It doesn't seem possible that we only have one week left at our wonderful Coastal Cottage at Sunset Beach.  A month away from home, with no meetings, few phone calls and even less demands is a wonderful way to immerse yourself in everything knitting.  It is a place with no interruptions to learn something new or to start and finish a project.  Knitting, reading and golfing is what Sunset Beach is all about (well, for me.  Maybe not Dick.) I thought I might show you the things I've knit during our four Januaries at the beach.

I picked this out to knit our first year.  I saw the pattern and went crazy!  Beautiful yarn, great pattern, learn something new.  It doesn't get any better than that.  I got the pattern and yarn sometime in October but realized I had better yarn than the pattern called for in my yarn stash.  I had these three yarns (I think they are Paint Box) one purple, one black and one green and each had the other colors swirled through.  I thought, "Perfect!"  I thought I should try the pattern to see if it was really going to work before we went.  (I should have done that this year.)  I decided I would do two modules to see if I loved doing it.  Well, 20 modules later I realized I was going to finish it way before we left for Sunset Beach.  But I did love the pattern and the yarn and the scarf they became.  This eventually was a birthday gift for Andi.

So, that first year in Sunset Beach I learned to make hairpin lace and made several terrific boas.  I discovered a great little yarn shop called Knitting Up A Storm which unfortunately is no longer there.  It makes me very sad when a LYS closes.  I feel I've some failed and not bought enough.  I used a worsted weight, a sparkly and a hairy and held them together making fabulous boas.  I also made one of these. . . 

A pleated Olga Jazzy scarf, but not this one.  I have probably knit 6 since then.  It really is my go to travel knitting.  By the way, this is the treasure that went to Evie for Christmas.  Now you know where all of my Christmas treasures went.  

Our second year at Sunset Beach, I had learned my lesson from year one.  I did not start my project for fear I would finish it before we left.

I had this beautiful Noro Silk Garden yarn.  It has more copper affects in it than shows in this picture.  For some reason, I love copper yarn.  I have many, many skeins of copper yarn.  I had purchased this pattern some time before and had always wanted to make it. If I was home I could tell you the name of the pattern.   When I put the Silk Garden together with this pattern--POW!  One + One = one happy Jan!  I was so excited to start.  I did my swatch at home so I had the appropriate needles with me, and I was on my way.  What a fun pattern.  I decided I wanted to make this as a jacket for my sister Kathy who lives in Atlanta.  I figured that she couldn't wear it as a sweater except for a day or two each year, but she could wear it as a jacket.  I got most of it finished at Sunset Beach and finished it at home.  I slipped it on and OH, NO!, it was sweater size not jacket size.  There was no way it could be comfortably worn over a regular set of clothing  What to do!?!?!?!  

I unraveled it, rewound the balls and started over.  I loved this pattern so much, I didn't even mind.  It was perfect when it was done.  It is one of the dangers of modular knitting--you never really know how it is going to fit until you are done.  So, I really knit two things for Kathy that year.

Year 3 was the year of the Digital Scarf.  I love things like this.  I end up saying, "Just one more, just one more!" until all of the little modules are done.  I must admit that those little digits (meaning fingers) all over the scarf were a bit tedious.  When I was done, the colors, the scarf screamed "Linda" and it became Linda's birthday gift.  

In year 4, there is this.  Which led to this. . .

Which led to this, and I hope leads to this. . .

But I have my doubts.  Did you notice that my knitting goals for the year DID NOT include finishing the Rainbow Cardigan?  I didn't realize it until I was rereading the published post.  I am afraid that may be my subconscious predicting how the Rainbow Cardigan will end up.

The Rainbow Cardigan has led to plenty of this. . .

Trips to my new favorite LYS Knit 'n Purl to buy more and more yarn.  I must say though when I see that picture of the Rainbow Cardigan I say, "Gosh, that is beautiful! I think I'll give it one more try."  This is the perfect example of Approach/Avoidance.  We'll see.  Who knows what could happen over the cold, snowy Michigan winter with Jan and a cup of hot coco in the Stash Studio.

Oh, by the way, another knitting goal is to keep the Stash Studio in pristine condition so that any moment of any day I can invite knitters over to climb my stairway to heaven.

I brought this wonderful quote from my favorite knitting author and role model Stephanie Pearl McFee from one of her calendars.  It's called Purls of Wisdom and says it all.  "Knitting is an excellent way of cleaning your mind and helping you solve problems.  The smooth, linear, repetitive movements can help direct your thoughts.  When I am searching for a solution, I knit until it comes to me."  That is what I have been missing knitting the Rainbow Cardigan.  So I made another trip to Knit 'n Purl (Hi! Molly and Arlene) and came home with yarn for a wonderful wrap made from Silk Garden Sock Yarn and Kids Silk Haze.  All of a sudden I feel calm, and relaxed and introspective.  (All of this from 2 skeins of yarn.  What a bargain!  Watch out therapists.  Knitting could put you out of business!)

