Opening Night

Last weekend there was a reception for the opening of my show Wonderland at The Wooden Cow gallery. Some of my dearest friends from the knitting group came to give me some support. I was really nervous but when I walked in and saw all of them in their lovely shawls (they make a lot of shawls!) I felt just fine.

Free Falling

One thing I have tried not to do with this blog is talk about my health issues. The reason is that I have a lot of them and a large part of my day revolves around pain management, doctors visits, labs trips, and dealing with insurance. I thought I could keep all of that separate. The problem is that it is such a substantial part of my day that a lot of the time I can't compel myself to sit down and write without mentioning it and so I just don't post anything.
I have had a new diagnosis that has shaken the foundation of my life. The C word. It's treatable and I will probably be just fine. Nonetheless it has changed things for me and made me feel totally ungrounded and unsure about everything. I was bobbing along- moving into our new home, planning a wedding, trying to put more time into my art, and POW! Life changes in a few short days so drastically.
I have been very busy with moving so I haven't had a lot of time to dwell and pity myself, thankfully. I am finding it hard to keep my mind focused on doing anything artsy though. I have a Christmas list of gifts to make that's as long as my arm and I can't bring myself to just sit down and invest a couple of hours each day in knitting. While moving everything I flipped through a book I bought some time ago on freeform crochet. I got out some vibrant Noro sock yarn that I know one of my girlfriends will love and sat down with a hook and just started making a scarf with loops and bobbles and following along wherever it seems to want me to go. It has been the one thing I can sit and do for hours. I love knitting and I will always love knitting but right now when all my plans and the path I have tried so carefully to pave for myself has been blown away it makes more sense to my scrambled mind to NOT follow directions or a pattern. It seems fitting to just sit and watch the colors flow through my fingers and put lacy bits and bumps and turns wherever they seem to fit instead of where they "should go".
If you've actually read this far you deserve a treat. Here's a free pattern from Berrocco for an interesting star sprocket crocheted thingy. http://berroco.com/exclusives/celestine_crochet Knitting (and crochet) are one of my most beneficial therapies. I will be sure to write more about that in the future. I hope that if you are facing challenges of your own be it your mental or physical or spiritual health, you can find something as positive to bolster yourself up. It might even make you more popular with all your friends when you get good enough to knit them all socks. XOXO

Itty Bitty Knitting

One of my more exciting knitting moments involved knitting a thong in a bar in 20 minutes for $20 and a round of drinks. My newest finished knitting project doesn't have that same guerilla crafting spirit but I have returned to the idea of making knitted underwear. Recently at least four knitting books dedicated to lacy, saucy underthings have been published. This particular pattern, free from interweave.com, has a frilly girly look without being fussy. Finally something I knit that I can wear in the summer.

Slaying the Sockupine

I have an ailment. Second Sock Syndrome. I didn't start off having problems finishing a pair of socks. I used to sew up a toe and cast on the cuff of my second sock with no hesitation. Perhaps it is because I have less time for knitting lately. I think it might also have something to do with all the beautiful sock yarns that beckon me whenever I go yarn shopping. In the past couple of years sock yarns have really gotten exciting so there is always something that I want to start knitting with. With three lonely single socks and all my DPNs occupied in my knitting bag I decided I had to take some action. I got 2-At-A-Time-Socks by Melissa Morgan Oakes and promised my sweetums a pair of socks. That way I have a commitment I have to keep, ya see?

The whole process looks a lot more complicated than it is and involves a 40" circular needle. If you can conquer a Mobius this is a piece of cake. The main problem I am having is that I am using both ends from one ball of yarn so there is a nasty snarl in the middle. I think I could have probably dug up enough info online to learn the technique without the book but the pictures do help. We will see how things go when I get to the more challenging parts (turning heels, etc.). Overall this seems to be a faster way to pop out a sock and it does ensure that both socks are the just same and that you get both (or neither) done. Still, as a traditionalist I kind of miss juggling my four bamboo double points, inevitably sitting on the whole mess and stabbing myself, and searching for the lost one that the cat stole or rolled under the couch. There is just something endearing about the sockupine that I may never be able to completely give up.

