the obvious choice

My skein of Noro Taiyo Sock traveled to Chicago with me this morning It's going to be a Gaia (rav link) shawl, for me. I've wanted one ever since the first I knit for my sister , in Silk Garden. This has more yardage ,so will be that much shawlier. Perfect project for  this weekend, while attending a professional conference. When I chose this colorway, it was pointed out it'd definitely be one I liked--because it matched ,exactly, fabric wound around my neck. They're the scarves in the background here as proof. I like to think of it as a cosmic convergence rather than being in a rut.

hue & me

 

It's getting bigger. Still not tired of it.

 

but it's starting to take a while to get fully around the square.

 

There's no real plan. I alternate contrast or cool/warm tones. Sometimes there are little runs of colors I particularly like. My other project right now is a  Cadence in Cascade Eco wool, in the satisfyingly sturdy & very plain natural brown/grey you can see on the the left next to the yellow (single crochet row). I cheated a little out of that sweater for this . Excellent alternatives to work on.

. 

I've run out of some of my leftovers in really odd colors. I'm hoping the outer edges won't be too boring, I have a lot of yellow, goldish yellow, brown & light dull blue.

 

Bobo and the Bigass Granny Square

denial

 

Dave finally got his sweater.  Cobblestone, knit in Berroco Ultra Alpaca and Potosi Sheep Farm hand dyed Blue Faced Leicester.

 

It was finished a month ago. The thing is, Dave doesn't like posing or the attention one gets in front of the camera. I know! cruel irony! Spending his life with a photographer. To make matters worse, I never feel Dave looks like himself when I shoot him, so I say, nah, not quite right, I didn't get you.  Who's this dude with a white beard who's showing up in my pixels.

 

This is the Dave I think will  appear in the photos.  I realized the problem is not with Dave's posing  but with my brain,  two weeks ago, when dear friends showed this photo of us in 1981.  Delusion! such a grand way to face the world.( Also: denim, such a wardrobe builder.)

 

FYI, I knit the Potosi Sheep Farm yarn every other row on the garter yoke, to mute contrast with the solid blue. I crisped up the detail in this image to talk about it, but it's a softer effect to the naked eye. What I didn't think hard enough about was the the short row areas.  You can see stripes by the lower yoke on the arm, and  in arm pits as blue wedges. I don't mind them much, though.  And in person? It's kinda like the beard color, you really just don't see it.

smarter by proximity

Photographing Your FO's class (taught by yours truly) Fiber Camp 2011

I'm pretty sure I have more brain power than I did yesterday morning.  

Saturday at Fiber Camp, this year at MIT. When I sat down in one of the classrooms, this is what was on the board. Do you love it? In the photo above, see  the lower right, in particular.

 

It seemed smaller than last year, but with a nice assortment of classes on the board Saturday. The MIT hallway of rooms was a different vibe than the big party feeling at last year's venue. This did not stop the spinners from settling in one bit. That's Guido Stein, Common Cod knitting community impressario on the left.

 

My class was full of awesome students (as usual). I mean truly, I am blessed with having a great group every single time. I taught a quickie 1 hour class.

 

We ditched the classroom in favor of a foyer, to work with light. I like teaching in the round for a demo rather than to a rows of seats.

 

Special thanks to my niece Ariana, who was shooting some footage for her senior project documentary film (Tufts 2011) nearby, so stopped in to see me. She wound up being the class model. For anyone who was there: this is a photo about her, not about the knitwear.

 

Knitting with beads class. I learned 3 ways to put beads into my knitting.

 

Until now, I only knew zero ways.

See? Smarter. Although just spending the day in a building with this kind of entrance grew me some new synapses. Or at least I felt that way.

 

Much thanks to the Common Cod Fiber Guild. Nice work !

blockhead

 

I didn't know I wanted to crochet a giant alternative granny square using my leftover partial skeins until I spied this one on Pinterest, where I invest  my primo procrastination efforts lately.

 

Fueled also by my utter admiration of Chawne's scrappy color quilting and improvisational knit blankets.

The presence of these books = final kicker. The softcover Jan Eaton 200 Crochet Blocks has the motif for my square, called Chocolate Box. If you're even vaguely considering the best swap around, this is the book you want.

The other title, Knitting Block by Block by Nicky Epstein is a hardcover worthy of inclusion in every knitting library. Like all her books, it's beautifully layed out, with well-lit detailed photos of each square, and clear instructions & charts.

 

The range is pretty amazing, from simple stockinette & ribs  through fussy sculptural features you might place on a purse, pocket or blanket. There're some patterns included, but I say get it as a reference resource & for  inspiration. Many of the blocks can be repeated along a scarf or garment, and she includes beaded squares, modular techniques, textural imagery, unusual cables, and fun colorwork, too.

