Pictured above is the latest and most fabulous addition to my collection of fingerless mittens, a birthday present from the nimble fingers of Cara (aka-VariegatedStrand). I love these so much! They are a free pattern from Jody at Javajem. It calls for one ball of any basic sock yarn. **This should be a 100g ball or at least 360-400 yds. That’s TWO Regias** Cara used my favourite colour of Dream in Colour Smooshy. Which is worth the price ($22 from Yarn and Fiber Co.) when you consider that it’s a wonderfully fluffy hand-dyed yarn. Most normal Opals are about that price. What I really like about this yarn is that although it’s variegated it still takes well to a heavy stitch structure or cabling; as you can see in these wonderful mitts. That’s because of it’s very subtle additions of complimentary colours, plus a splash of one heavy contrasting one. The skeins always look much more striped than the yarn usually knits to. Often you’ll find one very bright addition of colour (in this one its the splashes of orange/rust) that can almost seem to overwhelm the yarn; however these splashes of heavy contrast always work into little accents when knit up. If you remember my post awhile back for the reknit of Jared’s Koolhass Hat, that was also done in Dream in Colour, except it was their worsted weight: Classy. It took to the heavy cabling wonderfully.

I’m also gonna throw in some pictures of another piece by Cara: The bison Shawl from 101 Luxury One Skein Wonders: a great book highlighting 101 patterns that can all be done with only one skein of a luxury fiber. Fantastic for anyone who has fallen in love with specialty skeins of fiber, but has no idea what to make out of the amount they can afford. I don’t know the name of this particular colourway (perhaps varigated will comment on this post with the name/#) but the yarn is a beautiful and subtle 55/45% silk and cashmere blend from Jade Sapphire: Silk Cashmere 2-ply. Even the skeins of this yarn that appear a very solid colour consistency (this one in particular looks like a mostly solid teal when wound up, but as you can see it has faint changes in colour depth that remind me a lot of Malabrigo. Again, here’s a variegated yarn that will take to stitch patterns! Wow a post theme I’m only just realizing.

In other news a friend of mine and fellow Smithie, is now a fellow Alumnae! We got her a lovely vanilla sheet cake and the first three books in the Barbara Walker Treasury. I’m sure that there’s a few of you reading this right now that identified those books simply from the picture. They’re definitely iconic and amazing books. If you’re not sure how great they are, just look at Elizabeth’s face in this picture. That’s the joy of receiving something worthwhile!
If you can only get on (as they are a bit pricey) I’d recommend the red, Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

“…containing over 700 additional patterns. Included are the following categories: knit-purl combinations, slip stitch patterns and color, mosaics, fancy color and texture, twist stitches, cables, yarn-over patterns, tweeds, eyelets, lace, insertions, borders, edgings, and more and more. It’s a great reference book, profusely illustrated and with directions for doing each pattern.”

Also check you’re local library. They might have a copy of this book, or other knitting reference books. I recently wandered into mine and found their crafting section. I was so surprised to see some great knitting books there, and for anyone whose every uttered the phrase, “I have to buy the WHOLE book.” this is a great way to get what you need without violating copyright by photostating something that isn’t yours.

A little felted bird necklace.

I recently needle felted the above necklace for MeasuredwithSpoons’s birthday. She’s responsible for my favourite necklace and earring set made out of C-clips. I love recycled art Anyway, I digress. It was a very fun piece to make, and much like the one I previously made for Christa of ItKnits it’s base is made from cashmere to give it a nice soft feeling against the thin skin around one’s neck.

And finally, last but not least, this is the birthday present that I made for Cara. I have to say I’m kind of addicted to needle felting; it’s so easy and fun! I guess it reminds me of my days at Cooper Union studying three dimensional design and sculpting, because I seem to have been missing constructing more than flat garments.

I’m sure you figured out that it’s an owl, a 70’s livingroom coloured kitsch owl to be precise. This is because I know how much Cara loves owls. However, I know how much everyone hates chachkeys, so I made this one functional. Pull out his orange tail to reveal that he is in fact a tape measure! To retract it, just push on his bottom and it coils right back in.

