Lana's Waves

The original from 2009

This is long overdue.  To give you an idea of how long overdue it is, I made the first incarnation of Lana's Waves in the summer of 2009.  If you're feeling curious, you can see my original blog post here.


So, after all this time, what was the catalyst for writing down the pattern (and adding a small touch or two)?  Well, in short, it's Kate.  I'm not sure if there's a quick way of saying how we're related, but she's my cousin Lori's daughter (Lana's granddaughter).  Barely into her teens, it's still pretty obvious that salt water runs in her veins; not surprising considering how much her family loves the ocean.  Already a seasoned traveler, Kate has been to the Galapagos Islands ( you know that place that "was inspiration for Charles Darwin's Theory on Natural Selection"- from wikitravel).

The new one for Kate

Man, impressing a teen is hard enough; but one a passport stamp like that?  Forget about it!  Or so I thought.  Imagine my surprise, my glee when she emailed saying "I was at her house one day and noticed the quilt/blanket you knitted her. I fell in love with it. My mom told me that you were trying to earn money."  Damn, not only was she impressed, she was impressed enough for a commission!  So, while making this project for Kate, I took the time to write it down so that others can make it if they wish.  Anyway, here's the pattern for Lana's Waves (pdf format, thank you google docs).  Please email me at daniaerickson@gmail.com if you have any questions or find mistakes in the pattern.


* All rights to the design and pattern "Lana's Waves" are protected by copyright.  Dania Erickson 2012.

Perfectly good enough

At least it's done.  This is the idea I should focus on considering that I'm a perfectionist.  I suppose being a perfectionist might be a good thing if I had more motivation; but, as it stands now, if I don't think I can do something perfectly, I won't even try.  Now, this is absolutely no way to live a life.  That being said, being any different seems to be just this side of impossible.  What can I say?  When I try to do something, "good enough" I usually end up feeling like a failure.  Like the Frondly Yours pattern.  People have been kind enough to correct me on the number of errors I made while writing the pattern.  Stitches left entirely unmentioned, or given the wrong number for repeats.  I wasn't sure about publishing it when I did, and probably should have waited until I completed it once more; but I had been sitting on it for months, shouldn't it have been at least good enough by now if not perfect?

Then there's the other side of the coin.  This week I've been over watching Daniel's sisters.  Remember the heirloom blanket I was asked to mend from my post 'Out with the Old'?  Well, I found the pattern; and if you're interested in making one like it, it's available for free on Paton's website, though you do have to register with their site.  Anyway, after much hemming and hawing, and a bit of swatching, I got out some matching yarn and gave it a go.  It was surprising how little that hole actually took.  I had to recreate a few stitches and one popcorn with the new yarn, but it was mostly just figuring out what stitch came from what row.  Don't get me wrong, it's not like the end result is flawless, far from it; but unless you're looking for it, the mending isn't blatantly apparent.  Despite my perfectionist streak, I'm actually kind of happy with the way it turned out.  It's not gorgeous, but this time I'm more than satisfied with good enough.

 

Out with the Old?

Since it's timely I almost feel the obligation to post something about New Year's resolutions; especially since those that follow the Mayan calendar suspect that this might be my last opportunity to do so.  This is usually the time of year when people start fresh; and along with organizing priorities it's not unusual to resolve to get more organized in a tangible sense.  Time to clean up your life as well as your living space.  So, a number of people throw out old clothes, papers, broken items along with their old calendars.  But what about those things we keep?

This year I spent the last day of 2011 with my boyfriend and his family.  About an hour before the ball dropped, Daniel's stepmother, Judy, was doing her Wonder Woman-esque feat of managing sleeping arrangements.  Before you think I'm exaggerating, I should probably mention that a number of relatives were in town, bringing the total of butts needing beds to a delicate 15.  Not surprisingly, this was an opportunity to  find throw blankets that aren't used on a regular basis.

