I can knit back backwards!

Thanks to excellent instructions from the knit witch in a video.  I’ve never been able to grasp it before.  This is important because I’ve got two projects going which will go much faster with this technique.  The Peacock’s Best Vest from SWTC involves 114 mitered diamonds, no less, and assorted other little triangles and stuff.  They’re all in garter stitch, so I guess I’ll have to learn how to purl back backwards too.  Or just turn my work over and over and over . . . .  The other one is Lizard Ridge, from knitty. Lots of short rows every sixth row.  I have no pictures yet, as the two projects are still mostly in my head.

I do have a picture of another knitty pattern.  This took me literally months to complete.  I really like the result, but I am so slow.  It’s decimal, in classic elite premiere.  My ravelry project page here.

the model's mother made her do this, therefore incognito

Behind the model you see a variety of clematis with an unusual flower color.  It’s ready for its closeup.

how do I look?

I love blue flowers.

did I promise you a roadside attraction?

How about Foamhenge?  Foamhenge?, you say.  Yes.  Just like Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in the South of England, but made of styrofoam.  No, really.  It’s a same size replica in Natural Bridge, VA.  Find a review of foamhenge, and an interview with the artist, Mark Cline, at roadsideamerica.com .  You can book this place for your special event, or attend the Enchantment Faire in September.  How many places can you visit where you can buy a knighthood for your child, or watch flaming coconuts flung from a trebuchet?  I’d like to see the sheep tossing contest, myself.†  We just wandered around and in it on a beautiful spring day.

†ETA: not live sheep of course, or even formerly live sheep, sillies!

I took this picture from down the hill a bit.  The tiny human is 6′ 3″ or so IRL.  If you go look at the large size of the picture, he appears to be trying to escape while Merlin throws a spell at him.

run!

The one below is taken from inside the circle, the same human is there for scale.

soooo big!

Notice the difference in construction on the sign below.  Go to the largest flickr size to make the print easier to read.

If you are curious what it looks like really close up, it looks like styrofoam with gray paint on it.

yup, styrofoam

One more picture for you, just a beautiful near-sunset skyline from inside the standing foams:

Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain sky

Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival 2009

Yes, it took me more than a week to get around to blogging it.  You forgive me, because I have some cool stuff to share.  This fiber event is worth the drive for the setting alone, never mind the drool potential at the vendor booths. Look:

such a beautiful place

My daughter had a conversation with this baby angora goat.  You can see a video of it at youtube, or find it in my vodpod sidebar widget.

m-y-y-y last word, no m-i-n-e

but, I’ll just embed it here, so you don’t have to go looking for it. hee hee!

I got snagged by the Serendipitous Ewe Chance sock yarn* colors, and ended up buying Bird of Paradise, Waterlily, Pumpkin Pie, and Tulip

*All subtle striping, and guaranteed not to pool. Info for Chance Sock Yarn: A Superwash sock yarn, with a little nylon for support,80% Superwash Merino Wool/20% Nylon,Approx. 420 yards,6–7 sts per inch,US size 1–3 needles.  Please go look at their pictures, because I haven’t taken any yet.  It’s lovely stuff.

At Wild Hare Fibers booth, I looked at Spinolution spinning wheels.  I like that they are made in the USA, and cleverly engineered.  If you look at the gallery page, the customizations add aesthetic value I mean, make ‘em look so much more purtier.  This one belongs to Melissa, aka wildhare, and is a Mach 1 model. In the background is the Strauch Fiber Equipment booth.  I have their dbl finest motorized drum carder, and personally believe it is the best on the market.

gorgeous custom deco job

This young lady is just learning how to treadle, and she is test spinning on a Bee travel wheel.

air spinning

teaser: we stopped by a roadside attraction after the festival, see it next post.

new mailbox for mother’s day

What more could a mother want?  Perhaps to be greeted with a display like this first thing in the morning:

from my youngest, to whom I read many books

The quote on this note is attributed to Strickland Gillilan on a page of quotes

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be –

I had a Mother who read to me.

I’m just dissolving into a puddle of maudlin sentimentality here, I know, but the child just credited me for her love of literature.  I got good grades!!  What a gratifying kid.

