I crossed the Nihon Finish Line!

Sorry for the lack of posting! I was busy getting all my homework done!

This past weekend was the final class for our the Nihon Vogue level 1 course. Joni has some good photos of the weekend. Go to her blog and check them out.

Here I am with Jean and my certificate. Do you know how much this certificate means to me? It feels better than when I got my CPA certificate/license! Honestly this course work was much harder than studying for and passing the CPA exam!!



Coming into the weekend I was determined to turn in all 8 projects and have them approved by the end of the weekend. I really longed to have a summer break!

I dedicated many hours in the past two weeks working on my projects. I still had quite a bit of knitting to do. The biggest task was filling out my design notebook. This notebook shows your designs on paper - the design is drawn 1/4 scale and you need to document needle sizes, guage, how many rows to the armhole, how many stitches were cast on, the calculation of armhole and neckline decreases, etc. It took me, on average, 3-4 hours per design to do the documentation. I wish I would have done the design notebook earlier because it helped me find mistakes in my designs. I think I would have carried my learning further into future projects if I had taken the time to do the design notebook as soon as I drew up my designs on the life size patterns.

Honestly I had a moment of panic when I turned in my projects for Jean to review. As I watched her look over my projects(turning them inside and out, looking at details, etc), and at my design notes/calculations I began to sweat. It wasn't workout sweat, it was fear sweat! Here she is checking my work.



Saturday night, Suzanne hosted a celebratory dinner for all students and loved ones. It was a fabulous way to end the year. We all displayed our completed projects around the room. It was amazing to see everyone's designs. This is a talented bunch of artists!

Here is a sampling of my fellow student's work.



























Isn't it amazing what we all have produced in the past year?

Saturday night after the celebration dinner I had to go home and continue finishing my projects. The crochet project was a killer. I spent all day Saturday during class and I stayed up till 2am to make as much progress as I could on this crochet project because I knew I still have the front closure on the final project to complete before I could turn in the last two designs. I was determined to make my goal and I did what I had to in order to make sure I came home with my certificate.

In all honesty, the past week was as much work and as stressful and exhausting as actually doing a software upgrade. I'm not kidding you. In 2001 I actually did the work to upgrade the City of Seattle's financial system. Me and another person did around the clock work to get the database upgraded over the span of a week. Like the upgrade, I had this Nihon deadline and I was going to make the deadline come hell or high water! :)

Jean showed me this super cute edging for my final project(picture will come soon - too lazy to photograph it right now). It is just a chain 3, slip stitch crochet edging. So simple and so cute. I think this is the only crochet I will be doing in my future...edgings only!

Man, when Jean signed off on my last two projects I had to just jump up and down and say some loud works of excitement! Boy was I happy!!!

I'd like to take a minute to say a bit about this course. All 15 of us(I saw someone out there on the web term us THE NIHON 15) struggled at the beginning of the course. We were overwhelmed and not sure where Jean was going to take us. Jean has taken us on an amazing journey. She has stretched us, she has encouraged us, she has laughed with us and she has taught us SO much. Jean, you are wonderful!

Anything this hard comes with a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. This has been an awesome experience. I am so grateful to have been given this opportunity.

I also want to thank Suzanne Pedersen at Madrona Fiber Arts for bringing such incredible teacher's for us to learn from. (I took a 3-day spinning class two weekends ago from Carol H. Rhoades - tech editor of Spin-Off - I will do a post on that soon, I promise). Without Suzanne's commitment to us, we would not be able to continue with year two. You all know I was wavering about continuing on with year 2.

You know what? I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Here is a photo of the Nihon 15(Shiori and Meredith are not photographed). I have so enjoyed the journey with these incredible women. Not only do I learn from Jean, but I learn from these women as well(and it isn't always knitting related!).



I joked with a fellow student that we all need t-shirts that say "I survived Year One of Nihon Vogue". Not only did we survive, we thrived. Isn't that what learning is about? They don't call it growing pains for nothing! We all survived with the help and support of each other. I have established a very special bond with these women.

Bring on Year Two!

Knitters are Athletes

It has been awhile - trying to get a handle on this retirement gig.

As the Beijing Olympics approach I am reminded about how my massage therapist views knitters(besides obsessed!).

