Fine Craft

This is my new little corner of the world.  I feel very lucky that it is so beautiful here and so conducive to happiness and creativity!  Although you can always ‘bloom where you’re planted,’ some places are easier than others!  I do feel like blooming!

I have finally climbed under the Toika to tie up the lamms and treadles!  Go me!  It took some rather close scrutiny of Su Butler’s website,  a lot of fretting, and a pep talk from my younger son who is visiting to get me to do it.  Why are these things such hurdles for me??

And…meanwhile….in between everything else…. I knit….

One completed section of the “Ann Jacket” by Vivian Hoxbro

One virtually complete pattern repeat of “Mary Tudor” by Alice Starmore

The finished pieces of my “Soo Feminine” jacket!  ….

A week or so ago, I realized that I have been knitting for 50 years.  I don’t really know if it’s this year, or last year, or next year, since I’m a bit fuzzy on exactly how old I was when my grandmother taught me. But it is somewhere near my half–centennial of knitting….my golden jubilee.   I need a celebration!

What would make a better celebration than knitting a project, or projects, that are truly captivating…. enthralling…. compelling…. not to mention beautiful!

I’m already knitting one that has kept me happily intrigued for a couple of months now.  It is a pattern by “Nadita” called “Soo Feminine.”  It is a fun short row technique called “swing knitting,” which has been quite popular in Germany for some time and is certainly taking off in popularity here now too.

This might be even more fun to knit than it is to wear!  But I won’t know that until I finish!

Another project jumped into my arms while I was visiting Harrisville Designs on my recent trip to New Hampshire: a Vivian Hoxbro kit!  All of Vivian Hoxbro’s kits, which use Harrisville’s “New England Shetland,” were on sale for 30% off original prices!  I love Vivian Hoxbro!  Her designs are flattering on me, and the knitting is fun, involving color changes and multi-directional knitting.

This design is called “Ann” and can be knit as a jacket or vest.  I’m doing the jacket in the purply/plum colorway shown on the vest above.

And lastly, there is Alice Starmore, queen of color!  This is her “Mary Tudor” design.  What I love about it (aside from the obvious, duh!)–  all her designs are a masterful blend of colors on a design that perfectly balances the horizontal-ness of the knitting and color changing with a strong vertical-ness to flatter the body–but as I was saying, what I love about this particular jacket is the button band and collar, which depart somewhat from traditional Shetland design.  I think those two details make this sweater absolutely elegant!    Decades ago I knitted her Oregon cardigan in the blue colorway.  It is probably my most precious handknitted item.

Aren’t all these sweaters beauties?

“Soo Feminine” and the “Ann Jacket” are on the needles now.  The yarn for “Mary Tudor” has arrived and I’ve been sighing and moaning over all the little balls of precious Shetland wool.

But the pattern book has not arrived.  Wouldn’t you know I have almost all of Starmore’s books, but not Tudor Roses.  Ugh! I cannot believe I’m one of the suckers who paid over $100 for a knitting pattern book.  I had to do a lot of justifying to make peace with that.  You know the rationalizations, I’m sure!  It’s less than therapy, it’s better than some other addictions, it’s feeding my creative spirit…etc…etc… and it’s part of my golden jubilee celebration!

I started a post on moving day, April 18th, and thought it could be a work in progress following  leaving my New Jersey home and arriving in my new home in Connecticut.  Few things ever go as planned, do they?

The first hurdle was that there was a bad cable line at our new house which prevented us from having internet service for a couple of weeks!  By the time we had it, I was really buried in unpacking/organizing/cleaning chores.  It’s been a long six weeks, but I’m feeling quite settled now.

I love my new little part of the world.  Everywhere I drive is full of inspiration; every morning when I wake up I’m happy to be here.  I know what a blessing that is!

My studio is almost set up.  The looms are in place, the bookshelves are full.  With a bit of patience I can sort of find all the tools and yarns I might need to finish several works in progress and even start the projects I’ve been designing in my head.  But I’m a long way from finished.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever get completely settled!  The hard truth is that I just have too much stuff.  Don’t we all?

