KnitBrit

Finally catching up on pattern releases – 2 went to press today and 7 more waiting in the wings.

The first is Lillianthe, a stunning pleated hat knitted in Artyarns Supermerino and Beaded Silk!

The second is Bide a cardigan I originally knitted for Rhinebeck last year. Done in AlishaGoesAround Panoply of Peacocks worsted, this topdown raglan has a deep cuff and welt and is embroidered in daisychain swirls all over the stockinette body. This is such a flattering cardi – it suits many body types and is a joy to knit

This sample I crocheted uses the same principles of the crocodile stitch, but has a more pronounced point. I’m kinda in love with the way all the groups cluster together and how the color definition is highlighted with this kettle-dyed colorway.

Once I’d mastered the crocodile stitch and understood the basics of it’s construction, I challenged myself to come up with 10 shapes that used those same principles – the dragon scales was the first one. It’s very similar to the croc, but it’s sides are more pronounced and the point more, well, pointy. Circles and squares were next, along with triangles, hexagons, leaves and flowers. I’m kinda happy with the results, although I’m somewhat stumped at what to actually _do_ with the stitch pattern other than a scarf or an edging. Perhaps that’s all it needs to be?

It seems every few months, I’m able to really buckle down and get a lot of knitting done, I blog, I tweet, I facebook and I love it. Then, life rears it’s ugly head and I have to disappear for a while.

I think this time, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is just part of my natural cycle. As frustrating as it is, I’ve accepted the fact that 2 kids on the spectrum equals a lot of stress in my life which sometimes manifests as illness in me. That’s just the way it is – I’m learning to stop beating myself up about it.

I’m on an upswing right now, after a rather scary bout of Staph, which led to an amputation followed by a month in the hospital with MRSA. Not something I’d ever want to repeat. But I’m stronger every day.

Throughout my confinement – and isn’t that a wonderfully old-fashioned term? – yarn has been a constant. From the days of vapidly staring at pretty yarn through a drug-induced haze in the hospital to the revival in knitting, designing and creating that I’m experiencing now.

Before I tell you about the exciting new things that are happening at ChezBrit, I have to send out a huge thank you to my friends for being there for me, keeping me laughing and keeping me sane. Don’t think I could have done it without you, darlings – much love.

As you can probably imagine, everything I was working on before October was delayed by the four months I was out of action, which sadly includes my book Big Foot Knits (Cooperative Press, 2012) In a way, it’s a good thing, as I’ve been able to re-read it with fresh eyes and add a whole bunch of content. The book is in it’s final stages now, and should be out in May. I can’t wait to share it with you all.

A great incentive to get me up and moving is the opportunity to go to The Great Rhody Yarn Crawl in April. I’ll be teaching a couple of classes along with hosting a get-together at the Healing Coop on Saturday night. Lots of door prizes, good food, drinks and fun to be had there! Bring your knitting and come say hello if you’re in town!

On Friday night, I’ll be teaching my Crocodile Stitch and Beyond class at The Knitting Corner and Beadery and my Big Foot Knits workshop at the Healing Center on Saturday and at Slater Mill on Sunday, which is followed by the yarn crawl market place.

I can’t wait to see Traci, Bernadette, Stitchy and Alasdair! It’s going to be a wonderful weekend!

Finally have my Secret Garden cardigan for sale. You can find it here on Ravelry. Hope you love it as much as I do

Hello blog friends. It’s been a couple of weeks of crazy fun, and I can’t wait to share it all with you!

Firstly, Rhinebeck. In what has become an enviable tradition, Cooperative Press were once again ensconced in a cabin, deep in the woods at Lake Taghknic State Park. Shannon Okey, Stephannie Tallent, Heather Ordover, Anna Dalvi, Kate Atherly and I all bunked together, sharing roaring fires, roasted veggies and some rather spectacular wine. How can you not be inspired rooming with such august talent?

