postcards from rhinebeck 2016: ny sheep and wool

A splendid weekend all around. Sheep, wool, friends, yarn, the Hudson Valley, autumn.....what could be better?

Facetime with fiber on the hoof (and on a head). I adore the NY Sheep and Wool Festival weekend.
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Booksigning: Most of my weekend was shoulder to shoulder with my co-authors, Kirsten Kapur and Mary Lou Egan, signing and blabbing about Drop Dead Easy Knits. It is a joy to share the book we worked on all last year, with knitters. We had a blast, as we squooshed into our Barn B space with friends Ann and Kay of Mason Dixon Knitting as tablemates.  Fortunately, friends old and new came by, like (upper right) Emily (LoveaSlug) and Karen Clark, (ChooChooKnits).  So many inspiring knits! And um, yeah, Mary Lou and I really did wear matching versions of the Keynote Pullover. And, um, yeah, we do know it looks dorky but we both love this sweater she designed. We tried to act all sophisticated and pass it off as showing the sample on two different body types.....

Friend Sightings:  clockwise from upperleft, Mal from Common Cod Fiber Guild in perfectly accessorized necklace and cowl, the adorable Jill Draper and her mom Gail (Jill's studio open house on Saturday night was a scene, itself), Bristol Ivy's killer Rhinebeck sweater, I mean..that yoke! Those colors! and I finally got to meet Jan, of the Twinset Designs. Ellen Silva, the twin on the left, has been a friend for  years.  She tech edited Drop Dead Easy Knits. I can't say enough about how great it is to work with her.  Go ahead if you want to hire her, she recently retired from her non-knitting job and may be available, if you are very very lucky. The Twinset Designs Podcast, linked above, is excellent too, give them a listen.

More sightings: Clockwise- the vendor with the beautifully whimsical felted sheepy headwear- apologies, I forgot the name- was a hit this year.  Another (non-yarn) favorite was Grace Gunning's Reliquary Boxes, beautiful art pieces in hand wrought copper boxes. That quick shot doesn't do them justice, click over on her link. A performance piece by Corpus. And the crowds and trees-- wouldn't be NY Sheep and Wool without them.

The weekend digs: Our house rental was last minute, and we struck the jackpot. I'm not even going to show you how amazing the inside is, you'd want to book it for next year immediately ;-) And also, this blogpost is already running crazy long, right?

There was , of course, knitting! My plum wool Pompano Tank tunic wasn't finished, but got some inches added, as we lounged and wallowed in our luxury. That bright orange Fringe Supply Co. bag in the lucite bubble chair with the sequined pillow is colorwork by Mary Jane Mucklestone.  It's the bizarro-world version of Fringe Association aesthetic, right?  Not shown here, Mary Jane was knitting a modern feeling two color version of her new design Sigla.  Onto my queue it went.

The roomies (most but not all): Jani Estell, replendent in her Starcroft Yarn knits and her handcrafted dresses . This one is a new design from Odacier, but I didn't really give you much of a peek...sorry, Fibertrek Sarah Hunt, always in beautifully executed  knits from thoughtfully chosen yarns, Beverly Army Williams in Alabama Chanin and Stopover, and the original Stopover, modeled by the designer herself, Mary Jane Mucklestone. By my unofficial count, Stopover was THE sweater from the festival this year.

I missed getting photos of so much, and so can't show the joy of meeting/seeing friends in person, like Vicki Knitorious . And yes, her stitching and knitting is every bit as gorgeous as it looks online. (Also--I thought she was going to be super tall)! 

I'm a slackerly shopper by nature, even so I didn't come home empty-handed. But that is another post!

fiber college coming soon, new workshops this year!

I can't ignore that September is rolling around soon. A couple of events I've been looking forward to are just around the bend. The first?

FIBER COLLEGE OF MAINE Sept 7-11, 2016

I'm teaching two new workshops. I'm pretty excited about them.They're also, I think, very much in the spirit of Fiber College.  Which is to say inspiring, fun, a chance to break away from the norm with no pressure. The photo above promotes a photography class aimed at anyone wanting to stretch their image making muscles: Creative Vision Challenge.  We'll be talking about ways to get out of imagery ruts, and provoke new ways of seeing. We'll be shooting challenges to make sure that happens. I am a firm believer in cross-pollinating your making experiences, it helps you grow.  This class should be amazing for anyone looking for a little jolt.

This image promotes a workshop called Haiku Postcards, co-taught with friend and frequent partner-in-workshop-crime, Beverly Army Williams.  We've come up with a project based class, one that lets you walk away with something in hand. We will be thinking about single shot imagery, photographing (with our phones-or cameras if you insist) on the beautiful grounds. We'll be printing images, placing them on  on postcard paper and then under Beverly's guidance, writing haiku to go with them. We can't wait to roll this one out. Sign up from the link on top or here.