One such blanket was a wedding gift when Daniel's father and Judy got married.  This lovely antique white afghan was lovingly crocheted by hand, with fringe and bobbles.  This blanket had been in the family long enough to predate the addition of their two girls, as well a number of pets.  One member of the family, Buster, an Australian Shepard, wanted to make his impression on this heirloom.  Buster busted a hole about the size of a snout in the wedding afghan.  Fortunately it wasn't torn asunder; just a little too loved on.

And now back to New Year's eve.  As we sat around alternately gaping and giggling at Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper, Judy came down with the wedding afghan.  She knows about my addiction; that I knit and crochet and figured it never hurts to ask.  Knowing that washing would have helped unravel what Buster had begun, she refrained from doing so.  After studying the pertinent area, my mind unhindered by liquid holiday cheer, I told her I thought I might be able to fix it.  I hope I can actually deliver!

I love that I've been given an opportunity to mend something special.  In our society of disposable goods, it seems wonderfully fulfilling to fix something instead of chucking it out and getting a new one.  The lines from Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World keeps coming back:

"But old clothes are beastly," continued the untiring whisper. "We always throw away old clothes. Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending, ending is better …".


"Ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches; the more stitches …"


Eerily prophetic, considering it was first published in 1932.  Despite the dismal similarities between the world of 2012 and the dystopian future Huxley presented; I'm grateful that it's not completely the case.  I'm finding personal riches in stitches, and I'm certainly not ending my mending.  The thought of heirlooms still being used and loved warms me more than this afghan ever could.  So for me it's in with the old and new; old heirloom new stitches and a new lease on life for this piece of family history.

Stings, doesn't it?

The beekeeper's quilt 

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that a pattern called "The Beekeeper's Quilt" comes with sweet honey and some stings as well.

The backstory:  In July a pattern showed up on Ravelry from Tiny Owl Knits.  Despite the pattern costing $5.50, as of today, there are over 1,600 projects currently completed or in progress on Ravelry.  So, why are they so popular?  Well, it could be nearly insane cuteness and cavity inducing sweetness of the creator, Stephanie Dosen (emphasis on insane, I was mesmerized  by her v-log found here; very entertaining even for non-knitters), or it could be the nature of the project (it's very portable, quick to create, requires a minimum of concentration, uses up scrap yarn, is rather different from the usual knit blankets).  

Click for link to the about page

However, despite the warm and fuzzy statement on Stephanie Dosen's about page that says "it seemed the only thing left to do was to write down all of the patterns so that everyone could join in & knit along," it rings a bit hollow when you consider that 'everyone' is in reality those with $5.50 to shell out on a pattern for a tiny hexagonal pillow aka "hexapuff".  

But hey, if it's a relatively simple concept I can just make my own right?  Maybe even post my version for free; after all, it's not like I'm reverse engineering one that was made.  Still, give credit where credit's due and mention the source of the inspiration; afterall, certainly kudos goes to the originator right?  Oh no.  Turns out.

Purloined's Honeycomb and her cat Butters

September 28th and 29th:  Earlier this week I saw a pattern called Honeycomb by purl-oined; which from the description was a free version of a hexagon puffed pillow inspired by Tiny Owl Knits.  Now, I had seen the original pattern when it came out and dismissed it, not only due to the extravagant price tag (I'm still able to afford the high cost of living and therefore in no position to be buying patterns), but also to because of the fact that it uses sock yarn (I have yet to make a pair of socks, I like worsted weight yarn personally).  Since this one was free, and cited that you could use whatever yarn weight desired, I was intrigued enough to invest the time it took to click on the blog link, have it load, and peruse the pattern.  