The woods surrounding the cabin were spectacular, although not as orange as I would have hoped. Actually, the whole fortnight out east, I noticed that the colors were not as bold as in previous years. I think the very wet spring has put paid to that. Regardless, it sure is a pretty part of the world!

Rhineveck was as marvelously wonderful as ever. Yarn, animals, people and food combined for a great time. Catching up with friends, petting the animals and squooshing the yarn is always the best of times.

There was a yarn that stood out amongst the masses. Fiber Optics yarns took the absolute prize for drawing me in and making me want to design NOW! Kimber’s chemistry background really make those colors pop. The light absolutely loves these yarns – they glow! With a booth right next to Bijou Basin, these booths should have got Best In Show for outright “numminess”!

I also got to finally get a hug from Traci, the brains behind the Great Rhody Yarn Crawl. I was thrilled to catch up in person. This girl is a dynamo! Can’t wait to see her again very soon. (watch this space for exciting news on that front)

Shannon and I were able to spend a down-day post Rhinebeck hanging around the town and then visiting Olana. This Persian home was built by Frederick Church high on a hill overlooking the Hudson. Although I took a gazillion photos, I think this one best illustrates just what a gem this place is. I can’t wait to head back there next year – perhaps a photo shoot is in order?

Well that’s part one of the round up. Tomorrow, I’ll wax lyrical about Maine and then onto StitchesEast.

A wonderfully ’70′s adage that best describes just what’s going on around Chez Knitbrit! My Rhinebeck sweater was started on Saturday, and just flew off the needles, I’ll be posting pics and design details next week on it, but meanwhile, I’ve worked up a darling little neck warmer the last couple of days.

The hubs has named it Mullion because he says it looks like stained glass. That’s all thanks to the amazing Sanguine Gryphon Bugga yarn I used. It captures light and gives it a little slap and tickle to make a stunning visual display.

I really enjoyed designing this piece. Taking a beautiful stitch pattern from Barbara Walker called Arrow Lace and extending the pattern to create a ruffled edge was a challenge, but a good one. Using KV, I could play with stitches on paper before ever knitting a stitch, which greatly cuts down swatching! I ended up with a pattern similar to this:

I think this will be the perfect pattern for Rhinebeck – you can buy the pattern and yarn, knit it in a day and show it off the following day!

I’m considering offering it in kit form with pattern, yarn and buttons, but am not sure. Anyone got an opinion?

I had the chance to go take some test shots for a photo shoot this weekend, and whilst messing around with the camera, I got this great shot of the mitered cable in my Miterbox Jacket pattern. I’d forgotten just how smoothly the cables turn in a 90 degree angle – I love this. Wonder if I can knit a new one before we hit Kingston? Hmmm.

My needles are fairly flying right now, and I’m going with the flow. Hope you’re needles are flying too!

See you next week!

I was given some very good advice today from an incredibly wise woman, “tell ‘em what’s going on!”

and so I shall. This isn’t particularly knitting related, other than the fact that I’m a knitting person, but it will give insight into why I’ve been so sporadic over the last couple of weeks/months/years.

Firstly though, for all the kind and concerned words that I’ve received over the last week or so – my heartfelt thanks! I love you guys!

So, here’s what’s been going on. For many years, I’ve lived with crippling pain that could not be diagnosed, or was totally mis-diagnosed. Finally, my doctor was ready to discuss the possibility of fibromyalgia and since I’d been secretly thinking the same thing, I concurred.

I talked about changing diet, exercise, acupuncture and other things. The doctor assured me that similar patients had tried that route with no success and that he had a medication that would work wonders. It’s called Savella. I was told that there were quite a few side effects, but they would diminish quickly. So, guided by my doc, started the Savella.

The side effects soon became all-consuming. Rapid heart beat, inability to concentrate, panic attacks, dizziness, the hair falling out was a good one – about 1/3 of the front of my head. Awesome! the burns on my face, not so much. I went back to the doc and he told me to stick with it, so I did. The depressive state which came with all this was much more insidious than the blatant hair loss or suddenly bad skin – but much more devastating.