When I opened my email this morning, I had one from Knitter's Review.  It was talking about swatching so I thought I would post on that

For those of you who have never visited Knitter's Review, it is wonderful.  If you go to "How Tos" and click, you will find information on everything including swatching.  It is called the Swatching Manifesto and is the most in depth discussion on that love/hate thing called swatching.  A few weeks ago Knitter's Review did a forum where people respond to a question.  I can't remember the exact question but it was something like "What is you deep, dark secret about knitting?" (Like I said that isn't exactly it but isn't my question very provocative?)  Probably the most common response was "I don't swatch."  I was shocked.  Why would you invest all that money in yarn and all that time in knitting and not do something that will up the odds it will fit?  Besides swatching is about more than matching gage to the pattern.  It is about getting the right size and type of needles.  Some yarns just don't work with metal needles.  Some don't work with wood.  Some need a stiletto points.  You don't know any of this until you swatch.  Even if I get the gage with certain needles, if I don't like how the yarn feels or drapes or the stitch definition, I will use a different needle then alter the size to get something that works.  

I have always been disappointed that I haven't kept all of my swatches and had a history of my knitting.  But I am always afraid I will run out of yarn, so I swatch, measure, ravel it out and use it in the sweater.  I was amazed to learn that the Swatching Manifest recommends that you wash your swatch.  I thought I was doing it faithfully, correctly only to find out there is something else involved in swatching.  Clara admits to swatching every day.  She calls herself a "serial swatcher"  She see swatching as practice.  I love it.  It tells me a lot about why I just love to knit nothing, to just get the feel of yarn before I start a project.  I am not weird.  "Swatching is a daily, meditation.  With no final destination, I'm free to let my mind wander wherever it need to go." I love that quote.

I invite you to visit Knitter's Review, check out the "How Tos", join a forum, become a regular.  

Since this post is about the relaxing Yoga of knitting and in some cases swatching, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts about "other things," things that are not knitting but pretend to be.  My sister Kathy got a knitting board for Christmas.  As I was working with the Rainbow Cardigan, inventing the "No Knots Bobbin Thing," I thought about how I didn't feel I was really knitting.  I remember early in my knitting life, I thought the most fabulous thing would be to have a knitting machine.  WOW! I thought, "Just think of all of the things I could knit!"  It was about the product not the process.  I just love knitting.  No pretend knitting, no fast knitting, no mechanical knitting.  Just rhythmic, soothing knitting.  Knitting to take my mind to a better place.  Remember the quote, "I knit so I don't kill people."  A little over stated, but knitting does make me a nicer person.  A knitting machine or knitting board or "No Knots Bobbins Thing" does not make me a nicer person.  I love knitting gadgets, but not knitting substitutes.  

One last things. . . 

I finished another hat, unicorn and . . .

Murphy is obviously having a relaxing vacation.  

I guess I never thought I would use this phrase in relationship to knitting, but the quandary I am experiencing with the Rainbow Cardigan is described perfectly here.  Is the end product (this gorgeous jacket that I love) worth the painful process that I am forced to endure to get it? Right now, it is really a flip of a coin.  

Remember this?  This is what I had to contend with at the end of every row or whenever I put my knitting down.  Have I ever mentioned that I love to untangle yarn?  Well. I do!  I never cut yarn when it is tangled.  I always work through the puzzle of the tangle and feel so accomplished when I am done.  When Dick and I were on an OF (Old Fart) bus trip to Washington, D.C., I spent two days untangling a knot in a ball of Blue Heron that had formed on the inside from the metallic thread catching on itself.  For me there is something therapeutic about untangling yarn.  You would think this tangle of bobbins and yarn wouldn't phase me.  Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! I want to knit.  I want to get a rhythm. I want to get in the zone. I want to feel the yoga of knitting.  I just couldn't do that facing this mess (yes, I called tangled yarn a mess.  I am so ashamed!)  I started thinking, "What would I need to have so this wouldn't happen?"  Shoe box?  No, that wouldn't do it.  Cupcake pan? No, that wasn't exactly right.  Then I came up with this.

