A pre-vacation story

Last Wednesday, Little Miss decided she wanted to start packing for the beach. "Where's my yellow suitcase?" she asked. She looked for it (for about four seconds) and then began asking every minute or so. "WHERE'S my yellow suitcase?" "I can't find my yellow bag!" "MOMMY, help me find my yellow bag!"

We told her in no uncertain terms that we were not going to pack until the night before or morning of (because we had so much laundry to do -- ha!) and she needed to knock it off.

Friday morning, 8 a.m. "Mom, did you find my yellow suitcase yet?" And like a parrot with Tourette's, she asked over and over and over and over again. By the fifth time, I threatened to put my foot up her ass if she didn't knock it off sternly instructed her not to say anything about her yellow suitcase until further notice.

Exactly twenty minutes later: "Mommy, do you know where my YOU-KNOW-WHAT is?

In case I didn't know what she meant, she helpfully noted: "By the way, it's YELLOW."

If she weren't so goshdarn cute, I don't know what I'd do.



P.S. Don't forget to check out my podcast with lovely Kathy Elkins of WEBS! Go here.

VK Live Class Winner

Drumroll please.....the Random Number Generator selected Clumsy Knitter as the lucky winner of a free class at VK Live.

This is so awesome! I've been debating about going but a free class would definitely push me over the edge! :-)

I have emailed you, Clumsy Knitter. Congrats, and hope to see you there!

MMO Giveaway Winner!

We have a winner....the Random Number Generator proved its randomness and picked comment number 1 from Jen:

I taught myself to knit in the round and would love to be able to improve my skills....

Jen, please shoot me an email at carol AT blackbunnyfibers DOT CAHM with your address and I will send this out to you. (Jen lives in Florida so I am sure she could use a new book so she doesn't have to listen to the Tot Mom yammer any more....)

Thanks for entering and for reading, everyone!

P.S. I will be on the WEBS podcast this Saturday, chatting with the lovely Kathy Elkins about what we saw at TNNA and what it says about the fall knitting season. Look for the download link on Saturday, the 9th.

An old-fashioned Fourth

I love where I live for a lot of reasons -- but especially on the Fourth of July. You might think that because I live outside an eastern metropolitan region, Fourth of July wouldn't be a big deal. But you'd be wrong. Each year, I get a huge kick out of the old-fashioned -- in the best sense of the word -- way we celebrate Independence Day 'round these parts.

We start off with the Fourth of July Parade. I love that most people come wearing red, white and blue, bearing little flags, and that they are enthusiastic about singing along to the national anthem. The parade isn't a huge, slick affair. It starts with something like this


includes steppers from a near-by school;



Uncle Sam on stilts;



bagpipers;


even a Mummer or two;



but the best part is that they allow kids of all ages to decorate their scooters and bikes


or even create floats


and march along with the parade. It's become a Speranza family tradition to decorate the wagon and scooters and march along. This year we were honored with the presence of Betsy Ross

(although I am not at all sure the real Betsy had an Independence Day manicure like this one:)


and you can see the kids, accompanied by Tom, marching along here:


(It's also become a Speranza family tradition for Tom to bring his Starbucks along.) I kept my mom company on the sidelines, where we saw many wondrous things, like a 3 year-old learning how to text


and a lady dressed like Martha Washington but inexplicably toting her rolling suitcase behind her (did she just fly in from Mount Vernon?).


After the parade, we attended a barbecue at Tom's parents' house, followed by the local township's fireworks. We live in the perfect place to see them -- we just walk a block or two to an adjoining street, put down our blankets and chairs and watch the fireworks unfold before us. It's a fun chance to catch up with our neighbors, too.




Best of all, we made Nana happy so what could be better than that?

VK Live Blog Tour & Giveaway: Day 1

Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!

Today I am the first stop on a blog tour designed to introduce you to some of my fellow teachers who will be appearing at VK Live this September, in Los Angeles.


I am honored to be in the fine company of so many wonderful fiber folks. And having experienced how much fun the very first VK Live in New York was,



well, it's not an exaggeration to say that I cannot wait for the fun to start. Last year I got to stalk Melissa Morgan-Oakes; grab Franklin Habit's butt (WARNING: Do not try this. You will be sorry -- very sorry!); have dinner with Brooke Nico, the Koigu mom & daughter team, Kathy Merrick AND the Buffalo Gold duo.



