new year print round up; vogue knitting

When we last spoke, I was up to my elbows, wrists  in Trip Mitts. How about a bulleted catch up?

•  Work in print! As the year turned, my office filled with work shot a while back, coming home to roost in the form of books,  magazines and booklets.  I'm thrilled with the spreads-and cover--of the new Vogue Knitting. Note to self: share some of the other recently released work in future posts.  Like the adorable Finger Knitting book in the back here. And the  Faerie magazine pieces. (Don't raise that eyebrow over Faerie.  Read what The NY Times says- raves, really- about it)

• Another view inside the Vogue Knitting. I shot two stories--one on Modern Bohus knits, and one is winter whites.  Normally I'm all about the colors and contrasts but the whites one?  All about texture and avoiding color.  I like turning things upside down like that- makes me see/ think differently. Sort of like how we're supposed to brush our teeth with the opposite hand than normal every so often, to stretch our little brains.

•  If you are at Vogue Knitting Live this weekend in NYC and you happen by the Vogue Knitting booth, let them know how smashing this issue looks. It's been re-designed, looks quite wonderful and fresh. Yes, I'm biased but it's still true :-)

• And-- a  super dorky me with the cover.

• Let the record show that I am at Level 5 Handknits here: an unreleased Mary Lou Egan sweater that is drop dead easy to knit, Honey cowl with my Aristida shawl on top, L'Arbre hat and Trip Mitts.  Yes, I actually did meet my friends looking like that and we  were not at a fiber festival.  I forgot I was wearing the cowl when I added the shawl over it. That's my story.

• I'm missing Vogue Knitting Live this weekend, due to a family trip. I'm the one who scheduled it on the same dates as what is always a fun knitting party time.  I am so annoyed at myself, increasingly with each IG post and photo of friends yucking it up on Broadway. I plan to, at the very least, take advantage of car knitting time and finish a shawl. Maybe start a sweater. Who knows? Caution to the wind! Maybe more mitts. 

 If you're going to VK Live in NYC , here're my recommendations:

- Hit the Marketplace and go straight ot Jill Draper Makes Stuff . Snag some Rifton before it is gone. Love that yarn, and she has some new colorways. Also, the Dragonfly Fibers ladies will be there with their brilliant colorways. Say hi from me.

- While you're hitting the marketplace, check out the Knitty City booth and their special guests schedule. Lars Rains will be there with his new book, Modern Lopi..It's lopapeysa weather. So get on it.  Say hi from me there, too.   The same booth is also hosting Kay and Ann from Mason-Dixon knitting, with their popular coloring book. A knitting coloring book. I bet they'll sign it in crayon.  And...say hi from me.

- I'd also recommend joining Ann & Kay  of Mason Dixon Knitting on their trot through Central Park on Sunday morning. Because  this is something you can't do at any other VKLive.  Seize the day. Might be my 2016 motto.

recent acquisitions

Heads up: workshops coming up soon, limited spaces, more listings here 

• March 2 Tarrytown NY Photo Bootcamp for Crafters & Etsians 10-1

• March 17th Photo for Knitters at Wildfiber in Santa Monica/LA 2:30-5:30

• March 20th Photo Safari for Knitters in Santa Barbara CA at Loop & Leaf, 10-1

• and if you're a member of the El Segundo Slipt Stitchers, March 17 & 18

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When I packed up after the fun Craft Activism show & tell  & booksigning at the library in Madison CT last weekend (such a great knitting crowd they have there), I was invited to pop by the LYS around the corner. Since I have good manners, and, um, it's a yarn store? I said yes. I'd been there before, it was a sweet little shop.

 I didn't know it had changed hands a few months ago and now Madison Wool is MadWool,

 

owned by Dayna, aka The Crafty Scientist, an artyarn spinner, crafter and purveyor of the handmade, handspun, handdyed, and excellently curated commercial yarns too. The little cottage has a newly added room for classes , and is bursting with Things I Want to Touch and Make. I recommend a visit or three, they are open on Sundays. Do I hear field trip from you?

 

I broke one of my personal yarn rules: absolutely no single souvenir skeins. See this stunning Shalimar Breathless ? It's fingering weight wool, silk & cashmere.  I reversed some of my rule-breaking damage by winding and casting on immediately for Kat Coyle's new shawl Flying Home.

Yes, you can judge a shop by its sign. Yarnbombing!!!

