Warty Bobbles

Halloween 2009

When is a knitter not a knitter? 

When she is the Bust-it-out Halloween Costume Stitcher!

Over the past couple of weeks, Sarah and I have spent an inordinate amount of time designing and creating Halloween costumes.  We got all inspired, I guess – and it has been a while since we have done any costume work.  In fact, it kind of felt like we were working on a show (haven’t worked on a show for a while since the magician is in London).  Well, you can take us out of the theatre, but you can’t take the theatre out of us (or yes there was drama…).

 

My grandson Max:  The King of the Wild Things

 

Grand-daughter Gwen:  The Ladybug (note: this is a store-bought costume, but oh so cute!)

 

 

Jeff and Sarah, George and I:  White King and Queen, Black King and Queen (chess pieces)

 

WWKIP Day

WWKIP Day -- i.e. World-Wide Knit In Public Day

Where did I knit?  At Santa Clara University -- our Sasha's graduation!

I managed to complete 6 rows of Gwen's blanket (the Baby Ull one) -- 288 stitches per row.  About 1400 graduates' names read out -- 1728 stitches knit.  Yep, that's about right.

Stitches West 2009

I am collapsed on the bed in the hotel on this our last afternoon at Stitches.  It is all pretty much over now – the classes have ended , the yarn market is closing, most of the knitters have gone.  We fly home tomorrow and today has that day-after-Christmas feel.  I am satiated and worn out.  And on a deeper level, warmly exhilarated. 

For me, it all comes together here at Stitches:  the classes, the yarn, the knitting community.  Three hours on the structure and uses of mesh patterns:  exhilarating!  Booth after booth of delicious yarns in every weight and color and fiber imaginable:  exhilarating!   Women draped in lace shawls, women draped with bags of hand-painted wools and fat skeins of silk, women draped across couches in the lobby bar knitting and talking and laughing: exhilarating!

It has all been super stimulating.  Nupps and bobbles, deep and frenzied discussions with Sarah over the choice of yarn for my new projects (which will, I suspect feature a nupp or bobble or 2), the agony and ecstasy of the final choices (followed by the thrill of dashing back to the market for the yarn I cannot go home without after all).  Alsatian scallop construction and a clever method for sewing zippers in knitted garments and the secrets of manipulating elongated stitches.  Probably a little too much wine and, regrettably, not enough coffee. 

And the fact that my 3 daughters and I have been hanging out together through it all!

Okay, that is probably the best I can do as far as summing up my Stitches experience.   I think I’ll just crawl off the bed and go find a latte.  And maybe do a little knitting.

Oh, The Irony

The irony is that when life is hopping -- and, consequently, there is much about which to write -- there is no time for blogging.  Such has been the case yet again!

 

I could have written much more about Madrona if I had not been busy getting ready for our first knitting class – our Front Room Knit Studio “Knit Your Own Project” beginning course.  And I could have written much about our knitting class had I not been in a frenzy to get ready for Stitches West! 

 

Projects that have been neglected on the needles have also been neglected in the blog.  And projects – such as Sonja’s Pelty Stole – which have dominated my waking hours, have rated a mere mention.  By the way, did I mention that I seem to have cast on my gull-inspired pi shawl, as well as a baby “matinee coat” in peach Baby Ull and an “Yzma Blanket” for Sarah’s “Blueberry”?   I thought not.  I could have written an entire episode on the arithmetic mistake that led me to rip out the half inch of bramble stitch baby blanket I had knit during Madrona – I figure it was about 1500 stitches. 

 

Anyhow, I am packed for Stitches West – the baby projects (on wooden circular needles) making nice innocuous knitting for the plane (my Signature needles, along with the corkscrew, are nestled in the to-be-checked bag).  Sonja’s Pelty Stole lacks only the mohair edging (which Sarah is knitting and will bring so we can sew it on in the hotel room).  Sarah and I each have knitted garments to wear each day.  We are a “go”!

 

I am also bringing My Pet (mini notebook computer) and, if I can get it together, will put up a blog post while we are there.  That is the plan, but I expect that life will be hopping and we all  know what that means!

