the pussyhat project

 1:30 am on January 1st,  I cast on a PussyHat, in support of the Pussy Hat Project .  I wanted to start 2017 right.

Even though I had to rip it and start over at 9 am (thanks bourbon drinks by the bonfire at midnight! love ya too!), it felt good. I can't attend the Womens March on Washington  January 21st  but I am thrilled that my sister Marla will be wearing it there. 

Also thrilled that this act of Craft Activism is spreading across the country. HuffPo coverage here, and lots more links and info roundup over on the MDK website today.  

Through knitting a hat, we can support the bodies and cold heads, and the efforts of those marching in Washington. It's a way to connect physically and concretely.

The original free pattern by Kat Coyle is simple and knit flat. An evening's easy effort if you knit it in a chunky* alpaca, as I did.  It doesn't take much googling around to find versions knit in the round, crocheted, ribbed all over, roll brim etc. Kat is a fabulous artist and designer, profiled in CraftActivism, a connection I loved making when I photographed her for the book. (I know! I get to meet the best people, I am very lucky).

On Facebook, source of false info daily (seriously, can that be their motto?) I read some  knitters whining that "they had to buy a kit" to make the Pussy Hat- FALSE. Free patterns plus whatever yarn you want to MacGyver together.  Don't have pink? use another color. Or get some pink Kiwi Koolaid and make it pink. 

Lastly, I read a popular knitpodcaster asking if it trivializes the Womens March. NO. It does not.  If you click on over to the original project pattern PDF there's some info about why the color pink and the pussycat ears.  Aside from the symbolism, The Pussy Hat Project offers knitters a way to contribute in the way we love best. By the work of our hands.  A feeling of unity and a visible symbol that will be quite media friendly are not trivial. That is what large assemblies in Washington are all about. A sea of pink pussy hats on the national mall ? yes.

My sister Marla sent this selfie when she received hers in the mail, last night.  If you see her, say hi. (she's @marlaatelierista on Instagram, if you like Reggio-inspired art education, public activist art, lots of color and joyful photos)

Are you knitting one? If so , which pattern and any mods how did it turn out? While typing this I agreed to make a fuschia one for a stylish friend. I need to do it right!

* for my chunky alpaca pussyhat, I cast on 38 stitches, on size US9 needles, more details here

threaded

Natalie Chanin detail. Love her ideas, designs, and her hair .

Belatedly:  a truly extraordinary evening in NYC not long ago. It was an evening of conversation between Natalie Chanin (Alabama Chanin) and Ashley Christensen, the 2014 James Beard Award winning chef.  I know?!  Stepping outside my admittedly roomy box in this fashionable crowd.  Part of Makeshift 2014, held at The Standard, in the penthouse, on a perfect spring evening.

from the Alabama Chanin website "MAKESHIFT began three years ago as a conversation about the intersection of the disciplines of design, craft, art, fashion, and DIY—and, on a bigger level, using this intersection as an agent of change in the world. Since then, we’ve explored making as individuals, and how making as a group can open conversations and build communities."

Right up my CraftActivism alley. *  There were goody bags with needle, thread, templates, sharpies and fabric, because you know how you can listen better while you are making. And, piemento cheese, from Ashley.  Natalie taught finger knitting with  the strips of her cotton jersey, and then they led a discussion. 

Ashley Christensen on the right. Keep an eye on her. wow.

The crowd was heavily indigo-ed and good looking.

 

You'd have to be a robot not to love NYC on a spring night like this.

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* I had to throw in that little toot for CraftActivism, because it all is of a piece with the conversation. We interviewed Natalie Chanin, and she is quoted in the book, and I thought , at the time, she seemed very cool.  I admit it wasn't till this year that I have fallen, and fallen hard, for her design and whole aesthetic. There will be stitching this summer!

 

with sadness: honoring kathreen ricketson

There are turns of event so awful, I can't even.
One of my all time favorite books, James and the Giant Peach starts with James orphaned, when an escaped rhino eats his parents while in London, on holiday from their happy seaside cottage home.
These things don't happen in real life.
 
But it did.
Kathreen Ricketson, the artist/blogger and creative spirit of whipup.net and her husband left behind their two children. They were on a yearlong family trip/adventure. The kind of thing I dreamed of doing, but only managed to pull off in bits and bites. Kathreen did it, for real. I think this says who Kathreen Ricketson was: she walked the talk.  
More details of this tragedy here and here.

