i get by with a little help

This won't be the  title for the crafting/knitting book Joan & I are working on like crazy. 

photo by Edwina Stevenson, my friend who's only fault is she doesn't knit. I know, wtf?

But it really should be. For example, not only did Kirsten design another one of her fabulous pieces for us, but she & her daughter came out on a steamy late NY afternoon to model wool. They are as smart, sweet and talented as they seem to be online . (and don't deserve the typo I made on the sign but I am out of time to fix it, sorry)

(Also, Sofia makes an excellent blocker for women who prefer not to show their hips on the High Line.)

 

and those Kapurs know how to find a good french fry.  

Oh, OK, I can share that: we were here.

test smitten

   
wrestler masks in San Antonio TX

Traveling Woman is almost done. Ten rows to bindoff. How often does the name of the shawlette you're knitting so closely match your life? OK, if it was really going to match me it'd be Slightly Crazed and Forgetful Traveling Woman. Catchy, no?  

Boston, Ohio, Seattle all coming up. Ooh and maybe a stop in Squam NH.  But  I am fantasizing about having the shawl blocked and on me for Seattle in June.

 
at the recent workshop at Juniper Moon Farm, shooting FO's (funny Fo's I guess)

Added bene to my photo shoot in Seattle: I'll be teaching a Photographing Your FO's class on Sunday June 20th 1-3:30 at The Fiber Gallery.  Very excited this worked out.  Space limited, sign up and show me a Seattle good time. [edited 5/29, this class is full, THANKS!]

You know what you almost never hear me blabbing about? Garter stitch. Nothing against it, sort of boring, makes a nice border, etc.  But I'm test knitting a garter stitch project for the new book project with Joan Tapper and y'know what? I'm a little smitten. Maybe more than a little. Like,I can't stop.

Or, maybe it's the Noro.

showing some class

First, there was the wonderful class  2 weeks ago at Loop & Leaf in Santa Barbara. Reports here, here and here.  What a fab group of knitters! And the setting, 100% charming.  Just a short one, a 3 hour class, on Photographing Your FOs.  No kidding, I was plotting a return appearance before I left the premises. Interested? contact me, or Celeste at the shop.

A week later I headed to Virginia, for the Juniper Moon Farm Photo Workshop Weekend . (click  to get some idea of the action). I like to think of it as the first ever, because that hints of return, which I am all for.

little known fact: Susan is a fabulous trained chef. Eating well at Juniper Moon. Seriously.This was lunch break.

Go get a drink and put your feet up,  the rest of this post is long with  lots of photos.

Susan Gibbs, or Shepherd Susie as she is known on Twitter, is the brains and the beauty behind Juniper Moon.  We'd been talking about doing something together for ages and boy was it fun to finally do it. And what a fabulous group joined us. (If any of you are reading this, post links to your own photos from last weekend in the comments, OK? I know you've got the goods).

A weekend workshop means plenty of time to shoot, to get to know your subjects,

play with color

and motion (this didn't quite work but you can see the potential).

And oh the cuteness! Lambs & kids & her beautiful dogs.
Did I mention the chickens? Good looking chickens.

Work with light & shade

.Discovering that a kid makes an adorable prop but distracts from the sweater details. BTW? This is Maggie, who is assisting on the farm, and is a talented spinner, I have my eye on some of her yarn at the farm retail shop.

Dyeing demo. The weekend format left time for a couple of yarn experiences that were interesting as well as photogenic- and we also had time to download images and discuss. I have to tell you, this doesn't seem like work to me at all. I know it's self-promotional as all get out to say this , but if this looks like fun to you, bookmark this link, where I list upcoming workshops.  The next one is in Kentucky! July 10th  & 11th.

a tiny peek at the weekend workshop

I mean literally! The Lamb Also Known as Tiny, posing for the cameras at the first ever Juniper Moon Photo Workshop Weekend.

in the city of angels

Whatever your house of worship,  the spirit that built these amazing towers resonates so powerfully, you can't help but feel there's some religion going on. So much passion in the metal, the tiles, the glass fragments, the curlicues in every inch of concrete.

Saturday in Los Angeles, my friend & hostess with the mostest Ellen Bloom took me to the Watts Towers. If you love mosaics & outsider art and exploring the nooks and crannies of Los Angeles,  Ellen is the guide you want.

Well, possibly, you also want our inimitable Watts Towers guide Marqueeda.

and back at Ellen's place, there may have been a little proselytizing, and a conversion.

Thanks Ellen !

2 sweet 2 b ignored

The last time I mentioned my knitting, back here, I claimed I was swinging by my LYS to get yarn for travel knitting Gretel. I walked into Knit New Haven, June & Linda were unpacking these Be Sweet shawl kits, and that's all she wrote. Many yards of fine kid  mohair stockinette size 11us needles, on the bias. My only hesitation was deciding on colors.

Not following the suggested striping .

 

But I am loving every inch of it. Very zen , just floating along, me, my knitting, up in the air. And doncha love that green? I took it to West Hollywood SnB last night, lookie here, my knitting and I are on my fabulous hostess friend Ellen Bloom's blog.

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Did you think I'd post without  Hipstamatic shots?  Uh uh. Not yet. 

Somewhere over north america. Maybe Nebraska?

 

and landing in LA. Book shoots ahead.

you're never too experienced to make a rookie move

You see that beer? Yup, that's a $150 pint.

