Video featuring high school drummers and hand knits.

Here is the video of Jeremy and I playing our song "Sun Sets on Washington Avenue" with 5 high school drummers at City Theater in Biddeford. I would like to publicly thank Tammy Ackerman for this video, Josh Bodwell for inviting us to play for this amazing event, the lovely folks at the Maine Arts Commission, the staff at the City Theater, the student competitors, and of course, the students from Coastal Tech Percussion and their parents for bringing this very cool day together.

It's hard to see but Jeremy and I are both wearing hand knit items: I am wearing red leg warmers and Jeremy is wearing the black sweater I made for him a little over two years ago. He asked for it to fit him exactly and not be too long, but now it is kind of too short, so...he still wears it, but I'm going to make him another one in brown that is a bit longer. Both items we are wearing were made from the yarn I got through sample knitting for the Fibre Company, back when it was based here in Portland. Jeremy's sweater is made with Organik. My leg warmers were made with Terra. It's funny, I don't buy yarn all that often, because the stash I earn through sample knitting keeps me quite busy, so most of my hand knits are made with locally (or formerly so) made yarn. Jeremy's new sweater is going to be made from Tess' Designer Yarns' Superwash Merino, which can be machine washed and dried. It'll be another simple raglan sleeve number, plain, no stripes or designs or detailed cuffs, my guy is a ninja and likes to blend in with his surroundings.

For example: we played a show with our friends Ian, Caitlyn, and Matt in our band White Light at Mayo Street Arts Center a couple of months ago. It's a well-lit room, and there were five of us on stage, but everyone could be seen clearly. After our set, Jeremy and I were sitting next to each other in the audience, and a girl turned to face us. She told me how much she enjoyed our set, and asked me what kind of guitar that guy sitting next to me on stage had played. Jeremy, sitting right next to me, told her it was a baritone guitar, but she didn't realize that it had been him playing it. He frequently gives off this invisibility vibe when on stage. It wasn't always like that, though--on the day I met him he knocked someone over with his bass while thrashing wildly...anyway.

Back to the land of the Living

I've been in such a vacuum of frustration and feeling under the weather that I had temporarily lost all enjoyment of, um, everything. However, I still have this fire under me to complete many things, so I was just going from project to project and couldn't stop myself, even though I wasn't having a good time. So...yesterday I took a break from it all and read, rested up...after a busy morning, that is. And on this snowy day, as the shop is not open, I am practicing for the wedding, and rehearsing with Jeremy for our South China show at the Red Door in Portsmouth on Monday with Milkman's Union. Some details can be found [here].

Well Stitches West was a great time, and a successful show for my employers, for whom I am so happy. I did almost go to Mexico by accident...and it rained absolutely every day except Sunday, and even then it was dark by the time we got to go outside...but I find it fun to work really hard for a short amount of time and then have a (week of) rest. A lady came into our booth who was showing us photos of her in the 70s hanging with Johnny and June Carter Cash, all wearing various sweaters and crocheted gowns that this lady, Ruby, had designed and made for herself and for them. She was wearing a pin that June had given her, you could see Ruby wearing the pin in the photos. Amazing. The gowns were incredible. I wish I could have spent way more time with this lady, but I had to tend to other folks in the booth. Also, I met someone who designed one of my favorite garments from the latest issue of Interweave Knits. Lastly, I worked with some really nice people, and one in particular who is just starting Level III of the Master Hand Knitting Course. Plus we stayed in the Embassy Suites, where on weekday mornings I could (and did) eat white rice, seaweed, pickled vegetables, and miso soup for breakfast. My favorite breakfast of them all.

I started to regain some semblance of wanting to knit, but the urge to do a good job at the wedding and at the numerous shows I have coming up this week took over and I abandoned my knitting for today. It hurts me so to say this!!!! Well here are a couple of UFOs:

 The "Curvy Squares Tee" from the new Interweave

 My friend's mitts and hat, that I am redesigning because I don't like what I've done so far...

A close-up of more swatching...

 This was a pair of arm warmers that were a bit too warm, 

so we'll see what happens to this yarn after a nice bath...perhaps a scarf...

Coming soon...a video of us playing with the high school kids at City Theater...super rad...

Coming Soon!

Upon my arrival back to Portland, I've had band practices, the chance to crack open the new books I purchased that were delivered while I was gone, time to hang with my sweet husband, and only a few moments here and there to lounge. Also had lunch at Susan's Fish and Chips with my roomies and ate my first whoopie pie. (I know. I've been living in Maine for how long now?)
I know I'm supposed to be recounting my journey to the west coast and back, but it's going to have to wait. Like the story of how I almost went to Mexico by accident...
But today I have cello practicing and swatch knitting to catch up on. Maybe there's a nap in my future.

