Monday, June 28, 2010

The Gulf of Mexico -- Before the Oil Spill












OK, not the greatest picture because you can't see how beautiful the colors are but I was on the road and the best background for the pic was the white sheets on the bed...So, I bought this yarn before the oil spill and it was advertised as having been hand-dyed to match the colors of the Gulf of Mexico...so for those you are having a hard time remembering, I present the colors of the Gulf Before the Oil Spill as knitted into socks by yours truly.

What is travelling for if not for the knitting of socks???

These are the fifth pair of socks I've knitted (so far) this year -- I like to average one pair a month so I'm falling behind! Luckily, I got a jump on the next pair due to a very long stint at the St. Louis airport because of weather delays. We finally got in to Balto at about 1:30 AM and back to our cars at 2:00 AM only to discover that SO's battery was dead! Ugh! Luckily, one of the drivers at the parking lot was able to come to our assistance. After all was said and done, a very long day of travelling but since I love being with my SO under any circumstances, I really didn't mind.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

NOLA - The Broken Dishes Way

SO and I have been in New Orleans all week. It is my first time here and he hasn't been here in a few decades. It's been hot, sticky and a bit rainy the whole week. This is not my kind of weather and don't see myself getting used to it.

Even with the hot stickiness bearing down on us, we've made our way around pretty well.

Our first day, we took the street car to the northeast corner of the French Quarter to go to an aquatic gardens nursery where there were many cool things to buy but they were large things like fountains and pottery and the store didn't have the resources to get it back to us and we couldn't figure out a way to do it ourselves. RATS! All I got was a cool hat.

After that, we walked and walked and walked through the French Quarter and stopped to do a few things on our wish list which included a couple of tours, Jackson Square and beignets. When we were almost back to the hotel, we stopped into a bar on Bourbon St. for a frosty alcoholic concoction. Thinking I am still 22 years old, I ordered "The Jester" which contained a couple of different very strong liquors and tasted like strawberries and kiwi. Turns out, I'm no longer 22 and within an hour of drinking it, the world was not such a pretty place...but I eventually rallied and we were able to go out to dinner that night to one of the restaurants I have always wanted to visit, K-Paul's -- which did not disappoint.

The next day, we headed off to the Garden District and took a self-guided tour using my trusty AAA guide book. About half way through, we got caught in a hellacious rain storm and hid under a tree for the better part of an hour. After we emerged, we found ourselves one tiny block from this home:











It was Trent Reznor's home of Nine Inch Nails fame!!! This is one of SO's favorites...now it's John Goodman's home which could be exciting if you used to be a fan of the Roseanne show. It was hard to get a good picture. The home is actually pretty large.

From here we went over to one of the old cemetaries -- spooky! We ended up chatting with a couple of people who were taking care of one of the crypts and they warned us that the cemetary is a little dangerous. Actually, the man we were talking to was carrying a gun, so that tells you something.

The afternoon was spent rummaging around on Magazine Street which has a number of antique stores -- unfortunately, stores close early (5:00 PM) so our rummaging was cut short.

During the course of the days we were there, several times we saw these cool signs that were signed by "Simon" -- we wanted to buy a couple but felt the price was a little high...imagine our surprise we stumbled onto the artist working in his studio during our last afternoon of scouting around. Here's a little sample:














We ended up commissioning a couple of signs that should be ready in a couple of months.

But, all good things must come to an end and sure enough, after chowing down on sufficient amounts of red beans and rice, gumbo, fried oysters and catfish, sweet potato pecan pie, blackberry cobbler, corn maque choux, crawfish, fried green tomatoes and beef with debris sauce, it was time to hit the road. We left few things left to do on our list though...

Friday, June 18, 2010

Stairway to Quilt Heaven

As a nice surprise, SO brought the quilt ladder he made for my birthday to my house. He stashed it up in one of my spare bedrooms so I didn't know it was there until it was almost bed time. Even though I was longing to go to sleep, I couldn't resist moving the furniture around and setting this up:













The toughest part was figuring out which quilts to display. The second toughest part was getting them arranged and I know it still could be better.

The quilt ladder is great on a couple of levels: (1) I get to see the quilts more now; (2) I have room to collect more because the spots where these were stashed are now empty!

I love it!!!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Spinning Soothes the Savage Beast

Did I mention that I got an old spinning wheel at an estate auction a few weeks ago? Here she sits in my living room:














It's old...Two hundred years-ish...and if we put a drive band on it, it would work.

In the meantime, I waiting for the new wheel to come and practicing with my drop spindle every day and knitting when I can and I'm so thankful for all of that because it is so soothing. Last week we had a death in the family and the funeral was Tuesday and still life goes on -- chores to be done, bills to be paid, a job to be handled...so, thank god for the things one finds soothing no matter what is going on.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Big Day O' Spinning

Near SO's house is a large store specializing in weaving and spinning -- with plenty of good stuff for knitters. Each year, in June, the store hosts a whole day of demonstrations. Yours truly spent several hours there on Saturday. The weather was perfect and all the demonstrations were great!

