november post 3: TBT lamar chunky cabled scarf

Eight years ago, I made up a chunky scarf for my bro-in-law Lamar. He almost always gets a handknit gift from me, because he has the charming habit of a) appreciating handmade  b) wearing it and c) reciting back to me by memory, everything I've ever given him. That's more than a decade of knits. I know! Let's clone him!

I shared the pattern on my blog and put it on Ravelry, gratis*. It is still on point, though I'd knit it to a longer length now. It's had more than 45,000 page views. Far more than any other post! 

It's still a free download. But I'll add the following, because I feel more strongly than ever that all work has value: If you like this pattern, and download it, please consider a donation of any size to CRAN, an orphanage in Bogota Colombia that I am close to. Every nickel is well-used and appreciated.**

So!  for this post, I am throwing it back to Dec 2008 and sharing Lamar Chunky Cabled Scarf with you. I'll list some good alternatives to the recommended yarn, below, at the end of the original post. I can't wait to see your knits. Enjoy!


I'm ready to show & tell the finished gifts but Lamar gets its own post. I like it that much.

LAMAR a reversible cabled chunky scarf
Designer: me
Pattern: free download here
Yarn: Cascade 109 Tweed, a chunky yarn, 109 yards per skein, 3 skeins in walnut
Needles: size US 13
The backstory: when bro-in-law said he'd like a scarf I was ready to jump on one of those striped scarves. Except he added, "it has to be reeeaally soft so I can have it right on my neck."


Now, I can call the Noro Silk Garden soft enough when blocked for me, the knitter, but in the real non-knitting world? Not so much on the bare neck.

So, what to knit? I have Opinions on scarves. They should look great from both sides, and no ribbing allowed on the ends if they're cabled. And I wanted cables but not with squared off long sides. I felt like knitting chunky. So I winged it. (wang it?) . Manly enough for the guys, don't you think? Still a little artsy, looks good on women too. That's sister Lulu lending her neck for the cause.

I usually get bored on the last quarter scarf, but not this time. It was that quick a knit.


 added 2016:
YARN SUBSTITUTES
 I'd recommend more yardage than in the pattern, the original scarf was traditional/short  I'd suggest 400-450 yards of super bulky yarn, and keep knitting till it is gone, for a longer scarf.
Some good options are
Misti Alpaca Chunky- 4-5 skeins
Malabrigo Yarn Chunky - 4-5 skeins 
Tahki Yarns Montana- 4 skeins
Rowan Big Wool - 4 skeins--and go up a needle size, try US 15 or 17- this is even chunkier! You can super size it.
 Also you can check out the 524 projects posted for yarn ideas.

*Let's discuss this gratis/free thing. You get what you pay for--I made up this pattern, wrote it up in my own style, described it as I wished and posted it. No conforming to any style sheet or notes to help a new cable knitter. No charts or diagrams. Test knitting, tech editing? Nah.  You get nice professional photos  because I am a [nice] professional photographer :-).
In 2008, it was a little more of the Wild West in the internet knitting community, and posting an off-the-cuff pattern for free wasn't unusual.  I wouldn't do so now.  I work with too many super talented and dedicated designers whose patterns you should buy to support our  corner of the crafting world. By giving away my design work, I would disrespect  and undermine theirs. Not to mention the work of all creatives, including myself.

**It is National Adoption Month, and so CRAN is on my mind, just as they are always close to my heart. They do good work, caring for children in residential foster care, caring for and placing abandoned babies and children in adoption, and running an early childhood education day program and school for an impoverished neighborhood near the orphanage.The link is to a non-profit that fundraises for them internationally.

november post 2: postcard to autumn

Dear Autumn, 
I appreciate your breezes, and the red leaves on Maple trees.  But we both know I am saddened by your arrival. You bring increasing  darkness, cold mornings and way too much pumpkin flavor in everything.
However, I am writing to thank you for this beautiful inner seed globe of a flower while in Maine in early September. I've decided to embrace the season-and the coming winter- in the spirit of hygge
Yours,
GZ

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 

The yarn is Starcroft Nash Light in Mussel Shell. I love love love it and have almost a sweater's worth. When I get the contrast yarn,something natural/grayish,like Driftwood, I will knit a colorwork yoke sweater in it. My hygge will be enhanced.

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. 

• • • • • • • 

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.
.