A fund for their children has been established,  info here. Ann & Kay at Mason Dixon Knitting have asked folks to mention their favorite whipup post, and please do go over to their site to see the links. 

As for me,  I started reading whipup early on, and for a long while, I didn't realize it was Australian based. I was hoping to meet Kathreen for coffee,  till she pointed out the geographical challenge. It also meant we couldn't profile her in Craft Activism, my book in which she surely belonged, for her belief in the power of a handmade lifestyle.

I was moved to action by many of her posts: to make things, to read books and essays, to look into a new idea. Whipup isn't one of those " ooh look at me, I am so special" lifestyle websites. It is generous and thoughtful and helpful. Of course I adored the review she posted of Shear Spirit early on and the one that reviewed WearwithAll this year. And I loved when she did link roundups, like this one for crocheted afghans. Those take time, and are so generous, and not flashy and support the community.

I hope we who enjoyed her work can pay it forward. And, give our kids an extra hug.

a classy weekend (with gratuitous name dropping)

Very classy! Last Sunday I debuted a new Photo for Knitters workshop: Photographing for Your Ravelry Projects Page, held at  Knit New Haven. My classes are always hands-on but this one was especially focused.  As a group, we worked on one project from each student at a time.

 

I'd say Julia Bogardus (Sorrento on Ravelry) nailed her Taygete shawl by Romi Hill, doncha think?

 Everyone there made beautiful images, too, here's one from Michelle, aka MMDube23 Yliana was our fabulous model this time. I've found bringing an assistant who poses with the knits helps the class really flow. Bonus:  no one taking the class gets stuck in front of the camera-- unless they want to.

I am attempting  Ann & Kay's burst'o'blogwords writing initiative, but my 15 minutes do not yield anything read-worthy. Plus, I always have more to say.  Like, I can't leave out Saturday, at the Fairfield Woods Library DIY Crafts Salon. What a lovely group--I talked about Craft Activism, then I lead a project, inspired by Virgina Fleck. I was only slightly (cough,understatement, cough) intimidated that the previous presenter had been Denyse Schmidt.

And, considering the date, I  MUST mention what a fabulous gift a copy of Craft Activism * makes for Mothers Day.  Or, a gift certificate for a class. Just saying!

*absolutely true story I swear: Barbara Walker's son got her a signed copy of Craft Activism as a gift a few months ago. NO SH*T !!  I didn't know who he was but he asked me to inscribe it to his mom, Barbara. I asked " Does she knit?" To which he replied, "uhhh, you could say so..." and then revealed her full name. I was left with my mouth hanging open saying something like "ohmuhgawwwwww".

 another from Julia Bogardus/ sorrento,   her Inspira cowl

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A few more classes soon--May 18th, a Photo Safari with The Village Knitter in Babylon NY, and starting May 16th in the evening, a 3 session class at Webs. This will be a rare chance to do a class where you get to shoot, return, review & discuss later --which is wonderful for letting new ideas seep into your photo habits. The class is in Northampton MA at Webs on Thursdays May 18, May 30 and June 6th, from 5:30-8, signups here .

And not coming up that soon, but I hear these fill up fast: I just got an email that the registration for the Rhinebeck workshops (NY Sheep & Wool Festival in October, if you want to be all formal about it) are open as of now.

three cheers for the red, white and blue (large)

Browsing around on the internets, as one does when one is sitting in one's office avoiding large deadlined projects, I ran into the huge knit US flag art piece by Dave Cole,  quite a few times. Then, I read Lori's post on it, on her VersaciKnits blog.  She mentioned that her dad, an art collector, has the artist's model of the piece. 

Which prompted my memory of photographing Dave Cole while the piece was installed, up at MassMOCA in 2005.  Back when my blog had 15 readers, on a good day. These are a couple of the images.  If you want to see more of the piece itself and about Dave's work (at least 7 years ago) , take a look at my July 9, 2005 post. Including the model, that's now at Lori's dad's house. (I just love knowing where things end up, don't you?) 

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The funniest thing is, I can't recall what magazine I shot him for.  He continues to incorporate knitting and handsewing and materials that are waaaay outside the box to make his art. Take a look.

yarnbombing with all the ingredients

Dateline New Haven, June 9th 2012:  International Yarnbombing Day recognized in the only way possible.  We had everything necessary for success.

