as promised

The final product (post-blocking)...

Guess what I'm doing?

Yep, that's right. BLOCKING and finishing! Thanks to deadlines, I do manage to get such things done - even if it's at the very last minute.

I'm looking foward to showing you the final results of this laborious process.

sweet finds

A couple of years ago, my friend Cosy taught me how to recycle the wool from old sweaters and use it for knitting. As soon as I learned this handy-dandy trick, I couldn't stop going to thrift stores and saving the many six-dollar, wool sweaters from their hideous, 80's-style bondage - only to re-form them into something new and exciting. Over the past couple of years, I've scored some gorgeous undyed wool (that would cost about $75 if I bought it new) and some crazy-soft merino wool and lambswool.

But every now and then, I have to pass up the beautiful wool, because the sweater is too beautiful as is - sometimes even handmade. Last night, I found 2 amazing, hand-knit sweaters and decided to keep them for myself. (It's not easy to be the photographer AND model of the sweater...)





After buying the sweaters last night, I suddently wanted to go on a hayride or winter camping or move to the Irish countryside and raise my own sheep - all because of these sweaters. I love it!

Progress

I just found out that I got accepted to be a vendor at a local craft fair (put on in the Seattle Center by The Vera Project) on December 6. I have not done a fair yet, because I've been trying to build my inventory so I'll have enough stuff to sell.

That brings me to another point... MARKETING.

Since starting Greenleaf Knitting, I've gradually been trying to focus in on, articulate, and market my particular knitting style. I, actually, enjoy designing and knitting a variety of styles and pieces, so limiting myself to one particular style has been quite an unappealing thought to me. But I also know that some level of consistency and commonality among my work is important if I ever want to sell anything. So, although this plan will need more tweaking, I think I've finally figured it out...

I'm going to create 2 seperate Greenleaf lines of garments: "Greenleaf Indie Line" and "Greenleaf Classic Line". This should allow me more freedom to design and knit what I want without creating too much disunity among my products.

The "Greenleaf Indie Line" will be feature vibrant colors and funky styles/patterns like this...

The "Greenleaf Classic Line" will feature more earthy tones with lots of cables and intarsia - a bit of a classic, outdoorsy, scandanavian vibe like this...

Hurray for new ideas and first-time fairs!

[FYI - The Vera Project craft fair is more of an indie scene, so I'll be selling more from my Indie Line (e.g., leg warmers, wrist warmers, funky hats)]

cables

Many new-ish knitters are intimidated by cabling. And even more non-knitters are deeply impressed by a piece that has cables. The hilarious secret is that a basic cable is SOOO easy - even mindless. It's also an exciting way to break up the monotony of a simple project without turning it into a stress-the-heck-out-of-me-because-I'm-constantly-counting-stitches-and-rows project.

The longer I knit, the more I realize that such a pattern is ideal for me. I get bored with my project and feel disconnected from what I'm doing (i.e., knitting) if the whole pattern is mindless. But I tend to get stressed if the pattern is so complex that I can't get into any sort of rhythm. The meditative process of a rhythm that gently invites me back to itself (the pattern) periodically transports me to the healing, creative space that makes knitting the therapy that it is.

I’m currently making some children's sweaters in this basic cable pattern.

These awesome leg warmers have the same basic cable up the side of each...

And this baby sweater (yet to be blocked and assembled, of course) is my favorite variation of this pattern thus far. (It doesn't hurt that it's knit with a gentle, pink, SOFT alpaca wool.)