Some Socks Just Don't Want to Be Born

Yes, I admit it. I am now spending a lot of my precious knitting time reading pregnancy books and guides. But hey, childbirth is serious business and I am not going to take it lying on my back! (I crack myself up, bahdum ching!) But I am giving it my all to finish up a few more projects before my arduously  enjoyable stitching is constantly interrupted by the crying, er, um, cooing of babes.

As with most things in my life right now, even knitting has become a analogous with my journey through pregnancy. In quite a few books, I have come across the idea that babies are born when they are ready. That miracle of biochemistry, hormones, and infinite spiritual connection between mother and child prompts both bodies into the dance of labor (can't wait to go to that sock hop...).

I think of all my knitting projects as babies somehow. Some are born quickly and painlessly; some are the worst back labor you can ever imagine. And then there are some that just don't want to be born. A point in case: the black socks which weren't meant to be (at least for the moment).

First, I always cast on at least twice with every first sock. I don't know why, but I think it has to do with the fact that I just can't count. Then, I picked several different challenging patterns thinking that I might actually be up for some lacy action. Thought wrong on that and dropped far too many stitches to decipher in a haze of black fuzz. And reduced to the reality of only being able to do some kind of ribbing or basket weave pattern, I cast on again....six times. And then it dawned on me. These socks are simply not meant to be born right now. I guess that means I better start knitting a baby cardigan or some booties real soon.

Knit well and knit often.

Acute Fiber Insanity - AFI

Some people I know are very methodical about their yarn purchases and have managed to accumulate no stash whatsoever or hardly any except for the projects the have queued. I try to be one of those people, but alas, I am what the Yarn Harlot calls an 'organic knitter' and that leads to a many of yarn purchases on account of a condition known as 'acute fiber insanity', or AFI for short.

Elizabeth at Fibre + Clay told me this morning that she also buys a wool without having any idea what to make out of it - purely out of infatuation or even AFI. It goes something like this, won't you agree:

There it is in the corner, tucked away and almost seemingly hidden from the shop's normal stock, calling you to scoop it up and caress your neck with it. Its color fascinates you and the texture sends you into throws of unspeakable ectasy. You lose all touch with the world around you and realize...it will be mine. It almost sounds like that scene from Waynes' World where the object of affection is instead a white Fender Stratocaster and any semblence of ecstasy is nipped in the bud by the 'No Stairway to Heaven' sign. Bummer, Dude, I got mine,

For me recently, it was Debbie Bliss Alapaca Silk in a fabulous deep plum (you know, the one that is all the rage this season on the High Street)...and it was 40% off. How could I just let it sit on the shelf? That would be cruel and unusual punishment for such a beautiful yarn, let alone myself. So I bought every ball the shop had with no idea what to make out of it.

One of the mavens at F+C told me it knitted up quite quickly, so I decided on a shrug-type garment (since I only have 10 balls) and scoured the net several times with no luck. Today, though, Lady Knitting Luck smiled favorably upon me in the form of Kim Hargreaves' "Thrown Together". What a talented designer, although Ms Purly Whites doesn't seem to think so. I guess it is all personal preference and style, really. And this cute, retro feeling does me fine. If Hargreaves wanted to do haute couture, she would have sold her soul and be designing for Marc Jacobs. Sorry to be so simple minded about this, but hey, that's the way I see it.

There are so many fantastic designs it was hard to decide. I have decided on 'Aimee', the quick and easy shruggy-like thing with a cowl that graces the cover of the book. It is exactly what I was looking for, except the shelling out of nearly 13 Pounds. But I am all about supporting talented (and sometimes untalented) people as well as my LYS, so I bit the bullet. Besides, I can spend money on a pattern book if I got a bargain on the yarn, right? Here it is, awaiting me; my tension square begging to be finished:

I cannot wait to get started on Aimee, but unfortunately I have to finish my EZ bonnet and booties which I am desperatlely behind on since the expectant mother gave birth three days ago. Still got a ways to go on this project. Good thing it's ity-bity:

Then there is the Bainbridge Scarf for a deserving woman in my life I have been moonlighting with (er, does moonknitting work?)....sheesh, so many projects and so little time. 

