Esme McStrippit and other news

We've been busy indoors this winter.  First off, kids have been growing so I knit a new kid sweater.  He then posed, with great joy, and I had to pass it along to everyone else to enjoy.  He's sporting a one-of-a-kind handknit by Mommy striped sweater made of plotulopi (Icelandic, unspun yarn) and seems delighted by it. This twin is particular about his sweaters so I'm relieved that this seems to have been a home run!

The kids have been learning at home, doing remote school since the end of October.  This involves a lot of reading time, and we seem to have also trained Sadie the dog into enjoying reading time as well.
While I'm helping kids learn through a pandemic, I've had a slow down in terms of articles coming out... but this piece ran in the Jewish Independent on January 15th: 

Kindness a blessing to share

During the first few days of January, I managed to make this wool tweed vest using a fabric remnant from Fabcycle in Vancouver.  I was thrilled to use up deadstock fabric and this has been a great additional winter layer so far.  (plus, it has a pocket, and I can never have enough of those!)

The kids added to their 'learn to sew' samplers with a 'here's how to do a running stitch' lesson.  I hadn't been pushing these lessons until one day, one of my boys started to cry because we weren't having enough sewing and art lessons.  Well, OK then!  Happy to oblige...!

Last, but certainly not least, I have finally (FINALLY!) released a new knitting pattern.  Hallelujah.  It took me long enough!

This is called Esme McStrippit and when I uploaded it onto Ravelry, I discovered it was my 80th pattern there.  In honour of this new pattern, I'm celebrating with a sale.  Get 20% off all my patterns!  This sale is happening on Ravelry  and on Payhip and ends on Tuesday, January 26th, at midnight, Central Time, US&Canada.

Use the coupon code:

Esme

For the 20% off discount!

Here are some of the shots of the sweater--the one shot with me in it was taken by a kid, too!
 

New article, new design and a sale!

The Jewish Independent has just published my article, "A need for order in our lives."  If I had to come up with a theme for the last few weeks, it would be "please help me make order, everything feels out of control over here!"

We had a big surprise right before Louis Riel weekend (Family Day in other provinces, or Presidents' Day in the US.)  A water main break happened right across the street from our house. The whole next block was a skating rink, but had no water to drink.  We were very lucky, we didn't lose water, although it was a bit brownish for about a day.  It was safe for flushing and washing, but we did use bottled water and I took a whole Shabbat dinner, pre-cooked, right out of the freezer rather than try to cook under those conditions.  It's good to be prepared.

And yes, it is loud when the utilities folk are jack hammering outside and it's -30 out.  Did I mention we had a relative visiting from the US?!  I was so frazzled that I lost my parking ticket from the airport parkade and had to pay the full day's worth of parking-- for 45 minutes. (Yes, I am not over that one yet!)  Some days are like that.  We've had a few sick days and this other chaos here, too. (Pause here and feel comforted by a bear or two...)

But meanwhile, I have finally (after many years of being told to do it) published this pattern.  What pattern?  It's
Worry Bear.  For now it's available on Ravelry, and I hope it will become available on Loveknitting.com soon.

This is a special design for me.  It's a pocket sized bear, and it comes in two sizes.  One fits a kid's hand, and the larger size fits an adult's hand.  It's an ideal fidget tool for someone with ADHD, SPD, Autism, dementia, Alzheimer's, anxiety--or anybody who is worried.  It's a private hug in your pocket that helps you know someone loves you.  I've made these for family and friends for years.
In order to celebrate FINALLY getting it published, I'm having a sale.  Until March 5th (ends midnight, CT, US & Canada), get 20% off all my Ravelry patterns  with the coupon code:
Worry Bear

...Because everybody gets worried sometimes. It might be great to make extras if you have time, and donate them to a school, hospital, ambulance service, or anyplace where people might feel stressed.  I have dear ones who carry these around every day.  (Heck, even I sometimes need a Worry Bear or two.  Like, when the water main broke, and I lost my parking ticket....)

Take care!  We all worry.  Consider knitting a Worry Bear instead.

sale! Making shade...

 To celebrate the launch of Fissure, my new pattern, I decided to have a sale. 

