Letters
Making a Thing Three Times
Dear Kay,
A quick howdy to you.
I’m on my third version of The Shift, the diabolically absorbing cowl design by Andrea Mowry.
I am not tired of this, not even close.
This is Deep Bump, The Family Jewels, and Pick Your Poison (not shown here). Spincycle Dyed in the Wool.
Ordinarily, I come to the end of a project and immediately crave something really different from the thing I just finished. I think that’s one of the things I love most about knitting, and I’ve said it a million times: there is knitting for every imaginable moment in life.
There are times when I want knitting to make me feel brilliant, so that’s when I head into some stranded intarsia bobble bedspread project.
Sometimes only the simplest garter stitch is possible. That’s when knitting isn’t really knitting; it’s more of a disguised form of therapy, of meditation, of working on something when it seems impossible to do much of anything else. Even a garter stitch blanket can grow, I guess, during rough times.
And sometimes I’m just having a great time, and I don’t want a project to end. That’s when I get into starting another one. That’s what seems to be going on with this Shift cowl pattern.
We have sent out a bunch of Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in the past couple of weeks, and I hope everybody is having a good time. I’m seeing some super sunshiney combos in the colors we have in stock now, if you’re just getting on the Shift bandwagon.
Love,
Ann
PS I am 100% loving all the ideas everybody is pitching for our li’l building on the MDK campus. (See DG’s post from Sunday.) I want to do them all. I want to make the little building into something great. In fact, I actually want to create a giant campus where we can all live and make stuff and hang out all day, every day. Shouldn’t a place like that exist? It seems a failure of imagination that we haven’t yet done this. Who’s in?
I wanna see your stranded intarsia bobble bedspread project.
Thanks for the end of the work day laugh!
I want to see that bedspread too!
Me please! I volunteer to man the coffee machine in exchange for yarn scraps!
I’m in!
In!
Sounds wonderful~won der fullllll, yes please!
The little house would be a perfect airb&b.
What a great idea!!
Me me!
I’m in for the LITTLE (on the outside, BIG on the inside) house! I’m dreaming of the MDK Knitting Retirement Community❤️. #RetireAnyTime
Yes!
An MDK Tardis!! Brilliant. And count me in!
I’m all for the MDK Knitting Retirement Community!
My English pen pal of 59 years sent me yarn and the pattern last year. We both knit the shift cowl, me from Colorado, her from England. It was so much fun to knit something together even though miles apart! I’ve made two and have yarn left for a third one!
That sounds like a perfect knitting circle
Me too! I made it 3 times and I made a hat too!
Oh, and the shawl too!
My shawl is ready for a soak later today. I have the yarn ready to go for the Shift.
I’m in. Sounds great
I’m in- it would be a dream and a blast!
I’m in. Will there be Lemon Poppyseed Cookies?
Me to! Love all the shift patterns but favorite is the hat. Im on my fourth one and i to rarely repeat patterns but this one has me hooked. So much about the color combinations.
I’m waiting for the Old Knitters Retirement Home.
That would be lovely, imagine all the stashes mixed together for everyone to knit from,
I know what you mean.I am currently working on the Shifty sweater and ENJOYING sleeve island!!
Oh boy. I am so in.
Totally absorbed in Field Guide No. 19. It’s so great. I have complete faith in the fact that the little building is going to be another one out of the park. Also, thanks for being in my in box every single day. That’s every single day with something valuable. Thank you. Bigly.
I’m ready to move to MDK-topia!
Yes, do it.! i”ll be there!
I think the shift cowl was my 2nd knitting project ever. I love doing a lot of slipping – I don’t know why. I love making socks with a heel flap that is eye of the partridge (?? I always call it the wall eyed pigeon). So I can relate to having a great time with a shifty. Sadly, I was such a rookie that the bind iff is so thought I can’t get the thing over my head. Oh well…..
I would live to live on a ‘maker’s campus’
Yes, yes! Say the word and I’m packing my bags!
Sort of like the Shakers community…creativity, ingenuity, and a common thread…..simplicity!