SJC

Air travel is very exciting to me. I can't stop smiling when the plane revs up and leaves the ground, and the landscape falls away and becomes this abstract crazy quilt of housing developments, fields, farms, cities, whatever. I love traveling by train and plane, perhaps because the highway is not much to look at in the Northeast. Anyway, I'm on my way back from Stitches West, which was some crazy-ass hard work, but I had a lot of fun. I love traveling, staying in hotels, I love to see flowers in February and am happy to have a break from the 8-foot snow drifts and the icy sidewalks of Portland.
Well after I've decompressed from my trip, I'll be able to say more about the show.

Ribbing and cello practice

So after several frustrating attempts to get the ribbing right for Swatch #1, I finally remembered something I started doing when knitting up Lily Chin's 5-Way Cable Wrap (below is Tess modeling the finished product), which was to tug on the first stitch after switching from knit to purl, and just tightening up that little gap. I do this instead of tugging on the working yarn, though I do make sure the yarn is nice and tight when pulling it forward.

 

Here is a handsome photo of Swatch #1 (the one on the right). I probably re-knitted it about 15 times:

 See the pretty ribbing?

Yesterday, as on many days, I practiced my cello and the music for my sister's wedding, which is at the beginning of April. I am not a great manager of my own time, especially when in comes to rehearsing by myself. I have high standards, but have trouble holding myself to them, and get tired and frustrated easily if I don't see results quickly enough. I am patient with people, but not with my work. Wanting to be at a certain point of progress when I'm just not there yet diminishes the care and energy I put into my tasks. I've read through Burton Kaplan's book, Practicing For Success: A Musician's Guide to Self-Empowerment, which has been extremely helpful. I get really inspired when reading it, but then I want to try all the techniques at once, because I want to fix everything at the same time. Also, I don't even know when something sounds better, because it all could be better, all the time. I want to be an expert, like, five minutes ago. So impatient!

During my cello practice yesterday, I thought of how frustrated I had become with my swatches. I finally had some success in my ribbing, because instead of casting on over and over again, hoping for better results each time, I spent the whole day reading what others had done to overcome tension problems and trying new things until it came out nicely. My brain made a little connection, and I was able to muster up a little calm and focused observance in my practice. At 34, I am still learning that natural ability is only the spark. Building focus and patience and proper time management are the things that will get me to where I want to be, not repeating things the same way every time and hoping for it to miraculously sound better. (Remember the definition of insanity...)

Anyway...this was my Valentine's Day:

Whipping up swatches of this gorgeous blue (Tess' Designer Yarns Superwash Merino) for Bonnie Paul's Curvy Squares Tee, which I found in my copy of the latest Interweave Knits. So excited.

Back to Square One--er, Swatch One.

Yeah, after 14.5 years of knitting, I realize I need to learn how to rib without distorting the stitches. Knit in Garter and Stockinette Stitch, the simplest of stitches, so that there aren't gutters between the rows.
I started finding articles on how to correct tension problems in the TKGA "On Your Way to the Masters" archives and came across a blogger who documented her journey through Level 1, which was informative and gave me the courage to go on...click here to read.

I am finding constant inspiration and comfort in reading what others have to say while they're striving to be the best knitters they can be, through Ravelry and the forums at the TKGA website.

So. Cast on 20 stitches...try and try again.

One crafting musician's week.

Ack! This is why I have to post way more often.

Monday afternoon we had our first rehearsal with Peter Squires for his show in Biddeford on Friday the 11th, then went over a couple of our own songs for Poetry Out Loud on Thursday. Tuesday night was craft night at our house. I started some floor cushions using my t-shirt yarn, but I had to return the book to the library the next day and didn't have time to photocopy the page. So those will have to wait, but they are super cute!!!

Also on Tuesday I met with some folks from Women, Work, and Community. During the summer of 2009 I took a class on entrepreneurship through this organization, which has centers all over the state. At the end of the course, I had a business plan for the release of Washingtons and our subsequent 5-month United States tour. WWC provides training for women and men in small business and entrepreneurship, community leadership, financial management, and career building, FOR FREE. The resources available through this organization are many, and the staff is so helpful and excited to assist Mainers in achieving their goals.

Wednesday was more rehearsing after work.

Thursday was the Poetry Out Loud Competition at City Theater in Biddeford. If you know nothing about this, it's all about high school students reciting great poems. The winners from individual schools in Southern Maine came to City Theater to compete at the Regional level. The judges chose five of those students to go to the state competition in Lewiston. The winner in Lewiston gets a cash prize and an all expenses paid trip to Washington, DC to compete at the National Level. The winner of the Nationals gets $20,000, and their school gets $500 toward the purchase of poetry books. The Maine competition is made possible by the Arts in Education Program through the Maine Arts Commission.
We were lucky to be invited to participate in this, as we got to witness some of the performances, which were pretty astounding, and to work with members of the drum line from the newly formed Coastal Tech Percussion and have them play on our song, Sun Sets on Washington Avenue. The Biddeford Marching Band was recently cut from the Biddeford High School's budget, so now at least some of the kids have a way to play music and perform. Coastal Tech Percussion's members are from York and Cumberland Counties, including Old Orchard Beach, South Portland, and Biddeford. They were so much fun to play with, they were sensitive to the dynamics of the song and played so intuitively. After all was said and done, we booked it back to Portland for another rehearsal with Peter.

