Author Archives: JC

About JC

Technique freak and skill junkie

Three quick announcements

By | April 20, 2011

Stitches South was a blast, as usual. A highlight for me when two students who were in last year’s Charts Made Simple class said that instead of refusing to buy patterns with charts, they now refuse to buy patterns without charts—whoo hoo! Also, Yarn Barn of Kansas reported selling 90+ copies of Charts Made Simple—possibly […]

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Progress

By | April 10, 2011

Sock Camp was a great opportunity to make progress on my Swirl jacket. What once looked like brain coral is now clearly a giant octagon with a hole in the middle. If you look closely, you can see an orange stitch marker clipped to the fabric, at the top of the opening. That’s where I […]

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Down the rabbit hole

By | April 6, 2011

Once upon a time, I managed a computer lab with a raised floor. Cables of all sorts ran under floor tiles that you could lift, revealing a hoard of dust bunnies in addition to the cables. Fortunately, I didn’t have to lift the tiles or deal with the dust bunnies very often. Unfortunately, these particular […]

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Pretty sure

By | March 30, 2011

Over the weekend, I finally had a chance to start my Swirl. You’ll notice I decided to go for the gray/black combo rather than the gray/purple. At this point, it looks more like a chunk of brain coral than the start of a sweater, but I’m pysched: after checking a gazillion times, I’m sure that […]

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A pretty package

By | March 18, 2011

Look what came in the mail! It’s from Abundant Yarns—and it came with a surprise. It’s hard to tell in the photo—shoot, it’s hard to tell except in full sunlight—but the marker is a deep purple, to match the yarn. How sweet is that? Actually, much as I love purple, most of the yarn is […]

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Introducing Abigail

By | March 3, 2011

Last spring I made a couple references in this blog to a stealth knitting project. That project was Abigail. Designed for Amy Swenson’s Year of Lace club, I had fun knitting Abigail. Every chance I had last April, I knit a few more rows. The stitch patterns in the center of the shawl became so […]

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Inclusivity

By | February 28, 2011

Over the weekend I received a curious email. Mary wrote to let me know she had posted a review of Charts Made Simple in Ravelry’s On The Other Hand forum. With Mary’s permission, here’s an excerpt: I just had a chance to look at a new book that’s out and thought you all might be […]

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Today is Thursday

By | February 23, 2011

Franklin Habit wrote a too-true post last week about the disorientation that comes with travel, and needing to remind himself where he is and what he needs to do. For me, the disorientation comes after I return home. “Re-entry” can take days. For instance, I got back from Stitches West late on Sunday. Monday and […]

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An apt comparison

By | February 11, 2011

Clara Parkes wrote the coolest review of Charts Made Simple yesterday. My favorite quote: “To resist charts in knitting is like resisting the purl stitch.” Too true! By the way, for all of you looking for Charts Made Simple on Amazon: It may be listed as out of stock at the moment, but that won’t […]

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Unnecessary funkiness

By | February 4, 2011

Some of you may have noticed that, of late, the actual knitting content on this blog has been… well… sparse. Practically absent. Partly it’s because my attention has been elsewhere, on a large cough book cough project. Partly it’s because my knitting mojo has been missing: I just haven’t felt like knitting, so I haven’t […]

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