Save 20% off all my Ravelry patterns!

Use the coupon code:

Fissure

The sale ends July 31st at midnight (CT, US & Canada).

While I've been away from the blog, I've been busy.  The Professor travelled to Ottawa for a second conference, the boys had summer camp, and Sadie the dog has needed an endless supply of walks, kongs filled with peanut butter, and other entertainment.

Also, it's been warmer than usual here, and we don't have air conditioning.  We don't feel we need it, but our living room was heating up.  I used an old sheet, some masking tape, and made a big curtain, and voila!  Shade.  However, it wasn't terribly elegant.  I missed seeing the dappled sun through the leaves, but also?  Our bank of windows cooked the room.  So, I spent $20 on curtain rods at Corydon Hardware Store.

I got out a bolt of muslin I bought years ago.  I made curtains. It was easy to hang them.  Old houses mean someone has done this before; we just used the holes they left on the window frames. We think we may take them down at the end of August, when it gets cool around here...but I didn't spend much on the effort, and it sure is cooler in our living room now. (I've purposely made this a small photo so you can't see the mess, right?!)

Don't forget the 20% off pattern sale!  The coupon code is: 

Where is that woman?

It's been a whirlwind here...we took a trip east to visit family in Virginia, went to see long time grad school friends and colleagues in North Carolina and more.  We visited a friend's farm and went to the NC Museum of Life & Science.  Our twins particularly enjoyed checking out the bug exhibits, and it turns out that the Professor's grad school advisor and his longtime technician actually raise some of the tobacco horn worms for that exhibit.

The dead silence from the blog has been largely because I am the person who packs the suitcases for three of us, remembers the bathing suits and the sun hats and the very important loveys, toys and school homework.  The dogs came home from the kennel alive and well...and while I was glad to see so many friends and family, I am also glad to be home.

On the knitting front, I have a quick bit of news:

If you'd like to buy one of my Ravelry Patterns ON SALE!...quick, act now!  Time is limited!

I am supporting the Canada KAL, which supports Canadian design and designers.
 Save 20% off all my Ravelry patterns through June 1st. (Ends midnight, CT, US& Canada)  Use this coupon code to save 20%:
Cankal2018  

The other bit of knitting news...while I visited Virginia, some lovely linen yarn arrived in the mail for me, as well as a gift from a friend.  We visited A great Arts Centre in Alexandria, Virginia.  It has lots of programs that allow kids and adults to donate, reuse and recycle their art supplies.  Our friends and their kid took us for a kids' program, and our boys made lots of art to take home.  I visited their store rooms, and scored this:
3 skeins of Quince & Co Puffin (dark brown)
1 skein of Rowan Kidsilk Haze (dark blue)
3 skeins of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter (dark blue, rose, and dark brown)
AND two pairs of ebony and rosewood knitting needles.
(No photos yet, it's in the freezer, ensuring no moths got brought home from Virginia.
--I paid $5 US per skein of yarn, and $3 for each pair of knitting needles.  What a great find!

Last, but not least....this week has continued to be crazy.  It's been time to make cupcakes for all of grade 1, clean up the house, and make party plans for two boys who are about to turn SEVEN.
If you don't remember back too far on the blog, read about June 2011 here.

Here's the short version in words.

or, there's this:

Happy Birthday, boys!
Here's to a whole weekend of partying ahead...and hoping for many more years of perfectly ordinary, nice days, with health and well-being every day, for many years to come.

Sale!

For Knitters...(my fiber tribe!):
There's a great knit-along/crochet-along, once a year, to celebrate knitwear designers in Canada.  I'm thrilled to be a small part of it.  I've donated a few patterns as prizes--to be given away to lucky winners!  Also...
In celebration of the CANADA KAL/CAL 2017, It's 20% off on all my Ravelry patterns from now until June 1st.  (Ending at midnight, CT, US & Canada)  Please use the coupon code:
Cankal2017
to get 20% off.
This event offered me the chance to see what I've done, designing-wise, in the past year on Ravelry.
Here are some photos and links to what's new this time around:

 Undertow came out a year ago, and I wore it a lot this winter.  Soft, stretchy, and definitely warm...mine just got a wash so I could tuck it away.  Here's hoping I won't need it til October!

