A May Day

Wednesday I spent a lovely spring day with a friend and it was a tonic. Planned months ago, we changed our destination and ended up in the Atlanta neighborhood Virginia Highland. I didn't take the camera.

Virginia Highland is the home of Knitch yarn shop. There were some lovely things and a good deal of cashmere, but I didn't buy anything. I have plenty of yarn at the moment.

We wandered in and out of a few shops having the most fun and only spending money at Paper Source. Isn't this hand dyed silk ribbon sublime?! I'm not sure how I want to use it just yet. It seems enough at the moment to just look at it.

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new."
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

N-Iceland

[photo from Knitting Iceland - Blonduos Museum]

A nice, cool morning today so I decided to get my walk in earlier than usual. As usual, I listened to a podcast while I walked and today I listened to Episode 35/Knitting in Iceland produced by Never Not Knitting, a wonderful episode.

[you don't have to walk or even bother with downloading to a portable device, you can listen directly from your computer at that link]

Alana interviewed Ragga an Icelandic knitter, knittwear designer, and entrepreneur.

Ragga along with her business partner, Helene Magnusson, have started Knitting Iceland to focus on Icelandic knitting, publish a web magazine of patterns, and conduct tours.

Their June knitting retreat is sold out already, but there are still spots in the August retreat with teacher EVELYN CLARK. Oh, to be in Iceland now that Evelyn is there! Wouldn't that be a treat?!

Ragga also hand dyes Icelandic yarn, Nammi (which means candy in Icelandic), available in her Etsy shop. Looks yummy.

If you are on Ravelry, there is a Knitting Iceland group.

Steel Magnolia

Pattern: Vine and Flower Scarf by Cathy Payson

Interweave Knits Holiday 2009 (sans flower!)

Yarn: Brooks Farm Acero
60% superwash wool / 20% silk / 20% vicose
420 yards / 113 gr (4 oz.)
I think the color is Cathy ??

Needles: Size 7 Crystal Palace Bamboo 9" straights

[Now I know you must be exclaiming, "what? no red door?" Shocking, isn't it?]

This scarf was knit especially for a former co-worker. I was thinking of her as I roamed around Stitches South and hoped to find some special yarn to make something for her. When I spotted this Brooks Farm Acero, I knew I had found it. Brooks Farm says they chose this name because it is Spanish for steel. My friend has been one tough cookie these past few months so I felt a steel scarf would be just right.

I've already said what a JOY this yarn was to knit. The pattern is a very simple staggered vine lace over 40 stitches. Any stitch dictionary probably has one. And although this particular project never traveled, this would make a GREAT travel project. The two right-side rows are the very same except one row is offset by one stitch. All wrong-side rows are purled. You can immediately know which row to start just by looking at your work. No pattern to keep up with and no notes to take.

I took this in to work with me today so I could drop it off at my friend's house. Door Knob Love. For a change, I walked across to the square to get a daylight shot. A bit muggy, but a wonderful chance to get out for a few minutes.

Spread out on a bench you can see how wildly the colors snake through the piece, but when worn I think you only notice the lovely richness of the colors and the beauty of the yarn. I will be wanting more of this one day.

Start at the very beginning

a very good place to start.

[ah, The Sound of Music]

Recall the Leafy Knot Clutch bag? It was stalled because I ran out of yarn. I ran out of yarn unsurprisingly because I began with NOT ENOUGH yarn. That is pretty much a formula for running out of yarn.

I looked through all the vendor booths at Stitches South for MerLin and found none. Just before leaving I ducked back into the WEBS booth and left with two very inexpensive balls of their Valley Yarn Longmeadow, a cotton/acrylic blend.

This is a FUN project so far as I near the top and get ready to work on the handles.

Inch by inch

Things seem to be going rather slowly around the cul-de-sac. Or maybe it just seems that way.

I'm making progress on the Acero scarf and still enjoying it immensely. At the same time, my mind keeps drifting off to other projects.

I bought two new bag patterns at Stitches that I am eager to try and today I thought of a Christmas project I'd like to start soon.

Let's not even discuss the two WIPs that I have ignored while concentrating on this scarf.

Let go and let color

Thankfully the wrist is feeling much better, so I've been able to start playing with the Brooks Farm Acero yarn.

What lovely stuff!! I'm using a very simple two-row vine lace pattern so the knitting, especially with this wonderful-feeling yarn, is simple and a pleasure.

I have such a hard time with multi-colored yarns. I knew this when I bought the Acero, but the individual colors were so beautiful (and I was in that Stitches stupor) that I bought it anyway.

You can see the bronze/gold has traveled from the left up and across and has started wandering back to the left. This scarf is destined for a friend. She loves art and colors and I'm counting on that, and the fact that she doesn't knit herself, to win her over to this scarf.

