Long time

Yes, I have to admit that I cheated on my blog... with doctor House! Oh boy! All 8 seasons at once! Absolutely no time to write. But guess what--plenty of time to crochet in front of the screen.  Right before I got sunk in Dr. House's big blue eyes I had some fun time with my dear friend Darrin. We happened to walk around alphabet city and stopped by one of my favorite yarn stores in NYC-- Downtown Yarns. Rita, the owner, was so sweet and gave me 40% (!!!) discount on Italian cotton I spotted immediately on one of the shelves. I suspect she just wanted to get rid of some old stuff and I seemed like a good "hooker" to take home those rejectees. My friend however swore to me on the cover of Vogue magazine that this is the ultra trendy color and I believe her.

Since the yarn has such saturated plum color I decided to go easy on the stitch pattern and picked something rather underwhelming. Once the swatch was made and basic calculations were done, I simply pulled out one of my best fitted cardigans and followed the measurements to be sure the new one would be exactly the same (fit-wise, of course, not the design-wise))). From time to time I was matching what was on the hook to the original and making notes on the counts of the stitches, so sleeves and two front halves would be identical. The hole process took me about one season of House, M.D. (I guess 5-6 days plus blocking).

And here is the piece I am going to wear for NYC Sheep and Wool Festival.

Can you guys keep a secret? I am making a skirt to complete the outfit)))


Yarn--Isager  6 balls
Color--36 (plum)
Hook--2.5
Buttons--1/2"

In the beginning was the word.

I didn't just pronounce myself a queen. I believe this is a well deserved crown.

A few years ago I was a Fashion Design student at FIT. During my last semester I was working on my portfolio and decided to present a complete collection of knitwear. My professor loved it so much, so he called me a Knitwear Queen. I proudly carried the title throughout the semester and once it was over I put the crown into my closet along with my portfolio. The job market was tough and I found myself at the technical (don't confuse with creative) knitwear department of Ellie Tahari.  I ended up measuring finished garments and sending demanding comments to the factories in China and Peru. A year and a half later the company went through the turbulence and many of us got laid off. I came home crying and my husband asked me if I was upset. I answered: "I am crying, because I am HAPPY!"

Nine months later I saw an ad at a well known free website for a position at a local yarn store. I have to say, that a day before I just landed a job as an assistant technical designer at another company and was supposed to start in a week. However, I immediately emailed to the store and within a few days I had a thirty-minute phone interview,  an hour-and-a-half-long interview in person with 4(!!!) different people and a sales person position at Lion Brand Yarn Studio. During that interview I was asked to pick one craft that I enjoy the most. I said that I love knitting as much as I love crocheting, but if they would insist and put a gun to my head asking me to choose a craft for life I would have to pick crochet. And there I was--helping my customers with their crochet questions, making projects for the Studio, teaching different crochet classes and of course working on my own designs.

From that point my dusty crown was taken out of the closet, polished and hoisted where it belonged.