oh, shoot!

One of the fabulous students from my Photo Workshops for Knitters at The Yarnery in St Paul MN, last week. In action, stalking the sidelight on an EZ baby sweater, Grand Ave, Friday evening. I think everyone learned new things and had a good time. I know I did. A full report on The Yarnery blog. Here and here and here and here is more evidence, I hardly had to bribe them much at all ......

A moment Thursday: we were blocking the sidewalk, admiring and shooting a perfect little rim of light dancing on the edge of a handknit striped chicken. An eyeless blue and green handknit chicken, mind you.(See it here on her blog) A woman with a camera walked by and photographed us clucking & clicking away. I'm not sure what she thought of the scene, which was completely normal for knitters, but maybe just a bit nutty otherwise...and so wonderful.

Many thanks to Mary Lou and her associates in crime knitterly goodness at The Yarnery for hosting me. You can check out Mary Lou's coverage of the event over at her Flickr page, she was documenting and trying to participate at the same time, that's just plain challenging. If you're going to Sock Summit be sure to stop by and see Shelley and Mary Lou there vending. I got me a few skeins for a new sweater , it's an irresistible shop. But Ill save that for another post.
Minnesota Zoo, Friday afternoon visit

sometimes coffee tastes like chocolate*

Hey, you Minnesota knitbloggers!
There are just a couple of spaces left in the Photography for Knitters evening workshops this Thursday & Friday at The Yarnery.
See you there ?

From a photo shoot yesterday. Tasty work! More from this as soon as it goes live.

Fueling a 12 hour shoot day with an old friend as the client, fabulous baked goods and iced Italian espresso is...energizing. But I don't think it's the caffeine and sugar. It's doing work that is so satisfying and fun that really gets my gears whizzing.

Which is my roundabout way of saying thanks for your thumbs up on the photo workshop idea. I don't need much encouragement, at all, to talk about two of my most favorite activities combined.

These are the Welsh Traveling Socks from Shear Spirit. Shooting socks in interesting ways is a good challenge, we'll talk about that.

I'm all for repeating the workshops, or slightly longer ones - in other locations. Extra snaps if I can drive to them from home base in Connecticut. If you know of a yarn shop or other good venue, I'm ready to roll, drop me a note and I'll explore the possibility.

* when I was thinking about how work is sometimes so enjoyable I just don't feel like it's work, the title of this bluegrassy mandolin instrumental by Robin Flower popped into my brain. Which is a little freaky , I remember a recording of it from an alt radio station in the 80's..and doncha love the interwebs, here you can buy the original recording.

got class? yes we do!

Next week, in St. Paul MN, join me at The Yarnery
Photography for Knitters workshop evening.
Learn to make your photos phabbier.
Two options: Thursday July 23rd or Friday July 24th, 6-8:30 pm.

Belinda shawl, from Mason-Dixon Knitting: Outside the Lines
We'll be hands-on, it's all about improving your photography of knitting/fiber arts and of the world around you, with the knitbloggy/crafter in mind. We'll also cover a couple of tricks for making the images sing online.

Ann herself,of Mason Dixon Knitting with another Belinda shawl.

Thanks to my friend, knitwear designer Mary Lou Egan for inviting me to debut the She Shoots Sheep Shots Photography for Knitters Workshops - whew, that's a mouthful- in one of my very favorite places, the Twin Cities. I am beyond looking forward to it, can we speed up the week and get me there already???

Another from Mason Dixon Knitting: Outside the Lines, the Cardi Cozy. Mo' mohair!

This is going to be fun . Go sign up! Grab the camera, choose your projects to shoot, and see you there.

jcvzgmd9ra

my illogical absence

The words you'd rather not hear as you're leaving for a July 4th visit to the Delaware beach followed by 2 days of work in Washington and you're already 3 hours behind schedule and your 15 yo traveling companion son is feeling nauseous:
" um, WHY is the laptop no longer working?".
First stop, an hour later, the Apple Store where my Very Important laptop stayed to have a new logic board installed. Not the end of the world . I mean how whiney can I be? I have my beloved iPhone, but I still felt sort of tech-naked. We continued on our way, interrupted only by stops for the inevitable outcome of queasy teenager + large greasy sub + hours on a highway. No worries! After 18 years of parenthood this kind of effluence barely phases me.

