ready for a deep cleansing breath

Or a good cry.

The lobster shack by the marina. Note: no eel on menu

Let's say you turn 19 on the same day you're packing your stuff because you are getting into the old Buick (a bonafide Grandma Car, but you think it's extremely cool as it is now yours, all yours), with your dad and driving to Florida, where you're moving into an apartment (for the first time) and returning to culinary college.

And...let's say your mom thinks you should stay on track and pack and finish doing laundry. And what are all those things on the floor in your room? Maybe make a list of missing essentials.....stuff like that?

Would you and the buddy helping you go out for gas, stop by the marina to say bye to a friend, take the big squirming bag full of live eels he offers you? Then return to the house, abandoning all else to kill and gut eel for cooking later? No???!!

I thought not. Me neither.

Breeeaaaaathe. Let's look at my finished Gaia shawl and forget the guys, the filleted eels, the clothes, skim boards, books, old kitchen stuff, in disorganized mini-towers and how much I'm going to miss the son going so far away again.

pattern: Gaia Shoulder Hug
yarn: 1 skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock, love this colorway # 279!
needles: size 6 us
notes: A little small as shawls go, not bad for a shoulder wrap if you're short. The pattern is written for a skein of Kureyon Sock , which is 100 yards longer than this lovely Silk Garden Sock skein. If you look on the Ravelry link, you'll see the larger ones in Kureyon. I used the picot cast off as recommended to make the little riffle on the edge.
You know what? I like this pattern so much I may just knit another one. Maybe on size 7 needles next time, it could be a little more open before blocking. It's such a good project for filling in times when you need to knit something mindless. But not boring.

I'd probably wear it this way, if I were keeping it. Which is very, very, tempting.

fish I around

Last heard from, I was clinging with a death grip to a steel ladder welded to the back of a fast food building scampering up to the roof of a Sonic - who says photography isn't a glamorous career ? And my Gaia shawl was getting a picot cast-off.

In the mix, I had the use of a fisheye lens for a couple of days. Fisheyes are gimmicky; they are the eyelash yarn of photography . Every once in a while, fun to play with. Before I handed it back, I turned it on Farley, who passes by at 7 every morning.

And on the battle of man v. nature at my mechanic's shop.

Sidenote: when you drive a 20 year old car, you know your mechanic and his yard decor pretty well. He's got a steampunk vibe going on.

And on late summer chaos out front.
The Gaia shawl is finished, on a slow dry over this wet chilly weekend. You can see from the fisheye shots that I ignored days of brilliant sun & dry breezes, giving it a dunk n' block as a storm moved in Friday. So....show & tell next time, I'll spare you the vision of a damp striped shawl pinned out on a bright patterned beach towel, draped over a floral sofa.

coookie monsters unite

The winners have been notified - I'll share blog names once they respond. Your flavor suggestions have me salivating. Mostly. Not so sure about the lavendar....although I'd love the scent. All are noted by the baker, and she thanks you !

For the 62 folks who didn't win, I'm sorry. Go treat yourself and order a consolation treat. I'm telling you, you'll like 'em.

If you want o find me tomorrow, look on the roof of the new Sonic DriveIn opening in Massachusetts. I Am.Not.Kidding.

cookie time : contest

My similar knits were saved by single mindedness: I gave the shawl a couple days of attention. It's in cast off stage now, in all its glorious Noro-ness. The asparagus Annette sweater's traveling to Florida with me in a few hours for some one-on-one attention. Because who wouldn't want to handle wool in Miami in August.
So ....what better time for a cookie break? How about chocolate chip?

Last month I had the thrill of doing a photo shoot for my BFF, a professional in the restaurant & baking biz , a cookie baker extraordinaire who's just opened her new cookie business. You can find her on etsy at Imperial Cookies.

To celebrate, I'm having a virtual cookie tasting contest. Hustle on over to her etsy shop, read her descriptions, come back and leave me a comment here saying which one is your favorite flavor. Or...what you'd want to see when she adds her next cookie to the lineup.

Since I really want to share the cookie love, mention the contest on your blog, let me know that you did, and you get entered twice.
Leave your comments by midnight Sunday August 23rd.

