Worry-free Cardi = Done

The top-down set in sleeve sweater I started when my daughter was spending time at the doctor’s (and I was waiting in waiting rooms) has been done sometime. I dubbed it the “Worry-free” cardi because knitting it kept my mind off the terrible stress of waiting to find out if Aden had cancer, waiting to find out if the skin graft on her nose took, and generally just waiting with a mother’s head full of worry. Aden is now cancer-free, and it truly was a worry-free cardi. This was an easy knit, and all knit in one piece from the top down using The Tailored Sweater method I’ve talked about.

Notes
Yarn: EcoWool, Cascade, 4 skeins
Needles: US 7 KnitPicks
Pattern: Garter Rib in body, stockinette on sleeve, 2x2 ribbing for collar
Collar needed short rows to fold over, then some increases in the front purl ribs to lay open. Body has short rows in front for bustline, and in upper back so the whole thing lays flat. The beauty of knitting in one piece top-down is that one can make little design decisions as you go along so your sweater works! I added width to make the body a slight A-line. Edges have integrated I-cord knit while making the garment. No seams were sewn in the making of this garment!
Final note: my dress display has narrower shoulders than I have, and although it does not fit her shoulders, it fits mine perfectly.

Sheep-to-Shawl Demonstration at the Evergreen State Fair

Demonstration at the Evergreen State Fair, 8 Sept 2009. 11am – shear the sheep, all day – prep, card, spin and weave the wool 4pm: finished shawl cut off the loom. I got to help spin the wool. Woot!

If you'd like to see the videos of the event, click here.

What’s Your Vision?

One of the annual exercises we go through this time of year at work is to sign up for commitments that we’ll achieve during the fiscal year. After many years of doing this, it is obvious to me that by focusing on where you put your energy goes a long way to getting you there.
Last Saturday we got together with friends and created “vision boards”. The idea was to create visual representations of what we want to see in our lives in the coming year. If you search on the term “vision board”, you’ll find lots of folks selling you things. However, Christine Kane has a nice blog entry about creating vision boards.
I finished my board and put it up in my office, but it occurred to me that I could share it with you via multimedia. Here is my vision board – it’s a 5 minute video. Not rapid-fire like a music video, but a meditation of a few images and thoughts, delivered over the course of a a song written by James Taylor and sung by Shirley Horn that has become the theme to my life. Take five minutes of time to sit back and enjoy. Then, create your own.