  I feel so spoiled. I have Knit New Haven as my wonderful clubhouse LYS and now,  slightly further but still handy, a shop to revel in the handspun. Must get busy with them needles!

in the pink

I used to love the color pink. Powder pink, dusty pink, rose. I stopped wearing it when I was a newspaper photojournalist stringing for the NY Times & news mags. I  found I was patronized when I wore the girly colors. Sad, but true. I simply got out of the pink habit.

 

when oh when will I stop this silly addiction to gimmicky photo apps? when??? 

project: Bunny Blanket Buddy

pattern: a mash up of several but mostly this one from Lion Brand

yarn: less than one skein of MinnowMerino

needles: us7 for the "body" and ears, us4 for the head

notes: as usual, I didn't read through the pattern until I was working on that head. I wondered about the choice of stitch pattern....and then realized what the what? I am DOUBLE KNITTING! I do not know why I have avoided it all my life, I thought it sounded confusing and super tedious. It is neither. It is a fabulous way to create a head to be stuffed.
Also, love this yarn. Super lofty, superwash. 

 

(no shortage of sweet pink around here now)

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I'm setting up a pretty brisk schedule of talks and teaching. Can't wait!
Listing of those so far confirmed are all at the Photo for Knitters page .

First up, not too far from home:

• Sunday Feb 19th 2 pm a slide talk & booksigning about Craft Activism :  Celebrating Handmade at the Scranton Library in Madison CT. I'll have books for sale. Bring your knitting or crafting. You know about idle hands and the devil, right?

• Friday March 2 , Photography Bootcamp for Bloggers & Etsians (and those who aspire to be) , a hands on digital photography workshop at the  fabulous Pretty Funny Vintage in Tarrytown NY. Turn us loose in restored victorian house full of vintage, handcrafted and collectible treasures, cameras in our paws? No prob! Register now, space limited. Going to be big fun.

entubed: our tv field trip

Today's Photo Heavy Monday comes from our Craft Activism field trip to WTNH, the TV station in New Haven. They invited Joan & me to tape a segment for  CT Style, a mid day talk show. Totally fun. I'll stick our segment in at the end, so you can watch it if you have 5 minutes . 

Raises the question: do you need curly hair to be associated with Craft Activism? Um, hells yeah. 

The set, before we decorated it with our books. Noting what our host was wearing, we accessorized her. 

Tell me she doesn't look awesome in the Ocelot scarf (project in the book, y'know).

True story: while Joan helped Stacey and Beth get set to model for us, I went to go check my makeup. WTF? My shirt was on inside out-and no one told me? Caught just before I made a total ass of myself. Yay for the ol' confidence.

 

Our good fortune: the other guests were a cooking segment, from Leon's.

 

Guess who had Prawns-or were they Langostinos-  in a Spicy Tomato Sauce ?  Yum.

All in all, very fun and kind of funny. Neither Joan nor I are used to being in the spotlight but neither of us is uncomfortable on set, either.  I'd hoped to flourish the Fussy Cuts blanket so I had it in my lap , giving me an FDR'ish forbearance. Don't believe me? Check it out:

Craft activism: wtnh.com

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Curious about upcoming book events? Look over on our CraftActivism blog.

 

red scarf win-win-win

No secret: I'm a big fan & cheerleader for the Red Scarf project, run by Foster Care for Success (formerly known as Orphan Foundation of America).

Before I go any further, go enter Norma's contest to support the Red Scarf Scholarship fund and win a copy of Craft Activism. In which there's a chapter on same. 

At this point my connections to the Red Scarf Project are so  intermingled I can't untangle them. Seriously I just tried.  What began as a personal connection (knitter, adoptive parent, photojournalist covering the foster care system) connected  to work, new friends, inspiration......holy crap there's so much, if I had the teeniest bit of fiction writing talent I could turn it into a fabulous chicklit book. But, it would not be fiction. If you know what I am saying.

How about some behind the scenes look at the Red Scarf project in the new book?

You can't write about Craft Activism without crafting for a cause. Red Scarf is a perfect example. You can read the chapter excerpted  to learn why. Anyhoo, when I called Norma to say we wanted to feature her,  she was cleaning the guest room before we got off the phone.
I'd had a chat about my photographic approach with a design director at my publisher, and promised her I'd play around with a lighting source & setup she said Martha Stewart favors (Martha & I share this publisher). It's very flattering & gentle lighting, it shows textiles and women-of-a-certain-age in a beautiful glow.

Ahem, NOT that Norma is anywhere near Martha's certain age.

However , it almost killed me, with tons of shlepping & setup and does not lend itself at all well to my kinetic style.Those who took my advanced lighting class at Fiber College got to give it a whirl, though. I'd use it again only for a very staged shot, or still life work.

