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.

flying (but not) home

Sometimes the stars align. Like yesterday,  I found I could spend a couple of hours in tiny Arlington Tennesee with a Jerusalem-based photographer friend who's in the US this week. We picked the meeting place solely by its spot on the map, halfway between where I needed to be later and where she could drive to. Could have been a bad choice but ,no.

It was the perfect setting to shoot  my Flying Home shawl .Yes, this is how I wear lacy shawls. Love this shawl.  Debbi is not a knitter but she made my FO portrait.

For two photographers, this little town was heaven. Abandoned agriculture/ industry buildings!  We're suckers for some rusty tin.

Also, a large old dry good & feed store now filled with antiquey/flea market stalls. If only I were wasp-waisted,this is what you'd have seen me wearing to the Arkansas Literary Fest authors' cocktail party tonight. Instead, I was woefully underdressed. As usual.

Zoe can thank me some day for not leaping on this find. There were a lot of vintage sewing patterns, too.

A couple hours later, I walked into the very welcoming  Hank Of Yarn in Southaven MS. Don't you want to just pull up a chair? And yes , those are The KnitGirllls Leslie & Laura spinning right there. They took my class! Just as warm and friendly as they are online. I had a surreal moment sitting across from them at a booth for dinner. There they were, in the same order as on their video cast, finishing each others' sentences in the same charming way. It was as if they'd popped out of my monitor and landed at a sushi covered table.

Here's Hank herself, caught on the phone. If this is your LYS you are very lucky indeed.

 

Detail of Flying Home, in Breathless from Shalimar Yarns. Everything about this pattern is just right, except for my less-than-stellar blocking.  But don't let that stop you from knitting one.

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Still a couple of seats left at Yarn Mart on Sunday afternoon for the Photo for Knitters Workshop in Little Rock! Also we did some practice crafting and planning - it seems the noon yarnbombing at Lit Fest is going to be amazing. Come by and say hi.

some good things

I am posting from  Little Rock, Arkansas  where I'm a guest of the Arkansas Literary Festival. I've had the privilege of being in all kinds interesting, unusual, challenging, quirky and beautiful places for my work but this? This is different. I'm not reporting on it with my camera, I am actually IN it. I am not yet having those dreams where I get up to talk and realize I forgot to put on pants and instead  am naked yet covered with yarnbombing....but yeah, kind of like that. So when words fail, I'll show instead, what else has been making me happy this week.

 

 Borscht. Cold beet soup. For lunch, with chopped hard boiled egg, boiled potato, fresh green onion , a little plain yogurt and a good shake of pepper. It tastes like Spring.

The most wonderful new knitting book, Wear with All. Yes, that is my name smack dab on the cover, so take this as a biased opinion.  I was working on this in Minneapolis in November. So far you can get it in Minnesota at. the Yarnery, and Unicorn will be distributing it later this month, so tell your LYS to hop on it. You WILL want to own it. 

My Flying Home shawl in the last stage of cast off. It was soaked, blocked, and I wove the ends in on the plane.  I am planning to make sure it gets used as a practice piece when I'm teaching at Hank of Yarn this evening and at Yarn Mart on Sunday-- hehe lazy way to get some project photos to share, let the students do the work, right? 

Bobo, who is now officially heartworm free.

So, what's making you happy this week?

taking it to the street

Still seats left in  Photo for Knitters  THIS WEEK at Hank of Yarn in Southaven MS - home turf of The Knit Girllls , doncha know- on Thursday eve April 12, and at YarnMart in Little Rock AR on Sunday April 15. Tempted? Or make it a weekend because...On a Craft Activism note, I'll be speaking and  helping  lead a yarnbombing at the Central Arkansas Library as part of the Arkansas Literary Festival on Saturday April 14th, at 11 (slideshow talk) and noon (hands on crafting). I am honored and quite amazed to be part of this. I can't wait to share what my book is about with the other truly literary authors on Friday at the cocktail reception and watch them struggle for composure. Ian Frazier, a writer I admire to bits, will be there. I wish I fit into the Tongue in Chic skirt from the book. That'd be just the thing. Or, at least a spectacle.

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I taught a new class, Photo Safari for Knitter/Crafters while in California. It's street photography meets handcrafting. We spend most of our time out & about. First, there are photographic calisthenics to warm up. For example, above. Limited amount of time, a limited space--in this case, the city block we were on-  and each person must shoot only versions of a single color.  Bossy, yes? I've got a ton of these visual squat-thrusts. They break you out of your box a little before we move on to subjects  like FO's in the streets and posing and action and choosing dfferent backgrounds....