Dick and I made a trip to ACE Hardware in Calabash.  I was thinking I needed a 2X4 about 30 inches long.  They only sell 2X4 in 8 foot lengths.  But the nice man kept trying to help until we found this.  It is a particle board shelf. With the shelf and nine nails to hold the bobbins in place, it does keep the bobbins from knotting with each other. Please notice that the board was a little to short so the last nail had to curve around a bit.  

I made a little ledge on one side so the knitting could rest there when not in use.  This is my invention and we all know that "Necessity is the mother of invention."  I am sure some where in a knitting catalogue or on a craft website there is something like this, but I have never seen it.  Today I believe that I am the genius behind the "End Knots Bobbin Holder."  There must be a better name, but right now I can't think of one.  

This has helped but hasn't solved my "does the end justify the means?" dilemma.  What I have learned in all of this is, I love the knitting process MORE than the product.  I have been known to just knit, no product in mind, just knit something I know I will TINK when I am done.  Even though I desperately love the Rainbow Cardigan product, I do not love the feel of the cotton yarn and I am still not knitting steady enough to get in the zone; to reach the yoga of knitting.  I have 180 stitches in a row.  Every 20 stitches I have to stop and make sure the yarn is twisted properly so there is no hole.  I do that 9 times.  So I knit 20 stitches then get interrupted  by something tedious and boring, knit 20 stitches then get interrupted by something tedious and boring, etc.  Like I said, it is about 50/50 if the juice is worth the squeeze.

Not to sound like a complete whiner, I made another trip to my new favorite LYS Knit 'n Purl.  I really thought I needed to find something that would put the spark back in my knitting.  It was so fun!  I introduced myself and was treated like a celebrity!  Everyone made a wonderful fuss about the blog about Knit 'n Purl.  Marvelous Molly was there.  I love her.  So I bought a couple of things

Now I have four of these; an elephant, a puppy, a lion and a unicorn.  They have put the yoga back in knitting.  I love the yarn, love the color, can knit without get bored AND I can finish one in less than a day. 

I have learned a lot about Jan the Knitter of 2015 on this trip.  What I will and will not tolerate.  It is very different than Jan the Knitter of 1995.  1995 Jan was more about the beautiful product and less about the absolute joy of knitting.  2015 Jan is absolutely about the joy.

Now is that time I will get reflective and philosophical about 2014 and knitting.  My brain is still spinning with the challenge and confusion of the Rainbow Cardigan, but it is under control.  

The one thing I wanted to accomplish in 2014 was to develop a blog where I would reflect on knitting.  Hey, I did it!  I am very proud of Knitting: A Love Story and all the things I have learned during this endeavor.  I have met so many wonderful people both in person and online.  I have finished many TBFL (to be finished later) projects as an unanticipated consequence.  After all, I had to have something to write about!  I have connected and reconnected with friends who sent pictures of my knitted gifts to them.  Knitting: A Love Story has helped me be a more thoughtful, intentional knitter.  

Sooooo, what are my knitting goals for this year?  I think I mentioned in an early post that in my work life I was a strategic planner.  Goal setting is the way I focus myself on a path and see results.  It is my list for the year so I can check things off and feel accomplished at the end of the year.  I love lists!  Even though I will have goals, wonderful, serendipitous yarn, projects and opportunities will tempt me and I will succumb.  But I least I had an idea about where I wanted to go.  

Goal 1:  I want to continue Knitting: A Love Story and make it better.

Goal 2:  I want to take a knitting class and learn something new.  The last class I took was for the Knit Swirl.  I had forgotten how much I love social knitting and being taught something new.  I love learning something from a knitting book, but there is just something special about being publicly taught a skill.

Goal 3:  I want to finish the Kauni sweater I started at least five years ago.  

See those little lines?  I need to cut up the front of the sweater, then make the button band and button holes.  I also need to cut for the sleeves, pick up stitches then knit the sleeves.  Needless to say, cutting into this beautiful piece of knitted fabric with challenge me, but as the title says, "What challenges you makes you better."  So I guess I will come out of this, well better.

Goal 4:  I want to make one of the fabulous patterns I have with the scrumptious Twisted Fiber Art yarn.  I really don't need to say more about this.

Goal 5:  I want to visit Crafty Lady Trio in Macomb.  I love that store but haven't been able to introduce you to it.  

Goal 6:  Dick and I are considering a trip up the west coast from San Francisco to Vancouver.  If we do this I want to visit those fabulous women at Knit Purl in Portland who have turned me on to so many wonderful fibers and projects.  I can't wait to meet Oleya.  

Goal 7:  I want to begin working through The Knitter's Life List.

Goal 8:  I want to knit more with Linda.  We used to knit together once a week.  With Linda's busy schedule as an elementary principal, we never will be able to do that, but we can do more.