A lot of crafting in support of causes involves knitting community, so we were at Norma's LYS, the quite wonderful Kaleidoscope Yarn in Essex Junction VT.  Jill, the owner, is a big supporter of Red Scarf, and so are her daughters.

This is Norma, shop worker Shawn, and Joan red scarfing it up.
If you're wondering about the sweaters shown on the subjects, it's not a staged thing. It was February, and let me put it this way. If you a take a right hand turn out of Norma's driveway, you  cross into Canada in about 15 minutes. Very north. Very wool country.  Knitters paradise. Go visit! Or at least go knit a Red Scarf, deadline December 15.

groundhog day?

 

Monday AM, I'll be heading up to Vermont for 3 days of photo shoots. I'll be in some pretty great locations but none of them call for wild hair. A new week, a new headband.

pattern: Blue Leaf Headband

yarn: Berocco Pure Pima in Beech, theoretically matching everything in its colorless neutrality yet looking awful next to my skin

needles: size 7us

comments: This is an ideal headband, just right for summer, love the width & lace-that-is-not-prissy, quick but not boring to knit. Didn't even bother to block.

 

(aerial hipstamatic views of my head by Dave, who did an excellent job considering he just wanted to enjoy his coffee & breakfast at the time, and we were in public at a cafe when I felt the need to have him get the shots)

I'll definitely wear it a lot despite the deadly color on me. I broke it in at a neighborhood happy hour on the beach tonight, and tomorrow it'll be on my head in a soybean field somewhere way north of here. I like a headband that gets around, don't you?

 

The start of  V3.  Not that I'm obsessed or anything. This'll be like the blue one, but wider, same yarn but in Oyster. I reached half done with it and then remembered Ellen, #1 crochet enabling friend,  suggesting a striped granny stitch one. I'll have 3 different half skeins left after this, I have a feeling I know what V4 will look like.....

Fiber College giveaway, blog tour stop #5

 

Welcome Fiber College blog tourists to your final stop. If you're feeling bad for me for being last, worry not. I've spent my whole life as a Z. I am used to being last. It builds character.

 In that spirit , I am going to make you wait till the end of the post for the giveaway. (OK, if you must skim ahead,  I'm giving away a spot in one of my classes at Fiber College, just scroll down).

10 Reasons You Should Join Us at Fiber College

1- Fiber College takes place on the ocean in Searsport Maine. Sept 8-11th. I don't think you really need 9 more reasons. If you have ever been in coastal Maine in early September, you know what I'm talking about.The light. The smells. Peaceful & spectacular.

2- Did you notice the words on the ocean? I don't mean in a town that is on the coast but at this place. You can camp there (I am! primo spot! oceanfront!). Camping with beautiful flower gardens and adirondack chairs and hot showers,  near town for espresso runs and other, ahem, necessities of civilization. Like ice cream. If you don't want to sleep in a tent or fire up your RV, there are inns and hotels nearby.

3, 4, 5 - OK I will  be egocentric, the next three reasons are my classes. Friday morning is Photography for Knitters, Crafters & Bloggers- Styling your FO's general photography techniques and tricks and ideas for shooting your work. We'll play with color & light & choosing backgrounds. Saturday morning is Photography for Knitters: Working wth Real Life Models - we'll work on photographing people, especially to show off your knits. It is part technique, part psychology, lots of hands on. Very fun. If you're a designer who wants to have great shots of people wearing the patterns you're selling on ravelry, this is the class for you. On Sunday, for the 1st time ever, I am psyched to teach a more advanced class of Photography for Knitters/Crafters: Working with Light. It'll be all about sun and the lack of it, direct & indirect light sources, shadow, indoor lights, using cheapish artificial light sources and working too with electronic flash (strobes), both large & small - the full monty of lighting, with the focus of making fiber look great.

6- All the other classes. OMG the classes. The teachers & subjects are mind boggling. Just go look. You can go traditional techniques in knitting, spinning, or weaving. You can try something new with wool like dyeing with indigo and woad, or felting 3 dimensionally . Or something new, like hula hooping or silkscreening or book making.

7- Artist in residence! I love when there's a special person who's presence gives a shape to the gathering and who can do a Saturday night presentation that'll capture us all. It's Mary Jane Mucklestone. I've never met her but I am looking forward to, because I so admire her work. Check out her Saturday night presentation, especially.

