Writing a Book is Hard!

This may not really be news, but writing a book is a lot of work! Now I must be perfectly clear, I NEVER thought it was going to be easy. In fact, that is the primary reason it has taken me so long to even consider taking on the endeavor. And please don't assume that I am not enjoying the process, because I am. But working under deadlines, specifically knitting under deadlines, has never been my forte.

Last month I delivered my first set of finished projects and their patterns to the folks at XRX, Inc, my publishers. The meeting went well and I think everyone is generally pleased with my progress thus far. But what I realized is that I delivered about half of the project, the small half and the remaining projects are mostly larger projects.

So what have I learned thus far?

1. My original timeline was probably closer to correct and I should have gotten started on the finished projects sooner than I did.
2. Having time away from the normal day to day (in my case up at my cabin) really helps in allowing one to focus on the task at hand.
3. Quality test knitters are hard to find, but when you find them, treat them well, because you want to keep them.
4. No matter how many projects arrive on my doorstep, they each give me a thrill when I see my concept come to life.
5. Next time, if there is a next time, I must start swatching, designing and knitting much earlier in the process.

I am sure that there will be many more lessons to learn over the next year as I finish up the bulk of my work and it is turned over to the publishers. Stay tuned!

Read More

Cleveland is cool

I recently returned from a multi-stop trip which began in Cleveland, OH. This was my first trip to Cleveland that I can remember. What struck me the most was its similarities to Kansas City, MO a place I called home for many years. The advantage that Cleveland has over KC is what appears to be a great public transportation system.

The folks I met in at the North Coast Knitting Guild in Cleveland were all warm, friendly and very welcoming. I particularly enjoyed the dinner I shared with my host and several of the guild members on Saturday evening at a Hungarian establishment. Both the food and the company were FABULOUS.

If you ever have a chance to visit Cleveland, I would recommend it. You might be surprised, I was!!!

Read More

Things I Learned My Last Trip

During my last trip I had stops in Cleveland, Annapolis, Baltimore and Las Vegas. During this trip I learned many new things and I thought I would share them:

1. It really pays to be a Frequent Flyer, especially when your flight to your final destination is canceled and you are scheduled to teach the following morning.
2. Always pack more knitting in your carry-on than you think you will need. You never know when your flight will be canceled and will be rerouted through Atlanta making your trip 6 hours longer than planned.
3. You can never have enough knitting buddies. OK we all know that, but they are particularly helpful when you have an interesting design problem and need help resolving it.
4. Writing a book is more difficult than I thought and I already thought it would hard -- more on this later.
5. Lots of fluids and vitamin C really can manage a cold down to nearly nothing. Especially when you have to make a presentation in front of a room full of people and you don't want to have to worry about the effects of other medications.
6. Seeing a Cirque du Soleil performance live is truly amazing and worth the money, but next time I am going to get seats a bit further back (we were in the second row) because there is too much to see!

Next time, more trip details.

Read More

The Last Year in Baltimore

2008 marks the last year that Stitches East will be held in Baltimore. Although I am always happy to go to new places and will go teach anywhere they will have me, I have liked being in Baltimore. One of my closest friends, Jeanne of Nature Speak Knits, live in Annapolis and Stitches East has always given me a reason to spend a couple days with her and her husband. Also, I was always able to arrange to have at least one meal at the GREAT tapas place at the Inner Harbor.

Next year Stitches East will be held in Hartford, CT. For me, it will be a new opportunity to get to learn about another place in the US. And there are few things I enjoy more than learning. I will miss the "regulars" in the Baltimore area, but look forward to meeting new folks up in the north east.

And luckily for me, I still have ample excuses to visit the Baltimore area since BWI is the airport my husband and use when we are visiting his family. Next time out will be the end of December. Maybe a get together over tapas is in order?!?!

Read More

A Busy June

This past June, was the the busiest (to date) teaching month. And then in addition, I also had church meetings and family vacations squeezed in there as well. It meant that between June 3 and July 8 I was only home for 6 days! Thank heaven Arlis is great about doing laundry or I don't think I would have made it.

What I found most interesting, was that through it all, I never once regretted my choice to become a professional knitting instructor. If anything, it just affirmed that this is truly what I want to do. If I was ever going to change my mind, this was probably going to be the month. But I really enjoyed all of my various opportunities to teach and the students that they introduced me to.

And in some cases, there are pictures!

My first stop was TNNA. Some of my favorite classes to teach are what I call "train the trainer" which is what I offer at TNNA. TNNA is also a time to spend time with my knitting buddies. And this time I did not have a booth so I could wander the floor, see what was new and research yarns for my upcoming book.

The next stop on tour was the Knitters Connection. This is only their second year, but they have been doing a great job. Penny, one of my SSK participants blogged all about it and included pictures - including one me!

The last teaching gig for the month was Camp Stitches East in Hamilton, NY. Camp is always a lot of fun, but this location is particularly wonderful for their customer service and OUTSTANDING food. This is my class.


They were a ton of fun, really stretched in their own learning experiences and were a wonderful inspiration.

Sure it was a lot of traveling and a lot of time away from my husband, but it still was a lot of fun. My goal is to teach more next year, so I expect months like June will become more frequent. But as long as I am enjoying it and my students are getting a good class, then the Knitting Professor will continue!

Read More

Online Classes

So with the prospect of the upcoming book, I had been posting about the book writing process. Of course, recently I haven't posted about anything! However, it seem appropriate to take an opportunity to actually post about knitting classes since, this is supposed to be the Knitting Professor.

During one of our many trips up to the local ski mountain this past ski season, Arlis and I started talking about what is the one product that Knitability should offer that we currently are not. Well, I wanted to be able to teach more classes to more people, but there is a limited market in my home town and it just isn't practical to be traveling all the time even if there was interest in having me booked all the time.

So in the next few weeks I am going to be offering the first of many, online knitting classes. Hop over to our new Online Knitting Class page to get yourself added to our e-mail list to be the first to hear about the class line up and receive discounts on your classes. Nothing is much more fun than taking knitting classes, and now you can do it within the comfort of your own home!

Read More