I got to meet some of the best, most enthusiastic students one could ever hope to have in a class. I got see a little bit of New York (including a visit to Purl Soho) and a jam-packed marketplace. And I even got to meet some of my knitting heroes, like Meg Swansen!!! (I try not to overuse the exclamation points, but meeting Meg Swansen deserves three, in my book.)



So if you live anywhere near Los Angeles, or you can drive there or can trade in airplane miles to fly there, make your plans soon.

I have been asked specifically to tell you all a little bit about the classes that I will be teaching at VK Live in L.A. The class I will teach multiple times is called "Yarn Substitution Made Easy," and is rapidly becoming my most popular class. If you have struggled with how to substitute yarns in patterns, or if you have a stash and you need help in figuring out how to pick the right pattern to showcase the yarns you have, then this is the class for you. We talk all about weights and categories of yarn, gauge and how it relates to weights of yarn, fiber characteristics, tips for getting quantity right, and we also walk through a substitution or two of a real-world pattern, so you can see how everything fits together. This class is selling out fast, so grab a spot while you can.

The second class I'm teaching is called "Secrets of the Schematics." I recently wrote an article for Vogue Knitting on this topic, and I had trouble keeping to my word limit. There is just so much you can learn about a pattern by studying its schematic. We will take some examples of schematics, and I'll explain what everything means and why those numbers are so important. We'll talk about fit and how you can use the schematic to help you make your garments fit better. By the time we're done, you will never start knitting a sweater again without spending some time studying the schematic. And you will end up with garments that fit you better, and are more enjoyable to knit.

The last class I'm teaching is about a topic I absolutely love: self-striping and self-patterning yarns. I think that self-stripers and self-patterners are some of the most interesting and hypnotic yarns out there. But if you don't fully understand how they work, they can also be frustrating to work with. In this class, we will cover exactly how self-stripers and self-patternings are created, and how this affects the way they will knit up. We'll talk about tips for working with them and common pitfalls -- and how to avoid those pitfalls. You will end up with a great understanding of these yarns and why they work the way they do, and you will be empowered to use up all the fun Noro and Poems and Kaffe Fassett Colourscapes and WEBS Cold Spring and Opal and Regia in your stash.

It's kind of funny that I have ended up teaching knitting classes because I come from a long line of teachers -- my dad was a science teacher for 30+ years, my brother teaches junior high, my aunt is a third-grade teacher and I have lots of cousins who teach, too. When I was a kid, I actually wanted to be a teacher, and do you know what people told me? (I still can't believe they used to say this.) "You're too smart to be a teacher." Can you imagine?

So maybe it's fitting that I ended up a teacher in the end, and honestly, I really love teaching in a way I never imagined I would. I love seeing the light in someone's eyes when they get something. I love helping knitters understand their craft better so they can get better results and have more fun. I love that my students end up my friends on Facebook and Ravelry, and I can see all the cool things they work on. And I'm really grateful to the folks at Vogue (especially Trisha Malcolm) who gave me the chance to teach in New York, and again, in Los Angeles.

Before I get all weepy and maudlin, though, I have two announcements that will interest you. The first is that thanks to the kindness of Rabbitch, I will have Black Bunny Fibers yarns to sell at the Rabbitworks Fibre Studio booth at VK Live. So even if you can't take a class, you can come and see some of my lovely yarns (nd Rabbitch's, too) in person and scoop them up before they are all gone.

The second is that the folks at VK Live have very generously offered to give one of you readers a free class at the show! To win, just leave a comment here and make sure there is contact info available either in your comment or via your Blogger profile. I will use a random number generator to pick a lucky winner. Leave your comment by midnight, Wednesday, July 6th. I'll pick the winner the next day. Please note that I moderate comments due to spammers, so there may be a time lag between the time you leave your comment and the time it appears on the blog-- if you leave a second comment, I'll delete it since it's one comment/entry per person.

