Organization Will Set You Free

January 15th, 2010

This morning I wanted to put a button on that cute little pink sweater I made for my baby girl so maybe she could wear it once before she outgrew it. She was sitting beside me happily on the bed and I was thinking “well, it’ll just take a couple of minutes, so why don’t I do it now?”

I hurried off to my office (across the hall), grabbed a needle out of the pincushion on my bookshelf, the sweater off the filing cabinet, and opened a drawer to get my grandma’s stash of plain white buttons. There happened to be a spool of thread in there, too, so I picked that up as well. The scissors were on my desk. I was in and out in less than a minute.

As I sat there sewing on the button, it occurred to me that this was a rare chore that I could quickly and easily pick up everything I needed for. I know that for a fact because I actually lost all of my interchangeable knitting needle sets in my office earlier this month.

There’s yarn everywhere, and I know that there are certain yarns available somewhere that I might want to use for particular projects, but I don’t know where they are. There are finished projects, and unfinished projects, all over the place, not to mention books, fabric, the remnants of the holiday decorations, magazines from months ago, a huge pile of those pillows of air that come in shipping boxes these days and can be recycled if you mail them back to the manufacturer but I’ve never gotten around to mailing them back…

Something needs to be done.

I’ve known this for a long time. My office has never been the haven I imagined it would be when I moved in, what, almost two and a half years ago.

There have been times when it’s been relatively tidy, by which I mean I managed to stuff everything that was messy into the closet and closed the door. But the first time I needed something it would all get strewn out again.

This time it really needs to happen because there’s not even room for my baby girl to play in here. I couldn’t lay out a blanket and let her kick around on the floor if I wanted to (and I do). Let’s not even think about the fact that in a few short months she’ll be crawling, grabbing things and putting everything in her mouth, and this room is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

I’ve vowed I’d get this place fixed up for a long time, and I hope it really takes this time. Maybe because it has to. I could somehow find five or 10 minutes a day to work on this until it’s done, couldn’t I?

Maybe I should get off the computer and find out.

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Finishing and Starting

January 5th, 2010

The end of one year and the beginning of the next seems like a good time for finishing projects and starting others, so that’s what I’ve been up to lately. Mostly I was feeling guilty about the baby things I’d started before the little one (who is four months old today!) was born that hadn’t been finished yet.

I started by finishing up the duplicate stitching on the Zodiac sleeper (Ravelry) that the knitting had been finished on for ages:

maple-leafInstead of the zodiac sign the pattern called for, I used a maple leaf motif from Picture Perfect Knits. It’s a good thing, too, since she was born in a different sign than I expected.

Next, on Christmas, I finished up a little pink sweater from Debbie Bliss’ Essential Baby (Ravelry). This one was all knit up before she was born, but I hadn’t done any of the finishing. It turned out super cute, and thankfully blocked out bigger than it look initially, since I knit the newborn size:

pink-sweaterTo celebrate getting that done (well, admittedly it still needs a button) I knit a carrot:

carrotThis is from Amigirumi Knits. I plan on knitting the whole bunch of vegetables, and probably some of the other patterns from this one (Ravelry). Clearly it still needs its green tops, which are almost finished (I’m actually on the last one but misplaced the book so I’m not sure how to finish it.

My goal for New Year’s day was to finish one more project; it actually took until the next day:

faux-iale-socksThese are my Faux Fair Isle socks, which have been on my website for ages, but it took me this long to finish the last two inches or so of the second foot and the toe. That’s the way it goes some months. I need to get this one up on Ravelry…

As for beginnings, this year I’m doing a crazy thing: trying to knit all the patterns in Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac. I’m doing it as a knitalong, which you can read all about and join in if you like! I’m also thinking about joining the Facebook group devoted to finishing unfinished objects. Except then I might have to admit how many I have!

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Help Wanted

December 7th, 2009

The other day I mentioned on Twitter that I was looking for a technical editor to help me with some knitting patterns. I got a few questions that aren’t answerable in 140 characters, so I thought I’d make a full-blown post that will serve as a help wanted ad.

What’s a tech editor?

For those not in the fiber crafts business, you might not know that a tech editor is someone who looks over patterns, usually before they are published, to ensure that everything makes sense, no steps are left out of the instructions and that the math works out right.

In my case, I’m looking for someone in particular to help with the math part. I usually write my patterns as I’m knitting, so I have stitch counts and measurements for whatever size I knit, but I don’t know, say, how many stitches someone would need to cast on to make a size larger or smaller garment.