Gigadistal is a super bulky, fast knit, great for combining a couple (or three) strands of yarn.  It is a fun accessory for cooler spring/summer/fall days.  I've worn my sample quite a bit.

 Nanodistal, knit from laceweight linen, is Gigadistal's cousin.  Same rough shape and construction--very different effect!  I wore this even on the hottest day.  It really dresses up loose summer clothing, and I love the drape of linen.

 Plum Ribbed Cardigan is a new release of an older favorite--formerly a Knit Picks exclusive.  This cardigan took me a while to reknit, but once done?  It was so cozy I even wore it to sleep!

Last but not least, the Thump Thump Mittens--textured, stranded knitting with a little red, released in time for Valentine's Day, 2017.

I hope you find something special to enjoy and get 20% off during this sale.  

Thanks, as always, for checking out my designs!

It's live! A new eBook!

It's available now!  New!  Finally!  Remember my 'special project' in July?

Here it is.  It's taken a while.  This collection is a year and a half of my newspaper columns.  It’s a first-person essay that runs twice a month, covering community building, holidays, family life, Jewish learning, and other issues. It focuses particularly on my local community, but my understanding is that it may be useful in a broader context.

This has been a very steep learning curve. :) However, a very kind woman (who does a lot for our community) came to me after services one week, pulled me aside, and told me she was clipping all my columns and saving them in a file folder. This was such a surprise---and it seemed like a very good reason to put a year and a half of these articles in the same place. It’s about Winnipeg, and about our city’s Jewish community, but from the feedback I’ve gotten so far, it’s probably a little bit about where you live, too.


The eBook is available in a variety of places for $3.99US.  (The price of a big cup of joe)

Kindle:
From the Outside In: Jewish News & Post Columns, 2015-2016

and through this universal link, you can connect with it on iBooks, Kobo, Nook, and Scribd, as well as a pile of other platforms.

The official "launch" date is December 16th, but in some cases, it is available now.  If you pre-order it, the file should magically appear on your e-reader tomorrow.

The paperbook will be available on Amazon soon, but it's not quite ready for the big time.  In the meanwhile, I was too excited to keep this news to myself. :)

If you're a knitter and you visit my blog for knitting info and designs, Please use the coupon code:
Launch
and get 20% off my Ravelry patterns until midnight (CT) on December 29th.  Help me celebrate!

from afar

I have been celebrating from afar.

Back in 2014, I wrote about Hillary Clinton's visit to Winnipeg.  At the time, it seemed amazing to me how quick the reporting and the name-calling became inappropriate.  Somehow, if a well-respected, well-known man visits and his speech demands a high speaking fee, it is not always news.

Unfortunately, in the last couple of years, the rhetorical race to the bottom has been speedy, with lots of horrible, inappropriate, undignified things being said... but now, I think it is safe and ok to say that I am thrilled that a woman has gotten the Democratic party's nomination for president.

It's been a quiet month around here, lots of medical appointments and things to take care of, but I woke up this morning and I still wanted a little something.  A celebration.

Yesterday, we celebrated at home because the Professor helped host the twins' summer camp for the day.  They had a visit to the biology department, the greenhouse, the museum, and to sit in a real life university auditorium and hear their daddy talk about his work with bugs.  The boys were thrilled.   Their dad was pleased.  We ate dessert on a weeknight--ice cream and sorbet--and celebrated.  (And yes, my boys play with their Bug Finger Puppets...and your kids can, too!  Download a pattern on sale and get knitting your own dragonfly!)

So, I wore Gigadistal with a dress I'd made and new leggings with flowers on them!  I went out to lunch with a friend who is an amazingly capable person (and mom of five kids...).  I wrote like crazy and I am hopeful that at least one and maybe two new articles will come out soon.  I am trying to make the most of my work time, because camp ends on Friday!  Full-court press twin summer activities begin right afterwards....and we'll be playing soccer, going to the wading pool, trying out our bike training wheels and generally having fun outside, I hope.  Have I mixed my sports metaphors enough for now?  (klutzy writer here, SO not a sports-fan...)

