Annie Knits

Historic Shaw Art Fair

I should have taken the camera to the Historic Shaw Art Fair today.  The weather was gorgeous and the people watching was quite good.  Husband and I go every year and we've made purchases the last two years. 

This year we found a hand-dyed silk quilt that's just fabulous.

The artist, Sandi Garris, was just lovely and I had a chat with her about dying and piecing.  This quilt is about 2 feet by 2 feet and the colors seriously just pop.  It's framed and under glass.  I fell in love when I found it.  Husband wondered  what will happen to the house when I'm no longer in my orange phase...

I told him, "Ain't gonna happen."

Le Pullover? C'est fini!

It's a February Lady Sweater, of course... Done on 5's with Rachel's cotton slub.  She calls it some kind of amethyst, but I call it orchid.   It was a quick knit and now I have two FLSs.  That might be enough, but one never knows, does one.  Click to embiggen so that you can see the subtle color shifts and the fun buttons.

 

Here is the back of the new sweater I'm knitting.  I've got the front and half a sleeve done as well, but no pics.  It's the Flying Cables sweater done from a kit in the lettuce colorway from Spunky Eclectic that I had husband get me for Christmas a year ago or so.  I was in love with the last sweater I knit, but this one is my new obsession.  Fickle, fickle, fickle.  

More on this one later...

TTFN as I've got to go to work.  Happy weekend.

A Day at a Fiber Festival

Bridgett, her kids, Dear Daughter and I made the trek to the Bethel, MO World Sheep and Fiber Arts Festival again this year.  It's about a 3 hour drive north and west from here.  Which is way closer than Rhinebeck, I have to say, and likely will have to do for me this year as late October doesn't look like a promising time for me to travel.

There were sheep herding demonstrations, spinning classes, and sheep shearing demonstrations.  See Dear Daughter there in the middle?  She had a great time learning to spin from Judy.  I wish I had gotten Judy's card or info so I could link her.  Bad blogger.

The shearing guy? Jim something?  He can shear 321 sheep in a day if he has to (that's his record).  Man oh man, what  a tough way to make a living. 

Rachel and Scott and Sandy and Ed and their son also made the trip -- it was fun to sit and watch the shearing with them.  We all shopped.

Bridgett and I arrived early enough in the day to submit knitting.  We got seconds and thirds.  This is the first time I've submitted my knitting to judging, so I'm using the experience to learn what the judges want in a piece of knitting and I don't feel too badly about losing to a Hemlock ring made out of black and blue Sockotta.  Well, ok, I kind of do, feel badly that is, but now I know that tension has to be perfect and your ends have to be absolutely invisible and you have to knit out of busy shapeless yarn so the above two things don't show. 

You can see Bridgett's absolutely gorgeous  pink cabled sweater next to my Hemlock.  It too got second.  To an American Girl entrelac back pack that would hold my ipod.  Really.  And it was felted.  She got the ends weaving in thing docked too.  No sour grapes, just learning what to do for next time.

I also could have sworn from looking at the flyer that there was a category for things knit from your handspun and I love my Irish Hiking Scarf.  There being no actual category for that upon arriving to the festival, I submitted it anyway under the just plain wool category.  And it's not a true feat of knitting prowess by any means -- it's just a cool looking scarf.  Got 3rd.  These judges would prefer cables out of single colored yarn thankyouverymuch. 

But hey, now I have award winning knitting to add to my resume.  And you know, more than half of life is just showing up and I'm good at that... Edited to add:  You do know, don't you, that there were very few entrants into this contest, right?  Like these ribbons are really attendance prizes.  This does not diminish my happiness, I just feel the need to clarify.

After shopping and lunch and walking around in the sun a lot, I sat and waited for Dear Daughter to finsh her spinning class and I worked on the socks.  I've turned the heels and I'm in the home stretch.  Everyone still asks if I'm knitting socks from the same yarn or from two different yarns.  Maybe they are fraternal enough to wear together after all...

Here, Bridgett's daughter M is doing in her stroller what I wished I could do...

Aquisitions, you say?  But of course!