That’s where a tech editor can be a big help. These are people who know how to resize a pattern to standard sizes and ensure that the pattern as written will give the results that are expected.

Why I Need the Help

It’s a great idea to have all patterns tech edited to ensure that they make sense, but it’s particularly important when patterns cover multiple sizes to make sure that the math works on all the sizes.

I could do this myself, of course, but it’s really time consuming for me, and time is one thing I don’t really have right now. So I’m looking for someone who would be able to go over a few patterns already published at About.com, as well as new patterns as they’re written, to add multiple size information and perform other tech editing duties.

The job doesn’t involve any actual knitting of garments, just dealing with the patterns. The workload could vary widely but would probably average out to one or two patterns a week that would need attention.

Interested?

If this sounds like something you’re able to do, send me an e-mail (sewwriter @ gmail) and let me know your experience and your rates. Thanks for your interest!

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Stay More

December 1st, 2009

I’ve been meaning to get back here for almost a month to mention that my favorite local author and one of my favorite authors from anywhere, Donald Harington, died early last month.

He’s been called the greatest unknown writer in America, and I’d agree with that sentiment. His books, many of which chronicle the happenings in the fictional central Arkansas town of Stay More, are funny, heartwarming, well-written, creative, the kind of stuff writers want to read, and that readers want to read, too.

He just had a new book out that I haven’t read yet, and it will be bittersweet knowing that’s the last one there will be.

My husband introduced me to Harington long before he was my husband. He had me read The Cockroaches of Stay More, a painfully funny book from the point of view of cockroaches who see the people around them as their gods. It doesn’t sound as brilliant as it is.

I saw him once at the library, or a bookstore, or some other appropriately literary place I don’t quite remember. I wished I could have gone up to him and told him what his books have meant to me, how they showed me that you don’t have to live in New York or even be famous to be a great and well-respected writer (yes, I could have gone up to him, but he was deaf, so it wouldn’t have worked out well).

Thank you, Donald Harington, for all you did to put Arkansas on the literary map, and for the stories that will endure. Stay More forever.

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Six Weeks

October 20th, 2009

So, this has pretty much been my life for the past six weeks or so:

anna-catsMy little girl, Anna Catherine, was born September 5, a full six weeks early. So, actually, this has been my life for the past five weeks or so, because we spent the first week of her life in the NICU.

Everything’s fine, she’s gained two pounds since she’s been home, and she seems perfectly healthy, mostly happy, very insistent on food and attention when she wants them (and she’s gearing up for wanting food soon, as I can hear from the next room).

Suffice it to say I haven’t had a lot of time for crafting these days. I did knit her a tiny hat:

stripe-baby-hatwhich already doesn’t fit her, but I wanted to have something to remember how small she was when she first came home. I’ve also knit one leg warmer, which actually still fits even though it took me about two weeks to get through it. I’m hoping to have the other one done soon and will show them off as soon as they’re available.

I’m excited to see how and when I learn how to balance everything in this new and exciting life: caring for my little one and my husband, keeping up with work and home responsibilities and fitting in crafting that’s not done for my job. I’ll keep you posted on how it all turns out.

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Starting and Finishing

August 17th, 2009

Back when I said that this month was going to be about finishing, I intended to actually finish a few projects before I started anything new. But then I found a coupld oe super quick and easy projects that I just couldn’t resist.

First there was Zodiac, a pattern from Knitty back in 2007 for a basic cotton sleeping sack. It’s knit from Cotton Ease, which I just happened to have on hand. I started it on a Saturday and finished up the knitting the next Tuesday (which was last Tuesday). It still needs to have the zipper sewn in the bottom, two buttons sewn on and any duplicate stitch design I want to put on it worked in. Still not quite sure about that.

Anyway, here’s my almost finished Zodiac:

sleep-sack1I think I’ll be knitting more of these in the bigger sizes, and maybe also one in some wool for the winter. Quick, easy and it should be really useful as well. What could be better?

Casting about for another new project last Wednesday, I started the diaper cover pattern from The Expectant Knitter (Ravelry link). I used Mission Falls 1824 Wool and made the infant size (birth to six months) and it looks huge! It could certainly just be my imagination. And they can always be folded over for the first few months if need be.

diaper-cover1This one I finished Sunday, but the bulk of the knitting was done by Friday; I just stalled a bit on doing the leg ribbing. This was a pretty fun and easy project, and it comes in a good range of sizes so I may end up knitting more, but at this point I think I’m going to make one of a variety of different patterns and see which ones work out best in reality before knitting more.