Friday was our night to back up Peter Squires at the Oak and the Ax in Biddeford. Also playing that night were Tiger Saw (our room mate Dylan provided a rare solo acoustic performance) and If and It.
Dylan put up some of his work at the Oak and the Ax (remember the Paper-cuttings?). I wanted to take photos, but I was too busy eating one of Kristen's amazing veggie sausage sliders. I actually remember sitting there, trying to decide if I should take a picture of the band, or take a picture of the slider. In the end, I thought it would be too distracting, since I would also have to dig around to find my phone in order to take the pictures. I need to plan better for shows...Anyway, picture a buttery home made herbed biscuit with a tiny bit of feta cheese and sundried tomato hugging a veggie sausage patty. Delicious.

As Jeremy and I prepared waffles and home fries Saturday morning for some close pals, I was taking a close and hard look at my swatches for the Master Hand Knit program. The increases in the last row of ribbing on Swatches 1 and 2 that I thought were so "unobtrusive" are actually very apparent. My seed stitch is holey, my decreases uneven: totally apparent the right side, perfect-looking on the left. Well, I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and do them over again. After an extremely satisfying day of making the shop look glorious and not at all like we're about to ship out to California for a trade show, I received the latest issues of both Interweave Knits and Cast On in the mail, which prompted me to organize my stash to try and find something with which I could cast any of the gorgeous and covetable things I found in there. No such luck, though. I can't believe that it really takes almost 1,000 yards of worsted weight wool to make an entrelac cap-sleeved sweater for a 38" bust. Seriously?

Well, since I'm stuck on a couple of projects that I just can't bring myself to continue (a case of "startitis", according to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee), I decided after organizing my stash to dive into the large number of plastic bags that I've been planning to make into plastic yarn and knit up into grocery bags. My mom gets the paper every morning, so whenever I visit CT I get a plethora of these pretty colored ones:

This morning I finally put buttons on the Baby Garter Stitch Kimono I've been working on for Stitches West:

 Beatrix Potter buttons, which I could not get a close-up shot of since my camera is old and far-sighted.

 Little I-cord ties!!!

The pattern, as it is written, has the sleeve stitches picked up around the armhole and knit flat, then the shoulder and sleeve seams are sewn at the same time, which means the sleeve seam is at the top of the sleeve. This is unusual, and I wanted to see how it would look, so I surfed around Ravelry and the Blogosphere for stories and photos of others that had used this pattern. Most folks that were writing about it had modified the pattern by sewing the shoulder seams first using a 3-needle bind-off, then picking up the stitches for the sleeves, knitting them in the round. Now, for some reason that I haven't been able to pinpoint, knitting garter stitch in the round is something I can't stand doing, and I try to avoid it at all costs. Another reason for following the pattern as written is that for trade shows, we usually we bring copies of the patterns that go with the garments we have on display for people to refer to when trying to decide how much yarn to buy for a specific pattern. Some people get overwhelmed and upset if you say, "Yes, you can find the pattern online, but this garment is modified, so you would have to [explain modification here] to have it come out this way". Though I suppose, if it's a free pattern that they get online, finding the modification information is no more than a Google or Ravelry search away, so whatever. My brain gets screwy when it comes to making decisions, especially knitting decisions. I thought it would be quicker to knit the sleeves flat and sew the seams, though there would have been less sewing if I had done the modified version...I think I did very well on my garter mattress stitch. It could use a little steam to flatten the collar and relax the sleeve seams, so perhaps I'll do that before the show.

So, that's my week. Next week will be consumed by Stitches West, and I hope this time to take some good shots. 

Snowy Groundhog Day

This morning I finished reorganizing my "studio" space in our bedroom, so that I have a desk (sort of) and can keep my craft table as ONLY a craft table. Though we'll see how long that lasts.

Late last night, while watching one of my favorite Japanese cartoons, I chose a new cross-stitch project, and since it is a gift, I will not post photos until it's done. I also started swatching for a baby kimono to take to Stitches West, which I have started today in between shoveling and typing up the pattern for the over-sized bias knit sweater in Bella that I knit for VKL two weekends ago. Once it actually starts looking like something, photos will occur. There is some Scrabble happening at our house, which has become kind of the tradition on snow days. Knitting is the perfect activity for Scrabble, because my room mates and I take a long time during our turns. I can have fun AND have fun. Two kinds of fun at the same time.

Round 2 of Scrabble, plus knitting and watching "Groundhog Day" is about to happen. We're serious multi-taskers here at Revere St. Three kinds of fun at the same time.