oh, shoot!

One of the fabulous students from my Photo Workshops for Knitters at The Yarnery in St Paul MN, last week. In action, stalking the sidelight on an EZ baby sweater, Grand Ave, Friday evening. I think everyone learned new things and had a good time. I know I did. A full report on The Yarnery blog. Here and here and here and here is more evidence, I hardly had to bribe them much at all ......

A moment Thursday: we were blocking the sidewalk, admiring and shooting a perfect little rim of light dancing on the edge of a handknit striped chicken. An eyeless blue and green handknit chicken, mind you.(See it here on her blog) A woman with a camera walked by and photographed us clucking & clicking away. I'm not sure what she thought of the scene, which was completely normal for knitters, but maybe just a bit nutty otherwise...and so wonderful.

Many thanks to Mary Lou and her associates in crime knitterly goodness at The Yarnery for hosting me. You can check out Mary Lou's coverage of the event over at her Flickr page, she was documenting and trying to participate at the same time, that's just plain challenging. If you're going to Sock Summit be sure to stop by and see Shelley and Mary Lou there vending. I got me a few skeins for a new sweater , it's an irresistible shop. But Ill save that for another post.
Minnesota Zoo, Friday afternoon visit

sometimes coffee tastes like chocolate*

Hey, you Minnesota knitbloggers!
There are just a couple of spaces left in the Photography for Knitters evening workshops this Thursday & Friday at The Yarnery.
See you there ?

From a photo shoot yesterday. Tasty work! More from this as soon as it goes live.

Fueling a 12 hour shoot day with an old friend as the client, fabulous baked goods and iced Italian espresso is...energizing. But I don't think it's the caffeine and sugar. It's doing work that is so satisfying and fun that really gets my gears whizzing.

Which is my roundabout way of saying thanks for your thumbs up on the photo workshop idea. I don't need much encouragement, at all, to talk about two of my most favorite activities combined.

These are the Welsh Traveling Socks from Shear Spirit. Shooting socks in interesting ways is a good challenge, we'll talk about that.

I'm all for repeating the workshops, or slightly longer ones - in other locations. Extra snaps if I can drive to them from home base in Connecticut. If you know of a yarn shop or other good venue, I'm ready to roll, drop me a note and I'll explore the possibility.

* when I was thinking about how work is sometimes so enjoyable I just don't feel like it's work, the title of this bluegrassy mandolin instrumental by Robin Flower popped into my brain. Which is a little freaky , I remember a recording of it from an alt radio station in the 80's..and doncha love the interwebs, here you can buy the original recording.

got class? yes we do!

Next week, in St. Paul MN, join me at The Yarnery
Photography for Knitters workshop evening.
Learn to make your photos phabbier.
Two options: Thursday July 23rd or Friday July 24th, 6-8:30 pm.

Belinda shawl, from Mason-Dixon Knitting: Outside the Lines
We'll be hands-on, it's all about improving your photography of knitting/fiber arts and of the world around you, with the knitbloggy/crafter in mind. We'll also cover a couple of tricks for making the images sing online.

Ann herself,of Mason Dixon Knitting with another Belinda shawl.

Thanks to my friend, knitwear designer Mary Lou Egan for inviting me to debut the She Shoots Sheep Shots Photography for Knitters Workshops - whew, that's a mouthful- in one of my very favorite places, the Twin Cities. I am beyond looking forward to it, can we speed up the week and get me there already???

Another from Mason Dixon Knitting: Outside the Lines, the Cardi Cozy. Mo' mohair!

This is going to be fun . Go sign up! Grab the camera, choose your projects to shoot, and see you there.

jcvzgmd9ra

my illogical absence

The words you'd rather not hear as you're leaving for a July 4th visit to the Delaware beach followed by 2 days of work in Washington and you're already 3 hours behind schedule and your 15 yo traveling companion son is feeling nauseous:
" um, WHY is the laptop no longer working?".
First stop, an hour later, the Apple Store where my Very Important laptop stayed to have a new logic board installed. Not the end of the world . I mean how whiney can I be? I have my beloved iPhone, but I still felt sort of tech-naked. We continued on our way, interrupted only by stops for the inevitable outcome of queasy teenager + large greasy sub + hours on a highway. No worries! After 18 years of parenthood this kind of effluence barely phases me.

Anyhoo, that's history now. Work shot, travel completed, laptop retrieved in good blogging order, glad to be home with Dave and the older son too.
How about some knitting ? At the beach , I finished knitting my Sage Remedy Top but was bored seaming , so its not quite a sweater.
There was some knitting with my mom, always fun. This is not some kind of whacko scarf. It's an blanket/afghan recipe she's working out. Bored of squares- this is her 3rd blankie for a grandchild leaving for college in as many years- she's using all scraps & oddballs . She's knitting long cabled strips that are 50 stitches across, with three seed stitches each edge, so the seed stitches run the length of every strip. You can't see those in this photo, sorry. She changes colors when it runs out, or when she wants to. Her plan is to sew these strips together,seed stitch edging to seed stitch edging, and knit a border around it. We layed out the 4 she's finished, it looks pretty great with the random blocks of color enlivening the whole shebang, not matching up where the color blocks switch, a lot of charm.
In other knitting news we checked out the new LYS in Rehoboth Beach, LOVE IT!

Kitschy Stitches owner Allison has a blog, wonderful yarn, great fabric and dry goods, a big porch and a generally wonderful vibe. I didn't really need anything but wanting to support her, grabbed a ball of yarn for a full size Gaia Shoulder Hug , since I enjoyed knitting my half-sized neckerchief version.

As far as the spewing 15 yo, here he is fully recovered and holding up well considering having to spend July 4th weekend with his mom and grandparents instead of friends, and having just witnessed the spectacle of his mother dancing with his 77 year old grandfather to the local reggae band at the beach bar down the street. He was a bit happier working for me in DC and hanging with an older cousin there. Hope your 4th was cheery, too!

at your requests

The winner of the notecard set, chosen by the random number thingy, is KT , of Knit with KT. Hey, KT, send me your address and they'll be on the way.

Here's an old barn for those who voted for old barns in the comments. I found it on Nanney Kennedy's Meadowcroft Farm. She said the building came with the farm , she thinks someone goofily used roof shingles on the sides and they aged in those muted colors. I liked how it looked from the moment I arrived . But then, even more because it echoed her dyeing that day:

In fact, one of the things I like about sticking my nose in artists' private lives (OK, anyone's private life, I admit it) is seeing how they surround themselves with things that reflect their art. Or seeing how their art reflects the worlds they live in.

Maine light in late September. That's Nanney, herding.

Can't close without a sheep shot, for those who commented in favor of seeing more of the ladies....tell me she's not smiling. Just a little smirk for the camera.

If this one looks familiar, she's turned her head on my Ravatar.