(From the Oh, Natural Tahki Yarns collection I shot, just releasing. Love, love , love this hat.)

There's an interview with me on Fiber College blog. I keep returning to teach at Fiber College. It never fails to inspire, create community, and send me into the shortening days time of year with a good attitude. I leave Searsport full of ideas and the beauty I take in on  Penobscot Bay.  Also, full of lobsters, and wine and blueberry pie...but that is not strictly  required :-)
I've posted raved about Fiber College here, here, here and here, too. One important aspect: unlike other creative retreats and events, you do not need to pay one big fee. You can come and take just one class, or just pay to enter and stroll the grounds and try the mentored dye tent or other "pop=up" experiences, and shop, or you can take classes every minute you are there. 
So...next post..a big something else coming in September, too.

not so random

stones on Nash Island in Maine , with Trig, a hat pattern by Mary Lou Egan

This started as a Random Stuff post, blabbing about work, what I've been making and knitting and I'm traveling this weekend and what I'm teaching, and what I'll knit on the train and bus, and oh, you know, the weather and how I want to knit all the hats. And CRAFT FRIDAY .....
But it's never really random, just like there aren't really coincidences. Enough time or enough thought always reveals the connection.
Example: I've been putting together presentations. I was listening to a webinar about vision-based portfolios. Love the concept. I trained and worked as a photojournalist. Man oh man do I adore a narrative, so I tend to default to one as I present images.  It is so hard to edit my own work.  I tried letting my brain go loose-y goose-y and guess what? Seemingly random images went together.

This pairing is dyed fiber at a farm in 2006, and on the right, my own Decibella Cowl pattern. 
I'll probably demo making these photo pairings, and how to embellish them further,  and of course,  collages with many more images and graphics, even circular images, when I teach the Making Collages with PicMonkey  Interweave webinar on Monday, 11/24/14  at 1pm eastern live. Join me, please?  Or get it recorded to listen to on-demand. I am telling you, the above show restraint, you can go CRAZY with the tools on that free software.  I think we'll start all buttoned down and simple like this,  and then just continue on and on with loads of options.

postcards from maine: swans island yarn

 Saturday 11/10 : a full day Photo for Knitters Workshop in Needham MA.
A one-of-a-kind class:  meeting in an historic schoolhouse (props! setting!), with enough time to learn, shoot, and to edit, look at work and critique too. Thanks to Elissa at Creative Warehouse for sponsoring this!

If  a hands-on photo workshop might be a bit much,  Friday night 11/9  I'm doing a slidetalk : 10 Tips for Fabulous Photos: Knitwear & Beyond  for the Common Cod Guild in Cambridge at MIT (heh , me teaching at MIT) 7pm.   Info here.

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Back in September, one misty morning at Fiber College, I played tourist with  Mary Lou Egan. We set out on a short drive south to Northport.

Not on the island anymore.They welcome visitors.We're both crazy about Swans Island yarn, and this is where it comes from. It's all organic and naturally dyed. The displays show the plants & nature that go into the colors. Showrooms of the stunning wool woven blankets (sliver at left) and the yarns. If I needed to receive to give a special gift, it'd be a Swans Island blanket. So elegant and simple. Side room with irregular colors,  off dyelots. These are amongst the discounted skeins, from mixed dyes or limited runs. To call them seconds is unfair, they're so beautiful.  I bought one skein of a green, but wish now I'd chosen some of the indigo on the right, as well.We toured behind the scenes too. Natural yarn, waiting to be measured out. 
Skeining yarn before dying.Pre-soaked skeins waiting to go into dye baths. 
It was very very warm in the dyerooms. Yarn drying. Mary Lou had taken an all day workshop the day before, with head dyer, Jackie Degraff aka DyeMama. I was utterly impressed, as were the dyers working, that Mary Lou called out the name of the nature dye source on these skeins.We visited the weaving rooms too. The looms are so wide, they have an airpump assisted shuttle that makes a satisying whooooooosh.Weavers' worktable.The Swans Island woven signature.One of the things I love best about visiting dyers is how their colors and sensibilities reflect the local palette.In this case, the local palette couldn't be more beautiful. Camden harbor, just down the road.

A few last thoughts, if you're still with me: 
• Swans Island yarn may be available at your LYS. It is at mine :-)

• An oft repeated but wondrously true aspect of naturally dyed yarn is it all goes together. You can't make a bad color combo.

• Yarn like this, from small producers, costs more than commercially produced imported skeins. Choosing it is to vote with your pocketbook (as we like to say around here). To knit with it is a joy, no question.  When you buy it, you're supporting small business and  enabling real jobs in a challenged economy. These are people who put great care into what they create. You can read more about who's behind Swans Island here.

(sorry that was kind of preachy but I just had to say it, stepping off the soapbox now)