Wanna Be Designer

It's been awhile since I posted to my blog.  I'm not sure whether it's because I don't have much to say or whether I feel that what I have to say is unimportant; however, I decided that if I could post at least once a month I might become more inclined to get into blogging.  With that in mind, here goes.

After an extremely frustrating time at work, I decided to get off my duff and work on designing a few knitting patterns.  In truth, owning a knitting shop, teaching people to knit and designing knitting patterns has been my dream job for a number of years.  But as with most adults, sometimes the dream gets put on the back shelf - you raise a family, build a career; and in general, just go through your life one day at a time.

This week, I started working on my first knitting pattern.  Yes, it's a no brainer-or I thought so.  It's pretty evident that the creative side of my brain hasn't been used for a very long time.  When I first started knitting, graphs were not something that most knitters used just pages and pages of written instructions all detailed row by row.  Now, knitters are using more graphs to represent knitting patterns and since my brain evidently doesn't have a working visual perceptual cell in it, this has proven to be a challenge.  Let me try to explain, when I was a kid in school and the standardized tests showed a flat "box" with the folding lines and you were to determine which shape it would be-my brain decided "all of them".  That's the challenge.

So I set down at my computer, opened up a Excel sheet and started putting the vision in my head on a screen.  Stepped away and voila-what appeared to be a pattern emerged.  Next step, trying to determine if the graph would actually turn into a finished product.  With yarn, hooks, needles (this is a knooking pattern-knitting with a crochet hook) in hand, I started working with the graph-can you say oops.  Yes there were mistakes; yes, I had to go back to the drawing board several times; but, I have a working graph and a potential project.

The next big challenge is converting those little squares on my graph to written instructions for those knitters who prefer the line by line, stitch by stitch instructions. (I know that this is going to get ugly.)

After that, locating some poor willing soul to "test" knook/knit my pattern to see if it actually produces the same product.

I have to admit that the whole process has been wonderfully frustrating.  By that I mean, that it has challenged me in a very unique way, made me feel a little bit better about my abilities to design a more complex pattern in the future and given me a sense of satisfaction that my normal every day job hasn't done in a very long time.  Could it replace my current job?  Who knows.  I'm sure that one little small town woman currently living in a large city has a minuscule chance of being found-but what's that old saying--No Pain No Gain.

So if you are a knitter or knooker and are feeling the desire to take on a challenge of testing my new pattern, leave a comment.  I promise I'll get back to you.

Now, back to the drawing board-just had another visual pop into my head and I need to get it down on paper before it disappears.  Talk to you soon.

A Spinner's Dream Fulfilled

It's been many months since I posted.  Not sure why I  didn't have much to say; but sometimes life is just like that. 

This past month, I was able to achieve a lifetime dream.  When I was a young mother living in a small town in Missouri, I had a desire to  learn how to spin.  But as with most young families, the price of a spinning wheel was out of the budget.  Throughout my life this dream was put aside from raising a family to establishing my career, it was always placed on the back burner.

Several years ago, I learned about drop spindles and I was finally in spinning heaven.  Even though the process was slow, I began to love the feel of the wooden spindle and fiber in my hands.  I saw the results of my spinning in the lovely yarn that I learned how to ply and later knit into gifts for friends and family.

Finally, on June 1st, my dream came true.  I purchased my lovely spinning wheel. 

The wheel is made by an entrepreneur in Cleveland, Texas by the name of Jerry Hillman and his company is called Bluebonnet Spinning Wheel Company.  I wanted to spend my money with an small company.  I read how the wheels were made from solid wood by an owner who had learned how to work with wood from his family.  A true artist.  I purchased my lovely wheel a model called the Bumblebee from this gentlemen.  All I can say, is that his customer service was exceptional.  He shipped the wheel carefully packaged with instructions on how to finish and assemble, answered any questions I had through email or personally on the phone.  It's very rare that you find this kind of customer service now days.

The minute that I knew that I was going to order this spinning wheel, I began to look for an appropriate name.  The name had to be some version of the word bee.  After all, Debra also means the bee.  So I started my search.  Much to my surprise, I found an Old English word that meant bee - Dumbledore.  How appropriate, one of my favorite characters out a series of books I adore - so my wheel became know as Dumbledore long before he arrived on my doorstep.

I remember my excitement the day the wheel arrived.  I couldn't wait to begin applying coats of wax to preserve the lovely grain of the wood.  I waited with anticipation until my next day off work to begin assembling my spinning wheel.  

It took me a few days to coordinate my feet, hands and head in the spinning process.  It's much like talking, walking, chewing bubblegum,  patting your head and rubbing your stomach all at the same time.  So after a few "bad" words loads of grumbling,  it finally came together.  I was sitting at the wheel concentrating so hard that I didn't even notice until my husband walked into the room and said "looks like your spinning".  Imagine my surprise.

So now that I have bent your ear about my new love, let me share a few photos.

http://www.bluebonnetwheels.com/

Fresh Starts - New Year

Well, it's that time of year again.  Time to make New Year's Resolutions that I probably won't keep and a few that I will definitely decide to accomplish.

To accomplish a goal, you have to set a deadline, design the steps to get there and break it down in to parts that can easily be accomplished.  I get that.  But I've also learned that the goals that I should accomplish (lose weight) are not the ones that I'm motivated to achieve.  So this year, I've decided that I'm going to set goals that will be fun for me.

First goal, knit my husband a pair of socks for every day of the week.  After all, he really does like my hand knit socks and he deserves a little fiber love for all the time he spends listening to my endless conversations about wool, patterns, etc.

Second, spin enough of my new white wool roving  to make 3 skeins of lovely yarn for my first dyeing project.  I love the look of hand-dyed yarn and envy all of those talented individuals that make the lovely fiber that I lust after each time I cruise the web.

Clear out my yarn stash.  I like many fiberholics I can't resist a soft, fluffy, squishy bundle of yarn.  How will I clear out my stash, well Christmas 2011 is coming.

Finally, weave a scarf on my Spencer rigid heddle loom.  For those weaving experts out there, I realize that my little loom is classified as a toy; but, I've figured out a way to get a nice tight weave that will make a lovely scarf.

So, now that I've written down those goals/resolutions.  I guess I'd better get down to organizing the steps to get them done.  Yes, I'll suffer periods of time where the goals will be ignored or I'll wonder why I set myself up for failure.  But, can a fiberholic among us really say that these resolutions aren't worth the price?  Let the suffering begin :)