love seeing my name in print!

Knit’nStyle #189 is out! It caught me by surprise!
Something happened and I did not get my usual comp copy of #188 until about a week ago and then got a second one of the same issue the next day - I had complained and I think what happened was the usual one was delayed for some reason and then head office sent me a new one. Then only a couple of days later, there’s another envelope from head office and I’m like, what the? another one, really? – turned out to be #189! pretty exciting! Our new editor, Cari, actually mentions me in her editorial and says she wants to make my project, ‘Stormy Weather’! OMG!! she admits to being a machine knitter, too!
Truth be told, I’m not always happy with what they do with my garment (it's the control freak in me), but I’ve learned to live with it. Most times, I don’t really have a hard time parting with the sweater because they usually choose the colour and it’s not always what I’d like, but for this one, I did choose and I LOVED it!! It looks gorgeous –  okay, the model is 6 ft tall (Cari told me that) and the sleeves are a little short, but no biggie – they’ve styled it well and there are several photos of it – not just mine, they’ve done this to all the projects, which is good. This is the transition issue, where Penelope did the planning and Cari did the photography and layout – good job!
Then, I hear from Lea-ann at Knitting Today – she’s organizing a knitalong for this project – I think I’ll have to join! I’m already planning to do mine as a jacket, with a full zip front. The yarn (Plymouth Yarns Linen Concerto) is a little pricey, but well worth it – it has a beautiful sheen, more colours than shows up in the photos ( charcoal and grays as well as the pale blue and denim – my colourway is called  #73 indigo) and drape so if you’re looking for something a little more special that just your regular hoodie, check it out – Lea-Ann has it on her Facebook page which you can link to from the bottom of her webpage, www.knittingtoday.com – click the Facebook symbol and it will take you there!
I have an article in the same issue, ‘Planning Color Placement with Self-Striping Yarns’ and they kind of cropped one photo a little too much – I had 11 balls of yarn to start and I photo-ed them all so you could see the difference in shades on the outside of the ball – and the photo shop person  cropped it to only show the centre 6 or so, so here is my original – now you need to get the magazine to see what else I’m talking about! And here is my close-up of the zip placket - it totally encases the zipper and finishes it off very neatly, I think.

-Mary Ann (I’d like to buy a vowel) Oger

who needs Sudoku?

To keep your brain active? if the rest of the world knew about machine knitting!! OMG!
Recently I had the opportunity to spend some time with my friend Cindy who’s made ‘Rich Raglan’ (Serial Stuff 2) three times, three different colours – all three looked great and she was asking me if she could make another because she loves the shape and fit of it and it really does flatter her figure – she says the raglan shaping takes all the guess work out of fitting shoulders and sleeves and she prefers the fit of the raglan. She probably thinks I’m going to be like Stacy and Clinton and say, no you cannot have multiples! But no, I’m okay with, if something works, stick with it. I have made it twice, the red with black trim and I did a solid French navy and I would also like another one or two!
So I came home thinking how could  we adapt some sort of stitch pattern to the raglan shape to make a bit of variety. I always thought that a raglan needed to be in plain stockinette because the angled shaping between the body and sleeves would mess up patterning and look mostly terrible in seaming.  But I got stuck on the idea to find a way to incorporate a lace pattern into the raglan.
I’ve loved my ‘Comfy’ (KW#28), worn it a lot and always get compliments from strangers – the stitch pattern has large areas of stockinette in it already and I thought with a little planning, it might work okay as a raglan. Now, I told you a while back that I had just realized that I do not have a white cardigan and conveniently, in checking my shelves I happen to have two cones of Honiburd 4/2 cotton, the same yarn as ‘Comfy’- not that I’ll need two, but I’m just saying…Also, the bands on the original cardigan are totally cute and I’ve meant to re-use that technique. 
So, I pull out my  No 28 magazine and look over the pattern and my heart stops – crap, I owe that DAQ lady in San Diego an apology!! Somehow  in the magazine layout, the tuck stitch pattern for the ribs is missing! WTF? well, it’s obvious that no one ever tried to knit this pattern! Huh! well, sorry! (better late than never, I guess!) Here is the stitch pattern for the tuck rib bands – it’s 12 sts X 4 rows – centered at 0/N1 cam at 0 or left needle position 12.

The gray squares should be knit stitches and the white are tucks and because it is 1X1 rib, there will be 3  every other row tucks on the main bed and 3 knit ribs – it really is pretty…
I could make this a really long, tedious story, but I’ll stick to the end result - I think it works!! I’ll finish up and post the results!
Meanwhile, I did get Vickie’s skirt put together and done – just need to get out and buy some elastic for the waistband. I’m working on my next KS project in between pieces of this white lace raglan – TTYL!

