3 Things about Knit for Food Knit-athon

 

1) It's soon!   Saturday  FEBRUARY 12 2022 , organized by designer Laura Nelkin who has tons of info if you click on that logo above or here

 Knit for Food Knit-a-thon is a 12 hour knitting marathon on February 12th, 2022 to raise funds and awareness for food insecurity. The money we raise will be equally divided between Feeding America, World Central Kitchen, No Kid Hungry, and Meals on Wheels.

 Last year, when Laura tried this for the first time, the Knit-a-thon raised more than a quarter million dollars. How amazing is that? 

Baby Fern Lake in Berroco Remix

2) It's virtual yet communal. You join other knitters (or makers, you're not boxed in) for a 12 hour 10am-10pm creative marathon  while zooming with all sorts of entertainments/blab/presentations going on .   I mean, you can do this by yourself without being online at all, or join with friends, or you can pop in for part of the time...last year I was a presenter and had a blast.  You can participate by forming a team to fundraise or join an existing team ....check out the fundraising link for details. 

Fern Lake Blanket in Berroco Lanas

3) This calls for just the right project, does it not? Yup, you get a bonus cast-on rationalization. Here's my main suggestion for Knit-athon-ing :  Baby Fern Lake,  top picture above, it is a free pattern from that link.  I am cranking mine in Berroco Remix because I really like this yarn, it's machine wash /dry and I love the colors and its tweedy rustic-y look.  There's a fourth color too,  not shown- it's a sweet light pink. New girl arriving in March :-)

This project is ideal for screen watching or sitting around yapping or zoom knitting--a slip stitch pattern, 4 row repeat and flies by in that satisfying way as the colors switch  without having to think too hard or get too sloggy with it.

If a baby blanket isn't your jam right now, there's the original grownup version, Fern Lake Blanket,. TBH I fell in love with it when I photographed it like this for the pattern a while ago, it's waffle-y in the soft wool yarn. Can't go wrong with this one.

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Don't forget the 1st Saturday in February is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day! Grab your pint and spoon.  I'd hoped to have a big open house for the occasion this week however still plenty of covid around so....next year!

3 Things About the Knits: past present future

 Not necessarily in that order

1) Pressed Flowers shawl by Savory Knitting Amy Christoffers. This mosaic design is so satisfying to knit.  I am loving it.  I'd heard that after the first repeat of the body chart I'd have it memorized and it'd just flow. As I cast on and messed up the first few repeats and then did that again and again, I highly doubted it.  Then, as my friend Linda, the yarn whisperer owner of Knit New Haven told me "something happens and you crack the genetic code ". She was right. (She almost  always is on many matters, not just knitting.)  No more chart peeks needed. Although I look forward to finishing this and wearing it...I'm going to be a little sad when it's done. One for the process knitter list.

I cast on for it during a family trip to Minnesota this summer.

Seeing prairie flowers in a naturalized section of bison range in  Minneopa State Park got me going on this colorway for the shawl. I am nothing if not concrete in my inspiration sources.

Then back home I got distracted by other projects and I went on (another) hat bender in the fall.  It's a seasonal addiction I guess. Keep your pumpkin spice lattes, I have hats.....

2)I had to try a couple of Striped Marl Hats from Modern  Daily Knitting Field Guide 19 .  My sister requested, specifically, a pink and brown hat. I figured, sure why not, if that's what she wants --even though I wasn't holding out much hope for that color combo when I started it.

Turns out she had a whole vision for it! Isn't this great styling? Success. 

Six or seven hats later, I impulse ordered a Plied Yarns kit to make a scrappy Trail Point Hat .

I ordered a few extra bobbins too, because a) I love that bobbins are an option and b) I love the colors and c) I love this yarn company and their dyed in Baltimore /spun in New Hampshire yarn.

 

It's a fingering weight knit,  also a super quick knit. The shape has a retro vibe.  It reminds me of ski hats that were de rigeur when I was in middle school. This one's getting a lot of 2022 head time !

 

 One of my pandemic-acquired habits is doing "treat yo'self" online shopping. And I'm not mad about it. Until 2020, I only made carefully considered  aka overthought purchases online. I can be annoyingly indecisive about retail. I mean, I draw out the decision a few beats too long, annoying others as well as myself. That indecisive! 

Not a problem any longer . This was a good one! Def more Plied Yarns projects ahead. I'm thinking a colorwork sweater like Roost or  a Shift Cowl. (am I the last to knit that one? or are you with me on the no-rush-I'll-get toit-somedaylist)

 

Bobbins. They're irresistible.
 