Preparations And Something Else

Sarah and I are eagerly preparing for our first Front Room Knit Studio class session.  We begin on Monday.  Sorting out items for the supply kits (which we provide) and adding notes to the lesson plans makes it all feel very real – a vision coming true!  But, of course, the true reality (wow – talk about redundancy!) comes Monday afternoon.  Actually, we think it will be wildly fun!

 

Also in the “fun” category:  Stitches West 2009!  Next week!  We promised Sonja we would do our darnedest to get her “Pelty Stole” done for the conference (since she is coming with us) and we are on schedule (admittedly a rather ambitious schedule) for that.  It is taking an uncharacteristic amount of focused work – by which I mean, we are not supposed to be working on any other projects this week.  As I usually find myself dancing between 2 or 3 projects any given evening, this focus is something of a challenge.

 

So, can anyone blame me for being a bit fired up by

Vicki Square

’s article in the Spring Interweave Knits magazine?  “Start As Many Projects As You Can.”  Sounds like my kind of challenge!  Especially with the intergalactic-sized yarn market at Stitches West just days away.   I totally agree with her philosophy that envisioning and embarking upon new projects is at the heart of the knitter’s creative process – something not to be denied, but embraced.  (well, okay, one ought not to embrace it with the mortgage money….)

 

But all philosophizing and soap-boxing aside, it was a single sentence about letting go of abandoned projects that got me going in a whole different direction: 

 

“Whatever you do, refuse to make yourself a hostage to the undone.”

 

The “Undone.”  My literary proclivity pushed me to the word connection:  undone – undead.  Suddenly, my previously passive and inert yarn stash came alive – sort of. 

 

A dismembered sweater.  An afghan long-cold.  The ghosts of lace shawls.  I made a mental inventory (no way was I going to actually open the yarn armoir when I was alone and defenseless!).  Could it be?  Yarn Zombies!

Madrona in Style

Sarah looked sweet in my "Spokane Ferocity" (a "ferocity" being our term for an absolutely unique piece).  It draped nicely over her pregnant belly!  I wore my "Forbidden Summer Sweater" on the day we had class with Elsebeth Lavold (of Viking Patterns For Knitting fame), but did not point out to her that I had used her signature yarn for the underarm gussets.  The Vogue "Cropped Sweater" attracted a bit of attention -- my compliments to the designer, Leena Sullivan, for creating a striking, fanciful garment that is absolutely wearable.

Madrona 2009

Today (besides being Valentines Day, of course) is our mid-Madrona catch-our-breath day (it is also laundry day, but I digress…). 

 

Sarah and I had “Baltic Braids and Bobbles” with Nancy Bush all day Thursday – 6 hours of concentrated knitting as we learned and practiced different Estonian braids and finally the fat little nupps (I am a bobble fan, as we all know, so these charming puffs were a special treat!).  The techniques are ingenious – and ones that are best passed on by demonstration (patient, patient, patient demonstration by Nancy Bush who is a master knitter and a fine teacher).  The results are bold, architectural 3-D braids and twists that lie on the top of stockinette like iced flourishes on the fanciest-shmanshiest wedding cakes.  They are like ceramics: dramatic in the heavy worsted weight yarn we used or delicate in the amazingly fine gauge the Estonians use in gloves and socks.

 

We finished the day with a sampler tube (I don’t think I mentioned that we labored over these brain-twisting, finger-foiling techniques in the round on double-pointed needles!).  At a finer gauge, it could have been a wristlet or cuff, of course.  It did make a rather impressive arm-band – the young woman next to me modeled it that way.  Could make a knitter look a bit tough!  We conjectured that it might fit a man’s ankle – and the term “manklet” was coined (we were a mite loopy by the end of the day!).  But Sarah and I found another practical use:

Knitting Rock Stars

We are a little bit famous this week – Sarah and Pelagia Fiber Arts and I.  Sarah was interviewed by a reporter from our Tacoma paper, The News Tribune, and was part of a feature called “Mompreneurs” which told about five local mothers of young children who have their own businesses.  We felt the reporter, Debbie Cafazzo, caught the essence of Pelagia Fiber Arts and were pleased that we came off sounding kind of cool!

In the course of the interview, Sarah mentioned the upcoming Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat (to be held in Tacoma next month).  The reporter, who had not been familiar with the event, became interested and said she may do a piece on it.  Sarah told her there would be “knitting rock stars” there. 

