strike a pose: Rhinebeck style

ADDED 10/15/12  : Rhinebeck Style photo shoot project returns this year,  2012 to the Ny Sheep & Wool Festival.
 Stop by and strike a pose. DETAILS HERE

 added 10/10/11 **PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS FROM LAST YEAR, 2010 !! 

I'm not doing the photo thing this year, 2011,  but maybe next?  I WILL be at Rhinebeck, but this year I'll be a civilian, and  booksigning for my new book Craft Activism, 2:30-4 on Saturday and 11-12:30 on Sunday, in the authors barn. Stop by & say hi! (I'm a bingo square too).

as for the photos--I hope, I may, get to edit & post them before they are officially one year old. Its a crazy life!
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So..here's my little brainstorm. Last year I dragged my white backdrop to the Common Cod Fiber Guild's indie knitwear design fashion show in Boston, and see what happened. (it's 2 1/2 minutes long, sorry it's a bit of a slow loader- and there's music , so hit your mute key if you're at work or near sleeping babes)

The wonderful organizers of the New York Sheep & Wool Festival folks are giving me a space to set up my backdrop at Rhinebeck this weekend and you (and you and you and you.....and your alpaca too) are invited to pose for me. Show me what.you.got!

For years I've been thinking it's a shame not to document all the fine fibery fashion seen at that fair and I decided this is the year to do it. Where else can we wear so many layers of handknit & feel like part of the community?

Weather permitting I'll be there for sure Saturday and  probably Sunday monring too. I'll tweet my location so follow my twitter feed  & you'll know where I am--or else look for a white backdrop.

Fun, yes? See you in your wooolly best. I can't begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to this.  My talented friend & trusted co-conspirator Maryse is helping me out for a while, if anyone else who knows how to wield a reflector wants to hang out and volunteer for an hour, I would be super grateful, just shoot me an email.

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on home turf

Traveling Woman, designed by Liz Abinante, in a tomato-y red Lisa Souza Merino Sock. 

My idea was to knit this in March when I started a series of trips to shoot the new book project, and by April-June I'd be wearing it on chilly planes, and on cool nights on the west coast, in the NW, everywhere I went,  and I would look tres chic.

Plus the nerdy satisfaction of the pattern name matching my life. Like so many of my good intentions , it didn't spool out as planned. Instead I traveled like crazy and now, back at the ranch, finished it in time for a July heat wave.

 

To underline that sometimes the payoff comes when you're  close to home, here's one of the best locations I've shot at in a flurry of interesting and odd  locations. It's the mammal archives at the natural history museum at Yale. Above, the view before we set up to shoot a researcher working in this room.

How great to have this lineup watching us work. Every few minutes I looked up, and there they were, staring. Most were on display when my sons were little and we were regulars in the exhibit rooms. It was a reunion with old friends. A lucky one; I doubt they are meant to stay in a jumbled lineup in an otherwise sealed & controlled storage facility.

 

As for my travels, I'm not exactly staying put.  New Jersey for a shoot  Tuesday & Wednesday.

one day doesn't make a trend. right?

Maybe the cosmos heard me saying something over tequila drinks last night ,like" yup, not sad to see 2009 end at all. Sucky year, looking forward to this new one, yup, sure am."

Because I think it's possible  there's a little cosmic yucking it up going on.

By 6:30 am , day 1 2010,  I was awake and helping a spectacularly sick* 16 yo .  And when I say spectacularly here,  I am sparing you the details that'd cause unpleasant gagging on your part.

Back to sleep.  By 9 am, my mom had called to say my aunt had passed away.  It wasn't a surprise. But it was still sad.

After that, we  pretty much bagged plans for the day.  Figuring staying home inside watching movies all day would help us avoid things falling out of the sky and stuff like that. Besides we could observe our son turning shades of green up close personal.

It wasn't all a  bummer  My sister sent this phone cam shot of my niece in the birthday One Way Trip scarf. She likes it!  She looks a little tired here but give the girl a break- it was new years and her 21st birthday last night.

Aside from being a total knockoff of the Madden scarf, they said it looked like  Urban Outfitters , a little like the one linked. And it isn't too far off from this at Anthropologie.

I'm realizing I could totally get into knocking off other scarves from those sites, like the lightweight black one with all the crazy pom poms along the edge. Could be fun.

So. Day 2, 2010,  looking to be better. Bring it on.

*stomach virus, not party induced, requiring real sympathy

not necessarily in order of importance

My souvenir from last weekend: One skein of Lisa Souza yarn, in the colorway St Valentine's. It's a big honkin' 560 yards of Sock!merino. Perhaps an Ishbel? I've heard wearing red gives extra energy. Works for me.