But at least Bearski has some brand new Caribbean socks thanks to the help of Ann Budd:

I took these photos with my old Canon Powershot and I really notice the difference in quality between it and my Nikon D40, so I will try to use the latter exclusively from now on - for all our sakes.

Knit well and knit often.

Forgot my Ravelry button at Creative Stitch and Craft...

This weekend saw the biannual Creative Stitch and Craft Show at Manchester Central which apparently was once called GMEX. Being new to the area and a craft addict, I thought I would toodle around for the day there while I waited for my final German guest (this month) to come back from his speaking engagement in Liverpool.

Manchester Central is a really impressive venue for shows: it was once one of three major train stations in Manchester. For me, there is just something about the massive expanse of the slanting roof, complete with cast iron, milky glass and a big fat clock at the apex. Then again, I am always taken by repurposed buildings. I wish we did more of that in America. Pictured here are some random skeins. I thought they were purdy.

I must say that I was slightly disappointed with Creative Stitch and Craft. It was heavy on the card making, scrapbooking and jewelry making, but left much to be desired in the way of fibre. Nonetheless, it was creatively inspiring and in the end, less tempting for the yarn junkie that I am. 

Yes, I managed to walk away having only bought a package of rubber point protectors for my sock DPNs. Can you believe it? I barely can. The point protectors were a need, not a want, since Bearski's Caribbean Socks were literally jabbing me in the hip through my purse. With my RSI, I don't need any other knitting related injuries. The stand I bought them was a really cool little shop called Web of Wool that specializes in self-patterning yarns. Cool concept, nice people, nifty yarns.

I was also really inspired by the booth featuring a Japanese embroidery group. There were some amazingly beautiful pieces on display and I was really dazzled by the kimono hanging behind the embroiderers. See for yourself:

Very nice, very nice. These works are so beautiful, I may just have been persuaded to pick up another needleart form.

I was also really happy to run into Serena, a campaigner at Oxfam who has organized a knitted petition: a blanket of individual squares, each representing a mother who has died due to lack of adequate health care. I chatted with her about what else she has planned for the blanket's presentation and stitched together a few bundles of squares. The organizers of the show, Trident, should be commended for their support of the campaign, allowing Oxfamers and their volunteer stitchers a contingent of free tickets and the space to do it. 

The last highlight of my day was the workshop I attended on a whim. An announcement came around 2:45 for "Knitting for the Home". I didn't know what it was, but though 'what the heck'. In a really small group of 3, we got a private lesson in knitted home accessory design from the fabulous and talented designer Jo Hoddinott. For a whole hour, I got to soak up design tips and learn to look at things the way a designer does. It was really interesting and Jo is a great teacher. If you read this Jo, thanks! I had a great time.

And really, that was my day out. Next Friday is I Knit London Day. To go or no to go. That is the question. And then there is Twisted Thread in Birmingham in two weeks. So many shows in such a short span of time. Yes, that was a squeal of delight you heard in the background.

Well, only a few more hours til Knitty.com with my article goes live. I will attach a link tomorrow. Knit well and knit often. 

Entertaining Whilst Knitting, Knitty.com Article, Socks Rock

Entertaining Whilst Knitting

Yes, my absence has perhaps been noticed by you, my faithful readers, but I have been out adventuring and entertaining these past weeks. Any time I could have spent knitblogging I actually spent knitting, and that is what it is all about, no?

The month of August has brought non-stop creative adventures as well as non-stop entertaining (I am afterall the flexible freelance writer who is home all day and available to keep guests occupied). The first week of this month I spent in Glasgow with one of my closest girlfriends being a lady of leisure hot on the decorative and architectural trail of Charles Rennie and Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh as well as galavanting (meaning puddle jumping) about the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh.

While in both the first and second Scottish cities, Lisa and I stopped by several LYSs, Marjory's (south Glasgow) and K1 (Glasgow and Edinburgh). If the Glasgow style were not enough to spark my further creative endeavours, than K1 did. I am now incubating a book idea thanks to these braches of a fantastic LYS concept, the yarn boutique.