In my perfect studio dream I will have a stone terrace outside the door (oops!  not in the photo….it is right next to the window) where I can admire my perfect garden, where all the flowers bloom in profusion with no pests, where I can sit and spin on perfect spring and summer mornings.  My looms will all be warped with projects that will become treasured heirlooms.  I am dreaming about a peaceful life here.  I hope I mostly make that happen!

This photo (above) is looking toward the wall of shelves and cabinets for my tools and books.  You can just see a bit of my Baby Wolf which sits around the corner from the two larger looms.  I have a lot of tweaking to do with this storage area.

So I christened the room today by actually working here, instead of unpacking and arranging.

In the near future I hope to knit and spin here!

….or better yet… in the imagined perfect garden….

All the yarn from Latvia arrived over a week ago, on Friday, January 20, but I’ve been remiss to photograph it and talk about it!  Here they are:

 

These yarns shipped from Riga, Latvia on Jan. 10, from two different vendors.  Actually,I did not order the “pink/white” colorway, and it was accidentally shipped from the vendor on ebay the previous day, Jan. 9 (it arrived on the 19th).  She wrote me immediately to say that she was sorry and the correct colorway “Brown/Pink” would ship the next day.  Both the “Brown/Pink” which was from the ebay vendor and the “Red” which was from an individual on Ravelry arrived together on Jan. 20th. Ten days door to door from Latvia to New Jersey is quite good, I think!  Aren’t they lovely?

The Red colorway is smallest hank, and it is exactly the yardage for the Revontuuli shawl.  The other two colorways are larger hanks and should have enough left over for gloves or socks.  I’m interested in seeing how the long the color runs will look on a pair of socks.  If I knit socks I must remember not to carelessly throw them in the dryer since all my socks are superwash wool.  That would be tragic!  I don’t usually dry my handknit socks, even if they are superwash, because I prefer how crisp they look when air dried on sock blockers.

Naturally, I’d love to start knitting the Revontuuli right this minute!….but there are other things I really should finish before starting another project.  Let’s see if I can be responsible…. hmmm….

Our house went on the market Wednesday of last week and got a full price offer on Thursday.  On the one hand it’s a great relief that all our work has paid off so quickly and I don’t have to make my bed by 7 am, or hide the laundry; on the other hand now it’s time to really get serious about packing and finding a new home.  Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say…  These days there is always something to keep me from weaving….sigh….

Meanwhile, the first bud on my Camellia has opened….there are four more to come!

I’m quite late posting about Rhinebeck.  The internet abounds with images of what a beautiful weekend it was up in the Hudson Valley with the color just starting to turn and lots of promise for the weeks ahead.  I love the one on Ravelry’s Homepage!

The drive was terrible!  One hour, 30 minutes to the Kingston exit on the NYState Thruway, then another hour and a half to get across the Rhinecliff Bridge and crawl to the fairground!  I’m not sure I can do this again next year….

Meanwhile, here are my treasures:

The Brooks Farm booth is always impossibly crowded, but I had an idea for a gift for a friend: a skein of luscious alpaca/wool/mohair with fund buttons from Gita Maria.  The pattern is from Spin Off Magazine, Summer 2009.

 

 

 

And for me….

Eureka!  I found buttons for my Einstein coat!  …also from Gita Maria.  She had baskets full of buttons, and they were all so pretty that I just dug through the lot until I found six that matched!  I added to my Signature needles stash (usually one a year when I see them at a show so I can avoid shipping!).  And I couldn’t resist the fun double pointed needles from knitpicks.

 

And although I am drowning in fiber, I cannot go to a wool festival without getting a little something…. look at that beautiful braid of handpainted Corriedale from “into the whirled”….sigh….resting on top of  a cloud soft cushion of Suri Alpaca/Silk from Biltmore Wool Barn in Brewster, Mass…. bigger sigh….