Celeste Varner, Loop & Leaf owner, designer/author  & knitter extraordinaire with her beaded Girasole.

Karin & Sandy testing backgrounds & posing in an alley in Santa Barbara CA. Check out Karin's link for the photos--and also, her designs are pretty great. Sandy had to leave class, flying off for a work emergency in Mexico. She's a seismologist. Stressful for her--but fascinating to us all. And definitely a first in a knits' class.

Lori models her shawl on a borrowed downtown porch. Go to her link--she has such a wonderful blog, and scrolling down, you can see the images Mirna & Celeste are shooting.  Super talented group, they are. I get so seriously inspired in the classes that I don't know what to knit next... although, ahem, finishing something might be the way to go, right?

class acts

Slackerly blogging , I know! Before I touch another airplane bag of weird tasting crackers, let's get back to March and some  Photography for Knitters classes, all over the place. 

If this looks like fun and you happen to be in Little Rock Arkansas or Southaven MS , right by Memphis, then you could  join me at Yarn Mart or Hank of Yarn, respectively--next week! I'll also be showing slides & telling and leading some yarn bombing/making at the Arkansas Literary Festival, it's Craft Activism on Saturday afternoon, April 14th. Very cool--I am looking forward to every single minute of this adventure.

Jill and a display at the Wildfiber counter in Santa Monica CA. If I was one of those people who can decisively grab a skein or ten quickly, I would have- it's a very happy making yarn store. And I should have.True to my indecisive retail-challenged nature, not a single skein joined me. Fail!

The class, though, was win. Looking at the clothing & lack of sun, you'd think I was faking this as Santa Monica, right? Such an interesting & talented group, from beginner knitters to experienced designers. I wanted to add a happy hour segment to the class so we could all get better acquainted and look at each other's work.Maybe with a nice fruity cocktail. Return visit, on the to-do list.

Closer to home , last Saturday at Katonah Yarn in Katonah NY.  A sympatico group, we could have happily sat there, out of the gray drizzle surrounded by the welcoming yarniness, and chatted till midnight. (In fact, at times  we sounded like that was the plan.)  We were blessed with a mid-class driveby modeling by Carrie, full reportage with photos, here . Thanks to Kay's indoctrination good parenting , Carrie knows not to question the gleam in knitters' eyes when they are holding cameras and she is in a fabulous bulky cowl. Katonah's own Liz Kaplan is shown here with the traveling trio. Betsy brought her Fussy Cuts blanket (from Craft Activism) -brilliantly knit from Silk Garden Chunky. Why couldn't I have thought of that? Chunky=done faster yet still all the fun of the Noro.

Houseboat in Santa Barbara, back to Cali. Note lace curtains in porthole windows and brushed metal handmade chairs on sundeck. If I disappear and you hear about an incident at the Santa Barbara Marina where a woman shows up and commandeers one of the smallest vessels docked there, muttering something about just wanting a quiet place to knit.....well, no, I wouldn't know anything about that.

California travels: the unexpected

The thing about travel is, you just never know. The dry, sunny city can be chilly and rainy. <cough, LA> The little inexpensive motel a friend arranged near work can be charming beyond belief. A cheerful home away from home.

 

 Especially if, like me, you want to pretend your home is in Brazil.  Lunch with a client can be a delicious adventure and rev up a new project. (Thanks Craig!). A quick work errand can land you at an inspiring exhibit at the Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM)

where artist Maximo Gonzalez  uses devalued currency-- money or materials like aluminum-  to make playful art that provokes. That tree on the upper right is a small detail in an amazing full wall collage from tiny cuts of devalued paper bills. The gift shop ? Need to return is all I am saying. There's a yarnbombing group meeting there monthly. (go! join!) They did a fabulous front window  installation that I failed to get a good image of (see rainy and chilly, above).

The El Segundo Slipt Stitchers Knitting Guild were as numerous, fun and opinionated as I was told in advance, but I didn't expect my carefully programmed pizzazzy talk to have technical issues 

while all 80+ of them waited.  Stress!  Not that they looked too concerned, right? It worked shortly after these photos by Ellen Bloom. (and yes, of course it ran flawlessly at 1 am for the test) . What an impressive group they are.

 

 I sat next to uber talented Ana Petrova for a while.  Her knitting, dyeing, spinning and freestyle designing combined with her sense of color wow me. See the knitted and beaded cuff jewelry, for instance. BTW check out her link for classes. It'll give you a creative kick in the butt. No doubt.