For example:  Nancy Bush, Cat Bordhi, Sally Melville, Elsepeth Lavold, Lucy Neatby, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (the Yarn Harlot herself) – all internationally know knitting designers, teachers, authors.  Wow!

The first time Sarah and I encountered knitting rock stars in the flesh was a few years ago at Stitches West.   We knew, going into it, that it was a big event and we must have recognized names in the class listings, but we were unabashedly star-struck when we started seeing them:  the knitting rock stars themselves (Lily Chin, Nicky Epstein…we actually had a class with Maggie Jackson that first year).

 I will never forget my first glimpse of Eugene Bourgeois of Philosopher’s Wool (he is a remarkably wooly man himself – I recognized him from quite a distance!). 

We will be attending Stitches West for the fourth time in February and do not get quite as fluttery over the knitting rock stars (though we still whisper:  look! There’s so-and-so! to each other).  Taking their classes is always a bit of a thrill, though – and I gain new respect for them when I hear them talk about knitting!  They really are that good!

Thinking about Sarah’s comment to the reporter, though, I began to wonder if Ms Cafazzo (who is not, I understand, very familiar with knitting) understood what Sarah was saying.  I mean, maybe she thought “knitting rock stars” meant Rod Stewart casting on a sweater or Keith Richards cabling a sock on double-pointed needles between sets….

Stitches 2008 Yarn Market

Yarn is Treasure. Treasure is worth more than Money. Yarn is worth more than Money.
Trade all your Money for Yarn.

It’s like that. The Yarn Market at Stitches is colossal – vast, abundant, a festival of color. There are some 250 vendors. It is overwhelming, intoxicating. And everywhere are kind and enthusiastic fiber-lovers who want you to take some of this amazing treasure home with you. Yeah, it’s like that.

Before we went to Stitches this year, Sarah reminded me that the first year we went to the Yarn Market I had wanted to cry – the joy, the beauty, the unbearable choices. I nodded. Perhaps I had been struck so, being new to this sort of thing. Now, in my third Stitches experience, I would approach the Yarn Market in a sophisticated, rational way. I had a list. I would be appreciative, but focused.

Half-way into the Market that first night, I wanted to cry – the joy, the beauty, the unbearable choices! Sarah had to hold my hand (and hiss “Chill, Mère!” in my ear), but her eyes (and appetite!) were as wide as mine. Oh, yes, it was like that. We petted and admired and ogled and laughed aloud. Reverent toward the thousand manifestations of wool, giddy over shimmering and glinting yarns, swoony over the silks. I get fired up over slubby yarns and flagrant textures -- the unspun mohair locks pretty much put me over the edge. Sarah melts over soft yarns and haloes and delights in anything whimsical – which explains the knit-a-viking-helmet kit to fit her son, Max. Together, I think we would follow some colors to the ends of the earth.

We visited the Market daily (okay, usually twice a day – during our lunch break and after classes in the afternoon). We did carry a list since we had some specific quests, but it was constantly amended as we built projects in our minds, decided that I really did need to bring some qiviuk (the gourmet-est of gourmet yarns) this time, remembered a friend who would love a gift of yarn, etc. We befriended both vendors and fibers indiscriminately and, of course, spent more money than we intended (yarn is treasure, after all).

I confess that I “lost it” completely over a skein of turquoise Blue Moon silk. It had the most glorious aroma and I bought it almost without reason (though it did go perfectly with the wild variegated thick-and-thin New Zealand wool and emerald mohair locks I had in my bag). I snuffled it shamelessly (“Chill, Mère!”) in the Market. I slept with it that night. It was the first time I have ever actually slept with a skein of yarn (it just smelled so heavenly…). I cannot swear to it (the hotel room was dark), but I think Sarah slept with her grass-green skein too. Oh, yes, it was like that.

Stiches West 2008

My Total Immersion Knitting Experience of the year – I come back fired, inspired, and very, very tired! Okay, the knitting is augmented by some late nights with Sarah and Sasha – my 3rd daughter who conveniently attends Santa Clara University (about 15 minutes from the convention center) – and the general excitement of staying in a hotel full of knitters. Until you have sat in a lobby bar buzzing with knitters intoxicated with yarn (and perhaps a little something to relax after a full day of classes, of course)….