And for your blog-reading pleasure, here's the list of other fabulous fiber folks participating in the blog tour this week:

5 July -- http://www.knitgrrl.com -- Knitgrrl (Shannon Okey)

6 July -- http://lornaslaces.blogspot.com - Lorna's Laces blog (Beth Casey)

7 July -- http://knittyblog.com/ -- Knittyblog (Amy Singer )

8 July -- http://www.indigirl.com -- Indigirl (Amy Swenson)

9 July -- http://www.bricoleurknits.com -- Bricoleur Knits (Cirilia Rose)

Hope I see you in L.A.!

Blog Tour and Giveaway: Teach Yourself Circular Knitting Visually

I am always excited to participate in a blog tour, but when the author of the book is a personal friend, that makes it even more of a pleasure. Today we are taking part in Melissa Morgan-Oakes' blog tour for her new book, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Circular Knitting (Wiley 2011; MSRP $21.99; available for $14.95 via the link). So sit back and enjoy as I review this book for your reading and knitting pleasure.



For a while now, knitters have debated the merits of knitting flat pieces versus knitting items or parts of items in the round. There's no need for that debate here; suffice it to say that knitting in the round presents some terrific advantages, including speed (never having to purl, avoiding seam-sewing), structural advantages (e.g. socks without a seam to irritate your foot), and convenience. But some knitters can find it hard to envision exactly how to do all these magical things in the round. For those knitters and newer folks who haven't yet learned about knitting in the round, there is Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting.

TYVCK is a paperback, a whopping 245 pages, and full-color throughout. This is intended to be an instructional book rather than "just" a selection of patterns, and so the majority of those 245 pages are devoted to technical stuff. Let's take a chapter-by-chapter look:

Chapter 1 starts with the basics, with a good introductory section explaining what circular knitting is and the pros and cons of using this method. I especially like that each "pro" or "con" has a photograph next to it, showing you exactly what the pro or con is -- if you weren't sure what "jogs on horizontal stripes" are, and why this is a disadvantage, for example, there is a handy-dandy photograph showing you. The section continues by considering different needle options (again, lots of great technical stuff, including a discussion of needle materials, interchangeble needes, joins and tips); yarn recommendation for beginners to circular knitting; and a look at other tools the knitter might need.

Example of technical instruction (showing jogs in stripes)

Chapter 2 takes a look at different circular knitting methods: double-pointed needles, one circular needle, the "Magic Loop" method, and two circulars. The section also includes how to cast on and bind off in the round. There's even a chart in the back which compares different circular knitting methods, including tips on when to use them and for which items.

Chapter 3 is really fabulous: it anticipates common problems that arise when learning to knit in the round, showing exactly what the problems look like and how to fix them. So if you end up with the dreaded mobius cast-on, or a gap at the join, MMO shows you how to fix this (in some cases giving several alternate solutions). There's also info on joining new yarn while knitting int he round (including the dreaded "spit splice"); working charts in the round; avoiding jogs in stripes; working stranded and other color designs in the round; even how to make fake seams.

Adult cable sweater (from the Advanced Projects section)

The projects begin with Chapter 4, and they are helpfully grouped by difficulty. Chapter 4 presents three "starter" projects for beginning, including an earwarmer, double-thick potholders and fingerless mitts.

Fingerless mitts (from the Starter Projects section)

Chapter 5 gets the knitter ready for beginning a more substantial project. "Planning a Project" walks the knitter through choosing the proper size, picking out yarn, selecting a stitch pattern, swatching and the ever-important gauge.

Chapter 6 picks up with some simple projects: a circular cowl, (I like that MMO gives variations so you can make a stockinette one to start, then make one in a pattern stitch once you get more comfortable with the technique); hats for kids; and hats for grown-ups.

Chapter 7, "Intermediate Projects", presents a felted tote bag, mittens sized for the whole family, and a basic sock pattern (again sized kids to adult).

Chapter 8 are the advanced projects, including a baby cardigan/hat/booties set, a child's striped pullover and an adult pullover with a center cable motif.

Baby set (from the Advanced Projects section)

I didn't really expect to see a section on steeks, but darn if Chapter 9 isn't devoted to them. For the ace student, if knitting in the round isn't enough, MMO shows you the usefulness of steeks: knitting a garment in the round and then cutting a seam in it. (Usually this is used to knit a cardigan in the round, with the seam becoming the front opening, with buttonbands added.) What is brilliant about this section is that it features a "starter" steek project -- a shawl that is knit as a parallelogram and then steeked. Why bother? Well, it's a great way to practice a steek on a garment that won't take as long to knit. Do your first steek on a one-color shawl, and then when you knit a gorgeous Dale cardigan in colorwork, you'll know what you're doing when it comes time to cut into it.

