The joy that surrounds me today is palpable. I’m surprised that people walking down the street don’t stop dead in their tracks, stunned by the obvious halo of happiness around my head…then again, it’s a little humid, maybe they just are confused by my enormo-hair. (My hair responds famously to moisture. What are usually unruly long curls become country singer hair the minute the planet damps a little. I have been experimenting with various de-frizzing products for for the last 2 decades with no luck and have finally accepted that my hair is a creature of it’s own destiny…clearly on a path separate from my own).
There are several reasons to be absolutely happy enough to dance in public today. ( I have just corrected the typo…until mere moments ago that read “dance in pubic”. Wonder how many people saw that….clearly I need “stupid check” not “spell check”)
1. There is a new section in the sidebar called “free patterns” Yup. Free. The Snowdrop Shawl pattern is yours for the having, though it comes with fair warning. It has not, I repeat NOT been test knit. If you find trouble I’ll help bail you out, (my email address is on the pdf). You should probably know that there is absolutely no guarantee that I won’t laugh about your knitterly suffering, even if it is completely my fault. (Sorry…I’ll try to keep it to a minimum) I feel like a heroine for making the pattern. I’ve been engaged in a vicious battle of wills with Excel for weeks to make the charts. I was actually reduced to tears by it, and your local harlot is not a tearful woman. It was only the words of the Curmudgeon that kept me going. She wrote that she draws in the little Excel squares to chart knitting all the time. I admit that I enjoy a good conspiracy theory as much as the next girl, but even I found it hard to believe that she would say that for the laughs she would get knowing that I was sitting here trying. (I feel compelled to admit that it was only because there was no way she would know what I was trying to do that I was able to let go of the idea that it was some kind of a plot) Today, victory is mine.
2. The sun is shining. These are my shoes today.
This is truly reason to believe that winter is over. I know…nothing is for sure. I can hear all the other Ontarians saying “I can’t believe she said that” and trudging back to the basement for their boots. Forgive me, but today I believe. (Err….while you’re in the basement you might want to get your shovel, I’m taking my shorts out of storage today)
3. Even though Sheila is a much better spinner than I am, I tried to spin laceweight as fine as hers. While normally, this would have been an opportunity for the planet to mock me and remind me of my place in the world, inexplicably I was allowed to spin without incident. The resulting mohair/ merino singles do not suck. Again, victory is mine.
4. Ken loaned me his laptop for the duration of the Really Big Job that I got, (All hail the RBJ, well, and hail Ken too) and then he made it all “wireless”. This means that me, my shoes and the nice weather can be as one without having to abandon the job and incur self-esteem damaging guilt for sitting in the sun when I should be working. (I would too. I would absolutely leave the work and go outside. I would feel terrible about it, but I would go.)
I can’t think of a darned thing that could take the glow of this day. (I know. I’m just begging for the planet to give me an illustrative experience. “Here Steph, take this. This is what could take the glow off your day”, but the sun is still shining, my shoes are still good, and somewhere in the world the person responsible for this sort of thing put my name on the list of people who have beaten Excel.
Finally, for the person who found this site by searching google for “How to be a Harlot”, how surprised are you?
Yarn Harlot
That last line made me go “bwah!” 🙂
I never thought of using Excel to generate pattern graphs. Hmmm…
I’m glad you’re having a good day. Watch out, though — don’t tempt fate too much!
Beautiful singles, Steph!!! I’m keeping my eyes out for an Ashford lace flyer that nobody wants… of course, I don’t have an Ashford, so I’d have to find someone who wanted one.
Whatever drugs you’ve got, will you share?
Speaking of sharing, consider someday writing “Excel for Dummy Knitters”. For those of us that are Excel-stupid, yet intrigued by the possibilities.
I am all the wayyy south in Maryland, and even *I* am worried about snow after all that bullish talk! Although… every now and then the universe has to give you One Good Day, right?
That is lovely looking laceweight, too! Will you try to dye it “broken” again (she says excitedly)?
I’m with you, spring is here to stay. (I unpacked my shorts two weeks ago 🙂
Cheslea: Maryland? Pshaw, woman. I’m in Florida & I’m scared that the Harlot’s whimsy may bring a blizzard upon us here.
Steph, thanks for the snowdrow pattern. I’ve added it to my “Someday, When I Work Up The Courage To Do Lace On a Grand Scale” list.
The pattern looks great!
I did a quick skim and have to say that I love the levity in your patterns. I felt the same about the Daisy pattern. It’s nice to have someone to tell you that it’s okay to lie down or go eat chocolate.