Classes:
Advanced Design with Barry Klein where we took measurements without sustaining emotional damage – honestly, counting inches was no more traumatic than counting stitches – and learned what makes a garment fit (or not fit or sort of fit at the shoulders but not really at the waist so much…anyhow, we learned how to figure out how to make it fit all over!).

Morphing Cables with Fiona Ellis where we played with cables – what makes them snake, slither, kiss, cross, etc.

Bead Knitting On the Edge with Betsy Hershberg who makes gorgeous jewelry.

The Joy Of Finishing with Christine Bylsma. We forced ourselves to take a finishing class (true confessions time: our finishing has certainly been joyless and kind of haphazard – and, like a 5-yr-old ballerina, sturdy, but not always graceful or consistent and maybe kind of lumpy). By the end of class we loved finishing! It made sense! Our seams lay flat and docile. Our picked-up-and-knit collar grew from the main piece like a cornfield in Kansas.

Taking classes is flat-out empowering. Much as I rely on books and good ol’ trial-and-error, I get so much more from an instructor who knows his/her stuff and a room full of savvy question-askers.

And it is just so cool to hang out with knitters. They wear their stunning Fair Isles and mind-boggling cables and ethereal laces as comfortably and casually as teenagers wear sweatshirts. (Kind of awkward when I find myself staring at a bodice or hem when I am talking to one) Everyone knits a little differently, too. You know how you can identify someone by her walk when she is too far away for you to see her face? Well, knitting is that individual. I love watching knitters (and then I am staring at her hands when she is talking to me!). Some knitters will pet the sweater you are wearing or poke around in your knitting bag if something there sparks an interest, but it doesn’t feel invasive to me. I, myself, tend to a little innate Finnish shyness, but find myself positively garrulous among knitters. A knitter among knitters, I feel a little stunning and mind-boggling and ethereal myself – especially in the lobby bar surrounded by all that yarn.

More on the YARN in my next installment!

P.S. Sarah bought the little alpaca at the Yarn Market and we found we decided it needed a hat, blanket, and leg-warmers.

Madrona FIber Arts Winter Retreat

Sarah and I have been taking classes at Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat for 3 days – and spending our in-between times scouring the yarn market for trouble and temptation. It has been a blast!

It is kind of an Alice in Wonderland experience – down the rabbit hole and smack into an intensive 3-hour adventure with cast-ons and bind-offs (where I learned that I inadvertently twist stitches when I pick-up-and-knit – “Knitter, Know Thyself!”). Fortunately, that was Sunday morning and we were in full knitting-brain mode by then.

We started with a class in crocheting wire and beads. Pure fun – and I actually finished the project in class (as did we all). As someone who usually sees weeks, months pass between cast-on and bind-off, I felt absolutely giddy! Thank you, Darla Fanton!

Additional classes in knitting “Doo Dads” (with Kathryn Alexander – we made these delightful Dr. Seuss-ish things) and “Tapestry with Short Rows” (with Pat Brunner – it turned my brain inside out, but once I got the hang of it I didn’t want to stop – too cool! and it gave me just the technique for the stole I want to make with the new yarn I bought at the market) got me thinking (and knitting) outside my own box. Sarah also took “Chain Mail Knitting” (with Lucy Neatby – the possibilities with I-cord!).

I realize that I sound (read?) like a promo bit for Madrona. But I would encourage any knitter to go to a good conference or retreat like this one now and again. For inspiration, community, empowerment. For the artist and engineer in you. I find myself floating on the “They understand me!” of a shared obsession for a few days. But viva la difference, too – no two knitters see eye-to-eye on everything and though one person will swear by circular needles or chain-stitch provisional cast-on or picking (rather than throwing), she will bow graciously to the straight needler, the looping caster-on, the thrower and smile and say “but whatever works for you.” Ah, if the nations of the world could learn from the knitters of the world!

Well, as the Fates would have it, we have our two knitting conferences of the year back-to-back. What are ya going to do? We are off the Stitches West on Wednesday – more classes, more yarn! So, we are taking a day or so to come up for air, do the laundry, kiss our husbands, and then it is back Through the Looking Glass! Sweet!