Mad Hatter Cardigan

Brand new from the Sanguine Gryphon... A Tea Tray in the Sky!

It's a top-down round-yoke cardigan knit in one piece using fingering-weight yarn; sizes are 32-52 inch bust; the sample is 36 inches around. The colorwork is a slipped stitch pattern, so only one color is used per row. This is one of those designs that just made sense--I've been wanting to use a plaid pattern for some time, and mixing it with some floral elements (my first time using floral elements). Just click the link above to order!


The working title was "Garden Punk." I knew it was right for the Sanguine Gryphon. I mean, they styled it with a top hat.

I'm SAAAAILING! I'm really sailing! I'm a sailor, I sail!

This is where I was from last Sunday to this Thursday:

I had the good fortune to be offered the position of knitting instructor/onboard consultant for two knitting cruises on the Isaac H. Evans, a tall ship that sails out of Rockland, Maine. There were advanced knitters, there were intermediate knitters, there were two people who learned to knit. But there was more. I swam in the cold ocean (how can you resist an offer to jump RIGHT OFF A BOAT?)


I ate three lobsters at a lobster bake on the beach of a small island.


I even got to climb to the top of the mast and look out over the ocean. There were seals frolicking around the ship.

Oh yeah, and I did some knitting of my own. Remember this? I'm reknitting it using Neighborhood Fiber Co.'s Studio Sock and actually writing up the pattern. It should be available by August.


There's more about the trip on my flickr page. Have some time this September? There's another knitting cruise with bunks still available starting on Sept. 6. Seriously, it could not have been more awesome.

The Next Big Thing

Sorry there's been a lot of silence around here. There's a new self-published project in the works. Smaller than Craft Work Knit, which nearly destroyed me, and more of a collaboration.

It's four patterns, each of which is based on a chapter of Moby-Dick. It's an offshoot of the Ambergris pattern I did for Sanguine Gryphon this winter--once I started rereading Moby-Dick, the ideas came in a torrent. This first small booklet will be out at the end of September, and will be followed by a few other Moby-Dick volumes, until I run out of ideas or have designed enough patterns to create a lovely large hard-cover compilation book that no one will buy.

I'm thrilled to be using some of Matt Kish's illustrations in this project, which, combined with my sister's incredible graphic design skills, promises to be as much inspirational concept book as knitting instruction booklet. After Kathleen told me about Matt's Moby-Dick blog, I spent several days reading every entry and gushing about it to everyone I know. I don't want to share too much about my book, but if you like Matt's work you can pre-order his book, which includes all his Moby-Dick illustrations and will be released in October.


Yesterday the buttons for the projects arrived: All custom glass shank buttons from Shipyard Point Glassworks. Those large, deep red ones are 3/4" in diameter and so, so rich. Chinaski was getting way too curious in this photo; I think I was yelling at him as I took it.


Of course, there's also some new research.

I am thinking that my knitting will become more and more conceptual until it has no audience whatsoever. Things seem to be heading that way!

Sickening!*

If you've been following my blog, you might know about my love for Ru Paul's Drag Race.

This past week I was fortunate enough to meet some of the ladies from Season 3 at Club Cafe in Boston... including Raja, in all her amazonian, gender-bending, fierce amazingness.

Here I am, trying to hold my own while she channels Ziggy Stardust:




Here she is with my friend Sarah, who scored us tickets to this event:


And here's a photo I can't believe I was able to shoot from the crowd:


There are a few more photos on my flickr site.

*Sickening: Something that is insanely good.

Guumon at FOE in Northampton, MA, through June 7!

If you've been following this blog for a while, you might remember my first custom Guumon, a collaboration with my friend Brian Mahony. Brian (who lives right across the street from me; isn't that awesome?) currently has a big shown at FOE in Northampton, MA, and, while I was in DC during the opening, Chris and I took a roadtrip there yesterday.


I have a new custom piece in the show, which combines a traditional Scandinavian geometric motif with some freeform crochet.


It was an honor to be in the company of a lot of famous artists, including the likes of OsirisOrion and blobpus (who did the paint job below):


Check out my first custom Guu in the top row!


If you live in the Northampton area, or are planning a trip to WEBS in the next two weeks, stop by. Even if you miss the Guus, stop by the gallery; I love places like this where, if you love the art enough, you can actually afford to buy some of it.

She's Electric: The Retina Scalder Goes Live!

It's knitty surprise time once again, and in the spirit of spring and color theory, here it is:


This is the result of a challenge posed by knitty and Lorna's Laces yarns: I was tasked with "doing my thing" with some highly variegated, super bright yarn, full of different contrasts. If it is not yet clear, my "thing" is creating garments. Sure, it's easy enough to make a variegated hat, or shawl, but what about a sweater? For an adult?

Lorna's Laces chose the colors. They pulled no punches. The yarn arrived, scalding my retinas when I ripped open the packaging ("Retina Scalder" was the project's name while it was in progress). However, driving home from work a few weeks ago, the Oasis song "She's Electric" came on the radio. Which made me think.

I like that song.

It's a great name for this sweater.

I'm particularly pleased with that back detail.

Because really, once the yarn is knit up and on a person, it's not scalding at all. It's stunning. This cardigan is a compliment magnet. And look, no pooling!


It's just as bright as Oranje, but it's knit in one piece from the top down, with a slipped stitch waistband pattern that only uses one color at a time. Color knows no difficulty level.

P.S. For those of you have watched recent seasons of America's Next Top Model, NOT THAT I RECOMMEND IT, my sister (who took these photos) told me to "Smize". Can you tell? I was smizing in that first shot!

Team Weaver: Recent Activity

Lil' sis Beth curated a show at the RISD student gallery called The Body. It included some really cool embroidery.

Team Captain Mom wrote an eloquent tribute to my grandma that was featured in the Grand Rapids Press (scroll down... you'll even see a photo of her with one of her students).

The Dud, well, he's got 14 more days as a high school math teacher before retirement. Go Dud!


However, did you know that, while widely considered the most rational, level-headed member of Team Weaver, he's a driving force behind boxes filled with random notes written on free stationary from a wide spectrum of organizations, envelopes covered with stickers from same organizations?


Note the purple Buzz Lightyear valentine that's been repurposed as an anniversary card. Yep.

And... I'm in the middle of a copyeditpocalypse. Ann gots to get paid!