november post 1: BTS jill draper at work

Just out-of-the-dye-vats yarn in Jill Draper Makes Stuff studio! I'm going for a strong start at my annual stab at daily blogging for November, NaPoBloMo. 

Here's Jill dyeing. If you want to know what her work day is like, check out her profile on Etsy's Quit Your Day Job feature recently. When I was contacted to photograph her for it, I was thrilled.  You want me to spend the day behind the scenes with one of my favorite artist dyers and see how the magic happens? Yes, please! 

Of course, I know it is hard work, not waving a wand.  It's her eye for color, and choices about yarns and her overall vision that is magical. It's running a business, and figuring out inventory and ordering and marketing and shipping and planning what turned out to be a stupendously popular open house in October, and juggling all the balls. Despite our photo shoot needing to happen in the weeks leading up to some of her biggest shows of the year, Jill was a wonderful subject.

It's invasive to have a photographer and her assistant in your face- and personal space- all day. Setting up lights, climbing up ladders to get a better view, asking you to ride your bike down the street a thousand times for the camera...when all you really want to do is get back to work for real.

Recipe book. These kinds of peeks into how others spend their days is the thing I love about my job. No surprised that my favorite book as a kid was Harriet the Spy.  On days like this one, where my subject is also someone I love to work with (and be a customer of, I mean, really, you need to look at her shop if you are not familiar with her yarn and fiber), well....I have to feel pretty lucky. 

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Jill is also a client of mine, have you seen her Rural Renewal collection of designs? Later this month I'll do a BTS on shooting that collection for her last summer. I've got plans for this daily blogging thing. Stay tuned!

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!