DH’s gift is a little more concrete, and I do mean that literally.  He’s been wrestling with a brick mailbox pedestal for two days now.  Here’s the photo synopsis:

old mailbox

Had to be extracted with a cold chisel and a prybar.

a short truce for the weekend warrior

Then back into the breach

weekend warrior in the thick of battle

I have every confidence the battle will be won by dawn.

Stitches South ‘09 continued

On Saturday, I ate a hurried lunch in the registration area with two charming young women, LaraBoBara and SarahBess.  Lara blogs at http://www.redredwhine.com/ and Sarah at http://www.knitting12steps.blogspot.com/.  Haha, you two.  Now you have to update.  I’d have liked to spend more time with them, I really enjoy their company and conversation.  So I was feeling energetic and positive (thank you, ladies) when I got to my class with Chris Bylsma titled “Beyond Basic Buttons“.  Our first instruction: “You are all 8 years old. You are at camp, and you are in the arts and crafts cabin.” I thought, I’m going to enjoy this.  And I did.  I love playing with yarn, glue, scissors and odd bits.  Here’s a picture of some class projects:

mine are on the barf colored swatch. it looks better irl, really.

and me with Chris:

Chris Bylsma and adoring fan

and most of the class.  a lucky and clever few escaped before my camera was ready.

beautiful and clever women, all

That evening I arrived at Scalini’s along with some other Stitches attendees and vendors for a banquet dinner which I think every last one of us enjoyed very much.  These are our renegade leaders.  theknitwitch is holding the yarn.

click 'em to biggen 'em

My charming tablemates to the right:

sorry about the red eyes, ladies.

And to the left:

Miss Babs and company

And two happy prize winners:

pinksquirrel and project bag

knittermonkey with handspun yarn

and here is my favorite for best handknitted accessories:

this look is awesome

I would love to link the face above to a website, sombody please point me the right way?

And one more photo in closing, a thing of beauty, as promised in my last post.

every bit worth the dietary splurge

That’s the right way to begin check-out day.  I can’t wait to go to Stitches South in ‘10!

my first Stitches event; I definitely want to do this again

On Wednesday, I drove somewhere between 4 and 5 hours and then checked in to the Renaissance Waverly in Atlanta Georgia.  The beds and linens are to die for, the atrium lobby is gorgeous, the staff has been cheerful, helpful, competent, and polite.  That said, I’d like to whine a bit:  no refrigerator, no microwave, $20 for breakfast (ow!), and $14.95 per day for internet access (ow, ow, ow, ow!).  Luxury is not cheap, apparently, reasonable negotiated room rate notwithstanding.

Developed a sudden and brutal case of camnesia for the first couple of days.  It must have something to do with the yarn fumes.

On Thursday, I slept in and had a room service “Waverly breakfast” which was on an enormous tray with nice china, good hot coffee, grapefruit juice squeezed from a real live fresh grapefruit very recently, and two perfectly poached eggs, among a few other things.  It arrived on the shoulder of a perfectly polite and well groomed waiter, who called me “Madame” (pronounced ma-DAM) and referred to me in the 3rd person.  “Would Madame like anything else?”  I felt like the lady of the manor.  What luxury!  I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of it.  I may correct that mistake tomorrow morning.

My first class was “Continental Knitting” with Leslye Solomon, and I think she has shown me the way to save myself from further right hand/arm/shoulder/neck repetitive motion knitting injuries.  I’d love to post a picture of said highly amusing and effective knitting teacher here, but camnesia prevents.  So thank you Leslye!  I’m getting smoother at it already.

Immediately after class on Thursday,

market preview for students!!!!

again, camnesia. But here’s a picture of most of what I couldn’t leave the market without.

can you tell I like Noro?

On Friday, I met a delightful young lady in the registration area.  Tiina is a member of the Atlanta Knitting Guild, who have put in a great deal of effort to get XRX to bring Stitches to Atlanta, and help it run smoothly.

Tiina is the eye candy, I'm the other one

Tiina very graciously kept me company at the fashion show, since we had both come alone.  This next photo of the hall outside the ballroom where the show was held does not do justice to the moment.  The air was tingly with the collective excitement of hundreds of knitters high on yarn fumes.  Or maybe that was just me.

mostly, at this point, I just want to sit down

There were as many beautiful knitted garments in the audience as there were on the runway, possibly more.  Flash photography wasn’t allowed, and here’s what kind of photo quality I got in low light with moving subjects.

no flash = all fuzzy

I gave up after a few attempts.  Knitters Magazine will publish some images eventually.  You’ll just have to wait. (Stop WHINING!)

