necessitude

 

How many things are wrong with this image?

For starters, I do not have my camera strap around my neck. How stupid is this? Very.  I am known for insisting everyone put a strap around their neck the instant they touch a camera. Hmph.

Then there's the fact that I'm in a restroom mirror, clutching  paper towels from drying my hands. Nice propping there.

Back up one more step. I am photographing myself in a mirror, while not looking through the viewfinder. Seen it much?  I really dislike this online cliche image. I always think the subject is trying to show  they have a big camera instead of a more compact point & shoot.  Which always makes me think, OK if you can afford that camera go get yourself a stinkin' tripod and use the self -exposure setting, and stop with the photo we've already seen a thousand times. But maybe, like me, they were just in an aggressively pink restroom during a job and decided it was the perfect moment to show a FO.

photo by Kelly Jensen,  photo asst for the job, and headband knitting/crocheting enabler.
My hair is not actually usually this bad; we were driving back with the windows down . 
Great for the gorgeous weather. Tragic for the coiffure.

Which brings us to why I am peering out over the camera : I am trying to show you my headband, and I am not usually a headband fan. However, I have hair that can charitably be called "very textural".  I've been trying to grow it out.  Enroute to a very businesslike photo shoot in Vermont,  I realized I needed something to hold it back, not out.

With Berroco Pure Pima on hand, I decided to knit a headband.I tried a mini Lacy Baktus, but didn't like it in the worsted weight gauge.  Same with try # 2, a Helleborus . (Yes,  I am  a fan of Terhi's.)  Next up I switched to crochet for a half granny triangle.  It was predictably too retro crafty for the look I wanted (I may go there again though). So I fudged a double crochet gridlike like headband, tapering the ends and fastening with a button,

When I was done with the strip of it, it seemed a little bit....more homemade than handmade, so I edged it in single crochet for a more finished look.

Bottle cap whistles by Loran Scruggs, who works with recycled tin and just happens to be profile in our new book, Craft Activism. TBP Sept 27. (shameless plug)

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The headband was just right for the work in Vermont, as was our stop on the way home the next day at the Northfield Creamie in Massachusetts. Joy! is the word.

I've already cast on in a khaki-ish color skein of the cotton for the Blue Leaf headband . Obsessed, just a little.

 

And then, there's always this strategy for hair cover.

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Thanks to everyone who entered to win the class at Fiber College, I'll notify the winner tomorrow. if she says she can't make it, I'll draw again. And you should still plan to come , it's going to be a fine time.

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 !