7 weeks into all this, my blood pressure started to shoot off the charts. 176/135 at rest just doesn’t do it for me, so, another call to the doc and a prescription for meds to lower my bp. Meanwhile, the depression was getting worse, and worse. I could see myself sinking into myself, I could see myself deliberately becoming distant from my family and friends. I spent days staring at the wall. Even though I could see what I was doing, knew it wasn’t right, knew it wasn’t healthy or normal, I couldn’t get out of it.

Another trip to the doctor at the beginning of the week and I insisted  that he helps me come off the meds – his suggestion? Take some zanax, and once you’ve calmed down, we’ll see.

Now that just sent me over the edge. I convinced myself that this was my new reality. This was the way that I was. I drove myself into such a panic that I ended up in the hospital with severe chest pain, and of course they couldn’t find anything. And of course, I couldn’t tell them that it was the damn meds.

So home I go, and start thinking all those unmentionable things that people think when they feel they are at the end of their rope. And all the while that I’m making elaborate plans to do away with myself, and I’m too lethargic to get off the damn couch, I KNOW, deep down, I’m SCREAMING, that this is not right. I shut down the blog, I shut down twitter and ravelry, I stop going on FB, I don’t answer the phone.

Which is ridiculous! Even when I’m doing these things, I knew it was ridiculous! But it seemed logical to remove myself from everything and take the next step. But I didn’t. and I’m so thankful for that. I don’t know what stopped me, but something did.

I decided to take a half dose of the meds, and hang in there for the next two days taking half doses, responsibly lowering the dosage of the damned evil savella, and 2 days later, I wake up feeling like myself. Clear headed, low blood pressure, no panic attacks, no suicidal thoughts, nothing. Just me.

So here I am, day 4 of the lower meds and feeling so much better. Still not 100% but back to myself. It’s amazing. It’s like the last 2 months have been lived in a tunnel. To come out of it so quickly is very scary – and if I’m honest, I don’t think I know just how low I got. But I’m so incredibly glad that I went the route of lowering the meds with a responsible eye to totally coming off it. If all goes well, in three weeks, I’ll be meds free and ready to face whatever the underlying condition is.

So that’s it. That’s my breakdown, and I feel so much better sharing it and owning it. Because by owning it, I win and it doesn’t win over me.

I’ve been more creative and productive over the last 2 days than I think I have in the last 2 months. I started knitting a sweater yesterday and have a sleeve to do and it’s finished. It just kind of grew out of the needles, a totally holistic process. The yarn was my therapy, I think. And as dippy as that sounds, for those of us who knit, or crochet, or sew, I know that you’ll get it.

So I need to come up with a name for this new creation! I don’t think “Fuck the meds” will be a big seller, so I’m looking for something more hopeful and powerful. Perhaps Bide? That has a nice ring – what do you think?

Happy Wednesday

Tomorrow marks the 4 week countdown to Rhinebeck and my mini-tour of the East Coast. I’ll be on the road for 12 days and couldn’t be more excited if kittens and honey-badgers were thrown in to the mix! 12 days of yarn, yarnies and a little more yarn to boot!

As well as launching my book (yes, finally!) at Rinebeck, you will find an amazing slew of authors hanging out at the Cooperative Press booth. Shannon, Alasdair, Anna and Heather will be there along with many others.

Tuesday, Oct 18th I’ll be teaching my Big Foot Knits class at WEBS. Shannon, Alasdair and I will be at WEBS from 11 -1 for a book signing, so if you’re in town, do stop by and say hello!

Wednesday, I’ll be in Rhode Island at FiberLab, then on to Stitches East in Hartford Connecticut.

3 days 3 states – it’ll be like my own mini-eurovacation. I am so bloody excited! And as an incredible added bonus, I’ll be spending some time in Boston with my favorite rock star, Audrey Clark from the 360′s. She is the most inspirational of ladies, and I can’t wait to catch up with her and get a hug!