The first is 8 ounces of merino, dyed with Osage Orange branches.  I learned that if you chop up the wood, and put it in the water with fiber using a steel pot, you get this beautiful celadon color.  If you use a copper pot, you get bright neon green.  If you you use a cast iron pot, you get army green. 

The second is a Corriedale lamb fleece.  4 pounds 1 ounce.  Very clean.  It's soft and lustrous and I need to borrow a drum carder.  A fleece is something I've wanted ever since I started spinning, and I looked at several last year at Rhinebeck and my practical self, and Bridgett, convinced me that carrying a fleece home on the plane was nuts.  Well, driving one home is easy.  So there. 

The last is a Bombyx merino blend, 16 oz, hand dyed.  Gorgeous. 

So, when I went to work yesterday, what I needed to do was buy more fiber!  Sheesh, but I have a credit with Rachel.

And she's been dying the cashmere merino (superwash merino?) that I helped pick out that day that she and Lenora came over to play.  So I got 4 ounces each of two colors. And then there is the pencil roving (is that what we are calling this?).  Because she's written such a cute pattern for it (click her name).

Right.  So spinning fiber?  I'm good, thanks.  Better get on that.

Oh, No, He Dih'int!

It's no secret here abouts that I love Jon Stewart and his commentary.   On Thursday night, he broke this tidbit:  John McCain's campaign launched an ad last week that compared Barak Obama's baseless fame and fandom to that of Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears.  No news there.  What Stewart brought to light for me is the fact that Hilton's parents have donated the maximum amount allowed by law to McCain's campaign.  And, as Stewart put it, then McCain "took a nationally televised dump on their daughter."   Nice.

While John McCain always struck me as a relatively straight shooting guy with integrity and smarts, he's obviously not hiring that kind of person to head up his ad campaigns.  Yikes.   Before running such a personal and distasteful ad, you'd think someone might have thought to look into the principals just a little. 

So now this gaffe is all over the internet and Barak Obama is calling for the media to refocus it's attention and discuss the issues at stake in this election.  Hmm.  Like that's gonna happen. 

And President Bush is calling out Congress for not approving drilling in the Alaskan Wilderness, because, dangit!  We need that oil.  Nevermind that anything we drill up won't come into our national gas tanks for like 10 years, by which time I hope we're relying on wind power. 

And with that, we're right back to grapes.  Which I will never live down.  Hubster says I'm using something called a convenient abstraction, which if you look it up (why on earth would you?!), means that I've made something very complex very simplistic.  Yeah? So?  Now, Chez Annie, everything is all, "Well, if we have grapes in the refrigerator, we might as well (fill in some silly extravagance)" and all "Who will save the South African Grape Pickers if we don't (fill in some silly extravagance)?"  Blah, blah, blah!  Wish I'd never brought it up...  ; )

Onward.

Yes, I still knit sometimes.  But I also get birthday presents.

Kim left this lovely bag for me at work -- in it are locks and wool for me to spin, stitch markers and a great project bag that she made herself.  I'm one lucky birthday girl, aren't I?  Especially if I can get my birthday to go on all week.

You Say Potato, I say Xenophobic

I was listening to NPR yesterday while I was running errands, this edition of All Things Considered in fact, and it's a show I normally enjoy.  You know, interesting talk, out of the ordinary approaches to news of the day, etc.  Some one of their reporters, a woman, was interviewing a French reporter about French First Lady Carla Bruni's new album.  They played a few selections -- it's kind of jazzy, smoky music -- better, quite frankly, than I expected given the lead in.

 The NPR reporter began with a question about how the French people are taking all this.  You know, having a First Lady release a cd in which she refers to having other lovers (I think the number was 30...) and then there's something about a chrysanthemum which might or might not be a thinly veiled sexual reference.  The French reporter paused and chuckled and said that, well, this woman had greatly softened Sarkozy's image as a workaholic, and how she's poised in public, and how she's well, 40, and she's had a life and well no one resents that.

 And the NPR gal asked again whether anyone is up in arms about all of the SEX on the cd, and the French reporter chuckled again and said that the French like their women of a certain age to have a past, that it makes them interesting. 