Ok, that should catch us up a bit… for now…

Live post from the bridal room with T-minus 30 minutes til the bride blasts off! Here’s my sister and I plus a photo of the signing.

This would be even cuter if I were a tiny emo bassist. ^_~

A little over a month ago I finished this lovely vest for a friend and co-worker of mine, Jason, the bassist from a local “surf/zouk/German pop” band. Visit their myspace page for some audio samples, gig dates, and more information about the band. I was originally going to make the vest out of a more “boy-friendly” machine washable yarn called Revolution from Bocilline.

However, Jason picked out this yarn and this colour himself. I have to say, he’s got great taste. It’s Mulberry Merino from Plymouth. You may remember this yarn from my forever ago post about the Side Slip Cloche from Irwin’s Boutique Knits. Again, it’s a great yarn to work with and I just love knitting it, which is really important when you’re knitting St. st in the round FOREVER.

Jason gave me a vest that he already owned and liked the fit of very much. I used it to improvise this simple design. On the left breast I did a little bit of colour work to personalize the garment with Rabbit Rabbit’s band logo.

Close up on band name monogram

Ashford Kiwi stained Bombay Mahogany

I’ve obviously been way to back logged this month to keep to any sort of posting schedule. I’ve been trying though, collecting photographs and things to blog about on my magical Itool and half blogging them, but never finishing the posts. Well the result is that now I’m going to have all these new posts with old dates assigned to them. So although it appears right now that I’ve hardly posted in the month of April, expect that to change soon! My strategy? Little tiny posts; like this one:

This is my new and finally finished Ashford Kiwi! I got it from a fantastic online Ebay seller: Copper Moose Fibers and Spinning. They sell unfinished brand spankin’ new from the box Ashford Kiwis for only $320. This comes with free shipping in the US, one pound of corriedale cross (way better than the mystery domestic you get from most places), and an unfinished Ashford Kniddy Knoddy. (You can see my finished one, stained to match below.)

I really like the Ashford Kiwi for my first wheel for a couple of reasons.

It’s fully customizable as an unfinished wheel! Trick it out big time! Go floral themed with some paint stencils, put tire spinners on it so it looks like you never stop kickin’ it, hell glue a whole entourage of tiny metal lady bugs all over the thing. The point being: I know spinners/knitters; we have big personalities and we wont to show them everywhere. So instead of trashing a second hand Louet by trying to sand off the kitschy (and not in a good way) honey-wheat coloured lacquer, start with an unfinished new piece. It’ll still cost less.

Did I mention is costs less? I’m sorry I’m a still to recently graduated college student and I’m po’. Plus you don’t want to invest a lot in you’re first wheel. However, I had a dilemma. I wanted two treadles. I guess due to years of fencing I’ve developed a pair of unbalanced legs. My front leg’s quad muscle could eat the back leg! So for a fear of furthering this gruesome and disfiguring quality I wanted two treadles. Also, I found it easier to maintain a smooth rythm this way. But mostly the giant creepy leg thing. My advice to people wondering if they’re a two or one treadle person: you’ll just have to try both. Go to a store with wheels set up to try and have a sale associate who knows how to spin to assist you in demoing a wheel with one treadle and one with two. You’ll be surprised, some people wind up liking exactly the opposite of what they came in wanting!

All in all it’s a very lovely addition to my fiber tools. It’s light enough for me to car around even though it doesn’t fold, and it still fits in the back seat of my Honda Civic even if their’s a tall lanky person in their too.

www.go-ask-alex.com

Dir: Spencer Fox Peterson

Air Date: Live on Channel 15 in western MA on 3/11/09 3pm

Peacock Feather Felted Earrings by Kathryn Swanson aka RemyFriends

Close Up on Earrings

A Time for Change(ing where I keep my change.)

Due to the nature of our product (crafting supplies) more often than not I’ll see someone walk into our store wearing something totally unique and 100% handmade. Less often do I find out that I TOO can have that wicked awesome item; until recently. A trend is emerging. Esty is seeping into everything!

For those of you who are unaware of what etsy (www.etsy.com) is:

Etsy is an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade.

Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.

Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice:

Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.

The items shown above, as well as the item show below are all available online from the artist’s persona etsy shop. Above are the works of a local Northampton artist, Kathryn Swanson. I noticed her wearing a pair of these beautiful felted earrings the moment she walked into the store. From afar they seemed to be peacock feathers with strung beads; which was lovely, however upon closer inspection I realized that they were not feathers at all but rather life-like needle felting. Needless to say I felt very envious, until much later I was talking to my colleague Christa Hughmanick (ItKnits) about the customer. Long story short: Christa is close friends with the artist/customer who makes those earrings, among many other very cute items, and she would arrange the purchasing of a pair for me. ^_^ In the conversation she also mentioned that Kathryn made change purses with an image of Obama screen printed on them along with the phrase, “Change”, ergo, “Change Change Purses.” The idea tickled me in a highly erudite way. These items are not only on sale via esty, they can be purchased at Guild Art Supply (100 Main Street Northampton, MA). I picked up a few as gifts immediately. The pun pleases people.

Large Porcelain Tree Pendant

I absolutely adore the necklaces that another colleague of mine, Malea Rhodes of Celadon Studios, (I know it’s sickening how talented the staff here is!) is making. She initially put out a few necklaces on her desk to promote a staff class version of a class she will be teaching at the store this coming school session on how to make ceramic beads. Instantly there was a flurry of snatching and dibbing and soon there was hardly an unclaimed one. It was like watching people pick puppies; they knew they wanted one, it was just a matter of which.

I’ve been long obsessed with Tree of Life pendants, but have never been able to find one that I really like. When I saw Malea’s version I was struck. To explain why we’ll have to have a little religion lesson, don’t worry, it won’t be boring!

The tree of life/world tree in Norse paganism is known as Yggdrasil. It’s branches reach to the heavens and it’s roots dig deep into the earth, to locations not known to man. Upon this tree the cheif god, Odin, hung himself by one foot for nine nights, while he was pierced with his own spear, which by the by, was made from Yggdrasil. He did this in order to learn the wisdom of the ruins, which would give him power in the nine realms of existence.

In essence this tree of life, which is still meant to be a symbol of the interconnected nature of all beings, is a gallow. There is an interpretation of the etymology where “Yggdrasil” refers to the word “Yggr” or “terror”, making the tree’s name “tree of terror.” I think this is an important part of the world tree’s image. Much like the Ying Yang, the World Tree should show the juxtaposition of it’s mythology. All the plastic, silver, intricate, whirly, girly Tree of Life pendants I’ve come across and passed on were because they weren’t able to attain that duality. Malea’s pendant encapsulates that for me. The soft colour of the porcelain is like snow quietly contrasting it’s stark linear black branches all akimbo reaching to the heavens. There’s a subtle yggr there, but it remains a peaceful symbol of the sacrifice for knowledge. Thank you so much Malea. I really adore this piece.

Finally I’ll cut out on an inspirational note: Inspired by all these lovely handmade necklaces I made the piece below by sewing a bird bead onto a lovely bed of needle felted cashmere. I even strung it with yarn (if you have a good eye you’ll know that’s Berroco Seduce!) It was for Christa’s birthday this weekend.

Lady Anne's Vintage Tea Room

This past weekend I went down to the GuyLand to celebrate my sister’s ever sooner to be wedding (aka- Bridal Shower.)

As you can deduce from the image to my left, the family went for a very traditional and lady-like affair. It was held at a lovely little place in Hempstead called, Lady Anne’s Vintage Tea room.

Everyone had their own mismatched vintage porcelian tea cups and saucers. Mine (to the left) bore a striking resemblance to a tea cup that I received recently from Miss Martha. Strangely enough, Miss Martha was just in the store yesterday after a long sabatical, as if she knew I was just thinking of her ^_^. In fact, Saturday seemed like a very physical marker that spring has sprung and things are changing. Miss Martha was back as was Freddy, the store’s “adopted” cat. He belongs to the people in a house adjacent our building and has been inside all winter. Now he’s finally back to help us pacify customers with cuteness!