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!

what it's all about: rhinebeck style returns

Bringing it back!  Years may change but the feeling is still the same. (I'm humming As Time Goes By here). Although everyone talks about shopping and eating at the festival, what the weekend in Rhinebeck is really all about? Is putting on all your knits, flying that fiber freak flag and being amongst your people.

Whether you are heading for the Dutchess County Fairgrounds and the NY Sheep & Wool Festival * this weekend, or you are knitting on a beach in the southern hemisphere (and if you are, good on you!) or busy with work, family, and life demands.....enjoy!  Happy sweater gawking!

Feel free to embed this video wherever you want. I like to share it.

 * so, if you are going to be at the festival- do come by Barn B where the books are,  and check out Drop Dead Easy Knits, squeeze the trunk show, say hi,  and get a signed copy from Kirsten Kapur, Mary Lou Egan and me.  We will be there on Saturday from 10-11:30, and from 4-5, as well as on Sunday from 10-1, we'd love to meet you. Check us out! 

Upcoming this week
Tuesday Oct 18th 4-6pm (or so) booksigning party & trunk  show at Knit New Haven  in CT

Thursday Oct 20th 6-8pm slide talk, trunk show and booksigning at Knitty City in NYC!

a happy week for knitters: rifton, rhinebeck and sweater weather

So much to revel in this week! I suspect you've heard of Mason Dixon Knitting but on the teeny tiny chance that you haven't, or if you haven't checked out their space lately, let me point out it is reason to rejoice. They have turned their longtime inspirational and entertaining pretty-much-daily blog into a ...I dunno...blog plus web-zine plus shop. And still daily. And still funny and clever and inspiring.  It's a bonanza. And wow the shop. The latest offering is killing me, it is so good:

 A CUSTOM COLORWAY of Jill Draper Makes Stuff Rifton. Swoon. 

One cake of it makes a STUNNING version of the Grand Central Scarf from Drop Dead Easy Knits.  For example. 

with CUSTOM semi-solids to coordinate.  It's too good.

I am a Jill- and a Rifton fan from the moment  I saw it a couple of years ago, and made my Wingfeather Shawl in the winter colorway. 

 A new cake of it, in a colorway with natural brown, and pinks/raspberry came home with me from a photo shoot at Jill's last month, it'll no doubt be cast on any moment for the Grand Central Scarf, as I mentioned above, instead of two colors, use the inner and outer ends of the same cake.  (as beautifully executed by Mary Lou Egan, I'll add a photo here when I can)...and I am eyeing some of the semi solids when I visit her open studio this weekend. (Saturday night, Kingston NY, the Mason Dixon Knitting ladies will be there too, info on her etsy page link above)

So even if you are a summer loving knitter like me, it is a happy week for working with wool  (can I have an uh-huh) and suddenly there are new patterns and books popping up temptingly, daily,  and... if all that isn't jolly enough, this weekend is the NY Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck , NY, which is the State Fair for Knitters. (But better.)

 You can find the Mason Dixon Knitting ladies, Kay and Ann, signing their new Field Guides in the booksigning barn - along with me and my Drop Dead Easy Knits co-authors and a slew of folks you'd like to blab with. Full schedule here. Get your sweater on and say hi!

pompano tank tunic underway + the DROP DEAD EASY KNITS giveaway winner

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments on our little video for Drop Dead Easy Knits, and for the book itself.  The giveaway winner: Liza Kirschner. Come on down!
Our book launch was a blast.  We were stunned, and thrilled, to sell out of copies right away.(I mean, for that night! Plenty more to go around, online and in stores and at events).

Seeing as we were at FibreSpace surrounded by gorgeous yarn, we knew how to to fill our time. I was seized by the need to cast on a wool version of the Pompano Tank, I am thinking of it as the Pompano Tunic. I'll be wearing it as a layer over a long sleeved top, with dark jeans, styled differently than our model Katrina in her linen version of this fabulous design.  In my mind, it's what you'll see me wearing at Rhinebeck....in two and a half weeks....

I chose this yarn, Brooklyn Tweed Loft, a nice dark tweedy purple**. I have been acquiring purple yarn in unrelated yarn-acquiring incidents all of September, without realizing the vast cumulative purple-ness of it all.  I am declaring it my new neutral. Officially. 

The Pompano Tank it is a delightful knit, just as you'd expect, as it is designed by Kirsten Kapur. The last two weeks have had  little needle time for me, so I've only completed the first few repeats of the holey bottom edge.  It's fun knitting this texture, and after this, it's all stockinette with some shaping.  One piece from the bottom up. I can get some steam going- and if I have some knitting time--then there is  hope I'll have it done for the NY Sheep & Wool Festival,  
If you want to check it out or even better, come get a copy of DROP DEAD EASY KNITS  signed by me and my co-authors, and touch all the samples from the book, we will be on a teeny tiny tour.