Steeked Shawl

I also didn't expect to see a mini-stitch dictionary in the back of the book, but there is one (with lots of photos, natch), and there's one last section that illustrates basic knitting techniques.

Example of instruction (this one showing twists in a cast-on)

Summing up, then, TYVCK is a fabulous resource for knitters who would like to learn how to knit in the round, or for knitters who have a general idea how to do it but aren't proficient or would like a better understanding of the technique. I suspect that even some quite proficient in-the-round knitters would pick up a thing or two from this comprehensive resource. Best of all, I like the fact that this book (and the entire "Teach Yourself Visually" series) acknowledges the reality that different people have different learning styles. Some people like to see something illustrated in a photograph while others are better with verbal descriptions. Luckily for knitters, MMO's new book does a great job with both.

And exciting news: MMO and Wiley Books have generously provided not only a review copy for me to paw through, but a second copy for me to give away to one of you lucky readers. It is even autographed by Her Nibs, MMO herself. To win, leave a comment below by midnight July 4th. I will use a random number generator to select a comment and the commenter will receive this copy. One entry per customer, please, and make sure there's a way for me to contact you either via your Blogger profile or in the comment. (FYI: due to spammers, I have to moderate comments, so don't worry if it doesn't appear immediately.)

And continue with the MMO Blog Tour tomorrow, July 2, chez Sunset Cat, and gaze adoringly at Stefanni and her Tonkinese cats.

TNNA wrap-up

By the last day or so of TNNA, we were already starting to feel overwhelmed by all we had seen. So I'll finish off my TNNA recap with a photo montage, and of course some commentary stuck in.

One thing that really overwhelms me by the end of the weekend is the number of gorgeous yarns and interesting booth set-ups that one sees. Here is the booth of Philadelphia's own O-Wool:


Spud and Chloe/Blue Sky always set up an interesting display; Ysolda Teague's booth was set up for tea service along with her photo booth (she had lots of garments from her new book to try on, which was fun); and I could spend hours and hours at the Rowan booths.

Speaking of Rowan, I did get to meet Mr. Martin Storey, who was gracious and lovely as I gushed how much I love his patterns:

(Thanks to Craig for taking the photo!)

I ran into some of the kniterati, like Stefanie Japel -- I am so envious of her gorgeous curly hair!


I kept running into Kimberly, a.k.a. Somebunny'slove, but this is always a good thing.



And I got to chat with Cat Bhordi, who is delightful. (I forget the name of that person standing next to her. I think it was some weirdo who ran up and begged me on her knees to take her photo.)





(See how persistent she was? See Abby Franquemont trying to edge away from the crazy lady with Cat?)


I absolutely love Ron and Theresa from Buffalo Gold, (above, Ron is posing with MMO and Cat)and Laura did too. Here's a photo of them in the booth with Laura (below). (Look for my scarf pattern knit in Ron and Theresa's yarn in the next Vogue Knitting!!!)



How could I not ham it up with my pal Craig?

Um, I think my shirt was pooching out in that photo -- I am most definitely NOT pregnant.

I made sure to see MMO's booksigning (and the folks at R&M were wonderful).




(They were so wonderful they even had my book on the shelves!)


For some reason, the TNNA people had set up an example of yarnbombing.



And of course I stopped by Trisha Malcolm's booksigning -- she was signing copies of the fabulous new Noro book that just came out (I'll review it soon):



Here's Mary Beth and Craig:


And our friends at PotterCraft were celebrating their fifth anniversary with free champagne and cupcakes! Nom, nom, nom.



(Somebody ate some of this one before I could even take the photo!)


Here is Sandi Rosner on her way to somewhere.....

Lots of interesting stuff coming up on the blog in the next weeks: previews of what some of the yarn companies will be showing for the fall, some more book reviews, a recap of my trip to Illinois....and more.