Even a few raindops, so we could feel valiant as we carried on. 

 Julia-of Julia, June & Linda, our Knit New Haven hosts.

Stacey Fresh Stitches, flower provocateur. 

tools & fuel

Note the refreshed door handle.
500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7221/7177099305_2141ca7e3c.jpg" width="355" />

That's Ruth Anne at work.
My main contribution? This recycled mitten fella. I like its provenance: the yarn was in this batch, the mitten, a reject from this project.  Turning it into a wooly face , instigated by the sidewalk chorus on Saturday after I pointed out the way I was hanging it, unadorned,  looked a little....suggestive. (see? I told you I'd have some of my knitting on this post).
Cathy's working on the little heart, knit in the round. Metaphor alert!

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 If this piques your interest, check out the yarnbombing in Craft Activism. And get going. There're plenty of surfaces left to cover.

shepherds harvest weekend

 I was invited to judge the photo contest and teach at Shepherds Harvest 2012, held last month in Minnesota. I jumped at the chance.  I've been hearing about this annual wooly festival for years.

So there I was. I judged.  It was not easy. A thirteen year old named Rachel made this image. Talent!

 

Minnesota's a forcefield in the fiberarts world. Shepherds Harvest is a truly vibrant, lively festival with 5+ barns of vendors and an equal number full of livestock. You could learn saori weaving, dyeing, knitting techniques or how to breed colored fleeces and build a flock. Anyway, it was just a flawlessly wonderful two days, unless you count that the Scandanavian food truck ran out of lefse  before I had some. (Got my walleye chunks though, so no worries.)

I booksigned, alone for Craft Activism and Shear Spirit (missed you, Joan Tapper!) and with my Minnesota knit author posse from WearWithAll. Here I am with Scott Rohr and Mary Lou Egan. And that stole. (I want to steal that stole).

Here are Theresa Gaffey and Shelly Sheehan. Shelly's working on the stole in an alternative colorway. In front? Those are stole kits. I still want to steal the stole, but perhaps I should just knit one? Speaking of WearWithAll, did you see this review from Clara Parkes? And, this one over at Mason Dixon Knitting? :-)))

I taught a large and diverse group for the Photo Safari class .  Knitwear designers, alpaca farmers, a dude who's photo hobby matched up with my class while his wife and daughters' indulged their knitting  jones, an Adobe PhotoShop engineer, someone who mostly knit & crocheted in all white, some friends...and a bustling festival to explore. I hadn't calculated how our group of photographers in action would draw a crowd, who seemed convinced they'd found a celebrity at the festival beyond all the lenses. (does Prince knit? That would be the local celeb sighting I'd be all over). So, what did we shoot on safari? All kinds of backgrounds, above.

Sheep, of course. Isn't this one's fleece magnificent? I want a sweater in just those gradations.

My exhortations to get close and try unusual angles were heard!-Here's Ellen Silva photographing in the reenactors tent. She may have gone home with some spinning wheel burn marks on her forehead. But excellent images. All in the line of duty.

On Sunday,  I strolled the festival as a civilian with Ellen, who mostly stayed  upright. It was so much fun--first off, Ellen seems to know everyone in the upper midwest fiber world. And,  she's a decisive shopper, with great taste in yarn/fiber. That makes for a satisfying festival buddy right there.

One of my favorite booths, from Great Wool. Can't wait till Zoe is old enough for wooly tutus and felted fox ears. Also soft squishy Rambouillet yarn.

More felting! My friends Judy & Tom MacDowell from Misty Meadows Icelandics were there. I hadn't seen them since I invaded their farm with the photo shoot for Shear Spirit. Judy is a felting artist, and had a wall display of these narrow scarves, I think she called them centipedes. One came home with me.

I said I wouldn't buy yarn,  I do not need any yarn right now.  And I don't do souvenir yarn. At least not until Ellen introduced me to this very cool fundraiser. See these bags? They contain fluff from all the vendors, who donate handfuls of their fibers. A committee divides it into bags (or, sometimes layers them into fiber sandwiches),  

and a swat team of volunteer spinners turn each bag into a skein or two of yarn which is auctioned silently. All of the money goes to Heifer International.  So--do you get it? It's not shopping for yarn. It's supporting a good cause! (Yup, the cause clause).

