I am in search of space. Above: the future home of Weaverknits LLC?
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Space
It's official. The amount of crap in my very small apartment is not only testing my husband's patience daily but also making me feel crazed and claustrophobic. One can only write and copyedit full time from a desk that abuts one's bed and use all available surface and floor space as a "knitting studio" for so long. I feel myself reaching the end of the period for which this has been acceptable.
I am in search of space. Above: the future home of Weaverknits LLC?
I am in search of space. Above: the future home of Weaverknits LLC?
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday Yarn Adventure
Today I rewarded myself for all the boring editing work I've waded through over the past few weeks (which is part of the reason the blog has been so quiet . . . well, that and the fact that most of the things I'm knitting are secret things that won't be revealed for months and months). Most of my days are spent working at my large desk in my bedroom/office. About 18 inches to my left is this:
They wake up and get feisty at least once during the late morning/early afternoon: CAT FIGHT!
This is good for some comic relief.
In addition to the copyediting, I've been working on a lot of new designs, including a hat knit from my friend Adrian's amazingly saturated chunky yarns:
She dyed these four colors to match four Color Aid cards I gave her. They are RIGHT ON, too. Amazing! Designing accessories is so much fun. I've made two versions of the hat already, and have a third, more complex version in mind. Because it takes about two hours to make one, I can improvise while I'm knitting an actual hat, rather than in swatch after swatch, like I do for sweaters. The hat will be in White Whale Vol. 2 (release date TBD, depending on how much other work comes my way in the next few months), but will be available as a kit from Adrian at this year's Bazaar Bizarre, so look for it!
So anyway, this afternoon I went to Gather Here in Cambridge, a gorgeous knitting and sewing store and workshop. Somehow I had not yet visited Gather Here . . . I don't know. It's unfathomable. Life is busy. I saw some of the coolest people I know, met some new people, and got a lot of new yarn.
I'm wearing the simplest version of the new hat here (with details concealed on the left side) and holding hand-dyed yarns from Dirty Water Dyeworks and hanspun yarn from NJ Stacie Made. It was a good day. A relaxing day. Now it's time to get back to work.
They wake up and get feisty at least once during the late morning/early afternoon: CAT FIGHT!
This is good for some comic relief.In addition to the copyediting, I've been working on a lot of new designs, including a hat knit from my friend Adrian's amazingly saturated chunky yarns:
She dyed these four colors to match four Color Aid cards I gave her. They are RIGHT ON, too. Amazing! Designing accessories is so much fun. I've made two versions of the hat already, and have a third, more complex version in mind. Because it takes about two hours to make one, I can improvise while I'm knitting an actual hat, rather than in swatch after swatch, like I do for sweaters. The hat will be in White Whale Vol. 2 (release date TBD, depending on how much other work comes my way in the next few months), but will be available as a kit from Adrian at this year's Bazaar Bizarre, so look for it!So anyway, this afternoon I went to Gather Here in Cambridge, a gorgeous knitting and sewing store and workshop. Somehow I had not yet visited Gather Here . . . I don't know. It's unfathomable. Life is busy. I saw some of the coolest people I know, met some new people, and got a lot of new yarn.
I'm wearing the simplest version of the new hat here (with details concealed on the left side) and holding hand-dyed yarns from Dirty Water Dyeworks and hanspun yarn from NJ Stacie Made. It was a good day. A relaxing day. Now it's time to get back to work.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Color honesty destash!!!
Thanks to everyone for the compliments on my new shawl! It's been getting a lot of wear. For those of you interested in trying overdying, I use Cushing Acid Dyes. Those little packets have instructions for how to mix the dye. This website gives all the necessary information. It's easy!
I feel like posting about that purple shawl has made me much more honest about my taste in colors. I've found a few more yarns to destash based on the fact that the colors do not inspire me. I admit it: There are only so many hours in the day, and I'm not going to spend them knitting things in colors that aren't my first choice, especially because I have such a gigantic stash that contains all the colors of the rainbow. These colors are some of my first choices.
Or these, as used in my sister's nearly complete Albers Shawl. I found this in her bedroom when we visited her last weekend. The outermost color will be a mushroomy brown.
Before posting about the purple, I (egotistically? Solipsistically?) though that if I didn't like a certain color, none of you would be interested in it, either. Now I know there's a home for everything, except, perhaps, hospital green. But I'll keep those. Or beige. But I don't have any of that in my stash. And while many of you are not yellow fans, those of us who are, watch out for us. We make up for our small numbers with our commitment and enthusiasm.