Fran's non copyright infringing Sack-boy

So with passing interest, I went to the blog where this pattern was posted.  I perused the pictures and pretty much dismissed it as not my thing.  My interest really peaked when I got down to the comments.  A comment from 'Fran' (please see pic to the right) had been deleted by the blog/pattern author 'Purl'.  Purl responded with:

"If you'd like to leave a comment, please remember:That being a bitch is just going to get your comment deleted. Nobody forced you to come here, so don't be rude. This isn't the original pattern, but it is a version based on it, as I mentioned. If you don't like it, that's fine. You don't need to broadcast hate on a blog that is about sharing and love."

I kind of figured I'd encounter at most comment or two from people who were fanatical about the "beekeeper's" original pattern and the cutesy wootsie creator as well as well as some comments from those grateful for a free version.  Ok, that's a lie, I didn't expect very many comments at all, considering it had been posted for at most few mere hours before I saw it.  Being who I am (and grateful that we live in a world where inspiration and innovation can cause amazing things to happen), I immediately had to post my comment... about her cat, and lightly teasing people who were undoubtedly going to freaking out and start talking about calling lawyers, and "there should be a law!" and whatnot concerning vague copyright violation threats.  

I was looking in the WRONG direction.  Comments on her blog?  A few people did I guess; but the real venom is found in the comments section of the Ravelry post.  It makes conversations about politics and religion look tame.  At the start it seemed people were pissed about Purl's lack of mention of the designer of the original inspiration and accused the anonymous Purloined as trying to take credit for the design.  Her nearly immediate response was: 

Nope, I never claimed this was original.
Ever.
Everybody should calm down. I realize you all have as much of a right to be annoyed as I have a right to make my own version, but you’re getting a little worked up.
You are all right. It is a great original; it’s fantastic.
So I made myself one like it. And a lot of people I know liked it, so I posted it here.
Nobody is telling you not to use the original pattern.
Use it! It’s lovely. I don’t have the original pattern. I have this one.
So be angry if it makes you happy, get totally inflamed. This pattern is different.
To the several people who pointed out that mine isn’t as symmetrical or has a different number of stitches-- please understand that is the point. This is not her pattern. I didn’t try to write her pattern. I did, however, try to write one based on the photos and inspired by her pattern.
So lighten up. If I’d wanted to try to claim credit for this idea, I would certainly not have posted a free pattern. Nor would I have used an anonymous user. 

And Now:  Purloined has actually removed the text citing the name of the pattern she was inspired by. This is apparently after getting contacted by Stephanie Dosen with the request to not mention her pattern's name. Also, to those in the Tiny Owl Knits group got a message from her.  A comment from Maddie cites that:

This was posted by Stephanie in the TOK group. I agree: purl-oined’s words were mean-spirited, but it doesn’t take back anything said for us to bring out the torches and the tar and have a witch hunt. Over a hexagon. Let’s all move on with our lives, K?

Things seem to be settling down since the original outburst, however this does bring up the endlessly debatable topic of Copyright and copyright infringement.  Apparently "Honeycomb" is not an exact replica of "the beekeeper's quilt", according to some of those who have seen both patterns.  My pathetic vague recollection of something someone might have casually mentioned once about copyright law is that something has to be approximately 10% different from the original.  Then again, if you want a more intelligent discussion of copyright violation, let us consider Regretsy's take on the subject.

Personally, I'm kinda torn.  I'd like to be able to charge something for some of the patterns I design (hey, I can daydream of being able to support myself).  However, there's something so warm and fuzzy about sharing something you created with the world; for people to customize as they see fit.  Besides?  Who am to call a pattern "mine" when the combination of stitches I'm using has almost certainly been conceived of before, even if it's not in EXACTLY the same way.

