Oh my goodness

Oh my goodness....

I was hoping to just add my latest books and movies to my blog and here I am confronted with an entirely  new format and I can't figure out how to edit those lists that I've got going on my blog.  So, now I'm distracted and want to figure out how Blogspot works, but I have to leave the house in 10 minutes.

Suffice it to say, I'm back from China and the Road to China Shawlette is finished and it's a great reminder of our trip.  Here it is:

And now I can report that it is possible to write something, and post pictures in less than 10 minutes.  Let's see if this actually gets posted.  If it works I will say that Blogspot has made some improvements.

Road to China (Preliminaries)

Taylor and I will be on the road to China in a few days. We are going to Taiwan for a few days to celebrate David and Chia's marriage, and to meet her family. Then we are going to the mainland China for 12 days by ourselves.


This trip has taken many months to plan, and we've read guidebooks, explored the internet and talked to everyone we know who has ever been to Asia. It seems like the preparations have been endless, but we think we're ready. We've had many dollars worth of shots. We have medicine for avoiding Malaria, and medicine if we get Traveler's Diarrhea. We have Visas. We planned an itinerary. We bought gifts for David's in laws. We have each assembled a collection of clothes that are lightweight and easy to wash. We each have our reading materials ready. We have airline tickets, hotel reservations, guides, drivers. We have money to tip people. All seems to be in order. We know we may encounter glitches, but we can do it!


But there's one final item to check off: what knitting project to bring?


For this intrepid knitter, the decision of what to knit is a major consideration. In Mexico I made socks. On car trips I've made scarves, sweaters, shawls. But what to make in China? It needs to be something smallish. It needs to have interest to keep my attention. It can't be too complicated. It has to be something that I actually want to make. The yarn has to feel good.



Ah ha. The perfect project came to mind thanks to Peggy at the Liberty Bell Knitters Guild. I have decided to make the Summer Mystery Shawlette designed by Wendy Johnson wendyknits.net. The yarn I'm going to use is Road to China. My color is Light Peridot. The yarn feels so soft and scrumptious it's all I can do to keep myself from knitting it all before it's time to step on the plane. The yarn is Baby Alpaca, Cashmere, Camel and Silk. Thanks to this yarn, and our final destination, I'm actually looking forward to the 14 hour flight to Taipei.

Audrey's Lacey Cardie

Isn't this the cutest photo ever? Baby Audrey is in her "Welcome to the World Baby Girl" sweater that I knit for her.

Knitting baby sweaters is an activity that I do for myself. It's my way to welcome a new personality to the planet, and to congratulate the little one's parents. However, I know that there are people out there who don't really get what a hand knit gift means. Therefore, I choose my yarn and pattern carefully, so I get the most personal satisfaction out of my knitting time and energy. The parents and grandparents of this baby definitely appreciated the gift. So I got two rounds of happiness with one project.

I love this little cardigan. It's made of Baby Bamboo, from Sirdar. It's cotton and bamboo and is gloriously soft. The pattern is from one of their books, and I chose it after seeing the sweater made by a customer at Garden of Yarn in Chadd's Ford. I fell in love with the yarn and the pattern. I especially enjoyed learning to add the lacey trim midway up the sweater. I will keep the technique in mind for future projects.

Learning My Lesson

I have never knit to make money. I have rarely knit for other people. I have learned over the years that, with the exception of my mother and my cousin Maren, my other family members tolerate my knitting and frequently lose the objects that I knit for them. Therefore, I knit for myself and that is that.

Until recently.

My friend Pat has a friend who has been looking for someone to knit a Christmas stocking for her. She already has three stockings and wants a fourth for the new daughter in law. Apparently, this friend has asked in knitting shops all around the Hilton Head area and hasn't been able to find someone to produce for her. Well.......................my friend Pat said to her, "My friend Jamar could knit this up in no time." The friend contacted me asking if I could knit a stocking. I replied that I could (thinking that I would not like to do it), and before I knew it I was committed. I neglected to discuss price with the woman. Big mistake.

The friend gave Pat her three stocking so I could look them over, and sent me the pattern. As I suspected, the socks were made from acryllic from Michael's. Being a yarn snob, it was difficult for me to make the transition to yarn that doesn't feel or look good. However, since I said I'd do it, I purchased the yarn and knit the stocking. Actually, it was kind of fun to do an intarsia project, even though I had a bad attitude.

The question now is, how much to charge? I spent $25 on supplies. I actually kept track of my time: 20 hours, including shopping, graphing the name and knitting. If I had a time clock it probably would add up to more than 20 hours. How much is a knitter's time worth? What a quandary.