Monday, January 06, 2014

Seniority Knitter, Yeah!

Best Quote I Heard All Day

As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot--John Lennon

Hiya, Tontstant Weaders! Yep, John was my writing god when I was 14. These days, now that I'm chronologically a senior, my life memories swing in my mind. Best High School friends Dottie Melcher and Peggy Carroll are still my pals. Because we all loved John Lennon's books, we called each other Lennon-type names. I am "Mother Marsh," Dottie is "Dob", Peggy is "Pegret."

And I am still in touch with my HS boyfriend. He is my love still, even though we hadn't been in touch for 44 years. Found him two years ago and we have seen each other twice now. So yeah, I'm mentally 17. LOL! I'm going to design a pair of Aran socks and he'll get them.

Mommy My Knitting Teacher

Mom is now 90 and still knitting. I remember the day she taught me how to knit. I was seven and a bouncy kid. I loved digging into Mom's knitting basket, her plastic markers were what I'd yank out of the basket, loving their colors. So she decided to take me to the five 'n' ten uptown, to buy me my own yarn and needles. She bought me Red Heart, the Fiesta color, and a pair of #8 Boye straight needles. And she cast on about 15 stitches and I was garter stitching fast. She was a great knitting teacher. 

I loved making the stitches, watching the color changes. So I made myself a scarf. After that, when Barbie doll arrived in 1960, I got her, sewing and knitting the doll clothes. Then I stopped knitting, until I was 18, knitting for Jimmy, my second boyfriend and ultimately my husband. My first sweater was an Aran pullover for him. Mom had to show me how to cast on again. And told me to stop asking her to cast on for me. These days, Mom asks me knitting shit. And asks me to design stuff for her stash. 

TweetlyDee Socks

Got a pile of sock designs that I'm gonna put up on Ravelry. Here's the TweetlyDee stitch sample. I shot this on my new iPhone and it's not this bright blue...it's a deep purple. 
My friends on Facebook have already seen this shit. Many of my FB friends were my readers back when I started this blog in 2002. And many are now fucking knitting celebs.

Knitting Editing

Yeah, I do this, although I'm a senior IT technical writer and trainer. Helping some of my knitting pals to learn how to edit knitting directions. I would love to do a Knitting Directions Editing workshop. These days, there are tons of novice designers, given all the fucking web joints that let you sell your knitting designs. God knows that Ravelry has the top percentage of novice designs. Shannon Okey has written an excellent book, 
The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design. My first career was an assistant knitting editor. Once I was finished being a magazine editor, that's when I got into IT. These days, I miss knitting magazine editing. 


Still The Knitting Curmudgeon?

I'm not as cranky as I used to be, although the knitting industry has become outrageously huge. Years ago, boucle yarn was the only fashionable stuff. These days, there's so much yarn shit that it's often hard to decide what's best. I love Koigu, Noro, and some of my friends' stuff. Carol Sulcoski and Mindy Wilson make lovely dyed yarns. Some of my new sock designs are done in their sock yarns.

Back when I started this blog, I was in grief, due to my husband's death. Jimmy saw my original Knitting Curmudgeon AOL website and laughed at me. But once he was gone and the knitting industry began to jump up, I was annoyed. These days, I'm not, although frankly there is so many magazines now, it's gotta be tough for knitting novices to figure out what they need. I'm glad that I wrote that interactive book, "You Can Knit!". I'm thinking about writing another interactive book but this one I will create, due to my developer abilities.

So, later, skanks! Glad to be back every week. And if you like, friend me on Facebook. I'll take ya!
Next week, I'm gonna do Steekin' Geek stuff. Talk about knitting apps and give you my reviews.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Two for you, yet I still haven't done one yet... (waiting to finish up this sock design so I have something real to post!)

Thanks for the shout out and keep writing!