THE YARN IS ALL SOLD! Thanks everyone! More to come... some for sale, some contests. This is actually a lot of fun!
So here's some yarn I'd like to pass on to loving homes. The theme seems to be harvest colors.
SOLD! Eight skeins of Knitpicks Gloss in the now-discontinued color Pumpkin. It's more of a rust color, I think, like colored leaves. Too autumn for me, not ORANGE enough. $18 plus $7 shipping, and it can be yours! 1,760 yards. Go crazy!
Two skeins of Spud & Chloe Outer in natural, which appears to be discontinued. Wound the one skein to make a cowl, then realized that a cowl in this color wasn't great with my pale complexion. $9 plus $5 shipping. Whee! I bought this yarn for my next cowl or shawl:
And finally...
Nearly five skeins of Rowanspun DK in a mossy green. I bought this about 12 years ago and still haven't knit it into anything, so it's time to pass it on. It's been stored in a sealed bag but may have a few random cat hairs. $15 plus $5 shipping.
Email me at weaverknits77@gmail.com if you're interested!
I feel like posting about that purple shawl has made me much more honest about my taste in colors. I've found a few more yarns to destash based on the fact that the colors do not inspire me. I admit it: There are only so many hours in the day, and I'm not going to spend them knitting things in colors that aren't my first choice, especially because I have such a gigantic stash that contains all the colors of the rainbow. These colors are some of my first choices.
Or these, as used in my sister's nearly complete Albers Shawl. I found this in her bedroom when we visited her last weekend. The outermost color will be a mushroomy brown.
Before posting about the purple, I (egotistically? Solipsistically?) though that if I didn't like a certain color, none of you would be interested in it, either. Now I know there's a home for everything, except, perhaps, hospital green. But I'll keep those. Or beige. But I don't have any of that in my stash. And while many of you are not yellow fans, those of us who are, watch out for us. We make up for our small numbers with our commitment and enthusiasm.
THE YARN IS ALL SOLD! Thanks everyone! More to come... some for sale, some contests. This is actually a lot of fun!
So here's some yarn I'd like to pass on to loving homes. The theme seems to be harvest colors.
SOLD! Eight skeins of Knitpicks Gloss in the now-discontinued color Pumpkin. It's more of a rust color, I think, like colored leaves. Too autumn for me, not ORANGE enough. $18 plus $7 shipping, and it can be yours! 1,760 yards. Go crazy!
Two skeins of Spud & Chloe Outer in natural, which appears to be discontinued. Wound the one skein to make a cowl, then realized that a cowl in this color wasn't great with my pale complexion. $9 plus $5 shipping. Whee! I bought this yarn for my next cowl or shawl:
And finally...
Nearly five skeins of Rowanspun DK in a mossy green. I bought this about 12 years ago and still haven't knit it into anything, so it's time to pass it on. It's been stored in a sealed bag but may have a few random cat hairs. $15 plus $5 shipping.Email me at weaverknits77@gmail.com if you're interested!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Overdye success!
Some black dye and and the dying pot...
Ta da! Dark plum. A little blotchy, but that just adds to the depth, I think. I've been wearing it every since it dried. Success!
And the winner of 238g/about 525 yards of purple yarn, determined by random number generator, is... commenter #7, Loribird! Email me your address at weaverknits77@gmail.com and I'll send you some PURPLE.
I LOVED reading all your color comments. I was laughing all week! I wasn't surprised that yellow and orange were difficult for a lot of people, and yes, "hospital green" is a tough one, too, although I think it has great potential. You guys are great!!!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Predjudice and Favoritism on the Color Wheel
When I teach Color Theory, I don't teach students what colors look best on them. I figure that by the time we're young adults we've all gotten plenty of feedback about which colors "really bring out" our eyes and which ones make us look pale and sick. Perhaps some of you were even assigned a color "season" through the Color Me Beautiful program. (Wow, I just looked that up and found that it is still going strong. Who knew? I remember when my aunt got her "colors done." She was a Winter. She told me I was an Autumn).