So I am ending July with a celebratory flash sale on Ravelry.  Get 20% off all my Ravelry designs until the end of July with this coupon code:
Julyflash


I hope your meadows are full of Doug the Dragonfly and not Manny the Mosquito.  Maybe at night you will see Luna the moth?

And all the time, we can celebrate that the first woman has earned the US presidential nomination.  No matter your politics, it is a super first for equality and equal representation under law.  It's about time.

Gray February

Most exciting things first:
This weekend I submitted an opinion piece to the CBC and it went live less than a day later:
Why Manitoba needs a more diverse teaching force

I'd want to point out, of course, that good teaching is crucial, but it is only one part of this assessment; we have no idea if Manitoba's students' test scores are representative of their skills, if the tests done were biased, on and on.  There are a lot of unanswered variables in social science, but, well, this is only one essay about the U of Manitoba's faculty of Education's new diversity admissions policy.
You can't say all that in less than 1000 words. :)

The best part of it all, I felt, was reading the (as usual) mostly knucklehead comments, which sort of illustrate why a diverse, effective teaching force is a good thing. (in aiding tolerance, for instance, which was seriously lacking in some comments) Then there was one absolutely erudite comment about the certification standards from a really qualified Manitoba teacher, educated in Britain.  That made my week.

Other things that are making my week... We have completed our first weaving, with a lot of Mommy help.  These were done on picture frames, using loopers cut from wool socks with holes in them.  The warp was cut up felted sweater strips, leftover from all the wool soakers I made for cloth diapering.

We've had perhaps another 2 or three more preschooler viruses since the last time I posted...digestive issues, colds, coughs...; to be honest, I've lost track.  I have become remarkably zen about the whole thing.  When someone is too sick for preschool, or needs to come home, I take a deep breath, drop all my plans...and just resign myself to returning to the couch with whoever needs me.  I've not done a lot of things this winter.  Oh well.  The house is pretty mucky, too.  I'm thinking of trying to clean up this week, since Didi (my mom, twins' grandma) is coming to visit, but I don't have high expectations.  It doesn't help to expect too much, cause then I feel upset with myself when things are back to basics all over again.
Perhaps because of the great retirement sale at Shuttleworks or maybe just because I needed a pick-me-up, I decided to go crazy and order the bulky flyer set ups for both my Schacht Matchless spinning wheel and my Majacraft Little Gem.  Maybe it was my Valentine's Day gift to myself? This is, I think, my first big wheel-related purchase in maybe 8 years.  It's been a bit of adjustment to figure out how the new things work, but it's exciting, too.  I see very big skeins of handspun in my future...someday!

Before I switched the flyers on the Majacraft, I amazed this kid, home sick, by whipping the wheel out of its carrying case and setting it up so he could check it out.  He was stunned; I don't think he had ever seen how it folded it up before.  He got to treadle and do some wool teasing, which he enjoyed.  (fluffing up locks of wool into clouds for spinning.)  I was rewarded for all this with a seriously firm admonition to "Clean up, Mommy, your office is very messy."  He then offered helpful hints.  Great.  Thanks, kid.

 Finally, I am planning to relaunch some older patterns and reknit some too, this year.  I am also working on a sweater for myself, the third time I am reknitting the Cuddle Coat.  Honestly, this sweater design has a curse, it has never had a decent photo of it.  However, the first one (in my little headshot, that is #1, with Harry the dog) is so worn that I have to mend it, the second one was trashed after it was absolutely worn to pieces, and here's the third.  Yup.  That is some boring looking gray/brown knitting!  If you click on it though, you may see the texture, little bits of color, and softness of the yarn.  Feels great.  Looks just like?  February.

In honor of that....stretch of time, cold, dirty snow, cloudy February, I have a brief sale on Ravelry:
20% off all my designs on Ravelry, through the end of February, with the coupon code....you guessed it:
February

Here's some more gray-brown in case you missed it or it happens to be sunny in your neck of the woods.... :)

Wovember's sale

Well, I think this month deserves celebrating.  Have you heard of Wovember?  Last year, I signed up to get little emails from this site that celebrates wool all throughout November. It sure made my month more fun, and I even managed to contribute a little.   There were fun songs, photos, and ideas that even my preschoolers enjoyed.