Thanks!
Enjoy the sun – here in North Dakota, we got a couple of inches of sleet and it is in the 30s. I got the wool socks back out. The rest of you can quit worrying – we found the destination of the curse!
I too am on a quest for the Perfect Product for crazy hair. Thanks for sharing snow drop.
What really big job? I thought you were a doula. Do you do something else also? I mean, besides knitting, writing about knitting, and keeping a family reasonably sane?
Thanks for the pattern! Yay!!!!
And I know it is spring because of the giant wasp flying around my apartment.
The girls in my family have that hair too – at the age of 3, my youngest daughter dubbed hers ‘Active Hair’ – and starting referring to it in the 3rd person in a superhero voiceover style. Now at 12, she’s less enthusiastic about it, and more frustrated by its powers.
I am seriously considering cutting mine really short this summer, though short frizz can’t be hidden in a ponytail…
Maybe you’ve got it backwards — perhaps your triumphant successes in other areas have invoked the lovely weather. Whatever the reason, though, I’m with you on working in the garden; sadly, I’ve not gone wireless, so I had to use a more old-fashioned style notebook — the spiral-bound type. Still, what a lovely day. If you had anything to do with it, thanks!
I’m afraid I went a little nuts about the weather yesterday too on my site so…be afraid…be very afraid. (I even took the flannel sheets off the beds )..As for the frizzy hair: check over at Pioneer Woman with a Cell Phone, last month’s posts deal with this problem and a solution that apparently works for her and many others..I have not tried it myself, having only moderate “active hair” that I tame with Cowboy Magic (works for horses,too!..how weird is that??)
Sorry, Pioneer Woman is on leave and no archive links appear to be visible. If you gotta know the hair solution, just ask.
The book is Curley Girl. It’s a miracle, a life-changing experience, a conversion experience, a political…Let me take a breath. When I say I now wish my hair were =more= curley, you begin to get an idea. Yes, there is a secret, and if you want to e-mail I’ll tell you, but you can’t really say it out loud because all those silkeys start to sneer and sniff and move away. (Then there are smaller miracles.) But the book (combined with my complete Death to Shame) has made me a public nuisance. I now complement complete strangers on their hair, especially if they’re young and especially if they’ve skinned it back into a rebellious ponytail.
Beautiful singles, by the way. I’ve been trying to spin rainbow dyed Moon Shadows merino/alpaca/tussah silk very fine so I can Navajo ply it for the diagonal directional scarf, so I’m sympathetic. Should the karma-scale divebomb, a length of foam pipe-insulation cut to size and slit lengthwise to slip onto the bobbin shaft is a nice makeshift lace bobbin (and a bobbin half-full of something else is even cheaper — but I expect you know all this.)
But Curly Girl — by Lorraine Massey — and bought from the nearest independent bookseller will boost your karma through the roof.
Love the blog Stephanie. I second the raves for Curly Girl by Lorraine Massey. It’s really changed the way I feel about and care for my hair.
Also check out http://www.naturallycurly.com.
I was almost afraid to read your post all the way through…lest you curse us here in Connecticut too! 😉 Hope the rest of your day was awesome!
Stephanie, I will gladly test knit your shawl. All week–no, longer than that–I’ve been looking for a lace shawl pattern to make my mom for her birthday. I wanted something challenging and fancy looking, even though I know my mom would wear absolutely anything I made for her. I’m thinking a light green or light-light aqua. Since her birthday is at the end of July, it would still be summery looking, but she could wear it when it starts to get cool. I’ll get some yarn this weekend and keep you posted!
Thanks for the Snowdrop pattern, Stephanie. I just downloaded it and will go stash diving this afternoon to look for the perfect yarn.
Thank you so much for the pattern for the Snowdrop Shawl. :0)
Wow, thanks for writing up Snowdrop, it’s going in the file. Is there a statute of limitations on Dial-A-Harlot, in case I don’t get to it for a year or two? heehee
Feel like…? You ARE a heroine for making that pattern. Thank you so much for sharing it. I followed its creation eagerly, from swatch to sudden shawl, and I’m pleased to be allowed to read the technical details about the final product.
Elizabeth in Norway
I feel your pain re the hair. This week at work I went into the bathroom and whilst staring at my image in the mirror I realized that I had (with no effort or want on my part), beauty queen hair. It was very, very big.
I’ve also been known to sneer when seeing ads for products that are meant to “tame my unruly curls” because I know that no such product exists.