With rows of wee buckets affixed to the walls, K1 quirkily and uniquely displays its unique wool selection. Scrummers. The Edinburgh shop is twice the size as its Glaswegian mother and boasts friendly sales assistance who also immediately invite you to pull up a chair and wip out your WIP. Unfortunately, there was a knitter down: Lisa had slammed her right index finger in a toilet stall door, so we left our projects at home. Too bad, too, because there were some homemade cookies....

Two days after my adventures up north, Matthias and I received Tine and Bernhard, my sister- and father-in-law for an extended weekend. I am thankful knitting soothes nerves. Now our best man, Erik, has come from Germany to spend his two-week vacation with us. And although we visiting a fair share of August's cultural itinerary, there are moments when the boys want to go out and do boy things (like motorcycling and golfing) which provides me with a little working and a little knitting time.

Yesterday we trapsed around the Northern Quarter here in Manchester and today we went to Liverpool to see the Klimt show at the Tate. Both days, Sabine Geschwandter's new book, KnitKnit, kept smiling at me at various book and gift shops. Guess that will go on the wish list.

My darling sister-in-law Jen and brother Beau sent me a belated birthday gift. But the best things come to those who wait. In the beat up box fresh off the plane from the States, I was surprised to find a gorgeous Lantern Moon-esque palm leaf bag, a couple knitting mags and three balls of some funky chunky yarn. Finally, a proper knitting bag:

The Spumoni Scarf had to be kept hush-hush virtually post-completion as the receipient, Lisa, is an occasional reader and knew I was knitting here bday pressie. My second albeit it simplistic own design delighted her. She rewrapped it after carefully opening it - she wanted to open it again on her actual birthday.

I just managed to finish the Bigga Baby Blanket in time for my sister-in-law Tine to cart it back to Germany for our girlfriend Conny's new bundle of joy, Clara (no, I didn't want to ship it...I want to spend my money on more yarn). Wow, come to think of it, it is another original BrittKnit design.

Knitty.com Article

Yipee! I am finally getting published in my favorite knitzine. With much hope and a lot of help from friends and strangers alike, I researched, drafted and polished an article on starting your own local community knitting project. The article is based on a project I put together while living in Vancouver, BC, and interviews I carried out with community knitting mavens Ann Rubin from afghans for Afghans, Amy Berman of Mother Bear Project and Mary Colucci of Warm Up! America. I thank them all sincerely for the work they are doing and for their contribution to the article which will hopefully inspire and empower readers to make a difference in their local communities.

Socks Rock

Alas, I only have one project on the go at the moment and I am feeling the need to start a few more...perhaps a sexy purple shrug with the Debbie Bliss Silk Cashmere in the most sensuous of plums which appears to be a trend color this fall.

But Bearski's Caribbean Socks are coming along quite nicely and the pain that I once felt while doing my first sock as subsided with the valuable guidance of Ann Budd. I have added a few photos.  Next to Budd's book, the finished sock doesn't look that big, but for comparison's sake here is a photo of the sock next to my left hand. My husband truly has pedes of legendary proportion.

Now I think I understand why so many knitters are hooked on socks. Quickly knit, useful, and one a basic pattern is memorized, easily cutomized.

Knit well. Knit often. And read my article come September 1st!

DIY Sock Knitting, Replacing RSI with Reading, New LYS

I have really had to take it easy with the knitting. Since I am still so fanatical about the craft, I have a tendency to go on knitting binges which sometimes last up to five hours in one sitting. But, hey, what is a solitary expat writer to do? It probably doesn't help that I also spend the good part of my day (when I am not knitting) at a laptop, writing things for the benefit of your reading pleasure and our bank account.

Two weeks ago, I got this dull ache in my right wrist and forearm. It started while I was trying to flick open my bicycle lock and has been hanging on hard ever since. I have even had it briefly in my left hand on occasion. So, Bearski's Caribbean Socks, the BSJ ala Brittunia, the Bigga Baby Blanket and the Spumoni Scarf are all resting nicely in my craft room awaiting my return. Well, okay, I have spent some time on a sock because I just couldn't help myself. 

