craft activism goes literary in Little Rock AR!

...with a side-order of yarn bombing, thankyouverymuch. To recap: the Arkansas Literary Festival invited me as a presenting guest author, and asked if I'd also lead a Craft Activism event.  It took about a split second to choose yarn bombing, masterminded by the kniteratiLR . We decided to also make flowers from recycled sweaters as embellishments,  giving  non-knitters a break.

We worried no one would join us.

Not a problem! We also worried the weather'd be bad, that it'd be confusing, that we wouldn't have good materials...

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Here's Patrice, my partner in crime.  Really, more of a fun ringleader. If we ever pull a big heist she'll be the one with the excellent map with the duct systems schematic and the timing to get to the getaway car. I'll be the one...um...whatever, I am sure I'll be useful.  Anyhoo, we had felted old sweaters, colorful buttons and Patrice scored a bunch of One Thousand Percent Old Nylon hand crocheted afghans at Savers Village. I've noticed people like to have directions, even for open-ended projects, so we made a handout and did some test-crafting, to keep calm the night before. We were worried that it was too "Make & Take" Nope, not a problem. The template & directions became a launchpad. Just liked we'd hoped.The table quickly filled. Recycled sweater flowers piled up, but then we worried we wouldn't engage a wider audience.Again,not a problem. Teenage boys! The most wonderful part is this: see the dude in the blue T-shirt? He'd said in a disdaining teen tough boy way that he didn't know how to sew, when I tried to hand him a needle & yarn to attach flowers. He said it in the same way one would  back away from an offer to smell something rotting in the back of the fridge. His friend, the one you see giving him a hand said something like Damn, what do you mean you can't sew? Instantly turning it around, making it a desirable skill. Then he showed his friend how. Now that is some pretty cool craft activism, right  there (also, they were lured away from video gaming to do this. Let that sink in..video games)

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We moved outside to yarnbomb a small parklike area. This little girl will no doubt be the editor of Vogue Knitting someday. She was on task and delightful. When we were done,  I observed that it looked magical, to which she replied" It looks like my kind of world."while sweeping her hands around the area.  awwwww.

Meet Meredith Martin-Moats, folklorist, writer, editor, NPR producer and craft activist, who wrote about us in her excellent blog The Boiled Down Juice . It's full of interesting subjects that aren't us, too. Also, her twin toddler sons' stroller got yarnbombed as they passed through.

If you want to see even more from this day, hop over to CraftActivism, I put up a full slideshow.

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It'd be a shame to not mention how cool Little Rock itself is.  Thanks to Patrice, I had a fab visit. She and her hubby Roy opened up their home, fed me deliciously,  and  put up with my endless chicken and bee questions.  Turns out Patrice and I had the same job, years ago, but not at the same time, in Boston, at a photo agency.  (I know, you really can't make up stuff like this). Even more satisfying than comparing notes about old bosses/co-workers was the fact that Patrice is a talented knitter.  She  has the good taste to have knit, and wears, many sweaters in my queue. ( I am sure you  understand how great this is).  When we had a teeny slice of free time, she gave me a tour of LR.  Here's some of it, captioned.

The Clinton Library. Gorgeous architecture, fascinating presentation of recent history. Along with momentous world events, there was a display dedicated to handmade gifts that President & Hillary Clinton received, like the beaded necklaces. There's something so sweet and also so pop culture about all of it.Central High School, a place I  knew from the old Life Mag photos from  early days of the civil rights movement. It's beautiful, peaceful, still turning out graduates. Of all colors.

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Detail of a statue in front of Heifer International.

 

And the Big Dam Bridge, which as you might guess, was built on top of a dam. It's a long pedestrian bridge over the Arkansas River connecting two riverfront parks, in Little Rock & North Little Rock.

best laid plans and all that jazz

Brooklyn on Sunday morning, via iPhone  cam. Have  I mentioned how much I love mobile Photoshop? 

On Saturday, massive snowstorm approaching & hysterical forecasts increasing, I figured my photo shoot in Brooklyn the next morning would be postponed. So I kinda relaxed a little. I mean, here I'd have an Extra Day to catch up on work, sit by the fireplace and finish the holiday gift knitting, maybe make some cards, do a new year's e-postcard to my clients, answer email, wrap some gifts, do some cookie baking blah, blah bah. I had a Plan B.