8- Vendors. If just sitting by the surf, knitting,and soaking in all the free-floating creativity  isn't enough, you can shop. Like a mini Rhinebeck but no traffic and easier access to the fiber critters.

9- That's right, I said fiber animals. I guess you know how I feel about sheep, goats and alpaca. I'll skip the baaaaaa-d puns.

10- Above all, community. The spirit of the gathering is so on the mark to me, it is making me look forward to September. (I hate when summer ends, hate it).But here's what I mean, right from the Fiber College website:

"What is Fiber College?

It's all about doing...and it's more than classes: it's community, sharing and evening events.

We hold the following statements to be true: September is the most beautiful month on the coast of Maine. Surrounded by the sea and bordered by gardens you can relax, revitalize and daydream~ you know that you need this. "

Giveaway! If you'd like to win a seat in one of my classes (your choice but if it's for the lighting class, just be sure you want to geek out ,photographically, that much).

Leave a comment below saying what non-photo class most piques your interest. I'll take comments till 3 pm east coast time on Wed August 3rd, and I'll do a random number for the winner.

See you there?

yo tambien

Mitered Cross  and the design  inspiration in quilt form flappin' in the breeze

Although Kay did a stellar post complete with awesome photos she made- I tell you I am positively ferklempt looking at them- I still want to report on that one-of-a kind class I taught in Southampton LI a couple of weekends ago. Teaching at a private home gave  a whole 'nother vibe to the class. Where else could a student be seen with a camera, a cellphone and her small dog under the same arm while photographing a woman lounging on velvet on a lovely shaded patio.

You wanted a closer look, am I right? It's not really on my list of "Ten Top Tips To Take Terrific Tightshots" but on the other hand,and I mean literally on the other hand, we're talking Olive. (love that Olive)

We went all out on the refreshments, in a way one might not at a shop or library or other educational venue. Because afterall, G&T's make a very good prop, and I heartily endorse good props. BTW this is Phyllis Rowley's design.

A constant at all of the Photography for Knitters classes is the presence of brilliant knits. Will you look at this Volt in Kidsilk Haze? Can you practically feel it? It's by Susan, here's her Ravelry link.  Karin, a freind of Kay's,  was there to model. I'm not sure she knew in advance that would be her role. 

  
But I don't think she minded too much.

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Last night at Webs ended the summer series of classes I've been teaching. It was SO hot, I didn't even take photos myself. That is a real heat indicator, because it was a very very good time. When the heat got to us, we decided to use " WEBS, Yarn Store of Your DreamsWhich  is Very Well Air Conditioned & Colorful"" as our setting for the photography, instead of the  hellish sauna great outdoors where posing in wool felt downright punitive.

In September I am THRILLED to be teaching at two events, you really should check them out

Fiber College- a gathering of knitters, artists & vendors  in Searsport Maine Sept 8-11 and

The Creative Connection Event, a gathering with the emphasis on craft entrepreuneurship and empowering women Sept 15-17th in St Paul MN - I teach Friday as part of the Vogue Knitting lineup.

the right question

Still a space or two at Photographing Your Knits: FO's on Real People at WEBS this Thursday July 21 4:30-7:30. Join us! Did I mention it's at WEBS?!

 

Earlier this summer I knew what I wanted. Needed. Must knit. It was a long, wide, lightweight, sheer shawl that I could also wear as a huge scarf. I cast on to make Gossamer Stars with my big cone of Colrain lace. But alas, it was not making me happy.  Working off a chart wasn't my mood, because most of my summer knitting takes place on a porch or beach while chatting. Plus,  I'd forgotten that I already had this Be Sweet big wide shawl underway.

I decided to start over in razor shell, a favorite stitch, and was reinforced by Dunes in First Fall Knitty (don't you love it in handspun over there?)  But, I still wasn't feeling it. Know what I mean?
Volt shot at the Photographing Your Knits class in LI

Then last Saturday at the Photographing Your Knits workshop, Sara asked me the simple question "What do you like to knit most?". I stumbled, saying "umm, uhhh, I guess I like knitting animal fibers best, in worsted weight". 

And then she said "No, I mean what do you like to knit?"  and I stumbled more, replying "l, ummm, well, I like sweaters, and ummm, everything. Small things, hats, scarves.... but not lace so much. I don't enjoy the fiddly stitches so much". (Clearly I'm not a big self-examiner type).

Later that night, when we were socializing,  she glanced over at me with my laceweight merino/tencel blend. There I was  looking annoyed at my YO's and counting stitches while trying to drink wine & chat and she said "But..I thought you didn't like lace?".