If I accomplish something on all of these, I will feel accomplished.

I have a teaser for next time.  What is this?

See you in a couple of days.

First of all, thank you to all of the Knit 'n Purl people who visited Knitting: A Love Story.  I hope you become regular visitors.  I was all ready to be reflective and philosophical in this post.  I was going to think about my 2014 goals and set my 2015 goals.  Then I put Helen Hamann's Rainbow Cardigan on my needles and my brain spun out of control.

I bought this pattern and yarn 5 or 6 years ago, and really don't know why I haven't tackled it until now.  (Well, I do know and will talk about that later.)  I saw it and gasped!  If OMG would have been in my vocabulary, I would have screamed, "OMG!"  It was possibly the most stunning garment I ever set eyes on.  Look at this.  Beautiful colors, incredible design.  Is this a Jan Pattern or what?  I can remember seeing this.  I can remember opening the package, and now I remember why I never knit it.  You have to admit that the design is gorgeous.  I have always been a sucker for gradual color change.  I love Kauni, I love Twisted Fiber Art and I love this garment.  It was when I started reading the directions that I realized I loved the concept of the Rainbow Cardigan much more than I loved the actual knitting. 

Here are the 20 colors that make up the palette of Rainbow Cardigan.  They are beautiful.  Five or six years latter I am curious about a choice I made.  The garment could be made out of Helen Hamann's Elation an 85% cotton 15% alpaca or Luxury a 100% alpaca.  Guess which one I picked.  Elation!!!! Why would I do that?  I don't like to knit with cotton and I love alpaca.  So that is a curious choice.  The only thing I can figure out is the picture on the pattern is knit in Elation so I chose it for that reason.  Or the Luxury colors weren't as brilliant.  It can't be because Elation is less expensive because I really don't care about that.  

Once I had picked this out for my vacation knitting, I started reading the pattern and anything I could find on the internet about Rainbow Cardigan.  Nothing is current.  Then I had this epiphany, why not buy the Luxury then save the Elation for something else?  I began searching and freaked.  I couldn't find any place on the internet that sold this yarn.  EEKS!  What if I run out of yarn, how am I going to finish it?  I have one ball and only one ball of each color, what if I loose a ball in my travels.  How will I finish it?  After breathing into a paper bag to stop hyperventilation, I realized that I would be making Rainbow Cardigan out of Elation and not Luxury and I would be making it in a medium not large.  The garment would go to who ever it fits.  It may be mine, it may be Barb's.

Next came my next quandary and the probable reason why I never started Rainbow Cardigan; bobbins.  Carrying 9 colors of yarn each on a bobbin each tangling with all other bobbins.  Kind of like this. . .  

Now I remember what happens with bobbins and Intarsia, you spend more time untangling yarn than you do knitting.  This kind of makes the Yoga of knitting impossible.  

I am very good at Intarsia.  The joins are snug but not tight.  I learned the hard way on my sweater of the world.  Remember that one?

From this sweater I learned to weave the colors rather than twisting and knotting or doing nothing and having holes.  So, I am really very good at Intarsia and think some of the most spectacular knit wear uses Intarsia.  

It took me a week to finally tackle Rainbow Cardigan because I thought the sweater was started with a provisional cast-on and I was looking for the 1/8 inch silk ribbon called for in the pattern.  After I figured out you cast-on with each of 9 colors, I thought the provisional cast-on would have been better.  Well, I have three weeks to get enough done on this that I am hooked enough to want to finish this.  This is definitely NOT car knitting!!!  I will keep you posted on my progress.  

Saturday was my first visit to a LYS while in the Carolinas.  This one was Knit 'n Purl in Myrtle Beach.  I found it last year, but they have moved into a wonderful new building.  What I remember from last year was a very crowded shop with nice yarn and a knitting class taking place in the middle of everything.

What I found this year was a huge store, made to look even bigger by a wall of mirrors.  The staff strike the perfect blend of being helpful and letting you explore on your own.  During this visit, I needed a little of each. What I found most intriguing was the way Knit 'n Purl was set up.  It was kind of like an art gallery with all of these small exhibits showcasing different yarn or different projects.  It was really quite lovely.  They have all of my favorite yarns and a few yarns I've never experienced before.

Throughout the store you find these little kiosks of treasures which make a large store feel small and cozy.  If you look closely in the mirror you will actually see me taking this picture with my iPhone.  