Anyhoo, that's history now. Work shot, travel completed, laptop retrieved in good blogging order, glad to be home with Dave and the older son too.
How about some knitting ? At the beach , I finished knitting my Sage Remedy Top but was bored seaming , so its not quite a sweater.
There was some knitting with my mom, always fun. This is not some kind of whacko scarf. It's an blanket/afghan recipe she's working out. Bored of squares- this is her 3rd blankie for a grandchild leaving for college in as many years- she's using all scraps & oddballs . She's knitting long cabled strips that are 50 stitches across, with three seed stitches each edge, so the seed stitches run the length of every strip. You can't see those in this photo, sorry. She changes colors when it runs out, or when she wants to. Her plan is to sew these strips together,seed stitch edging to seed stitch edging, and knit a border around it. We layed out the 4 she's finished, it looks pretty great with the random blocks of color enlivening the whole shebang, not matching up where the color blocks switch, a lot of charm.
In other knitting news we checked out the new LYS in Rehoboth Beach, LOVE IT!

Kitschy Stitches owner Allison has a blog, wonderful yarn, great fabric and dry goods, a big porch and a generally wonderful vibe. I didn't really need anything but wanting to support her, grabbed a ball of yarn for a full size Gaia Shoulder Hug , since I enjoyed knitting my half-sized neckerchief version.

As far as the spewing 15 yo, here he is fully recovered and holding up well considering having to spend July 4th weekend with his mom and grandparents instead of friends, and having just witnessed the spectacle of his mother dancing with his 77 year old grandfather to the local reggae band at the beach bar down the street. He was a bit happier working for me in DC and hanging with an older cousin there. Hope your 4th was cheery, too!

at your requests

The winner of the notecard set, chosen by the random number thingy, is KT , of Knit with KT. Hey, KT, send me your address and they'll be on the way.

Here's an old barn for those who voted for old barns in the comments. I found it on Nanney Kennedy's Meadowcroft Farm. She said the building came with the farm , she thinks someone goofily used roof shingles on the sides and they aged in those muted colors. I liked how it looked from the moment I arrived . But then, even more because it echoed her dyeing that day:

In fact, one of the things I like about sticking my nose in artists' private lives (OK, anyone's private life, I admit it) is seeing how they surround themselves with things that reflect their art. Or seeing how their art reflects the worlds they live in.

Maine light in late September. That's Nanney, herding.

Can't close without a sheep shot, for those who commented in favor of seeing more of the ladies....tell me she's not smiling. Just a little smirk for the camera.

If this one looks familiar, she's turned her head on my Ravatar.

mama don't take....

This sheep shot originally created on Kodachrome film, a cranky but gorgeous slide film.

This week, Kodak retired Kodachrome. There's not a good yarn analogy to Kodachrome, I guess knitting with Kidsilk Haze sorta, kinda, comes close. You just don't want to make mistakes because everyone will see 'em, and you really can't undo them once the strand is knit. But knitting is a different art form, I'm going straight to the photo jargon. Consider yourselves warned: skip down to the contest if you don't want to get all photo-geeky with me.

Kodachrome had to be sent to a Kodak lab for processing . At best, it was 3 days before you saw how, or if at all, your photo shoot turned out. There was no tolerance for exposure being even a partial F-stop over or under. No adjustments available to push or pull and save your frames as there were for other slide films. You either did it right or you didn't. AS if that weren't enough , it only came in very low ISO's, meaning, you needed a lot of light available or you needed to know how to create your own.

But the colors? Beautiful. And no grain, or noise, at all.
You know the song, right?

It was the standard for magazine & commercial photography when I started working, I had very good, picky clients so I wanted to do it right. Not that I miss shooting film, nuh-uh. The instant gratification of digital, the chimping at the back of my camera, the amazing amount of control I have to change the image, the speed. But still, sad to see the end of an era.

So what else is a knitblogger to do but have a contest ?

the prize: a set of press printed fine art photo note cards including the sheep in coats image, above

how: go over to my etsy shop, take a peek at the four images. Leave a comment on this post saying which one you like best..or suggest the kind of image you'd like to see as a note card. More animals? yarn still lifes? fiber? more knit objects? something else?

when: leave a comment on this post by midnight June 30th eastern time US, I'll announce the randomly selected winner on July 1

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Poetic justice, I'll end with an iPhone image, local color on Friday evening.
(I guess it also makes you think all the world's a sunny day.)

escape

Where have I been?