Size Does Matter

The first time I made the Phyllotaxis Tam by Norah Gaughan it was great fun but it turned out too big. I have a perfectly average sized head- I have double checked. And no, I did not knit a gauge swatch, so don't even start with that. I have been wanting to do the pattern again because the top of the hat is a really fun series of right and left slants and a friend's birthday is the perfect opportunity to show off my skills. I decided to use Taos yarn by Crystal Palace and I really like how it turned out. Unfortunately this time I decided that I needed to knit the child's size since the other was much too big (for me and her) and now this one is too small. It fits, mind you, but it looks way more like a beanie than the classy cloche that the author intended. Well Hell's bells, I'm done with this one folks. The next time I want to investigate a phyllotaxis I will go ponder a pine cone.

My Life in Fiber

The stash is an unusual thing. People who do not have one do not understand why you would accumulate mass amounts of yarn of all types, colors, weights, and fibers and continue to shop for and covet more. They wonder why, when you see a project you would like to tackle, you don't simple go to your basket or closet and pick out some yarn that you already have to make it. Now other arts and crafts require that you keep supplies on hand if you are serious about them but the stash isn't simply a collection of supplies. It is a tangible history- a rainbow braid that can take you back through all the months or years or decades you have been a devout fiberista. Each skein is a marker of some event or time or project and also holds the possibility of becoming something more.
I thought about all of this while I was untangling and sorting through two gigantic stash baskets earlier this week. Because of work and illness I haven't had as much time to knit lately as I like. This organizing project was something that I had been putting off for a long time but once I got started I felt like I was looking through a photo album of my knitting history. At the bottom of the baskets were balls and bags of Fun Fur from when I very first started knitting and it was new and all the rage. I think I had a scarf in every color made of that stuff. There were a lot of skeins of stiff acrylic from before I had discovered the importance of yarn with at least a little organic matter in it. Then came the beginning of my true addict years, after I had discovered wool and alpaca and angora and mohair. I have a ton of little bits of precious remnants of those first few balls I bought at the "real" yarn store. It's not enough to do anything with really but I've kept it. There's the vibrant pink mohair that I was so enamored with despite its price only to discover after knitting up a scarf that mohair and my bare neck aren't a good combination. I still adore that yarn. There is some Homespun that I made a scarf for my Grandaddy out of because it is so soft and easy to wash. He lived in hot west Texas and didn't have many occasions to wear a scarf. When he died I got it back with his smell on it so I know he wore it at least a couple of times. There are a lot of things that I had grand plans for that have yet to develop. On the very top of the basket there is the nubby purple wool and silk that I got on a little road trip with Kay and Betty when we ate some great pie. That's going to be a cardigan.
So the stash is more than just clutter in my house, or a cushy place for the cat to sleep, or miscalculations about how much yarn I will need for a project. It is a reminder of all these years that knitting and everything that has come with it has been such an important part of my life. It reminds me of my friends, the warm things I have made for my family, and the things I have taught myself to do that I never imagined I would be able to accomplish. For that I am willing to have a bit of clutter.

The Times They Are a Changin'

It's very easy not to appreciate something (or someone) until it is no longer around. This is sadly the case with Magknits.com. After four years of operation Magknits has closed their site for good citing lack of funds, support, etc. I never really thought myself a big fan of the site until I found it had closed. The way I stumbled on it was looking through my bookmarks on my computer and trying to pull up a pattern for a scarf that caught my eye months ago. Well, along with new content the archives of past issues are goners too. Oddly, the project I was taking with me to TNK (Tuesday Night Knitting) today was my Jaywalker Socks which were a Magknits pattern.

As a sidebar, I have to post pictures of those socks cause you will love 'em!

So back to Magknits. I guess I always thought of them as Knitty.com's less sophisticated cousin and didn't give them as much credit as might have been due.

