Dawn Brocco's Life and Design Blog

Had blood taken today to test my thyroid. Large lump - I never noticed. All my hormonal suffering may be caused or exacerbated by the wonky (hyper) thyroid. She's making app't with my regular doc for me for asap. Test results in tomorrow after 1. When I look in the mirror, all I see is my gaunt face.

Oh, it WOULD be nice to have the meds fix all this crap. In the meantime, all the in and out of AC then 90 degree temps sent me to my loveseat with 2 heatpacks and Lopi blanket, when we got home. Such a flower. Want to be sturdy again.

Redoing and redoing mittens. Finally got what I want for the basic variation. Gussetted variation to do, after I take apart and reknit the worsted wt. basic ones.

The usual 90% wrong lookers to 10% appropriate lookers. Same old issues - love it hate the pond, love, love, love it, but husband doesn't want the maintenance (then please don't look at large, antique farmhouses, duh, 3 women love everything, no hates, then they say, they don't know what to do next - oy.

And the latest - Lady wants to run day care center - all the rooms a bonus, large lawns a bonus, really seemed to think this house suited her needs, then - silence. Not a word. And we're dreading, yet another winter here. Yep - ain't we got fun!

Labels: mittens, thyroid

Karin at Knitting & asks what we (the collective we) are doing to cut down on gas usage. Good question, but hard to do. Hubby travels almost an hour each way to work every day (Saugerties to Poughkeepsie), but I work at home and don't drive, so I guess that balances out into normal American family usage.

Over the past 4 summers, though, hubby's been home 3 of the summers from 3 surgeries. This year, he tore the tendon off his bicep and arm is in a cast. He won't see work til mid October *at the earliest*. The other 2 summers were a carpal tunnel surgery each summer. So, we save on gas every time hubby needs a surgery!

Today holds in store a small trip to Kingston - just 20 minutes away - to wander through the Salvation Army store to look for good stuff cheap! and to Target to get son a few nice shirts for his birthday. If not, then a science tome in B&N, as daughter sent me a coupon. Son is on year # - I forget - it's been awhile - working on his doctorate in micro-electronic engineering. Whenever he's done, it'll be an excuse to fly to CA for the ceremony.

We don't fly. Besides the tourist flight over the Sacandaga Reservoir in a small Cessna a gazillion years ago!, we flew once to Chicago.

I heard it said on the green channel that the amount of fuel to fly a family of four across the pond would heat an American house for a year. Good reason not to fly.

I like trains myself. And it's not because I've ridden them much - only once back in college to visit a friend. But I like the idea of getting up and walking around to stretch or get a snack. I find though, that when considering an Amtrak trip to a destination I'm considering, there's no straight trip. Like flying, here's that tedious stopover nonsense, and it's often costlier than flying.

Before I die, though, I want to take one of those romantic cross-country type of rail trips.

Knitting
Had to reknit one of the chunky mitten samples - same yarn, same size and type needles as mitten 1, but it came out at least a half inch shorter.

Now, what's up with that?!

It's been lying, drying, on the pilot-lit stove top, so I haven't measured it yet, but it darn well better be the same length!

Am making progress with the 1st worsted wt. mitten sample, without too much ripping - brain was actually working for a few hours last night. It's not a given that it will be available for thinking, every day. It's potluck.

They both have simple thumbs, and I think I'd like to offer a gussetted thumb, as well. I prefer the gussetted myself, but the extra shaping with colorwork can throw some knitters. The simple thumb is fully-functional, but the gussetted is more organic.

Labels: mittens

Title thanks to hubby. I was telling him that it feels like Saturday every day. I can hardly keep track of what day it is. It's because he's home from the arm surgery.

New Finepix camera came in the other day and I've been getting used to the additional complexity it has over my old Olympus 2 mp. This one is 6.3 mp but also has lots of settings and can do movies with sound. So have to get used to IMovie, as well.

The fawn photos were taken with my old camera - new one hadn't come yet.



There's a female and 2 young ones around lately and they've been coming up close to the house, which the deer don't usually do. One of the fawns is very sprightly and jumps around going backwards. Alot of fun to watch. Don't know if this guy is the one, but mama is nearby under the hemlock and the sibling is behind the tree out of sight.

I'm working on mitten designs in Cascade 128 Chunky and Cascade 220 yarns. The brain can't concentrate on the baby blanket charts or pattern. Heck, it's having a hard time just keeping track of the mitten pattern. I keep ripping out. But, hopefully, help is coming - doc app't in a 11 days.