Hiding out in Deadwood. Thirteen hours worth so far, with another 20 something to go. Completely addictive. Whoa do they cuss. I am outranked by far. Even my fifteen year old, who swears like a longshoreman, thinks the extremely evil and aptly surnamed Al Swearingen overdoes the F-bomb.

Yup,that and the Sage Remedy Top (ravlink). The neckline will have stitches picked up and a little rolled finish. I kind of like the old fashioned feather-and-fan with the deconstructed edge it has now.

And, reading crafters blogs. I'm liking the ReadyMade, Bizarre Bazaar and Renegade Craft Fair kind of crafters. Same with the sewers. Got any of those kind of crafting blogs you love? Send me the links!

And watching the flowers grow like crazy thanks to torrential rains. Sunshine welcome. Any day now.

about that consumer thing

In the comments last post, Cookie observed that I may not be a shopper but I am a buyer. She's so right. If there's something I decide to get, not necessarily saying need, I have no qualms about it.

And to that end, I'm linking this here button, so maybe I can get a cool bike by winning it!
(go ahead and click, you'll end up wanting one too, think of what that bucket could hold!)

consumer affairs

You'll never hear "retail therapy" or "relax & go shopping" from me. There're exceptions, but generally, aaagh, just poke out my eyes with lace Addis, OK? Yet I am here to testify on two happy purchases.

Exhibit a: internet purchase. Yarn for the Sage Remedy Top. I decided I needed a cotton blend, and it must be pale greyish purple. Do you think I was influenced by what was blooming?

umm, yeah, could be. And the yarn budget? Very very low. I like my LYS, all of 'em, but they had not what I wanted. Rescue me, Knitting Garden! I did you all a favor, linked right to a closeout page, that's where I found my perfect yarn for this project.

Marked down to fit in the rice-n-beans budget. The Sage Remedy is 19 stockinette rows underway. I'm leaving off the ribbing on the bottom and letting it roll, which'll nicely mimic the neck.

exhbit b: trying to rent the movie Woodstock a couple of years ago we found it was never released on DVD and every video store and library around had it stolen.So much for peace love & sharing, right?. We were debating plunking down our closely guarded bucks for the just released 40th anniversary dvd version when I happened to stop at the best video rental place around, conveniently named Best Video (and is it ever). I was at the counter ready to rent the cult film Billy Jack. I bet if you were old enough to see it then, like me in junior high, you can burst into the theme song now, oh, OK, I'll make it extra easy for you:
So I'm standing there when I notice a 2 tape VHS set of Woodstock on their counter. I asked if I can rent it , they reply " hey, you buy it for $2.". GROOVY. Peace , love and stockinette.

still one more day

Not sure why but it's been two straight days of STUFF. Errands, chores, fixing, delivering, picking up, planting, pulling.But not knitting. I'd really like to knit.

The embroidery floss shelf at the local store I hit twice for spray paint, and trash bags. And radish seed, because of Norma. I love that there's still a family owned variety store I can shop at, the local evil WallyM*art hasn't knocked them out. I love their half aisle of needlecraft supplies, brought to you here by the iphone cam. (yup, still in love).

One reason I'd really like to do some knitting is I ordered yarn for the Sage Remedy top & it arrived. I want to finish that cardi before I cast on for the next sweater. But that's another post.

Asparagus with garlic ready for the grill. Phone cam again. I'm sure I'll stop with this soon.

Friday night , late, was my high tide shift tagging horseshoe crabs over at the beach for Project Limulus. It was pouring rain, 56 degrees and the water isn't even 60 degrees yet. My outfit included wool socks (NOT those, don't worry), water shoes, tights, sweats, a wool sweater and a rain parka. Attractive, no? You end up in the water up to your knees, and then reaching down to grab the crabs soaks your arms. And my flashlight, of course, to peer into the dark water and find my pre historic friends to pull them up and tag them. Most are firmly in the middle of mating, and I mean this literally, which is why they are in shallow enough water to be grabbable. It's all very bizarre. I pulled up a threesome, SCORE!

