Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

A decade ago, I was president of Atlanta Knitting Guild. The very first STITCHES South was on the horizon. I had just lost a dear cat (Copernicus), but did not realize I would lose the other one (Sophia) in a few months. In October of 2008, I had a falling out with a very dear friend who helped me fight off the clinical depression monster. That broken friendship would not be mended for almost a decade. I was making friends at The Whole Nine Yarns, but did not know I would lose one later that summer. Here we are, a decade later. I lost a cat (Brûlée) in November. This time, I will not be surprised if I lose the other one (Vincent) within a few months. I lost my knitting mentor, Jan Stephens, back in September. We lost two other North Georgia Knitting Guild members in 2018, Claudia Pergason and Christine Cardenas. I was thinking that maybe 2019 would be different. Instead, we lost our North Georgia Knitting Guild newsletter editor, Nadine Kelley, on the first day of this new year. It i...

Update: Since I've signed the contract for Blue Ridge Fiber Festival, I've added that information. There are a lot of fiber arts gatherings coming up in 2019. Many of them have just opened for registration or are about to open for registration. Here's a rundown. Kanuga Knitting and Quilting Retreat , Hendersonville NC, Thursday through Sunday 17-20 January 2019. This retreat at the Episcopalian campground is a great way to de-stress after the holidays. Accommodations are in cabins or at the inn. All meals are served in the cafeteria. The long weekend is an opportunity to make progress on a project. Knitting instructors include: Boykin Exum teaching beginning knitting. Master Knitter Heather Storta teaching an Estonian lace shawl. Mimi Kezer teaching sliding loop entrelac. Varian Brandon teaching a colorwork hat. I'll be teaching a versa lace scarf. South Carolina Knit Inn , Greenville SC, Thursday through Sunday 31 January through 3 February 2019. Many Atla...

I must admit, this is another of those projects that probably doesn't have enough "Wow!" factor given the amount of time. The pattern comes from a 1989 Annie's Attic pamphlet titled "My Wild Irish Bows." As you might guess from the name, the collection of seven designs are all hair accessories worked in traditional Irish crochet motifs. The samples in the booklet were worked entirely in white size 10 crochet cotton, with the exception of one project worked in size 5 crochet cotton. I got the pamphlet at a North Georgia Knitting Guild meeting. I believe the guild library was destashing. Since this booklet is all crochet projects, it didn't really fit in. For some reason, I looked at the project labeled "Flower Fall" and thought it looked like a spray of African violets. I decided to work it in color. I finished the little violets in short order (using a 1.65mm metal crochet hook). But then I tried the leaves and wasn't happy with the ...

As stated previously, 2018 was a surprisingly unproductive year. I can't really explain why it was so unproductive, other than a lot of travel and the Mensa regional gathering. I've been looking around the house at stacks of unread textile books and magazines as well as unfinished (or unstarted) projects. I was looking for something small and quick to get me back into the groove. I purchased issue #138/October 2015 o f Simply Knitting magazine when I was at Unwind back in April . There was a silent auction to benefit a local charity. I think I bid $1. Nobody bid against me. The magazine came with the yarn pack to make a cute little knitted holiday polar bear. The pattern is by Alan Dart, who is well-known in the United Kingdom for exactly this type of knitting pattern. He has many, many patterns for cute little knitted people and animals as well as a fan group on Ravelry . If you have a large stash of scraps, Mr. Dart's pattern oeuvre could be just the thing to clea...

During the first weekend of November, I took a two-day sprang workshop with Carol James. Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance offered the class in this amazing but rare technique. Unstretched I was interested in the technique because it is sometimes confused with knit and crochet in historic collections. Center for Knit and Crochet at some point will want to have resources on their website to help curators and collectors discern among knit and crochet as well as tatting, nålebinding, sprang, and the like. When we reach that point, I want to be useful. I came away with an appreciation for this amazing technique that dates all the way back to the bronze age. Carol showed us a picture of a Greek vase where the weaver appears to be making sprang. (There's an archeology journal article here .) The technique was common in European military sashes, which is how Carol was introduced to it through her business producing military sashes for reenactors. She also showed us pictures of M...

I've gotten very little knitting accomplished in 2018. I did, however, do some spinning. Mountain Colors Summertime + Ruby Red (above) Mountain Colors Ruby Red + Ruby Red (below) I have a vision for a little red riding hood costume for Dragon*Con. I think it would be great to make the whole cape out of handspun. Ideally, I'd like the entire outfit to be handwoven, hand-knitted, crocheted, sprang-ed, and the like. I've been buying and spinning red. I don't have a plan. My thought is just to make a big pile of red yarn using my default spinning technique, then figure out what goes where. I also have some fleeces with locks, as I think an edging of locks on the cape would be dramatic. I decided to spin some of the red Mountain Colors Bluefaced Leicester in my stash. Let me just pause right now and say, I adore Mountain Colors . Their colorways are rich, saturated, and vibrant. I had three bumps of Ruby River . Is there a better basic red out there? My original plan...

Jan Stephens (7 December 1931 - 22 September 2018) was my friend and mentor. I was asked to speak at her memorial service last Saturday, 10 November, which was also Skacel's day to create 10,000 new knitters. Below is a version of my comments. Knitting is about turning something that is intangible — love — into something tangible. You can feel love, but you can't see it. It isn't as if you can sit love on a table in good light, take a picture of it, and post it on Instagram. When we knit a scarf for the child going off to college — in the school colors, of course — or an heirloom baby blanket for that precious new arrival, or a chemo hat for a stranger going through one of the toughest years of his or her life, we are turning love into something that can be seen. We are saying, "You are loved. You are important to someone. You are cared about." Jan loved two things — people and knitting. It isn't surprising, as the one followed logically from the other. ...