3 things I'm done with

1) The Jane Jacobs Shawl. I started knitting this design by Kirsten Kapur not too long after it appeared in the book  I Knit New York .  When I photographed the book I was so taken with this design. Kirsten took a technique I always thought of as fusty - mosaic knitting- and made it totally modern  cool. I completed knitting it a few months ago but put it aside  to gift my sister Lulu on her special birthday this week. Out it came to have ends woven in, blocked and delivered.

Happily she loved it (it really is so her). I caught her as she was leaving town so we'll have to do a modeled shot someday.  The yarn is Backyard Fiberworks . The winters shades in it just kill me. Not that you'll be examining it that closely, but on the offchance that you do, I'll confess I went a little rogue on it. I ran out of some colors and changed the section proportions. I will be back to do more riffs on this pattern, I am sure!

2) The United Technologies Corp. Engineer Week Project-- remember that sad tale of the sexist dude  (need to scroll down to item 3 in that linked post to read it) last month who tried to mess with my photo shoot? I'm really happy with how it all turned out, and I especially love this group shot. If you click on the  UTC link above and look at the slide show of individual portraits you'll spy some in front of the propeller that we moved without an all male muscle team.

3) Ok mini rant here, I am done with hearing the word curate , or curated, used about every single dang thing.  It's such a precious way of saying you put some items together. Curating a meal? Nope.  Curating an art collection--well, OK.  One needs special knowledge, and discernment.  My annoyance softened--just slightly--when I looked up the dictionary definition to make sure I wasn't off base.  I read an interesting piece about how the word curate gained a new meaning in the last decade or so, as digital information became part of everyday life. So, the word curate was used as an opposite to aggregate. To aggregate information is to just suck it all into one place, while to curate it indicated information was selectively gathered into one location. 

What word drives you nuts from overuse or misuse or preciousness?  I have quite a few  but I'll tamp the rest down for now and spare you. Although this list has curate and a few others I'd hit as well.

Ok that's all from me, posting as Ms Cranky McCrankpants this week! I know it's not Thursday but I had to get these three things out !

post 7: yoke colors

Old yokes! Vintage yokes! I dug out two sweaters I knit for Dave and me when we were twenty-something. A while ago. They have seen a lot of wear and serious staining.  Mine was partially felted in the 90's--it seemed like a good idea at the time. Lopi patterns although I knit in mostly Brown Sheep Lambs Pride. That was the wool most available near where we lived at the time, in rural eastern Connecticut. (No internet ordering !? Seems weird now.)
The bodies are stained and ill-fitting --but I kind of want to save the yokes. Any suggestions? 

Well, that's easier on the eyes for tender knitters, right? Choosing new yokes! I spent the weekend with dear and talented maker friends.  Jani Estell, the  dyer and yarn maker and owner of Starcroft Yarns brought her whole palette so we could choose colors for a pattern we are all testing for Kirsten Kapur , who was also there. It's the sweater she's wearing in that link, and we all have a personal connection to it--but that is her story to tell. . The center natural is a ball of the fabulous Doc Masons Wool by Ellen Mason, who was our dreamy hostess. Plus had the patience and chops to coach us through sewing one of her wonderful designs. This table has a Lazy Susan top, so it was a game of roulette color picking.

 

I highly recommend this method if you are amongst the indecisive.

Not like there are any bad combinations.......

the rainbow sweater

Too much  ;-) ?!* 

 I had the sweetest sweater request: a rainbow sweater. Specifically a cardigan, with traditional V neck men's styling and button band, lower hip length. 
It had to have most of the rainbow colors but especially pink. And pink buttons.
We found the Go Buffalo pattern met all the requirements. Except, of course, colors.

A lot of decision making went into this one. Zoe loves wool, but only super soft wool. I love color...but not candy colored rainbow or primary stripes.  I found a fabulous Frabjous Fibers Wonderland Yarn sport weight Compass Shawl kit that had just the right combo to get me started, with a two shades of blue, a green and a perfect raspberry pink.  Lovely yarn!

The red is some Louet Gems sport left over from Sleight of Hand mittens, and my LYS had the perfect not-too-sad golden yellow- they call it curry-  from Swans Island yarn.

I hit up Dusty's Vintage Buttons at TNNA--she is at a lot of festivals and is irresistible--and brought home some egg yolk yellow buttons for the cardi. Which were passed over in favor of irridescent light pink buttons I'd also brought home, just for fun.  What was I thinking?!

The stripes are six rows wide, and although Zoe is on the average/small  for her age, we lengthened the body and arms a couple of inches from the pattern's sizing for her.