A quick storm blew through today - here's the pre-storm clouds, taken with the new camera - not even adjusted. I love clouds - they can be so dramatic.



Got mittens to knit, so, til later.

Labels: Cascade 128 Chunky, cascade 220, mittens

Day started out rainy and cool, now it's hot and humid. The previous conditions were preferable.

With hubby home, I'm losing track of what day it is. And it's only gonna get worse as the 3+ months drag on.

Sending out a major thanks with kisses and hugs to Tony's Mom and Rox, who got up at 4 am!, so they could drive from South Jersey to take hubby to the hospital and back, and to the drugstore to get his meds.

They also brought a week's worth of food, lest he couldn't drive too soon with the gimpy arm to shop. And they bestowed on him the wherewithal to hire a guy or 2 to mow and wack these acres for a few weeks, so he doesn't have to.

They are both pure gems, always looking out for us, always helping us out. (Though I wish we weren't always in such need.)

I began thinking of tams, but this has morphed into mittens.

I knit a sample tam, following Ann Budd's numbers, in the Spring 2002 IK. I made a small, even tho my head circ is 21.5, not 21.

The brim, at 20% less than actual head circ, was way too loose, though. I'm figuring I need 25% less, which throws off the number that results from adding 50% for the tam body.

So, naturally, I drove myself nuts playing with all manner of percentages, both for brim and tam body.

My desire, though, was to retain that EASY k2, m1 for the 50% increase.

Now, EZ, in her Spun Out #8 - 5 Hats, says the tam body can be 50% extra or as much as doubled, depending on the planned width of the body. I suppose she meant to fit whatever color pattern one was using.

But once you veer from 50% or 100% off into any other %, one cannot increase evenly all the time. Increases are supposed to occur on one round. Is it blasphemy, then to increase over 2 rnds, in order to incorporate those leftover sts not accomplished by k2, m1?? Because I really hate having knitters work oddball increases.

I have a folder bursting at the seams with EZ's and Meg's Spun Outs and Woolgatherings, none of the designs of which I have ever made, nay, except for Gaffer's Gansey which I made for my father, oh, over 20 years ago.

Maybe when I get old. Tho some would say I am there now! OK, old and retired. Now THAT may never manage to take place.

Anyway, on the inside back cover of this folder are directions for a tam using π. And a scrap of paper where I tried to do just that - ha! But I did an example on that cover and it did work out, tho WHY I needed to know the circ of a theoretical tam is beyond me.

Basically, it says:
Desired diameter x π x gauge = # of sts to inc to after ribbing or hem.

Then C (circ) = (π r) squared.

I don't know what I was thinking. I doubt I'll ever need to know a tam's circ before casting on! And I couldn't tell you where I got that formula from - a book, an article?, your guess is as good as mine!

So, with brain rattled a bit, I turned to mittens. Pulled out a bunch of my colorwork graphs and find that, except for one, they all can only make one size mitten - woman's medium-ish size. Which isn't terrible, as other sizes could be attainable through yarn size change or ndl size change.

I want to dive right into knitting, but this seems to need to be fiddle around and run the numbers time, until things gel more.

Blanket's done, boys' colorway swatch done. Am just waiting on good lighting for the photos. I may wait til my new camera comes, roundabout Tuesday. Finally, to have many more of those little mega pixels at my service!

Labels: EZ, tams, Winter Spruce mittens

It's been one of those days - spent nearly every minute til 4 pm on the couch with bulky Lopi blanket and a heatpack.

Body cold, brain in a fog. So, all I can do for now is finish up my Kraemer Yarns Naturally Nazareth socks. Nice snug gauge (6.5 sts and 8.5 rnds=1") with US size 3's. Great yarn! The lanolin is heavenly.

I want a Lopi dress to wear in the soon-to-be frozen house. I was thinking of Lamb's Pride Bulky, but the mohair sheds way more than the Icelandic wool.

If you wanted a warm, but not necessarily fashion-plate dress (tho it *could be!*), what would you want - raglan? inset sleeve, etc, ribbed waist, colorwork, like Norwegian, Faeroe, or Shetland motifs in the yoke, cuffs, etc?? Snug skirt or a-line?

Brain is going numb again - time to curl up on loveseat again.

Labels: Kraemer Yarns Naturally Nazareth, Lopi, Lopi dresss, socks

Why I don't get to write as often as I'd like.