 So, this year, I decided to support the effort.  I wanted to have a pattern sale for the month....and I reflected.  What should be in the sale?  How about the things I've designed since last Wovember?
Distal,
The Hole Inside Mitts,
Knitting for Mother Earth Cowl,
Riverbend Garden Hat and Over.

Wow, look at that--I knit every single one of them in 100% wool...and, I've done 5 designs in the last year!  All good.

So, here's the sale information.  Use the coupon code:
Wov2015 on Ravelry to purchase any of these patterns, and you'll receive 20% off in November. If you should want more than one of these?  Feel free to use that coupon more than once.

Happy Wool!  It's coming on towards winter here, and you'll be needing it!

Heat and knitting

It got a little steamy around here this weekend.  Hot enough so we went to the wading pool and certain twin preschoolers got to have ice cream from the ice cream truck for the very first time!  Both the professor and I have memories of hearing the truck going down the street, the music playing, and rushing up to stand in line to buy something cold on a stick.  (I used to buy mine at the swimming pool, too)  Both boys concluded that it melted too fast and that the stick approach made it all "floppy loppy."  They seemed to prefer good old ice cream in a bowl that they get at home. :)  

We also spent a lot of time in the yard, feasting on the Nanking cherries (the bush is covered with ripe cherries), snow peas and gooseberries from the garden.  I'd say that we alternated between enjoying the heat and having absolute meltdowns because of it.  Bear in mind, it was only about 25-32C here, (mostly in the 80s if using Fahrenheit) but it was humid, and the local weather predictions called that a humidex of 40.  (104F.)

It was hot, but it wasn't all that hot, since the professor and I used to live in hotter places like North Carolina and Kentucky.  That said, we don't have air conditioning, so when it cools down at night, we position the fans in front of open windows just so.  During the day time, we close the curtains to keep in the cool.

Except, not all of our windows have those kind of darkening curtains.  You may remember this Knitted Curtain from my book?  Well, it fit really well in a window in my house in Kentucky.  It doesn't fit so perfectly on the window here, but I hung it anyhow because I love it!  Here it is, above, doubled up to keep out the heat.

I'm also running a little sale over on Ravelry for people who have favorited or queued my designs, but I'll let you in on it too....until the end of July, all of my patterns (including my eBook, Three Ply!) are on sale for 20%.  Use this coupon code:

thanks

to get the discount.  

In the meanwhile, if you're in a hot place, well, stay cool!  Drink iced tea.  Sit in the shade.  Splash in the pool.  And, if you are twin over here, try not to melt down too much into a tantrum.  We had one doozy which involved a kid screaming.... "IT'S TOO HOT!  TURN ON THE COOL!  TURN ON THE COLD!" 

Little Canadians--indeed. :)
PS: I'm still knitting, of course. :)  A little heat doesn't deter me from spinning (wool!) either.

Earth Day: Every Day

Wednesday, April 22nd, was Earth Day...and I didn't remember to post.  Instead, we've been collecting recyclables to bring to preschool for art projects.  We've been using (and re-using) our cloth diapers... UPDATE: both boys are mostly toilet trained during the day.  Not at night though. Oh well.  It's a process.

Anyhow, we make an effort to think about the environment whenever we can.  It has to be manageable, but sometimes we find going the extra distance to choose the right thing, is worth it for us in the long run.

I wondered what sort of photo to post with this, because things are not green here yet.  Earth Day happens at a time when we don't even have grass or leafy trees...just the odd bud or two.  It was 14F (-10C) this AM.   So, I remembered last summer.  We just recently finished eating the bags of frozen strawberries from our basement freezer.  We still have lots of homemade jam left.  Here we are, on a windy, cool July day last summer, in a strawberry field relatively near Winnipeg.  We went picking twice.  We had great fun, including an impromptu ride on a farm "gator" tractor.