  

I'm thinking new mittens for next winter,  I will be so happy knowing where the yarn came from.

And, a hat from this skein. I am slightly ashamed to admit I was bidding against the spinner who so beautifully spun the mix into a fat single, and plied it with a single laceweight strand of turquoise silk. I won't tell you how little I paid, even so.  As a non-spinner with a longing for handspun  , this is heaven.  So to sum up: Shepherds Harvest= good. Go if you can, next year.

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 Next post--I'm going to show knitting. It's been awhile , hasn't it?

craft activism goes literary in Little Rock AR!

...with a side-order of yarn bombing, thankyouverymuch. To recap: the Arkansas Literary Festival invited me as a presenting guest author, and asked if I'd also lead a Craft Activism event.  It took about a split second to choose yarn bombing, masterminded by the kniteratiLR . We decided to also make flowers from recycled sweaters as embellishments,  giving  non-knitters a break.

We worried no one would join us.

Not a problem! We also worried the weather'd be bad, that it'd be confusing, that we wouldn't have good materials...

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Here's Patrice, my partner in crime.  Really, more of a fun ringleader. If we ever pull a big heist she'll be the one with the excellent map with the duct systems schematic and the timing to get to the getaway car. I'll be the one...um...whatever, I am sure I'll be useful.  Anyhoo, we had felted old sweaters, colorful buttons and Patrice scored a bunch of One Thousand Percent Old Nylon hand crocheted afghans at Savers Village. I've noticed people like to have directions, even for open-ended projects, so we made a handout and did some test-crafting, to keep calm the night before. We were worried that it was too "Make & Take" Nope, not a problem. The template & directions became a launchpad. Just liked we'd hoped.The table quickly filled. Recycled sweater flowers piled up, but then we worried we wouldn't engage a wider audience.Again,not a problem. Teenage boys! The most wonderful part is this: see the dude in the blue T-shirt? He'd said in a disdaining teen tough boy way that he didn't know how to sew, when I tried to hand him a needle & yarn to attach flowers. He said it in the same way one would  back away from an offer to smell something rotting in the back of the fridge. His friend, the one you see giving him a hand said something like Damn, what do you mean you can't sew? Instantly turning it around, making it a desirable skill. Then he showed his friend how. Now that is some pretty cool craft activism, right  there (also, they were lured away from video gaming to do this. Let that sink in..video games)

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We moved outside to yarnbomb a small parklike area. This little girl will no doubt be the editor of Vogue Knitting someday. She was on task and delightful. When we were done,  I observed that it looked magical, to which she replied" It looks like my kind of world."while sweeping her hands around the area.  awwwww.

Meet Meredith Martin-Moats, folklorist, writer, editor, NPR producer and craft activist, who wrote about us in her excellent blog The Boiled Down Juice . It's full of interesting subjects that aren't us, too. Also, her twin toddler sons' stroller got yarnbombed as they passed through.

If you want to see even more from this day, hop over to CraftActivism, I put up a full slideshow.

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It'd be a shame to not mention how cool Little Rock itself is.  Thanks to Patrice, I had a fab visit. She and her hubby Roy opened up their home, fed me deliciously,  and  put up with my endless chicken and bee questions.  Turns out Patrice and I had the same job, years ago, but not at the same time, in Boston, at a photo agency.  (I know, you really can't make up stuff like this). Even more satisfying than comparing notes about old bosses/co-workers was the fact that Patrice is a talented knitter.  She  has the good taste to have knit, and wears, many sweaters in my queue. ( I am sure you  understand how great this is).  When we had a teeny slice of free time, she gave me a tour of LR.  Here's some of it, captioned.

The Clinton Library. Gorgeous architecture, fascinating presentation of recent history. Along with momentous world events, there was a display dedicated to handmade gifts that President & Hillary Clinton received, like the beaded necklaces. There's something so sweet and also so pop culture about all of it.Central High School, a place I  knew from the old Life Mag photos from  early days of the civil rights movement. It's beautiful, peaceful, still turning out graduates. Of all colors.

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Detail of a statue in front of Heifer International.

 

And the Big Dam Bridge, which as you might guess, was built on top of a dam. It's a long pedestrian bridge over the Arkansas River connecting two riverfront parks, in Little Rock & North Little Rock.