Concerto Knit-along Starts Today!

I’ve been terribly remiss in advertising this little adventure I’ve found myself enjoying! I guess I should start back at the beginning…

Several months ago, Arlene, the owner of my LYS, Fiberworks in Beavercreek, Ohio, asked me if I would teach beginning and intermediate lace knitting classes at the store this autumn. There was no way I was going to turn down something that should be that much fun! However, it did leave me with a bit of a project this summer, and it’s usurped the majority of my other knitting. I needed to create some patterns and knit them if I was going to have something to teach. The first one came together quickly, and with the help of some friends, was christened “Concerto.” There was no doubt the second would be “Symphony,” but she was a tough little gal to find. She’s currently being knit, with finishing deadline of this coming Friday evening. I’m planning a lot of quality time with needles the rest of this week. 😉

Anyway, I started thinking that there were a lot of people joining our Yarnfeathers Group on Yahoo, saying that they wanted to learn to knit lace , and here I had a stole and scarf I’d designed expressly for the purpose of teaching lace newbies the basics of the art. A call to Tina resulted in as strong an affirmative as I’d given Arlene, and soon the start date was posted. I got Symphony finished and posted her to Ravelry, and now the excitement begins! In just over a week, there are over 140 hearts, 55 queues, and 21 project pages for Concerto, and Yarnfeathers has well over 100 new members! What fun!

So who is the gal stirring up all the enthusiasm?

Concerto is charted both as a stole and a scarf (Check the Ravelry page to see my test-knitter’s finished scarf.), choice of 6′ or 7′ length, and optional fringe. The original was knit with size 8 needles in Jojoland Melody yarn, and depending on which style you wish to make, requires 2-4 balls. This is a sampler style project with 7 different primary patterns, meaning that newbie lace knitters will experiment with a number of different designs instead of being locked into one big project that is boringly repetitive. The entire stole or scarf is created with just knits, purls, left and right leaning decreases, centered double decrease, and centered eyelets. Since this is set up especially for beginners, I’m posting tutorials as needed during the eight weeks of the event. If you are an experienced lace knitter, you won’t be alone in the group, though. We have a wide range of skill levels represented, and knitters from all around the world. There is no charge to join, and the pattern is currently being offered for free, though after the KAL is over, I’ll be offering it for sale on Ravelry and probably also in my Etsy store. First segment was posted today, Tuesday, Sept 15, 2009, and we’ll be working for the next 8 weeks, so come join us!

Call the Doctor or the Circus?

I’d really like to see what just happened on a video replay – I think…

I’d done some cleaning and moved the fan, which moved the cord. Apparently I didn’t get the cord back in the correct location. This is not a good thing. I’ve been stepping over the cord in the same spot for several years. With it in a different spot… well, I didn’t step over it, but instead, I caught the toe of my sandal with it. At the time, I just happened to be carrying a half full gallon of paint in one hand and a somewhat green, just used paintbrush in the other. I was not wearing my normal painting clothes. And I was walking across an unfinished hardwood floor.

I must have taken my guardian angel by surprise, as I didn’t get off Scot free, but what did happen was nothing short of a miracle. In an effort to not crash to the floor or create the worst mess I’d ever needed to clean up, I tried to stop myself with several pieces of furniture and a couple of plastic tubs in the area. (This is one time it was actually good to have too much stuff around!) I made contact with various surfaces at least six times. I abraded my right forearm twice – in two different directions and hit it hard enough to create a big lump. My right wrist hurts, my shoulder will have a substantial bruise in another hour or two,  I scraped the back side of that elbow, and there will be another deep bruise on my knee. On my left side, I came down hard enough on my foot that my ankle is hurting and a little bit stiff, and I ripped my thumbnail, which I thankfully had just cut short a few hours earlier. I also wrenched my lower back a bit.

However, with all that, I not only never actually hit the floor, but I didn’t spill a drop of paint, nor did the brush leave anything behind anywhere, including on my clothes! How I bounced around like a pinball and did that much damage to myself, yet didn’t get even a trace of paint where it didn’t belong is beyond me, and I’d sure like to see how I managed it! Next week, once I’m not so stiff I can’t move (which is a feeling that is coming on very quickly now), perhaps I’ll look into learning to juggle. I seem to have an untapped talent here!

And by the way, I had just moments earlier completed painting the first of the big drawers for the drawered cabinet that goes under the TV in the nook – the one I posted a few days ago with the cats using it as a hideout. One down, five to go… :o)