A Blogging Milestone (or TWO!!)

Dear Reader,

Today marks the first anniversary of "The Faculty Meeting Knitter" (launched June 6, 2009) *AND* my 100th post as well.

I am awed and humbled to have reached these two important milestones on the same day. I mean, who would not be struck by a momentous feeling to see them appear together on the horizon, as I did a few weeks ago? Knowing that they were Out There, I could quite easily have taken steps to ensure that they would in fact coincide, but in all honesty I did not. I was extremely loathe to meddle in the ways of such wizards as may be seen to govern the Blogosphere, and thought it best instead to keep plodding away at my ongoing efforts to catch up. "Let destiny take its course," I told myself, and here we are...

On this occasion, I would like to extend a special word of appreciation to all my friends from Ravelry and Facebook who have supported this endeavor, but my sincere gratitude goes out as well to everyone around the world who has ever read my material. *THANK YOU*, whether indeed you follow the blog religiously, or have only stopped by once or twice in passing, or something in between. The art of knitting has graced my life in many ways, and not least because it brings people together out of kindness toward each other and respect for the craft. So the blog is just one aspect of a lifelong journey, and I am glad that there are so many fellow travelers.

Yours most truly and sincerely,
MRPP

Another Magic Moment on Ravelry

WOW.

I just got a personal message on Ravelry from Madeline Langan (a.k.a. "KnittingDream"), the designer of the Bar Harbor Shell Bag, and I can't help wanting to share a bit of it here, even at the risk of tooting my own horn. It began as follows:

Your bag is the most beautiful Bar Harbor Shell Bag that I have seen! When I look at your bag I become mesmerized by your color combinations. It really does seem to glow!

That is high praise from an estimable source. It made my day!! :-)

Project Bars

I just found out that there's a link to this site from Jean's Knitting blog on account of my progress bars. Since it appears that I have been getting a whole lot of hits lately from that one particular link, I thought I should post something on the subject for the benefit of people who may come here in search of more information.

As Jean points out, my progress bars are directly linked to my Ravelry account, so that each WIP listed on the blog has a link to the appropriate project on my Ravelry profile, and (which is even more exciting) any WIP %-completion updates that I make on Ravelry are relayed automatically to the blog sidebar.

Pretty nifty, huh?

I wish I could take credit for this miracle of modern technology, but the code widget that makes the magic happen is NOT my own invention. In fact, there is an entire group & corresponding forum/discussion board on Ravelry called "We <3 Progress Bars." Note that "<3" is text-message speak for a sideways heart = "love". I found everything that I needed right there, in the aptly named Extremely Helpful Thread. Clever Ravelers have devised lots of different variations on the theme of progress bars, some of them very elaborate, including photo galleries and other high-end bells & whistles. It can become quite a project in itself.

Fortunately, the straightforward version that I preferred was extremely simple to bring off. Once I figured out what I wanted and found Casey's pre-packaged code, the actual setup on Blogger took only a couple of minutes. You go to your "dashboard" and click on the "Layout" tab, and then use "Add a Gadget" to insert the necessary code into the sidebar of your blog. Copy & paste. Ta-DAH!!!! I think the only thing I did to customize it was to pick my own color scheme.

So that's the story. Please leave a comment here or send me a Ravelry email, if you have any further questions that I might be able to answer.

Happy knitting!!!

A Ravelry Moment

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while may remember my Frejya sweater, which I am making in honor of the eldest of our three Maine Coone cats. I have been working on it in fits and starts for a long time, mostly turning to it at interludes between other projects. At the moment I am almost through with the embellishments for the front (using an eyelansh yarn in duplicate stitch to add long hair to the mohair intarsia pussycat), and I have also completed several inches of knitting for the back. My goal is to have it all finished and ready to wear by the end of next summer.

The pattern comes from the book pictured here: Cat Knits by Melinda Coss (St. Martin's Press, c. 1988), a charming collection of feline-inspired sweater designs which I purchased in college at my beloved LYS (now long out of business).

Well... The other day on Ravelry, I got a comment on my Frejya sweater FROM THE DESIGNER HERSELF, complimenting me on my work and saying that it looks like her own "late, great Gingypop," i.e. the orange cat after whom she named the original pattern ("Gingypop Tweed Raglan Sweater").

What a beautiful surprise!! I felt elated to receive such high praise out of the blue, especially when I checked her profile and discovered that Melinda Coss has left the design business and is currently living in France: not only are we talking about a design from over 20 years ago, but it's an international connection as well. I was moved almost to tears to hear her speak in such warm, nostalgic tones about her own beloved pet. Despite the distance in time & geography, I recognized the sentiment immediately, since my husband & I certainly dote on our animals. It had always been precisely that love that shone through in the design and that convinced me (by identifying myself with the point of view of the pattern's creator) to make the sweater to honor our dear Frejya. I had always known that only a real Cat Person could have conceived of the sweaters in that book, but back in the days before the Internet, the chances of ever meeting or making contact with the designer were vanishingly small. You simply got inspired and enjoyed the project in your own little bubble of friends & family.

And for the designer in turn, I can only imagine that the situation was even more isolating: you labored long & hard to produce your best creative work, and if you were lucky you got it published & sent out into the wide world. But after that, beyond the vague hope that other people might be inspired by your work, and the disconnected sense that book sales must equal approval, how could you ever really KNOW what had become of your designs??

This is *exactly* the sort of magic that Ravelry brings off effortlessly. A designer need only run a quick search for his/her name, and suddenly a whole world-wide gallery of projects appears. The inspiration is real and tangible. Knowing this, I replied immediately in the warmest possible terms. I have not yet heard back, but at least there was that moment of sympathy and mutual admiration.

Thank you, Ravelry.