And the NPR gal asked AGAIN if there wasn't some objection, somewhere, please, to all this?  And the French lady said no that the French are more mature about this stuff... Sheesh!  Ok?  No, they don't care already!  And a 3 minute piece on a prime drive time serious news show about a the wife of an elected European official's new cd? Really?  And we care ALOT about that why?  And it was an annoying piece about all of that to boot.  I was yelling in the car... glad I was alone.

And then, of course, on Ravelry, there's been a lovely, nasty bit about a well-known Canadian blogger who posted on Canada Day (July 1) about loving her country.  And she even prefaced the piece with a little "I know you Americans think that when I post about Canada, it's some kind of swipe about you, but this is not!  This post is about me! blah blah blah".  Which still didn't stop the vitriol.  I was appalled.    I read the thread with mounting disgust -- it was in a McCain for president group I think -- and sat on my hands.  Post after post with jealous, snarky, xenophobic, conjured nonsense.  Actually, I'll admit to reading only the first several pages of like 17.  And some of it was something about how she's a public figure so none of the Rav etiquette applies -- she likes any kind of attention, even this nastiness.  I turned off the computer and rinsed my eyes with Clorox. 

Ok, so no computer, no radio... I'll read the paper.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?!  Excommunications, arrests of immigrants for working in a slaughter house (nothing about the boss!) etc.  Gadzooks, I think I'll knit.

That's better.

Filey is coming right along.  I'm on the neck decreases in the front.  The Rowan Denim is lovely to work with, even though (I know Rachel!) it's  cotton.  You can't tell but these are two 30 inch long pieces of knitting... remember how it's supposed to shrink in the wash?  Like jeans?  Let's just hope. 

Oh, wait.  That's a pattern based on an Irish sweater.  By a Brit designer, with British yarn.  Quick, I'll change the subject to something else...

Bought some Dyeabolical yarn yesterday.  It's too staid to have a name written on it's label. **grin** (And this is a better representation of the true color of Filey of which we shall not speak again.)  This yarn is Amanda's socks.  Some assembly required.  But, yikes!  This yarn's been dyed by someone of Chinese American descent, the the recipient's gone and married a Korean American!  Hang on...

We bought this small (about 5 inches tall) piece last night at a Native American Art show last night at Cahokia Mounds.  It's by an artist named Keith Yazzie Jay and he wins this adjudicated show every year.  Hubster's been wanting a Yazzie Jay piece for a few years and last night we caved.  This man throws the pots, coats them with multiple layers of colored clay and then carves down into the layers with an Exacto knife to create his designs.  And they are stunning. 

There, American enough for you?

Score!

I volunteered to work at the used book fair for Dear Daughter's school today.  I donated like a thousand books to this fair and I swore to myself and hubby that I wouldn't come home with any books.  At all. 

What I didn't know at the time of the swearing was that there might be vintage knitting pamphlets and books.  Such conditions, I believe, render said swearing null and void.  I spent $13.00.

See the Barbara Walker book?  And the Mary Thompson's Knitting book?  It's from 1939.  The Knitting for Young America is a self published book with easy first projects dated 1948.  The author was the managing director of The Handknitting Institute (about which I can find nothing on the Web.)  All are from the library of the O'Fallon Motherhouse for the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood.  Many have the name Sr. Catherine Beckerle written in lovely script on their inside covers.  Sr. Catherine also collected booklets. 

These baby booklets are absolutely chock full of  beautiful, timeless patterns.  The blue one in the bottom right corner is dated 1942, the rest are newer.  There are at least 16 different patterns for soakers in these books, and 4 different patterns  for buntings (I love the idea of a handknitted baby bunting.)    The 1942 book has a pattern for two bathing suits -- knitted in all wool yarn though...  Embiggen the picture and see?  It calls for Fleishers Cassimere, a 100% wool fingering weight yarn.  Nice. 

And this little one has no knitting on, but she seriously doesn't need it, does she?

And this hat?  A must knit.  Really.  I just think it's the cutest thing. 