Blog Tour: Barb Brown's Knitting Knee-Highs

You may recall that way back in February, I did a thorough book review (with lots of pictures) of Barb Brown's fabulous book, Knitting Knee-Highs: Sock Styles from Classic to Contemporary (Krause 2011). Barb's book is full of beautiful sock patterns featuring stranded colorwork, textured stitches and cables, and the patterns give you the option of selecting a knee-high version or a lower option, like mid-calf. So it's a great pleasure for me to take part in the official Barb Brown Blog Tour.



Since my previous review told you a bit about the book, I thought it would be fun to talk about something that went into the making of the book. So I asked Barb if she would mind discussing her inspiration for two of the patterns in the book. (I let her choose which ones.) Here is what she said (with a few comments from me in italics):

Barb Brown on Designing Art Deco & Maid Marian

This would be a good time to point out that the knee-high samples were knit to fit an “average” length based on a huge survey of women. I forgot that models are so unusually tall, with long, long legs!

Carol: When we were working on Knit So Fine, they asked us to make the sleeves a little longer than normal to accommodate the longer length of the models relative to how skinny they are!

Art Deco Socks

Often people will ask “where does your inspiration for a design come from”? Art Deco is a good example.

Art Deco socks

Some time ago, I acquired an espresso coffee set from the early 20th century, in an art deco pattern. I loved the set, but honestly didn’t know what exactly Art Deco was. Being a research junkie, I went on Google spree, looking for pictures and information. In the course of this, I came across a picture of some fabric. And I saved it in my “ideas” folder. Often, something like this sort of “dings” in my brain, but the idea needs to simmer around for awhile.

About a year later, I began playing with it. As I was graphing, I began adjusting the width of the blocks of colour, and the length. I thought the varying sizes would be interesting, depending on which block the dominant colour was used for.

Carol: Below are the alternate version of the Art Deco sock shown in the book; it's fascinating to me to see how different the pattern looks in different colorways.

Everything on the design now seemed to flow downwards, either straight down or at angle. What I think of as a “zinger” seemed to be called for. (A “zinger” is a bit added to the design; colour, line, texture etc; that doesn’t quite fit, so draws the eye and adds contrast.) The horizontal stripes in the ribbing added the final touch.

Maid Marian

These were inspired by a challenge I set for myself. I wanted to design a pattern using a very simple lace, something that would be achievable for new lace knitters. It also had to have something a bit different about it, something challenging to design, but easy to knit.

The Baby Horseshoe pattern is a very elegant frothy lace, and it’s just a 4 row repeat, with 2 of those being plain.

Usually, shaping in lace seems to be done along a line in the centre back of a knee-high, or possibly along the sides. It seemed that this lace was perfect for doing a panel in the same lace stitch, shaping within the lace. It took a bit of fiddling, and grading 2 more sizes added to the challenge.

Once I had the basic design, it seemed that it needed a bit of order. Stripes down each side for shaping provided that the best. More stripes in the swing knit heel flaps seemed called for. Because of my early childhood immersion in Pysanky (Ukrainian Easter Eggs) design, I like things to be symmetrical, so added the striped pattern to the toes. (This stripe pattern also adds strength to these areas without a lot of added bulk.)

I like my designs to flow into each other, each piece setting off the next. The ribbing pattern was again a challenge when it came to grading. (My poor test knitter wore out her email sending me notes beginning “but, but, but’) The fiddle faddle was worth it in the end.

There it was: frothy, feminine and an easy knit.

Carol: I added a photo of the blue version and the gold version so you could see the pattern stitch in different colorways. (You're welcome, Barbara.)

The Eye of Partridge was added to heels and toes (I like my socks to match).

Still, it needed that little “zinger”. I thought of the truly feminine women I know; sort of light and frothy on the outside, yet with an almost invisible spine of steel. A nice tight cable down the side seemed to be the answer.

For the foot, only one repeat of the pattern is carried down each side. This seems to be more comfortable when worn in a pair of shoes.

Carol: I am so glad Barb had a chance to share her design process with us. It's fascinating to me to hear about how other designers and knitters work. If you haven't already picked up a copy of Barb's book, you really should -- it's even available in e-book format so if you're like my husband and carry your I-pad around with you, you can download the Kindle app (or the Nook equivalent) and have it with you always.....