So, for Sunday--another horseshoe crab tagging shift, more chores, more this, more that. Maybe two mohair sleeve caps. One can dream.

what isn't there a blog for?

Are these not positively pleasing purple socks? I'd love to take credit for them, but it goes to Cookie, that goddess of pink (and other) sockness. And, whew, I should say goddess of laceness, take a peek at what she's been throwing off the needles.

I started preparing a post proclaiming purple pair perfection. I thought it'd be all clever and alliterative, but after a search for more P words, I discovered , it's been done. And not just in one post, that is a link to blog devoted to a year's worth of P word posts.

I procrastinated in showing you this pair, which arrived on the, ahem, heels of the other ones she sent me last winter. It's chilly here in the mornings, so I'm still rocking the woolies for a few hours a day (I'm an early riser).

For some silly reason she thought the others weren't up to snuff so she sent these. heh! Good deal for me! Having all her warm colorful socks augmenting the paltry posse I've knit totally made my winter bearable.I have to admit I am especially fond of this pair. I try to save them for special days. The color, the fit, the feel, the craftpersonship.....

You'd need to ask her, but they look like broken rib stitch, toe up, and the yarn, I think she said, is Malbrigo sock.

That Cookie does a beautiful toe.

p.s. Socks in Portugese? Peugas !

when good technology attacks

All the photos in this post are iphone cam. I'm not planning on making it a habit. At least I don't think I will...

The good technology is my new iphone. What it attacked? My knitting time.

During the train ride to NYC Saturday, my precious 1 hour and 54 minutes of uninterrupted knit-with-podcast that I view as an unalienable right , an unassailable ritual, a gift of time, the raison d'etre of MetroNorth rideship, something I protect as mine all mine all mine....you get my drift? yeah, like that. I spent it entering contacts, accidentally calling people once they were in there, then having to chat and explain why .
(and if you're that guy who sat next to me, I really do apologize and it was nice of you to say you think iphones are cool too and then telling me fourteen more amazing things I could make it do right then and there).

My first ever phone cam shot. Bryant Park, where I sat and knat while having a good long chat with dearest old friends . I didn't do it justice, I was too busy trying to figure out the best way to waggle the phone's lens in space. My old phone had no cam. When you're used to other kinds of cameras, you know, that weigh several pounds, it just feels funny. I'm adapting.
It was so splendid Saturday, every few minutes we'd overhear this from folks on their phones, "You won't BELIEVE where I am! In NY CITY! In a park! But it feels like I'm in PARIS!"

My Airy Cardigan sleeves are growing, two up. As soon as I have my new best friend phone all set, I'll be back on them (apps! you've seen the ads, right? No exaggerating, there really is an app for that. Whatever that is).It's still chilly enough part of every day that I could be wearing this cardi. Like right now. I wish I were!
Also: I wish I'd taken a photo of my sandwich from the 'wichcraft stand: marinated white anchovy, soft cooked eggs, greens and a slightly spicy vinegary sauce. Mmmmmmm.

off on tangents

Still knitting the grey mohair Airy Cardigan, it won't appear significantly different to you even though the body is done, so I'll skip a photo, and decorate this post with images from the high school I was shooting in Miami last week as part of a US Dept of Ed gig.

It's an arts & design urban public magnet school , the students are uber talented. It was inspiring, at times awe inspiring.

I love when the system works, don't you?

The Airy Cardigan is a pleasure to work on, a quick knit . Or would be if I put in more knitting time. I have some concerns about how it'll all go together. Now that I've got sleeve edges going, it won't be much longer till I find out.

Maybe the slowness is OK, I'm dithering over sweater # 6. Considering the Sage Remedy top, (Rav link there). It reminds me of an old favorite go-to, the Mexican blouse. In any photo from 1972-1980-ish you might find me wearing one. I used to save up babysitting money to buy them at a pharmacy that oddly had an aisle of hippie clothes. Hey, look they are still in business as a gift store, no more prescription counter & Vap-O-Rub near the patchouli incense and dashikis, I guess. (also, probably no more patchouli incense and dashikis. really, enough).

