Project #2: Mobius Capelet

One of the things that drew me to the project was the color gradation. I’ve never seen a knit project that had such a gradual color change. It was unique, and I could see a lot of design ideas when I saw that this was possible.


Started: April 4, 2010
Completed: May 13, 2010
Length: 5 1/2 weeks

It was a lot easier to knit in the round because there was not a lot of finishing after it was completed. No seams or blocking. It came out a little stretchier than I thought, but after a wash and drying completely it seemed to hold its shape better. It is knitted in 100% wool yarn, fingering weight, with four strands of color. The graduation happened by tying a new color every 8 rounds, one strand at a time.

This project had more design techniques, like the lace stitching and mobius twist in the collar. I was very happy about how it came out. It went as a gift for a three year old girl.

Putting my Cart before my Horse, or my Horse before my Cart

I’ve already shown that I put family before work. I chose to quit my job to stay at home. When things aren’t working at home I give up things I am working on outside of the house. This does not make me a good candidate for any job. But is it only because I haven’t ever had a job that I feel is as fulfilling as what I do at home? I’m a good people person when it comes to co-workers or a team. I am not a good people person with the general public, that pretty much rules out any type of job that helps people. So then what else could there be that makes me feel as good supporting my family if its not helping others? Any thing to help the environment requires either a lot of traveling, or relocation for long periods of time. Unless I want to crunch numbers at a desk, which I don’t. Developing alternative energy sources seems unappealing as a job to me. That leaves only jobs that have nothing to do with helping others. Only entertaining them.

What does a job do for me? Well there is a pride that comes with receiving that paycheck you earned all by yourself. Only it won’t be by myself because it will require day care, probably a housekeeper, and spousal support. There is a sense of fulfillment to be recognized for your abilities other than house cleaning, errand running, cooking, and building a fort out of the dining room furniture and sheets. Yet most of that comes from how other people perceive me. You can’t have a conversation when you are a stay at home mom with another person without some sort of criticism about your life. Everyone thinks they can do what I do now. Hardly anyone believed they could design a computer processor with 8 cores, each supporting 4 threads enabling it to execute 32 simultaneous threads only consuming 72 watts of power (it rocked). So a large part of my life was untouchable. No one had an opinion, well no one knew what I was talking about. It felt good. Now everyone has an opinion on almost every aspect of my life. It sucks.

That’s why I’m doing this. That’s my motivation. To work on something a good part of the day, and get more than one positive comment at least every other month. My positive comment count so far this year: 2. And if you can count them its not enough.

The Older you get the Harder it gets

It is NOT impossible to make a career change in your late thirties. It is NOT impossible to get a job when the job positions on your resume for the last 7 years consists of “Room Parent”, “Fundraiser Coordinator”, “Birthday Party Planner”, and “Dish Washer”. It is more difficult, mainly because now you are required to remain focused, and your 5 year plan has to make room for family.

When I graduated from college I think my 5 year plan was: 1. Graduate, 2. Get a job, 3. Get an apartment. No specifications as to what I had to graduate in, what kind of job I should get, or how much money I would be spending (I suppose that depended on the job). Now my 5 year plan has to take into account the exact job I want to work for, and that job would have to be within commuting distance of my current home and my husband’s job. It would also have to be able to fit in a family, and will that family grow?

There are less opportunities that I can grab now because my life is not my own. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty, maybe more than before.

Beginning Plan B

This week I began the process of going back to school. I feel the first time I applied for colleges I did it blindly. I have similar limitations such as location, but maybe not as financially bound. Last time I didn’t even try for the more difficult schools. Mainly because by the time I was looking it was too late to try for the grades, activities, and test scores needed to even be considered for the major I was trying for. Most engineering and science majors I knew trying for Stanford, Berkeley, and Cal Tech had outstanding SAT scores, taken all the AP classes and passed the tests with flying colors, and were already into college courses. Or had entered at least one science/tech high school state/national competition, and been a runner up at least. The highest I thought I could reach was a UC school. Now that I know I have a few years before I start applying I’m starting my research now.

