The year of custom knits.

I've indulged in knitting for myself this past year as I've explored some new techniques. As a result, I am well supplied for the near future with cardigans, shawls, and sweater coats.

Design and Photo by Michele Sabatier

So now this will be the year of custom knits for others. I'm designing some special things for next year's Little Saints Holiday Market at St. Luke's and knitting favorite patterns for gift-giving and charity auctions.

On my to-create list:

• Baby blankets in organic cotton
• Baby sweaters knitted from the softest possible cotton and blended yarns - in rich teals, browns, creams, and roses.
• Baby hats that look like frogs, flower tops, bunnies, and pandas.
• A new line of felted totes and bags, embellished with hand-crafted flowers and geometrics.
• Knit and hand-felted elf shoes for little ones.
• Shawls - from vintage lacy to edgy geometric forms.
• Ruanas knit with vivid colors and textures.

Each will be one of a kind, because I like moving from one technical challenge to another. As my inventory builds, I'll post photos on this blog for inspiration and special orders.

It's winter, the season of wool and angora, soft cotton and cozy blends.

Are you a Knitternall Follower? Don't forget to click "Follow" to the right. When we reach 100, I'll give away a hand-knit lace shawl in your choice of colors!

Knit on!

The pleasures of a free weekend

Most weekends are filled with must-do's in the Knitternall house. Homework, school projects, Quiz Bowl, church activities and retreats, freelance copywriting assignments, and never-ending chores make the time fly too quickly for respite. 

This weekend has been an unexpected exception. Such wealth of free time. So many options for fun!

Saturday I transplanted four shrubs, divided hostas, cut back some overachiever hollies and hydrangeas, turned the growing compost pile, and planted two dwarf gardenias. Today, after church, I'll focus on seaming 60+ squares for a huge prayer blanket. I have two DVD's ready to go and plan to enjoy myself completely.

  I've also been busy with Christmas knitting:  Rolled brim hats, Urchin berets, Maine Morning Mitts and a few felted handbags will fill the stockings of teachers and friends. 

Funny how I'm just as busy as usual, but because the work is my choice, it's so much more pleasurable.

 Now it's time for church. A beautiful day, the satisfaction of completed labors, and time with my family: bliss.

All better now

Five reasons things are better at the Knitternall House:

1. AG is nearly over her cold. She was out of school for two days, which meant I was out of work for the same period. I spent much of yesterday catching up the backlog.

2. I just finished a gi-normous edit job for one of my copywriting clients. Six hours of proofing indices, tables of content, technical data, cross-references, captions, and legalese. Hitting that "send" button felt really, really good.

3. My Preschool Phonics classes are just zooming. The kids collectively had a cognitive "growth spurt" over the holiday break and most are catching on. Many are even reading fluently!

4. I finished six scarves, a prayer shawl, and started a ShareAtlanta layette, so my charity knitting is right on schedule.

5. The ice blue kid silk mohair and suede soles arrived yesterday so I can start Ice Queen and the mukluks!!! Paradise Fibers was a dream to work with.

I'm craving a visit to my favorite LYS, Cast-On Cottage in Roswell. Maybe, just maybe, there will be time to indulge that craving on Saturday. I'm in the mood for some stash-building. And I'd love to dig through their new patterns for the queue.

Jaywalker #1 is nearing the toe and the dreaded second-sock syndrome is looming. Gotta fight it. Must . . . cast . . . on.

Not-so-Lean, Mean Knitting Machine

The Miss America pageant last night gave me some solid knitting time. I was so busy supporting Hannah Kiefer (she's a finalist! she made the swimsuit cut! she made the evening gown cut! she's THIRD RUNNER UP!!!!! I'm so proud of her!) that I finished a scarf for the homeless project, got past the instep on Jaywalker #1, and started a prayer shawl using the Comfort Shawl pattern. Whew! My hands are a bit tired, so I'll rest them today.

As of this morning, I have four scarves finished out of the six I want to contribute. I'll knit the other two before next Wednesday night so I can give them to KM at church for delivery to the homeless shelter. Then it's time for another set of blanket, booties, and cap for the ShareAtlanta project.

I've been reading Knitting in America by Melanie Falick, a random find during my last library visit. The profiles of knitters, designers and spinners are fascinating, but I am particularly drawn to the details about the places where they live and work. Knitting in a renovated Victorian in the heart of snowy, cold New England sounds dreamy. I wonder how my own "studio" would play in a profile?

"Knitternall lives in a charming unincorporated town called Dunwoody, just north of Atlanta, Georgia. Her home is an updated 1970's-era Colonial four-on-four, with a central hall that resounds with her muttered curses as she lets the dog out for the fourth time in an hour, urges her kids to get their homework finished because they have a thousand things to do and tosses pillows on the sofa to find the phone before it stops ringing.

"Her studio is a cozy sunroom just off the kitchen. A large antique cabinet and huge baskets scattered around the room hold yarn, while various handmade pottery containers organize knitting needles, crochet hooks, and other tools. When the weather is warm (because the sunroom isn't HEATED), Knitternall likes to work where she can see the woods behind her home and keep an ear open to the activities of her children ("Mom, where's my _____? CRASH. "I think it's broken!" DOG WHINING. "Mom, Scooter needs to go out." Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants! "STOP! Mom, tell A to STOP!)"

Yeah. That's about right.

I've produced enough bios and profiles in my time to appreciate the deft hand of creative writing. I'm sure Ms. Falick did some judicious editing to up the charm ante. I'm enjoying the results. And dreaming.

CRASH. "Mom!"