File this one under "Blog contests, write a caption for this picture."  Too easy?  Really, though, this child is way too old to be cute and nakey on a blankey. 

This set, in one of the older booklets, early '50s I think, is absolutely simple and gorgeous.  I can't wait to make it. 

But Sister Catherine didn't just knit for babies.

There are great patterns for grownups here too.  Love these -- they're from the orange book at the upper left.  I mean seriously, I'd knit any of them tomorrow.  I don't even see where there would need to be too much modernizing in the shaping.   See the cable running up the raglan sleeve?  Love it!

And Sr. Catherine knit the first one for someone...

Husband says I can knit this for him only if I include the pipe and some Brylcreem.  Do they still make that stuff?

Edited to add:  No, I don't think an all wool bathing suit is "nice".  That was sarcasm.  Yes I do really love the yellow cap.  That was not sarcasm.  Darned internets, interfering with my nonverbals...  And did you notice that the two knitting books in the bottom right hand corner of the first picture are the exact books noted in the latest Interweave as books Elizabeth Zimmerman says any intrepid knitter should own.  Well, then.  I'm all set...

And What Fibery Things Have I been Up To?

You get three guesses.  And two of those don't count.

      

My nephew got me this Crown Mountain Farms yak and merino roving for Christmas (I provided his mom with the web site and said anything fun to spin!).  He came over on New Year's Day to help spin it up.

It's working up to be a pretty rustic single with slubs of what I think are the yak (the dark brown stuff) as it spins totally differently from the merino.  That's not a bad thing.  I'll ply  two together, I think, for a soft kind of rag wool effect. 

This is exactly as it appears -- I joined Adrien's fiber club and here is the Dec. 07 installment.  It's a lovely, soft soy silk wool blend.  I can hardly wait to get my hands in this, let me tell you.  Anyone else spun it yet?

And here are the Rachel rovings.  From the top left:  Dance Mistress superwash bfl, Helebore superwash bfl, "Couldn't hit the side of a..." tencel blend, and Dance Mistress tencel blend. 

Her concern about the tencel and how it would spin prompted me to use my first free morning in weeks thusly:

This crummy shot doesn't show the shineyness of it, but the colors are pretty good.  Rachel felt like it kept breaking when she dyed it and was worried it would behave in the same manner on the wheel.  I did not have that problem at all -- 'cause as you can see I've removed my tensioner all together.  It wants to be rather thicker than I've been spinning my wools, but ... well ... duh.  It's not wool.  I kind of really like it.  I'm nearly done with the three pieces she gave me to play with.  Maybe I'll have it worked up into something fun by the party on Sunday. 

Oh, all right.  There has indeed been knitting.  The Hemlock is done and gifted.  I need to sort around and find the pictures.  This swirly scarf, though, is my current obsession.  It's out of my own spun yarn.  Which I heart.

Rachel's roving again, and neither of us can remember the name of it.  Something Dyeabolical, I'm sure.  I like how this scarf shows the yarn shading through color combinations.   It is soft and it makes me happy.  And that is what counts after all.

Steeky, Deeky!

The steeking is done.  Early last week actually.  And it's not nearly as freaky as everyone says.  It was really kind of fun, you know, in a forbidden kind of way. 

I did run zig-zag stitching up the steeks and then I cut between the stitching.  But this yarn?  Going nowhere.

Before Rachel calls me on being all brave and cool about this, I'll admit to taking it into the shop to cut.  With witnesses.  And because I'll be damned if I can find my sharp scissors in this house... it's like some kid ate them or something.  Sheesh.  Good came of this because it gave Sandy a chance to try it on and she and Rachel spent some of the rest of that morning figuring out how to order the yarn for the store ... ***grin***  It is smashing on.  Even it it's raggedy state.

Now, I'm off to the sleeve races.  Where there is, I think, a misprint in the pattern -- an "st" as in stitches, when she means "cm" as in centimeters.  I'm knitting on as that is the only thing that makes sense.  No indictment here -- her English is way better than my Danish...

And I'd like to have this ready to wear by the 3rd weekend in October.  'Cause I'm a square! Yay!

Any guesses as to what's just jumped to the head of the queue?