There is a pattern called "Pooling Colors Scarf" from the fall 2004 issue of IW Knits that I would love to try sometime when I have more patience and time ( ha!). In that scarf, through trial and error, you purposely knit the color sequences to line up and stripe vertically.

In the meantime I've decided to just Let Go and Let Color!

Brooks Farm Yarn - Best Fun Yet!

Stitches

Does it ever happen to you that prior to an event or occasion you have an idea of how it will all go and then it actually unfolds quite differently? Well that was the Stitches weekend for me.

I had checked my patterns and made notes of yarn requirements, a list of things I wanted to look for, and special yarns I hoped to find. I thought this was a Smart Thing to do. Try to Be Prepared. Hah! Preparation is futile in the face of Yarn Overload.

In a giant room full of yarny goodies, many of which are seldom if ever seen, one is quickly reduced to IMPULSE buying. I bought nothing that was on my list, but I am very happy with my choices and eager to knit with my new yarn and patterns.

I had planned to check Galina's booth and buy the yarn for this shawl from last summer's "Piecework" (which BTW is on sale). I didn't find just what I wanted but the highlight of the show, for me, was a serendipitous encounter with another knitter wearing her beautiful creation from this pattern. Seeing it In Person after corresponding with Roberta about yarn was a real treat. [Rav link to Roberta's shawl]

I had a great time hanging out with Kay as usual. We both succumbed to beautiful yarn at the Brooks Farm booth.

And just before leaving, we stopped at the front XRX booth and Sandi Rosner gave us a personal demonstration of how to knit the amazing Hex Sox shown on the cover of the new book, "Think Outside the Sox". All the extremely clever designs were on display there.

Again this year, I stopped by Neal Howard's booth, chatted a bit, and looked at her luminous yarns and beautiful woven garments. Neal is an artist, and so nice to boot.

I wish I could have had a whole day at Marianne Isager's booth. A wall of subtly shaded fine wool surrounded by the most imaginative garments. Sharing the booth were designs from another Danish designer, Christel Seyfarth. A LOT of color and lots of things that I could never pull off, but certainly eye-catching and inspiring.

In the meantime, I'm experiencing a poorly-timed bout of tendonitis so I may post less frequently for a bit.

H is for

Happiness! The construction around the square is complete and traffic is moving as usual again. The crews worked extra hard to get it ready for this past weekend's Taste of Marietta.

Last week on a lovely, lovely spring day, I hopped up from my desk and hurried out of the office to see what I could find for H.


First up is Hemingways a restaurant with a nice outdoor area that bills itself as an island in Marietta and a Parrothead Paradise. This was mid-morning, so it doesn't look too busy yet, however, around the corner there were a few early birds sitting and relaxing at tables under the umbrellas.

Two doors south and two doors UP is a hair salon - Heads Up! You can sit there in the bay window and people watch while you get your hair done.

I love the yellow on the Health Studio. It just looks like sunshine.

And then I stepped just across the railroad tracks to get a shot of the Herb Shop.

What a beautiful day it was!

It was hard to go back to the office.

I'm Ready!

Stitches South is here this weekend.

I am SO ready.

Bag Stall

A Borders card that I received at Christmas was burning a hole in my pocket. I finally took time to go in and browse and the timing was perfect.

Veronik Avery's new book "Knitting 24/7" had just been released.

The subtitle is "30 Projects to Knit, Wear, and Enjoy, On the Go and Around the Clock"

Well that says it all. There are quite a few in here that I want to eventually try. It is probably no surprise that I went straight for a bag.
Love bags.
Oh, sorry. Have I said that before?

This one is called Leafy Knot Clutch and is the same overall shape as this sewn one, often called a Japanese Knot Bag. Bonus for me is that it is knitted in a lovely leaf design.

The pattern calls for 2 balls of DK weight cotton. I had this one lovely lonely skein of Louet MerLin (a 70% merino/30% linen) that Mary sent from a Knitters Review retreat.

I love, love, love how the yarn is working for this even though it is worsted weight and I'm using bigger needles. Even though I do not have enough yarn. Sob.

I'm going to try to find another skein. If not I'll get other yarn because I Must Make This Bag.

Lilac Leaf again

Pattern: Lilac Leaf Shawl

by Nancy Bush in "Knitted Lace of Estonia"
18" x 60"

Yarn: Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb
100% Extrafine Lambswool - Color 225 / Blood Red
825 yds/60 gr - leftovers

Needles: Size 4 circulars

Color is a bit dulled in this picture. I think it was overcast when I took it. We've been having some cooler spring days around here. That is really welcome. So often we head directly into summer with weather just immediately hitting the 80s and only going up from there.

