The Virtual Knitter

I’m so happy – just yesterday we ditched the DSL and switched to cable modem, and our internet speed has vastly improved!  I recently learned that Qwest would not be installing their new fiber optic network on our street anytime soon, so we broke down and switched to Comcast.  Turns out it’s really not any more exensive, and the speed is, get this, 10-20 times as fast as what we were getting via DSL.  Unfortunately, I don’t think this is going to do anything to help my blogging frequency, but maybe I’ll just enjoy being online so much that it will just a little bit.

My last post was about New Year’s Goals and making this the best year ever.  I never did come back to explain more, but what I was really getting at is that barring any really aweful events, we really do have a lot of control over having that “best” year that I was referring to.  It’s all in how you look at things, what you do with the things that get thrown at you, etc.  So far, there have been a couple of pretty bad things tossed my way this year, but I’m making the best of them.  I’m also continuing to work on other improvements to my life and well-being that hopefully will result in the outcome I’m looking for.  I’ll try to post about this throughout the year in more detail as appropriate.

Now for some fibery goodness.  I went to my third Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat last weekend (it was the event’s 10th anniversary, but only my third).   It was great, as usual.  I took 4 classes this year, and made several passes through the marketplace.  I bought a few skeins of yarn (like I need more yarn!) and bought some wheel accessories and books, but resisted buying much spinning fiber.  I still have fiber I bought last year that’s not been spun yet!  Here’s one example of yummy yarn I purchased though – a ball of yarn that I’m not even sure I can use, it’s so pretty this way:

It’s a ball of Schoppel Wolle Zauberball Sock in the Fuchsienbeet colorway.  According to the image shown on the tag, the socks knit from this will go transition from purple at the top to a firey orange, back to purple toes – one color change per sock.  They look like flames!

Now for the highlights of my classes.  As I have the time over the next few months to explore what I learned, I may write more about some of the techniques:

On Thursday, I took Fat, Fun and Fulled: The Art of Big Yarns from Judith McKenzie McCuin.  I’ve heard more than one person say that they would take a class on how to boil water from Judith – she’s that good of a teacher.  This was a truely enjoyable all-day class.  We learned tips on setting your spinning wheel up for spinning bulkier weight yarn,  what fibers respond best to fulling, the best way to card for fat spinning (for more on this, and Judith’s apparently earth shattering instruction to put the fiber in SIDEWAYS, see the Yarn Harlot’s blog post about it), and how to properly full the yarn so that you can make useable singles.  Here’s sample of some merino/silk that I spun and fulled in the class

On Friday, I had another class with Judith – Just Dying for Socks.  In this class, we got to hand paint some different types of yarn using Judith’s own acid dyes.  I’m actually not real happy with my results so plan on overdying in a week or two to subdue the colors a bit.  I’ll post pictures AFTER the fix!

On Saturday, I had two classes.  In the morning, I got an Initiation to Entrelac Knitting with Joan Schrouder in the morning and Double Up and Around, an introduction to double knitting with Lucy Neatby in the afternoon.  I didn’t have any familiarity with Joan in advance, so didn’t have much in the way of preconceived expectations.  I found the class to be exactly what it was – a good initiation that will get me started on Entrelac knitting on my own.  I think I would have rather had a full day class in this technique though as it’s a bit complicated and fussy to learn.  I was somwhat familiar with Lucy  in all of her technicolor brightness!  However, I had no experience with her as a teacher.  I thought the class was very well done – I must say that Lucy is a really good teacher.  I’m looking forward to experiementing with the double knitting techniques I learned in the class.  I’ll also consider taking more classes from Lucy in the future, or at least investing in some of her instructional DVDs (she has a ton!)  She mentioned that she’s trying to cut back her teaching schedule in order to concentrate more on designing, so we might not see her so often at Madrona in the future. 

Well, it’s been a week, and believe it or not, I haven’t finished unpacking from my Madrona adventures yet, so I best get to work!

Happy New Year!  Now that we’re a few days into 2009, the activity of the holiday season has settled down and it’s time for life to get back to normal  (whatever that is LOL).  This gives me the opportunity to take some time to reflect on the past and make plans for the future, as is common practice with many folks.

Often times, we make RESOLUTIONS for the upcoming year.  Things like ”I will lose weight” or “I will not eat chocolate” or ”I will not spend more than $xxx on BLANK each month,” etc. are spewed forth by optimistic folks who set high hopes for self improvement.  That’s right – self improvement.  What is a resolution other than a statement dedciated to self improvement?  Well, if you look it up in the dictionery, you’ll find that a resolution is the result of the verb “resolve.”  So you loom up the meaning of ”resolve” and find the following listed as the word’s fifth meaning (from www.m-w.com): 

5: to reach a firm decision about <resolve to get more sleep> <resolve disputed points in a text>  

Hmm.  That’s pretty weak if you ask me – not to mention the fact that it’s so far down on the list of definitions for that particular word.  So maybe I shouldn’t make resolutions.  Maybe “GOALS” would be better.  Let’s look that one up:

2: the end toward which effort is directed  

Now that’s more like it.  It seems a lot more concrete to me than the wishy washy “resolution.”  So I’m making goals from now on, instead of resolutions.  As part of our annual evaluations at work, we set goals, and we’re directed to make them results oriented, realistic, and if possible, measurable. 

Upon reflection, and some discussion with others, I’ve decided on one main goal which ultimately can house many mini goals.  It’s a goal that may sound nearly impossible at first, but by breaking it down a bit and defining it, it’s not unsurmountable.  And it’s one I can actually use over and over each year if I want.  So here it is:

My goal for 2009 is to have the best year I’ve ever had.

More on how I’m going to achieve this in my next post!