This summer I’ve signed up for an Adult summer class at the San Francisco Art Institute. Years ago when I started taking art classes through community colleges I began researching art schools offering further degrees, SFAI caught my eye. I will be taking a six course watercolor class. Watercolor has been one of the most frustrating mediums for me. There are a lot of things I’ve tried to work with and failed, but most of them I can let go. I love the look of watercolor, and I know I’m just not looking at it correctly. It either bleeds all over, or I put it on too thick and it cracks. I thought this would be a good way to see the school first hand so see if its right for me, and get a good watercolor course out of it.

The other school I’m peeking into is the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco. In fact they have an entire major on Fashion Knitwear that looked interesting. I’ve signed up to attend their open house in May.

I figure if I walk into these places, and feel completely out of place, I’ll need to start looking elsewhere. However if I even begin to like the feel of the place I need to start figuring out what it takes to get in because unlike the last time, my time is no longer my own. My family will always take up the majority of my time, but also unlike last time I’ll be more focused. I was just exploring becoming an adult, and living on my own my first time through college. I’ve done that now (well I’m still working on the adult part), and so I’ll be more focused when I’m in class. So hopefully that means I’ll be better balanced.

Project #1: Animal Cracker Sweater

I chose this sweater because a local yarn store was having a Knit Together for it. It was free, but one of their teachers runs it, and will demonstrate different techniques. It also gave me three dedicated hours to work on it once a week. I figure if I never get to touch it all week that would give me a little catch up time. I also wanted to compare myself to other knitters. Was I strictly a beginner? Was I fast enough? Was I neat enough in my techniques that it might look professional? It was a child’s sweater, but we were using almost the smallest needles possible so in the end we would make as many stitches as needed for an adult sweater.

I was encouraged that I was able to complete an intermediate sweater without much trouble. It takes patience. When a approaching a new stitch I would practice a swatch first before adding it to the finished piece. Still I was able to finish in the six weeks, and was the only one able to finish.

The yarn was Superwash Merino Wool. After washing it, it was so soft and sweater had a wonderful feel. The tiny needles were not a problem to work with, and gave it more of a “fabric” feel. For the sleeves I used a method in which you knit the sleeves in rather than sew them in. The only thing that was sewed together in the end was the side seams that went all the way from the cuff to the bottom of the sweater on both sides. The final size was 12 months, but it easily could have fit S at 18 months. I also came to the conclusion that I need to be just as happy with it turned inside out. By keeping the seams small, making sure all the ends are sewn in and hidden, and when using intarsia never pass over more than two stitches.

Overall I was very happy with it. It didn’t quite fit anyone I knew needed a gift at the time so I decided to donate it to our preschool’s raffle.

The First Plan

In what exactly I didn’t know yet. I just had to do something now. It has to be something I can do after the kids are in bed, and the in between times during the day.

My first choice is knitting. I can carry it with me everywhere, it requires very little clean up, its quality is not dependent on expensive equipment, and there are many ways to pass on the end product. So it begins. I have given myself 36 weeks to complete 6 projects. If I can accomplish that, I feel I will have committed myself finally to something creative.

The Idea

Now with my oldest in Kindergarten, and a two year I begin to wonder what I’ll do when they are both in school. That’s only three years from now. But I won’t be going back to engineering. I don’t even know if I could now without going back to school. Well I’ll have to go back to school no matter what I choose, but engineering would probably require another 3 years as a full time student at least. I want to grab the opportunities I passed up in school. I need to create.

The problem is I was finding too many opportunities. I was lost again. Do I take a more traditional approach back to school and find employment? Do I start my own business? And what in? Clothes? Crafts? Which only led me to one conclusion. The first thing I need is focus.

One day I was walking with my youngest around this downtown area I love. Full of boutiques, but not too snooty that you feel out of place wandering in and out with a two year old. Mostly filled with local handmade items, a recycled bookstore, a couple coffee shops, and good restaurants. On the next street over is the library, a historic home, and a large grass area. This is where my two year old and I were playing when I looked up and saw it. An adorable corner space available for rent. It was a studio, nothing much in it, but I couldn’t help but see the possibilities.

Most of the time that’s all I want. A space of my own to work, away from the house. One I don’t have to put away projects, but can be kept clean easily. Not an office in which I am employed, but one in which I am the employer. It can also be used for MNO. Maybe even rented out for MNO. I could have craft nights with friends. Or just a place to watch movies, talk, drink, and eat. Someplace to clear my mind so I can focus on what I really want to do. That’s when I knew exactly what my focus should be.

My first goal is to sell my handmade items for enough to rent my own studio.