I argue that everyone can wear every color, in moderation, mixed with other colors. I wear all of them. However, if yellow is my Superman of colors, purple is my Bizarro. When organizing my stash, I found this partially finished Wool Peddler's Shawl, in purple (here modeled as a cat blanket because I feel such apathy about putting it on):
I almost ripped it, but it measures nearly six feet across the top, so I worked a few rows of garter stitch and bound off. But I'll never wear it. It's destined to be overdyed. What is it about this blackberry color? What IS it?
I have more of the purple yarn, which is Lorna's Laces Fisherman, a 100% soft wool (merino?), worsted weight, in blackberry (you can see the colors here; this blackberry is more muted than the color in the photo). It's a great yarn, very soft and far more durable than Shepherd Worsted. I don't know why more shops don't carry it. In any case, I'm obviously not going to knit another project from this yarn.
Like purple? Want the yarn? Just leave a comment telling me your least favorite color and how it makes you feel. I'll start: Purple. Lethargic. I'll pick a comment at random at the end of the week!
I argue that everyone can wear every color, in moderation, mixed with other colors. I wear all of them. However, if yellow is my Superman of colors, purple is my Bizarro. When organizing my stash, I found this partially finished Wool Peddler's Shawl, in purple (here modeled as a cat blanket because I feel such apathy about putting it on):
I almost ripped it, but it measures nearly six feet across the top, so I worked a few rows of garter stitch and bound off. But I'll never wear it. It's destined to be overdyed. What is it about this blackberry color? What IS it?
I have more of the purple yarn, which is Lorna's Laces Fisherman, a 100% soft wool (merino?), worsted weight, in blackberry (you can see the colors here; this blackberry is more muted than the color in the photo). It's a great yarn, very soft and far more durable than Shepherd Worsted. I don't know why more shops don't carry it. In any case, I'm obviously not going to knit another project from this yarn.
Like purple? Want the yarn? Just leave a comment telling me your least favorite color and how it makes you feel. I'll start: Purple. Lethargic. I'll pick a comment at random at the end of the week!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
The Try-Works
If "The Castaway" was the first vivid chapter from Moby-Dick that I was compelled to capture in a piece of knitting, then "The Try-Works" followed immediately. In this chapter, Melville describes the bloody, infernal process of rendering a whale's carcass into oil.
February 2011: I start swatching for The Try-Works. I wanted the garment, whatever it was (at this point I wasn't sure if it would be a sweater or a shawl) to be as near to black as possible without losing the definition of the cables. Briar Rose Fibers has just those colors.
When I ready Moby-Dick in my college American Literature class, we discussed this chapter from several perspectives, the most memorable of which, for me, was as an illustration of capitalism and industry. And not a positive illustration, as even a quick flip through the chapter makes clear. I chose to feature this quotation from "The Try-Works" in my book:
"Like a plethoric burning martyr, or a self-consuming misanthrope, once ignited, the whale supplies his own fuel and burns by his own body."
April 2011: I finish the body of the sweater with a cable motif that reminded me of peeling blubber and smoke.
Once the fires of the try-works are started with wood shavings, these fires are fed with the scraps of blubber that remain after their oil has been rendered. The whale turns itself into a product for sale and consumption. At what cost?
". . . in front, the harpooners wildly gesticulated with their huge pronged forks and dippers as the wind howled on, and the sea leaped, and the ship groaned and dived, and yet steadfastly shot her red hell further and further into the blackness of the sea and the night . . ."
Melville's vision of industry is bleak.
As much as I wanted "menacing" photos of this sweater, I also wanted knitters to, well, desire to make one. So we took photos in the sun along the blue ocean.
June 2011: The photos.
This has turned out to be my favorite piece in White Whale Vol. 1. Despite the fact that it's probably not wise to wear a sample four or five days a week, I've been wearing it with everything.
October 2011: The Try-Works at Rhinebeck, with Karen of choochoo knits fame, who is wearing a dress of her own design that she probably whipped up in about three days.
In sum: Sometimes a scathing social critique, rendered in images that stick in the mind years after reading, can become something loved and practical. A great sweater that matches everything and fits fabulously. But behind it, a story. And one that's far from clear-cut. This is the goal for me, and I hope to realize it in all my future White Whale work.
February 2011: I start swatching for The Try-Works. I wanted the garment, whatever it was (at this point I wasn't sure if it would be a sweater or a shawl) to be as near to black as possible without losing the definition of the cables. Briar Rose Fibers has just those colors.