Saturday & Sunday OCT 15 & 16th in Rhinebeck NY at the  NY Sheep & Wool 
Saturday 10-11:30 am and 4-5pm
Sunday  10am-1 pm
booksigning and trunk show in the barn where all the author events take place

Tuesday October 18th at Knit New Haven* in New Haven CT 4-6 pm (or so)
 trunk show & booksigning

Thursday October 20 at Knitty City in NYC, Upper West Side, 6-8 pm
we'll present a fun slide talk about making the book and all that is in it, along with signing books and trunk show

* it'll most likely be Mary Lou Egan and myself in New Haven. You can always snag that third signature when Kirsten comes to Knit new Haven inNovember to teach a workshop from the book. 

** Normally indecisive picking out yarn for projects, I surprised myself (and my eyball-rolling friends) by quickly nabbing this colorway, Plume. Then I cracked open the pattern and realized I'd subconsciously gone for the shade most similar to the sample in the book. D'oh! Does that happen to you, too?

a Drop Dead Easy Knits video + GIVEAWAY

Presenting our book trailer!
 My co-authors,Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops and Mary Lou Egan and I could not be more excited that the book we've been working on for the past year  DROP DEAD EASY KNITS will be out in the wild this week.
In the spirit of the book, which is all about enjoyable but smart knitting- things you can knit while sitting around with friends, or in meetings, or on trains, or while watching the sports practices/rehearsals/schoolboard meetings or waits in the carpool pickup that come our way...stylish but not requiring isolation to follow the pattern. 
We present this video with a few of our favorite knitting (and life) tips.
And a peek at some of the 28 wonderful projects in the book.

 GIVEAWAY: a copy of DROP DEAD EASY KNITS

 signed by all 3 of us 

Leave a comment below, by midnight September 22nd,  pacific US time, letting us know which of the tips in the video is your favorite. 

We can't wait to hear from you.  Tips up!

Book Launch 

 Thursday September 22nd at Fibre Space in Old Town Alexandria VA on Thursday evening, 

with classes from all three of us the next day, details here, please join us! Kirsten will be teaching one of my fave projects, the Short Beach Shawl, shown below, and modeled by me in the video. I'll be teaching a Ten Tips & tricks Photo Class , guaranteed fun. Mary Lou will be running a drop in Finger Puppet Bar, so bring your littles, or , um, make some adult puppets happen. We won't judge!

(but sign up soon, these are almost sold out)

fiber college bound:sept post 7

Heading north tomorrow! I'm recycling this image from a couple of years ago, of the house I stay at while teaching at Fiber College of Maine in Searsport. I suspect the few days we are there each year is the only time freshly dyed skeins of yarn hang from the trees. It adds something, right?

I'm hoping not to over schedule myself, for a change, and spend some time on that porch with my talented roomies.  If you are free this weekend, there're still classes with space in them. And Ellen Mason's prepping her dyes, so anyone can play in her dye tent. You won't be sorry!

the ssk and k2tog memory challenge solved: sept post 6

Thank you for the comments yesterday. My  problem is solved, and then some. First this:

Wilderness Scarves in Tahki Spencer yarn, shot by yours truly a few months ago for their new lookbook, Knit Country.  Pattern here or on Ravelry here . Location and styling (and fab vintage coat) credit to  Karin Strom.  This bulky felted wool tape style yarn looked like it'd be fun to knit quickly--and these scarves are definitely fun to wear . what? wouldn't you try on the samples at a photo shoot???)

But back to the SSK and K2tog question, in which I wondered how others recall which way the SSK leans and which way the K2tog. 

So many excellent answers ! Thank you!  It's a wealth of ideas and I'm thrilled.  The three I am pretty sure I can retain:

Manise said  "Lean to the right- k2tog -right leaning
Skip to the left- ssk- left leaning"
 A clue in the spelling/words. I can do that!

Helen said "...your needle is pointing in the direction of the slant. Towards the right with k2tog and left with ssk"
Mechanical reasoning--duh! This is the way I think, and I'm astounded I never quite, ummm, noticed.