DAQs, OPPs and more

You know how I love acronyms…
Got back from San Diego and thought I’d give you the rundown or maybe it’s the low down on how it went. It’s been a while since I was out there but it was nice to see familiar faces and fun to meet some new ones. I did a two day workshop for the guild - they have a set up with a closed circuit camera that shows the action on a large screen behind me and I’m rigged out with a microphone that has a battery pack that fits in a pocket (if you have one) and then the mic clamps onto your collar (if you have one) – usually works fine, except that I kind of do a fashion show throughout the day so the mic got tangled, screeched and was thrown about many times – all in good fun!
I got inspired – Valery, a beginner mk-er, brought in some earflap hats that she’s been making and dressing up various ways – she described how to make a ‘minion’ version – you know, from the ‘Despicable Me’ movie – I took my little kiddos to see #2 and I think they would love them, so that's on my to-do list – hope I get them done for Christmas! – that list is quite long and growing!!
Someone had brought a very tasty pumpkin square for the potluck snack fest – I loved them and  asked for the recipe – the baker reluctantly admitted they came from a box mix sold at Wal-Mart…but they were good!
As the second day draws to a close and everyone gets more comfortable – they get used to me and I’m getting to know them - I throw caution to the wind and turn off the filter! After I finish giving a detailed description of the techniques in a particular pattern of mine, someone asks ‘And is that all given in the pattern?’
I answer sarcastically, ‘of course not, but I’ll be home before you look at it!’ and then add, ‘That’s your last DAQ of the day!’

DET – double eye tool

DAQ – dumb ass question
FAQ – frequently asked question
MAO – Mary Anne Oger
OPP – other person’s pattern

 

blah, blah blah...

I was in Nova Scotia last weekend, teaching a workshop for the Maritime Machine Knitters – what fun!  Seeing old friends and making new – we all got along just great. Edith Scott won the knitting contest, with her version of  ‘Up a Notch’, my pattern from KW#30 – great job, Edith! I couldn’t have done better myself! Special thanks to Valerie for taking such good care of me - you were awesome and so thoughtful!
Hello to all my new blog-followers (Angela, Catherine... not to name a few names!), hope this has lived up to the billing! (I gave them all what for, for not following already – LOL!)
Home again and after getting everything put away, I was trying to get back to the business of finishing Vickie’s skirt – I did finish my KS project – I think it turned out well and, bonus,  got all 3 tiers of both skirts knit. Now to do the blocking and steaming and get them assembled – well actually, I need to disassemble mine down to the first tier (it is still good – I was just redoing the top 2 tiers of that one) before starting to re-do it.

Second Tier - lace Marbella

Third Tier - Skinny Majesty stockinette

What made it easy to knit the two at a time was being able to stack the pieces and save time not having to cast on anew for each piece – this also saves time with the blocking and steaming.

Anyway, project interrupted – I just got an urgent request from the San Diego Machine Knitting Guild to fill in for a cancellation for next weekend – so, if you’re anywhere near (or far) and can make it, see you in San Diego Oct 12 and 13th! http://www.mkgsd.com/
TTYL!

two birds...or is it three

I’m really enjoying this multi lace thing – there is something quite satisfying  about dropping those stitches on purpose – take that, stitch! I meant to do that! ha, ha!
But it does take a bit of concentration – you don’t want to be dropping on purpose in the wrong place – I found that I could only concentrate for 24 to 30 rows and then it was better to walk away and take a break  and do something else – like, this could be the perfect time to take care of a project that I’ve been meaning to get around to – the remake of my ‘Tiers of Joy’ skirt from No 47.
When I made it, back in 2008, I made the first one  in black, for myself and used WCD, Mini  Dina, a cotton/rayon blend and Bramwell’s Hobby, (grimace) an acrylic bouclé – just what I happened to have on hand. I made the second one in greens (and gave it to Sue Jalowiec of Knit It Now)and used WCD, Marbella and Skinny Majesty and wrote the pattern based on those yarns. It was beautiful – the drape of the rayons (last two) is gorgeous and the green one really turned out well. Mine, on the other hand, while still nice - and I did wear it a lot, both at knitting events and for personal use, did not weather well – the cotton in the Mini Dina has faded and is now sort of charcoal and the acrylic top layer has little pill balls on it, so because I still really love the skirt and have the proper yarns in black to remake it…AND my friend Vickie convinced me to promise to make her one in black to take with her on her two month holiday to Hawaii this winter - this is the perfect time to kill two birds…it will be much easier to make two at the same time rather than making one now and then later making another later…so….the bottom tier of the skirt is a sideways-knit flounce that could be shortrowed, but I used the electronics and a slip stitch to do the partial knitting automatically plus the hem edge is finished as you go with a neat little wrapping trick - check it out!