The beatiful food stand, soon to be filled with yum yums.

But I digress, back to the party. There were unearthly good scones, finger sandwiches, and decadent desserts. The EB tea was delicious, although I’ve moved on to coffee now in my life. Let me tell you, do not tell the attendant at a Tea Room you’d like coffee. It’s almost akin to asking your waiter for Pepsi when they serve Coke. It’s almost the same thing, but its different enough for their circuits to run short.

My gift to my sister: Wedding Toppers make to look like their Mii avatars!

My sister really wants to have a very handmade wedding, and in the spirit of that my Mom and I have been making things as much as possible. Mom is making the chuppah, among many many things, and here you can see one of the things I’ve made for her uniquely Kristin and Andrew wedding: Wedding Cake Toppers fashioned after their Miis (Nintendo Wii avatars). I made them out of polymer clay (specifically Fimo) and their approx. 4″ tall each. It was a lot of fun to make them and I cannot believe how much a little avatar can really look like someone. Everyone at the party kept saying, “Oh my god, the one of Andrew is REALLY Andrew.” \^-^/ I hope they like them and that everything holds up well on the big day. Maybe I’ll bring a small tube of Krazy Glue, and not just for i the toppers break. Krazy Glue and DW40: cause you just don’t know, maybe a Bridesmaid will have a squeaky shoe, or be hungry. (Yes, you can eat DW40. It’s all natural!)

Finally, here’s a photograph of all the ladies in our family. It was so nice to get to see some of them that I never really get to at all. My two younger cousins are growing up so insanely fast that it really puts things in perspective. To hear Cayla tell me she wants to be a dentist, makes me think, “But hunny, you don’t even have all your teeth yet.” Then I realize she’s sixteen and driving, not sitting in a high chair eating Cheerios and Bologna, (don’t ask.. my family is weird.) It was really mind blowing to see Erin, my other younger cousin who I haven’t seen or spoken to since middle school at the earliest. Basically, it’s been ages. Now she’s a young adult talking about colleges and how she wants to be a fashion designer and go to FIT. (Who knew fashion sense was genetic ^_~)

Phew, I can’t believe it’s already been a week since we’ve been back from Stitches West 2009. Between the stressful flights back (a foot of snow fell on the east coast the day before our flights!) and the throat cold I had while I was there I’m only just beginning to feel recovered. The cold I blame on having to shakes hands with all the children at the fencing tournament I attended the weekend before we left; luckily I was too busy at the event to even have time to experience the cold. It was a lot of fun to get to see all of our west coast customers, get inspired by new yarns, eat out at fantastic restaurants and show off my latest designs. I absolutely love these events and can’t wait til the next one, for which I will be dosing up on vitamins and wearing gloves the week before. No more test bunny at the conventions.

It was nice to sleep in yesterday, as I badly needed it. I never got time to recover from the west coast jet lag because, although I took the day after we landed off, I had a television shoot that day. I’m very excited; my friend Ed Patterson, from Go Ask Alex, hooked me up with a class at UMass, where the students are creating vignettes and shooting them live for public access. However, they don’t have actors! This is a problem I can surely fix. The piece I worked on this week was, Liquid Courage, directed by Mike Trainor, about a down on his luck guy who tries a magical approach towards finding the perfect girl. I play the perfect girl. ^_~ I’ll ry and get a video of it up on the site asap, if possible. I’ve already been asked back for this weeks story, Mr Hyde Goes to Therapy, directed by Spencer Peterson (Wet Paint Productions). I play the therapist; well they can’t all be type casts. hehe.