On Monday, with two successful Austin photo shoots, the sight of a zillion pregnant Mexican bats and many tacos under our belts, we headed south to San Antonio to catch our plane home. We had, like, some extra time. So we thought we'd squeeze in one more round of enchiladas & cervezas for the road.

We cut it too close. We showed up just 20 minutes before the plane was leaving, and our seats were gone. Surcharged but fortified, we left later.

San Antonio fiesta flags on the way out. Oh that Hipstamatic. I can stop any time. I just don't want to.

Next post: knitting and real camera photos.

Maybe.

irresistible

Austin in general. Green chile cheese fries here, in particular.

San Antonio, even in the rain.

Fiesta decorations (even in the rain.)

 

Hipstamatic app. So gimmicky yet so impossible to stop.

Even in the rain.

well named but not well suited

 

Lately I've been knitting Traveling Woman, and just lovin' it.  Which is apt.  I'm leaving for a trip to Texas tomorrow, it'll be the start of a ton of going to and fro through July.  I'm past the solid stockinette section and on to the lace repeats. As I've mentioned , oh, like every time I fly,  I do not sit on a plane without some chemical assistance. Just a touch.  It makes for pleasant airtime, but really messes up any knitting that requires counting of YO's.

Traveling Woman will come along for some clear headed ground knitting. Maybe with a beer and some chili fries here?

BTW, this is some fabulous vermillion Lisa Souza merino. I thought it was saturated red when I bought it (damn that lighting) but in truth, like this slightly orangey red  intensity even better.

So, I'm off to my LYS to acquire something simpleminded yet elegant. I'm thinking Gretel, in Be Sweet bamboo. And then I can pack my equipment for two shoots, and some clothes. Girls's gotta have some priorities, right?

gettin' stitchy witcha

 

I had one of those"it's right under your nose" moments. I was trying to prove my last post wrong, that there was some favorite Passover food that'd look all stylish-like in a quick photo. 

I've been thinking about stitching a lot lately. Inspired by Jenny Hart over at Sublime Stitching, and ohfergodsake I don't know her real name, Cauchy09,  go click & look at her Flickr page. Maryse , who's no stitchery slouch herself, intro'd me to Cauchy. 

Headslap! The most interesting item on the table wasn't the food, but the matza cover, the hand stitched one right in front of my face I'd been looking at my whole life. Stitched by my grandmother who knows when (1930's?40's?50's?). It has all the ritual seder foods embroidered on it, with their hebrew names.

That's the bowl of charosets. Don't you love the lines?It's flying. wheeee!

This one's the bitter herbs, horseradish root.  I adore the plain blue and the super soft aged tea linen it's on. Inspired, I pulled out a basket of her unfinished stitch projects I inherited.

 

Get this: the last hand that touched that needle was my grandmother, leaving it mid stitch , the way you would when you get up to make some coffee, sometime around 1967 ish. It's the last corner of a 50" square tablecloth, the other three corners were completed.

I think I know what needs to be done here. 

(and if you want more about me & stitching, go over to the Two Shear Spirits blog, more there).

no leavening for you!

Here's lunch time in the kitchen  at etsy headquarters in Brooklyn.  I posted a report of  my behind-the-scenes tour  over at Two Shear Spirits, my much neglected blog with Joan Tapper. Go, look, read. It was  peeking behind the curtain in Oz. Except without that weird wizard guy or multicolored horses. But with Toto-like dogs.

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Happy Passover to those observing. I made  kickass matza balls last night. I was so pleased with this particular batch I wanted to photograph them in their partially cooked glory. But, is there any cuisine less photogenic than Ashkenzaic Jewish?  I'd have had to suspend operations and style them beyond reality.  So, instead, here's a link about the White House seder.  Growing up, this is a scene that we'd maybe imagine in a comedy sketch, in that ironic stretching the humor way.  An African American president leading a seder? In the White House?  Love it!

I'm making macaroons tomorrow. Maybe they'll be prettier.

funky old lady slippers*

You know that phrase belle laide? The slippers, I mean, not the woman.

A last minute gift for my colorful friend, Carol.  They match the deep turquoise porch on her shrimp pink house. Inside, she has a vibrationally lime green kitchen. Carol's idea of a neutral is lemon yellow. Put in her  perspective, these are sedate.

 
shot really too late to get anything reasonably normal, at iso 1600

Periodically she asks me to knit her socks, and I tell her no.  Inspiration struck when I thought about her birthday gathering, with only a couple hours of knitting time ahead.

They're a version of Pocketbook Slippers. I always assumed the name meant you could slip them in your purse. But no.Turns out  the construction looks like a pocketbook. Look here, or on Ravelry here . Lots of people remembered to do what I didn't, and shot them flat.

I used  this pattern. Modified for bulky yarn and a womens size L foot.

yarn: Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Bulky, 1 skein (with plenty left). Intense turquoise.

needles: size us 8

gauge: about 3.5 stitches/ inch. Its not critical, these are multi-sized.

my modifications: cast on 3 stitches (instead of 5)

follow directions but stop doing the increases when you have 16 stitches (instead of 22). You could do 12 or 14 for smaller feet. These babies streeeeetch. Follow directions for construction, embellish with mismatched buttons.

notes: These might be less funky in a lighter weight yarn.  Next time I'll leave give the project  an extra 1/2 hour and do more careful embellishments, I could see more, smaller buttons. And some embroidery. Or  crocheted flowers. Can you tell associating with Ellen and Maryse is starting to rub off?

*  the slipper style, not the lady being gifted

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There's still  room.
1st Ever Photography for Knitters Weekend at Juniper Moon Farm May 15 & 16.