my work and if they will buy it.  In the area which I live there are not many who appreciate the work that goes into a hand crafted item.  The Bazaar is only a 2 hour event in the middle of the day so I won't have a lot of time invested.  If things sell well, I will have something to look forward to next year and will be able to keep a stock of items made up for such occasions.  I have 3 scarf commissions through my work that I will begin in December.  I will also take orders if necessary to make up some items (after Christmas).  Well that is all for now.  I will let you all know how the Bazaar goes and hope that I will be able to post some pics of the Design and publishing work if Skacel says it is a go.  The said I could post to Ravelry but I would love to post here and on Facebook too.  Wish me luck.

Seattle-Day 4-with surprise news

Franklin Habit and me

Needless to say by Sunday, September 19th, I was pretty tired but still ready to go and knit with the guys.  I took my last knitting class that morning.  It was the sock yarn blanket with James, who is from New Zealand.  I could not wrap my needles around this project.  I got the general idea and thank goodness a pattern was included, but I think I was too tired, it was too early, and the yarn was just too tiny for me that morning.  I am anxious to try this idea again, maybe with a worsted yarn and when I am not exhausted, and with no distractions.  The concept is not difficult or new to me, I just don't think I was prepared for the class that morning.  I also think I was on yarn/knitting overload.  After class we all said our good-byes and many headed on their way back to their homes.   Lots of hugs were shared.  I got to take a picture with my knitting hero, Franklin Habit, although, after attending the Retreat I have a roomful of knitting heroes now.  Those of us whom were left at the retreat center, sat around and discussed LYS snobbery against male knitters.  We also discussed which shops were very welcoming to us.  If I am ever in California, I know which yarn shops to visit.  I finished a hat (I'll include an in progress pic as I haven't taken a FO pic yet) as we talked.  Kerry and I headed out around noon and went to Kent to visit Renaissance Yarn.  We got lunch and went back to RY and knitted until just before they closed.  Kerry's flight was scheduled for around 9 pm and mine was scheduled for 10:20 pm.  We did some airport shopping getting last minute gifts for family.  I got my wife a Forks, WA/Twilight travel mug and my son a Bigfoot (the myth not the monster truck) cap.  Kerry and I said our goodbyes and I went to the Alaska Airlines area of the airport and found dinner.  After dinner I took out my knitting (I still had around an hour and 20 minutes to wait).  A woman came and sat by me and I found out that we were both headed back to Raleigh.  We talked about my knitting and I continued to knit until the flight was boarding.  I took a pill to help me sleep before I got on the plane.  Alaska Air is wonderful.  They have bigger seats (leather with and adjustable headrest), personal DVD players to rent, and more room than you'd expect.  The flight would have been the best I had ever take, but the older woman who was sitting behind me had an annoying voice.  When she finally settled down for the night, she kicked me in the back all night long.  I was exhausted by the time I got to Raleigh.  I got a large coffee and a sausage biscuit for my 2 hour wait.  I took out my knitting and knitted incorrectly because I was so tired (thank goodness for lifelines).  I rested a little on the last flight and in the car ride home with my dad.  I have never had such a great knitting trip.

The hat I mentioned working on and completing while in Seattle.

My first design packet, submitted to Skacel.

Have I mentioned that Skacel gave us a letter which basically commissioned us to design something using their new yarn.  If they liked our submission, it would be published (we write the pattern and knit a prototype to send in.)  The design, swatches, and letter were due on October 4th.  I sent mine out Priority Mail, and it arrived on time.  The decisions were to be made on October 6th.  When I got home from church on October 6th, the email arrived and Skacel liked my design and will publish, pending my completing the pattern and getting everything in by December 10th.