Follow Friday | August 15

Hmmm, I seem to have missed a couple Fridays. Rest assured, I was deliriously relaxed on vacation in Costa Rica, but now I'm back and am going to do some extra following this Friday to make up for lost time. I'd like to start by belatedly blog hopping with the lovely Kelly of Knitigating Circumstances who tagged me in her post. I first discovered Kelly through her amazing Audrey sweater which she made for her daughter and blogged about extensively. I am still absolutely planning to almost entirely copy her and make myself one because it is so so beautiful. I like reading Kelly's site because she's whip smart and much much much more thorough than I am when discussing process. Now the questions of this particular blog hop seem a little premature since I've only been writing here for a short time, but I like following rules, so here goes:

Question 1: What Am I Working On?

Oh dear, what am I not working on? I finished my 1858 while on vacation and snapped this photo which needs no outfit attribution as there's really no outfit to speak of - it's a 6 dollar tube skirt from H&M. And now I have some behind-the-scenes projects to work on, while also somehow managing to finish a Grace which I am past the join on, and which I have modified so that the entire yoke is lace and knitting in tosh merino light in the I-can't-believe-they-discontinued Brothers Grimm and starting and finishing a Grandpa Cardigan which I will knit with Plucky Trusty in In The Navy before Rhinebeck. In my fantasy world, I also finish another 1858 this time using navy as the main color, white as the stripe, and with a ribbed collar.

Question Two: How does my work differ from others of its genre?
There ain't nothing new under the sun, my friends. I like knitting what I like knitting and I like wearing what I like wearing and neither is particularly groundbreaking. I like figure flattering patterns, but I also like interesting designs. I would like to say that my work differs from others in that I am in the minority of people who ADORES that the question used "different from" as opposed to the grammatically terrible "different than." So that's different.

Question Three: Why do I write/create what I do?
I took up knitting because I moved from Manhattan to Connecticut and was suddenly faced with a commuter train ride two times a day. I assumed (and please commence laughing now) that knitting would be a less expensive way of filling that time as I would have easily read two books a week and that could add up to $20! I also have discovered about myself that I am a craftsman, not an artist. I enjoy hobbies where my lack of fine motor skills doesn't affect the finished product. One time a girlfriend and I spent a day self-teaching ourselves how to decorate cakes. I whipped up tubs of buttercream and had all the pastry tips available and a pretty comprehensive instructional book. At the end of the day, her cakes looked like Martha Stewart and my cakes looked like Martha Stewart's 5-year old grandchild. I'll grant you that the buttercream tasted fantastic, but that's because I'm a craftsman, not an artist.

As for why I write, I guess that would be vanity: the notion that what I have to say is both so interesting and so well phrased that to not put it out in the universe would be unkind.

Question Four: How does my writing/creative process work?
I absolutely stink at these questions. My process is to do the thing and then be done with the thing. There's no special sauce. Half the time I'm re-watching the Family Guy Star Wars spoof as I knit, the other half it's reruns of Top Gear. I have started ripping back when I make a particularly glaring error, but my definition of glaring may be far more liberal than others - I'm definitely a goal knitter. As for this writing. What you see is what I came up with at the moment I sat down to write it. It's not that I don't care about my readers enough to edit or be thoughtful (and I will go back and clean up typos when I catch them), it's that my "voice" (if we can pause our collective gag reflexes long enough to use that term) is spontaneous. I like my writing to sound like my conversations which I don't have the luxury of editing or thinking about. If you think I sound pompous in print, please ask people who know me in person: I sound equally as pompous in real life. I wouldn't want the people who only read me not to know this terrible thing about my personality, so you get unvarnished me.

So now it's time to pass the torch. I selfishly am including Alicia of Two Little Plums here because I really really want her to blog more. After all with a successful design career and the raising of children, I imagine she has gobs of free time. Also if she has the time to make her hair look that enviably amazing, she has time to entertain me with blog posts! My affection for Alicia's designs can, at first, seem incongruous. Her style is very much country, easy, unfussy, and natural - if she owns a pair of 4" heels, I'd imagine they're her wedding shoes, but her aesthetic is so consistent and so reflective of her environment that it is incredibly seductive. Full disclosure, Alicia's backyard is, coincidentally, where I was proposed to, so it will always have a special place in my heart.

Next up is Lisa of Indie Untangled who is a brilliant writer and tons of fun both in person and online. Lisa is a knitter I actually know in person. We met at the knitting group we both used to go to in Connecticut and she was kind enough to let me guest post on the Indie Untangled blog when it first started. I will warn you that the site will introduce you to all manner of new yarny obsessions, but you should go any way because your stash was looking a little bare. The site is a great combination of community and editorial and I definitely look forward to seeing what's new!

I hope you'll forgive me for number 3 which is not in English, but Sylvie of Polo & Co not only designs, she also dyes and sells yarn which I have had the good fortune to have used: once on my Nora sweater, and I'll be using it again for Birchbark (by the aforementioned Alicia). Even if you don't read French and don't like using google translate to do the page for you, you can still be entertained by the lovely photography. Then you should go buy the yarn which is deliciously rustic and comes either in its natural hue, or naturally dyed. To borrow, and then misuse, a French idea, Sylvie's entire aesthetic is imbued with terroir.

Have a wonderful weekend. I will, of course, be on the beach with several September issues to keep me company (and to help keep my biceps in shape - is it me or have September issues quadrupled in size? I can't believe the mailman could wedge my copy of InStyle in the tiny box).