MDK Maker’s Retirement Community
How about a Tool Shop? This shop would be full of swifts, ball winders, blocking mats and wires, stitch markers, knitting and project bags, and knitting needles. There would be knitting inspired artwork on the walls.
Definitely a tool room!
In. All in. Totally in. One hundred percent IN. I haven’t been to your part of the world in decades…
I’m in! as long as I can bring my dogs . . .
You’ve already virtually done that, Ann, with this newsletter—created “a giant (virtual) campus where we can all live and make stuff and hang out (some of) the day, every day.” Bravo!
Oooh, count me in!
I am with you Ann, if I like a pattern I have been known to make two or more of an item. I have made the Shift cowl and have yarn in my stash for yet another one!
The Knitting INN name for the lil building
I’m two hours away. Alt me know when, and I’ll be there!
I think the little house should be outfitted with MDK fans donating knitted items — dishcloths, wash clothes, Kiki rugs, a lace curtain like the one Ann made, an intarsia bobbled bedspread, throws . . . all sorts of things. We could rent it by the night and it could include a chance to do in-person shopping at HQ.
I’m in! Took classes in making chocolate croissants.
Absolutely totally IN!!!!!
Now that’s a dream come true campus!
I had a studio in my backyard at my last house it had all my yarn, my knitting books, patterns and other craft things. It was a wonderful peaceful place where I could knit, have friends and even binge British and Australian TV series! Or listen to books on my tablet. I would like to turn “The Studio” into something like that plus add the artist in residence concept, so they could work on their own projects for 1-3 months and be responsible for teaching so many days in exchange. But only small groups. One evening a week would be knit night with snacks and a small group helping each other with a specific pattern or yarn concept! It should have loads of natural light, outdoor space to knit in rain, or spring, or fall temperatures, and loads of plants for the beauty and perfume! I would be glad to come from California to help inaugurate “The MDK Cottage”!
Love this concept.
There are over EIGHT THOUSAND projects of this in Ravelry! I saw this made up at a shop on San Juan Island and have been wanting to do this!
I vote for Ballband dishcloths on the wall of the She Shed.
Yes all hand made things from MDK books, anything you make and want to leave is sold for charity! (Homeless Shelters, Habitat for Humanity, Dog and cat shelters! And the Knitting Colony, where we can all retire to when we want!
May I please bring my dogs? They are shedding enough that if some talented spinner made yarn we could all have matching hats. Like we’re in a gang or sumfin.
Maybe you could build a time-travel machine in the hut. Link it your website so we could duck in from Boston or LA or……..and still get home to make dinner.
So far IN I will be out before I finish typing this comment!
Yes to dogs.
Definitely in. I figure I can be the token hooker/weaver/spinner-who-doesn’t-(yet)-knit. Also, I make good chocolate-chip cookies and sourdough bread. Hopefully those will be worthwhile bribe material.
I’m in!
I have made 3 nightshifts. So addictive but I think I am done now. I used Spincycle for two of them and Hedgehog DK for this third one – a completely different look but it is my favorite.
You read my mind! I’m in!
I’m in!
Has anyone tried the shift with the zauberball yarn? I can’t stretch to the spincycle at the moment – it’s especially pricey in the uk… but oh gosh i love the pattern
I’ve made three of these myself and have another one planned!!
I’m a spinner as well as a knitter, and belong to a fiber of the month club where I get a 4oz braid each month. I’ve been spinning them up super fast, and now I have a beautiful collection of totally random skeins that look a lot like Dyed in the Wool, so there will definitely be a Shift cowl in my future. (Hopefully as a sample to eventually make on of her sweater patterns? Dreaming of the next project is almost as fun as making it!)
The Shift and Nightshift remind me of the Noro Woven Stitch shawl, which I made 11 times. I still have many little balls of Noro Silk Garden left over, because when I’d start a new one, I’d have to buy one more skein, and then maybe I’d cut out a color I didn’t want to include. Maybe I’ll use them all up to make The Shift!
I’ve made 4 shift cowls and each one is different. And yes count me in on your maker’s campus idea…it would get me to Nashville, a city I’ve always wanted to visit