naturally...mostly

Was going to keep my blog updated as I traveled from the West Coast through the Southwest (on Southwest) but it was less and less about making things than it was about family and not making things.

I did make progress on these socks while in Sacramento:

When I was in Albuquerque I did get a quick visit to Village Wools before going to the airport which delighted my Mom and my sister-in-law. It's a great store, lucky Albuquerque! Found some BrownSheep yarn that isn't carried on the East Coast or at least I hadn't run across it--NatureSpun in fingering weight and Jarbo Garn in a single fingering weight---in a natural colors which I intend to dye and maybe felt.

In Phoenix I misplaced my list of knitting stores but ran across Tempe Yarn and Fiber---they were a fun group. I mentioned Ravelry and they suggested I take a look at their Fred Made me do it group. There I added to my natural color collection to dye---with a few skeins of BrownSheep's Top of the Lamb single in sportweight. I'm smitten by singles in any weight.


What this all boils down to is this---when I returned home to Long Island Spring had sprung more fully and there were new cygnets in the Lake. I caught the mother swan paddling away from our bulkhead and only snagged a few unsteady shots.

Their taupe color reminded me of my natural yarn collection. Of course the natural yarn will eventually be dyed unlike the cygnets. Which reminds me of one more thing: I was shown a book on my trip called Why Paint Cats. I was amazed at the images inside. Amazed and creeped out! It's full of images of "painted" cats. People spent inordinate amount of time air-brushing and painting cats like this one, that I just swiped from website engaged in discussion about painting cats. :
I'm thinkin' how I would even go about painting my black dogs...they barely get baths, so I don't think this is gonna happen and oh, the ethics seem to be a question too!

on board...round one

When I finally land in Sacramento I am always delighted to find the public sculpture in the Southwest terminal---by Brian Groggin (look at his website! what cool work!!). I love these columns of suitcases! They just crack me up. I wish I had made them.



This crossing was surely a sign of our economic times. The whole Southwest flight from Long Island to the West Coast Southwest flight felt like a local subway route. Though the first leg from Long Island to Chicago was roomy, quiet and deceptively short enough. Then a quick board at Midway to the interminable flight to take me to the West Coast. This time the plane was loaded, every seat taken, more in character with most Southwest flights I take. Prior to boarding there was some confusion about the destination among the passengers in line, we all had the same flight number and 4 different destinations. San Diego, Sacramento, Seattle and Spokane. Geez! I wasn't prepared for another stop. Guess I didn't read the itinerary correctly---I have to compliment Southwest on how good a job it does of obscuring those details. It was disappointing after 4+ hours on board the crowded plane that the destination was indeed San Diego. When it was my turn to deplane, after another take-off and landing, I felt sorry, momentarily, for those continuing on and grateful that Spokane wasn't my destination, this trip.

The memory of the flight fades quickly, luckily, because I have 4 more Southwest flights to take.

I usually look forward to these flights for the opportunity to knit for uninterrupted periods of time and because it distracts me from the tedious passenger job. As soon as we were airborne I had my needles out and clicking away on a pair of socks. I thought they would be the perfect, portable project for this trip. I had only completed the toe and a few rows of the foot before leaving home and was sure this would be a breeze, so I included more yarn for second pair of socks.



But I can't tell you how boring this knitting is!!! I will though. Ugh. I knit for hours on those #1 needles, like knitting with angel hair pasta with only two rows of pattern to remember and it felt like I made little progress. Knowing knitters and unwitting civilians asked what I was knitting or who was the lucky recipient of my knitting efforts? The answer: if I can bring myself to complete even one sock, it will be for my husband and his pumpkin colored shoe(s).

Dennis asked me if the socks would be finished when we met up in Phoenix. I assured him he wouldn't be needing wool socks in Phoenix this time of year, so it didn't matter if they're finished then.

Knitting, when it's not for yourself, is an act of love.

fiber field trip

I got on the train and went into NYC yesterday for a fiber field trip with my knitting in tow. (I didn't think about taking my camera so when it struck me that I wanted to take pictures I did have my phone.) The SUN was so BRIGHT, because it's finally Spring, that I could barely see the image on the tiny led screen---lucky that they are even pictures of something. Manhattan has it's tulips going.


It was a much larger shot of the center islands on Park Avenue filled with tulips and the multi-story buildings in the background, but the image is too large to extract from the phone and I don't understand image editor...the rest are at least viewable.



...so train to Manhattan, subway downtown, oops!, subway uptown to 86 St, walked south, oops!, walked north. I get so distracted I spend a lot of time backtracking to most of my destinations. Ah! The Guggenheim appeared so I was going in the right direction.



And finally the Cooper Hewitt at 91st.



and the entrance billboard for the show....



I have been anticipating this exhibit and was happy to finally be on it's doorstep. There are impressive felted pieces in this show----the yurt-ish conservatory installation...the sunlight space was luscious.




So much work, so much wool--silk?---netting draping from the ceiling....I saw the video of the artist working on this piece on Martha Stewart's website. I could only think how much I wanted the artist's set-up---big tent outdoors, big tables, garden hoses spouting with hot water and assistants. Sigh.