I met Mimi Polvino when I took a class titled "Self Care for Knitters" at Hilltop Yarns quite a few years ago. I was taken by her holistic approach to the human body.

She has worked on athletes from Philadelphia Eagle football players to Pacific Norhtwest Ballet dancers and everyone in-between.

She views knitters as athletes because of how we use our bodies - repetitive motion in pursuit of our *sport*. Most of us, when we knit, are endurance athletes. Yes, we all may know that we *should* get up every 15-30 minutes to stretch our bodies but we rarely do so. I know you all do it - marathon knitting!

Greg used to worry about me and my body abuse with my knitting. I used to have bad wrist pain. Being a computer programmer, avid knitter and gardener took its toll on my body.

Since I have been seeing Mimi regularly, I don't have wrist pain anymore.

As I said before, I love her holistic approach. She is fascinated by the human body. One of her hobbies is to learn about anatomy(besides running and staying in incredible physical condition). She is like a sponge when it comes to learning more about biomechanics and how all the pieces of the body work together.

I make once a month appointments(because she is only in Seattle for a few days each month so you have to schedule in advance) with her because there is usually something that crops up by the time the next month rolls around. I went in to see her yesterday with this annoying ankle pain. I have been walking about 4 miles a day and I had to take a number of days off because I felt I needed to baby the darn thing. She evaluated my body and said ok...you have this shoulder thing going on which is affecting your opposite hip which is pulling this on your leg and pulling this in your calf. She worked my various parts, pulled on my ankle and all my body pieces re-aligned and my ankle is happy, once again. Yesterday I had residual soreness but today I worked out and my ankle is happy as a clam.

There are some clients of hers that don't *get* this approach. They say "Oh but 'X' part of my body hurts. Why are you working way over here?". People have to learn there is much more to a productive massage. You have to get to the source!

I am fascinated by this approach. I find it hard to find a massage therapist that can do this. Most figure you come in for relaxation only. Sure I love the relaxation aspect but I love the pain relief as well.

For months, Mimi and her partner discussed moving from Seattle to Bend, Oregon. I was in denial. Then she told me it was firm. The house was up for sale. I was devastated. My first thoughts were "I can't live without you! I have to be able to knit and spin!". I'm a marathoner!

Luckily she comes back to Seattle once a month to maintain her clients here. I am relieved because I know without my bodywork with her, I could not maintain the healthy mechanics of my body. Greg was asking about this expense recently and this is not something I'm willing to give up. I'm an athlete for goodness sakes! :)

Note: Greg was not saying this in any kind of negative way - it was more of just an overall evaluation of our living expenses. We ARE on a fixed income now and must make good decisions - especially the way the stock market is performing!

For all you fellow Knitting Athletes out there, don't forget to take care of your body! Maintenance is the key!

Don't forget to get up a couple times an hour to stretch your body/neck, arms, hands, etc!

Covert Knitting!

Now...for the CONTRABAND KNITTING! (My term for non Nihon Vogue knitting projects while taking the Nihon Vogue certification course)

The word contraband is used more in the illegal trade of goods. Maybe I should term my non-Nihon knitting as Clandestine or Covert Knitting. Maybe Cloak-and-Dagger Knitting?

Whatever you want to call it, you know me. I can't just do Nihon Vogue!

I started a Clapotis. Yes, I know. This was popular years ago and I am just getting to this. I have always wanted to knit one. I guess it is like marriage, I was waiting for just the right yarn. This is Sundara's Blooming Fuschia.

This yarn is was one of Sundara's Season's yarn subscription yarns for the summer season. I wrote to Sundara to tell her if I could have created up a color that was *Naomi*, this was/is it. I love the color and I love the yarn base. It is 50% merino and 50% silk. So yummy and cozy. Perfect for a Clapotis. I'm making it wider than the pattern design(I inquired after the packages were sent out to see if she had additional skeins I could purchase). I just want to be able to wrap myself up in it! In person it is more fuschia than purple-ish. It is hard to capture the complexity of the color in a photo.

At the left part of the photo you can see a bunch of my cute stitch markers made by Amy. Her shop can be found here. She hasn't had a stitch marker sale in awhile(hint, hint Amy!).



Here is a photo showing a bit of the dropped stitches.



A couple weeks ago a couple of my friends and I started a Hemlock Ring . What possessed me to agree to do this with them? 'It isn't homework' seems to be my only criteria these days!