This was my main knitting project in July and August , other than a couple of ongoing mindless pieces I keep around for...umm, knitting mindlessly. Which is my default mode, so this was often put aside. It was easily worth all the color switching and end weaving in to have a finished piece so appreciated by this sweetie.

 

 It's been to school, worn over a wet bathing suit, it was even worn before I could get the buttons sewn on. Who could resist such handknit enthusiasm. Not me. I am now on task to knit a rainbow hat with the leftovers.   Above, hanging around the bus stop.

Clearly, Zoe knows what she wants in style. Always has. I hope she doesn't cave in to conformity any time soon.

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* A little excess in the photoshop department, eh? I just updated my Photoshop CC to 2017 (from 2015). There's an amazingly responsive new Select and Mask sub menu and I decided to play around a little (ummm, procrastinate  skillbuilding much?). I don't think you're going to be seeing too much more of this. But...it was kinda fun....

ahoy! Thimble Islands Knitting Cruise 2017 sign up NOW

JULY 27th 2017 THURSDAY 6-8 pm

The not-so-annual Thimble Island Knitting Cruise sets sail again

SOLD OUT *, pm me to get on waitlist.

$30. 

board from Stony Creek Branford CT docks 5:45pm

 

photos from an earlier year

read about it here, and here, and I'm sure elsewhere--this will be our 4th cruise since 2012.

We sail on the Volsunga, info about it here. Cast on and cast off?



FAQ's:
*  we sail rain or shine--the boat is covered by an awning & has lighting
*  yes! of course you can bring a non-knitting friend!
*   eating & drinking heartily approved, there's a large table aboard
*  we always sell out so don't lollygag about getting your tickets
*  singing of sea chanteys totally optional as you make plans 
*  no need to thank me for the mighty ear worm from link above ;-)
"A night on the town wouldn't do us any harm! "

i'm interviewed! on Kristy Glass Knits

Are you a
Kristy Glass fan?  I am thrilled that she invited me for an interview--she's such a joy to watch and a gifted interviewer. Check it out!




Warning: it's almost an hour long.  But we move right along from topic to topic - and she models some Drop Dead Easy Knits pieces in the most gorgeous way. 

Afterwards, settle in and watch some of her other interviews. I am telling you, she needs a regular show on HGTV. Someone get on that!

Meanwhile-
I have been here and there--but mostly there- for the past 6 weeks.
Back soon with links and tales and some fun behind-the-scenes.

recent work & upcoming TNNA workshops

Not sure I ever shared this adequately: last summer I photographed the book for Berroco Portfolio 3, pretty much a dream shoot for me. I just realized you can page through the complete lookbook online.

https://issuu.com/berrocodesign/docs/berroco_portfolio_vol_3 

(sorry! I can't seem to get this to embed. Please check it out though)
Of course, the version with the patterns is for purchase, these are all cotton and so so good. The Portfolio series are books by talented creative director Amy Christoffers' selecting indie designers to create pieces for a special collection. (We just shot Portfolio 4 last month. It  is wool, and spectacular, too.)

Finding the right location for a full book photo shoot is important. You'd think it'd be a breeze, but I spend hours (and hours)  poring over choices, what settings, backgrounds, facilities, costs, textures, accommodations are present before we choose. You could shoot the same collection on a city street and have a whole different feel, possibly wrong.  Or just blah.a

While we were deciding, I was lucky to be visiting with a sister and her friend in Vermont, who said she wanted me to meet her friends, in the final stages of renovating a notoriously dilapidated and crazily painted Victorian farmhouse in town. She didn't know I needed a location, she just thought I'd be interested.  I fell in love the minute I saw it, and was thrilled that they welcomed us to do our shoot there, and become some of the first guests ever at the stunning Amare Guest House in Chester VT.

The photo shoot took place on a ridiculously steamy hot day- utterly uncharacteristic for a Vermont summer- but it is hard to recall that, when I look at the photos now. The model, Ilima, is amazing.The rest of us were...glistening. And possibly more than a little whiffy.  But smiling!