 

See what I mean?

 

Whew, that might be the longest I've gone in days not thinking about my square. ahem.  I've added a few rounds since I made the top photo yesterday, and now realize that my smaller partial skeins are quickly eaten up in the growing square. These three, for example, are history.

 

These I have a pretty good amount of. I'd planned to only use skeins sitting here, leftovers from other projects. Solids only, thankyouverymuch.  But I already caved today, purchasing a skein of Cascade 220 in an orangely hue,9465,  to liven things up as my options get more limited. I also have a lot of red, from all the red scarf activity in recent years, and a good amount of  yellowy gold, dark brown and a greyish blue.

So, to sum up: no need to call me a block head, but obsessed might not be too far from the truth.

• • •• • • •••••••••••••••••••• • • • •

official disclaimer: Knitting Block by Block by Nicky Epstein was sent to me for review by PotterCraft (my publisher, too).  I don't say nice things about a book unless they are 100% true.

bangled

 

You probably know someone like my sister Lulu. She loves fashion and design and trends. If it's cool and hip and cute and handcrafted, she has either seen it, owns it,  or bought it professionally to sell in the  gift shop she runs. What to do for her birthday ?

Despite an iffy felting track  record, I decided  Bevy of Bangles was worthy.

If you know how to knit backwards,  the whole knitting part is effortless as well as mindless. Which is to say knitting strips  goes very well with The Wire.  The slate blue are Brown Sheep Lambs Pride worsted, the brown is Valley Yarns Berkshire worsted, and the white is Cascade Magnum, super bulky. The pattern calls for bulky but you know, whatevs. It's felted. Relax.

Before I started, I had my favorite kind of conversation with Archinknist , in which we deconstruct a pattern.  Why knit strips of stockinette, and 3 needle bind them off to form a circle pre-felting, rather than knitting iCord? We also considered knitting short tubes in the round, but realized that'd deprive the piece of its bangleness -  strips curl in upon themselves when felted.  So,  the white is a 3 stitch icord on size 15 needles, the others are strips 7 stitches wide on size us 10 needles. I knit loosely though, if you're keeping score.

Unfelted, I was laying bets on the icord to come out best , with the brown Berskshire least likely to bangle nicely. So wrong. The Valley Yarns Berkshire came out smoothest. This is why felting and I will never be BFFs. So unpredictable.

The wraps are crewel thread. I wanted to try some thin leather strips, or thick waxed linen but I was out of both. I may still yet with 2 leftover felted rounds. Epilogue: sister Lulu happy, felting faith rehabilitated, bangle gifting successful.

P.S. added 2/24 Since I posted this I discovered these  versions of the bangles. Love. (its a Ravelry link, I'm guessing you can access it, right?) Knit from Noro Kureyon, a yarn I have some scrappage of.  Also , MaryLou's comment that white yarn doesn't felt as well was news to me, and the icord approach is worth revisiting in a color. Looks like I may be back in the basement hovering over the washer again sometime soon.

spaces

 I often find myself photographing at public schools. I'm almost always there because of  people and programs going on, and I love the subject of education.  But there is something about the settings that get me. Maybe because they're so timeless and often (economically) classless. I mean, look at the velvet curtain, the construction paper chains and winter decoration. This could be last week in Fair Haven , a working class  neighborhood of  Latino new immigrants in New Haven , or it could have been my elementary school, a few hundred miles and a couple, few decades um, lifetime, ago.

Thanks for all the blogiversary comments. This whole blogging scene, and the connections we make, and the things that happen next, are really truly amazing.

I thought I'd be showing you the finished Cobblestone sweater but you know that garter stitch yoke? A time (and yarn) gobbler. We've been on a bender of watching The Wire on DVD,  this week obsessed with Season 2.  So caught up in the plots and dialogue that I sometimes stop knitting to concentrate on the characters. I know ? Whats up with that? Unthinkable. But the sweater is  blocking now and so is another little project. FO's next post.

 

Meanwhile, play fair, OK?

six years and 455 posts

This week is my blogiversary.  My sixth. Pretty funny to go back to my first posts. Turns out I was talking about casting on a sweater for Dave,  I hadn't knit one for him in a while. Guess what ? The more things change, the more they stay the same. I'm still trying to get a sweater done for him. That's the yarn up above.

 

Only this year it's almost finished.

Each winter since 2005 I started a sweater for Dave, and each year it was abandoned by March and then frogged the following fall. This one was no exception; last winter I started a cabley manly sweater, only to find myself never wanting to pay the kind of attention it required to get the cables and textures right. This November I frogged the 12" completed and  cast on for a nice simple Cobblestone in the blue yarn. All was going smoothly.