Yesterday’s score: Vickie’s skirt, first tier done! KS190 project, back, done!
P.S. that is a darn fine skirt pattern! lots of tips and techniques and tons of information that I’d totally forgotten!

anatomy of a design OR how many swatches does it take...?

Knit’nStyle magazine is going to have a new look! well, not right away, but soon.
#190, April/Spring  ’14 (on sale date is January 2014 – go figure – how is anyone supposed to keep track of which issue it really is?? – sorry, just my pet peeve!) has a new editor and a new look! They are actually changing the name to KNITstyle (I like it!) but you won’t see that change till then – there is still two issues to come out under the old regime.
This was part of their press release:

In addition to the new title and look, KNITstyle readers will discover fresh new designs, interesting knitting stories, educational technique articles, useful information about local yarn shops, and profiles of today's hottest designers. Packaged with a fresh new graphic look, KNITstyle will be accentuated with a new photography vision designed to inspire readers.

Anyway,  sounds like a lot of big changes in style, content and layout – should be pretty exciting! Cari Clement, the new editor, (spent nine years with Caron International as its first creative director and twelve years as co-owner of Bond America, manufacturer of home knitting machines) has a machine knitting background, really exciting! So, the good news is, there will still be a machine knit article and garment in each issue.

Now, for each issue, we (the designers) get an RFD (request for design) in which they (Cari and her team) give story lines and stitch and yarn ideas and we have to submit a proposal, including sketches and swatches.
This is totally different for me – no one has ever told me what to do – I’ve always been able to basically do my own thing – at first, I thought, okay this will be easy, I don’t have to come up with the ideas. Usually they will give a bunch of themes and I just have to pick one and fit in to it (I think) but this time (for #190), my challenge is to create something using drop stitch and eyelets to correspond with a hand knitting  article using drop stitches – hummmm…this may not be as easy as I first thought – I know what I think are drop stitches on a knitting machine and I did check on-line for a hand knitting reference to drop stitches – not really the same thing – hand knit drop lace seems to run horizontal and machine knit is vertical…maybe I can plead ignorance and just go with my own ideas – I wonder if they have a back-up plan!So I still had to submit a sketch (not my strong point) and a swatch and then they chose the actual yarn…I’ll give you a little bit of it – a yoke, sideways knit of full fashioned lace with the holes filled in and the sleeves and body are made from hem to top with vertical lines of lace, combining drop stitch and transferred lace – well, they liked my proposal, I got a contract for this one and they’ve named my design already – how can they do that? I hope it's not written in stone - this would be a deal breaker!and it’s a sucky title – ‘Lots ‘o Lace’ ??? come on, what is this? the ‘80s?? I’m going to ignore it and put my own name on it (which I always do) and see what happens – right now, I’m thinking ‘Ripples’ or maybe ‘Waves’ – yes, I like the last one…BTW, the title is always a work-in-progress as the design develops and can be the last thing I do...
So, I’ve made 5 more swatches already and still not sure how I want to proceed, so I’m going with my usual plan – you know it – make a sleeve first and see what happens!!

guilty?

the other day I was watching The Morning Show from Global Toronto – they had a fashion segment and I’m always interested in seeing what's new – well, I almost died laughing! They showed one of those skirts that is short in front and long in back – most of them are above the knee in front and various lengths in the back and usually just showcase bad legs and make the wearer look ridiculous. I’ve seen them many times over the summer and thought to myself,  that is a trend will fall into that ‘least fortunate of fashion ideas’ and should be put in the cupboard that must never be opened! I can hardly wait for it to be over…
Now, what was so funny was they called it a ‘mullet hem’ and that’s when I began laughing! And then I stopped in my tracks – was I guilty? gosh, darn, I made that skirt with the elliptical hem and deep flounce (Flounced Skirt from ‘Sassy Skirts’)  – does this qualify as a mullet hem? it was back in 2005 and I actually wore the outfit (Fit To Be Tied, KW#38) to Lindsay’s wedding in August and it looks like I had the matching hairstyle…