TNNA is in Columbus Ohio in early June! 
I'm thrilled to be co-teaching three workshops with writer & crafter Beverly Army Williams, aka PoMoGoLightly again this year. Our workshops all fall under the rubric of marketing, communications & social media for yarn shop owners, indie designers and yarn companies, and really, any small business that has only two hands but wears many hats.  The schedule and course descriptions are all here.
Ours are planned  to be fun, useful and participatory, so you can use new skills & ideas for your business immediately.
•Smarten Up Your Facebook Page -Thursday
•Social Media on the Fly - Thursday
•Hands-on Workshop for Mobile Photography and Writing-Friday
and solo, I am offering
•iPhone/Smartphone-ography for Your Business- early Saturday, before the marketplace opens

 from a recent shoot for June Cashmere

If you sign up, feel free to message me in advance with anything in particular you'd like us to include. We love to tailor our workshops to the students.

granny squares with doc mason's edge

Four days and a long round trip drive to Chicago later.  It turns out that I only needed to bring this one project along, it held my attention and was a perfect companion.

Over the first seven hours of the trip, when I wasn't driving, I made the last five squares, to bring my total to 42. ThenI ripped out the first three squares and made them more interesting. Followed by having a stern talk with myself to prevent ripping out and re-doing any more.  Somewhere around Ohio, with just one painfully expensive speeding ticket in the glove compartment, and just as we finished the last chapter of S-Town *(recommend!), I grabbed the Doc Mason's yarn and started crocheting the outer edges, through to Indiana and then Illinois.

I seriously love this yarn. It's totally working to bring the squares together tonally. Some are relatively muted, like these two, some have, let's say, more punch than I really would like.

Yarn with that farm-y sheepy glow. Don't you want to huff the lanolin fumes? I'm dreaming a whole sweater of it now. I was lucky to get the last of the 2016 Doc Mason's but keep an eye out, Ellen is poised for  another trip to the mill, you can see the clip ready to roll from the link. 

My favorite sight from the trip was these three together again, if only for a few hours. Two of us drove out to Chicago, two flew. The four of us not in the Navy drove back together. Quality togetherness.

* We were completely absorbed by the S-Town podcast, to the point that Dave doesn't even remember seeing most of Pennsylvania, which  let me tell you, is a long long section of the trip. I found it the best kind of reporting and storytelling, and so brilliantly edited. We failed to latch on to any other podcast after it---but did discover that there's a Pandora station called Road Trippin' that was good for three hours of punchy-tired  singalong to mostly early 70's hits and got us home by 2am on Sunday.

it's time for Trip Mitts' return

Trip Mitts-- a pattern you can knit (in multiples) before the holidays.For yourself. or not.
Do you listen to the Twinset Designs podcast? I'll confess I am a slacker  in the knitting podcast department--I am picky picky about who I listen to. And I just plain forget to seek and listen.  Which is a shame because there are some brilliant podcasters out there, making a great mix of friendly chat, smart ideas and knitting information that inspires and illuminates. 

 I was lucky to be part of an interview with Ellen and Jan of the Twinset, when they caught me and my co-authors at Rhinebeck, (photo swiped from Twinset Jan's IG feed , thanks Jan!), this is Team Drop Dead, in which two of us are wearing matching sweaters, the Keynote Pullover. To be upfront, Twinset Ellen, 2nd from left,  is our tech editor (she is amazing!) and we have been friends for s few years. However, I still think their review of Drop Dead Easy Knits, in Episode 85 with our interview,  is well worth a listen.

I was thrilled that Ellen mentioned my Trip Mitts at the end of the segment--she'd tech edited them when they were going to appear in our book.  They got cut. We had more than enough content, and an editor thought they were too rustic.

It was understandable-- I know my design sensibility is on the brux side. I released the pattern alone,  last year. And since the season is nigh for quick knits that make great gifts--and quick knits to wear on your poor cold hands--I'm bringing it back for your attention.

The pink ones are knit in Anzula Oasis. And the blue ones are some handspun wool and a teeny bit of a marigold yarn for the closure.DK weight for both, but you can sub almost anything. See the project page to get what I mean! Stashbusters, for sure.

november post 13: more hats- Sidekick and Headford

Back at you with a hat post. Pretty sure this won't be the last, hats are a real THING with me this week.

Sidekick Hat by Mary Lou Egan, from Drop Dead Easy Knits is top of my list. I'm loving color work at the moment, this is the 4 color version. It's a month before the gift giving kicks in, so plenty of time to knit these, right?  Mary Lou designed it for our Drinking Buddies chapter-the idea is you buy yarn together with a few friends and knit along, sharing the contrast colors. Buy the good stuff, you only need about 20 yards per hat of contrast color.And you can swap hats for added entertainment.