Until I ran into these adorable indie dyers at Rhinebeck

 

Amy of Spunky Eclectic, David of Southern Cross Fibre and Adrian of Hello Yarn. 

and I knew I needed something hand dyed in the mix.  Actually I was coveting their hand dyed and handspun yarn. Is it not to love? Since I was conveniently at Rhinebeck , I picked up a skein from Potosi Sheep Farm to mix in the Cobblestone yoke. It should be finished, that's right,  finished, this weekend. 

When I started this blog I told no one. I thought it was kind of dorky and narcissistic. (Turns out it is kinda dorky and narcissistic but, well, whatever!)  I even purposefully used small photos shot with a crappy point & shoot,  to keep the blog separate from my professional work. Once I got over myself and mashed up the commercial and editorial work and the knitting world,  did a couple of books of the yarny nature, it all gelled pretty well.  

Which is a huge understatement, what I really mean is I have met (virtually and in real life, too)  more smart and funny and warm and interesting , not to mention talented and creative and thoroughly inspiring people because of this blog, I feel so lucky . Not to mention, it keeps me  from talking myself silly about knitting to an under- appreciative audience here at Testosterone Central home.

I could end with an artful photo of  delicate ice covered marsh grass, or snow on the beach against a steely sky but I'm really really really weary of seeing snow. How 'bout something juicy? 

 

Pike Place market, Seattle last June

the state of the red scarf address

Is that not a beautiful stack of red scarfery ?

Collected at my hangout  Knit New Haven,  sent off to the Orphan Foundation of America for the Red Scarf project. To synopsize: the OFA does support and advocacy for foster kids who are now in college. Among the OFA's activities is sending care packages to 2500+ college kids for Valentine's Day.  Each includes a handknit scarf, donated by knitters; a personal touch that truly matters to  kids who have no "from home" to call.

If you're sort of smacking yourself in the head and saying "oh noooo, I meant to knit one but ran out of time",  no worries.  There's next year.  Even better: the scarf goal was met, but donations to the Red Scarf Fund are way down . These kids are on stripped down stipends, and the fund helps with small needs as well as emergencies that crop up: your printer's out of ink, your glasses break, you lose your dorm key card and need to pay $35. to get a new one, you have a job interview but no tie... even simple things like needing cough drops and chapstick become a problem when you're on a super tight budget.

So, here's my suggestion: if you meant to knit a scarf but didn't, hit the donation button here with whatever you might have spent on yarn and postage. See?  No knitters' guilt.

Ok now let's talk scarves. I knit the one around the (ahem, thanks Dave) awesome model's neck. It's  just a stretch of mistake rib in Brown Sheep Lambs Pride,  Wine Splash. Really liked this yarn. Glad I have a half skein left to play with.

Every year I'm struck by the wide variety of patterns & yarns people choose, and how many I ooh and ahh over. There's a crocheted cotton one on the bottom that'll be perfect for a wool sensitive student.  And you can't blame me for being thrilled to see the Lamar scarf, in the center, knit by Stacey of Fresh Stitches.

Now, back to work.  Is anyone else suffering from extreme procastination-itis with a side order  of monkey-mind this week?

in which she shoots sheep shots, again

 

first morning light at Gansvoort Farm in Clermont NY

Who cares if outside more snow fell and  the landscape's on hold in a palette of white, grey and...OK-that's-about-it. Inside, I'm on deadline editing a shoot from Gansvoort Farm from October. Green grass, the first frost, the last fall leaves, and early morning sun. Take me away.

 

Okapi.  Pretty cool markings for an Icelandic cross mix, doncha think?

I joined Jennifer Phillips, the farmer, for daybreak chores, on her beautiful farm. It's about  a half hour north of Rhinebeck in the Hudson Valley of NY, which is how I came to be staying there with her for the weekend. I hope you enjoy a vicarious vist with her as much as I am enjoying revisiting these images. More info about Jennifer and her farm, products and farming practices  below.  BTW? The wool comforters, made from her organic wool batts,  are to die for.

Antique orchard behind her pastures.  Teeeny bit sinister, like those trees in the Wizard of Oz.

from Jennifer Phillips' listing on Eat Wild.com

"Gansvoort Farm raises 100% grassfed beef and lamb in the Hudson Valley.

I rotationally graze my flock and herd on diverse, nutritious pastures. My beef cows are registered Devons, a heritage breed known to be the gold standard for grassfed meat. My sheep are Icelandic crosses—hardy, healthy, and excellent graziers. I use organic practices (no antibiotics, no hormones, organically managed pastures) but am not USDA certified organic. I am in the process of being certified by AnimalWelfareApproved.org.

I have lamb for sale every fall by the whole or half. Orders can be placed by phone or e-mail beginning in late summer. I usually sell out by November. My butcher says it is some of the nicest lamb he has ever seen. I sell registered Devon cattle breeding stock and grassfed beef on a limited basis. If you are interested in quarters, halves or a whole freezer beef, contact me for dates and prices.