At the banquet following the show, I made more friends.  Most of the knitters I’ve met here are among the nicest people I may ever meet.  I don’t know why this is true, but again, I suspect the yarn fumes.  If some clever lab nerd could synthesize the substance that produces the chemical effect on the brain, I suspect we’d have a great new “friendly” drug.  I also won a door prize!  There were I think 27 door prizes at the show, and probably that many or more at the banquet.  Amazing.

I’m exhausted, it’s late, and this post is already way picture heavy, so more about Saturday and Sunday probably tomorrow.  Goodnight, from knitter paradise.

are we going on an adventure?

When my girls were small, if we were in the car and not on one of our usual routes, one of them would always ask, “are we going on an adventure, Mommy? Well, I’m going on an adventure tomorrow.  I’m driving 5 hours or so by myself to stay in a AAA 4 diamond hotel by myself for 4 days while I attend knitter heaven aka my first Stitches event.  Anyone who knows me would know that this is an uncharacteristically brave thing.  I’m so excited I could explode.  Unfortunately, the cardi I’ve been knitting to wear there isn’t quite done, but I’m not giving up yet.  It’s decimal from the spring 09 issue of knitty.  I could finish it by Friday night.  Wish me luck.

On an adventure of another sort, DH and I have been raising this one for 16 whole years as of April 7.

sparkly candles with sparkly flames too!

She looks so grown-up to me now, but she’ll always be my baby.

We had sort of an adventure on the way to supper tonight. If you look closely, you can see the rainbow is double.

this must be a message for me

Going a little closer, we saw where we were being led.

pot of gold in Macaroni Grill?

Cosmic jokes.  Ha, I laugh.  But it was such a beautiful sky.

And a last image for the day.  This kitteh is an acquaintance, and danged if he isn’t on the cover of a magazine.

coffeeshop catloaf

I know he enjoys his privacy, so I won’t disclose his top-secret hideout.

Next post should be about Stitches ‘09!  Bye now.

fun with word and photo art

My friend paperstarfish has a wordle I admired so much, I had to go make my own:

This is made from my delicious tags.

I also made this photo collage with picasa which took me a lot more time, because I kept fiddling around with it.

click ‘em to biggen ‘em.  Thanks to Paige for inspiration.

like I’ll ever get the chance

The headline should be Yarn Harlot puts out contract on word celebrity.  Can you believe it?  SPM has asked her fan base to “kinnear” Greg Kinnear.  My favorite comment?

I kind of fell (sic) sorry for Greg, can you imagine being stalked by millions of women with pointy sticks?!?!?!

Posted by: jill at March 11, 2009 4:15 PM

I think I may have pulled a rib muscle laughing.  nyuck nyuck!  He won’t even see us coming!

snow day for the schoolkids; very early in the morning

First you must understand that enough snow to stick on the streets is very much a novelty around here.  We get excited.  We buy all the milk and bread in the stores as soon as the first flake starts falling, and nobody really knows why.  Usually the sun comes out by afternoon and the streets are passable within hours.  But in the meantime, we put on our woolies and mittens with plastic bags underneath to keep our hands dry,  waterproof boots if we have them.  We have a short-lived but glorious orgy of snow-angels, snowballs, snowpeople, snowcritters, snowcream  . . . . you get the idea.

I never even try to resist the urge to get out my camera, and tonight I was rewarded in a wonderful way.  This first picture is the view from my front door, right after midnight, longish exposure, no flash.  It could be sharper, because I didn’t bother with a tripod, but I caught the feeling well.  The bluish glow behind the magnolia tree is from the streetlight.

southern exposure

Now, for the very first time (for me), a picture of snowflakes falling.  This is the same view, different settings: fill in flash, short exposure.  The little specks are, you guessed it, individual snowflakes.  Well, light reflecting off of snowflakes, anyway.  Close enough for me to get excited about.

same view, different lighting

Silent night, beautiful night.  Goodnight.