I'm making mine out of Blue Sky Alpaca's Cotton. I really like working with this yarn. It is very soft and perfect for this project.



Here is yet another project. I love the portability of socks. I always have a pair going(gotta have something to knit on at the Mariner games that doesn't take concentration). This is self-striping Vesper Sock yarn - this one is Serendipitous. I'm a sucker for self-striping sock yarn - especially hand dyed ones.



I also knit a square for Ryan - as you may know she is going through a difficult time. Janine is organizing the project to make a blanket for Ryan. She is extending the deadline to make a square to July 10. See Janine's blog for more detail. Here is my square(Ryan knows about it so I won't be spoiling the surprise of what my square looks like - she has already seen it).



I am dying to start a lace project. I remind myself that my final Nihon project is half lace. I am going to cast-on my final project today...which begins with the lace section.

You see? I can say no to myself to NOT start another project. After all, I can get my lace fix with my Nihon homework! A round of applause, please!

:)

LOTS O' KNITTIN'

I am liking this retirement gig. I highly recommend it!

The weeks leading up to my last day at work I was very nervous. I am not sure why now, looking back. I have not gotten to a point where I feel relaxed. I think it is going to take awhile.

The past 10 years of my career have been very high stress. I was always on a system implementation schedule which can be very stressful and full of deadlines. Although I prefer system implemenations to system maintenance, it still takes a toll on ones body and mind.

As a transition, it is good to have my deadlines with Nihon Vogue. I feel like I still have firm deadlines and things I HAVE to get done. I'm grateful to have this right now.

I am finalizing the design on my final project and putting the details on paper/pattern.

Here is a rough sketch of my final project.



The upper part of the garment where the bust dart is placed and the sleeves will be done in stockinette stitch. The bottom section of the garment will be a lace pattern. Here is my swatch of the stitches to be used.



I have never created a garment with bust darts. Since the upper part of my design will be more fitted, I wanted to learn how to do bust darts using Japanese short rows. There a number of measurements that need to be taken which determines the placement of the dart on the pattern. Here is a photo of bust dart placement for my design - it is the triangle drawn on the pattern.



There are a couple of techniques I am using to get the look I want for this garment. The first one is the bust darts, the second is getting the flaring on the sleeves and bottom of the sweater. The flare on the bottom part of the sweater can be a challenge because the pattern is lace. Instead of decreasing stitches, which can destroy the continuity of the lace pattern, I will achieve this by changing needle sizes. For every .25 mm you go up/down, this will change your guage approximately 4%. Using this guide, you can then figure out how many times you will need to change needle sizes to get the result you want.

Since retiring I have also completed two Nihon projects.

The first is the v-neck pullover that I have struggled doing the grafting on. As I got more and more experienced grafting the 2X2 ribbing, I wondered why I couldn't see the stitches and how to graft. That is what experience is all about, isn't it?

Here is my finished garment. I am very pleased with the fit of this project.



I have also finished(with the exception of sewing on the buttons - still trying to decide between 2 buttons) the round neck cardigan. I call this one my Pepto Bismol sweater. The reason - this project seemed to go on and on, and on and on some more. I was getting nauseated with it - I needed some Pepto as a cure for the nausea!

I like the fit, overall, but the sleeves on this are tad bit tight.



I am also finishing up the v-neck cardigan. I just finished knitting the sleeves yesterday and the sleeves are on the blocking board right now. I just have to attach the sleeves and finish knitting and putting on the vertical button band. I will write more on that in another post. Vertical button bands deserve their own full blog post! (what a pain...why would anyone ever do this?)

I have tried uploading some photos of my "contraband knitting" but they won't load. I guess I can only update you on my Nihon Vogue work!

Hey Seattle - isn't this weather awesome? Now this is the heat I like! I know some of you may be wilting, but this girl is in heaven! Not too cold, not too hot. It is JUST right!

Candace is running a Marathon!

A fellow student in the Nihon Vogue course is running a marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This organization holds a special place in my charitable giving heart.

My niece Nicole has leukemia(which is in remission). (I realize now I should have done a post requesting donations when Nicole's brother, Connor, did the Big Climb earlier this year - oh well, I will do it next year).

Anyway...Candace is training to do a marathon. The proceeds will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This organization has been a wonderful resource for my family.

