Author Archives: JC

About JC

Technique freak and skill junkie

Surgery at 30,000 feet

By | March 7, 2012

It’s been a couple weeks, but I still have a story to share from my trip to Stitches West. Stitches was fabulous, as usual. A real highlight was getting to see the projects in Betsy Hershberg’s new book, Betsy Beads. Jeez, now I have a hankerin’ to knit some beaded I-cord… But the story in […]

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WIP report

By | February 22, 2012

In a couple hours I’m off for a fun-filled weekend at Stitches West. But first, I wanted to update y’all on my projects. The Swirl has really grown: Kind of funky looking, huh? Over the weekend, I bound off across the back neck and along the edges of the lapels, and started increasing for the […]

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On a rock

By | February 16, 2012

You might think from my lack of recent posts that I’ve been hiding under a rock, but the truth is I’ve been on a rock: San Juan island, site of Cat Bordhi’s Visionary retreats. It’s where Charts Made Simple was incubated, along with knit, Swirl! and Beyond Toes and so many other books. Oh, the […]

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Better when blocked

By | January 31, 2012

Blocking makes such a huge difference, doesn’t it? It wasn’t my most patient or meticulous blocking job, but I think it turned out okay. Even the corners look decent: Jane, as always, is ready to model: Vital stats: approximately 21 x 60″ (53.5 x 152.5 cm), with just 4.2g of yarn left over. Would I […]

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All sewn up

By | January 30, 2012

Last Friday I finally finished binding off the second edging piece for my Estonian shawl – despite the aggravation of having three stitches get away from me and start to unravel. As luck would have it, two of ’em were nupps. When those puppies unraveled, the edging started to dissolve into a mess of long, […]

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Road trip

By | January 23, 2012

Next May, I get to road trip to Seattle. The knitting guild there has asked me to be the featured speaker for their monthly guild meeting. Whee! Ought to be fun… just as soon as I figure out exactly what I’ll talk about. Charts in some form or another, I suppose. Maybe “Chart Symbols: Not […]

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Reassurance

By | January 17, 2012

This weekend I totally surprised myself by finishing the first edging piece for my Estonian shawl. Granted, it was a long weekend, and the weather was miserable, so I had plenty of knitting time. But with so many stitches on the needles, you’d think I’d be tempted to work on other, less tedious projects… you […]

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Sanity savers

By | January 14, 2012

I don’t suppose it’s any surprise I’ve been dragging my heels on my Estonian shawl project. I mean, really, who looks forward to casting on 565 stitches? Fortunately, the traditional cast-on is a knitted cast-on. It’s a fast cast-on, especially if you transfer new stitches from the right needle to the left as I (and, […]

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Decision time

By | January 8, 2012

Remember that Estonian shawl I’ve been working on for months? Back in November, I estimated that I could knit 15 or 16 vertical repeats of the main pattern before I had to start on the edging. Well, I’m just shy of 15 repeats. And updated estimates – achieved with scale, calculator, and conservative guesswork – […]

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Sucker

By | December 29, 2011

I’m a sucker for stitch dictionaries. That’s why I had to get this: Omas has been on my wish list for a long time. It’s in German, and I don’t read German – shoot, I can’t even pronounce the book’s title – but, as you can see above, Lacis distributes the book with an English […]

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