Here's Sidekick Hat  in 2 colors. This pattern is the one in Drop Dead Easy Knits most likely to find us on the receiving end of the query "Easy? You call this.... easy?". The answer is, yes, truly. You are only ever working in two colors per round, and the repeat is short and easy to memorize.  Short floats are less likely to get pucker-y. It's only a hat's worth of knitting.... you can do it!
The secret is use contrasty colors--I am thinking this may be an opportunity to finally nab a couple of the Unicorn Tails I've been eyeing at my LYS for ages. I am thinking Edison Bulb could maybe get a repeat in there, just for fun. 
Fun fact: we originally named this hat a Sidecar (a cocktail I am very fond of in the winter...in case you have me over, now you know). All the patterns in this chapter were drinks (get it? Drinking Buddies? we are so subtle, yes?) but an editor pointed out that maaaaaybe we were a little too boozy--and so the Sidecar Hat became a Sidekick Hat.

I had the annual hat gift convo with bro-in-law Lamar (of Lamar Scarf fame). He said this year, he wants a beanie, close fitting, any weight and go wild with the color/design. He confessed his fave hat ever from me was this one-of-a-kind from a decade ago. He still wears it. So, I have a plan!

I'm starting with  Headford Hat from Drop Dead Easy Knits, by Theresa Gaffey. It is a great basic beanie. She designed it to be knit in multiples, as you travel, give away as you go. Of course you can color block it, or add stripes --but  I'm going to make it into something one-of-a-kind with  use of this book I acquired at Rhinebeck, from Mary Jane Mucklestone, I can't wait to start it.

Best of all part of this plan: in size S adult, the Headford Hat is 96 stitches around--that means I can make use of motifs that are 2,3,4,6,8,12 or 16 stitches across and have them fit in neatly. Restraint, gone. FYI the motifs are pretty mixed, from traditional to modern to geometric--so I can have a lot of fun with it. Maybe the Edison Bulb will show up here, as well.....

november post 12: traveling to Port Jeff on MDK

I'm thrilled to say my latest Knitters Weekend travelogue is up on Mason Dixon Knitting today.  

There are critters large, small, fuzzy, and porky. Yarn. High tea. What more could you want for a Monday???? Go read. And leave a comment there if you feel so inclined so they know you stopped by.

Here'e the souvenir yarn I reference in the writing, it's a skein of Lambstrings Ewetopia ,  in the process of becoming a Color Break Hat* because I am way into hats this week. Three observations on this knit: 

1) it is the perfect pattern for skeins of very variegated yarn. For the first time ever I am wishing the yarn was even more contrasty/speckled. Instead of regretting falling for it in the skein. 

2) the stitch pattern is easy to read, and creates a super cushy, quilted fabric, so it will be warmer than your average worsted weight hat knit on size 8 needles. Hygge win!

3) umm, do you think I have seasonally affected yarn hue choosing disorder? I mean, for real? 

More from our visit to Long Island Livestock while shooting the MDK piece a couple of weekends ago. 

Zoe has asked to go back every few days since. Can't blame her. Llama walking!

Sister Lulu came along too,  and got this nice portrait of me, Sir Arthur and my Stopover.  Note to self:  a llama is a slimming accessory. You heard it here first.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

november post 6: new sweater project and a vocabulary revelation

Jill Draper makes fabulous yarn. I think we can all agree on that. After working on her Rural Renewal collection, and then on assignment for Etsy, I  wanted needed to knit a sweater in one of her yarns.  Coincidentally, Dave made a rare request for a sweater. That''s my knitting stars aligning, because Jill's yarn is special--and Dave will wear a sweater I make him for years and years. Decades of years, even.  So we found a pattern he liked a lot---not a simple task-- and hopped online.

Jill posted that new yarn was up in her shop. Dave fell for Valkill in Prune--a killer good black/purple/brown--y'know, like a prune. But it was gone before we had a chance stick it in a cart.

we like to wind yarn al fresco

So I'll interject here that a son and I were just discussing how often people misuse the word ironic.  Usually, it's actually coincidence--when two unrelated events happen and they are related in your mind. Irony is when an outcome is not what you'd expect.

my #1 yarn winding assistant these days

So when I saw that designer Thea Colman was flaunting her good mail  Jill Draper Makes Stuff Yarn delivery, I squinted into my phone to read the ballband of a familiar looking color... Valkill Prune....damn!  But it's Thea, and if someone had to nab that yarn, at least it's a friend who will do beautiful things with it. Coincidence!

Dave chose this Middlefield in Old Mahogany instead.It's a little heavier than the pattern gauge but I can make it work. I love it.

Wondering what pattern he chose for his new sweater-for-the-ages? Before he'd even looked at the yarn colors?  Zacapa. By Thea Colman. 

That, I'm pretty sure, is irony.