I did a post on Nicole's birthday last year which will give you more information about my niece's battle with leukemia.

Here is a recent photo of Nicole with her brother Connor(far left) and cousin Cameron (center) at Cam's high school graduation a few weeks ago. You can see that she is doing well.



The drug that Nicole is on, which keeps her in remission, would not be possible without the charitable contributions of people like you and me.

If you have the means and the desire, go to Candace's giving website to donate directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society via her efforts!

Thanks so much!

Also a big round of applause to Candace for taking on such a big commitment to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!!!

5 Years Served of a Life Sentence

A friend of mine, Linda, jokingly talks about marriage as a life sentence(with a big smile)!

This past Sunday Greg and I celebrated 5 years of marriage.

We are late bloomer's regarding marriage. On our wedding day I was almost 37 years old and Greg was 51. Yes, it is both our first marriage. We both say it took each of us so long because we were waiting for the *right* person.

We had our share of relationships that didn't work out. We agree that we had gotten to a point in our lives that we were happy in our lives as they were as single people. If we met someone special, great. If not, we were perfectly happy being single.

We continue this independant-ness in our marriage. Yes, our marriage is very, very important but it isn't all there is in our lives. We share so much but we continue having lives and interests outside our marriage. For us, this is what makes our marriage so strong and beautiful. We have our passions in our marriage and we have passions outside our marriage. His passions outside our marriage are photography and scuba diving, mine are my dogs and anything fiber related!

Here is a wedding photo of us on the waterfront. We were posing for photos when the fire boat comes by. We couldn't have asked for a better photo op.

I tell people I wish that people looking for love could have what we have. We have tremendous respect for each other, we support one another to pursue the things that are important to us, we love each other's families, we laugh every single day(this was in our marriage vows) and we share so many common values.

When I imagined THE PERFECT man for me, I could not have conjured up this man in my dreams.

This photo shows our playful side:



I love this next photo. Greg is my safe place. He is my soft place to fall. He is compassionate, he is loving, he DOES have an emotional bone in his body! I think this photo says it all.



On Sunday I was running around the house in the morning getting ready for my Nihon class and Greg asks if I have time to have coffee with him. I said "kinda". He said he had something for me. I gave him that side-wise look. We had agreed not to exchange gifts this year. He presented me with a gift wrapped box. Inside were a pair of diamond earrings.

I told Greg we should return them because I would rather have the $$ go towards ripping out the carpet and putting new flooring in upstairs in our home. He wouldn't hear of it. (Did I mention he is thoughtful, too?)

A life sentence seems doesn't seem long enough for me.

My Mariner Scarf

As most of Seattle knows, the Seattle Mariners are not doing well this season. It has been hard on the fans. There was so much hope going into this season. Unfortunately the team has not lived up to those hopes.

I still enjoy going to the games. In fact I will be going to tonight's game.

On a somewhat related topic, when I retired I received some very kind and generous retirement celebration gifts(more posts to come on those). One was from Michale. She knew I have been wanting to knit the Chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts(currently 1273 projects in Ravelry). Michale knit this for me because she knew I have been wanting to knit this but knew I would not be getting to knitting it any time soon.

I wore this scarf at the game this past Saturday night when we played the Washington Nationals...and lost. Here is a photo of me wearing my scarf sitting with my mother-in-law Evie.



I'll surely be wearing it tonight. Currently it is cool out and raining. Will summer ever arrive in Seattle?

Getting the Hang of it

I would be wondering "Why Naomi is having such a hard time grafting her invisible cast-on piece to the main piece?".

I have looked at books, I have watched Lucy Neatby's Finesse Your Knitting DVD (thank you Michale for loaning it to me). This video is very good by the way. I would buy it myself but now that I am on a "fixed income" I know where I can borrow it! :)

My problem isn't doing normal grafting. I can do normal grafting. My problem is half of my material is as you would see in videos and books and the other half(which was knit from a provisional, crochet cast-on) is not. Since the stitches from the provisional are a 1/2 stitch off, this makes it challenging(at least for me).

The photo below shows the little piece I am trying to graft on which began with an invisible cast-on. The white yarn is some smooth waste yarn that shows me now the yarn should be sewn to join the pieces together. This is what I would call the piece that is shown in "normal" grafting examples.