I bet you thought I was going to say something about a Red Scarf for the Red Scarf Project right? No, but I'm working on that. You should too. Have you seen the prizes Norma has for those knitting and donating?

Last Sunday , sister Lulu needed to do some reconnaissance in a charming CT town, prepping for a meeting. I went along figuring, whynot? Great weather, a Bloody Mary at the historic tavern mid morning, a hike around the colonial harbour...what could be bad.

She had in mind walking in and out of every. single. charming. little shop...and the tavern didn't open till too late in the day.

I think I've already made it clear how I feel about recreational shopping. Without the camera to give my morning purpose I'd have hung myself up on one of these lamp posts.

I can't complain too much. Twee overload was offset by the sun.

PS. my friend Birdsong is having a contest over on her blog, she wants to know about life changing events in yours, as she just had a biggie. Go. Enter.

ready for a deep cleansing breath

Or a good cry.

The lobster shack by the marina. Note: no eel on menu

Let's say you turn 19 on the same day you're packing your stuff because you are getting into the old Buick (a bonafide Grandma Car, but you think it's extremely cool as it is now yours, all yours), with your dad and driving to Florida, where you're moving into an apartment (for the first time) and returning to culinary college.

And...let's say your mom thinks you should stay on track and pack and finish doing laundry. And what are all those things on the floor in your room? Maybe make a list of missing essentials.....stuff like that?

Would you and the buddy helping you go out for gas, stop by the marina to say bye to a friend, take the big squirming bag full of live eels he offers you? Then return to the house, abandoning all else to kill and gut eel for cooking later? No???!!

I thought not. Me neither.

Breeeaaaaathe. Let's look at my finished Gaia shawl and forget the guys, the filleted eels, the clothes, skim boards, books, old kitchen stuff, in disorganized mini-towers and how much I'm going to miss the son going so far away again.

pattern: Gaia Shoulder Hug
yarn: 1 skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock, love this colorway # 279!
needles: size 6 us
notes: A little small as shawls go, not bad for a shoulder wrap if you're short. The pattern is written for a skein of Kureyon Sock , which is 100 yards longer than this lovely Silk Garden Sock skein. If you look on the Ravelry link, you'll see the larger ones in Kureyon. I used the picot cast off as recommended to make the little riffle on the edge.
You know what? I like this pattern so much I may just knit another one. Maybe on size 7 needles next time, it could be a little more open before blocking. It's such a good project for filling in times when you need to knit something mindless. But not boring.

I'd probably wear it this way, if I were keeping it. Which is very, very, tempting.

fish I around

Last heard from, I was clinging with a death grip to a steel ladder welded to the back of a fast food building scampering up to the roof of a Sonic - who says photography isn't a glamorous career ? And my Gaia shawl was getting a picot cast-off.

In the mix, I had the use of a fisheye lens for a couple of days. Fisheyes are gimmicky; they are the eyelash yarn of photography . Every once in a while, fun to play with. Before I handed it back, I turned it on Farley, who passes by at 7 every morning.

And on the battle of man v. nature at my mechanic's shop.

Sidenote: when you drive a 20 year old car, you know your mechanic and his yard decor pretty well. He's got a steampunk vibe going on.

And on late summer chaos out front.
The Gaia shawl is finished, on a slow dry over this wet chilly weekend. You can see from the fisheye shots that I ignored days of brilliant sun & dry breezes, giving it a dunk n' block as a storm moved in Friday. So....show & tell next time, I'll spare you the vision of a damp striped shawl pinned out on a bright patterned beach towel, draped over a floral sofa.

fish food feet

As I've said before, I'll try almost anything once, as long as it's legal. And I don't have to eat raw tomatoes while doing it.

A fish pedicure* asked my sister, as we visited in Maryland this weekend? OK, why not.

Here's sister Marla when she first placed her tootsies in the tank.
You get used to the feeling. After a while.

Here's her feet with all the sweet little orangey fish at work.

Here's the fish I got in my tank. Larger. Fatter, Why? I have no idea. They were hungry though.

Have I grossed you out yet? It felt tingly. I asked the women working there what the difference is between our two kinds of fish . We had a tiny bit of language barrier settling the question. The most I got is sis's do lots of ticklish picking and mine are more like bigger biters (explained with sort of a ping pong sucking sound).

You probably think my pedicurist is laughing as she fans because I'm taking so many pictures. But , you would be wrong. Are you ready? She was cracking up because I'd just admitted this is the first time I've ever had a pedicure.

Mission accomplished. I can barely stop admiring my fish-massaged, bright & shiny digits.
FYI- dudes do not be afraid . This could be a macho pedicure experience. Maybe skip the polish.

* fyi, we had more reasonable fees than the prices quoted in that article.