The yarn is arranged by weight with signs telling you what kind of yarn is where.  Starting with lace weight and moving to the right through bulky.  This made me consider all of the different ways I have found yarn sorted in stores and the benefits of each.  A shop set up this way by weight is definitely made for the person who has a pattern picked out but doesn't know what yarn they want to use.  You can scan all of the different yarns that would work with your pattern until you find the perfect one.  Some LYS are arranged by manufacture so that all yarns from Noro would be together.  This arrangement was perfect when I was making the Lizzard Ridge afghan for my Mom and wanted to see every color of Kureyon yarn.  I also love this arrangement when I just want to be overwhelmed by all of the beauty of Noro.  Then there was the wonderful little yarn shop in Jerome, Arizona that was sorted by color.  I walked in and saw an absolute rainbow as I looked around the store.  I stood there with my mouth open gathering in the beauty.  Some shops you'd swear have never been sorted or arranged, but that's fun, too.  It is like a treasure hunt where you don't know what you are looking for or where you will find it.  Knit 'n Purl definitely works for me.

Everything is easy to find and easy to see.  With so many different yarns and projects and books and magazines and gadgets, you may think it was confusing but not so.  I met the genius behind this organization.  Her name is Molly.  I needed some waste yarn for a provisional cast-on and she kindly gave it to me.  

In addition to this wonderful large table that I am sure they use for knitting classes, they have a private room that Molly was just starting a beginning knitting class in when I arrived.  What a great way to start the new year, learning to knit.  Nice, private and quite.  What a great set up.  I bought several things; a Blue Heron I didn't have, a Cascades Souk, a gorgeous Classic Shades Metallic.  But my most treasured purchase is this. . .

It is called Top This and is yarn for a stocking cap with this adorable puppy on top.  They had hats with unicorns, giraffes, elephants, mice, kittens, soccer balls.  I thought they were adorable.  

A big thanks to Molly and her staff for showing me around their gallery of fine yarn.  If you are in the Myrtle Beach area, drop your husband at the golf course and head for Knit 'n Purl.  I love golf, but I must say I love yarn more.  I am sure I will make another visit some time this month.  

I always have have yarn on the brain!  We are at our lovely Coastal Cottage in Sunset Beach, NC for the month of January.  Lots of time for knitting, discovering new yarn shops and more knitting.  My Michigan State Spartans started vacation off right with the most exciting, fantastic, heart stopping (unless you are a Baylor fan) Bowl victory ever.  It was so nerve racking, I couldn't even concentrate on knitting!  

All of my Christmas treasures were loved.  I have a couple more I need to share with you  

This is the Laura Bryant Ikat wrap knit from Prism Madison on the cover of the fall Vogue Knitting.  It is challenging, difficult, easy, fun.  The hardest part is figuring out what the heck the pattern is telling you to do.  Do not fear!  It is very confusing, but if you do EXACTLY what it says, it will work.  I really needed to take time reading the pattern, more than I ever have before.  I read it, thought about it, read it out loud, thought about it, tried to visualize then finally said, "What the hell!" and just started.  The issue is, your gage must be perfect for the colors to stack and make squares.  After you get your gage, you just need to cast-on and start because you really won't know if things stack until you are stacking.  No amount of little squares or practice will give you that answer.  If they don't stack, try a different size needle.  I really had to fudge every once in a while (loosen or tighten my stitches) to make things work.  Once you start, it all makes perfect sense.

This is what it looks like as you are knitting and you change color at the sides.  I practiced a bit to see how clean I wanted the sides of each color to be.  I hate to sound anal, but I decided I liked the colors to line up pretty straight.  I tried just knitting with no tension adjustment as I went along.  The sides of the colors bled into each other a lot.  It was a fine look but not one that I wanted.  That's when I went to Ravelry to see if anyone had written about this wrap.  Low and behold, they had!  Many said it was easy, but be assured that is only after you get going and colors are stacking.  This one fabulous woman said she had to vary her tension to get the colors to stack like she wanted.  And there was my answer!

Here is what the gorgeous Prism Madison looks like in the skein.  It is magic to think it could end up looking like this. . .

I love magical knitting like ikat, that fabulous yarn from Twisted Fiber Arts and felting.  There is something so exciting about fiber becoming something surprising as you knit.

Now let me tell you a little about the wonderful person this treasure went to.  First of all, unlike many of the things I knit which I don't have a clue who it is for, I knew immediately this had Carman  written all over it.  Carman is the owner of Reve Salon and Spa in Sylvania, Ohio and has taken care of my hair for many years.  She is the best.  I have very thick hair, and Carman is the only person who isn't intimidated by it.  I have even been the "let's learn to cut thick hair" lesson for the other stylists.  Carman's daughter is a sophomore in college and she was in preschool when first started going to Carman