The photo below really shows what I mean by the knitting being a 1/2 stitch off. In Lucy's DVD she has you put smooth waste yarn on each piece you will be graphting together. I can not do this with the piece that is 1/2 stitch off - this is the whole reason for the need to graft these pieces together. If it were as easy as just picking up from the waste yarn, this would eliminate the need for this grafting.



I'm getting the hang of this. I have seen some *issues* with my latest piece of grafting and I may have to rip out and start again. I think this is because I tried doing it late at night. The photo below is the piece I did during the day and I am quite pleased with the results. As long as it took me to do this(lots of sewing, then re-sewing - trying to read the stitches correctly) I was thinking I could have re-knit the whole sleeve. I guess that would go against what I am trying to learn here...plus I am NOT going to re-knit the whole front and back just because of this darn situation. Looks pretty good..or as good as I am going to get since this is really making me very behind in other homework. It took me probably 4-5 hours for just one sleeve. Honestly. I think I will get quicker the more I can really memorize what I should be doing.



I must say that having this time is priceless. Spending all this time practicing, doing and re-doing this graft has been an enjoyable learning experience rather than a frustrating, race against time *chore*. Just by being able to take my time with it is just amazing. I'm enjoying this learning process rather than being frustrated by it.

I am also getting the hang of this NOT WORKING gig. It is so nice! I'm tending to stay up later. I was waking up about 5:30 everyday but today I made it till 7am! (I make it sound like I have been doing it awhile - today is day 3 of freedom!)

It almost seems like a dream not having the performance pressures from work. It is so nice to wake up and look at what my day might be. Go downstairs, wake and feed the boys, have my coffee(G is still making my latte's) and just sit for a bit to figure out what I will do with my day. Pure luxury.

The Manta Ray Video, Finally

As most of you know Greg and I took a vacation to Hawaii in late April through early May.

My most memorable experience on the trip was doing the night snorkel to see the famed Manta Ray's on the Big Island. We did the snorkel/dive on Wednesday April 30. I believe 12-13 manta's showed up.

Big Bertha, the biggest Manta in the area, was there. Her wingspan is 14 feet across. I think the average wingspan of the manta's in that area is about 10 feet. One of the newer baby Manta's was also there. Greg termed this one "gnome sized" because he is only about 5 feet across.

Back in 2003 on my honeymoon in Tahiti I had the experience of seeing the Manta's on a day snorkel and I could just make out the outline of their large bodies far below me.

When I learned about this excursion, I knew I had to get to Kona to see this. They have been drawing the manta's to this area(Kona) for the purpose of tourism for quite some time.

I have no information confirming this in any way but I worry that at some point they will stop doing this for the safety of these beings. I know some of them can get bruised by running into people and their equipment. There are stupid people that try to touch them. Manta's have a protective coating on their bodies and our body products, etc. can be harmful to them. I wanted to see them just in case they stop doing this in the future.

We booked the excursion through Kona Honu Divers.

I took this video with a little waterproof Sanyo video camera. You don't have to be a scuba diver to enjoy and be blown away by this excursion.

These animals are very curious and gentle beings. They are truly remarkable.

Enjoy.

A New Beginning

I made it out of work today with minimal tears!

My co-workers were very generous and contributed $310 to the National Marrow Donor Program in lieu of flowers or gifts for my retirement gift.

The team tricked me and came into the conference room as I was doing my exit meeting with my boss and brought a huge box of Trophy cupcakes (my favorite) to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

What is my first trip in retirement?

I am running off to Costco right now! :)

For the Sock Knitter

Dani at Sunshine Yarns has created some self striping yarns for all of the Harry Potter Hogwarts School house colors and I had to have Gryffindor House. I love how these turned out!



The story about getting this yarn is this: I have enjoyed Dani's creations and had longed to get some of the Harry Potter inspired house self-striping sock yarn(I'm a huge sucker for self-striping sock yarn!). She emails when she is going to update the shop(Tomorrow June 10, 11am eastern) and I knew she would be listing some Harry Potter inspired skeins. I was all set to go. I had blocked out my work calendar for about 15 minutes so I could take a break just at the precise moment she was going to list.

I was working away and got called into a last minute meeting. I returned to my desk about 1.5 hours after her listing time and I just knew all the Gryffindor House colors would be sold out.

