Mistle-toad

My family never hung mistletoe at the holidays. We hung a toad. In the doorway that lead to the kitchen. It was a kissing toad, or Mistle-toad, as my mom called him.

I remember a stuffed toad, dressed in a Santa costume (or maybe no costume and I made that part up) with a bit of a plant tied in a ribbon around his neck.

Like these below:

 

They aren't spectacular drawings, but they get the point across.

I miss the toad. My mother got rid of him many years ago, and there's been no move to replace him. And I'm determined, he needs to come back. In fact, he may find many new families to live with next year, he and his cousins can cause lots of kissing in lots of houses!

The connection to knitting is that I will knit a Mr, Mistle-toad this year. There are lots of patterns for knit animals/frogs, and among some of them must be one that matches my memory of the original toad. If needs must I can improvise a pattern, but I'm wary of the feet. How would one create those webbed toes?

But there are many months to plan and think about it, plot and plan, and of course other projects to complete. A sweater is almost ready to pop off the needles!

 

Be excellent to each other!

 

Midwest Fiber Arts Almanac

Last spring (2013) I met with the editor of the Midwest Fiber Arts Almanac, Jennifer. Every year she selects 12 artists to interview and photograph their works for inclusion in the yearly planner, newsletter and blog that she produces. My works were featured in the October newsletter and in November in the planner.

It has been a most gratifying and heart warming experience working with Jennifer. The interview definitely probed deep and prompted more thought about my intentions as a designer and artist. For a long time I had worked and designed because I felt a driving need. In our conversations I put words to my intentions: I create as a way to express my desire for beauty and functionality in those items I work with or use daily. As a way to challenge myself ... And thereby supply knitted hugs (sweaters) for loved ones. The intention you hold as you create matters.

I encourage you to read the Midwest Fiber Arts newsletter and blog. There are so many talented men and women sharing their vision of the world through a variety of medium. It's a blessing to be among them.

Thanks Jennifer.

 

Also, this is the photo of me that Jennifer used in the article ... I'm glad I went to the Renaissance Fair this year. This definitely fits my internal image of myself as an artist, or a bit of a weirdo.

 

Be excellent to each other!

 

Love your nerd

Nerd, geek, dork, and weirdo are all affectionate terms in my house. They connote someone that thinks about a thing and loves it passionately. (Wil Wheaton's blog post and open letter about being nerd are simply fabulous!) Everyone is passionate about something in different ways. Lucky for me many friends share some passions and are totally stoked about others - such that they are inspiring.

My most recent inspiration comes from a friend's and my own past experiences with chemistry. (Not quite as wide spread a passion as doctor who, I know!) I'm quite fond of the seamless yoke sweater, and have concocted a way to make another sweater with a new chart - a chart based on mass spectrometer readings! (Or the element read out that becomes a line graph not lines in a bar chart format.) Something like this, but not rare earth minerals.

The yoke portion will be repeating charts of the line graphs representing a chemical compound. My current plan is to use iron oxide, rust. Those charts seem to be quite varied, visually appealing, and meaningful to the recipient.

Yes, this is a man's sweater. And my current challenge is to add a zipper to the front instead of doing buttons. I think a zipper is totally doable. It is more enjoyable to start a new project when there is some challenge, but I'm not quite ready for steeks, they still terrify me.

In other nerdy news I would like to share a photograph from a BBQ this weekend where a friend kindly brought her lawn sized version of Settlers of Catan. I had tried to imagine what it be like to play on a giant board, and now I'm planning more giant versions of games. Imagine if candy land was giant and there were real fudge pits?!?

That's all for now.

Be excellent to each other!

 

Into the wardrobe

The weather has begun the slow shift from warm evenings and ample sunshine to soft golden rays and a cool breeze that sends me running to the closet for a shawl. Oh, fall. I'm already rummaging in my closet for the bin of sweaters and other warm articles. I spent some time last weekend playing with the shawls and thinking of how to use the new found space (vacant as the sweaters were unpacked). I theorize that the space will now be used to store Christmas gifts.

After going through all my shawls this week, selecting favorites, and wearing them again I realized that I have made over two dozen shawls. To commemorate I put together a collage.

Some I've kept, others have been given as gifts. I am quite pleased that there is a rainbow of colors.

Circling back to above, Christmas gifts. It's the season to plot, plan, and buy the yarns. There are a few projects lined up for this festival season. A sweater, maybe a shawl/hat and another hat. Lucky for me one project is done! A hat! But as its a Christmas gift, even if the recipient doesn't read this blog, I can't post pictures yet. Darn. Because it is so awesome!

Let me chat about it, even if I can't post full pictures.

I started designing the hat last year as an entry in the WWMDFK, What Would Madame DeFarge Knit, online publication. They do nerdy/literature themed project collections. And they are fabulous! A key component to all projects submitted is the ability to customize or enhance the pattern in some way as it is created, blocked or dyed. I remember a project that was knit in natural 'un-dyed' yarn and dyed after it was finished.

I devised a pattern with modular charts. These charts could then be used in a variety of projects and yarn weights. The charts themselves would only be about 10 wide x 20 stitches high. Being the same size would mean you could pick any number of the charts to use in your project and be sure that the finished dimensions could work. There are a total of 26 charts, hint hint. Oh, and one other chart to mark the 'end' position.

Charts in hand I picked ones I wished to use and cast on. I knit the brim of the hat and stopped. How in the world could I finish this design in some intereting yet uncomplicated way. I hunted, I searched, I checked every stitch dictionary I owned. I stumbled across an awesome slipped stitch colorwork cheat pattern in a Japanese stitch dictionary. I figured it out and set the hat aside for a year.