Another unfortunate discovery is the lack of free patterns that KnitPicks has been generating lately. I remember a time not so long ago when getting that catalog meant hopping online to download at least one free pattern. After their website got revamped last year I swear for a short while it said something along the lines of "patterns for you cheapskates" at the top of the free pattern section. That ticked me off a bit. Actually it really ticked me off. Because while they claim to be so affordable they are getting some real competition these days as more brands are producing nice yarns that are actually affordable. Also, when I order from KnitPicks I always do the same thing. I think,'Ah, everything is cheap so I should get 10 of them. Oh, and two of these too!' And I end up spending $50. So I'm plunking down my cash and yes, I have come to expect those couple of free patterns now and again. They did promptly remove that idiotic line from their site. I'm sure someone realized people weren't going to spend there money somewhere that insults them.
So here we are without Magknits and with KnitPicks dropping a couple of crappo patterns every six months instead of producing beauties like the Moc Croc Socks and the Candleflame Shawl. I guess the best we can do is try to let this be a lesson. Hang on to the things you hold dear. Give them the importance they deserve. Go hug a friend. Go hug your stash.

I Am the Egg Man

My brain feels fried as an egg. I haven't been writing because by the end of the day lately I just want to melt into the couch. I did get my first spring flowers planted this weekend and went on a yarn expedition with some buddies. Of course, even after all the gems I added to my stash I have still been chasing one elusive catch, Lana Grossa Royal Tweed. I want to make a sweater out of this stuff but it's apparently been discontinued. Of course, if it was just a plain old worsted I would just get something else but it's got an interesting kink to it that most reminds me of Lion Homespun (much hated or adored I know). I don't want to make the sweater out of Homespun because that stuff sheds and pills like a cat in summer. How is it that you can come across 50 year old yarn for sale but not 8 balls of a yarn from 2006? I even considered ordering it from Germany but they didn't have enough of one color. In the meantime, while digging through the annals of Lana Grossa history to find out if there was a chance of finding it I came across some of their sock yarn that I promptly added to my "Much Coveted" list. I really like it knit sideways like that and I haven't been impressed by that before. Since today was crappy and I couldn't fulfill my yearning for yarn I bought two pairs of shoes. Now I just have to find the time to actually go somewhere and wear the shoes and knit something with all this yarn.

Slick New Sticks

Wooo knitta! After starting yet another project on circular needles, not having the right gauge/length combination, running out at 9 pm to Hobby Lobby, and ending up with a crappy curled up Baleen circ that stayed coiled up like a stubborn cobra I finally broke down and treated myself to the starter set of KnitPicks Options wooden needles. Back when I very first started knitting and had no one to compare notes with and no experience I tried the cheapo interchangeable needles and was very unimpressed. Well this is a whole new ball game. These lovelies have a great cable that popped right out of the bag and unrolled ready to get to work. The joint feels as smooth as a standard high end circular and there is a little key to tighten the tips and make sure they don't come loose while you're in your knitting groove. And of course, what caught my eye in the first place, the needles themselves are made of satin smooth rainbow colored wood. If you keep up with my banter you know my preference for wood and these simply take the cake. So there's only one question- why am I spending so much of my Friday free time extolling the virtues of these needles and not curled up in a fit of stitches? Go get you're own set! I'm off to knit!

The Hat That's Been on My Mind

I took some time for myself last night after finishing a little wooly to do some knitting. I have been spending so much time felting lately that I have been neglecting my knitting needles. What got me going was the need for a super soft slouchy hat. A bit more fashionable than a beanie and less snooty than a beret, you can throw it on over bedhead but still look pulled together. Another bonus for me at the moment is that you can easily finish it in an evening. I started with a pattern but when it wasn't going like I wanted I winged it so if you want it leave me a message and I'll post it here for everyone. I made this one in Bernat Alpaca Blends which is soft as a kitten. Meow!

Wrap It Up

I finally had my tattoo completed tonight. I had one little purple flower put in with the pink ones that has some pesonal significance. We will see if it is actually done. I have a feeling I might end up adding a little bit as time goes by. In other news I have been taking a break from needle felting as I have been getting ready to go out of town for Christmas and am still sick. My Etsy cupboard looks pretty bare! I am going to try to put a bit more energy into promoting my knitter's necklaces, which of course means coming up with a good name for them once and for all. You got any ideas?