I ran to my desk and guess what? There was one skein left of Gryffindor House. I was stunned. Still one more skein out there? I was meant to make these socks!

They look especially cute in my new clear Converse shoes. Have y'all seen these shoes? Perfect for the nerdy sock knitter like me! You can get them here.




Sock Books

Janel Laidman's sock book is out! I did a pre-order and got mine signed. They are now available for sale here.



I own a lot of sock books. I love some, I'm mediocre on others. This one is FAB-O. Go out and buy it.

I love each and every design in this book. Honestly I want to knit each and every one. (Move over Nihon Vogue!)

The night I received this book in the mail I lay in bed gazing over and over(and over and over and over) the pages of this book. Here is a sampling of the designs included in this book.

Rivendell

Of course you probably know this pattern - the Yarn Harlot made this famous. You can get the pattern in the book or you can purchase just the pattern here.



Biological Clock

Don't you love the DNA strands?



Northern Lights

The colorwork folks are not left out in the cold.



Thistle and Fox Socks - Lisa Lloyd

I purchased this booklet through Foxfire Fiber and Designs some time ago.

The designs in the booklet are timeless. I have a hard time finding designs that my man would wear. I found more than one in this book.

The design that prompted me to purchase this booklet is called Snowstar.

Another lovely pattern is Bluegrass.

I am a bit on a non-Nihon Vogue bent right now.

I'm a little frustrated trying to graft that darn v-neck ribbing(still). I am getting better at it. After sewing across almost a half a wrist ribbing I found this little not-quite-right stitch. Most folks won't even notice it but I know Jean will.

I get discouraged because it isn't *perfect*. Damn perfectionism.



The bad thing about perfectionism(there are lots of bad things) is that when something isn't perfect to me then I just want to set it down and never pick it up again. I don't like that I have this impulse but Nihon is really helping me to pick it back up and finish it. It may not be 100% perfect but just finishing it is a huge thing for me. That is probably why I have a multitude of UFO's in my house. Nihon is really, really helping me get beyond this impulse.

The non-knitting content:

Today driving into work, my sister Deb popped up in my head. She pops up at very significant times in my life. I think it is because she was my champion. She was my endless supporter and she is doing that even now. Even though she is no longer living.

I imagined her calling me tonight(which I know she would have) saying "Aren't you excited for your last day of work?". She would be supporting me telling me how excited she is for me. I get tears writing this. No matter what was going on with her, she always found time to show her interest in my life. I miss that love and demonstrativeness.

I didn't fully appreciate her interest in my life and how much she showed her love for me by just by making a quick phone call to say hi.

For most folks dreaming about retirement they could not imagine the transition from work life to retirement being a challenge. It is more challenging than I would have imagined. The future is full of unknowns(I know...full of endless opportunity as well).

I am also anxious leaving some people behind at work. The environment I am leaving is getting harder and harder to work in each week that passes. I care a lot about my friends there and hate to leave them behind. I will miss them a lot.

Today I received a letter in the mail from the National Marrow Donor Program saying that two of my co-worker's had made contributions in my name. I started crying. This gesture means a lot to me. (I told my work that I didn't want a party or gifts but they could make contributions to the NMDP). They went out of their way to really honor me and the time we have spent together in the workplace.

Ready or not tomorrow I graduate from work life!

Wow. It has been awhile!

I've had a lot to write about, just not a lot of time to do it in.

What will get me out of the quiets on the blog? A Meme.

Ellen meme'd me and I think I can do this quickly(I hope).

The rules: Are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer. Play nice, children.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Let's see. 11 years ago I made a career change and was deep into the first year of transition. I was an accountant/CPA turning to software developer. I was working 12-16 hours a day on a Y2K project. I was a newby developer on a project that had many seasoned veterans and I was working many hours to just keep up. I was motivated to be successful in my new career so I spent many hours at the job.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today- not in any particular order? Have breakfast with my friend Jamie, color my hair, get cute wrapping paper for my friend Amy's birthday present, wash the bed linens, get started on a square for Ryan's afghan(see details here. It is the June 6 post.) You all probably know Ryan from Mossy Cottage Knits and Dulaan. She's going through a rough time and folks are contributing squares for an afghan. Go see Janine's post for details. She has done so much for people, it is time we do something for her.