Bearski's Caribbean Socks

I have restarted the socks after finding Ann Budd's book, Getting Started Knitting Socks (Interweave Press, 1997), at my newly designated LYS. Being the perfectionist knitter that I was, I frogged my first sock in the name of ultimate technique. What I had initially done was used an amalgamation of my own propensity to ignore what a pattern tells me to do, the free pattern that came with the wool (it was for Regia 6ply jacquard when I had bought 4ply - go figure!) and the amazing step-by-step pictoral tutorial, Socks 101, put together by Terri Lee Royea.

Photo courtesy of  Interweave Press

Well, that strategy was just too all over the place for my brain. And I wasn't happy with the transition I had made while knitting the gusset. The transition was just plain bizarre in retrospect - I knitted the first row, purled the second and knitted the third three times. It looked crap to put it bluntly, so it was unravelled. And now I am trusting Ann to guide me through the anatomy of my first sock knitted according to a real pattern!

Getting Started is a really great book with a simple, easy-to-follow layout and clear, demonstrative photos and illustrations. What I really like about this book is that it has small troubleshooting sections for each part of the sock (ie those pesky, loose stitches at the beginning/end a needle, matching lengths, and preventing holes in the gusset). It is exactly what I was looking for.

New LYS: Fibre + Clay in Knutsford

I cannot begin to tell you how amazing Fibre + Clay is! Given, there isn't much around these parts and I survived my first couple years of fiber obsession shopping outlet craft stores and big boxes. Owned by a husband and wife team and manned by several experience knitters who exude not only a love of but a passion for teaching the craft, Fibre + Clay features ceramic and textile art on the ground floor and a wool department to die for on the top floor. They have a library where, for a deposit of ten pounds, you can check out the latest knitting books and preview them. They have pattern support and amazing notions like handcrafted buttons, not to mention some really great bags. (Photo courtesy of Fibre + Clay website)

And their twice weekly knit gatherings, complete with tea, coffee and biscuits, are a really wonderful, nurturing place to soak up inspiration and new skills. Get there if you can - I managed to while they were having their summer sale...40% off some great stuff (nine balls of Regia 4ply, 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Silk Alpaca, and assorted Rowan Pure Wool for my Mochimochi Land knitlets).

Reading Replaces RSI

I don't know if RSI is something that afflicts every knitter, but I don't think it is. I decided that if I can't binge knit, then at least I can read about it in books for hours on end. I went to the Central Library this morning in search of magazines to profile for my budding journalistic repertoire and came home packing three inspirational books: 

Zen and the Art of Knitting by Bernadette Murphy

Machine and Hand Knitting Pattern Design by Kathleen Kinder

Felt Forward by Maggie Pace

Simply Felt by Margaret Docherty and Jayne Emerson

Textiles of the Wiener Werkstätte 1910-1932

Vienna 1900 and the Heroes of Modernism

I think that is enough to saturate my need for inspiration, don't you. I am really excited about all of them and will let you know what I think. I always do.

Knit well and knit often.

Woolfest 2008

Welcome to Woolfest 2008

Alright, so I am a little late posting about my trip to Cumbria in Northern England, but I have very valid excuses. First, I maxed out my upload limit on my Flickr account in June, and I it took a while to get all my photos organized, tagged and RESIZED (so now I can upload a lot more pics than before). Who really needs all those high res images of my ever growing stash? Secondly, I was actually getting paid for writing this week, hence it became the priority. Not that I would ever neglect my two or three BrittKnit readers (who I do appreciate; especially you, Dad).

We took off from Manchester at around 10am and finally arrived at the agricultural centre in Cockermouth. We had to park in the overflow lot because it was so packed. There were tons of ladies with their packed lunches and thermos cans sitting in their cars as we were finally making our way in. Those were the hardcores that must have been there when the gates were opened.