For starters, there was an antique spinning wheel demonstration using a walking wheel -- this is the type of wheel a lot of people associate with spinning and would probably be surprised to learn that it was actually used while standing:












I was surprised at how interesting the raising of silk worms and cottage silk production could be. If you look closely in this picture and the next, you can see the silk worms!!!
















Of course, the day would not be complete without some actual sheep shearing! Behold in the series of photos below the little guy getting his haircut:




























Another happy surprise was how fascinating the discussion on old textiles was -- the talk centered around hand woven items...now, I'm wanting to collect a few old pieces, of course...












Who knew how many colors can be produced from dyeying with mushrooms!!













The next two photos feature spinning flax to make linen. Wow, it was amazing. This was like spinning hair! Linen isn't easy to make:



















After everything I've just shown you, I'm almost embarrased to show you plain, jane drop spindle spinning, but this was one of the big things I went to see --















And, now, the most amazing thing of the day -- the spinning of dog hair into yarn! I assumed it was be scratchy and nasty, but it was nice and soft and very pretty. My long-haired cat is now on the radar screen...

















Ah, the cotton spinner -- again, I thought the yarn would be kind of rough and yucky but it was beautiful and soft and I want to try it!!!













Here we have a group of spinners happily spinning away under a tree in the beautiful summer sunshine -- I actually got a lot of good help for a couple of women there and my spinning is already better for it.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Desparate Times Call for Desparate Measures

I left my bag of current knitting projects at SO's house on Sunday -- this includes the Gulf-of-Mexico-Before-the-Oil-Spill Socks and the knitted blanket squares. That meant that in order to survive my business trip to Chicago on Monday and Tuesday, I had to put another project into play. I selected a simple hat that I'd meaning to make for about a year and a half. I figured I could knock it out during the two plane rides to Chi-town.

To simplify things further, I decided to say "screw the directions" and take the needles I thought would work best. Pride goeth before a fall best describes what ensued.

So, I knitted happily on the plane ride to Chicago. I was loving the way the yarn was looking as I knitted along. By the time I went to bed that night, I had very little left to do -- thus, the first problem: I underestimated the amount of knitting required for the trip. This virtually never happens with socks which take a pretty long time.

The next morning, I decided to finish up the hat and realized the folly of my needle selection. I really did need double pointed needles to finish the crown. I do know this...I just didn't really think when I was packing.

Now. I could have let the hat sit till I got home. But, really. I am far too obsessive to do such a logical thing.

Therefore, I made do with what I could find: an assortment of pens. You can see the hat and the improvised tools below:















All I can say is the it worked but I wouldn't recommend it and it was dirty because I had to use the pen points to stab through to the yarn and the ink got all over my left index finger. I think I will write to the "Dirty Jobs" show about that.

Now, back to the regular projects and contemplating the next move for StitchFace and picking out something to make this weekend from the three new cookbooks that arrived this week.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Yarnbombing and the Emergence of StitchFace

As defined by Wikipedia: Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, graffiti knitting or yarnstorming is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth rather than paint or chalk. While yarn installations – called yarn bombs or knit bombs – may last for years, they are considered non-permanent, and, unlike graffiti, can be easily removed if necessary. The practice is believed to have originated in the U.S. with Texas knitters trying to find a creative way to use their leftover and unfinished knitting projects, but it has since spread worldwide. While other forms of graffiti may be expressive, decorative, territorial, socio-political commentary, advertising or vandalism, yarn bombing is almost exclusively about reclaiming and personalizing sterile or cold public places.

A group of yarnbombers known as StitchFace left their mark in Glenville, Pennsylvania this weekend:


In this first picture, the yarnbomb is a bit difficult to see -- it blends in with the background and the sign from a distance.














Here, we have a closeup. The yarnbomb looks smashing!













When interviewed, representatives from StitchFace commented that they believe it will be quite some time before the county removes the installation.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

My Lucky Charm

I make no secret on this blog that I'm completely head over heels crazy about knitting and all things related. But, my passion doesn't always translate into actually producing the most beautiful things.

There have been flops -- Like the time I thought I could save money on sock yarn and bought cheap cotton yarn from a craftstore to knit some socks. Now, I do have a big foot, but the socks would fit Bozo the Clown. Such experiences are the worst because of all the time invested.

The fact is that you can knit a swatch to check the holy trinity -- the combination of the yarn, needles and your hands and trick yourself into thinking that you've got the gauge correct only to find at the end of the project that you once again flung yourself into the abyss: the item doesn't fit the way you want. Now you are out potentially a lot of cash and time and to complete the experience, another dashed dream!!!

But, I now have the perfect talisman to ward off such occurrences. For my birthday, my insightful and sweet SO gave me an ancient canopa carved in the shape of a llama:













Here's the history:

Ancient Pre-Columbian stone "canopa" or votive offering from the Inca culture. Ca. 14th-15th century from Peru or Bolivia. Canopas fell into two categories. Ones with hollowed out holes on the back were used as offerings by the Inca to insure fertility and good crops by filling the opening with tallow and burying in the field. Those without the holes were prized personal items and carried with the owner as a good-luck talisman.


I believe that now as I pursue my might mission to fill the world with knitted objects, I am safe from the harm of the Flop-Demon as long as I pray before the canopa before I cast on.