3. Snacks I enjoy: I'm a junk food queen. I love any kind of food. If I eat something sweet, then I need something salty to follow. When I eat something salty then I need something sweet to follow. As you can tell, this can be a dangerous circle that never ends!

4. Places I've lived: I've only lived in two places during my almost 42 years of life. Ellensburg, WA and then Seattle, WA.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Well. A Billion dollars is a lot of cash. I would give money to my sisters so they could retire. I would give money to my friends so they could retire and we could all play! I would give money to charity and maybe even start my own foundation for starving fiber artists.

6. What are some jobs you've had: My dad owned many rental properties and an apartment building. Early on(starting at age 7) I had to water outdoor plants, weed, paint, etc. As a teenager I worked in a local fast food drive-in as a cashier and I bussed tables at a local restaurant. In college I worked at the UW Huskly Athletic ticket office - in ticket sales. Also while in college I worked at NOAA as a computer hardware installer(changing out mother boards, etc). I have worked as an accountant and software developer.

7. Peeps I want to know more about: Jamie, Melinda(she probably won't do it though!), Michale, Peggy and Rebecca, Joni

Note: I have two more work days. Monday and Tuesday are it. It seems a bit of a letdown of sorts. Not sure why. I think it is because it doesn't feel real yet. Plus I'm fighting a summer cold and it has me feeling a but whimpy. You can bet I'll be posting more regularly very soon!

Another Nihon Vogue Weekend

I love the weekends I attend class for Nihon Vogue year one certification!

I learn so much! It is so cool!

Jean is such a wonderful instructor!

Don't have much time to write but here are some photos giving you a small hint about what we learned.

The next two photos show how Jean is teaching us about tank top fitting. Our crochet project is to crochet a tank top. Many students are crocheting a tank to fit themselves. I am going the smart route. Tank top for a 2 year old!





As part of the design process we must chart out every row, every stitch on the area of the armhole and neckline decreases for this crochet project. A very tedious task for homework. Luckily by doing the 2 year old size, there won't be as much work here for me.



Melinda is the only student done with her crewneck cardigan(I think she is the only one). Jean was telling us how to reinforce the neckline ribbing on a garment like this. This sweater is very heavy which can pull the neckline out of shape. We learned how to not only reinforce this area but how to keep it so it does not get stretched out.



We also learned how to attach a vertical button band onto our v-neck cardigan. There are many calculations that have to be made in order to make this work. Imagine knitting row upon row of a button band that goes from left front ribbing, up the front of the sweater, up and around the neck and back down the right front down to the right front ribbing. That is a lot of rows. It can be very tedious.

As part of the knitting of the vertical button band you need to calculate where the button holes are and hope that when all is said and knit up...that it fits the garment side as well. Of course it sounds like you leave it all to chance but there is a lot to calculate and make sure this all works out correctly.

Once you have done all that figuring and knitting, you have to learn to sew on the vertical button band to the garment. Here is Jean's illustration of how this is done. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how mine works out.



I am so very grateful to be given the opportunity to commit to such an amazing class. I have learned so much. As I discussed with my fellow students we acknowledge that it has been a very challenging year, full of growing pains. As difficult as things have been, I don't believe any of us would trade this experience. We still have to finish off the year but I think there are only two or three students out of the fifteen that are still undecided about committing to year two. The rest of my class has already committed to moving ahead to year 2.

Last night Greg asked me "If you had to decide today whether you were going to take year two, what would you decide?". I told him "I definitely would".

I look forward to trying all the things I learned in the past two days. It is nice to see my fellow students and teacher. I would definitely miss seeing them if I didn't continue with my Nihon education.

The woman that sits behind me was having a hell of a time with the button band calculations and the results over this weekend. She had to re-do it 4 times. I look at her as a seasoned knitter. She knows an awful lot and has years of experience. Not that I want Sarah to struggle but I realize that I am not the only one experiencing those hard earned growing pains.

We will celebrate when we complete year one(One student suggested lots of margaritas). This is definitely something to be proud of.

Still Behind

This coming weekend is a Nihon Vogue Weekend. I am perpetually behind.

The crewneck cardigan is coming out nicely. I am happy with the pattern and yarn but I'm disappointed in the fit of the sleeves. I added more ease with this pattern but It is still too tight. I blocked it to my design measurements. It is still too tight. I am going to try to block the sleeve out more so it is more comfortable to wear.