Not much actual knitting this week, I’m finishing up a final looky-look on the book and have promised myself I can knit the AlishaGoesAround cardi as soon as I’m finished.

Happy Stitching everyone

One of the highlight’s of this year’s TNNA was meeting Alisha from Alisha Goes Around yarns. I still haven’t decided which I like more, Alisha or her yarns. Both are beautiful. Her yarns have a depth of color that reminds me of a roaring wood fire: full of glowing warmth with a feel good factor that just doesn’t quit! If you haven’t discovered Alisha’s yarns yet, I strongly urge you to do so.

She was a totally generous darling and gave me four skeins of her Panoply of Peacocks to play with – err, I mean design with, and last night, I finally found half an hour to sit down and swatch. I’d found this stitch pattern in the Third Treasury of Charted Knitting Designs by Barbara G Walker a while ago, and modified it a little to come up with this basketweave design that I think showcases the yarn perfectly. (for those of you wondering, the pattern I started with was the Semi-woven lattice with moss stitch)

Swatching soon became a pattern. It totally lends itself to that cardigan your grandad always wore that you would pinch on brisk fall days for working in the yard, walking across the moors or just sharing a cup of tea in front of the fire. So, here is a sneak peek of The Grandad Cardi – modeled by Maximilian, my Don Drumm stunner!

I had a rather nerve wracking weekend teaching my Big Foot Knits class to some friendly knitters at my local library. This is such an intensive, number crunching class, that I wanted to make sure my theories and teaching methods worked before unleashing it on the paying public! Looks like my fears were unfounded! It was a phenomenal class, although 3 and a half hours flew by very quickly. I’d love to make this an all day event! I really put the girls through their paces, and felt kinda mean that we didn’t actually do any knitting, but I think they left the class itching to design their very own, well fitting socks – and really, what more can a teacher ask for?

It’s our SNB group’s birthday today! Each year, we celebrate everyone’s birthday all on the same day. Each person gets a gift, and it’s become a fabulous tradition that we all eagerly anticipate. My birthday girl will be getting this: Just a sneek peek – full pictures next week! That’s all for now, peeps! I have work to finish for my editor, my first contract negotiation to sweat over and hopefully, a little knitting to do. See you next week!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

It’s been a rather momentous week for me  as far as knitting goes. As you may recall, I’ve really not enjoyed knitting for a couple of months. Picking up the needles has felt like a chore, not the joy or necessity it had been for so long. However, thanks to this little gem, not only is my mojo back, but I’ve been more productive in my written work as well. Yarn, and the plethora of goodness you can create with it, has a new sparkle for me. I’m seeing each day as an opportunity to create, with a new enthusiasm for writing, knitting and lesson plans! Thank you Tiny Owl Knits and to  fellow Brit, Traci for tweeting about it!

Other than an initial puffy hex that I “had” to knit immediately, I’ve vowed not to make another one until all my works in progress are finished. I have visions of doing them all in Double Knitting thanks to Alasdair Post Quinn and his Extreme Double Knitting! Can’t wait!

Are you going to Rhinebeck? Find me in the Cooperative Press booth in Hall C. This is the first year I get to work at Rhinebeck and I’m looking forward to it so very much. I get an excuse to talk to total strangers all day about yarn! What could be more fulfilling?

The book will debut there too! I am so incredibly proud of this – life dealt me a few delays, so finally getting to share my thoughts and views in Big Foot Knits is quite a thrill!

Right after Rhinebeck, I’ll be teaching at WEBS! It’s not even an OMG moment, it’s an OMFG moment for sure! Me? At WEBS? The question du jour is will I spend more than my fee on yarn there? lol! With all the great deals they have, I think I’d be foolish not to!

The class is an accompaniment to the Big Foot Knits book, and I’ll be sharing how to create your very own custom fit sock, full of tips and tricks from the book. I can’t wait.

There’s lots more planned for that week, but I’ll talk about that another time.

The next few days are full of lesson plans, knitting secret projects and enjoying this amazing weather we’re having right now.

Enjoy!