It's not that I'm on vacation - I wish, but we don't get those.

It's the whirlwind that my bod has me in. I don't know why they compare it to adolescence, because adolescence was a walk in the park.

Hot, cold, windows open, windows closed, this hormone cream, that hormone cream, this tincture 4x a day, being out of breath for no good reason, chores take twice as long to get done, drench the sheets and the jammies, sleep curled up neo-natal from being cold and wet, which means being cold the entire next morning. Can't wait for this to end.

I want to work, darnit. I want to design, I want to knit. I want to get enthused about a design and then actually have the energy to work on it.

I want to get through an entire day with the energy I used to have, instead of having to take 2 or 3 naps on the really bad days.

I want to gain back some weight. I'm 5'4" and fluctuating between 112 and 114 lbs. I don't know why anyone my age (holding back the boulder that is 50) would want to be this bony. (All those aging actresses trying to stay a size 2 and they look terrible.) And I don't want to, it just happened. My daughter is saving her 4's and 6's to pass on to me when she sees me next. I already know the 6's will be loose.

I'll be seeing the gyn as soon as hubby can drive comfortably, after his arm surgery, which is tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday. I'm gonna chew her ear off and hopefully, after a slew of tests, she can come up with something(s) to help, better than what I'm using.

That's it, whine over.

Got the hank of 220 from Webs yesterday, so am finally getting to do the boys' colorway swatch today, well, in between chores, so I'm not likely to get too far.

And I think I found an OK backing fabric for the actual baby blanket. It's the kind of design, though, that you could skip the backing, sew on a strip of fabric along one side and hang it up as an artful wallhanging near baby's crib.

I can't say when the pattern will be done - life is gonna change as of next Wedn. - so I hope to have it done before then. That's only half the battle, though.

It takes quite awhile to create a new webpage, reformat the pattern, create the pdf, size the photos for the webpage and the thumbnails for the category pages, link with photos on the proper category pages, list it on the Featured Yarns page and the home page in the New area, enter it in my cart both ways, then email 3 sets of databased shops, email my Google Groups subscribers, email the knitting for sale lists, and post it here!

Wait, not done yet! Print copies with letters to send to reps, the yarn manufacturer and catalog buyers.

Depending on how I feel, this can take 2 days to get done, at least - all for one pattern.

Time's a wasting and I want to get the laundry done before 10 pm, when I really don't want to be hauling myself up from the basement, yet, one more time!

Hit 98 degrees today - ugh.

So I'm sitting as still as I can on the loveseat working on the boys' colorway swatch for the next design. It's not keeping my brain from melting, though....

I am now offering Cottage Industry Licenses for a portion of my designs (27 out of about 95 or so, for a nice range of choice).

The link to that page is currently only on the home page's sidebar. Soon, I'll get it linked on the major categories' pages, but not today. Been working on it all day and have seen enough computer screen, thanks, even if it is a Mac!

I think the timing is right. Summer's the perfect time to begin work on garments to sell once the cool weather sets in!

Labels: license

Don't know if I've posted these new retailers already, so better to repeat than omit.

Also, I STILL need sales reps on the west coast, midwest, and New England areas. If you know of a great rep or are a great rep for indie patterns, just pop me an email or call 845-246-7480 11 am - 7 pm EST M-F only.

Yarn Love
Pam Wiedeman
290 Quarry Rd, Ste 101, Hummelstown, PA 17036
(717) 566-3066

Rustic and Refined
2598 W. 8th St., Erie, PA 16505-4036
(814) 838-1710

Natural Stitches
Martha Underwood
6401 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
(412) 441-4410
Email: shop@naturalstitches.com

Kathy's Kreations
Kathy Zimmerman
141 E. Main St, Ligonier, PA 15686
(724) 238-9320
Email: kathy@kathys-kreations.com

The Mannings
Carol Woolcock
1132 Green Ridge Rd., East Berlin, PA 17316
(717) 624-2223
Email: orders@the-mannings.com

Labels: new shops, reps

I thought August was the dog-days month, but it apparently has crept back to July.

No showings, hot, humid, very few enails. Like the air, it feels like life is standing still sometimes. I know it's gonna be all go here next Wednesday for hubby's surgery, but that's another thing.

I finally finished the duplicate stitch on the center panel of the baby blanket:


I love this fabric and think it's a great visual, even if it IS more work to produce. Now the borders to do and deal with the steeked edges.

Labels: baby blanket, steeks