I think the overall fit of the sweater is going to be a bit tight. Read my prior post. I think I need to take new body measurements to base my designs on!

This is the progress I have made. For the sake of time I decided to do a 1X1 rib. I was going to do something more visually pleasing but I just don't have time. I just have to get this done. Originally I tried doing the ribbing in the same needle size as the pattern/body but it didn't look good. I am not fond of tighter ribbing like what it currently is, but it will have to do for now.



Remember the frogging of the seed stitch on the sides of the body? I took out just that secion to do it in pattern. Here is the sewn side seams. I think it looks pretty darn good. It isn't perfect and I had some issues figuring out where to pick up stitches at the yarn overs.



I still have to sew up one sleeve, attach the sleeves to the body and do the button/neck bands. This I want to finish before class on Saturday.

Here is my progress on the v-neck. As I was knitting the front neck decreases I checked the pattern against the 15 shoulder stitches on the back to make sure the pattern was going to match up. I checked it how many times and re-knit it once already. I was confident the end result as good. I blocked the pieces and went to sew the shoulder seams. No. Pattern is wrong. I have to undo the fronts down to the first yarn marker(see photo) and re knit.





I still have to knit a swatch for my vertical button band for the v-neck cardigan. Still have the sleeves to knit. Based on how my sleeves for the round neck cardigan fit, I am going to re-calculate the increases on the sleeves. Leave the sleeve cap the same width(don't want to have to re-knit the body armholes) and make the wrist width wider. I can leave the sleeve to knit after this upcoming class...

I want the v-neck cardigan in such a state that I can follow the vertical button band lessons in class.

I have abaondoned the grafting of the ribbing to be done on the v-neck pullover for now.

I don't know what it is with me and Nihon. I check my notes, I check my knitting, I check out how patterns are going to line up and I still have issues. I do believe it is my need to get knitting done and I just miss things because I am rushing to get it all done.

I know I will feel differently when I have more time. I know I will enjoy Nihon much more. Let's see, how many more work days? I work 4 days a week. I am requesting to take a vacation day this coming week to work on my homework, I have Memorial Day off...so that makes it Sweet 16!

Crochet? Yes. We have to do a crochet project. My swatches look like crap. I see mistakes but I just don't crochet and don't know how to read the stitches. I have never crocheted a garment. This is going to be interesting!

My swatches are in Knit Picks Gloss - fingering weight in Woodland Sage. The right swatch is done in a larger hook size. I want the most bang for my time! I bought this from a fellow Raveler. I didn't want to spend much on this project. I got 10 skeins for $25. I'm following Melinda's lead - child sized garment only.



I have been thinking about my final project. It is a design your own - which really is what we have been doing all along so it really isn't all that much different than our other projects.

I am going to knit my final project in Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk - creamy white. It will be an empire waist deep round neck cardigan sweater with a lace pattern on the top, down to the bustline, then stockinette from the bust-line down. The sleeves will have the lace pattern down to near the elbows, then stockinette with a flared sleeve. There will only be a few buttons from the neckline down to the bust and no buttons below.

I have a concept drawing done but nothing ready to show yet.

I know it is a long post but I must comment about Nihon Vogue. It is a rigorous and demanding course. I think the few of us with blogs may highlight our frustrations and our stress for time.

I have taken some time to really ponder whether I will take year 2. Before my vacation I was 95% sure I would continue. Now it is about 60%. I know I will have a better sense once I'm done working. I will have a month and a half from the time I retire and when we have our last class(which is when I have to know if I am taking year 2).

The reason for the decrease in likelihood is not a reflection on Jean or the course. There is just so much OTHER knitting I would like to do, not to mention spinning, too!

I have learned so much this past year. I KNOW I will use all of the techniques I have learned. It has taken my knitting to a whole new level. It has also given me a boost in confidence in my knitting. I know it may not sound like it from my nihon blog entries but I am much more confident in my abilities.

I must also comment that Jean is an incredible teacher. She is so kind and patient with all of us and our stresses, our impatience. She expects the best from herself and she expects that from us as well.

You know how you take classes and you get all jazzed and you may or may not use what you learn? I will walk away from year one with a sense of accomplishment and with many, many new tools in my knitting tool box! Who can say they knit 8 garments in 13 months?