Unexpected blessings

Today's Scout Sunday service went off without a hitch, despite 20-degree temps, snow on the ground, occasional patches of ice and an incorrect notice on the local news that the entire service had been canceled. Oops.

So many things made the morning extra special. Crisp blue skies, snow still on the ground and frigid air just made the sanctuary all the cozier. A founding member of our church celebrated her 100th birthday. Our knitting circle presented her with a prayer shawl and the congregation rang the rafters with an ovation. Six babies and children were baptized. A large contingent of Troop 764 scouts, leaders, and parents led and participated in the service. Nearly every boy who'd volunteered was there. The weather and three-day weekend were great excuses to opt out, but they proudly served.

While I've been thinking about the next knitting projects in the queue, KA, who is a member of our church knitting circle and chair of the Outreach committee, has been thinking selflessly about the needs of others. The homeless shelter in downtown Atlanta needs caps and scarves immediately. I'd just finished a prayer shawl and turned it in, so now I'm setting aside Jaywalker for a couple of weeks while I whip up some warmth in manly colors.

Tomorrow is T's birthday (one of those epochal decade markers), but he's traveling on business. The kids and I are taking him out for lunch today and celebrating with cake and presents this evening. He loves German Chocolate cake - the house is going to smell really good this afternoon!

Knitting with care

For two years now, I've alternated "giving knitting" with projects for custom orders and myself. At first, I worked primarily on prayer shawls. The first thing I ever knitted was a prayer shawl, knitted through the long nights in the pediatric ICU while my son fought septic shock and other complications from Crohn's Disease. I've kept that one, and given every other one since to Children's Healthcare at Scottish Rite, to give to moms in the same situation. Those ICU rooms are freezing, and there's nothing like a tangible hug that warms you inside and out. That's the power of a prayer shawl. My two favorite patterns are also the easiest:

For a "trinity" patterned shawl: Cast on 99+ in any yarn, any needle size of your choosing. Knit in K3 P3 ribbing until shawl reaches from fingertip to fingertip. Add fringe. Say a prayer. And give it away.

For a triangular shawl (three sides = Trinity), follow "Grandma's Dishcloth" pattern: Cast on 4 stitches with any yarn, any needle size. Turn. Knit across. Turn. Knit 2, YO, knit across. Continue K2, YO, knit across until shawl is large enough to wrap the recipient warmly.

Then, my knitting circle started making layettes for Share Atlanta, a bereavement support group for parents of children lost during pregnancy. (Their web site, http://www.shareatlanta.org/. has lots of wonderful background information.) I had personal reasons for participating in this "giving knitting," so have tried to make at least one set of blanket, booties, & hat each month.

I've added a link to CareWear, which has the best set of patterns I've found for these ultra-tiny gifts.

Knitting up a party

Glad tidings . . . I've finished my knitting gifts, satisfied the hard-to-find yearnings for friends and family, baked the last batch of cookies and breads for exchanges, and settled in for the heart of the holiday.

Today I'm leaving work a bit early to attend the Christmas party for my knitting circle. I call it "my" knitting circle even though my job now precludes regular attendance. I love the ROCKers - such a delightful mix of personalities that meld beautifully together. I have my treat to warm up in the Nature Center kitchen, a knitting project in hand, and I'm on my way!

The St. Luke's Presbyterian Church Rockers (Reaching Out Through Crocheting and Knitting) has a mission of creating layettes for stillborns through Share Atlanta, a wonderful grassroots bereavement organization that does wonderful work for parents of children who don't come home from the hospital. That's awfully hard to say, let alone experience. We create luscious, soft blankets, hats, and booties in a range of sizes, from premature to full term. Nurses wrap the babies in these hand-knit gifts and give parents time to hold their child and say good-bye. The parents keep the sets as a keepsake. I try to make one set each month . . . our circle has made hundreds of sets in the past two years.

The Einstein Coat is still in progress - the lower section is half finished. I want to finish it pretty soon because it already feels heavy and warm. I added a few inches to the length so it'll hit me mid-thigh. Since designer Sally Melville cautioned that the coat lengthens with wear, I hope it'll eventually come to just above the knee.

One of my many pleasures is teaching phonics to preschoolers. My business, Preschool Phonics, means I get to stay in the preschool world long after my own children have moved on to tween and teendom. After six years, my little "graduates" number more than 220, which means I run into familiar faces at the grocery store, elementary school, music studio, pool, and everywhere in Dunwoody we roam. They love to tell me what they're reading. Introducing them to phonics concepts is the core of the classes, but nurturing excitement about reading is equally important. It's so much fun to see those light bulbs click on.

Then, of course, comes a time when they don't recognize me anymore. Hey - three years is a long time to a seven-year-old! That happened at my son's most recent Boy Scout meeting, a Court of Honor when he was recognized for completing 100+ service hours and receiving the Presidential Service Award (wow). A little Phonics friend was there, watching his own brother advance in rank. M didn't recognize me at all! Ah, well. I have enough memory for both of us.

Making Do Pointer #4
School - whether public or private - will not meet all of your child's needs. Since my children were in preschool, we've had "Mom School" during the summer. I've focused on content that was inadequate or not mastered so that my children could be comfortable with each subject. I've seen many discussions about the concept of summer school in the home - that kids need time off, that summer should be carefree. An hour in the morning isn't a burden for my children, and it's such a habit for them that they are completely comfortable with the lessons. Part of Mom School is also reading for pleasure. I want to make sure, particularly as my kids get older, that t hey continue to read books they enjoy because required reading takes over so much of their time in the upper grades during the school year.