By 6:30 am Sunday, Plan B was rolled back to Plan A. The shoot was on, snow and all. There I was trudging with my equipment on the MetroNorth, then to the subway then through the streets, trying to refigure how it'd all work out. And being kind of grouchy about it. Resenting having to shlep my big case through the snowbanks the plows had created at the curbs....when I looked up and realized how really, truly great it all was. The snow was white, fluffy and undirtied, the city was quiet, the skies were brightening, the holiday decorations were popping against the brownstones. I've never seen Brooklyn like that. It was magical and anyone out on the street just then , the handful of us, knew it.

So, where does that leave me? It's past midnight, and as I blog this I'm baking cut-out cookies, swilling a glass of red wine, finishing up knitting two hats, and adding items to tomorrow's list, all at the same time. Tomorrow I'll try getting other stuff left from the weekend done, and I'll knit the last gift on the car ride to DC on Thursday. Fingers crossed. Anyone who freelances knows the best way to get new work to come in is to plan a few days away. This year having been so epically, monumentally sucky business-wise, I figuredI could plan on getting away quietly. Nope! The very last week of the year and new work- good projects- are appearing , all needing immediate attention.

I don't care. Plans, like rules, are made to be...improved upon. Maybe that's the theme for 2010.

Or, maybe that's the red wine. (Salut!)

do handknit socks reduce stress?

You wanna talk stressed? Bridgeport CT is stressed. I still like to look at it though.

Last week a reporter from cnn.com called me, writing about professions identified as being high stress compared to the level of pay. I figured she was looking to talk about the stress of working as a commercial photographer in this cruddy economy. It turns out the stress factors identified are deadlines, crazy, weird or precarious working conditions, unpredictable budgets while keeping clients happy and the pressure of needing to always produce fabulous work.

Really? These are things I like about the job. A little chaos is good, that's my motto.
So here I am as the commercial photographer poster child. When's the last time you saw handknit socks on CNN ?

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.

off on tangents

Still knitting the grey mohair Airy Cardigan, it won't appear significantly different to you even though the body is done, so I'll skip a photo, and decorate this post with images from the high school I was shooting in Miami last week as part of a US Dept of Ed gig.

It's an arts & design urban public magnet school , the students are uber talented. It was inspiring, at times awe inspiring.

I love when the system works, don't you?

The Airy Cardigan is a pleasure to work on, a quick knit . Or would be if I put in more knitting time. I have some concerns about how it'll all go together. Now that I've got sleeve edges going, it won't be much longer till I find out.

Maybe the slowness is OK, I'm dithering over sweater # 6. Considering the Sage Remedy top, (Rav link there). It reminds me of an old favorite go-to, the Mexican blouse. In any photo from 1972-1980-ish you might find me wearing one. I used to save up babysitting money to buy them at a pharmacy that oddly had an aisle of hippie clothes. Hey, look they are still in business as a gift store, no more prescription counter & Vap-O-Rub near the patchouli incense and dashikis, I guess. (also, probably no more patchouli incense and dashikis. really, enough).

Ok going way off on a tangent but gotta love the web, clicking on that Parkleigh link , I learned my old playmate and neighbor is a star in the glass art world, and they sell her work. Now I want to get one of these small pieces from Gong Glass Works.

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But back to the Sage Remedy top, I'm thinking it'd be a fun knit, no sleeves and feather and fan- really who doesn't love a little f & f? Maybe in a cotton,one that isn't too dry on the hands. Or cotton/wool or cotton/bamboo? Suggestions? Definitely without the band along the hips , so not into creating a pouf in a naturally poofed body part, if you know what I mean. All this indecision! I need to get moving it I want to stay on my sweater-a-month schedule. Not that I'm committed to it or anything.

unexpected

This establishment was at the end of the road where I was working in southern Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
I mentioned to a local that I was crazy about it, she told me to go to the next town over, to see this:

I was disappointed that it's only there to preserve a bit of history, no longer serving coffee.
Back home, I finished up the Gaia Neck warmer, using in total a half skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock,
you'll need to see it in person to appreciate the colors.
It's just the size I needed it to be, and I love everything about it--except, you know what? It doesn't need any embellishment.Plenty going on here.
So my plan to knit it just to attach and show off seaglass bits went out the window.
If you see me at NH Sheep & Wool tomorrow, Saturday, you'll see it in action. The seaglass bits'll be there too. Separately. Too much is just too much.
My next plan is to knit some beautiful , simple, gray alpaca yarn and let the seaglass do its thing on the endds, like my favorite RazorShell scarf.

PS. I can't rave enough about the Gaia pattern. You do a row of eyelets whenever you think the colors are shifting. So. much. fun.