Enlightenment! Headslap! Thanks, Sara, for asking the right question at the exact right moment.  I'm casting on again with the Colrain, which is, after all, a very nice yarn. This time for Miley. I'm feeling happier already.

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(more photos from that LI day next post, it was so inspiring. Not just because it got me back on track: the knitters and setting and the whole.....gestalt).

july. you gotta love july.

That's right, it's that bigass granny square getting another few rounds. I'd put it aside once the allure of having a mountain of wool in my lap faded.  But we had a chilly evening, so it got back in action. Here's the thing: I'd almost run out of odd skeins to use, when my enabler friend Mary Lou surprised me with a big box of almost-full skeins in just the kind of colors I use. And get this: she herself does not feel the granny square thing. That's a friend. So I kept on going and now  it's about 5 feet square and might  be close to just right. At first I felt compelled  to use all the yarn on it but a 15 foot square lap blanket is....a LOT of lap. I mean, I can use some of the yarn on another project, right? 

Meanwhile the colors at the farmers market have been inspiring, I'm thinking maybe a garlic scape sweater next?

let the record show..

photo by Barbara Miller, from class Saturday on porch of the Kitschy Stitch.  Oh the colors !

• The Kitschy Stitch class in Rehoboth Beach was full of awesome, see above.  Here's knitter/designer/photo student- for-the-day Linda in her soon-to-be-released pattern Shawlus Maximus . I hope I spelled that right. And didn't over-hyphenate. Gorgeous design, right? Visit Barbara's Miller's blog to see more of her photos from Saturday.

•  next is the special full day east end of LI class, July 9th,  in the good company of Kay Gardiner of Mason Dixon Knitting. Deets & sign up here. Two spaces open. Three if you need'em.  It's worth a day trip from NY if you'd prefer not to take a whole weekend away. (jitney! they drive, you knit! win win! I'll even pick you up and take you back to the jitney depot.)

The Gaia shawl in Noro Taiyo,in full review.

yarn: Noro Taiyo sock, colorway # 2 (I think)(does it matter, they are all so....Noroluscious)

needles: us 7

yardage left over: none, zero, zippo, nada. In fact I scrounged several yards off other skeins to complete the picot bind off. Careful scrutiny reveals the color change in picotland, above.
finished size: just right

final thought: The Taiyo Sock was incredibly irritating to knit--it spun back on itself like an energized single. (and I can't say that phrase enough, it sounds so weird. Energized single.) But oh the colors and changes?  I can forgive Mr. Noro  his materials' faults for the joy of the shifting hues.

•  I'm on to another shawl, big rectangular,  with my big spool of Valley Colrain yarn. Loving the knitting but not loving working off a spool. Keeps toppling.

• Joan Tapper & I are setting up our events & booksignings in celebration of our new book!

Craft Activism, coming your way in late September. So excited.

really? this is work?

At the Photographing Your Knits class on Saturday at Webs,(link to next class in July) we played with contrasting backgrounds. Zarzuela's Fibers was our lovely handspun model.

I am sure those driving by kind of wondered what we were up to. So much fun, and what an awesome class.

It's not just all shoot, shoot, shoot though.  I finished my Gaia shawl a couple of weeks ago, more views and blab about it in another post. Can I just say? I don't think I'll ever get tired of this pattern & Noro yarn together.

may most colorful

Still at it. I love how the overall color vibe shifts when each new round is added. *It is just enough to get me around it, one more time. * repeat from * No end in sight.

Borscht with the works: cold beet soup with a boiled potato, hard boiled egg, diced red onion, plain greek yogurt and a bit of parsley.*Prepare, admire, eat for lunch* Repeat from *  at least 2-3 times per week.

and, why, yes, that is a Mason Dixon Knitting warshrag, knit by Kay herself. Are you wondering what it's like to hang with Kay while working on your photo skills? Yeah, I thought you were. Join me in Southampton NY on July 9th and find out . Info here.

Gaia shawl in Taiyo. Almost done. Noro..Loving it.

Strawberry-apple-kale-ginger juice. While looking for my gardening tools in the basement , I came across a juicer I'd snagged at a tag sale and never used.  Norma's juice lists  earlier this year and how they appealed in a really odd way popped into my brain... now, we're all smitten. Yo, yarn companies: juiced kale could be a colorway.Neighborhood Cinco de Mayo potluck. We had the tables on her lawn till a downpour forced us up on the porch...But it passed, so we spread back out on the lawn.

And had this for our view.

What colors are rocking your boat?