Bur Hug

Finished the Burly scarf. I always wondered why some people called scarves mufflers. Well I would consider this a muffler. The weather today is rotten but I donned my muffler and headed out to get coffee without a coat and I was toasty enough. The Burly covers my neck and the bottoms of my ears and chin if I pull my head down and it covers enough of my front that it's almost like wearing the reverse of a vest. All in mohair wooly goodness.

Brrrrly Spun

Brown Sheep Burly Spun in their most perfect marled green. I have used this green in other weights and can't resist it. I decided I needed to make a scarf on size 19 needles which is speedy but hard on the hands. What can I say, as with high heels and hair dye I suffer for fashion. But as I said it was fast. That's one skein there. The Burly Spin is um... burly.

Never Can Tell

It is midnight and I should be sleeping since I have to be up in less than seven hours. So what am I doing? Looking for knitting patterns online. Well I was poking around a list of free hat patterns and just happened on a site with a cute hat pattern and there was a sidebar titled "Gifts For Knitters". So I clicked over and was scrolling down the list. My thought here was that maybe I ought to put a bug in this lady's ear about my knit pendants. So I get about half way down and it says "Resin knit pendants". Since I have never seen anyone doing the same thing and I HAVE looked I was stunned and felt a bit ill. I clicked on the link and lo and behold twas my Etsy shop! What a shock! Now if only these people who are admiring them from afar would start giving them to all the knitters on their X-Mas gift lists and spreading my yarny good bling.

A Gem in the Desert

Please excuse my absence. I took a much needed break from things here but I did bring you back some exciting things. I visited the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe for the first time. Odd that I have lived so close to this gem my entire life and had not been there. What originally caught my attention is a current exhibit called Needles and Pins: Textiles and Tools. The exhibit traces the origins of textiles across cultures throughout time. There are astounding examples of knitting, weaving, tatting, and embroidery. There are some pieces that truly took my breath away with their beauty. The exhibit isn't very large but it is worth a trip even if that is the only thing you have time for.
Additionally we spent hours on the permanent Girard Foundation Collection. The collection was all donated by one couple and is remarkably huge. Most exciting to me was finding a small set of kokeshi dolls and an Ada Lum doll among the treasures. There are so many cultures represented and all different art forms. There are a ton of dolls and small figurines and toys, whole little armies. We finally realized that the sun had shifted significantly in the sky and we should see what time it was. About four hours had passed and we had only made it through about half of the museum. What a phenomonal place to find inspiration and feel ready to get back to making my own things with a renewed spark. Needles and Pins runs through April 13. Highly recommended.

The Big Break

Forest is feelin fine in felt on Friday! In other news my dears, please come and see my knit pendants (still no catchy name) at VILLAGE WOOLS In Albuquerque! Woot!

Stick To It

Check out these knitted winter stamps from the US Postal Service. You should be able to find them at your regular post office but you can also order them online at http://www.usps.com. Send out your holiday mail and proclaim your knitty spirit all at once. Just don't be like me and end up with a box of them sitting around in June.

Got My Head Straight

I couldn't get a good picture of her at night so I got a strange one instead. She's about twice the size of my other dolls. Her hair is locks of curly mohair which I love working with. In other news I put on my thinking cap and slapped that hat pattern into submission and it seems to be working out fine with some math adjustments.

Brand New Bling

Here's my newest idea. I made little knitted swatches and embedded them in polyester acrylic resin to make pendants. I'm working out all the logistical bugs like how to sand the backs and how to keep the fuzzy bits from sticking out (burn it off!) but they should be ready for Etsy soon!

Sweet Sweaters

Knits are hot on the fashion scene right now. This has an added benefit for knitters besides giving us something cuddly and cute to wear that is attractive on those of us who aren't a 5'10 Swede. We can take inspiration from all the great new knits that are popping up. One of my favorite catalogs Anthropologie has just put out a line called Stitch that is devoted solely to the knits trend. Even though I am not one to drop $200+ on a sweater I am actively working on deciphering a few of them and getting design ideas. Check out www.anthropologie.com and find something to rip off, er imitate, yourself. Some of them have me considering donating plasma they are so lovely.