There'll be two winners---because I can never decide on one of anything. Drawn randomly, and each winner gets a pound of Imperial Cookies cookies of your choice.

Not that I'm trying to influence you, but these are incredibly good with tea. Or red wine.
Just saying.

in which we recall the Rule of Similars

IF you are working on two projects, both being knit flat on size 6us 32" circular needles,
AND each is around 200 stitches across per row

AND each has a few stitch border (in once case garter, in the other, seed stitch) followed by that very long row across

BUT one has every other row as YO Slip 1, K2 together PSSO , K3 repeat across row

AND the other has every fourth row (or so) as YO, K2 together, repeat across row

THEN you will inevitably pick up one project but go on auto pilot and knit the other's YO row sequence.

AND you will do this more than once.

• • • • • • • • •

still a few spaces left! September 13th......why not join me?.....click on banner for info

some class in mass!

She Shoots Sheep Shots
Photography for Knitters Workshop Afternoon
Sunday September 13th in Carver Massachusetts
workshop: 1:30-5 pm
preceded by potluck lunch (optional) : 12:30-1:30 pm
click here for all the details & to sign up
edited 9/14/09 : Thanks to everyone who came, it was a wonderful group. I'm already seeing some kickass photos posted ! More dates being scheduled, but if you'd like to have a workshop in your area
shoot me an email galeATgzuckerDOTcom

handpainted handspun alpaca yarn at Victory Ranch,New Mexico

A hands-on digital photography workshop for anyone wishing to improve their images of fiber related projects, and the world around them, and for making the photos look as wonderful as possible on a website or blog.

If you're just stopping by, hi there: Gale Zucker here. I'm a professional photographer and serious knitter. Sometimes I combine the two, when I photograph knitting books or for craft magazines. Getting great images, and then making them look terrific online, can be a challenge, right? The workshops are a chance to share my two passions and pass on some skills.

Point & shoot digital cameras welcome, I always say it's not the camera, it's what you do with it that counts.

The lunch first is just for fun, optional if you can't make it, but a good addition to the day, don't you think? Here are links to reports, with photos of course, from knitters who attended a shorter version of the workshop in Minnesota last month.

the flapotis scarf, from Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines : real knits on real people we nabbed to model

Icelandic lamb at Misty Meadow in Minnesota

I'm hoping to teach more workshops in coming months. It's fun, and there's so much to talk about and show. Come learn to make your photos phabbier and your pixels perkier. And your knits'll look...nattier? ( I'll work on that one.)
Thanks to Carole for helping to set this up.

* yes, you are one of Those People

...who have a knit blog with no knitting? Unh-uh, not me.

A Gaia Shoulder Hug was supposedly my vacation knitting in Minnesota. I barely touched it there. We were too busy doing fun Twin Cities stuff.

That bridge by the Walker Sculpture garden, the aviary at the zoo, the Mill City Museum Ruins......

I can't remember a vacation trip during which I knit less since my guys were toddlers. When I did knit, it was just the right project: engaging while placing the eyelet rows at color changes, and mindless in its stockinette-i-ness. Working on it yesterday at a neighborhood brunch, I incited my friend Peggy to run over to the LYS and start four of them for gifts right away.

Carol's porch by noon yesterday , iPhone cam view

She blames me, I blame the Mimosas and an exciting storm current while swimming.

The Sage Remedy Top , finished a while ago. My gauge relaxed seriously since swatching, I modified wildly on the fly, and it's not-so-flattering . If you are considering knitting it, avert your eyes, go look at all the successful versions on Ravelry . Worse than the fit : the shoulders. I seamed them inside out. I knew it wasn't going to be fab on me by then, so I left them that way. Sometimes I amaze myself with my low standards acceptance of All Things Awry.

Clinging to the very selvedges of the NaKniSweMoDo, I cast on for a 7th sweater. This is Jo Sharp SilkRoad Tweed DK, a yarn I've been wanting to knit with since spending an afternoon with Norma last November. You'll need to scroll down the linked post.

* this post's title was a fortune cookie the 15 yo son got while out on the town in Mpls. The older son's read : "You have that horny & desperate look. It suits you, work it. " We've been teasing him ever since. Nice parents, huh?!
older son Iphone cam view, Uptown Mpls.

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

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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.)