In other finishing news, all the parts of my pink Debbie Bliss cardigan are finished, but I need to put it together and add the facings and whatnot. Should be ready for public consumption by the end of the week, I hope.

What’s the next thing to start? I’m thinking hard about a 5-Hour Baby Sweater (Ravelry link) and am hoping I have enough O-Wool in the stash to work with. Of course it’s blue, but both of her parents like blue a lot so she’ll just have to learn to live with that (or complain about it when she’s old enough to).

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More Finishing

August 16th, 2009

It’s taken me months and months, not because I’m a slow knitter but because I bore easily.

But I’m very happy to report that I finally finished the big gray blob of ribbing I was working on, also known as the shawl scarf from The Expectant Knitter:

finished-rib-shawl

I can’t exactly say that this was a fun project, or that I’d knit it again. It’s many, many feet of ribbing. I’m sure I will love having it, particularly when my wee one is here and we’re nursing (it’s alpaca, so it will probably be a little warm to use much before she gets here, given that I’m almost never cold anymore).

And it is lovely, but you’ve really got to be prepared for the commitment of that much ribbing. It was good that I started this early because I put it aside for a month or more and was still able to finish it with time to spare.

I have one more finished project and one almost finished project (actual baby things!) to share as well; stay tuned for those tomorrow.

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Starting to Finish

August 4th, 2009

I don’t know exactly what’s come over me. it oculd be that I suddenly realized I’m going to have this baby in about 10 weeks and as it is baby has no place to sleep (well, there’s a crib with no mattress), almost nothing to wear, no diapers, towels or other supplies, and nothing but a couple of simple sewing projects that I’ve started for the wee one have actually been finished.

So this week, and probably all of this month, I’m trying to focus on finishing. It’s amazing how many projects I have sitting around that need just a tiny bit of work to call them finished. Like the crocheted block that just needs to be stuffed (really I need to sew a little block form to stuff and then put it in the block, so the stuffing doesn’t fall out, but still) or the super simple quilt that needs a tiny bit of hand sewing and some finishing work done.

There are bigger projects that need finishing, too. The one sweater I’ve knit needs its last sleeve knit, plus all the finishing work (and it’s in dire need of blocking). The nursing shawl that was the first baby related project I started on still needed a foot or more of knitting before I started working on it again yesterday after making it sit in a corner for a month or so.

And there was this baby blanket:

rib-babyI can’t even remember when I started this, but it was for the About site, and I only knit enough of it so I could estimate how long it would be using the amount of yarn that I had. Not having any girl babies in my or anyone else who I knew’s future, I set it aside.

It only took a couple of evenings of knitting to finish it up, which I finally did yesterday (thank goodness for bulky yarn and size 11 needles!).

It’s a 3×3 ribbing worked in Lion Brand Jiffy. That’s probably all you need to know, but there’s an actual pattern here.

Today I was planning to finish that block, but I may work more on the shawl, which I took to knitting this morning, so it may be dangerously close to done. I can’t wait to move that one to the finished column.

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Sarah’s First Graphic Novel

August 3rd, 2009

Though it might seem like it, I haven’t given up on the 9 Books for ‘09 reading challenge. In fact, I just finished one of my books last week, after a long break away from the books that I spent mostly reading baby books.

I decided to make my book for the strange (not in your comfort zone) category The Watchmen because I’ve never read a graphic novel before and wasn’t sure that I’d like it at all. But my sweetie wants to see the movie, so I wanted to have read the book first.

I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. For a book that’s almost completely without likable or sympathetic characters (except maybe the guy who runs the newsstand), it managed to hold my attention well. I really liked that it combined the more traditional comic book presentation with different documents, which made it more like reading a regular book and provided the reader with more information than might have otherwise been possible.

I don’t know if I’ll read more graphic novels, or if I will any time soon, but at least now I can’t say I’ve never read one, and some of my stereotypes about them have been leveled, which is always a good thing.

In any case, I found it entertaining and engaging for such a dark tale, but I’m a little hesitant to see the movie now knowing some of the changes that were made from the book (isn’t that always the way?)

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Yes, Another Cute Picture of My Cat

July 30th, 2009

Until this baby gets here, the cats are all I’ve got to amuse me during the day, and Louis is quite the funny boy. Here’s where I found him yesterday afternoon:

kitty-car-seat

Yes, that’s a car seat, which has been sitting on the floor in the baby room for a few days. I somehow knew a cat was going to end up in it at some point, and there it was.

It’s since been moved, leaving the kitty to sleep in the closet instead. At least he can’t do too much damage in there.

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