The smaller hands-on workshop with the Slipt Stitchers the next day was lively, heading straight into rowdy at times.  In fact, all three of the California workshops were awesome--but, that is very expected, so I'm saving it for my next post.

Lastly, unexpected and defeating: the needle cable that detached from the join (not the changeable tip but the join), releasing well over 300 stitches on my almost finished lovely Flying Home shawl. Glued back in, spent well over an hour of catching all the stitches and YO's--and then the other end join did the same. On a plane. Still to be restored.

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As of today there are 2 seats left ion the Katonah Yarn class this  Saturday 3/31  in Katonah NY, 12-3. And, other upcoming events, on my workshops page:  in Little Rock AR, Southaven MS , Minnnesota & New England. 

we are what we make?

Head up, lenses up SoCal , there're Photography for Knitter workshops heading your way mid March. If you're a member of the El Segundo Slipt Stitchers Knitting Guild, I am honored to be your March program and hope you'll sign up for the workshop (march 17/18). If you're not a member , find me at Wildfiber in Santa Monica on march 18th (call them to register) and at Loop & Leaf in Santa Barbara  for a Photo Safari on March 20. We're working on some Craft Activism booksignings, too, stay tuned

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About a year ago, under the influence of Ellen, Maryse  and a massive quantity of partial skeins, I started crocheting my Big Ass Granny Square afghan.

 

Little did I know that by the time I finally finished the last long round of edging last week....

 

I would actually BE one.

   

The Big Ass Granny Square afghan is one continuous square of worsted weight, natural fiber yarn -mostly wool with some alpaca and silk blends in there. It's the Chocolate Box Square in Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks . Awesome resource. It's an alternative to your basic granny square--I like that the little tiles of color line up instead of being  staggered.

There's no sequence or repeats or plan - I chose colors  by contrast or by varying warms and colds. I ended up buying 3 skeins, when I ran out of their colors but thought I'd miss having them in the mix: orange,  grey and a green. Other than that, I love that I can see bits of sweaters and hats I knit,  yarns from gifts for loved ones, yarn for test knitting projects for both Shear Spirit and Craft Activism, yarn I dyed myself , and yarn my dear knitting friends enabler, Mary Lou,  sent me when I worried I might be running low.

I've already put Bobo on notice that he is NOT allowed to cozy up on this one. And I'm  plotting another, for a gift request.

Credit to my friend & colleague Edwina Stevensonhttp://www.edwinastevenson.com, she photographed me in my afghan  at The Inn at Montpelier, where we stayed while working on a photo shoot for a client up in Vermont last week. I wonder if the inn staff thought we were crazy, dancing around in an afghan on a chilly VT back porch?

 

recent acquisitions

Heads up: workshops coming up soon, limited spaces, more listings here 

• March 2 Tarrytown NY Photo Bootcamp for Crafters & Etsians 10-1

• March 17th Photo for Knitters at Wildfiber in Santa Monica/LA 2:30-5:30

• March 20th Photo Safari for Knitters in Santa Barbara CA at Loop & Leaf, 10-1

• and if you're a member of the El Segundo Slipt Stitchers, March 17 & 18

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When I packed up after the fun Craft Activism show & tell  & booksigning at the library in Madison CT last weekend (such a great knitting crowd they have there), I was invited to pop by the LYS around the corner. Since I have good manners, and, um, it's a yarn store? I said yes. I'd been there before, it was a sweet little shop.

 I didn't know it had changed hands a few months ago and now Madison Wool is MadWool,

 

owned by Dayna, aka The Crafty Scientist, an artyarn spinner, crafter and purveyor of the handmade, handspun, handdyed, and excellently curated commercial yarns too. The little cottage has a newly added room for classes , and is bursting with Things I Want to Touch and Make. I recommend a visit or three, they are open on Sundays. Do I hear field trip from you?

 

I broke one of my personal yarn rules: absolutely no single souvenir skeins. See this stunning Shalimar Breathless ? It's fingering weight wool, silk & cashmere.  I reversed some of my rule-breaking damage by winding and casting on immediately for Kat Coyle's new shawl Flying Home.

Yes, you can judge a shop by its sign. Yarnbombing!!!

  I feel so spoiled. I have Knit New Haven as my wonderful clubhouse LYS and now,  slightly further but still handy, a shop to revel in the handspun. Must get busy with them needles!

in the pink

I used to love the color pink. Powder pink, dusty pink, rose. I stopped wearing it when I was a newspaper photojournalist stringing for the NY Times & news mags. I  found I was patronized when I wore the girly colors. Sad, but true. I simply got out of the pink habit.