Susan from Katonah  really tickled me with her method when she said "The upright on a 2 leans right, as does a k2tog. The upright on an S leans left, as does a ssk. Thats my trick. I write 2s and Ss in the air and mutter. I suspect it scares people in coffee shops."
I love it-- typography to the rescue! I can totally do this. I hope to be frightening people in coffee shops soon, right with her.

And most interestingly, Denise from Lost City Knits mentioned this,  a question I was thinking but didn't even get around to to posting outloud
"And if you want to use the same stitches that Shetlanders use (SSK was invented by Barbara G Walker and is therefore fairly new) instead of the SSK use a knit 2 together through the back loop or a slip, knit, psso."
I grew up knitting without an SSK--it was always one of the methods Denise mentioned. When I encountered the SSK in the last decade, I just thought maybe my family didn't knit that way, so had never passed it on.  Case closed! 

PS I am still using an old Blogger platform that doesn't allow me to hit reply to most comments, any address or link is removed --so please don't think I'm rude. I appreciate all your comments :-)

question for you: ssk and k2tog memory trick: sept post 5

There was some knitting in the final hours of this holiday weekend. My hap shawl is a joy to work on and truth be told, it's a pretty easy knit. I'm on the stripey hap shell lace section, which has the fun of bringing in all the colors. You only need to pay attention every sixth row. That's when there are the yarn overs and the sets of  decreases, to create the waves.

Which brings me to the question...when you're looking at a chart with those left leaning slashes and the right leaning slashes, what's your secret to remembering which is an ssk and which is a k2tog?  

I have been trying for years and years to come up with something that will stick, so that when I start a new pattern and I see the slashes, I will recall without fail which way an ssk leans. And not need to check the key to make sure I'm correct.

Do you have a pnemonic, or a little mantra, or a rhyme to remember which is which?

Spill! I am all ears.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . .. . .

Pattern: Hansel (half) by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn:  Fog, Starcroft Fiber.

go ahead,  Pin it

 

pie reportage :sept post 4

warning: avoid this post if hungry

The competition was tough at the neighborhood pie contest this year.

Mine was good (above left) but it wasn't award winning. Some were amazing.

As you can see.  Spending part of the afternoon under a tree eating slices of as many pies as you wanted to try with a bunch of your family, friends & fave neighbors?  Definitely a blue ribbon day. 
(That's fig tart, lemon basil pie, and peach melba with the crazy crust. The top award went, deservedly,  to the plum galette in top right photo)

short beach days saturday: sept post 3

We do not actually rest on Labor Day weekend around here. It is Short Beach Days. And that means constant motion.

I'm one of the judges of the Sand Castle Contest. I kind of loved this crabby crab. His face expresses how I feel about summer ending. 
By the time I was judging this afternoon, we'd had breakfast in the park, watched Zoe race and broadjump , tested a tart recipe, and hauled 40 yards of fabric to a friend's porch for parade costume production. 

By 6 pm, as we left to watch the Lip Synch contest, I'd made a second tart, and we'd fabricated 10 slinky costumes.  The float is a little under-prepared but there's tomorrow for that. The tarts I tested were a Plum Blackberry Almond in Gingerbread Crust  and a Chocolate Peanut Butter.  The fruit tart looked way prettier but the gingersnap crust totally overpowered the filling, so it looks like I'll make another Chocolate Peanut Butter for the contest, tomorrow. Credit to  Smitten Kitchen recipe.  So you know it is delicious. 

 I love every minute of this constant motion and have spent the last 25 years choosing to whip myself in a frenzy with my friends every Labor Day weekend. I've got all winter to sit inside on a sofa, right?  

Enthusiasm levels running high. Tomorrow there's the egg toss contest. the tug of war, the awards ceremony for the races.... plus, once the judging is over, we get to taste all 25 of  the contest pies....

in appreciation of photo assistants' labor: sept post 2

This being the eve of Labor Day Weekend here in the US, I have to take a moment to appreciate the freelance photo assistants who work with me. Man, do I appreciate their labor! It's not just the luxury of having extra hands, a stronger back than mine and more eyes on a photo shoot. I simply wouldn't be able to do my job. 
(Above, the photo assistant is NOT shown--but instead, the reflectors and diffusers and light absorber that he was juggling for the day, shown with Jill Draper, on a photo shoot for her last week)

I used to need photo assistants with  technical expertise in electronic lighting, because that's what we worked with on every photo shoot. These days, the electronic lighting plays a much smaller role, and the photo assistants need to be good at wielding reflectors, seeing the effects, and keeping track of wardrobe, and making sure I don't try to carry heavy things and hurt myself, and a million other details, and not to mention, be interested in the subject of knitting and yarn. Or at least know how to look interested. An assistant who looks bored to tears on a shoot does not make a good impression.  It's not an easy job.
Above: Yliana, who works with me in a few different roles, turning the corner of a very narrow room into a totally reflective light asset by hanging a reflective cloth and squinching up in the corner with a flexible reflector. It was super uncomfortable physically, but it was perfect for the shot we wanted to get.