Imagine a Green Lantern crocheted baby blanket

BrandXsketch

A friend of mine is expecting a son sometime in the VERY near future.  His love of comics, and is astonishing ability to create them (just check out some of the things he does on his blog:  Brand X Blog, where he is a smokin' pencil for hire).  Not only is he exceptionally talented in creating images with pencil, ink and paper; he also delves into the digital arts.  Here's sort of a self portrait he created (I love it):

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to create a project for one of my favorite audiences:  BABIES!  They can't tell you they don't want to wear it, they are at the mercy of their parents sense of style.  If an infant doesn't like wearing something you've knitted, the crying exhibited can be easily blamed on 1) gas, 2) dirty diapers -perhaps an active display of displeasure towards a project that no sane person would considering wearing- 3) general fussiness.  In short, you can torture small humans with knitted and crocheted gifts and there is nearly nothing they can do about it.  Meanwhile, if they happen to smile while wearing or touching one of these handcrafted disasters, it is clearly as sign that they adore what you made for them... nevermind the dancing stuffed animal that they're looking at.



Considering the source of the new bundle, I started to look for something with the Green Lantern logo.  I found a chart for a tunisian crochet (and interesting technique that I have yet to try) by Maria Merleno on Ravelry.  It cited that the pattern was available on associated content website, but I couldn't find it.  After some tedious counting on the image they provided I duplicated it and have posted it here (with some graph lines).  Still, I wanted to do single stitches, but my gauge wasn't exactly 1:1.   I decided to double all of the numbers, so that it was twice as high and twice as wide.  I had to tweak the rows between for a smoother transistion on the curves, and it seems to have come out pretty decently. The finished project, complete with scalloped edging, and slip stitch finishing where color changes take place has already been shipped!  I'm such a procrastinator, it is astonishing to think that this blanket will be delivered before the little man is!

Click here for link to google doc graph

Lana's Blanket

   My Aunt Lana lives in Redondo Beach above a bluff over looking the pacific ocean. It’s gorgeous, if you don’t mind the 150 yards (mostly vertical) that separate you from the beach (and ant-like people) below. Every year, she shares her good fortune by having everyone come by for the 4th of July to watch the fireworks (one of her neighbors hires a barge full of ‘em).

   As I sat there watching the waves crash down below us; I noticed it was a bit chilly, despite it being July. With Lana being amazing and playing hostess every year, it seemed like a nice idea to make her a gift that was reminiscent of the view she loves so much.

For so many reasons I chose to use acrylic yarn. It’s washable, inexpensive, I don’t have to worry about dye lots, and I could get the colors I wanted. And thank goodness it’s inexpensive, since I was holding two strands of worsted weight throughout making it sort of a bulky weight. I saw in a catalog where colors gentle shifted into one another by holding one strand of the old color and one strand of the new color you’re transitioning to.

I chose a stitch pattern from one of the stitchionaries I have that reminded me of waves.

Braid Panels

I like braid cables; according to the snooty these are actually plait cables. Anyway this is going to be a disgustingly warm blanket. After I make the fraternal twin of this panel (instead of one braid going up and one going down it will be reversed); I will have used nearly eight 12 ounce skeins of yarn. This means that it's going to be SIX FREAKIN' POUNDS of yarn! Oh, and I'm not done yet.

Well, this is what I've been doing with my spare time.

Even more blanket!

Luscious, is it not? This is is a modification of a pattern from Debbie Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The pattern is called "Triple Braided Diamonds" and I just multiplied everything in there by two so that it would kind of measure up with gargantuan nature of this blanket. I think this one is going to be the center panel.

Perfect for those freezing So. Cal winters!

A few months ago I bought a ton of denim colored yarn on sale. In fact I got 96 ounces of this yarn for the low price of $32.00 (plus tax of course). With such an abundant supply; I had little choice. I needed to make a blanket. I found a pattern I liked from Lion Brand's website and got started. Here's what it's supposed to look like....

Cute, right? Well, it calls for a really thick yarn... No problem; I get the same gauge when I hold two strands of my denim yarn together. Then I decided that I wanted to make it long enough to cover my queen sized bed. By repeating the pattern so that it's more than twice as long as originally intended, I got a panel that looks like a very long version of the panel below.  Right now I have two of these long little babies waiting to go. I need to post a picture of the other panel I did for this blanket, but this is enough for now.