I was featured on a blog this week -- likely because of how Knit Green's ideas coincide with Earth Day.  Although my books were published by Wiley & Sons, this part of their publishing business was sold to Turner Publishing...and here's their blog!

Joanne Seiff links two loves: knitting and reading | Connect | Turner Publishing

To celebrate, I'd like to offer a discount to anybody who might like to download a knitting pattern (skipping the paper for the pdf?  An Earth Day move!) on Ravelry.

Until May 15, use the coupon code:
Celebrate!
to download any of my Ravelry patterns for 20% off.  Springtime - and thinking about the earth- are well worth celebrating.

March Flash Sale + a quick response

I’m celebrating the launch of the latest Yarn Spinner Story+Pattern with a Flash sale!

 20% off all my patterns until March 17 (ends midnight CT) with the coupon code:
MarchFlash

So, what's this story about?
Can knitting connect women across commuter trains, generations and avert a terror attack?

Knitting for Mother Earth Cowl, the second story in the series, catches a young woman on her daily commuter train to New York. She follows her gut, alerting a fellow passenger to what seems dangerous…and, to get beyond the experience, builds a strong bond through knitting.

This story pairs with an enormous cowl design. Prepare for some sumptuous knitting with super bulky luxury yarn.

I was happy to get a blog comment yesterday from a friend!  While I wrote her separately, I wanted to mention something here in response, too.  Here's an excerpt from what I wrote, with a few modifications for the blog:

Thanks for your encouraging words!  I've been trying hard to optimize the small amount of time I have these days for work.  (probably about 15 hours a week, on a good week, when there are no kid viruses, household emergencies or medical appointments...)  One way I have found to do this is to go back into my files and try to use things that I wrote long ago, but could not sell.  For a while I was writing a lot of fiction.  Some of it sold, some of it got close, but honestly I never found a good market for it.  I think it is particularly because I often write short stories about women, about fiber arts, and they don't all have to be terribly depressing at the end.  (contrary to the New Yorker's fiction style!) This did not fit into a "cool literary magazine" model, as you can imagine.

 Anyhow, it has always seemed to me that a lot of my writing doesn't sell because of luck, or bad timing, or lack of market.  As best I can tell (and the occasional friend/colleague who reads the stuff), it is not as if the stuff that does not sell is terrible and the other stuff is magically good in terms of writing or content.  It's not that clear, like a lot of things in life...alas, I wish it were!

 So, now that we're in this digital age where things don't have to be sold as conventional books, it seems like the perfect time to try some hybrid approaches and see what works.  My first story+pattern has sold enough so far to cover the tech editing costs.  Hurray!  Just got to throw it up on a wall and see what sticks. :)

 PS: I also realized recently that nearly ten years ago, I submitted an essay to a program associated with NPR called This I Believe....and it got published.  (Yup, I just figured it out.)  In some ways, when I started freelancing, I was also "throwing it up and seeing what stuck."  Apparently, this one did. This is about religious tolerance and the lack of it, and equality under law.  Seems like a particularly relevant topic these days.  

Here it is: 

This I Believe: by Joanne Seiff, 2005

New Article & Boxing Day Sale!

Here's my latest article on the Manitoba CBC website:
Gifting Experiences--Not Things

Note: That's the title I gave the article when I submitted it...but while the article itself is largely what I wrote, editors usually choose the headlines.

My article talks about making things for people, volunteering and sharing experiences with those you love instead of buying lots of wide screen TVs.  In terms of experiences, I want to enable people to make things, of course! Until December 31st at midnight (EST), my knitting patterns on Ravelry are on sale.

20% off all my patterns with the coupon code:
boxingday2014

Since my patterns are in "cost of a cup of coffee" range anyway, I think that counts as purchasing something towards a positive knitting experience.  I did start the sale itself on Boxing Day, but due to the winter break demands of preschooler twins (one with the sniffles), I've been delayed in posting here.  If you'd like up-to-the-moment info on Ravelry sales, please consider joining my Rav group. It would be wonderful to see you there...and if the group were a bit more talkative!

I'd also like to wish everybody who reads this a warm, happy and healthy 2015.   Wishing you all good things in the year to come.

Take good care,
Joanne