Ok going way off on a tangent but gotta love the web, clicking on that Parkleigh link , I learned my old playmate and neighbor is a star in the glass art world, and they sell her work. Now I want to get one of these small pieces from Gong Glass Works.

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But back to the Sage Remedy top, I'm thinking it'd be a fun knit, no sleeves and feather and fan- really who doesn't love a little f & f? Maybe in a cotton,one that isn't too dry on the hands. Or cotton/wool or cotton/bamboo? Suggestions? Definitely without the band along the hips , so not into creating a pouf in a naturally poofed body part, if you know what I mean. All this indecision! I need to get moving it I want to stay on my sweater-a-month schedule. Not that I'm committed to it or anything.

seat for one. again.

That was in Brooklyn last week.

Today I'm in Miami , a photo shoot tomorrow , and a zip back up north. Work had been quiet, which means lots of me being at the home office. This month kicked in, with me somewhere different every week. Just me , a hotel room, and time to kill for a few hours around the actual photo shoots.

But I never mind when it's Miami Beach. That's what went through my mind when I read Carole's Ten earlier. I was trying to mentally make my list but I got fixated on Miami. Even on an overcast and stormy day like today, I love being here. I can entertain myself quite happily: I hit the beach, I hang out in the North Beach neighborhood, at the south american cafes or bakeries and make believe I'm in another country.I swim at the hotel pool. I am easy to please.

I'd planned to walk around and photograph some of the juiciness but the weather didn't cooperate.

I'd also planned to get lots of knitting done on my Airy Cardigan but my level of goofiness from flying (er, I mean, what I do to avoid my goofiness) made it hard for me to be sure I could keep the floaty mohair on the shiny Knitpicks needles.

Fortunately the yarn followed me into my room, so as soon as I get this blogging done, there may be a some knitting before I conk out for the night. Seriously isn't that funny? After I made that last photo, I went back into my room, and noticed yarn stretching from the knitting bag. I opened the door and there it was, just getting ready to knock.

later in the week

I spent the last two nights in an oh-so-chic boutique hotel where NOTHING WORKED including the internet. It'd connect for spurts of 3 minutes once every ten hours, not very conducive to blog posting or sanity of any kind. I'm back in my not-so-chic home where at least I can get on the information highway, I bring you some knitting.

Sweater 5 in the dodecathalon , is moving along fuzzily in Sublime Kid Mohair (well named!). The color is Mouse (also well named). It's the Airy Cardigan. I know, you are looking at the fuzzy/fussy pink pattern and thinking, "really? why ??" . Don't judge! I saw a woman at a local yarn store wearing one she knit in a putty kind of non-color, with mismatched antique buttons. It was so wonderful and not femmy-fussy at all. I am planning sea glass buttons, and I am not doing the texture in the body of it, just plain stockinette.

A set of five single drilled seaglass pieces didn't sell in New Hampshire. I took all your advices and put them on the corners of the Gaia neck warmer, so when I wrap them around they hang in front on either side of the point. They're attached on short crocheted chains, I was going to trim the extra yarn ends from sewing them on but am leaving them as added tassels, hanging with the seaglass . Keep in mind this is all of 1 inch long, nothing too wild. It was just the right touch. Very happy these didn't sell!

In more Noro silver lining news, my 18 yo son, back home for a few months, had a ranting meltdown while I was driving him around looking for a job a couple of weeks ago, poor guy. Really, what are your parents for anyway? In a sign of hope for eventual maturity for all teenage sons, he apologized twice later that night and then, get this, actually went into a yarn store of his own volition the next day , and bought me this skein of Noro Silk Garden Chunky to let me know how truly contrite he was. I am thinking of using the Gaia pattern stitch, which is naturally corrugated and has a row of eyelets whenever you think the colors are changing, to knit a cowl with this. PS. after much searching he found what should be a good job for the duration, and even though he is almost always out, it is nice having him around again.
Wait there's more!

Before I left for 3 days, Meg McG did a drive by shooting (for real) with the Afghan for Afghans she sewed together. Is it not beautiful? Is it not odd that all the squares she received went together so well? In a world of random squares, there is my friend Mary Lou's square of Minnesota malabrigo, in my front yard.

And this one, I just love, is by Laura. Embroidery on Silk Garden. Another for the to-do list.