I seriously appreciate anyone who works for me. I hope that the beautiful places we get to work at--or the quirky ones, or the ones that are usually off limits  but we get access--- make up for the less-than-pleasant parts of the job. Above, between takes at  Locust Lawn, a Hudson Valley historic house, with Jill Draper, while shooting for her last week. 

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As for this weekend, I'll be laboring at making the costumes and float for our annual neighborhood parade entry with friends, praying the hurricane/tropical storm veers away from us, and working on my entry into this year's pie contest (tart division, thankyouverymuch)  too.
PS if you have a killer tart (sweet not savory) recipe, spill now!

To give you a sense of our level of commitment: last year's float was Clam Bed-- we rode on a bed on wheels, in our PJ's, in home made foam clamheads (there were 8 ro so  people, this is just a glimpse) . This year, there's sparkly fabric involved, that's all I'm saying.

hap knitting happiness-: sept post 1

You know that feeling of a knitting project where the pattern, the yarn, the colors and the stitches are just right? My Starcroft Fog Hansel is one of those.   I'm tempted to make the striped bands wider than the pattern, just so I can keep knitting on it longer. But then I'd end up with another larger than life shawl.

These colors, also tickling my fancy. Or are they non-colors? Still loving 'em.

Thought I'd try blogging every day this month, to ease into the new season, come on back

 and visit, OK? I'll try not to whine about the shortening days and the end of swimming season.

go ahead and Pin it.

 

hap knitting, workshop planning, looking ahead

My summer knitting's been all about shawls. One's waiting for fringe and blocking, soon to be shown. This one's  a hap shawl- a construction and style I've been meaning to get to forever. It's the right knit at the right time for me - and apparently in the right place with the right project bag too, as you can see. So matchy-matchy, that's me.

I'm making a Hansel (Half) by Gudrun  Johnston. Because if I'm going traditional Shetland shawl, it should be from the source. Ok , not really.  It's actually because she is a lovely person and her designs are so wonderful. You start with a garter stitch triangle that grows with a yarn over preceding the 1st stitch each row. Those edge loops will be picked up, making a lacey connection to the borders, which is varied width stripes in an old shale lace. I'm knitting it in Starcroft Fog, which comes from the Nash Island sheep. Loving. Every. Single. Stitch.  I can't say enough about how much I adore having this yarn in my hands. I'm just about at the pick up the border stage, and plotting what order my stripe colors will be.

In other news  and we're going bullet style here with lots'o'links

- Craft Industry Alliance -  Joined! If you are a maker who sells, designs, offers services to the creative community or is contemplating any of the above, do yourself a solid and check out this group. Craft Industry Alliance.  It's sewists, knitters, jewelry makers, surface designers, writers, dyers, graphic artists...you name it.  Learned about it while teaching a webinar for them on Creative Consistency: Your Words & Pictures Online with Beverly Army Williams. They have a nice set of resources including forums, webinars, and their blog and  newsletter.

- Fiber College of Maine coming soon, Sept 7-11th. You  could sign up for my classes ;-),  but if you don't want to make Haiku Photo postcards or do a Creative Vision Challenge photo workshop (fun! can't do it wrong!), there are tons of other options.  I also heartily recommend the event as a fab way to end the summer and get a kick of inspiration for the new season. The setting, on Penobscot Bay in Maine, is so worth the ride. More here.

- Spending lots of time this summer giving the rental side of our 2  family home a facelift. It's looking pretty good now.  As Mr Rogers says "Won't you be my neighbor?" . 

It's this whole side of the house, sort of a townhouse style rental. You have to love beach neighborhood lifestyle, being in a village. It's a 1 minute walk to private beach, there's a low key pizza place on the corner, and it has that 100 year old house, old wood floors, shabby chic vibe. And a lot of space to store your yarn. Pass it on if you know anyone in my area , shoreline CT east of New Haven- or maybe someone who wants a weekend home that isn't deep in the woods.  Zillow listing here.

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.