My Last Lady Eleanor

This stole is the fifth version of the Lady Eleanor that I've made (modeled by my best girlfriend, Bri). The first version I knit using mostly my homespun. The second, third and fourth versions were knit with Noro as is the fifth version above.

Why did I make so many of these, inquiring minds want to know? Well, I taught several entrelac workshops last year. Each version of the stole represents one workshop taught, as I started a new one each time I began class, working the tiers along with my students. I found this method an effective way to teach the entrelac technique.



I finished this stole last winter, but was unable to block it until recently. You know, all that pesky chaotic life stuff got in the way. Anyhoo, I am happy to call this LAST Lady Eleanor done! She is now on her way to a new home and owner. I hope that she enjoys wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Business Items...

Desire to wear a pie atop your head, but (i) you have no interest in crocheting one yourself, (ii) you don't know how to crochet and are patiently awaiting a knitting pattern from one, LadyLinoleum or (iii) you seriously just want a LadyLinoleum original. If you answered yes to any of the above then you're in luck! I have listed two Pie-rets for sale in my Etsy shop just in time for the holidays. I hope to make a few more, but honestly, I don't know if I'll be able to swing that before the holidays.

Wasn't aware that I had an Etsy shop, eh? Yes, I've had it for some time. I just haven't listed much in there over the years. Hopefully, this will be changing as the milk crate I like to call an apartment is just not big enough to house the enormous amount of items I've crocheted and knit since the inception of this blog. So, there will be more to come on the items for sale front.

Lastly, my thanks to everyone who has purchased a pattern from me directly. I'd also like to take a moment to apologize to those of you who found your order process less than satisfying. I have had HUGE problems with PayPal (especially in the last year or so) and have been unable to come up with an acceptable solution thus far. As such, I am determined to make one final effort to improve this situation by moving my patterns over to Ravelry. I plan to give it until the first of the year once everything has been moved over there. If that doesn't work, all patterns are coming off the interwebs. Most of you have been amazing with regard to this issue. I really appreciate your understanding and patience. Keep your fingers crossed...

As always, thanks for your support! Happy Monday everybody!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

In the last five weeks I have been to New York twice and London once. Needless to say, all of this travel has complicated an already complex lifestyle and unfortunately it has also had a negative impact on my ability to knit, crochet, weave, spin, dye (haven't stoked up the dye pot in ages), sew, DESIGN and blog. I mean let's face it, my life has undergone the ultimate sea change: still divorcing (almost a two year process at this point); lost my home earlier this year, currently residing in a space the size of a milk crate; job responsibilities growing faster than I can keep up with (hence the constant travel); daughter on the verge of adulthood, squawking at me constantly; and there is always a silver lining...I find myself in an affair of the heart with an amazing man. Needless to say, keeping up with the tidal wave that is my life can be a bit challenging and trying to be creative despite these many perplexities has been a Sisyphean task.

Nevertheless, I am creating, albeit slowly and on a much smaller scale than in previous years, but create I continue to do. I haven't started much of anything new in the last several months for I am a creature of discipline if nothing else. As such, I am making a concerted effort to finish anything and everything that became stuck in stasis due to the great life upheaval of 2009-10. I make progress on these myriad WIPs while crisscrossing the country (the globe) in a flying tube, sitting in those ubiquitous vinyl seats gathered around airport gates, on my 60 minute lunch hours where yarn and not food has become the ultimate focus and if I'm awake enough to tackle anything else at the end of a workday, while sitting in my overstuffed chair in front of the television as I try desperately to watch all of the previously recorded programming on my DVR. Making has taken a backseat to moving at this point.

Now, I am nothing if not adaptable. I have gone through similar periods in my life where the act of making/creating was threatened by the stress of my daily responsibilities. However, making/creating is a very powerful force in my world and while it's daily importance has lessened to a certain degree as life happens, it has not disappeared completely. Further, I'm positive that my creative spirit will endure the current constraints as well as those that may occur in the future as I am an artist at the core of my being. Always have been. Always will be. I will make things because this is who I am. This is what I do. I just need to figure out how to navigate the current landscape and adapt my process accordingly. Not always easy to do, but definitely attainable.

So, in working through my current conundrum, I've come up with a few solutions that I will be actively pursuing going forward:

1. Finish all outstanding WIPs. Getting through these projects serves as a metaphor for closing the door on the past and readying myself for the future, thereby allowing me a clean slate to begin new work.
2. Notation, notation, notation. Time for me to begin recording my ideas and conceptions in a journal/notebook again. This has been a traditional part of my process that I have allowed to lapse over the last year. Time to dig out my notebook and return it to its proper place in my purse. Never leave home without my "spell book" and quill!
3. Smaller, lighter, faster. Size and portability are key when one is trying to create while trapped in a tube. I will try to fit all projects and accoutrement into the same carry-on size bag for every trip. Not only does this serve to simplify my packing, but it makes the project wrangling in a small space headache-free.
4. LadyLinoleum has a laptop and will promise to use it. Blogging IS possible to do from a big fluffy hotel bed while inhaling room service, at least this is what I'm told.

So peeps, you will be seeing quite a few changes 'round this here bloggy over the next several months, but I do promise that your Lady of the Linoleum will still attempt to entertain you with a cadre of smaller crazy creations, one-off patterns here and there, a bit of humor and wisdom as she sees fit and hopefully, myriad on-the-road crafting tips! As always, I thank you all for your continued comments, emails and support. Literally, you all are THE ONLY REASON that I'm still taking up residence in cyberspace. Big hugs all around!

Stay tuned kids!