When I ready Moby-Dick in my college American Literature class, we discussed this chapter from several perspectives, the most memorable of which, for me, was as an illustration of capitalism and industry. And not a positive illustration, as even a quick flip through the chapter makes clear. I chose to feature this quotation from "The Try-Works" in my book:
"Like a plethoric burning martyr, or a self-consuming misanthrope, once ignited, the whale supplies his own fuel and burns by his own body."
April 2011: I finish the body of the sweater with a cable motif that reminded me of peeling blubber and smoke.
Once the fires of the try-works are started with wood shavings, these fires are fed with the scraps of blubber that remain after their oil has been rendered. The whale turns itself into a product for sale and consumption. At what cost?
". . . in front, the harpooners wildly gesticulated with their huge pronged forks and dippers as the wind howled on, and the sea leaped, and the ship groaned and dived, and yet steadfastly shot her red hell further and further into the blackness of the sea and the night . . ."
Melville's vision of industry is bleak.
As much as I wanted "menacing" photos of this sweater, I also wanted knitters to, well, desire to make one. So we took photos in the sun along the blue ocean.
June 2011: The photos.
This has turned out to be my favorite piece in White Whale Vol. 1. Despite the fact that it's probably not wise to wear a sample four or five days a week, I've been wearing it with everything.October 2011: The Try-Works at Rhinebeck, with Karen of choochoo knits fame, who is wearing a dress of her own design that she probably whipped up in about three days.
In sum: Sometimes a scathing social critique, rendered in images that stick in the mind years after reading, can become something loved and practical. A great sweater that matches everything and fits fabulously. But behind it, a story. And one that's far from clear-cut. This is the goal for me, and I hope to realize it in all my future White Whale work.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Help dig me out
I'm drowning in yarn! I've been too busy lately to make much headway on my huge organization plans, but I got a few photos in today.
Note: Everything is sold and off to new homes! Thanks!!! More to come, I promise!
7 skeins of Silky Wool in a lovely dark chocolate brown. I planned a design in this yarn, but after swatching realized I will NEVER be able to capture this color in a photograph. $20 plus $7 shipping. GONE!!! Wow, you guys are FAST!
Nearly 3 skeins of Lorna's Laces Solemate sock yarn. This is over a skein of Vera, the variegated colorway, and nearly full skeins of the semi-solid green and purple. This is a great, crisp sock yarn, but once you've done one project in a certain color scheme it's less appealing to do a second. $10 plus $5 shipping. SOLD!
Claudia Hand Painted Linen Lace, about 175 grams/945 yards. One full skein (100 grams/540 yards) and most of a second skein that has been wound into a cake. It is lipstick pink, the color I used for this design:
World's most washed-out photo of this cardigan from Knit magazine. I'll be publishing the pattern as an individual pdf one of these days (note: this sweater only took about 700 yards, so this is enough for a sweater or BIG shawl). Anyway, you get the idea. This yarn rocks if you like linen. $20 plus $7 shipping. SOLD!
Still available as of 10:08 pm... I'm going to sleep and will check in in the morning...
Help me out people, and drop me an email at weaverknits77@gmail.com.
Note: Everything is sold and off to new homes! Thanks!!! More to come, I promise!
7 skeins of Silky Wool in a lovely dark chocolate brown. I planned a design in this yarn, but after swatching realized I will NEVER be able to capture this color in a photograph. $20 plus $7 shipping. GONE!!! Wow, you guys are FAST!
Nearly 3 skeins of Lorna's Laces Solemate sock yarn. This is over a skein of Vera, the variegated colorway, and nearly full skeins of the semi-solid green and purple. This is a great, crisp sock yarn, but once you've done one project in a certain color scheme it's less appealing to do a second. $10 plus $5 shipping. SOLD!
Claudia Hand Painted Linen Lace, about 175 grams/945 yards. One full skein (100 grams/540 yards) and most of a second skein that has been wound into a cake. It is lipstick pink, the color I used for this design:
World's most washed-out photo of this cardigan from Knit magazine. I'll be publishing the pattern as an individual pdf one of these days (note: this sweater only took about 700 yards, so this is enough for a sweater or BIG shawl). Anyway, you get the idea. This yarn rocks if you like linen. $20 plus $7 shipping. SOLD!
Still available as of 10:08 pm... I'm going to sleep and will check in in the morning...
Help me out people, and drop me an email at weaverknits77@gmail.com.
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