I also have 100% wool comforters for sale made with the wool shorn from my flock each spring. These comforters make an ideal heirloom gift that will last a lifetime. Be the first person on your block to own a 100% grassfed wool comforter!"

Gansvoort Farm, Jennifer Phillips, 1830 Route 9, Germantown NY 12526. (518) 537-4668. E-mail: gansvoort@gmail.com.

wrap your head around Making Headlines

update January 22 here
Also, Ellen changed the name of the effort to

Warm Hats Not Hot Heads

My clever and talented friend Ellen, who blogs as half of  Twinset, has a brilliant effort underway. You might want to join her.

 

It came about in reaction to the shooting in Tucson, and the divisiveness amongst our leadership (we're talking USA here, sorry to exclude the rest of you) as well as some of our citizens. She's suggesting knitters send handknit hats, nice ones, attention- gettingly nice ones, to our congresspeople, with a message on the subject. She says it way better so I am posting her directly here:

from Ellen:

"

Alison and  I have been discussing the Tucson shootings, both feeling the need to respond somehow, in a way more concrete than an email from a website or even a phone call to a Congressional office.  We want our representatives to handle conflict in a way that makes it a good thing - a thing that brings us to the right place, not a thing that divides us and harms us.

Hence was born what I am calling Making Headlines.  I am going to start knitting hats, nice hats, hats that will be noticed when I send them to congressional offices with a plea to consider that one’s opponent on a political issue is still united on the issue of being human - caring about one’s family, one’s community, one’s country.

Here is what I’d like to do.

I invite any and all knitters who would like to join in to knit a hat (sizing information here) for their own congressional representative, whether Senate or House.  Please email me, perhaps send a photo or link to a Ravelry project, and let me know to whom a hat has been sent.  I can track who is being covered (literally!) and if anyone wants to knit more than one hat, they can send them to me and I’ll handle mailing them to a rep who hasn’t received one yet.

I will write a standard note to go with it, to which any knitter could add her own personal message "

There's more of her thoughts on her blog, and some talk about hats & yarn & colors, so you may want to click over there , including the thought that maybe some of the congress people will start swapping their hats, and sharing..I just love that scene in my mind, as I see it the senators and US reps are sitting in the capitol, handing the hats across the aisle that separates the Dems & GOP. 

It's cold enough in DC. It might just happen.

off on a tangent

Hipstamatically presented.  (Thanks, Kristin , for the challenge).

 

Seeing as I work from a home office, my tea breaks are very important. An excuse to stand up and walk downstairs! And distraction!  We all have our little routines; mine is strong coffee from 6 am till noon, after that it's tea all the way, baby. In the winter, my house is chilly and my office even chillier, so it's not just the mental break but the warmup, and making it last till I get to the bottom of the mug.  Which is how I found myself googling : "tea mug cozies". I realized how insane it is for someone with yarn, felted sweaters and just plain old stuff around to be even thinking about buying a tea mug cozy, so I got busy.

 

That's right, my tea mug has Barbara Walter waterskiing on it. Ugly! But it has fabulous volume, a nice big handle, and sentimental value. It was an audience souvenir when I took my mom & my aunt to see The View, (VIP seats) a rare outing for them together in the city they grew up in.

 

Here they are, holding their mug boxes post taping.2009.

  

But back to my little project. Not exactly brain surgery. I cut a length of sleeve from a felted old black sweater, measured from the cuff up. I cut it open by the seam, and blanket stitched around the three raw sides.

 

I hit the button tin to make a loop & button closure, measured to give my mug some negative ease. (yes, I did just say that). Then I  left it on a table with the tin of tangled crewel thread. Whenever I passed by, I stitched a little. I attribute this to meeting Jenny Hart last year. She gave me a serious jones to rediscover my embroidery licks. 

 

With a lot of wonk, it all came back. Daisy stitch ! Running backstitch ! Split stitch !

Of course none of this is necessary, strictly speaking, you could just cut a piece of felted sweater, add a closure and walla.  But that would not make tea break any fun, would it?

• • • • • • • • • • •

As much as Jenny Hart inspires me with her embroidery, and Kristin with her use of color and design,  Crispina ffrench inspires me to think about the possibilities with recycled sweaters. She's selling some awesome kits to make mittens out of recycled sweaters. More sophisticated than mine,(scroll to the bottom of that linked post if you want to see 'em) which I'm still loving.

 I sort of wish I wasn't off on a sweater knitting binge right now, because look at this tutorial to make a chipmunk  out of a recycled spare glove. Bobo would just explode if I made him one . Wool ! Squirrel !!

But who wants to clean up exploded bulldog, anyway?