 

when oh when will I stop this silly addiction to gimmicky photo apps? when??? 

project: Bunny Blanket Buddy

pattern: a mash up of several but mostly this one from Lion Brand

yarn: less than one skein of MinnowMerino

needles: us7 for the "body" and ears, us4 for the head

notes: as usual, I didn't read through the pattern until I was working on that head. I wondered about the choice of stitch pattern....and then realized what the what? I am DOUBLE KNITTING! I do not know why I have avoided it all my life, I thought it sounded confusing and super tedious. It is neither. It is a fabulous way to create a head to be stuffed.
Also, love this yarn. Super lofty, superwash. 

 

(no shortage of sweet pink around here now)

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I'm setting up a pretty brisk schedule of talks and teaching. Can't wait!
Listing of those so far confirmed are all at the Photo for Knitters page .

First up, not too far from home:

• Sunday Feb 19th 2 pm a slide talk & booksigning about Craft Activism :  Celebrating Handmade at the Scranton Library in Madison CT. I'll have books for sale. Bring your knitting or crafting. You know about idle hands and the devil, right?

• Friday March 2 , Photography Bootcamp for Bloggers & Etsians (and those who aspire to be) , a hands on digital photography workshop at the  fabulous Pretty Funny Vintage in Tarrytown NY. Turn us loose in restored victorian house full of vintage, handcrafted and collectible treasures, cameras in our paws? No prob! Register now, space limited. Going to be big fun.

ariana cowl

Now that the best FO of the year is here, some of the non-human wips cluttering the joint are starting to  deliver as well. Like this cowl, designed & knit for niece Ariana who came up last weekend.

 

She is my favorite niece to hang out with. (Easy to say since she's my only niece.) Aside from her brainy & artistic accomplishments, she knits and likes to make things too. Win.

 

This is when it's double wrapped,and you are imitating models in Japanese pattern books. Here's my inspiration, something I saw that was not handknit. Now that I am returning to  it---they look nothing alike. I guess that's what "inspired by" not "knocked off" means, right? . It;s a long loops with two  textures but when wrapped together had a nice interplay of the different pattern stitches as if one was wearing two matching but yet not-matching scarves.

Looped over only once you can clearly see the two different stitches and yarns weights. I'd like to play around with another loopy cowly thing,  with one stitch pattern knit the long way, join it into a loop then pick up and knit the second stitch pattern part 90 degrees from the first. (Yes, I do know there are patterns like this, I just have one I haven't seen yet in my brain).

Mistake rib in Peruvia Quick on size 13 US needles. 

A reversing lace stitch on size 10.5 US needles in Peruvia.

 

This is an easy fun knit: only one skein of each yarn. Peruvia is a single spun yarn, and Peruvia Quick is the bulkier plied version of it . It's soft and lofty and the colors have a little bit of subtle contrasting halo; this nice green has lots of gold shot through it. Not as in "spots of color that'll pool" but as in" in the late afternoon sun it gets a nice glow going". 

 

PS It also looks most excellent worn for getting to know your new cousin Zoe.(Like how I snuck her in? Can.not.resist.)

a psa or three

 It's just about the 1st Saturday in February again. 

Hello!  International Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

  

which as you know has 3 simple rules: 1) eat ice cream 2) for breakfast 3) before noon on the 1st Saturday in Feb. We'll have a spread simliar past years, like this or this. You? 

And, as long as I am being helpful, can I warn you against googling "cute booties"? I had something like these not those in mind, thankyouverymuch.

 

Pattern: The Better Baby Booties

Needles: US 3 

Yarn: Cascade 220, a little Plymouth Worsted Merino in white and some deliscious white angora for the trim

Notes: A quickie knit if you aren't having a lot of distractions going on like...a super cute newborn baby in the house.  Which, I think, explains why the stripes are placed differently and the variance wasn't noticed till they were blocking. Whatev! You think a 10 day old will care? Or her sleepy parents will notice?

These are V.2. Thanks to bad row gauge, the first pair came out too long. I modified the pattern: the bottoms are only 20 rows long, and the cuffs only 28 stitches. I picked up 10 instead of 15 stitches along the sides when switching from flat to circular. (it'll make sensewhen you're in the pattern).

 

So we're set for 1 year old foot coverage, too.

oh, one more warning: definitely don't google "BigAss Granny " . Because I didn't get my own blog with my very large granny square in progress. Nuh uh, I got an eyeful.

(You're welcome.)