Fast forward a year and I picked the hat back up. I finished the faux colorwork with the slipped stitches (see below - cause I feel safe posting that). And blocked the hat to within an inch of its life. I have never made a hat that fits anyone besides myself. If I'm giving it as a gift it has always come out too big, too small, too short, or too tall. Cross your fingers that this one works. But worst case scenario, at least it fits me.

Once completed the hat went ... Into the wardrobe. As it is for a friend I did not want to risk it being seen if left in my usual piles of completed projects around the apartment. So, hidden away, it is safe until the snow flies.

Now I shall begin preparations for the holiday sweater, for which I am so stoked! Nerdiness here I come!

More about it next post.

Be excellent to each other!

 

All the things

My roommate was out of town for a few weeks, leaving the apartment to myself and the cat. You can see how he spent his two weeks ...

I'm not quite as lazy as my cat. So I entertained myself with lots of projects, of note starting a new sweater and beginning a new hobby of jarring.

First, the sweater. Two weeks ago it looked like this:

Yes, it looks vaguely like something reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe, but we don't always have to be twelve. Because after some good effort over a few evenings, it now looks like this:

It is the Amande cardigan, by Atelier Alfa. I purchased the yarn some months ago at yarn shop hop. It seemed the perfect project to pull out after finishing the sweaters for the state fair. First, it starts so small with just the sleeve caps.

Knitting isn't the only thing that's been keeping me company while my roommate travels the globe. The weather has finally turned warm and the produce has been flying to my house from the farmers market and the coop. A few weeks ago I taught myself canning with 5lbs of Colorado peaches. Mouth watering lay good, I wanted to keep some for the winter.

That's the canning pressure cooker ... And a stool, because I am not tall enough to reach into the pot safely.

And those are the glorious peaches. And they are glorious. Lucky for me some of the peaches bruised slightly meaning they had to be eaten quickly. Oh no. But enough remained that I got a few good jars, in total four quarts and two pints! (Which, yes I know, is 5 quarts.)

Once I mastered the peaches I ran along to the farmers market and bought a large basket of tomatoes. An afternoon in the kitchen saw the tomatoes in their own jars. I blanched them and removed the skins, and then quartered them to ensure they would fit in the mouth of the jar. Once quarter I pulverized them with the end if a wood spoon until they more closely resembled crushed tomatoes. There shall shortly be more jars joining them on the shelves in the pantry. Maybe some beans? Beets? More peaches if they are still good?

Then there was the cake, because we definitely needed a cake to cheer up a few weeks ago.

The last few weeks have been so filled with activities, friends, baking and knitting that I was desperately glad to have my roommate back to keep me sane. I realized that I'm a darned busy body when left on my own!

And just because, here is me at the mn renaissance fair! In front of the caber toss, and oh it was glorious! There is something about watching grown men heaving a giant log up and chucking it end over end into the air. The word heaving sticks with me ...

Be excellent to each other!

 

Sweaters on the brain

The state fair sweaters are done, but two of the entries are personal designs. I'm starting the process of writing the instructions up. As always, knitting and trouble shooting are far more enjoyable than writing everything down. This time I was smart, in two ways. First, I took copious notes along with diagrams as I knit Cloudberry (the more complicated of the two designs). Second, I've been attending a work night with friends where the entire point is to bring your laptop and get things done. So, I've been working on the writing while drinking beer in the company of fabulous people. Win win!

One beer and most of a cupcake later I have the instructions finished for: the picot hem, starting the main body, knitting the sleeves and joining the two together!

Luckily, almost all of the instructions for Cloudberry cardigan will overlap with Dancing Elephants. I've almost determined how best to explain joining the sleeves and main body together with a handy diagram. As a visual knitter I would have loved this diagram when learning this technique.

To distract my brain from the tedium of writing a pattern I started another drawing today of a new sweater. It follows the seamless, bottom-up yoke sweater format. And requires searching for more buttons. Oh darn. (Not!)

I don't know whether that sweater will ever be a written pattern, but I really want a sweater that uses some sweet ribbons a friend gave me for my birthday.

There's also that rosy Amande yarn burning a hole in my stash. I wound it today. Isn't it pretty? Someday it will be a sweater!

As I contemplate knitting more sweaters in this 90 degree heat...

Be excellent to each other!

 

Idle hands do not live at my house

The state fair is less than one month away. The three sweaters are registered. Two in the machine knitting category (green Amande and dancing elephants) and one in the hand knit (cloudberry). Photo below.

Since I finished the big summer knitting I've kept occupied by baking (some of which occurred with Belgian beer in hand).

But didn't the bars turn out beautifully?

The cookie bars are the chocolate oat bars from the joy of cooking. I'm modified a few things: I use 1/2 of the dough on the bottom not 1/3 as the recipe suggests and I added 2 drops of orange extract to the chocolate mixture. You couldn't identify that the extract was there, but I've made these enough times with the same ingredients every time to notice something was extra yummy about this batch.
Then there were the gnomes I made for the gnome gift exchange. My random giftee liked miniature cartoonish things. Did I succeed?

And finally some mandalas I've been working for cards. A future design might be the final inspiration for my tattoo. Or a variation of this one.

I have this thought in my head. I'm slowly honing my ability to get this idea out of my head and put it on paper. The ability to extract an idea from my head and create is so much easier with knitting. Practice makes capable.
Keep your hands busy!
Be excellent to each other!