It was also nice to sleep in because I went to the midnight premiere of Watchmen on Thursday (technically Friday) night. I couldn’t help myself. It feels like we’ve been waiting for this moving to come out forever. I remember checking imdb frantically when Jeremy told us they had images of the Night Owl in costume. I loved the film. I can’t possibly say enough good things about it. Despite rumours of bad casting (Keanu Reeves as Dr Manhattan >_<!!), all the acting choices were superb. I couldn’t get over how much Malin Akerman looked like Laurie Jupiter, especially considering that she’s a bleach blonde Swedish babe. And I cannot go without saying that I loved Jackie Earle Haley as Roschach. Then again, I might be biased as he’s my favourite character from the novel. What really amazed me the most about the mastery of Zac Synder and Larry Fong (DP) was how my mind kept schisming into the visuals I knew from Dave Gibbons (original illustrator) and the film itself, only to then be drawn into an eeiry concordance of graphic match deja vu, where my mind through the cell from the novel up onto the screen and it fell seemlessly ontop of the frame from the film. This happened so much so that I could see the word bubbles, and fonts (particularly for Roschach) popping up and matching what was being said. The two scenes that this sticks in my head the most for this are the inital meeting between Roschach and Dan Dreiberg: there’s a pan out leaving Dan on the steps, Archie in the lower left corner, and Roschach is walking away down the tunnel; and the entire series of images where Roschach is telling the therapist about the night Walter Kovacs died. The latter of the two is so close to the novel that it feels like a scene for scene fleshing out of the novel’s cells. This isn’t bad, in fact it’s fantastic, however, it does send the mind down a weird sensory path.

I’ve been trying all week to explain to people what this movie is about and why I’m so excited, but I really haven’t been able to. To say that it’s a movie adaptation of a graphic novel written by Alan Moore is simply factual. To try and go further and explain that until then people hadn’t been questioning the actual lives of superheros, and that this novel moves towards asking questions that allow us to see the moral ambiguity of mask vigilantes, their psychological disorders, and the blurring or “good” and “evil”,  leaves you trying to go further and further into the topic until your friend’s eyes have glazed over and you find yourself simply shouting, “The Dark Knight?”, “Arkyum Asylum?!”, “V for Vendetta?!”… SIN CITY? And so I’ve come to resign myself to simply knowing that if you don’t know why you should see Watchmen, then you probably shouldn’t. Read the graphic novel and then rent it on DVD or something.

The Pink Pullover

I’m off to Stitches West tomorrow morning, but before I’m away from my base of operations for a week I wanted to share my newest piece, “The Pink Pullover.” I know exactly what you’re thinking; “That coat is chartreuse.” Okay, perhaps you thought green, never-the-less, this piece was given it’s name because of it’s inspiration.

A “pink”, is eighteenth century slang for a traditional red hunting coat. It’s derived from the name of eighteen century London’s most popular field-wear tailor, Thomas Pink. When I first set out to make this sweater I was intending to make a fairly close rendition of a traditional hunting coat with added texture. That being said, free form knitting took the best of me and this piece began to design itself.

Back view of cables and textured yoke.

The yarns are two recently discontinued colours of JoSharp Silkroad Aran, which showed the stitches and cables exactly as I wanted them. I couldn’t be more pleased with the yoke, which simply happened by accident. The layout of the cables were done free form as I knitted and are loosely based on a cardigan by Melissa Morgan-Oakes called, “The Radiance Cabled Jacket.” I liked the way the cables down the back of that cardigan flattered the figure by making an hourglass shape. I tried to do the same in this design by making the distance of the cables across the back like that most desired female shape: heavier at the top, cinching in, and almost as wide again at the bottom.

Crocheted front with key-hole neckline.

It took me quite a while to figure out what to do with this neckline. I knew that I had wanted to add in the slate blue here; It was the sight of these two colours together in the warehouse that initially inspired me to dream up this coat, but I had no idea where to add it in. So I cracked open my copy of Barbara Walker’s Knitting from the Top Down and found an image of a key-hole neckline. I chose crochet because of it’s three dimensional nature, which I thought would make it easier to sculpt the neckline. In fact, I crocheted the neckline on the garment while it was still on my dressmaker’s dummy. It was quite the sight. Me, crochet hook in hand, straddling a dress form and crocheting madly into the night. The drops on the right breast are also crocheted on, again for the three dimensional quality. I didn’t want them to be simply on top of the knitting, but rather above it to juxtapose the inward (purled) cables on the back of the garment.

Cuffs

And in a final homage to it’s inspiration I added a welted (lord I love welting) and split cuff with tiny silver bird buttons.