Penny, Kate, Charlotte and I walked up the first aisle oohing and awing while looking at all the different sheep, alpacas and a lone Angora rabbit in a tiny cage. Poor thing. No wonder it seemed so neurotic´. Penny and Kate were first out of the blocks in making their first purchase. They both spin, so the endless bags of fleece and roving was of far greater interest to them at the onset. I decided to entertain the idea of starting to spin. Logic told me I already had one obsessive hobby and I didn't need another one. Passion told me that I had to try it out. I was just too enticed my all the possibilities: spindle spinning, plying, felting, dry felting with a needle, jewelry making...

What was truly unique about this experience was to finally unite for myself cognitively all the elements of our craft. From the animals to the fleece, the rovings, the spindles, wheels and their makers, the plants and dried herbs for dying, the farmers, the knitters, weavers, spinners and felters; the looms, basket weavers, and the unique hanks and skeins of hand spun and dyed yarn. There were utterly hundreds of people utterly devoted to a wool world. It was truly exhilarating.

The four of us drifted apart and then back together again through the aisles and aisles of fiber goodness. That is the thing when you go to a trade show with a group of people - you are bound to be split up at some point, but you all seem to manage to collide again eventually. After the first round or so, Kate and Charlotte went back to the car due to Kate's very unfortunate allergy to wool - but that does not stop her from going to wool shows nor from working with it constantly. Now that is passion.

Penny and I made another sweep through the aisles before retiring to a semi-isolated hallway for a cup of tea and some mini quiche we had picked up at a farm store on our way up the M6. It was much needed after all of that weaving through aisles and stand packed with wool-crazed women.

I held myself back with buying until I had surveyed the offerings every stand and compared prices. I am a thrift knitter (only to later splurge on things I really, really want), so pricing is a necessary part of any shopping ritual for me. 

On one of our passes through the aisles, I saw some really entertaining things. The picture above of the costumed women is particularly interesting to me: Little Bo Peep Meets Marie Antoinette. Everything in her costume was made of and related to the wool industry. There was a real focus here on British wool as well as self-production. The picture directly above this paragraph captures nutty knitter Ingrid Wagner from Newcastle who will very soon be attempting to break the world record for knitting with the largest needles. Those little girls were so ecstatic to be giving it a shot. I got a particular kick out of this image - a mandolin player taking a mid-concert break to eat some ice cream. When I took the shot, he satisfyingly knew he'd been caught. It was a lovely moment.

The culmination of the Woolfest experience was the tatie pot (potato/lamb/black pudding stew) and spin/knit-in that evening which were a benefit for the Wool Clip, the organizers of Woolfest. The Wool Clip is a co-op of farming and craftswomen in Cumbria. It sells materials and products made from their own sheep and goats. 

We were most likely the youngest people in the room of over one hundred. Two other younger women, looking sheepishly for a place to sit, joined us at our table. Low and behold, one of them was from Seattle too! It truly is a small world. After a surprisingly tasty meal (black pudding had scared me before that), we took out our projects. Tables started coming down and wheels began to appear. 

Here are a few of my favorite shots of the spin-in:

I like these two photos for the intricacies and details shown of the wheels, spindles and hands. They are all working separately, but somehow come together in these images to become one working unit. In a sense, we craftspeople are.

I thought this was interesting. We have a women spinning and another women drawing the spinner's portrait.

And here are just a few more gratuitous sheep pics. You gotta love 'em:

So, that was Woolfest this year. I can't wait to see what a commercial fiber show is going to be like. I wonder if I will be disappointed? Nah. 

Knit well and knit often.

PS - Check out my loot...

Roving in 3 colors (Shetland and English 56's), Merino Tops and a needle for felting, handmade birch bag handles (for that bag I shall someday make), a copy of The Opinionated Knitter (which seems to be very hard to find), Gossamer Kid Mohair in Gorgeous Plum, and a very cool necklace with dry felted black baubles from Mixed Fibres Textile Studio in Edinburgh. A close up of the fibers:

PPS - Check out Bearski's Caribbean Socks...