I knit this same pattern once before and it was such an easy, enjoyable knit that I decided to use the leftovers from the two balls of yarn to make it again. I didn't quite get all the repeats called for by the pattern, but I used as much of the yarn as I could.

I've said before, I love, love, love this Lacey Lamb yarn. It is such a pleasure to knit. So wonderful in fact that I think I should buy another ball or two....but maybe in a different color.

A True and Perfect Inventory

If you are a regular reader of "Piecework" (and if you aren't, WHY not??), then you are probably already familiar with fiber artist and poet Stephen Beal. [pdf of Piecework interview here]

Past issues have had some of the poetry from his book, "The Very Stuff: Poems on Color, Thread, and the Habits of Women" a collection based on the shades of embroidery floss he uses in needlepoint.

Leafing through the latest Fiber Arts at the library the other day, I learned of one of his latest pieces, Fontleroy Plantation an embroidery of the text of his great-great grandfather's estate inventory.

If you get the chance, read the article in Fiber Arts (Apr/May 2010 issue) to learn more about this amazing piece.

What you don't learn at Mr. Beal's website above, is that the garland draped around the piece is composed of cross stitched prayer flags in red, white, yellow and blue for each of the slaves named in the inventory. Slaves and livestock are included with their monetary value in the inventory, including Old Millie, at 76 valued at zero, i.e. less than a table or a chair, let alone a hog.

Embroidery. It can be a very moving medium.

Speaking of "Piecework", the May/June LACE issue will be on newstands May 4.

SOON.......... Swoon.

Here's the preview. It looks fantastic!! I can hardly wait.

Miss Read

I enjoy Writer's Almanac. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to catch it on the radio and get to hear it in Garrison Keillor's own voice, but most times I just check the website, read the day's poem, and see which writers are featured.

I thought today I'd do my own since I don't expect to see one of my favorite writers featured.

Miss Read is the pen name of Dora Saint who was born this day in 1913. A teacher by profession who began writing several journals after World War II. She later worked for the BBC as a scriptwriter.

These novels of English rural life are set in the fictional villages of Fairacre and Thrush Green, and the first she wrote, "Village School", was published in 1955. She continued to write until 1996. In 1998 she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to literature. She lives in Berkshire.

I read and re-read Miss Read all the time. Of the two villages, I like Fairacre the best, perhaps because it is told in the first person voice of Miss Read the village schoolmistress. Several of the novels take place over the course of a year and the author obviously enjoys and is a keen observer of nature.

All would be described, I'm sure, as gentle reads. I don't think this diminishes their literary worth at all.

Happy Birthday Mrs. Saint and thank you for your hospitality.

Value of Labor

I suspect that if you visit and read my blog posts that you probably are involved in some type of handwork or needlework yourself and you already spend hours of your leisure time on some similar pursuits and know the value of that time spent.

I am driven to create something. Not always a useful something and quite often an UNnecessary something. (Who needs lots of lace shawls?) But I spend part of every day either making something, thinking about something to make, or reading about making something and I have pretty much my whole life.

Today I visited the library where I usually sit and read the latest Fiber Arts. This is another wonderful Interweave publication. I love the cover of this issue especially!

The Profile section of this issue introduced me to two compelling artists.

Mary Smull uses white (and sometimes black) wool only to complete unfinished needlepoint canvases in order to stimulate conversations about the relationship between labor and leisure and the value of labor-intensive processes for the maker. [second from left thumbnail in the link above]

You can read more about her work here as well as watch her explain more about it in a short video.

Whitney Stansell has a sculptural work entitled "Garments". It will be on exhibit in Atlanta at Whitespace from April 9-May 15. Hopefully I can get down there to see it.

A Twisted Tote

In need of a little pick-me-up (and with no yarn shop handy), I dashed in to the Red Hen, a quilt shop very near work. They have lots of folded fat quarters so it is easy to pick one or two and walk around looking for another to coordinate, or just to ponder for projects. I am big on pondering.

I'm not even sure how long I stayed, but long enough apparently as I was more relaxed when I left with three fat quarters, two for me and one for Kay.

I've been seeing some zippered triangular bags around blogs and etsy and thought it was time I made myself one, only large enough to hold a small project. I also added a loop for a clip so I can hang it from a belt loop or attach to a bag or purse.

I didn't use these directions, but if you want to make one, here is a pdf from 4-H. [Remember 4-H?] They are quick and fun to make and the size can easily be changed to suit your need - or the length of your zipper.

It would be very simple to make a knitted version of this. In fact the SoH0 Sling from the book, Bags: A Knitter's Dozen is one example. I'm just not sure I'm ready to put a zipper in knitted fabric.