Other than the conservatory, the exhibit is intimate, darkish rooms. There were samples of industrial-created felt, and hand-created wet felting, but not so many pieces of knitted-to-felt. I was distracted by a couple that were looking and babbling in a foreign language as the woman pulled out her camera to snap a few pictures, prompting the guard to her side. They apologized and then went into the conservatory, continuing to take pictures throughout the rooms. I took my phone out and took the conservatory pictures (whoohoo and usually I'm such a girl scout!), poor as they are---I was not to be outdone. I will have to peruse the catalogue to remind me what I saw, like the Urchin Poufs---knit with rope size "yarn", Slices of large logs of spiraling felt colors, Textile stones, ---it was all good stuff! I wish I had been the only one in the exhibit and was able to touch and examine everything! The catalog pages will have to do.

I spent a fair amount of time in the Cooper Hewitt Museum shop wishing I could make a gift registry of all the things I loved and needed.(Get out much?) It's the kind of environment I like to shop in and be shopped for in.

Back on the subway at 86th, to 33rd. South on foot to Habu on W 29th, my old neighborhood. (I do much better south of Times Square.) 29th, 8th fl. No problem.



Looked at the sample book, looked at the small sale baskets amassed on the floor with tiny hanks of interesting fibers...chose two tiny hanks, both silk. Done. Outta there. Though I did try to palm off the dollar coins from the metrocard machine and the young Japanese speaking woman was not to be fooled by my funny money. (I was forced to buy pastry in Penn Station to get rid of the coins.)

So much for my fiber field trip! The weather was lovely and the city was teeming with people on their way home. I knit on my wooly experiment all the way to Stony Brook. When I got home I realized that I needed to rip it all out. Sigh.

color bias

I have had strong opinions about color for as long as I can remember and for a long time, maybe even decades, I didn't like the color yellow. I was mostly affected by yellow flowering plants. I love greens, so when yellows go sulpher-y or go towards green, like the winter hazel or the ornamental grass hakenachloa, that's desirable.


Real yellow, nada. So when I started to add plants to our yard years ago I couldn't pick daffodils that were yellow. I went to great lengths to get all white ones. Or sunflowers. I got those small Italian white ones with the brown centers. So, you can imagine how the forsythia hedge at our curb has been an anathema for years. I didn't mind when the big truck that brought the concrete septic tank to the house several years ago damaged 3 or 4 while doing it's task! Really hated the ubiquitous yellow forsythia, for years! Be gone.

Maybe because this winter seemed longer, colder and grayer--- I was shocked one morning on the short drive home from treadmill punishment, that our block was suddenly ablaze with bloomin' yellow forsythia! Almost every yard has at least one forsythia bush. For the first time I didn't mind. I was delighted. Oh my gosh!


Poof! My yellow flora bias dissolved! No 12 step program or bias-removing chewing gum was required! I can't believe I'm admitting that I had this color bias aimed at innocent yellow flowering plants...but there you have it. I don't know why it unhappened but now I guess I can start to think about my aversion to pink stuff!

can't seem to put my knitting down

I have friends who are prolific knitters, who crank out shawls, socks and sweaters (that actually fit someone) every week or so it seems. For me, it's the knitting process.

Last week I felted hats that I knit from different base yarns, a snake-y scarf in Noro's Kureyon (from Knitting New Scarves by Lynne Barr) and swatches.



The hats didn't look good on me, and even though the striped, pointy one with the ear flaps did look good on my husband, he would never wear it in public---so it was easy to justify felting them.

I'm incorporating the hat shaping, the toe up socks I've been working on recently and the holes from the Swiss Cheese scarf that I blocked last week, in my next knitting for felting experiments. I've made pattern notes and I'm preparing several hanks of 100% wool worsted for dyeing, because the readily available Paton's Classic Merino was not inspiring colorwise, though the sale price was. Knitting for felting takes lots o yarn and it's gotta be the color I want to work with!

Got the dyeing counter in my garage prepped now that it's warming up. I just have to make it happen.

blocking fun

Just finished blocking two scarves from last month's knitting binge. I was hoping the weather would warm up more so that the drying process would be quick. Couldn't wait any longer. By the time they dry it'll be time to do the wardrobe swap anyway---from the Fall/Winter stuff to the Spring/Summer. Even so, I'll be happy to unpin them and pack them away for next Fall's debut.





Though I'm a longtime knitter, I had never done blocking like this until I was introduced to lace knitting by my knitting buddies. I love it's transformative effect!



I've not been totally side-tracked by knitting, but the sewing I have been doing is not gelling or may never gel, but it's not ready for photography. See>

here, here...

Last Wednesday I intended to snap a picture of my Yarn Harlot desk calender, but I forgot, like I've forgotten to actually blog on too many days too. I uncovered my collection of favorite calender days that are intended to be pinned on my non-existent bulletin board and snapped it finally. I'm catching up with last week, now that tax preparation is over. I'll spare you the 'How creativity is undervalued in almost every aspect of life....' rant that was evoked when I turned to Wed March 18 on the calender.

A good thing that happened last week was the reappearance of my pearl earring! Lost one evening last Fall while I was walking the dog, we were sure it was a goner. Amazingly my husband found it lying there on the driveway having survived leaf raking, snow-shoveling and tire tracks all winter. Yey! Dennis!



I have been really productive since the last time I posted here. I just can't reveal some of the projects...gifts to be. I have a big pile of knitted things that need to be blocked when it gets warmer and things will dry faster. Some things are just not destined to be finished and I don't want it posted here where I'll be reminded that I didn't finish it. A few things are not identifiable yet...who knows what they'll be. Like this little marigold wanna be thingie.



or this ladybug stool cover...that is a joint project. I'm just not sure I like my part of the project and it remains on the hanger in an undetermined state.



I'm just glad it's Spring...which means the winter weather has to be on it's way out. Yes!