Sereknity: A Farewell

This post has been a long time coming.

I am...no longer expecting. For, you know, a while now. And I have no plans to expect (though you know what they say about plans...)

And for a while, that didn't really matter. "Expecting" is, by its very nature, a limited-time-only sort of thing, and there was plenty of "arrival" to talk about. And said arrival remains the joy of my every waking minute, and often the sleeping ones too.

But Willow isn't a baby anymore. Writing about her is no longer really writing about me and my experience of her--she is very much her own person, and to write about her feels like a violation of her privacy. (I know, I know...just writing that feels a little pretentious. But it also feels true).

I love this blog. I love it as a record, and I can't wait to share it with Willow one day. But I've clearly abandoned it, and I don't want to do that, but I didn't know what else to do.

It took me a ridiculously long time to find the obvious solution--new blogs can and do grow on trees!

So, I've started a new one. Sereknity, found at nikkivandecar.com, will have lots of knitting and crochet and spinning (and just a tiny bit of Willow-whose-name-is-really-Maile). It will also talk about some of the stuff that I've grown more interested in as Willow/Maile has grown more self-reliant--yoga, meditation, Shinrin-yoku, mindfulness and all that jazz, which really ties in very well with all that crafty stuff.

I hope you'll drop by!

Bower Birds

Bower Birds by Robynn Weldon, knit using leftover Nanne Kennedy Seacolors, mostly, and also whatever else I had lying around. An excellent use of scraps!

HOWEVER. The picture illustrates a serious problem--it is about five minutes away from not fitting her anymore.

I made it for her birthday! It fit three months ago!

Look at how she stares at the hourglass (well, minuteglass). Look at how the sun bathes her in an angelic blessing. Look at how short it is.

Folks, I didn't even have her pose for this photo. I asked her if I could take a picture of her before she outgrew the dress, and this is the stance and prop she chose.

Time, people. It's a-flying. And she wants to make sure I know it.

New Yarn Yay!

So this is a new company--they approached me inquiring about what I like about buying yarn online, what would I look for in an online yarn company and I responded with probably waaaaaay too much information because sometimes I go crazy buying yarn online because you can find anything!!! But it's annoying and ugly and the websites are frustrating to navigate and I want to touch things. And sometimes I refuse to buy yarn online because local businesses!!! But then I have to talk to people and they don't have the yarn I need and so I usually buy something else which is oftentimes terrific and oftentimes...not so much.

Argyle Sheep will--ideally--combine the two experiences as much as the internet can. It's run by two very nice people who are local to...somewhere...but at least aren't an internet behemoth of doom. They want to create a carefully curated, easily navigable shop, complete with how-to videos (just like how you can get some instruction at your lys) and...drumroll...their own brand of yarn. They're starting with Zephyr, which is a cotton/wool blend, and they're working on getting some colors.

This is an expensive venture, and they are crowdfunding. The cool part is that they created their own crowdfunding platform, YarnFund.com, which they will keep open for other fiber-related projects that need a little help from their adoring masses.

If you click on that link, you'll see that they've already hit their goal. But of course, that means nothing! That goal was just for four colors of Zephyr--they're looking for more colors than that, and also, you know, more than just the one yarn.

And there you are. They are nice.

Sassenach Knits

 

I have been incommunicado. But it was for a good reason! 

I have put together a little collection of knitting patterns, inspired by Outlander. There's so much good knitting on that show! I didn't copy anything (much as I wanted to) but there are lots of cables and strange construction and textures and a number of figure-hiding swingy shapes and a few very, er, bust-enhancing shapes as well.

Here's a peek, and for more details, go here!

Rock Island

I have craved Jared Flood's Rock Island since it came out, and I even used my very favorite yarn in my very favorite color for it (Sliver Moon Farm's Smoky Plum, now perhaps sadly lost with Kay ten Kraft).

And it's lovely though clearly I need to get blocking wires--how did they get the garter to stretch so much that it took looks like lace?

I loved the bottom-up construction so that by the time I got to all that garter I was actually sort of glad for the break--I used to be a fairly good lace knitter; I could memorize the pattern quickly and even tink back as needed, but there are a number of snarls that are really visible to no one but me but I know they're there and they will bother me forever.

It is still lovely, though.  I've been knitting more scarfy-shawlettes lately, the kind I can wrap around my neck but still feel extra fancy.  This isn't really one of those, and I find myself wearing it like a regular shawl, which I never do unless I'm at a wedding or something. 

It's kind of nice.

A Sad Day For Interchangeable Circular Needles

I am depressed, people.  Because I have love for things, and they just don't love me back (which probably says something about my materialistic affections...)

I am speaking of interchangeable circular needles.  What To Knit When You're Expecting was written using Denise Interchangeables, and they were great but after a while the 5 needle kept slipping out of each wire, and the wires just weren't bendy enough for magic loop and magic loop is where I live, man.  

So for Toddler Years, I gifted myself with a set of Knitter's Pride Interchangeables because of the pretty wood and the flexible wires and the smooth join and the significantly cheaper price than Addi Clicks.  And they've been great--I love the way they feel, and sure they untwisted sometimes and stitches would fall and I would yell, but if I remembered to tighten them periodically that didn't happen.

But the problem, once again, is magic loop.  Even when using a nice long wire, the stress of magic loop seems to be too much for the needle, and the cord rips out of its metal base.  I sent one back, and within a project or two, it had ripped out again.  And sure, I'm not using a 60-inch wire or anything, but I think 40-inch is plenty, especially since the whole point of magic loop for me is that it's nice and compact.  If I wanted wires all over the place I'd use two circs, but I don't. 

I superglued the second detached wire back in place, but I'm wondering if I should get another set.  Or should I not?  Will I have this problem again?  Should I get another cord, a really long one? 

I am sad.  I love my Symfonies.  They do not love magic loop, and therefore they do not love me.

Maile Fully Grown

So I haven't been posting, though I've been knitting like crazy, and I should want to share all the things, but I haven't because....

I couldn't really write this post until I could figure out how to finish that sentence--and I did, yesterday.  The reason is that knitting has been stressing me out.  I've been trying to figure out if I should try to do another book, and I've been designing like I'm on a deadline just in case, and it's become not so fun, and I have a ton of really nice designs to share with you all, so that's great, but I haven't been entirely sure what I was going to do with them, and uncertainty makes me MENTAL.  

But now I know!  Yay!  I'm not going to try to write another book--I mean, if a book deal magically falls into my lap like it did before, then yippee, but I'm reminding myself that it was an amazing and extremely unlikely thing to have had those two books, and I'm really proud of them, and I am not now required to struggle to keep writing knitting books, because of the aforementioned extremely unlikely thing.

Instead, I'm going to stop designing like a mad scientist crazy person because hey, I don't have to!  (I just got in the habit, I guess...?  Very strange).  I'm going to--gasp!--knit other people's patterns, which I love to do.  As for the patterns I've got stashed away,  some of them I'll submit to magazines, some of them I'll put up for sale on Ravelry, and they will all be available one way or another. 

This is a boring post for people who aren't me, I recognize that--but I'm writing it down to help me remember.  And, to make the post a bit more interesting, see the next sentence.

I have a present for you!  By popular demand, I finally designed a Maile Sweater for grownups!  It's available as a Ravelry download, it's free, and it's, um, untested, so if you run into any trouble don't hesitate to let me know. Yay!  download now