The snow is melting

Receive each day as
a resurrection from death,
as a new enjoyment of life.
[William Law]

Photography by James E. Miller

Winter Class #2: Argyle Vest, continued

Feelings are like a color chart
that God has given us.
[Keith Miller]

Eight knitters started knitting their argyle vests in the first class. In addition to using printed instructions to get them started on the ribbing and vest back, they also filled in work sheets that helped them figure their stitch and row count based upon their gauge and measurements.

In the intervening two weeks, each sent me their calculations and I updated their customized color charts to use when they knit the argyle vest front (photo above).

As I polish the instructions for knitting the front and adding the finishing touches, I am faced with my usual quandary when writing patterns. How much do I include in the instructions? Do I illustrate how to add duplicate stitch accents, work attached iCord around the arm holes, and finish the v-neck with a miter and invisible bind off? Or do I just say do it and assume knitters will look it up if they don’t know how? In a perfect world, I’d publish this using little videos in an enhanced eBook. Wouldn’t that be fun?

I love these apps

Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic.
[Arthur C. Clarke]

My first criteria for a good app is, it is simple. I’m a graphic designer and not a computer scientist. I look for apps that behave themselves (they work without bugs), and apps that are intuitive to use (they have a small learning curve). I spend my main self-education time keeping myself up to speed with my major software tools. I want my smaller apps to be more like a manual screwdriver than an electric drill with multiple bits. These two apps fit the criteria and are affordable.

MyScript© Calculator is magic for sure. It was free! How does Vision Objects© do that? Also it works well and is fun to use. Write numerals and function symbols (+, -, =, etc.) with a finger on a touchscreen and then watch your writing change into real equations with the correct answer. It even charmed my five-year old grandson. When I used it in a knitting class to help people figure their stitches and rows from their gauge, it was fast and accurate. Some students even downloaded the app for their smart phones during class.

Desktop Task Timer by Erik Asmussen is also a winner in my book. I track my design time for billing purposes. In the past 30 years, I have tried using a number of methods to accurately record time and translate it in to an invoice. This app ($0.99) is the best I’ve found so far. I’ve even started tracking my non-chargeable tasks just out of curiosity.

Winter Class: Argyle Vest

Design is not just
what it looks like
and feels like.
Design is how it works.
[Steve Jobs]

Teaching classes is an asset for a knitting-pattern designer. At least it is for me. Not only do my students inspire me by their requests and enthusiasm, but they help me clarify the pattern details and how to word the instructions. I have been composing a basic vest pattern in multiple sizes and gauges for an argyle technique class. Here are details of the fun parts of the pattern and how the design works:

• Each of the eight students selected yarn colors in DK or light worsted weight from their favorite brands (Cascade 220, Berroco Ultra Alpaca, Brown Sheep Nature Spun, Rowan Creative Focus). I customized color charts (shown above) for each student to use with her written pattern.
• The lower edge is ribbing that is knit in the round so it lays nicely on the hips.
• The body is knit in two parts (back which is plain and front which is argyle) but the seam starts above the ribbing. Two stitches are added at the beginning and end of each piece as a seam allowance to produce an easy to sew, tidy seam.
• The armholes are finished with applied iCord and the V-neck is finished with ribbing and an invisible bind off.
• Attention is paid to smoothness of the fabric. Yarn joins and wraps follow the suggestions in the book shown below.
• The accent lines are worked in duplicate stitch.

An excellent source for refining intarsia technique is Intarsia—A Workshop for Hand & Machine Knitting from the studio of Sealed with a Kiss (Sherry and Keely Stuever). Select this LINK to download a sample swatch pattern for argyle intarsia.

Fond Farewell: Robert Pence

Friends are relatives you make for yourself.
[Eustache Deschamps]

I have always known Robert Pence. I’ve counted him as my friend for seventy years. I bid him farewell just before Christmas with the gratitude that I’d had the opportunity to count him as my friend for as long as I did.

When I was a small child, he was enough older that I looked up to him and considered him brilliant. When I first left home to go to college, it eased my homesickness to know he was nearby on the same campus. When we were both in the military, it was a comfort to know that he was stationed just up the coast. When I edited a magazine, he took magnificant photos for the cover. When I needed air in my tires, advice on home repairs, or information about anything, he helped me.

I shared his fascination with antique machinery, railroading, computers and the minutia of history. I admired his talent with composition and attention to detail in his photography. He enlarged my world, helped heal the bruises of life experiences, and shared the depth of his spiritual self. Although we weren’t relatives, one of the greatest complements I ever received was when he introduced me by saying, “This is my sister….”

After all of these years, I still look up to him and think he was brilliant.

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 12,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 20 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Jacquie Lawson Greeting Cards

I squirrel away sealed greeting cards that people give me
so I can open them later when I’m having a bad day.
[Emily Procter]

Since my day job is graphic design and illustration, I’m fascinated by everything from antique posters to modern electronic renderings. Typography fascinates me. Animation fascinates me. And applying new technology to old traditions fascinates me (among other things).

Last Advent season, a friend gave me a Jacquie Lawson Advent calendar. It’s festive beauty captivated me. The new one is ready for orders. That is why I encourage you to check out Jacquie Lawson’s greeting cards. To make it easier, I have added a widget to the navigation at the right so that you can preview her cards of the month.

The following is quoted from her website:

Back in the year 2000, Jacquie Lawson, an English artist living in the picturesque village of Lurgashall in Southern England, created an animated Christmas card featuring her dog and cats, and her 15th-century cottage, and sent it to a few friends for their amusement. Those friends sent the e-card to others, and within weeks Jacquie was inundated with requests from all over the world to design more e-cards. In February 2002 she teamed up with a few friends and family members to create jacquielawson.com.

Over the years the collection has grown to a current total of 224 e-cards, each one showing a degree of artistry and attention to detail rarely seen in the medium of e-cards. Even the music is composed and arranged specially for each card! We now have a range of birthday cards, Christmas cards, thank you cards, and so on, featuring dogs, cats, teddy bears, flowers, and many other subjects.

Each card we make takes anywhere from a few weeks to several months to complete. Many of the elements of the animation are actually painted by hand (using real paint, brushes and paper!) because the textures and colours achieved that way are so much more attractive than the electronic equivalent. These paintings are then scanned into electronic form, and the laborious process of animation starts. Finally, the music is created to accent or complement the animation.

I have no connection with the Jacquie Lawson business or website nor do I benefit from this review. I just wanted to share things that I like with you folks.